Potpourri

Haven't posted anything in quite a while, but nothing much is happening adoption-related. We did move up a few spots on the waiting list, but that now makes us #156 overall and #93 for those open to a boy. The lady in charge of Vietnam adoptions for our entire agency is on vacation, so we have not received an update and she is off for the rest of the week. If any referral or travel dates, etc. come in they get sent to the designated people, but no updates will be sent until sometime next week.

We also sent in our largest fee so far; we shouldn't have to send another fee in until we actually are told to submit our dossier to Vietnam, which may not be until the end of the year at the soonest. It all depends on how quickly the waiting list moves, so please pray that lots of referrals are received. The fee at time of dossier submission is pretty small, compared to this last one we sent in or those we'll be sending in once we receive a referral and as we wait to travel.

I'll be on vacation from work next week. I'm not going anywhere, but just having some time off will be great. I really need some time; my last week off was right between Christmas and New Year's.

Today was our 1st 90-degree day or close to it. The temperature this spring has been all over the place; just a few days ago, it was near frost conditions over night. Any day now, the 17-year locusts should be hatching and will be visiting for the next month. Some parts of Chicagoland are already seeing them, but most people I know still haven't seen them yet. Hopefully, that month goes by relatively fast and we won't be seeing them again until 2024. At the same time, I don't want to see the warm spring and summer weather go too quickly.

Chicagoland is blessed ... or should I say cursed, with the highest gasoline prices in the entire United States. Some areas of Chicago are in the $3,90's!!! And it is not even summer, yet. Plus with the holiday weekend approaching, I'm sure they will only increase as we get closer to the weekend.