Lifesong Adoption Funding

Several of you have asked about helping Karl and I with our adoption expenses knowing we were caught off guard by the quickness of the matching and the sheer volume of fees.  I had stated before we were working on several grants and loans.  Unfortunately we have received no funding from those applications due to either not enough funds in their accounts or others with more financial need than our own.  Yesterday we were notified that the reimbursement the military does for active duty members adopting will not be awarded because Karl is retiring before the adoption will be finalized ($4,000).  One non-profit group, Lifesong for Orphans has set up a tax-deductible account for us.  We had been hoping for the match grant, but this is better than nothing.  If you have not maxed out your Charitable Donations deductions, please consider this organization and helping us with the final stretch in being able to bring the girls home.  If you do not need the deduction but want to sent us some aid, you can send it directly to us or to Catholic Charities of Baltimore with our last name listed for where to direct the funds.

Below is the letter I typed up according to the needs of the Lifesong organization.  I changed the areas where you put in our last name to (our Last Name) because of privacy reasons on my blog.  Make sure you put our last name and not "our last name". :o)  Apparently my blog is a big hit in a couple foreign countries according to the blog traffic tracker.

I also have a letter from Lifesong to explain their non-profit group and purpose.  I can send that to you if you wish to see it, but for space and time reasons, I am not putting it here.

Dear Family and Friends,

I am writing to you today to ask for your help.  As you know, we have been seeking to increase our family through adoption.  Since God has blessed us with an abundance of love we wish to share that love with children in need of a blessed family.  The latest numbers estimate there are 153 million orphans in the world and every year millions of those children are aged out of the system.  Usually between the ages of 15-18, the children are required to leave the orphanage to attempt to live as an adult without the safety net of a family to help them get started.  As James states in the Bible, we “must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.” (James 1:27 CEV).  For some, help is in the form of adoption; others feel called to help by missionary work or donations.  We felt the call to adopt.

 

As you have been made aware, the choice to adopt is a difficult one which is then followed by much discernment into how, where, and why.  After comparing the requirements of in-country verses over-seas adoptions, we chose over-seas adoption.  We have been in close contact with other adoptive families in the area who have adopted from other countries.  Through their experiences, we chose to use Catholic Charities as our adoption agency.  We knew we had the ability to adopt a sibling group and asked at our informational meeting about those options.  We were given two country options, Ethiopia and the Philippines.  Immediately we felt drawn to the Philippines through our knowledge of the culture and how it closely matched our family.  After a year of paperwork and inspections, last July we were matched with two beautiful girls in need of a family from the Philippines.

 

Criselda is 11 years old and Christine is eight.  The girls have been with the Rehoboth Children’s Home for almost two years.  Rehoboth is an American Christian orphanage that focuses on trying to place children in adoptive homes.  Their profiles actually make them a surprising close match to our family.  Criselda has similar likes and personality to Isabella while Christine is nearly identical to Anton.  Recent Google Chats have solidified this initial impression, while creating more excitement to unite us all under one roof.

After recovering from the shock of being matched so quickly, as our social worker thought it could be years before it would happen, we got to work on the next steps to bring our girls home.  While quick fixes like rearranging bedrooms were more exciting, finding the funds to cover each set of fees has been more concerning.  We have been fortunate enough to cover all the fees as they came due over the past year.  However as it comes close to the travel time, the expenses are coming in quicker than we can save.  As it stands, we have roughly $10,000 left in program fees and travel expenses.  We are trying to not create debt but will resort to this if necessary.  Many of you have asked for ways in which you can assist our family in our journey.  Here are two ways you can help:

1.       Prayer – Please pray for our family as we continue to work through the paperwork and details to be able to bring Criselda and Christine home.  Pray for our family as we prepare to make this big change in our lives, our travel, and our adjustment period. 

2.       Financial support – Will you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $10,000 in adoption expenses we need to bring Criselda and Christine home.

If you are able and feel called to help us with this final stretch of our journey, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and February 1, 2013 to the address below.  Lifesong for Orphans is a non-profit organization that collects funds and will pay adoption expenses out of those funds received.

1.       Please make checks payable to “Lifesong”.  In the memo section of the check, write “(Our Last Name)#3182 adoption”; this is our family’s account. (*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use.  If our generous friends and family give more funds than we need to complete our adoption, the remaining funds would be distributed to other families seeking assistance for their adoptions.)

2.       Mail checks to:

Lifesong for Orphans

Att: (Our Last Name) #3182

P.O. Box 40

Gridley, IL 61744

If you wish to make a donation on-line, please note that PayPal will charge an administrative fee (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction), thus decreasing the amount being donated to our account.  However, this might be the most expedient form for some of you.

1.       Go to the website for Lifesong for Orphans: http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate/

2.       Click on the “Make a one-time donation” button under the “Donate by Credit Card” section.

3.       At the Gift Preference pull down menu, select Adoption Funding

4.       A new button will appear, Adoption Gift Preference.  Select Family Specific.

5.       A section to type in Family ID Number and Name will appear.  Our Family ID Number is “3182” and Family Name is “Our Last Name”.

We thank you for your time and prayers during this new chapter in our lives!  May God bless you as you prepare for Christmas and the New Year.

Love and Blessings,

Karl, Karissa, Anton, and Isabella

IGoogle Chatting with Our Girls!

I know it had been awhile since I spoke about the status with the girls and our adoption.  Mostly, we have been very busy with Christmas preparations, travel to KY for Thanksgiving, and more adoption paperwork.  We did have a small issue with the girls I-800 paperwork, but it has been resolved.  The girls will be getting their pre-passport paperwork soon which they need to make their appointments for their medical exams.  Once they pass their medical, then we are given the clear to make arrangements to retrieve our daughters.  Yeah!!!

The most exciting thing that has been happening with the girls is that once a week since Thanksgiving, we have been able to Google-Chat with them.  One of the directors set up an account with us and we both click on at the designated time.  It has given us time to get to know the girls more and see them interact with Anton and Isabella.

Criselda just lights up with Isabella.  Those two are like peas in a pod.  The two tend to take up most of the talk time laughing and giggling over girl stuff.  Christine is more like Anton.  She quietly takes it in but when she wants to say something or likes something we are well aware of her thoughts.  We have a bit of language problem.  We tend to talk too fast and the girls can't always find the right words they want to use.  Most of the time Pauline is at the chat times who is fluent in English and Tagalog.  We also draw a lot of pictures.

Both girls want to learn piano and horse back riding.  Christine wants the dogs to sleep with her while Criselda is not so sure about it.  In the Philippines, dogs are mostly used as guard dogs NOT pets.  She is nervous that our dogs only like us because they know us, she doesn't understand that golden retrievers are just loving happy dogs.

Christine loves legos, pink, and soccer.  She is fascinated with anything Anton shows of his legos.  When we sent a movie Anton made with his legos, she was totally glued and eyes wide with excitement.  She spends a long time drawing and quietly studying us.  It reminds me of when Anton was younger as he would spend time just watching his surroundings before jumping into the action.  But once when all four children made their hands into puppets it was fun to see them all acting like kids together.  Christine does like the dogs a lot!  She always asks where they are if they are not in the computer frame.

Criselda loves art, light blue, and cooking.  She has teased Isabella about making chicken adobo (chicken marinated in vinegar and soy sauce) with our chickens.  Isabella was very quick to point out our current chickens are egg laying pets.  Criselda was confused and wondered if we ate chicken.  I explained we go to the farmer who gives us our meat chickens.  I'm not sure she totally understood.  In a country with lots of poor, you would not consider a chicken a pet and it would be common to eat the hens after they stopped laying.  When you are poor, there is no waste.  So we know Criselda will have no problems taking care of meat chickens if we decide in the future to do this, but Bella just can't seem to bring herself to eat an animal she cares for.  I said long ago, she has the possibility of becoming a vegetarian if it wasn't for her love of bacon.  When we get off the chat time, Bella just is a ball of excitement bouncing everywhere exclaiming how she just can't wait till her sisters come home.

A couple weeks ago, the girls asked if we could come for a visit.  When we said we were going to come get them when we come, it was a realization for Criselda they would be leaving the Philippines.  Her facial expressions got sad as she was going through the thoughts of leaving the place she has come to love and feel secure.  But you could also see her struggle with wanting to come be with us also.  Our last chat, she seems to have come to terms with the changes about to happen to her and Christine.  She has started saying things like "I can't wait till you come," and telling Isabella they will be together soon.  She is very happy when she says this.  When we were getting off the chat, the girls said "I love you!"  It was a touching moment but we had to go.  I just let the thought sink in and marveled at the changes that have taken place in just about 5 weeks.  I know the adjustment period will be hard, but I am not nervous anymore.  We will all blend eventually and life will change in a very good way!

RIP Our Beloved Roo!

 

A couple days before Christmas, I noticed Thompson not crowing like normal.  Being the inexperienced chicken owner, I thought maybe it was because it was supper windy and his comb might get frostbitten.  Anton applied some Vaseline to the comb, but it was already bleeding.

 

The next day, Thompson was acting depressed but we again figured he would come around.

 

Christmas morning, Bella comes to the door with tears streaming carrying her boy's listless body screaming that he was dying.  We were just at a loss of what to do.  Karl and I spent much time searching the Internet but knowing with it being Christmas there was little we could do for our boy.  We kept him warm and gave him some Gatorade but by late afternoon he was gone.  Karl buried him in the back land and our girls are beside themselves in the coop today realizing that he didn't come back home to the coop.

 

Thompson's death has educated us on a few things we didn't know about chickens and now we are a little more prepared.  Apparently when you notice a chicken not doing well, they are already pretty sick.  I am suspecting a gape worm problem, which is a parasite that starts to clog the throat and trachea.  We didn't know we should have been giving them some organic preventative, but once infested, you have to use the chemicals.  So, I am off to Tractor Supply to pick up some de-worming medicine and we will be off the girls' eggs for about two weeks.  After that, I am going to start the preventative to hopefully not have to use chemicals again.

 

The less quick fix now is what to do about more chickens.  We know we need more and the little coop is not going to cut it.  Thus, when we can, we will build a bigger coop in the back land.  Then we need to order more chicks to start over again.  We are still keeping the girls we have, but with two more children arriving, we are going to need more eggs.  With no rooster, we will have to buy chicks!

 

But for now, we are still sad about losing our boy.  While we sometimes hated his loud crows in the early hours of summer when we still wanted to sleep, it is too quiet here on the farm without him.  Something about a crowing rooster to make you feel more in touch with the land.  Thompson was also a good roo!  He knew I was boss and would greet me with knowing his place.  A docile rooster is not always easy to come by but takes patience and attention while young.  It also helps to have a teenage who is not afraid to give the rooster a little humiliation every now and then by hanging him upside down.  Some say that is mean, but Anton did this after the one time Thompson purposely scratched him when Anton was grabbing the hens.

 

Good bye my Friend, you will be missed!

Being Prepared

Alright, I feel I need to clarify a few things about being prepared.  I do not consider myself to be a "Prepper" but I do think there have been events in my life that have caused me to at least be a bit prepared.

First, I married an Eagle Scout.  Anyone who knows anything about Boy Scouts knows the motto to "Be Prepared".  Now, this means we have a good supply of camping gear since Anton and Isabella share Karl's love for camping.  I am more of a cabin girl since I am highly allergic to spider bites.  In my house, every spider meets his maker, but outside, they serve a purpose.  So, we have varying sizes and weights of sleeping bags, backpacks, and tents.  Since Karl is an Assistant Scout Master and does not have to eat the Boys' prepared foods, we also have camp cooking supplies.  So if we had to, we could cook at a camp fire.  Frankly I like my coffee maker for speed, but the camping french press does make good coffee.

Second, Karl and I were station in Hawaii on 9/11/2001.  Anton was turning two and still in diapers.  When the news reached the island, not military, everything shut down.  We knew at 4:30 in the morning local time, so I headed to Sam's Club at 7 am to get milk and bread.  By 9 am, all stores and ports were closed.  One thing people who have not been through Hawaii on orders don't understand, EVERYTHING, including diapers, MUST GO THROUGH CUSTOMS!  I was literally on my last diaper when the stores were able to restock diapers among other things.  Yes, we can survive without diapers, but it gave me a lesson in keeping a little extra on hand, say an extra month because it was three weeks till I could buy diapers.

Third, I am a Navy Wife and lived in Hawaii.  This translates to you never know when someone will be in need of hospitality.  This could mean friends or family missing flights and need to bunk for a night all the way to a girlfriend having a really bad day and bringing dinner to them would be a big help.  I have also found comfort in knowing I could "extend" a meal I was making by adding stuff on hand to feed extra guests.  This could be throwing an extra can of beans and some peppers from the freezer into chili to stretch it or making a side of rice.  Having a few extra staples on hand is always good.  It gives busy mom's some comfort in knowing they could adjust if needed for say a play date that has turned from two hours to four as your friend begins to express her concerns about a deployed spouse or the need to get some unexpected errands completed and the children need to be kept busy.  You never know when you can be someone's angel.

Fourth, we have food allergies/intollerances.  This means I have to make a lot of our foods from scratch.  It takes different ingredients, most of which I need to mail order or go to specialty stores.  I think I make a trip to Whole Foods every 3-4 months and to the All-Natural store every 1-2 months to get those odd things to make our gluten free or dairy free foods taste close to normal.  This means I have to plan on making those purchases in that time frame.  At Whole Fooods, I have to get my base coconut milk yogurt in order to make a crock pot full of dairy free vanilla yogurt.  At some point the cultures are too depleted and I have to start with a fresh batch.  But Whole Foods is over an hour away, so it is not easy for me to just pop in when I have the need.

The last point is food prices.  Everyone can see the price of food has gone up due to the economy, drought, etc.  The economy side is not just supply and demand but also the price of oil/gas to transport foods.  The drought has effected corn crops which effects anything made with corn directly like corn meal to indirectly as animal feed.  When you are living on a strict budget as we have been doing since our arrival to this residence due to second home mortgages and now adoption expenses, I have to buy when things are on sale.  I go through a lot of canned tomatoes as I add it to various dishes all the time, so when I see the canned tomatoes are on sale for 1/2 off, I buy a little extra for when I need them later.  I have been able to stretch our food budget by being on the look out for sales on my staples.  Like the time I got a 20 lb bag of rice because it was so much cheaper due to the current sale than buying the 5 or 10 lb bag at the time.  That rice lasted us for quite some time and we eat a lot of it as it is naturally gluten free and not too costly.

You might be asking, "What about water?"  Well, when we know a hurricane is coming, we fill bath tubs for flushing toilets and fill every water bottle we have with drinking water.  I have also learned a trick from my parents who have purchased a side or whole beef for as long as I can remember.  When you have open space in your freezer as you empty it out through the year, you fill milk or OJ jugs 3/4 full of water after you clean them and put it into the freezer.  This has several advantages, you already have ice in your freezer if the power goes out, the freezer stays full and thus works more efficiently, and if needed you have drinking water when it thaws.  When I was young, my parents would toss the frozen jugs into the late summer warmed pool water to try to bring the temperature down a little.  That could be another benefit if you needed it, but we don't have a backyard pool.

What can you take from this?  Make a list of the things you use the most and would be inconvenienced by if you could not purchase them for a few weeks.  (I have known large families who stored powdered milk in Hawaii after 9/11 just for this reason; I don't, as powdered milk tastes funny and my kids won't drink it.)  This could be from something like a blizzard or power outage all the way to my wakening to a terrorist attack.  Watch for the items to go on sale and buy enough for a back up, just remember to use the older ones first.  Hey anyone can have an extra jar of peanut butter on hand especially when some of my kids favorite cookies take 1/2 a jar!  Nothing worse than promising to make your kids cookies and discovering you are out of peanut butter or chocolate chips!  Just make sure the kids don't know where the chocolate chips are or they might disappear!

Sandy's Wrath

On Friday, the forecasters and political leaders in the area were getting the word out to prepare for the worst.  First it was to be ready for 1-2 days out power outages, then it was prepare for a week.  I finished Isabella's dress for the Christening of the USS Minnesota for her outing with Karl for Friday and Saturday on Thursday night.  While sewing I was getting the streaming build up of the storm.  On Friday, after Bella's Horse Riding Lessons, Karl and her took off for Norfolk, yes the wrong direction to avoid Sandy's threats.  Anton was planning for a few friends to come over to play those board games only boys his age enjoy, I only had to provide pizza and stay out of the way.  This allowed me the time to think about what needed to be done and what it would be nice to have done before the storm would arrive.


When I was at the store to pick up the pizza from Safeway people were already going crazy with worry.  Yes, I bought pre-made bakery pizza, their Family size pizza for $9 on Fridays is just to easy!  Since I knew I was pretty safe on the food side as I had been shopping earlier in the week and as a Navy wife, I am typically always prepared for a week or two of not getting to the grocery and able to feed unexpected guests on short notice, I really seemed out of place as I calmly walked through the store to pick up a grocery bag of "extras".  The store had several empty pallets that had once held cases of water.  The milk, bread, and eggs were fighting a loosing battle to try to stock the shelves as couple were using that "trying to remain calm" but strained tension in their voices as they relayed what still needed to be collected over the bustle of others attempting the same feat.  Again, with our chickens, we are good on eggs as long as I stopped baking for awhile.  I said a prayer for the peace of those around me as I checked out and returned home.


One of my concerns for the storm was having enough gasoline for the generator.  Karl, for some reason though my concern for the gas was over kill as he was preparing to leave town for a couple days.  He gave me instructions to not fill up the generator as he thought the gas sitting in the tank would be old.  A bit confused at his comments, I did offer up that moment and proceeded to prepare the big gas container to be filled by emptying it's contents, about a gallon in a seven gallon container into other places (the smaller mower gas container, the mower, etc.)  Then I sat the now empty large container next the shed door to be filled on my next trip to town.  Well, something happened over the next 24 hours, because Karl returned home and asked me were we were on the preparations, what needed to be done, and what I really wanted to be done.  We had about 36 hours till the weather would get bad.  I expressed my concern over the generator.  Karl, ran the generator for a short while to make sure there were no problems as he went to town to fill the large tank.  When he returned he filled the generator to full and then went back out to get the back up tank full. 


We also needed to re-stake our orchard trees as the chickens in their love of digging for bugs and taking dust baths had accidentally dug up the stakes from last year.  Anton and Karl were busy taking care of this while Bella and I took care of some inside details.  The bathrooms had to be scrubbed and tubs filled with water.  This was to flush toilets if we were out of power for an extended time frame, without power to the water pump we have no water.  All laundry needed to be washed and put away.  this also meant washing towels and sheets usually done midweek, need to be done early in case of power outages.  I also was baking breads, muffins, chicken in a crock pot, etc.  The most burdensome task was making sure we had some open safe space in the basement in case we needed to seek refuge there.  I was in the middle of a huge craft sort in preparation of a new organizational plan which had taken over most of the free space in the basement.  With all of the other things on our minds, keeping it all in check had been far from the immediate thoughts.  So, with some help from Karl, we had the space cleared up and vacuumed. 

Now we could relax and just wait the storm out.  Alright I will confess that I did plead with God to spare out area citing a time when Abraham pleaded with God to not destroy a town if he could find 5 righteous people among the town.  I told God I was aware of more than five people who would fall into the category and please adjust the path from the head on collision that was being predicted.  I do believe I was not the only one to plead this cause because Sandy adjust her course about 75 miles north of us where she made her land debut.

In the end, we had a few moments of blinking light and one loss of power for about three minutes, just long enough to grope for the flashlights in the darkness.  We had some well needed family time to just be together without racing from one event or project to the next.  On Tuesday, we hesitantly made our way to town to attend Mass.  We wanted to thank God for keeping us and our neighbors safe and get a peek to how the town fared.  A few trees down and a lot of dropped leaves with over flowing creeks, but not anything compared to the pictures from just a mere 100 miles northeast of us.  I saw pictures of places we had driven through on trips when we lived in CT or MA.  I remembered what it had looked like and see the aftermath.  I pray that all our friends and neighbors are safe and their spirits remained focused as the work to recover begins.

A Grand Start for Fall!

With the arrival of October, we have to just hit the road running!  With this the big birthday month for Karl, Anton, My Dad's Birthday, and Karl's Dad's Birthday.  However, this year Anton turns 13!  Yes, we are now the parents of a teenage boy!  God Help Us!


OK, so we have a big "Big Boys Only" party planned for next weekend.  In the past we have invited families to come, but this year, Anton was specific, only the boys because it's going to be an all out war, Nerf that is!  The boys will be divided into two teams with tasks, missions, to complete against each other.  They will have 4 acres of untamed wildness for these escapades.  Parents have been advised to send changes of clothes since it has been rainy, the fields are probably muddy.  We are all gearing up for this one, it should be memorable.


So why not this past weekend?  For starters, Anton's birthday fell on Columbus Day this year, and for the past two years, the schools have held classes, thus severely limiting the available boys to attend.  Secondly, I went on retreat this year.  It was something I debated on and after Karl and I weighed out the pro's and con's, he told me to go.  It was wonderful to unplug from my normal everyday life to spend it with God; a time to center and refocus on what is important.  It was good to break from and see the bad habits I had been accumulating, like spending too much time following politics and not enough time trusting that God has the master plan.  The retreat focus was different aspects to the Charism of Mother Theresa; God first/Mission Work Second/World third, poverty, obedience, etc.  The Retreat Master gave the talks and shed new light on those topics along with deeply theological quotes from Mother not immediately noticed before.  For example, a secular reporter once told Mother he could not go into the streets of Calcutta and bathe the dying for a million dollars.  Mother's response was very serious, "I wouldn't do it for a million dollars either."  The meaning was totally lost to the reporter as he did not see that she was purely motivated by love and the ability to see Jesus within each of the people she ever encountered.  To her, the chance to serve God disguised as a humble dying man, to show this individual they are loved and wanted, to give them back their dignity as a child of God is not something one could buy with secular currency but priceless in the eyes of God.


So, on Columbus Day, and Anton's actual birthday, we did a family celebration for both of the men in the house.  Karl declared they had to get some work done first though as he was home and felt the need with the temperature dropping to start winterizing.  The vegetable garden was cleared and the chickens herded into to do bug and weed control.  Anton sawed off a long stick from a tree to make into a walking stick for Scouts.  Bella did some laundry and bouncy from each of us to help while I proceeded to a day of baking muffins and sweet breads from a gluten free/ dairy free Amish Starter I had been nursing along for the days prior.  But before I placed a single bread or muffin tray in the oven, I had to bake the boys' birthday brownies.  Cake is not Anton's favorite, but brownies are a weakness especially served with ice cream.  At lunchtime, we had guests as Aileen who rode with me to the retreat needed to pick up her phone she had left in my truck.  It was not very long, but enough time with friends to make it festive for the non-party day.  A little later I started on the steak dinners so loved by my men.  We also watched The Avengers while the meal was being prepared and the boys received phone calls from relatives with well wishes.

It was a good week!  The only downsides was Karl receiving a phone call from his parents that they would not be able to attend the Christening of the USS Minnesota in a few weeks as Karl's dad's health is very weak.  It is hard to watch Karl try to not show his thoughts and emotions through our family dinner.  I knew not to push, I have known this man for some time and there are little signs I can read that say this is not the time.  Then I woke this morning to Bella vomiting in her bathroom.  She is resting now, and she did calm her system enough to take some Tylenol.  My unofficial diagnosis, a virus from her escapades while I was on retreat with her fiends.  She has riding lessons, a long play date, a sleepover, soccer game, serve at mass, CCD, and lots of running during one of her high pollen allergy seasons.  She will probably be fine after 24 hours. 

Updates!

Well, we have been busy since I last posted.  So, I will try to just summarize!

August - We were in full swing into VBS for a whole work week.  As in the past few years, I was in charge of the music station.  This should really be called the "Scream/Sing your heart out while looking crazy as you try to motivate and teach children how to do simple choreographed routines".  As typical, I was exhausted each day and took a few days in the end to recover my aching calves and shins from the jumping for two hours each day.  Don't get me wrong, it is a lot of fun, but I do get tired.  I was also trying to get in a deep cleaning before schooling and other things took over.

Shortly after VBS, we started our schooling year.  Yes, it was a few weeks earlier than our public school counterparts, but they are not going to take a month off when new siblings arrive from another country.  I will give a later post on the specifics of our school year plan for 2012-2013.

A week later, we hosted Lian, a member of the ICAB board from the Philippines.  She stayed with us from Tuesday evening till Thursday evening.  Lian was the escort for the orphan children who were coming to the US for a one month Summer Program where they are treated similar to foreign exchange students but only for one month.  Having Lian in our home was at first scary but later such a blessing.  She got to see our family structure and how we run our home.  We all asked lots of questions and quickly found her company very easy.  She kept apologising for us playing tour guide, but I explained how it was good for us to visit these places again since the children had not seen them for a couple years and at this age, their perspective changes rapidly. We were sad to see her go but she was anxious to return home to see her family and friends.

Right after Lian's visit, it was my turn to host my Bunco group.  Bunco is a dice game to give us ladies something to do while we snack and chat about whatever. Usually I have a theme, but I was so swamped with schooling and Lian's visit, I just went simple.  I did make some traditional Filippino Foods like Calderetta (a tomato, beef, and pork stew), rice, and Bibingka (sweet rice and coconut custard like cake).  The kiddos helped me pick out snacks for the tables.  I told them to pick what they like to eat because they would be eating the left overs.

Soccer - I went to the Boy's team's draft and tried to make it as smoothly as I could.  One of the coaches and our team do not get along.  Mostly this is from years of competition, in addition to heavily different coaching styles.  The boys go from 12 to 16/18 team mates.  We had some new picks we had been dying to get, a returner we were not expecting, and some welcome surprises to add to our returning 10 players.  It will be a learning year as the boys are mostly 12 in the new age group of U14.  However, they look great and remember all their passing drills from before.  Bella's team is mostly new too and unfortunately my schedule has not enabled me to be at all her practices.

Sept. - Soccer games started and the remaining tomatoes are being harvested and processed.   Karl took Bella to Minnesota for almost a week to visit with his family.  Bella had a great time!  She got to go to the American Girl Doll store in the Mall of America twice!  Her grandparents showered her with a few gifts from the store.  She was sad she did not bring Molly, but at her luncheon the store had loaner dolls to accompany them during the meal.  She also got to go to the zoo and pet exotic animals.  Karl spent some much needed time with his family.  With our location far away, he can not be there to keep up with all the changes happening to the family as Karl's dad changes treatments for his cancer.  

CCD has begun.  Karl and I "team teach" seventh grade students who are also in their first year of the Confirmation program at our church.  This year we actually know more than 1/2 of our students as they are the same age as Anton.  So between scouts, soccer, and Altar Serving, we know quite a few of them.  Yes, Anton is in our class.  This created mixed feelings as he gets our views all the time but he really did want to be in our class.

Latin Mass - last weekend, our church held a High Latin Mass, something that has not happened for quite some time.  I was asked to sing in the choir.  I was nervous but attended the rehearsal only to find out I was the only Soprano.  Yes, since discovering my undiagnosed food allergies that had caused all my other issues, I have actually went up a full octave in my range putting steadily in the Soprano range.  With only one practice we did the best we could.  It was a special mass as it was celebrating the Victory of the Cross with a piece of the actual cross shown after mass for everyone to get a close up look.

Adoption Updates - We are waiting on baited breath for documents to arrive from the Philippines.  Since the birth certificates have not arrived yet, we are being told we might not fly out to get the girls until 2013.  So all our preparations for arrival between Thanksgiving and Christmas might be a bit early.  One of the things we have had to accept is that we do not have control over the time tables of things.  We are also dealing with a cultural difference.  In America we are "Go, Go, Go!" with lots of "Should have had it yesterday!" impulses.  In the Philippines, things are much more laid back, their saying "Wait Lang" is suppose to be similar to our American expression, "In a minute" only the "lang" is pronounced "long" and feels like that to our instantaneous culture.  So prayers for quick delivery of paperwork on both ends would be appreciated.  So it is time for us to "wait lang", time to practice those patience skills.

Derecho of June 29, 2012

I have realized I never stated the status of our storm a few weeks ago.  This storm, called a derecho, according to NOAA is likely to happen every four years.  However, everyone in our local area says they had never heard of this type of storm and other than a Hurricane, have not experienced anything like it.


This storm started in the Chicago west area and quickly ran across the states toward the Atlantic crossing through the DC area.  A derecho system is set up when a combination of extreme high heat and pressure is present and being pushed by another jet stream of slightly cooler temperatures.  The addition of the extreme high heat is what propels the storm from being a typical summer thunderstorm into a derecho.  The fast moving storm, with repeating rain clouds, and pressures can produce winds clocked to be that of hurricanes.


Our outcome was worse than that of our hurricane last year, late August 2011.  The way our house is situated around the grain fields, I can eerily hear winds coming.  The grain fields, lack of trees to slow them, creates a low ground in the 200 acres which is forced up our property line where it smacks into our house.  These winds, up to 70 m/hr, are typical in winter where they have produced huge snow drifts around our home.  The wind we received from the derecho was clocked at 79 m/hr not far from our home.  The weird thing, I heard it coming!  I was lying in bed talking to Karl as he was returning from calming the kids because we lost power just a few minutes before the storm actually hit.  Everyone was armed with their flash lights, as I was starting my calculations of how much water we had in the house.  Funny how vulnerable how one feels when they fear not enough water or are compelled to estimate how long one can go in their house with current water supplies.  Since our well pump uses electricity, water is the weak point we succumb to needing to plan for.  I have about 1 1/2 cases of water bottles in the basement to be used for power outages, soccer games, and impromptu outings/cookouts.  Back to our storm!


I told Karl I could hear it coming, even in the rural area, it is amazing how quiet it can be without electricity.  The air conditioning or fans are not providing a soft background hum typical of those hot summer days.  But this time, even the bugs and frogs were quiet, like they knew they needed to hunker down.  Why we don't keep a pulse on nature around us until it is too late is one of those deep moment thoughts one only thinks about post a weather event.  Like before a Tsunami, wild and domesticated animals sought higher ground, they knew!  Karl went over to the window.  With my eyes drifting into exhausted sleep, I murmured, "It's coming." and a pause before, "It's here."  Just a few seconds later, the house was slammed by the force of the winds.  Karl exclaimed that trees went from standing straight to a 90 degree angle. I crawled out of bed to look out the big window as Karl crossed to look out another window facing the back of the house.  I could feel the force vibrating the windows to an uncomfortable point to where I thought about how much force would be needed to break the glass.

"I think we should go to the basement," I said in my now awakened state but wishing I could just go to sleep.  Karl and I had just spent the evening cutting up about 8 chicken carcasses from our trip earlier that day from the farm.  We have to cut them up before we freeze them, dividing them into freezer bags and filling the space with home made marinades, a trick I learned from Rachel Ray to marinade items while they thaw at a later date.  It takes us about 2 1/2 hours from start to bleaching down the kitchen clean up.  When you don't start until 8:30, it becomes a long night.  I even through some of the carcases in a crock pot to make stock overnight.  It was not until an hour later that I remembered this and transferred the carcasses to a large stock pot with extra water on the gas stove top on lower setting. 

"I think we are OK," Karl responds, "It's not that bad yet."  Just as those words were leaving his lips, another strong gust came up and smacked the house again; only this time, it knock a piece of siding off and it smacked the window that Karl was standing looking through.  Karl jumped back from the window and quickly changed into his Navy Officer self ordering us to the basement.  The kids just happened to be moving towards our bedroom when the order to retreat came.  Armed with a few pillows, flashlights, and a couple blankets, we scurried down the two flights of stairs.  Bella asked about the dogs to which Karl said in his controlled but not harsh officer voice to leave them in their kennels, they are on the main floor of the house.


In the basement, I started picking through the camping gear to find the large LED lantern, and a couple sleeping bags to place on the concrete floor.  The floor, much cooler than the house, had an uncomfortable coldness at the moment.  Interestingly how one's mind can drift to thoughts of how I wished I had a safe room with comfortable sofas in the basement for just such occasions.  I only think of it when we are there for tornado warnings or in the present state of a really forceful storm.  Karl and Anton would try to peek through the thick blanket of darkness to see what is happened outside in front of the basement sliding doors.  I think this is one of those curiosity cat moments and asked Karl if they might be safer to come away from the windows. 


When the brunt of the storm, typically the first 30 minutes of a storm front where the pressures and winds are most volatile, starts to even out, I too joined them in trying to peer into the darkness.  One can quickly learn the just so angle of a LED flashlight against the window so as not to produce a reflection.  Since I am one of those see the whole picture then the details kind of person, I noticed something was not right in a sweep of the light beam through the back area.  "Where is the trampoline?" I said softly mostly to Karl but little ears were pricked up and soon everyone was trying to search through the blackness.  It became a quest.  First Karl, then Anton ventured to the main floor to see if they could spot anything.  Karl was more concerned about the solar panels, but the missing trampoline gave him a concerned thought of the trampoline smashing a few solar reflectors.  This baby has not been paid off yet, so it would be heart breaking to loose one or more.  Apparently this concern grew to the point where Karl went outside to check the panels.  Anton followed to the covered porch, just to check on the chickens.


"The solar panels are fine, but no sign of the trampoline," Karl reported when he returned to the safety of the house.  "I can't see much out there, so we are going to have to wait till it is calmer or morning to see how bad things are from the storm."  We thought of playing cards, but soon the exhaustion kicked back into our bodies as the adrenaline was wearing off.  Karl and Isabella were laying on camping pads, but I couldn't get comfortable.  So I went to the main floor and laid on the couch.  That was when I remembered about the chicken.  Then one of the smoke alarms had to beep to let me know it was on battery power not hard wire.  By the time I tracked down this offending smoke alarm, I decided to try to venture out to assess the damage.

What I found:
Missing trampoline and not trace of it.
One apple tree broken at the ground level.
Three pieces of siding off of the back of the house.
Lots of my perennials laying on the ground.
Branches strewn around, but mostly on the neighbor's yard.
Some broken branches on fruit trees and lots of fallen apples the chicken will love on the ground.
One outdoor lamp on the garage wall twisted upside down.

I was still trying to find the trampoline and was searching in the flashes of bright lightening, but there was little rain at this point.  Then a loud clap of thunder, so loud it shook the ground, told me to get back into the house.


In the morning, while Karl was reverse wiring a set up for the generator to power some of our house, including the water pump but not the A/C, I started to make coffee in the French press.  Karl needed a hand, so told me to wait just a few more minutes and he would have given us power to run the coffee maker. 


I contacted one of our friends who have a pool to see if we could come over to keep cool, the temp was expected to be over 100 and I figured our pool would be closed due to power outages.  She said to come over and bring a chain saw because they had a large tree down across their driveway.  As we were getting ready to leave, Anton found the trampoline.  He made a video of tracking it, Karl jokingly calls it The Blair Trampoline Project.  (Once I get the video off the camera, I will upload it to the blog.)

Needless to say, it is not salvageable.  Karl says it was an Act of God that the trampoline missed the garden.  Honestly I can say, we had more damage from this derecho than from last years hurricane.  I was also more prepared for the hurricane because of the advanced notice.  I had had the tubs filled with water for the hurricane before the power was off, lessening that water issue.  Our power came back on Saturday night.  Karl was worried because he was leaving with Anton for Scout Camp on Sunday afternoon and would be gone for a week.  He left me detailed instructions on how to set up the generator to power the water pump and then disconnect it when I needed to in specific steps.  We lost power three other times that week but it was not long enough that I wanted to pull out the generator and do the set up.  It was only out for 1-6 hours, the longer time being overnight.


OK the burning question about why no power with the solar panels.  We are not "off grid", in other words, we have not installed the power cell batteries in order to store our solar power.  When we are generating power, it first gets used immediately by the house and the rest is sent back up the line to the power company, the meter running backwards.  Without the battery storage system, we need power to run the converter to change power from DC/AC or AC/DC, I am not sure at the moment which way it works as this is Karl's baby being the Electrical Engineer.  I just smile and nod my head at the right times when he gets all excited about the inner workings of the system.  He gets a better response from Anton and his Home Schooled friends who wanted to have a field trip to our house to learn about solar energy.  Hey we all have our strengths, I can tell the slight differences between 40 shades of pink and dissect Shakespeare into common English.

Update to Ordinary Hero!!!

I am not sure how I missed this, but instead of purchasing t-shirts, bags or frames, you can also make donations to help missions going to Ethiopia that is tax deductible and we get credit added to our account just as if you purchased an item from the regular store as long as you note Karl (with last name).  This is detailed here, http://www.ordinaryhero.org/Ordinary_Hero/Donate.html.


If you decide you really feel called to help children in Ethiopia, and do not need a t-shirt, bags, frames, etc., you can purchase backpacks, sheep, shoes, education, and even a blanket.  I didn't know that in the "rainy season" it drops to 50 degrees, so the blankets keep them from freezing on those cold wet nights.  Here is the link for that portion of the store: http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/Donations-For-Children-In-Need-c15/


Also, if we are high sellers in a given time period, Karl and I can be awarded a $500-1,000 grant in addition to our earned fundraising fees.

If there are people who want to give a tax deductible donation to our adoption, we are working through an application to a company that sets up match grants.  We have not completed it yet, but I wanted to state this because it has been brought up to me already.  The reason why going through a non-profit to donate is to give you a tax credit and then the company send the payment directly to our agency, so we do not have to claim the donation as income for taxes.  Working with a company that will award us with a match grant doubles our donations!  When/if this becomes available, I will let you know.

Matugunan ang aming mga batang babae! (Meet our girls!)

I have been a little reluctant to post specifics about the girls on the blog because they are not officially ours yet, but according to our Social Worker, they are ours.  We are waiting for the official documents to come from the Philippines, expected within the next two weeks, for us to sign and pay the matching and visa fees.  It is then that we get to send letters and books to the girls. 

After this set of paperwork gets back to the Philippines, then we are sent the documents needs to finish Homeland Security pre-Visas.  Then those documents are sent back to our contact in Philippines to begin the girls exit Visas and medical to be cleared for American Visas and passports.  Once this is cleared, we are given the travel date and must travel within 60 days to get the girls and return to the US.  While in PI, we will be there for about 7-8 days, but it takes 24 hours in flights to go to Manila and another 24 to return. 

Chriselda, we are trying to get confirmation on the spelling of her name as we have seen it spelled 5 different ways.  Chriselda is very close to Bella's age, loves to make cards to show her love and gratitude toward others, and likes to help her house mom (the ladies in charge of each of the orphan houses at this particular orphanage) with her tasks in caring for the younger children and meals.  She is progressing in her studies and starting to help other with their studies, however math is not her strongest subject.  Chriselda can read and write on an elementary level in both English and Tagalog.

Christine, called Christy, is currently 7, loves to build with Legos, prefers to be outside swimming, riding a bike, climbing, and (this cracked me up that the report found it important to mention) prefers to wear shorts.  Well, if she is an active little girl who likes to explore, I would think shorts is more comfortable than a dress when on the climbing equipment where she is most happy.  She excels in her math studies, probably due to the Legos, but also likes to draw.  She is in the first grade program at the orphanage (like a home school program).

These are our girls!  They will find out in a couple weeks they are spoken for and we are working to bring them home before Christmas.  The American Director of the orphanage already knows as she has been in contact with our Social Worker.  Oh, the girls are in an American Christian run orphanage about two hours north of Manila.  I guess I will need to bring some motion sickness bands for the girls because everyone seems to remark about how motion sick Filipino children get in cars, not just our family friends but those in the adoption classes who hosted for the Summer Program.   

Are you an Ordinary Hero?

As you can probably guess, things have been very busy around here.  I apologise to everyone if they have found me a bit scattered brained for the past couple weeks.  First it was getting the call from our Social Worker and having to wait for Karl to return from Boy Scout camp with Anton.  Then it was the "Are these the right ones for our family?" debate.  Well, that debate didn't take too long, a couple days, but a heart wrenching couple of days.  We talked with our priest who was very encouraging who quickly went over to Anton to tell him being the brother of three sisters is not all that bad (he is the only boy with three sisters). Anton and Isabella had decided long before Karl and I made the call to our Social Worker to say yes.  Then came the flood of "Oh MY!  We've got a lot to do!" and followed by "We were not expecting this at this moment!"

For the past five days, I have been busy working on fundraising efforts.  One of my adoptive mom friends just keeps saying, "God wants you to have these girls because it is just happening so fast.  It will all come together."  So, yes God will provide, but I have to set it up for it to happen.  Karl and I have been working on applications for grants and adoption loans.  I also set up the Amazon button.  Thank you to all who have made purchases already and due to the traffic through the button, Amazon is awarding me another percentage point!

Today I have opened another avenue for funds through Ordinary Hero.  This was a place recommended (and reminded of a few days later, Thank you Kristen!) to set up an account.  This web store's purpose is to provide funds for adoptions and mission trips.  It is heavily weighted for Ethiopia, because they sponsor mission trips there.  There is a nice video from a teen age girl who went on a trip last year.  I have my eye on a few things and one is this picture frame. 



It reads "For this child I prayed...And the Lord granted me that which I asked of Him."
1Samuel 1:27

I love this frame!  It has so much meaning for me and all my children.  As most of you know it took us some time before we had Anton, so it doesn't just fit people adopting.  If you like it, you can get it at their store and some other things like t-shirts.  They have a couple of mottoes, "Ordinary Hero", "I'm Gonna Change The World", and mom shirts that read "Change the World for One Ordinary Hero".  If you go to their website and order anything, when you go to check out, you will have an option of picking an "affiliate".  Use the drop down bar and click on Karl's name (with last name too! but I will not list that on the blog as I have people reading this from Japan - OK they were reading about the pine wood derby cars.)  If you do this, Ordinary Hero will send 40% of the total purchases to our adoption agency to cover pending costs!

http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/

Adoption!

Well, I have been silent for awhile due to changes and activities going on around here.  Some of you have known but now the rest will hear of our changes in our family.  Karl and I decided to look into adoption about two years ago.  It is something that has been in the back of our minds for quite some time.  We know many successes and failures through family and friends.  We prayed about it and talked with clergy to help us discern this big step in our lives.  We came to the first stipulation, we could no longer proceed until our house in CT was sold.  With Karl traveling for work and this uncertainty of when things would need to be taken care of there or if unplanned trips and expenses would happen.  So this would be our first road block that God would help us to lift.

After the house was sold, we began looking into how we would adopt.  The kiddos busted us scouring over pictures of children we were privy to via free sites on the web, both domestic and international.  Due to money issues, we were first looking into domestic, i.e. within the US. We began weeding through all the red tape and information in order to educate us on our options.  At this same time, one of our close family friends began their adoption classes with Catholic Charities in Baltimore after having problems with a local program through a Protestant Church that would not help Catholics.  Anton also had a new boy on his soccer team who was recently adopted from Ethiopia, this was the third adoption for their family.  We felt God was leading us toward not domestic adoption as we were getting discouraged by our findings in domestic adoptions and seeing two families within our church who were having success with international.

Why not domestic?  This is what most everyone asks us when we inform them of our choice, so I will try to summarize our long answer.  First, we did not want an infant.  Second, we have not been located in one state for a specific amount of years, it varies by each state.  Yes there is a waiver for military families for this particular regulation but it only opened up the borders, i.e. most agencies only allow people in either their city or state to accept their children.  We did not want to go the foster route.  By fostering children we then open up our family to constant intrusion by every social worker within 100 miles to decide if we are a good family.  Yes, most of you will say we are a good family, but it means our home schooling, family activities, social networks, religion, travel, sanitary/cleanliness, etc. would be under exam without notice every day we would be in the foster program; no two reviews would have the same standards either!  We also do not relish the idea of opening our home and hearts to a child(ren) only to have them yanked away at anytime the courts deem acceptable.  Some people are called to this and we pray for them, but it is not something we could do.  Why did I mention fostering, well it opens up the options of getting a non-special needs child that we could take within our home.  The children listed in the system not in the foster first system tended to have at least one if not more of the following requirements:
a.) Wheel chair Accessible/ Few if any stairs (Our house is three stories and all bedrooms are on the top floor.)
b.) Must be the only child (No need to explain).
c.) No pets (See b)
d.) Must be the youngest and the child listed is 12 or older (Isabella is 10)
e.) Must remain in contact with family and within the state (these would be in Florida, Texas, Iowa, Georgia, Michigan, California, etc.)

Some people are called to adopt these children and they are truly amazing people, but it is humbling to admit you are not given that much grace to deal with all those requirements.  We accepted that adding adopted children to our family would create change, but it does not have to change us completely.  We can not go from a horse back riding, scout camping, soccer playing, gardening, active church family who home schools to weekly therapy, doctor appointments, school assessment reviews, IEP's, no sports or outdoor adventure type of family.  It would be too much change for our family and destroy who we had become.  Gone are the days of Annie when the US had true orphans.  The domestic adoption system is mostly filled with abused or abusive, severely handicapped, temporarily removed from parents or family members who want to have them around but not actually raise the children.  Movies like Annie and Stuart Little are set within the depression era for a reason, that was when orphanages did exist.  Now the children are placed in foster homes or temporary shelters (used between foster homes or courts).

Yes, there are a few that do not fall within the above description.  I would see them pop onto the system only to be gone before the week ended.  So yes, we could have went through the domestic system, but we just did not feel we were capable to deal with this type of adoption.

On to International adoption!  Yes, it does have its issues also, but not the same as domestic.  In the International system, you truly have orphans or children who have been abandoned so they can be given food, shelter, and schooling.  People in our country do not comprehend the idea of either having enough money for school or you do not go.  Our country has the highest literacy rate due to public schooling, even with all the bad reports out there on test scores and international rating.  One of the things we learned in our adoption classes was to expect all children adopted from over seas to be at least two years behind their age group for US schooling standards.  You hear that in class but then you read it in reviews of children and it really hits you.  The world is filled with people who do not know how to read or write, not just on an elementary level but really do not know letters.  This is shocking to a country that the majority of people know letters and numbers even if not at a higher level.  OK, I digressed here!  I will get back to our journey!

We went to Catholic Charities and began the mountain of paperwork and inspections to be deemed passing by first the Agency, which amounts to the state as they have state inspectors do the inspecting.  We spent months cleaning, organizing, and preparing for inspections.  All floors must be baby proofed, something I had not worried about for quite some time, but since we were open to age two and up, we had to be deemed prepared.  We still hate the child safety locks on the doors, cabinets, and stove knobs, but it does give us a greater peace when our friends come over with their young children.  Once we passed the Home Study, which was the agency and state approval, it was on to the National.  This meant Immigration and Home Land Security.  This did not require anymore inspections but more money, paper work, and finger printing to verify we were who we said we were and no criminal records.  Once this and our photo books were completed, photo books are visuals for the Foreign Adoption Board and also one for the child(ren) who we would be matched with., it was sent to our country of choice.  We chose Philippines.  Basically, when we went to our first meeting at Catholic Charities, we told them we were open to siblings.  They responded quickly with Ethiopia or Philippines.  Since we already have very close family friends who are Filipino, have Polynesian Background from living in Hawaii for two tours on submarines, already make the food, and the country is 85% Catholic, we thought it would be the easiest to incorporate into our family.

So ICAB, Inter-Country Adoption Board, received our dossier (the packet of specified paper work, photo books, etc.) via the Catholic Charities' contact person in the Philippines.  They reviewed the material, and asked for a couple more things.  Those items were created and faxed over.  We were approved on June 9 to be put on their list.  Thus would begin the waiting game.  Our social worker who was assigned to us from Catholic Charities told us it could take up to three years to be matched.  So we started to move on and begin saving for the next chunk of expenses we would be facing.  We were fortunate enough to not have to borrow any money to cover the expenses in the beginning, there seems to be a large chunk in the beginning, then a waiting time till matched when the expenses for retrieving the child(ren) would start mounting.

OK, let me explain the expenses myth.  No we are not purchasing or buying a child(ren).  The expenses in the beginning was to cover our social worker/agency fees(this is a non-profit agency but they still have running expenses), state inspections (the state collects money to pay those salaries and to produce paper work), background checks (more paper work), copies of birth/marriage certificates, immigration/finger printing fees, photo book printing, the Filipino contact's fees (a portion of her salary as an employee of Catholic Charities), and filling fees to ICAB (another state run program that requires fees).  Some of these fees were as needed; state inspections, different states for back ground checks, etc.  Some were in one lump sum, Social worker/ Agency Fees, Filipino contact, and filling fees with ICAB.

Our next set of fees are to place the children with us and go get them.  This means health inspections, visas, transportation related to these agencies for the Filipino contact and our children, a good will donation to the orphanage that has been raising the children (helps to cover food, clothing, supplies, and salaries to run the orphanage), travel expenses, country travel fees, legal fees to temporarily place Catholic Charities as legal guardian (The children must be in the states for 6 months before we can legally adopt them in court as per the Hague agreement with the US and Philippines.  The children will be in our home with inspections at one month, three months and then six months to make sure we are blending.), etc.  So we figured we had time to save up for these expenses.

Imagine our shock when our Social Worker called last week to say we have a match.  We were being offered two children to see if we thought they would be a match for us.  One of the children is close to Isabella's age, loves card making/art, sweet, ready to help take care of the house chores and smaller children.  The second is seven, loves adventure, climbing, and playing Lego's.  Both are in excellent health with no known medical/psychological problems.  The younger needs some dental work and when the older is frustrated she might talk back (err sounds normal for a pre-teen).  Both are girls who were abandoned to the orphanage because their family could not take care of them.  They are looking for a family to love them, and take care of them.  They want stability.  In the orphanage they have been given enough food, clothing, and shelter along with some schooling.  They are in an American Christian Orphanage where they are taught in both Tagalog and English.  Tagalog is the base language (like how the Amish all speak Penn Dutch) but then learn English for all legal and business transactions.  Both girls can speak both and can write some in both.  They have been in the orphanage for less than two years.

Karl and I are looking at our finances very carefully.  We know we are getting ready to have to find some large sums of money fast and minimizing the amount we borrow or charge.  We have some options.  One thing you will notice is the button on the side bar of my blog for Amazon.  I am asking you to click on the button to link you into Amazon when you are making purchases.  If you do this, then Amazon will pay us a portion of the transaction as Advertising fees.  This will allow us to come up with some money to off set the expenses with no real effort on your part other than clicking the button BEFORE you shop.  You must complete your transaction through the link in order for us to get credit for it.  I know I shop a lot through Amazon, so I was hoping you could help us by clicking before you purchase what you were already planning to purchase.  Thank you for your trouble.  We hope to bring the girls home before Christmas, but it all depends on the finances!  If we are able to do this, then we will be able to legally adopt them in Mid to late Spring!

So get your Back to School, Birthday and Christams Shopping started!  Just a friendly push for a good cause!

Our Solar Installation Journey - Day 2

Day 2 - Off to an earlier start. First workers were on site at 7:15, ready to start plumbing in the solar hot water heater. Than came the roofing crew to install the solar hot water heater panels on the roof.

Here is the new solar hot water heater.  It is a 115 gallon tank that heats water using an internal heat exchanger (which contains the fluid heated by the solar array).  Behind it is our existing 80 gallon tank, which will remain, and continue to store hot water (just not heated by electrical once I cut off the power!)

 Yeah - still no concrete in the holes!

The 2 components on the right are new.  The DC power goes in on the right, comes back out on the left into that small box (an AC disconnect accessible from outside if needed by the electric company to isolate the array from the power lines).  The meter will be replaced by a digital "net meter" that will "run backwards" if I generate more power than I use.

 Here is the solar hot water array frame.

With arrays installed. 

And finished.  Looks good!

 Here is the solar hot water heater.  There is a bit of plumbing needed to tie in the new tank to my existing tank (on the right).  The black box on the front will be covered, and houses the pump, gages, reliefs, etc.

 Here is the underside of the solar hot water array.  The green bar is what ties the array to the rafters.  The black pipe is a flexible hose carrying a solution that won't freeze in the winter in the array.  It carries the heat from the array into the heat exchanger in the hot water heater.

 Access for the hose in the 2nd floor.  This was the only area where finished house had to be cut into.

Here is the heart of the PV system.  This is a 5000kW inverter that electronically transforms DC to AC and parallels it with the line power from the electric company.  It just ties into the breaker box as another breaker, but this one is supplying power!

Our Solar Installation Journey - Day 1

Day 1 started early.  The first trucks started to arrive at 7:30.  I took days off to supervise the work.  Good think, as there are always questions and issues that come up.

First came the lay out of the site.  Orientation is critical, as you want to maximize solar exposure.  Most people have seen the solar panels on the roof.  Well our house is facing almost exactly the WRONG direction.  But that goodness we have lots of open space, so AtisSun recommended a ground mounted system (another thing that Solar City did not offer).  So we get perfect orientation and no shading.  That means same power, smaller array, less cost!

 Then the post holes were dug for the ground mount frames.  The PV array will follow the lay of the land, which turned out to be a little bit of a hassle in the end with alignment of the mounting rails.

In the foreground is the trench for the electrical cable.  Their primary (machine) trencher was broke, so the backup (electrician) went to work.

Finally the mounting struts were built, braced and waiting to have concrete poured into the holes.  And they waited and waited.  There was an issue with the scheduling of the inspector, so no inspector until Day 2.  Huge delay for this part of the work. The electrician did some work inside, but that was about all that got done.

Our Solar Installation Journey - Getting Started

This is Karl.  I have hi-jacked Karissa's blog. Don't tell her...

For a few years Karissa and I have been thinking and about solar power installations, trying to weigh pros and cons, and finances (it has big up-front cost).  Well, we stopped thinking.  Consider this my really big Christmas present (I started getting quotes while home for Christmas and New Year's break).

I thought I would jot down some thoughts, and share some of our experience with our solar installation, in case any of  you that read Karissa's blog may be interested.  So here we go.

First, I did get 2 quotes.  One from Solar City and one from AtisSun.  Solar City are the "big guys" and AtisSun is a local solar company in Annapolis, MD.  I chose AtisSun for 2 reasons:
1) Business model - Solar City started in the solar lease model.  They still seem focused on that.  Zero risk to the customer, but not sure where the gain was either.  AtisSun installs systems, and helped with financing, setting up SRECs, net metering, and applying for state grants.  But after their 1 year warranty, it is all mine (there are very good OEM warranties as well).
2) Solar Hot Water - Solar City only does Photovoltaic Cells (PV).  I think their business model is to get you to lease your roof to them, they pay a small part of your electric bill (surprisingly small if you put nothing down) and they keep the SRECs (more on these later).  AtisSun installed a combined package of PV cells and a solar hot water heater.  That was the deal maker for me.

What is the big deal with solar hot water? About 25% of your home electric bill (if you use electric hot water) is the hot water heater.  And solar hot water is over 70% efficient (PV cells are less than 20%).  So why would you install PV cells at 20% eff to heat water, when you could do it at 70%?

Next Post - Day 1