Today was a good day.

Today was all about family time.  It was nice to spend some time together just being a family.  Unfortunately, it seems like these days it's harder than it used to be to find time to all just be together and do whatever.  We went to the mall and ran a few errands.  Kera got her ears re-pierced today since her original piercing closed after a ear infection (we found out the hard way she's allergic to cheap earrings!  Anyway, we took the kids to get ice cream afterward to cheer Kera up.  We were in the middle of that, laughing and playing, and Eric paused, looked at me and said "Do you think we'll still be able to have days like this with a third child?" 

"Absolutely!  We'll just have to sit at a bigger table!" Was my response. I think what he was feeling is the typical fear of changing the family dynamic.  We went through the same thing when we were pregnant with Kera.  We wondered how life would be different with 2 versus 1 child, and hoped that our oldest wouldn't have her life ruined.  It turned out that our family ended up even better than we could've hoped. 

So I think that once we find our third child, and he/she finds us, we'll look back and think the same thing we thought after Kera finally got here and things settled down a bit:  "What were we so afraid of?  This is awesome!"  At the same time, I'm glad we're having these thoughts and discussions about the family dynamic.  It means 1.)  We're treating this adoption just like adding a biological child and 2.)  It makes the whole process seem more real, which is very exciting!

Other than the family time, Eric and I had another big discussion about finances.  We're trying to cut expenses as much as we can, but we don't want to make the girls sacrifice too much to finance our adoption.  For example, they are both still in dance lessons and Kera is about to have a birthday party next weekend (!)  (Note to self - get birthday cake ordered!)

But, obviously some sacrifice is required.  We opted for a birthday party at home instead of  some outside venue, which can easily cost hundreds of dollars.  We're getting ready to cancel our dish network as soon as our contract is up.  We just sold the TV that we had in our bedroom (who really needs 3 TV's in one house anyway?!) and we may sell the one in the living room and just keep the one in the family room.  We're having our garage sale in April (!) (Note to self - get a date set!).  There are other things, but you get the idea.

Eric and I fear that these changes won't be enough.  We're seriously considering him getting a second job.  It's just hard to think about that since we are both so busy with full time jobs, the kids and their activities, church, etc.  But there may be no other choice.  But, with the economy as bad as it has been, it may not be as simple as decided to get a second job and then you automatically get one.  So, in a nutshell...we're torn.  For now, we're going to keep praying and look for some guidance on this issue at least until after a few weekend commitments that we've already made pass.  We've got some of the funds saved, and we have more time, but it's  not easy for us to come up with huge chunks of money all at once.  I don't know anyone who could do that easily!

Speaking of funds, the guy who bought our TV was one of Eric's co-workers.  They negotiated a fair price for the TV, and then when he came to pick it up today, he and Eric got to talking about why we were selling it and whatnot.  Without even saying anything, the coworker added an extra $25 more than the pre-negotiated price because he really wanted to help us out.  <3  I am so touched that someone we only know through work would be so thoughtful.  Every little penny helps.

I'm thinking of sewing a few things and attempting to sell them as a fund raiser as well.  It's between reusable shopping bags and string backpacks.  I'm leaning toward the string backpacks, because with the shopping bags, it would be harder to sell them for a fair price because they use more fabric and I have no source of cheap fabric.  My plan is to make some up and sell them at the garage sale.  I only have a few hours here and there that I can dedicate to it, so I'm not convinced that it will be worth the effort, but I want to give it a try just to see.  The more we can save, the less we have to stress.

I've also been putting a lot of though into our adoption profile book.  I've looked into digital scrap booking and real scrap booking.  I've opted for the "real" version since I think it will be harder for me to convey an accurate protrayal of our family digitally.  It's hard to explain, but I think it will be easier for us to make a connection with potential birth mothers with real scrap books that show a clear picture of who we are.  Tonight while I was at the store I picked up a cheap scrap booking starter kit to practice with.  I'll get the "real" scrap booking stuff later.  I have to make 5 (!) copies so I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I spend any money on that!  Speaking of which, I have no idea why I need to make so many copies....I'll have to ask the social worker the next time I speak to her....

That's all for now.  We're meeting with the social worker again next week to go over some post-application but pre-home study things so I'm sure I will have an update then!