Still waiting for more feedback from the social worker on our dear birthmother letter. It seems sw’s feedback has slowed to a trickle and she is taking about 5 business days to get back to us after we send in our revisions. Hounding her seems to work up to a point. She gets back to us in 24 hours and tells us she will give us editing comments in 2-3 days. I’m sure she is overworked like the rest of us, but I wonder if she realizes that if I don’t move forward in this process soon, I’ll go batty ~ which will change my personality to a point that makes our current home-study obsolete thus necessitating another home-study be started. Can you spot the never ending cycle?

Instead of sitting around the house watching Lifetime, drowning my sorrows in cheap Riesling and 100 calorie packs of popcorn I’ve decided to attend a wine tasting event downtown that will benefit several associations that work with the blind. I’ll network a bit, drink a bit and maybe even splurge on a taxi even though the event is a mere 2 miles from home.Do I care that I my house is a mess, I’m having a dinner party tomorrow night?

Nope. That’s just how I roll.

Little ol’ me, a winner? A rockin’ girl blogger? Shucks, (digging toe of shoe in dirt while taking acceptance speech out of pocket)

First off, I’d like to thank my dog, Fidget, for circling my feet and nudging my legs while I toil away writing posts. I’d also like to thank my lovely cat, Simon, who diligently sat on my computer keyboard, warming it with his cute little tuckus so my fingers could fly over the keys producing the delicate tales of my woeful journey through infertility and adoption.

And last but certainly not least; Thank You, Beagle and Patience for nominating me as a Rockin’ Girl Blogger. I am truly touched by the recognition. I’ve been feeling woefully inadequate lately and realizing someone thinks I rock helped me chase away the demons. Thank you.

Our birthmother letter is still in the revision stage. My fingers are crossed that the social worker will email me tomorrow with a green light. FlyGuy has been quite darling lately. He wrote a good chunk of our birthmom letter with little to no prodding from me. Here is a line he wrote that made me pause…

“FlyGuy loves to walk and is looking forward to exploring the neighborhood while pushing a stroller or holding a little hand. ”

I didn’t know he thinks about things like that. I want him to have a little hand to hold, he deserves it.

How ironic and bittersweet to discover pieces of beauty in a spouse simply because you’re walking through fire together.

I’m finally home. I drove FlyGuy to a client in Ohio and realized I was very close to my own homestead in Michigan, so I made a detour and spent a night with my sister. It was great, but I am happy to be back on my own turf in Chicago.

My summer expeditions are not done yet. I will be home for about 5 days, then I’m off for a 10 day road-trip with my sisters and their families. Our final destination is a beach house where we spent summers as children. We rented an 8 bedroom place right on the ocean. I can’t wait to get there. Although my sisters and I still squabble like 8 year olds, we also tend to forgive-and-forget like 8 year olds. My father and his wife are coming along too. We all get along very well and are eager to hurry to the beach so we can all sit back and relax together.

On this upcoming vacation, my plan is to sit on the deck, eat shrimp and drink wine. I will also hunt for sharks teeth, something we did endlessly as children. My oldest sister has a bowl full of fossilized shark’s teeth we found over the past 30 years. She is our keeper-of-the-teeth and we are looking forward to adding to the collection.

There is much to write and discuss about our month in VA. We never did the Christmas in July photo shoot. FlyGuy’s family never really warmed to the idea. My family has offered to set up a tree at the beach. Not sure what to do about this situation. Right now, I’m generally annoyed about not being able to get the photo in VA, so I’m pouting. {FYI, our social worker is adamant that we have a picture by a Christmas tree because expectant moms like to picture their kids on Christmas morning blah, blah, blah… Good thing I’m Christian, I guess. Must admit though, this whole xmas picture thing is rubbing me the wrong way.}

Adoption update:
Still waiting on State fingerprint report. Will call our State Representative if the report is not back by the time we return from the beach. Besides that, we only need to submit our physicals, then the homestudy is done. I am knee-deep in writing the profile. We are hopeful that we will start to be shown to expectant mothers by September 1.

*I apologize for being absent from your blogs and contact. Communication in VA was routinely thwarted by bad weather, poor satellite signal and downed phone lines. Somedays I felt like a pilgrim.