A Tale of a Water Test Gone Bad

Jamie and I found out at our home study visit that we were going to have to get our water tested before approval because we are on a well. Very surprisingly, my initial reaction was totally laid back. I was all like, "No worries, what's one more thing, it will be good to get our water tested anyway."

Well, then I found out the cost and the procedure. Let's just say we felt a lot like Bill Nye the Science Guy. I even had to wear latex gloves. It involved a cooler with ice, sample bottles with perservatives, filling up water to an exact line (couldn't be below or above) and running our water for long amounts of time. I had to fight the urge to put on a white coat and wear plastic goggles and do the evil science laugh. You know...muuuaaahahahaa.

So, I traveled to deliver the samples packed in ice with in the alloted time frame. I had to sign that I was the one who took the samples and date and initial everything.

Then, a couple of days later we hear that one of the tests is positive. My first thought "Of course it is." Because really, it is the Autry way. And I'm sure you all wouldn't be surprised to know either that it was the most expensive test that we needed to redo. Seriously people, you probably don't want to be our friends.

We were told we needed to "decontaminate" our well. I felt like I was in the middle of a CSI episode. I would totally be that blonde girl with the southern accent.

Decontaminate is really a fancy word for "pour bleach down your well". So this is what we did. Or so we thought.

How the "decontamination" works (I really like using that word...it sounds official) is that you pour the bleach down your well, and then you run all the water faucets in your house until you smell the beach. After you smell it, you turn the faucets off and leave everything off for 7-24 hours. The bleach is supposed to kill any sort of bacteria we could possibly have.

Jamie went out and poured the bleach down the well. We turned all the water on and waited and waited. We kept smelling and nothing. At one point, I said "I think I smell bleach" and so we shut the system down. We left and went about our business for the day.

On my way home that evening, I got a call from Jamie. He said "Well, you didn't smell bleach this morning because I poured the bleach down the wrong pipe."

He evidently poured it down a cut off to our house. I mean really who can blame him. He looked down the pipe and saw water, it was an honest mistake. The bleach then seaped into our side yard and killed lots of grass.

Oh, just a typical day in the life of the Autry family.

Needless to say, we had to do the "decontamination" again. I feel the need to put quotation marks around that word. Much like Dr. Evil on Austin Powers with the word "lazer" or "laser" (which one is it, not sure).

We smelled the bleach almost immediatly this time. We're pretty sure we did it correct. I had to repull the sample yesterday and I took it to the lab. We hope the "decontamination" worked and that the test will be negative.

We will totally use this against our child when he/she is a teenager and misses his curfew. "Do you know that we had to get our water tested and our well decontaminated just to get you, and this is how you repay us".

Oh, I kid. I'll just let them know how much they cost.

Because I am nothing without my lists

It's a list of all the exciting things and not so exciting things going on in our lives currently. It was hard to fit all of these things in paragraph form. So I did what I do best....made a list.

Exciting Things:
1. Tax refund
2. New baby bedding (sent to us by a friend...how excited was I about that?!)
3. A freshly cut yard (thanks Jamie!)
4. A sweet word today from God (you know, that's always cool)
5. Amazing friends
6. Cooking a new meal tonight (and a new dessert)
7. Upcoming Blessings Brunch (I'm way excited about that!)

Things that are not so exciting:
1. Positive test result for bacteria in our water
2. Waiting for the rest of the tests to come back
3. Prolonged approval for adoption because of our water
4. Bills
5. especially electric bills
6. Gas prices
7. My eyebrows (in desperate need of plucking...i hate doing this)

At least there is an equal number of exciting and not so exciting things!

Abundantly More

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen" Ephesians 3:20-21

I found this today and I was amazed at how much it spoke to me. I think sometimes it's easy to focus on our situation/circumstance at hand and see what is missing. Often times our prayers, although sincere, focus on the things that are missing. Asking God to provide patience in dealing with this or that, asking God to provide wisdom, asking God to provide financially, asking God to provide stability or maybe freedom from a certain sin. While all of these things are good....we do need to ask God to provide for us where we come up short (which is indeed in everything), the part that I often miss is recognizing where he has already provided and praising Him for his provision.

I tend to focus mostly on my need. I am thankful that I recognize my need. For me, this was a huge turning point in my spiritual journey. So, I don't want you to think that I am down playing that in the least. Realizing our need for God and that we are sinners is ultimately why we need to be saved. But I think what I so often miss is recognizing and aknowledging that God is doing a work inside of me and I am being changed each day.

He is able to do abundantly more that we can ever ask or imagine. And he does. I think I just sometimes miss it because I am focusing on my needs. And then it hits me like a ton a bricks at how much God has completely transformed my heart. He has done more that I could ever ask or imagine.

I remember praying so fervently that God would bless us with a baby. I knew that the desire to have children was placed in my heart by God. I could not understand why it was so difficult for us to conceive. I didn't understand for so long why God would put the desire in my heart to be a mom, buy yet not allow us to get pregnant. It didn't make sense to me. ME. That was the center of my focus for several years. And then one day I realized that it wasn't about me.

And now He is doing abundantly more than I could have ever asked or imagined according to His power that is at work within me. God is answering our prayers for a baby. It is not coming in the way we thought it would initially. But it will be coming. He is answering our prayers and blessing this process of adoption. I have never experienced anything quit like it. I am one of those people who usually is always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Anytime I experience anything good, I know that just around the corner there is a catastrophe. But today, I choose to thank God for his work within me. I choose to hope in our future. I choose to acknowlege that He is doing abundantly more than anything I could ever ask or imagine. And I choose not to think that something bad is lingering near by. God truly is blessing us and I am choosing to be ever so grateful to our Father for considering us worthy of His blessing.

So you think YOU can dance Smith girls and Ronnie?

Think again. Nothing compares to these moves. It's an official Autry and Smith dance off.

These are the moves that made me fall in love with Jamie in college. He now uses them to get our dog to "dance" with him. Nothing says Easter like an 80's love ballad and a dance party in the kitchen. My favorite part is the lunge move on the sink. Seriously ladies....he's all mine.

The Multitude of Muffins

So. Today was our home visit. Our social worker was scheduled to arrive at 9:30 a.m. In my mind, that is breakfast time. But maybe to you early risers, that's more like brunch. Either way, I thought I should have something baked.

My solution= mini muffins.

They're little, you don't have to have a plate to eat one, they are delicious, and let's face it....they are just so cute. Everything is cuter when it's tiny. Especially my bottom. And my clothes in high school.

Any how, I borrowed some mini muffin tins from my sister in law. I bought the packages of muffin mix (you know the kind where you just add milk....you didn't actually think I would make these from scratch did you? You might have forgotten where you were reading). I wipped those babies up and had timed it just right to pull them out right before her arrival. We had the coffee brewed and mini muffins cooking and all was right in the land of high carb breakfast.

Jamie decided to take a peak at the muffins while they were cooking. Here is our converstation...

M: "Do you think we'll have time to eat a few before she arrives?"

J: "You know, I just hope we have enough of them" as he stares at the three pans of muffins in the oven.

M: "Do you think I made too many?"

J: "There are 32"

M: "Well, that should be enough for three people. Or maybe we could feed the 5,000? "

Well...

I'm speechless today.

I have so many different emotions going on that I truly do not know what to say. I feel a little bit like I'm surrounded by a giant bubble and I just float throughout the days activities. Nothing really seems very important.

I seriously can't quit thinking about the fact that Jamie and I will be parents. It's very true that we have no idea when that time will come. But the truth is now, that it will come. And really, I just can't believe it.

I'm scared, excited, sad, overjoyed, overwhelmed, and at peace. How in the world do all of those things exist inside of one person? I am a walking contradicion. One big bottle of oil and water.

It's becoming more real to me as we complete each step of this process. I have three more pieces of paperwork to complete and the BFPOP (big fat packet of paper) will be done. We have one more visit, which will be at our home, and then we're done with the homestudy process. We'll be waiting to hear if we are approved. Then the wait begins for an expectant mother to sacraficially consider adoption and choose us to raise her child.

For so long, the idea of being parents seemed out of reach. Now it's becomming a reality and I just don't know what to say.

How can I have so much love for a child that I've never even met?

Well, I guess I wasn't really speechless. It's probably a pretty safe bet that I'll never truly be speechless.

A Meeting and some Mexican food...a perfect combination

We went last night for our second meeting with our social worker. This one was quit a bit longer. She met with Jamie while I watched some videos and then we switched. It was sort of like an interview really. I was just praying the whole time that Jamie didn't bust out with any of his inappropriate jokes. 'Cause he has a few.

This meeting went just as smoothly as the first. It was laid back and informal. I didn't even wear my fancy boots this time. I was happy and comfortable in my wallabees and courdaroy pants. I'm not sure how to spell courdaroy. I just looked it up in the dictionary and I couldn't find it. Probably because I don't know how to spell it. That or the fact that it is a .97 cent dictionary from Wal-Mart. It's not exactly all inclusive. Either way, I was comfortable.

The last two meeting we have had to travel to Memphis which is about an hour and a half from our house. And sometimes, I think it's a little bad because I get really excited about that because I know we are going to go out to eat. I mean, not that I don't look forward to our interviews and all, but a chance to not cook and have food prepared for me is like a vacation. Imagine the kinds of things that will excite me after we actually become parents. I might even start liking Wal-Mart.

And just for the record...I heart Mexican food. I could totally eat that cheese dip everyday and never get tired of it. The chips we had last night were toasted to perfection. It was a little slice of salty cornchip goodness dipped in white Mexican cheese heaven. I went to sleep with a smile.

We have one more visit with our social worker. She will actually come to our house to make sure it is "child friendly". So we have to lock up all our guns and get a fire extinguisher. When I say "our" guns, I'm sure by now you know that means Jamie's. I've never shot one in my life.

****I have to interupt this blog to tell you that it is snowing here. Major accumulation on the ground. Well my husband, being the dear heart that he is, just went outside knocked on my office window and pointed to my name he just peed in the snow. ****

Anyway...because this post is getting long and out of control, here is a summary. We had a good meeting, we ate some good Mexican food, and we set up our next visit. After that point she will determine if we are approved and then if we are, we'll just be waiting for an expectant mother to choose us.

That's all for now. Hope your weekend is happy and bright. Our weekend will be white (and the yellow part where my name is).