Wah wah...
The yard sale that we have busting our tails over the past few days has been put on delay.
We were tagging onto my mom's neighborhood wide yard sale--a sure bet for yard sale junkies to attend--but, she called last night with the news that the neighborhood association had postponed the sale until June 25th.
No big deal. We considered going ahead with it at our house instead, but decided that the appeal of the neighbor sale was just too much. So, we are waiting until next Saturday.
The good news is, if anyone has any junk, there is still time to get it to us.
If you live in Shelbyville, and are able to drop it off to my mom's house, that would be great. Otherwise, you can drop it off to our house, or contact us, and we will be happy to pick it up!
We already have some great items, with more in the works! We are praying it will be a great way to raise money for our babe! If you don't have any yard sale items to donate, we still appreciate your prayers that it is a success!
More details in the coming days!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Home-study Re-cap
Painless. Totally painless.
I finished tearing apart and putting our house back together. Lachlan would probably want me to note that that included piling a laundry basket with the last few items I was at a loss of what to do with, and storing it in Beth's dining room. I'll admit that I have a problem finishing things. It's usually only the last item or task in whatever project I am undertaking, but nonetheless, it's a trait on my husband's annoyance list. He's a finisher, unless we are talking about food, in which case, he REFUSES to take the last bite...Someday when we we are not scrapping money together for a baby, we will save for therapy for the both of us. Until then, he will sigh, "Terri, really? You can't finish this last little bit?" and I will cry "Babe, it's one bite, finish it...You're going to go get a snack in like 2 seconds. Just eat what you have." And in the end, we will still love each other...
Oh. Home-study.
So the house was spot-less. Free of expired medications and with all matches and cleaning supplies in their proper, out of reach places. We were still nervous.
We handed in our reference letters, and physical exam forms. We showed our negative TB and HIV results, and were given a list of a couple more documents to get together.
She took a tour. Short and sweet. My sweet husband all but forced her into my Real Simple laundry room. She asked us to buy two additional fire extinguishers--one for each floor.
Ellory was on her best behavior. (Thank you Jesus!) And was polite and funny, and all the things that make her such a sweet girl.
Done.
We thought things went well, but made sure to ask..."So, nothing would make you not approve us, right?!"
"No red flags."
Shew!
I had been sick for days, and crashed the rest of the afternoon. We celebrated with cheap-o pizza for dinner, and relaxed the rest of the weekend.
Now we wait. We will turn in the additional paperwork this week, and pay our fees. Within a couple weeks, we should be moving on the the dossier documents.
For now we are consumed with finding resources to fulfill our training requirements, and budgeting are re-budgeting our income.
We'll be jump-starting the fundraising efforts this weekend by having a yard sale at my mom's house in Shelbyville. The neighborhood has a yard sale each year, and although it doesn't give us much time to prepare, it will be the best time to have it. If you have any items you want to get rid of, we'd be happy to pick them up from you! Call or email us!
The following week we hope to begin planning the events we have up our sleeves! We are really excited about both events. Stay tuned for details!
I finished tearing apart and putting our house back together. Lachlan would probably want me to note that that included piling a laundry basket with the last few items I was at a loss of what to do with, and storing it in Beth's dining room. I'll admit that I have a problem finishing things. It's usually only the last item or task in whatever project I am undertaking, but nonetheless, it's a trait on my husband's annoyance list. He's a finisher, unless we are talking about food, in which case, he REFUSES to take the last bite...Someday when we we are not scrapping money together for a baby, we will save for therapy for the both of us. Until then, he will sigh, "Terri, really? You can't finish this last little bit?" and I will cry "Babe, it's one bite, finish it...You're going to go get a snack in like 2 seconds. Just eat what you have." And in the end, we will still love each other...
Oh. Home-study.
So the house was spot-less. Free of expired medications and with all matches and cleaning supplies in their proper, out of reach places. We were still nervous.
We handed in our reference letters, and physical exam forms. We showed our negative TB and HIV results, and were given a list of a couple more documents to get together.
She took a tour. Short and sweet. My sweet husband all but forced her into my Real Simple laundry room. She asked us to buy two additional fire extinguishers--one for each floor.
Ellory was on her best behavior. (Thank you Jesus!) And was polite and funny, and all the things that make her such a sweet girl.
Done.
We thought things went well, but made sure to ask..."So, nothing would make you not approve us, right?!"
"No red flags."
Shew!
I had been sick for days, and crashed the rest of the afternoon. We celebrated with cheap-o pizza for dinner, and relaxed the rest of the weekend.
Now we wait. We will turn in the additional paperwork this week, and pay our fees. Within a couple weeks, we should be moving on the the dossier documents.
For now we are consumed with finding resources to fulfill our training requirements, and budgeting are re-budgeting our income.
We'll be jump-starting the fundraising efforts this weekend by having a yard sale at my mom's house in Shelbyville. The neighborhood has a yard sale each year, and although it doesn't give us much time to prepare, it will be the best time to have it. If you have any items you want to get rid of, we'd be happy to pick them up from you! Call or email us!
The following week we hope to begin planning the events we have up our sleeves! We are really excited about both events. Stay tuned for details!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Nesting.
Yesterday, when Lachlan left for work, our home was...how can I put this lightly...tsunami-aftermath-esque. We'd spent the few hours we had at home on Sunday afternoon doing odd jobs to prepare for our upcoming home-study. Lachlan worked on officially sealing up our kitchen cabinets with those annoying little child safety latches...apparently access to dishrags, trash cans and chemicals is bad. (I've been foiled in my attempts to dispose of garbage ever since.)
I took on the task of the laundry room. We've lived in this house 2 years, and I have organized, cleaned and reorganized this room upwards of 6 times. Each time however, it ends up a big pile of "just throw that crap in there and I'll deal with it later." So, I reorganized my stockpiled pantry of toilet paper, spaghetti sauce and shampoo, and reassigned the tossed items of the past 6 months to their proper rooms, finally breaking myself of several appliances, linens and odd and ends into a yard sale pile, (note to self: organize a yard sale.) Needless to say, when the laundry room was finished, it could have donned the pages of Real Simple, where the rest of you would say, "yeah right, no one has a laundry/storage room that looks like that." But then, I could have panned out into the family room beyond, and you would have breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that, all the crap you have in your laundry room and storage, was now just in organized chaotic piles all over our basement.
I ended Sunday by scattering the chaos around the house, moving boxes of dry goods to the kitchen, a "return to friends pile" in the dining room, a box of too little baby clothes outside the attic door. It was all progress, but messy progress.
Back to yesterday.
Knowing that my job this week boiled down to two tasks, 1. keep kids alive, and 2. prepare for home-study, it was clear that Lachlan expected to come home to breathing children and a more organized and prepared home. At 4pm, I sent Lachlan the following text.
"Before you come home and accidentally hurt my feelings, you should know that I have worked my butt off today doing things you will never know I have done."
I passed off the alive part of Ellory to my sweet and amazing neighbor and friend, Beth. While Ezra and I tore apart the rest of our home.
Now, before you tell me, I already know that our social worker will not be opening my refrigerator, or even if she does, she will not judge the sticky goop on the bottom shelf as a sign of unfit parents. I know that she will not care about the FIVE boxes of 3-12 month clothes I have packed away from Ezra's room. She will not be alarmed to find my dishtowels and cloth napkins had made their way into the same pile... However, this has become much more than "post an emergency escape plan," and "make sure all your fire alarms are in working order" kind of home-study checklist. This my friends, has turned into full on obsession, in what may be over a year before we even see a picture of Baby Buna. I want everything perfect. I want to be prepared. I want Baby Buna. But for now, throwing out 1 month old Advil PM, and scraping the goo off my refrigerator shelf is all I can do. So. Here I am. I've torn my whole house apart in the past 3 days. Now I have 2 more to put it all back. All for my Baby Buna.
I'd call it borderline crazy, but nesting sounds so much sweeter.
Please pray for:
Us Coffeys here, as we continue to prepare our home and hearts for Baby Buna.
Our home-study that will take place Friday at 3pm.
God's provision-- we need to sell our car quickly to have the funds due our social worker. We had a great showing tonight, and are hopeful they will make us an offer tomorrow.
Faith the Lord will provide, and discipline and wisdom to manage our resources.
Mostly--Baby Buna, wherever he/she may be-- conceived or not, born already or almost-- that he/she would somehow know we are coming.
I took on the task of the laundry room. We've lived in this house 2 years, and I have organized, cleaned and reorganized this room upwards of 6 times. Each time however, it ends up a big pile of "just throw that crap in there and I'll deal with it later." So, I reorganized my stockpiled pantry of toilet paper, spaghetti sauce and shampoo, and reassigned the tossed items of the past 6 months to their proper rooms, finally breaking myself of several appliances, linens and odd and ends into a yard sale pile, (note to self: organize a yard sale.) Needless to say, when the laundry room was finished, it could have donned the pages of Real Simple, where the rest of you would say, "yeah right, no one has a laundry/storage room that looks like that." But then, I could have panned out into the family room beyond, and you would have breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that, all the crap you have in your laundry room and storage, was now just in organized chaotic piles all over our basement.
I ended Sunday by scattering the chaos around the house, moving boxes of dry goods to the kitchen, a "return to friends pile" in the dining room, a box of too little baby clothes outside the attic door. It was all progress, but messy progress.
Back to yesterday.
Knowing that my job this week boiled down to two tasks, 1. keep kids alive, and 2. prepare for home-study, it was clear that Lachlan expected to come home to breathing children and a more organized and prepared home. At 4pm, I sent Lachlan the following text.
"Before you come home and accidentally hurt my feelings, you should know that I have worked my butt off today doing things you will never know I have done."
I passed off the alive part of Ellory to my sweet and amazing neighbor and friend, Beth. While Ezra and I tore apart the rest of our home.
Now, before you tell me, I already know that our social worker will not be opening my refrigerator, or even if she does, she will not judge the sticky goop on the bottom shelf as a sign of unfit parents. I know that she will not care about the FIVE boxes of 3-12 month clothes I have packed away from Ezra's room. She will not be alarmed to find my dishtowels and cloth napkins had made their way into the same pile... However, this has become much more than "post an emergency escape plan," and "make sure all your fire alarms are in working order" kind of home-study checklist. This my friends, has turned into full on obsession, in what may be over a year before we even see a picture of Baby Buna. I want everything perfect. I want to be prepared. I want Baby Buna. But for now, throwing out 1 month old Advil PM, and scraping the goo off my refrigerator shelf is all I can do. So. Here I am. I've torn my whole house apart in the past 3 days. Now I have 2 more to put it all back. All for my Baby Buna.
I'd call it borderline crazy, but nesting sounds so much sweeter.
Please pray for:
Us Coffeys here, as we continue to prepare our home and hearts for Baby Buna.
Our home-study that will take place Friday at 3pm.
God's provision-- we need to sell our car quickly to have the funds due our social worker. We had a great showing tonight, and are hopeful they will make us an offer tomorrow.
Faith the Lord will provide, and discipline and wisdom to manage our resources.
Mostly--Baby Buna, wherever he/she may be-- conceived or not, born already or almost-- that he/she would somehow know we are coming.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Coffee for the Coffeys
Fact: Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee.
Fact: Ethiopia is the birthplace of the newest Coffey.
Fact: You can buy coffee to help us bring home our Coffey.
Just Love Coffee is a fundraising site for adoptive families. They sell Fair Trade Coffee by the pound, and in sample packs, as well as t-shirts. You can buy 1 pound, or even set up an account to have coffee delivered to your door on a set schedule! The best part is, when you buy from our "store," we get $5 from every bag to help bring home Baby Buna!
You get coffee, we get a Coffey. It's really a win-win, don't you think?
Check out our store here
http://justlovecoffee.com/thecoffeys
We'd love to have you support us in this way!
Papers, Papers, Everywhere.
We went to a coffee shop last weekend, to sort through and figure out what papers we need to sign, what checks needed to be written, what needs notarizing, what we needed copies of, and proof of, and who needed to be contacted, emailed, called, questioned....agh!
Then we invested in an accordion binder.
It's maybe my most prized possession at the moment.
In it we have reading resources, and certified birth certificates, checklists and copies. We have home-study papers, and dossier papers. We have things to be mailed, things to be signed, and grants to look into. This file is as close to our baby as we can get for now, and we are throwing ourselves into it. The binder says: go to the police station, and I go. The binder says: Make an emergency evacuation plan, and Lachlan's on it.
This week we have each visited our doctor's offices to receive our first physicals since high school, with the added pleasure of TB, HIV and Cholesterol labs. We wrote 5 pages each in our "personal surveys". We mailed background checks to the State Police, and the kids and I adventured downtown to get city police checks. WE BOUGHT A MINIVAN. Today, I meet with our social worker for my personal interview, and Lachlan meets with her tomorrow. The kids' have appointments for their physicals in a week.
As much energy and organization as all this takes, I like it. I am participating in a task that will bring home my baby. It's the part after this, when all the forms have been mailed, and my primary task is waiting that I am not looking forward to. I like knowing. I like when things happen BEFORE I think they will.
Ellory was due May 29. Ezra, April 9. Praise God they both came early. I am that psycho pregnant lady who would have physically and emotionally lost it if I would have been pregnant at 12:01 am on May 30 or April 10. I'm not proud of this fact. But I'm aware.
I am the friend you call in your 39th week to verify what tactics to take in inducing labor. I like to, at minimum, believe I have some say or hand in doing something to make my babies arrival eminent.
I.KNOW.I.HAVE.A.PROBLEM.
Adoption should be the ultimate lesson in patience for me. God's good way of reminding me to take a deep breathe and remember that He gave it to me. To remember that He is rightfully and thankfully, in control on Baby Buna, and the perfect timing for him/her to join us in our home.
Pray for patience. Pray for Baby Buna. Pray for Ellory and Ezra. Pray for our personal interviews and homestudy. Pray for the finances of this to all come together. Pray that we would trust in God to provide for all these need and desires.
Then we invested in an accordion binder.
It's maybe my most prized possession at the moment.
In it we have reading resources, and certified birth certificates, checklists and copies. We have home-study papers, and dossier papers. We have things to be mailed, things to be signed, and grants to look into. This file is as close to our baby as we can get for now, and we are throwing ourselves into it. The binder says: go to the police station, and I go. The binder says: Make an emergency evacuation plan, and Lachlan's on it.
This week we have each visited our doctor's offices to receive our first physicals since high school, with the added pleasure of TB, HIV and Cholesterol labs. We wrote 5 pages each in our "personal surveys". We mailed background checks to the State Police, and the kids and I adventured downtown to get city police checks. WE BOUGHT A MINIVAN. Today, I meet with our social worker for my personal interview, and Lachlan meets with her tomorrow. The kids' have appointments for their physicals in a week.
As much energy and organization as all this takes, I like it. I am participating in a task that will bring home my baby. It's the part after this, when all the forms have been mailed, and my primary task is waiting that I am not looking forward to. I like knowing. I like when things happen BEFORE I think they will.
Ellory was due May 29. Ezra, April 9. Praise God they both came early. I am that psycho pregnant lady who would have physically and emotionally lost it if I would have been pregnant at 12:01 am on May 30 or April 10. I'm not proud of this fact. But I'm aware.
I am the friend you call in your 39th week to verify what tactics to take in inducing labor. I like to, at minimum, believe I have some say or hand in doing something to make my babies arrival eminent.
I.KNOW.I.HAVE.A.PROBLEM.
Adoption should be the ultimate lesson in patience for me. God's good way of reminding me to take a deep breathe and remember that He gave it to me. To remember that He is rightfully and thankfully, in control on Baby Buna, and the perfect timing for him/her to join us in our home.
Pray for patience. Pray for Baby Buna. Pray for Ellory and Ezra. Pray for our personal interviews and homestudy. Pray for the finances of this to all come together. Pray that we would trust in God to provide for all these need and desires.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Meeting One
On Monday night we met our social worker for the first time. I felt like I was going to hear the heartbeat of our babe. It wasn't quite as exciting, and instead of urine samples and that cold belly gel, we were given a stack of papers to fill out, a list of papers to collect, a list of appointments to make, and briefed on all the things we need to rearrange, change, add and/or take away from our home. It was all a bit overwhelming, yet exciting, as we were given tangible "tasks" to complete to come a step closer to our little one, (who by the way we have nicknamed "Baby Buna"--Buna is "coffee" in Amharic).
Next week, Lachlan and I will meet with our social worker alone, for our personal interviews. Before then, we have to fill out personal history surveys, and basically write a college admission essay. We also have to get physical exams and have our doctors verify our health and ability to provide for our baby.
We are scheduled for our home visit to take place June 10th. This will be a financial stretch as all our homestudy money will be due on this date, but we didn't want to put it off considering that our social worker is 8 months pregnant. Her labor would push back our homestudy visit and report until August. Please pray that we would complete everything we need to before her child is born. Pray for us as we work diligently to gather, prepare, write, plan, meet, etc. over the next few weeks, as well.
Stay tuned for some exciting news in the fundraising efforts! We think you will enjoy!
Next week, Lachlan and I will meet with our social worker alone, for our personal interviews. Before then, we have to fill out personal history surveys, and basically write a college admission essay. We also have to get physical exams and have our doctors verify our health and ability to provide for our baby.
We are scheduled for our home visit to take place June 10th. This will be a financial stretch as all our homestudy money will be due on this date, but we didn't want to put it off considering that our social worker is 8 months pregnant. Her labor would push back our homestudy visit and report until August. Please pray that we would complete everything we need to before her child is born. Pray for us as we work diligently to gather, prepare, write, plan, meet, etc. over the next few weeks, as well.
Stay tuned for some exciting news in the fundraising efforts! We think you will enjoy!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Nana
Last Friday night, our little family was able to celebrate the birth of some close friend's first baby. What a cutie. Israel Comet took his sweet time getting here--he was 10 days over his due date--so we were quite happy to finally meet the little man and celebrate with his momma and poppa at the hospital. When we were almost home, we received a message from Lachlan's Aunt Debbie, that Lachlan's Nana (Nonna) was in the same hospital. She had had a pretty rough go the previous night, but seemed to have made really great progress Friday. Lachlan decided, that although it was already past our babes bedtime, we should turn around and go visit. We hadn't seen Nana since October, when we had all traveled to Texas to celebrate a family wedding.
We had a brief but sweet visit with Nana. Lachlan was able to show off his newly straighten teeth, financially aided by Nana! And we were able to share the exciting news about our new baby!
By Saturday, things turned again, and we were told it would soon be time for Nana to pass. We--and Lachlan's sisters--were all out of town celebrating our nieces' 4th birthday. We were blessed, however to be able to return to the hospital on Sunday, to spend time with family, and say our goodbyes to Nana. She passed, with her children and Lachlan's sister by her side, Sunday evening.
This week has been filled with lots of emotions. New life, birthday celebrations, and death. We attended the first night of visitations yesterday, and will continue this evening, laying Nana to rest on What would have been her 78th birthday, Thursday.
My husband said it well; "Death for the passing believer has certainly lost it's sting, but for those left behind, the sting is still present."
Our hope is that Nana was secure as a child of the living God--that she entered into eternity "sting free". Our prayer is that we remember that this fallen world, full of pain and sorrow and death, is not our home, and that when He returns or calls us home, we will be freed from the sting as well.
We had a brief but sweet visit with Nana. Lachlan was able to show off his newly straighten teeth, financially aided by Nana! And we were able to share the exciting news about our new baby!
By Saturday, things turned again, and we were told it would soon be time for Nana to pass. We--and Lachlan's sisters--were all out of town celebrating our nieces' 4th birthday. We were blessed, however to be able to return to the hospital on Sunday, to spend time with family, and say our goodbyes to Nana. She passed, with her children and Lachlan's sister by her side, Sunday evening.
This week has been filled with lots of emotions. New life, birthday celebrations, and death. We attended the first night of visitations yesterday, and will continue this evening, laying Nana to rest on What would have been her 78th birthday, Thursday.
My husband said it well; "Death for the passing believer has certainly lost it's sting, but for those left behind, the sting is still present."
Our hope is that Nana was secure as a child of the living God--that she entered into eternity "sting free". Our prayer is that we remember that this fallen world, full of pain and sorrow and death, is not our home, and that when He returns or calls us home, we will be freed from the sting as well.
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