Tag, I'm It!

I've been "tagged" twice this week; first by Julia at Julia Laine Photography and today by Mommy at The Womble Times. I guess I need to get going on this before I let everyone down. Here goes...

7 random facts about myself:

1. I've worked as a candy striper, vet tech, flight attendant and police officer (in that order.) I love interesting jobs and I've had a ball at all of them!

2. I'm in love with a rat (well, 2 rats to be exact.) My son's rats, Lily and Skit, are adorable, friendly, affectionate, and the happiest little rodents you'll ever meet. If you can look past their creepy tails, you'd love them too.

3. If given the chance, I could sleep a good 12 hours a day. I am almost always sleepy and I yawn all the time. I once had mono and didn't feel too much different than I do every other day of my life. Unfortunately, I average about 7 hours of sleep at night (I, however, rarely turn down a chance to nap!)

4. I am a thrill seeker and never get scared. I love adrenaline-boosting activities like bungee jumping, repelling, rafting, riding roller coasters, driving fast, police work, and watching horror movies. I really want to try sky diving one day. I've always found it odd that some women have trouble sleeping in their own houses alone or get scared walking to their car in a "bad" neighborhood. The only thing that truly frightens me is the possibility of one my kids getting sick.

5. I, like Mommy at Womble Times, am a paperwork neat-freak. I can not scratch out a mistake on my paper. I do not even like to erase. I will throw away draft after draft until my paper looks just perfect. Everyone who sees my handwriting thinks I should be a elementary school teacher. When I worked as a police officer, I rarely got compliments on my police demeanor, but I always got compliments that my reports were beautiful.

6. I am a very, very pale redhead. When I was a child, I secretly prayed for all my freckles to converge so I could finally have a tan. In middle school, I once went as far as putting dark powder on my legs so I would not be made fun of (I know, it was pretty pathetic.) Today, a good 20 years later, I have learned to love my porcelain complexion (although a tan at the beach would be nice!)

7. I am domestically challenged. I can not cook, sew, or craft. I have the ability to clean but I absolutely hate doing it. The only grade I made in high school that was lower than a "B" was in Home Economics. I failed the class because I never learned how to thread my sewing machine and I burned every food I made. That d@*! "F" really brought down my GPA too. The very first time I ever cooked for David (while we were in college), I gave him severe food poisoning. It was a miracle that he ever asked me to marry him!


Now I'm tagging:
Heather at My Wuxi Girl (with our agency and will soon travel to get their daughter from Wuxi)
Elaine at The Road to Ren (with our agency and will soon travel to get their son from Wuxi)
Laura at Our Family of Five (with our agency and is recently home with their daughter)
Lynne at Now We are Six (my ex-patriot hero with a wonderful blog from China)

Dad, Pancakes and Looking Homely

Alien, Fish, Snake (caught in the weedeater?)

Bedheads

Party for Cooper

I drove my dad to the airport today so he could head back to Arizona. The kids already miss him, and so do I. We had a great weekend full of Alabama football, soccer games, big family dinners and birthday cake for Cooper. On Saturday morning David surprised us all with "Animal Pancakes". J.D. requested an alien, Piper asked for a fish, and Kai wanted a slithering snake (okay, I wanted a animal pancake too, and was pretty happy with my Mickey Mouse.) Unfortunately, I cut up Kai's snake before I realized we should take pictures prior to consuming David's masterpieces.

Under the guise of full disclosure I should admit that it is killing me to post the picture of Dave, the kids and myself around Cooper's birthday cake (but I posted it anyway since it's the only picture that has our whole family in it.) Do I really look that nasty without makeup? Am I really that fat? (for Goodness sake, please don't answer that question!) David's brother has some photo editing software that is pretty amazing. I once saw him erase a booger from his sweet baby's photo. I think I need that software. I wonder if it can erase 20 pounds and give someone a fresh, Covergirl look? Just a hypothetical question...honestly.

Happy Birthday Littlest Boy

Yesterday was Cooper's birthday. Yes, our littlest man turned 3. I don't really know but I bet he didn't even know it was his special day. Believe it or not, I haven't felt that sad this week (or I should say, I haven't felt sad since they found our home study.) I do miss Cooper - a child I have never seen in person, never held, never rocked to sleep. I already love him and always tell people that I have four children (I usually explain that our youngest is simply not home yet.) We couldn't celebrate Cooper's birthday yesterday (David's band was playing and we pretty much rushed the kids from school to their baby-sitter.) Tonight, however, we will have a small family celebration and say a prayer for our little boy.

Happy Birthday Cooper! Mommy and Daddy and coming for you as soon they can.

Letter to the Candidates

I just read the best political commentary...ever. If you are an overworked, overpowered mom or even a dad who really puts in time with the kids, you have to read this post, Letter to the Presidential Candidates. It comes from one of my very favorite blogs, There's Always Room for One More. If you want the cliff notes, Denise is an incredible mom of six whose husband passed away two years ago. She is funny, irreverent, flawed, and brutally honest. I absolutely love her! Go take a look, even if you are sick of the current, nauseatingly long, presidential race. I promise it will put a smile on your face - regardless of your politics.

Dedicated

This summer we had a dedication service for Kai at our church. Although Kai was the oldest child I have ever seen dedicated, the service was beautiful and it was a fantastic day for the whole family. Last Sunday, we were given a photo CD from the service. I am so glad we have them to remember Kai's special day. Enjoy!

Wayward Home Study Found

Urgent News - Our wayward home study has been found!

I actually received the call late yesterday that our home study had been located at the Atlanta USCIS office. Alabama DHR mailed it there assuming that it would be forwarded onto the NBC. Actually (and it is painful for me to admit this), DHR sent the home study to the correct location at the time (their directive has since been changed.) Fault lies with Atlanta USCIS who, interestingly enough, decided to let our home study gather some dust in a corner of their office.

I've whined and complained WAY too much this week, so I'm turning the page on "grumpy" Heather. Thanks to all of you who have recently sent me nice messages and quick pick-me-ups. You guys really are a great bunch of cyber-friends!

Book Junkie

In an attempt to not think about our lost home study, I'm going to do something I enjoy immensely, blog. When my sister and I were little girls, you could usually find us in two predictable places. I was most often playing outside, running through the woods, catching bugs and climbing trees. My much smarter and more beautiful sister was usually inside reading books or talking on the phone to one of her many admirers. Kellie (my sis) read so much that our modest house could barely contain all of her romance paperbacks. In high school I truly tried to enjoy reading but was put off by books featuring what I considered to be weak women. Although it is definitely a beloved classic, I almost tossed my cookies reading Jane Eyre in the 10th grade. Some things have changed over the years and some haven't. Kellie is still smart and beautiful, but as the single mom of a 2 year old, she has little time to pour herself into a good book. I on the other hand, have recently become a stay-at-home mom. In a startling confession, I must admit that I have turned into a book junkie. A few months ago, a cyber-friend started recommending books to me. Since that day, I have read one book every 4 or 5 days (and many fluff books quicker than that.) Sitting in a carpool line every day for at least an hour gives me plenty of time to finish them off. As you can see in the picture above, my night stand is covered with books ready to be returned to our "used book store" where we keep a revolving credit.

And for those of you who are arrogantly judging my choice of Janet Evanovich novels, back off! Although I heartily agree that there are no moral lessons or high brow issues in these books, I absolutely love them. I laugh out loud reading them and inwardly root for the heroine, who by the way, is a strong, indepedent woman, unlike Mrs. Eyre!

No News is Bad News

This picture doesn't have anything to do with the post,
but it does make me happy!

I don't really have anything new to report. Alabama DHR is positive they mailed our home study last month. The NBC is positive that they do not have it. Right now the most logical conclusion is that our home study is sitting in a regional office of USCIS (the Atlanta office, to be more specific.) Yesterday, a kind immigration officer told me that she was calling Atlanta to look for the home study. If it's not at the Atlanta USCIS office, we will have to wait for Alabama DHR to reissue our approval letter. Our social worker said that DHR does not speed up for anyone, and the replacement letter could take another full week (or more.)It makes me wonder how someone can be in the job of uniting families and care so little about the children? I mean really, if you worked for DHR (or Immigration for that matter) and a mistake was made that would keep a small child in an orphanage for another 2 or 3 months of their lives, wouldn't you at least try and help the family? Wouldn't you say something like, "We're so sorry this has happened. We are going to try to do everything we can to fix this terrible situation. We know this involves your precious child and we are going to help you get to him as soon as possible." In case anyone out there is reading this - THIS IS WHAT A MOM WANTS TO HEAR! Whatever happened to customer service, compassion, and going above and beyond the call of duty! Do any of those things actually exist in the government anymore?

Lost

I have just found out that the NBC (aka U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services) can not find our home study. Yes, this is the same home study that was begun on June 6th! Four months of work and waiting only to find out that it is still not at the correct location, waiting to be reviewed and picked apart by an immigration officer. I am honestly on the verge of tears. International adoption is, by definition, long and painful. I can endure long and painful. What I can not endure is incompetence and apathy. The immigration officer I spoke to mentioned getting a tracking number for our home study (which was supposedly sent directly from our state's DHR office to the NBC on September 12th.) But it gets even better - Alabama DHR doesn't get tracking numbers. Wonderful. Please tell me they don't use the "regular" U.S. post office to send documents that determine if and when I will ever meet my son. I really don't want to know.

I have our social worker trying to get to the bottom of this. I will update when I know more. And if Kate is reading this post, I really never wanted to be in your shoes. At all. They are too tight and I don't even like the color. How about I give them back to you? Pretty please...

Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch

This weekend was amazing. Saturday we took the kids to a pumkin patch and they had an absolute blast. How neat is it that an 11 year old, an 8 year old and a 3 year old can all enjoy themselves doing the same thing. We took a hayride, petted farm animals, rode ponies, slid down huge inflatable slides, ate candied apples and funnel cakes and searched for the perfect pumpkins. I ask you - how much fun can one family have? J.D really wanted to take a helicopter ride but at $50 a pop, we decided he could either go to college or take the ride. Guess which one we chose? To make the day even better, Kai stayed dry all day (can you say potty-trained?) and no one complained at all. Seriously, not one whine, complaint or grimace ALL DAY LONG! I love my kids! We took a ton of pictures, and all in all, they turned out pretty good. Enjoy the photos...

Bumping Cooper to the Top

Nothing much to say tonight other than "Hooray!" since we have an entire weekend without soccer games. Tomorrow we are headed to the pumpkin patch and then to the DaVinci exhibit at the museum. It feels odd to have a day to do what we want to do instead of what we have to do. I'm sure a lot of you moms understand that feeling!

I got a little wistful today thinking about Cooper's upcoming birthday. Yes, my little man will turn 3 years old in two short weeks. Let's all say a group prayer for USCIS and speedy documents.

Ex-Patriot Envy

There is one particular blog I have followed for a long time. You can check it out here: Now We Are 6. It is the blog of a family with 4 kids. They adopted their youngest daughter in 2005 about the same time that we began our adoption journey that eventually led us to Kai. I don't know why but from the first time I ever read their blog, I was hooked. I hate to sound stalkerish but I truly feel a connection to this family (who, by the way, I have never even met.) Their boys remind me of J.D. and their daughter reminds me of Piper. And of course, they also have a caboose from China. I've always had the feeling that if we ever got together, our families would really hit it off. The most amazing part of this story is that last year this family (living in the South) decided to move to Shanghai, China. They are actually living my dream! Their new life hasn't always been easy (they don't speak the language for one thing), but they are having the adventure of a lifetime. Just recently they took a biking, mountain climbing, and hiking trip in Yangshuo, China. After reading about their trip, I actually dragged David over to the computer to see their pictures and read their posts. Since David has never shared my love of blogging (or addiction to other's blogs) this was what you call a "big deal". Nevertheless, David is now in awe of this family (like myself) and their ability to live life to the fullest.

David and I have talked many times about moving to a foreign country, but so far the only opportunities that have presented themselves have been in Gdansk, Poland and Moscow, Russia. No offense to Poland, but David has visited Gdansk and did not believe that we could make it there (well, I guess we could make it, just not enjoy making it!) Moscow is a little more appealing but it happens to be the World's Most Expensive City. And no, I didn't make that title up. There really is a World's Most Expensive City list and the highest U.S. city on the list is New york City at #22. We have heard that a very small apartment in Moscow runs about $10,000 a month. Uh, I don't think we'd make it there either...

So instead of packing up and flying across the world, I guess we'll stay here in Alabama and live vicariously through my cyber-friends. Thanks for letting me be a voyeur into your amazing lives!

Quotes from the Boy

Direct quote from Kai after putting on muddy rain boots:
"Mommy, these boots are nasty!"

Direct quote from Kai after sizing up his daddy at breakfast:
"Baba, you're tall like a giraffe."

Direct quote from Kai after reading Little Miss Spider tonight:
"Mommy, I like all the nice spiders in our house."

Let us not forget that these words came from a child who first heard the English language 10.5 months ago. If I could learn any language as fast as Kai has learned English...I'd be a millionare!