Happenings

Lets see, what's been happening around our world? The boys are very busy. School started about 3 weeks ago and is in full swing. L has already brought home his first progress report - the kid is doing awesome!! All A's - a complete turn-a-round from last year. We are so proud of him. T is also getting all A's as usual. He still hasn't made a decision about college though. He wants to be a pediatrican but where to go to school is still up in the air.

The boys have also been doing sports - baseball and wrestling. They practice baseball on Tuesdays and Thursdays and wrestle on Monday's and Wednesdays. T is on a fall ball team and has double headers on Sundays for the next month. Soon wrestling matches will be gearing up and we'll be sitting in hot smelly gyms - oh the joy of it!!

On the adoption front - no news. Our agency received a new list of about 30 kids a few weeks ago. We won't see little T on this list but we are hoping the next one (November/December) we will. All we can do is wait and pray.

Pictures will be coming soon!

New Look

So I emailed Sara over at Wish I may Wish I might and asked her to redo my blog again. I needed some change, something different. I like the design she came up with though I might change the background.

Sara - thank you so much!!! You did a wonderful job!!

~Carla

Wordless Wednesday

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Wordless Wednesday

Senior Pictures

Oh my. T got his Senior pictures back the other day. I had very mixed emotions. My little man has grown up! When I pulled the pictures up I just stared at them. Wow - where did my baby go? Then I grabbed my cell phone out of my purse to call...my mom and dad. Boom - there go the tears once again.

Hmph....enough about that crap

As soon as I can scan those prints I'll put them up for ya.

Camping

Ok - trying to get myself out of this funk I'm in, I'll talk about camping. We had a great time last weekend, just the 4 of us. We took the boys to Bush Gardens and had a blast riding all the roller coasters! Our favorite was the Griffin. OMG!! It was awesome!!

You go up 205 feet in the air, dangle over a 90 degree drop straight down, and then hurdle down at 70 mph. It is a great ride.

After that we just hung out at the lake. Big T almost bought a boat but decided to wait until next year.

Camper









This last picture cracks me up!! These people were sitting outside and watching TV!! Nothing like getting back to nature!

4 Lousy Days!

Oh my...4 days...that's all CCAA could muster this time around was 4 lousy days. I've been in a funk all day after I saw that over on RQ. I told my dh that we should just pull our dossier - forget this whole idea. He said no, of course but jeez, 4 days!!

And here we are at 15

Not fair. It's just not fair. Yep, I'm having a pity party today. It's not fair that we don't have our little one. It's not fair that my parents will not be able to meet her. It's not fair that my oldest will be in college and his little sister will not be able to enjoy him or he her. It's not fair that another birthday, Labor day, July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas will go by and she won't be able to celebrate it with us. IT'S NOT FAIR!!!

There, I feel better. Sort of.

Here - go check out J&J!! They are in China right now with little Sofia. She is beautiful!!

I'm Here

Just wanted you to know that I'm here!! I'm taking training classes in Wisconsin and won't be back until late Thursday night. We went camping this past weekend and I have some pictures to upload when I get back.

J & J!!!! In China!! WOW!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

New Look for an old chair

As you know we brought back my Grandmother's furniture from NY. The table and chairs are in great shape but the fabric on the chairs was beyond help. I went to the Cloth Barn and picked out some new material and big T helped me put it on the chairs. Check it out! I love the new look!!

Gymboree

Who doesn't love this store??!! I got the cutest little dress for Sofia while I was in NY. I could have spent a bunch of money there but my youngest was with me and he's not much for "girl" shopping. While I was surfing on the net today I came across a site that was having a contest for a Gymboree gift card for $250.00. Just click on this picture and follow the directions on how to put your name in the hat!! Good luck!

Out of Review

Oh wow!! I can't believe I completely forgot to say congrats to my fellow May LID'ers! We are out of review!!!! Yeah!!! That means that China has looked at our dossier and said yes, we can adopt from their country. Yesterday the referral calls were being made. China referred through November 21st. Over at RQ they are predicting that the December LID'ers will be the first group to hit the 2 year wait. I tend to agree with that. I also think that if we don't receive a SN referral we'll see our little girl by December of 2008. That will be a wait of 31 months - almost 3 years.

3 years....nope - not gonna accept that. I just can't see China letting that happen. Plus with people going over to SN or adopting from another country or just plain dropping out the time line should pick up a little.

14 Months and Other Thoughts

Wow, I missed our 14th month anniversary. Just like I missed the 12th and 13th! ha! No big deal anymore. Just another month in a long line of months!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not but we have also turned in a medical checklist to our agency. If a child comes available that matches a need we feel we can handle then our agency will refer her to us. This process takes anywhere from 6 to 8 months. We turned this in on 5/17 so we are all ready 2 months in. Who knows what will happen....

On some of the boards I'm on a discussion is taking place about going to a doctor, ER, dentist, or where ever and being asked for the adoption papers for your child. I asked my dh about what he would do and he of course says "It won't happen here..." Well, just because we live in a little town doesn't mean it won't happen! Some people are saying its racism because the doctor wouldn't ask to see the papers for a child that has your same color/eyes/hair. Some people are saying that the doctors are trying to protect our children and want to verify that the child IS ours and not some child we abducted. If we are questioned I'm not sure how I'll react. The insurance card should be enough "proof" that the child is mine. They could even call the insurance company and verify the child is covered. I think if they do all that and STILL need proof that I would need to talk to the office manager and then to the doctor directly. A lot of times the doctor doesn't know what is happening in the front office. Sometimes the front office people take the rules of HIPAA way out of context. If they still want me to produce the adoption paperwork after I talk with the office manager and doctor then I will probably find a new one. Protecting our children is one thing but getting into my daughters private business is another!

So, what would you guys do?

Oh - one more thing. I'm noticing that when I pull up my blog my computer is freezing. Are any of you guys experiencing this?

Well it's getting late and the morning comes way too fast. Here's H and D saying it's nite nite time!

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.