Hello...echo...echo...

I am assuming someone may still be reading this, but I have not gotten a comment in a long time and that gets a girl down. Two post ago I wrote a little bit about my friend Kim and her family who are working on adopting a three-year-old from the Ukraine. They have officially been matched with her, which gives them the go-ahead to start fund raising. The first fund raiser they are doing is through jewelry sales at a friend's store. Please, PLEASE, check it out. You can find all the information on their blog, as well as the detailed story about how this adoption came to be and what is entailed. Go there...and comment on my blog because I am getting lonely in here talking to myself.

http://adoption.adeanthing.com/

Time marches on

These last few weeks I have been acutely aware of the passage of time. Interestingly, time has seemed to both fly by and drag, a fact to which I am sure many women in their third trimester can attest. I am in my 35th week of this pregnancy, which means if I go right up to my due date I have five more weeks. Five looooonngg weeks....and five very, very SHORT weeks. At this point Tabitha's room does not have a floor, I have yet to go sort through all of the baby girl clothes in storage, and although we know we have a crib (thank you Stacey), it does not live at our house yet. Also, I am trying to get some stuff at my job wrapped up so that I am not frantically sorting out paperwork in-between contractions. At this point it does not matter too much, though, because my boss cannot seem to find any extra OT to cover my kids, which makes me sad. I also just celebrated a birthday, the last of my twenties. I am feeling particularly old right now, which has more to do with shortness of breath and overwhelming fatigue than an actual number. I figured since time, it's passage, and usefulness has been on my mind, now would be a good opportunity to take a moment to re-assess where I am stand at this turning point. The very first post on The Land of the Living was dedicated to some things that I wanted to accomplish in 2010...and since we are a QUARTER (holy cow!) of the way through this year...here is my self-assessment:

This year I want to:

• Make real friends - I have to admit, I have done a bang up job on this one, there is a reason I listed it first. I have made a conscience effort to open myself up and get out there, and it has really paid off. I have three awesome, Godly women that I feel I have made a true connection. We have had people over to our home several times, including some great play-dates for Camille. I joined a meet-up group for mothers of toddlers in the area and Camille and I try to go to something fun at least once a week. We have started going to Sunday morning class and Wednesday night fellowship and I feel like a full-fledged community member in my church. I am not bragging, this has been the hardest thing for me. I would really (REALLY) like to just sit in my house and miss the soul-mates that I LOVE, but Camille needs friends, and I need support, and so that just is not going to happen. Although he does not have the social insecurity hang-ups that I do, Matt has also gotten really involved with the guys at our church, and it makes me happy to see him form new relationships too.
• Have a healthy baby - Obviously still working on this one, so far so good.
• Take more pictures - Hhhmm...I have actually TAKEN more pictures, but have not shared them very well. I guess I should have been more specific with my goal.
• Blog (!!!) - I think I have done okay...my goal was once per week, and I think, with a few exceptions, that has been the case.
• Take control of my health for me with no more excuses - *sigh* I totally fell off the exercise wagon when we moved into our new house. I really wanted to stay fit during this pregnancy, because I did such an awful job during my pregnancy with Camille and am still paying the price. I keep saying that I am going to start walking after work now that there is more light, but have yet to just get outside and walk. So here is my commitment in print...I will walk at least three times per week until this baby comes, the end!
• Get organized - This goal was way to broad, I realize. I had several things in my mind that I wanted to be more organized in, but now they are gone. I need to write down some specific areas that I want to organize, and start there.
• Move into our new house - GLORY TO JESUS, we did it!! I think it was the first week in March, although it seems like it has been a lot longer. I was amazed at how fast this place started to feel like home. Pictures soon, I promise.
• Wake up earlier - I started doing this, then I realized, I am about to have a baby and will not get the chance to sleep late for many months, so I take advantage of every moment I can until Tabitha arrives.
• Cook more, but easier and better planned meals - nope, if anything I would say less. Been too busy with moving.
• Get a half a cow in my freezer from a local farmer - Just last week my mom let me know that we are going to be splitting half a cow from the guy who rents their land! I am super excited. We also started getting farm-fresh eggs from our raw milk lady. Now if I could only find a way to get local, free-range chickens.
• Plant a super awesome garden and not neglect it too much - Due to the crazy weather we got a late start. I am not doing much of the physical labor, but have been doing most of the planning. I bought some seeds today, which I hope to at least help plant. I have to say that our garden is showing soooooo much progress. Last year we started a compost pile, and had a pile of cow poo composting in a field, which all went into the soil during tilling. It is the most luscious, black dirt I have ever laid my eyes on.
• Play more with Camille - some days yes, some days no. Today we are going to hunt Easter eggs in the yard when she wakes up from her nap.
• Walk the dogs - Not even once. Poor, sad puppies.
• Create a nice outdoor space for my family - we are working on it. That yard was a jungle. Camille and I spent last Saturday planting flowers in containers, partly because the ground is too over-run with weeds to even get a flower bed out of, and partly because Camille LOVES to pick flowers and I just thought it would be easier on us both if they were allowed to grow safely out of reach. I am looking for some used patio furniture, that stuff is expensive!
• Send more things in the mail - Hhhmmm...I set my sights too high.
• Read my Bible - I am sad that this is at the end of the list, and that I have to admit that I cannot even remember the last time I opened my Bible.
• Keep my car cleaner - *laugh*

There we have it. That may have been more for me than for blogging purposes, but who says that is not the point. I may make modifications to my list and re-post it, or I may just make mental notes. This seems like a really good way to foster self-improvement, which I need. I end with some of the pictures I took, but never posted :)