Christmas

We're back from a good Christmas vacation. We went to my parents the weekend before Christmas. Then we had to work Monday and Tuesday before Christmas. Tuesday evening we headed to Stephanie's mom's house for the rest of the week. We got back Sunday evening. Here's some pics:

Little Falls Trip

We just got back from out trip to Little Falls. We really weren't sure exactly how things would go but we had our ideas of how things would(or should) go. Of course we should know better than that. We got up there early Wed. afternoon and met with the kids social worker, the child protection worker, the in-home therapist and the foster mom. They basically told us everything they know about the kids and showed us some pictures of them. For the kids sake we will keep info about them private, so we will not share any more on them at this time. After we met with them we went to the foster parents house to meet the kids. We were very nervous about this. We had no idea how they were going to react to us. It turned out really good though. The foster parents told the kids that some friends were coming to visit them(the parents). So the kids didn't know we were there to see them. We got there around 4 and stayed till about 9pm. It was fun. After that we went back to our hotel and sat in the hot tub for awhile and talked. It was great and felt really good. Thursday morning at 9 we met again with the social worker and the child protection worker. They let us know about some other kids that are available for adoption. They talked about them for awhile and then we went and visited them. They are a lot younger than the others. Cute kids though. And after that we went to lunch with the social worker and the child protection worker and talked about the visits and stuff. Then we came home. 

So things didn't go quite as we planned. We don't have a date set that the kids will be coming or anything. We don't even know what's going to happen or what we are going to do. We have a lot of things to think through and consider before we say yes to either groups of kids. Also, the social worker and child protection worker have some big choices to make too that may affect our decision. Sorry we don't have better news for you. You can imagine how we feel. Thanks for all the prayers. Keep them up.

TJ

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

Hey All!  Tomorrow's the big day for us to meet the kids.  We are so excited!  We're staying in a hotel that evening, so we'll see if we have time to post something tomorrow night yet, otherwise we will try on Thursday!  Till then, pray for us. 

Thanks!

-Steph

Fox Urine

Check out this story.

So who do you side with: the guy or the kids. 

TJ

Smelly Washer

We have this one towel that stinks. It's a newer towel but it has a funky mildewy smell. We think it's from the washer. They say front-load washers can get stinky from the water sitting there. So they had this story on the news last night about stinky washers. This guy in Minnesota made this stuff that is supposed to take the stink away. I just ordered a bottle. It's $20 after shipping. It's supposed to last all year. We'll see if it works. For more info on the stuff go to smellywasher.com.

TJ

Basement

We went to Menards yesterday to get the trimming for baseboard and the doors.  We still have to get the stuff for the windows.  Yikey Smikey is that stuff expensive!  I now see why people choose to put the cheap stuff in instead of the real wood!  

Now I have more staining and varnishing to do!  Fun times! ;)  Not really.

We're supposed to get 6-10 inches of snow tonight!  I hope we really do!

Only 9 more days until we get to meet the kids!  We are so excited!  Hang in there.  Hopefully we will be able to take pictures when we visit. 

adoption news!!!

Ok- I know you've all been long awaiting the next adoption post, so here it is.

We have been contacted about children within the state of MN.  It is a family of 5.  We are so excited about this opportunity.  We have set up a date to meet the children on the 17th of December.  We can not wait!!!!!!!!  Pray for us, for patience as we wait, and that all the details will get worked out along the way.  Also- other big prayer requests as we finish the basement and try to find everything we'll need, like beds, sheets, blankets, clothes, jackets, shoes, dressers, etc... all TIMES 5!!!!  Yay! 

We went to Lowe's tonight to look at carpet.  That's the next thing for the basement.  Hopefully they are going to come by Wednesday to measure everything and then quote us on the carpet and padding, plus the labor.  That will be so nice to have done!  Then put on the doors and you can call them bedrooms!

Out for Dinner

We had a great time out tonight with the "Four His Glory" gang.  Thanks for meeting us a little more than half way.  :)

You can see the rest of the pictures on my(Stephanie's) facebook account.  

Good Times.

deodorant

A good reason not to wear deodorant. Not that I ever did anyway.

TJ

primer

Sunday afternoon was spent priming the walls.  We did not get completely done, but a good chunk of it anyway.  TJ did the ceilings and I did the walls.  I got the bedrooms and the closets done.  So now I just need to do the *outerior walls.  *this is my new word.  I was trying to think of a good way to explain that part of the wall...  it's not exterior because it is still indoors, but it's not "interior" because it is not really part of any room, (yet).  So I came up with Outerior.  I quite like it. It's where the wall will be eventually part of the living room.  Whenever that might be!  Long long time from now.....  That just reminded me of that really annoying song from Higher Power.... "Long, long time ago, very long time ago, long, long time ago...... "  I hope you have it in your head the rest of the day.... if you even know it! :)  I know Bob does atleast, he has the CD.

Anyway... I used a roller and got the main chunk of the walls done however I still have to go back and get all the corners/trim work.  Yes you even have to trim when priming.  What a pain!  But you don't have to worry about hitting the ceiling, because as of right now it's all the same color.  That however will change when we actually paint!  There will for sure be color, if I have anything to say about it.   Ideally I would like to wait until things are a little more permanent with knowing a timeline for the kids, also so I can know enough about them to figure out who will have what room, and paint it to their liking.  I mean I don't want to paint a girls room blue, or put princesses in a girls room if that girl is 9 instead of 4.... so you see my dilemma. 

Painting

So the walls are muded and taped, and the ceiling is textured.  We didn't know if he was going to come back this week to texture the walls or not, and so far he has not come, so we are guessing he's done.  And that is just fine.  Walls don't really need to be textured.  Plus if I'm going to paint a fun design on them, it is actually easier if they are not textured.  We are going to go to Lowe's tonight to see what kind of primer there is.  Hopefully they have just what we need! :0)

I'm just going to paint everything white for now.... until we know more about the kids and what kinds of things, and colors they like.  Or atleast that's what I say for now!  I might change my mind later.  I'll keep you posted.  I know you'll just be waiting on the edge of your seats for that one! :)

Well, there's my 2 cents for the day.  I'll try to help TJ keep up on this blog!  He used to be so good and write every day.... for a little while there he had a note pad with different stories he was going to put on the blog so he didn't forget, and because he only wanted to post one story a day..... not now, though.  Maybe we can turn that around so you all have some entertainment for the day! ;) wink wink

-Steph

TJ

TJ is the worst blogger ever.  Make a comment if you think this is true.

Hee hee........

TJ is mad that I put this! :)

Ha

Superstar

What is up G-Dogs! Word to your mother. 

Here's an awesome video of Stephanie and I singing that great Carpenter's song, "Superstar". This is karaoke during our Labor Day Campout.

TJ

We're addicted....

....to "Lost". The tv show. Thank you Will and Melissa for getting us hooked and taking away 4 hours a week of our lives. The new season-season 5- starts in January, so we are busy trying to catch up. Right now we're watching season 2 so we have a little ways to go. It's on for 4 hours straight every Monday evening on the SciFi channel. We record it and watch them throughout the week. That's all I wanted to say. It's a good show. You can watch it online at ABC.com.

TJ

Heat

It's on! I just turned the heat on. But not cause we were cold. The guy that is mudding and taping needed some heat to help the mud dry downstairs so I turned it on. Jamie and Adam turned theirs on yesterday. Although, it was cold this morning. It was 19 degrees on my way to work. Brrrr. And we might be getting some snow tomorrow.

TJ

adoption training

On Saturday Stephanie and I went to an adoption training here it town. It was an all day meeting. 10-6. It was at the Super 8. Fancy. It was actually a really good training session. It dealt primarily with adopting waiting children. Long...but good. And this was only part one. There's one more we have to go to on Dec. 13th. Another all day training. There were 4 of us there. Stephanie and I and another couple....2 guys. :( Yuck. We just feel terrible for the kids that will be placed with them. As you can tell, this was a State thing. We got home and I turned on the TV and noticed there was a football game on. I turned to it and noticed it was Iowa VS. Penn St. And then I noticed there was only 6 seconds left in the 4th quarter and Iowa was behind by one. And that it was Iowa's ball and they were getting ready to kick a field goal. And then I saw the best part of the game! Awesome. 

And some other news really quick.... A guy from our church came to mud and tape on Saturday while we were at the meeting. He's doing it free of charge! You can't beat that. And he has his own drywall business so he's good. 

TJ 

Christmas Tree

On Saturday we put up our most awesome 9' Christmas Tree. It's tall. And it's pre-lit so we didn't have to put lights on it. Here's some pics of it:

TJ

70 degrees

Sunday it was snowing and now it's 70 degrees out. 

Stephanie's been sick the last couple of days. She didn't go to work on Tuesday and only went for half a day on Wed. Today was her first full day back at work. She had a little bronchitis and laryngitis. Whenever she gets sick she always gets a really bad cough. Every time. It's weird. So far I'm feeling good. Hopefully it stays that way. 

I just got my first Christmas cd of the year in the mail. "Christmas...Gaither Vocal Band Style". I haven't listened to it yet but I'm sure it's great. That may mean we're going to have to decorate for Christmas this weekend. We'll see.

TJ

Snowing

Right now it is snowing out. Yes, snowing. It's actually sticking to the grass. I think that means it's about time to decorate for Christmas. Although it's freezing cold outside, it's a comfortable 69 degrees in our house. And we haven't turned the heat on yet. The new Sunheat heater works great! I'm hungry. It's time for a snack(leftover lunch).

TJ

Drywall

Ok, So I thought I took more pictures than this, but I guess not.  We just have the 2 closets left to work on so when they are done I will take a couple more pictures for you to enjoy! :)

This weekend we are going to stain and varnish all the wood doors, and hopefully the trim.  But we have yet to purchase the trim.

That's all for today....  by the way it's cold in here!  59 degrees this morning.  

Off to work I go- 

-Stephanie

Almost gave in.

Okay, so tonight is going to be the real test. It's supposed to be in the upper 20's tonight. Brrrr. We got home on Sunday evening and I was ready to turn the heat on. It was freezing. But we didn't and just stayed warm under the blankets. Shirley has this really cool heater. It's called a SunHeat. I think we are going to get one. They are selling them in Faribault on Thursday. It's supposed to cut your heating bill in half. That's all for now. Stephanie almost has pizza ready. 

TJ

It's on!

Sorry it's been awhile. I've taken a sabbatical from the blog. Now I'm back. Right now we're in the big metropolis of Jeffers, MN. We came for a wedding on Saturday at the Jeffers Baptist Church which is actually 5 miles outside of Jeffers. We've started a competition with Stephanie's sisters and her mom. We're going to see who can go the longest without turning their furnace on. So it's on!! The competition that is. Although everyone else has pretty much cheated already. Adam and Jamie have a gas fireplace they've turned on already. Tim and Nicole have actually turned theirs on already. Shirley has a space heater thing. And Dana lives in between two other people that keep her place nice and cozy. So really we are the true champions already. But we are going to see how long we can go without turning our furnace on. 

TJ

blog comments

There's been a dramatic decrease in the blog comments lately.  What is up guys, do you no longer care?!?  Or is it just because I (Stephanie) have been doing the blogging?

We like to hear from you too!   :)

I'll post some drywall pictures after the weekend.

adoption note/electrical inspection

I (Stephanie) posted a new adoption note on my facebook so you can read about it there.  If you do not have access to Facebook, let me know and I'll email the note to you.

The electrical inspector came today.  Just one tiny change.  One of the wires comes down through the top of the box, and he wants that one to come up through the bottom of the box instead.  Otherwise, all is well, and we are ready to sheet rock this weekend!  Praise the Lord! :)  If you're reading this and you have nothing to do this weekend, come on over.   Many hands make light work!  I'm making chili for lunch and home made fajitas for supper. 

I guess I need to figure out how much sheet rock we need to get from Lowes.

We're wired up!

TJ drilled all the holes in the walls for the wiring and I nailed all the electrical outlet boxes to the studs to prepare for Adam's arrival.  He got here about 1:20 yesterday and we started on the wiring.  First we had to look through all the wiring that was already in the ceiling for the lighting that was already there, and figure out where everything went.  That took some time.

But we had started running the wires through the walls by the time TJ got home from work at 4...

At 6 or so we decided to go out for supper, so we headed over to Plaza Morena.  We got there just in time I guess, because when we left there was a long line waiting to be seated. After that we had to run to Lowes to get a few more things, and more wire.

When we got back it was dark out and we didn't have any lights hooked up in the basement yet.  Ooops, we didn't really think about utilizing the natural light a little longer.  We called Jeremy and Jennifer to see if they had lights we could use while we finished the wiring.  They brought a few over, and headed out, but then they came back.  So that was a nice surprise.  They said they felt bad about just leaving when they didn't have anything to do at home anyway, so they stayed and helped us finish hooking up the lights.  Special thanks to them, otherwise we would have been working into the wee hours of the morning to get finished!

We've got Walls....

That's what we're going to call it.  We're going to specialize in selling wall farms.

Ok- so maybe that's not how the movie quote goes, but that's what it made me think of because TJ says that quote all the time.

Anyway- Here's a few pics of the basement progress so far.  Special thanks to Keith Kramer for all his hard work.  We could not have done it without you!

The bottom 3 pictures are bedroom 1, 3 closets in a row, and bedroom 2.

I don't work tomorrow so after the inspector comes I might start drilling the holes for the electrical work.  We'll see. :0)

-Stephanie

What's new with you?

Here's what's new with us....

This is Stephanie posting by the way, just thought I would throw that out there for props because TJ says I never post anything on here.

Last week we got word that our Home Study was completed (YAY)... and they sent us a copy to have for our records.  So that was exciting!  We had them send it off to different states/agencies towards specific sibling groups that we are interested in learning more about.  We are praying that they will send us some sort of info stating that they received it and then hopefully tell us what their process is and how many visits they have you do, and any other steps you have to go through before being considered... la dee da.  So again we are waiting, but one step closer so that is cool.

Saturday night we went to Lowe's to get the wood for framing the bedroom walls in the basement.  Our friend Keith is coming over to help us with that!  We are thankful for his expertise, and willingness to help toward this cause. :)  When we were at Lowe's we forgot to bring gloves to go through all the wood with so we were being careful handling it as to not get any splinters.  Well, when we were loading it onto the trailer, I was moving a board and a splinter when straight into my finger.  It was very painful.  When we got home, I had to get it out right away, so I grabbed the tweezer... I could only see a little piece of it because it literally went straight into my finger.  When I pulled it out it was 1/4" long.  If it were any longer it would have gone all the way through my finger and out the other side!  OUCH!  I've never had them go straight in like that they are normally parallel with the skin.  Interesting:)

Tomorrow is the big day to put up the walls! So hopefully we have what we need.  At least Lowe's is not that far away if we need something extra.  Maybe I'll take pictures so you can see the progress.  After the walls are up they have to come inspect to see that we did it according to the plans we provided for them, so that will be Inspection #2.  Then we can pull the electrical through and have them come for inspection #3.  So let the fun times begin!

Look for more details to come, and maybe even progress pictures!

Until next time, this is Stephanie Wright reporting live from Owatonna, Minnesota.

Gas

Don't pass gas in front of a police officer!

TJ

Hello.

Wow. It's been a week since I've posted already. Time flies. I just listened to a message on our answering machine saying our home study's been approved. So now we will try and get some more information on the kids. And hopefully soon we will be going full steam ahead on the basement. We are doing two bedrooms downstairs for now. 

Over the weekend we went down to Iowa. It was kind of a last minute decision. It was yes, we're going. No, we're not. Yes, we're going. No, we're not. And so forth. We finally decided to go down. We went to Jamie and Adam's till Sunday morning. Cole had his birthday party Saturday. Sunday morning we surprised my family at church in Slater. They had no idea. Good times. 

We may be getting some studs for the basement tonight. We'll see. Don't get confused, when I say studs, I'm not referring to myself.

TJ

Our Yearbook Photos

Stephanie and I were going through some of our old yearbook photos. Check em out: