Tennesee Road Trip

My sister was here for 10 days and we had a ball! We took a road trip with our teenage sons, which I am pretty sure they did not appreciate nearly as much as we did. However, I am happy to report, we forced them to have fun whether they liked it or not!

We traveled from North Georgia to Tennesee via North Carolina. And then back to Georgia via Alabama. Except for Florida and Mississippi, we just about covered it!

The Cabin

We Are Here!

Downtown Gaitlinburg, TN

Shopped till we dropped. Then we went back to the homestead.

We did experience all kinds of wildlife during our visit...

They don't call them the Smokie's for nothing....

On to the Nashville area to visit our family!

Cousins J and W

Cousin J and Sister J

L and Nephew J think the pancakes are awesome!

Auntie and Nephew J

All Of Us

It's really quite amazing to have family some what close to me after all these years. I love it!

The time to head home arrived too soon....

But the drive was pretty nice!

For more pictures click on the link below!

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d6a6b354e4441354f513d3d0d0a&campaign=blog_playback_link

Rich!

I am blessed with a fair abundance of photos this week after what seems like a long dry spell. An adoptive couple from Colorado just returned from Haiti with beautiful expressive pictures of many of the children, including mine. In many of the photos you can see them showering their love on these precious ones, as well as their own adoptive son and daughter. I am bowled over, and all I can say is thank you, thank you thank you!

Happy Easter

My sister and my nephew have come to visit for 10 days. Their first time in Georgia! Happy Easter y'all!

To Haiti With Love

I sent the girls a little Easter treat with some of our traveling Wisconsinites!

I managed to get all of this in a single freezer bag! It's amazing how easy it is to fill a suitcase when you are packing for this trip!

Happy Birthday!

My son turned 15 on Sunday. The years fly by so fast. They fly by faster the older they get.

I love the look of pride of his face after he blew out all the candles! I wish Blogger liked scanned images better, I have one of him at the age of 2 blowing out his birthday candles and the same look of satisfation on his face.

Generally I make the kids birthday cakes, it's just our tradition. See Dina the golden retriever lurking under the table? About 10 years ago, I left L's unfinished unfrosted birthday cake on the counter to cool. When I came back into the kitchen, Dina had eaten most of it. Never mind that chocolate can kill dogs. I was mad! And obviously, it had no negative effect on the dog. That was one time L got a birthday cake from the store. I don't leave cakes on the counter anymore. I put them on top of the refrigerator!

My older son came for dinner and it was good to see him as always!

Tornado Saturday

Moving east and coming right for us

We have spent the afternoon listening to the weather radio trying to be prepared. It has literally been one alert on top of the other, as the storm cells have broken up and spread themselves all over North Georgia. We had one severe storm system that came straight thru here, but fortunately nothing funneled down. L and I were ready with our mattresses in the interior hallway just in case!

If you have never seen golf ball size hail, here is your opportunity! In this part of the country, this is NOT good news!

Here comes the sun!

It was all over in about 10 minutes. You know the old saying.

"Don't like the weather in Georgia? Just wait 30 minutes!"

Movement!

There has been some file movement within our adoption group. Yea! Several families into IBESR, and at least one signed out of Parquet! Any news in this regard is good news! You Haitian adopters out there know what I am talking about!

There is still no solid news on my files, however I am optimistic that it is coming. Hearing news on movement, even when it's about others, makes me feel much better. In fact, it makes me feel happy. Who would have thought, even months ago that it would be such a challenge to get into IBESR?

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In the headlines today was an update on First Lady Laura Bush's visit to Haiti

http://www.miamiherald.com/1057/story/455999.html

the Miami Herald had some good coverage on that story.

In My Dream

Last night I had a dream about the girls being home. My friend JC and I decided we were going to go to a new church, and we were doing our best to be on time, with all these little girls. I was trying to do W's hair, and she was a little upset that it was not quite right (!) but she was going with the flow. I couldn't get the "grease" to absorb so it was just sitting there on her hair, no wonder she didn't like it! JC was telling me I was using the wrong product. Meanwhile my son was supposed to be watching the little one, L. He let her try to put on fingernail polish (red) by herself. She got very little on her nails, but quite a bit on the hardwood floor! Amazingly enough, she did not get any on her white dress.



What struck me about the dream the most was that 1.) everyone in the dream was completely true to their personalities---W was doing her best to go with the flow, L was finding a little mischief, my son was being absent minded, I was running late, and JC knew all about the hair. 2.) The girls, in the dream were true to their current ages as were the rest of us. Maybe it was a sign! That is the first time I can ever remember dreaming about them.



By the way, W's hair did not turn out that great in the dream. That may be another sign that I need to start practising!

I Wish

I wish I had more to say on the adoption front today. I wish I could say I had hope that my girls will be home soon. I wish I could say that I am confident that they will be home before their next birthdays. I wish I could say I am out of IBESR! But the truth is, I don't know. I'm not sure where my file is. I don't know when they will be home. I know I am willing to wait, I am willing to do whatever it takes to get them here. I have faith, and I believe in God's good will. But today, about these other things, I do not know, and it's not easy.Another adoptive mom posted her video of her recent trip to Haiti, and it raised alot of emotion in me. I saw Marie, and it made me miss her. Her voice was comforting and familiar to me. I saw life in the street, and I missed it! OMG I missed Haiti!!! Haiti gets in your blood. Go there, and you will never forget it. Life levels you there. Are people in Haiti more soulful? I don't want to over dramatize, but something inside me says yes. Circumstances require you to be honest, vulnerable, and humble. Cimcumstances dictate that you are completely stripped down to who you really are. I am completely beyond words to describe this phenomenon. It just is what it is. I think I am more soulful there.