It's been forever...

Now I'm the worst blogger ever, I can seem to keep these things up and then the news is just old, so it might be better to start where you are then to try and catch up. I just read my last post about getting an exchange student, well, now she's here and has been here and it's been exactly one month today. I'd say things are going pretty good, we've kept her busy every weekend she's been here. Hopefully we will take a road trip this weekend to the U.P. but I haven't put all the plans in place yet.

Jim is still working in Nebraska, we haven't seen him since Christmas. I miss him terribly. I pray that something comes up better for next year, otherwise a wife may just show up on his doorstep and announce that she's staying, one bedroom apartment or not. It's interesting how one tries to cope in times like this, I'm trying to stay busy beyond distraction. We now have 3 dogs, and 4 kids, 3 my own and our exchange student. I'm doing 3 Bible studies, one Sunday, one Monday, and one Wednesday so I always have homework. I'm still cleaning 2 houses on the side, I work at least one a week. I cook lunch every Wednesday for the kids at school, they are so worth it and I love visiting with the teachers. It's my little ministry and the kids are so grateful, waving good-bye to me when I leave and shouting thank-yous. It's hard to walk out of there without a smile on your face. I might even consider that the high light of my week. This week they want tacos. So I love it kind of crazy to get through the hard times.

updates...

Well already I'm having difficulty loading up some pictures for this blog. I'm trying hard to embrace the love of blogging, telling friends and family what we're up to, but technology has not been too friendly. I was trying to upload some pictures of our Halloween. It was a fun one this year. The kids got to dress up at school and a couple of parents and I joined in the fun. If I can get the pictures up, you'll be able to see our experience.
Other news, we're getting a foreign exchange student in January. Her name is Ilana Weinrich, she's 17 years old and is going to be a Junior in High School. So far we've been writing some, she's a busy lady and only writes me back on the weekends when life isn't too busy for her. I think we're a little over eager from our side. When it gets closer, we'll have a how many days until she gets here. She plays piano and loves to draw, those were the qualities we really like in her. Adrienne is very musical and Taylor is very artistic, so I think she will be a perfect match.
Well I only had a few minutes, I have to cook for our school today. The kids voted and wanted Ramen Noodles, I insisted on adding some Chicken Nuggets to the mix.
Speaking of voting, my candidate did not win. Sniff, Sniff, Sniff. Now what's going to happen? Lord help us all.

To my #1 fan

Well my husband told me that he's a regular subscriber to my blog so I thought I'd include the picture I sent on our application for a foreign exchange student for the winter semester. I made quite the little portfolio with 24 pictures, from the house to the pets to the kids and of course us. So I will give our book to the coordinator tomorrow and hopefully we'll get someone to talk to shortly. I can't wait to get excited about the process and have a name so we know who to get ready for. I even think we'll save a Christmas gift for her since she should come right around NewYear's, maybe I could keep up the Christmas tree and lights and give her a little taste of Christmas. I can't wait for all the firsts, her reactions and things like that. Well I'll keep everyone posted, so far they have three on hold for us until the application goes through and we pass a back-ground check, then the application goes to her to see if she'd like to have us. I can hardly wait.

This was a fun day...

Here was a picture of one of those fun days, the kids found this huge caterpillar/tomato worm in the driveway after our softball tournament.

Today we joined our friends at their church today, shared lunch with them and their friends and had a wonderful time. Both of the families that we had lunch with have foreign exchange students and I'm interested in trying the same thing. I asked my husband about it tonight and he's supportive but doesn't really understand my reasons. Well it's really rather simple, I'm alone here and need something to do, something worthwhile, something with meaning and purpose, something that will be remembered, and I've always wanted to adopt but that's not an option yet, so this is the next best thing to trying out new energy in the house. I'm afraid of doing foster care because of all the horror stories, and being a foster kid myself, it's not the greatest way to come into a family (the us and them thing doesn't work for me).

So I took a look at the web site and I think a girl from Germany would be a good fit for us. Not too crazy of a culture shock and our family has some German roots on both sides. I have some favorites and I think it would be cool to try this out from January till June or the equivalent of a semester, at least as a first time.

There's a part of me that is really excited, especially if this were to happen. And having a little time to mentally prepare the kids is great too. Cleaning the rooms, decluttering the extra stuff, and teaching them our family does these things together, I even want them in the selection process. So hopefully this blog will be a bit more optimistic, as things are looking up. One of my favorite sayings as of late has been, "It's hard seeing the forest from the trees." And it has been harder but I think I'm over the hump now. It's okay to see what you're made of from time to time, it's the only way to realize how good you have it sometimes. And I do have it pretty good.

Here are the pictures of the entry way

Now I finally got a couple of pictures loaded, also included are pictures of my Adrienne. On this day she was home form school but starting to perk up when we took these pictures.

It's finally done...

I hate computers and I'm having a Hell of a time trying to load a picture of the entry way I've finally have finished. I'm sorry I'm not computer savy, I don't know how these teenagers do it, personally this kind of thing bores me. I struggle to find something to write about, either that, or my life is really that boring. My Adrienne has been home sick today from school, tomorrow don't look too promising either but she has kept up her homework. I don't think she wants to fall behind but her head and her stomach are not cooperating with her.

Just a personal note... After watching the crisis our country is going through, I've decided to get it together over my/our finances. I want to do better, pay off more debt faster and learn to live with less. It's something I need to finally take seriously, especially if our country has no promise for a secure future, it makes you think when banks can't lend money and we as the consumers can't pay it back. It makes you want to depend on no one, just a thought. So I've got a plan at least, to plan ahead what I may spend and then stick to it, or go with less somewhere else. It's a little notebook I plan to carry in my purse and everytime I spend, I mark it off where I've budgeted it in. So I'll let ya all know how my first two weeks go, it should be interesting. So much for a picture, I can't get one to load tonight, maybe later.

Well I tried to upload a video instead, ok, we'll see what happens. No such luck, I hate technology!!!!!

Well after last Sunday, this one is showing some light at the end of the tunnel. But after you tell a church you're leaving to be with your husband, all of a sudden everyone wants an explanation.

But this isn't really the place for all the gory details, so on to lighter news. The picture above is the wallpaper border I ordered this last week for my kitchen and the wallpaper is colorful wine labels that will be above it. I bought a bakers rack this weekend but didn't take the before picture, now I'm kicking myself, so lesson learned. I''ve been cleaning out closets, put a couple of things on e-bay, and have boxes ready for the sheltered workshop. So right now, the house is a bunch of piles waiting to be gone through. So that's the boring details but I'm actually loving it, doing something for myself, some internal and external cleaning up. Yes, it's very nice....