Raising a boy

Somehow, in my heart of hearts, I always knew my first child would be a boy.  I don't know how I knew, but I think there were signs.  After we started the adoption process and I looked at my yarn stash to start making hats and booties, I noticed everything I had was either blue, green, or brown.  It was much much easier for us to come up with boy names than girl names.  And when I found out Birthmother was carrying a boy, I was elated, but unsurprised.

All that being said, I don't think I was completely prepared for raising a boy.  I rejoiced that I wouldn't have to run the Disney Princess gamut every time I tried to find a toy.  I got excited about trucks, tractors, and superheroes.  I loved picking out clothes with dinosaurs on them.

But I think there are somethings that would be easier with a girl.  How does a mother teach her son what real feminine beauty and grace is?  Does the son even care?  I hope Elijah will want to grow up wanting to marry a good and virtuous woman.  The kind of woman I try to be.  I pray she is less sharp (not intellectually), less malicious and more pious than I.

How do I show him this kind of woman in daily life?  I suppose I start by curbing my tongue more often (never easy for me.)  I continue by praying for blessings on those who hurt me more and thinking about ways to hurt them less.  I pray more: with him, for him, over him.  I hope he learns what real women look like and I hope he appreciates it.  I pray the woman he marries is modest and intelligent.  I pray she is able to see the flaw in modern perceptions of beauty and promiscuity. 

I pray that Nathan and I are able to teach Elijah to love his eventual wife with kindness and gentleness.  I hope he learns from his father what a real man is, what a good father is.  I hope he loves his wife the way Nathan loves me.  I hope he enjoys his family the way Nathan seems to. 

All these things I pray to our Lord Jesus for my dear son, Elijah.

January 1

January 1, 2004
Nathan and I went on our unofficial, official first date.  We were friends in high school and went on a bunch of individual dates in the past, but this is when we really started dating.  My brother had just gotten back from Italy so he wanted to cook for everyone (a contagious condition over there).  Nathan came over and ate with us and then we went out to see Mona Lisa Smile.

January 1, 2005
I just got back from studying in England and was having a lot of fun getting to spend time with Nathan again before being sent off to Macomb to finish my junior year at Western Illinois University.

January 1, 2006
Our very first full day of being engaged.  My mother woke me up by coming to my room and asking to look at my ring and then thrusting the phone at me with the command "Call your grandmothers."  After a wonderful few days of preliminary wedding planning, I returned to Macomb again to finish my senior year.

Skip forward six years

January 1, 2012
I honestly don't remember what happened last year on this day.  I was probably at work.  It is remarkable only because we had no idea that in 17 days we would get a phone call about a woman who chose us to raise the baby boy she was carrying.

January 1, 2013
Nathan and I and our little guy, who will be one in a couple weeks, drove to Iowa to visit Elizabeth and Eric and watch some college football.  I'm almost never off work when everyone else is, so we took advantage of this rare day.  Everyone but me goes back to work tomorrow...I've manage to finagle a 3 day weekend for myself.

Nathan and I have been together nine years we've traveled quite a bit, gotten married, moved twice, had six jobs total, become an aunt and uncle-twice, and began raising a beautiful and hilarious baby boy!

Elijah Nathan

I was asleep, to begin with.  It was mid-afternoon on Wednesday, January 18 and I still had about an hour to sleep.  But, the phone rang.  In my sleepy haze, I answered the phone and heard Nathan talking about our adoption agency calling him.  They said a birthmother in a neighboring state really liked our profile and wanted to talk to us.  He kept saying I needed to call the agency because she wanted to talk to us that night.  Finally, my mind started working and all I could say was, "Nathan, did she pick us?"  He responded with "Yeah, that's why they want you to call them."  I hung up right away and called our adoption agency.  Our adoption coordinator answered the phone and said "talk about things happening for a reason."  Then, she told me about a birthmother who had one or two conditions we initially hadn't said we would accept.

"I didn't mean to send her your profile," the coordinator said.  "But I must have accidentally put it in the pile of profiles I sent because she picked you guys and wants to talk to you tonight."  She went on to tell me a few things about the birthmother, and that she was having a boy in one week. Then the coordinator gave me Birthmother's name and phone number.  I was in shock.  We hadn't even heard of this situation before hand.  She just liked our profile enough to think we would be good parents to her little boy.  Suddenly those few conditions didn't seem so daunting and we were so excited.

Nathan came home that night and we called her.  We were all very nervous, but it was a wonderful conversation which lasted about an hour.  She told us she wanted us to be in the delivery room when the baby was born.  She explained why she picked us and we told her about our lives at home and how we plan to handle day care after I go back to work.  She said she expected to need to be induced.

The minute we hung up the phone, I pulled out our big black duffel bag and started packing it.  I made sure the diaper bag was still packed from the last time we got called.  We told our parents and siblings.  We told our bosses.  Things went on pretty much as they had before.  I spoke with the birthmother one other time as we waited.  But, really, things were different.  I bought a car seat.

I put together the swing we bought and the bouncy seat we received as a present from my brother and sister-in-law.

We had to get all our paperwork updated and retained lawyers in both our state and Birthmother's state.  Birthmother was due on Friday, January 27 and we were ready to head to her state when she was induced. 

Nathan responded to all this stress by not sleeping.  He wasn't going to bed until 3 am most nights.  Finally on Wednesday the 25th, his body said "no more" and he was in bed at 7 pm.  That was my Sunday, so I stayed up, sitting at my computer reading articles about newborn care and playing an on-line game with a friend from work.  (We all keep strange hours.)  At 4 am Thursday, January 26, Nathan's alarm went off.  He didn't move and I shut if off.

Fifteen minutes later the phone rang, it was Birthmother.  "Margaret, I'm in labor," she said.  "Okay, we'll be there as fast as we can," was all I could say.  I shook Nathan's shoulder and woke him.  "Birthmother is in labor, we have to leave now."  "What?" he responded.  I finished packing our big duffel bag, I double checked both of the baby's bags.  An hour later, after Nathan had checked the car over carefully and we installed the car seat for the first time, we left.  We drove for seven hours, had one near miss with a semi and arrived safely at the hospital.

We made it, Birthmother was still in labor.  Her parents were both in the room and a friend of hers arrived.   Everyone was wonderful and even the hospital staff referred to us as "the parents."  She started pushing about 2 hours after we got there.  I stood on her left side and helped brace her while she pushed.  Nathan sat in the corner.

Baby boy arrived at 4:46 pm Thursday, January 26, 2012.  He was 8.09 lbs and 20 1/2 in.  We named him Elijah Nathan.  He was perfect and pink and healthy.

When the doctor pulled him out and placed him on Birthmother's chest, she reached down and grabbed my hand, pulling it up to the baby's stomach.  I could feel tears running down my cheeks.  I glanced over and Nathan was standing up, smiling with a look of complete awe and happiness.  Then they took Elijah off and cleaned him up, wrapped him and handed him to me.  I couldn't help it, I started singing to him.  The first song that came to my mind, which, I think is called "The Spinning Wheel."  After that, I handed him to Nathan.

The hospital gave us an empty room to stay in so that Elijah could be with us and we could feed and change him.  We were there for two days before moving to a hotel.  The next day we traveled to a bigger city where the lawyer's office is and stayed in a hotel there.  It was another five days before we finally received clearance from our state and Birthmother's state and were told we could leave. 

It has been so nice to be home.  Elijah is such a good baby, he sleeps well and eats well.  He doesn't fuss unless he is wet or hungry or wants his pacifier.

We thank God for Birthmother and for everyone who has supported us and cheered for us all along the way.

My favorite things

There have been a lot of new experiences and ideas going on lately and I thought I might share some of my favorites.

I've never liked pie much.  However, last shift rotation, one of my coworkers brought in a cherry pie and I had a slice.  I loved it! Since then I've made two myself.  I just buy premade pie crusts and cans of filling and make it that way.  Maybe I'll have to try making my own crust one day.

Nathan asked for clothes for Christmas and I was happy to buy them for him.  I realized, though, that I haven't gone out and bought clothes for myself probably since college.  Back then, my style was what I call, "15 year old skater boy."  I wore a lot of T-shirts and jeans.  Well, this year I worked some overtime Christmas eve, and there was also some holiday pay on the last check, so I decided to take the extra money and spend it on adult clothes.  Mom and I went to Old Navy, where the extra money went much farther than what I spent on Nathan at Christmas.  By far my favorite things I bought are my new jeans. When we walked in, I went straight to the 4-short size, because that is what I've always been.  Not so this time.  I bought two pairs of...wait for it...size 2-short!  I have never been a size-two before.  I haven't done anything to earn it and they probably just made their sizes bigger, but the tag says "2" and that's all that matters.  Not only that, but the legs are just exactly as long as I need them to be.  I'm not trying to brag, but it does make me feel good.


One of my Christmas presents was a gift card to Barnes and Noble.  Nathan and I talked about going up to the store in DeKalb one day before I hopped on their website.  I love the Barnes and Noble website.  I picked out three books The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Agony and the Ecstasy and Chesapeake.  I chose to order them used, which means I could afford all three and only go $.88 over my gift card total.

Several years ago, I read Wicked by Gregory Maguire.  I was entranced.  Then, Son of a Witch came out and after that A Lion Among Men appeared.  In the mean time I read his other books for adults and loved them all too.  About a month before Christmas I was reading a People magazine and saw Out of Oz listed in the book section as the last book in the Wicked series.  I put it on my Christmas list for my mother-in-law and received it.  The two middle books are good, but not as good as the first.  But this one, this is every bit the book Wicked is.  I love it.

If you've never seen my engagement ring, I'll tell you what it looks like...it's an oval cut sapphire with three diamonds on each side of it along the band.  I love it.  Diamonds have never been my thing and blue is my favorite color, so the sapphire is perfect.  Nathan told me for our anniversary this year he wanted to get me sapphire and diamond earrings to match it, but I don't wear earrings and I'm not about to start. (even though it was an incredibly sweet thought).  Instead, for Christmas, he got me a sapphire and diamond pendant necklace.  It's beautiful.  It is an oval cut sapphire surrounded by diamonds.  One of my coworkers mentioned that it looked like the Duchess of Cambridge's engagement ring.  And it does a little.

At first I didn't even know what it was, and then I resisted it as long as I could because, to be honest, it is a strange concept.  But one day I couldn't hold back any more, there were just too many cute, intriguing and interesting ideas out there.  I asked for an invite to Pinterest.  I have been hooked ever since.  It is a weird idea, just to post images out there and move them around.  But I think it's cool that there is a whole community of people willing to just share and inspire others.  I have more boards than I thought I would and I think I pin a little too much, but I can't help it.

So, here it is

Early last month, Nathan and I got an e-mail from our adoption agency saying there is a birthmother in another state that was due to give birth in mid-November and gave us a basic run down of her situation.  We considered it and talked to my mother and sent them an e-mail back saying we would like our profile presented to her.  Usually, they just show our profile, but this time her situation didn't match our parameters perfectly, so they wanted to make sure before they showed her our info.

Then, two Mondays ago (the 29th) I woke up at 12:30 to a phone call saying she chose us and she was basically due any second.  I was over the moon.  I called Nathan and he was over the moon.  Our parents and siblings all celebrated with us.  I had another 4 hours to sleep, but of course that wasn't about to happen now. So I decorated for Christmas and ran over lists in my head of everything we would need.

We both let our bosses know we would probably be gone for a while and, because you can't keep secrets where I work, everyone knew by the time I got there that night.  It was a fantastic day.

Mom and I went shopping and picked up some little things we didn't have that we would need.

I bought some Dreft and did my first ever load of baby laundry.

I washed my first ever group of bottles.

We packed the diaper bag.

Then, we waited for the call.  And we waited.  Days passed and we waited.  Finally, this past Monday, I called the adoption agency to see if there was any news.  They advised me that she most likely had the baby already and decided to keep it and not say anything to anyone.

We were heartbroken.  But at the same time, I knew that if it wasn't meant to be then it was better he stayed with his mother.  Even though it didn't work out, it still gave us reason to hope.  We've been contracted with our agency since June 2010 and this is the first time we know of that someone has been serious about us.  It is uplifting, even though it fell through.

And if you're one of the many people we didn't tell when we heard she picked us: this is why.  Our parents wanted very badly to tell everyone but we asked them to hold off, in case this happened.  I couldn't bear to think of having to tell everyone it didn't work out.

So, yeah, it sucks and yeah, yesterday when I was addressing Christmas cards and watching Santa Claus is Coming to town I started crying randomly.  But we keep praying and hopefully, we'll have a baby soon.

Number crunching

Since we've been married, Nathan and I have been pretty careful with our money.  We both have cars we paid cash for, and we don't carry credit card balances month to month and we have paid off a couple of our student loans.

But we've been noticing lately that we could probably be saving more money each month.  Therefore, starting in November, we are going to be on a monthly budget.  I sat down and tried to work out budgeting for myself and didn't really do too well.

So, I turned to my mom, Queen of Budgets, and asked for help.  She taught me how to estimate what all our expenses will be, give myself a monthly allowance for groceries and try to guess how much each of us will spend on gas.  Hopefully the grocery budget will also lead to other things I've been meaning to do, like using coupons.  Beyond that, we are each going to have a monthly allowance for what Nathan calls "random fun money."  That will be for things like eating out, movies, yarn and books, or snacks.

It's going to take a while to get in the swing of it and figure out just how much we need to hang on to for each category, but hopefully it will help us put more money into savings each month.

1,000 Little things

Lately, every time I think to myself, I should write a post about that, I realize it would only last a paragraph or two.  There just isn't that much going on around here:

I've been on vacation since the 18th and go back Saturday.  It has been very nice.  Mostly, I've stayed home and relaxed.

Nathan and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 21st with a dinner at JMK Nippon in Rockford, the restaurant we went to for our first "official" date and also where we went the night we got engaged.

On the 22nd, my cousin got married and we all got to spend time with the family, one of my favorite things.

Because of some strange symptoms and goings on with my health, I am now wearing a 4-week event monitor, which I began on Monday.  I have to say, I'm not a fan.  Hopefully, this will tell the doctors what they want to know.

For Christmas last year, Elizabeth gave me fall colored yarn and I just finished knitting it into a blanket.  The blanket itself isn't very big, but it's more decorative than anything.

Fall is a very busy time for Nathan.  He pitched in again this year at the apple orchard close to home.  He does this every year because the people who own it are friends of his parents.  Now that that's over it will be time to help out with harvest soon.

We just had one of our biannual visits with our social worker.  It seemed to go well and she was very encouraging.

That's about all we've got going on here.

Wishful Shopping

It has been just over a year since we signed our contract with Angel Adoption.  Since it's a two year contract, I have always kind of dreaded getting to this place.  We are over halfway through now, and as far as I know, no closer to becoming parents.

I do my best to keep mine and Nathan's spirits up and remind myself that God's timing is not our timing, but it doesn't always help.  Why is it that when things are starting to look a little bleak or become a little overwhelming, is when everyone I know gets pregnant or has their baby?  I've noticed this phenomenon throughout the whole process.

My biggest problem is figuring out what to do with myself.  How do I spend my time?  What should I be buying or preparing?  Is buying or preparing anything a universal adoption jinx that I just don't know about?

And then there's Nathan...Nathan who won't talk about the baby much or even how he's feeling about the process unless I mention it's stressing me out.  He doesn't like to talk about names or painting the nusery (even though it needs to be done).  How am I supposed to support Nathan and his feelings when I don't even know what they are?  Why do men always think we are mindreaders? 

I've read all the adoption books I care to and they can't really say anything new about where we are in the process because really, there is no set way to handle it.

With that in mind, I actually have done a little shopping...We decided a long time ago, that we wanted the nursery theme to be farm animals; it's perfect, cute and reflects who we (or rather Nathan) are as people and its androgynous, which is probably the most important factor.

Not long after we signed the contract Fisher Price came out with a line of swings called "How Now Brown Cow" that was a farming theme.  Our local Target started carrying it and everytime I walked into the store I would go and stare wistfully at the swings.  Nathan got a $50 giftcard from work for administrative professionals day and I knew he would never use it, so early last month, I went to Target and bought the swing, which was normally $100 but was on sale the day I got there...

Not long after, I went to Lombard with my mom, who was shopping for a baby shower gift for my nephew Brian Patrick.  We went into Babies R Us and one of the first things I saw was a 6-piece crib set on sale for $90 from about $180.  Seriously, this was an amazing sale.  The theme was "Animal Acres" and since then I've found they actually discontinued the set.  So, I bought that too.  While we were there my mom picked up an extra crib sheet and the wall appliques of the same set for me.

There are a bunch of other things I want to do.  I want to find a smallish bookcase and paint it white and then add in pastel paints of all different colors, my favorite quotes from all the books I love beginning with "Once upon a time in Spain..." from Ferdinand, my very first favorite book.  I've picked out two possible colors for the nursery and I'd like to get it painted.  I want to spend half a paycheck on books and buy the cute "police uniform" onesie I saw in an ad the other day.

But maybe I'll wait...

Licensed!

We are officially ready to be adoptive parents.  We have been vetted and licensed by the State of Illinois.  They have signed off on us as people and are prepared to let us raise whatever children God may choose to give us.  We are very blessed.

Stepping forward...a little

Finally, after many months of anxiety and checking the mailbox everyday for our license, all our paperwork for the adoption has gone through successfully.  We still haven't gotten our physical license yet, but our social worker assured Nathan by phone the other day that everything has been okayed and we should have the license within the week.

And hopefully, in the next few days, our information will appear on our agency's website.  This is the official last step before we are chosen.  And yet, I find myself feeling even more anxious and nervous now than I did when nothing was happening.  We have come almost eight months into our two year contact and have only gotten this far.  I am very afraid no one will have chosen us by the time our contract runs out. 

But I am excited.  I have started looking at cribs and infant necessities.  I hope we'll need them soon

Meal Planning

For a few months, Nathan and I had slipped into a very bad habit of eating out or buying food at the grocery store piecemeal for different meals we wanted to have.  This was expensive and of course, not good for us.  I decided to put a stop to it and began making menus and then creating shopping lists from the menus and using that when I bought food, adhering to the lists as strictly as possible.  Then we had meals for two weeks, or if something unforeseen came up and we ended up eating elsehwere, longer than two weeks.  Plus the left overs provided good options for lunches and dinners after the two weeks.  Flipping through cookbooks to find different foods also helped expand what we eat on a normal basis.

The system worked fairly well the first run through.  I only bought about two things that weren't on the list and we stuck to the planned meals mostly.  The second run through has been less successful.  First, I completely forgot to buy food for one meal, then we went through a week in which Nathan was sick, then I was sick, and no one wants to eat a full dinner when they are sick, no matter how great it is.  Then my sister got married last Saturday and we were eating out Friday and Saturday nights, of course.

I'm hoping to be back on track with it this week.

Me and the Meatloaf

When I was a child we ate meatloaf a total of 1 (one) time.  My mother made it one night and the only person who even remotely liked it, was Elizabeth.  Mom was never one of those mothers who made whatever she wanted and then forced everyone else to eat it.  So, by popluar concensus, the meatloaf never made a repeat appearance on the family dinner table.

And since then, I've only had it one time.  About a year and a half ago I was visiting my very good friend Bonnie and she prepared meatloaf for lunch.  I have to say, I enjoyed it quite a bit.  Much more than I remembered liking it as a child.

These days I'm trying to plan meals for us, cook different things and take shopping lists when I go buy groceries.  I got adventurous when I was planning our last week and set one night aside for meatloaf.  When the night arrived, I pulled out my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook flipped open to the meatloaf recipe and set to work.

It wasn't as bad as I was fearing, but then it wasn't nearly as good as Bonnie's.  I blame the brown sugar in the sauce.  I have a very strong feeling about the flavors of sauces.  If it is supposed to go on a meat, it should be salty, not sweet.  Sweet is reserved for deserts and drinks only.

Does anyone have a meatloaf recipe they would be willing to share that maybe has a sauce that is sans brown sugar?

Also, meatloaf proved much better as leftovers.

Wife Things

Nathan and I both kind of wish we could afford for me to stay home.  But we can't and we don't often dwell on it.  And really, I enjoy my job.  Of course there are days when things don't quite go my way and I get home and just feel exhausted.  And it's stressful, extremely stressful on occasion.

That's why when it comes to my weekends, I usually like to watch movies or work on knitting projects or read or just generally relax.  Needless to say, this doesn't do a whole lot to contribute to household duties, or "wife things."  Don't worry, that's my phrase for them, Nathan would never seriously call house chores "wife things." 

But yesterday, I took the menus and list I had created the night before and went grocery shopping.  And for me, never having approached shopping this way, I did pretty well.  I only bought 2 non-list items and only a couple name-brand things.  So, after groceries were bought, I came home and saw all the dishes waiting for Nathan's attention.  For about five weeks, Nathan was working 7 day weeks and then he was working hard on getting all the leaves raked up.  He's pretty great.  So, I rolled up my sleeves and did the dishes myself. 

While that was going on, I was also working on laundry.  I had a load of whites out on the line (in mid-November, I know, it's crazy.)  I also put a load of our work clothes in the washer and hung them up in the basement when they were done. 

And when all that was done, I made dinner. To be perfectly honest, all this happened because I wanted it to.  I really enjoyed everything I did as I was working on it.  It made me happy to relieve Nathan of the pressure of dirty dishes and having to go shopping. 

I guess I'm not so bad at these wife things.

Too Many Janes...too many Edwards...

My husband suffers, I think more than most people understand.  I, of course, realize it because I'm usually the one inflicting his sufferings upon him.  Seriously, who but me has the desire to watch every version of Jane Eyre ever made?

Jane Eyre is my favorite book, has been since 7th grade (I think.)  In fact, Edward Rochester, the book's main male role, was my very first love.  I fell for him for all the reasons a girl falls for someone at that age.  He was strong and rich, not exactly handsome.  Although Jane is a simple governess he can see that her spirit and heart are the equals of his own and treats her that way.

So, when I found out that someone had made a film version of Jane Eyre, I knew I had to see it.  More than anything else so that I could discover how someone would dare interpret the giant of my imagination.  Since then, it has been like a sickness.  Everytime I find out about a different version, I have to watch it.  Netflix and the library loan system have been my great aids in this endeavor.  I own two different versions and just this week two others arrived at the library for me.  My favorite version so far is probably the older BBC version with Timothy Dalton.

Poor Nathan, usually he just holes up in his office and passes through the room occasionally, shaking his head at me.

4th Anniversary Weekend

In celebration of our 4th anniversary, which conveniently fell on a Thursday, which is my Saturday, I took two extra days off.  And I have to say, my four day weekend was very worth it. 

We spent our actual anniversary day in an adoption seminar listening to birthmothers tell stories about their relationships with the children they placed for adoption and the families they were placed into.  Our anniversary dinner was at Taco Bell.  Oh well.

The next day was 4th anniversary observed and we went out to dinner at my favorite bar.  Sadly, the food was not of the best quality, definitley not what it has been in the past.  Then we went to the university where the theater and dance department was putting on a production of Twelfth Night my favorite of Shakespeare's comedies.  It was awesome. 

And really, the rest of the weekend was very low key.  Saturday, which might actually have been my favorite day of the whole weekend, we didn't do anything.  Literally.  We stayed at home, we read, we played video games.  We didn't actually leave the house until close to 11 pm when we decided we wanted a pizza.  Sunday must have been "family day" we had breakfast with my family and then spent most of the rest of the night with Nathan's family.  It was pretty great.

Thanks to my mom and dad for the lovely card and the cookies, they did not make it through the weekend.  Thanks to Pam and Craig for the new microwave.  I LOVE IT! 

Reality

Our home visit with the social worker is over.  And, honestly, just like all the adoption books I've been reading have predicted, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  That doesn't mean all the cleaning and preparations were unnecessary.  It was just a more relaxed process than I anticipated.  Our social worker arrived and came into the kitchen were we sat around the table filling out paperwork while we had muffins (that I decided to bake so that the house smelled warm and homey) and coffee. 

Then we just gave her a tour around the house.  It was really fairly simple.  And then she left.  We kind of stood there and looked at each other and said "well, what now?"  There is a three part seminar series our agency is hosting that we are going to.  We are 2/3 done with it and those hours count toward our 16 hours each of training.  So all we have to do is finish training.  Really....All we have to do is finish training.  That is so weird. 

It has been close to 3 years since we have started thinking seriously about adoption and now here we are.  Finish our training and our profile will start being given to birthmothers.  That is the strangest thought.  I thought there would be more to it than this...not that I want there to be.  I just thought it would be harder somehow.  Of course, our homestudy hasn't been approved yet, it could still be really hard.  I sincerely hope it's not. 

The "Holy Crap" List

Our social worker is coming to inspect the house on October 15.  I have no idea how old this house is as a structure.  It has a history as a carriage house before it was turned into a home, so it is quite old.  It was also badly treated in the recent past.  So, we have quite a few things  to do around the house.

1. Clean and organize our breezeway (the space is newly bereft of our old refrigerator and I hope it will make a good mudroom)
2. Clean both bathrooms and wash/scrape the walls.  The paint needs a good touching up.
3. Clean and organize every room
4. Sweep and mop all floors
5. Sweep garage and basement
6. Adjust temperature on water heater
7. Trim the lovely vine that grows up the trellis on one side of our house
8. Reattach the downspouts to the garage
9. Hang and put batteries in smoke detectors/CO detector

 There are also quite a few things we need to do outside the house

• The cats need rabies shots and I was hoping we could get Hyperion professionally groomed (he needs it)
• We need to have our fingerprints done
• We have a few finance matters to get ironed out
• We need to get our references back from friends 
• We have to purchase a fire extinguisher
• Some of the pictures we submitted for the parent profile were rejected because they were too blurry so we need to find a time and someone with a good camera and have a bunch of pictures of us retaken

We also have a series of 3 adoption classes on Thursday nights beginning October 14.  Our anniversary is the 21st (it's our fourth, we'll be in class).  But then on the 22nd we're going out for a nice dinner and to a play.

As you can see, the next few weeks are going to be quite hectic for us as we try to get our home ready for our home visit.  By the way, if you're in the area and bored one day, please feel free to stop by and help out!

It's so Pretty!

In the midst of Nathan spending his weekends working at a local apple orchard, me working on the books and looking for a job and substitute teaching, we continue fixing up the house room by room and piece by piece.

This month, I'm going to repaint Nathan's office (which is dark blue and doesn't go with the rest of the house), but the true excitement of the early month comes from our work on the front door.

When we moved in, it looked like this:

After quite a bit of scraping and using liquid scraper and sanding and making this past weekend a marathon of scraping, sanding and painting, the front door looks like this:

We still need to do a few touch-ups, but it is a huge improvement. The house has a very "cottagey" feel and I wanted a bright bold color for the front door. Pam and Craig picked this out and I think it's perfect.

Found on the Side of the Road

I had an interview at for a full-time position at Northern yesterday and while I was at home getting ready for it, I noticed Nathan left his wallet at home, something he's never done before.

The lady I interviewed with told me I should arrive an hour early because parking is hard to find, or I could just park in the Newman Center's parking lot. With my interview at 1, I left here at 11:45 and drove to DeKalb. As I was headed down Route 38 by the university, I looked to the side as I approached the McDonald's and there was Nathan standing on the sidewalk. I slowed down and motioned him into a nearby parking lot and rolled down the window.

"I forgot my lunch," he said, sticking his head in the car.
"You forgot your wallet!" I countered. He hadn't realized it. He made a terrified face and patted his butt, looking for the missing wallet.
"Did you bring it with you?"
"No, how did I know I was going to see you? Get in, I'll buy you lunch."

We went to McDonald's and he ate while I thought about my interview. Then he went with me to find the building and somewhere to park. We did end up parking at the Newman Center and while we were standing in the building's hallway, waiting for noon Mass to finish so we could pay someone for parking, Nathan lint rolled my jacket.

I'm sure he's glad I found him there, so he could eat. But I'm glad I found him because it took us a little while to find the building where my interview was and he kept calm and helped me stay calm.

Three Years Ago

Three years ago right now...3:17 p.m., my brand new husband and I were being chauffeured by my good friends to our wedding reception.

It has been a wonderful three years with lots of new experiences and lessons. I love you, Nathan!

This picture is from our honeymoon in Ireland.