Updates~

 Not sure why I have been too busy to post, but I do know that autumn always ends up being busier than summer was.  You'ld think I would finally learn THAT lesson! 

SCHOOL:
We are back in the saddle again with homeschool starting Aug 22nd, but it's so different without Luke in the mix. After much deliberation and discussion, we decided to have Luke attend public school this year to test the waters- we will see if he sinks or swims, I guess. 

So far, he seems to enjoy the thought of going to school with his peers, but the actuality of getting up early and boarding a bus at 6:40, spending 10 hours a day with kids who aren't exactly showing him the "Welcome Back, Luke" hospitality that he had expected and/or hoped for, and having to do homework after a long day of bus, school, and football practice is beginning to sink in.

I think homeschooling with Mom is starting to look, dare I say,  "PRETTY GOOOOOOOODD!"

I have no concerns with Luke handling the curriculum- he's a bright kid and learns fast.  It's more the peer interaction that I get concerned about- feelings hurt, esteem stomped, common sense compromised...normal junior high junk.

Anyway, we have switched gears from "lazy summer" to "structured fall" and so far, it's falling into place fairly nicely.  I love learning right along with the kids, and I'm counting on all of this mental exercise to delay the onset of my alzheimer dementia. :-)

ADOPTION:
Sending our I800 form to finalize Quinn's immigration paperwork was delayed due to a mistake on the cover letter from our agency, so I am still waiting to get that mailed off. We have no idea yet when we will travel, but it should be within the next 2 months, and I'm getting so excited to go and get her!

Our request for completing a concurrent adoption, to include a baby (due in September that we were asked to adopt by a good friend of mine), has been denied by our agency.  We are very disappointed by their decision, but we made a committment to bringing Quinn home, and we can't jeopardize that.  We could've put her adoption off for 6 months to adopt this baby first, but Quinn has already been in an orphanage for almost 2 years and NEEDS to get home!  Having found a wonderful family that is excited about adopting this baby has made this easier to accept, and we continue to pray that we will be given more opportunities to add to our family.

MOVING:
We have been frantically begging home movers to FINALLY give us a date for moving our house to the other farm, and we are beginning to at least get a few phone calls returned.  It is a complicated and intricate dance between movers, concrete workers, the backhoe guy that tears down the house and digs the new basement, electricians, plumbers, furnace guy, and other workers that I can't recall right now!

Meanwhile, I am boxing up anything breakable or that is on the wall, and I finished scraping all of the adhesive from the hardwood floors.  We hope to refinish them over the next 2 weeks so that is done before the house is moved. 

We are also scavenging anything from the old house that is salvagable and that can be used either on this house, or for other buildings on the farm.  The current projects are removing the hardwood floors and pulling the counters/cupboards from the kitchen to be used in our mudroom/milkroom.  These projects are tiring, and take so much time, and that is something we are running out of. 

My nesting urges are in full swing, and I just want to get my home where it needs to be and my family tucked into it for the winter. My Type A personality is just SCREAMING to get my house in order so I can go to China and bring home our little girl.