Summer in Full Swing

We had a fun week with Elizabeth's birthday and having Andrew's parents in town.  I only had class Tuesday and Wednesday so I have felt a little more relaxed, except for the 8 page paper that is looming in the back of my mind. 

Andrew was certain he had scabies again and went to the dermatologist to get treated.  They thought we were overdoing it by avoiding family and being so careful, but gave Andrew a full dose of treatment for the whole family anyway, even though he thought only Andrew would need it.  Gratefully we got an all clear on that and won't be cancelling summer :D. 

THE SHAW FAMILY:  Al and Linda were able to come and meet Maverick and Brynlee for the first time this week.  It was fun to see how quickly they bonded and got to know each other.  Linda as always wanted to shower them with gifts.  Linda is recovering from knee surgery that is taking a long time to heal.  :/  Al is planting more and more and giving us advice on how to take care of our plants.  Now we just need to actually DO it.  Jasmine graduated from High School and will be headed to college.  Every time we see pictures of Janie's kids we have to look closer to make sure we are looking at them.  They change so much every time we see them.  We were able to see Ryan and Liz yesterday.  They came up with the girls and everyone got along so great.  We love getting together with them.  Niki and Nels just moved to Kalispell and are getting settled there.  The first thing we heard about was poor Dallin getting a concussion on his bike. :( Marcus and Christa seem to be enjoying Colorado and their new baby Avery.  We are still crossing our fingers that they will come back to Utah :D.  Kevin and Stephanie are exploring the world of Japan and we are also hoping they will end up back here :D.    

THE LEE FAMILY:  Poor Dad had kidney stones, so he was out most of the week while they passed.  Thought about him a lot.  Bean is also still recovering from the blood clots and working on getting things taken care of with the one knee that was very swollen.  Jenny and Todd went on a trip with their family to Seattle, which is great. I am glad that they are able to go back there and visit and enjoy the best parts of being there.  I'm going to miss visiting there.  BECKY! just signed a contract with some people with a house for sale in Providence!! That is only about 10 minutes from me.  Very excited.  We are only weeks away to getting the Jenkins in Cache Valley.  I'm squealing from excitement.  Richard had a birthday this week as well and of course had pie :D.  Kenny and Jamile are expecting!  Jamile also recently had her family in town from Brazil.  It makes me happy to know they were able to come.  I imagine that was a big thing for Jamile.  Alishia is expecting too and getting all kinds of cute things put together for the nursery of their new baby girl :D. 


I've been on the phone a lot lately with Chelsea, Maverick and Brynlee's birthmom, she is having a hard time with the guy she is living with and asked us to buy her a bus ticket.  She is headed to the train station right now to head back to Billings, MT.   She is hoping to finish the duration of her pregnancy there, but have the baby in Utah.   She has talked about wanting us to bond with the baby and let us hold it first when she has it.  She knows it is going to be really hard.  I hope she can do it.  

Fun

Deep breath.  We have been through a lot lately, but it is turning into good and fun things.  I took the GRE a few weeks ago.  I'm still waiting to see if my scores are good enough to get accepted into my masters program.  I know that I did really well on the language portion, ok on the writing and not so great on the math.  Once the GRE was over I felt like I could breath a little.  School was almost over as well, which made getting the class assignment a little easier as well.  Last week I had 3 days worth of meetings at the elementary school, so Thursday and Friday this week felt like my first real days of summer.  I am finally feeling like I'm getting my footing.  I cleaned my downstairs bathroom and just smiled at how lovely it was.  I seriously couldn't remember the last time that I had deep cleaned it and not just sent the kids in to pick up or a quick wipe here and there.

There has been a lot of fun things in the meantime.  We have had a chance to bond more as a family and things are settling a little more.  We went boating the other day on Andrew's little fishing boat.  It was fun to just go with our little crew and have it be enough for a full outing.  Before it felt like we were not enough or worth the effort, we needed to call someone else to come, but we now have enough to suffice our own private family outings without feeling like we have to add to it. 

We were also able to celebrate Maverick's Birthday.  The girls got in a little trouble because they didn't know how to let Maverick open his OWN presents.

 One of the other fun things came because I was at the school and had prep during Elizabeth's Literacy Day in the first grade.  She had a lot of fun writing available for people to read.  Such a sweet, smart, girl.  Andrew also got me a serger for mother's day, so I have been making pajamas and skirts and other fun things. 

 Sadly, Brynlee's birthdad contested the adoption.  He didn't do anything with a lawyer and hasn't done anything since, but we essentially can't adopt her ever.  She would turn 18 and either he would need to file for custody, which he hasn't done or she would age out.  We instead will have to fight and try to remove his rights as the father and then hope to adopt her after his rights have been revoked.  SO, we are trying to get Mavericks adoption complete to strengthen our case and then also putting a case together to see if we can contest his rights.  We have good evidence against him, but the longer we wait and he does nothing, the better our case looks.  We aren't extremely worried, I feel confident that we will be able to keep her, I think the Lord will make the right things happen.

Meanwhile, Chelsea has some news for us.  She is pregnant again.  Barely.  She isn't due until January.  She thinks that it could be twins, but I think she is just big because this is her 4th pregnancy.  She has already asked us to adopt the baby (yay!!).  I'm really looking forward to it.  Andrew is trying to stay level headed and acknowledge that she could back out, but I doubt she will.  She has already placed her other two with us and was able to go through with that.  She also promised me she wouldn't back out.  Now, I know, there is still a chance she backs out, but I'm optimistic.  The next Shaw could be coming in January!!  Andrew is worried because this is a little bit more expense and we will HAVE to get a new car this time.  :)  It's all good news to me.

On the downside, with all that has been happening and having class on Wednesday  nights I had to ask to get released from my calling.  It took a lot of prayers and reassurance that this masters degree was the right thing to do, but it is.  Every step of the way I am reassured that it is the right thing.  I also calculated the other day and after this summer I only have 9 classes.  I could be done before next summer.  :D  I have also really enjoyed my classes so far as well.  All good things.  Feeling good today :D