Keep your fingers crossed...

There has been news of a potential referral. Don't get excited yet, it will be weeks before we know any of the details or if the child is actually eligible for international adoption. I'm just happy that after months of waiting, I feel like the next step in the adoption process could happen in the foreseeable future.

While I continue my quest for more and more information on the adoption process in general, I stumbled across a link to an article about birthparents. The article is written by a mother who adopted from Guatemala, but the emotions and situations could happen anywhere. It is a very thought provoking article and worth reading.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/11/did-i-steal-my-daughter.html

Turn your virus protection on!

There hasn't been any new adoption news to report. The first several families are making their trips to Uzbekistan in the coming weeks. That's great news for them and hopefully the future of international adoption in Uzbekistan. On a selfish note, that also probably means no referrals for the foreseeable future. Our Uzbek coordinator is likely to be swamped with work considering all of the families, government officials and children she's going to be "coordinating". At this point, I don't see any way that we'll be bringing a child home this year.

As for the family update... if there's a virus or bacteria to be caught in Texas, our family has had it during the past month. I *thought* we were all almost healthy when Jonathan developed a bizarre rash. Since I hadn't seen that one before, I took him to urgent care. Turns out he had strep throat. After casually mentioning to the doc that we ALL were sick, we ALL got to come back and get tested for strep. I'm happy to report that all of us almost recovered folks were strep-free. HOWEVER, the rapid test that's given for strep is only 70% accurate. Given the fact that Mike is overseas and we were all sick anyway, the entire family was put on antibiotics. At that point the doc decided to check us all out just to be on the safe side. All of us "healthy" people ended up on an additional six prescriptions. There was one ear infection, one concerning cough and one of my lungs sounded like it might be headed towards bronchitis or pneumonia. I'm glad we didn't go to the doctor while we were actually "sick"... we might have all ended up in the hospital or something.

So, just about the time we all recover from round one, Sean gets the 18-24 hour bug that involves fatigue, high fever and vomiting. Matthew took his turn next and Jonathan & I are still drawing straws to see who goes next.

Whoops! Two weeks already?

My apologies... I seem to have gotten rather addicted to reading blogs rather than posting to them. But, I'm back with a really LONG post! So how are we all adjusting to a single parent family? With the exceptions of fever (Jonathan), coughing fits (Sean & I), really nasty abrasions (let's just say I'm too clumsy to be allowed to mow a lawn) and just general lack of enthusiasm - no so bad! We really miss Mike horribly, but we're going to survive. (Shhhhhh! Don't tell him.)

The kids still don't understand the time frame involved, but we will face that as the time comes. The boys have this wonderful plan of throwing a surprise party for Mike upon his return. Nice, kind idea... right? Well, they want us to hide EVERYONE (I think they're going to invite more people to the coming home party than they invited to their birthday bash) and we're supposed to hide behind pieces of furniture at the house. Still a good idea... right? Here's the problem. Mike will be flying home commercially and arriving at our local airport. The surprise factor will be huge when NO ONE is at the airport to pick him up. Seems I can't get the boys to realize this flaw in their planning. Because EVERYONE (again, I stress EVERYONE) must be hiding behind furniture according to my sons. Got a couple of months (7+) to work on that one.

Meanwhile... Back in Uzbekistan

Seems the government in Uzbekistan noticed that there were a lot of families wanting to adopt their children. So, they decided they might need some additional laws to govern the way that's done. Don't get me wrong, I think it's wonderful that a country is taking the utmost concern in the future of their children. However, this is going to be just "darn inconvenient" for us. At the very least, it's going to be adding to my frequent flyer miles, as it seems I will be taking two trips to Central Asia. There are a lot of issues/details that are still being worked out, so I don't have much more I can report at this time.

Let's just say I had quite the distraction going after Mike left. The adoption news hit within 36 hours of Mike leaving and at first it sounded like our dreams of adopting from Uzbekistan were over. So after quite a few days of uncertainty, my glass is getting closer to "half full" and this might actually work after all.

After the stress of all that, little things like trying to run a household of three boys (ages 7 and under) with laryngitis seem insignificant. When you're only squeaking out words at a whisper, you need to choose those words wisely! Parenting silently is actually quite an art form. It was also hilarious to be sitting just three feet from my oldest son while he yelled repeatedly for me. I kept whispering back "what????", but he was too engrossed in the television that he hadn't noticed me. His calls kept getting louder and more perturbed. It wasn't until I was laughing silently yet hysterically that he noticed me. At first he took offense until he realized his error. Then we laughed together.

Two Pictures to Share

On a completely random note... Does anyone know what kind of spider this is? He moved into our front yard a couple of weeks ago and he is just the most amazing looking spider. If I look close enough it even seems as though he has three Halloween skulls on his thorax (is that the correct body part?) for his "costume".

Our activities for this weekend included the local BalloonFest. The kids were skeptical (to say the least!) about any activity that involved leaving the house before dawn. In the end, they agreed it was quite a fun time. Your dose of trivia for the day: The Energizer Hot Hare balloon (the 'bunny balloon' to the boys) is the largest in the world. The boys were staring in awe and in fear... fear that it was about to tip over on them in the wind. I just kept wondering, "is that what hemorrhoids feel like?"

T-Minus 180 + travel days + training days + ? = 227+????? days to go

The boys and I took Mike to the airport this morning. When I say "morning", I mean there were stars and zero-hint of daylight. He is off to his first training stop on the way to Iraq. For two months or more, we've tried to prepare for every possible event that might occur during this coming year. We've filled out pounds of adoption paperwork, just in case we need one particular form. Mike tried to prepare the kids for his departure. He said the one comment that really hurt was when Sean asked last night if he was going to be gone so long that he'd forget about us and what we looked like.

I don't take goodbye's very well. This was one of the worst. I think I'm almost proud of the fact that I think I brought two other people to tears with me. One was a complete stranger in the ladies room. The other, a mere acquaintance. The boys are handling this better than I am. I think mommy's tears instantly turn them into "make mommy happy" mode. It's so sweet to hear the same utterances of "it's okay", "he'll be home soon", "we can send him presents" whispered back to me by a little guy with a brave smile on his face but tears in his eyes.

So, here I sit. We've discussed house issues, tried to clear out paperwork that required Mike's input, washed every piece of uniform with the correct laundry soap, purchased the necessities for packing and the list goes on. Mike frantically tried to finish his masters degree papers before leaving, but he's probably typing right now while flying over Tennessee(?). So after all of the racing around, trying make sure everything that need to be said was, everything that needed a signature was signed and every favorite meal cooked.... now what?

We left the airport, stopped to spend our birthday Walmart gift cards on toys, and picked up donuts. But, now what? Lunches to prepare, poster for school to finish, etc.

T-minus 180 + travel days + training days + ? MINUS ABOUT FIVE MINUTES.

Life goes on...

Two Months Today

Our "road" has a traffic jam right now. There have been no new posts, because there is no new information to report. We are still waiting for a referral. Our dossier arrived in Tashkent exactly two months ago today. In our "spare" time, Mike (and family) have been preparing for his upcoming deployment. On the adoption front, the deployment is creating just a nightmare of paperwork scenarios. Since Mike's final destination is undetermined, his access to the internet/fax/phone/mail service are questionable. We are trying to envision every possible paperwork scenario (or snag!) and have a solution already in place.

For almost two months now, we've dreaded telling the boys that Daddy was going to be leaving on deployment. Since the countdown was at less than two weeks, we finally had to have the "big talk". We chose a Friday evening during dinner to break the news. The boys listened intently as we explained that Daddy would be going to help the "army guys" in Iraq. He'll be doing a very helpful job and trying to keep other daddies and mommies safe. The trip will be a very long one (he'll miss his birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.), but he will eventually be coming home. With dreaded speech finished, we waited for the reaction. Sean was the first to speak, "Mommy, do you think you can scrape the cheese off of my broccoli? I don't like melted cheese on my food."

So, there you have it.... perhaps melted cheese is the secret weapon we need to use against terrorists...

As the Adoption Turns (or "Doesn't")

Based on the speed at which we got our dossier together, I just assumed the remainder of our adoption would continue at the same breakneck pace. Not so much. After our dossier's one week vacation in Frankfurt, it arrived in Tashkent over a month ago. Since then... nothing. We wait and we wait---as patiently as possible. Has our coordinator been allowed to visit the orphanages? Are there no children paperwork ready? Have all of the orphans in Uzbekistan already been adopted? Has our coordinator gone on a six month sabbatical? We really don't know. Although, I truly doubt the last two ideas have any merit.

On a side note, I've been "tagged" to answer some blogger questions. Rest assured, I will be answering those in my next post or two... and passing the tag along!

No news... not always good news

Sorry I've been away from posting for so long. Let me start with the happier stories and finish the tale of our vacation.

The news of a granddaughter was very popular with Mike's family as well. WE got to break the news there. Evidently after a week in Pennsylvania, the boys forgot that they knew a big secret that Grama and Grandpa didn't. We actually waited at least *gasp* two hours before we told the grandparents. They were excited and wanted to know all of the details. There was also great concern about the fact that this part of the family has no experience with little girls. The whole family tree is just chock full of boys... no girls.

For those of you who read my dad's comments to my last post... there was a picture he wanted to upload. It's my very rough sketch of what their new granddaughter might look like some day. I wanted to make sure we reserved her a space on the grandchild wall of fame.

We spent a happy fun-filled week in Missouri and then headed home. About two days after we got home, our dear furry family member took a turn for the worse. She went from being a perky puppy (despite being 11 years young) into an ailing elderly dog in a matter of days. I gave up my evening blogging to instead resume taking Daisy for evening walks. This was a practice that ended shortly before the birth of our oldest son. Thankfully we got to spend four weeks spoiling Daisy rotten and reminding her that she was truly our first adoptee. We made the difficult decision to put her to sleep on Monday.

For all of the PAP's who have no two-legged children at home yet, just four-legged ones... spend some time spoiling them now. Unfortunately when you bring your two-legged child home, your pets will lose your undivided attention. Daisy gracefully accepted the demotion from firstborn to cherished family pet, but now I regret all of the walks and fun times we missed over the past seven years.