Funny--SNL-Tina Fey/Amy Poehler as (Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton)

I have a sidebar. Has anyone seen the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler SNL video? I found it to be quite funny.  If you haven't seen it, just head over to You Tube.  

Bridal Showers, Concerts, and a Rainbow

Well since I have no pictures of a beautiful Ethiopian baby girl to display as of yet, I thought I'd share some of my own. (I guess it's the next best thing). My friend S. (orange dress)  is getting married in 1 month. These are 2 photos from her local bridal shower. It was very nice with great food, and drinks (hoot hoot!!).  The cupcakes were to die for. I had two.  I guess that's why I'm popping my "Rockin Body" DVD in daily to take off a few of those cupcakes.

B and I had a night out a few weeks ago. We saw "Mint Condition" live in concert.  They were wonderful!!  The night was pretty fun with the exception of "the intoxicated trio" that sat by us and gave a show of their own.  B and I seem to have no luck at concerts.  We always seem to have seats next to the drunkest folks in the room.  Let's just say they keep things interesting. (Go figure) 

I have seen at least 3 rainbow's in the past 3 months. Wow!! How beautiful.  This is a photo I snapped from my backyard.  Everytime I feel down for whatever reason, I look at it and think of God's promise to us. (Just thought I'd share..I'm actually surprised you can see it)

Some Summer Photos-In No Specific Order

This summer we went to New Orleans for a wedding. (I'm originally from NOLA). While there we caught up with old friends.  [My mom (in green), me (in red), and mother and daughter duo Q and G]. We have known each other for years; as a matter of fact Gs mother used to be one of my babysitters.  The photo at the top is a picture of a "second line". If you've ever been to New Orleans, you may have seen this. It's a dance using umbrellas and we wave handkerchiefs in the air.  It's a celebratory dance to jazz music.  We do it at most things weddings, funerals, Mardi Gras, you name it.  We lucked up at this wedding because "Rebirth Jazz Band" performed live.  It was great!! 

This summer we travelled to Orlando, Florida. While there, we went on a Disney Cruise (3 day). It was so much fun. If you've never done Disney, you must try it. I highly recommend!! Well we had such a great time I only took 1 picture (LOL) But hey, it's pretty.  A nice photo of tropical fish we took while snorkeling.  I also had the opportunity to meet the great Dr. Dorothy Irene Height.  She is 96 years old and awesome.  (There is a picture of us above).  She is a living legend!  If you've never heard of her you should Google her.  She is a civil rights icon, and was the only woman to speak at the March on Washington with Dr. King.  If you look at old pictures of that day, you will see her out front and center.  She has a book entitled " Open Wide the Gates of Freedom". 

The summer started out with B's 8th Birthday! No party this year (mommy too tired). But I promised a sleepover next year. (What was I thinking.....ten or more 9 year old boys. I guess I'll see if I can get out of it). Well this year we had cake and ice cream at home, dinner at Kobe's Hibachi Grill (B and dad), and a new bike for Mr. B. 

Progress!!

I decided to wait until I had some news to report before I posted again.  I am happy to say that we have finally received our corrected, finalized homestudy from our social worker. (Yeah!!) If I tell you the drama it took to get to this point, you would understand my elation.  We had received numerous copies of our homestudy before this point, all with something not quite correct.  From typo's, to misspellings, to notary commissions that expired in November 2008 (and as all AP's and PAP's know, this would never work for the dossier; notary commissions have to be valid for at least 1 year).

Well finally, we received a set that seems to have everything we need!! (Whoopee). I have packed it all away into an envelope with our updated health reports, and off to our agency it will go in the morning.  

I also waited for our finalized home study before I resubmitted our I600A; so that will be in the mail tomorrow as well. We have fingerprints that are good until 2/2009 from our last I600A. Hopefully these can be used to get our initial 171H, and then we will just update in 2/2009.  

So we appear to be one step closer to agency approval, and our dossier is almost complete. (minus 171H and FBI clearance for the dossier)  So we're still aiming to make wait list by November (ok, I know I said September before, but hey things change).  Keep your fingers crossed.

Homestudy Update

We are still waiting for our homestudy to be approved by our agency so that it may be finalized a second time. They said it would take about 10 days, but no such luck. Ours is taking a bit longer than the time frame indicated. (I should have known; Nothing in adoption goes according to plan). I have been so leary about sending in our I600A again since our first one expired before our homestudy got there, and we are out of $700. That really hurt my heart! Isn't it unfortunate that they don't give you a credit or something. And to top that off, the lady I was in contact with at the CIS office was sooo nasty. Doesn't she know you catch more bees with honey?(I guess not).

Nonetheless, I will be putting the I600A in the mail this weekend so that we can get the ball rolling again. We will also need to update our physicals in September.

Otherwise, I've been taking a much needed break from the paperchase because it had been driving me looney!! Now I feel refreshed, and ready to get everything completed; as soon as we get approval on our homestudy. (I'll let you know when that happens)

As for summer pictures, I hope to get them up pretty soon. Toodles!

Summer

Summer has been sooo busy. I can hardly believe it's almost over, and school will be beginning in just 2 weeks. I love summer. It's my favorite time of year. Anything that can be done in the water; swimming, snorkeling, boating, I'm all for it.  I guess that's why I love summer so.  One of my goals is to learn to dive, but I still have a fear of going that deep, in the big blue sea. 

 I just checked into our blog, and realized I hadn't posted in about 1 month. Read below, and you will see an update on our adoption journey. We are aiming to make wait list by September or October. 

As for our summer, we traveled quite a bit. We recently returned from a week stay in Orlando, followed by a 3 day Disney cruise which was fun, fun, fun. I'll post some pictures from our summer soon.  I hope all of you had a very fun summer as well. 

Update

Our homestudy is off to our agency for approval. Well that happened after our social worker sent 3 finalized copies to us. I had no clue that it had to be approved before it was finalized. They said it should take 10 days. Once that's complete, our homestudy will be finalized...again. 

We have to refile our I600A because our completed homestudy was not received until after the July 25th expiation date. (Boo Hoo).  

I'm hoping that this will be completed in the next 2 weeks or so.  Our dossier is nearly complete as we worked on it as we were collecting other documents.  Only  a few more documents to go.

One of these days, we will be on the waitlist.  I'm aiming for September.

Tasteless "New Yorker" Cover

Now honestly guys, even if you don't support Barack Obama, you must admit that this cover is tasteless!!!   What type of satire is this? What editor thought this was acceptable? To imply that the Obama's are "terrorist" is absolutely ridiculous!  This is not only untrue, but actually slanderous, and irresponsible. I find this down right insulting, and I'm not even on the cover!

The implication that being Muslim is equivalent to being a terrorist or unpatriotic is absolutely unacceptable. By the way, Barack Obama is not a Muslim, but even if he were, what difference would it make. As a Christian, I am appalled by these images, and their implications. This is why there is war and strife in the world; lack of regard and respect for the differences.

If you feel the same, write in, and tell the New Yorker what you think.

Update

It has been awhile since I've written anything. I actually got a little overwhelmed by everyday task (work, adoption paperwork, house repairs, did I mention work). Anyhoo, on the adoption front, we finally have a draft of our homestudy. (Yipee!!) We have a 2 more pieces of paperwork to turn in, and hopefully our social worker can finalize it before our I600A application expires at the end of the month (talk about pressure). I mean I really don't want to pay another $700 to do that thing again. I'll let you know how it turns out.

We received our criminal clearances form the state and our gold seal letter for adoption from the FBI. (Something required in Maryland)  Now oddly, this FBI clearance won't count for our dossier. We will have to be fingerprinted yet again (that makes 4) for the official FBI clearance letter. You think these folks could work together to get some national fingerprint database. Or at least make one for us PAP's (potential adoptive parents) so we don't drive ourselves crazy getting fingerprinted every couple weeks. 

Once we receive our homestudy, I am hoping gladney approval will be right around the corner. I'm trying to complete all of our paperwork before July 25. (We will see how that goes).

(Sidebar) : If anyone is interested, I was recently informed by my social worker of an opportunity to adopt an African American infant to be born within the next 2 weeks. Baby will be born in Texas, and PAP's should have a completed homestudy.  Email me if interested, and I can forward the information to my social worker.

Italian Vogue

FYI:  To those who may not have already heard, the July Edition of Italian Vogue  will feature all Black models. The issue became available in Europe on Thursday, and will be available in the US shortly thereafter. The image above is the multi-page fold out cover featuring from left Liya Kebede (of Ethiopian descent), Sessilee Lopez, Jourdan Dunn, and Naomi Campbell.  Plus sized model Toccara Jones from America's Next Top Model fame also graces the pages of this edition.