A new Super Hero is born

Levi has invented a new twist on the removal of his underpants. Yesterday he removed them, replaced his shorts and then wore the (dirty) underwear as a mask. He is now UnderPants Boy! Later, after I got home, we were in the front yard talking to the neighbor when I looked over and he was standing there peeing in a hole, pants around his ankles, the sun glinting off his uber-white hiney. OK, this kid has been completely potty trained for a year now. No accidents, no issues, he even is learning privacy. He is almost 4 now. So where in the heck is this coming from? Why is underwear and public peeing suddenly an issue?

We were in the car the other day and Katie and her friend were talking and mentioned tattoos. Levi pipes up and says he doesn't want a tattoo because he doesn't want the needles. How in the world does this kid know about tattoos and needles?

We have been working with Levi to teach him to spell and write his name. He already sight reads several words, so I thought this would be no big deal. He absolutely refuses to spell his name. I ask him and he says "f o g" or some other random letters. Then laughs at me. Stinker. He also knows how to count in spanish but lately he says Uno, Dos, Tuna.... I can see it now. The notes we will get from Kindergarten. "We enjoy having Levi in class but he has the tendency to be the class clown....." My child will be the one with underwear on his head making everyone else laugh. I apologize now if your child ends up in his class!

Ahren Christopher

Every day I wonder if we will ever bring Ahren home. How old he will be. How long will we have to wait. Will it ever truly happen. People say to me, Oh don't give up. It will happen. He will come home. But reality says this is unlikely to happen. Let me tell you why:

It is illegal to pay a woman to give up her baby. In international adoptions, it is up to the US Embassy and INS to enforce that. If a woman gives up more than one or two children, red flags go up and investigations begin. It is hard to believe that women would be so poverty stricken and desperate that they would turn to this income source, but think about it. If the children you already had were starving to death and the one way you had to make enough money to feed them for a year was to get pregnant and hand over the child to adoption wouldn't you be tempted? You would be told that the baby would go to an American couple who would give it every thing the baby could ever desire, plus a future full of promise, great medical and dental care, education, everything that is not available to most children in rural Guatemala. What would you think then? I don't know for sure if this happens but I can imagine it does.

Now, when the news station did the undercover story on Ahren's agency, they have the owners on film discussing how they pay the birth mothers. They discuss it in detail, how they receive so much at this point and so much at the next point. This got the attention of INS and the US Embassy. They have announced that they will be doing an extra in-depth investigation of every Waiting Angels agency case. This would not be a problem if the case was squeaky clean and no red flags but....

Ahren is the 11th child of the birth mother

She has given up multiple other children

The Facilitator is already under investigation for illegal adoption practices in Guatemala

The whole issue with his birth certificate was suspicious from day 1

If the US government determines that the birth mother was probably paid for giving up Ahren, he will never be able to be adopted into the US, no matter what. Not by us, not by anyone. What will happen to him? I don't know. We are trying to put a safety net in place so that we can move him to the orphanage of some friends and we will pay for him to live there until he is an adult. We can only do that if the facilitator in Guat cooperates with us, and so far he is not too willing to even talk much with us.

We are not giving up. We won't give up until we have absolutely no avenue to attempt. No hope what-so-ever, no place else to turn. His very life depends on us. Poor little soul, caught in such an ugly mess. He is just an innocent little angel.

Slow Motion Craziness

I mentioned a while back that my heart is prone to skipping beats (PVC's) and was acting up again. As a side affect of skipping beats, my heart rate was high (120+ bpm) and my blood pressure was high too. They put me on a 30-day heart monitor (oh, the joys of those irritating little sticky patches) and the cardiologist put me on meds to stop the arrythmia. I feel terrific!!!! Only problem is it is working a little too good. My blood pressure is now running 90/50. Oh well, my body will adjust. I am just thrilled that I feel so darn good!!!!!

For those of you who are asking what kolaches are, they are sausages with or without cheese, rolled in dough and baked. In the north we called them pigs in a blanket. In the south they are kolaches. Whatever you call them, they are delightfully sinful grease/carb breakfast bombs.

It looks like we sold our house this weekend. The offer came yesterday and we countered back and forth a bit and came to an agreement today. They want to close just days after we move so the timing is perfect. Whew! One more thing off my back. They are a young family moving here from Utah for his job. They have 4 kids so our house is perfect. I hope we get to meet them and know them because they sound really great.

Yesterday they gave us only 5 minutes warning before showing our house. I had just walked in the door from Wal Mart with armloads of bags. I started yelling 'All hands on deck" and everyone scrambled and did their assigned jobs and we pulled out of the driveway as the realtor turned the corner. We drove around for a little bit then stopped at a store for a couple of things. Katie took Levi to go potty and when she came out her eyes were really big. She whispers to me, "Did you know he isn't wearing any underwear?" Good grief, in our rush I forgot the underwear check! The Commando Kid strikes again.

We are hoping to close on our new house June 12/13th. Everything is moving pretty quickly now. The granite countertops should go in tomorrow. Wahoo! I will post lots of pix later this week. It has been pretty boring for a while now. Did anyone really want to see pictures of doorknobs???? Smoke detectors?? The doorbell????? I didn't think so. Now the fun stuff is happening. It is finally seeming real. Ten months after signing the deal we will have a home. I swear to God I am NEVER doing this again!!!!!!!

Friday Ramblings

Here are some eclectic thoughts from my recent memory....

Why do people consider adopted children so different? Every child is unique. Every child has their own story. Why is adoption so different? I must be missing something. Maybe it's because so many people in my family are adopted. Maybe it is just the norm for us but so very unusual for others? It really amazes me. Perplexes me. Concerns me.....

Why in the world does my 3, almost 4 year old son, keep taking his underwear off and hiding it? Every day for the past 2 weeks he goes in to potty, which he handles all by himself, comes back out and later I discover he is going commando. After searching I find his underwear in the cabinet, the toy box, the tissue box, anywhere but on his bottom. It's not wet, he hasn't had an accident. He can't tell me why he does it either. I thought maybe his underwear was 'crowding' him so I got him some boxer briefs (they have them in 2t - yeah!) but they have met the same fate as the jockey style. This wouldn't be such a big deal, but he is so skinny his shorts are very loose around him, thus providing many peekaboo moments. We have had to institute underwear checks......

I have started knitting items for a charity called Warm Woolies (http://www.warmwoolies.org/) I need something to keep me occupied and I learned to knit last year and really enjoy it. Unfortunately, there just isn't much need for hats, scarves, mittens, sweaters etc in Houston. Now I have an outlet for my knitting fanaticism. I have gotten several others to join in, too. I am just about to finish my first hat/scarf set. I will post pix next week. I am a beginner at knitting, but they provide really easy patterns that even I can't botch too badly. Check it out!

I lost a bet at work and had to bring in kolaches for breakfast today. I got up thinking "don't forget the kolaches". I got in the van thinking "don't forget the kolaches". I drove down the road thinking "don't forget the kolaches". Halfway to work I realized I had driven way past the kolache store and had to turn around and go back. Arghhh!

Life on the Funny Farm

I never get to watch TV in real time anymore. The DVR has made my life so much less dependent on the clock. I only have a few shows I really like. Grey's Anatomy, Lost and the occasional Dr. Phil show. I was watching Gray's last weekend, catching up, while folding laundry, etc.
Fast forward to this week, I went and picked up Katie and some other girls from dance practice. Levi is in his carseat sitting next to his favorite girl, Melissa. He leans over, gently grasps both sides of her face with his hands and says, "I am going to kiss you...with tongue". I can't remember what happened next, but lots of shrieking ensued, the car was swerving, and all the blood drained from my head. What the.....then it hit me. Grey's Anatomy. The new guy said this to Addison on the stairs. Hmmm, I guess my little sponge was listening when I thought he was playing and not paying attention! It doesn't help that he is extremely verbal and his speech is super clear.

Katie is 14 years old. Fourteen years old with a body that makes her step-dad oil his guns. Last weekend she decided she wanted to lay out in the sun. I wasn't paying much attention as she gathered the suntan lotion, a towel, her i-pod and whatever else she needed. Next thing I know she is laying on our driveway, 15 feet from the street, in her bikini. Um, girlfriend, what are you doing???? Apparently the backyard is all shade so she HAS to lay in the front. I tell her that everyone is going to be seeing her as they drive down the street and she tells me, "Well God gave me goodies, why not show them off?" (She says this giggling because she knows it will drive me crazy.) I decide I am not going to bite and return to the house. After a little bit, I realize that Chris has been sitting in the dining room for a while and then it strikes me. He is watching out the front window and standing guard over her. She's behind the cars so he can only see her feet, but he makes the comment that so far no one has driven off into the ditch. Honestly, if anyone ever hurts one of his girls I think he will be hard to stop. I love that man! (And yes, he has guns. LOTS of guns, you hear that you boys!!!!)

How to wear out a 3 year old

One ten dollar wiggly worm sprinkler plus one energetic little boy equals a fun time. After a bath and some dinner he was begging to go to bed!

Good lord get that boy in the sun! I mean really, how white can a person be???? He looks like I coated him in powdered sugar or something!

Today's post has been interrupted....

to bring you new pictures of Peri Brynn!!!! She is 7 months old, and about the cutest little bug I have ever seen! (Yeah, I'm the Mommy!!!!) We have been back in PGN for 3 weeks today so no hopes on hearing anything for a while longer. I am absolutely twitching with the urge to go visit!

Please visit http://adventuresindailyliving.blogspot.com/ to read some of the best adoption blog posts I have ever seen. Be prepared with tissues becasue these will make you cry out of sheer joy and pain, the two emotions that are entertwined in the adopting parents hearts.

Teens vs Toddlers

A good friend of mine said something this morning that has to be the all time best statement I have ever heard. She told me teens are just a second toddler stage. That is sooo true! They are exerting their independence, but have little cognitive ability to think through to the consequences of their actions. They want to be independent but they still need to know you are right there behind them if they need you. They throw temper tantrums, they are self-centered and they are messy. The only difference is now I can't baby-proof their world.

Levi says "I don't want my picture taken!"


Katie trying to look like a thug. She looks more like Barbie with indigestion. Oh, and she wants to change the spelling of her name. She is now Kaytee. Yeah, right. Not!!!

Katie, Levi and Haleigh (who wants to be Haylee) all shooting Spiderman webs.

Levi loves Haleigh. He is turning into quite the ladies man with Katie's friends.

Floating along in a fog

Well, whatever that new medicine is that the cardio gave me it has turned me into a big floating cloud of vapor. My chest doesn't hurt anymore, and my rythym is better, so it is working. But I feel sort of like........what it must be like inside Paris Hiltons head! I hope I don't accidentally float away......

Good news: We got word that the gov't in Guatemala has approved Ahrens birth certificate and will be releasing it shortly. Pardon me if I don't get too excited. They have done this to us a couple of other times and it turned out not to be true. I will wait for definitive proof.

Bad news: The government issued a press release today saying they are going to 'very closely scrutinize all WA cases due to the allegation by Joe at WA that birth mothers are coerced and paid for the babies (Highly illegal) Even if our case moves forward it may never be approved by the US Government. Things are not looking very good at all.

Funny news: The judge asked Simone where all the cash came from she had in her house, was it the adoptive parents money. She claims that no, it's all her money. Money she earned prostituting herself. Oh yes, that makes it SO much better. Your not really a thief, just a prostitute. Well that makes perfect sense.....NOT!

I am living in a made-for-TV crime show.

Boys and Bodily Functions

I learned all about the fascination boys have for bodily functions during my first marriage (from first hubby who is and was a big kid). Burping, tooting, making fake burp and toot noises, boogers, spit, etc etc.

Now Levi has hit a phase where these things are always on his mind. I hear the word poo-poo all day long. We talk about poo-poo, laugh about poo-poo and offend people with poo-poo. (Only at home, he is not allowed to do this outside of the house) He walks around making fake burping noises and cracks up if he toots. But, the worst of it is........................he has been experimenting with the whole potty process. Last week he peed in a cup on the bathroom rug. The week before he peed in the trash can. Yesterday was the worst, though. Nanny was on the phone and didn't realize he had been in the bathroom for quite a while. When she found him he had poo-poo all over the seat, on the floor, on his shoe and pretty much everywhere else. He looked up at her and said, "I squished it!" Levi went in the tub, the rug into the washer and everything else was washed down with Clorox.

Levi likes to pee on things outside, too. He will frequently ask to go out to pee on a bush. Warning to whomever buys our house...the bushes like pee pee! I wonder if this helps keep the deer and armadillos away?

Little boys are definitely different than little girls, but they are so fun in their own way. Yesterday I called Levi my little snicklefritz and he told me I can call him that but I can't call him marshmallow. And he showed me he can count in spanish: Uno, dos, tuna, quatro....

See why I am always smiling!

Oh my aching heart

When I was pregnant with Levi, at the ripe ol' age of 39, I was healthy and happy and breezed right along. That is, until I hit about the 7 month mark and then something terrifying happened. As I lay in bed one night, my heart began to do weird thumping things in my chest. I ignored it for a while thinking it would go away but it didn't. I took my pulse and it was very irregular so we called the doctor. He said to come in to the office the next morning. So off I traipse to the office the next day and they hook me up to an EKG and then the fun began. They referred me to a cardiologist right away and I went for a bunch of tests. The one I remember the best was called a Holter monitor, which essentially is a 24-hour EKG. It records the activity of your heart over a 24 hour period. It showed that I was having PVC's (skipped heartbeats) at a rate of 15,000 in the 24 hour period. (yes, THOUSAND)
I ended up in and out of the hospital and having ultrasounds and non-stress tests on Levi every other day. I made it to about 37 weeks when at one appointment it clearly showed him in distress and they walked us over to the operating rooms and took him by C-section right away.

It took about a year for my heart to settle down and only occasionally throw PVC's. They never figured out why it happened but they consider it benign (as in it's not killing me) Now, when I get overly stressed, it acts up. My heart does strange thumping things which hurts my chest and I get short of breath. Yesterday was a particularly bad day. I never knew a heartache could be so literally painful.

P.S. I went to my doctor and got some meds and a follow up appointment with an electro-cardiologist. Ny heart issues are are due to funky electrical impulses so this guy should be the best equipeed to fix it.

Mother's Day continued

I thought I might be sad on Mother's Day this year. Ashley was in Dallas with her Dad, and Ahren and PBJ are far, far away. Amazingly, I wasn't! I had a great day. Here are some highlights.

Katie taught me how to text on my phone. Woohoo! Of course, she also made fun of how slow I am and all the mistakes I made. That just made me laugh!

We went to lunch at Pappadeaux's seafood restaurant (my fave) and took one of Katie's friends. (Teenage girls must travel in groups. It's a law) Our waiter was a guy from their school. Our lunch was very slow in coming, and Chris made the comment that the two hotties must have jumbled the waiter's mind. At the exact same time, both girls said 'where' and turned their heads. They had no clue Chris meant them. I laughed so hard I had tears rolling down my face and had to hide my face in a napkin!

At lunch, Levi colored on his booster seat with a crayon. This resulted in a stern talk about only coloring on paper and my taking his crayons away. He looked at me with his big blue eyes and said, "Happy Mother's Day". Awww, so sweet, but you're not getting the crayons back!

Lunch was wonderful, the company was wonderful, the whole day was wonderful. Full of laughter and silliness. Just the way I like it!

Mother's Day 2007

I can remember crying my eyes out because I was 8 months pregnant with Katie on Mother's Day 1992. I thought of myself as a mom, but my then-husband informed me I wasn't really a mother yet. No card, no special meal, nothing. I had a bad case of poor-me syndrome. Now fast forward 15 years. I consider myself the mother of 5 children. Katie, Ashley, Levi, Ahren and Peri Brynn. Legally I am not the mother of two of them, but I don't care. You see I have learned what a mother is and is not.

A mother is not someone who simply gives birth to a child. Lots of people give birth and never mother their child, whether the child stays with them or not. A mother is the person who rocks a toddler with a cold all night because they can't sleep lying down. A mother is the one who sits in the pediatricians office and holds her child down as they stab needles into their precious little chubby thighs. A mother cleans up vomit, suctions out tons of boogers from noses, kisses boo boos better and tries to cook creative and nutritious food that is completely ignored by children. A Mother goes shopping for some new work clothes and spends more at Gymboree than on herself (and is happy about it!) A mother answers the phone, hears the word accident and has her heart torn violently from her chest. A mother feels guilt, and pain, and joy every day as she does her best to try and raise healthy happy stable people. A Mother gives and gives and gives and enjoys almost every bit of it (the occasional selfish moment is acceptable!)

I never appreciated what my Mother did for me until I became a mother. I know my children will also never appreciate me until they experience parenthood for themselves. It is the way of the world.

So here's to not screwing up my kids, to bringing home the last two so I can mother them in person, and to another year of un-appreciated hard work. I wouldn't have it any other way!

TGIF Baby!

The super sweet and uber-talented Elle included a special little box just for Levi in my Sweet Hope candy order. Elle, Levi wanted to tell you himself how wonderful these are. Thanks!!

We finally know what is wrong with Katie's knee. The MRI showed a crush injury to the bones both above and below the knee, kind of like stress fractures running vertically. She also has a fracture across the top of her tibia (shin bone) Her back is fine, and there are no torn ligaments that will need surgery. They put her in a brace and she is back on crutches for a few weeks. She is supposed to avoid strenuous exercise for 3 months. All in all this is great news! I can finally breathe again.

I need a big helping of boredom

I think back over the past few weeks and I wonder how we possibly could be dealing with all of this at the same time. I am living a Lifetime movie, only it's so bizarre no one would believe it. So today you get a big ol' helping of boredom.

I was trying to get a picture of Levi in his cute little church outfit and this is what I got. Doesn't this just scream TROUBLE!!



Oh, and does this boy have some smooth moves or what. I can pretty much guarantee you will never see him on Dancing with the Stars.


In addition to deer and lions, we have some big racoons who have discovered the joys of our pond. It's going to be a real nature preserve back there. If we do enough work we can get a tax credit for wildlife. That's my goal.

I think we must have 4-5 feet of water already. I volunteered to jump in and measure it, but Chris just looked at me like I was insane. Well, yeah, but so what??? You married me!

So far it seems like we have had way too many little oops moments on our house. The latest is the stone they put on the front columns. They ran out finishing the house and had to order some more. Here is what it looks like on the house. It is supposed to be rich and warm with lots of earth tones.

The columns are lighter and more gray. It's hard to tell in these pictures but in the bright sunlight it is quite different. Here is a column beside the house stone. This is after they tried to paint some sort of stain on the stone to make it match. I still don't like it.


Are you yawning yet? Good old boring day-to-day ramblings. I feel so much better already.

Want my autograph???

I got a call yesterday from the local NBC television station. They are the affiliates of the station in Michigan who did the 5 month undercover story on Waiting Angels. They wanted to come interview us, last night. Umm, ok. So at 7pm the nicest reporter shows up. His name is Ryan and he was absolutely adorable and so kind. He brought a film crew and we did an interview about Ahren's adoption case. They aired it as the lead story on the 10 pm news last night, and have been airing it every hour during their morning show. The story turned out wonderfully. They didn't beat up on Guat adopotions, instead they focused on Waiting Angels and the crimes they are accused of. It was an emotional, heart-felt story.

Here's the link to the story: (Lord I hate the way I look on TV!)


http://www.click2houston.com/news/13276170/detail.html

We got new pictures of our little man, too! He's wearing one of the outfits I sent to him. His foster mom tells me he doesn't like to go there to get his pictures taken, and he gives those people a frowning eyebrows face. I do see the hint of a smile but he's just more studious. He is growing taller and slimming down. Turning into a little boy. My little boy.




Get a load of that hair! He looks like he is wearing a bad wig or something. I don't think it has ever been cut. Don't get me wrong, I love his curls, but a trim is much overdue. Does anyone else think he resembles Super Fly?

A quiet weekend

It is rare that we have a truly quiet weekend around here. This was one of those blessed ones that are rare gems of family life.

On Saturday, we hung out in our jammies for a while (why can't this child ever just smile for the camera?)


We cleaned house (yes, my wonderful hubby helps!) We have to keep it in tip-top shape since it's on the market.

We played in the yard a lot. The weather was phenomenal. Warm, partly sunny with a breeze.

We gave the dogs a bath in the backyard. It can safely be said that Levi and I no longer have fleas since we ended up as wet and soapy as Jackson did. I'm not sure you can tell from this picture, but his feet are on a fence and his head is almost level with mine. I am guessing he weighs about 150 lbs and yet he still thinks he is a lap dog!

I need to trim the bushes again but the flowers are doing well. I went with bright colors this year to add a little pizzazz. Doesn't it just say 'buy me'????

My poor skinny albino child. He turns four on July 1st but these shorts he is wearing? They are a 12 month size. He keeps getting taller but never any bigger around. Same with Katie. Now that she lost some weight the last two weeks she is 5'7" and about 110 pounds. She has a 35 in inseam. I have to special order pants for her most of the time. I wish I had that problem!!!

This is Lil Slugger, the slug we discovered while working in the yard. He is Levi's friend. I put a stop to his bringing him into the house. I had better warn Nanny to watch his pockets when she does laundry. I would hate to think what would happen if Lil Slugger went thru the wash....

I am saying it out LOUD

I have never revealed the name of our BAD agency until today. Waiting Angels Adoption Services. There, I said it. Waiting Angels, Waiting Angels, Waiting Angels. Hah! Why do I feel safe revealing it now? Well because the arrested the two people who run it. They recovered half a million dollars in cash from their homes. (What complete and total idiots! Who keeps money like that hidden in their home if it's not illegal funds?) They have charged them with felony racketeering. We are now working directly with the attorneys in Guatemala to get Ahren home. Here is the undercover investigative report, parts 1 and 2. I don't have to say anything bad about these people, they pretty much did it themselves.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/13249134/index.html
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/13256947/index.html

I have never felt safe saying anything about these people because they have threatened me, yelled at me, intimidated me. All I want is to bring Ahren home, so we kept our heads down and played nicey-nice. Now the gloves are off. These people are being revealed for what they are. Criminals. I wish I could say all the names I want to call them, but I won't. Just watch the videos and be amazed at how incredibly stupid some people are.....

Good news!

Our little PBJ went back into PGN yesterday. This is the Guat government office that has to approve her adoption. We were kicked out on April 5th because the original interview for our homestudy done 2 years ago mentions we are adopting a boy. The updates clearly state we are adopting a boy and a girl, but they needed another document from our social worker stating this. So, even though that was Easter weekend, we got ahold of her and she wrote the addendum for us. Then I had to send it to Austin to be certified by the Secretary of State's office, then it had to go to the Guat consulate in Houston to be authenticated and then I sent it to Guat where it had to be translated. (hoop jumping at it's finest) So as of yesterday we are back in!!!!!

In other adoption related news, the two owners/directors of the agency we used for Ahren were arrested this morning. They had been raided by the Attorney General's office and the Michigan state police 3 weeks ago. Yesterday they issued warrants for their arrests, charging them with multiple counts of fraud and racketeering (a 20-year felony) Okay, how is this good news you ask? The police are trying to return people's money and get our cases transferred to reputable agencies. In our situation, though, we do not have a valid adoption case. Ahren is still not legally available for adoption. The arrests don't help or hurt our chances of bringing him home, but if we can get some of the money back, we can hire someone who maybe can help.

Katie had her MRI today. Two hours of clanging and banging. She slept thru the whole thing. Poor baby, she hasn't been sleeping and she hasn't been eating hardly at all. I have tried tempting her with all her favorite foods, but she just isn't hungry and she said it all tastes bad. I can tell she is losing weight. She says at night her mind just races and she can't sleep. At least she got a 2 hour nap in today! We will find out in the next week or so what the MRI says. The orthoped is concerned about torn ligaments on both sides of her knee and a tear in the miniscus. It's amazing what they can do surgically now.

Life is never boring!

House updates

First, can you believe I actually did an entire post without mentioning the accident? It's not that I don't think about it all the time, but it is time to begin to at least pretend to be normal again! (For my dear sister Dana, I have my OWN definition of normal so shaddup and quit laughing!)

How about some house updates? Here is my (mine, mine, all mine) jacuzzi tub. Six feet of bubbling water glory. (Want to take any bets on whether I get to actually enjoy this bad boy all by myself anytime soon????)

Levi got all excited because he found lion tracks! He certainly was not buying Daddy's explanation that a big dog lived nearby and had made them. No sireee. We have lions!

Here is Levi getting his lovin from the Girlz. He isn't afraid of them at all, and they certainly adore him. Funny thing is we can't seem to interest them in apples, carrots or any other horsey treat. They just want Levi. They nibble at his ears and mouth his hair.

Here is what the house is looking like now that it's painted and the stone is on. It is more yellow than what I imagined (darn those tiny little paint chips) but I think it will be OK. Once we have shutters and a front railing, etc it will seem less of the house is yellow. They ran out of stone before they did the columns on the front, so they had to order more and do it later. We went by earlier this week and wouldn't you know it they used the wrong stone on the columns! We called the builder and they called the stone place. The stone place sent out someone yesterday to check on it. They ended up painting some mineral/dye on them to try and get it to match and now it looks worse. Not only do they not match the rest of the house, but now the columns don't even match each other! The builder said they are making them tear it out at their expense and re-do it with the correct stone. We'll see....

Bizarre dreams

I have always remembered my dreams. I can even remember dreams I had as a child. I have several dreams that I have over and over again and have been having them since childhood. They aren't scary, they are more like comfy old friends. I didn't realize this was odd until other people commented on it. I dream in color, with sound and smells and touch. I often realize in the dream that I am dreaming, and can even laugh at myself during the dream because it is so stupid.

Here is one of the dreams I had last night: I was going for a job interview. The company was located near my home which was a plus. They were running late and I had to wait quite a while. Finally, they led me back to a large room that had couches and a TV blaring. The woman asked me to put on some lipstick, but I didn't have any. The woman started talking but I couldn't hear a word she was saying because the TV was so loud and other people all started coming in. They all began talking to each other, occasionally making odd comments to me, but no one asked me any questions. Then an Asian man came in, and they led him over to me to be introduced, but he tripped and fell on top of me, pinning me to the floor. Someone pulled him up and pushed him out the door, and helped me up. Soon they led me out and I was so relieved to get away.

Okay, so what does this say about me? I am obviously a freak! Totally insane and probably destined for a rubber room. Tell me something I didn't know!! Hee!

Our addendum to PBJ's homestudy is in Guat and being translated. I hope we are back into PGN in the next couple of days. Then we wait again. It will be another 6-10 weeks before we hope to hear anything, and then it could still be another knockout for an equally stupid reason. Ahren's case is still in PGN for the rectification of his birth certificate. It has been in since March 5th, so we should be hearing something soon. It has been 8 weeks.