I couldn't take it anymore!

The carpet....it was bothering me terribly.

I couldn't get this one spot out.  One day I decided to take care of it......

The spot is now gone.  This carpet is in our current dining room (used to be the family room).  There is a lot of traffic flow through this room.  To get anywhere in the house you have to go through this room and over the carpet.

John left for New Jersey and I decided to tackle the carpet with a little help....

Yes, what a mess!

 

This is the flooring for a bedroom upstairs...another project that needs to get done.

 



Rocko took advantage of the mess and snagged a bag of animal cookies.

 



We got a new dog.....Taco.  He is a litter mate of Rocko.

 



 

He loves laps.

 



 

My mess....what can I say?!  Anyone want to come over and help with a project?

Updates

---Today Kassi got served.  We went up to the lawyers office and a lady from a neighboring business came over and handed Kassi her Summons and Complaint for the adoption.  They are still shooting for December 17th, pray that it works out.  We are so used to paper problems that we always expect delays.  Interesting, the lady that served Kassi also served Anthony and Larissa a few years back.  I wonder if she will serve the next two as well.

---In school news....I am way behind but did pass my comps.  I am registered to student teach next semester.  I am assigned a small school in the next town over.  i am very happy with that placement.  I thought that I might have to drive to the big city to student teach.  I am somewhat nervous about it, being away all day.  I hope that my family survives.

---John is in New Jersey working with the mud-out team.  Some of the homes that they were supposed to help clean have been condemned.  I am not sure if they will find other work or head home early.  The destruction from Sandy is not in the news so much anymore but they are still feeling the impact up there.  Please pray for those affected by the hurricane.

---Just a short update.......I am busy, busy with many projects.  Hopefully soon I will be able to post pictures of something getting finished!

Have a great day!

Our Weekend

I put my mom to work on Thanksgiving day. She wanted southern dressing and John makes northern dressing...

 

so we had two dressings.

 



Joselin wanted to learn how to make sweet potato casserole so she made that dish.  She really likes the marshmallows on top!  Joselin was supposed to work on Friday but she called and said she wouldn't be in, she was enjoying spending time with family.  That is such a blessing.

Tasha required two plates.

 

Then the girls headed out for shopping.  Target had a very long line but they were really efficient and the lines went fast. 

 

Jason didn't get to come home for Thanksgiving.  He is working 7 days a week, 10 hour days with only Thanksgiving off.  He was planning on simply resting.  Kids grow up and aren't always around for the holidays, I need to get used to this.

 

We had a very blessed day spending time together.  I hope that everyone else who celebrates Thanksgiving had a great day as well.

 

 

Next Step

We have signed our adoption paperwork for Kassi. Because Kassi is 17 years old she had to sign paperwork saying that she does want to be adopted.

Thirty minutes after signing the paperwork we were at the lawyers office.  Now we wait for him to do his job.

Naturally this called for dinner at San Jose........

Going Crazy Around Here

I am back to the point of craziness around here.  I have so many appointments, obligations and issues going on right now.

I am attempting to keep my mom out of a nursing home.  She is not helping with standing right now and my back is starting to hurt picking her up.  I need to to assist with transitions.  So we have services coming to the home again.  Twice a week we have OT, twice a week an aide comes, once a week a nurse comes and twice a week we pay for a private aide.  All of these, except for our aide, show up "whenever"!  They may call when they are on their way...or they may not.  So I really have no idea who will show up when.  It drives me crazy but it is all I can do to try and get her stronger.  Unfortunately I feel that it will not help.  She is not very motivated.  The other day the OT told her that she needed to work at it or I wouldn't be able to take care of her anymore.  She cried about it and does not want to go back to a nursing home.

I don't have enough appointments for the kids so now I am going to the doctor myself.  My thyroid is out of whack again.  When the thyroid isn't working too well then weight gain is going to follow.  So now I get to go in every 6 weeks for blood work until my thyroid levels are within the normal range....they are really out of whack.  My blood pressure was 108/75 today.  Everyone in my family has high blood pressure...on both sides of the family.  I am the only one who does not.  I keep expecting it to be high.  I asked my doctor how one person can skip that medical issue.  She said I was lucky....and that out of all her patients I have the most reason to have high blood pressure.  Ha, thanks doc.

Nit picking....know what that is?  Ugh, I spent some time this weekend doing that.  Apparently they no longer notify classmates when there is an issue.  They don't send the kids home anymore either.  We sure have been battling the bugs this year!

Adoption front.....tomorrow we are going to sign.  We had to shuffle doctor appointments to do so.  We will sigh and then head to our lawyer to get the paper started.  Of course there is a glitch.  They have lost Sarah's fingerprint results.  We have to reschedule that quickly and have the results before we can complete the adoption.  It always seems to be something.

Today I also missed a call from the speech pathologist who was testing Anthony.  She says that he doesn't have a problem with expressive or receptive language.  However, he seems to have an auditory problem.  I think that it is time to take him and Larissa somewhere and have them privately tested.  Larissa is really struggling and is only keeping up too. With as much time that we spend working with the kids to keep them caught up I wonder why we don't just homeschool.  Ugh.

My school....well I am barely keeping up.  If something is due at midnight I get it done by 11:30.  I have so much going on that it is hard to get motivated there.  I really worry about student teaching next semester.  If I am concerned about student teaching then how am I going to do with an actual job?!  I am not sure when I will have time to work.

There it is in a nutshell.......busy craziness.

TPR

We now have TPR for the girls.  Legal dad who has never taken any role as the father did not show up for court so we now have to do the same process we did for our teen.

The lawyer will have to write it up and send it to the judge for signature. 

A certified letter will be sent to legal dad.

Either he will sign it and the green card will come back or he won't sign it and after sitting around waiting for him it will be returned.  After the green card is back then the 30 day waiting period will start.

To make it easier on the adoption worker, our teens worker will send her our updated paperwork.  However, our teen will then be added so she needs a medical (which we already did) and a CPS check (we have the paperwork for that).

I estimate April for adoption......

any other guesses out there?

The Process

You would think that once you have TPR the adoption process would move quickly. 

TPR was on July 30th.  They say that there is a 30 day waiting period to allow for appeals.  After that 30 days you can move forward with adoption.....it doesn't quite go that way.

TPR order was filed on September 13th
Certified letter was sent to biodad and was returned so the actual 30 day clock started on October 6th
November 7th no appeal was filed so our teen finally had TPR.

Last week our adoption worker called and said that she had gotten the paperwork in so we could meet and sign the adoption agreement.....soon.  Now she can't find Sarah's FBI check. I know that she was fingerprinted last year when she turned 18.All the paperwork has to be correct before we can sign.  The plan is for us to meet next week to sign.  We have made an appointment to meet with our lawyer on the 27th....which I just realized I have to change.  John is going to New Jersey on the 26th to do mud-out with the church.

So, when we got TPR in July we thought, and were told by our adoption worker, that we would be able to complete this adoption this year.  It doesn't appear that it will happen.

On the girls....nothing new.  We are still waiting

Renaissance Festival 2012

We headed up to North Carolina for the Renaissance Festival.

 

We have learned, to save money we go ahead and paint faces, do costumes and make headgear.

 

 

Emma rubbed off most of her paint while Michelle and Larissa tried very hard to keep their on.

 

Watching for the second car.  If you go to the renaissance Festival in NC next year do not take exit 25 off of 77, exit 23 is much faster.

 

All the kids enjoyed flying.

 

And shooting paintball guns.  Somehow fairies and guns didn't seem like the right combination.

 

 

Everyone enjoyed the performers and shows.

 

Five kids decided to ride the camel.

 

Sharing some ice cream.

 

Junior fairies got some training from the senior fairie.

 

Naturally we had soup in bread bowls.

Sister Hair

 Larissa decided that she wanted Tasha to do her hair tonight.

 

Tasha had never done Larissa's hair before.  She didn't realize what a messy job it could be with that conditioned hair whipping around.

 

Larissa almost fell asleep.

 

Great job Tasha!