Signs of Life : The Brownie Chronicles

My older three kids plus their cousin, D! Have I mentioned how much we love Austin?  Well, we do!  We adore this house.  Of all 3 homes we've owned, this is by far my favorite!  While I did really enjoy our location and pool in Highland Village, this house is arranged better and is easier to maintain.  In our 15 years of marriage and ownership of 3 homes, we've learned that extensive landscaping is beautiful, but also costly and a ton of work!  We have a few pretty shrubs and plants in the front yard.  There are two trees in the back, but otherwise, it's just a grassy backyard, which means easy maintenance.  Of course, we have the fabulous team at The Austin Lawn Service taking care of our mowing and trimming, so the amount of work we have to do in the yard is minimal. We had hoped for a one-story home, but with the layout of this house, we don't mind two stories at all.  The stairs lead to an open "balcony" hallway that looks down to ...

Last Friday, we loaded up all of our belongings into a big, yellow Penske truck and made the drive south to Austin! We have truly enjoyed our time in North Texas.  Moving to the Regency in Coppell was a great decision.  I must record this story.  TJ would kill me now, but by the time reads all of these, he'll be old enough to appreciate it: The girls rode with their dad in the moving truck.  TJ, the little boys, and I rode in the SUV.  As we were getting settled for the drive, TJ said goodbye to his best friend.  Over the past months, they've come to spend every waking-and-not-in-school moment together.  They've fished together, ridden big roller coasters for the first time, had a couple of sleepovers, visited extended family together, and spent hours and hours riding bikes and talking about Star Wars, movies, cars, and who knows what else.  I had to drop some trash off at the dumpster.  Before I got out, I looked at TJ, who appeared ...

Ken and I have started that exciting and horrible search for a home in Austin.  It can be so much fun, but also tedious and disheartening at times. Over our 15 years of marriage, Ken and I have learned a few things about the difference in wants and needs in a home.  We've also learned (the hard way) that some of the wants that we felt were needs end up being a big, expensive pain in the rear!! (Beautiful, extensive landscaping for example.) We adored our home in Highland Village.  It served us well for the 4 years we lived there.  The neighborhood, the pool, the schoolroom, the location were all dreamy!  Then we hit the jackpot finding this place to rent.  It was scary to move from a pretty big house on a half acre into an apartment, but the Regency has been an excellent home.  I'd recommend this place to anyone moving to the Coppell area. We had our share of trouble with neighborhood kids, but that has all died down.  The kids have foun...

It's hard to believe I posted this entry in November of last year, but I did!  I went looking for this old entry and figured I posted it back in February or something.  I was shocked that it was from November! I had posted: "Because of the season of life I'm in (nearing 40, newly-expanded family, major life-changing move, and weight gain that ticks me off greatly), I've been experiencing days feeling very low.  I've blogged before about how I don't like using the word "depressed" lightly, so I don't think I'll use it here.  But I've been feeling dark, low, melancholy, aimless, and tired." Since November, those feelings didn't go away.  Oh, they might subside for a time, but would rear their ugly heads at any random time.  In addition to those feelings, I was experiencing an overwhelming feeling of failure.   These feelings would manifest themselves by my simply giving up and doing nothing.  I felt so overwhelmed by everythin...

March will mark one year since we downsized from a large home into our current apartments. One year later, this is what I still love: The space itself.  We've realized our family of seven can easily function comfortably in 1700 square feet.  And if you take away Ken's office space, that really leaves 1500 of our actual living space.  We've had a house-full of friends over for Christmas Eve and for small group.  While it's not as spacious as our old place, it still works and our friends don't mind being a little closer. The freedom. No worries over broken blinds, broken AC units, and even clogged toilets.  All of this and more have been repaired or replaced by our apartment staff at no extra cost or hassle to us.  The lawn is kept manicured, the pool sparkling, the roof patched.  Gates, wood trim, and other cosmetic details are painted frequently. That, my friends, has been comple...

A couple of months ago, I blogged about the negative comments my kids were hearing regarding our choice to homeschool.  In addition to the homeschool comments, my kids have been told by other kids in our neighborhood that they "don't matter," they are "idiots" "fa**ots""gay."  They have a stupid family.   They've been introduced to the "n" word for the first time ever and have gotten an earful of other colorful expletives.  We can deal with so-called "bad" words, but the name-calling and cruel terms are the ones that get to me. The kids had an interesting way they learned about the "n" word.  They were playing with two of their friends who are Black.  An older Black boy casually called another Black boy this name.  My girls wouldn't have even noticed, but their girl friends gasped and covered their mouths.  My girls asked them what that meant and the girls said, "You need to ask your mom, but it...

This month marks a half year that we have been in our new digs.  I blogged about our downsizing adventures right as we moved.  It's fun to go back and read those thoughts.  Not a lot has changed.  The pros and cons are unchanged.  Every time we come home from a trip, Ken and I agree that we have no regrets regarding our decision to downsize.   A couple of weeks ago, I sat down to work on our budget for the first time since we've been home from China.  It felt useless to try to follow a budget during the last few months before we traveled, so it's been quite a while since I worked up a budget.  I was pleasantly surprised!  We're still tight coming off the China trip, but by the end of October, we'll be able to breathe and be back on track again.  We actually have extra cash to give and save.  We've not been able to do either for a year now.  Finances are a huge part of our decision to move, but there are so many more...

Several weeks ago, my friend Adrienne was perusing the internet and saw a call for nominations for a distinctive mom to win tickets to go see Motherhood the Musical and be named "Mother of Distinction."  She kindly thought of me and sent in a nomination.  I later learned a committee was formed to decide the winner and about 12 nominations were sent in. Earlier this week, she got a message saying that I had been chosen to receive the award!  I felt quite unworthy receiving such an award, but then I considered the title.  Mother of Distinction . I like that.  I was chosen because our family is certainly distinct.  Some would say weird, different, unique...distinct.  The fact that I'm the mom and wife in my family of distinction makes me a mother of distinction. Ken works very hard so that I can stay home and teach the kids here.  It was Ken who sparked the events that shifted our family and changed our lives forever...and for the better. ...

Last photo of our Dickinson house. Many great memories here. As of 1:45 this afternoon, we are no longer homeowners!  It's a true feeling of relief.  3 1/2 months on the market doesn't sound bad in today's economy, but to us, it was a true test of our faith and our character. Yesterday was a whirlwind with a few last-minute glitches that added just enough stress to the closing that I had to keep a constant prayer on my heart.  I truly believe that's why the glitches were there. Ken was out of state for work, so the kids and I showed up at the closing at our appointed time.  45 minutes later, I was able to go in and sign the papers.  Another 45 minutes later, I walked out feeling better, but still not confident.  As tempting as it might could have been to celebrate after our closing yesterday, we just couldn't until the proceeds from the sale of our home funded into our account today. After another glitch or two today, it did indeed fund and we hav...

Ken recently mentioned that we should have moved to a place like this when we first came to Texas 4 years ago, but we have no regrets.   First of all, if we had moved here to begin with, we wouldn't have some of our dearest friends from Dickinson Drive and may not have gone to Valley Creek Church and met so many people we love there. The dark side of "no regrets" is the fact that I know we wouldn't have been satisfied living here 4 years ago.  Ken and I have been notorious for thinking "things will be better when _____ happens."  When we left Las Vegas, we were thrilled to have done so well in the real estate market and were taken in by how big of a house we could get for "cheap" in Texas.  We were enamored with the idea of a BIG house with a BIG yard and BIG pool as if that would bring us joy.  I hate to admit it, but if we had moved here first, we would have been discontent, pining away until we could have our "dream home."  Now, ha...

We've been here at our new place for 2 full weeks now and are feeling settled in.  I have our school cabinet pretty much organized.  This "china cabinet" sits in the wall right across from our dining table, so the location couldn't be better. I'll still need to tweak it a bit and work on making the top shelf look pretty, but I have everything we need for daily school work. The Brownies are making friends and today we had a little of the girl drama that goes along with it.  My girls' feelings were hurt when two kids they had been playing with all last week kept running away from them.  When the Brownies asked them why they kept running, they told one of my girls she had acted like a "jerk" earlier in the week.  Oh, the drama!  Fortunately, it ended in apologies all around.  I'm sure they will be friends again.  We had our share of girl drama on Dickinson, too. Earlier this week, Mackenzie told me that she sometimes feels like she doesn't f...

I'm going to throw back to the 1990's Power Point and give an update bullet-point style. Adoption: We are sending off our I-800 paperwork to our agency by tomorrow.  This event was accompanied by a $720 fee we were not expecting, so have had to do a bit of juggling to get that on it's way. We are sending a supplement 3 to CIS in order to reflect our new address.  Prayers are being sent up requesting that it doesn't delay our paperwork at all. We have filled out all 5 visa applications and will begin processing those as soon as we get a few more travel details. No recent updates on the boys.  My soul needs an update on them, but we've already received so much more than many adoptive families, so I'm truly grateful.  It's been 8 months since we first laid eyes on a photo of Tian and 4 months that we've known of Travis.  If all goes as planned, we should have them in our arms in 3 months. We're thanking God for a possible grant opportunity. ...

We're coming up on our first full week in our new place.  We expected a lot of adjustment being in a smaller place and an apartment-type setting, but we're finding many more upsides than downsides.  Below is a list of things we've noticed our first week. I'll start with what I miss or know I WILL miss : - Our neighbors .  This has been the one thing that has made us tear up this week. (Ken and I, not the kids!)  The kids have the best friends there as well as adults who are such a great influence on the Brownies' lives.  We will stay connected with our Dickinson neighbors, but it won't be the same. - Our own pool . We are going back to the Dickinson house almost daily and the kids swim when we are there.  Even though the community pool here is right out our door, I know we'll miss having our own private place to swim any time we want. - The storage space I had in the school room.  Truly, that room was a blessing and a curse.  While we rar...

Yes! LOA! Letter of Acceptance, also known as "Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter".  This is an official letter from CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs), one letter for each boy, stating that, based on our application, these are our boys we are agreeing to adopt. Our agency, CCAI, informed us that they received our LOA from China and have overnighted it to us.  According to FedEx tracking, we will get it today before 3pm.  We sign it and send it right back. This means it is most likely that we will travel in June!!  June, June, June.  Our trip will last over 20 days, so we will be in China in June and July, when we've heard it's stinkin' hot!  Fortunately, we live in Texas and moved here from 'Vegas, so I'm hoping the heat won't be too big a challenge.  Another positive is that we can pack lighter clothing.  Good thing since we're packing for seven!! LOA also means an entire new mound of paperwork.  I-800 forms, trave...

When Ken and I shared our plans to downsize from our 3000 square foot home, several friends and family were concerned. "Are you guys doing okay?" "Do you need help with anything?" "I'm sorry to hear you're having to move." We totally understood others' concerns because what we are doing is so odd in this culture, the only assumption was that we had fallen on hard times. The truth is times ARE hard, for many people all over the country.  But Ken has a great job with an excellent, growing company .  While our ultimate security rests in God's plan for us, we don't have any fears on the job front that would lead us to cut back. A few months ago, if you had asked us if we'd ever move, we could have answered with an emphatic "no way!"  My answer tended to be, "We'll live here until the kids are grown unless God has something crazy-different in store for us that we can't foresee." Ken came to me in No...