Did I accomplish anything today???

I guess that is the real question, haha. Whale slept until 9:30 this morning and then we watched Go Diego Go together. I cleaned a little before he went to school. He left at 11:30 and got home at 3:30 in that time I was able to burn (easier than shredding) all of the credit card offers, etc that have accumulated over the last 8 months or so. I actually took a bag full to work and shredded them there. I don't know why we get so many offers as far in debt we are, trust me they don't want our business. If someone were to walk in our house right now they would think we were complete slobs. However, I see light at the end of the tunnel. Bigger cleaning day tomorrow DH is going to help a little more.
Whale and I went to Target on Tuesday and spent a ton of $$$ had to get two tubs of cat litter, Cat Food, toiletry type things for the trip, and laundry things for the guy staying here at our house. We can't leave him with nothing to do his laundry with.
I got a new pair of shoes that I am wearing to Ukraine. I was going to do tennis shoes, but these will look nicer with jeans. DH saw them and ask me if I joined a bowling team. Men, they don't know much about fashion, they are in style and they are NOT bowling shoes. I got all of us new socks and underwear. If our last trip was any indication, there is not enough bleach in the world to make socks white again after laundering in Ukrainian water. So we will take what we have and then replace those with the new ones when we get home. I am sure that is more than anyone reading this cares to know, but one day I may print this and put it in a journal. I don't want to forget anything I am doing or thinking right now.
Sounds like Whales birthday may be a washout. That stupid Hurricane Ernesto is suppose to head west and dump rain on us on Saturday. They say there is a chance it could go far enough east that we will only get scattered showers. I am sorry Ohio and Pennsylvania, but I am praying for that. I think we are going to have quite a few people show up so we need it to be nice or else we have no where else to go. Our house is certainly not big enough for 34 people (if everyone comes). I wrapped all of his presents on Monday night and he has ask us about 3 times a day if he can open "just one" haha!
Alright, I have to go fold about 4 loads of laundry and two more are in the wash with two more to do after that. I don't see how three people can wear so many clothes, but it would help if Whale didn't change his underwear EVERYTIME he went to the bathroom. ARRRGGHH!

What to do, what to do???

What to do? I have no idea. My house is not getting any cleaner. Work sucks, shopping needs done, gifts need bought, birthday party needs to be finished. Did I mention the house is a mess.
I have succeeded in packing T's things, I guess that is a start. The countdown thingy up top says less than a week. I worked until 5:30 today and I am suppose to get off at 3:30, no Lunch, no help. I was fuming when I got home. Work sucked, so many problems and I couldn't do a thing about them. I was filling in for my boss who was at a funeral and my assistant was playing the role of me today. I have some things I need to finish myself before I go and I couldn't even go pee today let alone finish my stuff. I was thrown into problems I had no clue what was happening and I didn't want to call my boss in the middle of a viewing so I flew by the seat of my pants and probably made wrong decisions, but oh well, I did my best.
I came home and my dear sweet husband had dinner ready and it had been waiting a while since I was so late. He wasn't mad or upset or anything, I probably would have thrown the mashed potatoes at him or at least eaten with out him and he didn't **sniff sniff** I love him so much.
I am exhausted, it stormed HARD last night and I didn't get to go back to sleep after 3:43 am . The thunder was so bad. So needless to say I am ready for bed tonight with once again nothing getting done around the house. I want to just get a huge garbage bag and throw everything in the trash, but that wouldn't be prudent. I think I am going to go sweep everything off of the Kitchen counters and sort through it on the living room floor while watching TV. At least one of those things I will enjoy. :)
Please pray for us, we have so much to do and so many things going on. I am concerned about all of these plane crashes and terrorists.
Well, tomorrow is another day. Let's hope it improves from what today was, because it could have qualified as a level of Hell. However I found this little nugget of information on
www.gotquestions.org

Question: "Are there different levels of punishment in Hell?"

Answer: Although it does not specifically say so, the Bible does seem to indicate that there might be different levels of punishment in Hell. In Revelation 20:11-15, the people are judged “according to what they had done as recorded in the books” (Revelation 20:12). All the people at this judgment, though, are thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:13-15). So, perhaps, the purpose of the judgment is to determine how severe the punishment in Hell. Whatever the case, being thrown into a slightly less hot portion of the lake of fire is not consolation to those who are still doomed for eternity.

ok, seriously How funny is that statement? hahaha!

Good night.

Life kinda sucks right now

Sorry if anyone is offended by my title, but man life is horrible right now. I have been out of one of my meds for a couple of days and man has the withdrawal kicked in with high style. I have been so emotional today and so dizzy and lightheaded. Crying at just about everything, and I have not used a "Real" cuss word in over 5 years, but man today at work it just kinda flew out of my mouth twice like it had never left my vocabulary in the first place. I have been in at 7 am just like everyday, but have worked over every night and tonight I didn't clock out until 6:15pm and I still wasn't done. I could have easily worked until 9 or 10 and still not been completely done. One would think that I have been loafing if I had that much work, but have you ever noticed how nice and easy life goes until you have only 3 working days left until you are off for a while. I just don't want to leave one stone unturned for my assistant and I am NOT getting much cooperation from others. I come home tired and hungry. So guess what, House not cleaned, nothing at all packed for Ukraine. Talk about procrastinating. It is after 8 now, we just finished dinner and I am so full I could vomit, but we are going to bed in less than an hour. When do I have time, I suppose the last 2 and 1/2 years should have been enough time but who wants to worry about something when you can just lay around depressed all of the time. :)
We still don't have our airline tickets. I have been assured by our travel agent all we need is our confirmation # and our passports, but I would like something in my hot little hand to prove it to me.
Ta ta for now!

Dossier Delivered to Ukraine

When we shipped our dossier to Ukraine last week, I fully expected it to be delivered Monday. I got online yesterday and tracked it and it had already been signed for by M. I don't know how it got from Belgium to Kramatorsk so quickly. So there is just one more reason for me to love DHL more and more. I will always use DHL over Fed Ex or UPS if I have my preferences. They are so quick and usually much cheaper than the other two. I haven't heard from M though to tell me that she received it and she usually lets us know when she gets the stuff we are sending over. I think I will have DH call tomorrow.
Yesterday I had to take my van in to the dealership to have them fix a couple of minor things. We drove both vehicles so we could all go shopping together and not sit there all day and wait for them to finish. We had a very good day. Wwe ate at McAllisters Deli, it was our first time, we really liked it and it was very reasonably priced. Anyway, after wards DH took me back to pick up my van. I took Whale and went to "Learning Express" it is such an awesome toy store. Well, after we had been there about 15 minutes or so, we made our way around the store and were standing by an upright metal rack (kind of like a coat rack) and hanging on this rack were 50-75 Stuffed cats and dogs attached to stiff cords so it would appear you were walking this stuffed animal. I had told Whale 2 times to quit running in and out of the middle of this rack. I was looking at these little activity books and I heard a loud crash. Well, you guessed it he knocked the whole rack over. Well, I was shocked and embarrassed and I yelled "whale", well not really whale, but his real name. I told him to sit on the floor and he was screaming and crying the whole time. Now this is not a huge store, so obviously everyone in there was staring at us. I picked up the rack and was putting all of the animals back on it. He is still screaming on the floor and I bent down to pick up a couple of boxes that had been knocked over when the rack hit them. Well, not only were the boxes on the floor, so was the completely broken in 1/2 wooden shelf they were sitting on. My heart was pounding out of my chest. My child is sitting on the floor screaming , I am panicking and there is a broken shelf. I picked up the shelf (it was about the size of the boxes that were sitting on it) and put the shelf between two of the boxes, grabbed whale and started walking out of the store. The owner of the store was coming our direction as we were walking out and said "awwww, it is ok" to Whale. HAHAHA! Wait until he sees his shelf, I am thinking it is not ok. I feel so guilty and I know I should pay for it, but we are so broke and we are going to Ukraine in a couple of weeks. I cannot pull any of the adoption money to buy a new display shelf right now. I feel horrible and guilty!
I suppose if I was really going to teach him a lesson I would take back all of the nemo birthday stuff and take the money to the guy at the store and make Whale give it to him, but I think I am not a good enough parent or bad enough parent however you want to look at it to make him suffer that way. That would completely devastate my boy and I can't take away his birthday. I did in my anger induced panic threaten it though. He cried "But mommy, I love my birthday, please don't take it" Would you? I am not. What would you all have done. Seriously, I have never been a parent, and I don't think todays episode was covered in my parenting guide book :(

The Dossier is finished

I came home from work today and in the mailbox was the most beautiful manila envelope I had ever seen. Complete with the black Sharpie words, Do Not Fold. Our fingerprint clearance letters. YAY!!! All I have to do is make copies of our passports, get them notarized and we can get everything apositilled. I am hoping to be able to do this by Friday.
I also heard from our translator. We are going to stay in her apartment while we are in Ukraine and she and her family will go to her Mother-in-laws home since she is at her summer home. Accomodations: Check! She was not able to talk to the director of the orphanage, he is on vacation until September 1st, so we will not be able to know T's sizes before we leave. However, our wonderful M said that there are new Malls in the Donesk region of Ukraine and we can go shopping there on one of the weekends we are there. I love shopping for kids clothes, and it will really be the first time I get to go for my Daughter :)
I have been listening to the "Pimsleur Learn Russian" at work and I tell you what, Russian is not an easy language to learn. You have to twist and turn your tongue and then flip it upside down just to say hello. I did learn that to say Very well, you say "AW Chen Kharasho". By the time I get to Ukraine I just may know a few words. Who knows, miracles happen everyday.

Goodnight!

Booked the Flight. . .

We booked our flight! Yay!! Our original itinerary had us going from Munich, Germany to Heathrow in London and on to Washington Dulles Airport on UNITED!!! Fat chance that would happen. I called and told our TA to find us a new flight. He found one and it is almost the exact flight we took when we went to get Whale almost 4 years ago. So that is out of the way, called the State police today and she said we should have our letters by next week. Then DH can go downtown and get the Apostilles and we can have it sent off to Ukraine by the end of next week. Well, in my perfect world anyway.
DH had to go to the Dr. yesterday he has strep throat. Our Kitten that we got a couple of weeks ago was spayed last week. I think I mentioned that, anyway, last night I was looking at her incision and it looked like it was about ready to burst open because her belly is so FAT. Well, DH and Whale took her to the vet today and the vet decided they should do X-rays on her because her gut was abnormally large and she gained 1.1 pounds in one week!!! A KITTEN for heaven's sake. The Vet says that a pound in a kitten is a lot, but not unheard of. Well, $134 later she said Kisa is fine and she is doing great. Well, Hello! that $134 would have nicely paid a DHL fee to Ukraine. My goodness, it is a never ending blackhole sucking all of the money out of every account we can find a dime or two stuck in. Not just the cat, but life. Doctor here, credit card, there and there, and there, oh yeah and over there. . . . . . . . . I went to fill up my minivan with gas yesterday, $72 to fill it and it use to be $34 or $35, unreal. We are going to the poorhouse via the fast track.
Also on the adoption front, our wonderful M emailed today and said she was able to confirm with the SDA that we do in fact want our appointment date. Do they really think that after this long we wouldn't put off anything to be there on the 6th. I would put off Chemo if I had cancer to be in Ukraine to bring T home.
Ok, the last thing before I go for the night. We sat down to dinner tonight and I remembered we had not picked up the mail. So I had to run to the mailbox in the middle of dinner to check for the fingerprint clearance letters. You know just in case the letter fairy magically dropped them in our mailbox. Well I got a new magazine. I bought it from my niece back in February for a school project. Anyway, I opened it up and I said "Oh cool, I got one of my new magazine's" DH said "What is it?" me, all excited and everything said "Aquarium Fish Magazine". DH "What?, why would you possibly get that? Why would anyone get that?" ummmmmm, "Because I like my fish and I think that other people in this world do to"
What is wrong with this man, I mean good grief if it isn't Nascar, World History, or some other crap like that, we can't enjoy it. Give me a break. I like my fish!

Type to ya later!

Nemo, Nemo, Nemo

Two very significant things happened today, well to me they were anyway.
First, I came to the realization that I only have 2 and 1/2 weeks of work left before I have to be ready to travel. My assistant is going to be doing my job, but she also is a floater in the office. Therefore, they need to get someone in the office like this week to learn her job so she can spend at least a week with me. There are some things she has never done and will have to do them while I am gone. Scary!
Second, We have decided to have Whale's birthday before we go to Ukraine. Not really fair to him to have to share his birthday with T when she gets home. So two days before we leave we are having a HUGE Nemo party at the Park with so many friends and family. We went to Factory Card Outlet today and I spent $75 on Nemo party things for this birthday and all of them will be thrown in the trash at some point. I tell you these themes for birthdays are a real racquet. Spend $4.99 for 16 Nemo plates that will be thrown away or get the plain old Chinet in white and get 50 for $6 or so. Well, then of course we had to have the tablecloth, napkins, stickers, invitations and Thank you cards to match. I did get Plain dinner plates, cups and streamers. That is another thing, Streamers, Nemo = $2.99 for about 50 Ft, Plain blue and orange $.79 for about 100 Ft. He is just so thrilled about this party and has talked about it non-stop for two days. Forget the fact that 2 days after that we are getting on a plane to bring home his baby sister. I guess to a 5 year old his birthday is more important than anything else.

We talked to our Translator today, she is hoping we will be done by September 28th. Meanwhile, I am thinking we have to be done by then as T's birthday is October 4th and she will spend her 3rd birthday at HOME, with her family. She said she cannot be sure since there is no idea what is going to happen at court. I personally think that since our translator had to hunt down the birthmother 3 times and have her sign and notarize the abandonment letter 3 different times they could take that into consideration and waive the 10 day wait. I mean it has been 2 and 1/2 years and not a single soul has claimed her what makes them think that during these 10 days something different is going to happen. We were also told we could not start any adoption paperwork until the 10 days are over, which just adds time to our stay that is not necessary. When we adopted in 2003 that part went relatively quickly anyway, it is the weekends that slow us down.
I need to get cleaning, I could clean every waking moment until we leave and still not have a clean house. We are all pigs here :(
TaTa for now, oh speaking of TaTa, I watched DOG the Bounty Hunter last night and man o' man does his wife Beth have some big ole Tata's, my goodness. Her wedding dress was so pretty, but good grief the boob's were so big. They were like a train wreck, you know you shouldn't stare but you just couldn't look away.

Sorry, I guess I should have called this entry "Random Thoughts" :)

A little calmer now. . .

Ok, I got a hold of our Travel agent and he is wonderful. Here is his info if you are ever searching for a great travel agent.
Lonnie Rowland
President - Rowland Enterprises
4817 Cape Hope Pass
Hermitage, TN. 37076
Phone: 615-566-9085
Fax: 615-250-0530
Email: travel@rowlandent.com
Web: www.rowlandent.com

We are getting together our travel arrangements. Our house sitter will be here. I hope he loves our kitties, and fish. They will be sleeping with him at night. Well, the kitties, not the fish :O)
We are only waiting on our State police letters and we are ready to go as far as our dossier. I posted a picture of the map of Ukraine. We will be traveling first to Kiev, then by overnight train to Kramatorsk, which has the little box around it. I just hope Whale does ok while on the train all night and with the nasty toilets, EWWWW! He will be spending his 5th birthday in his home country meeting his baby sister for the first time. I am so excited and overwhelmed with all that is happening. One month from today and we could be meeting our daughter for the first time face to face. We have seen pictures of her since she was 6 months old, but now she is almost 3 years old and she is coming home. We will see the beauty of Ukriane in the fall. I am actually scared and nervous this time. I was not like this with Whale. I think it is the fact that we have seen her and grown to love her over the past 2 years and now she will be a reality. Wow!!!
There is so much to do arrange bill payments while we are gone (yuck), get our prescriptions filled, make sure we pack all we need, cleaning the house top to bottom, and on and on and on. Ok, I am tired just reading all we have to do. :) I sure hope my DH brings me a Venti Frappachino home tomorrow morning, I need it. Oh and by the way, my favorite Starbucks drink is a Venti Mocha Frap with a shot. mmmmmmmmmmm! Yummy!
Night for now.

WE GOT OUR DATE!!!!!!!!

We got a letter today via UPS from Ukraine and they told us our appointment will be on September 6th, 2006. Finally after 2 and 1/2 years we are bringing T home to be with her brother. WHOOOO HOOOO!!! I am so excited I can hardly breathe. We have so much to do now, the first being cleaning our pit of a house. That will take the full month we have before we go. I am telling you it is a mess, and I just can't seem to rid it of the clutter. Ok, much to do for now, I will post again soon.

Dossier is getting closer

Well, I came home from work yesterday and the homestudy was in the mailbox. Whoo Hoo!!! We only need our State Police Clearance letters, and I ask the lady in charge if they could put a rush on it, but who knows. So if you all will pray that these come through quickly I would appreciate it. Apparently your paperwork has to be translated and updated at least two weeks before your appointment if you go in September and a full month if you travel later than September. I think we have done a pretty good job getting ours together so quickly.
On to other things, our new baby kitten, Kisa, was gone last night. She had to stay overnight at the vet's office. She is getting spayed today, poor baby. Whale(I will call my son this in this blog) missed her and was sad.
Ok, I have to go get ready for work now. I will post again soon.

First Post to my new blog

Hi, this is my first post as you could see from the title. We are adopting from Ukraine and have been in this process for just over 28 months. Nothing has really gone our way throughout this adoption. Some have said that God is telling us we are not suppose to go get our daughter, but I tell them that he is just testing us to see if we will stick with him. We are, by the way. We had everything ready and we were registered, ready to go and they shut down adoptions. GRRR!!! Our little girl, who is our son's full bio sibling became available on April 7th 2006 for international Adoption and the old NAC shut down on March 31st. We are now in the process of updating all of our documents, and I do mean all of them.
A little more about my wonderful family. I have a wonderful, Patient, Loving husband and a very magnificent son. Our son calls himself Whale based on the fact that he fell in love with all things oceanic from "Finding Nemo", so when people ask him his name he will happily tell them Whale and they look at us like we have cursed him for life with this name. We have two cats, Abby is our first cat, she is a manx and she is really short and really really really fat. We just got our sweet baby, Kisa, this weekend. She is a tiny little gray tabby. We took her to the vet yesterday and she weighs all of 2.5 #'s. Abby is not really liking the new little baby, but we are hoping she will start really soon. Well, really mean as I cannot stand the hissing, growling and batting all night long as I try to sleep.
I really don't have much to say, but my dear friend Leanna swears I need a blog so here it is. I will post as we get our dossier updated and let everyone know when we get our appointment. Please everyone pray for a September appointment. We really need it to be then or we will lose our housesitter as he is getting married in October. Oh, speaking of updating documents, I got my medical form done today, so all we need now are State Police Clearance Letters, Homestudy and all that goes along with that, and DH's (dear husband) employment letter. Then we are ready to Apostille and send via DHL to Ukraine (AGAIN). Thanks to everyone reading if you have made it this far:)