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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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?? ;)