I miss the cute misstatements...

Hubby and I were talking today about how Miss Scarlett used to say and still says the cutest things. Some I will miss are:

abookabookabooka (no idea...just gibberish, but she said it a long time!)
Poocon (coupon)
Napkim (napkin)
Marack Obama (Barack Obama...odd since we voted opposite)
Marackabama (for Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum in Little Drummer Boy...she thought it was about him!)
Canny coupe (Candy cane)

I know there are more. I just can't remember them all now. Sigh....

Fingerprinting

Today, Hubby and I drove to the Application Support Center (ASC) about 2 2/1 hours away to be fingerprinted (again) for our adoption. It was foggy and rainy. As we had to be there at 8 a.m., we left home at the crack of dawn. Our fingerprints expire on Saturday, so we were grateful that USCIS was able to get us an appointment so quickly. Even though James is still uncomfortable wearing his brace, he was a trooper on the trip. Fifteen minutes after arriving at the ASC, we were done and on our way back home.

I hope and pray that this will be the last time we will need to update our fingerprints for the second adoption. However, as referrals from China seem to be getting slower and slower, I do not hold out much hope for that!

We keep plodding along, waiting like so many others. I just want my family complete.

Oh, Christmas Tree...

Decorating the tree at Mammaw's House...

Cousins: Miss Scarlett, Kristen and Kaylie

It came from out of nowhere!

It came from out of nowhere, it seemed. I was sitting at my desk working away, when all of the sudden, I heard a small "ahem".

I looked up and saw a sight that you had to see to believe. So I took a picture of it. I am not sure what it is, but it goes around the house yelling, "GO BIG ORANGE!" a lot. I hated to tell it that the Vols had a losing season this year. Didn't want to break its little heart.

If you see one at your house, don't worry. It is basically harmless...just silly and noisy.

Enjoy!

They come in threes...

This week started out as any other week. We had doctor's appointments, therapy, school, work, the daily goings-on. On Tuesday, I noticed that the house seemed a little on the cool side. We'd been keeping the thermostat set to 68 degrees, so I thought, "I'll just knock it on up a couple of degrees and get the place warm."

So I did. But it didn't. Get warm, that is.

The HVAC had a problem. We called the guys at Elite (super folks, by the way), and a fellow was here within 10 minutes. He looked at the unit, rest the thing, and the heat was back on. However, he said that he wasn't sure how long it would last as it looked like it was terminal (he'd been nursing this unit along for about 5 years already). No worries, we just hoped it would make it until Spring.

Wednesday arrives cold and rainy. In fact, it rained about 2 inches. I went to court as usual and came home at lunchtime. The house seemed a little cool. You get the idea? We called Elite back. They had someone here (same gentleman) here within the hour. We discussed the pros and cons, and ended up with a lovely new gas HVAC unit by the end of the day.

So we were all warm, cozy and happy. Until the toilet died on Friday.

So we called James' brother, Ron, who is a contractor. James usually handles such problems, but as he is still in his brace, he couldn't get down to work on the toilet, and I hadn't the hand strength to turn what needed to be turned. So, Ron came over and fixed our toilet for us. We were celebrating the revitalization of the second toilet when I noticed that the washing machine wasn't turning on...

The washing machine was working earlier that morning. I had already done two loads. We checked the breaker box...all seemed fine. We noticed that the pantry light, the garage door opener and outlets to same no longer worked. We flipped every breaker to be sure, but to no avail. It must be a bad circuit. So we are trying to figure out what will come next.

Hopefully there will be no more calamities. I here things like this occur in sets of threes. So I am hoping that is one old wives' tale that holds water!

UT Football Players ROCK!

While James was in rehab, the UT football players came to visit the patients. Here are a couple of photos from the visit. They made James' day. Thank you UT. We are loyal fans no matter what!

We had the players autograph a UT football and sign a card for James. I cannot say enough about how wonderful these young men were to take the time out of their day (and in the middle of a particularly cruddy year for them) to make someone else smile.

James' smile was a mile wide.

Update on Sick and Shut-In...

Sorry. I couldn't resist the old timey term of Sick and Shut-In. Anyway, here is the update on James...

There wasn't a tumor. It just looked like one on the MRI. Once we saw the xray, we could see that the ruptured disc was so bad that pieces of bone were in the spinal fluid area. The thing just looked like a tumor. The surgery was a huge success. His doctors were angels. They knew exactly what to do, and did it with such skill that they could only BE angels.

James is walking normally now, albeit slowly. We expect a full recovery. So we had extra things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord! And thank you to everyone who prayed for James, called, wrote letters and cards, came and cleaned house or watched Miss Scarlett and generally held our hands through this time. We are grateful beyond words.