Samuel Jerome and Richnightder

Samuel Jerome and Richnightder
Our boys in Haiti

Friday, February 27, 2009

Well, once again, no news from Haiti

Like the title states, we have heard NOTHING from Haiti. This means another weekend of drowning our sorrows in assorted bottles. This whole process is making me super cranky, and a littly sloshy.

Maybe, just maybe, next week we will hear Jerome is out of MOI and Richnightder has his passport. I' will even try not to gossip during church. Maybe God is watching and just waiting to reward my good behavior. Yeah, right!

Monday, February 23, 2009

We know there will be no news this week

With carnivale in full swing in Port-au-Prince, most if not all offices will be closed this week. So I know for sure that I will not be getting an email informing us that Jerome's file is finally out of MOI. At this rate, even if his file was signed out of MOI the end of this week, it will still take approximately 3-4 weeks to get his passport issued. Richnightder has been in passport printing 3 weeks today, but who's counting?? The flip side is that even if Richnihgtder gets his passport the end of this week, his file will just have to sit and wait until Jerome's file catches up.

Does anyone else here see the irony of a country in constant turmoil and citizens who are destitute spending a week of all out partying?? For God's sake, I wrote this at Christmas time, but with a country of over-flowing orphanges, and children dying on the streets, wouldn't it seem logical that some government offices, say, adoption related, would continue to work to ensure children are going home to their forever families and making room for orphans on the street to move into creches?? I know I have some crazy ideas, but I am constantly bothered by the fact that so many people and offices feel no sense of urgency to move these kids' files with any thing resembling efficiancy. What is it ever going to take to get these kids home?? We have heard that Jerome's file is merely waiting for one last signature which would release it from MOI and order a passport to be issued. How on God's green earth, can some human being take off time from work, to wear plastic beads and fancy clothes, gorge on liquor and food in a gluttonous fashion all the time knowing that kids are languishing in creches without families to care for them??

And for the record, I am not premenstrual, just thoroughly pissed off by our situation. Haitian adoption really has all the control and we, the adoptive families, are just supposed to sit back and gleefully accept our hands being tied. So most likely I will be a very frustrated woman this week all the while knowing full well NOTHING is happening in Haiti to bring my kids home. The gluttonous food and liquor of Mardi gras sounds pretty appealing to me right now in an effort to help me forget my misery. My thighs hate me already, so what is a little more, right??

Thursday, February 19, 2009

The Watkin's family will completly understand this calamity

I am one of the luckiest people alive. I don't often get to say that, but in this case it is true.

Tuesday afternoon was an ordinary day; kids doing school work and me shoving a load of laundry in between assignments. The kids had worked their way out of the classroom up to the family room where I had turned the fireplace on. Who doesn't love a flip-of-the-switch fire that warms the room and adds a little ambience. Thomas was sitting on the hearth doing his math and had placed a decorative couch pillow behind his back. I was sitting on the couch a mere 4 feet away reading about ancient neo-lithic civilizations for Madi's history lesson. Thomas blurts out in pure Thomas fashion, " My back is so hot it feels like it is on fire." To which i replied with a smart-ass, "Well, then move." When he moved away, I could smell something burning. I went to the fireplace and when I pulled the pillow away from the glass front, I couldn't see that the stuffing in the pillow had started melting. Unfortunately, I stuck my right hand directly into the melting/liquid stuffing. It attached to my fingers like lava and began to burn like crazy. I ran to to the kitchen and ran it under cold water, but I had to wait for the stuffing that had melted to my finger to cool before I could pull it off my fingers.

I feel we must have had a house full of angels standing by, because literally, that pillow was seconds from bursting into flames. I also thankful that it only burned me and not Thomas. I would have felt guilt the rest of my life if that had happened. Marc says I look like Freddy Kruger now with my fingers all bandaged up. A fun trip to the ER revealed 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Some fun pain killer drugs have helped take the edge off the pain, but also make me so loopy that I am not quite sure what I am teaching the kids. I could not care less if my hand has scars from this, I am just so thankful that my kids weren't hurt and the house is still standing.
Now I need to take another pill and get even loopier!!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

status quo

As is typical, we still have not heard any news about Jerome's file. That means we must still believe that it is in MOI. Richnightder's file has now been out of MOI and into immigration passport printing for slightly over a week now. So it seems we are batting 50/50 and can only hope to hear some good news about Jerome's file soon.

Trying to be an optimist, when I am most certainly a pessimist, Marc and I tried to install the booster seats we bought for the boys. We purchased the Britax Frontier and they are most definetly a solid, safe seat for the boys, especially since they are so tiny for their age. Maybe it is because we haven't put car seats in for a few years, or maybe we are just flipping idiots, but it took us over 2 hours to try and get them to fit per the manufacturer's specifications. The directions appeared simple enough, but once you are in the rear seat with your head smashed into the back of the booster, knee crammed into it as well, and your hands stuffed behind he seat, it doesn't look as easy as the smiling people in the brochure. Now that they are in, we are not moving them at all. I don;t care how silly I look driving around with two empty booster seats. After the FUN of installation, they are staying put.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

One down, one to go!!

Vivian just emailed to say that Richnightder's file was signed out of MOI last Friday and is moving on to passport printing. We are still waiting for Jerome's file to come out, but I pray that it is signed out this week too. Marc's birthday is Saturday, Valentines day and it would make for a super birthday present to have both kids signed out and working on passports.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Just in case no one hears from me for awhile

We are getting a bad ice storm tonight followed by a prediction of 15 inches of snow thru Wednesday. If this happens we will most likely lose our satellite internet and be cut off from the civilized world. Well, after all, we do live in North Dakota where the wheel, fire, and indoor plumbing were recently discovered.

So dear C4C friends, if anyone hears we are out of MOI (yeah, like that will ever really happen) please call me. And to all my facebook friends, just know that I am not being anti-social, but am enjoying and reaping (cough) the benfits of being iced in with the family. As soon as power and internet come back on, I will be back to banter with you and look forward to seeing more pics of us in high school. Anyone have a special picture of Sr. Catherine?? I would love to laugh and laugh about that. Keep your fingers crossed that I am at least still in touch with the internet world. Ciao for now everyone!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

my dream from last night

Very infrequently do I dream of my boys in Haiti. I can't imagine why this is, since I think of them every moment of every day. Anyhow, last nights dream was very, very vivid and I woke with a warm, almost eerie sense of happy premonition.

I dreampt that we were in PaP at the transition house getting ready to head to the airport. We had Madison and Thomas with us and of course, Richnightder and Jerome. In walked a couple with a frightened, sad look about them and I knew immediately that they were Richnightder's birth parents. I walked slowly towards them with tears in my eyes and held out my arms in a questioning way to show them I wanted to hug her. She teared up and we embraced in a long, warm hug, both of us sobbing quietly. She was much taller than I am, at least in my dream and she had her hair braided and pulled back. She was lovely looking, but I could sense her heart was full of sorrow, saddness, and yet also hope and relief. I told her that we have loved Richnightder sense the moment we saw his picture and would love him forever and always. I told her that we would give him all the the best in life and he would go to college and hopefully on to grad school. She bit her lip as it quivered and she nodded to me that she understood and then told me in English (hey its a dream) that she too loves him. I reassured her that I would always make sure that Richnightder knew how much he was loved and it was my hope that someday in the future he would journey back to Haiti to reconnect with her and his birth siblings.

My dream ended with Richnigtder walking out of the door holding my hand, but looking back over his shoulder to his birth mom and waving goodbye to her with a smile on his face. I honestly hope that should we be fortunate enough to meet his birth parents, that the meeting goes like my dream. I want his birth mom to know I love this child with every fiber of my body and know he was as meant for me by God as Madison, Thomas, and Jerome are. With the help of God, this meeting will happen in a few short months and my boys will be home with us soaking in our craziness and chaos and enjoying the wide open spaces and freedom to be a carefree child.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

what the hell am I doing today?

NOTHING is the answer to that question. The kids are actually working quietly and nicely on their schoolwork at their desks, so here I sit blogging. Our Denali is still in the shop and the loaner car they provided to us is the size of Mr. Bean's car. Yeah I am all in favor of saving the environment, but this car is embarassing. It's a Chevy Aveo and I actually think I would feel safer driving a rusty old tuna can. It says it has side air bags, but Marc thinks they are probably just balloons. It does not do well on our snowy, icy roads and I was mortified to pick up our food at Applebee's Curbside service. For God's sake it has hand crank windows. Didn't they do away with that in the '80's? I think this makes me a snob, but I am just not used to driving a matchbox car. Enough said!!

The builders are here tearing the roof and 3 sides off our barn from last July's tornado/hailstorm. In typical builder fashion, they came yesterday and worked an arduous day of almost 2 hours and then left. They have now been here for over an hour and I anticipate them leaving any moment. The horses are outside in their runs not looking too happy with their new daytime accomodations. It is snowy and cold today, albeit sunny. If the horses had opposible thumbs, I would imagine they would be knitting sweaters for themselves. We actually do have thick blankets for them, but it is not wise to put them on and then take them off. Seems it screws up the horses hair and how it compacts down and then doesn't keep them as warm. And this really pissed me off. After the builders left yesterday, I went out to clean stalls and then bring the horses in. I was grossed out to see that the builders had actually peed in the stalls. Super gross. I actually threw bleach water on it because I perceived it as someone pissing in someone elses bed, namely my horses. I think today I will have our Rottweiler take a huge crapola in their truck just to show them what it is like.

Can anyone tell I am slightly premenstrual today???????

And absolutely no news on the adoption front. Still stuck in MOI. I really don't think they will be home before summer at this rate. With the mood I am in today, I think I need to head down to Haiti and kick some serious MOI ass. And I just might drag along our donkey from the Jeremie trip and let it kick some ass too.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

facebook still lost and other stupid things

So Marc messed up my facebook page on Saturday evening and all we have heard from the helpdesk was the automated message telling us not to mess with it until they contact us. Well, we still haven't heard from them. Guess they are working on a more laid back schedule than mine of an angry pissed off, slightly more mature woman. Enough about my still missing facebook page for now.

This morning both kids had to go to the pediatricians office for shots. Thomas needed a booster of Tdap and Hep A and Menigiccocal. Madison needed a Varicella booster. Blah, blah, blah, not that anyone cares about that but it sets the story for our visit. The kids pediatric clinic is actually located in one of our hospitals here in Bismarck. Needless to say, having a clinic in a hospital you tend to see a lot of things that you just normally wouldn't see in a peds. clinic. For instance, walking thru the lobby we saw a man in a classic orange jumpsuit with big numbers on the back and shackles on his hands and feet. Yes, it seems even though who are incarcerated get to have medical care. But that is not what actually suprised me.

Our hospital provides valet parking service, free of charge to everyone and tipping is forbidden. LOVE IT. So I handed in our claim check and after buying the kids and iced Italian soda, we are waiting in the lobby for our car to be brought up. I had noticed a very lovely woman in the lobby with her daughter that I was guessing to be about 12 or 13. This winner of a gal was wearing jeans with leather ties running the length of both legs and completed her fashionable ensemble with pink fuzzy slippers. So from behind me I hear this eye sore shout out to her daughter, "You just have to admit it that you slept with the wrong guy!" What?? I couldn't even pretend to not have heard and didn't even casually try to peek at her, I just spun around to get a whole birds eyed view. So between the convict and the obviously irresponsible daughter to the hoochie mama, I would have to say that the slutty girl and hoochie mama takes the cake. My friend and I are going to get a mocha and sit in that lobby and people watch next week. It should prove to be hours of belly laughs and shocking moments. I love people gawking.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

facebook lost

Just when I was getting in the swing of things and understanding the navigation of Facebook, all is lost. Marc was trying to set up his own Facebook page and somehow, in his fiddling around, I am nowhere to be found now. I tried entering my name, email address, etc., and nothing ever comes up showing that I have ever existed in the facebook world. I am totally lost in the cyber world.

Marc feels appropriately crappy for losing my page, and swears he will get it back. He emailed tech support at facebook and all the automated response said was to not goof around with it until they get back to us. Like everything in my life right now, I must wait. So to everyone out there who had facebooked with me in the past week, I hope to be able to get my page back from the land of the cyberlost and get back to chatting.

Does anyone know a good marriage counselor?? ;)