travel is the enemy of biggotry

I watched a really neat show last night on PBS. It was about two guys from New York City who decided to re-trace Marco Polo's journey. Their trip lasted something crazy like 720 days or so, and they travelled to some very remote places and experienced life in very different cultures.

What they said at the end of the program was something I have tried to articulate to many, many people before but have never been successful. One of the guys said, "Travel is the enemy of biggotry." How absolutely true is that?? If only people who carry prejudice and biggotry could travel and experience the fact that people are people the world over regardless of skin color, our world would be a nicer place.

2009 better be the year our boys are home

Well, I managed to post on Christmas day about how well Marc did in the shopping of gifts for me, but since then I have been in bed barfing. I now completely understand what Thomas meant when he kept telling me his stomach hurt days after I thought he was over his flu. I will spare everyone the gruesome details, but suffice it to say, I have extreme lethargy and really haven't cared one rip that the kids have completely trashed the house.........and I mean trashed.

Last night, Thomas came in to kiss me goodnight and I sarcastically thanked him for sharing the flu with me and he replied, "Glad I could do it." How's that for a smarty pants?? Earlier in the day Marc took the kids to the mall so they could spend some of their Christmas cash. As they were getting dressed in some of their new clothes, I told Thomas how nice the new red hoodie sweatshirt looked on him and he told me it was really soft and when Madi grabs the hood to choke him, it's softness makes it better!! He is an optimist and always looks on the bright side!! Marc came home looking sick and I was hoping he didn't get what I have, because then I would have to drag my sorry ass out of bed to take care of the kids and animals. His pale/green face was merely caused due to his lightheadedness he felt from the crowds at the mall. For some reason, he has always gotten sick feeling at the mall; crowds, parking lots, smell of the food court all contribute to his sick feeling. What a weenie.

As I have spent the last several days doing nothing, I have had way too much time to contemplate the adoption. I cannot believe that January marks the two year anniversary of us having started this fun journey. All I can say is THEY BETTER BE HOME SOON. We cannot keep talking about Richnightder and Jerome and imagining what life will be like with them here at home with us. We actually have to get them home and start forming this family. So to all my C4C family and friends, I hope and pray that the vast majority of us will have our families complete in the new year. I so hope that 2009 sees us all making the 'Gotcha' trip to the creche and beginning the road to cementing our families. If I feel better by New Year's Eve, I will raise a glass to toast in the new year and whisper under my breath my hopes and dreams for the coming year.

Marc really is a super man, husband, father, etc.

I made a wish list at Tiffany.com and my oh, so dear husband actually looked at it and bought something for me from the list of items I had chosen. He bought me a stacking ring of diamonds that match my wedding ring and engagement ring. It is REALLY nice and very unexpected. He also went shopping with Madison and Thomas and bought quite a few things I had pointed out to Madison and shocker of shockers, he actually got the right sizes.

But the most suprising gift of all was my stethoscope. No I am not a sex freak and into kinky stuff with it, but it is very useful when our horses colic. Which in fact, our Arab Mare did on Tuesday. See, having a stethoscope helps to hear the gut sounds to see if they are fully impacted or still able to move some matter thru their belly's. Yippee.....I have had a good Christmas.

I have a lot more to post, but the kids are bugging me to make my cinnamon, chocolate bubblr bread. More to come later. Merry Christmas everyone!!

A picture is worth a...........donkey trip

Vivian just forwarded this picture to me of the boys. I absolutely love it!! At least I know they both love wearing pirate eye patches, not just Jerome.

Yet another "ass" story and a really bad day

Yesterday was most cerainly the kind of day I should have just stayed in bed with the covers pulled over my head. If it could go wrong, it did. I guess since nobody ended up at the hospital or getting lost in the snow, it wasn't a completely bad day. Nonetheless, it was still a screwy day.

A very long difficult day in a nutshell; I broke the zipper on my new expensive coat, snapped the mud flap off the Denali backing into an icy snow drift, a wheel on the cart at Target fell off while I was pushing it full of stuff, I ripped open one of the bags of french bread and they all fell on the ground at Sam's Club, fell carrying in the groceries and ripped open the other bag of french bread sending them to the ground on the front porch, came into to the mud room and discoverd my puppies had massive diarrhea ALL OVER, took pups to vet only to discover they had eaten a rice bag(that you heat for aching muscles), cleaned and scrubbed mud room all the while complaining of $200 vet bill, Thomas develops the stomach flu and barfs all night, Madi awakens with headache and belly ache, I got my period and feel great hostility, Oh, and we went thru the drive thru at McDonalds and didn't discover until driving away that neither kid got fries with their meal, and once home discover an invoice for our donkey trip to Jeremie for $251.

At least the donkey trip is complete (as of December 8th) and we can only hope and pray that the documents needed were retrived and are what is needed by MOI. Now I realize $251 dollars is not a lot, but what I do think is interesting is the odd amount. Not $250, but $251....guess that one dollar makes all the difference. Who knew renting an ass could be so affordable?? Now we must wait until offices reopen in January to continue with the processing of our dossier. This wait is of course necessary so the much over-worked and distressed government workers can mentally recharge and spend time with their loved ones!!

Not quite sure if we will get into town today to complete shopping and mailing. Seems we are expecting more snow and blowing and drifting which sometimes causes white out conditions. Have a holly, jolly, Christmas!!!!!!!!!

another donkey tale...as in story

Perhaps this isn't even news, but it is a tidbit in the continuing saga of our rent-a-donkey journey in Haiti. Vivian just posted on the C4C forum for adopting families that all of us families with children having been born in the province of Jeremie have now had the elusive missing documents successfully retrieved. I sure hope that includes us, as I had heard gossip the "ass train" was to have taken place sometime this week. Since I have yet to get a bill, which usually comes speedily, I am still waiting for confirmation on this.

Everyone in the waiting adoption realm is all too acutely aware that tomorrow is the last day of work for all government offices in Haiti to include the U.S. embassy. Seems the perceptions of over-worked government workers is universal and includes third/fourth world quasi governments. So from tomorrow through January 7th or so, everyone gets a nice relaxing break. Guess it doesn't matter that a gazillion orphans and their families will just have to blot from our waking thoughts the fact that we are not together while the unappreciated, over-worked government workers relax and enjoy the time together with their families.

Yes, I am aware that Marc is employed with the United States Government and yes we do enjoy some nice benefits, but for God's sake can you imagine if our government just shut down for 3 weeks?? CHAOS!! I suppose that I just need to vent and spray my verbose diarrhea about the inequity of those who can least afford to take a three week vacation while their country teeters on coups, riots, and famine.

So on that chipper note I will go and have a beer, and watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." For some reason it seems oddly apporpriate right about now. Let's just keep our finger and toes crossed that we actually come out of MOI sometime in January and they briskly move on to Passport printing and then to USCIS.....oh, joy.

What to do, what to do when the weather outside is frightful??

We have all reached our maximum allotted amount of togetherness. We have been confined to he house for 36 hours and although we still have power and satellite internet, it would sure be nice to get away from the other breathing, annoying members of the family.

The blizzard started yesterday morning and while I got the kids to church for their Christmas play practice, everyone was sent home early due to the horrible weather, zero visibility and drift covered roads. The play should have been this morning, but the entire state is under a civil emergency and no travel is advised.

Besides the snow and hurricane force winds, it is also a little chilly. Currently it is -12F and tonights low is expected to be about -25F. Add in the wind and it feels like -55F. I think we have received about 13 inches of snow, but it is difficult to tell, when the drifts are 6feet tall.

Since we are stuck inside, the house is getting cleaned. Laundry is getting folded and put away. The bathrooms are clean and the floors are getting scrubbed. That said, I have also composed a Christmas letter which will get shoved into our Christmas cards that I intend to mail out as soon as we can get dug out. I also thought I would keep everyone entertained with what will be our CHristmas photo this year. We actually took this picture about 2 weeks ago to send to the boys in Haiti, but figured, good enough....I don't want to repeat that chaos. So no "matching" clothes and nothing Christmassy. Just 4 people and 4 dogs trying to squeeze into one picture and still hold pictures of Richnightder and Jerome.

Thomas has a major crush

Thomas and I usually have deep, meaningful conversations in the car while driving into town. Yesterday was no exception. He began by telling me what car he plans on buying so he can start dating. Yes, dating.

I reminded him that he is only 10 and that is a smidge young to think of dating. He persisted and informed me that if he had a nice car, he could drive in only 3 years and take a girl out by himself. Sadly, the age to get a drivers license in North Dakota is 13!! No way are my kids going to be driving at that age, but I digress.

I asked him what he would do on a date and he told me he would have the girl come over to our place, take a walk on the prairie, and then cook and serve her dinner downstairs at the bar. While I commended him on his lovely ideas, I continued to point out his too youthful an age to be dating. So I played along with this convo for a while and he continued to offer up very cool dating ideas. He thought it would be fun to take her to dinner and then a movie. Yes, good idea, but what if she is like me, your mother, and whatever restaurant is suggested is not to her liking?? Thomas thought a good solution to that would be to ask her where she ate last week and if she enjoyed it, then maybe that would be a good choice!! Yeah, this from a kid who can't figure out how to adjust the water flow of the faucet if he has already started to brush his teeth. Try to figure that one out??

When Marc and I were dating in the late 80's he was the least romantic, least spontaneous, least impulsive man I could ever imagine. How Thomas has acquired these romantic ideas is beyond me. All I know is that he certainly didn't get it from Marc. He did divulge that he has gotten most of his dating ideas from movies. I was scared to ask what movies, so I just play stupid on that one.

Clara is the object of his desire now. He just showed me a note he wrote her and it is wonderful. He tells her how beautiful and smart she is and that he hopes they can be more than friends?? What that means scares me right now, so I play stupid again. He also told her that she is everything a pretty girl should be and she is also so nice to everyone. He did however point out that he while he would love to take her out, and her girlfriends too if she feels more comfortable, he does not want to paint finger nails or brush hair. I think he has seen what Madi and her friends do when they have sleepovers, but again, I will play stupid. He has a heart of gold and when he is MUCH, MUCH older, he will make some girl a fabulous boyfriend. I love my little boy Thomas, but it appears he is growing up.

Waiting for a donkey

We just received and update on our status in MOI. Seems for some reason Richnightder's file will need additional original documents from the province of his birth, which is Jeremie. I am a little confused about the email I received, but I guess all that seems to matter is that we will need some antiquated form of transportation, namely, a donkey, to take a staffer from C4C into the province to retrieve the original document and them have it legalized in PaP.

Of course, this is because I was hopeful that the boys would be home in Feb. or maybe March. I suppose tonight we will like our wounds and re-strategize and shoot for early summer. I washed the boys new bedding earlier today and made their beds. I guess it is like washing the car and then it rains!! :(

latest update photos..............because April asked!!

I have been a slacker lately about posting pictures because the new computer is still confounding me. I am aware that makes me sound oh-so-bright, but sadly it is true. I have saved pictures to our pic folder, and when I go to retrieve them, somehow, it says the file doesn't exist. I guess I just need to sit down and figure this new thing out. And yes, I do plan on changing my background to Christmas, but if I drag my feet anymore, I just may have to set it to a spring time background.

So in honor of April's request, here are our boys' pictures. I love them and I think this time I really like Jerome's picture. I think it captures his joy of life. Let's just hope he doesn't enjoy wearing the pirate patch when he is 30. Richnightder finally seems to be coming out of his introspective shell and letting his hair down. He sure looks like he is enjoying a hell of a good belly laugh. Oh, and can someone explain to me why he would wear the patch ..in the middle of his forehead?? The last time I saw him, he did not have a cycloptic eye!!

On to todays absolute chaos, but before I leave, I have a question for all of you in cyberland. Yesterday at homeschool gym, I was sitting with a group of women who are quickly becoming friends. We have a lot in common to include that we all pay the bills and handle the finances forour households. Here's the question: Do all of you who pay the bills actually balance the checkbook or do you just bring the balance down and never really check it's accuracy?? Yes, I confess our concesus was that none of the 5 of us balance the checkbook, including me. I figure my system is working out just fine since I have been doing it for 18 years and have never bounced a check. Thank God for that hefty line of credit attached to the checking account!!

We're getting closer!!

I just received an invoice for Richnightder's and his birth parents' DNA testing. It was done on 11.20.2008 and I have never been so happy to have a bill to pay. All I know is that this means we are getting closer to bringing those little guys home and I had better get crackin' on finishing all of those immigration papers. Our little Jerome has no known birthparents so he is absolved of having to do DNA testing for obvious reasons.

christmas photos

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love almost everything about it. Yesterday we were trying to take a family photo of ourselves to send to Kristi for her to take to the boys when she goes to Haiti next week. Geez, what a friggin' fiasco.

It took us more than an hour to get the four of us, and the four dogs all posed casually in front of the fireplace. Marc and I each held a photo of Richnightder and Jerome, so in actuallity, we had to get 6 of us in the photo. One photo actually turned out where I looked dim-witted and the dog was yawning. Finally, our last try, produced a picture that was passable. No one looks happy at this point, just frustrated and eager to get it over with and away from each other. Gosh, we really love our time together.NOT!!

I am still trying to figure out the new computer. It has some neat things that our last one didn't have, even though the last one that died was only several months old. I like the hot buttons and glowing keyboard, but the mouse pad seems really touchy. I have to learn to have a light touch which is not easy for me. We are still retrieving info from the old stored data, that I have no idea how it got to where it is on this new computer.

Tomorrow is homeschool gym for the kids and it is bowling this month. I have only bowled about 5 times in my whole life, so needless to say, I suck at it. I need the bumpers and even then I still suck. Tomorrow should be a ton-o-fun with me watching the kids bowl since they take after me in that skill area.

I will try to post the picture of us with the dogs and kids tomorrow, but Marc has the memory stick with him today. And as for adoption news, we are still in MOI and hope to be out before Haiti and the U.S. embassy take holiday breaks from Dec. 19 to January 6. We hope that all our documents are in order and that we progress quickly. Now we are busy filling out another large pile of papers, this time for the boys immigration. When will the paperwork ever stop??