Alarms and Alarm Clocks

Did you know, that when you turn off the alarm clock, it does not go off, even if you REALLY wanted it to? No, really, test it if you want!

We found that out this morning, as I woke up @ 7:18, realizing that Acer's bus comes at 7:30. Apparently, in order to let the then sick LM sleep in, I turned off the alarm after the "first radio" as he calls it, so that the 2nd and 3rd didn't wake him. Well, I dutifully set the alarm back to weekday times, and promptly forgot to turn it on.

We did, however, pass our first schoolday panic test. He was ready(I had just cut his hair last night, so no bed head) and out the door with his breakfest (granola bars) at 7:30.

However, the favorite New This Drum did not make it out the door, I found it on the floor a few minutes later. Oh boy, we shall see what happens when he gets home.

B

Full House! I win!

Okay, so it really means that all our bedrooms are occupied because our Step-daughter Alex (14) and Nephew Brandon (15) are visiting, but still I win.
Acer and I picked Alex up at noon on Fri. and it was pretty much instant JieJie/Didi love. She enjoys hugging, spinning him around and raspberrying him mercilessly. Already she speaks pretty decent Acer language and doesn't mind the normal chores that go with a two year old like taking him to the potty or helping him feed himself. Bill got his Father's day present (fatherhood by Bill Cosby) and I got a cool outdoor decoration/windchime for my birthday present. Alex usually does really well on her gift choices and this time was no exception.
Mum came over for dinner on Fri. night and went home with some bounty - the neighbor across the street is moving and he was bringing over some of his (deceased) wife's clothes. Most of these were new and Alex and I had gone through them all and sorted them. Mum went home with a new leather thickly lined winter coat, T-shirts and sweatshirts. Alex was a good hostess, making sure mum had tea and clearing the table. She is growing up into a kind, caring and helpful person and I try to let her know how great a job she's doing.
Saturday I had to work to Alex and Acer hung out with Baba/Papa. Alex helped cook dinner, I think she likes trying to figure out what to serve and she will help cook whatever she can.
Sunday Bill, Alex and Acer went off to church and I went to work. They went to a cook out afterwards, some people who live close to the church were having. They brought me lunch & then headed home to meet Brandon as his Mom was dropping him off so that she could meet Acer. They all went to our favorite frozen custard place, but forgot to bring any home for me. Sigh. At least dinner was excellent - baked salmon fillets.
Sunday nights we have a group over to play D&D, but we've temporarily lost a member due to a new job situation. So I learned that despite the fact that he doesn't like the job as much, there is a fem. he's sweet on there. So I said - Oh, so it's a sweetness issue - and Acer chimed in "oh, my, my, my!"
Monday was an extremely busy day - we started early by going to the local beach on Lake St Clair, where they also have a spray park. Acer liked the mist, but got hammered by some strong spray and wasn't quite as happy. By the way, Alex provided his outfit for the day - swim trunks and a huge on him Tshirt that says "I'm the good one, my sister is the brat!"
He actually liked 'swimming' in the lake quite a bit but we took him out sooner than he would have liked because his lips were turning blue!
We then went to Bill's work/bosses house (same piece of property) and enjoyed their company and their pool. Alex and Brandon played with their son Jake and Acer had the joy of a set of steps and a hand rail that he could both climb on and go into the water on! Oh Joy! He spent hours in the pool. Matt & Kristie are the ones who provided us with Acer's beloved wagon, well Kristie actually had the little trailer part that goes with the wagon too - more Fun!
Today we got up and out of the house early, we loaded up recycleables and Acer in the wagon and took the dogs and walked to the recycle center & then next door to the park. Acer LOVES to swing. He went for 45 minutes straight today (we took shifts) and stomped around on the play structure for a while. We were home by 11:30 but it was still above 80 that early in the day.
Alex and Brandon have always funded their fun while they're both here by returning the bottles we've accumulated. The rules are that they both have to be here and they share the money. So today was bottle return day and they filled up the back of the Beater, and away we went. I dropped them at the local megastore (meijer's) and they loaded up 3 shopping carts with bottles, with that and money for all you can eat pizza, I'm sure they were able to kill the two or so hours until Bill got there to pick them back up. Unfortunately, everyone was in bed by the time I came home, but I'll get the story tomorrow I'm sure.
I took pictures & I promise that Bill will post them soon, but as he spent 2 hours trying to get the small one down tonight, not much happened.
Heather

Dr's, Dr's and more Dr's

We've had a busy week, visiting Dr's mainly. Acer is getting fairly adept at amusing himself with Dr's office toys now, which I guess is a good thing (not totally sure)
Thursday we had our appointment with the surgeon about Acer's hernia. Fastest dern appointment I've ever had. The appointment was at 1:45 and at 2:08 we were back in the car. The Dr came in followed by an intern and a resident, they looked at the parts, listened to his heart and then sent us off to scheduling. Incredibly enough we were able to schedule the surgery for the following Monday!
Acer had an odd day that day as we had plans to go to the park and play to kill time before Bill picked him up from me at work. I'd figured we'd be much longer that the Dr's and as it was very close to work, we'd just play & then we'd go to work. Well... It was tremendously hot and so we went to Target for a while and then we hung out in the AC'd lunchrooom at work, ate lunch and explored. if it had just been myself I'd have continued with my plans, the weather is not big deal to someone who works outside, but with Acer I just felt it safer to keep him cooler.

Friday we went to Eye Dr #2's office and he has the best play area yet. For some odd reason, Acer ended up on his back, scooting himself around headfirst on the ground. He travelled quite a distance this way before hitting the chairs and deciding that perhaps walking would be better

By the time the Dr saw us, Acer was asleep on my shoulder. This was actually beneficial because the Dr was able to examine him more easily. He echoed what Dr #1 said and we're now scheduled for a sedated ultrasound on 6/21.

Saturday I worked and Bill was during the day caregiver, not to much exciting there but in the evening when I came home we decided to take Acer to the play place at the local mall. Acer's favorite was a bridge on the outside but was actually a slide/steps combo. He explored it, climbed it forwards & backwards and held his own against bigger kids, simply by moving slowly and keeping his centyer of gravity low.

Sunday Acer and Bill went to church while I worked and then they meet me at work for lunch. After lunch Bill and Acer picked up our friend Will and they went to mutual friends' joint BBQ summer party. I got out of work too late to join them but Bill said Acer did fine playing with toys there. He did say one toy said something about being a princess, but Acer didn't mind the sexist twist.

Yesterday we were up early to get to the hospital, we had an 8:15 check in and a 9:45 surgery scheduled. Acer actually went in closer to 10:45 but I expected that. The surgery went well although the hernia was larger than expected, it took two stiches to close intead of just one. We left with a very sleepy, sore little guy and were home before 2. After that he slept on me as I read and napped. He awoke hungry and ready for action about 6, after a meal of milk and fried rice, he was up and running for hours. We've discovered that like his reaction to Benedryl, Codeine seems to rev up his systems. We'll be switching to regular tylenol for pain relief for later today. Last night he really didn't want to go to sleep. just to roll over us and around us and just generally be awake, except in bed.

Today we'll be travelling back to the Med labs with our latest, properly collected stool samples, the ones I turned in a week and a half ago were not proplerly done so I had to go out there last week wed, & get the proper collection bottles. Yeah us!
Earlier I took a break from typing as Acer called from the next room and said he had to go to the bathroom. As I walked in I saw that he was actually holding on to the back of a chair as he needed it to balance. Why? - because he was standing on Rugby's flank! Rugby was actually okay with this, but when Acer tried to move to a new location on Rugby (abdomen or ribs, not sure where he was heading) Rugby groaned & sat up. It was just seconds too fast for me to get my camera dern it.
Well all for now
Bill will be posting pictures later/.
Heather

Wonderful day

Yesterday was a perfect day weatherwise, the sky was blue, temperatures were moderate, the Kwanzan cherry outside the shower was in full bloom. We were truly blessed by all the friends and family who came.
Personally I think that having a toddler shower is MUCH more fun than a regular baby shower because the toys are a lot cooler. We had assistance in trying out the toys and gioving their stamp of approval from Kayleigh, Oliver and Lucy. Kayleigh and Oliver were also #1 assistants in bringing the gifts to me to unwrap. Oliver made sure I did everything in the proper order & read the card first! I think that everybody shared little bits of themselves because they brought what was important to them. We had art, safety tips, toys, many books (yeah!) and the carseat that should outlast the house! I think our favorite fun item was that 3 people bought us the Ikea stuffed dragons - lovely! Others might return the 'extra's' but not us because they're so us. We either have one per person or one per floor of our tri-level. It has also been suggested that we take our Christmas pictures in them!
We also received more orphanage donations! More items to be packed and a gift of money to be spent for the orphans while we're over there. I'll be packing and weighing bags tonight to make sure we're set.
The Shower was thrown my life long wonderful friend Vicki at her condo complex clubhouse and we fit everybody perfectly. The three incredible women from Bill's side of the family, Bill's Mom, our sister-in-law Kerry, and youngest brother Joe's girlfriend Tammy did a ton of work. Also a Thank You! to Kerry's Mom, Sandra, who assembled many little takeout containers as she was visiting Kerry this week and Mum who helped with clean up. Between everyone there was an imaginative and tasty menu, good conversation and communication, and a wonderful job done! Yeah Guys!
As we had invited menfolk too, we didn't indulge in standard shower games. Instead we gave everybody a pair of chopsticks (Ikea scores again) and had people pick pepperidge farm goldfish out of a bowl and put them into cupcake papers. Some did better than others and the bonus was that if you didn't win you still got to eat the goldfish!
Bill was working until half an hour before the shower and arrived just in time. By eight o'clock last night he was barely able to keep his eyes open and he was in bed by about nine thirty. He had to get up extremely early today for church set up, but was still so tired that he came back to bed to sleep for an hour. I guess he wasn't trusting himself to drive as tired as he was. We finished the thank you notes last night so they're prepped to go out in Monday's mail. When you only have a few days between shower and take off, you have to get them out right away or they just may never happen.
Well time to get ready for one of my last work days, should be lovely busy as it looks to be as beautiful today as it was yesterday.
Heaher

Beds, Rituals and Friends

We leave a week from Tomorrow!

We are one step closer to being ready for Acer, Bill and my bro. James accomplished 'The Great Bed Switch part II'. In part I, we sent a bed to Mum's, brought a bed from Mum's sent a couch to Mum's and got a futon from Bill's brother John. This time we only moved a mattress from upstairs, built a bed frame and moved a mattress upstairs. So we are now sleeping on a queen sized bed instead of a full, and theoretically we'll have room for all 3 of us as we co-sleep for at least 6 months to help with bonding.

Who knew that the 3-4 inches of extra mattress space would screw up our night time sleep rituals so much. For the past 5 1/2 years, we've had a process of getting to sleep that has worked well, I snuggle on Bill then turn over & Bill snuggles on me & then he turns over and we butte snuggle. We happily sleep back to back because we both snore, so we came up with the butte snuggle term. But now there's extra space and it disrupts the process. I guess it's a good thing we're only sleeping like this for a week and a half, and the coming back from China with Acer, because we don't really have a routine it'll be easier to start a new one with Acer.

Last night was my work Toddler shower, we met after work at a local pizzeria. (Boy, were we wiped out after a busy day) I also had included a few ex-employees and frequent customers who had become friends on my guest list. I love it when people who don't know each other can get together and have decent and far-ranging conversations; to hear all the different subjects under discussion was pretty cool. My good friends Beq and Cheryl from work did a wonderful job. While I appreciate the wonderful gifts, the gift of everybody's support and friendship during this whole process is the biggest and best gift I could ever wish for.

Bill will be posting pictures later (okay, as soon as I let him know that I need him to, wonderful guy that he is)
Heather

Busy time back at work and at home

I finally started back at work on March 31st, just in time for the great temperature cool down. I did fine outside for about a week until Easter Sunday when the temperatures seemed to settle into my lungs. Poor Bill, we had a few weeks of normal household temperatures, but now I'm back to baking him.

The nursery trucks are starting to roll in and I feel much like the Michelin woman with 2 shirts, 2 jackets, a coat, scarf, headband and sometimes a raincoat to top it all off. Then they'll call me inside to diagnose some plant problem and I'll have to de-cloak just to be inside for a few minutes.

This year's never before run into problem was a spider plant with its own ant colony. I gave the little old lady some easy and safe solutions for her favorite old plant and told her not to vacation it outside ever again.

It is good to be back to work, many of the people are my main support group and are very excited for us to be going to get Acer. Not just my co-workers but also many of my regular customers are interested too. I think some of them will be making special trips out to meet Acer at six o'clock as Bill and I do a handoff in the parking lot.

We made our trips to get our vaccinations, perfect timing, we'll be able to get our second round the day before we leave for China. The third round will be about 5 months later, we obviously will be back by then but it's the last of the Hep series which won't hurt to have.

Easter Sunday we were at Bill's parents, Bill drove Mum in her car and they picked up his brother David. I made it after work. While it is a bummer to work Easter or Christmas Eve, you do get one perk of being able to take home a lily or a poinsettia. I found one with no open flowers and an incredible 20 buds to give my mother in law. I was over there Thursday and there were only 3 flowers open so it should be blooming for a long time yet.

Thursday we got together at the in-laws' again to address shower invites and hash out details. SIL Kerry has come up with an incredible tri-fold invite that I'll copy & post once I get a final version - incredible, Bill's reaction was 'Wow'

I also had to stop at the bank and pick up moolah in lovely crisp bills for various adoption purposes. I took the dogs with me (not into the bank) just figuring that someone would be far less likely to mug someone with two larger quadrapeds. Granted we live in one of the safest cities of the nation, and who would mug someone who drives the beater, but still, just in case.

Today we went to an incredible event at one of Bill's pastor's house where we were blessed (financially and prayerfully) by Bill's co-volunteers on the tech team. I was overwhelmed, I'd heard of the people but never met them and really couldn't believe their love and care. Many thank you have gone out to them and the Lord for putting them in our lives.

I've also figured out how to post pictures on Walgreens.com and get them printed out. I've made Bill, Mum and myself little albums of Acer. Today I called our stepdaughter Alex and found out Which Walgreens was closest to her house (on the other side of the state), sent a set of pictures to print out there and paid for them on line. She now has the full set and has taken down a poster in her bedroom to display them all. She called to tell us this and to tell us she was going defend Acer against anyone who would make fun of him. That's our fiercely protective caring girl. She's also buying him clothing including a basketball outfit (that's her sport) next on her list, a tiny pair of croc's for him. Can't wait for her to get to meet him.

Well, it's been a week full of blessings. Three weeks until we leave!
Heather

Practice and the joys of sharing.

What a busy couple weeks we've had. Okay, maybe not that busy, but as I seem to be sharing the family cold/sinus infection crud, it seems much busier because I'm so much more wiped out. I seem to catch whatever the children in the family get, so I'm actually looking forward to Acer's being exposed to these things so that I'm exposed to these things in small doses instead of sudden sledgehammer doses.
Poor Bill, I've been boiling him at night because the higher temperatures keep my coughing down. Normally our heat stays about 60 degrees at night, but with the crud, I've had to keep it about 70 to stop the hacking. I'm not sure which is worse for him, not sleeping well because I'm not sleeping well or not sleeping well becuase he's being baked; then there are the times I can't catch my breath & whack him one with a flailing arm! Thankfully this should be over soon and we can go back to sleeping in our lovely cooler temperatures.
I volunteered to babysit our youngest nephew Crash (or CJ). Crash is the baby my brother was babysitting the night before I had to take him to the hospital. So he did in one Tomlinson, then I babysat 2 Saturdays ago. I haven't changed a boy diaper since I was 12, watching a 2 year old at a camp in the UP. This little 4 month old would be good practice for Acer, we wouldn't be able to communicate and I'd have to change diapers. I'm usually pretty good at discerning diaper change cry vs hungry vs tired cry, but not with Crash. He cried, arching back, red face, the whole deal for almost 3 hours straight. Thank heavens for the baby in the mirror, for brief respites from the chaos. I wasn't really trying to torture the poor little guy, it just turned out that way. So he did in two Tomlinsons.
Last Saturday I went back for round 2, armed with new information like - his bottles should be HOT (body temperature) because his mom breastfeeds he's used to warmer stuff, not just above room temp. and that he likes to stand & jump and other little things like that. He was also awake and in my arms when Mom left so there was no sudden who the heck are you shock. We had had a much better time, older brother Logan (5) was there also but I managed to not only feed him and change him twice, but also to get him down for a nap long enough to do the dishes and feed Logan.
I tried to fold laundry but was defeated in the sock matching because Joe has too many almost the same socks. Crash was back awake by this time and he didn't think I should be looking that intently at anything but him.
One funny thing was, when I changed him into a new non drool soaked outfit, I chose one, carefuuly looked it over & then just as carefully put it on him backwards ! Oh well. At least Acer will be in mini adult clothing so that I shouldn't run into these problems theoretically.
I was also able to get a load of stuff to a very nice lady who is going over to pick up her daughter on the 23rd. Because she's flying on an adoption ticket, she has an extra luggage allowance (I HAVE to look into this!) so I packed up donations to the CHI rehab center and took her a full suitcase. Through a connection at Bill's work, this cause has been taken up by a group of Red Hat ladies so we had a variety of donations. Some we just won't be able to get over to China because of size issues, but we'll donate them to an at risk pregnancy center locally.
If you have new or like new baby items you'd like to donate to either cause, just let me know & I'll get them where they're needed.
One thing we really need prayers on is finances. We've taken a couple unexpected hits lately and need to be able to get back on track quickly.

Glass

I love glass, it has always been my favorite art material. I love the way it feels, looks, everything about it. So when I decided to finally take those glass blowing lessons I'd always wanted, I was overjoyed to find out it was an art form I could actually do. The Good Lord blessed me with many abilities, few of them artistic. Okay, actually aside from singing and writing bad funny songs he hasn't blessed me with much out of the fine arts world. Then I discovered glassblowing, the dangerous, pigsweat hot, exhausting art of glass blowing. I love it. Few pieces I make actually turn out exactly the way I expect, and the few 'twin' pieces that my friend Leigh and I have tried to make alike definitely don't turn out anything alike. But I love it. So I'm putting my website up for other people to enjoy them too.
http://homepage.mac.com/heatherbt/PhotoAlbum14.html
And, Yes, I do know what a few of the pieces look like, they weren't supposed to look like that, but they do.
Heather

Multiple subjects

Well, our (hopefully) next to the last last piece of paperwork left on its way to St. Louis yesterday. As expected, I have neither HIV or Hep issues, which obviously is good. The last piece of paperwork should be our SCL, and then we just wait for our TA.

My good friend Jo, who is adopting Hannah out of Acer's group of waiting children, got her seeking confirmation letter from the CCAA yesterday. This will be sent right back to Beijing and then the CCAA will issue a travel approval. We were hoping to travel together because many of our paperwork dates are the same, but the three requests for more information of one sort or another, including this last one, have slowed us down. So now our only hope to travel together is there to be a Chinese New Year slow down, but that would delay her and I don't wish that for her.

I spent most of the day Sunday and half the day Monday at the hospital with my brother James. They still aren't sure what happened, but as he was feeling better they sent him home with a 'follow up with your Dr.' We figure it was a combo of his hurt back, that section of back having the nerves that go to the stomach, having a high blood pressure migraine and then it went from there. The great news is, he didn't have a heart attack and I didn't lose one of my favorite people in the whole world.

My brother and I have (I think) a very unique relationship. We're ALOT alike, our likes & dislikes (but not food ones) our senses of humor, thought processes, and looks. Despite the fact that he's 3 years older, we're often mistaken for twins (why he had to get the tall skinny genes and I the teddy bear genes I just don't know). He's one of my best friends and I was really really scared I would lose him. It really makes me glad that we have the habit of saying I love you. I wouldn't have wanted him dying without knowing that he's my brother and a huge part of my life and I love him for it.

To all my fellow waiting parents

Howdy,
Most of you know about the Paula Zahn programs and issues the adoptive community hand with them. Part of the problem with the program was the research used to back up various people's points. We can only blame ourselves if the research out there doesn't express our lives and feelings, because we don't participate in the research. The following is a blatent plug for a research project that Bill & I participated in, and will answer questions again after we bring Acer home and after he's been home for a little while. This took 45 minutes on the phone and a half hour to fill out a paper questionairre; not really all that long. Abbie also periodically puts out a newsletter which also includes other research being done and talks about issues adoptive families may have.
contact AbbieGoldberg at
http://www.clarku.edu/faculty/goldberg/index.html
Or email her at
agoldberg@clarku.edu

I am superman

Ok, not really but this site says I am. check it out yourself & tell me what you are.
Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 90% Supergirl 85% Spider-Man 80% Green Lantern 70% Robin 65% Wonder Woman 60% The Flash 50% Catwoman 45% Hulk 40% Batman 40% Iron Man 25%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

More Help for the house (and me)

just visited this site, seems pretty cool (and helpful)
www.flylady.com
I like sites like this where they can help you without demanding that you get yourself, or your house perfect first.

Ice is not Nice

It's the middle of January in Michigan. There is no snow on the ground. It has rained and rained and now the rain has frozen. This is not normal, I want snow. This ice is just odd.
Bill had no power at work today, a pole at the end of the street was sheared off about 10' from the top. Thank Heavens they have a generator to get the servers up and running and that they tested it a few weeks ago.

Quick thinking there sweetie

Just a funny to share.
This evening Bill was cooking dinner, bacon cheese burgers. When it came time for me to assemble my burger, I saw there were 3 strips of bacon and envisioned these lovely long strips sticking out of the end of the bun. I thought it would be nice to nibble them down to bun size & then start in on the rest of the burger. Then I looked back, there were only 2 now, and a much shorter one in my sweetie's hand.
At my look, Bill thought quickly, handed the shorter piece to me and said 'Here, I made it burger sized for you!'
That's my sweetie, always willing to share, and always quick witted.

Love you sweetie

Okay, I was bad.

Well, I've promised myself that I wouldn't do too much shopping for Acer because we haven't gotten our seeking confirmation letter yet. (more than slightly unjustly paranoid we'll be turned down) and because I already have clothing from a friend and from my sister in law Kerry.
Today I broke that promise and hit the sales. I will say that boy's cothing is not nearly as cool/fun/colorful as girls clothing. I actually envy the clothes he'd be able to wear in China. They don't have these odd color restrictions on the sexes that the western world does. Even so I was able to get a whole bunch of stuff super super cheap. I even managed to get some orange cargo shorts and an extremely cool hawaiian style shirt w/orange rhinos. Of course I still got him things like mitties and a winter coat (not boring blue thank heavens, but black red & yellow and tiggers) I think I like those and the space ship jammies I was able to find in 3 different styles best.
Of course Bill had to give up some space in his T-Shirt closet (yes he has a whole closet for just his T-shirts.) It's just a precursor of things to come, he'll have to condense down to one closet once Acer comes home.
My mom had wanted to buy Acer some clothing for Christmas, so she kicked in to help pay for these, about what she would've paid for his gift if she'd bought it herself. So I wasn't wuite as bad.
My nephew Brandon (16) also gave Acer his Lego collection today 'As long as he doesn't eat them'. I think I'll need a toy box soon. I wonder if my old one is still in Mum's garage.

Cleaning help you never knew you needed

For those of us who are un organized in our cleaning, who aren't sure how frequently one should clean out the fridge, there's hope. For those of us who don't like to clean, there's hope. For those of us who're so busy we don't know where to start, there's hope. For those of us who work, in or out of the home, there's hope. My sister-in-law told me about this website
http://motivatedmoms.com/
There you can purchase a home cleaning planner for only $8 for the whole year. It's lovely, broken down into small daily items instead of big chores. For example, yesterday, instead of cleaning the whole fridge, I cleaned the middle shelf; instead of cleaning the whole bathroom, I cleaned the toilets. Over time, the whole bathroom is cleaned, mirrors are today, and I didn't spend a whole heck of alot of time in there on any particular day, The list also has entries like, pamper yourself, and work on a craft.
Some people try to clean their house before they start this, but really, you don't need to, your house will morph into clean as you work this. My husband and I share chores, so when there's something on the list that he does, he does it, if it's something I do, I do it. for example, yesterday vacuuming was on the list, so Bill pulled out the vacuum and went at it. Yeah us! clean toidies & floors in one day!

Post Holidays

Well, we made it through the holidays without Acer. We didn't want to, we had to as the Chinese Gov't hasn't said come get him yet. It would have been great to be able to celebrate his Birthday, Christmas, New year's with him, it would have been the icing on the cake. If you haven't listened to the words of the Merry christmas video song yet, Please do so, it really explains our longings and emotional state.
We weren't totally childless over the Holidays, Alex was here from Wed. thru Monday the 1st and Nephew Brandon was here from Thurs. thru New years Eve. We had a good holiday and hearing them playing on the computer or whatever did chase away some of my melancholy.
I did manage to finally get people to record their little scripts into the phot album we got for Acer. It's pretty cool, has 10 seconds of recording for each of the 24 pictures. I hope to finish with Mum and James tonight & send it, the disposable camera, and the toy we bought him off to our agency so they can send it to China.
H

Rumors of referrals

There is a large group of adoptive parents to be who anxiously await every rumor of referrals, we're part of that group even though we don't think we'll be part of this very next referral group.
It appears that The CCAA staff sent out referrals and that the West Coast has in fact received theirs already. In doing math derived from various sources, I've figured that we should hear in Mid-Feb. at the earliest.
I would love to receive our referral for Acer, it would just ease my mind so much. Although I don't believe God would have lead us on this path if we weren't to get approved, I still worry. It would be a nightmare. We've already had Acer in our hearts so long, 5 months, since we made our decision to go ahead.
So I check the rumor mill and fret and wonder.
H

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Today is Acer's second birthday!  We hope to have him home before his next one. 

My husband

There are many reasons I love my husband, and why I'm proud of him. Recently he showed me in a big way, what a wonderful guy he is.
I've been in contact with 2 women who have actually been to Jingdezhen SWI and seen Acer and his foster mother. They both describe him as blind. When I told Bill what they were saying and the fact that this might cancel out our hope that he would be a coke bottle glasses kid, he accepted it no problem. When I asked if it made any difference, and if he still wanted to go forward with the adoption, he didn't hesitate at all, he just said, 'Sweetie, you don't function well without your glasses either'
So now we make plans for leader dogs instead of coke bottle glasses. I can't wait to get him to the opthamologist & let him tell me what's really wrong, and if there's any vision at all.
The blessing is that we're in an area where there are a lot of resources for blind people.
I know some people would ask why we're going ahead with the adoption with the change in visual status (unofficially). I guess it's like when you have a Bio child, if they turn out to be blind, you don't stop loving the child, you just deal with the new issue as it comes up.