Busy Nothingness

I have been neglecting this blog!  I really have nothing to report - it feels like a whole lot of nothing going on.  Day to day business fills up our time between parenting, working, and traveling to see family (a.k.a. poor man's vacations).

I tried to update the way the blog looks and I almost threw my Mac across the room.  I think I'm getting old because I do not find this to be user friendly.  I have it looking OK right now, but I feel like I should be taking a community college class on basic computing.

The biggest news we have is that we could get a referral any day.  Our adoption agency has said "perhaps in a couple weeks and probably within two months".  They are super good about being vague.  It will probably take 9-12 months to bring them home because of various process changes so it feels a long way off still.

Lately Finley has been wearing me down with fits about everything.  She cries when something isn't done the way she wants it - she even cries after that something is completed and its been awhile and she thinks back about it and then wants to do it all over again.  Confused?  Here's an example:  We get the girls ready for bed - brushed teeth, went to the bathroom, and last drinks.  Then she remembers that SHE wanted to put the toothpaste on the toothbrush 10 minutes ago and wants to redo everything.  Being just as stubborn as her, I never give in so needless to say and hear a lot of fits.

I always try to break down their actions in terms that they can understand and point to the sin in the middle of it and her fits usually come down to thankfulness.  Just being ok with how things are and being thankful for what she has and not angry when things don't go her way.  To not let one little thing shatter  her world.

Usually when I'm lecturing her I feel very convicted - I'm talking to a little me!  Life is not the way I thought it would be or wanted it to be and I can be pretty angry inside.  I'm learning to be thankful for what I have these days.  Trusting God for my everyday.

This is our latest family pic (I think the last one was probably over a year ago).

80% Done

Kitchen remodel has had major progress lately.  Now we have to wait on our counter top so we can tile, put up a hood, get some crown molding, and install sink.  We have a lot of touch up work to do as well.  We are feeling pretty lazy at this point and are taking a few days off.  The room looks awesome so far though!

Here are our before pictures from the 4 corners of the room:

And here's what we have done so far:

The hutch is my favorite part!

We can't believe we are going to have this nice of a kitchen.  We couldn't have done it without our friends' help.  I think we are going to be in our house a very long time!

Valentine's Day

We spent the majority of yesterday learning how to lay our engineered hardwood floor.  We got about half of it done.  So I would say the Chris and I's valentine this year was Nate Herman:)  We love him!

Our cabinets are coming in Saturday and Nate is actually the one putting them in for us on Monday.  We are so excited to see the end in sight.  

I'm noticing how out of date and shabby without the chic our blog looks.  I think after all this madness is done I might have to figure out how to make my blog look good!

Slow Progress

We got our ceiling plastered after Chris put 12 holes in it for perfect arrangement of can lights.  Hopefully this weekend we will get everything painted and then next week we can install flooring!

Demolition

We tore out our whole main level this past weekend (and by we - I mean Chris, Dad, and a few friends).  This is what it will look like for a couple weeks and hopefully by then we'll have all the holes plastered and painted and then we'll lay our flooring down.  Cabinets should go in in about a month.

This is our "kitchen" for now.  Plus our laundry room has been taken over as a pantry and dishwashing station.

I missed out on demo so I could take foster care classes - Chris is just going to make up the classes later.  We are hoping to do some respite care while we are waiting for our adoption.  Our adoption is continuing to be delayed - we are expecting September now for a referral.  I'm thankful for all these distractions right now and I think the time will fly!

I Hate Painting

We are going to tear out our kitchen this weekend, so we are trying to get some painting done.  The plan is to paint before we put in flooring.  We have ripped off the baseboards and painted them and then painted most of the room (still needing a second coat though).

Here is a before picture:

It was a light cream and now is a light grey...not a hug difference.  We are painting all the high gloss black doors to match our trim (which is matching our cabinets).  I love the white door versus the black one.  

We found out that our island was not attached to the floor so it has been handy for moving around and painting with a ladder on it for reaching those high spots.

Chris is going to pick up flooring tonight and maybe in a week or two, if demo goes well and we find a plasterer and finish up painting (whew!), we will figure out how to DIY install engineered hardwood.  

Chris Was Right

So I lasted less than a week.  I'll maybe try weekly...

I was getting a lot done around the house today and the girls were playing so well together, I love days like that.  Here's a few pictures:

Finley got tucked into bed by Harper.  There are probably 10 toys under those two placemats. 

Harper is so cute like always.

They had an elaborate birthday party going on for an hour.  Everyone had a mat to sit on and many popsicle sticks, straws, and cupcake cups were required.