Ch-ch-ch-changes

It only took me four and a half years, but I finally got Youngest Son and The Princess’ state birth certificates in the mail this week!

Before the adoption, I was SO organized.  I drove my family batty with how organized I was.  I remembered things.  I remembered names and appointments.  My mental, emotional, and spiritual cups were full.  I was grounded.

Um, not so much since the summer of 2007.  Sometimes, I wonder where I've gone.   

I’d had SO many papers to get together and keep together as we prepared for the adoption, and even through to the day I stepped off the plane at JFK with my kids,  When I got home, I threw everything into a box and never looked at it again, except to pull out a certificate when I needed it.  Hubby pulled out receipts when he did our tax returns.  Other than that, it all stayed in the box.

Youngest Son is looking forward to getting his driving learner's permit.  I’d meant to file the kids’ adoption with our state a long time ago.  I’d meant to get them birth certificates as a “registry of foreign birth.”  It will make getting a driver’s license, or a marriage license a lot easier.  But that was always a “someday.”  “Someday” they’d need these certificates.  They didn’t NEED them in 2007, so I wasn’t in any rush.  I didn’t mean to stay in no rush mode for 4.5 years, though.

Ah, but it’s done.  Both kids have state-registered birth certificates now.  They can get copies (for a $30 fee) whenever they want.  Trying to get copies from their birth town in Eastern Europe would cost much more, and be much harder to obtain.

It may seem silly, but going to our local district court office, getting the judge to sign off on the forms, paying the fees, and finally getting the certificates from our state capital felt really good!  The thing is, now I feel like it’s time to get everything else organized, too.  It’s time to make some changes around here – not just in terms of becoming more organized again, but in getting BETTER.  I’m tired of being tired.  I need to be better.

This week, I also began organizing here at the house.  I’d already gotten all the kids’ adoption paperwork and certificates into a 3-ring binder with clear plastic sleeves.  Everything is in one place now.  We call it “The Blue Book” because the binder is blue.  I started the reorganization process by moving furniture around in one of our larger rooms.  After that, I bought some of those cubical things that ClosetMaid makes and put them together (all by myself!).  I found the perfect color cloth bins and I got down to business.  I have far to go.  Once you start organizing, you realize how MUCH there is yet to do -- but it’s begun.  Changes.  Good changes.

I’ve also decided to make some changes for my daughter and myself.  We will begin homeschooling in August, as I’ve mentioned before.  She is no longer going to Sunday night youth group – at least for a while, as we work on things that need changing in her life.  I have stopped looking for a job outside the home.  I am seeking out new friends.  I am very much feeling called to serve other adoptive families and support them in whatever way I can.  Not sure exactly HOW that's going to happen yet, but God makes a way when He has a plan.  Changes.  Hard changes.  Good changes.

There will likely be more changes.  Hubby and I are discussing some things.  I’m taking baby steps.  But I’m ready for a change.  Good change.