A Slow Recovery

The boys are finally feeling better. They aren't quite at 100%, but it's a marked improvement over the last few days. Ari is taking an antibiotic, but Owen is off all medication at this point. Both Keith and I are still feeling fine, so it looks like we'll stay uninfected for the time being, thank goodness.

Yesterday was our first meeting with our social worker. She is a nice lady, although nothing like I pictured her. We've spoken on the phone many times, and exchanged innumerable emails, and then there she was on my front porch looking not at all like I thought she would. But she was a wealth of information, and flooded us with paperwork. More forms than I ever dreamed of. All just waiting to be filled out! And hole-punched! And filed in a cute little notebook! Seriously, I'm organized and I love this type of thing, but even I was overwhelmed when I tried to sort through everything. We're working on three running projects right now, and all three will eventually merge and become our dossier to submit to the country. We have the homestudy, which is through the nice lady who visited us last night. We have the CIS approval, which consists of sending various documents and a big fat check to Memphis for government approval. And we have the foreign country documents, which are mostly to check our health, financial status, that sort of thing.

During our interview with the social worker last night, Owen turned into a little monster. I swear, I have never seen him act so horrible. I didn't even know he had it in him to be so rotten. He colored on the dining room table, hollered, threw things, banged a tambourine, whatever he could do to get the attention focused onto him. He ended up waking up Ari, and then mid-interview, he threw a toy at Ari and gave him a huge purple knot right on his forehead. He ended up in time-out, and both boys were screaming, and I was waiting for the social worker to not only deny us another child, but take away the ones we already have. It was seriously that bad. I have no idea what his problem is, except that he's acting two years old, and I can't hardly fault him for that. But he really pushed us yesterday. We have our second meeting with her on April 9th. I can't wait to see what else he's got. BRING IT ON, KID.

I think it's safe to announce now that we've been unofficially matched with a little girl in Kazakhstan. We'll be traveling hopefully around the end of August to pick her up. Kazakhstan prefers a "blind referral" where you travel there and are shown several children that fit your gender/age preference, and you pick the one that you feel is right for you. Sounds a bit like picking a puppy, doesn't it? But it's really not that way. You're allowed time to play with the children, and interact with them, and then you make the pick that will be best for your family and your new child. Our particular agency does both blind referrals and regular referrals, and we've been issued a regular referral for a gorgeous little girl. She falls in age between the boys, so yes, we'll have three kids under three years of age. She is of mixed Asian descent, most likely Chinese, since Kazakhstan borders China. We haven't decided yet what to call her, although we will keep her birthname as a part of her name. I am so excited. I've heard this stage of the adoption referred to as "paper pregnant." I can see that. The excitement is the same. The feelings of time dragging on forever are the same.

I'm leaving next Monday for California. I'll be gone the better part of the week, meeting with agents and enjoying Los Angeles! I like traveling, but I miss the boys when I'm gone. Keith is so good at managing them, they don't even miss me! I plan to hit the tanning bed a few times before I go. I'm a pasty pale Midwesterner; I'd like a little glow prior to heading to the Golden State.