Special Song and Prayer

A special prayer and song (see song list to play... The Prayer sung by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli) for little

Kolton
Kolton is my... hum... 2nd cousin through marriage? He was born a month early and has been hospitalized for over a week now. Weighing in at a tiny 6 lbs. Our warm thoughts and best wishes go out to Kolton and his parents Karl and Karen and big sister Katrina during this difficult time.

He Said.. She Said

The Fish are jumping already.

Well it's official ...it must be Summer? 80F. + ???

We were hoping to travel in April as "usually" it's a fairly maintenance free month for us out side but not apparently this year. Yes... the fish are jumping already. Most years we have another few weeks before things come to life. Last week Bruce had to start up the waterfall and he started to feed the fish. Once the water temp reaches 50F they're hungry.

With the weather we've been having this past week the plum tree is in full bloom and the flowers & clover are starting to pop. It's just a matter of time until the grass starts to grow. And with grass come the weeds. And then there's the pool which we were hoping would remain closed until after we return home. We still have our fingers crossed on that one.

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Yes... It was a lovely day today... let me tell you about our adventure.

This morning over coffee I asked Bruce if there was something special he'd like to do today. I was waiting for him to say "I don't know" which he did..lol. and then I suggested we go to Babies R Us and BJ's as we had to return the generic bed rails I bought since Tamara's bed comes with rails. But first we had to go to church. Our organist Shirley is on vacation and Bruce is covering for her with the electric organ. So we were eager to get there. We loaded up the car with the bed rails and before we made it half way up the driveway we realized we had a flat. A screw in my tire. OK... back it up ..park and grab the other car. Transferring the rails into Bruce's Volvo we make it to church on time. After services we head out again .. but first stopping at the house to write down the tire make / size so we can call Gregg our tire man from the road. Then it's off to brunch before Babies R Us. After leaving Babies R Us where we bought more then we returned. With Bruce driving I said make a left.. he said I know a short cut? OK... he made a right. We had a lovely 2-1/2 hour drive through central NJ and I knew we were in trouble when the sign said Welcome to Lebanon and then Butzville this way? Weird huh? Anyway we finally made it to BJ's.. then returning home his engine light came on. Eeek!

OK.. not a problem.. he thinks he knows what the problem is. So we return home. He jacks up my car.. spins the tire off throws it in the back of his car and has Gregg fix it. He's back home in under an hour. Googles Volvo sensors .. finds directions.. spends 5 minutes working on his car... DONE!!! Is he amazing or what? lol.

The reason for my sharing this rather ODD day with all of you is I think our drive through NJ today was some sort of subconscious form of revenge?

I rarely let him drive when we shop... yes I know I'm a control freak but we're talking "shopping" ;o)

We recently had a conversation about strollers. I was telling him that I was frustrated as I couldn't find one I liked that had all the creature comforts I was looking for in a girly looking stroller. He said why do you need that she walks? So I explained that when we're at the mall and Tamara gets tired I need a stroller as I can't carry her through the mall with the packages. He said well when she's tired come home? Ha.. I thought. so we went shopping together a few days later. We started off at Sears.. his store. Our mission was to find travel money bags. You know the kind that you strap on. Yes comfy I know. Anyway We also looked for some pants for him, shoes for me and some stuff for Tamara. The diagram below will explain how our day at the mall went. By the end of the day Bruce understood why Tamara needed a stroller.

When we returned he took a nap ;o)

~~~

OK.. lets get serious. On the adoption front we're still waiting to hear from INS / FBI. From what I'm being told once the clearances come back to them they send them to the US embassy in Tbilisi and we travel. I'm sure I'll know more soon. I hope. I'd better...

OH please before I loose my mind!!! Just kidding.. still sane.. just a little anxious to go get our baby. ;o)

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Tamara's Furniture arrived the other day.. very pretty as soon as I'm finished decorating I'll post a new picture. She has a very... very.. cool room for a 3 year old. ;o)

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Age of Aquarius

January 21, 2005

That's the day our baby was born.

So she's an Aquarius...

The Water Carrier

January 21 to February 19

Traditional Aquarius Traits

Friendly and humanitarian

Honest and loyal

Original and inventive

Independent and intellectual

LIKES
Fighting for Causes
Dreaming and Planning for the Future
Thinking of the Past
Good Companions
Having Fun

DISLIKES
Full of Air Promises
Excessive Loneliness
The Ordinary
Imitations
Idealistic

Any Aquarius out there? Any of this true?

Here are a few people who share Tamara's birthday with her.

She's in pretty good company I think.

January 21, 1905 - Christian Dior - Designer , January 21, 1940 - Jack Nicklaus - Sports Figure, January 21, 1941 - Placido Domingo - Singer, January 21, 1942 - Mack Davis - Singer,

January 21, 1947 - Jill Eikenberry - Actress, January 21, 1957 - Geena Davis - Actress

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We also had to give them (Georgian Courts) a middle name for Tamara so after going back and forth for weeks we finally decided on Tamara Katarina.

I always liked the name Katarina .. in fact if she were younger we would have changed her first name to Katarina. But we also thought it would be a great way for all of us to remember Kathy and Irina the two ladies state side that have been absolutely wonderful through this whole journey to Tamara. There is no doubt in my mind that they care for Tamara a great deal.

So Katarina it is.

On Bruce's side of the family.. strangely enough most of the ladies have the middle name Lee.

Weird huh? Nope can't make this stuff up.

I have had many people suggest that we name her Tamara Lee ... but to me that just sounded too much like a country western singer. And I wanted her to have a strong name she can grow into.

Katarina is a strong name. Sounds important I think? Anyway now she'll have something in common with her girl cousins here. Cousin Katie is a Katherine Ann and Cousin Amanda is Amanda Cathleen.

~~~

On the paper front. I spoke to INS today and they gave me our case # and they're working on it. Yahoo!!!! So exciting!!!

Georgia is cruising.. we should get our court date soon... I hope.

Another batch of documents are in Trenton should be back in a day or two.

These get hand carried to Georgia by us.

~~~

And more good news... Tamara's new bedroom set is being delivered tomorrow. Not bad considering it had to come from No. Carolina. I guess begging does work? ;o)

~nite~

Look for an open window

How many times have you heard when one door closes another one opens?

Too many to count I bet. I have learned through the years to always look for an open window.

Most things worth having require a climb rather then a simple walk through.

~~~

I received an email today from Cathy whom I hired as a mentor this winter to help me out with the paper chase for the Ukraine. We were going to attempt an independent adoption from there and then Tamara came along. Although Cathy's fees like all adoption fees are non refundable.. I never regretted sending her the check. In one fell swoop Cathy cleared up so many mysteries about the international adoption world for me. She is a single mother of 9 adoptive children. Talk about courage and in site.

Anyway... the email today made us feel like we had dodged yet another bullet. The Ukraine is voting yet again on an adoption bill. And although no one knows yet how it will turn out it's a very stressful time for those families who are in the process for the Ukraine.

Under the new bill no single adoptive parents and they would require a 45 year max age difference between the oldest parent and child. In our case that would have meant a 9 year old.

So as you can see sometimes we climb out the window before the door closes.

Sometimes we get lucky... sometimes when we follow our hearts... our inner voice and

we get it right. ;o)

~~~

The picture above was taken by my cousin Anna during her last trip to Croatia.

Yes Annie.. I messed with your photo. Kind of cool no?

It was taken in Glavotok on the Island Krk.

The picture below is an original from the series.

This was the view our mothers had growing up.

Talk about an open window.

And below is the aerial shot of Glavotok.

This place has a very special place in my family's heart. Someday I hope to take Tamara there. Someday perhaps she too will find the open window with the awe inspiring view.

~~~

Happy Tax Day

Wow... it's that time of year AGAIN?

Seems like just yesterday we filed our return?

Oh.. maybe it was...lol

Just kidding... I hope you all had a stress free tax day.

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I guess you all would appreciate an update?

Well things are progressing.. today we went for our final finger printing.

FBI / INS

There's a form they call a I600 which gives us permission from our government to bring Tamara home. Hopefully??? This part of the process will go swiftly as Georgia is almost ready for us.

I will be calling INS tomorrow. Yup tomorrow Wednesday if you remember adoptive parents have a 3 hour window to speak to a real person. So at exactly 1pm I'll program our phone to ring them. ;o)

Wish me luck!!!

~~~

Have a Seat

Saturday we went to visit our new friends who had adopted an adorably sweet little boy from Tamara's Baby House in Georgia. After seeing this energetic little 3 year old in action I decided the booster seat concept will have to wait so I went out today and bought Tamara a high chair. After consulting with my Mommy consulting group of course ;o). Thanks Girls! I settled on the Graco Classic Wood Highchair in Cherry. It looks much, much better in person then in this photo and it's actually a pretty cool chair. Starts out as a regular high chair, then turns into a toddler type booster high chair that you can pull up to a table and lastly it becomes a children's chair.

The cherry tray has a very good quality molded clear hard plastic tray that is dishwasher safe. In fact this "should"??? be fairly easy to maintain. And it matches our adult furniture which is great. Who ever picks the designs / colors for baby / toddler items this year should be shot.

Why on earth would they suddenly think that I would want an orange and green high chair, stroller or car seat? Honestly what are they thinking?

~~~

Below is Tamara's Royal Dalton Bunnykins table and chair set that arrived this week.

Cute no?

Perfect for all those tea parties... Yes of course she has a Royal Dalton mini tea set already waiting for her. ;o)

Bruce has been very co-operative assembling Tamara's new furniture pieces and I must say he's making them incredibly strong. I think he might be planning on using these chairs at some point? lol

Have a Seat ;o)

~~~

Weddings, Funerals & Babies...

Weddings, Funerals and Babies...

The three times in your life when the salesmen really see you coming.

As you all know I've planned a "few" weddings in my day. Unfortunately have had to plan a funeral as well. And now for the baby part.

After an extensive search these last two weeks we finally settled on a new bedroom set for Tamara. I really appreciate all the advice I've received via comment post, email and phone.

I have taken all your opinions into account.

And we have decided to go with Young America Isabella by the Stanley Furniture Company.

A made in the USA set that she can grow with... adding age appropriate pieces as she matures.

The concept is similar to the crib conversion to a toddler bed and then a daybed or full size.

We purchased a twin canopy that will start out at Toddler bed height with matching bed rails.

When she gets a little older we raise the bed and add a box spring to regular height. Still able to use the bed rails. At regular height we add a Trundle bed. Which will slide under the bed when not in use. Great for sleep overs.

It's a set that I would imagine any little girl would absolutely love.

I think you'll agree.

Above Isabella Set

Picture a twin set.. toddler height. Matching night stand and dresser / mirror...

Cute NO???

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OK... It wouldn't be shopping if we didn't dream a little. So I figure I should show you what I would have bought had I won the Mega million lottery drawing this week. Of course I might have had a better chance had I actually purchased a ticket..lol

This little princess bed can be yours for a mere $16,000 + delivery.

I thought about it for about 10 seconds. That's how long it took me to realize where the comma was. The sheets.. being round are probably as expensive as the dresser we bought....lol. but it's nice to dream. ;o)

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While looking at Fantasy Items I also found this Play House at Le Petite Maison.

Couldn't tell you how much this baby goes for as they don't tell you.. you complete their form which asks what your play house budget is? Since these are two story Baby Mansions with heat and running water perhaps we'll build one for Tamara as a wedding gift? lol

Nice huh?

OK and life wouldn't be complete without a special place for FiFi

So as you can see there are loopier people then I.

Comforting isn't it? LOL

~~~

On the adoption front ... everything seems to be moving along.

A little hiccup here and there but nothing we can't handle.

~~~