Friday, April 29, 2011

Good News



Sometimes, in those rare moments, the sun seems to be shining right on you. That is how I've felt the past few weeks. It so rarely happens so all this good news has me on cloud nine.

A week before Easter we took the family on a long awaited vacation. We hadn't gone for over a year and a half, partly because of the economy and partly because it was just too hard to get away. So to make up for it, we took a long vacation. First stop was Danville, Va, my home town. There are no words to describe how much I had missed it. I think it was even a surprise to me how much. I finally got to take my kids to Skatetown USA where I skated every week growing up. We ate at Pete's Pizza, who has the best pizza ever (at least in my limited experience!). For only being there a day and a half, we fit a lot in.



Then it was off to Outer Banks for a week. We hadn't been there for over 6 years so my youngest, who is 7, didn't remember it. The look on his face when he saw the ocean was priceless and worth all the effort getting there.


On the way back, we stopped in Winchester, VA. Not as southern as it used to be but still nice. You may think we are strange, but we love the Mt. Hebron Cemetary. The history is unbelievable. And the Virginia Farm market is a definite each time we are there.

Overall, we drove over 600 miles. We even fit in a half hour stop in Williamsburg, which had the only down point of the trip. We saw they are tearing down part of the pottery. Very sad. I grew up going to the pottery every year on my family vacation. We decided that next vacation, we are going back to visit Willamsburg.



While we were on vacation, I got an email from our adoption counselor. They have two kids, ages 3 (girl) and 4 (boy), they want us to take as a respite situation, until their pre adoptive mom can decide if she can adopt them or not. She may not be able to adopt them because of a changed family situation. It's hard to balance my joy of finally having kids in our home with her loss. She is one brave lady to put the kids first and to try to decide if she can let them go. But while she decides, we can care for them and pray for the best decision for everyone.

And last but not least, it looks like my brother may be on schedule to come home from his deployment next month. Yippeeee! He is thrilled to be finally done (and safe). They have a virus going around the ship which he caught so I haven't been able to talk too much to him lately, but I was able to email him about us being there to meet his ship next month. All the arrangements still need to be made (special passes to get on base, hotels, etc) but if it all goes well, we will get to see him come off the ship.


I am so glad to be able to share all the good news, for a change. Although I know things will calm down soon, just to finally have good things happen feels so wonderful.

15 comments:

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

So glad good things have been happening for you. Your vacation sounds like lots of fun. It's good that you got to go back home to Danville.
I hope your brother stays safe and makes it back home next month. I'm sure it will be a huge relief to have his deployment over.

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Thanks Sweet!

CountryDew said...

That is all wonderful news! I am so glad your vacation went well. It can be hard to go home again. I didn't realize you were from Danville though I knew you were from the area. You are pretty special to take care of those kids.

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Thank you Anita! That was nice of you to say.

Yeah, it was very hard to go back to Pittsburgh. Danville may be a small town on the decline, but I still love it. It just always feels like home.

Beth said...

Hi there, Mary Ann! Sorry to have been absent of late---I haven't been on the internet much.

But I'm so happy to read all your good news! Your vacation sounds lovely---I'm so glad you got to come home to Virginia. I hope you were able to stock up on southern staples that you can't buy further north! And how wonderful that your brother is coming home---I know you must be excited at the prospect of seeing him.

All the best to you as you care for the little ones. You are doing important work there---God bless you and your family.

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Beth- thank you! It's good to hear from you. Have a great weekend.

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

That's all wonderful news Mary Ann! You probably went right past where I live! Were you on 40 at all? I know what you mean about being home. I can't believe the things I miss, even things I hated when I was there!

You are great for offering to take those kids in. Do you do fostering?

And wonderful news about your brother. He must be really psyched up now that we killed bin Laden. It's strange to me that I am happy about someone's death but I was up there when 9-11 happened and I can't help it, I'm really happy that we got him! Thanks to our wonderful military!

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Debi,

I think we were on 40. Very cool! I think I was near Anita's home too. I should have called ahead and stopped by! :)

We do respite which is like fostering. It is hard because the kids can be here for such a short time then you have to let them go. But it looks like it may be the only way we may ever get to adopt.

My brother is very happy about coming home. I don't think he is allowed to say too much about how he feels about Bin Laden, but it was Navy that got him so we are proud. I know what you mean about being happy someone died, but in the long run, if it saves the lives of more innocent people, it ends up being a good thing. And no one can say Bin Laden didn't make himself a target, that is for sure.

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Then you could have practically seen my house if you squinted if you were going down 40!

Oh, so you're trying to adopt? They make you "volunteer" first? Are you trying to adopt a certain kind of child? A very dear friend of mine works for social services, the adoption department, but in Jersey.

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Debi,

We have been trying to adopt a boy (a brother for my son. I have two girls and a boy of my own) for 3 years now. But in Pittsburgh (Allegheny county) it's very hard to get a child because they have a "model program" where their priority is keeping the kids with the biological parents. They do everything they can to keep the parents in the picture until it's so bad they have to remove the the children. So the competition to adopt is intense and quite biased.

After waiting for a few years for a child, we heard that fostering or offering respite might give us a better chance so we signed up. I didn't want to do it because of the heartbreak of sending the kids back most of the time, but we have little choice if we want a shot at getting a child.

Too bad I don't live in Jersey, I'd look your friend up and work with her!

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day to you!!

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Oh my. Even the ones who aren't babies?

Well, even though it's hard for you, you are really making a difference in a foster child's life. There are so many bad foster homes out there. Even if you only have them for a short time, you are making a difference and touching them forever.

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Thanks Debi. It's not the best experience we've had, but I hope we are making some kind of difference.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering what happened to you and came by to check you out. So glad to hear about all the good things going on over here. Your vacation sounds wonderful and two little ones to care for does, too. They will keep you busy. So glad to hear about your brother and hope he is home soon. It's always nice to visit and get good news. Hope you had a great Mother's Day and have a good week, too.

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Thanks Judy. I am hoping to get time to post soon. We have been doing a lot of traveling and with the warm weather, we've been out a lot too.

I hope your Mother's Day was nice too!