Random Thoughts

Things are finally starting to feel routine again after our vacation last week. I tell ya, I almost need to take a vacation from my vacation. Randy and I kept thinking that this was probably our last trip before we become parents. Every time we did something up north we imagined what it will be like next year when we will have our baby with us. We wondered how the drive would be with a little one. Instead of cranking up the tunes, singing along, and pretending we know how to play the guitar and drums instead will we be working hard to stay quiet in case of a napping baby? Will we have enough room in our vehicle to pack everything since the two of us seem to fill it plump full? And yes, the two of us had a plump full minivan. And yes, I drive a minivan already. Whose turn is it to get up early in the morning when baby is ready to get up? Who gets to go fishing while the other stays back? We talk about these things with huge smiles on our faces as it stirs up so much excitement and anticipation.

I promised myself after we got home from vacation I was going to start working on the baby's room, but I can't do anything until we can find someone to install some phone jacks and a cable outlet in our third bedroom. We are going to move our office into the spare bedroom because it's bigger, so the office will become the baby's room, and the spare bedroom will be, well, a spare bedroom and an office. Sounds like more work but at least this way we will be able to still have the extra bed set up. Also the smaller room (office) has a better closet that has organizers installed so that is another reason I think this will make for a better nursery. All this talk just makes me so nervous because all of a sudden I feel like we are so far behind. I know we have several more months of waiting, and then more until we travel, but so far the wait has gone rather quickly for us. Summer helped, and now fall is on the way and that means the holiday season will be upon us, and boom. Pretty soon we will be celebrating the new year. OK, I guess I am jumping the gun a bit here. But the holidays will be here before we know it.

I finally got caught up on my forum that I read. Not much seemed to happen while we were gone. Since I check the forum several times a day, and I wasn't able to while on vacation, I thought maybe I'd get home to see lots of referrals. No luck. Here's to hoping they will start up in September.

I'm Back!!!!

Sorry, it has been over a week since my last post, but for very good reason. Randy and I were on vacation in the North Woods of Wisconsin and we didn't have access to the Internet. It was our annual vacation we take every year with some very good friends of ours and their kids. We stay in a cabin on a beautiful lake and spend our days boating, eating, fishing, eating, swimming, oh, did I mention eating? We even manage to sneak in a few cocktails as well. The week went by so fast and I am really depressed about going back to work tomorrow. We were anxious to get home to see Zuko however, as we missed him terribly. Unfortunately, we were not able to bring him due to cabin rental rules, which is totally understandable, so off to the boarding kennel he went. He received an A+ for great behavior and they said he played very well all day long with the other dogs. I think he was happy to get home as well.

PEEVED!

My biggest pet peeves:

1. Not using a blinker when turning. Is it that tough?

2. People doing their entire banking through the drive through. If it's something that is going to take longer than five or ten minutes, please go in the lobby.

3. Bum wheel on a shopping cart. Why do I always get these carts?

4. People talking on their cell phone while driving. Please pay attention to the road!!!!! (I am guilty of this, but I make every effort not to.)

5. Never getting a live person on the phone anymore. I must have hit 37 options before a real live person came on the line when inquiring about my internet service.

Whew! Thanks for reading. I just needed to get some things off my chest. I had a long and stressful week so I am really glad the weekend is finally here. I can't wait to have an ice cold Bud Light!

I have been super busy this week so I haven't had a ton of time to read my adoption forum. Nothing knew on our end, just waiting for the referrals to pick up again in September. Good luck to all those on the top of the "list". Hopefully your referral is right around the corner.

Finally Some Action?

Good news, we heard from our agency that referrals will start to pick up once again starting September 1 in anticipation of the Ethiopian courts reopening in early October. This is wonderful especially for those families that have been waiting nine plus months. I wish them speedy referrals and court dates so they can finally be united with their children.

I received a call last week that my books finally arrived so I headed back to the book store to pick them up. Unfortunately, only one was there, even though on the phone they said bookS. They were kind enough, after I complained slightly, to give me a 10% discount on the book yet to arrive. Today the second one arrived so I went back for the third time, and now I can finally say I have both books in hand. I have started There Is No Me Without You and can honestly say once I start reading, it's hard to put this book down.

I do know one thing for sure, I will from now on buy all my books from Amazon.

Half Way?

Sunday night already. Where does the weekend go? Saturday was four months to the day that we have been officially waiting for our referral. I'd like to say that we have hit the half way mark but I have noticed there are some families that have hit the nine month mark. Referral activity has been quite slow, almost non-existant. This isn't a surprise to us as we were told that during the rainy season in Ethiopia, courts are closed and referrals are not usually made, and it's currently the rainy season. The reasoning behind this is so that families don't sit with a referral and wait extra months to get through court. If there is one thing that is more difficult than waiting for a referral, it's waiting to bring your child home once you know who that child is. At least that's what I have heard from families who have received their referrals. Court is usually closed from August through September and then re-opens again in October. So hopefully in September we will see some referral activity in anticipation of courts re-opening.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Zuko's 10th birthday. I look at these pictures and I cannot believe he was ever this small. I have to say I do miss the days when I was able to pick him up and hold him in my lap, but I don't miss "puppyhood" behavior. I mean "puppyhood" is fine when they are small, but labs grow fast and although physically he was an adult, in his mind he was a puppy until he was about 3 years old. Sorry about the quality, these pcitures were taken before I owned a digital camera.

I think about the years we have had with Zuko and they have been wonderful. He has been very heathly and we have not had any problems besides an occassional ear infection. Oh, when we moved into our home, he decided to go check out the neighborhood and he did run into a chow that didn't like him much. That ended with a trip to the vet's office but nothing serious. This year he did have a tumor removed from his hind leg and thankfully it turned out to be a benign tumor. The hardest part about that was keeping him from licking his stitches. He ended up wearing a cone and still managed to rip them out. The vet decided to leave them out so his incision just took a bit longer to heal.

Later today we will celebrate with lots of treats, a walk around the neighborhood, and maybe a dip in his favorite swimming hole. Happy Birthday Zuko! Momma and Dad love you tons!

New or Used?

I finally hit some garage sales this weekend thinking that maybe I would find some nice, slightly used, big ticket baby items. There was plenty to choose from, in fact, my mother bought some nice things to have at her house when the grandbabies visit. But for some reason I thought "I deserve to get new things for my baby." I am not sure why I feel this way, I guess because my husband and I have been wanting for this for so many years and I feel like everyone else bought new stuff, now it's finally our turn. I know this probably sounds ridiculous and it's hard getting my point across. I have had many people tell me how fast they will grow out of things and there is no need to spend so much money on new things, but I guess I will have to find this out on my own. Maybe in a few years I will be giving out the same advice.

On another note, Randy and I went to a wedding this weekend. Bought a card, put some cash in it, dropped it off in the card box at the wedding, and for some odd reason, I realized Sunday morning we forgot to sign the card. DUH!!!! I am not even sure why I remembered that we didn't sign it and why the heck didn't we sign it? Well, I got in touch with the best man and told him what happened. I told him if they got a card with $500.00 and it wasn't signed, it was from us. Just kidding, but I did call him and explained what happend, described the card, and what was in it.