I'm cute! Pick Me!!

We are moving on up. We recently got a "Moe's" in North Georgia. For those unfamiliar with the mouth-watering experience of Moe's, it start with being hollered at when you walk in the door. Hey, this is the south. So anyway you get a great big "Welcome to Moe's!" which you would have heard if you clicked the link above.

Anyway, it's a sort of funky Mexi-American restaurant that's set up sort of like subway. You go through the line and order things like:

The Homewrecker
The Ugly Naked Guy
Sherman Klump
or my personal favorite, the Close Talker.

It's true the first time you say "I'd like an ugly naked guy to go please" ya feel sorta strange... but the guy next to you is ordering a Village Idiot and a Ruprict, so you're in good company.

In the midst of the tornadoes in Georgia yesterday, Clyde and I decided it would be great fun to go out to dinner. In the rain. In the tornados. We once went to Zaxbys in a hurricane. Yeah, I know. I need more interesting things to do on a regular basis so I'm not forced to chase meteorological events when they occur.

So after dinner there's a fish bowl (sans fish of course. If you want a fish order the Fat Sam with tofu and pretends it's fish) and entry forms for their contest to win a prize. So I entered little Bubba. On the outside of the entry form I wrote "I'm cute! Pick me!!" It never hurts to add a little zest to your plea.

This afternoon I received this e-mail:

Dear Bubba Jr.,

OK, I picked you!

Please have your parents come by and claim your prize. Our prizes do not come in K5 sizes, so you may have to wait until you're a teenager to wear it. I'm sure your parents will not mind wearing it until then.

I can be reached at 123-1234 or at Moe's @ 567-7890 MOES (6637).

Ray Stewart
Director of Food Service
Moe's Southwest Grill

COOL! So my youngin will be sportin' a Moe's T-shirt. I'll try and post a picture... if I can ever get my flip&en camera fixed!

B

Thoughts, please!

This morning on the way to pre-k by almost 5 year old asked me

Mom, why did God choose not to make me a dog?

Come again?

Back to the money issue...

So I mentioned a while back that I was having a little trouble with the local banks saving money for the adoption fees. True enough, I wouldn't tell the fancy bank what it was for because the "manager" was acting like a gum-chewing used car salesman. Anyway, I went yesterday to "check" on the one bank that is saving money and guess what!

THEY HADN'T EVEN STARTED!

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So fine. I'm an enterprising young woman who likes to leave nothing to chance. So this morning I called the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta. The first person I talked to (and yes I told them WHY I need the money... but come on, they're THE Federal Reserve!) said that she was sure they would tell me that I couldn't come get new bills from them but she could transfer me (those words should be expunged from the dictionary!) to Customer Service. So I get transferred and I tell my story and ask if there's a way I can come down and pick up money or have it sent to my bank or what, HELP! And she says:

We see this all the time. International Adoption is very common and we know that other countries require new or nearly new bills. Your bank simply needs to write a letter stating that they need new bills for International Adoption and we will send them what they ask for. It is important that they indicate it's for International Adoption. When we get the letter we will send the money to your bank and you can pick it up there.

Well I'll be darned! And my bank (and every other bank) said they couldn't do it! So to all of you out there not to the money gathering stage, keep this in mind!
Your bank CAN request money from the Federal Reserve on your behalf!
B

OT. I finally did it!

Okay, for those unfamiliar, "OT" means "Off Topic." I say this post is off topic b/c the purpose of this blog is to chronicle the adoption of Princess Charleigh. However, I do and frequently talk about moi.

So, my company pays for all employees to access the Athletic Center of the college next door. Have I ever made use of this? Nooooo. Of course not!

Complaint about exercise:

It's too expensive to join a gym. This is FREE.
It's too time consuming. It takes 3.5 minutes to get there.
It's not fun.

So I tried it today. Thunder thighs in stretch shorts. Not pretty.

But then....

Okay. This is the part that's going to get me in trouble. This gym is at a college. With college guys. All lifting weights, and bulging muscles, and... and...

Ok. That's enough! I'm a happily married old lady who's expecting!

But I've still got eyes....

B

And a good time was had by all

This past weekend we were invited to a potluck dinner by a fellow blogger. We had a Fantastic time and I so enjoyed meeting couples who were going through the same trials and tribulations we were. It was also great to be around folks who knew the adoption lingo.

We are planning for a get together again in September. This time we're thinking we'll bring all our kids. Should be a very interesting evening... and to protect the sanity of all these waiting parents we'll be having the next shin-dig at a lucky local restaurant instead of someone's house.

So check out the photos from Lisa's blog. Clyde and I are both in the pictures... We also met this couple who are expecting their referral in October, wooohoo!

B

Getting a head start on the dough

well, trying to anyway...

Since we're about 12 weeks away from travel I decided it was time to get
serious about the $100 bill issue. There's a pretty bank in front of my
office building with a fancy name, like something off of Monopoly. Anyway,
I don't "bank" at this bank, but I figured since it was close I'd see if they'd
save bills for me. I walk in and there's NO one at the teller desk.
I look over to the right and there's two gals whispering excitedly. Looks
like gossip to me, but what do I know.

Finally one worker decides to acknowledge my presence (there isn't another
customer in sight) she plops herself down into her chair and asks how she can
help me (riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.) Never asks me to have a seat. I suppose I
could have sat down, uninvited, after all I am the customer, but as a
matter of pride I remain standing during our brief, but in my mind, comical
conversation.

Her "How can I help you"

Me "I'd like to know if you can order money from the Federal Reserve" (Ok, I
KNOW the answer to this is NO, at least it's been no at the other banks
I've tried, but hey, this bank has a fancy 5th Avenue-ish name and maybe they've
got some pull even though they're officially located in the Chicken Capital of
the World.)

Her "What do you mean, like coins?"

Me "No, I need new bills."

Her "What do you need them for."

WHAT DOES IT MATTER?

Me "I'm sorry, I don't see how that's relevant. Can you order bills or not?"

Her "Um, I don't know. You'll have to talk to the teller manager and she's at lunch."

Me "Well do you get new or nearly new $100 bills regularly?"

Her "No, I don't think so. We don't have much retail business."
Hell, I don't think they have much any kind of business. I'm still the only
customer in the place.

Her "Oh, here she comes now."

New Her "How can I help you?"

Me " I'd like to know if you can order bills from the Federal Reserve."

New Her "Oh no, we just get what they send us."

Me "Well can you save new bills for someone?"

New Her "What do you want them for?"

Okay, come on. Am I being a snot here or what? What business reason is there to know what I'm going to use the money for? To me, it's just nosiness. If I were to ask to cash a check at my bank for $5 k, would they ask me what I was going to do with the money? I just don't think it's their business! moving on...

Me "I'm not trying to be rude, I just don't see how it matters what I'm going to do with the money."

New Her "Well do you have an account with us"

Me "No, but I'd open an account if I knew you could get the money I needed."

New Her "Well if you were a customer we could hold money for you, but we
couldn't promise you a certain amount of money. We'd only have what we'd
have."

At this point, I feel a bit like the duck in the Aflac commercial when the
guy says, "And they give you cash, which is just as good as money!"

GOODBYE AND THANKS FOR NOTHING.

So I've got a grand total of ONE bank saving money for me, and the fear here is the lady saving the money gets canned or runs off to Swaziland before it's time to pick up the dough. In which case the conversation would go something like:

"Hello. My name is Bonnie Buttercup and I'm here to pick up the money Ms. Runaway was holding for me."

Them "Oh, I'm sorry. Ms. Runaway is no longer an employee here."

Me "Well she was saving new bills for me and I need to pick those bills up."

Them "Well I don't know anything about that, and I don't see any bills being held here"

later from the adoption agency...

"Dear Bonnie, I just received this from the CCAA, what does it mean?"

"The CCAA regrets to inform you that your recent
incident at the Bank of Chickenland has voided your recently issued Travel Approval. We wish you the best of luck in the Georgia Chicken-penitentiary.

Regards,
CCAA"

2 for 1 Mailbox Special!

Yesterday we got a 2-for-1 mailbox special!

#1) We received, after losing pretty much all hope, our fabulous "Brown Envelope" from Guangzhou! For those of you not up on your adoption lingo-phrases, the brown envelope comes from the US Consulate in Guangzhou and basically says:

"BCIS has notified us that they have approved you for International
Adoption. We look forward to seeing you and your child in our office in Guangzhou."

Ok. So someone out there will say, "Heavens no! That is NOT what it says." Ok, maybe the wording is off (I don't have the paper handy) but the essence is the same! So, we're one more tiny step closer as the Consulate is eagerly awaiting our presence. Makes it kinda sound like we're going to be presented to the Queen. Better shine the old tiara. I had been using it as a backscratch, you know, living in the hills you have to make do.

#2) We received a packet from agency with all the original pictures of Charleigh from China. They are the originals of the ones I posted the other day. They're so clear and I can see her little face! We also got original medical reports with the "official" red stamp on them and the examiners signature. Very cool! I'm glad to have these things for her lifebook.

So, how bout some 2-for-1 TA's?

B

More pictures

I thought I would take some of this forced downtime to upload the rest of the pictures I have of Charleigh.


This is a copy of Charleigh's "Finding Ad." We are SO lucky to have this tiny photo of our precious daughter. When we travel to pick Charleigh up, I will ask for the original photo. I've heard sometimes the SWI will give it to the parents. But sometimes they won't, or they don't have it anymore. The Ad reads" Jiang Yong Yue, Female, Born 12 /1/2002 found 12/6/2002. She has a small, pleasing, lovely face." I admit, I must agree! We used this service to obtain her finding ad. I highly recommend him!



This next photo I estimate to be taken some time last summer. In which case Ms. Charleigh would have been somewhere around 18-20 months old. Notice her cute Osh Kosh Jumper?? The members of the Yongxiu yahoo group I belong to, (who have all adopted from Yongxiu SWI) are quite dedicated to sending clothing and other needed supplies back to Yongxiu. Likely this darling jumper (and the majority of the clothing in the photos that follow) were donated by adoptive parents.











I also believe this picture was taken last summer. After all the hoopalah over the "clothing police" I couldn't get over this photo! There she is, cool as a cucumber hanging out. Sweet little sandals and onsie.

I just love the background of these photos. I mean, can you imagine looking out your living room window and seeing the Yangtze River with it's luscious vegetation and beautiful architecture? And take a look at the walkway there, just glorious in it's detail.





And now winter comes to the Jiangxi Province. Charleigh has finally been properly clothed, her nannies must have gotten a talking to from the CP.

I absolutely LOVE the cowboy boots she's wearing in this picture. I don't know why. They make me smile, it makes it seem "realer" somehow. I fully intend to ask for those boots. I don't know how yet. I will buy a suitcase of new shoes to donate if I have to. But I want those boots!!

So if this was taken this past winter, I'm thinking she was just turning two. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE PIE!!!









This is probably the newest picture I have of Charleigh. Her last update was done in March. Another dolly outfit. The only thing missing is pigtails tied with pink ribbon.

She's still wearing those cowboy boots. Y'all say a little prayer we're able to bring those home with us. This is the first picture I ever saw of Charleigh and it's the one that still melts my heart like no other. The gorgeous scenery, the picturesque river, and most importantly one little girl 10,000 miles away who needs her mommy to come get her!




Mommy loves you baby girl, we're coming as fast as we can!

My baby, all grown up!

(or so he thinks)

Today marks an occasion that little Bubba Jr. has been waiting a 4-year eternity for. This morning I dropped our little moonpie at PRE-K. No tears were involved, thankfully! He looked so grown up in his backpack. I'll try and get some pictures posted, had to use an old-timey 35 mm camera because our digital camera's battery died this morning! I'll be bringing 2 extra batteries with us to China, thank-you-very-much!

B