Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Lesson Learned - Sometimes It's Best to Stay on the Sidewalk

Friday was a busy day. We loaded everything in our car to head to Utah to take mom home and go to a wedding. We were ready to leave as soon as the boys were done with school. Christian was in a geography bee at the middle school and so we had made arrangements for the 2 elementary school boys to walk the 1 block to the middle school to meet us there. They were supposed to arrive around 3 p.m. When they didn't arrive I went outside to look for them. A few minutes later Gerry went out to look for them, but still now sign of them.
We concluded they must have forgotten to come to the middle school and had taken the bus. That would give us 20 minutes before they were home.
Unfortunately, Christian missed his question and was eliminated from the competition. We raced home, but the boys were not there. We left mom there to call us if they arrived. We headed back towards to the schools and called the elementary school - no sign of the boys. I began to panic. Had they been abducted?
As we passed by the middle school our friend Heather began honking and waving ferociously. Thank heavens she had the boys in her minivan. She explained what happened.
Apparently, the boys decided it would be more fun to walk off the sidewalk in the snow. Jeremiah's leg fell in a deep hole- possibly an animal den. He couldn't get out. He sent his little brother for help. Little brother flagged down our friend Heather who was driving past them. After a great struggle she was able to get Jeremiah's leg out, but had to go home to get a shovel to dig out the boot. Jeremiah's leg was pretty numb and we are lucky he didn't get frost bite.
So, my boys learned a valuable lesson. Sometimes the clear and straight path may not be as fun to travel, but in the end it may prove to be the safest way to go.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

20 Months of Waiting for a Referral

Today marks 20 months of waiting for our baby girl referral. I find myself very emotional today. Mainly because I am very frustrated with how long this adoption process is taking. At the beginning of the month, we were given a new estimate of another 4 months until referral. It is hard to really trust this timeline as it has changed so many times. We have spent so much money and spent so much time getting paperwork redone, etc. due to the long process. It's exhausting. I think the holidays also bring out the longing to have our baby girl.
It also appears that I will most likely need to get a part-time job until our other house sells. That is killing me as I don't want to leave Parker. He is such a sweet boy. Gerry's work is not paying what they told us they would, so money is tight. I most likely will do substitute teaching as it is more flexible. This will allow me to be home when the other kids get out of school- as to not have to pay more daycare.
I realize we are more fortunate than most and so I don't want to appear ungrateful. I'm just a little down and discouraged. I've worked my tail off for the last 2 years trying to get Tall Clothing Mall to make a decent wage, but Internet marketing is really competitive and hard. I will continue to run it- as I still believe I offer a great service.
It has snowed a ton the last few days and will continue to snow the rest of the week. It is beautiful to have a white Christmas, but boy is it cold -12 degrees this morning. Brrr.
Today also marks my parent's anniversary. Mom is still visiting us. I know she is totally bored and ready to go home this weekend. I also miss my dad. I was such a daddy's girl. I miss his gentle yet wise advice.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

I Started a new Online Deals Blog

Yes, you read that right, I started another blog. Don't tell my family (just kidding). Part of the way I am raising money for my adoption is through my websites. I come across some really great deals along the way and so I decided to start a new blog for general online deals. Introducing Krista's Deals.

Parker's Birthday

Yesterday Parker turned 3. Up until his birthday he kept telling us he didn't want a birthday and that he didn't want to get bigger. Neither do I. I was trying to get him excited about his birthday and I finally told him he was having a party and that Max, his cousin, would be coming over and maybe they would bring presents. That did the trick!
He started jumping up and down and going crazy. "Presents, presents, presents. I love presents." So he finally accepted that it was fine to be 3 as long as there are presents. Now on to potty training. (trying to control my excitement). Yippee Skippy.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Adoption Phrases Scrapbook Deal of Day Deal

I thought I'd let you know about a great deal at GraveyardMall.com. On their home page they have the deal of the day and you can choose from 4 scrapbook assortments. Craft Assortment #2 has a piece in it called "Adoption Phrase Cafe Classic ". This might be good for our adoption scrapbooks. It is going today for $8.99 compare at $62.25


Update 4/1/09. This item is still available and is now only $6.99 search for (Craft Assortment #2) or (adoption).

Below are some other adoption scrapbook items you make like:


If anyone else knows any great places to get adoption scrapbooking supplies, please put it in the comments below.