What Can I Say?

Anything, right? It has been a long time...
Let's see. I've done what seems like a crazy amount of spring cleaning and the house is still a mess... the girls' room isn't yet painted, and there is still no veneer on our fireplace (Phil says he's working on it... Hmmm.) We got our veggie garden planted last weekend and somehow my tomato plants survived the wild weather we've had this week - rain, hail, and high winds. Oddly, it's the squash that doesn't look like it's going to make it. I planted "starts" this year instead of doing everything from seed. Hopefully things will warm up now. I feel like I am busy all the time with various appointments and what-not but I know I have scaled way back on my social commitments. I managed to get volunteers to work on programs for the spinning and knitting guilds - and it was really difficult for me to ask for help. I feel guilty when I hand over responsibility, like I'm letting people down even though I know they all understand when or why I need to take a break. But I've always been a do-er which is probably why I'm filling up my time anyway.
Things are moving along with the adoption process. Today we got our fingerprints taken (again,) hopefully for the last time. Phil and I even managed to make a lunch date out of it - we stopped for some quick Thai food. We are waiting for the Consulate Approval which gets picked up on May 13 and taken to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs). They will issue us a Travel Approval after another 5-6 week wait during which we will apply for our visas. When we get the TA we'll have about 3 weeks before we go. That puts our travel date at mid-July. Woo hoo! We are very excited, but also very anxious. Enough already... Little Alice is waiting for us, and we want to go now and give her a big hug!
Lately I've been overwhelmed with gratitude for the outpouring of support from our friends and family. So many have stepped in to help watch the kids while we went to file paperwork, or have listened to me rant about frustration and worries, or have written cards, have prayed, or have bought baskets or yarn, or have just exercised patience and grace when I couldn't seem to get it together... I cannot say thank you enough. It has lifted our hearts and given us strength. This has not been an easy journey, but it has certainly been a faith-builder for me. Now if I could only trust that everything will work out okay once we get to China... Much easier said than done!
Knitting has been my sanity-saver, my meditation... I have finished a few projects recently but I'll share the latest because I lurve it.

It's my linen-stitch scarf which seemed to take forever to knit because it was 450 stitches, knit side-to-side, on Size 4 needles. I started this on the Yarn Train back in January and actually finished it a wee or so ago - but I waited until last night to block it. If you've never blocked a scarf, I highly recommend it for this one. Pinning it out while it was damp smoothed out the slight ruffle that appeared after binding off, and now it looks fabulous. Phil took these photos last night while I played the uke for Evelyn.