17 Months of Waiting

Chinese symbol means patience! It's now been 17 months of waiting for a referral. Nothing to report. 17 was my volleyball number, so maybe it will be my lucky month. When I last spoke with my agency a few weeks ago, we really hadn't moved up the list due to no baby girl referrals last month. But, with International adoption anything is possible. Sometimes they get none and sometimes they get a bunch. I never dreamed it would take this long. I guess we are supposed to learn patience, but it is very trying at times. The longer I wait, the more broke I become as I just keep buying so many darling girl clothes. The boys think the adoption will never happen, so we try not to discuss it with them. So, we continue to wait and dream about getting our own little girl.

My mom was transferred out of the hospital to a rehab center yesterday. I don't think she'll be there long, but who knows? I am trying to get things in order so I can go back when she gets home. I will need to go and do some cleaning and other things for her.

Stinky Skunk Problems

I made it home a few days ago. Mom is still in the hospital, but will probably be released soon. I am so happy she didn't suffer paralysis or other major problems from her stroke. I will visit her again after she is out of the hospital. It is so nice to be home. I missed my kids so much.

Switching gears: for the last couple of months, something has been getting into our garbage can. We try to keep it bungy corded shut so that this pesky animal won't get in it. We thought it was a racoon. Last night my husband and I went to see "Mama Mia." It was a much needed date night. When we came home, we saw the garbage can open. I started putting the bungy cord on it and thought I heard something. Both Gerry and I listened, but thought it was just us moving the can. Today when Gerry went to open the garbage can, there was a full size skunk in there. He closed the lid and didn't know what to do. Thankfully it didn't spray him. He devised a plan.

1. Get a long 2 x 4 and knock the garbage can over.

2. Let the skunk run away.

This is how the plan went.

1. Knocked the can over with the 2 x 4

2. The lid stayed on, but the skunk sprayed really bad.

3. Open the lid, wait 10 minutes and then the skunk confidently walks under our deck.

Last week Jeremiah said he saw a skunk run under the deck. He was right. It lives there. We called animal control and they don't handle skunks. If anyone has any ideas on how to get rid of this stinky problem, please let us know.

Mom's Update

Yesterday at noon I was headed out of my mom's hospital room when the cardiologist was headed in. So, I paused to listen to what he had to say. Bad news. My mom needed a pace maker due to heart stopping the night before 14 times for 4 seconds at a time. Then the heart would restart.
Needless to say I decided not to drive back to Colorado. Today she had a pacemaker installed. She also has a blood clot in her leg, so a special blood filter was installed in her groin to catch blood clots that originate in her legs. She also had a angiogram - which means dye injected into her veins near her head. Then a scope was put in to view if her brain is having spasms.
All of these procedures took about 5 hrs, so it has been a day!
So far everything went well and she is doing well. Keeping my fingers crossed! Goodnight.

Internal Struggle

The last few days have been really hard. I hate seeing my mom struggle so much. So far the news is pretty good. The CT scan shows a pretty significant brain bleed, but she doesn't have many symptoms. She has a bad headache, and gets confussed especially when trying to remember names. Her balance is good and she can talk. Pretty incredible for having had a stroke.
The dr. says she will probably recover almost fully. They think she will be in the hospital for about another week. After lots of contemplation, I think I will drive home tomorrow. Mom is in good hands in the hospital and I need to go take care of my family. My brothers live here and my mom has a wonderful support system through church, family and friends. I think I will be more useful if I come back after she is out of the hospital then sitting here staring at her. This is a hard decision as I feel so torn. I hate leaving her, but have a good feeling that she will recover from this episode. However, I am leary for what lies ahead as she still has a chest full of blood clots from previous problems, heart problems, and diabeties.

My Mom's in the Hospital

What a scary turn of events. Yesterday morning my mom called about 8 a.m. I thought it was odd. I had just got 2 of my kids off to their first day of school and was trying to get Christian out the door. My mom called and just kept saying over and over how sick she was and what a terrible headache she had. I didn't know what I could do living so far away from her. I called Kameron, my brother to see if he could check on her, but couldn't get ahold of him.

So I called my mom's neighbor Linda to have her check on her. Pretty soon I got the phone call that Linda was taking my mom to the hospital because she was pretty incoherant. Then I got a call from Jenn my sister in law saying my mom was being life flighted.

I drove the 6 hour drive from Colorado to Utah in about 5 hours. So far she is stable and holding her own. She has had a stroke with blood on her brain.

Fun Weekend

Today I met an interesting woman at church. She came in and sat by me and I talked with her for a while after church. Somehow we starting talking about adoption and she had adopted all 4 of her children (now grown). I found her to be very interesting and she gave me her card to her blog. You've got to check it out - www.suzyshepard.com. This woman has had a lot of adversity in her life. Every day she looks for something good around her and blogs about it. The thoughts and pictures she comes up with are amazing!

On another note, we went to our church's camp out this weekend. We are fortunate to have a Winnebago. We love camping (luxury style). What a great time we had. Christian (age 11) went on his first hike as a Boy Scout and some hike it was. They went 5 miles in a straight line over mountains and cliffs. I was so proud of him. However, it's not to say that we didn't spy on him on our four wheelers. We came across them twice on the trail we went on. The second time we offered water to the party of 7 and they were very happy to have more water. It's exciting to see my boys growing up, but with new adventures come more worries. I was reassured to see one of the boy scout leaders on a ridge watching them with his binoculars to make sure they didn't get too off course, while another leader followed behind them in case of any problems. As I watched this, I thought about how God is also watching all of us and is there if we get off course. He sends different people into our lives along the way to give us wisdom, friendship and comfort when we need it the most. I'm thankful for all of my unlikely friends I have met along the way that have helped me when I have needed them most!

16 Months of Waiting

Today is the 16th month of waiting for our referral. I am really starting to get antsy for any kind of news. I've been checking everyone's Taiwain adoption blogs to see if there has been any referrals. We should be receiving a monthly checkin call any day and I find myself staring at the phone, trying to make it ring. I think I've been pretty patient up until this point. Now, it's really starting to get to me. Perhaps watching the Olympics in China is really making me long for my darling daughter. Hopefully we will hear something soon.

So what have we done to pass the time away? Well, with 4 boys there is never a dull moment. Yesterday we spent the day at the pool and are sporting some nice sunburns. Today we are getting chores done around the house. Gerry and I have a business dinner tonight. For me, I find blogging to be such a distraction from wondering about the adoption. So, I work on my websites and I enjoy them so much that I sometimes have to tear myself away from them.

The kids have really figured out how to wrap grandma and grandpa around there fingers. Living next door has it's advantages. They sneak away to grandma's house once or twice a day for Popsicles. They get their sweet tooth fed and the grandparents get their bonding time.