Monday, December 8, 2008

Home study!

So next Wednesday the 17th is our home study! Wish us luck, we still have bunch of stuff to do around the house and we have more paperwork still to do. Plus with Christmas coming, and us leaving for Florida on the 20th, I'm a little stressed, lol. I have 3 packages to mail this week, I need to pack for FL and our cruise, I need to do some Christmas shopping and we have to get together with Varunan's family to exchange gifts, all on top of the home study. I can't wait until I am in the car driving to FL and it is all behind me, lol. This too shall pass...

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Cruisin' and other interesting things.

So we are going on a cruise!! January 5th we are leaving on Carnival's Fascination from Jacksonville and going to Key West and Nassau Bahamas!! I am so excited!! One last hoorah before we get a baby.

In other news, we had our first meeting with our home study agency yesterday. It was pretty basic, the social worker asked us some questions and gave us all 4000 pieces of paper work to fill out. Now we have to get started on the paper work and then we will have either 1 more meeting in the home or one more in the office and then the one in the home, depending on what our other agency wants. So this might go quicker than we thought.

And, on the way home, we ran into a deer on the highway. Stupid thing came out of nowhere. Totally tore up the front of my car, broke my light and dented the rear driver side door. :( It is in the shop as we speak, and it is going to cost us $500 in a deductible and then our rate will most likely go up. I hate deer!

Monday, October 20, 2008

PPL pwer line project


So "they" are trying to get a huge power line run straight through my community. It is to transfer power from west of here to out of state, it is being proposed by a company who doesn't even supply power to our town, so we would see zero benefit from it. "They" say that there is no choice and that if it isn't done there will be rolling blackouts and loss of power by 2013 in D.C., Long Island and other places on the east coast.


Above is a picture of the proposal. The blue line is the projected path, the red blob is my house. It will be so close!!

There are already power lines there, but these will be more than twice as high and wider also. The current lines only have 150 ft of right of way currently, but they will need 200 feet, so some people's property will be cut into. We live in a rural area in the beautiful Pocono Mountains. Right now when I look out my window I see mountains, but if this goes through I will see power lines. It is going to affect my house value, it may affect my health and the health of my child I am adopting, it will affect the environment and the animals, and it will also cut through a national park! I just want to cry about it!


Here is am article that explains it all.


There have been meetings and the HOA is fighting it. So are our state representative and our congressman, and there is a meeting with Arlen Spector our senior senator today about it but I don't know which side he is on yet.


I really hope this doesn't go through. They have submitted the proposal to the Public Utility Commission and we are hoping it won't be approved. If anyone wants to help me by writing a letter to them, let me know and I will get the website. It might be our only chance to save Saw Creek.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Finally!

So we finally got our first home study appointment. It is an office visit, not a home visit. It's scheduled for October 29th at 11 am. We finally called them because it's been 2 weeks since we mailed the application. Well the girl was like oh I hadn't gotten around to calling you yet. Hello? Do you realize we are sitting here on pins and needles waiting for your call, and you just hadn't gotten around to it?? Ugh!

Friday, October 3, 2008

We sent it in!

Today I finally went to the post office and we mailed in our home study application. So now we just wait for them to call us and make an appointment. :D

Monday, September 29, 2008

Next step

So we finally have 5 references, that was the only thing holding us back from sending in the application. So once we mail it in, we just have to wait for the agency to call us to set up an appointment and then we will officially have started! We've been talking about this for so long, I can't believe we are finally going through with it. I really hope we can get the home study done before Christmas so we can apply with the other agency in the beginning of next year.

I know this is kind of dumb, but I really hope that we get a baby in enough time for me to go to Japan to visit my sister. I want to visit her in the spring of 2010, but I am afraid that if we get a baby before then but the adoption hasn't been finalized I might not be allowed to take him/her out of the country. And I would be so sad to miss that opportunity, I will probably never have another chance to go to Japan. I know a baby is more important, but also if I don't get to go there, my sister and her family might not see my baby until they come home which won't be until 2011. The baby might not even be a baby by then. Of course, if I can't go I can't go, but it's just one more thing swimming around in my head these days.

Anybody want to know what my biggest fear in all this is? I am afraid that we will get a call for an emergency placement and I won't have clean clothes if I have to pack to leave at the last minute. That is so dumb and trivial, but yet I can't stop thinking about it!! I really hope we get matched with a birthmom who is still pregnant, I am such a planner that it will make it so much easier on me, lol. And I also want to be in the delivery room if I am allowed, so that's another reason I want to be matched with an expectant mom. So cross your fingers for us! :)

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A different trip to the same place

I wanted to share this with you all. It is the inspiration for the title of this blog, and it explains the journey of adoption so perfectly that I feel everyone should read it.

A Different Trip to the Same Place

Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia: You’ve heard that it is a wonderful place.

You’ve read many guidebooks and feel certain that you’re ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.

So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you’ll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait…and wait…and wait.

Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like “Relax, you’ll get on a flight soon.” Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, “It’s not fair!”

After a long time, the ticket agent tells you, “I’m sorry, we’re not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat.”

“By boat!” you say. “Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane.” So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place for so long and finally you decide to travel by boat.

It is a long trip; many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.

Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than by air.

People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are able to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, “Oh, be glad you didn’t fly...My flight was horrible...Traveling by sea is so easy.”

You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still you know that God blessed you with a special appreciation for Australia and that the beauty of Australia is not in the way you got there, but in the place itself.

Enjoy your trip!!!

By Diane Armitage