THE LONGEST MONTH

Yes, I have dropped off the face of the earth. On Nov. 6th, my last post, everything was going fine. On Nov. 7th, the world kind of stopped for me. My father was admitted to the hospital for a massive heart attack. He survived thankfully, but barely. Since 11/7, he has gone through 1 bi-pass surgery, 2 stents, 3 balloon pumps, and many more procedures that it's all a blur. Right now, I type this from Gainesville, FL which is about a 6 hour drive from SoFla. The hospital in Gainesville has an excellent heart transplant unit. The Dr.'s want to try one more procedure (open heart surgery) before he becomes a heart transplant candidate. He are hoping and praying that this procedure will be the one that works. I never imagined that I would ever be in this position at this stage in my life. However, here I am, day by day, being the rock to see my father through this.

I got to see SoFlaDad and SoFlaKid over the weekend and it made me miss them more. SoFlaKid wants me to come home and I am hoping a family member will relieve me this week. He is really missing his mother. SoFlaDad is such a trooper, taking on the role of mom, dad, maid, cook, chauffeur, and dog walker.

During all this, we received a message from our agency that we were approved and can proceed with our adoption. Once all this madness calms down, we will work on the contract and continue the paperchase. I was hoping to get going on this and complete all the paperwork by the end of the year, but 2007 is looking a bit better right now. I am ready for a new year with a new start.

Keep my dad in your prayers.
SoFlaMom

Great Proverb - Red Thread

Really catches the essence of our journey.

An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break.- Chinese proverb

So What's happening in SoFla?

We have been keeping busy with work, school, and life. As many of you know, we had roof damage during hurricane Wilma. Well, it only took 1 year to get the roofers out here. We now have a nice black tar roof with no roof tiles! With so many houses damaged, there is a short supply of roof tiles. The good news is we is we don't need to worry anymore about roof tiles being blown away during a storm but the bad news is we don't know when the new tiles will be delivered. So, as our house sticks out like a sore thumb, we wait patiently. And we have lots of experience in waiting patiently!

We submitted our application to our agency last month but have not been approved yet. Not that we are not approved, but rather, the references from our friends have not be submitted/received. Not to blame them at all, but the China references required are much different than the requirements for Russia. Our friends, like us, are are 2 parent working families with precious spare time. The questionnaire that the agency needs completed is quite extensive and takes some time to complete. So, like waiting for our roof tiles, we patiently await for our friends to find the time to complete the required paperwork. The good news is 1 out of 3 are completed; that puts us 1/3 of the way to approval. (glass is half full attitude is the only way to live through an adoption!)

Great News to C&D who have a court date very soon. Suzanne/Jaime and Lisa/Derek are settling into parenthood nicely.

As soon as we have approval from our agency, we will let you know. Thanks for all the encouraging comments. Keep them coming!

SoFlaMom