So as my biological mother's loving husband pointed out, "You're a Miller. You open your mouth and things just kind of explode." It was all in jest, of course which was hilarious because it is true. Let me just tell you about the stuff coming out of my mouth:
I sent out some fliers indicating that I was interested in teaching some of Audrey's friends at church, self-defense. It all started when I was so outraged at the cost of self-defense classes for little kids! CRAZY!! It would have cost over $500 for a whole year for only 1/2 hour a week! Insane. So I decided to teach my daughter myself, and figured it would be fun for her to have some friends along to do it. The response has been overwhelming in a good way. People really seem interested, which is great because I have a passion for it as well. I have seven 3-6 year olds coming to my house on Friday afternoons for 1/2 hour. This all raises money for our adoption because it is a suggested donation of $5-10 dollars a session.
Then I had a neighbor inquire about teaching her two children who were a little older, and I was thrilled to tell her that I wouldn't mind doing that. That will be on Wednesdays most likely. I sent out a lot of information to the parents to indicate what I would be teaching, so as to make sure it was truly what they wanted for their families.
THEN I had a friend ask me about her 8th grade daughter, and I thought, yeah, that makes sense. They would need it too! So I said yes to that, and that is most likely going to be Tuesday evenings. We're going to try it out to see how it will go, and to see if the kids are interested in it.
Lastly, I had a friend tell me I should consider teaching a small class like that at Calvin College. I've been thinking about that, and praying about it, so we'll see where that leads!
I don't know, but it seems that God has made something bigger out of a small idea. He often does that with me. Does He do that with anyone else?
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Week From Hades
For those of you who don't know, Audrey is in preschool 3Xs a week. It is a Spanish immersion school. Every month, your child is star of the day. That is a glorified way of saying, "Mom, you have to come in and help with the class, oh and by the way, bring the snacks and drinks while you're at it. Also, if you don't know Spanish, you really need to keep quiet, or use gestures." Yes, they really told the parents to keep as quiet as possible if they don't know Spanish, which I am grateful, but fortunately for me, I know Spanish. Anyway, Audrey was "blessed" enough to be star of the day the first day of school. The FIRST day. Talk about stressful. Then I had to go this past week as well and guess what - it was PICTURE day. What the heck? What will it be next month? Some sort of field trip or some crazy thing! Picture Day - are they trying to make me go insane? So I was the one behind the camera man trying to make the kids laugh because the teachers were in the class picture, of course. Then the camera man made one of the twins cry. You're a school photographer who deals with kids for a living, you'd think that you'd learn a thing or two about NOT making kids cry!
To top my week off, yesterday, Audrey cut 5 inches off her hair right by her ear. She's never had so much as a trim! I was traumatized, but tried not to show it. Every kid cuts their hair - as far as I know, only once. Her safety scissors were tucked nicely in their spot in her backpack, and I forgot to take them out. So I had to run to my friend's salon and have her fix it. I have to say, my friend did a FANTASTIC job. It looks so cute! She totally put me at ease and walked me through Audrey's first hair cut. It was awesome. I'll put pictures up soon...
To top my week off, yesterday, Audrey cut 5 inches off her hair right by her ear. She's never had so much as a trim! I was traumatized, but tried not to show it. Every kid cuts their hair - as far as I know, only once. Her safety scissors were tucked nicely in their spot in her backpack, and I forgot to take them out. So I had to run to my friend's salon and have her fix it. I have to say, my friend did a FANTASTIC job. It looks so cute! She totally put me at ease and walked me through Audrey's first hair cut. It was awesome. I'll put pictures up soon...
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Bloody long time
Sorry, sorry, sorry!!! I've taken a long time to write to all y'all. I'm currently watching Bones, so some of this may seem disjointed. Here's the biggest update: As of June, all of our stuff is over in South Korea. We are just waiting. We will get anywhere from 2-8 weeks notice. Hopefully it's more like 8. In January we'll be closer to getting our child. Apparently there are more families bunched up waiting now, and this number will taper off starting in January. While there will still be more families in front of us, things should move quicker then.
On another note: Audrey started her total immersion preschool last Monday. She likes it a lot! She is great at it! I'm sure I'm bragging because she's my kid. I did, however, make some other kids in her class cry today. I should probably tell their mother first before I tell you this, but it's funny. Hopefully I remember to tell her! Ummm...second thought, just call me if you want the story - or email me. It's really funny, but I feel badly writing it here for some reason. Trust me, it's worth the $0.35 a minute to call me to hear it.
Here's a story I can tell you: I worked out this morning and didn't have a chance to shower. I was putting a kid that we're carpooling to her school in our car, and I leaned over Audrey. She said, "Mommy, something smells like something." I said, "Is it gross, or is it pretty?" She said, "It's gross." I took the hint.
Well...I'll be writing more later, I promise!
On another note: Audrey started her total immersion preschool last Monday. She likes it a lot! She is great at it! I'm sure I'm bragging because she's my kid. I did, however, make some other kids in her class cry today. I should probably tell their mother first before I tell you this, but it's funny. Hopefully I remember to tell her! Ummm...second thought, just call me if you want the story - or email me. It's really funny, but I feel badly writing it here for some reason. Trust me, it's worth the $0.35 a minute to call me to hear it.
Here's a story I can tell you: I worked out this morning and didn't have a chance to shower. I was putting a kid that we're carpooling to her school in our car, and I leaned over Audrey. She said, "Mommy, something smells like something." I said, "Is it gross, or is it pretty?" She said, "It's gross." I took the hint.
Well...I'll be writing more later, I promise!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Officially Waiting
We got word on Friday that our paperwork would be sent over to South Korea tomorrow (Monday)! I think having those little girls (and one boy) that were available, helped our situation. That took two more families out of line ahead of us. We weren't given a time frame yet, but we are thinking about 9 months, maybe a little more.
Of course any travel time would be fine with us, but what would be super, is if we could travel next winter. That would be GREAT as far as Todd's work goes. Please pray for that.
On a completely different note: we really should only be allowed one child. Today in church, our pastor was instructing us to remember our baptisms and how we are children of God. That is our title, so we should act accordingly. When we don't act accordingly, it makes our title, or what we say we associate with, meaningless. He gave a few examples. One such example goes as follows:
Say you're walking around downtown Chicago. You look across the street and see your friend sitting at a cafe. You're just about to walk over, when you see an attractive blonde, who is not his wife, sit down across the table from him and lean in to give her a kiss.
The premise of the story is that his wedding ring, the symbol of his marriage, means nothing because of his actions. However, our pastor didn't get to sum up this particular story, because as soon as he said, "She leaned in to give her a kiss," Audrey, who was happily playing with her princess dress-up magnets, says, LOUDLY, "Eeeewwwww!"
It completely caught Todd and I off guard. You never know how much she is listening to things, and we were both into the sermon and not focused so much on her. I turned a dozen shades of red. The pastor tried to keep going, but people were laughing too hard, so he said, "Let's just get back into First Corinthians."
Seriously, who let us have children in the first place?
Of course any travel time would be fine with us, but what would be super, is if we could travel next winter. That would be GREAT as far as Todd's work goes. Please pray for that.
On a completely different note: we really should only be allowed one child. Today in church, our pastor was instructing us to remember our baptisms and how we are children of God. That is our title, so we should act accordingly. When we don't act accordingly, it makes our title, or what we say we associate with, meaningless. He gave a few examples. One such example goes as follows:
Say you're walking around downtown Chicago. You look across the street and see your friend sitting at a cafe. You're just about to walk over, when you see an attractive blonde, who is not his wife, sit down across the table from him and lean in to give her a kiss.
The premise of the story is that his wedding ring, the symbol of his marriage, means nothing because of his actions. However, our pastor didn't get to sum up this particular story, because as soon as he said, "She leaned in to give her a kiss," Audrey, who was happily playing with her princess dress-up magnets, says, LOUDLY, "Eeeewwwww!"
It completely caught Todd and I off guard. You never know how much she is listening to things, and we were both into the sermon and not focused so much on her. I turned a dozen shades of red. The pastor tried to keep going, but people were laughing too hard, so he said, "Let's just get back into First Corinthians."
Seriously, who let us have children in the first place?
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Two Little Girls + an Update
Bethany Christian Services emailed us last week about two little girls who need homes. They are considered special needs and are therefore in Bethany's Children of Promise Program. We have since emailed Bethany back to inquire more about their condidtions. They have very minor special needs, but we've been told that Korea does that. Korea will deem a child special needs maybe a little quicker than a different country. Because their needs are minor, there will be a lot of families who want them. Even if we don't adopt one of them, they should still be prayed for, so that's why I'm mentioning them to you now:
Mun, Jin-na's special need is noted that her birth mother suffered from leukemia when she was four years old. Birthmom received medical care for two years. Jin-na was born 11-21-07.
Yi, Min Gyeong's special need is noted to a neurology consult for "crying a lot everyday". We do not yet have the results of this consult, but her development seems on track. Min-gyeong was born 11.21.07 also.
I would link their pictures, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do that or not, so I'd better be safe than sorry. They both are EXTREMELY cute! If anyone has any information that would help in knowing more about their conditions, we would appreciate it.
On the other end, we have an update. Two more families received their referrals last week! That means we're two more families closer to getting our paperwork sent over to Korea. I'll keep you posted!
Mun, Jin-na's special need is noted that her birth mother suffered from leukemia when she was four years old. Birthmom received medical care for two years. Jin-na was born 11-21-07.
Yi, Min Gyeong's special need is noted to a neurology consult for "crying a lot everyday". We do not yet have the results of this consult, but her development seems on track. Min-gyeong was born 11.21.07 also.
I would link their pictures, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do that or not, so I'd better be safe than sorry. They both are EXTREMELY cute! If anyone has any information that would help in knowing more about their conditions, we would appreciate it.
On the other end, we have an update. Two more families received their referrals last week! That means we're two more families closer to getting our paperwork sent over to Korea. I'll keep you posted!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Adventure
There's no real news on the adoption front, so I figured I'd entertain you with a story about my dog, Wallace. Thursday night he woke me up at 5AM with his barking. He doesn't usually bark at night, so I immediately jumped to worse case scenario and was convinced that someone was breaking in. I looked out the back window and saw him in the back corner of our yard barking at the neighbor's pine tree. I figured he had treed a big bird or squirrel or something (I'm not thinking particularly clearly at 5AM). I went back to bed. When I woke up about 3 hours later, I saw Wallace still sitting under the tree with his head up, and wagging his tail. Whatever animal it was, I felt a little sorry for it as my dog is persistent apparently unto death.
I let him into the house to play with Audrey. A few minutes later, he was frantic at the door. As Audrey says, "Wallace was freaking out." I didn't have my contacts in, but I figured I'd let him have some fun and re-tree the squirrel. Had I had my contacts in, however, I would have noticed the enormous opossum meandering out of the tree and on to our fence. As it was, I didn't notice the ugly thing until it was actually on my fence and it was too late.
My daughter and I were screaming at Wallace to come in, but he was like, "Forget you! I've waited 3 and 1/2 hours for this thing!" Our fence is 6-8 feet high, but Wallace was jumping with all his might to get the opossum, and his effort finally paid off. He grabbed it, shook it, and killed it. Then he happily jaunts back over to me, and instead of patting him on the head like he was anticipating, I shut the door in his face. There was NO WAY he was coming into my house after that - that was the most disgusting thing I've ever witnessed.
I made the appropriate phone calls to Todd's voicemail and to my vet. While I was convinced my dog was going to die, the vet assured me Wallace would be fine because he's had all his shots. The vet said to look his face over really carefully because if he had scratches on it, those would require antibiotics. Other than that I just have to monitor for parasites, but because the animal was alive, and not dead, the chance of him contracting parasites is slim. She did recommend that I keep him away from the animal because dogs sometimes like to go back to a kill and play with it (GROSS!). I could have probably just taken care of the opossum, but I was going to wait another 9 hours to let it decompose until Todd got home. I therefore put Wallace in our coop area with his water and food. I tried to look his face over, but every time I got down to examine him, he would try to kiss me, and that was horrifying to me, so I gave up. Todd could look at him when he got home!
I decided to call, Beep, my grandfather (don't ask why he's called Beep, no one knows). FYI, Beep's real name is Audrey and my grandmother's name is Elizabeth, although, I probably told you that already. Beep knows all about this sort of stuff. The first words out of his mouth were: "Are you sure it's dead?" I COMPLETELY forgot that opossums play dead! Beep said they're also pretty fierce, so don't go out to see if it was really dead or not. I said, "That actually won't be a problem. Audrey and I are quarantined in our house for the day." I'm not sure why we couldn't go out the front yard, but for whatever reason, in my mind all outside activity was forbidden! Sure enough, as I am talking to Beep, that stupid opossum gets up and is walking around my yard!! I started yelling at it to get it to get out of my herbs and raspberries. Audrey took a stick on the porch and banged on the windows and the sides of the wall to scare it away. Wallace, of course was going nuts in the coop. I felt for him, as he was tricked. As I finished my phone call with Beep, I realized that I had lost track of the opossum and couldn't see it anymore.
Todd called back and when I told him about the situation, his first words were, "Way to go Wallace!" Basically, "My dog's the man!" All the while I'm thinking, "My dog is the grossest thing EVER." When I told him that I couldn't find the opossum again, he said, "Let Wallace out, he'll find it." I said, "Are you crazy?! Then I have to relive this entire scenario AGAIN, and it's only 9:30AM, and I am done for the day! I am emotionally drained from this entire experience!" I did, however, let Wallace out when I left to go mentor my student from Kid's Hope. I figured that I wouldn't have to watch, and I wouldn't look outside when I got back. If Todd was so proud of his dog, he could go out and see if the opossum was still out there when he got home!
This kind of stuff is supposed to happen in the country, not in suburbia! When I saw the opossum walking around, I told Beep that I did wish I had my gun still, so I could shoot it. Beep reminded me that I was, in fact in the suburbs and couldn't just go shooting things. His suggestion: To take a long handled shovel and beat it to death! How is that better?!
The next night, I heard a few dogs barking in the same general area of the accursed pine tree that harbors disgusting animals unbiasedly. I immediately let Wallace in. No way was he going to have that kind of excitement ever again.
I let him into the house to play with Audrey. A few minutes later, he was frantic at the door. As Audrey says, "Wallace was freaking out." I didn't have my contacts in, but I figured I'd let him have some fun and re-tree the squirrel. Had I had my contacts in, however, I would have noticed the enormous opossum meandering out of the tree and on to our fence. As it was, I didn't notice the ugly thing until it was actually on my fence and it was too late.
My daughter and I were screaming at Wallace to come in, but he was like, "Forget you! I've waited 3 and 1/2 hours for this thing!" Our fence is 6-8 feet high, but Wallace was jumping with all his might to get the opossum, and his effort finally paid off. He grabbed it, shook it, and killed it. Then he happily jaunts back over to me, and instead of patting him on the head like he was anticipating, I shut the door in his face. There was NO WAY he was coming into my house after that - that was the most disgusting thing I've ever witnessed.
I made the appropriate phone calls to Todd's voicemail and to my vet. While I was convinced my dog was going to die, the vet assured me Wallace would be fine because he's had all his shots. The vet said to look his face over really carefully because if he had scratches on it, those would require antibiotics. Other than that I just have to monitor for parasites, but because the animal was alive, and not dead, the chance of him contracting parasites is slim. She did recommend that I keep him away from the animal because dogs sometimes like to go back to a kill and play with it (GROSS!). I could have probably just taken care of the opossum, but I was going to wait another 9 hours to let it decompose until Todd got home. I therefore put Wallace in our coop area with his water and food. I tried to look his face over, but every time I got down to examine him, he would try to kiss me, and that was horrifying to me, so I gave up. Todd could look at him when he got home!
I decided to call, Beep, my grandfather (don't ask why he's called Beep, no one knows). FYI, Beep's real name is Audrey and my grandmother's name is Elizabeth, although, I probably told you that already. Beep knows all about this sort of stuff. The first words out of his mouth were: "Are you sure it's dead?" I COMPLETELY forgot that opossums play dead! Beep said they're also pretty fierce, so don't go out to see if it was really dead or not. I said, "That actually won't be a problem. Audrey and I are quarantined in our house for the day." I'm not sure why we couldn't go out the front yard, but for whatever reason, in my mind all outside activity was forbidden! Sure enough, as I am talking to Beep, that stupid opossum gets up and is walking around my yard!! I started yelling at it to get it to get out of my herbs and raspberries. Audrey took a stick on the porch and banged on the windows and the sides of the wall to scare it away. Wallace, of course was going nuts in the coop. I felt for him, as he was tricked. As I finished my phone call with Beep, I realized that I had lost track of the opossum and couldn't see it anymore.
Todd called back and when I told him about the situation, his first words were, "Way to go Wallace!" Basically, "My dog's the man!" All the while I'm thinking, "My dog is the grossest thing EVER." When I told him that I couldn't find the opossum again, he said, "Let Wallace out, he'll find it." I said, "Are you crazy?! Then I have to relive this entire scenario AGAIN, and it's only 9:30AM, and I am done for the day! I am emotionally drained from this entire experience!" I did, however, let Wallace out when I left to go mentor my student from Kid's Hope. I figured that I wouldn't have to watch, and I wouldn't look outside when I got back. If Todd was so proud of his dog, he could go out and see if the opossum was still out there when he got home!
This kind of stuff is supposed to happen in the country, not in suburbia! When I saw the opossum walking around, I told Beep that I did wish I had my gun still, so I could shoot it. Beep reminded me that I was, in fact in the suburbs and couldn't just go shooting things. His suggestion: To take a long handled shovel and beat it to death! How is that better?!
The next night, I heard a few dogs barking in the same general area of the accursed pine tree that harbors disgusting animals unbiasedly. I immediately let Wallace in. No way was he going to have that kind of excitement ever again.
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