Ack! I'm getting old!

Am I my mother's daughter or my father's daughter? I went to the chiropractor this week and told him that I'd been running and my knees hurt really bad. So he had me take off my shoes and socks and looked at the way I walk and stand. He told me two very disturbing things:

1 ~ He said "I see you're developing some bunions there". I AM NOT! Believe me. I check out my feet way more than necessary to see if this is happening. Thanks, Mom.

2 ~ He said "I think you need inserts in your shoes". I might agree with this one. Thanks, Dad.

So am I getting old or these the bad traits passed on to me? It does explain a little though. When I was in junior high and high school I played basketball and ran track and cross county. Every time I particpated in something, my knees hurt. Bad. I'd end up limping around wondering why I couldn't cut it. My brother and best friend were outstanding runners. I was decent but not as good as them. For a while hearing "Hmmm, I thought you'd be a better athlete" made me want to keep running. Surgery really didn't help. It made it worse. Knee braces didn't help either. I know the track/cross county coach just thought I was a wimp. My basketball coach was just a jerk so the fact that he went out of his way to make me feel worthless shouldn't have surprised me. By the time I quit, I really couldn't stand the pain anymore and was tired of the comparisons. I understand teachers have favorites. But teachers/coaches who go out of their way to make a student feel stupid and intimidated don't deserve to be either a teacher or a coach. ANYWAY, the chiropractor said I've probably walked this way my entire life which has caused some funky things with my knees and the stress fracture I had in my leg when I was 14. Finally, I had justification that my knees really did hurt. I wasn't faking it. So now, at 34, I'm going to have to pay attention to how my foot moves from heel to toe. Plus, I feel like I'm walking pigeon-toed trying to keep my left leg straight. So if you see me walking down the street and I'm tripping all over myself, don't be surprised. One of the many good things to adoption is that my poor kids can't inherit my high forehead, my fine hair, my wide hips, my non-bunions, or the breast cancer that seems to be prevalent in our family! :)

I'm starting to dream about other bloggers. The other night I dreamed that Erin and I went to New York to visit Starfish and while we were flying, Elle called me. We stayed in a fancy hotel somewhere in New York. Erin brought her briefcase and worked and I accompanied kids practicing for the band contest. And we flew home the next day. I'm not sure of the purpose of the whole trip. But I usually can't explain my dreams to begin with.

I had to redo my FBI prints for our dossier. Everything expires in six months. Even our birth certificates. I know. It's goofy. So just in case I've been out in the past six months getting arrested, I had to redo my prints. They expire July 8. The rest of the stuff doesn't start expiring until August so if we don't hear soon I'll have to redo that stuff, too. So my prints are in West Virginia at the FBI. When I get them back they have to be notarized and apostilled and sent to the social worker in MN. Then down the Colombia. This time I made sure to write in BIG letters "INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION". I won't make that mistake again.

I did get my hair cut. So far it hasn't helped with the referral process. BUT in my mind, I've calculated the days out and think the orphanage board will meet this week. Whether or not we get a referral, who knows. In the meantime, it's constantly on my mind. By next week and we haven't heard anything, I'll be OK until the end of July. Then I'll move into "is it this week" paranoia.

So unless I have some really good news to share, I don't know that I'll post again before the 4th. Have a great holiday everyone and keep your fingers crossed!

Random thoughts...

Remember back in March when I posted about getting my hair cut? It hasn't been cut since. I kept thinking that we'd be getting our referral soon and I wanted to get it cut and colored right before we left. So 11 weeks later, I need my hair cut BAD. The only thing that saves me is that, for the most part, I generally don't care what my hair looks like. Everybody who knows me knows I CAN fix my hair. That counts, right? Now that I think about it, maybe I SHOULD cut my hair. That might lead to a referral. Not getting my hair cut hasn't worked.

I went to Fargo Saturday with my parents for the air show. It was interesting. You couldn't pay me enough to get in those airplanes and my dad would pay any amount of money to get in one. I was a little freaked out that one was going to crash right into me. The thought crossed my mind that if I faced the opposite way of the plane coming at me and kneeled on the ground with my hands over my head, I might be saved. Sort of like the tornado position. For a second I thought it might work. This thought soon left my mind as I realized my skin was getting sun burned. I put sunscreen on but it didn't help. I'm burned. No doubt about it. I even had to borrow my mother's nylons for church this morning because I brought a skirt to wear and my sock line and sandals made me look like an idiot. I thought I'd be safe with booties that don't go any higher than my shoes. Yeah. Still look like an idiot.

Since I was in Fargo, I finally got to meet the infamous Erin of Viva La Colombia! :) And Michael. My parents were there too. We've talked many times on the phone and lots of emails but never actually in person. It's funny how I meet all these people on the Internet and may never meet them in person. So it was really nice to actually meet her and have her tell my parents some things about her adoptions and the time they spent in Colombia.

We spent the afternoon at my brother and sister-in-laws house for Father's Day. I often wonder if Father's Day is as difficult for Rob as Mother's Day has been for me. Surprisingly, I've never asked him. I suppose it's a random thought that enters my mind when he's not with me and by the time I see him again the thought is gone. I have bawled and dreaded Mother's Day for many years and I'm hoping this was the last one.

OK, I'm done for the day. Off to watch Tiger and the US Open. I remember as a little girl watching Tom Kite golf on TV and trying to keep score. That's a great idea unless you've never golfed in your life. It totally confused me so I gave up on golf. Now that I'm getting to be so good, golf on TV is actually fun to watch! :) After I become a master at golf, I'll take up NASCAR. Someday I might find that as exciting as golf!

Has it been a whole week?!

I guess that's a good thing. We've been pretty busy since my last post. We've been golfing quite a bit this past week. I had my best score EVER yesterday. It was a 70 but it was still my best score. I think golf courses should only be six holes because my game goes really downhill those last three holes. It's like bowling. I do OK for the first two games. The last one is awful. Back to golf...I had a 12 and a ten so just think what I would have had without those two bad holes. If I can average seven per hole, I'm pretty happy. Except I forgot my clicker thing in my coat pocket. I can't count (namely because I hit so many times) so Rob has to help me with my score.

Rob is an Atlanta Braves fan and I'm a Minnesota Twins fan so we drove to Minneapolis on Tuesday for the game. Our friend Jason went with. We had "cheap seats" (really cheap at $9 per ticket since it was Half Priced Tuesday!) but we had a good time. Rob walked in wearing his Braves jersey and started getting heckled. I followed right behind in my Twins jersey and the guys started laughing and said "It's a divided household!". The Twins won (they swept 'em!) so I was happier than Rob. We wished we could have stayed longer to visit the Diaz's, who just brought their daughter Olivia home from Colombia. But work (and a 4 1/2 hour drive) was calling. It was pretty much the quickest trip to Minneapolis I've ever had.

Rob left today for summer camp for guards. Two weeks. The first year we were dating (1995), this was very difficult for me. We didn't see each other every day but generally talked every day. So going two whole weeks without talking to him about killed me. Since then (and having spent eight months apart while he was on active duty) I've learned to enjoy my alone time! Especially when I get the entire bed to myself! When he was gone for so long, I learned to sleep in the middle of the bed. Billy and Bob snuggled up next to me. All night. So I'd wake up and move to one side or the other. And they'd follow me. So when I'd wake up the next time, I'd pick up my legs and move back over to the other side. When Rob came home, he didn't find this very amusing. Bob slept with me every night. All night. But Billy generally moves from the couch to the bed to under the bed to the guest bed. So now I just have Rob to deal with. My goal is to someday have a king size bed. Actually my goal before that is to find a decent house that has a large enough bedroom to fit a king size bed. Truthfully, I'd just go for a decent house.

My "no news" weekly update

What do you know...no news. I'm not sure how I'll react when we actually do get our referral. I always said that I was so used to negative pregnancy tests I didn't know what I'd do if it actually turned out positive. That's sort of how I feel now. I'm just getting used to every month going by and not hearing anything. I do have a lot going on so that keeps my mind off it.

We got a car this week. Well, it's not a car. But it sure isn't a van. Sorry to any of you van drivers but never, ever in my life will I drive a mini van. (Just watch, that will be my next vehicle.) But, I think I got something that's pretty close. Much trendier though. It's a Chrysler Pacifica. And still not a van. (Can you tell I'm not a van fan?) It was delivered last night so I've been in it long enough to program my radio stations.

We're supposed to get this huge storm tonight. Like the 19 inches of rain we got in May weren't enough. Rob's at golf and I'm starting to get a little panicky. The weather predictors are saying tornados and softball sized hail. I blame my brothers for much of the reason I am the way I am (throwing rocks at me and spitting on me while waiting for the school bus had to have done some damage, right?). I also blame them for my fear of the dark and storms. Every time it rains I'm sure a tornado is coming and is going to take me away. Since I know I wouldn't be able to get the cats in a few seconds and run to the basement, I tend to put the cats in the carrier and sit on the basement steps just waiting for the storm to hit. I haven't done that yet but I am starting to freak out wondering if we have lightening rods on the house.

Caught!

We know who the saran wrapping culprit is. Well, we're fairly certain. Two things clued us in. 1 ~ Said individual had to stay after school that day (on the last day of school, mind you) and 2 ~ one of said individual's parents is in a business where he/she uses industrial size saran wrap. I'm sure said individual had help. Rhonda...you've been saran wrapping before. Can you do it alone? BTW, your parents live in Iowa. Is that where you grew up? Iowa must have been a step ahead of South Dakota in the rebel department when we were growing up because I've never heard of it!

Still no news. I do know a family from LSS received their referral from Los Pisingos in the past few days. She was adopted from LP herself so I'm sure that's why they heard something so quick. So we probably won't hear anything until late June at the earliest. We're getting dangerously close to Katie's wedding on August 25. We'll have to hope for a speedy court.

We've been Saran Wrapped!

Aren't you jealous? Yesterday was the last day of school so SOMETHING had to happen. Rob went to golf and I went to bed about 10:00. Right after "Lost". I'm still not sure what to think of that one. Anyway, I didn't notice anything suspicious. Rob got home about 1:00. I went to work at 6:50 or so and the entire pickup had been Saran Wrapped.

We've been pretty lucky. We've had some youthful pranks pulled on us but nothing too bad. While we were in Highmore, we were toilet papered twice in two nights and had some lawn ornaments disappear during Christmas break. They ended up outside the wrestling room door the next morning. When we lived in Elk Point some kids were going to scare us on Halloween. The neighbor tipped us off and Rob ended up scaring them. Over Christmas break this year Rob went out the front door and found that almost every possible sign in town had been placed in our yard. For Sale, locate flags...you name it. So Saran Wrap just fits right in.

Typos

I have this obsession with typos. I don't know why. I blame my English teacher. Journalism class (not as much English) was my favorite class. When Rob and I were dating I was in school in Vermillion and Rob was already working and living in Redfield. He'd send me cards. Rob has this funky thing about poems. He always writes a poem. They don't make sense but they're very lovable. One time he needed something that rhymed with "air" and he couldn't think of anything. So he wrote "so I'll go cut my hair". Yeah...doesn't make sense but that's OK. It's the thought, right? So anyway, he'd send me cards and I'd correct his spelling. I couldn't help it. It was just SO obvious! Couldn't he see those mistakes?! He told me that if I ever corrected him again he'd never send me another card. Well that solved that. Not the spelling part. Just the correcting. I know that I put in extra commas and start sentences with "and" when I type. So I should not be throwing stones, right? Perfect example: the other day I wrote about the baby shower. I usually proofread everything I post. But you know when you write something you can read it ten times and it looks right. You hand it in (or post in this case) and what do you know? There's a typo. So I did proofread. But I missed something. Rob called me yesterday while I was home for dinner. He said "What word does 'W O H' spell?" I asked if that was the beginning of the word and he said "No. That's the entire word". I thought he was reading something at school and needed my help. So I said "Waa?" I didn't know what it meant but thought it might be some educational thing. He said "I'd like to thank all woh attended." I figured it out. I had a typo. So we hung up. About two minutes later he called back and said "I have a good knock-knock joke but you have to tell me 'knock-knock'". So I said "knock knock" and he said "woh's there?" He's so funny. Needless to say, I have edited the post so this is the only evidence it was ever there!

There's a blog that I read that I really enjoy. I think the counter on her blog went up dramatically when I started reading because I check for new posts several times a day. The posts are that good that I think she should post several times a day. I think she's a lot like me. Although she doesn't hold anything back. I'm more reserved on my blog. The point of my story is that she never has typos. She's very articulate. However, this disease I have hasn't fully gone away. Twice I've found typos. And they were good ones. I laughed and laughed. So Elle, even though I give you a bad time, I'm really not making fun of you. They're just such good typos I can't pass it up! And if you want to make fun of me about the "woh" let me have it. It isn't as good as yours but Rob's response made it funny.

You've probably all figured out I'm having a better week than last week. Last week I was just CONSUMED with freak-out-ness. I'm calmer this week. I don't know why. Lots going on, I think. The shower. Graduation tomorrow. Graduation parties that last three days. A new baby kitty to care for. One of the girls I work with has an abandoned kitty that we've been caring for. She's about three weeks old and is just the cutest thing. She sleeps in a box during the day then wakes up around noon. We feed her from a medicine dropper. Amy supervises while I hold her and Ashley feeds her. She just sucks down that milk like she's starving. Then she goes back to sleep. Until around 4:00 as I'm getting off of work. And we feed her again. We're all gonna be really sad when she can eat on her own and Ashley doesn't bring her to work anymore.

I belong to a Yahoo group for Colombian adoptions and people keep posting about a "lista unica". No one really seems to know what it is but it is supposed to make the wait longer for referrals. I emailed the social worker in MN and she emailed the facilitator in Colombia. Cecelia emailed back that the government is trying to place Colombian babies with Colombians first. Domestically and also internationally. So a Colombian on the list will move right to the top and receive their referral first. She said that she doesn't think there are many Colombians on the waiting list so it probably won't have much of an effect. But it COULD possibly mean a longer wait for us. They (the ICBF) were supposed to meet yesterday with the private orphanages and she would find out more after that meeting. As of now I don't know what they discussed. Hopefully it won't affect us too much. We're already up to the middle of June if we receive our referral this week.

When I emailed the social workers about the this list I told them about my dream with the cat. They wanted to know if they could share that with all of the other social workers and other adopting families. I'm glad I amuse somebody!

Rob's at Saturday school today. Last one. Plus there are only three days of school left. I think he's just as ready as the kids. Graduation is tomorrow which means food at all the parties. I haven't felt like cooking lately so I'm pretty excited about this. My dinners this week were either macaroni and ketchup or macaroni and cottage cheese and mustard. One day I did put some garbanzo beans in the macaroni and ketchup for added nutritional value. It ruined the taste though so I won't be doing that again. So then yesterday I just ate the rest of the garbanzo beans for dinner. Then I was hungry around 1:30. Note to self. Eat more than garbanzo beans for dinner.

There is baby stuff all over!

Four wonderful women from Rob's school hosted a baby shower for us yesterday. Lots of people came, even men, but most of the men didn't last. It was golf night. It started at 3:30 and Rob was pretty sure he was going to be on the course by 4:00. The course is like ten miles from town. Obviously he's never been to a baby shower before! We got lots of great stuff. Some of the people made the CUTEST cake made of diapers. And then they attached little stuff to it with ribbon. I have no creative bones in my body so I was really amazed at the whole thing. My mom took pictures so as soon as I get one I'll post it and show all of you. So thank you to everyone who attended. We truly appreciate not only your gifts but also your support. :)

And you wonder why I'm a basketcase...

After reading this you will see why I'm so tired all the time and why I'm so freaked out.

Remember way back when, when I said that I have a penchant for odd dreams? They continue. Last night I dreamt that Rob and I had gone wherever we were going (I would guess Colombia but it didn't come up in my dream) and we were sitting in a stadium of some sort. They were calling number and called every number in a range except for mine. They told those people they would be going to the court house and getting approved to adopt and would then get their babies. So of course I freaked out because they didn't call my number. All for naught of course because pretty soon they called my number along with a whole bunch of other people's. And we all started going down the steps of the stadium, sort of like at the end of a football game and everybody is leaving. I lost Rob in the crowd but I saw I guy I work with, Todd, but not his wife. So then we were up to the building. I didn't go to court but I handed the director of the orphanage my ticket and he said my baby would be through the next door. I opened the door and there were a whole bunch of cages. Our name was on one so I opened it and my "baby" was a black cat with white spots. Sort of like Roscoe for those of you who knew him but with short hair. For those of you who don't know Roscoe, he is Billy and Bob's father, brother, uncle, grandfather... So I went to the director and said "there must be a mistake" and he told me that I signed a paper saying I would accept any baby they placed with us and this is our baby. I said that I could have stayed in South Dakota and gotten a free cat from the barn or paid a whole lot less to get one from the humane society and did he know how much I paid to adopt and all I got was a cat? Now, you all know I love cats. That isn't the point. But he told me that I could take the cat or leave it but I wouldn't get another baby and I wouldn't get my money back.

I realize this won't happen in real life but it just proves how much this is running through my brain. No wonder I'm losing it!

I'm truly carless now.

I said goodbye to my car tonight. It was actually kind of sad. I got it in 2003 when Rob left for active duty and I've basically lived in it ever since! Does anybody else get as attached to their cars as I do? After we traded my car off when we got married and got an Explorer, I saw someone driving it down 6th Avenue in Aberdeen one day. I about had an accident as I whipped my head around to check it out. For as attached as I get, I don't name them, though. So I was a little emotional as I cleaned it out tonight. The insurance company is coming to get it tomorrow. There is still water soaked in it and it smells pretty awful. I haven't really had good luck with my last two cars. Obviously this one hasn't turned out too well. The last one I ended up sticking some money into it as well when what I thought was a squirrel but actually was a rabbit kept chewing apart the wires that connected something to something else. TWICE! And then my transmission went out. And I got a new car. I'm seriously going to try to hold out for as long as I can on one vehicle. But sticking $70 in gas into Rob's pickup is a killer! This makes me sound really old but I remember back in 1991 as a freshman in college, a gas station in Vermillion had gas for $.88. It was right before Christmas and cars were lined up down the street. That was a huge price break from the $.99 it usually was. And today it's $3.19! Ugh....

Well, nothing else new to say. I'm having problems with my email so if you've emailed me recently and I haven't responded, I've received it (probably). I just can't respond to some domains. If you emailed me a long time ago and I still haven't responded, I will. I promise. I even emailed myself a list of names to email so I don't forget. I'm the sticky note queen so unless I have a note, I can't remember. And once (well probably more than once), not too many years ago, I made fun of my mom for having notes on the counter. Little did I know what was in store for me!

No news is not always good news

I know all of you are waiting for the day when my post tells you we've received good news. I wish I could say I had that news. I don't. I wish I could say we're waiting patiently. But we aren't. The more time passes, the more stressed I get. My anxiety level is through the roof and I'm edgy, nervous, ready to burst into tears at all times, and just not really in a very good mood. And then I start thinking "If I could just run across the street and hang out and drink coffee" or "It's nice out...wish I could go for a walk to the church and back" or "If I could just go shopping with someone who buys ten pair of black pants and returns all of them" I'd feel better. Love you guys.

So until we get "the call" I don't know how much I'll have to say. Be patient with me. I know you don't want to listen to my pity party so I think my posts will be sparse for a while.

We did find out the insurance company is classifying my car as "totaled". So now we're using one vehicle. We only had one day this week that we had a conflict but Rob just drove me to work and someone else brought me back to town. I tried riding my bike to work one day last summer. I thought I was gonna die so I'll never do that again.

On this very special weekend, Happy Mother's Day Mom, Sandy, Grandma, Georgia and all the other mom's in my life. I did get a very nice card today. It was a Mother's Day card for the Mom-To-Be. :) And the tears that came to my eyes were happy ones.

Rain rain go away...

We had an interesting weekend. Rob had guards on Friday and Saturday and then we went to the prom banquet at 6:00 on Saturday. We had some rain so I knew the weather wasn't very good. But when you're in a gym you can't see what's going on outside. In the middle of the banquet the tornado warnings went off. So we all went inside the locker rooms and waited. We finally got out of there and finished the banquet. Before the grand march even started the fire whistle went off. Rob took my keys and went to the fire. While they were checking things out (no fire...just smoke) it started pouring. Really bad. When he left the fire to come back to the gym the water was coming over the hood of my car it was so deep. So my car quit and he had to push it two blocks to the gas station. In the rain while the deep water ran in my car. After he dropped off my car he started walking and got about a block from the school when the fire whistle went off again. Someone picked him up this time. By the time he got back to the prom the grand march was over. He was totally wet, too. So he went home and changed and said the cat was freaking out. I went home and found water in the basement. Which of course is where we've stored all of our boxes. Empty and full. We were lucky though because other people had sewers back up in their basements. We just had water. All in all we had about nine inches of rain, a few tornados were spotted, and three fire calls. Sunday after guards Rob, his dad, and a friend of Allan's pushed my car to the shop the friend owns. It wasn't good news. There is a hole in my engine. So we're now working with the insurance company to get my car fixed. While he was looking at my car, the guards called to reactivate them to bag sand. Needless to say Rob really didn't have a pleasant weekend.

Drugs, drugs, and more drugs.

I'm on as many drugs now as I was when I was taking fertility drugs. I had so much fun giving myself various shots every day that I've taken it up again. My right arm now is the beholder of a tetanus vaccine and a hepatitis A vaccine. My left arm is filled with a yellow fever vaccine and a hepatitis B vaccine. The yellow fever one did sting pretty bad. I related the pain to getting a tattoo. It hurts worse in the flabby part. Needless to say I will never be getting an armband.

Plus we have taken two typhoid pills. Unfortunately I think the first one is invalid. Rob was watching the NFL draft on Saturday drinking a Corona, we'd been eating chips and taco dip all day (very healthy, I know), and gave him a pill and took one myself. THEN I read the directions. "Do not take pill within two hours of consuming food or alcohol." Oops.

Oh, the waiting....

It's driving me crazy! You'd think we have enough going on in our lives that I wouldn't think all day "Is today going to be the day?". But no. I still manage to fit that in. It's been a busy week...the governor was here on Wednesday night so we went to that banquet. Thursday night I taught piano lessons and then went to the National Honor Society banquet. Wednesday afternoon we had our appointment with the doctor regarding vaccines. He gave me a tetanus shot since it's been a very long time since I've had one and gave us both prescription pills for typhoid, malaria, and hepatitis A & B. PLUS we have to go to Sioux Falls today to have yellow fever shots. I could care less if we take most of those but Rob would rather have the shot than the disease. So we're working until 11:00, driving the 2 1/2 hours to SF, getting the shot, and driving the 2 1/2 hours home to work at the Parent Teacher carnival. Tomorrow is the golf course clean up day (and for me...the day to clean the house). Next week is the athletic banquet, prom, and Rob has guards. PLUS, we started grinding corn yesterday! It was pretty exciting. The three of us girls in the office decided to cook for this special day. Someone slap us the next time we think that. After the governor's dinner, I made a pan of banana bars and two pans of taco dip. I also cooked 10 pounds of sausage and Rob cracked 120 eggs. At 11:00 I took out the bars and taco dip and chips, along with all the supplies for breakfast burittos and the sausage in a crockpot to the plant. In my pajamas, by the way. This way, when I went home I could just crawl in bed and get up the next morning and not have to find something to wear. I had a huge brain lapse when I said "Sure, I'll do breakfast!". The crews work from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. and then the next crew works from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. To make sure the night crew got to eat, I got up at 4:00 to start scrambling eggs. I finished at 5:00 and took them out to the plant. I got home at 5:30 and thought "I wonder if it will be bad to go back to bed?". Yes, it was. Don't ever do that. My alarm went off at 6:00 and I hit the snooze until about 6:30 and still made it to work at 7:00. Very groggy and not looking very good, but I was here! And then the real day began! Donna and Ashley made smokies and chili for dinner and we had bars and taco dip and we ate and ate and ate and ate.

Do any of you watch "How I Met Your Mother"? The above paragraph reminds me of a few episodes ago when Ted was saying that Marshall and Lily tell each other EVERYTHING. Right down to "and then I brushed my teeth and after I brushed my teeth I went to the bathroom...".

So now I'm off to work. Still groggy and still not looking too hot. But I only have to work four hours today so that always makes things better! :)

Happy Birthday Rob!

Rob's birthday was Saturday so we went to my mom and dad's cabin for the weekend. Our idea was to relax and we can't really do that at home. There is always something to do. So we took some games and books and got just enough groceries to last us two days and off we went. It was around 80 degrees on Saturday but we didn't make it outside. I'd read and Rob would watch TV for two hours, we'd play two games of Backup, then we'd repeat the cycle. All day. I had an awful experience on Saturday afternoon. We had gotten two salads at HyVee that were ready to expire so they were really cheap. Both had turkey on them but I took mine off and put it on Rob's. All of the sudden, I knew that what I had just eaten wasn't cheese. It was a piece of turkey. And for as much as I tried not to be sick, I couldn't help it. The memory will be with me for a very long time. I didn't think that eating meat would make me sick like that but I know better now!

We got home around noon today and have been busy catchng up stuff around here. We got our travel info from the social worker so I've spent some time reading today. Maybe we'll get some good news this week!

Happy Birthday....

to my Dad and Kalla! We love you both!!!!

No news...

I figured I'd put that first since that's the question on everyone's mind! BUT, I am in a better mood than last time! :)

Rob had guards this weekend so he was pretty much out of commission. Saturday I accompanied kids at the junior high band contest and did laundry. Sunday I played for church and did laundry. See, I do know how to do laundry! Rob and I went for a bike ride Sunday evening and I thought I was going to pass out. I just can't keep up with him. He will definitely be pulling the baby carrier behind him and maybe that will slow him down a little! It really did make me wish the baby was here!

Speaking of which...I've never really been nervous during this whole process. I think it's because we've just been so busy with the whole thing. But now that we are SO CLOSE...I'm getting butterflies! Seriously! I just can't wait. We totally not ready but I just can't wait! :) I know we'll never be ready. There will always be something to do. And I truly feel unprepared. But this baby is coming whether I have stuff in my house or not! :) So bring it on!

We have a slight problem with the FBI prints...they haven't been processed yet. Totally my fault. I sent them FedEx over a week ago. They arrived in West Virginia at the FBI on Monday, April 9. I wrote on the cover letter that we are applying for an INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION but means nothing if they don't open the envelope! I didn't write ADOPTION on the outside of the FedEx envelope so they just throw them in a pile until they have time to do them. I didn't think I could write on the outside of the envelope! So when I called today to check the status, she told me they weren't even in the system yet and Rob would need to send an email to them requesting the prints be done ASAP. So I typed his email requesting that they process the prints either today or tomorrow and forwarded it to him, he sent it off, and now we wait. I'm a little nervous that his minor will show up this time even though it didn't three months ago.

I emailed the social worker yesterday on the status of our orphanage acceptance. I just didn't think her info was right. What do you know...it wasn't! She said that only one of the Colombian orphanages accepts the family after they receive the application...Los Pisingos. The others don't accept the family until after they receive the dossier. So then I questioned if our application had been submitted to the orphanage since it has been seven weeks sent it was sent down. She emailed back and said that she received our acceptance letter on March 22. It was just never sent to me.

So now I guess we're just waiting. And still trying to respond to some of the emails that I've received! I'm working on them. I promise. And I'll let you know as soon as we hear something!

Everybody send good vibes to the FBI!

We need FAST vibes...not just good vibes. The SW emailed today and said that the facilitator in Colombia said we'll need to redo the FBI prints. So I'm glad we went ahead and did it. I checked my FedEx account and the prints have not been sent out from West Virginia yet. Once they get here I need to have them notorized and then sent to the state to be apostilled. I can get that done in one day. I should get them back from the state the next day and I can turn around and send them to MN to the SW. Of course it always seems to take her a few days to do her part so I know this is going to drag on for another week. I'm grumpy...can you tell??? So anyway, she said they won't present our dossier to the orphanage until we have that form there and we won't receive our orphanage acceptance until a few weeks after they have received our dossier. So much for our one to two month time frame as of February 27. :(

Oh the passport fairy has looked favorably upon us! :)

This morning I noticed that the website said that Rob's passport had been sent. We went out for supper tonight with Rob's secretary and her husband and when we came home it was propped up in the door! So I have to copy the passport and send it to the SW in MN. We're still waiting to get the FBI prints back. They arrived at the FBI headquarters in West Virginia today. I don't know how long it will take them to be processed. We're inching closer!

We had a nice Easter. Rob took some kids to a national AAU wrestling tournament in Detroit. They left on Wednesday and got home Sunday morning. I went to my mom and dad's on Saturday morning. We went out for supper with some friends, Sunday went to church, and then went to my brother and sister-in-law's house for dinner. We went to visit my grandma in the afternoon. Rob got up there around 3:00. We got home around 8:00. It was a good time.

Since it was winter when Kramer died we couldn't bury her. My parents kept her in the Morton building until it started getting warm out then my dad's cousin (a taxidermist) took her to his freezer. I buried her on Saturday. It was very sad and brought up a lot of emotions that I don't deal with on a daily basis. I really miss her. I swear sometimes I can feel her snuggle her head up to mine like she did when I got home from work and she took a minute to show me some love before she turned wild. I still don't understand. But there are lots of things in life that I don't understand.

I emailed the SW in MN yesterday and she told me that I was confused...she never said that we were second overall. We are second with LSS. Maybe there was a misundestanding when I asked, but I specifically asked her that question and she said overall. So now we're back to being second again. The couple ahead of us hasn't gotten their referral yet. The couple that DID get their referral is working with Bethany and they flew down to Bogota yesterday and received their baby today. I'm so jealous! I can't wait! So I really have no idea where we're at or when to expect anything.

It looks like we're in the middle of a blizzard again. The half of a foot of snow we got last week just melted yesterday. While the rain and snow doesn't make it very conducive to semis bringing in loads of corn, we're really getting close to start up. I am excited to know that I'll be around to see it!

Passport Jackpot!

Well, I had to lie but it worked. I happened to call the number this morning around 6:30. Right away I knew it was going to be a good day when I got a different message. Sure enough it told me to stay on the line for the next available representative! AND I waited less than a minute. The rep got on the line and of course she wanted to know if this passport was for me and I said that it was for my husband. She said that due to privacy laws she couldn't tell me anything. And I knew that. She wanted to know if she could talk to Rob and I figured that him being gone on a military trip would seem better than if I told her the truth and said he was gone to a wrestling tournament in Detroit! So she said that it's still being processed and that it has two more weeks to go. She told me that I WILL be leaving on April 13 so she is going to expedite the passport, they will overnight it, and we should have it in the next few days. I'm pretty sure we won't be leaving on April 13 but if she has to say it to get our passport here, I'll take it.