People always ask, "How's the adoption coming?" And it's hard to answer that. It feels like we are in such a holding pattern right now, just chomping at the bit until we can DO something.
And by "do something," I mean bring a child into our family.
(This is the part where I laughed and laughed and laughed. How silly am I to think that this is about Adam and I doing something? In the course of the week, Adam and I did nothing. But God...oh boy, God did some big things and wowed the socks off us.)
If you've been hanging with us for any bit of time, you know that our primary goal is to pay off any outstanding debt. After that, we buy the house of our semi-dreams. Then, we can officially start the adoption process.
In theory, we could start the adoption process right now. We could have a home study done in our 2-bedroom apartment (where, if we had a baby, the child would have to share some serious space with the kitties). And then, when we moved into a house, we would just have to have the whole process updated (updating in this case pretty much means "redoing" and "paying more money.")
Until then, we wait.
And I don't like waiting. I like doing.
But, there are so many blessings in the wait. I really have to look for them, but they are there. And they are good.
(Again, insert laughter here. By the end of the week, I was no longer looking for the blessings. They were everywhere!)
(I love this song. I could watch this video a million times and never tire of it. Makes me think of us and all our waiting...)
For instance, yesterday (earlier in the week), I got a bill for an (overdue) medical bill that I have from last summer--related to feeling like I was basically gonna stroke out from post-wedding stress. But anyway, it was kind of a last ditch effort to get me to pay up, which I planned on doing, but it wasn't really at the top of our list. But they were willing to strike a deal and cut the bill by $837.83 if we pay the bill by the beginning of October. Guess which bill just got moved to the top of the list?! It'll be a bit of a scramble, but we can do it.
Also starting October 1, we are eligible for Tricare (Army) health insurance again. Anyone who is self-employed knows the lament of paying a ridiculous amount of money for really craptastic health coverage. It's slightly more expensive than our previous coverage, but won't go up when we have kids, no matter how many kids we have (score!). And it will come directly out of Adam's Army income, so that will free up an extra $150/month. Oh, and we won't go bankrupt if Adam has another kidney stone. Yippee!
We found a house that we are in love with. Unfortunately, we're about 6-8 months away from purchasing one. Wah wah. (This is really what the pity part was about. By the end of the week, we are closer to this goal than we knew when I was whining around about it.) The house has already been on the market for 120 days. I don't use prayer as an ordering service, but I certainly think that God has found favor on our adoption (uh...big time!), and I know that He is going to (and already is) make big things happen in order to get this accomplished. So I'm open to God keeping this house on the market for another 240 days, providing the finances to purchase the house sooner than planned, or providing another home that is better than this one (which, after looking at the home today, was the case).
Being self-employed, I have to pay quarterly taxes, since mine aren't just deducted from my paycheck each week. In some ways, I envy people who never see the actual amount that the government takes out of their paycheck--it's really hard to have that money and purposely set it aside. But after the first year, when we had a hefty little tax bill, I have been diligent about putting my tax money in a separate account. When I figured my taxes on Saturday night (which is lame for a Saturday night--even as an adult), I found out that I made more than DOUBLE the amount that I did for the first two quarters of the year. Now, that in and of itself is a huge blessing. But the best part is that I had an extra $700 left over in my account once the taxes were paid. I love God's math.
And perhaps the biggest kicker of all--I had another medical bill for about $2,350. I made a pretty substantial payment on it over the weekend, but got concerned because my payment never got applied to the account. When I called the company, they said they were no longer accepting payments for the hospital and that I needed to contact the hospital. So I called the hospital, and they have no record of me owing this bill. Uhmm...excuse me? This bill seems to have completely vanished off the face of the Earth! It's really hard to argue with someone that you really do actually owe them money. The sweet lady even said, "Well, we can't take a payment from you if we don't have the bill in the system." And I said, "Good day." Since the start of the summer, we have had over $10,000 in medical bills either be covered by health insurance we didn't know we had OR completely disappear! In what WORLD does that happen?!
In the world of adoption, that's for sure.
So, what does all that mean?
It means that the majority of our debt is GONE.
Which means....WE CAN START SAVING FOR A HOUSE!
And, golly, that makes me happy.
(Footnote: Today, Adam bought what he thought were a pair of $50 sneakers. They rang up at $12.03. I told you--the blessings were just knocking us in the face by the end of the week!)
