Monday, July 13, 2015

Adoption update . . .

Last post left some people hanging and it's time to tell 'the rest of the story'....
We finally heard back from the case worker and they chose the other family for the sibling set of 3.  Cue sound of deflating balloons and horns trailing off...As Colleen says, BUMMER!!!  Well, we have had a lot of other things going on to distract us.  So in true ME fashion, I'm going to rattle off a random list...
- We got kayaks!  We tested them out and so far so good.  We were out in the Great Lake Michigan the other day - it was a beautiful day!!  Mo paddled his own and Colleen sat in mine.  When we were almost all the way back, Colleen elected to switch to Mo's kayak.  It was so much fun hearing them laugh and Mo tried to get her to harmonize w/him, singing Beatles' tunes.  They crack me up!  She was imitating his diction and such, not his tone, b/c she didn't get what he meant.  He kept trying, and laughing, and trying again to explain tone.  Finally they got it and they didn't sound bad at all!  Mo is a pretty good singer since he has an exceptional ear for pitch/tone whatever you call it...I do not, hence the fact that I don't even know what to call it!
- The house is slowly getting into shape.  I am almost ready to put up pictures and decorate!  I have a vision for at least one room and I'm working on it for a few others.
- We got 3 new chickens.  Daisy, Sugar and Cinnamon!  We've been letting the 8 hens free range a bit in the afternoons.  Mostly they come back to the coop at night.  But - it seems they need a little assistance at times.  A few nights in a row, the feed bucket was getting dumped over by some scoundrels - we were guessing it was a raccoon but it could have been a deer.  (They have been really aggressive - eating TONS of my hostas, even the ones by the windows!!)  Then one night we couldn't find Daisy.  We hoped she would come back, but it's been a few nights and there's no sign of her.  The same night the whole entire 3 gal bucket went missing.  GONE.  No sight of it either.  We blame raccoons....Or something else big enough to haul a pail far enough into the woods that we can't find it!!  Ah well, country living, I guess.  So now we have 7 chickens total and I am sure to put them to bed a little earlier.  We've also heard a barn owl at 4 in the afternoon and seen hawks and such.  There are tons of toads, frogs, salamanders, hummingbirds, dragonflies, butterflies, etc...Colleen is in heaven catching things every day, sometimes multiples times a day!
- We spent some great days w/friends, celebrated a birthday, put up a screen house (twice!), camped a bit and Moses did a Dirty Ninja Mud Run!  All good things.  We've biked to town a few times and started attending a church closer to home.  We've toured the local school and there are a few doctor appointments and summer camps on the calendar.  We are praying for many friends and family members as they deal w/their own health issues and changes in their own lives.  There's always room for more on our prayer list, so let us know if you want to be added =)
- Our adoption case worker came out to the house to update our file.  Walked through the house, checked off a few things from the list of necessary papers she needed and we are about to be re-licensed.  We're ready for whatever God has planned for us next!  Thanks for praying for us and continually encouraging us...there are many emotions on this road and we lean on our family and friends often.  We appreciate you!  Thank you and if we hear anything else, we'll be sure to update again!