No Ordinary Family

(If you don't want to listen to a little ranting and raving please skip this post entirely, if you work for the postal service I do not hate you but I do demand that you agree with me if you comment or it will be deleted!) We live in a small town and in this small town they have never delivered mail to our home. I also grew up here so I know they have done it. So every year we have to prove that we live here by taking them our electric bill to the post office so that we can get a our box fee waived, oh how nice of them! Then when ever we do anything (buy something that needs to be shipped, apply for anything, etc.) we have to explain to people that we don't have mail delivery to our home and they have to use a PO Box. Do you know how hard that is? Well you do if you live next door to me. Oh but not across the street because the postal gods (at least that is what the high and mighty think they are) have deemed that road worthy of their delivery. So every time I have to giv

As most of you know I make a sell little girls dresses to help raise some moey for the adoption. If you don't go check out Little Miss's Blankets and Stuff . Anyway, I don't often get to see my dresses on the little girls in person, so I was happy to deliver these dresses and get some wonderful pictures. I think they turned out quite well and I know that both girls loved thier "pretty dresses" as they called them.

We have been waiting for our daughter from China AKA Little Miss now for 25 months. It seems like a long time. I hope that we have that speed up soon. Although we are so much closer to BB. They are both already our children in our hearts we just have not seen what LM looks like yet, we don't even know if she has been born yet. So we continue to count the months until we see her precious face and some day she will know how loved she was even before we met.

hint: it is not that the picture is sideways (stupid blogger always does that to me) We had fun roasting marshmalows in the back yard tonight. We learned that charcoal is the best for roasting marshmallows or as we were calling them tonight marsh melons. Don't know why we are just silly that way. So I am not going to make you wait for the next post to get the answer if you were right, good for you if not than just enjoy the answer. Jim sometimes asks me if I think he is going to be a good Dad, I of course think he is going to be excellent but I think it is a natural question to ask. Tonight he did what would be considered by all to be an awesome dad type thing. When he ran into the store for a forgotten item he returned with the makings for smores , what a great impromptu fun thing to do. I am sure it was product placement in the store but hey he actually bought them. So had our hamburgers and got all the makings for dessert out and started roasting (we had a few before din

Ok it has been a while since my last post. It is not that I have nothing to blog about but more that I have just not been feeling up to writing very much. So here are a few things I should have blogged about and you may be seeing expansions of the blurbs later but for now here is the abbreviated versions. We spoke to our agency about a week ago and learned that BB is in foster care not an orphanage. We also learned that our Dossier is on its way to Burundi but we have not heard if it has arrived or not yet. we got no new info in him I would love to get more but I have to accept that it may not happen. China referrals finally came in. They referred 6 days this time. We are still over 400 LID days away from referral. No real telling what is going to happen in that program but we are hanging in there and after BB comes home we will be going to China for LM. Our cat ran away for a few days after last weekend. I am a bit worried about what we are going to do when we leave for Africa

After a weekend away from it all I feel completely rejuvenated. Jim and I spent the weekend at Emily and Ryan's however they were both out of town. We went down there to watch the dogs and have a weekend away from the current stresses in our lives. It was wonderful. Friday night after we got there we got some take out PF Changs , it was excellent. Our fortunes were awesome, I just hope they come true!! One of the things that I have done since we started this journey is to save fortunes when we go to a Chinese restaurant . I have most of them saved in a red envelope in my dresser drawer. At some point I started writing a date and whose fortune it was on the back. These will be added to that collection. Then we enjoyed the hot tub to soak the week away. I so want a hot tub I would be in it every night it was so good on my joints and my aches and pains. But other than the fact that we don't have the money to buy one, we also don't really have a place for one. Maybe someday we

Thank you everyone for all of the suggestions on baby carriers. I think I have narrowed down my choices, Ergo is at the top right now since they have a 90 day money back policy so if I don't like it I can return it but that is followed closely by a more simple easier to pack sling or wrap. And although I know that Jim put a lot of thought into the whole "sew handles to the back of all of BB's clothing" idea, I think it is neither practical nor culturally acceptable, so it has not made the final list of possibilities. I will be sure to let you know what I decide on and later on I will be sure to let you know how we like it. We got a dresser for the baby's room this weekend and I spent some time staining it. I will need to do some more work on it but probably won't get back to it for a couple of weeks. I think we are probably well set for equipment and furniture, except maybe a car seat. We have one but would like two so we don't have to move it from vehicle

So I have created another to do list but it is just more of the same things but I really think I might get some more sewing done this weekend so that will be good. I am taking next weekend off so I really need to get a lot done but no matter what I going to take it easy next weekend. We do have plans but they are more on the fun/distraction side of the spectrum than they have been lately. No more news yet on BB I am hoping to hear tomorrow that our dossier is head to Burundi but I know it will more likely be next week some time. I am so ready to go, I mean, I am not really ready but I don't care anymore about being ready I just want to go. It is so funny to me, that in the beginning I really cared about being ready and having all the right things and knowing all the right information but maybe it is just a sign that I am older or more at peace with it all but I figure we will make do and what we need will come in time. If it doesn't we must not have needed it. But that does n

Today is World AIDS Orphans Day . I bet you didn't know that. I would list all of the facts that makes this such an important yet little recognized day but I think you would be better served by going to this blog and reading about it there. This is one cause that I feel very strongly about and yet I often feel that I don't make any difference. I think the most important thing in this battle is education and awareness, it is so easy for us to become complacent in our everyday life. We might have the swine flu to worry about now but if you look at that in relative terms to the diseases that face the majority of the worlds children today it is really nothing. Not only are they at risk for getting some of these terrible diseases but they are at serious risk of being orphaned by them. Who is to care for them then? I have been criticized on this blog before for stating somethings that I believe to be facts but that does not change the fact that children are dying and being orphaned b

Why does everything take so long? I would just like to know. We got word today that our dossier will be ready to pick up from the embassy on Thursday. I assume that means that our agency will get it on Friday and then we will be DTC (documents to country) sometime next week. I know that these things take time but time just seems to be slipping away. I am hoping that we get approval from Burundi soon after DTC but to be quite honest I think we will see delays here and unfortunately we will not be able to get any information about those delays. Our June travel plans seem like more if a dream, I think we will be traveling in July but that is just my opinion. I just hope that it is not longer than that. In the mean time we have no new info on BB and I don’t think we are going to get any. I would love to see more pictures or just find out how much he weighs or how tall he is. Does he have any teeth or is he walking yet? What is his schedule like? Anything would be nice but that is not alway

One of the things that I wanted to get done this weekend was a quilt that I was working on for BB and get fabric for curtains for his room. We are going with a jungle theme and I found this fabulous animal print minky . It is incredible soft! A throw kit was on sale and it will work great in the crib. Almost everything was pre -cut so it went together pretty easy until I got to the binding which is where I fall apart but that is why I just quilt for myself. Then I got this monkey print for the curtains . We learned from a visit from our nephew that the accordion shade that we have in that room is not dark enough for nap time. I have not started these yet but I think they well be excellent. I got some lining so that they will be dark enough. So the room is slowly coming together. We still need that dresser but it will come in time.

See updated list below. I am tired, ready for bed and hoping my I recover from my weekend by in time for my week. Oh and I added a few things to the list like read, watch Grey's Anatomy, wonder aimlessly around costco, plan a menu for the week and get a little fresh air.

I have a few things that I would like to get done this weekend and I know I won't get half of them done but I thought if I wrote them down then I could maybe have a plan of attack. So in no particular order here we go. Organize music on Zune (add lullabys amd more music) Well sort of Em I need HELP! Make at least 2 dresses (Morgan, Olivia) Nope but I thought I had the patterens ready to go so I spent alot of time tracing and cuting Cut at least 2 more dresses (Amy, Kim) See above Get material for curtains in BB’s room (sale at the craft store) Work on cover for high chair No Go Visit Gramma and deliver a surprise Visti Jim’s parents and maybe sister and family? Sorry another time But we are so excited to meet the new animal members of the family Cut some of Kim’s quilt and bag Finish BB’s quilt Pack up girl clothes in totes Look for chest of drawers another time If we get pine draws stain it to match crib see above Get material for lovie and maybe pillows to match quilt? not lo

Hope every one has a sun shiny day!