Unexpectedly

Thursday in my email I received a copy of the proposed contact agreement between us and bio mom. They wanted us to sign it Friday in front of a notary. Sad to say, we a) wanted our attorney to review it and b) were going to be gone for what ended up being 15 hours on Friday...so needless to say, we were unavailable for signing on that particular day.

Our attorney seriously emailed me back within like 2 hours of me emailing her, because she is awesome. Then we made some edits over the weekend, and ended up getting it sent off Sunday night.

Bio mom was due for relinquishing at 1 p.m. today. They wanted us to sign it beforehand, but I had to work at the farm (after having like 2 weeks off because of the heat wave) so I couldn't do it. I was worried this would put the relinquishment in jeopardy but we just weren't willing to be rushed into something because other people couldn't get things to us in a timely fashion, you know?

Long story short, after much frantic checking of email (I was totally expecting an email saying she had backed out), her attorney emailed me and said she did, in fact, sign our revised agreement and had completed the relinquishment. We went in the late afternoon to also sign the contact agreement. She will maybe get one more "goodbye" visit, but I am not sure yet. So that is going to be great, seeing as how she hasn't seen the kids in 2 months.

I am in a little bit of shock right now. We have been waiting for this for months (technically years if you want to look at it that way). I'm not sure why today was different from the other days that she was going to relinquish, but she did it. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for her, and Lord willing I will never have to find out.

So now we have the two dads left with parental rights intact. The littles are still having a 2 hour visit each week with their bio dad, and D's dad is still not in the picture at all. That worries me a little bit, because I don't know if people are doing their job in contacting him and everything to make sure that things are taken care of on his end.

Just got a call from D's boss, asking us to ask him if he can work a little bit harder and do a little bit better at his job. D told us today that he had 2 times where he didn't do a good enough job and had to go back and re-do his rows. So we have the oh-so-pleasant task of talking with him about that tonight. My guess is that he will get defensive and there is a fair chance that he might decide just to quit. But we'll see! Wish D would have been here so the boss could have talked to him directly. :/ We have had some of the same problems with D when we have paid him to work for us around here. In our experience he just tells us that our expectations are too high (or the often-used "You never told me to do that!") and quits. Or if we make him do it then he takes a long time to get it done and spends more time sulking in his room then actually working.

I am going to start back to school in the fall. I have 42 hours left to get my 4-year degree. I hope to be done in the next 2 years, maybe sooner. My school does 5 semesters per year, and I will try to take at least 1 class each semester. I am super excited. I really love going to school, seriously. And I do want to finish up my degree. It's a life goal. So far I haven't had to pay hardly anything for school - first 2 years were a full ride for my ACT score, and the rest of my school my former employer paid for. We will have to pay for everything going forward, though. If I would have been smart I would have started going to school RIGHT when I started my last job, then maybe I'd be almost done by now! Oh well, live and learn.