Francis, our Spiderer

Our biggest pest since becoming Arizona homeowners have been these guys. Not that we get a lot of pests, but we see at least 5 of these guys a year (IN our house)! So tonight I'm walking across the floor and I see something move out of the corner of my eye and I quickly dance/jump/tiptoe forward. Looking back, I think I ran from nothing... but then I glimpse it.

Though they blend into the carpet a little too well, I see the guy.  But I don't really know what to do about it--because Matt already went to bed and I HATE squashing anything, let alone things of a decent squashing-size.  (Matt asks me what I would do if I were single, but the fact is, I'm not single anymore so now I'm handicapped as to performing my own giant-creature squashing.)  So Matt's in bed, but luckily, we have a dog now.  And what's a pet for, if not to kill the creepy-crawlies that make it into your house?

So I get Francis and try to direct her to the spider--at this point it's under a desk in the corner.  First Francis, of course, has eyes only for me.  But eventually I get her to look over long enough while the spider moves or makes a smell or does something to finally get her notice.  And then she can barely see the thing.  So my dog is not the most excellent spider-er.  (But she's learning!)

For the first few minutes, I have to point the spider out to her over and over or use the water bottler I'm holding to coerce it her way.  After a bit, it starts crawling between the stones at the base of our fireplace, and I watch and listen as Francis tries to sniff it out.  She snaps between the stones here and there, but comes back with nothing.

More minutes go by and now we're back to the corner.  Francis continues to sniff and snap at it, but I guess the spider is holding its own.  And then her jaws close and she's leaving the corner!  She carries the spider across the room, jumps onto the couch and sets it down on the pad.  The spider starts to scamper away and she snaps it up again.  And at this point I feel a little guilty, because I think the spider bites her in the mouth.  :(  Hopefully that won't amount to anything.

So she's playing with the spider on the couch now and it's continuing to live.  So I hope it's debilitated enough not to crawl back out of the vacuum cleaner and, yes, go get the vacuum.  So I vacuum up the spider.  And though Francis watches me do it, she isn't sure where the spider went and spends the next five minutes sniffing around for it.  But... hopefully... she has the scent now and will be on guard as our resident spiderer.

Vlad is hosted!

I have a wonderful update!  I received an email this morning that there is a family that wants to host Vlad.  They're actually an adoptive family and so they already have a home study and are ready to go.  Praise the Lord!  So awesome!

It caught me off-guard a little, receiving that email.  With the deadline fast approaching, I really thought we would be hosting Vlad this summer.  We were given the option to put him "on hold" to be hosted by us or to leave donations up as a grant for other families that might want to host.  Matt and I decided to do the latter, because we're not exactly in teenager-mode yet here and so we wanted to leave it open in case another family came forward.  If God was going to have us host Vlad, then we knew in the end we'd be hosting Vlad.

It's been a pretty incredible week and a half for me.  Feeling so called to Vlad.  Being completely open now, we had actually thought there was a good chance we could end up adopting him.  If this summer had ended up being a good fit, how could we not?  And what a step that was, to even embrace that option mentally.  These aren't the things you plan.  But they're the things God sometimes does--or commands you to do.

So I had to unravel these tentative mental "plans" after receiving this morning's email.  You know, when you're preparing yourself for an outcome and then realize it has changed.  But it's so good!  I'm so excited for Vlad!  And I pray this family just might be his family or that he might just meet his family or that regardless, he have a really great summer, and that he knows how very valuable he is.

So thank you all for the many prayers and also to those that gave!  I'm going to leave the ChipIn open for just a little longer and anything else that comes in will go toward a grant for this 12 and 13 year old sister and brother.  This is the third year that they are available for hosting, but they have not yet been chosen.  Also, this year all of the other kids from their orphanage that are available for hosting already have families.  So please join me in praying for them.

Let me Paint for you!

Had a good Friday and Saturday of earning a bit of extra $.  Successful garage sale Friday morning--thank you to the friends that said I HAD to start it at 7:00 instead of 8:00--you were right.  And I only had one haggler that wanted to tell me over and over how many stains were on my baby clothes before wheeling and dealing with me.  ;)

Did some soliciting yesterday and today.  ;)  Well, not exactly, but sort of.  Stood outside of a store and interviewed shoppers on their experience.  I was hired to be there, but it sure felt like soliciting.  ;)

So that adds to the Vlad fund.  Along with new donations--thank you, everyone!

Remember, if you're around Arizona, you can get an amazing photo shoot with LaurenJean Photography for a $100 donation.

And... I got another idea last night.  I was driving home from "soliciting" and the sunset was beautiful.  Which, of course, made me think of Microsoft Paint in all of its 1995 glory.  And so... for each $20 donation, I would love to Paint something amazing for you.  Your request and I will Paint it as Paint-awesome as possible.  Please take me up on this, friends!  :D