Where We Were July 20, 1969

If any of you family readers are wondering why I'm writing about where we were on July 20, 1969, please rewind back to my post on May 8, 2007.

Darling Daughter,

I remember exactly where I was on July 20, 1969. I asked your dad if he remembered where he was and he doesn't. He said it doesn't surprise him that I remember because he says I have the memory of an elephant and continually amaze him with the things I can recall.

My great-grand parents lived on a thousand acre farm near Parkville, MO. Well it seemed like a thousand acres to us kids but, I might be remembering that small detail wrong. Anyway they lived in an old house perched on a hilltop. I was sure the house was haunted, but that is another story for another day. My grandma and grandpa (grandma Roxie's mom and dad) lived on the same farm in a two bedroom trailer down the hill and around a corner.

July 20th was one of the hottest days that summer. It was sticky and overcast. Carla and I and our cousins Nancy, Johnny, and Stevie spent most of the afternoon playing outside, occasionally running inside the trailer to cool off in front of the window unit air conditioner. The air conditioner just happened to be in the living room and with five kids trying to stand in front of it we managed to block the view to the TV set. This irritated Grandpa Fred to some degree and he growled, "You kids need to decide if you are staying inside or going out!".

My dad was infected by grandpa's grouchiness and told us we really ought to stay inside, sit down, and watch TV. Now those are words that we rarely if ever heard from an adult! He continued, "History is in the making! Happening right before your eyes!"

We must have rolled our uninterested eyes at him and went back outside because I don't remember watching TV that afternoon. I hope my dad is proud that even though I didn't watch the news story that was broadcast across the entire world, that I distinctly remember the day and Neil Armstrong's famous phrase, "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind," as he descended from Apollo 11.

Someday when you are in the third or fourth grade, you will come home from school and ask me if your dad and I were alive when man first walked on the moon. Now I know we will seem ancient compared to your friend's parents. I'll smile and say, "Yes sweet pea, we were alive."

You will be able to go to school the next day and amaze and stun your classmates with this information because I'm sure that none of their parents were!

Love,
Mom

Mother's Day Irony

Have you ever had something happen where the significance of the events was lost on you till everything was over. We took separate cars to church this morning because I had to stop off at Wal-mart on the way home to pick up a few things and Jeff was anxious to get home and start mowing.

I took the back way home from Wal-mart and as I was heading out of town two cars passed me on the two lane road. They were young boys, obviously together. One was in a souped up bright yellow sports car and the other was tailing him in an old mustang. They passed me at a high rate of speed, in the no passing zone, on a hill. Just as you get over the hill there is one last stop-light and all three of us had to stop for it. I thought "how ironic". This was one of those times I wished I had my cell phone to call the police, before those boys kill themselves or someone else.

After the light turned green they continued on and I turned off onto a country road that goes towards our house. A little later a deer come out from no where and ran in front of my car. I was far enough back that I stopped and watched her tear off into the woods. This girl was "booking". I've had deer run in front of me before, but this one was running like a horse in the Kentucky Derby. I don't know what scared her, but honestly I've never seen one run that fast before.

As I sat there in the road it dawned on me, that had it not been for those crazy boys that got in front of me at the stop light I would be dealing with a deer in my front seat. I can't really imagine what would have happened. She likely would have broad sided me. As fast as she was running she would have sent me over the embankment on the other side of the road.

So right now, I'm thanking God for two crazy teenagers that actually saved someone rather than killing them and praying that they get them home safely to their mothers on Mother's Day.

Waiting Child Program

We decided to apply to the "Waiting Child" program with our adoption agency. This means we would be open to adopting a baby who has a special medical need. I know that might sound scary and cause some anxiety. This is a voluntary program and was not required for us to adopt from China. We are still "in-line" in the "non-special needs program". The Waiting Child program is an additional option.

Actually Jeff was on board for adopting a special needs child before I was and I had seriously gotten to the point that I doubted an adoption was ever going to take place, given the possibility of a three plus year wait time.

A few months ago we watched a movie called "Facing the Giants". There is a scene in the movie where a chaplain tells the main character (summarizing I think from Mark 11:24 and II Corinthians 9:6-7) that if there is a drought and you've been praying for rain then you better plant your fields abundantly before you see the clouds rolling in. Oddly enough this was the same message of "action and faith" at church last Sunday.

We believe there is a child some where out there that is ours. We have done or are doing what we can to plant our field abundantly. We are in the "standard program" in China, we have applied to the "waiting child program" in China and I'm working on a domestic adoption portfolio. The "reaping" part is in God's hands. It won't matter where this child comes from or what he or she comes with, we will end up with the one we were supposed to have all along anyway.

Here is a brief outline of how the "special needs" program works. Our agency has a medical condition check-list. There are about 30 medical issues on the list, some are very minor and don't require any treatment at all, for instance the Chinese think some birthmarks are a bad omens, so that was on the list. Physical defects that are easily corrected in the US, like cleft palate/lip are on the list, etc. The family goes through the check-list and for each condition determines whether it is a: yes, no, or maybe, as far as your openness to adopt a baby with that problem and your ability to provide the needed medical care.

As of last week there were about 200 families on the waiting child list. The CCAI got 40 babies sometime in April and are working on matching those babies to families. They basically go through the list and match up babies to families based on the medical conditions. They start the matching process with the families who have been on the list longest. Our agency gets a new list about every 60 days with any where from 10-50 children on it. There are people who submitted their MCC's (medical condition check-list) in October-November 06 who are getting referrals right now.

Once the agency matches a family with a baby, the family is sent the medical records for that child. They have time to review the record, visit their pediatrician, and whatever they need to do to make a decision about accepting the referral. If they decide not to accept the referral, the family stays in the "waiting child line". If they decide to accept the referral, there is more paper work to be done. It takes about three months to get all that done before they are able to fly to China to adopt their baby.

Based on what has been going on with the "waiting child matches" here lately, I'm guessing we might get a referral around December! What a Christmas present that would be!!

Blog Info Turned Love Letter

The first reason we started this blog was to have one place to keep family and friends informed about the adoption. It seemed a better idea than sending out e-mails to everyone. I knew I would forget to add this or that person to the distribution list and I would forget to send a message about this detail or that one. A blog seemed to be the answer.

Then as we joined adoption groups on yahoo and started talking to other parents, we found out that a lot of them make scrap books for their kids documenting the whole process. Well I know the odds of me getting a scrap book done are near next to 0%. I'm not a scrap book person and our photo's are in shoe boxes and zip-loc bags hidden and tucked away all over the house (not including all the pictures saved on our hard drive). In fact I just had to look "scrap book" up in the dictionary and discovered that "scrapbook" is one word. Writing is more up my alley than "cutting and pasting". Therefore, effective today, the focus of this "adoption info" web-site is now "a long letter to our daughter".

Now that sounds like a lot more fun to me than scrapbooks and I have lots of ideas about topics to include: the adoption stuff, stories from our pasts, stories about her relatives, what her daddy and I did during the long wait and who we are. Then, finally I'll download the whole thing into a book. I can handle the technical aspects of book making software, resizing photographs, formatting text, etc., but leave the "scissors" to someone else.


Darling Daughter,

I am saving a bunch of stuff for you in a folder in the file cabinet. Maybe when you are a little older we will sort through it on rainy days and get it into a scrapbook. It would be funner to do it with you anyway.

So we'll start out right now with a little bit about your aunt. Rest assured there will be lots more to come about this girl! Your Aunt Carla spent a small fortune on a scrapbook supplies. I'm sure we can borrow some of it and we will probably be the first ones to tear open the packages of pretty stickers, because as far as I know she has only made one scrapbook page since she got all that stuff. She's not a scrapbook person either; maybe you and your cousin will be the scrapbook people and can organize all our lives in scrapbooks.

Love,

Mom

P.S You'll have to ignore my "run-on" sentences, I'm historically known for them.

Recent Referrals

Here are some referrals that came in this week:

http://www.journeytoannie.typepad.com/

http://babyheaton.blogspot.com/

http://www.thepucketts.homestead.com/LauraGrace.html

There are more links on the Rumor Queen Web site. See her May 1, 2007 Post:

http://www.chinaadopttalk.com/

What Now?

The paperwork is done, the CCAA has us on a list of names that is 25000 long. I imagine we are number 25,000, maybe 24,999 if we're lucky. But no matter what the wait is going to be long. Here's an overview of what happens next. 15 months from Jan 31, 2007 our fingerprints expire. I didn't know your fingerprints expire, but they do. We'll have to go back and get them redone. 18 months from February 21, 2007 our I-171 expires. We have to reapply to the USCIS for another one. There is a bill in congress right now to extend the time of the I-171 to 24 months, but who knows if that will happen or not.

Other than those two things we are in "waiting" mode. I don't know how much you have picked up in the previous posts about the wait period, but it is going to be long, much longer than we ever anticipated in December. I don't want to get on my soap-box about what the adoption agencies knew and when they knew it, as far as the back-log of dossiers in China.

The CCAA moves through the list of names in the order that they were logged-in. When your name gets to the top of the list, they match you with a child that is available for adoption.

The CCAA just finished matching families with log-in dates through November 1, 2005. Now that doesn't seem so bad, it was 18 months ago. This is the really depressing part: the CCAA started working on families with log-ins dates between October 1 through 31st of 2005 during the first week of January 2007. It took them 4 months to get through 1 month of LID. If they keep going at that rate it will be 6 years before they get to our name on the list.

I will be 52 years old and Jeff will be 54. We expected to have a referral before I turned 48. Right now, we are just going to see what happens over the course of the next 18 months when our I-171 expires. The CCAA has some things they are trying to get more "paper ready" babies available for adoption. Hopefully we will see a speed up in the process over the next 6 months.

Stork has Lifted Off, Enroute to USA

Word on the street is referrals are on the way for families who were logged in as of November 1, 2005. These families have waited 18 months for their kids. Labor pains are just beginning though, because the referrals go to the agencies first for processing then the families will get "the call" in the next day or so. I imagine tonight will be a sleepless one for many folks out there. Rumor is some agencies in Europe have received their packages already. I'll post some links to "new baby" pics as soon as they start coming out.

Sadie was a Good Girl!!!

Sadie will be three years old next month. We adopted her from the humane society when she was 8 weeks old. She is of uncertain parentage. The label on the cage door at the pound said "black lab puppy", but we discovered any black canine that comes into the pound is automatically labeled "lab". The only thing Sadie got from the Labrador breed is "black". She doesn't like water, she didn't fill out like a lab, and she doesn't like to venture off the trail into the woods unless Jeff and I go with her. She stays in her own yard, but sometimes sits right on the property line and watches the neighbors.

She has a few neurosis that we have learned to be patient with: loud noises, thunder, has to get a toy from her toy box anytime we say "want to go bye-bye" and she has a ferocious bark and is skittish around people she doesn't know. Once she warms up to you (in her own time) she will love you forever!

We were a little anxious Saturday evening. We had invited friends over to the house for dinner. Bett, their little girl who just turned four, was very excited about petting our horses. She is also scared of strange big dogs. We feared a bad experience on both sides because Sadie has grown up in the home of an adult couple with adult children and adult friends. This would be her first encounter with "little people" and we thought it might be an "omen" of things to come.

Before our company came, I had a little talk with Sadie. I told her "Friends are coming, please no barking and heaven forbid, no growling". We were in utter shock when Steve and Lisa got out of the car. Jeff had Sadie on a leash, but she whined and cried and practically drug him up to Steve and started licking his hand, like they had been friends forever. So it looked like "the talk" worked and Sadie is overcoming her fear of strangers.

Sadie was enamored by Bett. She wanted to play with her. We had to make her "sit, lay down and stay" until Bett got over her fear of the "big black doggie". She especially liked it when Bett was looking at a children's book and singing a little song. She cocked her head this way, then that way. Sadie followed her around all night long or laid under her feet when she was in a chair. It might have helped that Bett was continually giving her bites of a hot dog!

Bett is cute and kids say the darnedest things. When the horses "leisurely" (as horses do), walked up to the fence she said, "That horse is shaking!" I looked at Peanut and sure enough he was shaking... shaking away flies. I had a "face brush", perfect for little hands and Bett enjoyed brushing Skipper and Peanut. She liked Peanut better because "He's a little horse". I guess it is all in the eye's of the beholder. Peanut is shorter than Skipper, but probably outweighs him by a hundred pounds!

Later when we were getting ready for dinner, she heard Sami chirping in the bedroom, so we had to go in and take a look.

"I don't see a birdie," she said as she looked around the floor.

I scooped her up so she could see Sami sitting on top of the cage.

Next question, "How does he get out of the cage?"

"He crawls out of that opening in the top".

Her appraisal of the situation, "I think he needs to go back inside."

Had a fun evening and Sadie sat looking out the window for half an hour after they left, hoping her little friend would come back.

The Long Wait (36-62 months)

Here is an update of a Joint Council on International Childrens Services conference that was held this month. The China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has not given any of the following information in writing. I couldn't find this information on the JCICS web site and the e-mail from Children's Hope International said the information below is simply a collaboration of information from adoption professionals throughout the U.S. who are currently working with the CCAA. So in other words, take it with a grain of salt:

1. There are currently 25,000 dossiers at the CCAA that have been
processed and are waiting to be matched with referrals.

2. There are only 400-700 kids' files being sent to the CCAA each month. The CCAA has to wait on these files to be sent to them from the Department of Civil Affairs in each province, and the Dept. of Civil Affairs must wait on the files to be sent to them from each respective orphanage. ( SLC: Basic Math 25000/400 = 62 month wait, 25000/700 = 36 month wait)

3. The backlog is thus caused because there are more dossiers waiting for referrals than there are available children's files being sent to the CCAA.

4. Orphanages must file a tremendous amount of paperwork in order to register one child for adoption. The paperwork is being done, but not fast enough to keep the waiting period less than 18 months.

5. There are no longer specific orphanages that can send children's files to Civil Affairs and then to the CCAA. Any orphanage in China is now permitted to send files to the CCAA. (SLC: This one should help some with the bottle neck in China)

6. The Chinese government is working to register more children for adoption (who are deemed abandoned children and thus legally available for adoption).

7. Regarding the new regulations that will go into effect on May 1st, 2007, China made the decision to implement much stricter regulations because they want to decrease the wait for referrals. They talked through many different ways to decrease the waiting time, and they decided to tighten up the regulations to accomplish their goal. They do not desire to cease adoptions altogether.

8. The CCAA has confirmed that the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will not affect the adoption process at all.

9. The new regulations going into effect on May 1st are not retroactive. This means that no dossier sent to the CCAA and arriving there before May 1st will be reviewed according to the new guidelines, however, the CCAA has already begun reviewing dossiers with much more caution. It has recently become commonplace (amongst all agencies working with the CCAA) for the CCAA to request additional documentation regarding finances, medical conditions, and various other items in the dossier.

10. How long will the waiting times for referrals of non-special needs children extend to? The CCAA refuses to predict waiting times of any kind. Any timeframe given to any agency is approximate and cannot be guaranteed.

11. How many staff personnel are working at the CCAA? There are approximately 60 staff members currently at the CCAA.

12. Dossiers submitted after May 1st will be under very strict review according to the given guidelines.

13. Regarding the Waiting Child Program, the CCAA will be implementing an online administration program for each agency in the near future instead of sending out new lists. They stated that this would begin in February of 2007, but it has not begun yet. (#s 13-16 below are all regarding the Waiting Child Program)

14. Most agencies are seeing a waiting time (after dossier is logged in AND Letter of Intent is submitted) for the Letter of Seeking Confirmation of Adopter to be 3-4 months. If additional information is requested by the CCAA for the dossier, this will present a slight delay in issuing the Letter of Seeking Confirmation of Adopter. The delay could be approximately one to two months.

15. After the Letter of Seeking Confirmation of Adopter is signed and sent back to the CCAA, the Travel Approval should be issued within 1- 3 weeks.

16. Can families find a waiting child on a different agency's list (than the agency they submitted their dossier to the CCAA through) and pursue adopting that child? The CCAA has changed their policy and will no longer allow any family to switch agencies for the purpose of adopting a waiting child after a dossier is submitted through one agency.

17. The waiting time is getting longer and longer. Can we pursue an adoption domestically or through another country as we wait for our referral? The CCAA will not allow any simultaneous adoptions, i.e. the pursuit of another international adoption while your dossier is in China or the pursuit of a domestic adoption while your dossier is in China. If the CCAA finds out that a family is doing this while their dossier is in China, the family risks having their dossier rejected and sent back to their placing agency. (SLC: I think this one is down right mean, considering the CCAA only requires 12 months between significant life events, adoption, marriage, divorce, before allowing an adoption in China. I'm not sure this is even from the CCAA or if it is an "agency" thing. It isn't on the CCAA regulation page, but then that page hasn't been updated in years and still says adoptive parents must be childless. I think the prohibition on domestic adoptions would benefit the agencies more than the CCAA so I'm leaning that this is an agency restriction and not a CCAA restriction.)

18. The Blue Sky Project is a new initiative started by the CCAA that will help build more orphanages and remodel existing ones. Information about this can be found on the CCAA's website.

Dancing Mare

I know some of you girls out there that follow this web site are horse lovers. My mother-in-law just sent me an e-mail about this. Check this video out:

This video is of Andreas Helgstrand and his 9 year-old mare, Matinee, at the World Equestrian Games. It is the Musical Freestyle Dressage competition, and they pretty much wiped the floor with everyone. Turn up the sound and watch this mare dance... she is amazing... she KNOWS where the beat is.

http://beboframe.com/FlashFrame.jsp?Size=S&FlashBoxId=3309347442

Mouth of Wilson Trip (April 1-4, 2007)

Can you imagine the name of your town being "Mouth of Wilson". Hope there are no "Mouth of Wilson" natives out there reading this. I thought it was really weird name for a place when Jeff and I decided to go there for a few days. After we got there we found out that the "Wilson River" runs through town. It is a pretty place and lots of fishermen.

We rented a house there. Didn't really know what it would be like, other than it was close to the Blue Ridge Parkway and much further north than we have explored before. We have gotten pretty familiar with the section of the parkway that is close to where we live. It is not uncommon for us to decide abruptly on a Saturday morning to head there. Just have to throw some Match-light in the trunk and a package of hot dogs in the cooler.

This was a "Sadie Lady" vacation! She loves to get away from the farm. Another reason we picked "Mouth of Wilson" was its close proximity to hiking trails in Grayson Highlands State Park and the connection to the Appalachian Trail.

I picked the house to rent from a selection of available rentals. Didn't read the fine print as to the road conditions getting there. We wound up a 1/4 mile driveway that would not be what most of you think of as a driveway. More like a cattle path. We drove up in the Chevelle and as we were going straight up this hill, Jeff and I both looked at each other and said, "Should have brought the Subaru!"

The house was perched on the top of a hill on 30 acres. Sadie loved it in the daylight, but was a scardy cat when it was dark and wouldn't step off the deck unless Jeff or I went with her. Too many monsters out there lurking in the woods.

Anyway a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few from the trip:



Wild ponies at Wilburn Ridge.

For days when we drove by this farm on the way to Grayson I saw this horse in the pen. Today we found out why (see the little patch of white at her feet). All her equine friends must of stood by during the event. There were several more horses to the left of the picture.

View from Massie Gap

See that red speck in the parking lot: The Chevelle.

Sadie and Jeff playing on the lawn of the Blue Ridge Music Center. They weren't open, but we had to stop for a "Sadie Lady" break when we saw the large open area off the parkway.

Jeff and Sadie on the Appalachain Trail.

Sadie is usually very dainty. In fact she has more "little" dog characteristics than "big" dog. She doesn't like getting her feet wet, but it was really hot at Stone Mountain State Park and she discovered that playing in the water was fun.

The last night at the house, it stormed!! Lightening and Thunder! Sadie got us up at 0300 and said "Time to go home!" So we put the coffee on and packed our stuff up and were on the road at 0400. Nice to get home early and have the rest of the day to relax!

Sorry Wrong Number, Wind and Insomnia

An hour ago the phone rang and now I'm up. It rang several times before it shook me out of the deep sleep and weird dream I was having. The older woman on the end of the line asked for Collette. I've heard her voice before and I'm sure she has called in the middle of the night more than once. I mumbled, "Sorry you have the wrong number". At this point, though battling insomnia for years, I was confident I would be able to go back to sleep.

But then, this caller asked me a question, rather she said, "Is it okay if I ask you a question?" My level of consciousness has now jumped to the "fairly alert" end of the scale and I'm wondering what this stranger could possibly want to ask me. She doesn't sound like an obscene caller, she sounds like a grandma. I sighed and out of curiosity said, "yes" and then repeated back to her what she asked, "You want to know what time it is?"

Jeff' groans and I feel him shake his head in exasperation. I can't see the clock from my side of the bed, so I sit up and lean over him. "It's 1:30", I tell her. She says in a very apologetic tone, "Oh, is it 1:30 already, no wonder you're asleep." We said good-night and hung up.

Now, I've moved from "fairly alert" to "fully awake". I clicked the caller ID button and she called from Savannah, GA. Yes, Mrs. Savannah has called here before. I wonder if she was just trying to reach Collete to find out what time it was? I flop back down on the pillow knowing that this was way too much conversation for me to go back to sleep, but I'll try. Jeff's snoring but the talking has woke up "The Sadie Lady" and she wants to go out, I think.

We've had thunderstorms for the last several nights, with the same weather forecast for tonight plus high winds. Several years ago we had a horrendous lightening storm. Sadie and I were looking out the dining room window when lightening hit the transformer in our side yard. I made the mistake of screaming and it scarred Sadie for life. She is deathly afraid of thunder, lightening and fireworks. So, it is not surprising to me (given the weatherman's words of wisdom) that she is pacing the bedroom floor.

She stuck her cold nose on my arm and laid her head on the bed next to my ear and whined. I sit up again and look out the bedroom windows. No lightening that I can see and no thunder that I can hear, but the wind is blowing and the windows are creaking against the strain. Click, click, click, go the toenails on the hard wood floors. Back and forth she goes from the windows to my side of the bed. I get up to see if by chance she just wants to go outside. Nope, didn't think so; when I open the door she hides in the corner.

I flop back in the bed and Jeff starts rubbing my back. I asked him a silly question like the one Mrs. Savannah asked me, "Are you awake?". He mumbles, "Just try to go back to sleep", rolls over and is snoring again in minutes. Now all good insomniacs know the words "go back to sleep" are not a potent sedative.

So I resign myself to getting up. I made coffee while Sadie checked out all the windows and doors. She must have decided the lightening and thunder monsters weren't going to descend on our house anytime soon. She even went outside for a few minutes and came bouncing back when I called her, smiling and wagging her tail the way she does. She's happy to know that "mom" is on storm guard duty. Within minutes she's sleeping soundly on the floor of my office. I can hear Jeff's muffled snoring.....even the wind has gone to sleep...but, the coffee is calling me.....

LID 04/05/07

Jeff and I are on vacation this week. We spent the day working in the garden. We're building a trellis for some raspberry bushes and planting trees. We hadn't even checked e-mail till last night. What great news, we had an e-mail waiting from the agency. Our dossier was logged in yesterday! So we are officially in the waiting line!!

DTC: Dossier to China 03/20/07

I thought this day would never get here. Got the e-mail from CCAI. Our dossier was sent to China yesterday afternoon. We have should find out our log-in date in the next month or so!!!!!!!

We are "Lost in Translation"!!!

What a whirlwind the last two weeks have been. First and foremost, ALL OUR PAPERWORK IS DONE!!! Our dossier is in Colorado at CCAI being translated into Chinese!! But, all in all "we are done" with paperwork!! As soon as CCAI translates everything, it will be sent to China. Then we will be in the "long list" of waiting families.

The DTC (date to China) is a date everyone sort of keeps track of in estimating wait times and referrals and so forth. So we are hoping our DTC is March 28th, since that's Jeff's birthday. It could be since it takes about 10 days to translate and that would put us right about his birthday.

We started our paper chase on November 4 and delivered the last document to CCAI on March 15th, so just over 4 months. I'm so glad this part is over, it was one of the most stressful things I have ever done.

So now we wait....................

CCAI has Our 171

The 171 came back from Washington and Jeff drove it down to the CCAI office in Atlanta!! After having UPs lose our home study/pictures and then the hang ups with the USCIS we didn't want to risk mailing it. Jeff was off today so The Sadie Lady got to go on another adoption adventure! She is going to be an expert at workshops, certifying and 171's!!

Jeff and Sadie Travel to Charleston to get the 171

Well, after many phone calls to find out why it is taking so long for the corrected 171 to reach us, Jeff found out that "the officer" put our completed 171 on the desk of a secretary who is out having major surgery. Unbelievable!! He's had enough of this and talked to a woman yesterday who told him he could come pick it up. He was up at 0530 this morning loading Sadie and Chase in the car and heading for Charleston! He dropped Chase off at his house and met Sarah for lunch, then headed back in time to stop off at the Secretary of State's office to get the 171 certified. Oddly enough he met another couple from Greenville who also had problems getting their 171. They drove to Charleston to get theirs also. So, now the 171 with the correct spelling is on its way to be authenticated in Washington. Chase is back with his "mommy" for awhile and Sadie says any day is a good day if she gets to go "bye bye".

I'm still in Maine and the weather is still bitter cold. Tonight we worked late at the office. The activation is going well, but we are still on 12 hour shifts covering "user help calls". Robin, one of the other consultants I work with, and I are staying at the same hotel across town, but have our own cars since we weren't sure what kind of schedule we would be on. So far we've both been posted at the office all week. We've been leaving at the same time and following each other back to the hotel. I can't imagine having a car breakdown in this weather. Tonight we left around 9pm. The parking garage was deserted and she was behind me when I pulled out of my parking space. I paid the parking attendant and drove slowly down the street waiting for her to catch up. A car pulled out of the garage and zoomed around me on the one way street. I thought that it was odd that she was driving so fast. So when I got to the next traffic light I looked over and realized it wasn't her! I looked in the rear view mirror and the street behind me was isolated. Where did she go? She had got turned around the night before and took a wrong turn going home, so I decided to drive around the block. Still, No Robin anywhere.

I had thrown my briefcase in the trunk, so I pulled into a gas station to get my cell phone out. The wind was whipping around and my fingers were getting numb just trying to get my gloves off so I could dig in my briefcase for the phone. I had a brief thought that I surely didn't want to drop my keys in the trunk. As soon as I did it I knew it was a mistake.... I did what I normally do at home, trying to carry too many groceries in from the car. I grabbed on to the keys with my teeth and they froze to my tongue!! All I can think of is the little boy with his tongue stuck to a pole in "The Christmas Story". After yanking off half the skin on my tongue I called Robin and found out some psycho driver nearly ran her over in the garage and passed her. We laughed so hard about the keys we were in tears.

Portland, Maine

Finally, got here around 11:30pm, it took quite awhile to get the bags. Portland is a small airport. It's like one concourse at KCI or very similar to the airport at Charleston and Greenville. I had forgotten how hot they keep it in the airport, even for me. I went outside to cool off (that didn't take long). Even with the airport lights you can see the stars in the sky. The air here smells different than anywhere I have ever been. It is so clean and crisp.

The girl at the Avis counter had just about given up on me. I was the last one to arrive for the night and I could tell she was in a hurry, but pleasant. She looked down at her list of cars and said, "Oh I don't want to give you a Taurus. Those are ugly." I didn't have the heart to tell her, we used to have a Taurus. The cars are in the basement of a garage and you have to drive up a curving hill to get out. The road was icy tonight and I could feel the tires grabbing as I had to give it enough gas to get up the hill and around the corners without sliding all over the place. If "getting out of the parking lot" is any indication of the driving conditions tonight I'm in trouble.

I made a wrong turn and as soon as I did it I remembered doing it once before and ending up on an interstate going out of Portland. I decided making a "U" in the middle of the road was a better option than the interstate.

Things are coming back to mind as I drive to the Hampton Inn. I remember eating at this restaurant or that one.....A chill passes over me as I drive by the motel where two of the 9/11 terrorists stayed. It still blows my mind to remember Jeff and I were here when that happened and were staying at the Hampton just down the road....The road crews here are still the best in the world, for just having a snowstorm the roads are completely clear. The familiar 15 foot+ snow piles are at the intersection corners.......The Portland mall and the number of times I've done my Christmas shopping there and either stuffed the things in my bag or shipped them off to wherever they needed to go. For some reason I always ended up in Maine during December until the last few years. Donna, one of the girls I work with used to say, "If Stacey is coming, it'll be freezing and snowing."..... and it is beautiful here in December, it is beautiful here in September, it is beautiful here in every season......oh Maine, Maine, Maine, if only your winter's were a little shorter....

Traveling to Maine

I'm in the airport in Charlotte. It's been a long day and my flight to Maine is delayed. It was supposed to leave at 7:20 pm and they just updated the board to 9:30 pm. The big storm that swept across the east coast delayed or canceled all the flights to Portland today. I've been watching the delays on the internet. (Boy things have changed a lot since I started working for myself over 10 years ago.) I figured my flight would be okay since the storm has passed Portland at this point. There is a problem with the flight from Newark and that's what I'm waiting for.

So I've walked around the airport as much as I can. I've looked in the shops and bought a few magazines I didn't really need. I went through my catalogs (I always grab several of the catalogs I have sitting on my bedside table and take them to the airport. Then I go through them, tear out the pages I'm interested in and then get to "lighten" my bag and throw them away.) I succumbed to a Whopper Jr./fries. I'm hungry and won't feel like driving around Portland at midnight trying to find something to eat. I wonder if it will be icy then?

I'm bittersweet about going to Maine. I don't like to travel much for work anymore. There was a time when I loved it. It still doesn't bother me to travel alone, or go out and eat alone, but I miss home. I imagine it is because previously I had a house, now I have a home to miss. (It's probably the same reason that flying drives me nuts anymore.) But on the other hand, I'm anxious to see some friends that I haven't seen since the last time I was there in 2003.

I met Eric the IS Director at Maine Medical Center at the TDS user's group meeting in Nashville, TN in the fall of 1996. We talked for a few minutes and he said he wanted me to come up sometime. Well it took almost two years before their schedule and mine synched up and I flew up there the first time in 1998. I've been working for them ever since.

Some of the people I've worked with at Maine will be friends for life. It is just like anyone else that goes to an office to work everyday; you become friends with some of your co-workers. But, it's different in some respects. Your friends become the familiar voices on the other end of the line during telephone and conference calls. They are thousand miles away, yet you e-mail back and forth the celebrations of life and the tragedies. And then when I come in town we get to go out for dinner, maybe some shopping or a show..... the same thing friends at the office do.

Our Dossier is in Critical Review

CCAI got the last package we sent. They let us know they are moving our dossier to critical review. They'll be looking at it for errors. We still have to forward the 171 when we get it, but we are one step closer.

Sadie thinks we should just be able to go to China today and get her friend!