Waiting Child Webinar

So Sam and I attended a Waiting Child webinar on Tuesday evening. After going through it we decided it was not for us. This means the plans for China are officially over. (Waiting Children are kids with special needs or healthy kids over six.)
Ethopia is looking to be the best bet as international adoption requirements become stricter and stricter. The adoption process moves quickly, so we need to save the money up front. My estimate is that it will take 2 and a half years. This includes saving the money and then the waiting. We are also able to request an infant and travel once. We are now looking at two agencies Gladney in Dallas and Great Wall in Austin for the adoption. Both seems organized and cool. One has 4 years expereince the other just started Ethopia adoptions. Both have been doing other types of adoption for decades. So at this point its wait and save....

I love this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdpQ8B1j3Vo&feature=player_embedded#

Awesome

http://www.weezer.com/raditude/

The Oscars

Get Ready....

http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees

Adoption agencies

So it turns out that Holt is not accepting an application for Korea unless you have adopted through them before, have Korean heritage,or will take a special needs kid.

It also turns out that if you take a special needs kid from China you can go over there in a year and a half versus the 4 years for the regular adoption. Evidently, special needs in China are things small or fixable in the US. I still would want an infant so we will see what the waiting child list is like. Sam and I have signed up for a webinar next week through this group http://www.gwca.org/wc_webinar

If we go with Ethiopia this agency looks promising: http://adoptionsbygladney.com/html/ethiopia/index.php
They are in Dallas.

Really?

Overheard from student up front regarding add forms:

"You mean I have to do this all by myself?"

Yes, that is what being an adult means, especially when you wait until the last mintue and end up doing add forms.

Rain Boots

These boots are entirely cute and fun!

http://www.dsw.com/dsw_shoes/catalog/product.jsp?index=1&sort=&category=dsw10cat70019&prodId=189856&brand=

Sweet Maggie

Narrowing Things Down...

So far Ethipoia and Korea are looking promising for adoptions:
http://www.holtinternational.org/ethiopia/

http://www.holtinternational.org/korea/


I think I need to make a chart with all the countries and then mark things off according to our preference and what the countries offer. This might helps make things seem less overwhleming.

China is a 4 year wait

So Sam and I attended a webinar on adoption from China what we found is that the wait is 4 years...so we are beginning to re-think things. I kinda had my heart set on China, so it has been hard for me to turn this corner, Maybe it is for the best. Not even sure I want to pass on China, but the idea of 4 years seems so long. Of course if I have to wait 2 and a half years for Africa is two more years for China that big a deal? (1 year to save $ 1 and a half to get kid) I will be 41 with my first (probably only child) if I go with China and 37 if I don't. Does that matter? These are all questions I need to think on. Sam is all for going to Ethiopia or really anywhere. He is kinda thinking China is ridiculous now with all their rules. He did point out that things are ever changing with countries and who knows what could happen by July or in a years time. I am pretty luck that Sam is flexible because a lot of men are not. Still not really sure where I am going or what I am doing. I kinda always thought I would go with China and had never looked at other places until now.

waiting to start

So we are going to have to wait on starting the application for the adoption. Evidently, there is now a net worth requirement. Sam and I currently do not meet it. We should by July.

Word

I am taking Ali's lead and doing a word for the year. My word is growth.

http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2009/12/my-one-little-word-story.html

cool blog

This blog is cool. I like the idea she came up with.

http://laurakurz.typepad.com/365_days_to_30365_people_/

365 Days photo project fail

So Sam and I got sick with bronchitis and it literally took a month or more to recover. So I did not take a picture everyday, because I just felt bad or was puking. I was thinking of calling off the 365 pictures a day project. However, folks seemed like they did not want that to happen. One person's suggestion was to just extend it a month to make up for the month I lost. Another idea was to do a collage of what is happening now in my life and not really follow a daily timeline, but more of a highlights for the month. I like this idea. So I might approach this project very differently starting now.

even more 365

even more 365
Originally uploaded by sharis1974

Ok here is the rest that i have uploaded:

March 9: view of my office at work
March 10: Ruben's saved my car and money. go here.
March 11: finally it rains!
march 12: Sam eats with Dad and chats
March 13: Supernatural is a good show
march 14: new kitchen tile
march 15: Moonlight path is back at Bath & Body and its my fav
march 16: bought a swimsuit and Life is Good gear. Its my fav.
March 17: Kat and I at Stamp Club
March 18: SA finally re cycles!
march 19: mailed off passport
march 20: El Chaparell for Book Club
march 21: my scrap room. Notice its clean!
March 22: sweet Alex sleeps with his hands in the air
march 23: Buster sleeps in our yard. He lives across the street
march 24: my fav cabinet
march 25: got this chair in Ecuador
march 26: toby has awesome hair
march 27: I love reading NY Times at work
march 28: its spring. China berry trees in back yard
March 29: kat holds wee Alex
march 30: our backyard
March 31: grape leaf spotted. We planted these ourselves
April 1: new tile in bathroom
April 2: another random cat in our front yard napping

more 365

more 365
Originally uploaded by sharis1974

Hi folks ok here are some of the 365 pictures for feb and March...more to come....

Jan 31: Cappicino Blasts are the best
Feb1: new software for the Mac
Feb 2: Mom and i watch The Closer
Feb 3: MAC Hello Kitty premerie with Daniel Kitty
Feb 4: Jeff, Sam and I at Thai Taste
Feb 5: making blocks for Sara's shower
Feb 6: I was sick boo
Feb 7: Sara's baby shower
Feb 8: oops gotta find that one
Feb9: doing laundry
Feb 10: stamps for $7
Feb 11: Thin Mints yummm
Feb 12: Moonsun, Sam and I eat Koren food
Feb 13: My leg hurts to move so brace time
Feb 14: sam and me happy v day
Feb 15: new tile in boxes
Feb 16: wallace
Feb 17: tea bag holder I made at Stamp club
Feb 18: simple scrapbooks magazine
Feb: 19: Friendly Forest cool scrapbook line
Feb 20: our fireplace mantle. Jaguar from Oaxaca
Feb 21: my groomed eyebrows
Feb22: Oscars!
Feb 23: Oaxacan pots
Feb 24: our piano
Feb 25: The Majestic ticket box. we saw David Copperfield
Feb 26: Our living room
Feb 27: My nesting dolls I got in Russia
Feb 28: Sam with Wallace
march 1: painting mt nails
March 2: a hello kitty motorcycle!
March 3: Heroes is an awesome show
March 4: cool flowers at UTSA
March 5: Kat wrapped up Toby in a super cute towel
March 6: Freebirds yum
March 7: deciding on blinds for scraproom
march 8: Sara and new baby Alex

Recycling

I found that i really love recycling. Recently in our neighborhood, we switched to the new recycling program that the city is beginning to apply to all neighborhoods. We got two 96 gallon trash cans from the city. One is brown for everyday trash in a trash bag and the the other is blue for recycling. They even gave us a smaller blue container for our kitchen. Basically, I love sorting the trash into recyclable and not recyclable. It is very satisfying for me. Maybe its my secret anal side. Who knows? It's fascinating to see all that you can really recycle. I found that a lot of my trash can be recycled and the blue bin is often fuller than the brown. Yea.

themes

A theme with this 365 project is that I like food and movies/TV. These seem to be events that show up again and again.

Thin Mints!

I love Thin Mints. My husband and I have gone through 4 boxes this Girl SCout season alone. Hmmmmm

Jan 17 to Jan 21

Jan 17 to Jan 21
Originally uploaded by sharis1974

Ok so I forgot a week, so here it is:
Jan 17: We read a lot! Here is our bookshelves in the "dining" room
Jan 18: Today i played with my make up. Here is a sample
Jan 19: I met up with my friend Reshmey, whom I had not seen in years
Jan 20: Obama is our new president. Today was his inauguration
Jan 21: Today I mostly watched TV. Cold Case is a favorite