How can it get any crazier

Highlights of the week:
1. Renovating our condo while tenant is away
2. Frannie in daycare all week.
3. Offer made on our house in Tucker -- not a great offer so we counter-offered.
4. Somewhere between the US and China, our Visa was lost
5. I had a dr's appointment for my crazy thyroid and I've learned a true "magic pill" does not exist. Dang it!
6. My hands are blistered, my back is aching and I think I'm still feeling the ole' fiberglass itching.
7. Frannie is cute as ever and I looooove it when she laughs hard.
8. I'm packing Gracie's bag regardless of that dang Visa crap.
9. Darcy is back from China with Baby Michael, yahoo!
10. Donna comes to the rescue as usual.
11. School starts next Monday -- oooops, I mean Wednesday, thanks to Governor Sonny. (we were ordered to take 2 days without pay to save him money for Cash for Clunkers or Government Ketchup testers or some other vitally important program)
12. God is good and despite all my whining, I am happy to have a baby on the way, a good husband, lots of real estate, a back that still works and food on the table (too much, I know).

Dad Gum it!

My friend Lucy told me about a recent article in the NY Times about a woman and her family traveling to China to adopt a special needs child. Nice, right? Read the comments at the bottom:

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/bringing-home-an-adopted-girl-with-special-needs/

If people ask me about Frannie, where she came from, why we chose China, etc., I am usually thinking "educate them, don't be annoyed" but occasionally I want to slowly and methodically pull people's teeth out with a pair of pliers. How cynical do you have to be to give this woman THIS MUCH hassle?

Personally, we adopted from China because I have had female problems in the past. Personal enough for ya? Want to know a lot of details about that? We chose China and NOT the US because it might have been the END of me if a birth Mom changed her mind in the delivery room. Is that reason okay with you? We chose special needs because Frannie's missing thumb is not a big deal and YES, we felt horrible looking over the list of children and thinking "nope, that disability would be too hard -- nope not that one, no, not that one...." it felt HORRIBLE to mentally reject these kids. But God had a reason. Gracie will not be quite as EASY as Frannie. She will grieve horribly for the foster family she had in China who loved her since birth. She will require palate surgery and she will require a lot of speech therapy. Choosing a child from a list is a very strange and HORRIBLE feeling. I know God has a plan, but this just doesn't feel NATURAL. Well, we prayed about it and if a proffered child "didn't feel right," we passed that child's file back. Does that sound horrible to anyone? Wish we could have done it the NORMAL way sometimes, but we wouldn't have gotten Frannie that way. Wish I could have all those labor and pregnancy discussion with my girlfriends and sisters, but in the end, I get to keep Frannie and Grace which is better than any biological child I can imagine.

Hey, it's summer-time and I have time to rant and read long articles and feel sad about my Mom never meeting Grace. I am frivolously making a mosaic for my mailbox (and feeling very stoned from the glue) and enjoying our swim and play dates with friends. That's all I've got to say about that!

Estimated Departure

For those of you who are not in the adoption circle, we are waiting for our Travel Approval (TA) from China then quickly after that we will ask for a Consulate Appointment (CA) at the US Consulate in Guangzhou. Our hope is to receive our TA in the beginning of August (let's say August 10) then we will ask for an appointment for August 26 which would make our departure date August 13. That is our HOPE, but many other waiting families have not received their TAs this quickly.

Some pictures of Frannie Fay's Summer Fun.

800 approval

Our 800 approval is on the way! Yahoo!!!! I bought a return package via the US mail and have been tracking its whereabouts for a week. Every day I got on to the USPS website and it tells me it is unknown. This morning it said it left Missouri! It feels great to check these things off our list. God is good.

What goes on in China is....

I don't really understand a LOT about what goes on in the paperwork world of adoption, we can only guess from former adoptions we hear about, blogs of people who are there now and the infamous Rumor Queen. Right now there is a wait for Travel Approval which is our "next step." Although I have not officially received my 800 approval from the US immigration, I expect it this week (did I just jinx myself by saying that?). Some people have been quarantined in China because of the swine flu scare. Even if a person sitting near you on your flight has come down with a fever with suspected swine flu, people in white suits may show up at your hotel and take you into custody. I'm not kidding. The reason my friend Darcy decided to travel to China by herself to get her little Michael was because she heard a (rumor?) story that an American child was taken from his/her parents and hospitalized without the parents being allowed to stay with the toddler or see him/her. I believe I would adopt from China again if money were no object -- oh wait a minute -- the paperwork, immigration requirements and expiration limitations would probably kill me and I think my family needs me too much to take that chance. Never mind. My cousin Judy's daughter Meghan and her husband are adopting a little girl who is due in August, please pray for a smooth and healthy adoption there! I'm not sure if she is craving as much junk food as I am while waiting for our girls, but I know I could eat about 1/2 dozen ice cream sandwiches every night.

Just curious

I changed my settings to allow ANONYMOUS comments. If you read this, could you please leave me a comment, even if it's just a quick "Hi, it's Patti W" (tee hee)? Thanks, Ellen

It's a God Thing

People who do not believe in God amaze me. I'm not sure I understand the thought process AT ALL. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't understand murderers, child beaters or liberals either, but have I been given some sort of different glasses, allowing me to see God all over, and atheists just can't see it somehow? How is it possible to fall in love with a child you have never met? Not just because you live in a dream world, but you truly feel that Red Thread connection. Of the billion children born in China, God picked these two girls for us. No other. How can someone not believe this child was destined to live in Lilburn Georgia, that she fits in so perfectly, not by conforming to her environment, but because she could not be more mine than a child my genes helped to create. Anyone who believes that any child "would do" or that you love that child simply because you gave birth to them and God has nothing to do with it is living in another world from me. Lauren H. got me thinking about this when she talked about "what if we had gotten Frannie and the Fay's had gotten Ally?" Would not have happened Lauren. God had it planned perfectly. Can't wait to lay my hands on little Grace Xuejing. We are praying for a miracle August 10 or so departure.