Anniversary
Doug surprised me by taking me away for our anniversary, August 1. We spent a few nights at the Blue Mountain Mist, a comfortable and yummy bed and breakfast. We celebrated our 12th anniversary. It seemed especially poignant to me when I remembered back to meeting Doug for the first time at age 12! I have been acutely aware of how amazing God’s plan is for me! God hand-crafted a tremendous journey for my life. At times when I spurned His love and have questioned His wisdom, His hand was always upon me, lovingly leading me. Next to my salvation, I am most grateful to God for allowing me to marry Doug.

INDIANA
After our anniversary get-away, we only had a few days before we traveled to Indiana to celebrate Doug’s Grandma Walker’s 90th birthday. It was a quick trip, but it was nice to see Doug’s extended family, go north to cooler temps, and snatch up lots of produce from relatives’ farms! YUM

In between travels
When we arrived home from IN, our hurried pace kept up. Our dishwasher conked out after one of the most stinky meals ever. After nastying-up the whole kitchen with putrid garlic dishwater, we finally purchased a new dishwasher and have delighted my mother (as she’s hated our dishwasher for many years). A whole lot of stench, a lot of handwashing and paper plates, and another costly transaction later, we’re out with the old and in with the new (and now have cleaner dishes!)

In preparation for this year’s home-schooling, we decided to move the school room out of our spare room and down into the living room. We’re still shifting around some furniture, trying to figure out where to store supplies and books, and move pictures on the wall. Sometimes I wonder if I have rocks in my head for taking on these projects when I have only little chunks of time here and there to plug away at my task.

My neck, ribs, and back have continued to give me lots of pain.(hmmm, maybe moving furniture isn’t helping the healing/strengthening process.) I’m still going to physical therapy frequently. I even had one weekend when I was unable to move and made a trip in the night to the ER. Following that fiasco, I got a stomach bug for a few days. UGH.

OHIO
This past weekend, we spent the weekend in Ohio visiting some long-time friends, Mike and Jeanelle Lucas and their daughters Sadie and Tea. It was a good trip, but our van gave us some fits! It’s really unusual how often we have car trouble when we go see them. For some reason, our van always try to prevent the get-together. We were so grateful that God kept us safe on the trip north and on the return trip. Although it was clunking away, it never died, leaving us stranded. That was God’s hand on us!
In the midst of our chaos, we recently learned our homestudy expired and needs to be updated. We were unaware that it needed updating, until after I had been on medicines for several weeks for the next embryo implantation. I had already received my medicine schedule, had bloodwork and ultrasound done, and had been given the implantation date. So, Tuesday, Doug took the day off and we tried to get as much accomplished as possible, because we’re running out of time!!

Embryo Implantation & Homestudy Update
Implantation date is September 22. I have begun taking my Lupron. This time around, I’m taking a double dose for an extended period of time, as compared to other months. I really don’t love the Lupron! It gives me headaches, nausea, fatigue and sweating. But I’m doing my best to endure without complaining and keep my perspective on the big picture.

This week, all 3 of us have had to have physicals. The pets needed their immunizations updated and documented. We’ve gotten another criminal background check. Next week, we’ll have another 2 hour interview with the social worker. It’s somewhat of a hassle, especially because we weren’t planning on it, it involves money, and there’s not much time to get it accomplished.

Our ‘Vehicle of Doom"’
Tuesday, we were able to get some of the appointments taken care of, as well as getting our van into the mechanic. We’re getting to be ‘regulars’ around there as owners of old vehicles! It’s still at the shop and we’re watching the tab increase as more broken parts become discovered.

Home-school
Audrey and I were able to begin our school year yesterday. Not having a car, means all our appointments got cancelled and we were free to begin our studies. This year we got started a few weeks later than I had originally intended, but ‘better late than never’ is the old adage we’re subscribing to. This year should be interesting as we’ve switched up our curriculum and are in a different part of the house. I’m going to be trying to teach her art this year, to feed her desire and talents for drawing. We’ll see how that goes!