Ordinary Time

Among the stories about Winnie the Pooh is one where Rabbit becomes tired of Tigger always bouncing and plots ways to "unbounce" him. Long story short, when Tigger does stop bouncing, Rabbit misses it and realizes the bouncy Tigger is best. Well, we had the Curry version of this story last week. TM is very bouncy, in fact we often call him Tigger. Sometimes to the point when my own Rabbit-like tendencies would wish he were just a bit less on the bouncy side. (Side note: I have a personal theory that all personality types are represented by Winnie the Pooh characters. I am pretty sure I am Rabbit. Try it.) I have also discovered that a bouncy TM is the preferable model. Last week TM wasn't feeling well, but instead of getting better, he just became sicker and more lethargic, so I finally took him to the doctor. Pneumonia. But blessedly, not a bad enough case to have him put in the hospital. During that week, J and I realized how used to the bouncy TM we had be...

(E) We are making progress with K's adoption. We were able to finish our dossier in record time and the VN consulate also moved quickly. As a result, not only has our dossier been submitted to the VN government, but it has also been approved! Now we move on to waiting for K's dossier to be approved at the provincial level. This is the long wait. Wait times for this province are 4 - 6 1/2 months. So, I guess I will just plan on it taking 6 months and be pleasantly suprised if it takes less. (It's so easy to say that, but I know the reality of waiting is so much more difficult.) In the meantime I will compulsively check my email waiting for the next update on K and start in on my stack of reading material to continue my crash course in cleft lips and palates.

I realize that I have never met you and that all I know about you is what I read. But I have to admit that what I read is somewhat disturbing to me. As an adoptive parent of a son from Vietnam and in process for another son, I am concerned about the state of adoptions from Vietnam. We both know (I hope) that the world of international adoptions is not always as neat and tidy and ethical as it should be. There is a lot of money that changes hands and large amounts of money don't always bring out the best in people. Unethical agencies use this to their advantage. By paying "unpublished" fees, their timelines can be significantly shortened. Those of us who chose our agency because of their unwillingness to pay any such fees wait for a much longer time to bring our children home. This is not because we don't want them home as soon as possible, but because we want to be able to say to our children, when they ask about their adoptions, that we did everything as honorably an...