summer

it's been a long time since i've last posted.... i'm pretty transparent on facebook, so i'm not sure what else to put on here that you don't already know...

but let's see..i turned 30, planted a garden, which has produced exactly (almost) zero fruit thanks to a late planting due to the flood, followed by a dry scorching summer (and a laziness on my part to get down there and water it enough...) we finally finished repainting the porch railing and foundation, are 90% finished putting a privacy fence between our house and the neighbors, which will then allow us to make a courtyard area on a previously useless piece of yard. we planted awesome shrubs in the front....which are now barely surviving. they have a year warranty on them..and i think i'm going to have to call in the favor on 2 of the 4.

the car situation has been solved, as jared's mom bought herself a new car and generously gave us her '03 pontiac grand prix. it's bigger than i'm used to, but it's a very nice car and a lot like my other pontiac (may she rest in peace) that i really liked. and hey, what's better than FREE!?

alena has enjoyed the summer--the park, riding her trike on the sidewalk, playing with chalk, friends, swimming (which may be her all-time favorite), watching fireworks, going to the beach, going to DISNEY WORLD! we've had a great summer.

just as we were getting some traction on saving money and paying down debt, our AC and heat system went out. well, not completely out, just intermittently. we called the best company in town to look at it (why mess around on something like this?) the repair guy quickly had over $1,000 in repairs on our 19 and 30 year old units before he even really got into it. just cleaning and basic repairs since they were so old. and we certainly haven't done the first bit of maintenance on them in the 5 years we've lived here. we knew when we bought the house that it was old and horribly inefficient. (we've been told by 2 completely separate people, 5 yrs apart that we're losing 60% of our energy..going straight out of the house) so an entire new system will be installed on friday. it's expensive. it is more than jared or i have ever spent on a car. (keep in mind, we buy cheap cars, haha.) but, it needed to be done and it will work out. in the winter, we should save about $200/month on our gas bill, so that will help us pay it off, for sure. (plus we'll get the $1,500 rebate)

just as a $6,000+ problem comes tumbling out of the sky (fine, i'll tell you how much it was... haha) opportunity seems to present itself just as randomly to cover the cost. not immediately, but right now i have not one but TWO companies with my name at the top of their list for independent event planners. both of these have conferences or conventions in different cities--one is annually, or a few different types of conferences annually, adding up to maybe 4 or 5 per year-- the other has 6 in matter of a few months, and they hire event planners to handle the on-site logistics. this is exactly what i did when i was working for the event company in nashville. though it was all local, i was the one (among other jobs i did in the office) that was on site making sure that all the details came together in real life. neither of these have turned into concrete jobs yet, but they both have very good chances to when the time is right, possibly as soon as next month. not only will this be a huge blessing financially, but it's also perfect in several other ways. it let's my brain be professional and have a break from the babyland i've been in for the past 3 years. a break, without going back to work full time. it allows me to travel on someone else's dime. it allows me to polish up my professional experience for when the time comes to go back to work full time..i'll have recent, relevant experience so i don't have to settle for a career in anything other than my passion of event planning. all the while, extending my incredibly generous blessing of being able to spend each and every day with my daughter. of course, i'll be gone for a few days at a time with these events, but it's still not working full time with her under the care of another.

it was a huge jump, foolish even, when i quit my job at 8 months of pregnancy. we cut our household income exactly in half. and i didn't have car payments or dry cleaning bills the expense of eating out every day..all those hidden expenses they tell working mothers they have. our expenses of the mortgage, student loans, every day bills..all those stayed exactly the same. the numbers are all a bit different now, and we're doing ok, but i'm still humbled and amazed that i've been able to stay home this long. when alena goes to school, i'll be looking forward to going back to work full time. we'll have to figure out something for the daily school schedule and summer (and other) breaks, but i'll be happy to have a true 2 income household again and be more of my own person again. but in the meantime, i'm thankful.

speaking of kids...we finished our foster classes this past week, our first (of 5) home study is scheduled on the 20th. after the home studies are done, it's just a matter of timing to have a foster child. we'll just be waiting for a child that meets our criteria (which is only that s/he has to be younger than alena) comes into need. then we'll foster until it works out that we adopt a child. that child will be alena's sibling and we will no longer foster (until maybe years down the road, but we'll focus on raising just alena and the adopted child.) again, we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends as they have helped us through this...watching alena during the classes (which meant keeping her until 9:30pm) and being references for us. TN has never really felt like home to me, i haven't felt like i've made a group of really close friends, but this has shown me that even though it feels different, we do have people that love us and support us and always have our back. that's required for getting through this life, for sure.

finally...still on babies, i have SOOO many friends pregnant right now!!! my neighbor just had a baby, my niece had a daughter yesterday (that's right--my brother's oldest daughter is old enough to be married and have a child!) a friend expecting twins, and at least 5 others i can think off the top of my head growing their own sweet babies! love it!

have a great rest of the summer, friends!