We got an update overnight! Sabrina is up to 8lb 6oz and doing well. And we got a couple of pictures of her smiling! What a grin she has – makes me giggle and melt at the same time!

When I come across some gem of wisdom, I do try to disseminate among my friends.  And since we are all friends here, let me share a couple of things I’ve learned.

1. The process of international adoption could make the pope curse.
2. Turn signals are there for your safety.  Use them people.
3. Insert the word chickenbus into any sentence and you have a comedic gem.
4. Before being rude to the Kenmore customer service rep on the phone because your brand new microwave suddenly quit working, check the fuse box.
5. The morning after drinking way too much merlot (which I don’t even like) and waking up still a little drunk, do not eat cheetos.  They will not soak up the alcohol left in your stomach.  They will make you throw up violently.
6. Accept your age gracefully.  Getting drunk requires much more recovery time than it did in your 20’s.  Remember that in the future and stick to 2 glasses of wine, not 8.
7. I’m assuming we all know about the yellow snow thing.

That must be because there is plenty of sand to stick my head in.  There are rumors of more possible bad things coming our way via an Executive Order.  Some agencies have said not to worry, it is being handled…others have not weighed in on the subject yet.  I am personally choosing to not look into the issue too much.  I can’t handle this roller coaster pitching me a down a steep hill ever couple of weeks with rumors of adoptions coming to a halt. If you want to read more, go here.  But don’t tell me more about it unless it is good news.  I’ve got sand in my ears.

I used to be up on the fashions and likes/dislikes of teenagers because I worked with them everyday and they took great joy in educating me – they like setting us old folks straight.  But I haven’t worked directly with teens in about 5 years.  I’m no longer up on what is in or what is cool.

Today, we held a college fair for teens in out of home placements.  We had about 150 kids attend and I’ve never felt so ancient.  I’m pretty good at connecting to teens one-on-one or in small groups.  But the larger the group, the larger the attitude.  So outside of talking to the kids as they came to the table I was manning, I just sat back and watched.  An awful lot of pregnant girls – and 75% smoked which made me sad.  And when did it become cool to not bathe?  Because these kids smelled a bit funky.  I didn’t see one kid who didn’t have a cell phone on his or her hip.  And the girls all have acrylic nails – I can’t even afford that!  But the one thing that I really don’t understand above all is how do the boys make their pants stay that low and not fall off?  I saw one boy who walked with his hands in his pockets to keep them.  But the rest didn’t seem to have trouble.  Putting the why aside (because it isn’t attractive and it can’t be comfortable to have the crotch of your jeans at your knees), I really am curious about the how.  I’m fascinated.  I probably looked like a perv starring at all of the boys butts but I really wanted to ask them how they do it.  Do they make boys pants really long wasted so that they can sit on their hips with the crotch and pockets still hanging to their knees?  Do they belt them really tight just below their butts?  Seriously, that is a gravity defying feat to rival my bangs in the 80’s.

Our conversations last night during the commercial breaks of Lost went like this:  “This time next month, we’ll be in Guatemala.”  “I can’t wait to hold her.”  “A little baby.  We have a daughter.”  “You know she’ll be a 16 year old someday and she’ll hate us.”  We leave for Guatemala in 26 days.  We are both very excited.  It’s funny, I’m excited but I’m also already worrying about how awful it will be to leave her.  Steve doesn’t understand how I can have both thoughts simultaneously.  He feels like I should just enjoy the anticipation and then the trip.  But I can’t separate the 2 in my mind.

In other adoption news…there is none.  I’m expecting a doctor report early next week.  I’m also hoping for some foster mom visit news and photos but those haven’t arrived yet.  Our new Power of Attorney arrived in Guatemala last Thursday so hopefully it is quickly translated and they register it with lightening speed (yeah, right).  My somewhat realistic hope is that we get into Family Court while we are visiting.

A shout out to Julie and Serge who just returned from a visit with Matthew in Guatemala.  They both got very ill toward the end of their trip…but they received news they are OUT the day before they left so they have to be feeling a little better with that news!  Congrats to Julie and her family -and I hope you are Serge are feeling better soon!

I am continually amazed by the amazing women I’ve met during this journey (or vagabondage if you like).  Perhaps you remember my post about the list of items I am going to pack to Guatemala.  Several of you have some additional suggestions – one of them being crib shoes.  I had no idea what crib shoes or lap pads were but you all educated me.

Yesterday, I came home from work and found a box between the screen door and front door.  I took it inside and saw it was a Robeez box addressed to me.  I knew I didn’t order them but couldn’t think of who might have sent them.  Savoring the surprise and mystery, I let the dog out and changed my clothes before I came back to the box.  I opened the box and found a little package wrapped in tissue paper with a pretty bow and a card.  The card was from Karena and her family saying that these little shoes would keep Sabrina’s socks on quite nicely.

I opened the tissue paper and found these darling crib shoes:

There are so many crappy things about the adoption process.  So many struggles and frustrations and tears.  But there are also blessings to be found.  The women I’ve connected with through blogs and message boards just keep blowing me away in their support, their humor, their wisdom, their silliness and their thoughtfulness.

Thank you Karena.  That was so sweet and thoughtful.  And thank all of you out there who come here every day to share this journey with us.

For those of you who have voted, do you have any idea how early I had to get up and out of the house so that the polls would be open at 7am?  Sheesh.  I’m a roving technician for the day.  (Scary, huh?  They made a bunch of social workers and bureaucrats technicians for the new machines.) 

I’m glad to report all of my polls except one were open and ready to go on time.  And the one that was late was open and ready by 3 minutes after 7am.  And it wasn’t open on time because the poll worker is a moron.  The machines have big bright yellow stickers on one machine that say “Last Machine.  Open this machine LAST.”  When you open the doors, there are more stickers that say “Last machine.  Open this machine LAST.”  What does the moron do (and mind you…he doesn’t have the excuse of being an elderly gentleman and not familiar with computers – he was about 40)?  He opens the last machine first.  He calls the help center in a panic after he opens all of the machines backwards.  I get there and he says to me “I guess that was my fault.  I probably shouldn’t have opened that one first.  I went to the training 6 times, you would think I would have gotten it.”  Ummm…yeah, you would think.  But even if the training didn’t clue you in – maybe the sticker would have helped?  But we got it all squared away almost on time.

The moral of the story?  I had to get out of bed really freaking early today and deal with morons. The least you can do to show your appreciation is to do your civic duty and vote.

The official results of my unofficial poll regarding colors for Sabrina’s nursery are as follows:

Coral/Yellow = 13

Periwinkle/Aqua = 18

Write ins = 2

Undecided = 1 (thanks P)

So, Periwinkle/Aqua wins. That is actually my favorite of the choices. Steve likes the Coral/Yellow. He’s a big fan of lots of color. He told me I can play the wife card and choose which ever I want. I’m still not sure. I like both and I really appreciate the fact that he cares. He actually spent 45 minutes looking at paint swatches with me trying to find the right colors. That gets big brownie points in my book. Most husbands would say “What ever you want dear”. While that sounds nice sometimes, I love that he wants to be involved in these decisions. I don’t want to discount or discourage his opinion. And I like what he chose…so I’ll think on it a little more and share the colors chosen during the big reveal.

Now make sure you get out and vote for real tomorrow.

I’ve discovered a new love.  Pomegranates.  Pomegranate seeds are so yummy!  Why didn’t anyone tell me?  Don’t I bare the minutia of my life to you?  And you can’t be bothered to tell me about something yummy like this?

I bought 4 at Sam’s Club this weekend.  Thankfully, it included an insert on getting the seeds out or I would have had a mess.  They are great in salads but I think I like them best plain.  Now I need to look for some recipes that include pomegranate seeds.

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Thank you for the votes on the paint colors. I will count the votes and post the results.  Then you will all have to wait and see if we follow your advice or not.  I didn’t say this was a democracy!

It’s almost election day and to get you in the mind set to go vote – cast your first ballot here. Steve and I have been debating nursery colors (for you long time readers, yes we decided several months ago but have started over).

So that you can be an informed voter, here is the layout of her room, drawn by moi (and to think I almost failed drafting in shop class back in junior high). The blue rectangles are the windows and the black one is the closet:

Here are a couple of photos of said room. Ignore the mess – it’s our catch all room. (The home study social worker never saw this room.) These will also serve as our before shots once we start turning it into Sabrina’s nursery. The first shot was taken standing in the doorway.

The second shot was taken standing by the closet door:

It isn’t a pretty room now…but it will be. We haven’t touched it since moving in. It gets nice light during the day and has a nice closet (that’s a big deal in this house…the master bedroom doesn’t have a closet). Now that you have a picture of what the room looks like, here is the dilemna.

We spent 45 minutes at Home Depot last week in the paint section. After many false starts, several “are you kidding me?” comments, a couple of blech sounds…we have it narrowed down to 2 options. We have decided to use 2 paint colors. That’s not up for a vote. There are a lot of angles that will allow us to be a little creative with which wall gets which paint color. I’m not going to tell you who likes which combo – I don’t want to influence the voting. We both like each combo…we just each have a different favorite out of the 2.

The first combo is a pinkish coral and yellow. It would make the room feel warm and cozy and happy. The second combo is a periwinkle and sagish aqua. It would lend a comforting and soothing feel to the room. Vote early and often. Thank you.