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!

Just Do It

Here is a fun spoof commercial for Nike featuring Tom Cruise. Love him or hate him, you have to admit he works hard for his money.

**Update To Wee Little Piggies

The last round of referrals included some young babies. Today I found out that one of the babies in that group is only 5 months old. She was born November 14th.

I have some carrots in my refrigerator that are older than that.

Dan's Pregnancy

Ok, you know how we have been waiting for a really long time for our referral? Well, we have been waiting for a really long time. In fact by the time we meet Harper for the first time we could have given birth to two babies... Consecutively.

Dan isn't handling his "pregnancy" well. He is grouchy. He has graciously saved all his vacation time at work preparing for our eventual travel and he is still waiting. After the latest round of referrals he decided that was it. We were going to take a trip.

Dan's parent are letting us use an extra timeshare week and Dan searched to find a place that was available on such short notice. After a few failed attempts he found something that would work. Aruba. We leave May 20 and we can't wait.

As of now we still don't know when we will get our referral. I don't think it will be while we are away... but who really knows. I suppose we will have a back-up plan in case that happens.

All I can say right now is that Dan is a lot friendlier and his ankles don't seem nearly as swollen anymore.

Wee Little Piggies

Some of the other adoption agencies have recieved their packet of referrals already. Some people have posted the news about their new children and I was very interested to see that some of these babies were born in the middle of October... which makes them about 6 months old. Last year the average age of the babies at referral time was 8 to 10 months.

Hmmmm, that gives me something to think about.
 

The Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth

CCAA has confirmed that all LID dates through June 6 have been matched. As of yesterday CCAA's referral packet was in San Fransisco on its way to Colorado. Referral calls will most likely be made Friday or Saturday.

Oh, you ask, what does that mean for you? We still don't know, but really isn't that the way it always is?

Switching subjects, Cubbie is having a little dental work today. We are hoping for a nice white smile and some fresher smelling breath. Oh yeah, for Cubbie, too.

 

Antsy For Rumors?

Rumors say that CCAA will be sending out referrals anytime now. The rumored LID dates that will be covered are May 31st through June 6. Our agency has said that LID dates will include May 31st and the first week of June.

We are June 15 and will not be in this round and still not sure about the next round of referrals that should be sent out at the end of May.

My Magic 8 Ball is broken so I have no idea if these rumors will play out to be fact or fiction. Damn you, Magic 8 Ball!

Manimals

Because they're not babies anymore.

 

Hoppy Easter Everyone!

Deadline

Happy Tacks Day... uhh Tax Day!
(Although I think these are officially called push pins.)

I Carry The Q-Tip Because I Can

Do you ever feel like you are walking down the street in your simple white dress, with your sprig of hair a little on the flat side, while carrying a giant q-tip for no reason, when an enormous hand reaches up and grabs you by where your ear would be if you had ears?

That is how I feel today. 

Wee Willie Winkie

Wilson is home and resting comfortably when he is not searching for vast piles of food which he is not supposed to feast on yet.

His surgery went well, his eyelids are now in the proper place, but still a bit swollen. His corneas were debrided and will hopefully now heal.

We will be putting ointment in his eyes twice a day until his follow-up visit four weeks from now.

For the moment, Wilson isn't quite as handsome as he normally is, but I was expecting him to look a lot worse when we were able to pick him up this afternoon, no weird collar or pirate eye patches.

He is in really good spirits and seems like himself. Hungry.

Domo Konnichiwa

I realized this morning that it has been almost a week since I last created an entry on our blog. It has been a busy week, but frankly in regards to the adoption we have no new news. (Which is fine right now, I seem to be in a very Zen-like state so it is truly not bothering me.) I have tried to think of funny stories, but nothing super funny has happened this week. I guess you could say it has been downright uneventful.

Wilson’s surgery is Monday, CCAA is very quiet right now, we had a little snow this week, but it has since melted, the sun is not shining, and we have adjusted to day-light savings time pretty well. I think that just about sums it up.

Now for a subject change… this is a definition from: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Domo-kun (どーもくん) is the mascot of Japan's NHK television station, appearing in several short stop-motion sketches. Domo-kun, a strange monster-like creature born from an egg, is short, fuzzy and brown with beady black eyes and an open mouth revealing pointy teeth. He lives in an underground cave with Usajii, a wise old rabbit, who loves to watch TV and drink astringent tea (in Japanese, "Usagi" = rabbit and "Oyaji" = older man). The name "Domo" was acquired during the second episode of his show in which a TV announcer said, "Domo Konnichiwa" (roughly translatable as "Hello indeed!"). Domo's favorite food is seasoned beef with potatoes and he has a strong dislike for apples (an unexplained mystery in his DNA). Domo is known to pass gas repeatedly when nervous or in a bad mood.

I love Domo.