looking, watching, waiting...

The past few months have been quite a ride...
As many know I finished my prerequisites at Columbus State for Nursing School. I applied to Mount Carmel College of Nursing and did not get in. It was very discouraging to me, but Kerri and I resolved to keep our head up and find "plan G". So I decided to heavily seek full time employment and found some good leads and apply to other programs. I had to choose between two very good jobs and chose to work with Franklin County MRDD. After a months worth of tests, interviews, and waiting, I got a call letting me know that they would not be able to hire me after all. My driving record was uninsurable. 8 points. I felt like a felon. Pretty devastated about the time that I wasted, I tried to make the best of what I had: a small income doing some painting on the side. That business is growing slowly and I really enjoy the work... but that's not the whole story.

If your still reading, I will continue with something that Kerri and I decided to move forward with. It was a crazy notion that God may be prompting us to adopt internationally. wow... I thought we were doing our part by raising three wonderful children already, I thought we were already in WAY over our head. Yet with no idea of how we will ever be able to navigate this (financially, yes, but more so Mentally!) we move forward in what we feel like is obedience.

Well we are finding out that adopting children from another country requires a lot of our available everything. We have begun some new things... such as new spending habits and financial disciplines... we have been developing new systems and daily rhythms in our home to help make this transition healthier and smoother for everyone involved (all 8 of us!)... we have been selling posessions we thought we could never do without... we were required to buy a life insurance policy, something I never thought I would own... we have been rolling coins, writing thank you letters, and filling out loads of paperwork.

Whatever spare time I have left, I have been looking for a job with benefits. The insurance we carry now is Christian Care Medishare. It is good for our ethics, but it is going to make our adoption much more complicated. The coverage they offer for adopted children with health complications is limited, and all children adopted from Liberia have at least minor health complications of some kind.

I you are STILL reading, think for a moment about what contacts you might have in your workplace. A referral could really speed up this job search and get us health coverage sooner! (oh, but don't forget, I am fairly restricted because of my driving record...AHHHHH!)