What to do while waiting

Well it seems things are slowing to a snails pace in regards to our adoption. We started this process 15 months ago and it doesn't appear that we will have our little Maya home anytime soon. At the current pace it could be late winter or early next year. The news becomes more frustrating each month as the light at the end of the tunnel seems to get farther and farther away. It seems a bit like one of those bad carnival fun houses where your trying to take two steps forward only to end up 5 steps back. Everything is completely out of our control which is not much fun for a control freak like myself. All we can do is wait and hope that there is a sudden turn around in China and things speed up again.

This leads me to a list of things to do while waiting.

1. Take Mandarin Chinese classes. The idea of this was much more fun then reality. I've discovered I'm tone deaf. At least that is my excuse. I learn one sentence and then quickly forget it after learning the next. Ok that is just being a forgetful 40 year old. For some reason my only retention comes with the saying "I am a Chinese warrior". It was requested I learn this by my friend's five year old son. Unfortunately, this is about the only thing that I have retained. Hmmmmm I wonder if this will come in handy clearing Chinese customs?

2. Explore mold patch underneath bathroom tiles and flooring. Ok I know this sounds totally gross. Apparently we have been running a penicillin factory right here in our home. Who knew we could have supplied our own antibiotics!. Have any of you seen the movie The Money Pit? If not I highly recommend it. Anyway, it turns out that our shower was inproperly sealed and water was getting under the tiles and flooring as well as through the drywall etc.....Basically we have had to gut our entire bathroom and start from scratch. Not exactly good timing considering the cost of our adoption. But hey....knowing our baby won't be playing in a pile of mold is a relief and well worth the cost.

3. Start a home based business or two. My anxiety of returning to work full time after Maya comes home has fueled a lot of creative juices. I've started a business with one of my friends selling adoption announcements and other adoption related items. We have several designs in the works and hope to be up and running in the next couple of months. Our web address will be www.growninmyheart.com We have several creative people including my wonderful and talented mother-in-law Marilyn Kastien lend their artistic talents to our products. I can't wait to show off the final products. And hopefully we will help fill a much needed void in the marketplace. I'm also excited that 10% of sales will go to orphan related charities! I've also become a consultant for Arbonne skin care products. These Swiss products are botanical based with no harsh chemicals and more importantly are not tested on animals. The Swiss know how to do it right! I've been using Arbonne for about a year and half and love the products. If your interested in learning more let me know.

4. Stay up too late surfing other adoptive family blogs. This one really keeps me sane. Seeing the end results for other families gives me a sense of hope. It somehow validates the wait knowing that it will be all worth it in the end.....or should I say the beginning! Basically I do a lot of crying and smiling while on these sites. It's not pretty but it does allow me to purge my emotions.

5. Play practical jokes on my unsuspecting mom. Well I certainly know where I get my gullable nature. MY MOM! On April fools day I called and told her that due to our delay our social worker said that the babies will probably be older. Due to this it would be necessary for all of our immediate family to take a 5 week Chinese language class. I called my dad and my siblings first so that they would go along with this if my mom were to bring it up. She fell for it hook line and sinker! She was very calm and accepting of doing this when she was talking to me. But apparently she was in full panic mode when talking to my dad and sister. I appreciated that she was very supportive towards the idea and wasn't letting on that she was freaked out. My mom reminds me very much of Lucy from I LOVE LUCY. So just imagine Lucy taking Chinese classes and you can get a better visual. Anyway, I let her off the hook 24 hours later. She was very relieved to say the least!

I'm sure I'll be adding to this list as the wait drags on. If you have any ideas? Pass em along!