And MORE good news!!!!

I have several items of good news!

On the home front, the stomach bug that hit the house Sunday night seems to have left.  Yay!!!  We had a rocky few days on the diabetes front - and that is putting it mildly.  Zeri and Kiley were both up Sunday night with vomiting - yeah, every mama's nightmare.  But, at least it was only two out of the eight!  Three of the other kids ended up with queasy tummies over the next two days, but that is all.  Zeri recovered after two days of just feeling punky without more icky stuff.  Kiley also was done with the vomiting, but then the virus went crazy on her body and sent her diabetes into a wild spiral.  We spent three days trying to get her sugars down from four and five hundred, to fight off ketones, and watching carefully for when to call it and go to the hospital.  She was wonderful and worked really hard to keep drinking fluids to stay hydrated (dehydration is a very high problem with high sugars and ketones as the body is trying to flush all that bad stuff out), and eating a bit here and there, so we could give her insulin to help.  We had to double her correction dose - the amount we give her for a high blood sugar, which is scary, because if she gets too much, it will drive her very low.  We stocked the house with fast sugars, around here known as rescue sugars so when she began to get better, if she was driven low, we could bring her up fast.  It is a very nervewracking balancing act.  It also means that we check her sugars every hour to two hours around the clock and address it at each check.  Hence, Mom and Dad don't get a ton of connected sleep.  I have to admit, that with Steve's job change this week, he has been able to get more sleep (he doesn't leave the house at 5:30 AM, but at 7:15 AM!!!) so he actually spelled me, which we haven't been able to do for a long time.  It helped a ton.  Well, Kiley turned the corner yesterday morning and we started to see normal blood sugar numbers!  It has continued and we were able to send her upstairs to sleep in her own bed last night - she sleeps on the couch when she is sick so she is just in the next room and we are closer.  So, that is one part of good news - we all made it!!!!

Steve's new job is going very well and he has been very welcomed and is very pleased with the whole thing.  We have him home more, and closer to home when he is working!  It is a huge adjustment to our budget that his gas needs have dropped DRAMATICALLY, in fact to about a third or so of what it used to be, which makes a huge difference.  So, we have Daddy more, he is getting more rest, is happy, and well, we are loving it!

We also got word this morning that the final step of getting through the Embassy process is in motion.  They do a birthparent interview for any children who have a living parent - the girls dad is alive but unable to care for them due to many things.  They have been in the orphanage for more than a year, since their mom's death.  But, this is the final step!  It is scheduled for February 27th!!!  IF all goes well, which it usually does but not always, it is possible we will be cleared to travel very shortly after, even possibly the next day!!!  I don't know yet if that means I should buy plane tickets or when, but will hear that soon from our agency.  They have really been fabulous about keeping me in the loop with what is going on.  Again, this is about a month sooner than we were told last week!!!!!!

Of course, we are still working on getting that tax refund, since that was how we planned to pay for this all.  We have been at it for more than a year, working with our Congressman and a tax advocate for more than a month.  We have been told that it is unlikely that we would have gotten it before the end of March date projected last week.  Now, we have just over four weeks!  I am so thrilled to think we can be with our girls soon, and still trying to figure out how God is going to make it happen.

ALSO, on my post yesterday, I said we needed $25000.  I made a mistake.  I did not realize that the numbers the agency gave us INCLUDED travel expenses (so I had added them on top to what they told me we needed)!!!

So, instead of needing $25,000 - we need just over $17,000!!!!!!!!!  A huge, huge change!!!!  My mistake!!!!  I am so happy.  It still seems huge and I am struggling with being very frustrated that we don't have the return we are due, that seemed so simple a year ago, and appears to be caught up in bureaucracy, is still not here, and would supply ALL our needs!  Grrrr.....  There is no way we could qualify for a loan.  We stretched everything we have to get to this point, knowing it will be poured back in.  So, sadly that isn't an option.  I can accept that.

We are filing our taxes for this year at the first available appointment, but even with as simply as that should go, we are unlikely to get that return in time for this rapid timeline!!!  I will not stress, I will not stress.  God is well aware of this and knew of it long before we did.

And our Reece's Rainbow fund has grown!  I did share our church's address yesterday, as they are accepting tax deductible donations on our behalf, as is another local charity - I have to get that contact information.  I am selling everything that isn't needed and some items from Ethiopia - you will see them here shortly and can purchase via PayPal!  I will get that set up.  Our paypal email is mommyturtle@tm.net.

And Rivers of Living Waters is allowing us to fundraise with them.  If you purchase something from their store, not only does some go towards our adoption fund and directly to our agency, but you also benefit the amazing programs they do in Ethiopia plus get a neat item!!!  Here is the info they posted:

Christy Oswald has just become our first Fundraising Partner at Rivers of Living Water for their adoption. She will earn 25% of all store merchandise including Mugs, T-shirts, Wristbands, African Fabric, and 10% of all gifts for orphans in Ethiopia, including donating Bibles, a Lamb, Clothing, Shoes, School Supplies, Medical Funds, a Water Well, planting a Church and more! go to www.rivers-of-living-water.org/store for more details.

I know that God has this all under control, that He knew of this timeline and all that went into it from the start.  I don't pretend to understand His reasons, when to me the most logical is to just let that tax return go so we can USE it!  I have to admit that part of me wants to just argue with Him about why He is letting it happen this way, when we really just desire to do it all totally on our own, and I have a sneaking suspicion that THIS is His reason, to teach us to rely on Him, that His plans are better than our own, that He can see the whole picture.  I generally am at peace with this, working hard not to allow anxiety to rule as I want to see this all laid out perfectly so I can just GO!  That does not seem to be God's plan.  A friend once told me that if I don't let her help me, then I am turning away the blessing SHE is to receive for what she is doing.  That stopped me in my tracks.  We get so close minded and independent, we just want to do it all ourselves, but maybe it isn't ABOUT us.  Maybe it is ABOUT someone else.  I just don't know.  I just know that I will keep walking.  I will keep preparing for this trip.  I will begin pulling out clothes for the little girls to wear home.  I will make sure my home is in order, because I am going to NEED it this way when we go through all that we will go through with the transition and changes that are coming down the pike.  

I will do what I know to do, prepare because I have faith that God is totally in control.  I am still doing everything I can do!  I am trying to get our taxes from this year through faster (trying to get an earlier appointment), pursing last year's taxes, doing sales, working on the weekends, and doing whatever I can think of!  But ultimately, this is up to God.  I cannot figure what He is up to.  He is God.  I am just me, and He gave me a job to do!

So, we have lots of good news, forward progress and things keep moving.  I am thrilled, terrified, excited, ecstatic, over the moon, all of that.  The kids are very excited!  It is neat for them to see the process we go through and our joy and excitement and know that we did the same when THEY came home.  It is a good message for them.  YOU were prepared for this way, YOU were anticipated with great joy, YOU were loved intensely before we ever met you, YOU matter.  They not only see us do it, but they also feel it.  It is a healing thing for them too.  God is amazing.  

Here is our church address again:

Celebration Church
3475 Humboldt Rd
Green Bay, WI 54311

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11