| Thursday, May 11, 2001 Still waiting on the June referrals to come in. This wait is really getting to me. Today is the 231st day of waiting. I emailed my agency about a week ago to ask about the new single status guidelines and also took the opportunity to beg for a prediction for referral. Bonnie, my caseworker, said probably July referral and travel in August or September. The single status guidelines have me worried. GWCA says it is basically up to me if I want to go ahead and get the paperwork ready in case they ask for the information. I emailed my social worker and she doesn’t think it is necessary. I’ve heard on the lists that several singles have been passed over because they have been asked for more information. I think these cases have been bumped into the next month’s referrals. I know that a month isn’t so much in the grand scheme of things, but I just get in a panic when I think that might happen. The agency won’t commit and ask for the information now and the social worker says no need. What should I do? I am just waiting for now. I hope I don’t regret that later. I’m getting excited about the shower next week. Now that the invitations have gone out, 1 or 2 people come up to me everyday and ask questions or hug me because they hadn’t heard yet. I can’t believe there are still people that haven’t heard. I feel like I talk about the adoption all the time. I know I am probably driving the girls at work crazy, but they are being very sweet about it. One of the girls I work with is pregnant! Since she had a miscarriage a few months ago, she has been cautious about telling anyone until the first trimester has passed. She’s had a sonogram now and everything looks good. The baby is due Dec. 4. I’m happy for her. I’m so glad to know someone who will have a young baby close in age to Mykayla. Most of my friends have kids going to college – not daycare! Tuesday, May 15, 2001 Today was my baby shower at work! What fun! It was a little overwhelming being the center of attention. Since I work at two campuses, they combined and had one shower at the middle school. There were about 60 people in attendance. I had so much fun opening all of the gifts. Mom sat beside me and wrote down what I got and Sherry brought her camera and took pictures. I had registered at Toys R Us and Target and we received so many things. I think we got all of the “big” items and the nursery is just full! I kept turning to mom and saying, “Can you believe this is happening?” Some days it all seems very real and I can almost feel Mykayla in my arms – other days it all just seems so unreal and like it is just never going to happen. The library was decorated so cute and the cake was beautiful and HUGE. They had an Asian doll sitting on the table and the books I had brought – “I love you like crazy cakes” and “When you were born in China”. The table where people sign in had the handouts I made to answer people’s questions. It took until 5:00 to open all of the presents. The presents completely filled up Sherry’s suburban. After we got it all back to my house and unloaded, we sat in the nursery and I opened every single gift again. That was just as much fun as the first time. One thing I learned—opening and reading the cards meant so much to me. All these years I have been buying shower gifts for people; I have never really paid much attention to the card. From now on I will pay more attention to that and make sure to write a special note inside. It really does mean a lot when you are on the receiving end of things. Finally, around 7:00 Sherry and mom drug me away from the nursery and we went to eat at Jason’s Deli. What a great day! Then mom and I have to go out to her house because of the water being off at my house for the plumbing work that is getting ready to begin. Thursday, May 24, 2001 The last week and a half since my shower has been very busy. The end of the school year activities are as hectic as always. I have also been working on writing over 70 thank-you notes! Here’s the latest house problem—the pipes, I knew we would get to the pipes eventually. Weekend before last, when Mason stayed with me, we noticed a leak on the faucet outside the house in the front yard. I had to have a plumber out on Saturday night (5/12) and he said he could not fix it because the pipes were in the foundation. So we had to cut the water off to the house and I stayed at mom and dad’s for the next few nights. The plumber says that he thinks they will have to go into the nursery and pull up the carpet and tear up the foundation to get to the pipes and repair. I was just sick about this. The thought of them tearing up that nursery I worked so hard on just about made me sick. Also, this is happening right before my baby shower and since I have to stay at my parent’s house, I’m thinking I won’t get to come home after the shower and put all of the things into the nursery. The plumbers came back out on Monday. They sent a more experienced plumber this time, and thank goodness he has another alternative. They still have to tear up something in the house, but at least it’s not the nursery. He wants to tear a hole in the wall in my bedroom so they can get to the pipes and cap off the pipes that are going through the foundation. Then they would have to put in a new main line coming into the house and route a new pipe to the front of the house for an outside faucet. His idea was to go up into the attic and out the front wall of the house, then down the side of the house and put a faucet. We had pretty much decided on that even though it would mean an ugly pipe going down the front of the house. Then, on advice from Mark, I suggested that they go around the outside of the house by the foundation around the back to the side and put a faucet there. The plumbers agreed to that. They still have to tear up my bedroom wall, but they are subcontracting to have that repaired. The estimate for all of this is $1,000 to $1,200. Ouch! They started the work on Wednesday. Mom came and stayed at my house while they did the work. They worked for a day and half and got all of the plumbing done. They finished on Thursday. When I came home I was pleased with the plumbing work but the work on the bedroom wall was terrible. I could have done it better and I have no idea what I’m doing! I called the plumbers and complained. I have used this company for almost 10 years and have always been pleased with their work. I told them I was very surprised that they would want this quality of work associated with their name. Becky said she would talk to the owner about it. She called back right away and said they would send another contractor out to fix the wall. The new guy called me on Tuesday (5/22) and he took a look at the wall and just laughed. It should have been a nothing job. He agreed that it was terrible. He is coming in the evenings for the next few nights and fix the wall. It only took him about 10 minutes each trip, then they had to let it dry. Saturday, May 26, 2001 Yesterday was my 39th birthday. One year ago on May 25th, I mailed off my application to GWCA. At the time, I thought I would at least have my referral by now and maybe even be traveling in China. Well, it’s one year later and I’m still waiting for Mykayla. I’m glad this year has passed and I am that much closer to getting to my daughter. This wait is getting to be a little excruciating. It has helped me that I stay very busy with work and the projects that I have been working on all year. The summer is looming before me and the referral doesn’t look to happen until the summer’s end. I’m struggling with what to do with the summer. I have thought about getting a job. I could definitely use the money. If money was taken out of the equation, I would really like to spend this summer resting up, exercising, working on projects, etc. Of course, working makes the time go by faster. The guy finished work on my bedroom wall last night. It looks great. He even blew texture on the wall to try to blend in with the existing wall, so the patch doesn’t look bad at all. Mom and dad tried to loan me the money. Sherry and Mark tried to loan me the money. I am taking the money out of savings (which is really for the adoption funds) and I will work to replace it before our trip to china. I told mom if I couldn’t get it all replaced by then, I would let them loan me the rest. I’m hoping I can get it replaced by then, though. I’ve got about $200 coming from my tax refund. We are having a garage sale in a few weeks to raise funds. I’ve also got about some saved in my Trip to Mykayla jar, but I am hoping to be able use that money for souvenirs and extras on the trip. |
| Trip to Mykayla |
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