HOME STUDY, HERE I COME!

Well I have really big news today! My assigned social worker called me last night and we scheduled my first home study interview for next week! WOOO HOOO!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand myself. :-) It feels like I'm finally getting started, and my social worker sounded really nice on the phone. She told me that she had also adopted internationally (but not from China) so she could totally relate to how I'm feeling and this whole process. So this is all great news. I guess you could call it morning sickness, but a little part of me wants to throw up thinking about all this. HA HA HA HA I'm sure by Wednesday, I will definitely be nausea thinking about the interview. I always feel sick before something big, then I'm fine. Luckily, my stomach is made of iron!

The other cool thing I'm doing: my first FCC- Single Mom's Group Night Out is tonight. There are just going to be 3 of us (and 2 kids) tonight, but it's a start. We are going to have Mexican food tonight, so hopefully everything will go smoothly. They seem nice (on the internet anyway) but we are meeting at a very public place, so even if they are weirdos, it's only for an hour. LOL I think it will be fine, and it will be great for me to talk with other single women who have adopted from China. PLUS I will get to meet their daughters, so that will be great too.
Well that's about it from me. I'm glad today is Friday.

I'm BAAAAAAAAACK!

Well I'm back from Italy. I had a GREAT time! It was really fun to see my friend V and to spend sometime in her home town. It's really pretty there, and you can walk or take the bus everywhere, which is good for visitors. Plus, it's kind of fun to lose yourself someplace and just wander around.
Unfortunately the flight home was pretty stressful. It was an all day affair, starting at getting up at 4 am, stopping in THREE countries and taking FOUR flights to get home. It made me think about how hard it will be to travel with Emily all the way home from China. I had a dream when I got home that Emily was on a conveyor belt in the airport with a purple Snoopy suitcase and like going around the carousel at baggage claim!! I had to grab her and get on a train and there wasn't room. UGH. I'm sure it was just left over tension from the trip home, but still. I'm glad I'm not going all the way to China by myself. :-)

Right now I'm still doing some home repairs, but they seem to be getting done, which is the important thing. I should hear from the social worker soon about scheduling my 1st home study appointment. I'm hoping to start that next week. I also got (FINALLY) the big book of instructions from my agency. They weren't kidding. It's 10 chapters of stuff to do and articles to read. It's a little intimidating if you take it as a whole. However, I got organized this weekend and put them all in a big binder (copied straight from my pal Karen!) and started checking off the few things I've already done. I like lists, so that made me feel good to put little check marks down! (yes, I AM a dork.) So...I feel like I'm finally officially STARTING, and that makes me happy inside!

In other wonderful news, my sister found out that she is having a BOY! YIPPPPEEEE!!!! I'm going to have a nephew!!! We are all super excited about this, but me especially. I mean, I KNOW, I'm having a girl, so this will be great for my family. One of each, and right around the same age too! Super news.
That's about it from me for now. I have my last Chinese Class tonight. Should be fun!

Off to Italy!

Well tomorrow I am off to Italy to visit my old college roomie!! YIPPEE!!!
I'll be gone for just about a week, but it will be a really nice vacation. I haven't been there for about 5 years, so I am looking forward to going and having a good time. My last big trip as a truly single, childless person. I plan on taking full advantage of that too! HA HA HA My vacation starts in 10 mins, so I'm going to go finish up some work stuff.

ITALY HERE I COME! WOO HOO!

Single Parent Group

I have my Mom to thank for this. She made a recomendation that I see if I could find a single parents group so I could start finding some support/ideas from other singles here in my area. So I asked my local chapter of Families with Children From China (FCC) if we had one. We don't currently, but guess what? Tons of women responded and I'm the new chair! HA HA HA...I don't even have a kid yet! Still, apparently it was a great idea, so there ya go. So right now, we are trying to nail down a date to meet, maybe for dinner, and then we can discuss what kind of things we would like to do for each other. It might just end up being a mommy's day off, but still, I'm excited. I mean, what bettter way for me to learn about how to DEAL as a single mom, then talking with other single moms??? Very cool.

In other news, I got the contract from the agency in the mail yesterday, so I will be sending it off next week. The contract makes it OFFICIAL so to speak, so that is exciting too.
Well, it's time to go home and start my weekend. Later y'all!