February Happens

Where have I been? What happened to me? February, that’s what happened. If February was a movie, it would be Steel Magnolias. A crazy combination of gut-wrenching sorrow and side-splitting laughter. During the first week of February, we lost Jon’s best friend due to very tragic circumstances. I had no idea how to write about it when it happened and honestly I still don’t have the words. I can only say that I hope he has now found the peace that he was not able to find while he was alive. We miss you, Jason.

Not long after that, I spent my girl-friend weekend with BFF Andree’ in Vegas. What a blast!!! We had not even checked into the hotel yet when Andree’ made me laugh so hard that I snorted loud enough for the guy in line behind us to comment. And the laughter did not stop until we said our goodbyes at the airport.

And since we apparently didn’t have enough going on, Jon and I started suddenly looking at houses while out for a Sunday drive, called our realtor friend, found a house we liked, made an offer, had our offer accepted and then put our current house on the market. We close on the new house on March 21st. No, we haven’t sold our current house yet but there has been lots of interest so we have our fingers crossed. Besides, one thing that can probably speed up the rate of referrals is two mortgage payments. I know we are all tired of speed up rumors, but I am telling you this could work.

Light My Fire

It seems that getting out of the review room has been just what I needed to re-light that extinguished fire under my you know what. I told myself months ago that until CCAA got to December 05 referrals, I was not going to get too excited. Rubbish. I've got some bottled up excitement and getting out of the review room has let it out. I know the next couple of months for referrals may not cover as much ground as this last one and we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Also for the first time in months I got up the nerve to input our LID of 3/14 into one of the referral calculators out there (can't find the link at the moment.) It isn't an exact science but does calculate predictions on past data. It gave us a date of 11/22/07!!!! I am not putting a whole lot of stock in that date but I would be lying if I said I didn't like what it said. (If you had told me a year ago that November 07 was a best case scenario, I would have wanted to smacked you.)

When I told Jon about the 11/22/07 prediction his response was "Well babe, I guess the rabbit finally died". Yes I know it is just a figure of speech. But dang it, in the last few years I have pee'ed on enough sticks and obsessed over enough adoption message boards and blogs to consider sacrificing a rabbit if it came to that.

Progress, Sweet Progress

Congratulations to all the families receiving referrals today!!!!Looks like referrals covered up to October 13, 2005. Our magic date is March 14, 2006 so that puts almost exactly 5 months worth of dossiers in front of us. No, that doesn't mean we are 5 months away from a referral - I am still hoping for a very special Christmas present. However, for some reason this group of referrals has given me hope. It seems possible for the first time in months.

I was already feeling good about things and then a few minutes ago saw this on the CCAA website:

The CCAA has
finished the review of
the adoption
application documents
registered with our
office before March
22, 2006.

We are finally out of the review room people!!!! Whoo Hoo!!! This is big!!! This means all of our dossier t's were crossed and i's were dotted just the right way. Maybe all of that obsessing over the paperwork was worth it after all. I really wanted to get out of that review room but I didn't realize how relieved I would feel seeing the official update.

The next big stop for our little dossier is the matching room. I imagine the matching room is quite backed up at the moment so maybe our dossier is hanging out in the hallway outsite the matching room. Maybe they have added a waiting room for the matching room... either way, being out of review is GOOD.

Best Ebay Find EVAH

WHOO HOO!!!I just bought this shirt off ebay!!! After a VERY stressful day at work, I decided to check out ebay to see what I couldn't live without. And there it was....the cutest Baby Lulu shirt. I had to have it. I waited until just before bidding ended and put in an insanely maximum bid. If you thought you had this shirt and was outbid at the last moment, I'm sorry but I have no shame. But I had to have it. Now I have a million things left to do tonight because I spent an hour hitting refresh on this item.

Big Fun On The Horizon

Ok after a string on less than jovial posts about waiting for a referral and the Holidays, there is some big fun on the horizon!!! I spoke with my BFF Andree' yesterday and it seems we both have a bad case of cabin fever that needs to be cured ASAP. Andree' has been pounded with winter weather for the last month and her kids have had waaaaaay too many snow days. I have a different strain of cabin fever. My case is due to the fact that our dossier is STILL not out of the review room in China. Yes, our dossier has been in China since last March but we still have not cleared the review from the officials in China. Hopefully there will be an update soon. I can just picture our poor little dossier sitting on the shelf in the review room singing Boat Drinks by Jimmy Buffet
"This mornin, I shot six holes in my freezer
I think I got cabin fever
Somebody sound the alarm"

OK, back to the big fun. Andree' has a weekend pass from her many obligations and I am going to take a couple of days off from work and we are headed to Las Vegas for a long weekend next month. (Note to self: Remember to officially request vacation days...C.B. if you are reading this, consider this my offical request.) We are going to hang out, go to the spa, see a show and laugh. Few people in this world can make me laugh the way Andree' can.

Holiday Recap

Jon and I tossed around several ideas regarding what to do during the holiday season. We thought about disappearing somewhere about mid-December and resurfacing in January like nothing happened. But I could not resist the call of the nieces and nephew. As much as I want to be a parent, I do LOVE being Aunt Karen.

I cherish the relationship that I have with my nieces and nephews. If I already had children, it would be different. I know we would still be close but it would be different. When you don’t have kids of your own I think you have the upper hand in being the “fun” Aunt and Uncle. You don’t have to play that hand, but it’s there. I’m certain my sister’s kids think every day at our house is like this. Despite the fact that the disco ball is still hanging in the living room, every day at our house isn’t like that.

So we headed about 600 miles to the east and spent some time with my family. I had a blast being Aunt Karen to Olivia, Jackson and Ivy. Anyday now they are going to be too old to think I am cool so I better enjoy it now. Trust me, Ivy is 5 going on 15 so it really could be any day now. I did have a brief crying spell during Christmas Eve service and again on Christmas morning but not too bad considering early December I wanted to go to sleep and wake up in January. Last Christmas I spent so much time thinking about what this Christmas would look like. It didn't look like that and when I was quiet and still, it got to me. Luckily there wasn't much quiet and still with all the fun going on.

I don't know where she is or when we will meet her, but "LuLu" is already so loved. She was mentioned on some Christmas cards that we received. While helping Ivy clean her room, I accidentally found the blanket that my sister and her kids started making for "LuLu" last summer. My parents had a present for "LuLu" under their tree. My Dad corrected me regarding my previous post. He point blank reminded me that it doesn't stop at three. He's absolutely right - there are Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends, Dogs and Birds waiting right along with us. For that, we are grateful.