Some news - just not THE news

When we returned home, we had an e-mail from our agency that all 4 signatures have been received for accreditation. Now we just await the official certificate! Hopefully in a few days I'll be posting THE good news!

Yep Deb, you were right when you wrote in the previous comments, "Hopefully when you come home they'll be some good news of accreditation and you'll have to get busy on paperwork. "

We've already got instructions for some new paperwork.

Home from Alaska

We returned home about 3:30 a.m. Sunday. We're pooped! D just woke up (nearly 11:00!) she's never slept so late in her life!

We had a great time. I'll post more about it later.

We're off to clean up the mobile home and turn in the keys! Finally we'll only have one home, it's been chaotic to say the least!

Oh, and p.s. I only gained 1 pound! I know because the morning we left I was sure my suitcase weighed over the 50 pound limit, so I weighed myself, then held the suitcase and weighed again. It was only 41.5!

Found the big suitcase

Hubby found the big suitcase in the rental storage unit last night. I got it cleaned up and in the house this morning and had a sad moment when I opened it up. It still had lots of stuff in it from our trip to visit Viktoria in October, 2006. I had left things in there for "when we went back". I had to throw out most of the things in our medicine bag, it was all expired. I can't believe it has been nearly 2 years (in 4 months) since we last saw her.

I'm about 1/4 packed with my stuff, I haven't even begun D's stuff and hubby will take care of his own for the most part. I'm able to relax a bit about it now that we have an appointment for the closing of the house.

Phew - Finally!

We'll close at 2 p.m. central on Thursday. That is cutting it close! We'll sleep here for the first time that night and then up at 4 a.m. to go on our trip! Maybe I'll at least get to take a bath!

Ok, back to packing!

p.s. Yes, Debbie! You and Izzie are welcome anytime! Maybe mid-late July????

p.s.s. Elle, if you're reading, I don't know if we'll have an opportunity to meet up - the time is going to be super tight! I'll try and e-mail you.

Some pictures - Yay!

Dining Room part of kitchen, just waiting for us to come eat there!

D's room, moving in.

D's bathroom finished with accessories.

Here is the garage door, we're still waiting on the "carriage door" accessories. This picture was taken before we laid the Saint Augustine sod. Big job! Hot - Texas - 95*!

We're about 90% moved in and HOPE to close by Wednesday, still no confirmation. We leave Friday morning at 6 a.m. to go to Alaska! This is stress, let me tell you! I need to pack for the three of us to be gone for 8 days and our lives are topsy turvy. I don't even KNOW where the big suitcase is!

Calgon, take me away! Oh wait, I can't take a bath here until we close!!! Aaaaghhh!

Still not in!

No, we're still not moved in - really. We've got about 80% of our "stuff" moved over, but we're not allowed to live here yet until we've closed. We're having all kinds of aggravations paperwork wise. It's all going to work out, but getting all the people to work together in a timely manner is maddening! Kind of like adoption, right??

You'd think we'd be good at maddeningly slow paperwork and waiting, huh?

So, the telephone was switched over last Friday as well as the DSL (yay!), but then our old computer wouldn't work with the new DSL/wireless modem so finally hubby brought his laptop over on Tuesday night and got it going. It's been crazy in my world the last couple of weeks!

The house was "finished" on Friday the 30th and the cleaners came and cleaned it all up. But there was still a list of little details and so the painters, plumbers, carpenters and electricians dirty the floors all up again. Actually a plumber is here working right now to finish up the water line to the ice maker.

I'll try getting some pictures up soon. I haven't had any computer time with all the moving and laying sod we've been doing. As well as swimming lessons for D and her final dance rehearsals before recital. We had her recital this past Sunday so all that is behind us as well.

I'm ready to just finally get moved in here and take a nice long soak in my big tub and hibernate for the rest of the summer!

I'm sorry I've left you all hanging with no info. It's been beyond hectic. But I'm soooooo glad to have fast internet again! Yay!!

An Exciting Day (house-wise) !!!!!

YES! The Kitchen appliances were delivered this morning!! I am so ecstatic over this! I hugged the fridge! It's the oven that I am going to kiss - once they remove the wrappings! I can't wait to get my hands on it!! Now all I'm waiting for is the dryer vent to be installed so my new washer and dryer can be delivered and then I'll truly be in appliance heaven!

The pile on the left is the cooktop, with the dishwasher underneath and the microwave/vent hood in front. To the right of the island, the big box is my ovens!!!

More to come! I'll have to go take more pictures this evening after the workers leave. Hint, hint - the plumber came today!!

OH So Busy

So busy right now with last bits of house building things. Busy end of first grade things. Busy with church things!

No pictures right now, but here's the latest scoop:

• Been updating the other half our dossier that expired 4/29 - hopefully it'll be off to Austin today.
• Builder called and it's time for the appliances to be delivered! Yayyy!
• Closet man came and installed the rest of the closet things (bars, etc).
• Floor man finally finished D's bathroom.
• Faucets, sinks, toilets, towel bars, etc. delivered and sitting all over the house. When is the plumber coming??
• Baseboard trim pieces installed today on completed floors!
• Formica is installed in laundry room, office and entry hall - launch pad (did I include that in the last update?)

More later. Gotta run!

A few pictures

Wow, I've not posted in a while!

Life has been really hectic. I've got lots of pictures to upload of house progress, but there has been no internet access. I'm at the library right now, that's how desperate it has become! Hubby's new offices are having terrible internet problems since they moved and networked on a new system. Plus he's on vacation this week so we've not been up to the office all week anyhow.

Let me just say, we're about one and half weeks from move-in, or so it looks! They're laying flooring as we speak! All the painting is done, all the lighting is in. The countertops are in. You've missed so much, I'm sorry! I'll get you updated soon, though, I promise!

Hubby's parents are here until tomorrow. Plus yesterday was our 13th anniversary. Add to that daily trips to the bigger town 45 minutes away to go to L@wes, etc. for this or that and I've not had time to post.

You'll be amazed once I finally get time to post pictures!

Hang in there :O)

Still Learning

A few weeks ago I mentioned in my blog about the Smith family and their unborn daughter, Audrey Caroline. Audrey was born April 7 and lived a miraculous 2 hours and 27 minutes.
The Smith family has been an amazing testament of God's grace and mercy even in the midst of a terrible time.

The Smith's pastor, Pete Wilson, is doing a series about "Plan B" when life doesn't turn out the way you'd planned. In his latest lesson in this series he shares the Smith's story.

Please find 30 minutes to watch this video. I promise it will speak to you. It will cause you to hug your children and your family tighter when you get home.


Smith Family Story from Matthew Singleton on Vimeo.

Toward the end of the video, Angie shares how through this she has learned that Audrey's death was not God's Plan B. The way things worked out were always God's Plan A. This was simple, yet profound for me.

There are still days when I long for our adoption of Viktoria to have turned out differently. There is not one day that goes by that I don't think of her and all the "what if's." Just this morning in the shower I was thinking how she "should have been" home with us for two years by now. There are so many times when I cry out to God in this terrible wait to complete our family. But even though it seems incomprehensible to us, it has always been God's Plan A.

Just like Angie cried out to God saying, "Please, please let Audrey live! It will be a testimony to Your wonder and power!" I've cried out to God so many times, "Please, please bring Viktoria home! It will be a testimony to Your wonder and power! Please let accreditation come for us so we can bring home our long awaited child" I have so wanted to show God's strength through our adoption.

Oh I know that the pain and hurt that we've been through in this adoption is not one drop in a bucket compared to what the Smith's have dealt with. But God is teaching me through their experience. I'm holding on to God's Plan A!

Weekend House Update

It looks like we'll have lots to update from now until the house is done!

They got the desk stained:

The color on the dining area wall:

The beadboard painted and the wall color in D's room:

The vinyl guy came back and has just about got the dormers and final trimwork done:

It's really beginning to be exciting to see many things being finished each day. The painter said they should be done by Friday. He also said that he overheard that the counter tops should be in this week too.

I'll keep you posted!

A little update

Not anything to update on OUR adoption front.

There is good news out in adoption land, though, for Debbie, a good friend of mine and I look forward to hearing more about her wonderful news!

Last Friday we got an updated e-mail from our agency saying that the accreditation paperwork is still in active review, but no official word yet as to being complete.

In new house news, the staining is finally complete as well as the prep-work on all the walls and trim such as caulking and filling in all those hundreds of little nail holes. They’ve got all the windows and doors and cabinetry all covered up with plastic now and have done a primer coat on D’s beadboard. We just stopped by and they were painting in my closet and prepping doors for painting. I am so glad they’re finally moving forward on the actual painting part. It took a long time for the staining and prep-work. Over two weeks for that phase. I wonder if I can dare to hope that they’ll be done with painting by the end of this week??

As I type this, we are on our way to a larger town about 1 hour away to go to Kirkland Home and see if we can find mirrors for the girls’ bathroom and the powder room. I love Kirkland Home! They have great decorative items at a very reasonable price.

I got some photos of the new desk yesterday before it was stained, but now it’s stained and covered up with plastic wrap, so I’ll have to wait to get more photos of that later. I also took some up close photos of the front porch after the railing was painted. Maybe by the time I’m able to post this to the blog, I’ll have some colorful photos of the new paint.

The outdoor shutters were delivered last week, and I’m anxious to see those put on. I think it will really make the outside look more complete. Of course we’re still waiting on the vinyl siding guy to come back and finish the dormers and the trim work over the front porch. I hope he comes soon!

I ordered the cabinet pulls last week, they should be in soon. I was so surprised how expensive those things are. I ordered 75 of them and will do some from L@wes or H@me Dep@t for the girls’ bathroom and the laundry room.

I am anxious to see the colors on the walls. I’m so afraid that the main color I chose is going to be too dark!

Blah, blah, blah.

I feel like I’m sitting here talking about cabbages and kings. Inconsequential things. Pretending the elephant is not sitting right in the middle of the room, or blog in this case.

I so very badly wish I had some adoption news to share. I’ve been kind of down about it lately. It’s just taking a ridiculously long time no matter how you look at it. I guess since we’re coming to the end of the house building it is becoming more evident that we still don’t have our child home.

Good grief! We’re waiting for an already born child (according to our dossier age range!), it’s not like we’re waiting for a child to be conceived and gestated! And here, during this time, we’ve built an entire new house and still haven’t managed to bring this already born, waiting for a family, child across the world and home.

Ridiculous.

Updated pictures of the house

I've got a couple more new pictures of the driveway and sidewalk. Not too extremely exciting, but OH so nice not to have to wade through the mud and the muck! In the top picture, see all the garbage in the background? They finally hauled it all away yesterday, halellujah! You can see the new improved yard from the picture today!

The computer desk was delivered and installed today from the cabinet maker. Now it has to be stained as well. At first we'd decided not to have it built in, but we shopped around and couldn't find anything in the right size for that spot that fit our needs, so we had the cabinet maker build it. It took him a while. I forgot to take a picture of it today, I'll add it in later.

Oh! And they also got the porch railing painted, you can just barely see it a tiny bit in the second picture, I'll have to take a picture of that too and add it in. It is satin black on top and bottom rail and the middle spindles are white.

** It looks like we're about a month away from completion!! We're hoping for the week after mother's day. Hubby has taken that week off for a vacation week. The 13th of May is our 13th anniversary. Maybe we'll get a GREAT anniversary present this year!!

More House Update News - No Adoption News

Well, at least there is good news with our house progress. I guess there will be lots of activity from here on out now that we're down to the nitty gritty.

Yesterday they began the forms for the driveway, sidewalk and patios!! This was a huge surprise to us. We went to meet with the stain guy first thing in the morning and the cement guy was already there. We had a huge mud puddle in the morning and these nice neat forms by evening!

Front Sidewalk form.

Back Patio form.

The first coat of stain on the kitchen cabinets.

Cabinet doors and drawers with two coats of stain. Next comes 4 layers of laquer.

They added the front porch columns and railing and although you can't see it very well, the top of the porch now has its arched detail

They added the attic pulldown in the garage.

My bathtub was finally removed from its box and the plumber got it installed! He had to move the drain pipe. They had installed it in the center and this tub has a side drain, so the cement had to be jack-hammered.

The beadboard detail was added in D's room: