Super Blessed!

I am super excited to be supported by Wild Olive Tees in our fundraising efforts to bring Jimmy and Alby home!

Not so long ago, I met this really, really cool mom while working out south. She is an adoptive mom of two precious boys from Uganda. What a blessing to come into her presence, learn from her experience, meet her beautiful son, and be introduced to Wild Olive Tees all at once. I can only hope to embrace this adoption experience as gracefully (Colleen, I called you out!) as she has.

Now, Eric and I have been given a tremendous opportunity to raise money for this journey we are on by offering the wildly cute, yet awesomely inspirational tee shirts to our friends, family, acquaintences, mail carrier (what? they wear t-shirts too!), and anyone who shops online. 11 tee shirts are included in the adoption fundraiser store and all you have to do is enter our family code when checking out: EDMUNDS0629.

http://store.wildolivetees.com/adoption-fundraiser-tees-c6.aspx

This is not a coupon, but it does credit us with a portion of your purchase and gets us one step closer to bringing our boys home :)

Great Message

I loved something I heard at church this morning:

How fortunate are we to be blessed with tears and feeling empathy for others? How nice to ache for human closeness and feel love for our family and friends. It would be terrible to live a cold, emotionless life, incapable of joy, sorrow, yearning, happiness, and love. That we are made in God's image means that he has all of those emotions toward us. He gave the ultimate sacrifice and loves us unconditionally! Wow.

Clarification

So, apparently, a short sale is approved only after at least 60 days of delinquent payments to the mortgage company. This is not our situation, fortunately. We just want to unload the property and continue paying on the balance of the equity loan. All of this is too confusing and stressful! Bottom line: Please God, send us a buyer!! And if you can see fit, please do it sooner rather than later . . . We've got boys to bring home :)

Hmmm . . . Progress?

My analytical mind typically works through a plan before jumping into anything big. Take this whole adoption thing, for example: there was a definite plan put into place prior to starting the paperwork necessary to bring Jimmy and Alby into our family.

Tired of living a bit "house poor," Eric and I began talking about where we should move to that would allow us better access to his school, same or better access to our parents, easy highway access for my commute, in an area where necessities (grocery stores, gas stations, an excellent Mexican restaurant) were plentiful. After initially placing our home on the market for sale by owner in the fall (which we figured out early scares many people off), we listed with our trusty realtor Dee in February.

After several showings, it became evident that the process would be less stressful if we didn't have to worry about two dogs and two children (and all their stuff) while trying to show the house. We had the opportunity to buy a home in Lakewood at a very good price, utilizing Eric's VA loan which allowed us to purchase without a down payment. Our new home ("Hackberry"), while MUCH  more affordable, also gave us two more bedrooms - perfect for our new additions!

So now we have two mortgages . . . well, three if you count the home equity loan on Morton, the green one pictured above (by the way, let me go on record as saying never again!) We've managed for several months, but now the savings well has run dry. Our desire to leave a ridiculously expensive neighborhood ($7,000 / year property tax + $700 home association dues) where we were lacking in support and hated Eric's commute to Oak Grove led us to rationalize that selling this home would free up so much more money necessary to complete the adoption process in the long run. Good plan. Of course, it has to sell for that to be true.

We've decided it's time for drastic measures. The majority of the feedback we receive following showings includes mention of our home being overpriced for not having a finished basement or compared to similar homes in other neighborhoods. So what if we price it lower, potentially selling it faster but leaving a balance on our home equity loan? Turns out that's an option (can you say short sale?), and will only leave us owing 6% of the total balance . . . which Wells Fargo's home equity liquidation department will work with us on.

Stressful, huh? I feel as if a load has been lifted from my shoulders, although finding a buyer is still necessary. I'm not a naive person. I realize this plan has consequences, but we already have a home to live in and have no intention of moving anytime soon. If something doesn't change very soon, I'm not sure how we'll get the boys here. This whole process requires faith and I'm not giving up.

We want these boys to know about Father's Day and Disneyland and having a family.

The reality is that Eric and I are strangers to Jimmy and Alby, but we already love them and have dreams for them and have invested part of our hearts in their well-being and future. I'll do whatever it takes. Too bad it's illegal to sell organs in this country . . . I'm healthy. I could live with one kidney! Lol

Father's Day

It would be wrong not to acknowledge the men in my life after specifically setting aside a blog post for the moms . . .

Thank you for your guidance, support, help with algebra, bear hugs, and love. Where would we be without you?! xoxo

Home again, home again

Well, I suppose a blog works best if you actually post to it, huh?

We just returned from vacationing in California. All in all, a successful trip as no one required stitches, returned with a cast, or utilized any insurance benefits. This was our second consecutive "summer" vacation that found us wishing we had packed warmer clothing, but we are all a little more tan, none the less.

We met some interesting people and rode A LOT of rides. Contrary to the advice I received when planning our trip, I do not feel that two days was enough in Disneyland / California Adventure. We easily spent day 1 at California Adventure, riding the new Ariel ride and dining with princesses (good thing I didn't know the cost when I booked that event or it wouldn't have happened.)

Ariel was charming and beautiful with feet.

While we have a general aversion to Snow White in our household (the squeaky voice and helpless behavior are quite unbecoming, if I do say so myself), she posed nicely.

We saw great shows and a wonderful parade, ate the obligatory cotton candy and spent ridiculous amounts of money on beverages in "keepsake cups." Eric and I nearly walked our tushes off (oh, how I wish that was possible!) And all the while, we were grateful to be able to do it all.

We finished our vacation in Carlsbad, CA where we visited Legoland and Sea World and had a relaxing (& cold) day at the beach.

While I watched the kids run and play in the waves, picking up sea shells and rocks brought in with the surf, I couldn't help but feel grateful for my healthy children and pray that this will be our last family vacation with only four of us. As we visited theme parks and swam and met large, fluffy characters in crazy suits, I know that our boys are experiencing the rainy season in their country, unaware that such luxuries and entertainment even exist. I pray for their safety. I pray for their innocence. I pray that next time we go on vacation, it will cost us even more to feed the little mouths in our family!

As I shivered in my beach chair, Addison ran up and gave me a soggy hug . . . I said "I love being here with all of my love bugs," to which she replied, "Not all of your love bugs, mama - Jimmy and Alby aren't here yet." How blessed am I?!