Double for Your Trouble

"Double for Your Trouble" was a really great sermon that my pastor preached more than a year ago. He talked about how we all have periods of time when we are going through. He urged every member to wake up that next Monday morning and to declare that for everything that they had lost, God would give them double for their trouble.

The very next Monday I followed his instruction. It had been a very difficult business year but something started to change that Monday morning. I got a new client project that was exactly double the rate of pay and at the same time it doubled the miles in my commute. We had a good laugh about that and my pastor said that we had to learn to take the good with the bad. More than that you had to be able to fight through those low points and wait on what would come with great anticipation and patience. I think about the children that I wait for as double scoops of all that is right and true. I know, too that they and their families will get double double for their trouble.

You can't get double if there is no trouble so when I received an early morning email telling me that I was getting double the expected contribution towards my adoption fund, I should have known trouble was lurking somewhere. As the day progressed things took a turn. It turned out to be a tough day. It was a tough week. Even with that it caused me to remember that no matter what, there is double for every bit of trouble that we experience along the way. Sometimes knowing doesn't make it better and you wonder what to do. What do people do when they don't know what to do? What do we do when we don't have all the answers and only hope, faith and a fervent belief that "all things work for good?" On a day like today I just play a song that has gotten me through many rough times.

Work List: Garage Done!

Drum roll please.....Today I actually completed something on my list. Well, I didn't complete it Luke the handyman and good friend did it for me.

Why is the garage a child hazard? I bought the house new or prebuilt about 12 years ago. I don't know if the carpenters were drinking on the job but their very long nails pretruding out from in between all of the studs. Nails up high and down low. The didn't stick out far enough for you to catch yourself on them or anything but over the years I've used a few to hang a set of extra keys, brooms or whatever.

I couldn't take a chance on what the kids might do if given the chance. Now I don't have to worry about it. I know the pictures aren't great but thanks, Luke!

Working on the List

Waiting. I'm just waiting and working on my list.

1. Clean the kids room down to the floor and walls. - Not yet.
   
2. Hold a garage sale. Let a hauler take away everything else. - This weekend.
   
3. Clean the carpet throughout the house. - Someday.
   
4. Paint the children's room and their bathroom. - Before I clean the carpet.
   
5. Clean their linen closet to the bare shelves. - Before I travel to Ethiopia.
6. Dry wall the garage it is an absolute child hazard as it is today. - Tomorrow.
7. Wishlist for shower. - Growing daily.
   
8. Begin purchasing things that they will need. (It's been hard holding off). Still hard.
9. Plan the itenarary for me and my dads first visit to Ethiopia. - Can't even think about it.
10. Visit a couple of my final choices for schools. Make a choice. - The list has narrowed.
    
11. Choose, order, purchase their bedroom furniture. - See below.
    
12. Decorate thier room - choose bedding, wall stuff all of that. - After furniture.

It's difficult choosing some things without knowing if I'm having two girls or a boy and girl. I've decided that I like very high headboards and dark wood. Too feminine? Too masculine? Neutral?


My light wood choices but not high on the list.











3 variations of the same style. It will probably be one of these.

Prom Queen

How do I get pulled into these things? All week a friend of mine has been talking about going to the high school prom. Her son is a sophomore at the high school (not attending prom), so I thought she was just taunting him in some way. Well, yesterday at about 3pm I got a call from her saying that the Prom Moms were in a pinch and they needed another prom chaperon.

S: I said that I have a friend. That would be YOU. Can YOU...? Would YOU...? I think we can have fun.

Me: Are you serious? You are really going to the prom? I thought you were making that up? When is it?

S: Tonight, at 9:30. We have to meet at the high school and then we are heading to Chicago for the prom and the prom after party on the Spirit of Chicago.

Me: We are leaving at 9:30? What kind of prom is that? That sounds like a grown folks parties when you don't leave home until after nine.

We did a lot of laughing about it. This is my BEST friend. She is actually much more like my sister. She is my children's Godmother. She agreed to be their legal guardian. She has agreed (without hesitation) to keep my children when I am on business trips. She is traveling with me to Ethiopia to bring my children home. You guessed it...I said...

Me: I don't have anything to wear to the prom. My hair is not done, my nails are not done...

S: All the moms are just wearing pants suits. You don't have to be dressed up like it's your prom. Wear your cute black dress.

Me: What dress?

S: I don't know exactly but I know you have one that's cute. You can do it. (One of our favorite phrases to encourage each other). We will have fun. (We always do).

I decided that after all of that I would get dressed and go. I thought me and my friend would hang out at the prom, sing a few songs and dance on enough records just to embarrass ourselves. It was very different than what I expected.

I didn't get home until 4:00 AM!

We got to the school at 9:30 and learned that my friend and I would be separated once we arrived in Chicago. The kids were already at the prom, we were the second team of chaperons from 10 - 11pm. Then we were split into teams to take buses to the after party.

Each Prom Mom was responsible for chaperoning her own bus! I was given a big list, clipboard, markers, and a flashlight. We had to check kids onto the bus, pass out tickets, check them off the bus, and then back onto the bus for the long, late-night ride home. I was on bus #10 and she was on bus #6 with her own group of teens headed to the cruise boat. We boarded the 3-floored ship at MIDNIGHT! The parents walked the ship, we commented on all the dresses and oh my the dances. The kids partied like it was 2009! We boarded the buses at about 3AM to head back home. We were all wilting, the hairdos had drooped, the girls makeup had smeared, they were all walking around in bare feet. It was a long night, 425 kids and it was only about 45 degrees outside. I was told that we had to make sure all of the kids on our bus had a ride home before we could leave.

Let me say it again, I got home at 4AM! In a week I've been from preschool to the prom. All I keep thinking is that when my children are old enough for the prom, I will be too old for all of this. LOL

PreSchool Momma

Direct application is the best experience. It is the best teacher. I got an urgent call last night from a friend that had a work meeting she could not miss. It happened to be on the same day that they were having parent day in her son's pre-K classroom and the day that the school was going to talk about transitioning to kindergarten. She asked if I could go in her place and of course I said that I would. When I picked him up for school this morning he was so excited that it was a "bring your mom, your dad, your grandma or your auntie to school day." He has adopted me as his Auntie Valarie and said that the day was for anybody who loved him and could go to school with him today.

As a first time expecting mom it was definitely an experience. I walked into the room with little chairs and had to sign in as the "parent" for the day. I decided not to sit in the teeny tiny chair but rather sat on the floor. It wasn't bad but getting up was brutal. The first part of the morning was watching the teacher in action. She was pretty amazing. They teach at the concept level linking date, time, weather, words, songs, and pictures. I learned that the Spanish word for cricket, spelled c-r-i-c-k-e-t is also grillio in Spanish. Next we went to a separate room where they talked about what the children should know before kindergarten and gave strategies and tips for getting them up to speed over the summer. It was funny that I know these parents must know that I am not the mother but they welcomed me into their circle and one woman wanted to take me down the hall to show me the kindergarten room and assure me that Mrs. Remus is a fabulous kindergarten teacher.

I went back into the room with the kids and helped them make caterpillars. I was a big hit with a couple of the kids that wanted to show me every step of their projects. I know my friend thinks that I was doing her a big favor but I loved every moment of it. I am looking forward to doing all of these things with my own children.

Thanks, friend!

Lady in Waiting

If you haven't noticed I am over the 100 day mark waiting for my referral. I'm not one who was in a rush for the referral as I have so much to do to prepare. I'm probably like many of you though, the more time that I have the more I will find to do.

Here is the list of things that I still need to do before the children arrive. This is not in order of priority.

1. Clean the kids room down to the floor and walls.


2. Hold a garage sale. Let a hauler take away everything else.


3. Clean the carpet throughout the house.


4. Paint the children's room and their bathroom.


5. Clean their linen closet to the bare shelves -- almost.


6. Choose, order, purchase their bedroom furniture.


7. Decorate thier room - choose bedding, wall stuff all of that.


8. Dry wall the garage it is an absolute child hazard as it is today.


9. Make a list for my friends of the things that I need in preparation for my adoption shower.


10. Begin purchasing things that they will need. (It's been hard holding off)


11. Plan the itenarary for me and my dads first visit to Ethiopia.


12. Putting things together for their referral gift and family visit.


13. Visit a couple of my final choices for schools. Make a choice

I know that there is more but this will keep me a busy.

The Contractor Cometh

Okay, I was feeling great about all the serious cleaning and purging that I was doing. I had a contractor in here the last two days. He came to take care of what I thought were minor projects that I didn't finish before the homestudy. A couple of years ago I (that is "I" as in "I" did it all buy myself) put down a wood floor in my home office. I didn't know how to do the trim and molding -- I can't do everything. It didn't matter that much but I can just see my children getting their fingers stuck between the floor boards and the wall. Since I work primarily from a home office I'm sometimes in here 12 hours a day. So, I fianally had the contractor come and do it for me and put up folding doors from my office to the storage room. Little did I know that he would have to MOVE EVERY SINGLE THING out of my office to do it. Now every book (and there are many) has been taken off the shelves, my bookcases sitting in the middle of the family room floor, my office equipment is spread out on the couch, it looks like a bomb has exploded. Well, he is now finished and I have to put it all back, it will take a little while to do that. The work does look good though and even makes my floor work look better.

My office is directly off of my downstairs family room. Right now it is separated by the standard six-panel door. The next project is a glass french door on the office. That way, if I am in here working or taking a business call I can at least close the door but still see the children. More importantly they can see me. I am just imagining them pressing their little face and putting their hands against the glass. I wouldn't have it any other way.

SPECIAL NOTE: The contractor is a really nice guy and understands the needs I have and the need to balance the costs. He made me an offer to list out all that I need done. He will allow me to pay him 50% and the rest "as I can". He also said that just to help me out he will come in two weeks to move all of the furniture that is currently in the kids room out into my garage for the garage sale. That is a big help -- remember, there is an 8 foot bookshelf in there. Thanks, Luke!