By the skin of my teeth!

Wait... my teeth don't have skin. Maybe it's "By the hair of my chinny-chin-chin"? Well, thankfully, my chin doesn't (yet) have hair either. :o)

Anyway - President's Day was the day for all things medical. It started out with a root canal for me (ugh, still hurts) at 8:30. At 9:00, Bill had all 4 of the younger kids at the pediatrician for TB tests (oh my, you would've thought we were killing them... SOMEone tipped them off that it would involve a needle). It was my plan to go to the dentist for the consult, and then meet the family at the ped's, but the dentist offered to take care of it then-n-there, and since I was off for the day, it surely sounded like a good idea... not knowing the torture the kids (ok, Bill) were going thru.

I got home at 11:30 and Bill and I had 1:15 appointments for our physicals, so I had just enough time to type up the 2nd page of the physical forms for our dossier (computer probs Sunday)... trying to make it as easy as possible for our doctor to fill out the forms. Then off to Clinton we all went. We tag-teamed the kids in the waiting room, and actually they did great... and Bill and I passed with flying colors (more below)!!! From there, it was off to get bloodwork for me - because I hadn't eaten, but Bill couldn't get his done until the next day (fasting bloodwork if they're checking cholesterol). And because I'd tested positive for TB exposure in 2005, I also needed a chest xray, so that was next. No worries about the TB... it's just exposure - I don't have TB and am not contagious - and I took 9 mos of medicine just to be 100% sure.
Wow - 4 medical things done in one day off... just for me, and really, it was a total of 9 medical things - now that's God.

So, for the "more below" and "skin of my teeth" comments - you may know that the reason we rushed Alex's paperwork in 2007 was because China was changing the rules (again), saying that it's better to grow up in an orphanage than it is to have a fat parent... well, that's not exactly how they worded it, but you get the idea. Since I come from a large family, in more ways than one, we had to rush to beat that deadline and have our paperwork submitted before the rules changed. Ha, we thought God was done building our family at that point... but ya just never know what God's got planned, doya? So I've been trying and trying to loose a few - ok, more than a few - and yesterday when we went for our physicals, and the scale revealed the exact amount required... well, I didn't do the Snoopy Dance right there in the dr's office (there is a question on the physical form about one's mental state;), but you can bet I'm doing it now!!! I'm not done yet, and I have had some help - more from Above than from medical science - but I'm wayyyyy excited that I'm at least done enough for the paperwork!!!
Happy to be a loser - I've lost the same 20 pounds over and over in the past, but never any more than 20, and they've always come back... with a few friends, but since Jan. 08, I've lost almost double those 20 and can't wait for the next 20. Thank You Father!!!

And here's some COOL NEWS, not on the adoption front: Johnny got his base assignment (given 100 days before graduation)... if he doesn't go to flight school - which he's still on track for, but just in case - he'll be stationed at Langley AFB... less than three hours away!!! Even cooler than that in JB's opinion, I'm sure, is that graduation is less than 100 days away!!! Wow!!! You GO! Boy!!!

Let's Roll!!!

Odd Odds-n-Ends Wednesday

Let's see, Alex survived his 5.5 minute ear tube surgery, and I survived 30 minutes of recovery terrors... no kidding, 30 solid minutes of him thrashing about while I tried to keep him from whacking his head on something. And of course, the more I restrained him, the more he wanted free. Thankfully, after the 30 minutes, he settled down and enjoyed a popsicle and a cup of apple juice, got dressed and we left. He took a nap in the car and while I ate breakfast, filed my nails, and drove (sign, then drive;), and we had a lovely day together. We visited our adoption agency (hoping to nudge our packets from them so we can really get started) and of course he charmed them all, had lunch together, and went to a new Chinese grocery store for something Faith had been looking for the last time we went to one. I attached a few pictures of Alex... they're from the summer, not from the surgery, but I love them and they show his serious and his fun sides... just like Wednesday :o)

When we got home, we got all the info/forms/etc. from the adoption agency to really get rolling and are now entrenched in what to do next and getting it all organized. Birth/marriage certificates, tax forms, financial statement, fire inspection, driving records, police clearances, physicals, book reading lists, employment letters, child abuse clearances... and a few new ones too: child support clearances, residential history, duty of candor, etc... and the fees, don't forget the fees... $23 here, $25 there, $9 for this, $30 for that (and then comes the homestudy fee... add a couple of zeroes). Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh!!!

And here's the coolest... shows just how disorganization can truly pay off... to the tune of about $16k!!!

In January 2008 - not last month - we called to have our 401k from Giant rolled over into our current account... straight rollover, no money out, no tax fees, etc. They sent us the check made out to Fidelity, so we could just turn around and send it and the form back to Fidelity (dunno why it has to be that way). We sent it back and thought that was that. Well, evidently they sent it back to us in March because it was missing something... and it slipped thru the cracks. No kidding, a HUGE check sat around our house from March 08 to February 09, that we thought was safely tucked away in our 401k (which in this past year, wouldn't have been so safely). So Wednesday, while I was with Alex all day, Bill had some time to himself and was poking around in our files, getting ready to do the taxes and found the check they'd sent back to us. We both thought we were in HUGE trouble with tax penalties, etc. thinking it was supposed to be re-deposited/rolled-over within the 60 days or whatever. So we immediately called the number on the letter with the check and thankfully because it was made out to Fidelity, the guy just looked it up on the computer, said, ah yes, it's listed as outstanding. There were NO issues with taxes or anything... Thank You God!... and in fact, the guy said, well if ever there was a good time to be OUT of the market, this was it... you probably just saved yourself about $16,000 in money that wasn't lost! Tell me, who but God could've thought that one up?... who but God could use our chaotically crazy houseful to save us $16k?!? Now... if only we could use it for all those "fees" above... but quite obviously, God's got our backs... so not to worry.

Ok, that's enough odd odds-n-ends for now. Let's Roll!!