This years biggest gift was our new little puppy, Tinka. I know what some of you are thinking, crazy! Yes, it might be a little crazy to add a dog to the mix of moving, fostering, traveling etc... but the problem is this cute little girl who has BEGGED for a puppy to love for a long, long time.
She has a big heart and she loves animals and animals seem to really love her. So, what can we say...we caved to the pressure! Just kidding. We did think about this for a really long time. We have been considering it and researching it for at least a year. Sometimes when things like this or maybe the foster care thing show up on the blog you may read it and think we make impulse decisions. We really don't, we just don't put it out there for everyone to weigh in on. We talk about it, think about it, talk some more and eventually make a decision. So, we have a dog. She's sweet, cute and the kids are crazy about her. So far all is well for us...not so sure about Tinka. She just can't find a good hiding spot. They always find her!! Poor girl needs a break sometimes.
Jake was actually in on the secret and went with me to pick her up from her former home. He really likes her too! He was quite disappointed that Tink was a gift for Cara...although she is all of ours, if it weren't for Cara's relentless pleas for a puppy we wouldn't have gotten one so we thought she should get to open the present.
Like I said, the poor little puppy is being hugged and loved on so much I think she might not be too sure about life around here, but overall, I think she likes all the attention. Cara was beyond happy, excited and grateful for this gift. She has thanked us over and over for her puppy.
In other news, we sold our house!! All I can say about that is Praise the Lord! We are making next to nothing on it or actually, maybe nothing, but we need more space so we will just be thankful that we have a buyer and we are not taking a loss. I cried a couple times about leaving this little house full of wonderful memories, but today when all the kids were home all day long I was quickly reminded that moving on is a good thing. We had a contract on a house and the inspection showed mold so we are getting out of it. Unfortunately, more money was lost on that, but I am still trying to be optimistic and thankful that at least we could get out of it and find out before moving in about this as it would be very bad for all of our allergies. So, Wednesday we are looking at a house and HOPING it will be our new home! We are actually taking a contract with us and will make an offer on it if all goes well. Please pray with us that it does. We may even be able to lease it during the time between our closing here and the time it takes for everything to go through on that house. That would be great to not have to move twice. This house has had no pets in it for a long time, has wood floors in the bedrooms (both big issues for us) and we think there is a lot of living space and 3 toilets - - whoo hoo!! Do you all know how hard it is to only have one toilet for 5 people?? I know that people do it all the time and it can work, but my kids all seem to have to go at the same time and it is going to be really nice to have some options :).
So, PRAYING that this might work out so we can get settled. We feel very unsettled. Half of our stuff has been packed up for a long, long time. So long, I can't even remember what, but a lot of my kitchen stuff and decorations. I have really missed decorating, but haven't wanted to spend money so I am excited to start fresh and get a house in order.
And finally, for this lengthy update, we are excited that we are officially licensed to foster. We are waiting for our call to pick someone up. They had a little one a week ago but he was close to Abby's age and they are hoping to place an infant in our home. We are eager to see who God will bring...will keep you posted on that!
We are heading to one of our favorite places next week and will have LOTS of photos to post. Cara is excited to see Snow White and Abby can't wait to meet Sleeping Beauty or Sleeping Booty as she says! Jake is excited about the rides. He has grown so maybe he will be able to ride even more of the big rides.
Here's a cute pic I got of Abby in her new shades. She's ready for some fun in the sun!!
Hope you are enjoying this last week of 2009!
