Where We've Been...

School is out!  Yesterday we said goodbye to another class of Asbury students.  It hardly seems real that the year which started just hours after bringing Reni home from Albania wrapped up yesterday afternoon.

I know the blog has been uber quiet this past month.  As you have probably surmised, life has been quite full -- and sadly, I've been so busy living life, I haven't had time to stop and document it or else forfeit precious hours of sleep (which are already too few)!

Here goes a quick recap of the last couple of weeks since Easter in Ohio (or otherwise known as, "Cydil's list of excuses"):

1.) We wrapped up a series of classes we have taken at church to be part of lay ministry (including prayer, serving communion, and becoming eligible for more leadership responsibilities).  We love our church and appreciate the opportunity to deepen our involvement and service to our brothers and sisters there.

2.) We have also have been playing the role of host & hostess a LOT!  First up was an end-of-the-year lunch with campus ministry colleagues.  We said goodbye to the Colemans who have been leading the OMS Center these past five years and enjoyed some reflection with others who share the same love and concern for our Asbury student friends.  We used the excuse of three dinners in 10 days to buy some pretty potted bulbs to set out centerpieces.

3.) A few days later we hosted an appreciation dinner for our graduating seniors who have served on our student leadership cabinet.  Our traditional gift is a personalized calendar with collages of photos from the past four years for each month (thank you www.shutterfly.com for this quick and easy gift!).  These are a lot of fun to create and seem to be well-liked (I've even gotten photos of them hanging on walls of new apartments)!  Nathan helped one of our musicians write a parody tribute song (to a popular Billy Joel tune).  We ended the night with a few tears and special prayer time.  After 12 years in this position, saying "goodbye" doesn't get any easier but we have also found it so rewarding to stay in touch and see what their years in college prepare them for as they transition to full-time adulthood.

4.) We got a request for further documentation from the I*R*S regarding Reni's adoption tax credit.  Have any of you recent adoptive parent friends NOT received this lovely letter?  Thankfully I kept decent records, but creating a report, ordering, cross-referencing, collating and copying 36 pages of receipts was nothing I had allotted time for.  Adding stress to the matter was the fact that we received TWO copies of this letter, causing us to question if they were wanting receipts from Ellie's 2006 adoption (from which we still had a small balance remaining from her tax credit).  45 minutes of waiting-on-hold-later we discovered that no, the 2nd copy was just for our records.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot of time, but in our day, 45 minutes is precious!  The silver lining to this situation was that a typo on our tax return resulted in a nearly $600 error -- which was caught because the gov't was holding our refund until we provided the receipts for our adoption expenses.

5.)  We got the bills for Reni's ear tube surgery.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Friends, ASK your doctor BEFORE you go in how much a procedure is going to cost. Even if you have insurance.  As a steward of your resources, ask.  I have always believed that if everyone knew the true costs of medicine, our health care decisions would be quite different, and this experience only verified it. But this again resulted in lots of phone calls and emotional energy expended. Moving on.

6.) During Finals Week (last week) we had a fun family night one evening eating at Chick-Fil-A as part of a fundraiser for the Uganda Team.  We also hosted study break/movie nights Monday thru Wednesdays evenings as another excuse to squeeze in some more time with our student friends. Yes -- our job has some great perks.

7.) I also started shooting patient portraits for the Wall of Fame promotion for A Caring Touch Pediatrics (the practice which takes care of Ellie and Reni).  The top photo of Ellie and Reni will be hung in the office. I have five more nights of shoots (about 20 more families) in the next 8 days which will keep me b-u-s-y!  Thankfully I have three different college girls which are working for me off and on to assist in post-production to get these sessions culled, edited, and posted before the end of the month. Yes -- as one thing winds down (campus ministry), I'm ramping up big time in something else!

8.) The washer and dryer haven't stopped running to keep up with the volumes of sheets and towels from the two guestrooms in the center which have had back-to-back guests in them between parents picking up their kids from college or coming for graduation. Thankfully I don't mind this chore and we get to meet some very nice people.

9.) Yesterday we held our last official event of the school year which was a post-commencement reception for 9 families of students. Believe it or not, after knowing some of these students for four years, it is the first opportunity we have to meet their families.  We appreciate the opportunity to express to them our gratitude for their son's or daughter's involvement at the student center.  In addition to our usual fare of cookies, cake, nuts, and lemonade, Nathan grilled chicken tenders and we made potato skins from his over-purchasing for the senior dinner.  After everyone left, we crashed and watched the Derby in between washing up platters and carafes.

Ellie with one of her favorite grads (and frequent sitter), Erin!  Ellie kept our visitors entertained, regaling them with tales and mini games (along with requests for them to sing Happy Birthday to her -- and no, her birthday isn't for another 6 weeks).

10.) Today was mother's day and I woke up under-the-weather.  I wonder why?  After some medicine along with a morning and afternoon nap, I felt much better and after getting the building ready for yet another round of guests (yes, even on a Sunday night!), we picked up Subway and took the kids to the park.  No, I don't have pictures of this, or of Ellie and Reni enjoying the little family of baby birds we have watched hatch and grow in the kitchen window.  I think I will make another blog post of their recent activities and milestones as this one has gone way too long!  Hopefully the next post won't be so long in coming!