Still nothing

I talked to the lawyer this morning and still no papers. The clerk is on vacation but she's trying to find another one. Have I mentioned how frustrating/disappointing/disheartening this crazy process is?

Cars, cars, cars

R's bf wrecked his car on the way here this morning. He hydroplaned and totaled his car. Thank God, he is okay. The EMT saw his car and told him that someone loves him and that he needed to thank God he walked away from that.

For a while he was driving an old, junker type car that A named Fred. We have no idea why she named it Fred but the name stuck. Then the girl's decided that we should name all of our cars. Our niece had told R that she had to name her car. Bf had two cars. One has been in our driveway for a few weeks now and I named it Kramer. It still doesn't run quite right. He named the car that he wrecked this morning Leviathan. I'm sorry to say that Leviathan did not make it.

T and I bought a cheap car this week. It's worth every dollar that we paid for it, but we didn't pay much for it. It is black, except where it has faded to dull gray, and it has a vibration. So, since it shakes, rattles and rolls I have decided to name it Elvis. I'm calling my van Flannery Vandango. I asked T what he would name his Jeep and he said he's going to call it The Little Engine That Could. Remember, it has 213K miles on it. We haven't talked about a name for the truck yet. It's a classic truck so it will have to have a classic name. R is considering naming her car Tonto.

So, are we the only weirdos out there or do other people name their cars? I know our niece does, but she might be guilty by association. If we are not the only ones of our kind, what do others of you name your cars? Leave us a comment.

Corn husking pics

Ok, I told you about the corn husking/peeling/shucking-whatever you call it- and the horses. If you start an ear they will pull it for you and finish the process. They stand by the fence and wait for any little tidbit to drop. They move into the path of flying objects and get things stuck on their heads. It's fun. Except for the bugs or worms. Those I could do without. I'll get to those pics in a minute. First I need to finish my thankful list that I couldn't finish earlier. I'm thankful for where we live. I think it's beautiful here. I'm thankful for sunsets. I'm thankful for animals and kids, family and friends. Yeah, I feel better. The pics were taken by R's bf. This is tonight's sunset.

Ok, down to business here. This is Bridget and Lady. Mother and daughter owned by mother and daughter.

See what I mean about the silks? She has some in her mouth too.

Yeah, I don't know why I put this pic on here. It's not very becoming. We were singing "I Am Waiting For the Light to Shine" from the play "Big River". I think it's funny that we both had our mouths open and were doing the same thing. BTW, A does not husk corn as she can't stand the bugs/worms. We got tired of her screaming and made her stop. She will pick it though.
Oreo came over to see what we were doing.

Love the opened mouth thing tonight.
This is like the best pic ever of Lady. Her one eye looks a little strange but otherwise she looks so good. Look how hazy it is. We had a storm come through earlier today that included hail.


This is R when she found a worm in the corn.

This is me when I found a worm.
The horses don't care if it had a worm in it.They just want to help you peel it so they can eat it.

Signed, sealed, still not delivered

Our file is still in the lawyer's hands and not back at MOI because it's still missing a paper. We are still not back to where we were 14 months ago. AHHHH!!! I want to cry and scream and lay on the floor and throw a fit. But at 40 that might look a little strange. I've done the crying thing. Screaming may still happen but I am kind of moving on. I just wonder two things. Why does this keep happening and when? When will he come home? When will he know the love of living in a family? When will he get to experience the things that we've wanted to show him for 3 years now? I actually don't really want to understand why anymore. I just want the waiting to end. It's all very bizarre and messes with your head and your heart and your faith. Blech!

T had an eye appointment today. He's moving on to the world of bi-focals, well, "progressive lenses" actually. Yeah, he's an old fart. I can't say much though because I feel mine slipping ever so slightly too. Another blech!

I don't feel like doing a thankful list, which is a sure sign that I should. Let's see. ....I'm thankful... that we have the money (at least at the moment) to buy aforementioned progressive lens glasses. ...This is hard today. ... too hard.

Corn on the cob

It's corn time again. My dad picked a bag of corn for us the other night. We kind of have this co-operative garden going. Anyway, I peeled it or husked it or whatever it is you do with corn last night. I love doing this because we call the horses up to the fence and they get the peeling and the top and bottom of the ear. They eat the silks too. We just keep peeling and throwing it to them and they stand there like dogs watching and waiting for little bits to fall. You never know if one of them might move when you're throwing so they end up wearing some of it at times. Lady had a green yarmulke on for a while and Bridget ended up with silks stuck to her ears that looked like forelocks. Every time she moved her ear they slid a little but hung in there for quite a while. Too funny. Then I boiled it so I could cut it off the ears and freeze it and we all stood around at 9:00 last night and ate corn. I did manage to get one bag in the freezer. I sure wish J was here to experience this.

Signed, sealed,...

...now to get it delivered. We got word from the lawyer's office yesterday that they got our file back from the Ministry of Justice with the infamous seal. Finally. Now it has to be looked over by the lawyer and then delivered back to MOI. Then we will be back at the point that we were 14 months ago. Still not what I consider forward progress, but not as far back as we were. Keep praying.

You have to put this on the blog

Sometimes we'll do something or the animals will do something and someone will say, "You have to put this on the blog." Sometimes the person that did something will say, "You better not put this on the blog!" And sometimes I use it as a threat or joke. As in, "I'm going to put this on the blog. Ha, ha, ha." The animals get a lot of blog time around here. A's friend E even said the other night, "You have to put these on the blog," after she took some pics of Misty. I'm not sure how it happened but R, E, A and I all ended up on A's bed laughing and talking. E took some pics of Misty with sunglasses on that are too cute. Yeah, I had to put them on the blog.

First though, Sanome still loves the laundry when it comes out of the dryer. She loves it. Here she is completely concealed, so she thinks.
This is when she came out the other side of the towel.

Here is Misty, asleep, with her head in the window sill and the rest of her on the entertainment center. Well, at least the part that's not gelling down between the window and entertainment center.
Oh, I woke her from her nap so she is sticking her tongue out at me.

And here is a cool cat pic if I've ever seen one. These are the ones that E took.

Yeah, she's got that whole Princess, Diva thing down. We love her anyway.

Another Friday...

...and still no news. Did I ever mention how sick I am of this process? Another week becomes another month becomes another year. Leaves a yucky taste in my mouth.

Nothing yet

I talked to the lawyer this morning and the seal is still not done. Maybe this afternoon. The lawyer will be out of her office tomorrow but will leave a message with someone there for us. So, I call again tomorrow. Since she won't be there, she won't be able to look everything over so it can't go back to MOI this week either. It all makes me want to scream. Or kick and cry and throw a fit. I don't want to understand it anymore, I just want the waiting to be over.

I spent a lot of time in Psalms over the last couple of years. I've recently progressed out of them and back into some other books. Romans has a verse, Romans 5:3 “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” I had a problem with that verse for a long time. Maybe I still do. I've been disappointed by hope way too many times. It hurts. It hurts too much to hope. It felt like a lie. I don't want any more perseverance and character, and hope constantly disappoints me.

What I learned about hope was that if you dared to hope, reality would come and slap you back down again. I hoped our adoption process would not take long. I hoped that J would be home before A finished 8th grade so they could go to school together for a little while. I hoped that he'd be home that summer so we could get acquainted over the summer before school started. This will be the third year in a row that I've hoped he would be home for his birthday. This will be the third Christmas that I've hoped he'd be home. I hoped he'd be home for our family vacation in Oct. '07. Around Christmas '07 I gave up hoping. It hurts too much to hope anymore.

I dared to hope this week. I hoped that our file would make it back to MOI this week. That would put us back to where we were in May '07. I dared to hope and reality came and slapped me back down again. It hurts. It hurts a lot. I wonder if God sees. I wonder if He cares.

I believe He does see and care. It doesn't feel like it, but I believe He does. So I give the hurt to Him. I discovered another verse in Romans. Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." I'm still working through this, even as I write. It seems that I have to trust Him so that I may overflow with hope. And I can overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by my own power. That's cool. It doesn't have to be my own power. Good thing because I think I've already mentioned that it hurts too much to hope on my own power. But I don't have to. There is something very freeing about that.

I guess I need to do a thankful list. I'm thankful that I don't have to muster up hope on my own power. I'm thankful that the file is being worked on. I'm thankful for the little bit of rain we've had. I'm thankful for food we've been eating out of the garden. I'm thankful for "paid for" cars that run. I'm thankful for people (and pets) in my life that make it more interesting-not easier, just more interesting :)

A little news and possibly more to come

I spoke to our lawyer this morning and she said that the new court papers are done but we still need a seal from the Ministry of Justice. She thought maybe by Thursday that would be done. I had hoped to get back to MOI this week. It could still happen. Keep praying.

We're at 34 months since starting the paper chase, 33 months since deciding on J, 31 months since getting the full ok and him being told about us, and 30 months since our dossier has been in Haiti. This is a hard row to hoe. Please, keep praying. If we can get back to MOI, that will put us back where we were in May of '07. Like I've said before, we went so far back that it doesn't feel like we're going forward, but we're not as far back as we were either. I'll keep you posted.

Happy Independence Day

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Independence Day. Our plans are not solidified yet. R is working. T is going to help R's bf work on a car, or something like that. A is going to a friend's house whose plans are a little more solidified than ours. I'm going to do a little house cleaning and we may go to a movie later. Have you watched any good movies lately?

Please keep our paperwork in your prayers today. I'll let you know if we hear anything.

Space bags

I got one of those "space bags" to put some stuff into to send to the O. I had made/collected several cloth diapers (a good sized box full) and also got some scrubs donated from a local dentist's office (large, black trash bag full) for the nannies. I got an XL compression storage bag and R was going to help me put the stuff into it. She said, "This is not all going to fit into this bag." Well we kept stacking and stuffing and managed to get everything into this 26"x42" bag. We sealed the thing off and inserted the vacuum hose. When I turned it on our jaws dropped and our eyes popped open. We looked at each other like, did you see that?! That was so cool! We were amazed. After that we decided that it had a better chance of fitting into a box if it was more cube shaped than flat rectangular shaped so we broke the seal. It grew before our eyes. That was so cool too. We decided that we needed to have a video of it. Yeah, I know. Simple minds are easily amused. Anyway, it wasn't as cool the second time while putting it into a cube shape but it was still somewhat cool. It became a 24"x19"x13" cube. All that stuff in that little cube. Our conclusion is that space bags are pretty cool.

We may have some progress on the adoption tomorrow but won't know until Monday. Pray for good news and forward progress. We went so far backward that it doesn't truly feel like moving forward but it could put us back where we were in May of '07.

A few new pics

I got a nice surprise today. New pics of J! Thanks to T and C who were just down in Haiti visiting their kids, and they were able to meet T's parents too. How cool is that? Here he is with a mop or broom or something.

Close up. I'm picturing that some day with a cell phone stuck to his ear instead of a broom handle.

Ah, here's a smile. I don't know if they caught him with a real smile or if he has given up the "camera smile" that we've seen so often.

Thanks again T and C. You can check out their story at www.gracecasechronicles.blogspot.com

While you're checking out other blogs, check out the Livesays. Troy has a book of photography that looks like it'd be really good. And the Johnson-McCormick's have a precious pic of one of their boys holding his baby sister and sucking his thumb while the baby sucks his pinky. Too cute. Those are under my "blogs I read" section at the right.