Chainsaw therapy

If you are reading my blog prior to adopting...know this, domestic adoption is tough.

International adoption is tougher.  Fundraising is, well, at least for us....very difficult and frustrating.

So, here was our weekend. 

It actually started on Thursday.  We got the I800A back!!!!!!!!

There was much excitement in the family and rushing around to have the copy notarized with the plans to apostille it the next day.

Friday was hectic,  which is an understatement.  This is the day that our homeschool family drives for about an hour and fifteen minutes for the children to attend classes with other children. 

Only, this Friday, I had a 6am meeting at church about 45 minutes away.  So, I woke up around 4am, left a bit after 5am, had my meeting until 7:30 and then rushed to meet my husband nearby to switch cars so that I could take the children to classes and he could go have the I800A apostilled.

I got a text a couple of hours later.  "WE HAVE A PROBLEM"

It turned out that the notary's signature was not a match at all to the signature associated with the stamp.  Thus, we could not get an apostille since their very job is to verify that your notarized paper is legit. 

So, we each drove to a middle point and searched around for somone else to notarize yet another copy of the I800A. 

SUCCESS!  We express mailed the apostilled copy to another family who is traveling to the twin's country on Tuesday.  Our form should get to them tomorrow (Monday).  They will leave on Tuesday and our forms should be in the attorney's hands on Wednesday. 

After that, our entire dossier and I800A will go to the court where the judge can set the date for us to travel and meet the children for the first time!  And, even better, after spending two weeks in their country, we should be able to bring them home with us to host them even though the adoption won't be finalized until we make two more trips.

So, I gave you all the background so you understand that the pressure is on!  And, the stress is on...bigger than ever because now we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and the day of reckoning is fast approaching.

We decided to attend a flea market over the weekend and do a yard sale fundraiser since our house is way too far out in the country to attract anyone. 

My husband and daughter (I had to stay home to take my other daughter to the SAT test) got up at 3am in order to get ready and drive there.  And, <big sigh>, it was one of the coldest days that we have seen this year and it was very cloudy and looked like it could rain.  We debated whether or not to still try it but in the end, we felt that we had so very few weekends left that we should give it a shot.

The grand total?  $52  The slot was $22 and the gas was approx $30+  So, absolutely no gain....

I could have just cried...hmmm, actually I did....today.

I finally just felt so overwhelmed and tired of being pulled so many different directions and thus completely failing at every role I have....including having faith that we would figure out how to make it work.

After I vented and cried to my husband this afternoon, I decided to.........

grab the chainsaw and cut the heck out of some wood so that we could finally warm up our big old house with tall ceilings.

I had never used the chainsaw before but I really wanted to try and this seemed like an excellent time to take some power into my hands! 

I truly should have some pics here because it would have been ummm, interesting...but a tad humiliating for me.  So, I will let you use your creative mind and picture it.

I was wearing my husband's big baggy sweats, so the crotch was at my knees.  I had on his wool socks that had been accidentally washed and dried in the dryer, so that they were felted and shrunk to the point that I could barely wiggle my foot into it.  The socks also had a bright orange stripe around the top.  Next, I had my nice shirt and sweater that I wore to church and finally my big fat winter coat.  It was attractive, especially, I am sure with the puffy eyed, I just cried out my eyeballs look. 

It was exactly what I needed!  To be outside with the family, to cut the heck out of some wood and feel cool that I was doing something I had never done before and to come inside and get the most blazing fire ever going in our fireplace and actually feel warm again.  It was just what I needed....

The children all decided that we should eat picnic style on the floor in front of the fire.  It was a great idea!

                                   We ate hearty lasagna soup.

And finished off the evening with roasting marshmallows and reading the sciptures.

Look carefully in this picture and you can see the twins picture on our mantel!


Even the dogs enjoyed the evening and were content, warm, and sleepy....

I promise to work out our November flier and get you all the details for walking etc,  tomorrow.  

Closing on a happy note....hoping that the rest of the week goes this way......