It happened today, around noon, and I think it was Karlee's mom who should be seeing Karlee's little face any day now.
When this started, I never dreamt that 10 people would ever click on my blog, so to have had so many people come, and visit is just overwhelming. For those that do follow along, please know how much it means to me to have you come along for what has turned into the longest journey in the world. We are going to be very good friends by the time this one is over.
peace out
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
We are the proud new parents of a fuzzy little girl
Okay, what happens when you breed a cream standard poodle with a chocolate labradoodle?
You become the proud new parents of a black f1b labradoodle. We just found out this morning that Zeta had her puppies last night. 9 little fuzzy beautiful creatures. 8 are cream, and the special one(ours) is the only dark, dark chocolate almost black one.
***** Can you guess which one is ours?? LOL*****
We couldn't be more excited. It has taken a long time for us to even considering bringing another dog into our house. We are both still actively grieving the loss of our 12 year old cocker. I hope this puppy will bring some new life into the house, and make it active again. I look forward to going for walks, and trips to the park, and rides in the car.
It is all very strange. We both had agreed that we wanted a labradoodle, but we spent a great deal of time searching for the right breeder. We knew that we wanted a second generation as they are less likely to shed. We thought that would be good for the baby, as she might have allergies. Plus need I remind you I am a little OCD, and so dog hair in my house does not work for me and my illness. We came across what appears to be a wonderful breeder who doesn't breed that often, and they specialize in chocolate doodles. I have a thing for black and chocolate dogs. I knew that Zeta was due memorial day weekend, and this particular breeder does not do a list, she tells you when the dogs are due, and you keep in contact and if she has a puppy that fits your desires than she makes a match. I emailed her last night when I went to bed, and sure enough we awoke to an email announcing that 9 puppies had been born. She told me that she thought that she had the puppy we had been waiting for as all of them were cream except for one. We knew that this was meant to be. So I sent her the deposit this morning, and then she emailed me this afternoon, and told me that she had a closer examination of the pups, and that our girl is really more of a dark, dark chocolate or almost black color. She said that she could not believe it, as they had never had a black pup, and how did they get a black pup from a cream daddy and a chocolate momma?? She said I hope that black is okay, as she is beautiful. I almost cried I was so happy. Chocolate was fine as I have always wanted a chocolate dog, but the fact that she is black just makes me buzz with happiness. I know that she is the dog for us. D responded with....."that is so awesome" So I told her that we were thrilled, and to take good care of our girl, and we can't wait to see pictures of her. We should be able to get her in about 8 weeks, so the end of July we will make the journey to pick up our new girl.
I hate to divuldge what I think our new fuzzy baby will be named as I know a few folks that are naming their daughter this. But I must tell you that this named was picked because I love this name, and it was on our name list for the baby. So if I can't name our daughter this, I decided that I had one last chance to use it. So as of late her name will be Ruby. There are still a couple of choices on the table, but this is my vote.
We couldn't be more excited. It has taken a long time for us to even considering bringing another dog into our house. We are both still actively grieving the loss of our 12 year old cocker. I hope this puppy will bring some new life into the house, and make it active again. I look forward to going for walks, and trips to the park, and rides in the car.It is all very strange. We both had agreed that we wanted a labradoodle, but we spent a great deal of time searching for the right breeder. We knew that we wanted a second generation as they are less likely to shed. We thought that would be good for the baby, as she might have allergies. Plus need I remind you I am a little OCD, and so dog hair in my house does not work for me and my illness. We came across what appears to be a wonderful breeder who doesn't breed that often, and they specialize in chocolate doodles. I have a thing for black and chocolate dogs. I knew that Zeta was due memorial day weekend, and this particular breeder does not do a list, she tells you when the dogs are due, and you keep in contact and if she has a puppy that fits your desires than she makes a match. I emailed her last night when I went to bed, and sure enough we awoke to an email announcing that 9 puppies had been born. She told me that she thought that she had the puppy we had been waiting for as all of them were cream except for one. We knew that this was meant to be. So I sent her the deposit this morning, and then she emailed me this afternoon, and told me that she had a closer examination of the pups, and that our girl is really more of a dark, dark chocolate or almost black color. She said that she could not believe it, as they had never had a black pup, and how did they get a black pup from a cream daddy and a chocolate momma?? She said I hope that black is okay, as she is beautiful. I almost cried I was so happy. Chocolate was fine as I have always wanted a chocolate dog, but the fact that she is black just makes me buzz with happiness. I know that she is the dog for us. D responded with....."that is so awesome" So I told her that we were thrilled, and to take good care of our girl, and we can't wait to see pictures of her. We should be able to get her in about 8 weeks, so the end of July we will make the journey to pick up our new girl.
I hate to divuldge what I think our new fuzzy baby will be named as I know a few folks that are naming their daughter this. But I must tell you that this named was picked because I love this name, and it was on our name list for the baby. So if I can't name our daughter this, I decided that I had one last chance to use it. So as of late her name will be Ruby. There are still a couple of choices on the table, but this is my vote.
Monday, May 21, 2007
New York, New York
Okay kids, we have been in NYC since Saturday, and don't leave until Wednesday late afternoon. We have been looking forward to this trip for about 5 months. D has a conference this week, and while we have both been to NYC a lot(we both have worked here for extensive periods of time) we haven't been here together in quite some time. So we have had a great time so far. The city has been very busy considering school isn't out yet. We are staying in Midtown-not somewhere we typically stay(too busy, too touristy) No complaints, we have subway stop just 2 blocks away, so the location has actually been very good.
The weather didn't really cooperate on Saturday, so we just grabbed some dinner, and headed back to the hotel with the smartest elevators in town! But yesterday we slept in, headed out for some brunch, and then hit the streets. Even with the number of times we have been here,neither of us had visited ground zero. I look forward to seeing it when it isn't just a construction site, and there is a proper memorial for those who lost their lives. We then headed for Canal, and I must tell you to heed my advice; don't do it on the weekend. I have never been down there on a weekend, and will try not to do it again. If this is anything like what we will experience(amount of people) in China, I may have really big anxiety issues by the time we return. It was shoulder to shoulder people...sweaty people. But must tell you that did not slow down my bargaining power. I am feeling very good about my purchases.
D had a dinner meeting at some swanky place, it was a bit funny as D is not a sushi eater... so when you are going to a place called Koi he was already off to a bad start. He did say that they had some great appetizers. He is a meat and potato's kind of guy, bt I don't think he is complaining about his Kobe beef he enjoyed, while everyone else ate sushi. But while D was being swanky, I headed to the west side to see my lovely friend Comanche. She is a wine rep, she is funny, cute, smart, and I just love her to death. She had always been so gracious to allow me to stay with her in between my trips during my days of flying. So it was awesome to see her and catch up since I have not seen her since last Oct. We headed out for Indian, and let me just tell you the food, the service, the weather, and most certainly the company were incredible. We sat there for 2 hours and caught up, ate and drank until we were stuffed!! May I suggest you try the mint naan.
Tomorrow will be a highlight of our trip. We are going to see David Letterman. I have wanted to see this show my entire adult life, and finally we have tickets. So tune in on Tuesday when Dave will have Charles Barkley on, and we will be in the audience. We are really excited.
So this is all I have of our trip right now, but will update with pictures and more about our trip to Letterman when we return.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
She's Home!
Welcome to our newest US Citizen!
It has been a privilege to watch this trip. It really became part of my morning ritual to get a cup of tea, sit down at my computer, and see what has been happening in the world of Emme Lu. I really haven't visited this site much since we were paperchasing last summer. When I discovered this site it was an immediate obsession. I had read every single story, including every single day of their trip to China. For the families that were in China at the time, for me it was as good as reality TV. It felt as though I really knew them, I felt like I was right there with them on Gotcha day. I would wonder about them long after they were home and hadn't updated their site. But once we were logged in, and the reality of the "real" wait began to sink in, it was almost too much for me mentally to even think of jumping over there for a look see. Well fast forward about 7 months, and that is when I learned that we would be watching the trip to get Emme, it all became so new, so REAL for me to be watching someone from my group go pick up their child. If you missed it; trust me on this one you don't want to miss it, you will want to sit a spell, go here get a cup of joe and read every word, and see every picture of an amazing trip to China to pick up an amazing little girl who looks wise beyond her years.
It is one of the best China stories I have watched. I am sure it meant more to me because I feel like I know this family.
I love how it feels to be as excited about "my friends" going to get their children as I know I will be when it is our turn. It makes my day when I hear someone that I know is getting their referral, or that someone has found out that they were picked to be the lucky family to a WC. We have had a lot of good news amongst my group lately, and it is the good news we have all been needing. I think I will be watching at least one family at all times this summer, and I am really looking forward to seeing all of those families joined together. I think it makes it feel more "real" it makes you feel like you are making progress, and that it will actually really happen to you someday.
So I am excited to watch this little one thrive in her new home, with her forever family. I think she is going to do amazing things. Our family is wishing her a BIG welcome home, and a BIG thank you for letting us tag along for their journey of a lifetime.
It has been a privilege to watch this trip. It really became part of my morning ritual to get a cup of tea, sit down at my computer, and see what has been happening in the world of Emme Lu. I really haven't visited this site much since we were paperchasing last summer. When I discovered this site it was an immediate obsession. I had read every single story, including every single day of their trip to China. For the families that were in China at the time, for me it was as good as reality TV. It felt as though I really knew them, I felt like I was right there with them on Gotcha day. I would wonder about them long after they were home and hadn't updated their site. But once we were logged in, and the reality of the "real" wait began to sink in, it was almost too much for me mentally to even think of jumping over there for a look see. Well fast forward about 7 months, and that is when I learned that we would be watching the trip to get Emme, it all became so new, so REAL for me to be watching someone from my group go pick up their child. If you missed it; trust me on this one you don't want to miss it, you will want to sit a spell, go here get a cup of joe and read every word, and see every picture of an amazing trip to China to pick up an amazing little girl who looks wise beyond her years.
It is one of the best China stories I have watched. I am sure it meant more to me because I feel like I know this family.
I love how it feels to be as excited about "my friends" going to get their children as I know I will be when it is our turn. It makes my day when I hear someone that I know is getting their referral, or that someone has found out that they were picked to be the lucky family to a WC. We have had a lot of good news amongst my group lately, and it is the good news we have all been needing. I think I will be watching at least one family at all times this summer, and I am really looking forward to seeing all of those families joined together. I think it makes it feel more "real" it makes you feel like you are making progress, and that it will actually really happen to you someday.
So I am excited to watch this little one thrive in her new home, with her forever family. I think she is going to do amazing things. Our family is wishing her a BIG welcome home, and a BIG thank you for letting us tag along for their journey of a lifetime.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Your word is all you have at the end of the day!
I am so disgusted with Survivor, and the integrity of it's players that I may be done watching it******Well that was until they announced that the next season will be Survivor China. Can't help it, but I won't be missing one single episode. **** This is so much worse than when Johnny Fairlane or whatever his name was, lied and said his grandma died(that guy was scum too)
Dreamz, I hope you sleep well at night, and wish you the very best, as you didn't win the money(like you had a chance) you don't know the definition of integrity, and at the end of this day you only have a truck and some really BAD KARMA!!! Good luck with that. Sucks to be you!
Thank goodness it was Earl, as Cassandra was just along for the ride, and really didn't earn her spot in the top three. Yao Man should have won, hands down.
Can I ask if anyone noticed if the other two won anything? Usually the second runner up wins like $100K, but it didn't appear to be the case this season. Maybe I missed something as I was off throwing up in pure disgust.
I am happy that this season of TV watching is coming to a close. I hate to see my favorite shows end, but I am so productive during the summer, as I watch very little television.
So just a couple of weeks, and our TV will be going on hiatus.
Last but certainly not least Happy Mother's Day or mu qīn jié to all of you yummy mummies out there(sorry love the shopaholic series) I have been thinking about what we will do special to recognize and observe our daughters birthmother on this day. I think it is important that we are always thankful to her, and hope that she finds peace in the hope that her daughter has gone on to a happy, loving, and secure life where she will have opportunities that she may not have had otherwise, such as a good education. I hope that we can find something that is heartfelt, and something that would be considered very respectful by Chinese Standards. It does appear that they do celebrate this holiday. I will be interested to see if you have any things you are planning on doing to recognize your child's birthmother on this day. Maybe planting something, or maybe writing letters that we can put away and read someday.
Last but certainly not least Happy Mother's Day or mu qīn jié to all of you yummy mummies out there(sorry love the shopaholic series) I have been thinking about what we will do special to recognize and observe our daughters birthmother on this day. I think it is important that we are always thankful to her, and hope that she finds peace in the hope that her daughter has gone on to a happy, loving, and secure life where she will have opportunities that she may not have had otherwise, such as a good education. I hope that we can find something that is heartfelt, and something that would be considered very respectful by Chinese Standards. It does appear that they do celebrate this holiday. I will be interested to see if you have any things you are planning on doing to recognize your child's birthmother on this day. Maybe planting something, or maybe writing letters that we can put away and read someday.
I know that this day will always be a bit bittersweet to me once we have our daughter here with us. It will always remind me that someone else had to lose a treasure for me to have the greatest gift of all. I want to respect that, and I want our daughter to recognize that there is a very special woman out there who really did a very selfless gesture, and her "mommy" is very thankful for that gesture.
In celebration of this holiday, I received a great surprise from my secret pal. I told you my secret pal rocks. What a beautiful surprise. I love the book, and loved the card, but especially loved the surprise. Thanks!
Someday my friends I will look at your blogs and see a beautiful child's face in the pictures, and there will be lovely pictures of our mother's day with our children. Oh, I can't wait for that day!
In celebration of this holiday, I received a great surprise from my secret pal. I told you my secret pal rocks. What a beautiful surprise. I love the book, and loved the card, but especially loved the surprise. Thanks!
Someday my friends I will look at your blogs and see a beautiful child's face in the pictures, and there will be lovely pictures of our mother's day with our children. Oh, I can't wait for that day!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Pelvic thrust no more, and some other idol chatter.
People, I must tell you it is about time this dude was voted off. Not only was he a bad dancer, it was hard for me to even look at him. If he had done one more pelvic thrust, I was going to have throw up, and give up one of my favorite shows. He needed to go a lot sooner than he did. I was put into complete panic mode when Joey was in the bottom two with this hillbilly. I am betting on Joey and Apolo going to the end. Sorry to any of you that are big 90210 fans, but Ian has a major chip on his shoulder, is too skinny, has a weird neck, really big white teeth(where do all of those celebrities get their teeth whitened? my crest white strips are not doing the job. Finally, he tries WAAAAAAAYYYY too hard. He is next on my chopping block. He has even made me not really enjoy who has always in the past been my favorite dancer (Cheryl Burke)
I must tell you that I thought Julianne and Apolo's tango was the most amazing dance I have seen to date. I am telling you that once D and I start our dance lessons, we are going to be tangoing.....is that a word? constantly. That will be sight that everyone will look forward to, including myself.
It will be hard for me to decide between Apolo and Joey, because I heart Joey, and yes I do have a few Insync songs on my ipod.
Okay kids moving on to TAR. I have to be honest here. Not my favorite season. Didn't miss an episode, but really disappointed with the outcome. There is consolation in Eric and Danielle(please put a shirt on)winning this season. That is the fact that I am not having the expected post partum that I usually have when this show ends, and I immediately start counting the days until it comes back on. I wasn't really thrilled or rooting for any of the final three teams, but I would have to say Eric and Danielle were at the bottom of the list of the remaining teams. I don't think they were even that good at the race(I know some would disagree, as they encountered some really bad luck, but seemed to prevail) I certainly did not like the Blondie's, but you have to admit they were ferocious competitors. Then Myrna and Charla bugged the hell out of me, but again, you gotta give it to them....great competitors. So in the end I would rather that great racers win than someone who really just got lucky. I would have felt a bit better if either of those teams had won.
But I was really rooting for Danny and Oswald. Damn the karma, but what else could they have done except convince the Blondie's that it should be Myrna and Chyrmna. They were my favorite in their first season, and I had really hoped that they would win it all this time. Damn the karma. Oh well. Until next season Phil, I will miss you.
I must tell you that I thought Julianne and Apolo's tango was the most amazing dance I have seen to date. I am telling you that once D and I start our dance lessons, we are going to be tangoing.....is that a word? constantly. That will be sight that everyone will look forward to, including myself.
It will be hard for me to decide between Apolo and Joey, because I heart Joey, and yes I do have a few Insync songs on my ipod.
Okay kids moving on to TAR. I have to be honest here. Not my favorite season. Didn't miss an episode, but really disappointed with the outcome. There is consolation in Eric and Danielle(please put a shirt on)winning this season. That is the fact that I am not having the expected post partum that I usually have when this show ends, and I immediately start counting the days until it comes back on. I wasn't really thrilled or rooting for any of the final three teams, but I would have to say Eric and Danielle were at the bottom of the list of the remaining teams. I don't think they were even that good at the race(I know some would disagree, as they encountered some really bad luck, but seemed to prevail) I certainly did not like the Blondie's, but you have to admit they were ferocious competitors. Then Myrna and Charla bugged the hell out of me, but again, you gotta give it to them....great competitors. So in the end I would rather that great racers win than someone who really just got lucky. I would have felt a bit better if either of those teams had won.But I was really rooting for Danny and Oswald. Damn the karma, but what else could they have done except convince the Blondie's that it should be Myrna and Chyrmna. They were my favorite in their first season, and I had really hoped that they would win it all this time. Damn the karma. Oh well. Until next season Phil, I will miss you.
Yao man is where its at on Survivor. This has not been one of my favorite seasons of Survivor, but, I am really backing the Yao Man team. He is so cute and smart, what more could you want? I am certain it is driving those 20 somethings crazy that this "50 year old, little smart Asian man" is still in the race and has the immunity idol to keep him around a little longer. By the way I think it is a stupid rule that you have to relinquish the idol before the vote. It really takes it value away. Has that always been the rule? because I don't really remember that being the case.
So Yao man...Cheers to you, and I think you have a lot of fans backing you. 
I am sort of watching the Bachelor. This show is like a train wreck to me. You know you shouldn't, and you don't even like looking, but..........you just can't help yourself. Andy drives me crazy. I don't think he is cute, I don't really find anything about him cute. He doesn't come across that smart, and well he just bugs. The girls they picked this season bug more than they have ever bugged me before. They are perfect for the "not so cute" bachelor, as I didn't find many of them that cute. I am backing Tessa, but it may be Bevin despite her admission to a previous marriage(her bad) I think this should be the last season of this train wreck.
D can't stand that I would waste one minute on this show. He thinks it may be the most ridiculous show on television. I would have to agree, but I can't seem to not catch up each week on TIVO. At least I watch it commercial free, so I only waste about 25-30 minutes per week on it. But I just figured out that he erased it from the TIVO when I wasn't paying attention. Crap, now I need to log on and see who he booted. I am sure it was the girl who's family didn't show. Plus she is only 23. Hello, what is a 23 year old doing on that show. Someone needs to offer that girl some motherly advice; No marriage until you are a grown up.
I watch Idol as well. But have not followed it as closely as I usually do. I am voting for Melinda. But I also like Lakeesha(sp?) But am really fine with whoever wins this season.
Let me know what you think of my reality list, and give me an update on the ones you watch. I am an admitted reality TV junkie, but I am considering recovery. But don't let that stop you from sharing with me.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore
***edited**
first Happy Mother's day next week. I totally thought it was this weekend. So much that I sent all of my mother's day cards out yesterday....what a OCD freak.
Then I have no idea why I thought that the booting off part of Dancing with the Stars was on Wed. I know it is on Tues, but somehow I was confused this week, and thought it was being interupted by the weather. But then when I looked at TIVO it showed that it had taped it. So I was convinced that TIVO is so smart( and it is) and that since the weather wasn't on everywhere else in the country that it still just taped the network and not the local version of what was on....okay just work with me here. Yes it was a very blonde moment, and my husband said he didn't say anything to me so that it wouldn't hurt my feelings and he knew I would figure it out. DUH!!!!
I am so over due in updating. Time just seems to fly by. I would say that is a great thing while we are waiting, but it isn't flying by that fast. But here is what has been keeping me busy.
I have lived in TX for 17 years, and grew up in the Midwest, so this tornado thing isn't something new to me. But I must tell you, for the last two weeks(actually for the last 2 Wednesday-I know this to be the case, because I keep missing who gets booted off of Dancing with the Stars for god sakes) But last Wednesday we were fairly certain that there was a strong possibility that we were going to actually experience a tornado first hand. So we grabbed our stuff(for me that included my purse, cell phone, our dossier, our scrapbooks that I loaded into trash bags, and some sneakers-Not sure exactly what "D" grabbed-I am sure more practical stuff) The sirens started going off, the sky got a strange green hue to it, and the wind picked up. But it still didn't feel that scary as "D" was here, and he was calm as usual. We didn't actually get into the closet except to make sure we would fit with all the cushions we had put in there. It all passed by pretty quickly, and I think there ended up being only one tornado that actually did only a little bit of damage, and it wasn't even that close to us.
But then yesterday rolled around, and while I knew that storms were forecasted, I was not the least bit worried. Well that was until I saw the GIANT band of RED headed towards us, and the reports that there were rotations reported, and that there was torrential rain, and up to 100 mph straight line winds. OKAY friends I am now home by myself, and I am FREAKING out. Freaking out so much that all I grabbed was my purse(with my phone) flashlight, and this wind up radio thing. So I call "D" to tell him to not leave the office(which he had and was sitting in traffic) He tells me to be calm, and just a make sure I have a flashlight, plenty of cushions, and to crack a window. Well about that time I see our patio table and umbrella go flying pass the window and into the yard, and the trees are sideways, and it is raining so hard that I can't see the houses across the street. The lightening was terrible so we decide that we should hang up, and I told him I would call him back to give him an update to when he would be getting the brunt of the storm. Well about 3 minutes later the siren that is right in our neighborhood went off, and needless to say, that was all she wrote. Thankfully we don't have our daughter yet, as I would have scared her to death. I just started crying like a little girl. I thought this was really going to happen, and I was going to have to do it all by myself. I have never seen it storm like this before. I mean we have 30 foot trees in our front yard, and they were leaning so far over I thought there is no way for them to not just snap like a toothpick. The icing on the cake was when the electricity went off, and now I could no longer hear or see the TV to know what was happening. That part really sucked. I just sat in our downstairs closet on my cell phone while crying on the phone and chastising my husband for always working too late(like that was useful-I apologized later) and he just stayed calm as a cucumber, and kept telling me that I would be safe, and it would be okay. He was right, it was okay. When it was finally over I needed to go to bed as I felt like I had been through a tornado, I was mentally exhausted.
So this was the first time in nearly 40 years of living, I really thought this was going to be a scene out of The Wizard of OZ. But here I am no worse for the wear. This tornado thing really sucks. I think that once again we were very lucky, and our area escaped with minimal damage.
However we did get much needed rain. I think they said that there are still 200,000 without electricity.
Okay, the next thing I want to share with you is the attachment/bonding seminar I went to last week. It was presented by Lutheran Social Services. The facilitator was Dr. Karyn Purvis, and it was the best 8 hours I have ever spent. She was a great speaker, and just a wealth of information. If you ever have a chance to hear her speak I highly recommend it. If you can't see her, I recommend her book The Connected Child, and you can go here to get it. She is the director of Child Development at Texas Christian University. I learned more in that 8 hours than I think I ever learned in a semester class in college. I think her book would be helpful to any parent who might be having behavior/sensory issues regardless if they were adopted.
On the referral front. I am happy that we are finally into November, I really just want to get into 06' This may be the first month that I felt that referrals wouldn't go as far as they did. The referral thing is just so relative. This is the like the gas situation we have going on right now. Remember when gas started inching towards $2.00, and everyone was freaking about it?? Then it passed $2.00 and went to $3.00, so when gas went back down to about $2.30 we thought it was so cheap(ridiculous thinking on our part) Well when we had only 2 days of referrals last month, the 6 days this month was such a relief...even though 2 of those days were weekend days. Same sort of thinking, they have us thankful that they produced another measly batch. I am not complaining, as 6 is better than 2, but I think it is time for them to stop taking vacations, and get to work. I must say that I am pleased to see how young the babies were this round. I have really seen some beautiful pictures in this batch.
We are off to the East meets West conference this weekend. I would like to not go as it is being hosted by Great Wall, and I really have mean, negative feelings about this agency because of their involvment in this adoption. While I appreciate everyones personal opinion on this particular situation, I must tell you that I feel great pain for this family, and I feel like they their treatment was reprehensible. Everyone seems to be pointing fingers at this mother, and I ask that you to try as hard as you can to stand in her shoes, consider all of the circumstances, and then point the finger at the agency first. This is what they are suppose to specialize in, they have been doing China adoptions for a long time, and to claim that they have never had this happen or they don't know what to do is irresponsible. This could just as easily been you or me, and then I think everyone would change their mind on whether their treatment was fair. So having said that, we are still going to this seminar as I think it will be full of good information. There will be an orphange director there to speak to us...the part I am most interested in. But we have spent a lot of $$$$ to register(it was not cheap at all) so we will still go. But I will never tell someone that I think that they should use this agency. For all of us in line, I tell you to read this to arm yourself with the proper information so this doesn't happen to you.
Happy Mothers Day to all of you.
first Happy Mother's day next week. I totally thought it was this weekend. So much that I sent all of my mother's day cards out yesterday....what a OCD freak.
Then I have no idea why I thought that the booting off part of Dancing with the Stars was on Wed. I know it is on Tues, but somehow I was confused this week, and thought it was being interupted by the weather. But then when I looked at TIVO it showed that it had taped it. So I was convinced that TIVO is so smart( and it is) and that since the weather wasn't on everywhere else in the country that it still just taped the network and not the local version of what was on....okay just work with me here. Yes it was a very blonde moment, and my husband said he didn't say anything to me so that it wouldn't hurt my feelings and he knew I would figure it out. DUH!!!!
I am so over due in updating. Time just seems to fly by. I would say that is a great thing while we are waiting, but it isn't flying by that fast. But here is what has been keeping me busy.
I have lived in TX for 17 years, and grew up in the Midwest, so this tornado thing isn't something new to me. But I must tell you, for the last two weeks(actually for the last 2 Wednesday-I know this to be the case, because I keep missing who gets booted off of Dancing with the Stars for god sakes) But last Wednesday we were fairly certain that there was a strong possibility that we were going to actually experience a tornado first hand. So we grabbed our stuff(for me that included my purse, cell phone, our dossier, our scrapbooks that I loaded into trash bags, and some sneakers-Not sure exactly what "D" grabbed-I am sure more practical stuff) The sirens started going off, the sky got a strange green hue to it, and the wind picked up. But it still didn't feel that scary as "D" was here, and he was calm as usual. We didn't actually get into the closet except to make sure we would fit with all the cushions we had put in there. It all passed by pretty quickly, and I think there ended up being only one tornado that actually did only a little bit of damage, and it wasn't even that close to us.
But then yesterday rolled around, and while I knew that storms were forecasted, I was not the least bit worried. Well that was until I saw the GIANT band of RED headed towards us, and the reports that there were rotations reported, and that there was torrential rain, and up to 100 mph straight line winds. OKAY friends I am now home by myself, and I am FREAKING out. Freaking out so much that all I grabbed was my purse(with my phone) flashlight, and this wind up radio thing. So I call "D" to tell him to not leave the office(which he had and was sitting in traffic) He tells me to be calm, and just a make sure I have a flashlight, plenty of cushions, and to crack a window. Well about that time I see our patio table and umbrella go flying pass the window and into the yard, and the trees are sideways, and it is raining so hard that I can't see the houses across the street. The lightening was terrible so we decide that we should hang up, and I told him I would call him back to give him an update to when he would be getting the brunt of the storm. Well about 3 minutes later the siren that is right in our neighborhood went off, and needless to say, that was all she wrote. Thankfully we don't have our daughter yet, as I would have scared her to death. I just started crying like a little girl. I thought this was really going to happen, and I was going to have to do it all by myself. I have never seen it storm like this before. I mean we have 30 foot trees in our front yard, and they were leaning so far over I thought there is no way for them to not just snap like a toothpick. The icing on the cake was when the electricity went off, and now I could no longer hear or see the TV to know what was happening. That part really sucked. I just sat in our downstairs closet on my cell phone while crying on the phone and chastising my husband for always working too late(like that was useful-I apologized later) and he just stayed calm as a cucumber, and kept telling me that I would be safe, and it would be okay. He was right, it was okay. When it was finally over I needed to go to bed as I felt like I had been through a tornado, I was mentally exhausted.
So this was the first time in nearly 40 years of living, I really thought this was going to be a scene out of The Wizard of OZ. But here I am no worse for the wear. This tornado thing really sucks. I think that once again we were very lucky, and our area escaped with minimal damage.
However we did get much needed rain. I think they said that there are still 200,000 without electricity.
Okay, the next thing I want to share with you is the attachment/bonding seminar I went to last week. It was presented by Lutheran Social Services. The facilitator was Dr. Karyn Purvis, and it was the best 8 hours I have ever spent. She was a great speaker, and just a wealth of information. If you ever have a chance to hear her speak I highly recommend it. If you can't see her, I recommend her book The Connected Child, and you can go here to get it. She is the director of Child Development at Texas Christian University. I learned more in that 8 hours than I think I ever learned in a semester class in college. I think her book would be helpful to any parent who might be having behavior/sensory issues regardless if they were adopted.
On the referral front. I am happy that we are finally into November, I really just want to get into 06' This may be the first month that I felt that referrals wouldn't go as far as they did. The referral thing is just so relative. This is the like the gas situation we have going on right now. Remember when gas started inching towards $2.00, and everyone was freaking about it?? Then it passed $2.00 and went to $3.00, so when gas went back down to about $2.30 we thought it was so cheap(ridiculous thinking on our part) Well when we had only 2 days of referrals last month, the 6 days this month was such a relief...even though 2 of those days were weekend days. Same sort of thinking, they have us thankful that they produced another measly batch. I am not complaining, as 6 is better than 2, but I think it is time for them to stop taking vacations, and get to work. I must say that I am pleased to see how young the babies were this round. I have really seen some beautiful pictures in this batch.
We are off to the East meets West conference this weekend. I would like to not go as it is being hosted by Great Wall, and I really have mean, negative feelings about this agency because of their involvment in this adoption. While I appreciate everyones personal opinion on this particular situation, I must tell you that I feel great pain for this family, and I feel like they their treatment was reprehensible. Everyone seems to be pointing fingers at this mother, and I ask that you to try as hard as you can to stand in her shoes, consider all of the circumstances, and then point the finger at the agency first. This is what they are suppose to specialize in, they have been doing China adoptions for a long time, and to claim that they have never had this happen or they don't know what to do is irresponsible. This could just as easily been you or me, and then I think everyone would change their mind on whether their treatment was fair. So having said that, we are still going to this seminar as I think it will be full of good information. There will be an orphange director there to speak to us...the part I am most interested in. But we have spent a lot of $$$$ to register(it was not cheap at all) so we will still go. But I will never tell someone that I think that they should use this agency. For all of us in line, I tell you to read this to arm yourself with the proper information so this doesn't happen to you.
Happy Mothers Day to all of you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
