S-U-M-M-E-R!

It's that time of year again that I absolutely LOVE! Summer!! I've always loved this season the most. Of course it helps that I don't have to work, but I love being able to be outside, go camping, have bonfires, go to the lake, have the windows open, and wear tank tops and flip-flops. Lots of people complain that it's too hot or too humid. But I don't really mind because after being cold for so long, it's nice to be hot for awhile! :)

It was so wonderful to be able to spend Memorial Day weekend with friends (the start of the summer season!!). Since Matt was gone all weekend catching "monstrous fish", friends were so hospitable in inviting me to go out on the boat, cookout, scrap, play games, and hang out. The weather was finally decent enough to be outside and it is so nice to hang out with such wonderful people: John, Jessica, Greyson, Amos, Jess, Grace, Tyler, Jenn, Scott, and Melanie.

What's your favorite summer activity?

We're moving!!!

well...barring any unforseen problems, anyway! :) Our counter offer was accepted today! So they need to get an inspection and appraisal on the house in the next two weeks. As long as both come back ok, then we're good to go! We've set the closing date for June 23rd and then we have 7 days to move out of this house and into our new house!! How exciting! It doesn't really seem real yet. I'm sure it will once we start packing though. God is good. Things have moved along quickly and it's been hectic, but we are super excited!

Look for an invite to a cookout later this summer!! :)

DUH moment

Have you ever just had a "duh" moment? (And you better all say yes! :) ) There are times when things just aren't as clear as you'd like them to be and you say or do something that isn't the smartest! :) Well, I had a duh moment yesterday.

We got a call from our adoption counselor that said our letter was received by one birthparent for the month of April. Whoopee! One WHOLE person in the WHOLE month! :) Not that we were that surprised because that's been about the average over the last 6 months. So I finally printed off the papers we'd need to complete to change our adoption profile to include children of races other than Caucasian. And after I printed it out, I thought and prayed...is this really what we should do? Am I just getting impatient?? And I thought of the verses I have been reading in the Gospels, "Oh ye of little faith..." And I thought, "DUH!" Do I really think that God would give us something we couldn't handle? He has the perfect child for us, have we been holding back because we didn't have faith enough for Him to choose the child for us? Yes.

So we took the leap, filled out the papers, and sent them in. Why did it take us 6 months to figure it out? Maybe we weren't ready, maybe our birthmother wasn't ready...who knows? But I just keep thinking, "duh, Alicia." It seems so obvious now, but I guess I just wasn't ready to see it before. So, not that I miraculously expect to get a child next week, but I do feel a lot better about trying to trust God to choose our child, instead of us trying to limit His power to do so! :)

What's your latest "duh moment?" :)

Appreciate Mom, Home, and the Cubs!

OK, just a warning that this will probably be a lengthy post as a lot has happened recently :) So start with the appreciation part of my title. This last week at school was Teacher Appreciation Week and with all of the nastiness of trying to negotiate a contract (for the school year that is basically over), it was nice to take a moment to let others know that we notice they do a good job. That is just what happend to Matt at school on Friday. The middle school kids took a survey where they were supposed to nominate teachers for certain things (smartest, nicest, etc.). Here is a picture of what he won:
If you can't tell, that is Matt in cake form with a tiki glass. He was nominated as the teacher to most likely win Survivor! :) It was so cute and I know someone took A LOT of time making that cake for him! So thank you to the anonymous person! It was very creative.

Secondly on to the mom part of the title. Today is, of course, Mother's Day. And we had my mom and dad over for lunch and an afternoon of playing cards and watching tv. It was very yucky outside (cold and rainy), but we still had a nice afternoon catching up and celebrating my wonderful mom! :) Matt's parents were in Michigan with the boat. I hope it was nicer there than it was here!

Third, the house is showing quite a bit. We've had 5 showings over the past few weeks. One family has even come back again and has asked more detailed questions about the house. But as of now, we haven't had any offers yet. We're not getting too worried because we have until the beginning of June to sell, but it would be nice to be sold before then! :)

Lastly, the Cubs! I went to my first Cubs game yesterday with some teacher's from Matt's school (and John and Jessica who bought the last 2 extra tickets). We had a great time. It was SUPER cold. I had on 3 layers and was still cold. Next time, I would definitely bring a blanket to keep warm. It was still fun though, watching the game and all the people. And you can't beat ballpark food (even though it is expensive!!) :) And it made it even better that the Cubs won! We took a Cardinal bus up to Chicago so we didn't have to worry about driving or parking in Chicago. That was nice. And I never realized how nice a warm shower feels after being cold all day! :)