Busy Day

It's been a busy day. I had my annual interview with my District Superintendent in Olean. I was able to go early and have a yummy lunch at the Beef & Barrel with a pastor friend in the area. The meeting went well.

It's been alternating sun and rain for the past week, so things have been growing like mad. That means I needed to mow the lawn (well. the front lawn). My neighbors all have great lawns. We bought a line trimmer, which is essential, but I think we may need an edger, too. We'll see. I know it's not a competition, but my next-door neighbor has a sweet lawn. Ah well...

Kristen's been cleaning up and putting away the house in anticipation of a visit with our social worker tomorrow morning. The SW will look over the house and interview Kristen and me about parenting stuff. Adoption is kind of like doing your taxes, getting a mortgage, interviewing for a job and going on a blind date, all rolled up into one.

Finally, It's Official!

We went to the DMV and got our New York driver's licenses. New York takes your identity seriously, and you need to provide many ironclad proofs of identity to get a license. I had my US passport, my original Social Security card, and my Virginia driver's license. That was enough, apparently. I couldn't register my car, since I didn't know the odometer reading. I'll do that tomorrow or Friday. Fun, fun, fun!

Actually, the DMV in Hornell is pretty cute. It's in the old country courthouse building. They had us in and out in a pretty short time.

Getting Our House in Order

We got the first huge batch of paperwork out yesterday--financial data, personal histories, etc... Soon we expect the next batch to arrive, including fingerprint cards for our criminal background checks.

In the meantime, we're getting the house more organized, which included unpacking and organizing the as-yet-unpacked junk. We've decided, for example, not to unpack 100% of our (my) books. We've got some bookcases put together and we're going to fill them with a selection from out collection. We'll rotate things in and out periodically.

I just assembled a piece of IKEA furniture on which to put our huge TV (parting gift from my mother). Then I had to hook up the cable, DVD, amplifier and speakers. Whew!

The saga continues!

The Joys of Yardwork

I mowed the lawn yesterday. It's the first sizable lawn I've mowed since 1983. It was pretty cool. I hated doing it as a kid, but this time wasn't so bad. Actually, I'll bet that Kristen mowed over half of it, so I guess I should say "I mowed half the lawn yesterday." It was starting to look a bit shaggy, and we didn't want the neighbors to give us the eye!

We needed to do some trimming, so we went and bought a Craftsman weed whacker. It's gas-powered and TONS of fun! Kristen loves it, as well. We were contemplating a sensible, petite, electric trimmer, but we have a big house. If we added in the price of a 100-foot extension cord, it was close to the gas model. We have no regrets!

Adoption paperwork is taking up our time this week, plus getting the house more presentable for a home visit.

New Baby on the Horizon?

I's been too long since I've posted. Many things have been going on that are very exciting. Kristen and I are settling into Arkport nicely. It's a totally different way of life that the hustle and bustle of Northern Virginia. I've got to mow the grass today, something I haven't done since 1983!! This morning, at 6:45, it was 52 degrees! Take that, DC!!

The big news is on the adoption front. We've been approached by a woman who would like us to adopt her baby. She's a friend-of-a-friend and has heard about our difficulties. It's all very sudden and wonderful. We met her face-to-face last week and are moving ahead at full speed. The catch is that she's eight months pregnant! Normally, this process takes months and months (often over a year), but this one's going to take much less.

We're expediting the paperwork as much as possible, but some things can only be rushed so much. If the baby arrives before it's all done, we can take temporary legal custody until it is. The catch is that the baby can't leave Virginia! Kristen may need to go and live with my mom for a few weeks while things are sorted out. We'll see how it goes. It's happening crazy-fast!

With all the last-minute adoption preparations, we decided that we could not afford, time-wise, to go on the mission trip to the Navajo. That was disappointing--for us and for our friends on the team--but the decision was really a no-brainer.

So, we're filling out forms and deciding on baby names.

Internet At Last!!

We got hooked up to the Internet this afternoon, so this is my first post in about a week. We arrived in Arkport, New York, safely on Thursday evening. The truck was unloaded in about an hour by a stalwart team of volunteers. Since then, we've been going through boxes and trying to put our house in order, so to speak.

My first Sunday at Arkport UMC went well. I preached two services in the morning.
The people have been wonderful and the weather has been nice and cool (47 degrees this morning!).

More very soon!