Oh where or where can my dossier be?

Okay I'm starting to get miffed.... A LOT... two weeks ago tomorrow I sent our dossier to the San Francisco Consulate. I know it was delivered since I paid for certified mail. But it appears to have fallen into a big black hole. Tomorrow I will call them using my best nice sweet kiss the buttcheeks voice and see if I can get them to help me find it. One years worth of paperchasing is at the mercy of someone. Oh please Oh please bring my dossier home tomorrow. Last go'round we had it back in three days. This time ??? Arghhhhh to only be able to speak fluent Mandarin.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

What's that you say? Happy New Year.

Welcome in the Year of the Ox 2009

May the new year bring you much health, happiness and good fortune.

And here they are....the pies and the bakers.

What do you get when you take two four year old bakers, a six year old and an eight year old? You get a lot of pies... We invited our two neighbor girls and the four girls had a blast slicing, mixing and assembling pies. I let the girls do 100% of everything except for clean up. In the end we have two chocolate pies, two banana cream pies and 24 carmel tartlets.

Hold on your hats folks 'cause tomorrow is...

NATIONAL PIE DAY

Yes, you heard it here....tomorrow is national pie day! And us here at the tomato hacienda are going to bake three pies. One for the girls, one for toblerone and one for Moi. We took a vote and the girls want apple and toblerone is requesting a pumpkin (and heaven knows anyway we can get this guy to eat a veggie is a plus). And my favorite is banana creme. Good thing Fridays are free points days...

So what are you going to eat on national pie day?

If all goes well we will have some photos for your enjoyment tomorrow.

I have a dream....

So everyonce in a while it takes an 8 year old to remind you of something...
Noley loves the soundtrack to MammaMia and this is one of her favorite songs to sing while listening to her Ipod. I vividly remember when I was 13 singing the same song and not quite capturing its simplicity and truth. Now 30 something years later...it holds even more meaning than when I sat in my room and sang it in the mirror. You can find the song on the of the blogpage.

I Have a Dream
I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
Ill cross the stream - I have a dream

I have a dream, a fantasy
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness still another mile
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
Ill cross the stream - I have a dream
Ill cross the stream - I have a dream

I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
Ill cross the stream - I have a dream
Ill cross the stream - I have a dream

Something IS up but I cannot talk about it.....

Yes, there is a reason I have not posted anything on the blog for the past week.....even though I was dying to last Friday. Why?, becuase I am not at liberty to talk about it yet. I can say I am very very very sad that our adoption agency in Portland is closing their doors to international adoption. But before I start vomiting on my shoes...I am going to take a deep breath....talk to my dead grandmother....ask for her to help us...and I am confident that what could be a horrific probelm will bless itself into a very very very good thing. I think I will go and find a place to lay down my tired head. I go in PEACE.

Simple Thoughts For Today ...

A blog friend shared this with me and I in turn am returning the post….

For Today…(which at the time of this posting is at the end of the day)

Outside my window...are the cutest darn little birds have been playing in the fountain out front all day

I am thinking...about when we will anticipate on traveling to China…may..june…july??
I am thankful for...the daily joy I get from my yahoos

From the learning rooms...homework (lots of reading and lots of math)

From the kitchen... pork roast baked in a peach/pineapple sauce, baked carrots, potato pancakes, shredded brussel sprouts with prosciutto.

I am wearing...last seasons favorite big pumpkin orange sweater coat with cocoanut buttons, two long sleeve shirts layered (its darn cold here in CA), my favorite Banana Republic cropped khakis and my new lands end super comfy leather knockoff Privo ballet flats … oh yes and my awesome gold coin necklace that I got for Christmas from Mr Tomato

I am creating...school binders for the yahoos to manage all of their school and home projects “home school” projects as MeiMei and Noley like to call them….and darn they look really cute, now I want one!

I am going...to bed soon so I can read on of the many books I have started

I am reading...about 12 different books right now that all need to go back to the Library in 9 days. On too many varied subjects from fiction to education, to hobbies to meditation.

I am hoping...to get all of our dossier notarized this week so that we can get it send off to China by the end of the month.

I am hearing...the yahoos stirring in their beds and Mr T snoring really loud..

Around the house... I just finished installing the pull out shelf for under the kitchen sink. Now I am confident I call install a couple more in the larger cabinets.
One of my favorite things...A good cup of black coffee and watching the yahoos exhibit sheer joy of success in accomplishing something

A few plans for the rest of the week… Get our china dossier documents notarized and taken to the secty of state for authentication.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

No signs of Fed Ex..

This title says it all. No sightings of FedEx. I thought it would arrive on Saturday....now it is Monday and it is past 1pm with no delivery.

We're Approved .. it came in todays email

This evening I logged on to my email and was greeted with an email from the USCIS

"Please allow me to congratulate you on the approval of your I-800A!
The official notice will be coming to you by mail.

I wish you success as you pursue your adoption plans.

Happy New Year

Cindy Jones
Immigration Services OfficerHague Adoption UnitUSCIS National Benefits Center877-424-8374; fax 816-251-2799nbc.hague@dos.gov "

Just one week shy of four months.... YEAH!!

Hang on Hoo Haa....China here we come.....

Houston...its a go....

Yes... I finally spoke to our Hauge NBC rep this afternoon and she said my ammended statement that declared that "under penalty and pergury of US laws" was all I needed to add. She said for us to mail them the original and then they will produce our "USCIS approval" to adopt an international orphan. This is the final step in the pre approval process. "Holy Smokes...this means that we have we have a very very strong likelihood of having all of our documents to China by the end of the month...

Stay tuned...

1 day left of the 08 holiday season...

The house is clean (or at least picked up --- who am I fooling?), all of the laundry is done (thanks Grams), and the Christmas items are neatly packed away. The big yahoos are back in LALAland, Grams is on a plane back to the frozen Tundra and all is quiet in the Tomato house.

We are ready for the new year. 2009 will be year full of many firsts and much excitement.

Tomorrow, all of the kids go back to school and I will be calling the Homeland Security Department to check on our application for HooHaa. If all goes well, we can expect to get their approval this month, and be in a position to have our dossier off to China by the end of the month just in time for Chinese New Year.

Happy New Year To All....

So what do you do to welcome in the new year?....well if you are a Tomato family member, you loose all sense of sanity join your other crazy friends and you take the polar plunge into the freezing cold river...

Not sure how or why this all came about but it has something do with cleansing the soul. I'm feeling pretty confident that after the Christmas barf-o-rama, I'm pretty cleansed enough already.

So for those of you that are not quite clear what a Tomato New Year River Cleanse looks like....here are the photos..