4 and 20 blackbirds - OK - just one

What a fun afternoon...
Mrs D and I were sitting in the sitting room this afternoon (as you do after Sunday lunch, letting the roast chicken digest), admiring the newly decorated walls which were finished on Thursday, when we heard a strange scratching sound coming from the direction of the chimney. Doglet started to take an interest in the sound, and we thought we had better investigate too.

We have a flappy lid thing which comes down to close off the chimney and helps prevent draughts. This was flapped down, and so whatever was making the scratching sound was standing on top of the flap.

On analysis of the sounds, we concluded that a bird must have fallen down the chimney and was now flapping about trying to get out of what must have seemed like a very deep dark pit.

So - 2 options....

1. leave the bird to flap around, perhaps find its own way out, or die (possibly roasting it when we next light the fire)
2. open up the flap and try to catch the bird as it comes out

We went for Option 2.

So, armed with an old duvet cover, we 'sealed' the fireplace. Mrs D then opened the flap and tried to coach the bird out. It wasn't for coming, but Mrs D managed to find its legs, and with a bit of persuasion, the bird dropped out, into the duvet cover.

Unfortunately we hadn't sealed the duvet cover properly, and the bird got free.

We now had a blackbird flying round the sitting room, feathers and soot flying everywhere, dirty black marks all over the newly painted walls, doglet jumping around trying to catch it.

Not exactly what we had intended!
We opened the patio door, and eventually doglet chased the blackbird outside.

First task for tomorrow morning?
Phone the chimney man and get a mesh installed over the chimney pots!

Preparing for preparation days

We've just had confirmation from DFW Adoption that our preparation days will be on 26/27 November and 3/4 December...

I'm really glad we finally have some dates to focus on as the next step in the process, but a little disappointed that it is so far off. We had hoped to have had these days already, but things haven't worked out that way.

As far as we can work out, these days will prepare us for what adoption is all about - what the children we might get may have been through, and the kinds of behaviours they might exhibit, and why... I guess it's a bit of a reality check, and is designed to sift applicants to make sure we are absolutely sure this is for us, and for the adoption agency to get a better impression of the kind of people we are...

Then after these 4 days we will be linked to a social worker, who'll visit us for a couple of hours each week for a couple of months - gaining a full understanding of who we are and the kinds of children we could take on...

So lots more ahead of us, but things are starting to move forwards... We're just so glad that God goes before us preparing the way - knowing we're held firm in his hands is so reassuring!

I'm back...

Apologies to everybody who has been checking here for news and insights during September - it has been a hectic month, and I just haven't got round to blogging - sorry!

But I'm back now, and hopefully things will be a bit more regular...