Ben Update!

*(&^(@#@ Ben has a fever AGAIN!!! He has missed 4 days of school!! He is missing testing for the advanced language arts class! UGH!! Looks like he will be hanging with a girl we carpool with and her mom for part of the day. She came to our house for a little bit today while her Mom was at work. Can I say %#%#^ one more time!!! Hannah better not get this!

Home with a Sick Kiddo

Ben has been home sick since last Thursday! I sent him to school on Thursday although he said he didn’t feel good. I don’t know about you guys but if you don’t have a fever, a really really bad cold, or if you are not throwing up….you are going to school!! So I insisted that he go to school and if he felt like death was near that I would come and pick him up. He called me at school at 9:00 to please come get him! Chris on the other hand told me just to let him stay home and that he would call his Mom. Anyway Chris, Grandma and I have been on sick kid rotation. I brought him to the doctor yesterday because he has had a fever since Thursday night. She said it looked like the flu and that it is lasting 5-7 days! Yikes! Well, Ben woke up this morning without a fever, but still coughing. He will rest this morning and then catch up on some missed schoolwork. I’ll disinfect the house and pray that Hannah doesn’t get it next!!!

Friday Funnies Brought to you By Chris and Uncle Bob

Chris' Uncle Bob sends him some of the funniest jokes I have read....ever! So since everyone can use a good laugh I will post the best of Bob's weekly jokes to get your weekend started. Some, ok well many are not appropriate for sensitive audiences, so be warned. So without further adieu....

The Harvard School of Medicine did a study of why women liked Chinese food so much. The study revealed that this is due to Won Ton spelled backward is NOT NOW!


A man and his ever-nagging wife went on vacation to Jerusalem.
While they were there, the wife passed away. The undertaker told the
husband, "You can have her shipped home for $5,000, or you can bury
her here, in the Holy Land, for $150." The man thought about it and
told him he would just have her shipped home.

The undertaker asked, "Why would you spend $5,000 to ship your
wife home, when it would be wonderful to be buried here and you
would spend only $150?"

The man replied, "Long ago a man died here, was buried here, and
three days later he rose from the dead. I just can't take that chance."

Subject: Roger was in trouble...........

Roger was in trouble. He'd forgotten his wedding anniversary.

Patti was really angry. She told him "Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a
gift in the driveway that, when I step on it, will go from 0 to 200 in
less than 6 seconds!"

The next morning, Roger got up early and left for work. When Patti woke up,
she looked out the window and sure enough, there was a box in the middle of
the driveway. Confused, she put on her robe, ran out to the driveway, and
brought the box into the house. She opened it and found a brand new
bathroom scale.

Funeral services for Roger have been scheduled for Friday.

Well it is that time again....PMS and referral rumors. Ahhh if only you could experience the joy that I am with this fab combo! I thought I would post the Magic 8 ball again since the CCAA isn't talking and I have given up RQ. Maybe the answers we are looking for are hidden in the Magic 8 Ball......


Click Here to get this from pYzam.com!

Interrupted by George W

George interupted my Tuesday night must see TV, I was really looking forward to watching Boston Legal. That show is so inappropriate it kills me! Anyway as I listened to George talk and talk I did a survey where your answers indicate what kind of food you are. Mine is a big shocker....not!

You Are Chinese Food

Exotic yet ordinary. People think they've had enough of you, but they're back for more in an hour.

What Kind of Food Are You?

And here is the type of food Chris is:

You Are Chinese Food

Exotic yet ordinary. People think they've had enough of you, but they're back for more in an hour.

What Kind of Food Are You?

I wonder what Ben and Hannah are??? I'll have to have them do the survey when they have some time!

So blogger friends what kind of food are you???? Go ahead and do the survey....there isn't anything good on TV anyway!!

A Good Week for the TBG Gang

It was a good week. The school week was short with MLK day and the kids had two more days off due to two teacher workdays. We even had some snow! More poor southern children were calling me at work looking for their boots to go sledding….there was maybe a 1/4 of an inch of snow! I need to get my babies to some real snow soon!! It looks like we may even get a two-hour delay Monday, we are supposed to get some sleet and rain tonight!



On Sunday morning we headed over to see James, Heather and Lilly. Everyone is so busy we still had Lilly’s Christmas present! Lilly liked her Weebles castle and Ben and Hannah loved playing with her! She is a cutie. We are going to miss these guys when they move to Charlotte….but we are looking forward to visiting them and going shopping! (Lots of outlets and Ikea is coming soon).

All in all a good week for the TBG gang. It's that time of the month again…….here come the referral rumors!

Is Blogging for Chicks Only???

Ahhh, your significant other doesn't understand the need to check your fav blogs on a daily basis??? Well I have a website for the sports fan in your house. Here is a link to a friend of Chris's who has a funny sports blog.....and is fishing for comments:)
Say-Sport

Things are pretty quiet in adoption land. No rumors, maybe March is in the review room, maybe it’s out of the review room. Gaaaw!!, wasn’t someone with a March LID questioned back in November! I thought we would be out of review by now.

Our agency is now waiting for its next list of special needs children. Maybe Sophie will be on this list…. then again maybe not. We are trying not to get our hopes up here at the TBG house. October was pretty hard on Hannah and me. click here The guys in our house seem better able to keep things in perspective. You know the one “it will happen when it’s suppose to happen.” So I try not to get my hopes up (although I secretly am). Hannah crying last time almost killed me. As hard as the wait is for me, seeing our Hans cry because her little sister doesn't seem to be coming home any time soon, is just too much. So I try to keep hope to myself, I try to downplay the possibility that Sophie will be on the next WC list. I try not to squash Hannah’s hope that March will be the month she sees her baby sisters face…because if we don’t have hope what do we have???

Watch for Tracy's Answer to "Why China?"

Here is the journey of this question through blog land

So it's come down to this> Omega Mom>Letters from the Zoo> The Singing Bird>Elsie Elsewhere>Chicago Mama>Sopapilla>Are we There yet?>Hope Springs>Jiaozi>Figlet>Bionic Valentine>Hao Bao Bao>Mortimers Mom>Jazzie & Tahlia>Ruby In her Own Time> hey ho, hey ho>Love Made Real>The Moon is Always Female>Buttercup>Waiting for Sprout>Somewhere in China...> TBG Happenings Our Unforgotten Duaghter

10 Signs That The Wait Is Longer Than You Expected...

1. You know the wait is longer than you expected when you get a notice that your gift registry has expired and nothing has been bought, so here is a 10% off coupon. *Sigh*

2. People stop asking when you are going to China.

3. You start really thinking about how old you will be when your little girl is a senior in high school.

4. You have 6 weeks of vacation time because you have not taken a day off in 2 years!

5. The baby crib is full of secret pal gifts.

6. You only visit 2 of the 10 adoption boards you originally joined.

7. You have gained weight.

8. You start to think maybe ladybug stuff is "cute"

9. You belong to so many swaps on your DTC yahoo! group that you don't know who gets bows or bibs this month!

10. Your kids know who Colleen ,Tracy, and Connie are!


****Check out Connie and Melissa's lists! funny stuff!!

That Age Old Question.....Why China???

Why China? It seems that we have been asked this question countless times. To be honest I think that it is an odd question. I think for some it is a very personal question. What happens if the answer isn't one you expected? What if the answer is a painful one to recount? Our answer has a complicated part that I won’t share, but a pretty natural progression otherwise. So as promised to Connie, here I go.

Wanting to adopt from China first entered the realm of possibility for us back in 1995 while we were living in Prague. I was in our apartment with Ben, and I was watching a report from the World Health Organization on the health and wellness of women and girls in China. Part of their story focused on the number of girls in China's orphanages. The report was not inflammatory or sensationalized but an account of the current situation. I called Chris at work and asked him if we could please adopt a little girl from China. He response was "no, we are pretty busy right now with Ben", who at the time was two months old! I would have to agree that at that time "no" was an appropriate answer. So I tucked this request away for another time. In 1996 Hannah was born, in the following years Chris worked at building his business I went back to school and eventually back to work, Ben and Hannah got bigger........and busier. Life happened. We were blessed to have two great kids, jobs we loved and our own home, but something was missing. More accurately someone was missing.

In 2005 Chris traveled to China on business. He had a great trip, and could not stop talking about the little Chinese girls with their new families on the airplane back to the United States. We talked about how when Ben was little I called him asking if we could adopt. Our conversations were definitely heading towards adding a new member to the TBG gang; it was just a matter of how we would do that. Chris asked me if I wanted to have another baby. I said no, I just turned 40 and having a baby did not seem like a good idea to me! I looked into foster care and adoption through the foster care system and that wasn't a good fit for us either. We never considered any other country even though we had family who had adopted from Russia and a friend who was waiting to complete her adoption in Guatemala. It has always been China. So we continued to talk about the possibility of China. We were not overly concerned about being conspicuous family, part of my ethnic background is Indonesian (my mom is Indonesian, dad is Irish). I grew up beinga part of a conspicuous family! We talked with Ben and Hannah about having a new sister. Hannah was excited at the possibility, Ben had a few questions. After some discussion and time to think things over the TBG kids gave their stamp of approval and we were off to find an adoption agency.

So the answer to the question for us is really quite simple. We chose China because that IS where Sophie is and this is the right time for our family. So we wait, we would never change programs. China has always been in our hearts.


So it's come down to this> Omega Mom>Letters from the Zoo> The Singing Bird>Elsie Elsewhere>Chicago Mama>Sopapilla>Are we There yet?>Hope Springs>Jiaozi>Figlet>Bionic Valentine>Hao Bao Bao>Mortimers Mom>Jazzie & Tahlia>Ruby In her Own Time> hey ho, hey ho>Love Made Real>The Moon is Always Female>Buttercup>Waiting for Sprout>Somewhere in China...> TBG Happenings

***this is the second time I have written this post. The first one, and of course in my opinion the better one, was deleted by me and forever lost. I cried, I mean tried to find the first post. And for those of you that this has happend to know that the you just can't replicate what you wrote the first time...ugh!

Are You Freakin Kidding Me!!!

Thursday’s show:
She’s a proud parent now, but if she wanted to do it again, she couldn’t. Will strict overseas adoption standards rule you out too? Tune in Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on “Paula Zahn Now.”
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/paula.zahn.now/

Paula please leave us alone. Please do not piss off China the way you pissed off the parents waiting to adopt from China. China can do what ever the )*&$#@$@it wants.....the U.S. cannot and should not tell China what to do, especially in reference to their children. Please shut the H E double hockey sticks up!!!

Paula here is a suggestion; why don't you worry about the 20,000 troops that our fearless leader wants to send to Iraq!

Looks Like I'm It!!

Colleen over at Ms. Hannah has tagged me....

A - Available or Taken: Taken
B - Best Friend: Chris
C - Cake or Pie: Cake. Store bought birthday cake mmmmm
D - Drink of Choice: Diet coke or a good beer
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday: My Car
F - Favorite Color: Blue or Red
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Gummy Bears.
H - Hometown: West Springfield, Ma
I - Indulgence: Jcrew
J - January or February: February maybe a Sophie month
K - Kids and Names: Ben, Hannah and soon Sophie
L - Life Incomplete Without: My family
M - Marriage Date: July 15th and November 12th (gotcha wondering on that one)
N - Number of Siblings: One Sister and One brother
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples
P - Phobias or Fears: Going into the water in my car ( don’t really live near any water…..)
Q - Favorite Quote: "I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."
Mother Theresa
R - Reason to Smile: Lots. Husband,kids, work, home….
S - Season: SUMMER!!!
T - Tag 1 Person:

Kirstine

( there aren't five people for me to tag!!)
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I was fast in High School...no not that way!!! I hold the school record for 220yd dash! 26.1 sec.
V - Veggie You Don't Like: Brussel Sprouts
W - Worst Habit: Swearing
X - X-rays: Nope, except for at the dentist
Y - Your Favorite Food: Any kind of Asian food Indonesian, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese, yummy
Z - Zodiac: Aries.

Mighty Gators 41 OSU Small Nuts 14 Wasn't even a game...Gainesville Titletown USA

Big Ten a second tier football conference.

From ESPN:

On the field after the game Monday night, Florida junior defensive end Jarvis Moss suggested an explanation.

"We played a lot better teams than Ohio State this year," Moss said, a piece of blue confetti sweat-stuck to his neck. "I can name four or five teams in the SEC that would compete real well against them."

Isn't a buckeye something like a small NUT?...GO GATORS!!

A Little of This and a Little of That

We had a nice weekend, it is January and the temps here is in the 70’s!! I would like a little bit of winter please! (I probably will regret those words!) It is typically in the 50’s at this time of year, and much cooler a night.

With the nice weather I thought it would be nice to go look at cars. I don’t really neeeed a car and just have want a new car. It all started when Chris totaled my dad’s car in November (he was ok, but it scared the crap out of me!) and after seeing a car seat safety video. My Durango is a 2000 and does not have the tether things for a car seat. So right now I am all about finding a safe car for my crew! I went to look at the new Durango’s and the salesman talked me into looking at a Grand Caravan. Ugh a minivan! I told him I thought I was too sexy for a mini van. (Yes, I seriously said that). Anyway, he laughed and told me he had one in red that he was sure I would love! I have to admit I liked it. It has a ton of room, seats that fold into wells in the car, tons of storage room. I liked the van. You can flip the back row of seats around when you are tailgating. I really liked this van. It had power doors on both sides and when it comes into contact with something it stops and goes back. No little fingers shut in the door. I did like the red. I am just not sure if I can do it! I swore I would never drive a granny grocery getter! But it had a lot of room. I could see me folding the back seat in so Sophie could play while Hannah played soccer in the rain. I have to think about this one. What do y’all think???





Here are some pictures from Christmas and Hannah’s club Libby lu birthday party. (Better late than never) Hannah had her last party this weekend with the G side of the family. We can now officially say Hannah’s birthday is over! Finally! Her birthday seems to go on and on. Being a December baby has definitely worked out for Hannah! Her party recap goes a little like this…12/26 Libby party and Chinese food with Massachusetts cousins, 1/31 sleepover party and a few games of bowling with two friends from school and finally her last party today with her NC family!

Hannah with her cousins Helen,Lillian and Emma

Birthday girl!

Helen and Emma

All made up!

Hannah’s birthday is just the beginning of the TBG birthday extravaganza. Chris’s birthday is next Friday, the big 39!! I already gave him his present. I nice recliner for him to watch the Gators school the Buckeye’s for the National Championship! (Sorry Tracy, Chris went to Florida). Ben will be twelve on February 23rd and my birthday is in March! We are hoping that Sophie is either a November or April baby!


Chris enjoying his early birthday present

Don't Mess With Us!!!!

Don’t piss off the Chinese adoption community! There is your warning….a little late for Paula Zahn over at CNN and the nut jobs, I mean panelist invited on her program. I did not see the show, but here is a link so you can read the transcript. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0701/05/pzn.01.html. I have to say it is aggravating when “news shows” have so called panelist commenting on things that they don’t know anything about! Just a few highlights from the show….. The panelist seriously said this! American’s adopt Chinese children so they can raise doctors. Not kidding! Adoptive parents think Asian children are smarter than other minority children available for adoption. Oooh there are a many more insane remarks some in reference to adoptive parents not choosing Hispanic or African American children. You are going to be pissed when you read the transcript. Here is a link to RQ (I know I gave her up but she has the info you need).

RQ

Check out Lisa’s well written reaction to last nights show at

Lisa's Blog

. Most people watching these shows BELIEVE these shows are presenting them with the facts! This is part of the reason why when you are standing in the grocery line that people say crazy stuff about adoption!! Go to RQ, send your emails and letters!!!

Time to Go Shopping!!!

Check out the goods from the TBG Closet! A year and a half ago Chris and I came up with a t-shirt design to help offset some of our adoption costs. This was just one month after we sent our contract to Living Hope. I could not find any cute/cool looking t-shirts with a China adoption connection. I didn’t want a t-shirt with a big ladybug on it!! You fashionistas out there know what I am talking about. Anyway, this really isn’t much of a fundraiser, but an attempt to help us through this crappy wait, but at the same time lending a hand to the other fashion conscious parents out there. Your search for a cute t-shirt to wear to your next FCC dinner is over! The t-shirt says in Chinese characters; Hope (what will all start this process with), Blessing (the little ones who will be joining our families), Joy (no need to explain this one:). The English translation is under each character. Happy Shopping! Come visit my store on CafePress!