We have power! Of course, I resorted to crying on the phone with the electric company, but hey, whatever works, right? The last time I called (this afternoon) the customer service agent told me the service would be on "tomorrow" and I just lost it. I've been a wee bit stressed and I just broke down. I did keep my composure long enough to ask to speak to a manager, but I'm pretty sure she could already tell I was on the verge of tears.
It worked--we're back in business. :) :)
And...
Our dossier has been shipped!!! Hooray!! Plus, since our facilitator this time lives in Kyiv, we were able to ship through the USPS instead of FedEx. Much cheaper and we still get to track it. I'll keep you posted as I follow our paper packet around the world.
Lots of people have been asking "what next?" Well, now we wait. Some more. ;) Here's a breakdown of what needs to happen:
Our dossier makes it to Kyiv
Our facilitator translates it and finds it to be mistake-free
Our dossier is submitted to the SDA
The SDA accepts it and gives us a travel date
We go get the girls! :) :)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Adoption giveaways!
Head on over to Amanda's blog and check out her great giveaways! They are giving away a Sorrelli brooch and a $50 Paper Shouts GC. Like us, they are in-process to adopt two special needs kiddos (who are also super-cute, by the way).
They're also doing a really cool fundraiser with a walk-a-thon. They have tons of items to giveaway so make sure you check it out! I love her description of the walk-a-thon and all of the significant numbers. :)
They're also doing a really cool fundraiser with a walk-a-thon. They have tons of items to giveaway so make sure you check it out! I love her description of the walk-a-thon and all of the significant numbers. :)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Humbled
It was a small dime, sitting in the middle of the parking lot. While normally I would have been happy to find it, today it brought me to tears.
I heard this morning that my employment letter was done. Rather than wait the 3 or 4 days it would take to get it from one company location to another, I opted to drive to our other campus and pick it up. The plan was to pick it up and then take it to be apostilled. I wanted to wait while they apostilled it, which I knew would take a little while. As I was walking out to the car, I realized that I had used almost all of my change for parking meters on our last trip to apostille. Well, I thought, God will just have to provide. I figured I could run in, drop off the documents, and then wait for them to be done in the car. I thought my few nickels would be able to handle that.
And then I saw the dime. And God reminded me that he even cares about my little problems, like change for the parking meters.
I went and picked up my employment letter, but it was yet again not right--the date on the letter and the date of notarization did not match. So I waited for a new one, which was able to be done while I was there. I took the two new, correct copies and went for apostilling. I found a parking space and got out of the car with my precious two documents and my few nickels.
And then I saw the remaining 44 minutes on the meter. More than enough time for the apostilling. I cried as I hurried across the street.
The apostilles are done. Our dossier is complete. And I am humbled by a God who loves me so enormously that He would die for me, and so intimately that he cares about my lack of change for parking meters.
Still no power in the other house. It is supposed to be turned on tomorrow, but it's warm enough tonight that you don't need to pray for the radiators. ;) Thanks for helping us keep them insulated.
I heard this morning that my employment letter was done. Rather than wait the 3 or 4 days it would take to get it from one company location to another, I opted to drive to our other campus and pick it up. The plan was to pick it up and then take it to be apostilled. I wanted to wait while they apostilled it, which I knew would take a little while. As I was walking out to the car, I realized that I had used almost all of my change for parking meters on our last trip to apostille. Well, I thought, God will just have to provide. I figured I could run in, drop off the documents, and then wait for them to be done in the car. I thought my few nickels would be able to handle that.
And then I saw the dime. And God reminded me that he even cares about my little problems, like change for the parking meters.
I went and picked up my employment letter, but it was yet again not right--the date on the letter and the date of notarization did not match. So I waited for a new one, which was able to be done while I was there. I took the two new, correct copies and went for apostilling. I found a parking space and got out of the car with my precious two documents and my few nickels.
And then I saw the remaining 44 minutes on the meter. More than enough time for the apostilling. I cried as I hurried across the street.
The apostilles are done. Our dossier is complete. And I am humbled by a God who loves me so enormously that He would die for me, and so intimately that he cares about my lack of change for parking meters.
Still no power in the other house. It is supposed to be turned on tomorrow, but it's warm enough tonight that you don't need to pray for the radiators. ;) Thanks for helping us keep them insulated.
Holding
I love old brick houses! The temperature only dropped a couple of degrees for each floor last night--the radiators are safe! :) :) And the temperature isn't supposed to get below freezing for the next couple of days. Of course, the power is supposed to be turned back on today. I'm still fuming over some communication issues with the electric company that have caused this delay. Hopefully this whole mess will be over soon, and we are VERY thankful that this didn't happen after we had already moved in. Going without power and without heat for a few days would not have been pleasant.
Yesterday Mark and I took the rest of our dossier to be apostilled. I think I forgot to tell you that we already had half of it done. :) Unfortunately, there was a problem with my employment letter. I'm trying to get that corrected today, as our facilitator really needs to submit our dossier soon. There is a chance that one or both of the girls will get transferred to another orphanage if we do not get over there quickly. While they might still be available for adoption, it will complicate things greatly if they are moved. Not to mention that the orphanage they are in right now is wonderful, with a very caring staff, and that might not be true for the next one.
Please pray for my employment letter and that we will be able to get to the girls soon!
Yesterday Mark and I took the rest of our dossier to be apostilled. I think I forgot to tell you that we already had half of it done. :) Unfortunately, there was a problem with my employment letter. I'm trying to get that corrected today, as our facilitator really needs to submit our dossier soon. There is a chance that one or both of the girls will get transferred to another orphanage if we do not get over there quickly. While they might still be available for adoption, it will complicate things greatly if they are moved. Not to mention that the orphanage they are in right now is wonderful, with a very caring staff, and that might not be true for the next one.
Please pray for my employment letter and that we will be able to get to the girls soon!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Cooling off
Still no power. 47 degrees upstairs, 57 degrees downstairs at 5pm.
Please pray for our radiators again tonight. An unusual prayer request, no? ;)
Will update tomorrow morning, hopefully with good news.
Please pray for our radiators again tonight. An unusual prayer request, no? ;)
Will update tomorrow morning, hopefully with good news.
Still no power
Mark went over late last night, but sure enough there wasn't any power. We're praying that the radiators didn't freeze and crack last night. If they did, we are looking at well over $10000 to repair/replace our heating system. And yes, we could put in forced air then, but it would still be over $10000 to run ductwork and buy a furnace.
Mark will be headed to the house after he drops the boys off, so we'll know shortly. If there's water on the floors we're in trouble! I'll post an update as soon as I know anything.
And can someone explain to me why when I call and say our power is out, they send a technician out within 30 minutes who disconnects our power and removes the meter from the wall, but when I need power restored they say "well, we should be able to get someone out there today or tomorrow"???
Edited at 9am: Still no power, but the radiators appear to be intact--no puddles or leaking. Yay! The house is currently between 45 and 50 degrees. Provided we can get the power back on today, we should be okay. And yes, I'm calling the electric company to check on the status of our "ticket" every hour.
Mark will be headed to the house after he drops the boys off, so we'll know shortly. If there's water on the floors we're in trouble! I'll post an update as soon as I know anything.
And can someone explain to me why when I call and say our power is out, they send a technician out within 30 minutes who disconnects our power and removes the meter from the wall, but when I need power restored they say "well, we should be able to get someone out there today or tomorrow"???
Edited at 9am: Still no power, but the radiators appear to be intact--no puddles or leaking. Yay! The house is currently between 45 and 50 degrees. Provided we can get the power back on today, we should be okay. And yes, I'm calling the electric company to check on the status of our "ticket" every hour.
Monday, February 23, 2009
In the dark
Since sometime last week we have had a power problem at the new house. As in, half of the house doesn't have power. The weird thing is that it's the back of the house, both floors. And every once in a while the power flickers on for a few seconds and then goes out again. Because the lack of electricity means the first floor thermostat isn't working, we have had to turn the first floor boiler off since it couldn't regulate the temperature. Now the first floor is pretty cool, although we still have heat on the second floor.
I talked to the electric company's repairman, and it looks like we have a problem with our meter base (where the electricity comes into the house). At some point (we don't know if it was the original intent or not) the house was a two-family, divided by floor, and there was one meter for the first floor and one meter for the second floor. Then it was converted to a one-family and one of the meters was circumvented, meaning all of the electricity for the house was going through one meter.
According to the repairman, something has been burning behind the meter base. Basically at some point there was way too much electricity going through the meter base. It's not something we've caused, as we don't have any appliances hooked up yet, but it's something we've got to deal with if we want power (and for our house not to burn down--that's sort of important to me ;)).
I'm tired of spending money just to get the basic necessities for this house. I want to paint, and put up curtains, and get moved in! Every "new" repair means less money for the adoption. That's where I get discouraged. I know God will provide, although I am baffled as to how He is going to do that. :) We do have a life insurance policy we are holding in reserve that will help pay for part of the adoption. We're not cashing it in until we need it for the adoption so we make sure it doesn't get used for anything else.
Thankfully, we have an excellent electrician whom we really trust. He's coming out tomorrow to take a look at the meter box and see what needs to happen. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll have restored power again!
Updated at 10:45pm: The electrician (whom we love!) was able to come out today and replace the meter base (I don't really have any idea what that means; that's just what I was told). I called the electric company at 4pm and they are supposed to be turning our power back on so that our pipes won't freeze tonight. Mark has just gone over to the house to see if the power is on and to relight the boilers if it is.
I talked to the electric company's repairman, and it looks like we have a problem with our meter base (where the electricity comes into the house). At some point (we don't know if it was the original intent or not) the house was a two-family, divided by floor, and there was one meter for the first floor and one meter for the second floor. Then it was converted to a one-family and one of the meters was circumvented, meaning all of the electricity for the house was going through one meter.
According to the repairman, something has been burning behind the meter base. Basically at some point there was way too much electricity going through the meter base. It's not something we've caused, as we don't have any appliances hooked up yet, but it's something we've got to deal with if we want power (and for our house not to burn down--that's sort of important to me ;)).
I'm tired of spending money just to get the basic necessities for this house. I want to paint, and put up curtains, and get moved in! Every "new" repair means less money for the adoption. That's where I get discouraged. I know God will provide, although I am baffled as to how He is going to do that. :) We do have a life insurance policy we are holding in reserve that will help pay for part of the adoption. We're not cashing it in until we need it for the adoption so we make sure it doesn't get used for anything else.
Thankfully, we have an excellent electrician whom we really trust. He's coming out tomorrow to take a look at the meter box and see what needs to happen. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll have restored power again!
Updated at 10:45pm: The electrician (whom we love!) was able to come out today and replace the meter base (I don't really have any idea what that means; that's just what I was told). I called the electric company at 4pm and they are supposed to be turning our power back on so that our pipes won't freeze tonight. Mark has just gone over to the house to see if the power is on and to relight the boilers if it is.
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