Bloggy Update

So.... I've been reading some friends' blogs and feeling guilty that it's been SOOOO long since I posted anything. I decided that since it's been exactly THREE MONTHS since my last post, today shall be the day!!!

David's parents have settled in quite well in their cute little apartment. I've ferried them to multiple doctors appointments these past few weeks with their internist and cariologist, and before November is through they will have seen their new optometrist & opthamologist as well. There are still a few more doctors they need to be scheduled with, but neither Mom nor Dad has any imminent health crises, and we are so very thankful. There have been no hospitalizations this year since Mom was released after her carotid endarterectomy the first week of Jan '09!

Mom & Dad are excited about sharing David's birthday with him this year. She insisted on going shopping to buy him a gift - more than one trip!! We will be celebrating with a family dinner at Red Lobster on Sunday and an evening together on Monday Nov. 2, where we will watch DWTS together. I am planning to make a birthday cake too! I'm hoping David's gift from ME arrives in the mailbox on Monday. EEEK!

Speaking of birthdays, we are rejoicing in the birth of my sister's new son. He arrived on 10/29, and is already home from the hospital! We are so thankful that he arrived safely, and that Melanie is doing well. (Pictures are at her blog.) My mom is enjoying the early-birthday gift of a new grandson, and I know she is in her element helping at my sister's house and loving on her grandchildren.

We are in a bit of a holding pattern with the adoption process; we have to wait for our criminal background checks to be completed, and then we can begin our home study interviews with Covenant Care. We attended an information/training session in mid-August and another in mid-October, and they both went very well. We have been filling out paperwork, collecting documents, and scheduling medical exams. We've also been planning for organizational changes in our house, including having some additional shelving built into the guest room. Most importantly, though, we've been praying for the little one that God has in mind for us - for our little boy or girl and for the birth parents that will bring him into the world. It is a strange feeling, but we are more and more confident that adoption is God's will for our family. Infertility was the tool that God had to use in order to get us to open our minds to adoption, and thus, we are thankful for it.

On a lighter note, it is Oct. 31, a day I refrain from "celebrating", but I'm not planning to hide out this year... you know - lights off, no candy in the place, watching TV in the back bedroom hoping the trick-or-treaters think there's no one here. I have a crock-pot of apple cider near the front door for my neighbors, and baskets of candy to give to their children. As of 4:50pm, I've not had any little visitors yet, but I want to be a kind, safe, loving, Jesus-reflecting neighbor, even though I personally detest the "holiday" so many folks observe today. As usual, I'm not celebrating "Halloween", but I AM celebrating "End of Daylight Savings Time" !! Fall back....