Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Chaos

This has been a pretty busy week, however, I know that next week will be much worse! Tomorrow I have a final exam for my class (I have been studying since Saturday) and next Wednesday will be my last class so I will have to present a case study about the student I have been tutoring for the last 8 weeks. Report cards are due on Monday, but this weekend I have to be "trained" to be an adoptive parent so I need to get them done tonight if I want to stay ahead of things. The training will take the entire weekend, good thing my parents live close by so that they can watch Travis for the weekend. (Does that make me a "bad adoptive parent"? I guess I will find out!) Then next week I will have parent teacher conferences all week long. The good part about that is that we are doing student led conferences. It is great because I don't really have to do much, the kids do it all. We get portfolios ready and the kids lead the whole thing. The parents love it because they can see first hand how their child is doing in second grade. The kids are so proud of themselves, it is a win-win situation! There will just be many long days ahead. The good part is that I will get 3 weeks off as opposed to the 2 weeks everybody else gets off. Next week I need to make sure I have all of the sub plans done and then also make sure I have all of my plans ready for the following week when I will be back. I am sure I will be a zombie for part of that week due to jet lag, I hope it isn't too bad! Other than all of that, things are going fine here. Daryle sent off for for VISA's on Monday so we are just waiting to get them back. Once all of this school stuff is over then I can concentrate on our trip and getting all of that in order. We have to bring "gifts" for different people, that alone is starting to stress me out. You should see the list of "suggestions", it is kind of crazy. One suggested item is a blow up air mattress, 22 inches....um, not exactly sure how to fit that in my suitcase...I think I will focus on the suggestions of towles, watches and leather gloves.....

Friday, February 20, 2009

Keeping Busy

I can hardly believe how fast this past week has gone! We got our flights in order and now we are working on the VISA's. Thank goodness we have a few weeks to get them taken care of! There is much more paperwork than I remember from the last time. We figured it must be to do with homeland security type things. For instance, one question askes for your last two employers...excuding your current one... along with the address, phone number and supervisors name! Well, Daryle has been at his job for over 10 years, his two prior jobs aren't even there anymore. Oh well. Anyway, there were quite a few quesions similar to that, just crazy things that you think "Huh? Why do they need that??" Now we have to go get our VISA pictures taken. I figure we might as well get a few extras for the next two VISAS. I am pretty sure we won't have this cushion of time again!

This weekend I will be busy studying for my final exam and putting my final project together as well as working on report cards and grading. I know, I know you are thinking how jealous you are of me!! LOL

Travis and I were productive this afternoon, he got his first library card! We finally got a new library in town, it is BEAUTIFUL! They have a wonderful children's section. It was well worth the wait (we only waited only 4 years .... but who's counting??). They have a cool story time area and lots of big comfy chairs to sit in while you read your books. Twice a month you can go for story time at 7 pm and wear your pajamas. Travis is anxious to try that out! I think it sounds like a lot of fun for the kids. Hopefully we will get around to doing that soon.

Thanks to all who voted in our poll, but we are still undecided on a name. I have to meet this little guy in person and then we will know what his name should be. (I can only hope it will be that easy!)

Four weeks from tomorrow we will be on our way!! I can hardly believe it, I think it will be here in the blink of an eye!

Monday, February 16, 2009

The flights are booked!

We got our flights to Moscow booked this weekend! We leave Saturday, March 21 and return Saturday, March 28. On the way over we fly from here to Atlanta, then direct from Atlanta to Moscow. On the way home we fly from Moscow to New York and then home. I am so glad to only have to switch planes once, we weren't so lucky the last time! Also, it worked out so well using the Skymiles from my friend in South Carolina!! Of course, we had to go through some red tape and finally had to get a sympathetic person on the phone to be more accomodating, but in the end we got the ticket and it was far cheaper than paying full price. When I went in to schedule Daryle's ticket we were able to get seats together except for the leg from New York. I think by then we won't even care about that any more!!

We are still undecided about a name, be sure to cast your vote! LOL

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Who said Birthday wishes don't come true?

Hip, hip, hooray!!! We got the call about our travel dates late this afternoon. Literally, I got the during my staff meeting and didn't know until I got back to my room at 4. I immediately called her, got the information, and then I had to be at class by 5!! It was a whirlwind evening, to say the least! Thank goodness my class got out early so I could have time to post this before bedtime. At first I was a bit disappointed because we aren't going until March 21 and we will return March 28. (We will make it back the day before Travis' birthday, thank goodness!) But after thinking about it, I think this is for the best. We will be gone the week AFTER my spring break, bummer! But, with 5 weeks notice we should get good flights, good accomodations and we will be able to save some money on getting our VISA's because we won't have to expedite them. Plus, now I can get a bunch of things done (like our taxes for one and painting bedrooms for another) before we go over there. Of course we would like it to be sooner, but at least we have a DATE and now we can make some plans. I know March 21 will be here before we know it. YIPPPEEE!!!!!! Moscow, here we come!!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

No birthday wishes coming true today...

I think that about sums things up! However, in spite of that, I still had a really nice birthday. This morning Travis came into my room with a red rose, that was priceless!! At school, my class brought me flowers, balloons, bath things and peanut M&M's (my favorite!). It was such a surprise and so very thoughtful of all of them.

Here is a picture from last Sunday when we celebrated my birthday with my parents.

Tomorrow is another day.....

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Birthday Wishes

Unfortunately, we are still waiting for our travel dates. However, tomorrow (Wed) is my birthday. Perhaps if I cross my fingers really tight my wish will come true?????

Friday, February 6, 2009

Wondering

Yes, it is true, another week has come and gone and yet still no word on when we get to go meet our son. (Name is still undecided....be sure to cast your vote!) You would think it wouldn't be so difficult, that everybody in Russia would be saying, "Get these parents over here ASAP to meet their son! We just can't let any of them wait another day!!!" But then reality hits. International adoptions just don't work that way. It is the sad, ugly truth. I know it doesn't seem fair to keep all of us in suspense. The only thing that helps me through this is that I know things happen in their own time. We waited far longer than this for Travis, and the wait was so worth it in the end. I know it will be the same way again. It is still hard, but at least we are all keeping super busy so that we don't have too much time to dwell on what isn't happening! As if we weren't already busy enough, I got an e-mail today from our agency telling us that somebody from the Minnesota office will be coming out for the last weekend in February to do the "adoptive parent training classes". It is from 6:30-9:30 on Friday, 8-12 and 1:30-5 on Saturday and 12:30-4 on Sunday! (I still have a hard time grasping the fact that we have been there, done that, but yet we still have to go through these classes!) When am I supposed to do any laundry and clean my house not to mention do my homework, grade papers, etc.,, etc., etc.,? On top of that, we were hoping to be traveling around that time. Who knows what will happen, time will tell! For now I am looking forward to getting a lot of things done around the house and hoping to get ahead on some of my coursework. Travis and Daryle have "boy plans" for tomorrow, so I plan to take full advantage of an empty house!! Who knows when it will happen again? Have a good weekend everybody. Pray we get our travel dates soon!!