A few pictures and a Thank You

So we are back. The house in NY is pretty much emptied out. It was hard and a little weird when we pulled out for the last time. We usually honk our horn to say good-bye and DH did again which made me smile. We took Lil'bit (Boston Terrier) to a wonderful lady in Virginia and Carrie and Goldie (Boston Terrier - sisters) went to a family in NY. My parents spoiled those 3 dogs - cooked for them every night. Poor babies were with my dad for over 3 days in that room, but they say that when a dog smells the body they know that the person is gone. All 3 dogs have lost weight and when Lil'bit came into the house for the first time in weeks she looked around for dad. DH was sitting in his old chair and Lil'bit jumped right up on him, looked at him, and jumped right back down.

Thank you guys for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers. It means a lot to me knowing that people whom I never met are thinking about me and my family. I'm okay, haven't really "broken down" as DH says. Of course, I haven't done that for momma either. It all happened so fast that I guess I'm still shell shocked. I know that dad is so much happier now that he's with mom.

While back in NY we went to my DH's family reunion. This occurs every 2 years and is a blast. DH's mom is 80 years old and really enjoys seeing everyone get together like this. I have pictures that I'll share.

We borrowed a friends trailer so we could haul back grandma's dining room set. On the way up we blew a tire and lost a fender. Jeez...it might have been cheaper to rent a U-Haul!! Oh well, so it goes. We packed a dining room table, 5 chairs, a buffet, a china closet and a couch table! I also went through all mom's Christmas decorations and lugged home a bunch of it. She loved to decorate for Christmas. I also lugged home over 100 beanie babies to sell so if any of you are collectors let me know and I'll make you a GREAT deal! Yep, she collected those, even the ones from McD's.

I'll go for now and leave you with some pictures.

Beanie Baby Hell!!



My dad was in heaven laughing his ass off at this. He would sit in this chair and all 3 of his Boston's would be with him. Well, KaCee just had to be by her daddy so she jumped up and made herself at home!!





Big T with his brothers youngest son.

This is Big T's niece's daughter. Isn't she just beautiful?!!



L and Big T's brother's youngest daughter. L hit a foul ball off his foot a few weeks back and while he was messing around with the other kids he aggravated it. The ankle swelled up and he was pretty miserable for most of the day. We ended up taken him to the ER on Sunday to see if he actually fractured it 2 weeks ago and finally broke it. It ended up being a deep bone bruise. He is wearing an ankle support and is on crutches.



This is Big T's brother's 2 older kids and K's girlfriend.



Pictures of my grandma's furniture.

Life Sucks

Just a quick note - my dad passed away unexpectedly. We are headed up to NY on Wednesday and I will return on the 16th.

Promised Pictures!!

Did you miss me?

So...I haven't been around much lately. I've stopped by everyone's blog, even left a few comments, but I haven't been blogging much myself. I decided to take a small break and try to get my perspective back about the adoption.

I've missed our 11th and ONE YEAR LID anniversary. Since one year really means nothing in the wait for our daughter I couldn't see celebrating it as a milestone. We probably have 2 more years left if truth be told. Do I like that, HELL NO!! But there is nothing I can do about it short of just pulling our dossier from China and let me tell you something folks, that is NOT going to happen!! Oh, we did fill out the medical checklist our agency has and we have been approved to adopt a special needs child. That line is still 6 to 8 months long.

What else has been going on in my neck of the woods? Lets see, T's girlfriend graduated this year, and L graduated from middle school this year. That means that next year and next year only my 2 boys will be going to the same school!! One will be a senior and the other one a freshman!! I think L is excited about going to high school. T is playing Legion ball again this year and L is on a 14-15 team. In fact this week we have a ball game every night.

I think we've actually talked my dad into moving down here!! This will be so good for him. Ever since momma died last November he has been lonely. My wonderful (said with sarcasm dripping off my lips) brother hasn't visited him in freaking months and won't because, and I quote, "Gas is too expensive". He lives around 2 hours away. Ok, whatever. Get a life bro and grow up will ya??!!!!

Anyway, we are looking for a house for him. Keep your fingers crossed!

I have some pictures of T's prom, graduation, concerts, swimming, blowing bubbles, and baseball that I'll put up shortly. Like I said, this week we are out every night and won't be in until 10:30 or later so it probably won't be this week...unless I blog at work!!

Thanks for the notes, both on the blog and by email. You are all sweet. I know we are all in this wait together and that really helps!!

WW

Pictures

Here are some pictures I've taken over the last few weeks. The first set is celebrating K's birthday - she is getting soooo old!! The next are pictures of my Jazzy. She is my princess. Finally there is a set of L and his baseball. He is in the eight grade and growing up quickly. I'll add some pictures of T playing ball soon. Oh and I've also added some of my neighbor's little girl. She is so photogenic and I love taking her picture!!

New Look!!

Sara over at Our Not-So-Patient Wait blinged my blog. I think she did a fabulous job, don’t you??!! If you want your blog blinged just send her an email and she’ll be glad to help you out.


Thank you so much Sara!!! This is wonderful!!

WW

Things I'm Thankful For

I belong to CHP. It’s a group of moms who blog, share ideas, chat, and have fun. One of the things they do is a weekly giveaway. I’ve never participated before but this one caught my eye. It’s about things we are thankful for. With the stress at the job, a friend leaving to go to a new job, China taking forever, and my mom dying this past November this will be a great time to think of the things I am thankful for.



One thing I am thankful for is my husband. He is my best friend, my lover, my supporter, my devil’s advocate, my everything. He is the best dad, staying involved in the boys’ sports to the extreme of coaching, helping to start a booster club, and being president of the baseball association for our area. (Trust me folks – that last one – wow, you just wouldn’t believe the phone calls he would get starting in January and not ending until September or October!!) I’m so thankful he came into my life that morning almost 23 years ago!!



Another thing I am thankful for are my boys. They are 14 and 17 and keep me very busy. They push me to keep up with them, get on my last nerve, drive me crazy with their antics, gang up on me, then tell me they love me at the end of the day. What more could a mom ask for?? They are so different in their personalities and looks yet so like their dad and me it’s scary. I’m thankful for the times they snuck into my room to sleep with me, for the little hugs I get and even for the cold water poured on me while I’m in the shower prank!! My life would be so boring without these two guys.



Since I started writing this I didn’t realize how many things I actually have to be thankful for! I could probably write a book on them. Take the slow down for referrals from China. What you ask? You’re thankful for the slowdown you ask? Yes! I know I gripe about it, I moan about it, I even cry about it but I’m still thankful for it. Without this wait I wouldn’t have been able to rekindle my friendship with some people. Without this wait I wouldn’t have been able to take the time with my youngest son and help him grow. I wouldn’t have been able to spend as much time with my neighbors getting to know them better. The possibility of a new job, meeting new people who are adopting, learning more about China, secret pals, learning how to knit – all of that would never have been done. This wait, this 2 or more year wait bothers me and I really can’t stand it but I’m thankful for it all the same.



My friends, my dogs, my house, my BED, my sister, my dad, the air I breathe, the food I eat. I’m thankful for all of these, from the mundane like my comfy shoes to the more profound like life itself. What are you thankful for?

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Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is my mom's 69th birthday. I miss her still every. single. day. There are times when I go to the phone to call her and then remember I can't - she's not there. I'll call my dad tonight to see how he is doing - I'm sure it was (is) a rough day for him.

Happy Birthday Mom!! I Miss You!!! I Love You!!!

WW

WW

Wordless Wednesday

My Mother's Daughter

(It seems I posted this to my "TO DO" blog instead of this one...)

I had to go shopping the other night and decided to go to Wally world even though I despise the place. I left home around 7:00 and spent the next 2 and ½ hours looking around. That’s 2 ½ hours folks!!! What did I come home with? Some deodorant, some material for the quilt, a shoe rack and ….that’s it!!! I didn’t even think about it until I went to lunch this afternoon with my dh and my youngest son who, by the way, just turned 14! We were at B-52’s eating some wings and the conversation went something like this:

Dh: So, what time did you get home last night?
Me: Umm..around 9:30 – you were sleeping.
Dh: Yep, I got tired of waiting.
Me (looking at his face and knowing something is up): What, is there a problem?
Dh: no, no, what did you buy?
Me (becoming more paranoid): Some material, deodorant, and a shoe rack. Why?
Dh (starting to laugh): Oh, nothing. (snort…laugh…snort) And what time did you leave?
Me (becoming irrated): you know what time I left – it was 7:00!

At this point L is starting to laugh and I have absolutely no clue what is so funny.

DH (who is grinning from ear to ear): And you got home at 9:30 and all you bought was some deodorant, fabric, and a shoe rack….
Me (staring at him like a deer in headlights): so?
Dh: And you spent over 2 hours….(L is laughing so hard he is about to fall over)….and all you bought…
Me: OMG!!!! OMG!!!! I’m my mother’s daughter!!!! OMG!!!!

It would drive me crazy when I went shopping with my mom. Even if we went for something simple like milk it would take HOURS because she had to look at everything……

School Buses

Let’s talk about school buses, shall we? School buses are an evil necessity in most communities to transport children to and from school and school events. Most of them are driven by people who care about the kids and their safety. There are some that drive them because it is a paycheck but I’ll give most of them the benefit of a doubt and say most do care. So, why do I want to talk about school buses?? Let me tell you!



Here’s the scene. I’m driving to work this morning. I usually try to get in at 7:00 but this week it’s been more like 7:30. Traffic at this time of the morning is starting to get heavy but not too bad. I drive on country roads and it takes around 45 minutes to get to work. So, here I am cruising along, listening to NPR (news radio), when I go around a bend and have to slow waaaay down. Why? You all know why. There is a line of cars behind this school bus that is putt putting at a measley 35 mph. I am probably the 20th car so there is no chance to pass. The freaking 20th car!!! The part of the drive to work that I am on does not have houses so why won’t this dumb a$$ bus driver pull over and let all these cars by? I just don’t understand it. Growing up in central NY I remember having to pull over all the time to let just 2 cars by. This is something that they STILL do. Why can’t our bus drivers do this? Wouldn’t it be safer to allow these cars to pass unobstructed in their driving lane than to make them pass in the other lane, taking chances? I just don’t understand the mentality of this state that I live in!



Do your school bus drivers pull over to let you pass?

Wordless Wednesday

Two Time Conference Champ!!

Even with his knee and MRSA T worked hard and became conference champion Saturday!! His team also did well and pulled out an upset against their rival by winning the conference championship also. We are so proud of these boys and their hard work. Next comes regionals and then state. Go EDUB!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Ok, so we hit 8 months yesterday. I’m going to keep thinking that we will have little one home by Christmas 2007. I’m going to put my fingers in my ears and not listen to RQ or anyone else. I know China won’t let the wait get to 2 years. I just have a gut feeling about it. I believe the longest wait that has been in China’s history is 16 months.



8 months logged in and 10 months to go. 10 months you say? Yep, that’s what I’m hoping for at least. We’ll see……

Random Thoughts

Hmmm…yesterday sure was a pity party for me day!! I was cheered up by my CCAI Secret pal gift!! It is a wonderful book filled with pictures about China!! I just love it. J (who is going with us) is going to borrow it also. Thank you so much SP!! As usual, you rock!



On to my crafty projects. I’ve started the bear and have actually finished the body. It looks funny though, kind of lopsided. Maybe it will look better after I do the arms tonight. I also want to start the clown and I’ve found a project for the pig.



Talking about pigs, I’m seeing where people are saying this is the year of the golden pig. I’ve read where this only happens every 600 years. This legend says if a child is born in the year of the golden pig she will experience a prosperous and wealthy life. Some are saying that this is the year of the Fire Pig. In fact, there is more evidence that this is the year of the Fire Pig so that is what I’m going by. The pig is the last sign of the zodiac the pig represents “resignation” accepting human nature as it is – content to live and let live.



I got in the car this morning and one of my fav songs was on – Paradise by the Dashboard Lights by Meat Loaf.



Went to lunch today with some friends. Had a hamburger – there goes the diet!! Lots of stuff going down around work that I can’t write about. Suffice it to say that we don’t know where we’ll be a year from now. Ugh!!!!



Did I mention that I’m tired of waiting??!!



Check out this video – it is performed by 21 dancers who are all deaf. The video link below shows members of the Chinese Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe doing a beautiful dance, called the Thousan-Hand Guanyin. All of the 21 dancers are deaf, relying only on signals from trainers at the four corners of the stage. It's lead dancers is Tai Lihua, who has a BA from the Hubei Fine Arts Institute. The video was recorded in Beijing during the Spring Festival last year.








If you look over at the links you’ll see a picture with the words “Wordless”. I’ve decided to do Wordless Wednesdays (ww). Click on the picture and you can also sign up for ww. I think this will be fun and at least I’ll have to post each Wednesday!!




One more thing – I want to see our daughter’s face!!!!!!

What If's and If Only's

And soon it will be 8 months. I’m so discouraged. I try very hard to keep a bright outlook but as each month comes and the batches do not get any larger my outlook becomes dimmer. May of 2008 – that is over one full year away. I can’t even wrap my brain around that but that is what the current guesstimate says we are going to get our referral. By May of 2008 T will be graduating from high school and L will be a sophomore. We’ll have to update our homestudy and do the whole fingerprint process again. More money will have to go out. You are probably wondering what happens if the homestudy and 171H expire for the second time. That shouldn’t happen. (of course, who would’ve thought it would happen a FIRST time). Our 171H and homestudy does not have to be up to date when China reviews our dossier. It just has to be done before we travel to pick her up.



In my head I am having the “what if” and “if only” war. “What if” it isn’t meant for us to adopt? “What if” we went the SN route? “What if” China closes the doors to IA? “If only” we could have gotten our dossier quicker to China. “If only” Charlotte wasn’t so slow. “If only” Big T didn’t take a year to see that our family was missing something. If only…..if only…what if…what if…. Don’t you hate it when you start talking to yourself??!! Jeez!!



Ok – get this. People who got pregnant after we announced our adoption plans are now HAVING BABIES!!! I know….poor pitiful me!! I know, don’t even say it…keep yourself busy. Enjoy your time with the boys. Enjoy your sleep. Enjoy the upcoming summer. Blech!! I don’t WANT to do that! I want to hold our daughter!! I want to stroke her face! I want to hug and kiss her, to play with her, teach her and learn from her.

Fundraising

Well, this is going okay. I'm thinking of crocheting some dolls, bears, and maybe a cat or two and then selling them. Here are some pictures of what I can make (or try to make). I think I'll make a few and put them on my fundraising site - see what happens!

MRSA and the Next Day

I took T back to the doctors the next morning after he had 24 hours of antibiotics. The doctor took one look at his leg and sent him to the hospital. We got checked in and they started him on an IV for stronger antibiotics. A surgeon came in to look at it and said that he would need to cut out the infection. Oh great! So here we are in a small hospital room (T is over 6' tall!) in the pediatric wing which is on the same floor as the "crazy" people. We've been told that they think it is MRSA and that he will need surgery. We got up there around 9:30 and T has had nothing to eat or drink. At 5:00 the nurse comes in and says the surgery would be the next day - Ty just said "Please get me some food, I'm starving!".

Fast forward to after dinner. The nurse came back and started him on another antibiotic. About 15 minutes or so later T is itching his head like crazy. I ask him to stop and he says he can't. He even asked me to itch it. I turned on the light to look at him and called the nurse. The kid's face was swollen and red, his neck and chest was red, and the back of his neck hives started breaking out! Yep - that's right, he's allergic to that particular drug. DH came up to his room and spent the night with him so I went home.

The next morning he was taken down to surgery. T has a high tolerance for valuim so they decided to just put him under. He came back to the room sleeping but fine. They got all the infection out along with the dead flesh. The surgeon came up to the room that evening and said that he wanted T to stay in the hospital until Monday or Tuesday. Great. The kid has already missed too much school and now it's exams! We also got confirmation that it is MRSA. The surgeon left the wound open and packed it. He'll have a nice scar once it heals.

On Saturday they took him down to physical therapy. They unwrapped his leg and put it into a whirlpool. They they re-packed the wound and re-wrapped his leg. We spoke to the doctor and he said that T could probably come home on Saturday once they got the sensitivity test back. This test is used to see what drug the MRSA would be more sensitive to. They finally got the results back and sent him home with the correct oral antibiotics.

His leg looks gross!! I'd take a picture but my camera is at my bil's house.

Thanks Mom!

Thanks Mom

T came home after his wrestling match last night and told me his girlfriend doctored his leg for him. He didn’t wrestle because he is still getting his knee back in shape. I asked him to show me his leg and he took the bandage off. There was blood on it so I asked what happened. Appearantly he was bitten sometime last week and yesterday someone hit him with a chair on the same spot. His shin was red, swollen, and hot to the touch so I told my dh that we needed to take him to the doctors. Of course he poo’ed poo’ed it but took him anyways.

The doctor looked at his leg, ran a test, and said that he has a staph infection. He also said that it is a good thing we brought him in because he might not be with us if we had waited another 24 hours!! OMG!!! I don’t know if he has MSRA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRSA . That could be potentially dangerous. I did some research on the web about this and people have actually died from it. Jeez!!

Yep, that’s right folks. We have been logged in now for 7 months. 7 months of ups and downs. 7 months of rumors. 7 months of questions from people asking how the adoption is going. We went to my brother-in-laws last weekend to do our family Christmas get together and gift exchange. The first thing out of most people’s mouth was “how is the adoption going?” and “when are you going to China to get your daughter?” I know they mean well but when you tell them it will probably be another year they just ask more questions.

Are we at least half way there? No, I don’t think so. I think when we hit our 9th month we will be half way there. I think our wait will be 18 months long and we will get our referral next November. That seems so far away….




Christmas and New Year wrap Up:

Christmas has come and gone and we have started the new year. Going through the motions during Christmas was very difficult. I didn’t want to spoil it for the boys so I kept everything pretty much to myself. No one saw the tears or the far away gazes. I miss her so much it hurts. Will it ever go away??

For New Years we went to our friends D and J’s house. They have 2 daughters, one who is 16 and the other one is 5. We got over there around 8:30 or 9:00 and started to play dominos. When midnight came we went outside for some fireworks. That was it…nothing exciting. J asked why I wasn’t drinking. Shoot, I knew that if I drank I would become melancholy and bring everyone down so I just sipped my wine cooler. Trust me folks – she and her hubby drank enough for me!!

Remember what I wrote last year? Guess 2006 wasn’t the year. Will 2007 be the year? Yep, I think so!

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Christmas Ornaments

Here are some pics of some of my fav ornaments. Our tree is a little bit smaller than we usually get this year but we were able to fit them all on!!

Having Fun with a Pink Furry Hat!!

We were watching D and he was playing around with T's hat. He was having a ball with it and I was able to grab a few pictures!!

On another night we gave him some mashed 'taters. He decided that we couldn't feed him unless it was by big T's finger or his own fingers. So cute!! While he was eating his big sister was making brownies and licking the bowl.

6 months and ACL update

We’ve passed our six month LID anniversary on November 30th. While that is nice milestone we don’t know how much longer the wait will be. Right now CCAA is taking about 2 months to match a month’s worth of referrals. There are 5 more months until our LID and CCAA is on September. So, December would refer the rest of September



If CCAA matches 2 weeks at a time is in the first column and then if CCAA matches a full month is in the second column.


















The current trend of referrals has us getting ours in February of 2008. All we can do is pray at this point. Pray that CCAA will speed referrals back up – or at least do more than 2 weeks each month. That would be a 23 month wait. 23 long months!! By then T will be in college and L will be 10th grade!!



Wow….23 months. You know what? That SUCKS!!! It really really SUCKS!!!!


Ok - T's ACL - it ended up being his kneecap.











Your kneecap should sit straight in the socket but both of his are off to the side. When he hurt it during wrestling he pulled his kneecap out of place and then it went back in. Four to six weeks of physical therapy should take care of it. He will have to wear a special brace on both knees for wrestling and baseball to protect them. Huh...this is genetics..sorry T but you got my bad knees!!!