Dry Summer

This hasn't been a long hot summer, just a long dry one. We sprayed our pasture for weeds in May and I asked the guy to make a pass over the yard if there was any weed-killer left when he got finished. We never thought that it wouldn't rain all summer long. The weeds died along time ago, but with no rain the grass hasn't filled in. We're left with brown patches and big brown spots of dirt in some places.

This spring we also planted some bushes and trees. We "were" watering everyday with the intent that they would get off to a good start, now we're watering so they won't die!

The good things in all this...the horses aren't getting overly fat this summer and other than the drought this has been a beautiful summer. It's cool in the mornings and evenings, warms up nicely in the afternoon. It's like we are in a constant state of "September". Really weird......

This is a picture of our garden (in May, before the rain stopped). Jeff built the trellis for the Raspberry Bushes and made my garden boxes higher (they used to be only one board high, now they are three boards high). There are blueberry bushes near the telephone pole with a family of bluebirds in the birdhouse on the pole. We've had lots of squash, tomatoes, basil, beans etc.


Sadie likes to sit in her chair and wait for her daddy to get home from work everyday. We added the lawn furniture this year and love it. We sit out there a lot and watch the sun go down. We framed the "mound" with rocks and planted an ornamental blue spruce (Jeff calls it the "afro-tree") and a lavender plant. We'll slowly add to it, until it is filled in with flowers and bushes.


I can't even believe it...... I just let Sadie in the house and it's raining!!

Brown Envelope Arrived

We got the "brown envelope" in the mail! When the American Consulate in Guangzhou, China receives the adoption paper work from the Department of Homeland Security the Consulate sends the family a notification letter and a lot of forms that are partially filled out. We have to take all of it with us to China. All this paper work comes in a nondescript brown envelope. I've heard of people who threw it out with the junk mail because it looks like junk mail.

We were keeping a watch out for it but weren't going to worry if we never got it. That's the other thing, sometimes families never get the "brown envelope". The agencies say "don't worry about it if you don't get it. We'll make sure all your documents made it to the Consulate's office before you fly to China." This never gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, but it's one of those things that Jeff says, "You just gotta let this one blow by you." I guess things get lost and if you don't have the pre-filled paperwork for the VISA and baby's medical exam they just do it again when you get there.

Here's the really ironic thing... The letter in the "brown envelope" is date March 5th 2007 and the letter has Jeff's name spelled correctly. We didn't get the new I-171 from the Department of Homeland Security with the correct spelling until March 9th. I don't know what's up with that, I guess the Consulate spelled his name wrong off the original I-171, but in making that error actually spelled it right!

Common Sense Flees America

The American Medical Association is urging the American Psychiatric Association to include in its mental illness manual "video game addiction" and the APA is considering it. The AMA wants to raise awareness of the issue and enable the addicted to get insurance coverage for treatment. This article was published in the Sunday paper last week. It went on to say that this addiction can be similar to a heroin addiction. A follow-up is scheduled this week on a nightly news programs.

The article cited a mother in Texas that complained that her teenage son's video game addiction caused him to fail two classes in school and become a recluse. Her picture was plastered in the headline and I actually felt sorry for her. I wondered was she embarrassed by the quote? I wondered how many times she went to the local video store and rented computer games for her son? If I gave my child heroin everyday and let them use it in the living room, would it dawn on me that I might be part of the problem. Most importantly I wondered if she realized many Americans would ask why she didn't unplug the computer and throw it in the trash heap a long time ago.

This is just another sign that America's thinking patterns are flawed and our common sense has deteriorated to the point of non-existence. Rather than accept parental responsibility it is easier to avoid it and have someone else pay for the outcome. Is it any wonder that health insurance in America is the most expensive in the world and that the average working class citizen can't afford it? Now we have what is supposed to be one of most well respected professional organizations in America, the AMA, devising a plan for insurance companies to foot another bill.

The amount of money spent researching the data for the AMA's report, reporting the story and making it the headline issue on a nightly news program could have been used more wisely to actually pay the reasonable medical expenses of someone who can't afford our luxury health care.

This ludicrous story comes on the tail of the recent lawsuit filed by a judge because a "mom and pop" dry cleaning service lost his trousers. We have an unaffordable health care system plagued by abuses of the very people that should be its watch dogs; a legal system back-logged with frivolous lawsuits, including those filed by elected officials who should be discouraging those practices.

Where is the sense in all this? Actually there isn't any, common sense spread her wings and took flight for distant lands leaving our mighty eagle to soar over a nation she no longer recognises.

What's Up with the Blog?

The blog has languished! I've had a few people ask me, "What's going on?" Let me tell you what's going on. Stacey, as usual, has committed herself to more things than one person could possibly accomplish in one month.

In the last month we've been on a trip to NYC (no pics on the blog, yet!) I finished a baby quilt and started another one (insane) for a wedding present, trashed that idea after getting it half done and sent money, the couple would probably rather have that anyway (oh, by the way someone is going to get a nice Christmas present and bribes are acceptable). Joined a quilt block swap group (blocks due by June 30), finished a scrap book that has been haunting me since February (due yesterday), and thought I didn't have enough to do, so I signed up for a writing course!

Sarah and Lance have been here for two week-ends and in the midst of weeding the garden, Sarah said, "You really do too much!" Actually I thought that was a compliment coming from a girl who is never home and has her social event calendar booked till next year.

So yes, I agree I'm trying to do too much, (but it is so fun)! Last night as I was sticking the last quilt block in an envelope, I decided Sarah was right. I'm not saying "yes" to anything else and I'm not volunteering for anything. What I really want to do is write and I've wanted to do that for years! So, my commitment is to writing, which is good for you who are following the blog! I'm real excited about my writing class and sent the first assignment in Saturday! (10 days before it was due, can you believe that!)

So, here's to a New Years resolution a few months late! Writing, Writing, Writing!

Opps! I already broke it. On Friday I'm taking a mare to be bred, so next spring we will have a new little baby in the barn! :-)

To Kill a Mockingbird

When Harper Lee coined the words "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird," I'm not sure she was talking about the little booger that has taken up residence in the tree by our driveway.

He is a plagiarizer to the finest degree and his repertoire not only includes songbirds, but frogs, crickets, hawks and I'm sure I've heard him mimic Sami's cheeping (Sami's cage is in the bedroom right across from the tree.)

He's the reason I'm up at 3am on a Sunday morning. Sadie decided she needed to go out and I turned on the garage light. The soloist thought the sun was rising, so I had to stay awhile and listen. Actually he is quite comical and I hope he decides to hang around.

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....................