Chunky Monkey and Petita
I’ve started watching this sweet chunky monkey along with my sweet petita. They weigh about the same (right around 20 pounds), are the same size, and are a year and a half apart.
O, and they like it when I pick them up at the same time – HELLO biceps!
Filed under Home life | Comment (1)Start, Spark, Begin
As the New Year resolutions begin to wind down and become tangled in the day-to-day operation of good intention (in my case it often stops there) I can’t help but think that is why I don’t think 2010 (or any other year) will be THE YEAR that makes me or others truly different. But, I can’t stop hoping to start again either.
For me, the changing of the year doesn’t hold the promise it does for some. It’s the middle of winter, I’ve gained the holiday weight, and it’s raining outside with little chance of stopping until May. So I think I really prefer my new beginnings in the spring.
In the spirit of the season (even if it isn’t stirring my soul) there is a spark of positive change in the wind for us.
We are hoping to make some changes in this household. We don’t have the resources we need to live the life God is calling us to live. We live comfortably, lacking nothing, and are pretty spoiled in many ways. But, we need to change our spending habits. We need to change our home. We need to change our lifestyle. All that if we want to add another member to our family through adoption, if I ever get to be a full-time stay at home mom, or if we ever want more room in our house.
So, here are some of our activities this month and some of our intentions for the year.
This month we’ve been doing the “Eat From the Pantry Challenge”. We have continued to buy milk and eggs, but otherwise we are trying hard to just eat up what we already have. It’s surprising how much we have tucked away and how easy it has been. Not all the meals have been stellar, but all have been edible.
We are cleaning the garage and I wish I had taken pictures. It went from trash-heap to a usable workspace. Now to start using the workspace to create some things to make changes around our home.
We are beginning to use coupons again after a hiatus of not using them (partly because we stopped getting the newspaper and mostly because I am lazy). Now Hubby is getting them online.
We hope to begin living on only Hubby’s paycheck. We haven’t done that in years past and we aren’t sure yet if it will be a reality for us in the future.
We hope to pay off Husband’s school loans. They aren’t overwhelming (like mine), and we are tired of having them around.
We hope to begin volunteering in our community once a month, in ministries we believe in and are drawn to. As Christians, I thought we probably should know who the “least of these” are in our community.
We hope to have less screen time in our lives. Less TV, less browsing, less blogs, less phones/iPods/games, just less. And to replace it with relationships and fruitful labor.
This year, I hope to live my priorities.
I would love to hear from those who read this (family and friends) how do you save? What have you done recently that was fulfilling? Challenging? Helpful to yourselves or others? What goals top your list?
Filed under Adoption, Home life | Comments (2)Family Expansion II
Well, we submitted our application for adoption #2 to International Family Services in mid-December. For the first adoption, I started blogging about half-way through the process and really in some ways that makes the most sense.
Our family and dear friends already understand, and most other people who read this blog have already been through (or are going through) adoption, so they get it. Other people might not. This first step is like saying you are trying to get pregnant. You don’t know if you can get pregnant but you assume you can. People start asking you about it. You may get pregnant right away or it make take a long time or it may never happen. If it doesn’t happen right away then SOME people begin to feel sorry for you. So, I debated whether to share this or whether to wait until we actually have something in the way of real news. But if I’m going to show you all how I leave flammable hot mitts in the oven while cooking, then this shouldn’t raise any eyebrows, right?
What we’ve done is made the decision to do this again. We have no idea how long this will take or what country we will adopt from but we are up for the journey. And even though this is part deux we have no expectation this process will even faintly resemble our last. But I will try to keep the blog updated.
Whatever happens next we will go with the flow. Not like there is any real option (at least in our experience).
I do feel better equipped this time around. I’ve been gathering ideas and information as we begin the deranged journey called adoption.
On my list already:
- Get binder in order – check
- Make 5 copies of licenses, passports, tax forms, birth certificates, and marriage license – check
- Submit application – check
- Transfer first large sum of money – check
- Make list of resources for financial help – in process
Phew, I forgot how just how much work this is…
Filed under Adoption | Comment (0)Big Girl Bed
Transitions. It feels like we were just laying our sweet little baby in her crib and this weekend she grew up and out of it. Yep, it was time for a “big girl bed”. Hubby’s boss (and good friend) graciously asked us if we wanted to use the bed he MADE for his kids. Of course, knowing his talents and high quality standards we said an emphatic yes. It did not disappoint.
How can she be that big?!?
She loves it. So far she has slept in it two nights and is doing great with the transition. She has “Baby Band-Aid” and “Baby Me” (her names for her baby dolls) sleeping up there with her along with a veritable zoo. Besides sleeping in it, it is her current favorite place to play.
Speaking of growing up and transitions, I really hope she goes through an awkward growing-into-herself phase. How else is she going to ever learn some manner of being a normal person instead of a celebrity? I mean, really, look at her. How many pairs of giant sunglasses, hats, and frumpy sweaters am I going to have to find otherwise?
A random additional picture for this post. Here she is reading to her lego-man. You can see him just barely peeking over the book.
Filed under Home life | Comment (1)
