Cute Stories!

I just wanted to share a few cute stories so that they are documented for a late project. My sister and I took my nieces to see Nancy Drew last weekend and there were some very cute things that happened:

• The Jellybean, age 4, is sitting on her mommy's lap. During one scene, Nancy goes into a clothing store and the Jellybean shouts out, "Mommy, Nancy's in a store! You like to shop too!"
• Towards the end the Jellybean also decides to announce to everyone, "Mommy, why can't Nancy solve the mystery?"
• I look to my side and see the Doodlebug, age 6, with her fingers on her temples. Fearing that she isn't feeling well, I lean in and ask her if she is okay. She turns to me and says, "Shhh..I can feel my brain thinking." She could feel a pulse! Too cute!

Let's try this again

I wrote a post last night, but thought I misstated something, so I quickly took it down when it was brought to my attention. It turns out I was okay, but the post is lost so I will try to re-create it.

First, congratulations for your new referrals Kansas Family and Roth-Vinsons! Also, congratulations to Kelly at Snips and Snails! She and her husband are new foster parents to two boys!

The other thing I wanted to let my "blog buddies" know is that I am leaving. The blog world, that is. I spoke with my agency last week and I'm not expected to get a referral until around 18 months wait. (A long shot from the 6-9 month estimate when I signed with them. And I even have serious reservations about the 18 month estimate. I think it could easily be 24 months, but they'll just change their estimate once I reach 18 months.) Given that I'm six months into my wait, and therefore have around/at least a year left, I'm ending my blog. How many ways can I write "Still waiting..."? I created this blog to keep a journal of my child's adoption process, and then a way to share the goings-on of a new family. Since both of these will be a while, I need to put this on hold for a long while. Plus, it's too frustrating to say "Still waiting..." over and over again. I promise I'll be back. Probably with a new URL (thinking about starting my own website), but will update here when the time comes. I'll also keep reading and commenting! Hopefully, many of you will get referrals and/or travel soon! I truly appreciate your support over the last few months!

So, as my original post was titled...Now it's time to say goodbye.

What a weekend!

When we last left our heroine she was in the midst of a bunch of bad news and not looking forward to working overnight on Saturday, thus canceling her weekend trip. Well, readers, good news came on Friday! Crisis averted at work and I left SA at 1 pm for Austin! I had a fabulous weekend and feel quite refreshed. We had good food, good drinks, dinner with friends, family cooking time, shopping, and an enjoyable church sermon. Good times were had by all!

One of the several conversations I had with my sister was how bad I felt about my adoption process. I'm normally a pretty optimistic person, but this wait and lack of progress has been quite frustrating. After a positive update from my agency (referrals are coming in the next 1-2 months!) and a change in perspective, I feel much better about things. Yay! With a 12-18 month wait I have 6-12 months left. I'm going to start looking at the "this is the last time" or "next year I'll have a child". It feels much better than "no referrals yet". Now, I realize that 12-18 months is a guesstimate and things happen in IA, but a positive attitude feels much better than moping.

I hope everyone's weekend was as enjoyable as mine! Happy Independence Day!

Long weeks

On a non-adoption note, I'm tired. I've been working 60-plus hours for the past three weeks. The first week was a breeze. The second week was harder, but I knew I only had one more week. The last week it was easy knowing I was done. I had plans to go to Austin this weekend, but now there is an emergency at work and I'm going to have to work through the weekend. Ugh. Not what I needed to hear. I'm tired and grouchy. The good thing is that I can't think about the adoption right now as it's too depressing. I could really use some good news. See you next weekend when I'll feel better!

Not much going on

So if you are tired of thinking about a non-progressing adoption, what's the best thing to do? Shopping! Over this weekend, I've been to two malls, two bookstores, and the outlet mall in San Marcos. Now don't worry, I didn't go crazy. I bought some work clothes for myself, an outfit and a t-shirt for the baby. All the walking around and window shopping were good for me though. I didn't sit around and think. I have a couple of crazy weeks at work with a project wrapping up so it's nice to have a nice relaxing, calm weekend.

On another note, Happy Father's Day, Dad! I hope to see you soon!

Summer days

Summer is upon us here in Texas, and it is hot. I know it will be getting hotter, but this weekend was the first time this year where I broke a sweat just walking outside. I've been on a major cleaning binge today and I've changed clothes twice! And it's air conditioned inside! Oh I hope June, July, and August fly by! I'm not big on the heat because I sweat easily. Ick! (I'm sure you all needed to know that!) At least the heat only lasts 3 to 4 months!

Weekends are hard as there is lots of time to think. I stayed busy this weekend running errands, shopping, and cleaning. I picked up a cute pair of overalls from Gymboree for $7! I'm also having a hard time fighting the urge to put the nursery together. Right now it's an office turned storage room with lots of stuff that I bought and hand-me-downs from my sister. It's a mess! I've emptied out the bookcases and organized the clothes. Now the room just needs a crib and rug. Oh! And a toy box or someway to organize the other stuff I've collected.

Thank you all for your kind words with my last post! I really appreciate the support!

Dropping in

It's probably a good thing I'm not posting now. Between all the questionable things being discussed in the different Yahoo groups, and the five or six months without a referral, I'm not feeling very optimistic about completing an adoption in Vietnam. I'm going to try to update monthly until things pick up or there is a major update.

As I said earlier, I'm not feeling very optimistic about things right now. I'm coming up on finishing month four of the wait and I've only moved up because of families leaving our agency. There have not been any referrals since January, I think. Sigh. With the decreased optimism, comes the decrease of any preparations. I've stopped shopping, thinking about putting a nursery together, and I really don't talk about it much anymore. I recently went to a party where a lot of my sister's friends were there. My sister has told pretty much all of her friends, so of course they wanted to ask me about it. I was so touched by their questions, interest, and support! I am truly blessed by the people people that surround me! On the other hand it was very difficult to say over and over that the six to nine month wait to referral I was quoted has been changed to 12 to 18 months. I was pretty emotionally exhausted when I left the party.

One thing I'm still doing is reading a lot of adoption blogs. I've saved all the blogs I read in a folder in FireFox and every day when I get home from work I open all the pages in the folder. It's pretty easy to go through and close blogs that haven't updated in the past few days (such as my own!) I'm very excited about the new run of referrals that have come through. Congratulations new mommies and daddies! Until next month...

Taking a break

I'm close to starting my fourth month of waiting. Not that long, I know, but there hasn't been a referral in a few months and it seems there won't be one for a few more. I did speak with my agency this week. I never asked where I was on 'the list' so I thought it was time to see. The good news is that I'm not as high as I thought I was, and I have even moved up a few spots (from people in front of me changing agencies, I believe). This news gave me new energy for the wait. Despite this news, there isn't much going on in my life besides work and waiting. I've really enjoyed blogging and having the opportunity to communicate with new e-friends, but I'm going to take a little break from writing. I think a few weeks from thinking about how I am feeling about the wait and the ethics of IA will do my brain good.

I promise I'm not gone for good, and if anything exciting happens I will be back!

Beautiful weekend

After storms and rain on Friday night, it has turned into a beautiful weekend. I woke up early on Saturday and by noon I had my haircut, mani/pedi, grocery shopped, picked up a few things at Target, and had my dog groomed. It was so nice to get my list done and still feel like I had a day left to do things. So I took a little nap, read a book, and went out for Vietnamese food last night. Aah! I love weekends like this!

I would like to thank those of you who left messages after my last post. I think the next few weeks are going to be difficult. I talked with my mom and a few friends about the situation. I'm sticking with my agency. I'm going to wait until the summer and can re-evaluate then. I think I'll have a better idea of the situation. Hopefully there will have been a few referrals by then!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!

Adoption Blues

Tomorrow marks the end of month three of my wait. The best way I can describe it is being on line in the longest line at the grocery. And the line hasn't moved in three months! Yep. I think we may have had one referral since I've been DTV. I was a little down from our update today as I read that we won't have an infant referral for a while. I love my agency, and the fact that they do communicate these things to us, but each week without a referral and no real idea when another infant one will come in causes doubt to grow in my heart. I've been rolling with it, but this update struck me. I called my sister and spoke with her about it. While talking to her I decided that it's far from the worst news that we could have received, and maybe things will pick up in the future. Trying to stay positive!

This was fun!

Stolen from Kate at The Cracked Pot...

Go to Wikipedia.

In the search box type in the month of your birth and the date (not the year)

1) List three events that happened on the day of your birth

• 1959 - Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel.
• 1985 - Cold War: In Geneva, US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
• 1990 - Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the Girl You Know It’s True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.

2) List two “people of note” also born on the day

• Meg Ryan
• Jodie Foster
  

3) List one “person of note” that died on the day

• 1988 - Christina Onassis, daughter of billionaire Aristotle Onassis (b. 1950) (I don't know if she's a "person of note", but she's one of two people I recognized.

4) List any holiday or observances

• Puerto Rico - Discovery of Puerto Rico (1493)
• United States - Equal Opportunity Day
• World Toilet Day, see World Toilet Organization

Feel free to give it a try!

Tag! I'm it!

I was tagged by Colleen at My Blooming Rose to list ten things that make me odd. It was tough, but will be at the conclusion of the post. Until then, an update. I spent the weekend babysitting my nieces. We had a great time with soccer games, shopping, and tickle fights (They actually beat me!!!) C. continues to be excited about the baby. I purchased the Families of Vietnam DVD and loaned it to C. and J. C loved it and continues to point out things about Vietnam. This week I brought another Vietnam travelogue from Globetrekker and we watched it and she just takes it in. C. also told me this weekend that she will be so lucky to be the baby's cousin and that the baby is so lucky because she is being created by God. Who knew a six-year-old could say something so special to me!

As for the adoption, I'm still waiting. It will be nice to move up a spot one day. The referral dry spells are tough. Hopefully things will pick up soon!

Now, what you have been waiting for...drumroll please...Ten things that are odd about Cara!

1. I have to order college transcripts from seven schhols: one pre-high school graduation, three undergrad full-time, two undergrad part-time, one graduate school.
2. I prefer square-end/flat end french fries and rarely eat those that end in a point.
3. I have big hands. Not freakishly big, and they aren't "man hands". My grandmother used to say I had "piano hands". Too bad God didn't give me any sense of rhythm or musicality!
4. I get motion sickness. Really bad! I have trouble riding in the back seat and can start to feel bad within blocks. I've been sick in cars, planes, boats, trains, and even on a water bed!
5. I love to be barefoot! I know some people think it's gross to walk outside barefoot, but I love it! I love to feel the texture of what I'm walking on whether it be grass, sand, or sidewalk. Now keep in mind that I wouldn't walk barefoot anywhere gross (public restroom, for example).
6. If I'm having a sandwich I have to insist the mayo and cheese don't touch each other. So they get mixed up in my mouth, but I don't like them layered together. I think this goes back to childhood when I made a cheese sandewich like I would make a ham & cheese sandwich. It was gross!
7. I am a very routine oriented person in the morning. I get out of sorts if my morning routine is out of order. It can be interrupted at any point and I can skip a step, but the parts have to go in order. For example, my contacts have to go in before I put on moisurizer. I think a lot of this has to do with clean hands and when I wash my hands.
8. I love rain and storms anywhere except Texas. They seem to be so loud here!
9. Leftovers bother me. I always question if something is "still good". I'll eat them, but there is always the thought in mind.
10. I haven't had Thanksgiving dinner in over five years. I don't like turkey, stuffing, corn bread. Thanksgiving for me is corn and pumpkin pie so I normally save the days off for Christmas and work.

Is it too late to tag on this? If not, I'll tag Jenn at the Long Adventures and Kevin at Trollspotting (Are you reading, Kev? Miss you much as always!)

Two!

This week ended the second month of my wait. It feels much better when you're moving up in line rather than just waiting. In the two months of my wait, I've moved up one spot. Hopefully, more referrals will be coming soon.

It was a really rough week at work this week as I had a lot of frustrations every day. I'm thankful it's the weekend and I'm enjoying relaxing and reading books. Yes, that's plural. I read one yesterday and started a new one this morning. Yep! That's living! The past two weekends I helped my sister and her family move into their new house, so it's nice to relax this weekend.

I'm hoping to clear out the bookcases in the baby's future room. I've got a lot of books from grad school that I'm going to bring to work. That will help me clear half the room. I figure doing one or two things to the room every week or two will help move things along in the room in a steady pace. No reason to rush when I've got the time. :o)

Here's to a great weekend!

Just hangin' out

Not much going on here. I had a little bout with allergies, but I'm better now. I'm going to try to go on an organizing spree this weeked and get my office cleaned out and packed up. The desk is going to stay, but I'm going to move all my professional books, notebooks, and textbooks to my work office. I also should go ahead and get a dresser so I can unclutter all the stuff that my sister has given me. (I promise I'll take a picture before I start! It's good for a gasp or a giggle!)

Not much on the adoption front. Things are slowly moving along, I guess. Besides lots of reading, I attended a Lifebook class this week and am going to an attachment seminar next month. C. is still super-excited and I think she is learning as much as I am. I purchased a DVD about families in Vietnam and she watched it this week. My sister says C. is now teaching the rest of the families all about Vietnamese culture. They had rice this week and C. announced that "little boys and girls in Vietnam eat lots of rice and noodles. Even for breakfast sometimes!" As she is learning about diversity, she now goes up to the asian children in school and asks about their heritage. She's going to be a great cousin!

One

One month down...somewhere between 9 and 60 months to go. I'm keeping busy during the wait. I went back up to Austin last weekend to help my sister out as she prepares to move to a new house. I took my nieces to a Lunar New Year celebration at the Austin Asian-American Center. We all had a blast! It wasn't as big as the celebration in San Antonio, but they got to sit up front and see everything up close. J enjoyed the lion/dragon dance, and the performers showed the kids how the eyes and mouths work. C. enjoyed all the little girls dancing (korean, chinese, and japanese) and did the hand motions as she watched them perform. She went home and practiced then. Too cute for a 5-year-old!

My sister continues to give me hand-me-downs for the baby. I think I'm set from 3T on! I have two full under the bed storage containers and another 8 bags of clothes. What am I going to do with it all? My mother volunteered to store some if I need her to. Love you Mom! I'm going to try to clear out the closet so I can hang some of the smaller sizes to get them out of the way.

Oh yeah! Thanks for letting me express my frustrations below. Feeling better now!

Walking on Sunshine

It was a beautiful day today. Great weather, sun shining, blue sky. I was going to clean and organize today, but around noon I thought it was so beautiful that I wanted to drive to San Marcos to check out the Pottery Barn Outlet and a few other outlet stores. I'd be back by three and have plenty of time to clean and organize. I get to the Pottery Barn Outlet and there's a big sale. 25% off everything in the store! Furniture an additional 30% off! PB Teen and Pottery Barn Kids an additional 20% off! Wow! When I moved to NYC I got rid of all my furniture so when I moved to San Antonio I had no furniture. The last thing I needed to get was a head board/foot board and I really wanted a wrought iron bed. I've been looking for the past year, but couldn't find anything in my price range. Well I found it today! Head board and foot board for $220! It weighs a ton as I could have killed myself when it fell on me when I was putting it together. (I'll add putting furniture together in the reasons to find a boyfriend in San Antonio column) Unfortunately, I have to take the headboard apart as my bed frame does not allow for a foot board. Oh well! I guess another $50 for an new bed frame isn't too bad.

And the story continues...S0 I purchase the bed and other items (pictures on another day) and went to load them. Since it was on sale- there are no refunds. And of course, the head board doesn't fit in my car. I try calling my sister and there is no answer. Frustrated, I call to talk to my parents to see if they have any ideas. My father offers to drive down from Fort Worth to help me! I have great parents! Luckily, my sister calls me back and offers to help, but she has an appointment and isn't available until 6:30. So I walk around the mall for 4 hours. Luckily, it was a nice day and all worked out. Except I got no cleaning nor organizing done. I guess that's next weekend!

Sunshine Day!

Okay, not really sunshine, but it was a good day. First, it was the first day in three days that I was able to get into my car by using the front door. For the past two days, my front doors have been iced shut so I've had to get in my car through the back door. Good thing I'm not a reality show! I'm sure I looked quite silly! The second reason for the good day? It was referral day at my agency. Any day where there is a referral at my agency is a good day. Even better if I get to move up on the list since it was a little girl! Congrats Andy and Tara! Whoo-hoo! What a day!

DTV!!!!!

Whoopieeee!!! My dossier has been reviewed by my agency and is on its way to Vietnam! Whew! Now I can relax and wait. I'm up in Austin at my sister's so I told my niece, C. She's so excited that she asked me if we would french kiss to celebrate! I could feel the shock set in my face as my jaw dropped! She's only 5!!! Just as quickly as she asked she leaned in and kissed my left cheek and then my right cheek! Whew!

Feeling better

I had a few rough days at work. Today was good though. It's funny how when I've had a long day I come home and write negative themed blogs, even about adoption. I wrote two entries earlier this week about agency ethics that I posted but later took down. Maybe one day I'll repost them, but for now they were a means to get out some of the feelings I have about comments that have been made to me.

But back to today. It's not adoption related, but it was a productive day. I led two meetings that accomplished a lot. I also ran into an acquaintance that worked with while I was in college. Before I write about the interaction I should tell you that I moved to San Antonio about a year and a half ago and I didn't know anyone here. We were both waiting for the elevator and when I got a good look at him I pretty much blurted out "I know you!" Then a long pause while I tried to place him..."You're S!" He replied "Yes" (obviously he didn't recognize me). I told him that we worked at Camp John Marc together and I saw the light bulb go off in his head. This was followed by the nonchalant stare to my breast where we have to wear our name badges. Small talk followed during the elevator ride.