Thursday, August 31, 2006

10 month

Today is 10 months LID for me! Wow, one minute it seems so slow and then the next it is just flying by! I can tell I've definitely gotten more nervous as time goes on...

Peace.

Current timeline

According to my agency, if the timeline stays similar to what it is now, I won't get a referral until Jan/Feb and will need to get my I171H redone. I'm so anxious to see how September's referrals will go....

Ok, so that was a duplication of what I said yesterday... but the outside referral time at this time could be up to 18 months, I guess. This would put my referral all the way up to March/April. It totally depends on what happens with the referrals in September and October, of course.

For some reason, I've got referrals on the brain today.

I also need to figure out if I'm going to do the full marathon at AF in a couple of weeks, or switch to the half. I'm seriously considering doing the half right now. Which would be the first time I've done that with the AF marathon.

Oh, and I looked at baby beds and linens in the JCPenney catalog last night. It was just a baby catalogue that was sent to me, and it was pretty cool. There were a couple cute beds. I'm still thinking of trying to find Raggedy Ann and Andy set. :)

I feel pretty boring these days. lol.

Peace.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Change

So, I've been assigned a new position at work. Officially a Lead Tester for our redesign project that is supposed to go into production next May. This is good and bad. Not sure if it is a blessing or a curse yet, haha. It is a HUGE challenge and today I've been feeling like they threw me under a bus. Please pray for me. The good thing is that if I can help this project succeed, it will be great for my career here. If not, then that's gonna bite. I've really got to get this work-stress under control.

The other thing on my mind right now is, I am wondering what is going on with referrals... of course. They only did from July 15-22, which is 7 days worth. If it keeps at this rate, I won't get a referral for quite awhile. I am guessing at this point that I won't get a referral for 13-14 months, or longer... which puts it at December-February timeframe, just for the referral. Then still 6-8 weeks to travel approval. Of course, it could speed up, but I'm guessing it might not at this point. We'll see. Part of me is still ok with this, and part of me is getting worried it is taking longer (just because of the rumors and stuff)... I'm sure it will be ok, though.

The family room looks great, if I do say so myself!! :) Now onto working on getting all my clothes organized and sorted. I also need to start on the baby's room, officially! Sis and I were thinking I could use Raggedy Ann and Andy for her room. How cute would that be! So, I'm going to start looking for a set like that. I did get a funky light for her room last weekend, but haven't really set anything up.

I got to go to the Circus De Soliel (sp?) last weekend. It was BIG fun!! Chase started 1st grade this week. He's growing up too fast!! haha. I can't believe it! He was just born yesterday.... ok, he wasn't... but it sure feels like it sometimes! My sis worries about him sometimes, but I think he is turning out to be a great kid, who has some of his mommies artistic skills! Boy, he can draw! :) (i'm not biased in any way...)

Peace.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Looks like

...the referrals are indeed to the 22nd, so far. Congratulations to all the new parents out there! I wonder what this means for my referral in the next few months. There are also rumors of singles not being able to adopt from China anymore. Good heavens, I hope that isn't true! Everyone, so far, says that those of use who are logged in will be OK, but you never know. I'm trying not to worry about that, but it is in the back of my mind.

My friend came over this week and hooked up my stereo, so now it goes through the VCR and the DVD player!!!! WOOOHOOOO! I have the best friends. :)

Sis and I sent garage saling this weekend, again, and had a great day. My nephew is adorable and wants me to fix his stuffed puppy, 'cause he is ripped. He starts FIRST grade this week!!! OMG. It is a very cool and scary time! haha.

I went to a Bible study on Friday night for the first time in years. It was wonderful. Great bunch of people. The amazing thing is that while I live fairly close to the city, my actual area is kind of 'country' and I wasn't sure how many people adopt on this side of the river. Since I didn't know anyone there, and we were giving a little background on ourselves, one of the couples said they are adopting from CHINA!!! OMG. I was just thrilled. Their LID is April '06, so we won't likely travel together, but I'm just so blessed to meet the people I get to meet in this process and I hope that we can continue to get to know each other.

Peace.

Peace.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Could it be true?! Referrals

So, the buzz today is that there are referrals being sent to folks! So far, these rumors say that the cutoff is July 22, '05. Let's see what happens. I am wondering if this is additional from last month's batch and if more will come before September? OR if it is the full batch they are sending for August... which would mean it *might* be from July 14-July 22, '05. That's not many days...8 days. Yikes.

Peace.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Not a problem!

The carpet guys came today!!! All I can say is WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!! The carpet is installed! *happy dance ensuing!!!*

Here is a pic. Now, it is on to moving things back into the room and taking care of the kitties. I might even get to relax on my couch, for the first time in weeks, tonight!



Sunday, August 20, 2006

Painting baseboards to the floor

So, my life has revolved around painting and removing carpet from my family room for over a month now. Yikes. This week was no different. The good news is that they are coming to put the new carpet in tomorrow morning! Yeah! :)

This week, I scraped the floor and then bleached it, and then painted it with Kilz. My only concern is that I might have made it difficult for the carpet people to get under the baseboards to put the new carpet in! UGH. In my zeal to get the floors completely cat-pee-free, I didn't realize I might be painting the baseboards to the floor! (I'm going to take a knife today and see if I can make a little room under the parts where looks like it is attached to the floor now.) Let's hope the carpet people don't ruin the baseboards. That would totally bite the big one. I have updated pics of what it looks like now, and I'll post one later. Then, when the new carpet is installed, I'll probably post one of my *new* room! :) I'm a goof, what can I say!

Onto the baby's room next!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Adoption thoughts

So, in my quest for as much information as I can get, I read other adoptive parents blogs, as well as adoptees blogs (IA and otherwise). Some of these can be quite eye-opening. Some make me a bit sad, even. I am not one of those people who think that adopting from China is all ladybugs and red threads. I would love to believe that love will conquer all, and that will be all my daughter needs to feel good about herself, where she came from, where she is and where she is going. I am not naive enough to believe, however, that that is true! It isn't. And I need to know how to equip her with as much as I can to help her succeed. I'm trying to learn what that might be.

Some people who know me can appreciate the fact that I truly believe in relationship and family and that I want nothing more than for my daughter to feel like she "belongs" somewhere. I already mourn that for her and she isn't even here yet. I do think it is going to be a challenge. I worry about her and our white society. Is it fair of me to bring her her? In some people's eyes, no. There are so many things that go into making the decision to adopt and from where. And I don't feel like I owe it to anyone but her the reasons I choose to adopt from China. I will say, however, that I feel like it is my responsibility to be thoughtful in that decision (as I feel everyone who chooses this path, should be, IMO), not for my sake, but hers (the childrens). And I hope I have been.

I've met a lot of people lately who have either adopted or been adopted themselves. They say that she will be "lucky" to be here instead of China (well-meaning, for sure). I get these comments from other folks as well (along with lots of invasive questions). I don't know how to respond to that. Saying I'm the lucky one sounds trite to me. Am I am lucky to be able to help someone else along on their life journey, yes. To have a daughter? Yes. But it will be different for her, for sure. She will (would) have challenges either way. Sometimes it is more important for someone to feel like they fit in over the perceived benefits of education and career/money. Or at least, from what I've read, that is a part of themselves they struggle with because it is very real even if it isn't tangible. I completely respect that.

And I realize, that most would agree that having a home is better than an orphanage, but there is definitely a cost involved. I'm sure this is not only emotional, internal, but also of familiarity and generations of history. We can sometimes forget that because our 'history' a lot of times has been here in the US for a century or more. We all moved here from somewhere, even if it was a 100 years ago, and so we feel like others should go ahead and adapt like that. Forgetting all they leave behind (except, i can look at my dad and see parts of myself, IA's don't have that). Wow. That is a lot for someone to swallow. Go somewhere different. Look different. Feel different. Alone. Have no history whatsoever. Whoa. And somehow I'm supposed to think that my love will conquer all that? No way. I just hope that we can build a family together, though, and that someday she will want me as family as much as I want her as family. And that somehow I can give her some sense of being truly loved no matter what.

And don't get me wrong. I'm very excited to be doing all this. I worry (ask my sis). But I believe this is the path I'm supposed to be on. I realize that sounds selfish from my daughter's standpoint, probably. From what I've read, anyway. I mean, she has no choice in who her family will be (but do any of us, really?!). It is always decided by someone else (my opinion, God or this type of route).

Anyway, I really do want to honor where my daughter comes from and I hope that I can help her along her journey of finding herself. Because finding herself is most important. It takes even those of us who weren't adopted decades to start finding our 'own' self. Making peace with the past. It takes reflection of where we came from and where we are and where we are going, as I said before. I can't answer all those questions for her, but I hope I can help her, anyway.

peace.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Too tired to write, even

I've been go, go, go since last Thursday. Scraping the floor in the family room. Sweeping, removing more carpet and padding.

My sis and I held a sort-of impromptu garage sale of our own on Saturday, for 12 hours! (so, after working on the FR all day, I had to get the car loaded and drive to sis' house at midnight) We got up at 7am and held the garage sale until 7pm! We made our little goal, but it wasn't probably as good money-wise as if we had some bigger items. Of course every little bit helps! and we had fun, which is always good. My nephew even had his first-ever lemonade stand! Too cute. He did great (and made over 7 bucks of his own!) He's going to be like his mommy, an entrepreneur, when he grows up! :) We talked about trying another one next month. So, let's see what we can put together. So much more I want to write (bore you with) about the day, but I'll leave it at that for now...

We did take all the left-overs to Goodwill. At least we both got rid of a little bit of "stuff", right? Right. :)

I worked on the family room again yesterday, and mowed my lawn in the 93+ degree heat. It had to be done! I'm about 98% done scraping the floor, but I need to bleach it again, and then Kilz it... paint the red wall one more time and paint the baseboards.

And all I can think of right now is SLEEP. I feel like I ran a long run yesterday, as my arms, back and legs all hurt. But I didn't. Yawn.

Peace.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Scraping away...

I've been scraping the crap off the floor... here is a tiny bit of progress.

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Nothing interesting...

I have nothing really interesting to report or talk about. I feel quite boring lately. I have been working a lot this past couple of weeks and am trying to get this family room project done! I haven't had time to sew as much this week, and my running isn't any better. It will be though. I'm determined to get back to my normal schedule of somesort. So, this is the week to do it all. That final push. Get 'er done, as they say.

On the adoption front, I am getting more and more nervous! I wonder how I will feel once I know who she will be and she gets here. I'm already anxiously awaiting August referrals so I can get a feel for when I might get mine... Oh, which reminds me, I've got to go get re-fingerprinted this month!

Not sure if I mentioned, but I had a full blood work-up last week and everything was great. My cholesterol is 189 (good 47 and bad 116). My sugar was 79 and my Thyroid is 2.08. My dr. put me back on Flonase, 'cause my allergies have just been out of control. She also gave me something to help me sleep, as I've been having an awful time of that the past few weeks. She wants to see me back in 6 weeks. Hopefully, my allergies will be under control and I'll be sleeping better.

One funny thing that happened to me last night when I was leaving the grocery... a young man approached me to buy magazines for his school project. I never know if this is legit or not, but he was very pleasant. In the midst of the conversation, he asked how old I was and if I was married/dating anyone... and I said, no. He said he thought I was 25!! I said, no... he said 27? I said, no... I said I was over 30 and he said NO YOU AREN'T! He thought I was lying. hahahahaha. ;-) Made my day. Then he asked for my phone number... now this kid was 22. Yikes. Can you say wet behind the ears?! ROFL.

Peace.

Monday, August 7, 2006

Had to know....

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Sunday, August 6, 2006

Baby Stuff...

So, my sis and I went garage saling this weekend (wonder of all wonders!) ;-) And I got a great bunch of clothes and board books and a little bike/push toy for the baby. Very cool. Now, besides finishing that dad-blamed Family room of mine... I've got to start on the baby's room!! It's getting full and she's not even here yet!!! YIKES! :D

I also got a chance last week to go through the 2 BIG bags that my friends from church gave me. Awesome stuff!

....baby on the brain.... (which is best, 'cause men still suck)

Peace.

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Looks like...

There was at least one confirmation today that the cutoff was indeed 7/13/05 for this batch of referrals.

Congratulations to all the new mommies and daddies!!!

I'm wondering now if there will be a batch in August (due to the move)? And how many will be in it. That makes a 13 month wait (obviously) for those with 7/14-7/31 LIDs. Wonder if that will continue....

On the home front, the guy who said he'd come pull up those tack strips for me, came today!!!! I can't tell you HOW HAPPY THAT MADE ME!!!!! WOOHOO. $35 bucks well spent, IMHO. And one more task done. Oh, and I got the 2nd coat of brown on the brown wall. 3 walls done. 1 to go! Going to concentrate on that tomrorow. And then the FLOOR. I might actually be able to have them come put the carpet in this week!! OMG. That would rock.

Peace.