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This snippet - because of the hugeness of how it hit me - does deserve it's own blog post, but I don't want to give it that much power...
We went to a fall festival at our friends' church on Saturday night (we missed our own church's fall festival because it was held on Noah's Day)...and a very pleasant-looking woman came over to welcome us and tell us she was so glad we'd come and to come back to their church anytime.
I was in the middle of thinking to myself how very nice and welcoming she was...
...and then she asked me if these were my GRANDCHILDREN???!?!?!? (**BAM!** did you hear that? that would be my self-esteem slamming into the floor!)
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This snippet also actually deserves it's own post. But if I write a whole post about the IRS and our continued problems with them I will probably start banging my head against the wall and screaming...
They are still jerking us around.
Jas called them 4 weeks ago. They said - looking at the date our reply was received - that our return would be looked at the following week, and then we should call them back the week after that.
So Jas called when he was supposed to. The very nice man told us it appeared they had never received our reply. Yes, that one. The one that we faxed (and rec'd confirmation) and snail-mailed. He also suggested that we call the Tax Payer's Advocate number.
We tried calling the Tax Payer's Advocate several months ago (at the suggestion of multiple adoption friends) and at that time they couldn't help us (because we were responding to the IRS at that point). But now they can assist us.
As soon as they assign someone to our case.
That was almost a week ago, and we haven't heard anything back from them yet.
AND, on Friday we received another love note from the IRS. Apparently they did receive our bundle-o-papers. But they disagree with our calculations. While they no longer claim that we owe THEM over $6,000...they say they owe us about $6,000 less than we say they owe us.
They gave us a deadline to get back to them - 12 days. Oh, but it took several days for the letter to get to us by snail-mail, so we really only have like 4 days to get back to them.
I may be being paranoid and a skeptic...but I totally think they are just jerking us around because of the amount of money they owe us. Just trying to see if they aggravate us and string us along long enough, can they get out of paying it...or out of paying some of it, at least.
Jas says, "They've bumped their heads if they think we're giving up!"
Amen.
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Now, on to more pleasant topics...
I mentioned here that my dad killed an 8-point buck a couple weeks ago when my brother Jeff was here visiting. And he gave us the deer so we could get the meat processed and keep it. Well, a couple days later Jeff killed a 9-point buck, and he gave us his deer also.
So we are now the proud owners of 54 pounds of smoked venison sausage....
...and 44 pounds of ground venison. WOOHOO! I've never been so glad for our freezer to be busting at the seams!
Jas would like to get one more deer himself...and then we should be set until next year.
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(sigh) We have totally given into peer-pressure...
My friends Amy and Sabrina have told me recently how their families have been watching the Andy Griffith show on netflix, and how much they've been enjoying it.
Well, we broke down and tried it with our kids.
They are. loving. it! And so are their parents, for that matter.
They think Opie is funny...and Barney is hilarious...and Andy is so cheesy, but in a wonderful and usually lesson-filled way.
Wow, I wish TV shows were still this sweet and clean...we might still have cable...
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Our pediatrician's office closed, so I've been on the hunt and praying about a new one. There is really only one in town here (and actually, she's in the town next to us), but she's so busy you apparently always have to wait forever.
So we expanded our search area. Several of our good friends take their children to this young, black man about 45 minutes away. Now remember, I'm 38 (and grandmother material, apparently) so "young" could still mean 35 years old.
I would love to not have to drive that far, but this situation appealed to me for many reasons. So we went and had a first appointment with him a few days ago. I scheduled a well-child for Elisabeth - because she's the only one who hasn't seen a doctor this year - but all 5 of us went.
Being truthful, I was completely nervous. I so wanted to find a good pediatrician that we clicked with, that we love and that loves us. We really haven't been going to the pediatrician much the past few years (LK has never had an appt with a regular pediatrician!) because we usually just see specialists. BUT, with Mr. Gabriel coming home, I knew we needed to have someone in place. And soon. And prayerfully, someone we loved and who loved us!
I'm happy to report that things went fine with Dr. J. More than fine, actually. He has a very dry sense of humor. But once I figured out how to take him, I really liked him.
He knows we have another child coming home anytime now. I felt him out about the possibility that we might not want to vaccinate. He was fine - he'd just have us sign a waiver stating that we understood what we were doing. (YAY) He apparently has worked with moms who've induced lactation before. (YAY) He acted not in a hurry at all, so I gave him the low-down on each of my children quickly: Noah (2 open-heart surgeries, pacemaker), Daniel (PDA, hypospadias), Lily Kay (adrenal issue). He asked questions back that were specific enough that I knew that he knew what was what with each of their special needs. (YAY, YAY!)
Thank you Kami, Sabrina and Leah for sharing Dr. J with us!
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On Saturday, the 6 of us went and met with the rest of our community group from church. It was the first meeting of the monthly Bible Club that we're starting in a neighborhood across town. Eleven children (ages 4-11?) came to this first meeting - praise you, Lord!
We played kickball, colored and did crafts with them, did a bible lesson, and gave them a snack. We were there for about 2 hours...and it. went. great! This is a rough neighborhood and these children live in situations vastly different from our own - situations I couldn't begin to imagine....and we all couldn't be more excited to love on these children and share the gospel with them!
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Our "Love The Least" ministry team had the chance to share our message at our church yesterday.
It was powerful. People were impacted. I got choked up up there, after looking out at so many faces in the congregation who were also getting choked up...
And - praise you, Lord...
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