And behind curtain #2...

Here's the big news I promised yesterday..no, I am not pregnant...but we are expecting! Dave and I were offered the opportunity several months ago to pursue the adoption of my niece and nephew, a little boy age one and a little girl age 2. As many of you know Dave and I have struggled with fertility issues and we have often discussed adoption in the past. We love the idea of having these precious kids join our family. It is an unfortunate situation with their parents and there is still ongoing legal stuff, but today we were awarded temporary legal custody of the kids which means we can have them live with us while legal things with their biological parents are ongoing. I was able to make travel plans today and we will be bringing the children to live with us at the beginning of August.

This whole thing has been a pretty wild ride. In the interest of protecting the privacy of family members involved I won't go into details but I will say, this has been an emotional roller coaster for both Dave and I. It was both scary and exciting to make the decision to pursue this, (doubling our children! buying a minivan! 3 kids under age three!) and now that we're emotionally involved, each new delay and setback is heartbreaking. We ask that those of you who pray remember us in our prayers as we all adjust to living together as a family and that the children's best interest will be protected as the legal case with their biological parents continues on.

What's behind curtain #1?

In preparation for some big changes coming up in our lives (stay tuned for the exciting news tomorrow!) we have been re-arranging rooms upstairs. Ellie got moved into the middle (bigger) bedroom which used to be the guest room. We bought her a bunkbed which she loves and moved all her furniture and decorations. The room looked good, but lacked a curtain for the window. I decided to let Ellie go to the fabric store with me to help pick out some fabric for a curtain. The only thing I forgot was that I can't sew. Not that that detail ever comes up in my crafty fantasies where I'm Martha Stewert coming up with designer looks personalized to my daughter's taste all the while saving my family oodles of dollars. Anyway. After Ellie suggesting several wildly expensive/boldly floral/overly sequined fabrics, I finally convinced her to go with some pink lace that I would line with some fabric I already had. It was so pretty in my head. I measured several times, then started sewing. After spending an hour fighting with several giant sheets of fabric, I had a square that looked pretty good (if the room was dark and you were standing in the hall and you squint a little). I got it up on the rod and suddenly I remembered- I can't sew! Yes, that curtain is about 6 inches too short for the window. Sigh.



The happy ending of the story is that while I stink at sewing and many other crafty things, I am very good at fixing stuff. Viola! A lovely valance!



The sad ending after the happy ending after the sad part was that a few days after the curtain debacle, I was browsing Walmart and found curtains that would have been super cute in Ellie's room. Cost? $2 more than what I spent at the fabric store.