Homestudy Meeting #1 Day
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003

Yesterday was rather surreal for a while. It wasn�t because work was odd or anything else was odd, it was because I had a ton of adrenaline pumping through my system. I was in fight of flight mode nearly all day.

Rather than the heightened sense of awareness that I get when the migraines start, where I can see everything super crispy and catch sounds (grating horrible sounds) very well, I was in dumdum land. I couldn�t think. I couldn�t read. Etc.

Lunch with dad was at 11:30. If you recall, I stood him up by forgetting we were having lunch back on the 12th. Right when it was time for me to leave to get to Guadalajara, TC comes up to me with a problem:

Stick, the guy who drives the sample taxi, was out so Leafy drove it. Leafy picked up too many of the samples at P2 and brought them to the Lab. Our independent lab we use had their runner go to P2 to get the samples, but obviously they weren�t there. They�re here. The runner is coming here. �Where�s the Chain of Custody? �Do we have a Chain of Custody? �What tests need to be run on these samples? �Can you handle this? Slim Smokey (second in command droog) wants you to handle this.

I locate samples. There is no indication of what tests written on the half gallon bottles. I go to TB and ask if he has a blank Chain of Custody form. He gets me one while I call Eduardo, King of P2. Eduardo is off today. I get the form, take it to TC:

�Here�s the form. The runner should know what tests need to be run. I�m supposed to meet my Dad in four minutes.�

On the drive there I called TC and told him that the runner may have his own form and let him use that. Allegedly our form, blatantly copied from the EPA (to such an extent that I spent hours removing the watermark that said SAMPLE with Paint Shop Pro) is too confusing for some. Whatever.

Even if the runner didn�t know, the people in the lab could call Eduardo in the morning and ask him.

I was two minutes late for Dad. I never looked at the menu as I was so nervous about the homestudy. I ordered exactly what Dad did and it was pretty good. I ate the enchilada and the flat thing with the guacamole. I had a few bits of my burrito and ignored the taco.

After work, I drove home with the top up since it was a little cold (61F). Aisai had already come home and was freaking out.

Long story short: The lady was nice. We just talked about keeping an eye out for detachment disorders, though she�d not known any girls from China to have that. However, she�s a believer that kids never really get over the time they were institutionalized. We talked about different adoption options for the future. She didn�t push, but seemed to keep playing up how there were kids here that needed families.

I know there are kids here that need families too, but I don�t fool myself into thinking that taking care of a situation here that�s not terribly bad is better that taking care of a situation where there are hundreds of thousands of orphaned girls a year with a 50% infant mortality rate over in China. Plus, I don�t want the birth mother nosing around.

Granted, when she gets older, she�ll want to know more about where she came from. And I�m planning on a trip to China with Aisai and her around 2014. We�ll go to see the places we were when we got her. And though we�ll not be able to visit the orphanage when we adopt her, I�m sure that if we dropped by and let the ladies who work there know that a girl they cared for 10 years before was outside, visiting from America, they�d come talk to her.

Well, the inspection of the house was very quick and we�re quite safe. Well, there was that 1876 Navy sniper practice rifle laying on the floor in the craft room, the room that will be our daughter�s room. That did get a comment, but not because she saw it. She asked if we owned any weapons or guns and Aisai told her yes.

We only have it since her father died and Aisai inherited it. It�s sweet. You�d be amazed at how well you (yes, you) can hit things from a distance with it. It�s also very quiet since the bullets are subsonic. And before you think I�ve got some assassin tool, it�s a breach load (you put the bullets in one at a time with your lil� fingers) 22-short (the bullets in their casings are about the size of a Tictac mint). It also has no scope, just some funny adjustable thing that�s actually partially stuck. Oh, and it won�t fire since the firing pin was worn down by some doofus who was dry firing it (me).

Afterward, we were exhausted. We�re still exhausted. We went to eat at Ruby Tuesday�s and I got the bleu cheese burger. ��You mean the Black n� Bleu Burger�?� said the little droog waiter. I didn�t know. Heck, we had to look it up in the menu. I knew they didn�t have two bleu cheese burgers, but we did it to humor him.

Aisai got a half turkey jack sandwich and the salad bar. I was rather envious until I got my burger. Oh, my sweet, sweet bleu cheese burger.

At church, we ended up staying late talking. Poolphish and his fianc� (who I have to think up a nickname for) are about to close on their house. They get married in June and I think he�ll live in it before that (they both still live with their parents, but she�s been divorced by a piece of scum and does so for financial reasons).

Still haven�t watched the new Buffy, Angel, Family, Survivor, or any of the Futurama/Home Movie�s we�ve missed since Monday night.

Kelley (sis) and Corey (neph) will be in town on the 6th. On the 7th, I�ll pick Corey up and drive him around some just to get him out of the house (parent�s) and then we�ll all (including Aisai) have dinner at 6:30.

Our social worker (for the home study) is in the process of moving next week, so that�s put on hold until later. We have an individual interview each, then both again at the house. I have to type up the formal petition for adoption. Aisai�s got to get that timeshare in our name and change the financial statement. We need three passport photos each. A lot of family photos. And�I think we�re done. Then only to wait for 14 months until we can go get our daughter.

The name that we�ve liked for a few months now is Joelle.