Michigan/Ohio State Game

Okay, I know it has been a few weeks since the big game but this picture was really cute. Jeromy and Elena were supporting Ohio State and Alex is a Michigan fan (Go Blue!). We were enjoying the game at Uncle Jim and Aunt Judy's house. Some fun memories from that day included Uncle Jim's tirades during the game ("What about that number 9!") and frustration about the Beyonce commercial ("She's gyrating, GYRATING!" - a huge amount of disgust in his voice with hips swiveling). Anyways, here's the picture...

Oh...How Times Have Changed!

I am reading Under God by Toby Mac and Michael Tait (two members of DC Talk) as part of my devotion time. I read something the other night that really struck me.

Thanks to the constitutional mandate of Article I, Section 5, Paragraph 3, every debate and every vote that has taken place in Congress from 1774 to the present is recorded in the public records. As a result of this mandate, the american people are able to read exactly what happened when Congress first moved into the Capitol.

On December 4, 1800, just a few weeks after moving into the building, Congress decided that the Capitol would also serve as a church building. This fact is not only recorded in the Annals of Congress but also confirmed in the journals of various representatives and senators serving at that time.

For example, Senator John Quincy Adams recorded on Octoboer 30, 1803:

Attended public service at the Capitol where Mr. Ratoon, an Episcopalian clergyman from Baltimore preached a sermon.

Just a week earlier he'd written:

Religious service is usually performed on Sundays at the Treasury Office and at the Capitol. I went both forenoon and afternoon to the Treasury.

Thus began the longstanding - and congressionally sanctioned - practice of using government buildings as houses of worship.

I think everyone would agree that this would not happen today. What has happened to turn our government and country away from the dreams of our forefathers.

There is no list!

That is the response we received at work just days after the failed levy. Everyone is worried about their jobs (with good reason) and rumors are flying! So, they informed us that there is not a list of cuts (at least not at this time). We don't necessarily believe that, but I'm not worried. Nothing is going to change if I worry, so I just need to relax and do my job. That is exactly what I am doing.

On a lighter note, the response of "there is no list" came at a funny time for me. My junior class is beginning a unit on Arthur Miller's The Crucible. To prepare for this unit we have been spending a lot of time talking about McCarthyism during the early 1950s. On the day that we received the e-mail about the "list" we had been talking about Hollywood during McCarthyism and the blacklist that circulated there. We had actually watched a clip from The Majestic where Jim Carrey's character is blacklisted but the studio denies that the list actually existed. Now, I am not comparing the school district to McCarthyism. I just find it funny that we were talking about that the same day the administration made that comment.

What's Going On?

I know it has been a little while since I have updated everyone. I have been incredibly busy. I'm not really sure why (isn't that the way it always is?). Anyways, we had our final meetings with our social worker, Robin. The meetings were very relaxed and we had a lot of fun.

I also was able to turn in our scrapbook pages for "the book" that the birthmothers look through. It looks very nice, thanks to Rhonda. Rhonda was the scrapbook warrior Friday night. She is very talented. She could have a business doing scrapbook pages for people who are too busy or do not have talent. Anyways, she worked and I sat back and watched (and helped a little). My mom and Michelle were also there and helped with their input as well.

After all these weeks and months, all we have to do now is sit back and wait. We have no responsibilities at this point. I am not going to say that there is no stress, there just isn't any right now. Just keep us in your prayers.

Good and Bad News

Well...let's start with the good news. Tonight we had our first meeting with our social worker, Robin. She is incredibly nice and I felt instantly comfortable with her. She asked us some questions and explained the next steps in the process to us (nothing really new) and then we scheduled our next meeting. She will come next Friday and meet with Jeromy and 2:00 and when I get home she will meet with just me for an hour. Then, our final meeting will be Monday (Nov. 19) at 3:30. This is going so fast. She says if I get our scrapbook finished we could be "in the book" by December. That means birthmothers will be seeing our information already! How exciting!

Now, the bad news. Our school district had a huge levy up on Tuesday. We are losing a lot of money due to state laws. In the spring, I almost lost my job (if you want a refresher or just don't know what happened click one of the following links: May 9, May 29, and June 5). Miraclously, I still have a job. However, our levy failed on Tuesday. This is not good. I had been told that if the levy failed there would be no saving my job a second time. My friend Michelle may also lose her job as well. I just don't understand why people wouldn't vote for a school district. It just doesn't make sense. One saving grace will be that they are planning on putting the levy back up in March (however, it will be larger due to the money we are losing at the beginning of the school year). We just all need to keep our fingers crossed and hope the voters in Oregon decide that education is important.

Busy Lives...

This past weekend has been incredibly busy, but great! Here is a brief recap:

1) We left Friday after school to visit Jeromy's family in Dayton. It was a great visit. We were able to visit his grandparents and play games with his mom and sister. It was a very nice time! We also celebrated my birthday this past weekend.

2) On Sunday afternoon, Jeromy and I headed off to Lafayette, Indiana for Jeromy to interview for a job there. Lafayette is about an hour north of Indianapolis and is the home of Purdue. Jeromy really liked the job and he hasn't made a decision about what he is going to do. However, it is looking like we will be staying in Toledo. It's a good job, but he doesn't see anything that makes it stand out. That would be fine with me if we stay in Toledo (it took us 4 1/2 hours to drive home this afternoon).

3) One last thing...we have been assigned our social worker and she is beginning her part of the home study this week. This is so exciting!

Trick or Treat!

Kelly just sent me some pictures of Alex and Kelly on Halloween. The first is Elena (dressed as a smore) and Alex (dressed as Indiana Jones) with Kelly. In the second picture they are with Kelly's friend Jenny and her daughter Makenzie. I know I have said this before, but...aren't they cute?

We are finally ready for the Home Study!

On Friday, we traveled once again to Fostoria for the final training meeting for our adoption. It was very informative, but very long. The most interesting part of the day was a panel with two sets of adoptive parents along with their child's birthmother. It was interesting to watch how the two groups interacted with one another. It makes me wonder how our relationship will be with our birthmother. Jeromy and I have talked about it a little bit, but have decided that there is no way to know how we will be until we meet her.

Now, all the training sessions are finished. We have all our paperwork turned in and now all we have to do is make up our scrapbook. On Friday, one of the social workers let me take home one of their scrapbooks to look at. I plan on returning it on Tuesday. I'm also going to make sure everything is turned in and taken care of.

On another note, Jeromy took me away for a romantic weekend. We went to Frankenmuth, MI and the outlets at Birch Run. It was very nice! (especially since he has been working afternoons for the last week) We had a lot fun and enjoyed some bonding time. FYI - it was my birthday this weekend! I'm now 34 (yes, I am old). What a great way to spend my birthday...with my best friend, Jeromy.

We are Finished!

It's time to celebrate! Jeromy and I finished our second "chunk" of paperwork this weekend. I mailed it out yesterday. We also were fingerprinted for our BCI and FBI checks. Now, we have to sit back and wait until they are finished processing everything at Catholic Charities and assign us a social worker.

Until then, we will work on the scrapbook that the birthmothers will look at when choosing who they would like to interview. We also have a day long meeting in Fostoria on Friday.

I can't believe how quickly we are moving! I am so excited!

Meeting Number Two

On Tuesday night, Jeromy and I traveled with my mom to Fostoria for the second meeting for our adoption. Actually, it was the first training session of two that we are required to attend (the first meeting was actually an orientation meeting).

This meeting was much more informative than the first one. We learned more about time frames for the home study. We also learned more details about the Foster-to-Adopt option that Jeromy and I are interested in pursuing. Our next meeting is next Friday.

Also, we are very close to finishing our second "chunk" of paperwork. It should be ready to mail on Monday! This is very exciting! I'll keep you posted!

More Insight...

I seem to be getting a lot of insight lately from God. Last night I was reading the book Free Inside and Out by Marilyn Meberg and Luci Swindoll (it's a book I picked up at last year's Women of Faith). Anyways, I read something last night that really made me think. Here it is (I'll just let it speak for itself)

"I have a reason for going through suffering or difficulty because I have an "eternal inheritance" with God (see I Peter 1:3-4; Hebrews 9:15 KJV). This means when I am in the throes of pain or hurt, God knows all about it and gives meaning and purpose to it so I can learn life lessons. Everything that happens has a reason, even though we may not know some of those reasons until we get to heaven! He takes me through these things to refine me and to encourage others later when they go through the same things. He enables me to grow up through difficult times and experience His faithfulness. In the hard times He's with me, no matter where I am or how hard they get. And He has a great plan to take me through this life into the next...always with Him. That's liberating." - Luci Swindoll

He's Home!

Need I say more?

Depressing News

Okay, I know this may not seem huge to a lot of people, but I am very depressed about it. I was supposed to pick up Jeromy tonight around midnight from the Detroit airport. However, his flight out of Seattle was delayed two hours. There were no other flights that he could take (he asked). So, now he is arriving in Minnesota after the last flight out. Now, he won't be arriving in Detroit until tomorrow morning at 8:30. This is very depressing! I really miss him.

Update on Paperwork and Other Stuff

Okay, I know a lot of people have been asking so I thought I would do a quick update on our second "chunk" of paperwork. We almost have it all filled out. Yesterday, I became CPR and First Aid certified. Tomorrow, the fire marshall is coming to our house to check us out. We both need to get our fingerprints done for a BCI and FBI check. Hopefully that will be completed next week. We each have a packet that we need to fill out and I need to finish the scrapbook. Then, we will be finished. If all of our references have turned in their paperwork we will then be assigned a social worker! This is so exciting!

In other news...Jeromy has been out of town all week for a conference. He is in Seattle. It has been lonely around here, but I have kept busy (thanks to Michelle and Mom). Tomorrow night I am going to drive to Detroit to pick him up from the airport. I can't wait!

Before I go, I almost forgot to mention something I find funny. Yesterday, I missed school because of my CPR training and today my sub mentioned that two more birds entered my room. I think I have a bird magnet in my room.

Fog and Cirque

Well, yesterday was an extremely busy day! It started off with a wonderful surprise...we had a two hour fog delay! That was really nice. However, it came across after I had taken my shower and was in the midst of eating my breakfast. As a result, I was unable to go back to sleep. But, that is okay, because I had a wonderful night's sleep on Thursday.

After the shortened school day, I ran to Lifestyles to work out for a little over an hour. That felt good. I had not been able to work out since Tuesday because I had pulled a muscle in my back at church on Wednesday night. Then, I headed home to Jeromy, his mom and sister.

After a quick shower and getting ready, we all left for a night out on the town. We went out to eat at Olive Garden (my favorite restaurant) and then headed to the Stranahan to see Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy. It was very neat. All I could keep saying throughout the show was "Wow." It is amazing what these people can do. Some of it actually looked painful. I was especially amazed by the contortionists. It was a very enjoyable evening!