On Wednesday my child abuse clearance came through from Arizona--woo!hoo! It looked like it was just in time! My plan was to drive over to our caseworkers office about 45 minutes away and get the notarized addendum to our homestudy that her secretary was staying later to give to me. Then I'd be able to take it with us to Boise on Thursday and get it counter-signed/notarized by some other official person in A New Beginning's main office--AND--send it on its merry way to USCIS. My thought was that if they got the notice that we'd done our fingerprints and our required addendum at the same time that it would not cause a delay in getting our approval.
My caseworker said I should come "right now" if I wanted to make it in time. Well, you know that "right now" is not exactly immediate if you are taking 2 little guys with you--gotta go potty, find shoes, all that kind of stuff--but we did get out the door in fairly good time.
We sailed off down the free-way and the car made a funny noise, so I switched off the radio and then the air conditioner--the funny noise stopped so I figured I'd solved the problem. I did notice that the gauge was reading HOT but for some reason I thought there might be a problem with the gauge. The steam out from under the hood and visible in my rear-view mirror changed my mind. I then pulled immediately to the side of the road.
Bummer! No way to get the paper in time. I called the case worker (so she could let the secretary go on home) and then Kevin. Kevin wouldn't be able to get there for at least 2 1/2 hours. Thankfully Dad was available to drive out and get the little boys and I and to help me get the suburban off the road (the State Police had stopped and informed me that if the vehicle was still even a teeny bit on the pavement after dark, that they'd have to tow it)
Then when Kevin got home from work, he grabbed Caleb, Steven and I and we headed back out to the car. (Sorry, I realize a suburban is technically a truck but I always refer to it as a car) The older kids had already headed to the homecoming football game which we usually attend as a family. Kevin quickly discovered that a serpentine belt had come loose (he'd replaced the alternator on Sunday when same vehicle dead quit on me and thought he just hadn't got it tight enough). It was 8:53 so we called ahead to a parts place in Burley that routinely closes at 9:00--the guy agreed to stay open until we got there. The belt was just $18 or $19--'easy fix' we thought. We worked our way back to the vehicle and I held the light while Kevin strained to get the belt in the right position. Finally, we were on our way. But the cheap repair was not enough. As Kevin drove he noticed a more serious problem. The radiator seemed to be toast. So we had to park the suburban off the road at the next exit and come home. Got home about 11:15 pretty discouraged.
Thursday morning we all got up and worked to get our stuff loaded into the motor home (the toasted suburban helped us make up our minds whether to take the motor home which has a major gas-drinking habit or to stay in a motel--because the motor home is the only other vehicle we own that will hold all of us) You know how that goes trying to make sure everyone has blanket, pillow, jammies, shirt, pants, underwear, socks, toiletries as well as whatever food out of fridge and cupboards we could throw in for easy meals. Our fingerprint appointment was scheduled for 11 am in Boise. Unfortunately before we could really get on the road we had to go through Twin and leave the keys at the towing company. 1st stop--gas for the fuel hog. 2nd stop--the towing company had changed locations. 3rd stop--no one there--Kevin called and the person was out of state for cancer treatment :( 4th stop--we don't take the keys here, you have to go to the office down the street and around the corner. On the way to the 'corner' we found the office of the towing company that Kevin really preferred anyway so that was the 5th stop--gave them the keys and the insurance card. Good grief. (On the way to Boise the repairman called--he'd already checked out the car, verified that the problem was indeed the radiator and said it will cost $399 to fix the jewel)
We did eventually make it to USCIS-- late but there nevertheless. They were expecting about a hundred cars quite soon for a citizenship ceremony so hurried us through (our motor home was taking up too much space in the parking lot) I'd say we were both in and out in 15 minutes. That was by far the easiest, least time-consuming, least-hassled part of the whole trip. So Abby-Sweetie, mommy and daddy are working hard to get to you.
I want to publicly praise God for the cool way He has attended to the entertainment of our children this summer. With an international adoption in progress our extra funds are pretty much non-existent so this really blesses my heart that God cares so much for our kids that He does this extra stuff. 1) The Lagoon. Earlier in the summer 3 of the big kids got the opportunity (because of our relationship with another church for a special needs support group) to go to the Lagoon for $10 apiece--we're talking food, housing, entrance fee everything--and then got their $10 back once there for spending money! 2) Also a couple months ago James got to go for free with a friend to a performance of the Blue Angels. The friend knows one of the pilots personally so he got to go to the VIP area, get autograph, go up in a helicopter, etc, etc. 3) Yesterday--Historical Museum in Boise--entrance is FREE the first Thursday evening of every month from 5:00-9:00--guess what day we 'happened' to be there?!! 4) Today--Discovery Center we discovered is FREE every Friday compliments of Fred Meyers--guess who enjoyed that venue for a few hours ?!! And our over-night camping space was free--close to the WalMart parking lot. I just think that is pretty cool
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