Waiting

Well. You can imagine what is often on my mind. We first saw her face 3 weeks ago. We were in the middle of a SERIOUS crisis involving the sell of our home and the purchase of our new digs. I had told Nathan the day before that we would have our referral that week and it came within 10 minutes of my calling Nathan to tell him our house was not going to close.

Though we reviewed the file and consulted with the international adoption ped and we both knew we would accept the referral, neither of us had the emotional or mental awareness to click in. We sort of put the entire thing on a back burner for a few days. One we got through the move, in fact, our first day in the new house, we received an update and it all began to sink in that she was going to be ours.

Now, here we are, three weeks after seeing our little girl's face for the first time. Actually, let's go back to last night. Nathan's BFF Mark came over for dinner and I quickly got him downstairs to see her photos on the laptop. As I zoomed the photo, it hit me....my little girl is living in an orphanage on the other side of the world. The photos up close did not paint a pretty picture. I am telling myself that she is being taken care of as well as possible, but to see the state of the part of the orphanage in the photo was not encouraging.

I didn't cry last night. The Universe knows how many tears I have shed these last few years waiting for this adoption. But, it was there, nonetheless. We have received our pre approval and now I we are waiting for our Letter of Acceptance. We hope it comes soon.

Please keep all of the orphans of the world in your thoughts as you lay down tonight. And, keep of their caregivers in your thoughts as well.

Peace Out
Dana

Special Needs Adoption

PA!

Hi All,

We received our PA (Pre Approval) from the CCAA to adopt our little one. It came yesterday. Now, I have to put together a care package (with joy!) to send to her.

It will have a little stuffed gift from us as well as a photo album with photos of us. The nannies in the orphanage will show the pics to her and hopefully she will have some idea of what is transpiring.

I have more thoughts to share but that is all for now.

Peace.

It's A Girl!

That's what I've been telling folks. It's a girl! We have received (and accepted) the referral of a beautiful 3 year old from China. I cannot share much about our little one right now as she is not officially ours, but we will soon be parents again.

I have so much I want to post about her and will as soon as we get the official word from the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs, but as far as we know, she ours.

Now....what the heck do we do with a 3 year old?

Just kidding. It's going to be interesting bringing a really small one into the house again. We have so little to do and so much time! Wait. Reverse that.

Truly, though, we are so excited. Nathan has been quiet and is digesting it all. We are just coming through getting moved into our new digs and are still trying to get settled. So, I don't think it has really sunk in. But, I can tell you that we all look at her photo many times a day and I'm really connecting in such a heartfelt way.

I spend a large part of my day imagining meeting her and introducing her to Noah for the first time. So, it's finally here and we are finally going to be parents again and we are truly grateful.

Peace Out.

Dana

The Answers

We don't always have the answers, we parents. It's too bad, really, and often quite stressful. Sometimes we don't have the answers because we are the problem. The problem: 1 pair of stressed out parents who have been trying since June 26th to close on their home and move the family to a new home; one home stood on its head - mostly packed up - often a disaster zone; things breaking all over the place and having to be repaired; 1 bored kid; 1 babysitter who is also the aunt who has not been given clear instruction by the aforementioned parents on how to take care of the 1 bored kid. So, a recipe for disaster.

Now, we are in recovery mode. We are attempting to recover any sanity and peace that once existed in our home. We are attempting to keep the peace during the next 24 hours when we find out once and for all if we are going to have someone buy our home and close on the new home.

To reconcile the issues within our home I have been burning lavender candles and sage like crazy. I am attempting to give the 1 bored kid - the Sun - more attention and have been attempting to keep the home clean and clear of clutter, a sure stress builder in any home.

To be truthful, he's been a real trooper. We have shown our home, looked at countless homes, packed up the majority of his toys and books and he's really hung in there. This week, though, this final week when it all comes down to the end, he has sort of lost it.

We are now the meanest parents ever and he does not like us, or so he said before bedtime. Hold the phone! It's family meeting time. I find when we are in these situations with Noah the best thing to do is to give him room to cool down and realize what has occurred, then sit down and ask him why he is behaving a certain way and what we can do to help the situation. Don't get me wrong, there are those times when I'm the Mom and you'll do as I say, or else. But, there are these times which we recognize and we make a huge effort to find the underlying cause of bad behavior because for the most part, he's the best kid ever.

I know I'm rambling at this point, but it is so hard. As parents we are expected, by ourselves, to know the answers, but truthfully, we are just winging it most of the time.

Happy Parenting.

Bloom Where You Stand

What I'll miss from our house are my glorious flowers. Well, the gladiolas are actually Nathan's but I get all of the benefit from them. Can't wait to see what blooms at the new place! Even Hammie likes the flowers.

Avast Ye Matey, It's My Birthday

Well, another year is marked today. I have hit the age of 37. I was not really happy about the approach of this day, but now that it is here, it is fine. Yesterday was delightful. I received 2 gifts of $25.00, one in check form, one as a GC to Panera. Then, after work I went out with my oldest and dearest girlfriends. I cannot express enough the joy of being connected to these women after all of these years. One I have been friends with since the age of 12, one since 13 and one since 15. Due to my work schedule, they met and had dinner and then I met up with them and we scooted over to Dan McGinness - an Irish pub. We stayed for 3 hours just talking and catching up. We had a great time. I do wish we could do it more often, but life happens. Perhaps we will begin to see one another more regularly, that is my birthday wish. One of them anyway!

After a scant 4 hours of sleep I met with the chair of the parent alliance and we discussed the upcoming school year's volunteer duties. I returned home and the rest of the day was so wonderfully relaxing and organic. After a short nap, Nathan, Noah and I snuggled in bed, then left for one of our favorite places, Moe's for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for mattresses. Once we returned home, it was more of the same, lounging around the house.

The high point of this relaxing day was brownies prepared by my guys and having sandwiches in the living room. Here are some photos of Noah from tonight. Well, the high point may not have been the brownies. Seeing Noah in the mustache he painted on with eyeliner may have been the highlight!

Bonnaroo

Well, we attended Bonnaroo again this year. We only went for one day this year. With all we have been doing I decided one day was enough. Usually when we go in for the day we arrive before 10AM, so the entire place is very subdued. None of the booths are open and most folks are still in the campgrounds. There was no one we wanted to see until noon. So, we headed over to our beer both, sponsored by the Millenium Repertory Company in Manchester. Nathan's folks and some of their good friends were there and we set up and went to work.

Very quickly, Noah was bored and the smell of corn dogs began wafting through the air as the small city of Bonnaroo woke up for the day. We were not yet busy with customers and I gave in and got Noah a hand dipped corn dog with Applegate Farms organic sausage. This is one of my fave organic sausages so I was okay with Noah eating it (organic/nitrate free). He also had Sprite along with it, though I was less thrilled with that!

Noon came quickly and we were getting excited. On Thursday it was announced that Jimmy Buffet would make a surprise appearance and Noah, Tina (MIL) and I were going to the show. Of course, Noah wanted to eat again, so he and Nathan set out in search of a vegan pizza (no cheese). They found one and Noah ate it and drank a lemonade. I wasn't part of this food frenzy and really didn't realize what he was ingesting. In other words, he ate more between 7AM and Noon than he sometimes eats in an entire day, plus getting sugary drinks which he is not used to. So, a little while later we headed over to Buffett and after a couple of songs the little guy began to feel ill. So, he and headed back to our booth. Luckily, there was not a band playing on the stage by us so we could hear Buffett loud and clear.

We spent much of the rest of the afternoon serving beer and sodas to the masses though we did duck out for a little while to take Noah over to the kids tent. There is a kids tent each year that offers a respite from the sun, an inflatable, face painting, clowns, and more. Here are some photos of that portion of the day.





After the kids tent we finished our time in our booth and then set out with Nathan's parents to see the sights. We found out that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appearing on the Solar Stage for some Q and A. We got drinks and headed over there.



Wow is all I can say. He is very passionate and has done the work. It is things like this that makes me glad to be a mom and glad that Nathan and I have exposed Noah to so many things. He was really impacted by this part of our day and told us he wants to help the environment by creating a natural habitat in the backyard to bring in wildlife. It gave me so much food for thought about my own life and how I do things. Probably the most important thing he said is that if you want to do something about the environment change your politicians and don't worry about the light bulbs. Of course, he also said that Obama has basically continued to screw the environmental movement over....so much for the liberals!

After seeing Kennedy, Nathan took Noah up on the ferris wheel. Here are some of the "arial" shots of Bonnaroo he took.



After that we headed over to the main stage to wait for nearly 3 hours for Bruce Springsteen. We sat with the in-laws and all had a lovely dinner. Wilco was playing which was a great show. Kennedy spoke again to the masses and then the sun slowly set on the little town of Manchester. Though there were many folks there for Wilco, the grounds quickly filled up as Springsteen's set approached. Very close to 9PM as Springsteen prepared to go on, Noah lay down on the blanket to go to sleep. he had on ear muffs (hunter style). He had a hard time getting comfy so eventually I picked him up and held him in my lap. Eventually, we both dozed off. Unbelievable I know! Luckily, we cannot find the cord to Noah's camera or there would be a picture of me here asleep with Noah on my lap, both with mouths agape! But, I woke up in time for the big hits, such as Glory Days and Dancing in the Dark.

Oh! And Santa Clause is Coming to Town. That was AWESOME! Someone actually brought a 3 foot tall poster of Santa and held it up to Bruce to request the song! We were sad that Noah was asleep as it is his FAVORITE Christmas song and when he hears Bruce singing he really belts it out. Bruce played an unreal 3 HOURS with no break. I have never seen anyone sweat so much in my entire life. But, it was a great show and I'm glad we were there. And now, I can add BS to my list of concerts. So, Bonnaroo is over for another year. Stay tuned for next year's tale of the most rockin' show on Earth!