Magic Words

I had a brief meeting with our builder yesterday. He is very cautious about giving us false hope in terms of when the house will be finished. But, the trim is now all painted, and the colors are going on the walls starting today. Next week, the hardwood floors and cabinets are going in... Most of the bathroom floors are already finished. Jim, our general contractor commented, "I'm about to run out of questions to ask you."

"Really?" I replied, "How much longer do you think we have?"

(Then the magic words...) "There's a chance it will be done by Christmas."

Even if it is finished by then, we won't move until after the holiday. But, knowing how close we are is so incredibly exciting to me. Today, I think school will be canceled so I can start purging excess stuff from our house. Amazing how things can accumulate in only a few months.

Anyway, I'm so thrilled to be almost done with this process!! I can't wait to unpack all my homeschooling stuff. I can't wait to find the kids' winter hats, which are MIA at the moment. I can't wait to see the end result. I can't wait to have all our friends and family over to visit.

Interesting that this anticipation is corresponding timewise with Advent. My goal is to channel excitement for the new house into preparing our souls for the coming of the Christ Child. It will be a difficult exercise to keep ourselves (make that 'myself') focused on what's really important this time of year... Is God trying to teach me something here?? Somehow, I"m sure that He is.

Giving Thanks

Tomorrow we travel to my brother's house. Hanging out there is always a good time. My sister-in-law is expecting baby #2 in a couple months, possibly sooner if this baby's timing is like their first (although we're all praying for full term), and I can hardly believe they are brave enough to host all of us. God bless them.

My kids are so excited they can hardly stand it. Our goal is 9:00AM Mass, then 4 hours or so in the van. I"m waiting for the rain to stop, so I can load up...

In the meantime, I am pondering the Thanksgiving Holiday. We've been reading lots of stories the past few weeks about the Pilgrims, the Mayflower voyage, and their first year in the New World. I've been considering the cold, the hunger, the illness, and, I"m sure, the fear and stress they must have experienced.

Their story makes moving 2 miles down the road, even twice in a year, seem like a piece of cake.

So, I'm thankful that...
...we are all pretty healthy, all things considered.

...moving companies are willing to work in mid-January (assuming that's when the new house will be finished).

...we have a very nice rental house with terrific neighbors.

...my husband has a good job and is willing to work like a dog for us.

...in spite of the crazy pace of the past year or so, my kids have made academic progress.

...the adoption process is complete.

...the house is almost done.

...I have kind friends and family who have generously helped with decisions on color, paint, flooring, etc.

...we have so many blessings, I don't even have time to type them all into this post.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

All Saints - Better Late then Never

Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth (does the costume look familiar? see previous post...)

St. Ignatius of Loyola

St. Francis of Assisi

St. Maria Goretti

Catching Up

I thought it might be good to post a picture from the last holiday before moving on to the next one...

Adventures in Potty Training

For some reason, today seemed like a good day have little miss princess wear big girl underpants for an extended period. (I should emphasize that I haven't really given potty training my all this time around ((to put it mildly)). She has shown signs of readiness for a long time, but life has been too crazy for me to give this endeavor my focused attention. Therefore, the decision to take off the pull-ups was arbitrary, based on limited previous consistency, if you know what I mean).

I have heard stories about little ones training themselves or figuring it out in 24 hours. I thought maybe it was my turn to have such luck.

So, out came the colorful, little girl panties, much to my sweet daughter's delight.

The first 3 hours went well. She was cooperative, and I actually remembered to take her to the bathroom at regular intervals.

Then, at 2:00 o'clock, the wheelchair delivery man came. (This was another exciting event about which I will write later...). We were engrossed in the beautiful new equipment which fits great, looks great, and is about half as heavy as the old one. We were discussing adjustments, etc., and miss 3-y-o was climbing all over me, babbling about this and that, oohing and aahing over the wheelchair.

Then it happened. The first big accident. Right on the paperwork I had just neatly filled out and signed. I was momentarily dumbstruck with horror.

I heard "uh-oh, Mommy" and looked over to see an expanding puddle with a yellow-tint spreading across the documentation.

I managed to stutter the facts: "Oh my goodness, I think she just peed on the papers." Of course, they were the only copies that came with the delivery from the store, which is not local.

Fortunately, this man has a good sense of humor. "Well, that has never happened before," he informed me with a smile, "should I get my biohazard kit?"

As it turned out, I picked up the papers quickly enough that the 'liquid' did not soak all the way through to the bottom of the pile, so I was able to salvage a copy of the signature pages.

In spite of a few other repeat incidents, she wanted to keep trying. Perhaps we are getting somewhere, even though current evidence points to the contrary. Does my lack of urgency about this mean that I'm becoming a seasoned mother or that I'm losing my mind?

Either way, we'll keep plugging away tomorrow. :)

Random Thoughts of a 5-year-old

"Mom, if we ever get another house, can it be like the Vikings' and have those sword-sharpening thingees?"

"Someday when I get glasses, my eyes, my glasses and my brain will all be friends."

"Amazing! My brother has 2 brains! I gotta call William."

Children's Hospital Visit #2

Yesterday we made our second trip to R*ley Children's Hospital. This time, Eustace came with Ignace and I, which was a huge help. The other kids stayed with my parents, God bless them.



This visit was for outpatient testing and an appointment with the urologist. We got some good information and had many questions answered. One bit of good news is that I feel much better about a certain medication we need to start. (Dad F., you probably know what I'm talking about.) I can give it to him once per day rather than 3 times. That is a big relief to this momma who has a hard time getting through a single course of antibiotics let alone a drug that will need to be administered indefinitely. I was also really freaked out about the potential side effects of this medicine, but I got some reassurance that problems are rare, so we're going to give it a whirl and hope for the best.



On another related note, we have delivery dates set for both new leg braces and a new wheelchair!! The chair we have (which came home with him from Armenia) has seen better days. Here's hoping it lasts through the 10-day countdown to new equipment.



Interestingly, it took about 4 months just to get through insurance paperwork and then only about 3 weeks for the chair to be ready once it was finally ordered. Hard to believe it takes months to determine medical necessity of a wheelchair for a child with spina bifida. From talking to other moms, it seems this is about a third the wait people endure when using M*dicaid. Thank goodness for private insurance. I will resist the temptation to digress further.

I, for one, am very excited about the new wheelchair. It will weight half as much as his current one, so getting it in and out of our vehicles will be much easier (I hope!). His little brother may need to learn that he can no longer use it as a jungle gym/scooter, however.