I'm about to burst out of my seams!

This waiting is REALLY getting to me! We're days away from getting our referral for Grace,  and time is going by in slooooow motion. I keep trying to keep tell myself that the call will come shortly, and that I can't speed it up by wishing and hoping for it to happen. But you know what? It doesn't matter. I still keep wishing and hoping, and darn it, nothing is budging!!!

The rumor is now that referrals will only go through 11/7, which is good for us because we are 11/4, but not for alot of those following us that thought the CCAA would get into the double digits of November this time. Looks like it just isn't going to happen. Also there's a rumor that referrals probably won't come today or tomorrow, so I should be able to relax a little, right? WRONG! I've never been so unfocused, although maybe I was when I was expecting DD1 and DD2 - I just don't remember.

Okay, I got that off my chest. Now I've got to get back to work.

One more thing!

I forgot to mention that DD1 and I had NO arguments today! It was soooo nice to be able to talk. I tried to make an effort to show her that I really do appreciate her good qualities, so that's what I focused on. That seemed to make a big difference. I need to remember that and focus on that more to show her how much I really do love her!

Rumor has it, we're being matched!

RQ says that there's a good chance that referrals for this month are in the matching room at the CCAA! There's also a rumor (not as strong) that the CCAA will get well into November 2005, so we should be a shoe-in. But you just never know on this adoption rollercoaster!

I have to admit though that I'm getting excited! I've been pretty calm this entire time, but it's just getting soooo close! I admit that I can't concentrate on anything else. I'm having trouble getting work done, and trouble getting the adoption ministry going, and trouble staying on track with getting healthy. All I think about is when we'll hear who our baby is, how old she is, what she looks like,... It's hard!

I've been reading back on my blog, and noticed that I keep bringing things up and then never really write what the outcome is. So I need to bring some closure to the things I've written about in the past. First I even though I said I was going to get back on track with my diet and health, I didn't. I had my WW meeting today, and as I expected I had gained weight, 3.2 lbs to be exact. So today, I really am back on program. I have a challenge with this weekend in Chicago, but I really am going to stick to this! I'm running out of time to get to goal before we go to China!

Okay. Also, I was sick on Monday and Tuesday, and am still fighting a the aftereffects. I went back to work on Tuesday, and feel okay. I still am having a stuffy nose. it seems to be a combination of a cold and allergies. But I did get back to working out tonight. I went to the Y and worked out on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes. Not as much as I should've, but at least I'm back at it. My goal for tomorrow is to work out before we go to Chicago. And then when we're in Chicago, I've got to figure out how to keep the activity level up. I may take a walk in John & Staci's neighborhood. It sounds like DD2 has lots of plans for us while we're there. So we'll see how it goes. I think that gets me caught up.

Photo from the train in Chicago

Here's a photo of me and the girls on the train into downtown Chicago during March when we went to see Wicked for my birthday!

 

Do I stink at blogging?

Here it is Monday morning. No news on the referral front, although I would hope we hear something in the next week or two. In the meantime, I've been living vicariously by reading others' blogs. These women seem so much more creative than I am. I read my entries and think why would anyone want to read this boring stuff. But maybe I'm looking at it all wrong. Maybe I need to remember that this blog is for me, not those out there that are reading it. Of course, if others read it and get something from it, that's fine, but it really is for me. I've enjoyed reading back over past entries from time to time. So I'm cutting myself some slack and proclaiming that the blog is serving its purpose for me.

With that I do promise to get some pictures on the blog. I just need to take some. I'm really not a shutterbug, but I will try to take more photos and post them, so we'll have something to look at instead of just the boring text.

Today I am sick. I was supposed to start our pilot activity of writing work instructions at work, but I woke up this morning feeling really lousy. I have a sore throat, my eyes are itchy, and I have a headache. I'm not sure if it's allergies or a cold, but it stinks! 

So I'm not working today. I'm trying to get myself to feel better, so I can get things going on both the work and church front. I was supposed to meet with Keith C. at church today, but cancelled. I really just can't talk to anyone because my throat hurts too badly. But I've got to get something going on this ministry. So I've moved all the materials Ron S. gave me out to the couch so I can begin reading over what he brought back from Colorado Springs. It's just such an overwhelming thing to get going! Lord, help me follow your will without fear or trepidation. I trust in You!

Woke up this morning to Taps!

Today is Saturday, and we don't really have anything too special planned, but I did have a surprise after getting up out of bed and fixing breakfast. I heard taps being played! We live right behind a church, so I figured that's where the music was coming from. And sure enough there were a group of kids practicing playing taps in the parkinglot of the church. Not sure wy they were practicing, but it was kind of comforting in a strange sort of way.

Besides that we've had an interesting week. No news on the referral, so that wasn't the interesting part. What was is that we got our new windows installed. They are really beautiful. The bad part about that is that now we need to do something about window treatments, as I don't want to drill into the vinyl to put the blinds up. Besides I was tired of the blinds, and they're tan where our windows are now white. So they need to go. But what do we put up instead? Right now we have sheets tacked up over our bedroom windows and DD2's bedroom windows. DD1 had curtains already, so no problem there. So I have some work to do to get window treatments!

Another interesting thing that happened this week is that we've been hosting a friend of DD1's whose mother went in for a kidney/pancreas transplant on Monday night. The surgery went very well, and the mom is doing well. But DD1's friend, A, wanted to stay with us this week, so she wouldn't miss school (and well, she prefers to stay with a friend rather than a friend of her mom's - understandable at 13 years old!). So she stayed with us until last night, where she went with a friend of her mom's. DD1 went to stay with her too, just for the night. A will head back home today to be with her stepdad whose coming back from a trip to "swim with the sharks in Carolina". Sounds strange to me that a woman's husband would choose to not be with his wife when she had her transplant surgery, but I know that not everyone lives/thinks like we do. Bottomline is that I'm happy that A's mom is doing so well, and that we could help A while her mom is in the hospital. Please continue to pray for their family.

Tonight is our monthly euchre party. This month we're at our neighbors' house that is also getting windows installed. I'm anxious to see if theirs turned out as well as ours - although I'm pretty sure they did! We also have church this evening, and lots ofcleaning needs to be done. I personally have to go work out, as I've pretty much taken the week off from eating right and working out. So I need to get back on track. I didn't weigh-in this week because of going to the Indy 500 practice at the track on Thursday, so I have to get things back on program to have a good weigh-in next Thursday! Today is the start of that!

No news on referrals other than their is a rumor that this batch will be bigger than the past few months. They are saying they could possibly get to November 16th, which would mean we're a shoein.

It's Mother's Day again!

It's Mother's Day 2007, and a quiet one at that. DH surprised me on Friday night by showing up unexpectly at the grocery store checkout. He was able to skip his trip for the weekend to be home for Mother's Day. How sweet! So the weekend started out great that Friday night, but things went downhill, at least for him, from there. He woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat. Poor guy. He's been in bed off and on since. He thinks he's got a sinus infection, sounds terrible, and is coughing up alot of phlem.

I just hope he's better by tomorrow night. Because he wasn't supposed to be home this weekend, he'd made reservations at The Melting Pot for all 4 of us to celebrate on Monday night. He tried to change the reservations when he got home on Friday night, but providentially they didn't have any openings. So I'm hoping he's able to enjoy tomorrow evening. Also we're supposed to go to church tomorrow afternoon to see what happened at the Voice of the Orphans Conference in Colorado Springs this past week. I'm excited to see what our friend found out, so that we can use the info to get Hands of Hope going!

Okay so now back to today, uh Mother's Day. This morning DH woke me up and asked me what I wanted for breakfast. I said oatmeal, so DDs made it for me, and DH went and got me my favorite Starbucks drink. It was nice. DDs also gave me their gifts of Bath & Body works body butter, lotion and lip balm. It was sweet. DH gave me the gift of getting my wedding band re-antiqued. I had told him that's what I wanted, so he took it into the jewelry store earlier last week. I get the ring back on Friday. For lunch we all sat outside on the patio, which was great - wonderful weather, good food, my favorite people to be with. What more could a mother ask for?!

Aftwards, poor DH went back to bed, and I went to work out. DD1 mowed the lawn, while DD2 dusted and vacuumed the play room. How sweet, huh? They're great daughters, and I love them both dearly.

So now, I'm cooking some simple chicken for dinner while DDs are outside on the tramp. DH is still in bed :-(. It's apretty quiet end to a quiet but nice Mother's Day. Next year, I would guess, will be much livelier with Grace here. How fun!!!!

So Am I being Paranoid and Overprotective?

Here's what happened. DD1 whose 13, walks or rides by car to the school bus stop everyday at 6:40 a.m. We ALWAYS go with her, either DH or me. I thought we went with her so that we knew she'd be safe. There have been some reports of girls 13 and 14 being abducted all over the US. Some of those abductions and rapes have been pretty close, within a 35 to 40 mile range away from us. So I'm NOT going to let my little girl walk to the bus stop (even though our house is 3 houses away from the corner where she catches that bus). So DH this morning crawls back into bed at 6:35, saying DD1 agreed to walk to the bus stop herself. I got right out of bed, and said "I DON'T want her going down there by herself!" He replies back " D. will be there with her." D. is a 14 year old boy that lives on the corner. Well, he's not always there. It's hit or miss on whether he'd be there or not. Side note: He wasn't there. DH also said "It's only one day." My response to that was "It only takes one time. Why take the risk" She too precious to me to take this risk, even if it's a small risk.

Of course everything went fine. Noone stopped to talk with us, although a few neighbors waved as they drove by on their way to work. It even was pretty light out now that summer is just around the corner. So am I being too overprotective? If you read this, post and tell me what you think. Oh, and BTW, no matter how many opinions I receive that I am being overprotective, it won't change me being adamant about going with DD1 to the bus stop!

18 months LID!

Today we celebrate 18 months of being Logged In in China. 18 months ago our paperwork for adopting Grace was logged in by CCAA. Wow! That's 3 times as long as I expected this wait to be. Just think, if things had gone as we originally thought they were, we'd be home with Gracie for almost a year by now. As it is, we still don't know for sure when we'll meet her. I truly think we'll travel in July. Maybe that is wishful thinking, but that's my feeling. Of course, we'll have to wait and see. First we need to actually GET our referral.

We've had some excitement today. DDs went to their elementary school spring carnival. The girls just love this thing, but it's boring for DH and I. Of course, now with DD1 being 13, she just takes off with her girl friends, and we only saw her at the end of the night. DD2 stayed with us going from room to room playing the silly little games that the kids love so much. Another thing that happens when we go to these kinds of things at school, is that I feel like a duck out of water. I just don't feel like I fit in with all the other parents. I don't know if it's because we're so much older than most of the other parents, or if it's just that I'm shy. But not too many people talk with us. Don't get me wrong, a few do, but not many. I guess that's something that I didn't expect when I became a parent. I had visions of of hanging out with the other moms, volunteering at school and making friends with them. That really just hasn't happened. Maybe it's me, maybe it's them, but it just hasn't happened. I feel mostly like an outsider. And I know when we get Grace, it will probably be even more so.

DH is able to be home this weekend, which is good because we have Hands of Hope meeting tomorrow. Speaking of that, I need to get my rear in gear, and get some ideas down about how we're going to educate our church about Hands of Hope, International Adoption and Orphan Care. DH has some good ideas, but I haven't written them down. It looks like we're close to having a logo. How cool is that!? Maybe this thing really will fly!