I’ve said it many times in the past few months, but this was one wild and crazy summer. Honestly. Not even exaggerating. I’m not sure how long it’s actually been since I’ve done a Week in Review post, but I know it’s been quite a while, so let’s see if I can sum up the past month and a half or so.

We are nearly finished gathering the items needed for our dossier. All we are waiting on now is the completed home study, followed by some quality time at the copy center, then everything will be on its way to the adoption agency. In my perfect world, that will be by the end of this next week. Lord willing.

I also have the application ready for our I600. Again, waiting on the completed home study before I can submit that also.

We received word from the adoption agency that we could travel to Haiti as early as December for our first required visit. This is extremely exciting and news we weren’t expecting. We will probably still wait until after the first of the year for a couple of different reasons, but we’re thrilled to know things are moving faster than expected.

We have Amania’s house on the market. We are praying fervently for a buyer to come along. Hopefully we’ll have good news to that end here soon!

Matt and I celebrated our 12 anniversary in July. We got out of town for a couple days and just enjoyed being together. I am so thankful to be married to my husband. I am always amazed at how God made someone so perfectly suited for me and that He loved me enough 13 years ago to make sure we met. God’s ways truly are so much higher than our ways!

The girls and I, in the midst of everything else, tried to spend as much quality time as possible at the local pool. Summer isn’t summer, in my opinion, without significant amounts of time spent by the water. Thanks to four or five weeks of near- or above-100 degree temperatures, the water finally got warm enough that I would get in. I always enjoy how the girls gather and marvel at the sight of me going off a diving board or down a water slide. Kind of how I imagine one would gather and marvel at the sight of an unexpected space shuttle launch.

The girls spent one of the last weeks of our “official” summer at their favorite day camp. All but Ellie were old enough to go this year and a great time was had by all. I used a couple of the days to do some fun things with Ellie and a couple of the other days to do a lot of the preparation I needed to for the upcoming school year.

After debating it in my head for quite some time, we finally cancelled cable in early July. I rarely watch television and the kids need to watch it less. Plus, we are often so busy and/or trying to spend time outside during the nice months that I just didn’t see the point of paying so much money for television we weren’t watching. So, after going back and forth with the guy at the cable company, I finally got it turned off. I never thought I would miss it, but I’ll be honest….I miss it. I always figured we would get it turned back on in October or November when KU basketball starts back up. Now I’m thinking we might get it turned on sooner. As rarely as I watch television, it is nice to at least have some options when Matt and I do want to watch it. And as for the girls watching it, it really comes down to us managing their time better as parents. In the first few weeks of being without cable, when it was 110 degrees outside everyday, I found we were simply replacing television time with more movies or computer time. So, turning off the cable has been good and somewhat of a learning experience, but I’m definitely ready to turn it back on.

I think that just about gets us up to date. I love summer and the freedom it brings, but being three weeks into school already, I am also thankful for the seasons of order and routine. It is good to see the blessings in both.

Wishing you a wonderful rest of your weekend, my friends!
~ Sara