Heart for Haiti

junkposse is having a heart for Haiti giveaway.

Junkposse also made my "Expecting from Africa" necklace that I wear everyday.

http://junkposse.blogspot.com/2010/02/heart-for-haiti-necklace-giveaway.html

Envy

Tonight Joel and I will go out for a drink or maybe rent a movie and have a 7&7 at home. We will sleep in tomorrow until around 10 (really), probably do some laundry, take a nap and then have dinner with friends. Sunday-pretty much the same story as Saturday. If I tell 99.9% of my friends this they will tell me how lucky I am.

They will tell me that their kids run in and wake them up before 8am on the weekend. They will have birthday parties to attend or prepare for, trips to the zoo and dinner out will be at Chuck E Cheese or McDonald's (ok most of my friends don't go to McD's but you get the point). They will watch the Disney channel. I will tell them how lucky they are.

As much as I will miss my sleep- I can't wait for the day our babe(s) runs in our bedroom pounces on us and says "Mommy get up. Daddy get up!"

Tribal Expansion

The Tribe is rapidly growing. The Ferg's should be bringing their 3 year old son home any day now. I can't wait to meet him. They got stuck in ET on a paperwork issue.

The Grandey's just received a referral for a 6 month old baby boy. I haven't seen his picture yet but am sure he is cute as can be. I can see Lila roaring at him now (I am pretty sure she was a lion in a past life).

And lets not forget about the beautiful Ryan. She looked so cute in her tiny little newborn outfit on Sunday. We also get to see the beloved Ben this weekend. He has been home for almost 2 months.

So four new members in the last two months! Hoping for two more soon!

The 411 on what I expect

Joel has just officially been schooled in what I expect (if/when that elusive baby finally comes home). He looked a little scared as I ranted. These are things he has known for a while but I thought he might need a refresher. You will change diapers, get up for 12 a.m. and 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. feedings, you will kick me out of the house if I am going completely insane, if need be you will call The Tribe and tell them to get their butt's over here to remind me that we will all survive (and hopefully one day thrive). You will call The Shrink if needed!!!

I read a wonderful blog post today from a woman who just brought home her son.

She is struggling. The little boy is challenging to say the least. Lots of adoptomom's sent her messages of support. I completely believe she will make it. In a few weeks or months it will be a blur and she will love him and he will love her, but for now it sucks.

If you want to read it go to: www.lovely-chaos.com

I can't tell you how much I appreciated reading her post. If it were not for other adoptive families I don't think I would have told a soul if I have PAD (post adoption depression). I mean really. What kind of person waits for a child for years only to find themselves questioning what they have done??? Apparently, a lot of people. Alot of really nice people- mothers (and fathers)- who are a little lost for awhile.

Only 1

There was 1 referral this week. Last week there were none. The unofficial list is standing still. We've been officially waiting 17 months and 10 days. My best guess is we will wait a total of 20-24 months for referral!!!

We are going to the beach in June. I keep thinking this is when The Call will come. That's 4 more months of waiting. I can't even imagine. I'm a mess now. What am I going to be like in a few more months???

Fewer people hate me.

In my last post I mentioned that everyone at my work hates me. This has been stressing me out beyond belief for months. I mean taking care of 8-12 babies in one room is hard enough. [This gives me even greater appreciation for the nannies who are (or will be) caring for my child.]

So Saturday Joel and I went to see my family. My SIL invited us to go to their new church. So we went. When we walked in the pastor immediately said hello to us and thanked us for coming. Nice. I've been to a few churches where no one speaks to you or knows who you are. The theme of the service was forgiveness. I must say the pastor did a great job. He read scripture that spoke about forgiving and going to the person who has wronged you and letting them know.

All I could think about was this person who I work with and haven't gotten along with in months. So on Tuesday I thought 'don't be coward-go talk to her'. So I did. I tried to be very calm and not attack her. I thought I was doing a great job in that aspect. However it was not received well. She said some pretty mean things. I of course fired back a few short and cocky responses (never said I was perfect).

Anyway that night I was telling Joel about what happened. I said I felt much better for the most part. I was calm, told her my side, and felt better even if the outcome wasn't what I had hoped. As I was telling Joel the phone rang. It was her. I was reluctant to answer (we were getting ready to go meet friends at Surly Girl and I didn't want to be in a bad mood). I answered it anyway. She asked if I could talk and said that she was sorry for how she responded. She apologized for things she had said and we agreed to get over and move on. So today at work...I spoke to people and they spoke to me! This is a big step forward.

Not sure if it was divine intervention or just a coincidence but either way it should make my life a little easier.

Weird Day

I went to training for work. It sucked. As I have mentioned before pretty much everyone at my work hates/dislikes me. The one person I get a long with is my boss. She is moving to NC next week. No one spoke to me at the trainings-which if fine and mostly expected-but still makes for a really fun day. We took the daycare bus to the training because it was on the other side of town. The snow started shortly after we arrived. We boarded the bus at 3:45ish and I didn't get home until nearly 6p.m.

When I got home I, of course, checked facebook right away. I saw that someone I had went to high school with was killed over the weekend. The circumstances of his death seem bizarre and that much more tragic. I had not seen him in years but it makes me so sad to think that he is gone at 32 years old.

Enkutatash Festival: September 18, 2010

Enkutatash will be held September 18, 2010 at the Whitehall Yearling Park. We will be sending out flyers as well as info about the event. We would like to create a master list of names to keep you up to date about future events. If you would like to be included in mailings/emails please contact me with your Name, Address and Email. harcarphoto@yahoo.com

We are looking for corporate and family sponsors. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks!

I'm thinking girl

Month 17 is approaching. I go to yahoo search and type in 'quote 17' for something that would be inspirational about the number 17. Don't know why, call it boredom. What did I come up with...

"It's that first moment when you hold your baby girl and you didn't know that anything could be so small, their so delicate and you feel that tiny heartbeat and you know you couldn't love anything more in the whole world, and always be there to catch her when she falls and that nothing ever hurts her not ever, broken arm or bad dream or a broken heart."

It's from the movie 17 Again. I've never seen it.

Help Team Buster: Shoes for Africa's Children

Jump over to this link: commonthreadz.org/teambuster and help team Buster meet their goal.