The cure for jumping fences and a Christmas story

First off, I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a great Christmas season and our celebrations are almost to a close.

When Jon and I were at the height of our infertility drama, we did consider NOT having children. BUT in the end we felt that something would always be missing from our lives. And we felt that if we didn't have children we would be that crazy couple that dresses up their dog and puts her in a stroller to walk her around the block...

ummmm.........after waiting for so long in this adoption, I think we may be loosing it!!!(But we have found that a sweater on our boxer is the ultimate cure for jumping fences, walking, jumping, or going outside at all!!)

Now onto the Christmas story, and it's not the fuzzy love thy neighbor story. It's the story of the type of things that ALWAYS happen to Jon, a can you believe the audacity of people story. .. ..Jon wanted to get a laptop for me for Christmas, but more importantly for our trip to Taiwan. They had a sale at Best buy, but it was never in stock, unless I was with him. He checked again and it was supposed to be in, BUT it wasn't. So they told Jon that 9 were coming in on a truck that night, they gave him a ticket for the laptop and told him to come back in the morning when they open with the ticket and he would be able to get one. Good so far. He goes early in the next morning, ticket in hand, people are camped out(literally) and there were about 40 people in front of him. Everyone's spirits were good, and they all were talking about what item they were going to get. Great. They are in the store now. Then all of a sudden some dude starts trying to grab Jon's hand. He looks at the guys like he's crazy and asks him what he's doing. The guy tries to roll his wrist and pry the ticket out of his hand. By this point Jon is getting upset and asking the guy what he's doing, cursing, telling him you're messing with the wrong guy, dude it's Christmas, you better stop...etc(this is the nice version). A little struggling. Things get heated, the crowd is getting upset, Big Burly Best Buy guard comes out to see what's going on. Then the guy tells security that Jon is trying to steal his ticket. WTF#$!&**!! The people that were around Jon, tell them that the other guy was lying and that Jon had the ticket when he arrived. THEN the guy tries to say that it's a racisit thing. Things are getting heated. Finally Jon asks them if they have this other nonsale laptop. They yell that they do. So Jon tells them, fine I'll get that one and with ticket in one hand shoves it in the guys chest. Well said guy falls backwards into a shelf of DVD's that falls into another shelf.(He did not intentionally try to push the guy down) The crowd claps, but then realizes that this guy really shouldn't get the ticket. It's getting more heated. Jon pays for the laptop and is escorted by security out of Best Buy. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT someone tried to steal his ticket!! Now in earlier days it would not have ended there. And Jon probably would have been escorted to places other then the parking lot. BUT he knew that he had to think about our child. We are so close to our referral and he had to think about the adoption. But in the recesseses of my mind I wish Jon just would've pelted the guy!! I seriously think many many people have really lost the true meaning of Christmas. The good news is that we now have a very sweet laptop and when we travel to Taiwan we will have the means to post pictures and keep all our loved ones updated!! I hope your Christmas was wonderful and you didn't run into any mean people!!

Birthday Surprise

It started out like this......
"why do I have to put a blindfold on?"
"well...it's a surprise and I don't want you to know before we get there"
"uhhhh, Aunt Ann, seriously?"
"YES"
This is my youngest nephew. He shares an intense love of animals just like me. So when I saw that he loved horses, just as much as I did/do...I thought that a great birthday surprise, would be his very first horseback trail ride.




He was very excited although I think at 10, he tried not to "look" so excited. This is PRINCE, my nephews very first on your own horse ride. We did an hour ride around the ranch, in fields, and through the woods. Pretty cool ride. And I must say he did well controlling his horse for the first time.











And although I hate pictures of myself I love this picture of us. Notice that out of solidarity I too wore a helmet. Jon told me I had to b/c I now have something to live for. Apparently before I didn't, but now he told me..."it's like your pregnat, we have a baby on the way..wear the helmet."

We had a great time and I was so excited I couldn't sleep last night. I'm so happy that I was able to share this experience with him. Happy Birthday Nephew!!

TWO - ONE, TWENTY ONE months done!!!

Raise a drink my friends, we're finally twenty one!! Yes, another month has come and gone on the waiting list, but the thing that's different this month is that we actually have something in the house for baby. As you all know, we have not bought one thing...no pacificers, no toys, no clothes, no furniture. And we have done really well. I actually begged Jon to buy something small for baby this Christmas. BUt he said no. Leave it to us to actually listen to my Mom about something, but why we chose to listen about superstitions and bad luck I don't have a clue. BUT...we have stuck by it and won't buy anything until we get that call.....

BUT....we didn't buy this. This is baby's first Gator from our friends, here. I swear I almost cried when I opened the package, because seriously this is our baby's first toy!! Not a toy we had and are passing down, but OUR BABY'S very first, brand spankin' new, giggles when you press the toe, toy!!! Our baby's first Gator...GO GATORS!! And he's sitting in Jon's Great Grandmother's rocking chair, just waiting for him. I can't wait. 21 months done, bring that referral on!!!

WE'RE ON TOP!!!

Well I just can't help sharing. We are SOOOOO excited. We found out over the weekend that we have moved on up on our agency list. So for your quoting pleasure......I asked...and they responded.....

"Your thinking is correct. You are at the top of our agency list of waiting families. YYYEEEAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

Now for those NOT with the birthmother program, referrals CAN come out of order. Just because we're on top doesn't mean we'll be the next ones to get a referral for our agency. BUT it does mean we're on top(just in case you didn't quite hear me!!) And for those that aren't with Taiwan's program and are say with China's program, I would kinda equate it with being in the review room. I trust that our album will be in the hands of our child's birthmother very soon...I hope. I didn't think we would ever get to the point of feeling like there was a light at the end of the tunnel. But I'm seeing it. It's there, faint, but growing in intensity.

Baby boy dreams...

The dreams are starting again....

I had a dream about a tiny baby boy....he was little with a head full of hair...

The diapers we brought were too big....he was having GI issues....and poop....poop was everywhere!!

I think with all the referrals lately I may be having some anxiety about being a good parent.

But seriously there was poop everywhere!!!

I just want to say...

On this eve of Thanksgiving I want to say how grateful I am for all of you out there in cyberspace. I don't think we always realize how our comments on eachothers blogs really helps during this rollarcoaster. Many times I will be having a hard day, doubtful that this will ever happen...then I read someone else's blog or comment and my faith is restored. I am thankful for all the friends I have met, for all the support I have received. Some of you leave wonderful comments of encouragement on the blog and sometimes I get a private email from someone who says that I have helped them. It's hard to understand how I am helping others when I am just venting or talking about my feelings. BUT I see the connections between us all. Today I had a very bad day at work. I wanted to quit, I still want to quit. But so much is on the line right now I have to stick it out. I will stick it out. I left work early. I drove home ready to crawl into a hole, feeling sorry for myself...work sucks...we're still waiting...will this ever end? I kept wondering why my life feels so out of control....

Then I checked my email...and there it was. An email from someone from one of the yahoo groups who also checks out the blog. Her words were so sweet...encouraging...nice. And now my day doesn't seem so bad. It's okay. And it's because of all of you. So when you think that it's no big deal the things we say to eachother, I'm hear to tell you that it is a big deal. Your words may be just what someone needed that day.

I wonder...

...first off why I just spent an hour coloring big bird and 20 fish with photoshop, but I guess that's not the point!!

I wonder...

...how many more times I'm gonna have to search for pictures of numbers(20 months waiting...whoo hoooo)

I wonder...

...if he's born yet

And just when I wonder, if Jon thinks about this as much as I do...he says to me....out of the blue....

"I wonder if he knows we're here waiting to love him..."

Be still my heart, I love that man!!

Not for us but...

I never thought that I would be so excited for another family. Someone from our agency announced their referral yesterday. They had been waiting almost exactly 24 months!! They had asked for either gender 0-4 years old and rec'd the referral for a little girl born in July. She's absolutely gorgeous with a head full of thick hair. I wish that they had a blog so you could all see, but they don't. I swear I shed some tears for them, they've waited so long. So now that means we take one step forward...wooohooo!! Only two familes ahead of us for our agency. It seems that referrals are beginning to trickle in too. A family from another agency rec'd their referral I think about a month ago. Bring it on....I hope this means that things will begin to pick up referral wise.

New Header

Isn't the new header the cutest!! I couldn't go without THANKING Sarah, from Journey to Hannah Claire, for the nicest gift of a new header. She just whipped it out last night without a problem. I love the new colors. And just in case you're wondering Sarah is just waiting for that phone call about Hannah, which by the way should be coming very soon!!

I want...

* to talk about something other then adoption
* to stop obsessing about time lines
* to stop waiting
* to have an answer, when someone asks "what's going on with the adoption"
* to know when our child will be home
* a "paper pregnancy" that parallels a real time pregnancy
* to stop putting our lives on hold
* to feel free to spend money instead of saving for an adoption that is taking forever
* to feel secure that this will really happen

I HAVE...
* hope that one day I will no longer talk about adoption, but our child
* knowledge that I am not alone
*to continue to wait
*no real answers to "what's going on with the adoption"
*no understanding of when he will be home, BUT THAT he will one day come home
*a "paper pregnancy" of two elephants(did I just compare myself to elephants?)
*to hold on just a little bit longer....or more, but we will
*money in the bank and that's always good, adoption or not

*faith!!

I171h refile..

Just wanted to let you all know that we were able get the extension on our I171h for FREE!! There have been inconsistencies with immigration offices all over. The discrepancy was centered around whether or not families rec'd their original I171h on the lower fee. Some offices were saying that if you paid the old fee then you weren't able to get the free extension; that the free extension was only if you paid the new higher fee. Our agency told us that with the cover letter we had to request the "one time, free extension of our I171H" So that's what we did. We had to fill out a new application, send in all the copies of everything of past, but we did NOT include any money and hoped that our office would allow it. And today we rec'd our new I171h FREE!!! Yay!! Finally something worked out for us. Just wanted to let everyone know because I know that there are many families in the same situation as we are. Have a great weekend!

Oh, but immigration took away one child. We had approval for two children, just in case, even though our homestudy was only for one child. Our agency even told me before that immigration usually doesn't allow a difference. So we again asked for approval for 2 children, but they only gave us approval for one. Oh well

A good omen?

Well here we are again friends. But now we're at 19 months. Remember how I said that I wouldn't make it this long. Remember how I said that I didn't think I could do deal with this long of a wait. Well I'm dealin'.

Not to say that we're dealing with it well, but we're dealing.

The good news is that there is some communication from Cathwel with another family from our agency. It's not a referral yet(although I think it may be coming soon for them) It is communication which means we know that Cathwel really is out there and they do know that there are families waiting!!

Other odd happenings in our little abode. We've had this fish tank for about 4 years now. Big, fierce, hugely ignored. Fish disappear. We have African cichlids which are pretty aggressive and have been know to cut out the competition in the tank. We were down to about four fish, two of them cichlids. I'm sitting on the couch today and I notice something very small wiggling away out of the corner of my eye. I'm thinking to myself what varmint go into the tank. I mosey on over and it's not varmint, it's baby fish. Where did they come from? Okay so I know where they come from, but the other weird thing is that the other "half" of an obviously breeding pair is no where to be found. I even looked behind the tank to see if she took the leap to lower ground. Nope not there....but anyways...even the fish are fertile and they get babies!!

So we're thinking that this is a good omen? I mean it's been four years and we've never had baby fishies before. And I know in some cultures, if you dream of fish it means a little one is on the way. If the fish are multiplying in your own home, does that count!???!

File, File, and refile

Okay, so some snipets from this weekend:

*Our I171h refile, will be in the mail tomorrow. I'm getting pretty good at paperwork. We requested the "one time, no charge extension of our I171h." I'll let you know if they let us do it.
*This should be the last of our paperwork til we know of our little man(I hope I don't eat those words)

*Not only am I not 19, I am not 10. Went to a birthday party at pump it up.....took my nephew....and well.....I'm not a stand on the sidelines kinda Aunt. My back is ailing again. But I smoked him on the obstacle course(yes I am bragging about beating a 10 year old!!)

*Jon on the other hand is 10. He scared the doodles outa my nephew on the gocarts. My nephew told me that Jon was running kids off the track and making them spin out!!

*Much to my sisters dismay...I have introduced the nephew to the Starbucks frappaccino

*Camp is set for hunting season.(I supervised)
*Let's all say a collective prayer that Jon doesn't get life flighted out of the woods this year!!

Hope you all had a great weekend!!

So here are the STATS...

I emailed our agency today with a few questions.....

It seems that there have only been 5 referrals in the last 9 months. Which means a referral about every OTHER month. There are still three families ahead of us, two asking for infants(0ne family a girl and the other family either gender) The other couple is asking for either gender 0-4 years old.

Now IF the three families go before us and the referrals follow the list, then we are looking at APRIL!@!! Did you hear that?

In case you didn't let me repeat that for you.....APRIL!!!!!!

BUT if the referrals fall out of line and families after us get a referral before us, on the third month of the new year, when the moon is in the 12th night, then it could be after that. Or if the 10th star to the right of Venus, at the second moon of Jupiter has an eclipse before the fourth night of the second quarter of 2008, then I'm going to SCREAM!!!

Okay so you get it. IT's going to be a long time, with no way to predict when this is all going to come to a glorious end!!

Taiwan Treasure...in the making

Bear with me as I learn about the camera, uploading, and editing. It only took me two hours to figure out where the connection on the camera was(I'm not kidding!!) In this thing called adoption you must maintain a sense of humor. To Jon, thanks for being a great sport and allowing me to publish this to the world wide web. I love you honey. This video is for your viewing pleasure. Come, enjoy, learn about our little treasure in the making...

Remeber how I said....

....I was a jet ski champ.

....not so much. Please remind me that I am not 19 years old anymore.

I went back to work with a little back pain. By the end of the week it was worse. We drove down to Orlando for our "other" nephews birthday.

...and by Saturday night...

walking was a luxury....

...by Sunday, it remained a luxury.

Which brought me to...

*a call in on Monday(I HATE calling in)
*a doctors visit
*a shot in my junk
*a readjustment(which scares me every time he does it)
*a tongue lashing about my back exercises
*a "reminder" that I have NO muscle tone(which I should) to support my back
*mandatory exercise(!!!!!)
*AND...a calling out in front of my mother in law(who manages the office)!!!which went like this....."Tell Mrs.(Mother in law) what your physical therapist told you"

.....(head hung low)"....to do my back exercises"

..."and have you been doing your back exercises"

now I'm thinking to myself...doesn't jet skiing count as some form of exercise and technically I was obviously working out my back or it wouldn't have been hurting....
"no, I haven't been doing my back exercises"

I getcha doc, I gethca.

6 years married...who whuda thunk it!!

So another year has passed and we are again celebrating our Anniversary. Last year I said it would be our last Anniversary before our little one gets here. I won't say that again.....but I can hope it.

You all know that we got married in Maui and so I've posted another wedding picture. This is one of my favorites!! We're hoping to go back for our 10 year Anniversary with a little one in tow and stay at the same place and take some family pictures in the gazebo that we got married in.

So instead of proclaiming that this will be our LAST anniversary sans child....I just want to say Thank You to all our family and friends near and far who have wholeheartedly supported us no matter what. I want to say Thank You for standing by us, for rooting for us, for lighting a candle, saying the rosary, praying for us. I want to say Thank You for hoping for us when we didn't have hope, for carrying our faith when we didn't feel we had any, for the shoulders we cried on...

I want to say Thank you for Celebrating with us each minute step in this long and drawn out process. And although I won't say that this will be our last anniversary I will CLAIM that this coming year is going to bring us all a lot to Celebrate and be thankful for!!!

There...I claimed it!!

Did you want pictures?

(click on the captions box above)


First off I must explain the lesion on my face in some of the pictures. I haven't gotten a cold sore in 8 years..so what do you think pops up on our first night. Jokes on me. Not only was I so bloated that we almost had to cut off my ring, I got a HUGE herpetic lesion on my face. And I don't get a little fever blister on my lip, I get a volcano running down my face...seriously. Try feeling sexy for your hubby when you're bloated and you have this lesion on your face. I just sat in the mirror thinking to myself..."you have got to be kidding!!!" I kept shoving my face at Jon asking "can you see it"
"no honey, it's barely noticeable"
He lied, I know, but that's love.

Destin is absolutely beautiful. The water is crystal clear blue green. They describe the beach as "sugar sanded" and they aren't lying. The sand is white as can be and feels like a handful of sugar. We will definitely go back with our little one...when he gets here.

Our days consisted of swimming in the pool, hanging on the beach, eating of course, swimming in the pool, nap from 3-5, snorkeling on the beach, the pool again...you get the picture.

We rented jet skis which seemed like a great idea. We forgot how much fun they were and were asking ourselves why we don't have ours anymore. We had a blast jumping the jet skis. In my mind I was a jet ski champ...and Jon too. We took control like we owned the ocean...
We paid for it later. My back is killing me and Jon's shoulder reminded him that it hasn't been a year since the accident. But we were fierce!!

We got out on the go cart track. Yes this was a first for me. Again Jon was floored that I hadn't done this before. Jon raced past me as I cautiously eased the go cart out. Little kids were racing by me as I maneuvered the little machine. I did get the hang of it and raced around like the champion that I am. But I came in last. I felt like such a looser. But the next time, I'll take him!!

We did some snorkeling. The water is soooooo clear. You can see like 15 feet down. Now I don't really have a fear of the ocean. We're both pretty strong swimmers and I really don't fear that a shark is going to just swim up to me and say hi. BUT when the water is that clear you see everything..ignorance is bliss I say. I CANNOT hang with the jelly fish. I just can't. Jon was way out and I was following, but then I saw one. So I would swim the other way, then I would be minding my own business and then BAM, right in front of me....you get the picture. So finally I just took off the mask and swam in ignorance.

The dolphins were right off shore several times which I love. If it weren't for the jellyfish I would've been right out there with Flipper and his friends.

We had a blast and for a moment we were just a couple on vacation celebrating 6 years of marriage. We weren't an infertile couple, we weren't perspective adoptive parents, we weren't waiting for anything, and we definitely weren't a couple that have been on a waiting list for 18 months. We just were......It was awesome!!

We're BAAAAACK

We're back from vacation. It went by very quickly. I will upload photos a little later today and post some. It'll take a bit to figure out the video stuff though. But I had to post a quick post to mark 18 months on the waiting list. I can't believe it's been 18 months, but I guess we're getting there. Been wondering if he's actually born yet. I'm over the wait and there seems to be no end in sight. Anyways....later today I'll tell you all about it and post some pics....til then......we made it to 18 months!!!!

It's official....

But now we just have to wait to leave or they won't let us in the door. We still have to pack, but can't leave for a couple more hours.

Poor surgeons yesterday got a countdown of how long they had til I went on vacation. I kept telling them they had to finish because my vacation started in 3 hours, then 1 hour, then 15 minutes. There was no pressure for the resident to close incision, I wasn't breathing down his neck, watching every painstakingly slow stitch. No I didn't. I wasn't turning off the OR lights before he had dressing on. I DID NOT clean up the room and disconnect everything before the official surgery was over. I would NOT do that!!!

Okay, maybe I did, just a little. But darnit they were running behind and it wasn't my fault.

All the batteries are charged, got a new memory card for the camera. We can now take more then 8 pictures at a time, finally. The video camera is set although we don't know how to use it. Jon's about to get us coffee. He is being a little mean and says he won't swim near me in the ocean, lest I attract sharks. Give you two guesses to what that means. Why does that always happen on vacation. I swear God has a wicked sense of humor!!!

Anyways.....gotta pack!!!

WE ARE OFFICIALLY ON VACATION!!!!

T minus 6...

First off my apologies to everyone who has to deal with hearing the most annoying daily reminder that we are going on vacation. And after another 10 hour call day I am reminded of the fact that I REALLY need a vacation.

Been trying to get ready for Jon's sister who will graciously be staying at our house to watch the dogs. She'll surely have her hands full with her 2 year old and our 2 "children". I apologize now for their spoiled behavior. But they will LOVE having the baby around.

We'll be taking our new video camera to practice so when we do eventually get back, you all will have to watch video of us, which won't be too exciting, but we need the practice of uploading video and such. Not much else.....T minus 6 days and counting!!!

That's where our children are....

My father just sent this to me. Please say a prayer for all the families. My Dad said "This is the projected path. It is expected to be a cat 5 before it strikes Taiwan."

The arrow is pointing straight to Taipei, where our orphange is at. I hope they are prepared.

Vacation....BACK ON!!

We couldn't hang with not having a vacation again, so we bit the bullet and booked a week on the gulf. Now it's not the Bahamas, but we just couldn't swing a trip to the Bahamas this time. So we decided to take a trip to the beaches on the gulf. We can drive there and most importantly there is a hurricane policy. AND with a little itsy bitsy storm a brewin' off of Africa and heading this way, this was important. So pray that we either avoid all storms or it takes a direct path to our destination. The warranty only works if the National Hurricane Center says that a hurricane is going "to HIT Jon and Ann's condo!!"

Just a little glimpse into my husbands mind. The above picture is what sold him on our rental. It's a 700 foot lazy river on the resort grounds. We are on the bottom level and from my understanding we have very easy access to this little "river" from our room. So I will have to stock up on Corona and an inner tube, that way as Jon floats around the "river" as he passes by I can pass him another. Okay so does that make us sound like lushes? Really we're not. We're just super excited about our vacation. So less then three weeks to go and we're basking in the sunshine, floatin' down a river, chillin' on the beach...and anything else related to the water!!

Just calll me Super Girl!!

Okay so the title has nothing to do with the post, but I liked the picture. Our homestudy visit was fine. Our homestudy coordinator is soooo nice and very laid back. When ever she comes, it's like visiting with an old friend. She has two children adopted from China, so I always feel very comfortable with her in our home. She was right, she didn't look at anything and the visit was very informal. We have all the paperwork done and now all she has to do is wait for the DCF and FDLE to come back which should be in about 3-4 weeks.

On another note, it is blazing HOT!! And our AC went out again. Thankfully Jon's brother is a wiz when it comes to AC and hopefully our house will delve below the 85 degree mark tonight.

Time to break out the toothbrush!!!!

So seriously, I get to spend Friday night cleaning like a fiend. I got a phone call from our homestudy coordinator at 5pm tonight. She tells me that she's going to be in town tomorrow to do a post placement, and can she stop by to do our update?

UMMMMMM!!! I know that I said that I wasn't going to clean, but come on. Did you really think that I wouldn't do anything? And with about 17 hours til she gets here and our house in disarray(it is Friday and well by Friday our house is a little disheveled after a long week) we will be the Merry Maid squad.

Jon has decided that he has to do the lawn and I can't really not clean up the dog hair. So for our relaxing Friday night we are going to clean-even though she told us not to. She said she wasn't even going to look at our house. But she'll see it even if she isn't looking. So despite her trying to convince us not to clean, we are. I'm breaking out the proverbial toothbrush and I'm getting to the scrubbing!! Wish us luck!!

Join me in celebrating

17 months!! Okay, so I'm really not that excited about 17 months, but we have made it this far and that's nothing to scoff at. There have been some referrals(not from our agency), but referrals none the less. I did find the motivation to get most of the paperwork for our home study update done. Everythings pretty much done except our local background check which will probably be done tomorrow or Monday. Everything is mailed out and now all we need to do is have them come to our house and write up the fact that we are still waiting...I mean still qualified to be parents, oh and pay that little "update" fee. We haven't murdered or molested anyone this past year so thumbs up to us. Do I sound a little jaded? Okay let me try again....

**what this post should say**

YAY!!! We have made it to 17 months. Isn't this exciting. I can't believe that we have made it this far. We continue to be elated at the prospect of being parents and can't wait until we learn of our little one. We have been using these past months to get our house in order and spend quality time with eachother. We know that once little baby is here, free time will be sparse. Our marriage has grown stronger as we have waded through this process of adoption and we know that when we finally get our referral news this will all be worth it!!

(is that better?)

I'm just not motivated

Nope...just not feelin' it. We are starting our homestudy update. Our agency let us wait a bit(wasn't that nice) so we wouldn't have to do two homestudy updates. Now when she gave me the list it didn't seem that bad. Not a big deal. I let it sit Thursday and Friday and put it aside over the weekend, thinking I'd start tackling it today. So I pulled all the forms I printed and was feeling like I could breeze through it, have hubby sign here here and here and be done with it.

You'd think that we hadn't done this before. The forms make no sense and I really have NO desire to even fill them out. Isn't that sad. So I just put it away again. You'd think that I'd be in a hurry to get this all done and over with again, but I'm just not that into it. I don't even think I'll clean the house before they come again. Can you picture it....dust hangin' like a cloud in the living room, hair bunnies in every corner, evil creature eyes peeking out from the corner, unidentifiable things hissing from behind the couch(wait that's me), our creeepy bulgivonia plant overgrown by the front door. Nope I'm not trimmin' it. Yep, that's gonna be our home. I really should care, but I just don't. I don't even think I'm gonna mop. Last time, seriously I cleaned the floor with a tooth brush....yes I did. NOT this time. Can you tell that I just don't want to do it. Oh well one day won't hurt, I'll get to it.......

....eventually.....

I'm sadistic like that...

My poor nephew has to have an Aunt who enjoys things like this. A little bit ago he had to have a few staples in the ER after a mishap at the skate park. For reasons that make absolutely NO sense to me, his primary would not take out the staples. My sister was told she had to follow up with the physician that put them in to get them out. For them that meant another trip to the ER, many hours in the waiting room and another copay. That's were I came in......can you just picture me, rubbing my hands together in excitement, snickering that evil nurse laugh....all the while my nephew is scared and saying...

"no Mommy I don't want Aunt Ann to do it...I want to go to the hospital"

Ye of little faith.

Mind you I haven't acutally taken staples out before, but I did stay at the Holiday Inn express. I looked at the little device to take out staples, and well I'm a smart girl...looks like you insert staple here and squeeze..simple...so I was like "okay let's do it...drop your drawers!!!"(evil nurse laugh again)

"NO MOMMY>>>>>I WANT TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL!!!!!!"

...device in, pop..pop..pop, staples out.....Hey this is fun!!! That'll be $25.

Anyone need staples out? I'm cheaper then the ER!!

I'm over the CAR DRAMA

Okay...so I am over the whole car situations!!! Now mind you my car is still in the shop being repaired from being rear ended. Seriously I thought Jon was going to have a complete meltdown in the parking lot. We were having a great weekend. My BF was in town, we got to do some scrapbook shopping. We hung out at her parents, did the whole oyster shack thing. Jon and I were relaxing, watching some movies. Decided to catch a flick at the movie theater today. We met up with our friends. Watched a fun movie, had some starbucks, went to our new truck...you remember the one....the one that we haven't even made a car payment on yet...when I hear JON yell...."WHAT THE F*!#" And there it is. The side front light is smashed, and theres a 6" scratch on the side. I thought he was going to cry in the parking lot....he started doing that whole pacing thing...that pacing that scares you because you know that at any minute he's going to FREAK!! At first we thought someone hit the car, but then I saw a rock under another parked car. I swear my husband has the worst luck with cars. This is the guy that had someone throw a bowling ball on the roof of his car. He started trying to figure out if he cut someone off or ticked someone off going into the parking lot. But none of that happened. I'm sure it was just some Punk ass kids thinking it was funny. We totally understand that a car is just a material possession and that it really shouldn't upset us. But this is his new car, and it would have been nice to have it nice for a while. At least not to have to fix it before we made the first payment on it. I just feel bad for him. He deserves to have something nice for a while. So tomorrow he's off to the dealership to see what this is going to cost us. With all the money we've been draining Murphy's law should be giving us this referral very soon, wouldn't ya think?

I did NOT wreck the Honda!@**!!

Who was driving?

I was

So you wrecked the honda!!

No!!!! I'm the one who got rear-ended!!

But you were driving!!(as Jon laughs...)

I don't know what it is, but this is the second time in about a year that I have been rear ended while I was stopped, waiting to turn left. I was minding my own business stopped at a light, when WHAM!!!

My first thoughts..."I get to get a new car!!!" But when I got out the damage wasn't enough to warrant me buying a new car. But just for a second, I had visions of shiny new paint and I could smell that new car smell. The jeep that rammed into me is totally without damage, my rear left bumper is pushed out, the trunk is shifted and I cannot open it, the left side panel is damaged too. The pictures look better then it looks in person. No one was hurt. My neck didn't hurt, but now it's a little sore. I wrapped Jon's ice pack around my neck to help, but I doubt there's much wrong. I just thought the picture was funny!!

WHAT A WAY TO END MY CRAZY DAY AT WORK!! OH and if I can blame someone, I think the blame is on Jon. I stopped off at Target after work to buy him some underwear. So all in all I think it's his fault!!!!

See what that says!!

We're getting there. Here's to hoping that it can't possibly be too much longer....right?

Drumroll Please!!

When it came down to it, Jon is a Chevy man!! We thought about the four door jeep, but Jon has been wanting a nice truck for forever. (you can click on the pictures to see them bigger/better)
And not only is Jon a Chevy man. He is a big truck man. We had to get not the biggest white boy truck. But a BIG white boy truck we can 4x4 through the dirt and pull a house with.
Here's the cheesy "I got a new truck" look. Now let me just let those that don't know. Jon has as long as I have known him, driven old beat up, cars/trucks, windows don't work with no A.C.
He has been driving in Florida for 2 plus years with no A.C. As an example, we tried to trade in the old blazer(you can kinda see it in the background), the dealership would NOT even take it from us. Seriously we couldn't pay them to take it for us. So that "cheesy" look is well deserved. But we had to get the picture with the sunglasses. This is his "I'm cool now...do you see my new truck?" look.
And for those that think that this maybe wasn't the most practical new vehicle for a couple that has a baby on the way....we made sure you could fit a baby seat in the back!!

I'm super excited for Jon. He's never really had a new vehicle before(I told him that the one that got repo'd doesn't count)

Nice while it lasted!!

Yes folks, the idea of our vacation was nice while it lasted, but alas it is no more. We were so close. I could feel the sand between my toes and the sun on my face, but it has bid us adios.

For the third year in a row, Jon and I have to go with out a vacation. It seems that these dark circles under our eyes are much more attractive then a new golden tan. The idea of sleeping in late and sunning on the beach with a crisp cold corona in our hands is a dream of yesterday.

I miss you vacation!!

It seems the universe has other more practical things we have to spend our money on. And to top that off, we've had to dip into our baby account for the down payment. Jon is so nervous about this, because he feels that the minute we pull this money out; you know, all the money we worked our batooties off to save, we will get the "call". We were breathing easier because we had all the adoption expenses saved. But not now. We've been trying to make our cars last another year, just a little bit longer until we got our baby. That was the plan. We didn't need a car payment right now. But that's just not happening. Last night Jon was driving to work, it was pouring down rain, he was going like 20mph thorough what was NOT deep water in the roads when all of a sudden....silence. The car stopped working. He pushed it to a safer place and hiked two miles(b/c he forgot his cell phone) in the pouring rain, in the dark, at night, with no sidewalks to the nearest gas station to call me. The car is still not working, something about sucking water through some air intake valve into the engine that makes this not a good situation. So what we've been trying to avoid has pushed it's way into our lives. Now mind you my car is in the shop. The truck is on it's last leg. So we closed our eyes w/drew the money, got a loan at the bank, nixed our vacation plans, and tomorrow we get to buy a car. So we know it sucks that we have to do this right now, but I also know that Jon is excited that he gets a new vehicle. Tomorrow I shall posts pictures of what our no vacation gets us!!

But...

We should all get this and stick it on our foreheads!!

Hubby can be such a rock. We're talking about the wait. Now normally Jon always tacks on several months(years) to any story he's telling. But when it comes to the expected wait he inevitably always subtracts like 6 months. Then I have to correct him.

his response: you never know

me: But Jon, what if we get to 24 months and they tell us it's going to be another year

Jon: Then we'll wait

me: But...

Jon: We wait. We will get this child. If we have to wait, we wait.

And if ever I needed a reminder as to why I love my hubby. This conversation was it.

It's coming to that time...

Saving money comes hand in hand with trying to start a family. And NO vacations comes with trying to save money. Two years ago we nixed our vacation to save for IVF. We didn't try IVF. Instead we started the adoption. Then last year we went sans vacation again because we were saving for the adoption(notice a trend?)

This year we have been getting it from both mothers that we work too much and need to take time off. And since baby isn't coming this year we decided that come hell or high water we ARE going on a vacation.

I think we've decided on the Bahamas....(yay!!!!) But neither one of us has been there and don't even know where to start looking. Which island do we go to? So I'm soliciting ideas from all my bloggy friends out there. Where do we go to make it a memorable vacation, a vacation worth not having been on a vacation in two years. A vacation to mark our last Anniversary before our baby comes home(I know, I know I said this last year!!) Oh and a vacation that won't break the bank...we are still adopting ya know.

Let the ideas flow.....

Dear Lord, we may need to clarify our prayers...

I know that we've been praying very hard to be chosen to be parents. And I know that we didn't specify gender, age, or many other things. We even asked for as young as possible. I guess we never thought to specify species. And we are very grateful that you trust us with any of your creatures. But do you think that next time you choose us, it could be a human orphan?

Love,

Jon and Ann



Okay, so here's the story:

It's 4 am Sat. Jon rushes into the bedroom, where by the way I am sound asleep because I DO NOT work nights.

Ann, there's a dead baby duck in our garage, I need your help

huh, how did a baby duck get into our garage

I don't know, just come help

what do you need my help for, if it's dead, take care of it, by the way what day is it, do I need to go to work

It's Saturday..no, come help me

I don't want to help

come help!!

the scene: a little tiny fluffy baby duck is laying in our garage on it's back!!

I don't think it's alive Jon

That's what I said

well get a rag and pick it up

OMG, it's not dead it's alive, it's just sleeping

I didn't know ducks sleep on their backs, Is it hurt

no, I don't think so

What do we do?

Find it's Mother

--so we proceed to look in our neighbors bushes with a flashlight at 4 am(where we knew there was a nest) meanwhile, big bad black cat is waiting nearby as little baby duck is chirping for it's Mommy. The nest was there, eggs hatched, no other baby ducks and NO Momma duck.

We can't leave it

What do we do?
Go get a shoebox

What do we do with it?

--so for the next hour we search on the Internet on what to do with this baby duck. We couldn't find Momma Duck and big black cat was just waiting for us to leave it in the yard. We put it in the shoebox and tried to sleep.

2 hours later, Jon couldn't sleep so he went down to the pond to try and find Momma duck. No Momma duck to be found, Momma Goose is out there, but no Momma duck. He looked high and low knowing she must be around there somewhere. But he couldn't find her. Little Jeeter(yes we named him) was pretty stressed, we couldn't get him to drink anything and he was starting to shiver despite the massive heat outside.

Anyhow, after many phone calls we found a wildlife rescue and "dropped" off little "Jeeter".
But they weren't there yet. So we had to go back to make sure he was going to be taken care of.


Isn't that just the sweetest thing. I told the lady there that I didn't know that ducks slept on their backs. Her response: they don't, that was a major stress sign. They were able to get him to take some water and she said she would keep in touch with us to let us know how he's doing. They'll rehab him, make sure he can find food on his own, then release him when he's old enough.

He was sooooo sweet. Jon would talk to him in a daffy duck voice and and he would go straight to him. Trust me when I say, that we almost had a new pet!!

Oh and today marks 15 months on the waiting list!!

RUMORS!!

I hate rumors because they usually end up being true. This really sucks. The new rumor: the wait will be 18-24 plus. This sucks!!

Patience rewarded!!

Okay so maybe not the news you've been waiting for, but I's gotta talk about something, right?

3 years ago, Jon and I bought two sticks at the opening of the beaches. Seriously they were just sticks. I won't mention why on earth we would pay money for sticks but we did and well that's a whole 'nother story. Anyhow we put them in the pots where the people told us we would get Hawaiian Lei flowers. RIGHT!!

Now don't get me wrong we did get leaves, but no flowers....for three years. Then all of a sudden, this year...beautiful Plumeria flowers. See I have patience. Okay I really didn't do anything and I'm surprised the darn sticks did anything, but now I will spoil my little blooms with care.

On another note we rec'd our updated I171H in the mail today. We won't mention that Jon and I are now adopting from Tiawan(please tell me where that is and if their waiting list is shorter). And I guess now I'm doing the whole hyphenated name thingy. Whatever...we have to update the form anyways. I'll see if the agency thinks this will be a problem?!?

Makes me feel like Dancin'....Dancin'

Whooo HOOOO!!!




Finally a break of sorts. Most everyone in the adoption community knows this little tid bit. But I thought I'd put it out there for everyone who's following our journey and is NOT engrossed in the adoption community on a daily basis. Yesterday, USCIS announced their new fee schedule. On this new schedule you are allotted one extension of your Orphan Petition, free of charge. This is such a relief. Seriously, the idea of just having to fill out some extension form without forking out more money really is a stress buster. And since we just redid our fingerprints on Friday, hopefully we won't have to do anything else besides extend our Petition. This is really good news. So for all of us that are affected by this news, now is the time. Please take a moment, push your chair back, and do a little dance!!!

We are RE-DONE

Fingerprints-Check-Check-AGAIN!! We left pretty early this morning to get to the USCIS office when they opened. When we got there 10 minutes after they opened, the parking lot was packed, the lobby was packed. I asked the guard about this. He told me that they had 182 appointments for fingerprints today alone. We were not one of them. He told me they opened the doors almost an hour before. BUT that was not the listed hours that were on our form. I was a little nervous that we were in for a very long wait. But for some reason I think the pink form we had, must have put us in an expedited line, because again they said "good luck on your adoption" and we were in and out in a hour. Whew!! Done again. We then had plenty of time to go to an early showing of SpiderMan3 and take a walk around the mall before Jon collapsed in bed after not having had any sleep. While we were there there was this cute little Asian boy around 16 months sitting behind us. He kept tappin us on the shoulder, smiling and flirting. He was sooooo cute. Maybe it was a sign!! Stay tuned....we'll revisit this day in about 6 months, but by then hopefully we'll know about our child. Tootles!!

Book club verses some zzzzz's

Today I thought I would take a little nap before the book club. I jumped into bed for a 20 minute nap.....and oops 3 hours later I had missed the book club for adoptive parents...DARNIT. Of course now at 11:15pm I am WIDE awake.

I don't know how it would have gone since I only read one of the two books up for discussion. But I had planned on going anyways. The one book I did read though was Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother. I read this one in a couple of hours and I really liked it. The author really goes through a lot of emotions that a lot of families-or at least some of the things I think about and just don't say. I'm still waiting for the library to get the other book for me. Oh well at least I'll be reading them and next time I'll try not nap. But our bed is ohhh so nice, it sucks you in and then that's all there is, you're off into never never land.

Tomorrow we'll be getting our fingerprints re-done. Our USCIS office didn't give us an appointment, just gave us their hours like last time. So basically we go there and wait...and wait...and wait. I probably should've done that appointment pass thing, but I was afraid that it would take too long to get an appointment and our fingerprints expire at the end of June. Plus work gave me Friday off(YAY!!) We're going to try and get their early. We'll see. Hopefully no "match" problems like last time. I told Jon not to cut his fingers at work tonight. He told me that I should have NEVER said that because now he's going to be paranoid and something's going to happen and he'll chop off all his fingertips. Wouldn't that be our luck.

2 posts, one day!!

We're getting all sorts of culture. Val would be so proud that Jon and I went to yet another show, MAMMA MIA . That's two shows in two months, we're not yelling redneck anymore.....we's sophisticated folk now. My MIL couldn't use her tickets so asked us if we wanted to go. OF COURSE!! The seats were amazing, three rows from the stage. I sorta felt rich we were so close. I could actually see the sweat coming from the dancers. I wasn't sure what to expect since I didn't know much about the show. But it was so high energy and the singers were amazing. It really was a fun show to watch.

I am dumbfounded though that Jon didn't know who ABBA was. Now seriously I am NOT a music buff, but even I know who ABBA is. I kept turning to him during the show asking

"do you recognize this song"

"what about this song"

"seriously, you have to recognize this song"

I had to stop because I could tell he was getting annoyed with me.

Anyways great night, great fun!!

NOPE...the wait's not getting to him either..

So I have been informed that it's been over a week since I last posted! Thanks Sarah...I've been slacking.

Not much to post. But just in case you were wondering now Jon is having messed up dreams. He told me about his dream last night...

We were in a store and I saw a couple with a Chinese baby. I told him I was tired of waiting and that we're adopting too...then I proceeded to do something(in his dream) that I would NEVER do. I grabbed the baby!!!

Now apparently the Father of said baby was a big burly man.

And instead of Jon saying "Ann that's not a good idea"

He yells...."RUN!!!"

And so we run with baby in my arms and Big Burly Dad running after us!!

Nope no stress here.

Finally at the Minimum

Can you believe that we are at 14 months? I can't believe that we are still waiting. But we made it to this point and we're on the down slide now(hey haven't I said that before?)

The good thing about 14 months is that we are now officially at the minimum wait time frame. NOT that I think we're much closer as I anticipate at least an 18 month wait. But!!! Before when we were waiting, any time that we would get close to the minimum, they would change it. Then we would creep up on the new minimum and it would change again. NOW we are caught up....it didn't get away from us this time!!

I've heard stories of families waiting 20 plus months. I just hope that that doesn't become us. So now that we are at the minimum I am asking a favor from all of you. Please say a prayer for us that we learn of our child very soon.

Deep breaths!!

Breath in.....Breath out...okay, so, my anxiety ridden rant is now officially over. Thank you all for your support.

The best advice I got..you know the kind of advice that makes you go "okay, I get it",

"cry today, smile tomorrow, and move on".

So that's what I did.

Jon and I are never in a panic state of mind at the same time. Funny how that works out. He even asked me why I was getting so upset about fingerprints. I tried to explain to him that it's not the fingerprinting fee that we would have to pay a total of three times, but the principal of the whole ordeal. But the more I tried to explain to him, the sillier it sounded. If we have to pay the fee another two times, well we'll do it. I have learned that there is some discrepancy with USCIS offices. Some let the redo fingerprints count towards the refile of the I171H. Some do not. And you just never know how it's going to go when it's your turn. Our country coordinator even said that she has seen differences in the same USCIS office. So I'm still not sure if we're just going to let our fingerprints expire, then redo it all at the same time: Or redo them now in hopes that we won't have to redo them again in November. Oh well....moved on. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight.

{{hugs}} to you all for your love and support!!

Need answers

Okay everyone. For those that have been there done that: I know I posted to the yahoo group, but I just saw something that again gave me a sinking feeling in my gut. We are about to redo our fingerprints. While I'm still trying to figure out how to do this: someone posted that when we have to redo the actual immigration form that we will AGAIN have to be fingerprinted, along with all the birth certificates, marriage licenses..etc..etc..etc.. Please tell me that this isn't true. And why wouldn't our fingerprints be good from June to November. I mean we're going to have to pay another $140.00 this month-or whatever the fees are now. And now we're going to have to pay that fee again in 4 flippin' months plus the increased immigration which is somewhere around $600. And if we have to submit all our certificates and licenses can they be copies of the ones we just got last year or do we have to have fresh copies of those too. I mean seriously we already had copies of all that, but they couldn't be more than a year old when we did all this stuff last year so we had to pay to get fresh certified copies of certified copies we already had. And obviously they'll be older then a year NOW!!! So please for those that have had to redo the actual immigration form(I 171H) tell me what the deal is!!

Seriously I am so angry right now. I could deal with having to redo our fingerprints, kinda sorta understand that. I can understand having to redo our immigration, it sucks, but I can sorta understand that too. BUT to have to redo our fingerprints a third effin time 4 months after we just redid them, pisses me off. No nice way to put that. It really pisses me off. It makes no damn sense and is just an effed up way to run things. Sucks the money right out of our pockets. Hey here's an idea, lets pay in excess of $140 each time to do our fingerprints 3 times. Because we all know that my fingerprints have this funny way of changing things up a bit every couple of months. Funny how they do that. Twists the knife on the fact we can't have children. Makes me want to give up. There have been very few moments that I have wanted to throw in the towel. But when I hear something like that I just want to say EFF YOU to them all.