May 2006 Update
I’ve heard it said that if you want to make God laugh, tell Him
your plans.
It’s been an interesting, surprising, and very busy month. Rob
received a phone call a few weeks ago from Florida State
University. They wanted to hire him for the 2006-07 school year.
But everyone in the academic community knows you no not leave a
tenure track position to go to a one-year position – even if it
is at a university where you would be working with graduate
students in sunny Florida! He went to see his Dean at SMSU to
tell her he was not going to take it. Well, she talked him out
of that decision. She felt this was too good an opportunity for
Rob to pass up, that it was excellent for the philosophy
department at SMSU, and that it would make him a better
instructor in the long run. SMSU granted him an unpaid one-year
leave of absence so his tenure-track job here in Marshall is
guaranteed.
Whoopie! We are moving to Tallahassee, Florida for the year! Rob
will be working with some incredible and world-renowned
philosophers, so he’ll have the opportunity to learn from the
best. It’s really quite exciting!
We plan to rent our home here in Marshall, and we have hired a
rental agency to assist us with that task. We will pare down and
move into an apartment for the year. It will be an adjustment
going from a house to an apartment, but it’s only for 12 months
and we can do anything for 12 months. I’ve found some really
nice places that have pools and playgrounds, so it will be
doable. We are driving to Tallahassee in June to see the
possibilities in person and choose the right place for our
family.
I am having mixed emotions about the move because I am really
going to miss the dear friends I have made. But we’ll keep in
touch, it’s only for a year, and my Mom keeps assuring me that
I’ll make friends in Florida as well.
What does this mean for our adoption? Basically, more paperwork.
As soon as we get settled, we’ll need to find a social worker
that can do an addendum to our Home Study since it expires in
Minnesota in October. Our new social worker will then request
our file be transferred from the Minnesota to the Florida BCIS
office. Children’s Hope International said that the move should
have no impact on our ability to adopt a second child from China
… pshew!!!
Needless to say, this has been a whirlwind of a month, and
things really won’t slow down for a while between travel,
packing, moving, settling in, updating home studies, making new
friends, going to the beach … and the list goes on. At least I’m
not sitting around worrying about how the long the wait has
become for Lexi!
On a different note, Mother’s Day will be very special for our
family this year. We plan to light 2 candles … one for Zoe’s
mother and one for Lexi’s mother. This is a tradition we’ll
participate in every year to honor our girls’ birth mothers who
have made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure a hopeful future for
their daughters. I will pray Zoe’s mother knows she is happy,
healthy, and very loved. And I’ll ask God to watch over Lexi’s
mother as she struggles with the decision that is before her.
She may very well be pregnant right now and unsure what she will
do if she has a daughter. She may be dreading the decision that
no mother should ever have to make. It is unimaginable to me so
I’ll pray for courage and peace for her.
We’ll update you again next month. Thanks for stopping in.
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Zoe says, "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
Zoe's new favorite activity.
Playing dolly with Daddy.
Practicing being a jie jie with Mommy and baby Maxwell.
Fun at the park!
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