We Are Almost There...

Yesterday our adoption social worker, Blythe, came to our house to complete our home inspection.  She also did an individual interview with me and also sat down and talked to the kids.  She had the girls draw pictures of what our family was going to look like after the new baby was here.  She asked Antonis to fill out a 3 page questionnaire.  The home inspection was mostly looking around and making sure that our home is safe and that we have room for another child to live here.  If we get a girl, she will go in the girls' room and we will get two sets of bunkbeds.  If it's a boy he will go in Zach's room.  We had to go out and buy a fire extinguisher which we didn't already have.  We also had to get some additional child locks for where we keep cleaning supplies under the bathroom sinks.  In 40 days, God willing, we will be approved and put on the waiting list!  So it will be about a week before Christmas.  Blythe has 30 days in which to submit a report to her supervisor and then the supervisor has 10 days in which to approve our paperwork to adopt!  That puts us at about Dec. 19th.  We are adopting through their newborn adoption program but we have specified that we are willing to accept a child anywhere from birth to 2 years old.  Occasionally they do have children that are older that come through their office for adoption.  We are also open to any race or health condition.  We will see who the Lord has in mind for our family.  We are trusting that God will equip us to handle whatever child He has chosen for us!  Annalise is turning 5 this upcoming Monday and Zachary will be 3 on Thanksgiving.

Enjoying The Fall

School & Fieldtrips

We are on a new homeschool schedule now where we only do school lessons 4 days a week.  God started tugging on my heart about it and I finally decided to obey and make the change.  It gives us a free day to do fieldtrips and for me to get planning done for the upcoming week.  The weekends go too fast!  I like to enjoy the weekend and not have to eat it up doing more homeschooling preparations.  The new 4 day school week will extend our schoolyear through June (instead of being done end of May) but it will be well worth it to have a less stressful school year.  That is one of the great things about homeschooling....the flexibility we have!   

We made it to the Children's Museum a few weeks ago!  The kids still love it so we renewed our annual membership.

One of those days...

Today has been a long one!  It's one of those days when I wonder why I am in the process of adopting and why I even have the number of children that I have! :)  But then I couldn't imagine life without each and every one of them...I love them dearly but it's overwelming at times. 

By about lunchtime the kids had gotten a decent amount of schoolwork done and they piled out the door to climb the tree in the front yard.  Antonis, Karisma, and Annalise love to climb high..Kalista stayed on the ground with Zachary.  I didn't really feel like going out so I just kept checking on them from the window and let them have some fresh air while I stayed inside.  Finally after a while I went out there to check on things and Karisma was digging a BIG hole in the grass in the front yard!!!  The grass that we pay hundreds of dollars to put chemicals on and aerate and overseed.  I was livid.  What would make her think it was okay to do this??? 

I feel like a referee many days.  It can make my head spin. 

Praise the Lord..we had our first Halloween outreach last night.  The kids passed out tracts with our Halloween candy that told people about having a relationship with Jesus.  It was exciting.  We also have started a neighborhood Bible Study every other Friday night on the book of John.  We will be meeting this Friday.

Today We Went To Kings Dominion

We took our last trip of the season to Kings Dominion today.  I had taken the girls for their birthday in the beginning of June and this time was Zachary's 1rst trip ever and Bob was there too so it was a special blessing since it was all of us (except Antonis is at his Dad's house).  We had a great time together!!  The girls love the Scooby Doo Roller Coaster.  It's now called the Ghoster Coaster or something like that, but back in the day it was the Scooby Doo so it still is to me!  Bob took turns taking each of the girls on it.  Kalista and Karisma were afraid to go at first, but then Anna went on and they couldn't let their little sister show them up!  Zacky had a fit everytime Daddy left to take one of the girls on the roller coaster.  I had to convince him he was coming back, etc.  He is so attached to his Daddy.  I was feeling the temptation to have Bob watch all 4 kids and to go off on one of the insane roller coasters but it never materialized.  It would be fun to go some day just Bob and I and ride coasters all day long.  We ended up leaving the park around 6:30ish because at 7pm Haunt was starting.  It's sad to see how evil has permeated so much of this world we live in.  It's just getting worse and worse.  As we were leaving and seeing all the people coming in for the Haunt I felt like yelling out to them..turn around..go back!!  So many are lost.




 

We're Getting Closer..

Things are moving along with our adoption process!  Bob goes in for his individual interview with Blythe (our adoption social worker) coming up on Oct. 10th and our Homestudy and my individual interview are scheduled for November 10th.  Before Christmas we are hoping to be on the "waiting list" to adopt a baby. 

Here's a couple more pics of the current pre-adoption crew! :)

Mmmmmm..homemade ice cream!  Antonis loves it..(vanilla)

Cute Picture

It's the whole crew!  From left: Zachary (almost 3), Annalise (almost 4), Karisma & Kalista (7) & Antonis (13)