Reality Check 101

Too hot to do anything...including packing!

Here is a lovely shot of our a/c thermostat this morning. Not a good day for us....our a/c died last night. And it is still HOT as blazes here in the deep south. No can do without a/c in this town!! And even worse.....the whole unit has to be replaced :-( Wonder where that $2,000 is going to come from?!?! Oh well. We will have a nice new airconditioner to come back to from China. Of cuorse while we're gone, the temps will moderate & we won't need it! But this morning as I was grumping about.....I thought of Anna. I am quite certain she has not had the luxury of air conditioning in her 26 months. And Nanning temps are almost identical to ours. I felt guilty complaining....we are SO fortunate and we need to remember that.

You might be a dingbat if......

.....when your travel agency requests a picture of your family and you quickly email the following picture.....
I hope I am better at parenting than I am at sending email attachments!!!

And for those of you who are going "huh?".....NO, that is NOT a picture of Roger and I! I mistakenly attached the photo of Roger's parents (who are in their 80s!) My poor travel agent had the hardest time figuring out what to do! For some strange reason, something kept nagging at me to check the email photos I had sent....needless to say, I was laughing hysterically when I saw what I had done!! I promptly sent the proper photo (not that we look that much younger :-) to Sue. She called me a few minutes later....laughing so hard she couldn't even breathe! She said she and her partner had been cracking up at the original photo & didn't know what to do! She knew China allowed us old fogeys to adopt, but she was quite taken aback! She got quite a kick out of it, so I'm glad I made somebody's day!!

I know they allow older parents to adopt from China, but????

"Muller, Party of Four"

26 more days and our "Journey to our Mei Mei - Anna" will be complete.

Our flight arrangements have been finalized and now we are firmly on the path to complete our little family. We will depart New Orleans for Beijing on Wednesday, October 4th. We will receive Anna 26 days from now on Sunday, October 8th. Then after much sightseeing and adventure in China, we will depart Guangzhou on Thursday, October 19th for the long trek home.

It has been a busy day with all the travel arrangements, but everything is falling into place. And even though it is a few more weeks until we get Anna, some good news is that Roger & I still get to go to the Bonnie Raitt/Keb'Mo concert on Sept 27th (we have had almost front row tickets for months now :-)

Lots to do still, but at least the anticipation and hellish waiting game is now over and we can focus on the real-live time line. The chorus of that REM song "Its the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)" keeps going thru my head. (Not all the other heavy, weird lyrics, just the chorus :-)

So we'll just enjoy life as we know it for the next 26 days and look forward to the incredible transformation to "Muller, Party of Four".

Future Food Network Star??

Natalie's favorite TV channel is the Food Network. She really loves it and is always wanting to cook something up. Mom gave her an electric mixer for her birthday last month so Natalie decided to put it to good use by baking Grammy a Grandparents Day cake to serve tomorrow.

That's alot of concentration!





Ta Da!!!

The calm before the storm...

An eerie calm had taken over me this morning. Actually it happened last night as I read an email from my cyber friend Debbie...(LiLi's mom) LiLi and Anna were together in Guiping and then also together in Mother's Love. Anyway, I've been trying to find a way to deal with my tension, frustration and grief at not having received TA yet. Debbie shared with me what helped her. She said she finally put LiLi's needs first.....as in perhaps LiLi needed more time in China before the life-changing event. So I started thinking about Anna. I thought about how she might need more time to heal her heart....both literally and figuratively. It was amazing....the calm that literally washed over me after I absorbed that email. It was really weird. And even more weird feeling this morning as I was getting ready for work....I felt so calm....and I started composing this email. I'm so gratefuly to my friends who have helped me get thru each miserable day.

So anyway, I'm driving Natalie to school this morning and REALLY enjoying the new peaceful, relaxed me, listening to Bear in the Big Blue House & singing along with Pip and Pop..."L-O-V-E Loooovveee, just can't get enouuuuugh"....(gotta hear otters rapping this song :-) My cell phone rings. Uh oh. OMG! It is a call from Atlanta I see! YES! It was Young calling from our agency....we just got our travel approval!! So much for my calm :-) I was a complete blubbering idiot & couldn't talk thru the tears....plus I was just driving up to the carline & cell phone use us strictly verboten...don't want to run over any kiddies! So I told Young I'd call her back.... So yes, we do actually finally have that treasured piece of paper and we should have a consulate appt. date on Monday. We're hoping for mid-October, so if that happens, we should depart for China sometime the last week of September. It is just amazing how good I feel today! I'll keep you posted on our flurry of travel arrangements that will be made next week. L-O-V-E Looooovveee :-)

Another day in Bluesville...

Another day....another day of endless agonizing waiting for our TA.

What's a girl gotta do around here to get her travel approval???? Shop?...Done that till AX is about to cut me off! Eat chocolate?....Done that too as I plow thru a bag of Hershey's yummy dark chocolate treats..... Plead?....Done that also to no avail. Pray?....well that goes without saying, but still my TA is not here. I spent the weekend shopping, organizing, packing Anna's suitcase, painting the fireplace in our bedroom. I guess I can pass some more time by painting the fireplace in the girls' bedroom.....maybe tonight.

At this rate I'll have to unpack all of Anna's lovely summer frocks and repack with a fall selection (which would require SHOPPING....since I don't have anything for fall yet! hehe).

sigh.

(I'm in) Labor Day

Today was a fun day as we got to see our dear friends who were in town visiting. Natalie spent the day playing with Isabel, her Jiujiang sister. And she also got to spent time with Isabel's new sister, Abigail. They all got along great and Natalie was a very attentive friend to Abigail...I wish I had been able to get some pictures of them holding hands everywhere we went. Abigail and Anna are almost the same age and oddly enough, they originated in orphanages about 45 miles apart in Guangxi! We are hoping for a homeland trip when all 4 girls are old enough....it is amazing the bond the girls will always have.

We all went to lunch at Stix and had a great time at the hibachi grill.....those chefs are amazing! Then a little retail therapy....TA REALLY needs to come quickly.....I can't keep doing all this retail therapy! hahahahaha So today's purchases included a couple of cute jammie sets from Old Navy, a(nother) denim skirt for Natalie at Gymboree and a precious Gymboree blanket just for Anna. It is really cute and bigger than our other Gymboree blankets, so it is a perfect toddler size. And Donna got an adorable pink & purple dress for Anna (matches the one she got for Abigail) We plan on having all 4 girls pics taken in matching outfits the next time they are in town.

Let's see what next week brings!! I want my TA and I want it Tuesday! Complete with a CA for sometime in September. That really isn't too much to ask. Reallllly. sigh.