Happy Belated Birthday

...to me!

Yesterday was my birthday and it was a great day. After my extra hour of sleep (WHAT a great present!) and church, we had my birthday lunch prepared entirely by my husband! He even made a cake with home-made chocolate frosting which sort of melted since he hid it in our sunroom and it got up to 70 degrees on Sat., but it was DELICIOUS! We went light on presents this year because we did some other things that we justified by calling them our birthday presents but he did really good - warm socks (for sightseeing if we happen to be someplace cold this winter), a great bag (could be a carry on/purse/diaper bag), some beautiful candleholders (that have nothing to do with our adoption other than the fact that they'll have to go up very high) and finally a Tom Clark gnome "Oopsey Daisy" which has a turtle on it. The beach that we go to is home to a large sea turtle hospital so we like turtles. Whew! That much of the day was great, couldn't ask for better.

Then, for our last activity, we had tickets to the Carolina / Dallas football game. I don't think I want to go any further into it than that. I'll just say that Coach Fox was quoted in the paper today as apologizing to every Panther fan that bought a ticket to the game. Ugh!

Everyone have a safe and happy Halloween tomorrow. Let's see pictures of those trick-or-treaters!!

Schatzie

I promised Schatzie her own post so here it is...She's an almost 4 year old, 14 pound black and tan Australian terrier. She's our first adopted daughter.


We researched different breeds, found an Aussie breeder nearby, went to visit to make sure that was what we wanted (she actually interviewed us while we were there to make sure we were acceptable) and got on her list. Several weeks later, we got a letter saying our puppy was born and made an appointment for 8 weeks later to go pick her up. We also made an appt. with the vet for the following Monday to have her checked out because we had a limited amount of time to take her back if there were any medical issues.


On a Sat. March 1, 2003 we drove back to the breeder and she handed us a little furball and a box of stuff (chew toys, her best friend "Pig", a comb, other things a puppy needs to get by in the world). She could hardly eat without falling over, she sat in the kitchen floor and trembled, then fell asleep in my arms. I was up with her a couple of times during the night but she was really pretty good.

Monday, my husband took her to the vet and learned that on a scale of 1 to 6, she has a 4/5 grade heart murmur. He had already talked to the breeder and we had the option of taking her back and either getting a refund or another puppy, or getting 1/2 of our money back and the promise of another puppy if this one died from heart related issues. Not much hope for MY heart which was broken. Of course, taking her back was not an option for me. The question was - what should we do for her. Long story short, I ended up at the NCSU vet school in Raleigh having a last round of tests hoping they could perform a procedure to correct her problem. But, the problem wasn't what they thought it was and there was nothing they could do so I sat in the car and cried and then drove my groggy baby 3 1/2 hours back home.


Today, she takes heart medicine to slow her heart rate to try to keep it from wearing out too quickly. She pants a lot, doesn't play fetch quite as long as she used to, sleeps a lot after her very exciting walks but she can do a long list of tricks (for treats, of course) still jumps like a jumping bean when I come home in the evenings and is quick to chase off anything that makes a noise too close to the house. She's my baby and I can't imagine loving a human child more...but I'm hoping to give it a shot!! Until then, here we are...

Rookie error

Hmmm...I think that in some of my blogger training (translate: pointing, clicking, seeing what happens), I disallowed comments. Not good for a new blogger who still bursts into a grin when she actually gets a comment. I hope I've fixed that now so comment away!!

I actually have a much more eloquent post almost ready - that is IF I can figure out how to include a picture or two without managing to wipe out the whole thing.

Stay tuned...

Paperwork, paperwork

While every adoption follows its own path, I believe that every one has its overfill of paperwork. In my quest to keep doing SOMETHING to feel like I'm working toward making this adoption happen, I've been re-doing paperwork that has expired which at this point is everything except our I-171H. I've got the letter to renew our fingerprints ready to mail - do they really think our fingerprints have changed? Ditto our marriage certificate, passports, family photos. I could go on but I suppose if you're reading this, I'm "preaching to the choir". Anyway, my nagging thought as I've been doing this is that the first time through, it was kind of fun...in a very anticipatory, road untraveled, geeky sort of way. I imagine that if you're doing it in order to submit it so that you can get your court date, it's a very exciting if not frantic feeling. At this point, it's really not very fun or exciting. BUT, it will be as close to done as I can get it (without creating more dates that will expire) so when the time comes, I'll be able to spend more time shopping for cute, little Creecher clothes and toys, right?? Now THAT'S fun!

Sun Fun Weekend

We're just in from a beautiful weekend at the beach. You gotta love NC in October! We went down Friday morning, walked on the beach (our furry daughter's favorite thing next to Pupperoni and peanut butter - but more about her later...she deserves her own dedicated post), went to the fall street festival (local bands, local crafts, lots of junk food) and talked about how different it will be next summer if Creecher's here. Tomorrow it's back to work. Maybe this will be the week we get our referral.

What's a Creecher?

No, it's not just that I can't spell! And it has nothing to do with Ernest T. Bass on the Andy Griffith Show. It has to do with our last name which is Creech. When we started the adoption process, we talked about "our little girl" and "the baby" because we didn't want to rush into picking a name. We hope to incorporate some part of her birth name so we really haven't decided yet. My sister-in-law said she needed a name that we could use in the mean time and suggested "Baby Rousse". My brother (in typical big-brother fashion) said "Creech-er!" And it stuck. So, before I ever caught on to the concept of blog names, our little girl became Creecher. The bonus is that now, when I hear the word, spoken or in song, I think of her and say a little prayer that she's warm and safe and that we can get her home SOON. Maybe now, you will too?

Thanks Secret Pal!!

Chocolate, bubbles, candles, picture frames - these are a few of my favorite things...and all in a package that I got from my secret pal today! Thank you so much! I'm off to eat a candy bar, in the tub, by candlelight!...right after The Bachelor...and Studio 60...well, soon. Thanks again!

I did it!

After first lurking and then finally "coming out" to comment on other adoption blogs, I decided to start my own! I suppose this will also help fill the time while we're waiting...and waiting...for our referral. To catch everyone up, we submitted our dossier in Oct. 2005. We've had a couple of referrals, but after consulting with our IA doctor, we felt we had to decline them. There's been no news since March. Our agency's accreditation expired on May 17 (a very popular day for that, I understand). They got their NGO registration in August but no word on accreditation. So now, we're counting the days and watching our paperwork expire and wondering if there's still the slightest chance that we can have our little girl home before Christmas. More to come so check back!