Thursday, December 15, 2011

Hurry Up & Wait

A quick update on the status of our Foster Care training...

We had hoped to be finished with our home study by the end of December, but it seems that we will be waiting a bit longer. After delaying our first home visit because of scheduling, our assigned social worker was supposed to come by last Wednesday. I was so on top of things. House cleaned, safety checklist complete, and showered a ready for her arrival. Then about ten minutes before, she called to cancel! AHHHHHH! After the initial disappointment, we realized this is probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to inconveniences associated with "the system". We decided to enjoy our clean home and take a deep breath. So we've rescheduled for early January and trust this timing change is all part of the plan. A plan that we haven't had any control over from the beginning!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Our Not So Perfect Christmas Tree

Last year we waited to the last minute to purchase our Christmas tree. We ended up getting a sad little thing from the left overs at Home Depot. I vowed that this year we would actually go to a Christmas tree farm and pick out our own, cut it down, and enjoy knowing that we supported a local small business. So last Saturday we headed a few towns north and enjoyed a lovely ride through the country. The fall trees were so pretty and it was exciting driving up to the farm which was lined with neat little rows of Texas Christmas trees. After parking, we took a hay ride to the field with trees while Rylin slowly woke up from his nap.




Then our farmer chauffeur let us off with saw in hand to pick out our tree. It was hard to decide on one because they were all so different.





We finially found one with a tall trunk so that little hands might not reach the tempting ornaments. Jordan set to work sawing while Rylin watched very intently.



While our hands were full of tree, he decided to try and get one his size!



After hauling our tree to the end of the row for the tractor to pick up, we loaded back on our hayride and to the gift shop for hot chocolate and apple cider. Yum.



Our tree was wrapped and loaded soon after. And here it is in all its glory. Not exactly perfect, but perfect for us! Notice the little sneaky boy in the corner...