The Internet: A Wealth of Information

If you live in Connecticut and are interested in adoption, there is a wealth of information available to you on the internet. The CT Judicial Branch Law Libraries has a particularly good web page dedicated to the laws surrounding adoption. It’s loaded with informative and helpful links. (It makes for interesting reading at the very least!)

Check it out below if you’re interested:

http://www.jud.ct.gov/lawlib/Law/adoption.htm

If you’re not from Connecticut, I’m sure your State must have some sort of similar resource. I did a quick search for “Massachusetts Adoption Law Resource” and found the following web page: http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/adopt.htm

It’s the equivalent of the CT page, so there’s probably one for most States. Go ahead, give it a look-see!

Hot Topic: Breastfeeding…

Your Adopted Monkey????

This is too strange. I believe this story is a few years old, but it’s worth sharing!

You might have read or heard about the idea of breastfeeding your adopted baby, but this takes it to a whole new level.

Mrs. Das, from India, says her husband found a dying baby monkey under a tree after a fierce storm. The two decided to raise the monkey as one of their own, along with their two daughters. Apparently the girls treat the monkey as if he were their brother, and Mom and Dad treat the monkey like a son!

At the time this story came out, Mrs. Das had been breastfeeding her “son” for nearly four years. Now I’m open minded, but this strikes me as a little odd.

Although if things don’t work out in Vietnam, I guess we have other options!!!

This is one story you probably need to read for yourself, so click here to do just that!

Buy a Frosty, Help Adoption

Buy a Frosty THIS WEEKEND and Wendy’s will donate $0.50 to the Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption!

Click below to see the cute little animated video for the promotion.

Rockin’ Frosty

What a great excuse to get a Frosty this Saturday or Sunday!

(Or how about a sweet treat for Dad from the kids on Father’s Day?)

10 Strangest Names Ever

First, because I know what you’re thinking… there is no adoption news to report.

Second, this post is all about putting a smile on your face! I needed a laugh, so I did a search on the web for funny names and came across this post on the 10 Strangest Names Ever, on a blog called Neatorama. The Top 10 are all winners, in my opinion. Highlights include KentuckyFriedCruelty.com (Yes, someone actually changed their name to this.) and Dick Assman, a gas station owner from Saskatchewan, Canada.

The names should elicit at least a little smile out of you, so if you need a little pick me up (or want to be glad you don’t have the same parents as these people), click here to read the list. And if you have a little extra time, be sure to read the readers’ comments at the bottom. There are a few more winners in there too.

“Blanket” doesn’t sound so bad after reading that list, does it?

Hmmm……

A Little Splash of Color

So we did it. We painted the baby’s room. Can you stand it??? We are soooo crazy!!!!

We decided to go with an underwater/ocean theme. Boy or Girl, it doesn’t matter. This will be one cool room for the little dude or dudette. We still haven’t found the right chair for the room– but hey, that gives our family something to buy us!!!

Editor’s Note: Yes, I did put together ALL of the furniture. Marc was working on other stuff, and doesn’t really have the patience for those crazy directions that come with assembled furniture. It took me a while, but I did it!!! I’m getting pretty good at the assembly stuff!

And YES, Ernie insisted on being in the pictures too! He can’t wait to meet our little one either!

Will We or Won’t We…

Adopt a baby from Vietnam? Who knows at this point. So much is going on right now. I’d really like to keep my head buried in the sand as this whole endeavor has really thrown me for a loop. Information changes daily and we’re in the wait and see mode. There are 2 magic dates floating around out there these days: July 1 and September 1. Either one of those dates is the cutoff date for referrals from Vietnam. Meaning, if you don’t have a referral by that date (whichever one it is… I keep finding conflicting reports… I’m not sure anyone knows… WHO IS RUNNING THIS SHOW???) you won’t get one. It seems as though the perfect storm might be brewing for us, as we will probably be in the cross hairs of the cutoff date. Good times!

At this point I’m getting tired of all of this. Tired of the ups and downs. Tired of scouring the internet and email groups for the latest news. Tired of the name calling and allegations. Tired of it all.

The kicker to me is that in some ways we did this to ourselves. My hubby and I chose this path. This path full of unknowns and lots of heartache. We keep telling ourselves that we’ll be better people in the end for all of this. But seriously, how good do we have to be???? Ok, so that wasn’t serious. But this situation is seriously frustrating. I am just ready for it to be over. I think a lot of people are.

Don’t worry, we still have good moments in our days too. It’s just that this whole thing is really hard. And this blog is about our Vietnam adoption, so I figured I should at least let you know what was going on, rather than keeping my head in the sand. So I came up for a breath to fill you in… now I think I’m going back down!

Who knows though… like this crazy world of adoption, I could change my mind at any moment and start blogging more regularly again! Stay tuned!!! And stay positive!!!

A little Kathleen Norris, anyone?

None of us knows what the next change is going to be, what unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting a few months or a few years to change all the tenor of our lives.

–Kathleen Norris, a popular American writer from the early 20th century

Retail Therapy Still Works for Me!

As the craziness continues, so does my shopping! I found this cute little onesie with an animal playing soccer on it, online. I only realized when it came in the mail yesterday that it was a GIRAFFE playing soccer… my favorite animal playing my favorite sport… how perfect!

Am I crazy to wish this shirt came in a bigger size? I’d wear a shirt with a giraffe playing soccer. I think it’s really cute!

Or maybe I’m finally losing it!!!! You decide!

Still Here… with Hope!

Obviously I’ve taken a little break from the blogging world this month (and for most of the previous month too). This blog started out as such a great outlet to keep everyone updated on our adoption… and still is. It’s just that the longer this goes, the harder it gets. So sometimes it’s just easier to stay away from the blog altogether. Which is what I’ve been doing for the past couple of months. Keeping my head low and trying to stick it out. So far, so good… I just wanted to let you know that we’re still here. And still plugging along.

And even after having been involved in this adoption for nearly a year, I am still amazed at how this journey works. You never know where the ride is going to end up… but we’re buckled in and ready to go wherever it takes us!

I’ll let you know when we see our exit sign! Looks like we’re getting close!

Moving Along Like a Turtle

Yes, you interpreted this post’s title correctly. We are inching along, ever so slowly, in this process. We’ve been waiting over 3 months for our referral, and really don’t know when it is coming. It could be today or tomorrow, but most likely it won’t be for a few more months. It’s a little frustrating because when we started all of this last year, I naively thought we’d have Blanket home with us by now. And at this point we don’t even know who Blanket is!!!

Ahhhh, the joys of international adoption. When it comes to IA, I can assure you of two things.

1) You never really know what is going on.

And 2) If you think you know what is going on, that is a sure sign that you REALLY DON’T KNOW what is going on!

So I’m trying to just sit back and not think about it all that much. Which is why I haven’t written anything lately. Sometimes I need to take a break from all of the email groups and blogs as it can get overwhelmingly frustrating. You can totally become an adoption-obsessed freak if you allow yourself!

So that’s where I’ve been for the past few weeks. The necessary mental break and the fact that I have taken on a new role in my professional life have resulted in very little blog time. But it’s been the break that I needed.

And never underestimate the power of a good snow day! Here are two of my favorite pictures from Friday’s winter storm. I love the action shots!

Here’s to speedy referrals and travel approval all around! Have a great week!