meh.
I really am going to try to do this more, if anything, just to keep a good record on where we've been and where we are going.
Recap: In the beginning of January, we were confident we were headed to Ethiopia to round up our future kiddo. It seemed like a go. We bunkered down expecting a 2 year wait, which would give us some time to wrap up some last-minute projects. Wow, that seems like a lifetime ago now.
As I've alluded to before, while we we're meeting with our social worker, she mentioned the possibility of Colombia for a quicker solution to adopt. She mentioned that the wait could be anywhere from 4 months to 24 months. So, it would either be quicker or just as long. Seemed like a good angle, and we asked her to pursue it for us. The only catch would be we would need to be open to African-Colombian children - which, seriously, why would we be against that? But, apparently people are. The other side catch is that we have started to form a group of friends who are pursuing Ethiopia. So, our support group of adoptive families has shrunk to null. C’est la vie. She shipped us via the internets a packet o’ paperwork and we started getting truckin’ on it.
This past Friday, I got a call at work from our social worker. She's really neat, and was full of energy for making a 'Let's change the game again!!' call right against the weekend. She had news that another orphanage in Colombia was begging Children’s for adoptive families, and she wondered if we would consider the option. The orphanage is known for placing younger children, so it is likely that we could get an infant quickly. The catches? It would cost about $2500 more. Seriously, after all we paid so far, not a big deal. We would also be guaranteed a six-week stay inside Colombia waiting for the adoption to be finalized. Which we expected anyway. Oh, and catch number 3? Stop all paperwork, ‘cause we’re sending you a different packet to start filling out.
So that’s where we’re at. I sent a confirmation email to our social worker, which she forwarded on as: "Meyerson/Peterson-Meyerson is a go for (insert orphanage name here)
In the mean time, we’ve started attending a monthly support group for families in the ‘waiting’ category. We felt like fish out of the water attending, because most people had their plans set, and we have had our plans put through the blender. One woman had just received notice that she was referred a child from Ethiopia – she had been waiting 44 months. Yikes. She was single, so it was likely that we wouldn’t have had to wait that long, but still. Another woman (again, single) was in the final stage of adopting from Kazakhstan. Stop thinking about Borat.
So in the mean time, we are starting to plan adventures to keep our minds off of the business. We have a vacation scheduled over Ang’s spring break to beautiful Bonaire, so we can get the last bit of scuba diving in before parenthood sets in.
And I went for my first Ice Fishing Tournament in what should be known as downtown Brainerd during winter: Gull Lake!
The fishing tournament is an annual event for my brother-in-law. He and a couple of buddies do it every year. He’d asked me to go last year, but some fertility junk came up and I couldn’t go… boy does that sentence look bad now that I’ve written it, but I think I’ll leave it as it is. I was lucky to not go last year, because downtown Brainerd had a high temperature of -35 degrees during the tournament.
I was happy to note that the temp was a balmy 25 degrees this year when we got rolling on tournament morning, but happiness melted during the day thanks to the addition of freezing rain that lasted for 3 hours, followed by the equally buzz-killing weather called ‘blinding sleet.’ The weather was not fun. At the beginning of the event, before the ‘soaking to the bone’ set in, I asked my compatriots if they would rather have -35 degrees, or freezing rain, to which they all shouted, ‘RAIN!’ I polled them again a few hours in to the event. The most memorable response was, “This. Is. Miserable.”
Truer words were never spoken.
I had received as a gift some pocket warmers that really helped keep my hands warm for a while. They stop functioning when they get filled with water. I know this, because they stopped working.
There was one fish caught in the 50 yards surrounding our fishing holes, and it was a half pound perch, caught by my brother-in-law. Good on him. The winner of the event was a man who nabbed a 6 and a quarter pound walleye. It was a beast!
The highlight of the event for me was tracking down the food booths. I knew I was in heaven when I found a little bit of ambrosia: cheese curds fried with slices of jalapenos. That warmed me up for about an hour.
The insult of the weather added to injury as we were leaving. They had bused us in from several points surrounding Gull Lake, and we were supposed to exit at the same place we entered. The problem being that everyone apparently chose to park at the same park ‘n ride we did, but the event organizers failed to recognize this population explosion. So, we sat in line trying to get off the ice for 2 hours, while other lines empty much more quickly. Oh, and for kicks, it started raining again. At some point as we reached the exit, they had fixed the problem and added a few more busses, but our moods had soured beyond repair. I don’t think the Brainerd International Fishing Tournament is in my future again.
Other than that, Angie got me interested in a bit of art she was doing - mosaic. We have a mosiac shop down the road from us. It's fun and easy to do, and a good release. If you are in the area of Snelling in Midway, check out 'Mosaic on a stick!" Here's my piece. I grouted the left side, so it looks a little different now.
