A year, or so, in review

I seem to be a yearly blogger. I am hoping to get back into it but not promising anything. Over the past year and a half we have been very busy. Billy came back from deployment in July, 2010. We spent a few weeks in Texas and Billy and I even went on a get-a-way for just the two of us. In August we began our sixth year of homeschooling. Billy was promoted to Master Sergeant in February. The beginning of April the kids and I went to Texas where we spent two months renovating our home down there that we affectionately refer to as the Cabbage. We then moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in June were we have been for the last two and a half months. We love it here. We have joined a great church and made many new friends. We have now began our seventh year homeschooling. Megan is in her senior year of highschool. Lawson is in fifth grade. Grace is in fourth grade. And Chloe is in second grade. We have also began our adoption quest. First we contacted the Children's Home Society, the ones who will be doing our home study. Our first responsibilities were to obtain criminal background checks for Billy and me from the counties that we have lived in for the past five years, and a certified copy of our marriage license. We have received the marriage license and the background check from Lake County, Illinois and now we are just waiting for the background check from Texas. Our next step is to take a 30 hour training course. We are looking to eventually replace our family vehicle, a well-loved Chevy Venture, with a twelve passenger van. Not that we plan on filling every seatbelt but because when we travel we never seem to have enough room for luggage. I have started making my own laundry detergent. It works very well and only costs a dollar a month to do laundry for six people! You just can't beat that deal! I am considering other money-saving strategies such as couponing, etc. and would welcome any suggestions or ideas.