tired

So today I got back to the real grind. Well, not really because I was only scheduled to work half day, but even half days turn into whole day when you are on call. It totally bumbs me out... it's not the work I don't like. It is being away from my family. I really enjoy helping the animals and their owners. I really do. To ease suffering in little critters just makes me happy. I helped "free" a kitten from a milk crate tonight. The family was just so relieved to have the kitten freed - that is nice and it feels good. But, it just really hurts so much being away from my family. I know God has a plan for even this in my life, but wow, it hurts so much to think I can miss whole days from my family. I feel like a whiner... I am so blessed by both having a wonderful family and only needing to work part time in a job I enjoy. So much better to focus on the blessings than always wanting more...... I guess I need to remember that.

I and friends at the fair.

L getting ready for a 4-wheeler ride.

I in ballet (the one facing the camera)

I doing preschool work

Josh with his elk this year. Took him with his bow opening day,

So the block party wasn't nearly as fruitful for One Changed Life as we had hoped, but a good friend reminded me kindly that God IS in control and he will provide for those kids, we just need to keep diligent in doing our part to serve Him. So, we shall press on and look for other avenues that may bring more sponsorships. It was still a fun time at the block party. The kids were with Josh and me the whole day and they did SO well. I did take a couple of hour break to take I to a movie G-Force. It was great to have some time just the two of us. L stayed with Josh and put on her megga cuteness and brought people to the table. She really is such a cutie. The rest of the week was pretty busy. I (me) started back to work and I (daughter) started swimming and AWANA. I'll only be helping with AWANA every other week this year so as to have more time with L as AWANA is on a work day of mine, but while I'm gone on those weeks helping out, Josh will have some good daddy - daughter time with L. It was sure nice too to have Russ and Kari over for dinner. It has been a LONG time it seems since they have been over to just visit. Well, I suppose I had better get on with the day. Josh is off 4-wheeling with my dad and the kids and I are heading to a wedding. I'm still having a hard time figuring out how to format my blog and load pictures with captions, but I will try again.

Week of big 1sts

So this week has been a week of big 1st's for I. We started home preschool on Tuesday.... very cute. I insists that we do school in the basement in the "classroom" that I see I will have to make it into more an official classroom. L just plays down there because the toys are a novelty.... toys we don't have upstairs, so she had been quite content to play while I and I do school. I also started ballet this week.... now that is really cute. We messed up and got the wrong size leotard and slippers, but she didn't care in the slightest. She was in BALLET. Her latest desire for adult life is to be a ballet teacher and that was even before class started. Another first, I had her first friend stay over for a sleep over. It was her friends first sleep over too and the girls had a great time playing and "camping" in the spare bedroom. L didn't enjoy though because big sis didn't sleep in her room with her, so I(me) layed on her floor and held her hand until she drifted off. L has definitely become attached to I. She is even giving her hugs and kisses in the morning. Well, this weekend we are having our first big push to get sponsors for the kids of One Changed Life. We will have a table at the block party and hopefully and prayerfully, God will provide many sponsors. I'll post pictures of the event next week.

Another great week.

So on Monday, we went to Ross Lake which is in the North Cascades in WA. The drive was long, but totally worth it. L had a bit of a rough time in the car.... bored out her mind I'm sure, but we made it there and like I said, it was worth it. We had to take a ferry to a pickup to another boat to get to our cabin.... it was cool. We stayed in a bunk house with Josh's sisters family. The one issue of the whole trip happened within the first 5 seconds of getting there. I was so excited to get into the cabin that she jumped from the boat onto a dock which was attached to the dock of the cabin and fell in between. I of course freaked out and so did I(me) but she was fine. She caught herself on her armpits and I pulled her up and out. Total adrenaline rush and freak out for me. It took me a day to relax about the water after that, but I did and it was so fun. We went on a hike to the dam which was completely amazing and took a few boat trips to see some gorgeous scenery. The water was cold but the days were warm so it was still great for swimming. One of the boat rides back we got caught in some serious wind and white caps. We were just in a little 14 foot aluminum boat and we all got soaked. It was hilarious and very fun. L actually slept through the entire thing on my lap. I had put a towel over her to shade the sun and it also worked as a water shield. She got soaked like the rest of us but not by direct splashing so she slept all through it - amazing. I'll try to post some pictures - we'll see if it works. The ride home was much better than the ride there, maybe because my cold had mostly passed and I wasn't so irritable from feeling so sick, maybe it was b/c the kids were beat and slept a bit of the ride home. Yesterday we went to a wonderful wedding of our friends - such a blessing... Yes it has been a nice week. Josh actually went hunting this am - left super early at 3am and thankfully also already got his bull. This week is back to real life. I starts Ballet and restarts swimming and now I'm trying to figure out how to make all of this work with my work schedule... I have to go back in 2.5 weeks. Hopefully something will pan out.

Wow, this has been a busy week. Last weekend I took the girls and went to visit my sister Leah and her family. It was a great visit. We were able to just sit and relax and took the kids to the beach and swam in the river - it was just fantastic. Josh was off rafting with the guys for a friends of our bacheolar party, so all in all , I think we all had a fun weekend. L did well of the trip but really didn't enjoy sleeping away from home.... hopefully this week's trip will go better for that. This week, Grandma Eve, Grandpa Jim and Josh's sister Jeni and the kids were here to visit. Once again, it has been a ton of fun and great to get to visit. We have been busy though, off and about having lots of fun. I'll see if I can post some pictures, but my computer is going really slow today for some reason. Well, we will be off to Ross Lake this week with Jeni's family and it should be fun. We should get to do some kayaking, fishing, hiking, and relaxing. So looking forward to having my whole family together as we have been missing Josh a bit as he has been pretty busy with work and such. I know the girls will love having daddy around every day too... so I am really excited!!

Picture of the day....

Trying it again.

So, i'm gonna give this a whirl - keeping a blog that is. We'll see how it goes.

We were blessed to bring our little L home (previously know as E but we decided to change her real name). I'm not sure about using names, so I don't think I will. Anyone who might read this will know who I'm talking about anyhow, right. We got home July 24th and are so truly blessed. The trip was remarkable to say the least. Adoption is undescribable. I though giving birth was the most miraculous of things, but I must say, bringing a child into your heart through adoption is just as miraculous, just in a different way. I am a very blessed woman. God has been better to me than I could ever even fathom why. I am so very very blessed. The girls are adjusting well to each other... L follows I everwhere and copies everything she does. It is SO cute. I loves it. I think she wishes she could still just hug and hold her sister more, but L is a little bit into personal space still and feels "pestered" by some of I's wonderful love. Anyhow, here is an update I wrote on a chat group I am in with blessed Christian sisters who have made this adoption journey with me.
Quaade update......We are doing really good. L has had a little trouble sleeping throuh thenight the last couple of night and I'm not sure if its indigestion (because shehas gorged herself on food the last 2 night for dinner) or b/c it is so hothere. Other than that though, all is going well. Her skin has mostly clearedup now too. The doctors office and pharmacy have been a slight annoyance(almost to the point of my thinking I'm going to switch dr.s/pharmacies.) Wehad a allergy panel run, and they ran the wrong one, so we didn't actually getthe info on peanuts that I was looking for. So they should be running that inthe next few days and we will see if that is the cause. Yeah, we had the dr'soffice make a total of 5 errors in L's health check. Actually 6 errros - Ijust stopped to count. We were in now 3 weeks ago and they still have notcontacted me with all of her results. After I called to see why they hadn'tcalled, they called one night at 7pm as they were walking out the door of theafter hours place, but I quite running to my phone after 5:30 and of course,they were gone when I got the message. They are now out until next Thursday, soit will be almost 1 month to get her results - seems silly to me. I know theiris nothing hugely wrong as I picked up the results, but there are about 10questions I have for them. I try to be loyal to our dr as in the past he wasbeen wonderful, but I'm pretty sure he is overworked and it getting sort of laxin things. Oh, well I guess.We took the kids camping this last weekend. L loves boats and water and shecamps like a little pro. We went to the water park on Wednesday and she seemsto think she can swim.... She can't really but she sure wants to just GO. It isadorable. I swam and played with her in the pool the whole time. Lastnight was the first night we left L with anyone else. It was our anniversaryand we went out the dinner. We went out for chinese. It was super nice for us to get away and have a few hours together, but I was concerned as I didn't know if I would careb/c I left and I'm not so sure how bonded she is yet, or if she would care alotand feel like she was left again. It was all good!!!! She walked around thehouse after we left (she was with I at my friends house) and wentlooking around saying "mama, mama". She didn't cry, but she noticed I wasn'tthere. She played and had fun while we were gone and when we got back and shesaw me she got a great big smile and reached to be picked up. She just wanted mama and dada, but was still just as happyas a little clam. It was GREAT. I think she is actually bonding and seems tobe pretty secure!!!!WE are off to my sisters for an overnighter tonight. Hopefully that goes well. It's a 3hour drive. I does great in the car and L seems to befollowing right along in that.
I will actually try to update this as some people might follow, but if not, it's atleast a good journal.

Also, I keep meaning to right it down.... a profound bible verse for me this week. " I have no greater joy that to hear that my children walk in truth." 3John 1:4