School's Out-----Forever!!

Well, I did it! Today was my last day of school!!
I've been at this job for 4 years now. That's A LOT longer than I thought I would last after my first few weeks!! This is the hardest, most stressful, intense, crazy-busy job I've ever had!! But, the pay really sucked, so............ :)
I really am kind of sad. It was nice to belong. Not only just being around other adults and working with them, but being involved in my son's school. That was probably the most important thing. Knowing what was going on on the "inside"! I can totally understand why mothers volunteer, it's nice to be in with the in crowd.
I am going back into the school tomorrow. I hadn't planned on it, but they're having a cookout and said that I NEED to be there. Now I'm scared!
You know, I'm 36 years old and it still strikes me as odd to see teachers and principals in jeans and t-shirts, just being "regular people". It's still kind weird--even though some of them are younger than me!
Oh well, I just PRAY that Lili's home with us by the time school starts again on August 15th. (August FIFTEENTH!!! Suckers!!)

Hip Hip Hooray---Just One More Day!!

Tuesday is our LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's my LAST DAY OF WORK forever (or until I get bored staying at home!)
Woo Hoo!!
I'm here to tell you, it's STILL fun getting out of school even when you're pushing 40!

Well, At Least I Have My Cat!

We were watching "psycho cats" on YouTube. Notice how the cat on the computer looks JUST like my Sophia?

"Psycho cats" indeed! :)

ugh

"Yes, we're still waiting."

"No, we haven't heard anything."

"Yes, it is taking a long time."

I Got All Nostalgic After My 100 List....

I found this on U Tube. I danced around, clapping and smiling from ear to ear! I felt like I was 7 again!!

I bought a flower fairy book at the dollar store because I thought Lili would like the sparkly parts (OK, I couldn't resist the sparkly parts!) Anyway, all the fairies were named these gloriously fancy names and in the middle of the book I found this. Liliana is obviously a gloriously fancy name, who knew?

Post #100!

In honor of my one hundredth post, I thought I'd list one hundred things (interesting, or not) about me, so here goes:

1. Favorite Movie (comedy): Dumb and Dumber
2. Favorite Movie (musical): Grease
3. Favorite Movie (thriller): The Exorcist
4. Favorite Movie (action/adventure): Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
5. Favorite Movie (sci fi): Star Wars, all 6
6. Favorite Movie (drama): Circle of Friends
7. Favorite Movie (animated): Over the Hedge
8. Favorite Movie (classic): Holiday Inn
9. Favorite Movie Theme Song: The Tender Trap
10. Favorite Actor: Cary Grant
11. Favorite Actress: Shirley Temple
12. Favorite Singer: Frank Sinatra (old school) AND Prince (forever!)
13. Favorite Band: Poison (seriously!)
14. Favorite TV Show (comedy): Laverne and Shirley
15. Favorite TV Show (drama): Eight is Enough
16. Favorite TV Show (action): Lost
17. Favorite TV Show (animated): The Muppet Show
18. Favorite TV Show (miniseries): North and South
19. Favorite TV Show (sci fi): The Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman
20. Favorite TV Show (reality): Shoot me---it's Survivor!
21. Favorite TV Actress: Sally Field as Gidget
22. Favorite TV Actor: Bruce Willis as David Addison
23. Favorite Soap Opera: All My Children 1971-1997, and that's it, HATE it now!
24. Favorite TV Theme Song: Welcome Back Kotter
25. Favorite Food: Pasta
26. Favorite Alcoholic Beverage: Beer (I'm a red-neck woman, I guess)
27. Favorite Vegetable: Broccoli
28. Favorite Side Dish: Potatoes, fixed any way
29. Favorite Appetizer: Soup
30. Favorite Fast Food: Fazoli's
31. Favorite Meat: None, but if I had a gun to my head, chicken
32. Favorite Restaurant: Hacienda
33. Favorite Dessert: Chocolate Candy
34. Favorite Ice Cream: Chocolate---soft serve
35. Favorite Jello Flavor: Strawberry
36. Favorite Cookie: Chocolate Chip
37. Favorite Christmas Song: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
38. Favorite Song (Rock): My Sharona, The Knack
39. Favorite Song (Country): It's Your Love, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw
40. Favorite Song (Classic): The Way You Look Tonight, Frank Sinatra
41. Favorite Song (Rap): Bust a Move, Young MC (OK, it's "rap-lite")
42. Favorite Song (Easy Listening!): Mandy, Barry Manilow
43. Favorite NFL Team: Dallas Cowboys
44. Favorite MLB Team: Chicago Cubs (THIS is the year!!)
45. No favorite NBA or NHL teams
46. Favorite College Team: Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football
47. Place I want to live more than anywhere else in the world: New York City
48. Place I want to visit more than anywhere else in the world: England (you thought I was going to say China, didn't you?)
49. Place I want to be RIGHT NOW more than anywhere else in the world: Guess! CHINA!!
50. Era I wish I lived in: 1920s
51. Places I've Lived: Indiana and North Carolina
52. Places I've vacationed: Jamaica, New York (no, not Jamaica Queens...Jamaica AND NY!), North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Louisiana, Florida, Arizona
53. Where I Went To College: Ball State
54. Where I Graduated From College: Indiana University
55. My Degree: BA in psychology
56. Favorite Job: Reference Librarian at a public library
57. Favorite Leisure Activity: Watching TV!
58. Best Friend In Elementary School: Tricia
59. Best Friend In High School: Regan (Trish too!) and Rob
60. Best Friend In College: My Roomie Karen
61. Best Friend In Adulthood: My Hubby!
62. How My Husband and I Met: LOONG STORY!! We went to high school together, he was a senior when I was a freshman. He was also good friends with Rob. He was dating the MOST GORGEOUS GIRL IN SCHOOL! and she treated him like crap. My friends and I used to call him "poor Jeff"! (he could DIE knowing we called him that!) Anyway, I never thought he'd give me a 2nd look and he thought the same thing about me. On April 6, 1991, I was home from college cruising around town with my friends. He was with Rob cruising around town. We met up in "free parking", went to a party together, went to eat at a truck stop at 4 am, went to my house to sleep (YES! SLEEP---Rob always stayed over at my house, on the couch, a floor below my bedroom). The next day, they came over in the afternoon, we hung out all day and the rest is history. We would alternate weekends, one weekend at Ball State, one weekend at home...always with Rob!! Until he got the hint that we could handle things on our own! :) And the rest is history. We married in July 1993.
63. My Pets (childhood): (dogs) Buster, Stubby, Puffy, Sparky, Kermit, Tyler, Doggie-Dog(cats) Fritzi, Kitty Kitty 1 and 2, (hamsters) Crystal, Pepe
64. My Pets (adulthood): (dogs) Abigail (and her pups for awhile), Joey, Ralphie, Buffy, Lola, (cats) Sophia, Madeline, (hamsters) Joey Buttafuoco, Rat, Yolanda, (turtle) Frankie
65. Favorite Movies In High School: Grease, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Nightmare On Elm Street 1.
66. Favorite Things To Do In High School: Cruise around town, hang out/have parties at my house, go to the $1 movies, go to the Drive-In, cruise around the lake
67. Favorite Book In The Bible: Psalms
68. Favorite Hymn: Amazing Grace
69. Favorite Contemporary Christian Song: Shout to the Lord
70. Favorite Day of the Week: Friday
71. Favorite Time of Day: 8:00am (ONLY if I'm not at work!)
72. Favorite Season: Summer---I'd love to say spring or fall, but where we live it's a choice between winter and summer, so given the 2, I'll take summer
73. Favorite Childhood Crush: Shaun Cassidy, followed shortly thereafter by Leif Garrett (just typing that makes my hands sweat!)
74. Useless Knowledge: I swear I know EVERY LINE from Laverne and Shirley by heart! I also know the line of succession of English Kings from The Conqueror through Henry VIII
75. Favorite Book: To Dance With Kings, Rosalind Laker
76. Favorite Author: Jean Plaidy
77. Passion: Decorating, Flea Markets and Yard Sales
78. My Brush With Stardom!!: I was on "Bozo's Circus" in 2nd grade. I played one of the team games and our team won. I was playing against my cousin. I got lots of prizes. I remember a ViewMaster canister set, a light up yo yo, autographed pics of Bozo, Cookie, and the rest of the stars. My mom also played a relay game. She won 2nd prize, but at commercial, they reviewed it, had made a mistake and told her she actually won 1st prize!
79. The Thing I'm "Into" Now: DUH!! China Adoption, Chinese Culture, etc.
80. Rooms In My House: 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths, dining room, eat-in kitchen, 2 living rooms, 3 season porch. We live in a house built in 1890.
81. Favorite Room in the House: Tie between Lili's Room (pink!) and the Downstairs Bath (original pedestal sink and bathtub!)
82. LEAST Favorite Room In the House: The "Workout Room"!!
83. Favorite Sport to Play: Baseball
84. Least Favorite Thing To Do: Sweat (SOO looking forward to South China in summer!!) :)
85. OK, if anyone's still reading this---GOD BLESS YOU!! Even I don't find myself that interesting!!
86. Something I Wish I Could Do: Sing
87. Something I'd Do If I Knew I Wouldn't Die: Live in the wild among the animals, like in Africa or the Amazon
88. I Would Love To Have Dinner With: Troy Aikman!!
89. Favorite Athlete: (see above!!)
90. My Nicknames From My Childhood: Nik, Nickle Pickle, Dr. Bones!
91. What I Hope My Son Is Doing Right Now: His homework!!
92. What I THINK My Son Is Doing Right Now: Anything BUT his homework! :)
93. What I Wish I Was Doing Right Now: Shopping with Lili, Jeff and Brett in China!
94. What My Husband Is Doing Right Now: Buying Shrubbery at Walmart
95. What Lili Is Doing Right Now (?): Probably Still Sleeping---it's 6am.
96. My Son's Latest Obsession: SpiderMan 3
97. What's In Lili's Closet: Too many clothes!! ALL pink!
98. What's In My Closet: Too many clothes!! So many, that my husband had to move to a different closet altogether!
99. What's On My MP3 Player: Prince, Rick Springfield, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Poison, Motley Crue, 38 Special, 80's Hard Rock Hair Bands, Disco, Barry Manilow, Toby Keith, Top 25 Praise Songs--I like to be diverse!
100. What I Hope You've Learned About Me: That I'm slightly interesting? And not a total weirdo!

If you followed along with me to the end, you deserve a BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE, and seriously, probably a big round of therapy!!! :)

How NOT to start a meeting with me!

"So, you're hoping to travel in September?"
Yep, that's what our social worker said to us last night at our post-referral meeting. What a kick in the head.
After she saw the look on my face:
"Oh, were you thinking something else?"
Me:
"Yes, we've been thinking by August, maybe even July."
Her:
"Well, September would be 5 months."
Me:
"No, actually that would be 6 months from our referral."
Her:
"Yes, but your LOI didn't get to China until April." (April SECOND, by the way)
Me:
"Yes, but EVERYTHING that we've been told, by YOU, by our agency, every form, every email has said 3-5 MONTHS AFTER REFERRAL!"
Her:
"Oh, yes, I guess that's true."
Then she goes on to inform us that she just found out yesterday that where you are in the process affects time to travel. NO KIDDING! She should've just called me, I've known that all along.
We had an OK meeting. I really didn't listen to much after that whole September thing. At the end I joked with her that she should feel free to call or email anytime letting us know we got our LOA. Her response to that was a blank stare and a "what's the LOA?" argh! By then I just wanted to get out of there. We had to travel almost and hour and 1/2 to get there, it was 8:45pm and I just wanted to get home and die.
Jeff, by the way, thought the meeting went well. Mr. Freakin' Sunshine. He said he doesn't care when we go, just as long as we bring Lili home. Well, you know what? If I wanted sound reasoning I would've asked for it! >:(

Why I Sometimes Fear the Future---this could TOTALLY be my son!

Today marks 2 months since Lili's referral.

WOW!! The time really has gone by fast. Yet, I really don't know how I'm going to get through another 2 months (or more---God forbid!).

It's like, "OK, we needed this time to get her room done, and shop, and just bask in the glow of our referral." But now, all bets are off. Her room's done, I've shopped for everything she needs (and more) and the referral glow has been replaced with the inky, utter darkness of the LOA/TA wait. It's not funny any more!

But---then I think that I really don't have anything to complain about.

At least I've gotten a referral.

At least I have a daughter.

At least I have a face to go with the name.

At least I don't have to wait 36 more months!

I need to just remember that----count my blessings.

1. I can enjoy Summer Vacation as it's meant to be enjoyed: at home, sleeping in, doing what I want. Motorcycle rides, swimming, reading.
2. I can watch good ol' American TV and eat good ol' American food.
3. We can save up more money. The longer we wait, the more cash we should be able to accumulate.
4. I can enjoy my family the way it is now. Enjoy my "only child".
5. I don't have to worry RIGHT NOW about the stress of traveling, paperwork, Lili's adjustment, etc. Everyday is just another normal day.
6. Every day without Lili is a day closer to Lili.

Lili Update

Yesterday we received a shot in the arm (no, not the 3rd Hep B shot!) we got updates on Lili. We submitted a list of questions to our agency's China facilitator who asked Lili's orphanage for answers. We got those answers yesterday evening.

We found out that SHE GOT OUR CARE PACKAGE!!!! She has our pictures, her toys, everything that we sent her AND! her nannies are preparing her for us. They are telling her that "she's going to go to her new family soon". (not soon a-freakin'-nuff!) >:(

She goes to Kindergarten at the orphanage for 2 hours in the am and 2 hours in the afternoon. Smart kid!! She is on track with her peers, has friends, eats anything and is very close to her nannies and teacher. Which on the one hand is heartbreaking because she's going to mourn for them terribly. But on the other hand it shows that she's able to bond and attach and since she's done it already, she can do it again with us.

So, we're pleased with what we heard. We didn't expect to hear anything at all. Especially not this soon.

It energized us a little bit. It gave us something new to celebrate. It feels like we're a little closer to her. It also really makes me want to be with her more!

Oh well, God's timing is perfect...........

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommys and mommys-to-be out there!

It was a BEAUTIFUL day here today---about 70, cool breeze, hot sunshine----SO NICE!!

I remember 10 years ago on Mother's Day I was 2 months away from my son's birth. Maybe this year I'm 2 months away from bringing my daughter home????????

I can't help but think that this is the last Mother's Day (God willing!) that I'll be a mom of one. I caught myself thinking all day of how it would/will be when Lili's here too.

What would she have to eat? What would she be doing? How would she entertain us?

Man, it's been 8 weeks since our referral. That's just about a lifetime if you ask me. It's hard. And, really, it just sucks that we're being kept apart. That's all there is to it. I don't think it's fair and I don't like it.

But then, I remind myself that God is in control. He had Lili ordained for us since before time began and He knows the exact time that she's meant to come home. (I just kinda wish I knew!) He's watching over and protecting all of us through this, and He'll get us through. I just need to hang in there.

On a happy note, there's only TEN MORE SCHOOL DAYS!!! Wow! This year has gone by SO FAST!! I'm so happy it's almost over, I can't even tell you! :) :) :)

I've been training my replacement this last week. I know her personally from church, so that's helped. It's been really nice because we've gotten to know each other a lot better, being trapped together in my office all day. It's turned out really well and I'm pleased.

By the way, today marks 8 MONTHS LID. Big whoop!

Tuesday marks 2 MONTHS SINCE LILI'S REFERRAL. A MUCH bigger deal around here now!

I still pray that we receive our LOA this month:

"LOA in May for Mei" is my motto!

I haven't been clever enough to think of a June motto, although I better get to it since it's looking like more of a possibility. crap.

My Son, The Lyrical Genius

"Mom likes Lili
And so do Dad and I.
It's boring waiting for her
But I don't care because we're getting her."
---Lyrics and music (acoustic guitar) by Brett :)

"Somewhere out there

Beneath the pale moonlight

Someone's thinking of me

And loving me tonight.

Somewhere out there

Someone's saying a prayer

That we'll find one another

In that big somewhere out there.

And even though I know how very far apart we are

It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star

And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby

It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky."

sigh......

I'm a little bummed.
I think I've finally crashed from my referral/decorating high.
We're on day 47 waiting for LOA. We probably have at least twice that much longer to wait.
I've been feeling a cold coming on for a few days and now it's full blown! (no pun intended!)
I guess my funk is due to the fact that we've done everything we had on our "before-Lili-comes-home-to-do list". Now what? Now I have time to think! NOT a good thing!
On the bright side, I only have 19 more days of work!! Subtract from that 2 sick days and 10 hrs. of comp time I need to take off, and I'm only looking at a couple of weeks :)
I can't wait to get out of here!! Everyone feels that way at this time of year though, BUT!! I can't wait to not come back!! There's the REAL joy! :)