Prime parenting here, right? I'm blogging, I said yes to an episode of Angry Birds on Netflix for the littler ones, and the big ones are outside (willingly!!) doing yard work for me. I think the novelty of finally being "old enough and responsible enough" to work some of the machines is really working in my favor this year, haha. I don't really know, but I do know that I'm fully going to enjoy it while it lasts, and before they start complaining about having to help.
We've got a lot of items on the to-do list today. Namely laundry, but while that's going, we're also working on some life skills and real life schooling - yard work being just part of that. The biggest part is that the Circus added to it's farm a little bit yesterday and we need to get working on building these little guys a new home. We have a barn on our property that we are only using for storage right now (it's the only structure that our big old van will fit into), and we've got big plans for it. We can't have livestock on our property due to zoning rules, but poultry is okay (up to a certain number of hens). We're converting a stall that already exists in the barn to be a larger chicken coop area (it's already roofed in and everything - we just need to secure the walls, put in an automatic door (since we travel so much), and add nesting boxes. That shouldn't be too difficult or expensive, but it is a perfect job for my budding architect. He's got his drawings and measurements, and the goal is to sit down and make a plan and list of supplies so that he and Dad can work on that tomorrow after work. It's so fun to see the kids get to explore real life situations and learn how to solve them (and learn the skills needed to solve them!).
In the meantime, there's a lot of noise coming from my basement storage room, and the dogs aren't too sure about that. Poor puppies!
Also on the grand plans for the barn is to frame out and add a greenhouse on one side - the side with great sun exposure and a flat ground. I'm not sure if our budget will allow that actual construction to happen this summer, but we'll start with some simple garden plots (raised beds?) in the area that will eventually be the greenhouse, so that we can create the footprint we will need later and do the clearing of the land that will need to happen before a structure goes up anyway. It's still too early to plant here, though, so the chickens come first on the to-do list!
So, that's the check in piece - only one other update in the the "quick" section of this blog, and that's to say that I officially hit the same weight on the scale this morning that I did the day before our trip to Maine, and the day before our trip to FL. In other words, any weight gained on our almost month-long vacation/work trip is completely and totally gone. Without any deprivation along the way, or feeling like I couldn't celebrate with friends or enjoy an adult beverage (or two). I pretty much ate my weight in fish tacos while in FL, as well, so that includes quite a bit of fun food. I'm seriously so excited about this flexible dieting thing that I'm contemplating moving towards becoming a coach in the future. I'm not 100% sure yet, but I'm wondering if this might be the way that I use something that I love (nutrition and food) as a way to help feed my blue flame (supporting of women, specifically mothers). We will see!
I am currently also working on digitizing my meal plans, grocery lists, and meal planning resources (worksheets, grocery shopping tools, and meal prep plans). I'm hoping to get those up for you guys to download within the next few weeks. I will be asking for a small monetary donation for those tools, to cover the time I'm putting into them, but I won't be asking you to send it to me right now. I'll be asking you to go to Reece's Rainbow, and pick a waiting child or adoptive family, and donate to their fund. Then, you'll just shoot me an email with that receipt, and I'll send you the files.
In addition to those downloadable files, I'll be able to help you customize these meal plans to meet your diet needs and preferences for a small charge. Again, I'm still working on all of the details, but the donation will go to Reece's Rainbow, not me, for now. Maybe, eventually, I'll do it as a way to raise funds for our own family, but for now, I'm hoping to use it to support an organization that helped us so much when we were bringing Mr T home.
That seems like the perfect way to mention the second half of the post title: a request for prayers. We are currently in the discernment process for a second adoption, but there are some things that have to fall into place first. We're talking with the agency that helped us bring Mr T home, and working with them to find a child and a country that is willing to adopt to a larger family, and fits within the constraints that we have (mostly travel time and money, because of Mike's job/vacation time). An international adoption is expensive and time consuming, but we feel called to opening our home to another chid this way. There are logistics that have to be figured out - things like home studies and travel and fees - and to be honest, that is very daunting. It was incredibly emotionally difficult to have everything analyzed the first time around, including down to the measurements of the rooms of our house (and with Mr T, the social worker wouldn't approve our house because it was "too small" even though we met the state foster care requirements - they have quite the amount of subjective power - and we ended up having to move in order to get that approval). I'm nervous and scared to go through that again.
So, I'm begging for prayers. Please hold our discernment in your thoughts in the near future. I'm not sure where we will end up, but prayers for us to know what God wants for our family, and what is the best decision/path for us would be very much appreciated.
Thank you, friends.
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Wow. Talk about providential.
As I was typing this up and just about to hit publish, I got the waiting chid list for the two countries we have pretty much narrowed it down to. Please pray!!
Wow!! So many neat things happening!
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