i had to stop for the night

I've been falling behind in my psychology classes.  In spite of having the little one here starting tomorrow, I am going to have to find a couple of hours a day to get things done.  

I spent the morning getting her bedroom ready, washing the old dresser set given to us by Shawn's family, and arranging the furniture so she would have all the basics.  Once she arrives I will have her help me to decorate so that she can have some say in how it looks.  That's one project.  Another will be to find her a bicycle and get her riding.  At her age, it's embarrassing not to know how to ride a bike, and other kids don't understand the fact that her life hasn't included normal things like that.  I think we can get her riding before school starts again in the fall.

Sometimes it makes my chest hurt when I think about all the things that this little girl has missed, all the things her life should have included up to this point and hasn't.  There is a woman to whom we owe the fact that we've finally managed to intervene, a woman who broke the rules to stick her neck out and invite us in to see something that was, from a legal standpoint, none of our business.  A woman who was finally able to confirm that the uneasy feelings were rooted in truth, not paranoia.  And I am so grateful to her for being brave enough to break with protocol, to speak the truth, and to start the wheels of change in motion.  

It has been incredibly hot outside today for the first time since we moved here, and it's unpleasant.  Too hot to eat, too hot to sleep, too hot to move.  Shawn has been mumbling about air conditioners again, yet another dream that cannot be fulfilled until we sell the house.  Eventually we plan to replace all the windows to improve how well the house "seals", and to exchange the furnace for a heat pump, a device which our furnace guy says will pay for itself within a few short years because it is so much more efficient.  And it pumps cold air too.  For now we have Shawn calls "ghetto AC", which means one fan is on the basement stairs blowing the cool air up, and another fan at the top of the stairs is blowing the cooler air into the living room.  Pretty ridiculous, but it helps a bit.

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