Lacking the Holly Jolly Spirit...and a Tequila Sunrise

I know I haven't posted in a while. There's no news on the adoption front. In fact, at the beginning of last week, our SW said it would probably be slow until after the holidays, which equates to after January 10th in Russia. So, what did we do? We decided to plan our last fling!

It took us a while, but we finally agreed on a destination and found a trip at a reasonable cost. We're going to the Dominican Republic. Pete can't sit on a beach, and quite honestly, after a couple days I would be sick of this as well. Thus, most Caribbean islands don't offer enough "to do" for us. We looked at Jamaica- lots of wonderful natural resources offering exciting adventures, but WAY too touristy. Then we actually agreed upon Panama, but when we started calling on booking rooms, we were told there were none available, and basically they laughed over the phone at us for even trying to find one at this late date. So, then we came upon the DR, an increasingly popular ecotourism spot. Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!

We fly out the morning of the 27th (yes, a week from today) and arrive in Puerto Plata, DR at 3:11pm. We leave 5th January in the afternoon. Temperatures are supposed to be in the 80s. Our resort has 7 pools, 2 swim up bars, the beach, loads of restaurants and so much more. We're going to go cascading, hiking, river rafting, snorkeling....yahoo!!!

So, that's exciting. I'm not, however, very excited about the holidays. I haven't sent out Christmas cards and Pete had to goad me into putting up the Christmas tree. I'm glad he did though. It does look pretty, and its fun to watch our cat Alfie play in the tree.

Meanwhile, for the next week, I will prepare for the DR, and plod thru working :)

Kids' Room

Finally, pictures of the kids' room. I made the curtains and window seat cushion. Pete built the window seat and bookcase. I also painted the little table and chairs from Ikea.

The Kids' Room

pictures...finally... of the kids' room. I made teh curtains and window seat cushion. Pete built the window seat and bookcase. I also painted the little table and chairs (from Ikea). The top has chalkboard paint on it.

Practice Run

Pete and I watched my friends' two little ones tonight. We watch them every month for an evening. Tonight's "practice run" was the most difficult thus far. The little ones are 15 months old (B)and 4 months old (R). B is my godson and both kids are very sweet. B is now at the point where he's very mobile and responds to a lot of things by crying (like being put in the pack n' play when he doesn't want to be in it, not letting him get into drawers, etc). B has a disease called Tuberous Sclerosis, and has infantile spasms (seizures) as a result. He didn't have them for several months due to his medication, but he has started having them again in the last month. He's the cutest little guy. R is fairly easy to watch because she's not mobile. She's gotten very interactive- smiling, cooing and laughing. B cried a lot more that I was used to tonight and it had me worried, but I now know that this is just his age generally. Pete and I both worn out now....Pete's secluded himself in the basement to listen to the Mayweather - Hatton fight on the internet. I'm going to read or just fall asleep.

Tomorrow we go to a local Russian restaurant called The Fiddler with my tutor and her fiance for lunch!

Waiting is the Hardest Part

We probably won't get a referral before year end, that is the latest news. I probably new that already, but I was holding out hope. This kind of crushes me. Thank goodness its Friday, because I really just want to go home right now. Its very difficult to focus at work, which I feel guilty about. I'm just ready for a little pity party for myself.

I've looked a bit for Pete and I to go on some sort of little mini vacation at year's end. I want someplace warm- the caribbean. Pete's talking about doing a roadtrip, but that will most likely lead to an argument- that's the last thing I want!

Holiday Stuffing

That's what I did last night. One of our vendors invited my boss, my co-worker and I to a holiday party. It was being held at a good Detroit restaurant (the Rattlesnake Club) so we thought, hey why not? It was FABULOUS! Strolling food, food stations, a mashed potatoe bar, coffee bar (with shots of five different types of liqueur to add to your coffee), a dessert bar with petite desserts and several dessert wines to go with the desserts, lots of seafood, swordfish, and so much more. So, even though I went with good intentions, and I started off doing well and eating fairly nutritiously, it all went down the tubes with dessert. Not only was there the dessert bar, but they kept coming by with more little bite size desserts- cheesecake, white chocolate ravioli, creme brulee...mmmmmmm. Finally, we were sent off with more chocolate and a bottle of wine each. A very merry evening indeed!

It Doesn't Hurt to Ask

So, after getting materials from the wonderful Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, I presented a proposal to my HR department yesterday to add some sort of adoption benefit. I felt it was very well received and walked away with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Today, I gave additional materials to my HR gal, and she said that she believed they would be adding some sort of adoption benefit! I'm so excited! It doesn't matter what it is, I'm just happy that they might acknowledge the needs of adoptive parents. Yahoo!!!

More Paperwork

I had a very successful afternoon yesterday of running around and collecting docs. I just have to photocopy them and send them off now. Ahhhh....the fun of the paperchase again.

I've been working on the living room drapes and man are they big. Its just so much fabric! They are finally starting to look like drapes instead of large pieces of fabric. I've been watching TV/movies while sewing and am catching up. I saw "Mr. Brooks" last night- weird movie. Have you seen it? If so, what did you think of it? We also watched "The Flying Scotsman" this weekend. That was a good movie- I would recommend it, especially if you are into cycling.

So, I officially started my diet yesterday. I think I'm off to a good start. Somehow, in a 24 hour period I lost 3 pounds. I don't believe the scale. It'll be back up 3lbs tomorrow....

Paperwork Redo

Well, its been a year since we started our dossier and we actually have documents that have expired. Some of today and tomorrow morning will be spent redoing docs for our dossier. Its good to stay on top of this stuff!

No news from our agency. Perhaps December will be our lucky month!

I have finished the curtains for the kids' room and put them up. I will post pics this weekend.

Not much else going on, but we are going out tonight for a friend's going away. Our singles gang has settled down and is slowly moving away. Its been years since we had a pub crawl like we used to do every weekend when we were all younger. I've had several "last hoorahs" over the past 4 years while trying to get pregnant and now while adopting. I always think it will be my last opportunity for 18 years to get crazy, but here I am, still childless.

We may be meeting up with new friends from my favorite Eastern European Adoption group, FRUA, tomorrow night in Lansing. The weather is supposed to be crap here though, so we may have to reschedule.

I'll post more later.

Dyeti?

Just in case you're wondering....dyeti means kids or children in Russian.

The First Post

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jena, and I'm a pre-adoptive parent. What does that mean? Well, it means I'm in the process of adopting but haven't gotten custody of my kids yet. Actually, we haven't even gotten a referral yet. But it should happen "soon".

Pete and I got married on May 9, 2003, and started trying to conceive immediately. Over the next three and half years, he and I both endured many tests trying to figure out why we weren't getting pregnant. I had exploratory surgery in July 2005 and the doctors found nothing conclusive. Our next step was IntraUterine Insemination (IUI) in August. It was unsuccessful, and I fell into a deep depression. A year later, when I felt up to it again, we tried IUI once more. Again, we were unsuccessful, and our fertility doctor told us that I don't respond well to the hormone shots. I had only a 50% chance of producing enough eggs to even continue to IVF. Additionally, the IUI process had sent me into a depression once more. We decided at that time that the best option for us was to adopt. I felt a huge sense of relief knowing that we were heading down a path that would lead to us definitely having a family!

We spent a couple months researching agencies, countries and types of adoption. After much consideration, we chose to adopt two children from Russia and signed up with a reputable, trustworthy agency. That was October 2006. It took us 8 months (yes 8!) to get our dossier together. On a wonderful day in June of this year, we submitted our dossier to our agency. We are now just waiting for the call!