I have a friend!!!!!!!!

I know that probably seems odd to many of you, but I met someone ~ Erin ~ who is from ND and has adopted two boys from Colombia. She has been a wealth of information for me. PLUS, she's an attorney so we're trying to get this minor consumption issue worked out. Cara and I have bonded so much during this process and our friendship has grown tremendously. We have something in common that we'll never have with most of our other friends. But some of her experiences from the Ukraine are totally different from what we'll have to do with Colombia. So that's why I'm so excited to have met someone who knows EXACTLY what I'm going through.

Thank you so much to those of you who have written letters of recommendation for Rob. They literally brought tears to my eyes. And it isn't because I'm an emotional person! :) They were very heartfelt and I appreciate them very much.

We hope to have our fingerprints back from the FBI this week. I talked to a man from the board of P&P and really had my hopes dashed. He said it could takes months to have this resolved. We thought that Rob could apply for an exceptional pardon since it has been more than five years. This would eliminate us from having to publish a notice in the Aberdeen paper to see if anyone has any objections to Rob receiving the pardon. But I found out that Governor Rounds does not approve exceptional pardons. So we have to publish this three weeks in a row and then wait ten days after the last publication. So that puts us in the middle of February. Then we'll have to send the application, letters from friends, a letter from the Brown County State's Attorney all to the board of P&P. They will then put it on the schedule. So if we go with this time frame, Rob would get on in March. He then has to tell the two person board why he wants a pardon. If they recommend it, he has to go before the five person board. If they recommend it, the pardon would go to the governor. The man I talked to said it could sit on the governor's desk for months before a decision is made. Well guess what....I started bawling. This is just so disheartening. If we would have known about this last summer, we would have taken care of it then. But I just didn't see that it would be an issue. So I called our trusty friend Paul, also an attorney. He had told Rob there is something that could be done on a local level. Rob had called the Brown County SA back in November and he didn't know what to do. So Paul is going to call the BCSA and see if they can take care of it. I keep telling Paul he owes me for stuff I've done for him for work. Paul, I will owe you CASES of protein powder and beer if you fix this! :)

Erin gave me lots of good information. They adopted from Los Pisingos. LP tends to place young babies (three months or so as opposed to five months) and will allow you to adopt three kids. Sometimes you can only adopt two total from the orphanages. She knows someone who got their referral six weeks after submitting their dossier! I'll go anytime. It doesn't matter to me. I'd rather have it be sooner than later. But I really want to be home in August for my niece, Katie's, wedding. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, but I hope we don't have to even think about it. I asked Erin about not letting anyone see the baby and she didn't think it would be an issue. So that makes me feel better.

We had the dining out last night. Sure enough, the dress didn't fit. Not even close. I think the zipper was about three inches from closing. Rob didn't get home from the wrestling tournament in Miller in time, so we didn't take pictures, anyway. I'd spent close to an hour using the timer on the camera to find a good spot. PLUS, I spent about two hours sewing a red thing to tuck in Rob's shirt pocket for the dining out. Red is their "color" and everyone had to have on something red. Socks, suspenders, pocket thing (sorry I can't think of the name even though I know it's something I SHOULD know). If they don't wear red, they have to put quarters into the kitty. It's a guard thing. Anyway, someone had given me an old bridesmaid's dress to use for Halloween. I cut the inside of the dress just in case I ever need to use it. And pinned it and stuffed it in the pocket, repinned and stuffed in the pocket, got my sewing machine out of the closet and set up, repinned and restuffed and finally got this cute little red pocket protector like thing. I must say...I'm good. I think it would have been easier if I'd used a ruler or something. I just guessed. Hence all the repinning. Back to the diet...I'm one of those people that expects to lose five pounds in the first two days. I've been drinking shakes since Tuesday. I have not cheated. And I haven't lost a pound. This is why I fall off the wagon. I expect immediate results. BUT, I think my pants weren't so tight. I've been doing Gilad's exercise's. I'm pretty sore, too. I love doing "The Firm". But I don't have an hour to exercise. Of course yesterday, I did Gilad for a half an hour and yoga for a half an hour. Man, that yoga is relaxing. I need to get back to my acupuncture. You wouldn't have to read my babbling. Well, maybe you would. I would just be more calm as I was typing this! :)

Well, I have to go. I didn't get much sleep last night. Kramer's alarm clock goes off almost precisely every night at 2:30. Either she's being pesky or she wants to touch my face. With her feet or her face. Lips included. Needless to say, it's a little distracting to have cat lips on you. PLUS, it was so smoky at the dining out that she was in hair-licking heaven. I finally had to pull the sheet around my face like a hood. She even tried to get in there. I had to hold on tight. Rob went to guards. I missed church. And my parents are coming to pick me up to go visit my niece Hailey for Christmas.

Have a great day....