The Wall Bloggers

As a brief update on the last blog post, I did have my MRI of my back completed last Friday.  And today, after a great time laughing with my mother-in-law while trying to perform a series of back stretches, her friend (who taught her the stretches) called right as we finished.  The friend is a physical therapist and had some advice for me about dealing with the MRI and doctors and so forth.  At her suggestion, I called up the medical center, and discovered that there was a report ready for my MRI.  My mother-in-law kindly drove me to pick it up, while my father-in-law sweetly picked up Abel from preschool. And then I got to see the results... the reason my back has hurt for four months and I have not been able to sit for all this time!  I have a bulging disc.  Whew.  All that speculation that the medical professionals have been throwing around for a few months is true.  And apparently the MRI just shows a small bulge.  Small or not, I feel...

I've had it on my to-do list for more than a couple of weeks now: updating the blog.  But somehow, between everything else going on, I have not gotten to it.  And then the more behind I get on updating it, the more there is to update, and then it seems like a bigger project, and so on and so forth.  I'm sure you all can relate to whatever project keeps ending up on your to-do list again and again.  So I figured if I just started typing, I may not get all caught up, but at least I'd be started. :) We've been getting our paperwork into all the right places to continue with our Ugandan adoption.  We also planned three different fundraisers in the month of September (crazy, right?!). And I've been pursuing every avenue I can to get help with my back, so that I can sit again, and not be in constant pain.  I'm getting desperate for some help, since I start teaching full-time (for three months) next Wednesday.  The teaching I have done once a week so far...

Beginning about a year ago, Scott and I realized that we needed to pray about adopting again.      The idea percolated when we asked Adrianna what she wanted for her birthday, and Adrianna said, "For you to adopt a new brother or sister for me?"  Scott and I just kind of looked at each other and smiled.  When we were alone later, we started toying with the thought.  Did we want to adopt again?  Were we called to adopt again? The idea started following me around.  And then I had a beautiful morning with God one Sunday, when Scott took the kids to church early, and I got to sit quietly with God and a cup of tea at our dining room table.  I did my Bible reading and prayer journaling, and asked God for His direction about our possible adoption.  I could not shake the feeling that I needed to read the Psalms before I finished my time with Him.  There I was, journaling, "God, do you want us to adopt again?  Is this idea even from ...

Our summer vacation is quickly fading away, with less than one week before school starts again.  Scott and I were blessed with a weekend get-away to Phoenix (a cheap timeshare deal makes even 113 degrees appealing!) to celebrate our eleventh anniversary. Here are the photos from the last couple of weeks... - Abel: "It's MY hat?" - Delicious raw oat-peanut butter-bites ... And Abel jamming one in his mouth and asking for more on his first crunch - Adrianna asking for more face painting  - Reading to Adrianna and her working on crafts while we waited for Abel's swim class - Apple cider slush at Farmer's Market  - Giving the kids the faulty pizza crust, and them loving it  - Abel giving our Bible study a hat parade show  - Adrianna and Abel playing with the miniature tea set - Adrianna and Abel breaking into spontaneous dancing  - Fun times in the garage - Jack hitching up a "trailer" for his bike: "Ab...