A floridian at last...

Who knew after marrying Joe 7 years ago & not wanting to leave Florida that by Feb. 2013 my wish would come true! I'm back, baby!
God has been good to us. It's been a bit chaotic over the last week but we are managing to hold our own. Joe flew out for an interview last week & we are still awaiting (eagerly) news if he got the job.
My mom arrived on Saturday, we packed all weekend & when the movers arrived Monday we were nervous to see if all our stuff would fit in the UHaul Pods.It didn't.
So, last minute we had to make a decision to fill a third one or leave a huge amount of stuff behind. We decided to keep our stuff so there goes another chunk of change and we had to fill it ourselves. Cue mom, Joe and I frantically trying to get it done while the kids slept on the egg crates on the floor we had saved.
We flew out that night, Joe sold his car that evening, got the rest of the place cleared out & today we closed on the condo. It's really satisfying to have this chapter closed. Thought it might be more sad leaving our home that we started our married life in & brought Blake home (and Iris too)...but as I held their hands and said bye bye house with them, it was just time to go. We are ready!

It's been a good week, but also trying to be here without Joe, look at all the tlc this new house needs & still be unsure of Joe's status with being employed. It was good news today that I can take down some very sad vertical blinds, give a fresh coat of paint and update some lighting in our new place.
Everything feels dirty so a good cleaning is in order and I'm dying to slap some paint up on that wall. For anyone curious I'm going with a very neutral gray called Dolphin Fin by Behr & I can't wait. Thankgoodness for pinterest/blogs to help me out there. No more navy blunders.
We sold lots of furniture and threw out a ton so on my never ending list to get is a dining table & chairs, a desk, something to put the TV on, a dresser for our bedroom and on and on it goes.

I will do my best to get some before pictures posted so I can have one of those amazing transformations. It can't be all that I hope since I can't do anything drastic, but a few small changes should make a world of difference.
As for now, I'm trying to keep the kids feeling secure, hoping our stuff arrives the end of next week & Joe makes it safely down here. It's not an easy drive to do alone!

Style by Iris

Iris loves to put on my black gloves. Much of the time we can only find one & so this is just her chilling, michael jackson style.

When I bring this to her attention she responds with "don't criticize what you can't understand", only she says it in Ahmaric. Point taken, Iris.

Losing It - My top 10

10 Signs You are Losing Your Mind

1. You cry over nothing or everything.
2. Little Caeser's actually tasted really good to you.
3. You wish you had showered yesterday because you can't today & tomorrow is looking sketchy too
4. You absolutely go nuts because your new clearance pillow got a food stain on it and you try to explain this to your 1 yr old.
5. You continue watching Tom & Jerry even when your kid lost interest in the episode 5 minutes ago.
6. You cannot leave the house till it warms up to 20 degrees.
7. You trust two toddlers in a small closet together playing a game.
8. Try to get through a rough day and not open your bible (what are you crazy?)
9. You pack up all your kid's clothes so they have to wear the same thing every day for a week unless you wash it every day.
10. You are still wearing what you had on after church on sunday.

Yep, on top of all this Joe is leaving on Thurs, returning Friday after an interview, mom arrives Saturday, movers come Monday & boarding a plan mon night with mom and kids. Calgon, take me away!

And so it goes...

Well, here's the scoop. Joe did not get the transfer with CDW. They won't even throw him a bone and give him a few weeks to work from the Florida office so now the whole team has to scramble to find his replacement and it's just so ridiculous to me. Oh well, after 13 years it's clear they don't care a whole lot about their employees & they will never have someone as great as Joe in that position, that's for sure.
So, cue the panic button. No job in Florida. Well, we knew this was a possibility when we put our place on the market last winter. Truth is, it's pretty challenging to seriously be on the job hunt when you live in a different state. I always felt if we were located in Florida he'd have a better chance of finding something. Joe's been working so hard to apply & get so much done...and still nothing. Until today.
He's gone a phone interview on Monday (please pray!) with a good company and if all goes well he'd fly down for a face to face interview next week at some point. My mom is arriving on the 26th & helping me to fly down with the kids on the 28th.
I don't know if I remember the last time I felt the pressure and stress of life in such a unique way, but it's a good place to be ...needy & desperate for the Lord to work a miracle and depend on Him.
Our place closes on the 31st & poor Joe has to drive my car across the country all by himself. What a man.
I look forward to looking back a few months from now and see all that He has accomplished & brought to pass in this crazy little adventure.

So far so good

It's not been the calmest week back...Iris got a cough & fever in the night. That is actually the first time she's ever woken us from sickness in the night. Guess there's a first for everything :)

We continue to wait news of a transfer for Joe (or any job for that matter)but we did get great news about our place - after all this time we are closing at the end of the month!!! So glad to put this place behind us and press on in our new adventure as a family.  Lots of packing & boxing up...lots of purging and organizing and lists of what has to be done. Soon!

Today, in celebration of the new life that awaits I got a new haircut. Now you wouldn't think that I could get a whole lot shorter, but you'd be wrong. Walked in and saw the coolest cut on a girl & thought now that would be adventurous....and I did it. It was the first time I remember feeling nervous about a hairstyle but so worth it because I love it! Colleen @ Paul Hyland Salon in Crystal Lake is so super talented and man will I miss her.
I'd post a picture but I can't for the life of me seem to upload a pic on the blog lately, not sure why. Anyway, it's a bit wild, even for me. Let's just say I've been buzzed in places and leave it at that.

Lots of good things going on, now let's just hope Joe finds work SOON and maybe I'll do a cartwheel.

Fresh start ahead. Hello 2013.

Happy New Year!!! Hope everyone enjoys celebrating 2012 & all that awaits in 2013...I can't wait to see what happens. The future is unknown but I'm so glad that I can rest in God's plan for my life - nothing is unknown to Him!  Ready, set & ....

Wait.

Joe and I just went and looked a home to rent here in Florida that we both loved.
The perfect location + great price = incredible to us. It is so hard to not have any idea whether this will work out. Joe continues to look for work here in the area & so far not so great.

We still don't know when we will have to be out of our place , it could be soon, but still - the job has to be there to move into a home! It is SO HARD TO WAIT. I remember thinking adoption waiting was tough. Yes it was. Did that prepare me to deal better with waiting? Well, it seems I will forever need growth in this weak area.

I want to trust the Lord that He will provide this place because it would be so wonderful - it has been a while since I've wanted something so badly.
Can only stand by and see how the Lord works & what He wants for us...

Good times

Having a great time in Florida. Drinking up spending time with family. So fun to see the kids happy & running around with their cousins. Such a delight to be with the people who I love most in this world.
Hoping everyone has a truly lovely Christmas & New Years.

Still waiting to hear from the bank. Still wondering if we'll be Floridian residents soon or not quite so soon. Stay tuned!

Today

Please pray for my grandpa. He is in his late 80's and has battled years of health issues / hospital visits & most recently dementia. My grandma lovingly cares for him every day but now that he's in the hospital we really don't know what the future holds. This is a huge stress on my grandma and my mom.
My parents safely made it home from a week of ministry in Honduras with my dad, brother and sister in law, my niece Abby & some others from the church. It's a lot going on!
My uncle Marty arrives in Clearwater a few hours before us tomorrow & I can't wait to see him as it's been several years since we spent a day together.

It's been interesting to watch Blake and Iris's reaction to packing up stuff and putting things in boxes. They are both trying to figure out why, but for the most part Blake likes reading the words that are on the boxes. We continue to wait on the bank for a closing date & other details that are affecting this short sale outcome. It's slowly eating away my sanity.
Last Christmas we were prepping for our big first trip to Ethiopia, this year we are prepping for our long anticipated move to Florida...wonder what next year will bring...

My sweet Iris

Our sweet Iris Michele has been home for 8 months and I realize I have not written a post directly about her yet in quite some time...

A year ago at this time we didn't know what to expect - we had seen her picture and eagerly were awaiting to hold her, meet her & have her feel "real".
The first time we met her she was sick & quite subdued. This was NOT the real Iris :)  
The second trip to Ethiopia when we actually got to take her home with us, well, I should have known something when she was the only child that day getting placed who screamed bloody murder because she was so attatched to her caregivers. Honestly, that was a good thing, but I remember thinking honey, please stop crying, you are making me look like I am not doing something right. Mostly I remember feeling sad for her  that day because she was leaving a world that she had felt safe in and entering a new phase which must have been so scary.

Fast forward to our first month together. I don't say this much but to be honest I really struggled. I expected the transition to not be so hard with two children. It was REALLY hard. Still is, at times. I didn't know how to respond when she would fall on the floor screaming or when she would almost shake when food was being prepared because she felt so desperate to eat. Of course you read about these issues, but in our case that was years ago & somehow I thought it wouldn't quite be so stressful.

We were very fortunate that she has mellowed these past few months as she feels more bonded to us and honestly from the start she connected with us quite well. She began almost immediately to call us mama and daddy and was very quick to give us affection.

More and more I realize that the hardest thing about raising Iris is that she makes me aware of my sinfulness! She pushes my buttons, she drops things on my toes/feet causing me to shriek in pain almost daily & follows me around like a lost puppy. She makes lots of messes, loves to throw things in anger, cries at the top of her lungs when she doesn't get her way and I realize just how selfish I am by how I respond to all these things.

Her positives far outweight these small negatives. This girl LOVES me and Joe. She laughs, giggles & kisses us. She forgives me time and time again when I lose my cool and she loves to snuggle in our laps and just be near to us. She is a very girly girl who loves shoes, wearing jewelry & getting dressed in cute outfits.
She brings Blake his drink each night, she hands him toys, she eats whatever I make (are you listening Blake?) and she is quite brilliant. That girl can unscrew any cap you give her, which I found out after an entire container of bubbles made their way to our carpet.
Can I just talk for a moment about her body? It is SO CUTE I can't stand it. Her face is like a doll, she can mimick any look I make...she has these great little chunky legs that are irresistable & a chest that is catching up to me :)  Nomatter what she has on she looks like a million bucks.

I love that she is a part of our family. I love that this Christmas she will get to be surrounded by so many people who love her and prayed for her and helped her to be our daughter. I love so much about her and I don't deserve to have such a beautiful sweet Ethiopian daughter. Oh yeah, and Blake is kind of crazy about her too, which causes me to swoon from time to time when I watch them hold hands or hug.
I have everything I could want this Christmas because I have Joe , Blake & Iris and get to share them all with my wonderful family in Florida. God has been so good.

Let the craziness begin...

Busy time ahead - places to go & people to see! We leave for Florida in less than two weeks, the sale of our home could be upon us quickly or we could be back to square one...only time will tell. Needless to say I'm going to begin a very thorough purging process just in case.

Lots of life changing decisions are happening right now & even though it's a bit scary it's exciting. Blake & Iris continue to bring me many joys among many challenges. It's been a fun couple of days with them recently and I love to see how quickly they are growing up.

Blake loves to hold my hand, give me kisses and say "mooommmyyy" quite endearingly (is that a word?) He is very opinionated about his clothing, his food & his toys. We had a couple wardrobe changes the other day and I thought who is this kid? Oh yeah, my son.

Iris makes so many cute faces, continues to love her teddy bears & dolls (no Iris don't eat them!) & she is a great help to me. Always quick to clean up, put things away and do what she can around here to help. It's strange to think a year ago we had not even met her yet.
Well, better get off this computer & start throwing things out. If anyone in the area locally is needing a new dresser or tv/media unit check out craigslist or get in touch with me. I'm ready to part with this stuff!

Desire Less

So easy to get caught up with wanting more stuff, especially this time of year...praying to be content this season & beyond with what I've been given & not covet for more. I have a daughter this year for Christmas, my 3rd Christmas with Blake & a husband who continues to love me much more than I deserve.

It's been a worldwind of a week...started out with a bad cold & a phone call on Tuesday that we were to be in court for Iris's readoption on Wednesday. 
I feel like I'm still in recovery mode from getting up at 5am and lugging them around the city for a couple hours, but it went smooth and I'm so relieved to be done with it. We probably will miss out on any government tax credit unless Congress extends it, but atleast we did what we could.

By our choice it was a very low key & quiet thanksgiving and I enjoyed not having to leave the house. Although I went to somewhat greater lengths to make a nice meal, Blake still didn't give me his approval and hardly touched his plate. Iris liked some things but rejected my cornbread casserole (which to me makes the whole meal). I stayed up late watching Hallmark movies & enjoyed every minute.

Today is usually a day that I LOVE to shop, but I couldn't bring myself to shower, get dressed, face the cold & long lines...I just didn't have the fight in me. Tomorrow is a whole other story. I've been laying low now for a few days so I think I'm ready to brave a couple of places.
Although it is nice to have a quiet holiday weekend I can hardly wait for the craziness of being in Florida with my family and having lots of noise and fun going on with everyone. It's always a tough reminder to be away for special occasions.

I can't help but remember some tough thanksgiving weekends in the last few years. My first miscarriage was on thanksgiving in 2007...2008 I was pregnant & miscarried a few weeks later...2009 we had some more adoption paperwork to finish up before it went to Ethiopia and even last year we were wondering when we would meet our daughter. It's truly incredible to see God's faithfulness to me and His timing in my life. I have so much to give thanks for.

LOVE

"You wonderful wonderful thing you..."

These days

Long days. Lots of coughing & runny noses. Also though, lots of laughter & smiles. They both ran around tonight in circles for 10 minutes when it was time to go to sleep.
It's kind of cute because they used to be so ready for bed at 7pm once we'd read a few stories. Now they love to run around and have a few more minutes to just let out some steam.

We are finally in the process of readopting Iris, getting her name changed, a US birth certificate & hopefully will have this done while there is still an adoption tax credit. We were told by our attorney today court should be the end of the month or early December. Nothing but the best time of the year to bring the kiddos downtown for some winter fun.

Still continue to wait on the house / short sale, hope to get some feedback at the end of the week since it's been 2 weeks since our appraisal.

Today I was feeling kind of down and got tears in my eyes & asked Blake for a hug and he came over to hug me, saw the tears and goes " ohhh nooo"...made me laugh. That boy is getting too smart. He recognizes almost every letter he sees, starting to talk in phrases & notices EVERYTHING that is going on.
When we try teaching Iris sounds and letters it's the same sound nomatter what, which also makes us crack up. She imitates our faces too, I'll make a crazy face & she imitates it and we get quite a kick out of that.

It's still long days though with the cooler weather, lack of family & stress of sickness. I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week! This is the first year to celebrate as a family and I'm excited to see how Iris will react to all the good food (that girl eats anything I give her, which is a welcome relief after Blake). Unless it's pizza, cheese, or yogurt he cries at each bite he is told to eat. Keeps a girl humble.
What do other mom's do when they are homebound with a sick kid? (Already took them to library & target this week)...

Tuesday Truth

I LOVE THIS!

"So many people in our society are totally consumed with the body—they decorate it, build it up, extravagantly clothe it, put it in a nice car, send it off to a nice house, stuff it full of food, sit it in a comfortable chair, hang a bunch of jewelry all over it, take it out on a boat, let it swim, teach it to ski, take it on a cruise, and so on. But life is not contained in those things; it transcends all the externals. Life comes from God—and the fullness of life from Jesus Christ." - John MacArthur

Even when you begin to tell me no...Blake. Even when you run the other way screaming... Iris. Yes - through all the poopy diapers, tiring nights & exhausting days...my love only grows stronger.
Children are a blessing (repeat often!)
Remember that old song "I count it as a priviledge, I count it cause for praise, to kiss my children goodnight at the close of every day. For I know too soon they're off and gone, and walking out the door, and I'll never have a child to kiss goodnight anymore.
It's very strange how time has changed from the present to the past. When did they grow so quickly the time has gone so fast. For it seems that only yesterday I helped with with his shirt...patting my baby on the back, kiss away a hurt...tell a story , read a book, wipe the nose or tie a shoe. They never ask me to rub their back the way they used to do. Once it was a bother, just a trouble some kind of chore. Now I would give anything to hear it just once more..."

Good reminder for today after a long dr. appt & hearing Blake has croup. Hoping it leaves this home quickly & stays clear of Iris.

Countdown to FLORIDA: 4 weeks from Friday. Bliss awaits.

Sickness, you awful beast I despise...

After a solid month health streak it seems Blake has a bad cough...maybe croup. The symptoms appear to be that & so we'll see if it gets better soon or we'll be dr. bound...again. Hopefully Iris will stay healthy.

Joe & I got to attend a work dinner together Friday night for the first time ever. Kind of crazy that the restaurant was in the same parking lot that I purchased my wedding dress at. "Auntie Kristi & Uncle Gavin" bravely traveled out with their precious baby boy and watched our kids for the night. What wonderful friends we have.

My fun moment of the day was running into Goodwill today after I grocery shopped and found some legos for the kids (their first set) and a hot little navy ikat pillow that called out to me to take it home. I couldn't resist.

Here's hoping for a little more rest tonight. As much fun as it was being awake from 3am on, I'm ready to have one good night of sleep for recovery...somehow doubting that will be tonight. Iris has begun to cry out in her sleep. I run in to check and calm her (because those cries get VERY loud very fast) but she's totally out. Kind of crazy.

Anyone else out there familiar with croup? What worked for you?

Here's to a wild week of sleepless nights, cuddling, library time, and couch love.

God Loves Orphans

My dad taught a great message this past Sunday about adoption. If you want to listen go to www.lakesidechapel.com and it's under recent sermons (11-4-12). Yes, I realize how blessed I am :)

A day in the city (pictures)