Mortgage Headaches

Yesterday, I knew that we were going to look at the house that we almost bought a year ago. I also knew that we wanted to make an offer on it last night. So, I called about 5-6 mortgage places/banks to get the preapproval before even one talked to me or called me back. I spent much time on the phone with him, giving him all the info he needed. I still hadn't heard back late yesterday afternoon, so I call and it was supposed to be finished last night. They never called. So I called this morning and it is supposed to be finished by tonight. And guess what... they never called. So.... irritated that I needed this approval letter, I called a few more, only to get voicemails, then finally filled out the info online for the one that Dave Ramsey endorses and waited until this afternoon to hear from him. He never called, so I called him and he hadn't received the info yet, but was able to look it up. He needed some documents faxed to him, so I tried on our handy dandy (crappy, trashy, worth 1c fax machine/printer) I wasted our money on last year. Of course, after 30 min. trying to find the documentation he needed, I finally tried to fax, only to be denied twice and to be told their was a paper jam, when there was no paper in the fax. Meanwhile while all this is going on, don't forget that I have 3 kids that want to be "fed and watered" constantly, interrupting. Sad to say, I finally got to the point where I told the kids, each kid about 3 times, "if you don't want to be yelled at, then don't talk to me" I had something that I had to drop off at the realtor's office anyway, so I packed up the kids and took them with me, with strict instructions for their behavior in the office, and had the paperwork faxed from there. And the kids were good too.
I had called Aaron just to lament the way things were not working out. At that point, I realized the only thing I had to make for supper was meat loaf that would require an hour to cook or I could take care of the mortgage business, and Whaaaaa, what to do?!!. He said he wasn't that hungry anyway. How sweet. So, we stopped and did a quick runthrough of the grocery store on the way home from the realtors. And now, I am counting the minutes until 8pm when the first of the kids will go to bed and the noise level decreases by 1/3. The stress has given me a headache.
We did make an offer last night and now are waiting to see if it was accepted. I hope this doesn't draw out forever. The girls and I are leaving for camp on Sunday. Maybe we will know something before then.
About the property. Just a little since I don't want to spend a ton of time describing if we don't get it. It is a white siding house on 14 acres. Up on top of the "mountains" they have here. It backs up to the national forest. I was able to walk the few acres that were cleared last night with the girls while Aaron walked the uncleared acres with the realtor. There are peach, fig, pear, and apple trees, a barn and a spring fed pond. I will post pictures and more if we get it. Hope we do.

Abraham, Sarah, and Issac

While getting ready for VBS tonight, I made some simple outfits for the kids, b/c I was going to have the children in the class act out the story. So, my girls got to be the testers for the outfits. They enjoyed walking around acting silly. We had the 3rd and 4th grade tonight, and only 9 kids. That was a break from the huge amounts the last two nights. There were 5 speaking parts in the little "play" we did and it didn't last long at all, but they had fun and we even changed costumes and did it twice so all the kids would get a chance.

Disrespect - AARRRRRGGGHHH

Tonight was our first night of VBS. Aaron and I are doing the story of Abraham and Sarah. I greatly underestimated the number of children I thought we would have. I made 10 copies of our papers, and at the last minute, decided to make 10 more, didn't have time to finish cutting out the other 10 and still didn't even have enough. And that was just the 4year olds and kindergarten. It was wild. There was barely enough room in our room for them all to sit. Plus the fact that about 1/3 of them wouldn't stop talking the whole time, I almost lost my voice trying to read.
I would never attempt to be a teacher. I know, that technically, I am since I homeschool, but to have to take charge of others' children. Yet to not be able to discipline. That is a bad combination. There were a few tonight, that while I was trying to be the character of Sarah, I kept on having to stop to tell them to hush. Therefore, because of the obnoxious, rudeness of a few of the students, the rest probably have no idea what Aaron and I talked about. And that was proven when they got them into the auditorium, they asked the 4/5 year olds who they learned about and who did they shout out? Moses. Finally, someone came up with Abraham and the leader asked what Abraham did and the answer the kids came up with? "sat by the tent"
I was observing a few boys, who were in ages 5-8 or so, just running full speed in the church building while adults were telling them to stop. The kids would say "ok" and never slow down a bit. Not one ounce of respect for authority. One 5 year old came around the corner full speed and plowed over Hannah, got up and ran off, never apologizing while she sat there crying. Makes me so glad that there are only 3 nights left, that I am getting an older age group to teach each night, and that I am not a teacher full time. How can any adult think it is ok to not teach their kid to listen when an adult is talking? I think much of it is pure laziness coupled with busy-ness on the parents part.
Truthfully, in a classroom setting, I have no idea how to deal with it. I know how to deal with it with my own kids, and my own kids respect authority. I watch them when they don't know I am watching. When at VBS or in class and the teacher is trying to talk, 99% of the time, they are sitting there at attention - some of the few that are. But that respect starts in our home. And if you don't know how to get your kids to respect you, then go to the website that I have "advertised" on my blog. www.nogreaterjoy.org. And you know what, even though we are strict with our kids - they are happy, well adjusted, outgoing, get along well with adults and with kids their own age, and enjoyable to be around. And I know I am biased, but still, after a night like tonight, with 3 more to go, I have come to appreciate the harvest of respect and obedience that we started sowing in our children when they were very young.

Perhaps there is hope! Number 10

After a depressing talk with our caseworker last week about the adoption status, I was pretty much saddened thinking that we were going to have to wait until September 1 to even know if we even had a chance. I guess I didn't realize that the date of decision as to whether to continue adoptions with the US was that day. I thought that the decision was being made right now as to whether to let adoptions continue after September 1. Anyway, I was not expecting, after that phone call, to even move up on the waiting list before September 1, but good news today... they had a girl referral, which means our number should be down to 10. There hadn't been a girl referral since April, when there were 3. There were 2 boy referrals last month. Maybe, there will be more soon. I sure hope so.

Brunch

Yesterday, we had brunch at our house for those in our class on Wed. night. We had 3 other couples, plus 6 kids, including our 3. We ate, then had our badminton tournament, which I am happy to say that Aaron and I won. Of course, we are probably the only ones that have actually played over the last few months, since we put up our net. As you can see, the girls had a great time playing with the kittens. The other pictures are of some of our friends playing their game.

Hannah got in bed this morning with me. Aaron came out of the bathroom after his shower with a towel around his waist. He came out and started talking to me and Hannah said "don't talk to me with your pretty skirt on" It was so funny, and I never thought about a towel around the waist being a skirt, but it does look like one, especially to a 3 year old who is apparently uncomfortable seeing her dad in a "skirt" We got a good laugh about that one, and Aaron immediately turned and went back in the bathroom to put come clothes on.

VBS

We have had a busy week so far. The girls are actually attending 2 VBSs this week. One runs Sunday through Wednesday from 7-8:30 at night and the other runs Monday through Friday from 8:30 -12:00. Which is where the girls are right now. It has been a little hectic, but that is what I love about summer, you can find all sorts of activities to keep you busy.
Sadly, the kitten I was syringe feeding died on Monday morning. It is now buried in our backyard. #1 Even though I was feeding it, it wasn't growing at all. #2 Sunday, it wouldn't even swallow the formula, it just ran out of it's mouth. So I had the girls tell it good bye Sunday night, knowing that it would be soon. They were sad, but that is life.
Still house hunting after living here 16 months. We are very picky, but we know that we will be there for a long time wherever we buy. We really liked a house with 6 acres a few weeks ago. It was for sale by owner and had a real pretty yard, etc. Bad thing was, it was about 15 -20 min. farther from Aaron's work. Well, Aaron called to make an offer, and Aaron understood the guy to say that someone was coming already that afternoon to make an offer. So the decision on that house was made for us. Kind of frustrating. There was a house that we looked at when we first moved that we really wanted to buy. It is on a beautiful road with an overlook. 14 acres. A house that has a 2 car garage with a room above that could be finished. Backs up to the National Forest. Actually a little closer to the forest than we live now. We didn't buy for specific reasons, but I have kind of regretted not buying it the last year. So has Aaron. But we couldn't come to an agreement on price. It still hasn't sold but it isn't listed either. I called a realty company I happened to find a few weeks ago and he spoke of a house with 14 acres he was going to be listing soon. He didn't know the location, but when describing what he knew, it will be a strange coincidence if it isn't the same house. He is supposed to call me back this week about it. So, Aaron and I are kind of torn about whether or not to try to buy that house we loved since it is still for sale and the realtor is supposed to call me first (I told him we were VERY interested).
Then last night, I get a call from the people from the house with 6 acres that we were going to make an offer on a few weeks ago, and they didn't sell the house. So, now Aaron and I have a choice and we don't know which way to go. Of course I know where my heart is - I hope we get the one near the forest. But I am really trying not to get my hopes up. We have been burned many times this year in our search for a house.

Frequent feedings

I started to notice over the first 24-36 hours after the birth of the kittens that the orange one never seemed to be eating at the same time as the others. When born, there were two big ones and two smaller ones. The orange one was one of the bigger ones. However, I finally realized that the kitten just wasn't nursing. Since it was Madelyn's favorite and she has wanted an orange cat for so long, I have been syringe feeding it. Although it seems to have perked up slightly and fights me and squirms a little more when I feed it, it still doesn't seem to have grown. I hope I can save it. It won't even drink from the tiny bottle I got it. Oh well, maybe next week. In the meantime, here are some cute pictures of the girls. Hannah is holding "Simba" the one that we are hand feeding. Of course nothing could be more fun for the girls than carrying around a real live pet like a baby.

I had a Tastefully Simple party tonight. We had a total of 6 people. I wish there could have been more and there were 4 people who said they would come, but didn't and a few that were maybes that didn't. Oh well, we had a good time and the food was great.