Major Adoption-Related Events

  • 09-04-29 Part One Sponsorship Application Completed and Sent
  • 08-11-04 Dossier in Ethiopia -- the wait begins
  • 08-10-24 Dossier on its way to Ethiopia
  • 08-10-23 Dossier back to Imagine
  • 08-10-17 Dossier to Ottawa
  • 08-10-07 Dossier (finally complete) at Imagine
  • 08-09-10 Dossier (most) Sent to Imagine
  • 08-09-04 Provincial Approval Received
  • 08-07-08 Completed Dossier Sent to Province for Approval
  • 08-06-26 HAR Signed and sent back to ABC
  • 08-05-16 HAR Started
  • 08-04-22 Int'l Adoption Self-Study Course Completed
  • 08-04-07 Application sent to ABC
  • 08-02-19 Initial Application faxed to Imagine
  • 08-02-16 References Requested from Friends

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Finally Getting my Crap Together

So I have finally FINALLY got my shtuff together and have sent off the part one of my sponsorship application. "Why," you might ask, "has it taken you nearly six months to do it?" Well, there are a couple of reasons. First of all, I'm a bit of a shmuck when it comes to completing paperwork, which is why it took so long in the first place to get my dossier sent off. Secondly, I'm a little hopeless that my referral will in fact come anytime in the next several months. I'm thinking to myself that with the growing wait times, it'll be a holy miracle if I get it before Christmas this year. That'd put me at 13.5 months, which seems a little hopeful given the trends we've seen in the last several months. I am 32ish though on the Yahoo! group list of Waiting for Referrals under 18 months. So that's something. Of course, I know it is only a fraction of the waiters being represented there, and it seems every once in a while, a new one pops up ahead of me in line. Such is life. I'm trying not to be Debbie Downer and focus solely on this, and adopt the mantra, "It'll happen when it happens," but I'm discouraged of course. How can anyone not be when the timeline given at the start are so SO SOOOOO far from where they are now. Seriously.
Anyway. On an aside, I'm working my tail off to get my trailer ready for sale by next week. So I'm busy doing all the things that would have made my house exactly as I'd've love, and wondering why people seem to wait until they are on their way out before doing those sorts of things. Oh well. It's getting done, and there is a solid sense of satisfaction in working hard.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Jonah's Understanding of Numerical Units (revised)

So apparently I deleted the beginning of this post, somewhere along the way. Here it is:

So I've found lately that Jonah is using many measurement related terms, though it is clear that he does not fully understand them.

A few weeks ago, Jonah wanted to go play in the yard and so I dressed him all up and sent him out, and a few inutes later he was knocking on the door to come back in.
M: What's up buddy?
J: I want to come inside.
M: How come?
J: It's too cold outside.
M: No it's not, Jonah! (it was maybe 7 degrees outside, and he was well dressed)
J: (exasperated) Mam! It's like ten miles out there!
So cute.

And then yesterday:
J: Is Christmas soon?
M: No, not for a long time Jonah.
J: How long?
M: Umm, like two hundred sleeps.
J: (resigned) Ugh. That’s like ten minutes!

Oh, the last one, which is not so much about measuring as it is about straight counting, happened yesterday at the library. Jonah saw on the librarian’s desk, a jar full of candy for one of those “guess the number of candies and win them all” contests.
J: Mam, can I have one of those candies?
M: No. You have to guess how many there are and then the person who guesses right gets them all.
J: Can I guess?
M: You can try.
And so he proceeds to count to 20, which is as high as he can go. And then he stops, seeing that there are still many more.
J: Oh wait. I need to start again.
And he does, but stops again at twenty.
J: Huh. I don’t want to count anymore.
I’m a little sad for him that he felt embarrassed that he couldn’t count, because that’s what it was. The librarian and a bystander were both watching, so he was trying to save face. Seeing him experience embarrassment is new. Usually I’m embarrassed by him (or just as often by myself).

Here’s a lovely story of my most recent foot-in-mouth incident:
We were at the doctor’s and Jonah was being a turkey, because we had to wait over an hour to get in and there were no toys or even kids’ books to look at. So I took him outside and stood him up and talked to him for a minute about behaving properly. I was really embarrassed about how he was acting. Then we went back into the clinic and I say to the lady who I’d been chatting with for the last hour, “Well, he would be good in a condom ad.” (Okay, I know that isn’t nice and it makes me seem like a bad parent, but it is not at all that I don’t love my boy and want him very much. If you have seen that foreign commercial on YouTube about the boy freaking out in the grocery store and the horrified, embarrassed dad who is with him, with everyone looking and tut-tutting, and it turns out to be a condom commercial – that’s what I was thinking of. That was my boy at the clinic). So the lady was all quiet for a second, and I’m feeling like an ass for saying it, and then she tells me that she just found out that she’s pregnant. Turns out she’s totally scared. And yeah. I can back peddle and say that there are so many great things about parenting, but yeah. It’s hard to recover form that.
Next on my list of things to do before I die: develop tact.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Get Free Photos Here

That's right. This is the real deal. Click on this link and you can sign up at Arts Cow and get free pics. (Like this one)
100 prints 4x6 each month for six months, or up to a year if you get a friend to sign up. (Or this one)
Sounds too good to me true? Well, I agree, but my sister signed up a few months ago and has been using it ever since. And what could be better for new or soon-to-be parents? (Or this one)
Anyway, check it out at this link, and help me earn my 12 months of free photos.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

No, I didn't get Hit by a Bus.

Hey all, maybe you remember me? It's been a while. I have started several posts in the last couple of weeks, and have not finished or published any, because I really have had not much to say. School is, pretty much the same. But we had parent-teacher interviews this past week, and there was no lynch-mob. No parents with petitions demanding my head on a stick. In fact, I only had good meetings, which was a really positive change.
I still don't want to stay in that town though. I have found this to be one of the most trying years of my life: stressful, friendless, and very lonely. I need a change. So I'm not sure where I'll be a few months down the road, but it would take a strange sort of miracle to keep me where I'm at. I'd applied for a job on the coast, and got a call for an interview, and unfortunately, never heard back again. He said, "I'll try and get the committee together early next week, and will let you know a good time for a [Skype] interview." That was a week and a half ago, and since then, nothing. I was supposed to have it sometime early last week, and even left a phone message to find out what was up, and apparently, they've decided to go a different direction, and don't consider me worth the time it takes to shoot off an email. Whatever. I actually don't care, which I suppose means it's probably all for the best.
I did however, go onto Facebook for the first time in a couple of months last week and found a message from someone I am not even connected to through FB, but she is instead a fellow teacher at a different school in my district, just a stone's throw from E-town, where all my family is. I had asked, when I saw her at Teacher's Convention, if she knew of any jobs coming up at her school, and though she didn't think so, said she'd ask her principal. So I find this FB message from her, that is at this point over a month old, and it says, indeed her principal may be interested, and she requests my resume. And I'm like, "Hell!" because a month's gone by since, but I send it off anyway with a quick explanation, and she wrote back the next day that after a meeting on the 20th, she'll know better what's up for next year, and so I hope that maybe something will come up. That'd be sweet to be able to drive into town for family dinners on occasion.
I don't know though, if teaching is really for me. I feel like a bit of a fraud, as I go in everyday, somewhat dreading the next many hours. It should not feel like that. And I know how competitive it is to get a teaching job, and how many people are desperate to get a job like mine, and I feel a little guilty knowing that one of those people is out of luck, while I'm already calculating how many more years til retirement. I know how awful that is. And everyone I talk to says, "Give it more time; give it a shot elsewhere," but I don't know if it'll be any different.
I've been thinking maybe Social Work is the way to go. I don't think it'll be my passion, but I'm pretty sure I can't make a career out of being a Fine Arts student, so maybe I need to think a little more realistic. So the holidays aren't as good. But when I go home at the end of the day, that is my time. That's worth a lot to me at this point. And maybe once I've taught for several years and don't have to plan so much, and have figured out how to be an efficient marker and only take in some stuff, my evenings won't be so crazy, but right now...? Blah. There is value in having summers and Christmases and Spring Breaks to chill out with the hoodlums, but there are good things about just hanging out with them normally and being able to spend good times with the everyday, even if the amount of time is less. Quality over quantity, right?
My mam doesn't love the idea of me becoming a Social Worker. It's what she does and so she knows how stressful it can be. She also would love to teach, and it was only bad luck that got her out of teaching and into Social Work in the first place, so for her to see me do it willingly, I think, is hard on her. I don't know though. I guess we'll see. I know that whatever job I do, I really want the assurance of stability. I have a permanent contract right now, which means unless I kill a student, I have a job until retirement. Given the economy, I am hard-pressed to give that up for some industry job that can be pulled out from under me at any time. I used to work in Forestry, but it is so much dependent on the economy around the world, and I would not want to be a sitting duck at this time. I need stability. Sole breadwinner in my family... I don't really feel like there's a choice.
And after this year, I have a permanent certificate coming my way, so if I do decide to return to teaching, it would technically be an option, though I know I'd probably have to head back out to the sticks to reinsert my foot in the door.
I don't know. I have no plan or solid solution or even an idea of where I will be a few months down the road. That's why I haven't been blogging.
I did host a sweet pirate party for my favorite boy's b-day. He's turning 4 on the 20th, but we had it early, because I have a week for Spring Break right now, and I got him a bike, so I wanted some time to teach him. It didn't take him too long to give up today, but I have high hopes that tomorrow will bring with it more enthusiasm. My sweet guy also saw his dad for the first time in 3 1/2 months today, and while I have plenty to say about that, I will wait until I have pics to post, more time, and a whole box of kleenex (spring allergies.... wee.). Soon.
One last thing... Congrats to all those who have been travelling in the last few weeks to pick up their babes -- it is the highlight of my day to read about the uniting of families. And especially, a HUGE congrats to Adam and Carolyn for their referral after 17.5 months of waiting. Everytime I head to their blog, I get mighty teary. I highly recommend wandering that way, if you haven't already.
Happy Resurrection Sunday all.