Do You Want Fries With That?

This was Jenny's email to me after she saw the newest photos:

She has a look about her like, “What is all this weird, girly stuff?” and, “Get me a hamburger, I’m starving.”

I think Jenny may be on to something...

Hellooo Kitty!

Harper Ai Ning Werme



We love the Hello Kitty chair! I think she is wearing many, many, many layers... Now I want to see her smile! 

The Delivery Story

Last night Dan called the 1 800 GOFEDEX number and was actually able to speak with someone on Memorial Day. Huh. He asked if the package was in Vermont yet and they weren't sure. He asked them to hold the package at their facility in Williston and he would pick it up today since I am going with my mom to a doctor's appointment. The package should not have needed a signature, but one can never be sure with FedEx if they would actually leave it anyway.

FedEx told Dan that they had to attempt a delivery first before they could hold it, but they assured him it would be delivered today (Tuesday). Dan should have reminded them that it SHOULD have been delivered on Saturday, but that didn't happen either.

To make a long story short, I now have the package. It is 9:26 and it is sitting right next to me, but I can't open it until I meet Dan at the bank a few hours from now. Yes, I have already looked to see if there is a way I can open it without showing evidence that I had opened it, but no, FedEx seems to be very reliable only with their packaging material. (Curses, foiled again!!) Well, if I have to wait, so do you. As soon as I get back home today with an opened package I will post more info.

As for FedEx, sure they have packages made from recycled paperboard, but out of spite I am still not going to purchase anything from their furniture line... because who really knows when it would actually be delivered.

 

FedEx Strikes Again

A few years ago a FedEx delivery man hit our car while it was parked in our driveway. Since then we have been trying to forgive and forget. Now the gloves are off and I will show no mercy to the FedEx company.

The referral package was send overnight from Colorado and was supposed to reach our doorstep on May 27 (Saturday) at 1:30 pm. Right now after a trip to Oakland, California... it is in Memphis, Tennessee for a nice holiday weekend. We won't be receiving any additional information until Tuesday.

FEDEX!!! (That is my Seinfeld 'Newman' voice with a fist pump in the air.) 

Our Daughter

Harper Ai Ning Werme

Birth Date: October 22, 2005 she is just 7 months now.

Province: She is with the FengCheng Social Welfare Institute in the Jiangxi province. (Mom W…I mean Grandma W or Nai Nai guessed correctly!) She has been in their foster care system since she was a day old.

At her last physical on March 22, when she was 5 months, old she weighed 12.54 lbs and was 23.46 inches tall. This weight measurement may not be fully accurate since they have a tendency to weigh them with many (many) layers of clothing. She is a peanut.

From what we found out today, her favorite toy is a red flag, she is a light sleeper and sucks her lip as she falls asleep, she is quiet, fond of music, and has a ready smile. She knows her name, laughs out loud, and is sometimes impatient.

We will receive more pictures and information in our FedEx packet that should arrive at our house tomorrow.

We love her already…even her old man hair style.


 

Random Items Before Referral On The Brain

Our trip to Aruba has been good, but weird. We have had our relaxation interspersed with adoption drama which of course has been strange to say the least.

One thing I have learned about Aruba is that it doesn't really make much sense. I understand it is Dutch and many people speak Spanish and although their currency is the Aruban Florin, they are quite happy to take American dollars.

Their food is equally bizarre. There is a restaurant called Texas de Brazil, we saw a sign for Holland Chinese food, and a third restaurant that had 'French Mexican' fare. Totally weird. We did find a pizza on a menu that was the 'Aruba Special' so we looked at the description to see what exactly 'Aruba' food is. This is how it read, "Our international acclaimed pizza sensation. Capture the taste keshi yena. Gouda cheese, tuna, ham, mushroom, raisin, green pepper, garlic, onion and black olive." Seriously... raisins?

The next piece of fun is most exciting for Dan. In our resort area there is a casino. In this casino they have penny slot machines. (That made Dan happy.) We went to the casino tonight after we had dinner. With a 5 cent bet on this slot machine that had some kind of crazy penguin on it, Dan was able to win this much money...



Of course it was paid out to him in nickels, but he really enjoyed the clinking sound of the coins hitting the tray. He then cashed it in for bills because they travel better and he thought the coins were too dirty to roll in. There is nothing like a frugal banker winning money in a casino. I though his head was going to explode.

Package Status

Package delivered.

*We are choosing not to mention any 'storks' due to the Bird Flu. If any one else mentions Bird Flu, they will get a sound thwack on the head.

Out for Delivery!

The DHL package of referrals is out for delivery. This should mean the referrals will be recieved by CCAI, our agency today, and referral calls should be made tomorrow!

Stay tuned!

Snorkeling

We went snorkeling at Baby Beach yesterday. We saw some cool fish. We did see a shark, but that was was the day before in the pool.

Our 'package' is in Ohio right now. It will perhaps be on the move to Colorado later today. We still don't know when the calls could be made.


 

Even More Photos

 

More Photos

 

Photos

 

Referral Update

We have managed to locate the DHL tracking number for the latest round of referrals. Currently the package is in San Fransico! We are guessing that referrals will be delivered tomorrow with "The Call" being made on Friday, which includes an email photo!

We still haven't figured out how we will get "The Call" as we are not at any of our listed phone numbers. We sent an email to our agency last night but have not yet recieved a response. We are thinking that they are waiting to see when the referral package arrives before they respond.

Stay tuned...we will keep you posted!

It's a Bird, it's a Plane, It's... The DHL Man?

Um, I think we have a referral headed our way. CCAA has said that they have matched up to June 15th and that's us. (On their website they say, "The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before June 15, 2005." But in past history it has always included the date included in the message even though it says 'before'.)

Our referral will be sent by DHL and will perhaps be in the States by Thursday...? We are not sure, but someone always finds out the tracking number so we will have a better idea later in the week. Perhaps we will get "The Call" on Friday? If we do, I am not sure how that will work either.

I feel a little nauseous.

 

Janet: Oh, That's how you do it!

We rented a car today to drive around on the island. We also went to a grocery store for the essentials like Diet Coke and M&Ms.

We rented a little green Nissan Sentra, very quaint. I couldn't find the button to open the window. Dan pointed out this very interesting feature that reminded me of something in my childhood. For some reason I didn't associate it with opening the window though. Weird.


There are iguanas that run around on the island. Here is one where we parked our car.


This is a place called Baby Beach. It is a naturally formed basin that has beautiful blue water and is protected from the surf. The only thing that mars this beautiful spot is the oil refinery that is near by. I didn't take a picture of that, though. We plan to head back there again to do some swimming because it really is very lovely.

 

Bon Bini! (That means welcome...)

Here are some photos that were taken yesterday and today. It was a nice day here, hot and breezy; very pleasant. We didn't do much today, but sit by the pool and on the beach. We did see the sun set. We also slathered on a lot of sunscreen since the hot sun and windy conditions can be very decieving.

The top two photos were taken from our balconey. The bottom photo is of a restaurant on the beach.

We miss you, but this is nice. I think we needed it.

Love,
Us 

There's A Potty Over Here!

The other day UPS came to the door and dropped off a small, yet curiously interesting package. I thought, “Cool! What could this be? I haven’t ordered anything lately that would be delivered …at least as far as Dan knows; what could this cute little package be?”

I took a look at the name on the box and saw this:



My first thought was, “Wow! Harper already knows how to order stuff from the internet. She really is her soon-to-be-mother’s daughter. I then, of course, opened the package. (You know how parents need to stay vigilant and all.)

This is what I found:






I felt a rush of thanks and relief when I read that this was from Lori and Roger, NOT Harper already showing her soon-to-be-mother’s shop-a-holic tendencies. Thanks, Lori and Roger; you rock! And although you both may spend ‘too much time in the lab’ I feel your wacky chemist humor is charming and endearing. I just hope Harper will have a bit of this wacky chemist humor because I really enjoy smart people’s potty jokes. (Although I am not admitting I am smart to anyone. I am really trying to play the low expectations game or at least pretending I am.)





 

Stupor-sized

Wow. It has been a while since I have posted anything interesting. It seems like we are in a fog or dare I say… stupor. Just for you, this installment of the “How much can I bore you today?” blog will be EXTRA LARGE!

stu·por (stū'pər, styū'-) n.
1. A state of reduced or suspended sensibility.
2. A state of mental numbness, as that resulting from shock; a daze.

The first stuporific incident I take full credit/blame, for. On Saturday, Dan and I went to Burlington to see a movie. (It was Mission Impossible III, and Tom Cruise was seen running in it, over and over again, but this is not the stupor that I am at fault for.) Usually when we return home we have our two big boy cats that run to greet us at the door. Well, Wilson does if it is dinner time, but Cubbie always does. Cubbie didn’t show up. Dan and I thought that was weird. We went all over the whole house calling him and Cubbie was still a no-show. I decided that Dan must have left Cubbie outside this entire time in the rain because he didn’t let him in before we left. I was down right mad. How could he do this? What kind of neglectful father is he going to be? What if our social worker found out we can’t even take care of our cats? Oh boy, Dan is in for a VERY long night with my laser-sharp guilt-trip glare set well beyond stun mode. It was cold, dark, rainy, and I was putting on my warm coat to look for our poor Golden Boy shivering out in the cold when I hear Dan yell, “I found him!”

Dan did find him. Cubbie was locked in my closet and had been since I apparently closed the door on him. Whoops! Man, that cat is tricky. I SWEAR it could have happened to anyone.

The second stupor-filled gem is all Dan. Saturday night we went to sleep all happy because it was still the weekend and I had turned off my special super-hero laser glare and Dan had very kindly not given me his special super-hero “You’re a #*$& disaster” glare. I think I slept really well that night; I didn’t have to get up to get any water or go to the bathroom so for me it was a really good night. When I woke up after sleeping in, I got out of bed and was heading out the door when I heard Dan roll over and say, “There was religion on.” That made me laugh so I said, “What the #*$& are you talking about.” He then proceeds to tell me how he woke up at 6:00, went downstairs, fed the cats, turned on the television and then realized that the news wasn’t on. It was… religion. Dan thought to himself, this can’t be right. What is wrong with the *$@$& tv? Why isn’t the news on? I am sure at this point Dan was hearing the Twilight Zone music in his head as he turned on the computer and then finally realized that it was not Monday, but Sunday (hence the religion) and went back to bed.

I think if he hadn’t tried to watch the news I am POSITIVE he would have made it all the way to work before he had his revelation. I of course called him a God@%*& idiot.


Note from the editor: Please forgive me for all the @%^&$ swearing. I only report the truth no matter how… gritty. Yes gritty, that’s what it is; it is NOT what my mom calls, “uncouth,” it is just hard hitting journalism. Sorry Mom, Happy Early Mother's Day!

un·couth (ŭn-kūth') adj.
1. Crude; unrefined.
2. Awkward or clumsy; ungraceful.
3. Archaic. Foreign; unfamiliar.

Referral Stats

This is a magnet I found online. It made me giggle.
Here are the numbers of the last batch of referrals from our agency.

Congratulations to the families who received their child match on Friday, April 28th! We received 29 matches for families whose dossiers arrived in China before 6/6/2005. Included in this group were matches for Chinese descent families whose dossiers arrived at the CCAA in October 2005. There were 29 families matched with 29 children. We received two boys!