Things come together: doctors, ancestral land, adoption

I saw the doctor and it went very well. He is everything that we were looking for: compassionate, knowledgeable, and willing to explain medical concepts without condescencion. He was very clear about the testing regimen he would use and why each test was necessary. He never assumed that I would not understand something.

Also, it looks like we have paid all the medical costs we are going to pay this year; insurance will be covering the rest of the tests.

I have been meaning to do a post for some time about how I feel about the land I live on. Our lot was given to us by my husband's parents. Despite the fact that it has been less than two years that we have lived in this town, and less than that we have lived in our house, I feel very strong roots here. My husband lived his whole life next door to our house. This is ancestral land, like the land alotted to the Israelites in the Bible. God willing, the children of the children of my children will one day live in this house. One day when I walk through the woods I will be followed by a gaggle of enthusiastic little ones. Sometimes I imagine that my little ones are following me--Joseph, Isaiah, Elisha, Enoch, Simon Hosea and Ruby. I know I could never have had them all, but I imagine their faces and I imagine holding them close and if I work in the nursery and a small multitude of under-twos surrounds me as I read a book to them, I think to myself, this is what should have been...

At any rate, I feel ties here like I have never felt before, even though I am bound to this family by marriage and not by birth. And it saddened me that my father-in-law was selling much of his land to finance his retirement, even though it would be in state hands and not built on. If we could have bought it, we would have, but it just was not feasible.

The state was not offering what he wanted, though, and then after the appraisal came back with a price less than half of what he had been willing to settle for, I asked my husband again if we could afford it. And it had become feasible. So we talked it over with my in-laws. They had not wanted to settle for so little. But they very much liked the idea of selling it in the family. If one day a profit was made on it, we would be making it. Because we were buying it at "market value," it would not be a difference between my husband and his brother. We can consider it an investment. And it would mean that we could do for our children what my father-in-law did for us. All four of us consider all of these to be advantages.

My husband has looked into the funding of this, because we really aren't wealthy--not for Americans at any rate. Basically, if we refinanced our two-year-old mortgage we could get the money for the property, consolidate it with the existing property to reduce the tax rate, and get the money not just to buy it, but also to continue retirement investments and to fund our adoption. I wouldn't even have to be more frugal at all. (Not that being more frugal would be bad, but our lifestyle is not exactly profligate as things stand). In fact, this would actually help us with our adoption. And my father-in-law mentioned to my husband that maybe the way things went with the state happened that way so that we could buy the land. And maybe it did. I certainly can see God's hand at work here.

God willing, here is what I would like to happen: the land deal finishes, we use the money to finance an adoption, and the process goes quickly. My problem is diagnosed and fixed (or I simply get pregnant and stay pregnant with the help of progesterone and/or aspirin and no clear diagnosis) and continue to have many children. I know God's plans aren't my plans--but that is what I am hoping for.

God bless y'all.