Todd's Last Journey

Yesterday was our last day with Todd the Toyota. Todd was my gift from precious my mom and dad when I graduated from college. We bought the highlander with 13 miles on it. I have driven it to such fun places... Pittsburgh, the beach, Villa Rica, Nashville, Columbia, and Birmingham. I've loved him. He has loved me.

This post chronicles his last few hours with me...

 After waking up early and going to work, we took one last spin through the car wash together.

 Here we are getting rinsed...

 One last minute wipe before being dried off.

 We stopped off at the MED Express for a little snack.

 Getting filled up for the last time with me... :-(

 Here is how I left him. 

 One final hug. Goodbye Todd. I hope you have a nice life with your new nice family. You are a great car.

Moment of silence for Todd the Toyota.

The back story... I was talking at a church event about the need for a bigger car for our growing family. I mentioned how much I liked the Honda Odysseys and the Toyota Siennas. I also mentioned needing to sell my 5 seater Hylander. A few days later, a lady in that group messaged me and asked details about my Hylander. Turns out they were valued at about the same amount. SO>>> WE TRADED! 

Praise God. His plans are so much better than mine. My plan involved selling Todd on the private market, then looking for a used van, haggling, negotiating and then buying said van.

God's plan: trade with Becky. Her youngest just started at Auburn, my youngest is in a car seat. See... so much better.

HELLO BIG FAMILY!

First hug.

Meet the newest member of our family. (No worries folks, the Auburn sticker has been removed.)

She is a Honda Odyssey. She is beautiful. 8 seats and lost of room for junk in the trunk!

Now, the newest problem... What is her name?

P.S. Update on the list...

1. Get referral from NAC.

2. Mail off for immigration/visa approval. 

3. Wait 4-6 weeks for approval. 

4. *Buy a bigger vehicle.*new

5. Send visa approval to the National Visa Center. 

6. *Set up 2 bedrooms. * paint is done!

7. The NVC will send visa approval to the U.S. Embassy in Poland. 

8. The U.S. Embassy writes a letter called the Article 5. *new

9. The Article 5 gets picked up by Sasha (our in country facilitator) and taken to the NAC.

11.* Future Dad builds dining room table and bench to seat everyone. *biscuit joints are cut, needing glued.

12. Court is held without us.   *new THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN! We go to the first court date.

10./13. The NAC schedules a court date. #10 is now 10/13 We get Court date/travel date.  *new Just waiting for the judge in Poland to get us on the docket!

14. TRAVEL!

Article 5 coming soon!

Spontaneous Date Night

Future Dad and I are being creative when it comes to date nights... as to minimize cost and maximize fun.

Tonight, we did just that... Thanks to a Groupon for dinner and the dollar theater, we had some seriously good sushi and the latest Star Trek movie for less that $15!

Best part, it was all a surprise to future dad! Figured if I were going to kidnap him and take him to a movie, it had better be one that he would like.

Spontaneous Date Night: 5 stars.

Likelihood of being able to do this in 6 months: almost 0.

Amount of sadness felt because we will not be able to roam as spontaneously as we please: absolutely 0.

Come home soon babies. Mom and dad miss you.

3 more down...

Lots of fun updates today! YAHOO!


1. Get referral from NAC.
2. Mail off for immigration/visa approval. 
3. Wait 4-6 weeks for approval.  *new
4. *Buy a bigger vehicle. *in the works.. will know something this weekend.
5. Send visa approval to the National Visa Center. *new
6. *Set up 2 bedrooms. * see this post .. Plus, we have beds! Post later on this...
7. The NVC will send visa approval to the U.S. Embassy in Poland.  *new
8. The U.S. Embassy writes a letter called the Article 5.
9. The Article 5 gets picked up by Sasha (our in country facilitator) and taken to the NAC.
10. The NAC schedules a court date.
11.* Future Dad builds dining room table and bench to seat everyone. *Future Dad is almost finished prepping the wood for the table top!
12. Court is held without us. *we are signing power of attorney today so Sasha can do our bidding.
13. We get travel date.
14. TRAVEL!

the power of the interwebs

In my last post, I mentioned needing to paint our kiddo's rooms. Many of you know that paint is an expensive venture. 6 gallons of $40 cheap paint at our favorite hardware store would cost us about $250 with tax. 

One of my friends from high school, Laura, has family in the paint business. Through her connections, she was able to get me a discount on some much better, higher quality paint for less. I mean... WAY less. The paint you ask, is the good stuff... Not sure if I can give away the connection or not, but let's just say the store's name rhymes with Merwin Billiams.

If anyone knows me, they know I am a TERRIBLE at decorating. Bad at choosing colors, bad and organizing, bad at arranging things. I know this about myself, so enlisted the help of Amy. If we had best friends, we would be each others. We moved to the same town within 3 weeks of each other. 5 months later, she looked at me and said, "I don't have any friends, can we be friends". To which I replied, "I don't have any friends either... let's be friends". 5 years later, she is designing my house. 

It's a throwback picture, but aren't we adorable... 

Here's a picture without facial hair..

She picked out some fantastic colors after I told her vaguely what I wanted.

Laura's connection called in what I/Amy wanted and I happily drove over to get my liquid gold... Actually it is called "Windsor Greige" and "Rain", but those are details.

Not our room, but this kids' room is painted the "Windsor Greige" color. I love the warm neutral that is also gender neutral. Our little boy and girl will share a room and I love this color! Their room has lots of natural light, so it is a good fit.

The guy at the store, rang up my order... 6 gallons of eggshell paint tinted to beauty, 6 professional grade roller naps, and 1 trim bucket for a grand total of $90! Then, Mr. Merwin Billiams said "Wow, that is a really great price!"

Because my sweet friend wanted to help our kiddos have calming walls, we saved $160! 

We loaded the paint and naps in my car and I came home overly excited to begin getting some color on the walls....

Opened my car and......... wait for it.................. only 5 gallons in the back. Not the 6 I bought.

I got back in the car and headed to see Mr. Merwin Billiams again. 25 minutes later, I found the long lost bucket of "Rain" tinted paint sitting alone on the counter. I had just walked out and left it there. After we were reunited, I trucked home again. 

This is a random bedroom photo I found on the interwebs... they have "Rain" colored walls. I love how calm this room feels. I want my boys' room to feel this peaceful.

The time it took to go get the forgotten gallon meant I didn't get any on the walls, but the gallons are in their respective rooms. I'm hoping to get some on the wall this morning. (Special thanks to my other friend Laura, church friend/running buddy for getting a room clean enough to paint!)

If you want to send Laura some extra love, here is your chance.... She makes adorable home accessories. Virtuous Designs by Laura, and she blogs!

Aren't they beautiful!

I'm constantly amazed at how God is providing even the little things for us... Thank you Lord for friends and paint.

P.S. No update on the adoption... still waiting for Visa approval.