Why We Hate This Question

Here's a popular question we hear: "When do you guys think you'll hear anything?". We alway come up with an answer just to placate the person who asks, but we honestly have no idea. Every month there are rumors regarding how big the referral batch will be. (For info. on referral batches and how important they are, look on the right hand side under "countdown".) Basically, the larger the referral batch, the closer we are to our March 14th date.

As of today, here's the latest rumors (courtesty of http://www.chinaadopttalk.com/):
A European agency seems to think some of December may be included in this batch.
A North American agency seems to be hopeful that the 28th may be included.
Most other agencies are pointing to the 24th and 25th.

See why we can never truthfully answer, "When do you guys think you'll hear anything?". The hundreds of adoption agencies have no idea what's going on, so why should we. I want to hope that the CCAA will make it to December, but the realist in my squashes that thought and I have to realize it may only be a two-day referral batch.

I am guilty of looking at rumors on a daily basis. They're all I have between me and my baby. It's very disheartening to read that a referral batch may only bring me two days closer to my baby. When I'm having "one of those days", it's almost enough to bring me to my knees. (Keep in mind, when we started, the agencies were referring a month of dates at a time.)

This is all a big roller coaster and our cart is going up and down constantly.

The Things People Say.....

Brian and I have heard some doozies come out of people's mouths since we started our adoption. As soon as we mention to someone we're adopting, people jump to personal questions. Does someone who is pregnant get asked about their reproductive organs? If you're adopting, you do. Do you get asked why you're doing "that"? If you're adopting, you do. I wanted to share a couple of things we've heard in the past few days:

• "I know someone who can get you pregnant." - The person was referring to a reproductive doctor, but my husband definitely does not like the way this sounds. (This was not the first time this statement has been presented to me.) Here's the kicker to this statement....this was said to me at a family member's funeral. I feel as if it's never a good time or place to discuss my reproductive business with someone I just met. It's really NOT a good time or place to discuss it in a funeral chapel.
• "You didn't want any childeren of your own?" - Brian got this one at work yesterday. I could type on and on about how Bella is our child, but I'll save that for a later post.
• "You just wait." - I've covered this earlier, but once again, WE ARE DOING NOTHING BUT WAITING!

I think I've vented enough for one night. I'm off to pour through adoption message boards for any little rumor I might come across.

The Motor Boating SOB's

Confused by the title of this post? It's the "official name" of Brian's fantasy football team. If you're a Wedding Crashers fan, you'll understand where the team's name came from. As I type, Brian is in the middle of his draft. Not only do we get to cheer on the Broncos this football season, we also get to cheer on the Motor Boating SOB's players. I tried to take a picture of him sitting on the bedroom floor, typing on the computer surrounded by sports magazines and notepads, but he wouldn't let me. Instead, I'll attach a picture of his team photo: BTW, I'm not making fun....anyone who stood in line to pick up the latest Harry Potter book at 12:00am isn't allowed to make fun of anyone. :)

Another Week & Weekend

Another week and weekend has come and gone. Here's a few highlights:

• Brian took Thursday and Friday off work. Don't be alarmed! Hell has not frozen over! He decided since he had worked 20 straight days (weekends included) that some R & R was in order. He worked in the yard, had lunch with friends, got ready for Fantasy Football and got a massage.
• I am proud to say I'm in the habit of working out on a regular basis. It took a lot of motivation, but I'm there.
• I had a few friends over Saturday morning and we enjoyed private "CAbi Shopping". Because of this, I now have more discounted clothes. :)
• It's beginning to look a lot like football season. The Broncos played the Cleveland Browns in a pre-season game. The Broncos lost by one point, but don't mention it to Brian. (BTW, my cousin, Chase Pittman, was recently drafted out of LSU and plays for the Browns.)

On a separate note, it's now the time of the month when the referral rumors begin. The prelimary cut-off rumor is Nov. 29th. That would make 8 LIDs covered. What's shocking is that I'm excited by the rumor! Funny how your perspective changes over time.

Weekend Recap

Brian now has a playmate! Our 17-year-old nephew, Jantzen, is starting ULM this week and moved into his dorm Friday. His parents, George and Jana, spent the weekend with us while Jantzen got used to living in a dorm room. We're both looking forward to him being here. Here's a few pics of the boys playing catch: Also this weekend.....Saturday night I once again proved why you really, really want me on your "Scene It" team. (I did feel a little awkward when I realized I was the only one answering questions correctly.) Also, I've officially stopped knitting my scarf. It's currently thrown all over the living room right now. I missed a stitch somewhere and spent 20 minutes backtracking trying to find what I did wrong. It dawned on me I'm knitting to relax; not to become aggravated at yarn. I decided I'd feel better if I threw it, so I did. When I feel like picking up the mess from my temper-tantrum I'll re-roll the yarn and use it for something else.

Daddy's 1st Purchase

When I arrived home this past Wednesday, there was a package by the door. I happened to be on the phone with Brian and asked if he had ordered anything. He said he did and then wouldn't tell me what he ordered. He surprised me with his purchase. It's the very first thing he's bought (without my help) for his baby girl:

Sweet baby bib and booties

Front view

Back view

Hopefully, the little Bronco fan will be here watching football with Daddy next season.

My $#@%ing Scarf

Just look at this! Is it possible for yarn to have something against me??? I worked on this scarf last night and it was looking good and had some good length to it. Unfortunately, I missed a stitch somewhere and had to pull a row out. Well, one row led into many, many, many rows. All the loose yarn you see? It's what I had to pull out of my scarf! It stayed on the floor for a long time because I was too aggravated to deal with it. I'm determined to finish this scarf...it will not win!

Here's a funny side note to the day: Brian is out of town on business. Our TV cannot be changed from Nickelodeon. I've tried to change the channel numerous times and I can tell the Direct TV thinks the TV is changed, but the picture has not left Nickelodeon. You'd think Bella were here with how many children shows I've had to listen to today. Also, today was "craft day" on QVC. You think Brian might have fixed the channel changing before he left???

I'm back!

It's been two months since I last posted. I had good intentions of staying up to date, but obviously did not. My "mid-August resolution" is to post on a regular basis. Since I'm now officially overwhelmed by two months worth of posts to catch up on, I thought I'd give some highlights (and low lights) of our last two months:

• June 15th & 16th - I attended Arbonne's ACT Now traning in Houston, TX.


• June 22nd to 24th - We spent a belated "father's day weekend" with my dad in Madison. I was determined to visit the local yarn shop while I was there....it was closed that weekend. We had a fabulous dinner at an Italian restaurant and the restaurant was out of the main dish I wanted and the cannoli I wanted for dessert. Obviously it wasn't "Tonya's day weekend".
  
• June 24th to June 30th - Brian was in WA on business this week. This means I didn't cook for 7 days in a row.


• July 4th - Happy Independence Day! Unfortunately, my job doesn't recognize holidays, so Brian was the only one off work that day.


• Mid-July - picked up Bella's 100 Good Wishes Quilt. Just the top layer though. The lady who is sewing it wanted us to look at it before we picked out the border color. We decided on red since it's good luck in China.
  
• Also in Mid-July - Bella's baby furniture was delivered! The CCAA isn't speeding up, but that doesn't mean we can't.
  
• July 21st - My geek flag was flying high because I was camped out at Books-a-Million to get the latest (and final), Harry Potter Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I read the entire weekend while Brian almost fainted outside because of doing yard work in the heat. (BTW, the book was finished Sunday at 1:00.)


• July 28th - The 1st Annual Jacob Hughes Memorial Golf Tournament was held in Pineville, LA. "Team Jacob" didn't come in first (or even place), but all the proceeds went to Jacob's family which thrilled us.


• July 29th - 30th - Ryan, Jona, Morgan and Madison were in LA and spent Sunday day and night visiting with us.


• Somewhere in this time frame I decided I needed something else to do, so I signed up for a knitting class at Michael's. It's been a month and I'm still trying to finish a scarf!!!


• Also in this time frame....the CCAA decided there's no need to speed up, so referrals kept arriving at the usual speed....very slow.
  

That's it in a nutshell! Enjoy these pics of the past few months and I vow to do better. :)

Sweet baby furniture

The beginning of Bella's "120 Good Wishes Quilt". We actually had more than 120, but had several duplicates. To save space, only one square of each pattern was put in.

Go "Team Jacob"! L to R: Jacob's brother Jantzen, his dad George, Uncle Brian and Uncle Arnie. The matching shirts (in Jacob's favorite color red) were Brian's idea. We had "Team Jacob" monogrammed on the chest and "JH" monogrammed on the sleeves. We surprised everyone with them before the tournament started.A small view of the anxious crowd at Books-a-Million.

Walking to the counter, with my ticket, to pick up my book. :) It was about 12:10am!

Madison and Morgan Windham. While they were here, the girls and I "simpsonized" ourselves to see what we'd look like if we were Simpson's characters. These were their before pics.