Once again, it has been almost a week since I posted. There is not much new on the adoption front. I did a phone interview last Wednesday with one of the agencies I am interested in, and I am waiting for another one to get back to me to schedule some time to chat. I emailed them last Tuesday and they have still not gotten back to me...hmmm...that doesn't seem like a good sign :(
Mrs. BG has tagged me to list 5 things weird about myself, so I actually have something to post! Here goes:
1. I love to clean and organize things...and I generally do these things on a total whim. I could be sitting there watching tv and all of the sudden get an itch to say organize a closet, or vacuum the whole house, or even roll all of my spare change. I am also a total night person, so I am generally doing these things after 8pm. It is kinda like my own personal relaxation. Some people have yoga or a hot bath, I have cleaning/organizing.
2. I have to use a new towel after every shower. I grew up that way and it was not until I was in my mid-twenties that I realized (through my friends) that a lot of people will use the same towel all week. So even though I am single, I own like 10 towels!
3. My big toe is longer than the rest of my toes. WhenI was a teenager, I started noticing that most people's big toes are actually shorter than their second toe. I always thought it was normal for the big toe to be longer...I mean, it isn't called the big toe for nothin'. Yes, I am strange, my friends will agree ;)
4. I am a *very* picky meat eater. I will not eat any flaws in chicken, turkey, pork chops, steak. I will cut off all of the visible fat and veins before I eat it. You will therefore never see me eat say, a chicken sandwich, 'cause I can't 'inspect' it before I eat it. But figure this one out, I will eat ground beef, bacon, and salami with no problem. I am my father's daughter on this one...
5. I live in the house that I grew up in. My family (five of us) lived in this ~900 sq ft house for my first 18 years (we all shared 1 bathroom, ugghh). My parents then bought a big, beautiful house that we moved to. When I was 21, I moved into an apt with a friend but things went sour. Long story short, my parents still had the house sitting there empty so I decided to rent it from them. Here I am 8 years later :)
********************************************* Some well wishes for this week:
- That Elle and CS have a safe trip to pick up Pickle in Russia - That Mrs. BG hears some good news about Zeeb
I wanted to congratulate Elle and CS for getting their court date!!! I am so excited for you guys!!!
For those of you who don't read their blog, they are adopting a little boy from Russia and finally got the court date to pick up their son and bring him home. They have had quite a long and complicated journey, but they are finally getting to bring their son home.
If you have a chance, hop on over to their blog and wish them well on their final journey to Russia. As of right now, they have 7 days, 13 hours and 11 minutes till they leave :)
Wow, I cannot believe it has been almost a week since I have posted! There has been nothing new to report really and I have been busy learning my new job. I feel like I am so far behind catching up on blogs, forums, etc. Missing a week really puts a person behind! I had planned to use my lunch hour to catch up as all I ever really do is eat lunch at my desk anyway...but I found out really quickly that ALL of the sites I read on a daily basis are blocked :(...grrrr. Being a brokerage firm, I can see them being really strict about the web, but come on...I cannot even get to blogs, not even my own!!!
Oh well...
So I woke up early this morning and remembered that CH(hope)I was having an info meeting today. I am really not too interested in this agency but thought, what the heck, I'll go. Their office was *really* nice...all of the state of the art equipment, entire building to themselves, very nicely decorated, etc. I guess I can see that since it is their home office, but I was still a little surprised at how much money they pour into their facilities.
So their wait times for VN are 4-6 mos for a boy, 18-24 mos for a girl. Wait, did I just see 18-24 mos??? wow, that is longer than any agency has quoted so far. Granted since I am single, I do not believe I get a choice, but it still scares me that it could be more than 2 years before I would get a referral. Soooo many things can happen in two years (in terms of the country). I have so many worries...what if I wait say 18 mos and then for some reason VN shuts down...then I have to start all over. And then there is the worry about having to redo paperwork over and over cause it expires. One interesting thing they said is that they don't have PAPs put together their Dossier until they get a referral b/c it is only good for 6 mo in VN. I hadn't heard that before...interesting.
Chances are I will not be going with them, but I am glad I went...it is always a good learning experience.
Oh, and one rumor I heard is that there is a good chance that China is going to cease Single adoptions all together. Wow, I am glad I did not have my heart set on China. They said that they will know more in the coming weeks, but I was shocked to hear this. They did say they thing that singles may still be able to adopt Waiting Children, but they are not 100% sure yet...
Well, I FINALLY started my new job yesterday!!! I am so glad I am finally in a place where I have actual work to do!! I may be in the minority on this but, I cannot stand having downtime at work. Don't get me wrong, I like time for my occasional check on CNN to make sure the world is still turning, but I thrive on interesting, challenging work. Quite unfortunately I had an average of 60% downtime per week at my last job...grrr. That amounts to about 24 hours a week of nothing productive to do. Being the geek that I am, I actually kept a spreadsheet of every hour of downtime per day that I had...hey, what else was I gonna do?!?
After a while, I finally accepted it and decided it would be a good use of time to research adoption...and get paid quite nicely for it :) I started finding online forums and yahoo groups to follow and eventually got hooked on the blogs too. My only problem now is, I don't have those extra 5 hours a day anymore to keep up with everything. It has only been 2 days, and I am already so far behind, lol :) ahh, well...it was good while it lasted.
Ok, next steps...I need to get my butt in gear and choose a homestudy agency and an adoption agency...hopefully you will hear more about this sooner rather than later :)
Thank you Mrs. Broccoli Guy for your latest post answering some questions posed to you, including what you know about possible corruption rearing it's ugly head again in VN. I was told by one of the agencies I am looking at that they are starting to see corruption again in VN adoptions, but they did not elaborate. What they did say is that they are working with the VN Government and other agencies to try and stop this corruption before it gets out of control (which I was very happy to hear). Now, they are the only agency that has mentioned this, which in my opinion shows a lot about the integrity of the agency.
Anyways, here is the post I was referring to that gives a really good explanation about what is going on in VN as far as corruption, and why it can possibly cause delays for PAPs. Thank you MBG for being so open and honest with this information :)
I wanted to thank all of you who commented on my yucky day post. You all made me smile and I am feeling back to normal again. My Orthopedic doc had put me on a med for nerve pain that doubles as an anti-depressant and all it did was mess with my head! Needless to say, I am no longer taking it. But the bad news is I have to do PT for the next couple of weeks...C'est La Vie
So I attended another Agency Info meeting on Wednesday and it was a bit of an eye-opener. I was not too excited about this agency in the first place, but thought, what the heck. During the meeting, the topic of the Hague / Guatemala situation came up (shh, by me) and one of the PAPs who didn't know what this is asked what the reason was that adoptions could halt there. The lady doing the presentation looked down at the floor, shook her head, and said "I don't know". Umm, what?? You have worked at the agency for 5 years, have a Guat program, and you DON'T KNOW?? Shoot, even I know the general reasons (which I proceeded to offer up). She did try to cover herself and give a *very* general interpretation but still, can we say red flag? I just wanted to laugh.
Anyway, the other thing that rubbed me the wrong was was that they said said most agencys make PAPs pay for these info meetings and acted like their agency is generous and doesn't make people pay. Again, umm, what?? I have yet to find an agency that requires payment for a general info meeting. Maybe I just have not been looking at *those* agencies. I am certainly not going to act grateful that they took 1.5 hours out of their day to tell me about their agency/programs. I feel like it should be expected that these are free, especially since when we sign with them, they get $4000-$5000 out of me. Just my two cents:)
Well, I think I can cross that agency off my list. I now have two, out of state contenders. I have not really heard anything bad about either one. My next step is to schedule one-on-one meetings with them and go over all of my detailed questions.
Lastly, I wanted to put a little plug in here for a product called True Lemon. If you like lemon in your water, tea, etc, this is the product for you. It is so yummy. One of my co-workers gave me a few packets last week to try and I am addicted. I just add it to a cup of water, stir, and Voila...yummy water. It is real crystalized lemon with no added sugar or sweetners, no calories, no carbs...nothing but lemon. Did I mention that it was yummy :) Now I just need to find somewhere on the web that doesn't charge $6+ to ship some to me!
I am having a 'chemically imbalanced' day today...just sucks :(
I feel like I just want to go home, crawl into bed, put the covers over my head and sleep for 24 hours straight. I think several small stresses are rolling up into one big stress ball and causing this...grrr GO AWAY!
I hate HATE cell phones. Why is it that people get mad at you if they call you on your cell phone and you don't immediately pick up...or return the call within 5 minutes?? I feel like 2 of my friends are not so happy with me right now b/c they called this weekend and I did not answer (1) because I was away from my phone or (2) because I just didn't feel like talking at that moment. They know this is how I am, yet they still get perturbed when I don't answer or return the call right away. I am just not one of those people who likes to talk to people all day long. I like my alone time (while I still have it)...and I don't get mad if someone doesn't answer/call back right away when I call (of course, I do not make that many phone calls, again that is just not me).
I feel like my body is falling apart at the seams...asthma, unfounded heart palps treated with meds that irritate the asthma, stress fracture on one of my vertabrate causing a nasty pinched sciatic nerve, dental crown that is just not sitting right at the moment. I am too young for this right? And will anyone actually let me adopt with all my 'medical' problems?
And don't get me started on work...If I have to sit here with one more hour of absolutely nothing to do, I think I am going to literally go crazy!
whew, I actually think I am feeling a little better after getting it all out. For anyone reading this, thanks for listening to me be a crab.
I went and saw "You, Me, and Dupree" on Saturday for my friend's birthday. It was hilarious! I cannot believe I actually liked the movie despite the fact that it had a cheesy ending and I absolutely cannot stand Owen Wilson. I think most of my dislike towards him has to do with his nose. I know, that is a pretty superficial reason not to like someone, but hey...
I was planning on really hunkering down and researching homestudy agencies online this weekend, with the hopes of having a list of phone numbers and questions to ask in hand by Monday morning...well that didn't happen ;) Somehow, yesterday just flew by (I guess that 3 hour nap probably had something to do with it).
I have an agency info meeting in my area to go to tomorrow evening. I was excited about it 'till I began reading their policies... They seem pretty strict with their PAPs (i.e. they even have a suggested weight limit, even for those not adopting from Korea). I would fulfill the weight limit if I were like 5'7", but unfortunately I am only 5'4" ;) Well, I am still gonna go and check it out.
Oh, and I wanted to thank everyone for their comments regarding my attempts at gardening. I will definitely go the petunia route next year per Elle. And yes, I am pretty sure I did over-water the aloe. I think I was watering it like every other day, lol.
I cannot wait till I start my new job on the 14th. Cannot wait. For one reason, I am *very* eager about leaving my current place of employment for reasons I am sure I will blog about once I am outta here. Another reason (and the most important) is that once I start my new job, I am going to offically start the adoption process! I will gain full time employment with a nice salary, full benefits including health insurance, life insurance and disability, paid vacation, and 12 weeks of FMLA for maternity leave.
I left a job with all of these perks back in November of 2005, but the downside of that job was that I traveled almost 100% of the time, and therefore it was not possible for me to adopt. I finally decided that having a family was *much* more important to me than being some high-powered executive consultant who works 80 hrs a week and is only home on the weekends. I resigned as soon as I could. I have been working as a IT consultant...contractor...whatever you want to call it...for about 6 months now and it just kinda sucks. No vacation, no time off, crappy benefits, no real sense of belonging.
I swear, the closer the 14th gets, the more impatient I get! I keep reading forums and blogs and seeing others so far in the process and I get jealous. Then I think, well if I am this impatient now, how will I be when I am waiting for DTV, waiting for a referral, waiting for travel, etc...I can only begin to empathize with those folks in the real waiting stages.
If Gardening Is Anything Like Parenting...I'm In Trouble!
I know, I know, I am laughing too...This was my first attempt at growing flowers all on my own...and I failed misrably! Acutally, I am not going to take all of the blame for it, Mother Nature and her recent heat wave must take some responsibility (but I have to admit my flowers were on the decline before the heat, shhh).
What amazes me is that there are actually 2 petunias still in bloom! They just don't seem to want to die. Well, I admire their strength and perseverance, but I want to take the ugly thing down...but don't want to kill them in the process.
Elle, being the master gardner that you are, any suggestions for next year? I will definitely do petunias again, but will stay away from the zinias (sp?).
I did have to share my gardening success though also. Below is my Myer Lemon Tree, grown from a cutting from my mom's tree. For some reason, this thing rooted and just took off. Out of 6 cuttings my mom did and gave away, this is the only one still living. This is the only reason I think that I can try the hanging basket again next year :) I can't wait till I start getting actual lemons. My mom gets tons of lemons each year, full size and all!
Soooo, can anyone tell me why I cannot keep simple petunias, zinias, AND an aloe plant alive, but I can grow a lemon tree from a cutting!?!? (yes, I really did kill an aloe plant; I didn't think that was possible till it happened)
May 29, 2006 (First growth!)
June 3, 2006 (Come on baby leaves, grow...grow...)
June 8, 2006 (Wow, baby leaves almost full grown in 1 week!)
August 3, 2006
(Finally, more new growth, baby was tired and rested for a while, but didn't let Mother Nature's heat get to it)
So last night I was at my parents house in the living room with my mom and Noelle the cat (due to...ah hem...a reason I said I would not mention any more...) and we were talking about how attached Noelle is to me. She was glued to my lap the entire evening (well, every evening really). Anyway, my mom said something along the lines of 'boy, she is sure not going to like it when the baby comes and she can't be on your lap all of the time'. My heart smiled.
This may not sound like much to the average person, but it was huge for me. My mom hasn't voluntarily talked about the adoption yet (at least to me). Every time I mention it, she gives the 'oh, uh huh' answer and then the subject changes. I know she is just worried about me being able to handle being a single mother...heck I am worried about me...but I cannot let the 'what ifs' keep me from following my dreams of family and motherhood.
I now know my mom is coming to grips with the fact that I am actually going to do this and that she is going to have a grandchild (maybe even her first if I can beat my sister and brother to it!). Now I guess I have to start working on my dad...he is a different story altogether. Multiply my mom's worries by about 100 and you can begin to understand him and how difficult convincing him will be...
Not much has been going on to blog about, but I figured it has been almost a week so I would post what I know...
I know things were finally getting back to normal when my power went out yesterday...but have no fear, it was only a 4 hour outage due to the extreme temps...whew! (ok, I promise, I will stop talking about the outages!)
I know that it is hot as *heck* here in the midwest...yuk...I cannot wait until fall comes.
I know that this researching agencies stuff is so confusing. I get more confused everyday. I hear good and bad about all of the agencies I am looking at...except for one where I only have heard good things...which confuses me even more. I had no clue when I started this how careful one has to be when picking an agency. I wish there was a guide that listed all of the 'good, ethical' agencies and I could just close my eyes, point, and pick one! I don't care who facilitates this adoption, I just want to bring my child home.
I know that Elle and CS are anxiously awaiting notification regarding their pre-trial hearing in Russia. Please keep them in your prayers!!
I know (and now you do too) that I am a crabby girl today for some reason ;) (Thanks for bearing with me)
About: This blog has been created to document my journey through the international adoption process from the research phase to bringing my forever child home.
