Happy Birthday to Karl!

As usual, I didn't feel much like blogging right after Matt left on Monday. It was a great 10 days of fun together, plus doctor appointments and shopping. He is one great kid, if I do say so myself, and he is amazing with his little brother.

Yesterday was Karl's birthday (32 years young!), and we celebrated with presents and cards at lunch. We gave him a digital photo frame for his desk at work. I figure this way he can still have 1000 pictures of us on display without covering the entire wall of his office the way he does now. It's almost embarrassing (although very touching) to walk in and see the shrine to the family. ;o)


For dinner, Karl wanted Italian food at La Fontana. We had a great time! Garin flirted shamelessly with the waitress and welcomed every diner who walked past us with a hearty hello, all while making an incredible mess of his penne and meatballs. Karl had his traditional baked ziti. I, on the other hand, foolishly thought that linguine with clam sauce would somehow contain fewer calories than the tortellini alla ludovico that I usually order. WRONG! The cream sauce was thick and rich and absolutely delicious, full of whole clams and crab meat, but my poor stomach has forgotten how to process that kind of food. To top it all off, Karl's birthday "cake" was cheesecake - his favorite - from the Cheesecake Factory. I couldn't let him eat alone on his birthday. I still feel nasty this morning. Thankfully, at least so far, the scale isn't showing my indulgence this morning.

We still have no word on our dossier. I emailed our caseworker on Monday but haven't heard back from her. I am finding this to be the rule rather than the exception, which is frustrating, but it seems that they are working hard on our case. They just aren't as good as Buckner was about keeping us informed of the progress. We are so eager to know our dossier has been registered and to get a referral. My feeling is that they didn't get it registered yesterday and that we are looking at April 8th at the soonest. The closer we get, the more difficult patience becomes, but we try to remember that it won't be long compared to the year we've been waiting already.

Another family whose blog I read is currently in Russia for a referral and has been offered two very ill children. Although they desperately want to adopt, they recognize that these children are too much for their family to handle and had to turn them down. They are hoping to be offered a third child today, but there are no guarantees after turning two down. They had asked for correctable, mild medical conditions and were instead offered a child who is dying with Hepatitis C and then another who is severely paralyzed and has heart problems. I can't imagine the roller coaster of hope and despair they are on this week. Please keep them in your prayers today, that they will receive another referral for a child that they are prepared to care for.