Today has been a good day. Not a great day (no waiver news) but a good day. The last news I heard on the waiver was that our contact in the Senator’s office was going to have her superior call DHS in Nairobi and try to get an update/put pressure on. I put a call into the Embassy here and they were very encouraging (they are the ones that will receive the waiver and then issue the visa). They understand the situation, and have promised to keep checking the mail, and said that the moment it is received, they will issue her visa and call us (there is no more processing that will need to be done). So, there is not much more we can do at this point.

Belane has been awesome today…she is... more

I came across an interesting thread on the forums recently. This question was asked:

If you can call a pregnant women a mother before the act of giving birth, it certainly stands to reason that you could call a pregnant woman considering adoption a birthmother before giving birth, so why the split hairs?

So, if we can call a pregnant woman a mother before giving birth, why do we have an issue... more

Love Thursday joins us again. Sometimes sharing pictures, moments in time, isn't easy for me. This picture happens to be one of those times. This was the first time I held my daughter, well after her birth. Sadly, our hospital staff was not educated on anything related to open adoption and I didn't hold the Munchkin until after J, after D, after my Mom and after my best friend. To be fair to everyone, I did have a brand new resident doctor doing the stitches from my episiotomy and had to be given a shot of stadol. Yet do I think I should have been afforded the first... more

I live 300 miles away from my parents and dealing with their situation from a far has been a challenge and as time goes on, and they become more and more fragile, the distance and issues are going to grow. As I laid my head down to sleep Saturday evening I started to think about my life with my parents and our relationship as well as my adoption experience growing up, through search and reunion, and how our relationship is today.

In my thoughts I started to reminisce about my family growing up, the good times, and the not so good... more

I too love the new Love Thursday posts! I was explaining it to my husband yesterday and he was laughing at me because I compared it to show and tell (except with pictures!) like back when we were in elementary school. As a present day photoaholic there is nothing better than sharing pictures!

So without further adieu, I will show and tell a favorite picture with you!

This week’s Love Thursday picture is of Charlie and his two mothers. In this picture, you can see the love on both of our faces. Our love for Charlie is evident and the fact that we are coming... more

We are in the process of getting Little J potty-trained at night.

He's a little over 4 1/3, so I think we're approaching this rather late, especially since he's been day-time trained for more than a year, but you have to understand something critical about Little J: if he's given any latitude at night, he'll take advantage.

By that I mean that in the past, if we've so much as left his door open at night, he's taken this as an invitation to get up and walk around the house. He doesn't want to sleep with us and he's not upset - but he will play. He'll play all night! He won't... more

I take many, many pictures of my daughter. I seldom leave the house without the camera. It got to the point I had so many saved to my computer. You know how it is if you have a digital camera. Its easy to forget about some and you never get around to getting them printed out.I vowed to order them and put them in an album. I just uploaded 100 pictures to Shutterfly from the past month. I order them in batches. They must love me.I have been really pleased with... more

This is from the U.S. Department of state. It looks like things may change in Haiti, or they're at least going to reassess the current situation.

October 2006

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince has reported that a new director was appointed on Tuesday, October 3, to lead the Haitian social services agency, “Institut du Bien Etre Social et de Recherches” (IBESR). Prospective adoptive parents should expect adoption processing to be temporarily slower as the director settles into the position. The Department of State and the U.S. Embassy continue to monitor the situation... more

I love this "Love Thursday" idea so much that I'm joining in! These 'aaahhhhhh' moments late in the week are a real picker-upper and I'm thankful to everyone involved in coming up with the concept and bringing it to our blogs, and all who've taken it on. Dispensing warm fuzzies may be a tough job, but someone has to do it! My photo for this week is from Sam's 2nd birthday celebration at the preschool he attended at the time. (Yes, the same one Cj hated with such an intense passion that she stopped sleeping out of protest.)

It's traditional for the birthday boys'... more

It's the time of year in Seychelles all tourists love ... the season between seasons that comes in October and goes in late November when the wind can't decide between blowing the Southeast or the Northwest Monsoons. The Indian Ocean is one huge swimming pool with barely a ripple to its surface, the sun is shining and the humidity and temperature are not up in the quadruple digits ... okay, maybe that's a tiny exaggeration ... that the other season between seasons brings in April and May. It's so lovely that Mark did something so rare that people who know him well were shocked: he took... more