Purpose of a blog

So, I stated in my first post that this is to keep in touch with family, friends and total strangers. Now I'm including "little brothers of long time friends' who you haven't seen in 9 years 3 months and 28(?) days". Ok, Lisa, you'll have to assist with the date count. Is that about right?

Now, for friends who have started a blog to keep track of certain events regarding a really long process used by the rich and famous (as well as the poor and obscure) to add to their famliy size - you really need to actually post things in order for us to stay in touch with current events. KWIM?

Events here: let's just say it doesn't look like Ethiopia is where we're adopting from (at least not this time). Yes, we were approved. Yes, it's more affordable than most programs. Yes, there is a TREMENDOUS need for homes for the kids there. But. and that's a big BUT. ("He touched the Butt" - from Nemo, I know you've seen it, don't lie.) It just doesn't feel right for us. Not right now.

We entered into this process envisioning a child with Asian features. Is it wrong to select the country to adopt from based on the appearance of the people who live there? I don't think so. I mean, when you have biological kids, you kind of have a bit of an idea of what they'll look like because you look in the mirror every day and you look at your spouse every day (or almost) and at some point in time (and still for many of us lucky ones married to amazingly attractive people both inside and out) you were physically attracted to that person. Since Tom spent soooo much time while in the Navy in Asian countries, and I've always found the eyes to be very gentle and soothing, it makes sense to us to "go with our first instinct" and adopt from Asia. ALSO, my family is a little bit racist. Some of them. A little. So we're going to adopt from the part of the world that will cause the least resistance. Of course, if we didn't want to cause any uproar we wouldn't adopt at all, but we like to stir things up a little. So this'll be fun.

Oh, the country of choice today? Not China again. Nope. I don't want to wait 3 years. We've already established that I'm not patient. Let's see. That leaves: Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Cambodia, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan (some parts), Nepal, Japan (no international adoptions), Hong Kong.....

Oh, we'll not make the announcement yet. I hate to announce things then change my mind and have to explain it.

The Beatrice Brigade

A great article on homeschooling, and the moms who do it:

The Beatrice Brigade


Just when I doubt what I'm doing and why I'm doing it (homeschooling), along comes a great article celebrating what and why and I am recommitted.

The Adventure Begins (again)

Well, we did it.

After submitting our initial application back in November, 2006 to adopt from China, then having the requirements change, which made TONS of people try to get their dossiers to China by the May 1, 2007 deadline, which is resulting in even LONGER referral waits (17 months!), and then re-evaluating why we wanted to adopt and at what cost and from where....

I just mailed our Letter of Request to our agency to change our country to Ethiopia and to request a sibling group with at least one girl and the oldest child younger than 4. WOW! Now I have to wait for the Agency to review our request and get back to us with the next step.

Patience is a virtue that I do not possess.