The Last of the Myrtle Girls

Raphaela is getting married!! So we celebrated with a long overdue get together in her honor. Can't wait for the wedding!!

Month 4 Update

Our Dossier has officially been registered in Russia for 4 months now. This month we got our region assignment!! We will be traveling to Ekaterinburg Russia. We were a little disappointed that again we are in a region where we will have to travel blind. We won't know anything about the child we are going to meet before we get there. We were hoping to avoid this since this will be our second, first trip. However, our agency reassured us this region is not like the last one in that they tend to give out "healthy" referrals. This is also a tough region for paperwork but after completing 3 Dossier Ones and 1 Dossier Two I'm not scared. We are most excited that this is a region where things are still moving.

My book find of the month is this adorable tear jerker. It reminds me of Are You My Mother if the bird would end up with say, the snort. I love the message that a mother is more about unconditional love than biology.

Because You're Mine

I walk the line. Ok, maybe you aren't mine now but chances are in your lifetime you, your parent, spouse or child will need a nurse.
I know it is a BAD idea to blog about work so I want to begin this by saying I love my job, my coworkers and my manager. What I don't like is the situation and the way the hospital portrays nurses in the media. For example I do not make $80,000 a year. In fact I think it would be hard to find one nurse that makes that much let alone the "average" nurse. But that is not the point. THIS IS NOT AN ECONOMIC STRIKE!! This is actually about safe nursing care. In the past years patients have gotten much sicker and much heavier but staffing levels have remained the same and it is not safe.
But realllllly, greedy nurses, realllllly!? Is it my 1999 Mazda with 185, 000 miles that makes me seem greedy or all the exotic trips Brian and I take to Iowa. Maybe it is my closet of designer clothes and shoes (I recently splurged on a pair of $14.99 Target flip flops.) I will give you that we have a nice house but only because my husband spent 22 months in Iraq. But you probably think soldiers are greedy too. Trust me I would move back to the 900 square foot C. Heights house we could afford in a heartbeat if I could get those 2 years back.
I realize those of you reading my blog probably aren't the ones making these statements. But when you hear someone comment on how greedy nurses are I would love for you to offer them a chance to job shadow me. Because clearly they have no idea what a nurse does. How about the 4th of July when I will be greedily missing a family vacation to Michigan because my patients need me. Oh, that day won't work for them? Huh!
Ok, I'm going to get my greedy butt off my soap box now and rejoin the picket line because I think keeping my patients safe is more important than a pay check. I'm greedy like that.
This weekend when you spend time with your family think of all the greedy nurses working or when you crawl into bed with your spouse at night know that there is a greedy nurse going off to work.
And be thankful there are people willing to do THIS for YOU!

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT BRIAN AND BIANCA!!

Memorial Weekend

We took our usual trip to Iowa for Memorial Day weekend. Besides doing all things memorial....
we watched cousin Jon play baseball
and ate at our favorite rib place.
It's about time we got souvenir t-shirts from our most traveled vacation destination! Speaking of, Grandma shocked us with the news that she is moving to town. She moved to the farm as a 19 year old bride and has lived there 62 years. She is excited so I'm happy for her but the farm feels like home and I will miss it! She started going through boxes and gave us some old pictures to take home. It was a fun trip down memory lane on a weekend made for remembering.






The good news is that no matter where Grandma lives she will probably still let us lick the bowl!

Birthday Girls and Isaac (sort of)

Three parties in seven hours and I still got up for work at 5:30 am. Can you tell I hate to miss out!?
First we celebrated Nora's 4th birthday with yard games.
Then Downtown for Krista's girls only party.
Finally meeting up with the Lisaac party in Uptown.

FLAIR

Russia and U.S. officials will work out a final draft of a treaty on child adoptions in mid-June, children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said Friday. (From May 17th Moscow Times article.) This is good news! However, we know from our first attempt at Russian adoption that even if things don't totally close in Russia each region can decide if they want to continue U.S. adoptions. Time will tell. Anyone want to borrow some stress?

3 Month Update

Yikes! What a month! I don't really have any clear answers at this time. The delegation met April 29th and talks were "productive." You can read more about it here if interested. They will meet again May 12th.

This month I added to my adoption parenting library. I have already read Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child - twice. Lots of advice and ideas that seem practical. I would recommend this book
This month I read Toddler Adoption A Weaver's Craft. Probably a better book for someone trying to make the decision if toddler adoption is right for them. Luckily it does seem to be the right choice for us.
Next I will start Real Parents, Real Children. No this is not a book about a child's biological parent. We will be our child's real parents. Just a little lesson on positive adoption language.
I'm not sure if the 4-8 month timeline still stands but we've kind of given up on timelines anyway :)