We are leaving for a week in Orlando in just a few hours. I cannot wait. This vacation is long over due. Even though hubby will be working–he is going to a conference. Minnow and I plan to spend our days lounging in the pool.

More when I get back….

I am infertile and we have chosen adoption over extensive fertility treatments because of the cost. We currently do not have insurance coverage for fertility treatments and one round of IVF with no guarantee of a pregnancy or live birth can cost w/drugs up to $15,000–that is for one month–imagine having to do 3 or so rounds without any financial assistance. There is a bill that has been introduced called the Family Building Act of 2005 and is being rewritten for the new congress–as all bills not passed are thrown out when a new congress is sworn in. That seems like a lot of redundant work no wonder not much gets done in Washington if they have to keep rewriting and reintroducing legislature that didn’t make it through–but that is a topic for another post. Julie over at “A Little Bit Pregnant” has a more detailed post about this bill–please read about it there.

Also if you want–I beg of you please–your can click here to visit Resolve and have a letter sent to your congressman. I would greatly appreciate your support–as would the 10% of all people who are infertile.

to bringing home a new baby girl (or girls or girl and boy). Our dossier is packaged and ready to be sent to AAI today. In reality it will probably be off to Ethiopia by mid June. Our homestudy update is being sent separately by our homestudy agency and that should happen tomorrow or Friday and then we have to wait for our dossier cover document and power of attorney to return from Washington DC. It is scary to be beginning on this journey again. We are asking for infant twins–with one being a girl. We have also made it clear that we will take a single infant girl if that is what is offered to us when our names get to the top of the list.

It is different than before as I now have a son who is awesome and who I love and who I get to devote all of my time and attention to. Then we are adding to it–either one or two. Boy will our worlds change even more drastically than before. Also, I am travelling. We thought about escorting, but I want to travel. I cannot imagine not travelling. I will also be traveling alone at this point–trying to talk, my dad, brother or best friend into traveling with me. My husband will stay home with Minnow. We don’t want to leave him alone for a week at the young age of 20-24 months and then come home both of us tired and exhausted with new baby(ies). I am not worried about travelling alone, other than it is a lot of work and if we do end up with twins–I certainly cannot travel home alone. These are all issues that we can tackle at a later date–as we have lots of time for waiting I think. I am hoping that by Christmas we have our referral. I know that might be pushing it, but boy that would be a great way to celebrate.

What a disturbing movie. I am going to have to go out and buy the book now–to really read it. But let me just say that I will never, never, never, eat fast food again–including lunch meat. I was disturbed on so many levels about the fast food industry, its practices and the hold it has on the american consumer. 1 in 4 people will eat at a fast food restaurant today. They will eat food that is loaded with chemicals, artificial smells and flavors, and in some cases feces–but don’t worry it is cooked to a high enough temp that most of the gross stuff is killed…sorry but that isn’t enough for me. I cannot believe that I have eaten things that really hardly resemble food when you really break it all down. Fast food restaruants in a desire to keep prices low, buy the cheapest ground meat–which looks to be made from a combination of some “decent” meat and a bunch of other scrap and fat.

When did we stop caring what we ate? When did we turn a blind eye and trust that those trying to make a buck have our best interest at heart? When did we decided that quick pre-made food is better than fresh food? I know it has become the Amerian Way. I lived that way for years and for those years I can now look and think that I felt like crap. I have felt the best when I have eaten a lot of fresh and natural food. So, if you are so inclined and would like to see what goes on behind the scenes and what you really are eating rent the movie–or read the book. It will change your mind and will make you look differently at the food that you eat.

Now that I am home in the mornings, I have had the opportunity to watch the morning news. Let me just say that I use this term news with great trepidation, as nothing that is on the big three networks resembles what I consider news. Is it news that a new American idol has been crowned–or who has been eliminated each week? Is it news that Angelina Jolie is going to take a year off from movie making? Is it news that fall fashions are already arriving in stores? Seriously news people, where is the actual news? Where is the news about how for what we spend on the war in Iraq in one year we could rebuild every school in America? Where is the news that oil companies are still making money hand over fist and that many of the folks in congress and the president included are making money hand over fist as well, as many of them are stockholders in the big 3.

Where has the news gone? Well it has disappeared and it is a way of keeping the American people content and keeping away social action and change. If the “news” does not expose us to the true nature of our world, than most people are happy and content to live with their heads in the sand. People want sunshine and roses. There is so little in our world that is really full of sunshine and roses. We live in a world that is falling apart, but hey we have a new American idol. I want my news back. Maybe the newscasters could just read from the NY Times or the Washington Post to let us really know what is going on in the world. I guess my big question should be–when in the hell did news stop being news and become Entertainment??? If I wanted entertainment news I would watch E News or Entertainment tonight. When will we get news that really is news and explores the issue and doesn’t just give us a 30-60 second sound byte? I miss the news. Our country misses the news.