A New Normal
We finally, after weeks of waiting, got the results from my dad's biopsy. The tumor was graded a 2, low-grade, benign tumor. While that is wonderful, WONDERFUL news - it doesn't erase the fact that there is a tumor the size of a golf ball in his brain...which will have to be dealt with. It's also a recurring type of tumor, so that will mean life-long monitoring to make sure they catch any new ones. But, it is NOT cancer. So...we're mostly back to normal. It's just a new kind of normal, where my dad has a recurring type of brain tumor. It's still weird to say, hard to imagine, and makes me sad to think of. But, it is NOT cancer.
On the foster care front, things are going. Not smoothly, mind you, but they are going nonetheless. We had our first training class on Saturday. We can only do the 3-in-a-row Saturday classes which are 7 1/2 hours long...so it's tiring and makes the weekend go really fast - but it is interesting and informative and so far we've met some great people.
On the way home from our first class, however, our van decided to suddenly stop shifting. It still drives, but only in one gear...so we were able to get it home and tonight will be able to drive it to the dealership - the manual says that this is a safety feature which automatically kicks in when something is wrong with the tranny so that it will still be drivable to get it to a service station. So, that's good I guess...maybe that little safety feature will help us not have to buy a totally new transmission. But, on the downside, no matter how much it costs to fix it has to come out of the money we were going to be putting in our foster fund...$200 that my mom and dad just gave us for our foster fund for an anniversary/birthday present, and another couple hundred from the extra paychecks at the end of May. I have a feeling most of that money is now going to have to pay for the van to be fixed. But, we have to have a vehicle - it's a non-decision. We will just have to really get with it and start listing on eBay (so far I haven't listed much of what I have), and hope that some of that stuff sells. We also have a yard sale coming up in June, which is town-wide, so that should boost the foster fund at least a little. If we could just sell those darned concert tickets, we would be able to build the bedroom...which is the biggest hurdle right now. That part we need to be done to be licensed. After that it is just finding beds & bedding, etc, which we can do with our extra paychecks in July (thank goodness for 5-pay months!).
Oh, and if anyone wants to check out my eBay auctions (they will be there soon, I promise!!), which will include girl clothing, plus-size women's clothing, and some miscellaneous items - my eBay user id is mom-n-michaela.
Thanks for stopping by - and thank you for the prayers for my dad - they definitely worked!
Mariah
Posted in: Budgeting, Faith, Family, Foster Care, Prayer on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at at 12:24 PM
