Stormy Weather

Well, it is late and I am still up. We are due some bad storms tonight and I can't sleep.
I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would use this time to catch up.

We have been studying Canada this week, so last night, Natalie and I made Banana Bread and Peanut butter Cookies. In honor of a Canadian holiday Boxing Day, which is actually on Dec. 26th., we boxed up some of our goodies and inteneded to take them to the staff at our church. I wrote a note thanking them for embracing us this past year. Noone was at the building, so I was able to find our preacher's house on some directions she gave me long ago and decided to just take it over there. We got there about 9:30 I guess and I sent all three girls to the door with the box of food and was going to just stand at the car, but they instisted we come in. So, the girls and I ended up staying until about 11:45. It was so nice to have someone to talk to during the day. I have probably mentioned this before, but stay at home moms are a rarety here. And to actually find someone who agrees with me about staying at home and homeschool in our new city. Wow. It was refreshing and gave me hope that I may fit in with at least a few people here.
But let me just put a disclaimer here.
People have been nothing but nice, but I when you are odd, you are odd. I always feel that if you are planning on being odd when it comes to certain things, and you aren't willing to change b/c you feel odd, if your convictions are strong enough about how you are living your life that it won't make you live differently, then don't complain about feeling "odd" That is how I have felt for the last year. I am not planning on sending my kids to school or working fulltime, so I will just have to remain Odd in other people's minds and deal with not exactly fitting in. But if you are planning on staying different, that is your choice, but don't complain that you don't fit in. So, I am not complaining, and have tried not to complain about not having a close friend here yet, but I am going to voice thanks for possibly another oddball. Hopefully some of that last rambling made sense. (no offense to her, of course)
Before going on our "visit" this morning the girls and I drove the car next door to the church where we vote. I know - everyone buckling to get on the highway to immediately turn into the parking lot. We are very particular that our girls are buckled in car seats no matter how short a drive. Madelyn has not reached the limit for a booster seat and even though it seems that most kids here don't buckle, let alone ride in carseats, you can't be too careful with your children. We would have walked, but it was rainy and we were on our way to somewhere else. This is the 2nd time I took all 3 to vote. First time was when Madelyn was 4, Natalie 2 1/2 and Hannah about 6 weeks old. It was interesting and tiring, but worth it and especially good for the girls to see a little of what this amazing country is all about. Another perk of homeschooling - I never once got to go vote until I was 18, had no idea what to expect, but the girls I hope learned a little today. They actually walked over with Aaron today when he got home from work so he could vote too.
It was so cute tonight, Natalie was the last one awake and she saw on the news that there had been tornados in TN and that some people had been killed. She came running in here to me and repeated what she had heard. Then I could see her wheels turning and she said "Granny and Grandpa" and teared up. I told her that I was sure they were ok, but she wasn't convinced, so I dialed the number so she could call and rest assured that they were still alive. And they were.
Oh, yeah, still not turned in our dossier. I was all excited last week - got our homestudy back and was going through all of our paperwork, putting it in order, planning on going to the church building to make copies and I happened to find a paper, stuck to the back of another group of papers, that I had failed to have county and state certified. So... I traipsed down to the courthouse and had it county certified and mailed it off last week, and it still isn't back. I was expecting it back already, so that is a little depressing. I only have myself to blame since I should have looked through the paperwork before, just to make sure.
Ever seen the movie Poltergiest? I haven't seen it in probably 20 years, but I remember part of that movie where someone is running down the hall trying to make it to the bedroom. But even though they run and put a lot of effort into it, they never get any closer to the bedroom. The door never gets closer and if anything, the hallway seems to be getting longer.
That is how this adoption feels. I have put a lot of effort into it and it is like we are going on this long, hard journey, but aren't getting any closer to the goal. So frustrating. And I know that we are closer, and I also know that someday, when that baby is home with us, we will thank God for His timing. I will say "I am so glad that I overlooked that paper way back in Jan 2008 b/c if I hadn't, then we would have been a different number on the waiting list and we wouldn't have _____. " But right now, it seems so far away. We started in March, got on the Guatemala waiting list in September, started our change of country in October, and still are not back on a waiting list.
Well, maybe next week we will be a number.