School Girls

Our French Canadian mom hopped down to Haiti for a few days and had the opportunity to visit the older kids while they were in class. Thank you Isa!

The Game---Tagged Again

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.

4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer



What were you doing five years ago?

I was working hard at my job and enjoying it except for one crazy lying backstabbing assistant manager I had working for me. I was engaged and making plans, although we had not set a date yet. (For those of you that know me know that obviously did not work out) My boys were 14 and 10. My oldest one was restless, and learning how to drive. I HAD NO INCLINATION TOWARDS ADOPTION, MUCH LESS HAITIAN ADOPTION. If you had told me that five years ago, I'd have said you were crazy!

What are 5 things on your to-do list today?

It's Saturday, and a 3 day holiday week-end so: 1.) Go to the bank 2.)Go to the flea market 3.)Put the flag out 4.)Clean house, as always 5.)Grocery shopping

What are 5 snacks you enjoy?

Peanut butter, frozen yogurt, apples, Reese's mini peanut butter cups, and it used to be diet coke, but I gave it up about 6 weeks ago COLD TURKEY!

What are 5 of your bad habits?

Procrastination, too much computer time, rationalizing why I don't have time to exercise, not taking control of my finances and then spending too much money, letting the housework pile up.

What 5 things would I do if I was a billionaire?

Obviously I would pay off my bills. I would renovate an old house. I would hire a housekeeper! I would pay off my mother's and sibling's mortgages. I would set up local scholarships. I would set up trust funds for my adopted children, nieces, & nephews educations. I would adopt at least one more child. I would travel with friends and family. I would buy a sexy car. I would buy at least one vacation property. I would take classes at the Cordon Bleu in Paris. I would set up charities for 3rd world countries. I would invest enough of it in order to keep on. And, I would hire an accountant!

That's more than 5---do you think I've ever thought of this before?

Where are 5 places you have lived?

Plumas County, CA, Sacramento, CA, the greater East Bay (Area) CA, Redding, CA, Oconee County, Georgia.

What are 5 jobs you have had?

Maid, waitress, maitre'd, restaurant manager, retail manager, housewife.

I actually liked being a housewife best.

What 5 people do you want to tag?

lila and Cindy (hey were traveling together soon, now they know all about me, it's only fair!) Janet, Mandy, and Steph!

A Family Of Adoption

The John McCain family is a family of adoption. Should she become first lady, Cindy McCain says that "Issues of adoption will become her national cause". While on the campaign trail, daughter Meghan and her friends have been blogging about the campaign process, and it's pretty interesting no matter where you fall all the political scale. In the video below, Meghan is talking about children's medical issues in general, and her little sister in particular.

This is not fully mentioned in the video, but when Cindy McCain went to Bangladesh to work with Mother Theresa, and got involved with her orphanage, she made the decision to bring this child home for medical treatment and also to adopt her. She says she knew she had to do it. She did not tell her husband John until she arrived back in the US with her baby bundle. He accepted the situation and said OK! (I'm sure there was more to it than that, but that was the outcome...) Wow! Now that's impressive!

Lil' Peanut

The girls in Haiti

These just came in tonight, courtesy of JK in New Mexico. Check out the school uniforms and the backpacks! To put it all in context, only 2.5 years ago, there were 13 kids at the "O", and they all lived with the director in her (large) house. Now there are over 100 kids, approximately 70 of them here in the "older child" house. School started 6 months ago. The uniforms are new.

I sent them dolls.

W likes dolls

Not so sure about Baby Girl. She likes to take things apart, she likes to play, she likes alot of attention. Which of course, she gets when I am there.

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Only 35 more days, and I will be there! I feel better about making this trip, being out of IBESR. In fact, I feel better about EVERYTHING, being out! It has been a long wait. Because that is the office that approves the adoption. If you don't get past that, it's over. I was not worried about my qualifications, but there is so much resistance to adoption nowadays, with all kinds of pressure coming from all kinds of groups, you just don't know what is going to happen. And when it takes twice as long as it is supposed to, it's gets worrisome. You try to have faith and be positive, but in my case I saw people that I knew starting to come out that went in months after I did. I am very grateful that I am working with a person that stays on the case(s) does ALL THAT SHE CAN to get these kids home. She is all about the kids. It is impossible for me to express in words my full admiration for this woman.

I hope that the next phase will be speedy, or at least reasonable. And the next, and the last, as far as that goes. By speedy, I'm talking about Christmas. I would love to have them home for Christmas.

WE ARE OUT!!!

We are out of IBESR!!!!! One of our mom's got thru to Haiti tonight, kinda late my time, and posted the news. I had already gone to bed. JC was waiting for me to start shouting from the rooftops, I told her when it happened she would hear it over in Gwinnett County. She did not hear anything, so she emailed me, still no response since I was in bed. My son came to my room with the phone, and said, "Do you know someone named JC?" I mumbled yes, I got on the phone, she told me we were out, I was still half asleep I wondered if I was dreaming BUT I WAS NOT! PRAISE GOD!



The post also said she was readying our file for the next stage, Parquet.



For any Haitian adopters reading this, I have heard of four families from our orphanage, including me, that were released this week. I know at least 3 of us have bio kids. So yes, there is movement, finally!

Tribute

I can't let mother's day pass without paying tribute to this woman.

Happy Mother's Day

I want to wish a happy day to all moms and future moms out there. Motherhood has been my life's work, my touchstone, my journey, my teacher.

The Zen of Commencement

University President Michael Adams with Justice Clarence Thomas

Yesterday was commencement at the university, and I had to go in to make sure our little piece of the campus puzzle was functioning correctly. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was the commencement speaker. I watched him from the air-conditioned sanctity of the Tate Theater. The local paper wrote the story . Here is the thing that struck me, once again. It's about segregation. Because Justice Thomas is of a certain age, and because he was raised in Georgia, he could not attend the very university that he gave his speech at yesterday. Having spent most of my life in a different part of the country, I never thought about segregation much, except as as afterthought, a page in the history book, something that happened a long time ago, far away, practically in another country! It was certainly not anything that had anything to do with my life! I thought it was terrible in theory, but I was very dissociated from it. After I moved here, I met many people, not that much older than me, that had lived that life, right here in our Big University Town.


It really hit me. Segregation is something that is not so long ago or far away, and it left vast scars on this entire region. I don't say this to point fingers, or to blame. It actually is amazing how far our society has come after breaking down that last tangible barrier. In my mind, segregation is the last scar. When it was defeated, it was the final true barrier to equality. Justice Thomas is a fine example of achievement, someone who has lived to see the change.



Cultural barriers exist still. However, thankfully, the law no longer supports racism and division.


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Normally I would post these next pictures on my other blog, but I have a point to make. I had to get my feelings out on my last post. They were encompassing my life to the point of exclusion. Afterwards, I felt better, but I also felt a strong desire to post something positive, or profound, or at least exciting! But I had nothing inside me. I had to wait.


Yesterday at commencement I was looking for a place to park. What a joke! I found a place a long way from the stadium and enjoyed (not) a good hike in the heat. Where I parked was near a place I had not been in a long time.


The Warnell Garden is somewhat hidden. I used to come here many years ago when I worked at another location on campus, to alleviate my stress. I remembered how I would sit on the wall and pray and meditate and fight to bring my BP down! I have not forgotten about this place, but I had not come here in so many years, as it is not so conveinent. It is so peaceful. I need to start coming here again!

Walking in

View of the pond

Do you see the turtle?

Now you do!

I like to sit on this wall

Beautiful Oakleaf Hydrangea

My Life Lately

I have not been the best of bloggers lately. Not that it's a contest or anything. The truth is, I don't have much to say on the adoption front. I'm waiting to hear whether or not I have actually exited IBESR with my presidential signature, or if I'm still languishing there with so many others. I sent some dolls to New Mexico to a family that is traveling to the "O" this week-end, and of course, we always hope for pictures! So maybe we will have some when they return. I am also in the process of planning my own trip for the latter part of June with another mom from our group. There is much controversy as to how much we should be visiting these children before they are able to come home. The problem being, potentially that the kids can bond to us in a short period of time, and then we have to leave, creating feelings of distrust and (more) abandonment. I have certainly experienced the trauma (for everyone, including me) of leaving, and I have written about it here. It is difficult to draw the line between my own desires and possible selfishness, and what is best for these kids. I know they benefit from my visits, and I hope that out weighs their disappointment and hurt when I leave without them. I hope to God this is the last time I have to do this. The other side of the coin is that I need this time with them, every six months or so, to keep me connected, not only to them, but to the whole process. It's not that I could ever (!) forget about them but one of my unconscious defense mechanisms is indifference, and I just do not want to go there. This may be very hard for some people to understand, unless you are adopting from Haiti. This process is grueling. You can stay stuck in a government office for months on end with no explanation. Rumours fly, and if you let yourself, you can lose hope. We all have our ways of dealing with this and it's not always pretty, and sometimes we talk about it and sometimes we don't. It's hard as hell.

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The other thing going on is lots of "yucky stuff" (as L.K. says) at work. Oh boy. I posted a few weeks ago on my "MeMe" that I was burnt out and depressed about my job. I had been feeling that way for awhile, and had just finally admitted it in print. Within days my world began to tilt wildly. My colleagues and I heard rumors that our new "boss" (actually my direct supervisor's superior) was going to move us around---and I can assure you this was not going to be a promotion. It would not have been a true demotion but it would have been perceived as one. Which really irked me because I have 12 years of outstanding evaluations behind me, and I have not been told by ANYONE I'm not doing my job. We heard about all this because the "boss boss" unloaded that information on another group of colleagues in a meeting, which was completely unethical. And, of course, the information was leaked. So I confronted our direct superior about it, and unfortunately, he knew less about it than the people on the receiving end of that meeting, and he technically out-ranks that group. He does not have alot of backbone usually, but I was white hot, (not in a sexy way) and I think he was afraid of what I was going to do next, (meet with the Department Head) so he took it to the "boss boss". I will tell you here that I started really appreciating my job, even though I have faced terrible obstacles in the last few years, and I started praying that she would not go thru with the moving around. I prayed and prayed, but my colleagues told me they felt it was hopeless. I was scared, but I prayed anyway. By the end of the week, she made the decision to keep us where we were, and it blew everyone away. I was blown away by the power of prayer, because I can tell you my faith was weak and I think non-existent for some of my peers, as well as our supervisor. He did not seem to have much faith that he could turn it around, which is sad, because it's "his" operation and we are "his" people! And, after his meeting with her, he gave his resignation so I really have no idea what happened in there. Oh, the drama. Oh the trauma. There is so much more to this, and it is ongoing, but I would have to publish a book, and I am not going to do that today, so I won't go there. Besides, the book would be rated "R", if books had ratings. I try to stay away from "R" ratings on this blog!

The upside is that it has renewed my enthusiasm for my job. It has boosted my faith in the power of prayer. It makes me want to go to work when I wake up in the morning, and all of this is good.

IRON MAN

Normally I don't promote movies, but I was thoroughly entertained by this one. Definitely not a chick flick, although I just could not take my eyes off Robert Downey Jr. What a role! If you want to view the trailers, enter the site and click on "video". Have fun!