Scanning Guns and Other Malfunctions

Today I finished the process of registering for gifts. I was actually not going to register initially. How was I to know what I needed? I'm a first time parent of a toddler who is not a "normal" toddler because he's been living in an orphanage for over a year. Anyway, I've done some web surfing, talked to other parents, and finally gained enough confidence to make some baby supply suggestions. We are past some stages. I must admit I was grateful to not have to wade through the multiple types of bottles and pacifiers. We got to browse through all the fun toys. JJ helped me at Target and BabiesRUs last weekend, but I was alone today at Walmart. I am pretty sure it was the worst job anyone has ever done at registering for baby gifts. Okay, that makes me sound pretty silly, but I hadn't ate in over six hours, I really wanted to be home instead, and I apparently forget important things without someone to remind me. (Insert my dad's comment about "oblivious" here. Thanks Dad!) I did not put any cool toys on this registry. Or books, which are super important to me. I walked right past the umbrella strollers and didn't scan any. Speaking of scanning, it took me the first half of the time just to get that ridiculous scanning thingy to work. I used to work at Walmart, but apparently they have changed the technology in the last five years. Needless to say, the other registries are probably a much better reflection of a variety of things we actually need and some things that would just be nice to have. Just in case you are super curious, we already have a crib, pack-n-play, and a carseat (thanks Mom and Cheryl!). We have one shower in the works with our church/community and I'm pretty sure our co-workers will get something going soon. We know we are tremendously blessed to have so much support from our family and friends. Thanks in advance. You guys are fantastic!

Hooray for Oklahoma

We moved to Texas over four years ago, but I still miss Oklahoma. What a great state! And they came through again. Our Oklahoma documents went out in the mail on Monday and they came back with lovely apostilles attached today (Saturday). That may not seem too fast, but most of that of time was in transit. I called to check on the documents on Friday and they had been processed on Wednesday and put in the mail on Thursday. Yeah! All the Texas documents are now complete and on their way to Austin for Texas apostilles. I will probably be calling the first of next week in an attempt to speed up the process. We have extra incentive. Our agency case worker let us know if the complete dossier can arrive in their offices this week there is a chance we could have a court date the middle of April!!! Now we pray for a miracle for the post office. =)

A Loss for Words

I don't know if I can accurately say how I feel. All through this process there have been some things that caused me more concern than others. High on the list of things that concern me was how to handle our child's interactions with family and friends once he came home. JJ and I have done and continue to do our education. We are learning, even though it is super tough to think about at times, how our little guy will need extra support and attention when he comes home. Visiting him for that day in the baby home did nothing to alleviate my fears that we will have a bunch of work ahead of us when it comes to attachment and bonding. These things are hard for me to explain to my family and friends though. How do I say, "I really don't want more than three people at a time in the house during the first two weeks" without sounding ungrateful for all the support these people have provided us? How do I explain, "We really don't want him to be held by too many people" when those people already love and care about him? I know in my head the perfectly logic reasons for some the choices that are ahead of us, but I don't know how to express them to others. I would love to make everyone happy, but not only is that impossible, it is unreasonable and it is not in the best interest of our child. Ugh! This is everything I have, if I am truly honest, worried about from the beginning. Our child is not a newborn that we are bringing home from the hospital. He has not had an intact family his whole life. He might not even know what "family" means. We need to be his sole caretakers, the ones to meet his needs, so he can come to understand that we are capable of being trusted. He needs to see us, his parents, as safe and important people. Maybe I am overreacting. Maybe I'm already being too protective and he is not even home yet. JJ and I joke about the Golden Child, but the reality is that our child is different and our parenting will have to be different and I am at a loss as to the best way to explain those things. I guess writing this might help. Or it might hurt. I'm not even sure if this is the right way to express myself, but I feel I need to put the words down somehow.

One State Down...

Since we live so close to Oklahoma and so much of our lives have been spent in Oklahoma some of our documents were notarized there. Today all the Oklahoma documents were finished! I put them in the mail and they should arrive in Oklahoma City tomorrow. I'm not sure how long the apostille process will take in Oklahoma. I've sent a more than one batch for Texas, so I have an estimate of that time frame, but not Oklahoma. Does anybody know??
More good news. Our background checks arrived!! Whoop, whoop! Now we just need to get these documents notarized and get the last notary page from our psychological evaluations. Then the Texas papers will be complete as well. I am really praying that everything will be off to the secretary of state by the end of the week.

No Voice = More Gets Done Without Me

So, I have something (allergies, sinus infection, you name it) that is not making me feel too sick, but I cannot talk. Well, I can squeak out things and whisper things, but nothing I say is very clear. I was not going to miss work, but I wasn't able to get too much done. I did enjoy pantomiming things and using the sign language that we've incorporated into our classroom. My aides are marvelous and they stepped up when I just couldn't communicate. They actually held down the fort the last few hours of the day. I am actually feeling somewhat sick and I wasn't very productive, so I went home early. Being the Friday before Spring Break, the kids were going to play outside, watch "Jack and The Beanstalk", and eat some yummy letter Ss snacks along with special treats their parents sent. My aides pretty much sent me out the door to rest. Thankfully blogging does not require using your voice. JJ got so much done today. Have I ever mentioned that I have the best husband in the world? Well, for the record, I do. Last night, for example. as this mystery sickness was getting worse, he got home late from a baseball game and still managed to cook and serve supper, take out the trash, and bring the dogs inside without any complaints! Amazing. Today, following a tip we got from a fellow adopting family, he called the FBI and got things moving on our background checks. He called the doctor to remind them about the paperwork that needs signed. He printed the missing pieces to an adoption grant. That was all in the morning. He left around lunch time for a track meet. I am tremedously blessed!! Maybe we are seeing the light at the end of this paperwork tunnel. We have a week off ahead of us. I am excited to get some things done around the house, put the finishing touches (stamps) on the paperwork, and maybe see some family and/or friends. Oh, and I would like to be able to talk again, but maybe more things happen when I am silent. A humbling but needed lesson.

Testing

Today was a day for taking tests. The fourth graders, who are our next door neighbors at school, were taking a big state writing test today. In an effort to keep our class quiet and out of their way, we took a walk outside to identify living and nonliving things. This was a lesson that fit better with last week's theme, but we never got it accomplished last week and I really enjoy this lesson, so we made it work today. The students took pictures with our class camera and I made a book we can all "read" for the rest of the school year.
After school JJ and I went to the doctor to get some testing of our own finished. Turns out we did need to update those labs. I really should have anticipated this and just done the re-tests the day of our physical, but I really don't enjoy needles and I wanted to avoid any unnecessary medical expenses. We got our blood drawn and our x-rays done. Our doctor won't be in her office until next Wednesday to redo the paperwork and sign off that we don't have any diseases, so we wait some more. We are still waiting on the background check as well. That made the receptionist at the doctor's office feel much better. She was very apologetic as she explained the doctor's work schedule, but I put her at ease when I told her this wasn't the last document we needed. We are getting closer though. Slowly, but surely.