The Adventure Continues

Monday, February 1, 2010

Blogging

I've been following several blogs lately dealing with Haiti and I was thinking about how do people have something to write about every day if there isn't really anything to write about. So I thought I would try an experiment to see if I could come up with something to write about every day for 2 weeks. I always say that my life is not dull so here it goes.
This morning was far from dull. No school today and I decided to head to work 1 hour and 15 minutes later than normal. That way I figured it would be daylight and I would miss the black ice. The subdivision was a mess to get out of, but once I did the road was clear for the next 3 miles. I made a left hand turn and that small road was also clear. Great I thought, this small road leads to a pretty well traveled 2 lane road that at one point turns into a 4 lane road. If the roads near my house looked in this great shape, then it shouldn't be a problem to get to work. It is 20 miles one way to work and a 30 minute commute. So about half way down this small road I hit the county line into the next county where I work. It was quite obvious that I had hit the line, but not because I saw a road sign, but because the nice clear road suddenly disappeared. Instead I felt like I was driving through my back yard. The snow was easily six inches deep on the road. I think I was going about 25 miles the entire 4 miles. Then I hit the road that is pretty well traveled. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being perfectly cleared roads, this road definitely rated about a 4. The road goes up and down and every time I was going up or down, I was praying the entire time. Even when the road opened up to 4 lanes it did not improve at all. So I got to the end of the road and turned left onto a small side road. At that point I was probably about 6 miles away from work. AS I went down the road I was amazed that I was not sliding. At the bottom of the hill I had to stop due to the stop sign and a guy who decides to turn right in front of me. At that point there was no way I could get any momentum to start the climb up the hill. In fact, I couldn't get any type of momentum and my wheels were spinning and spinning. I was finally able to make a right turn which put me out on the highway where the roads were nice and clear. So I headed back the way I had just come only on the highway now. I got off the exit ramp which was not clear at all. Of course I got to the top of the hill and the light was red. It stayed red through 3 changes of green lights for a left hand turn towards me. Finally with no cars or police in sight I proceeded to make my left hand turn and I was right back where I started down the hill. Knowing that the prognosis was not good to make it up the hill again, I decided to go through town instead of taking the short cut. There were hills up and down, but thankfully even though they were snow covered they were not too bad. I made it all the way down through town and prepared to get on another highway. The ramp to merge on was not plowed. But once I got on the highway it was clear sailing for the whole mile I was on there. Off I exited onto another snow covered ramp. As I drove the last mile to work, I got a reprieve for about 500 yards only to turn onto a snow covered road that it would have been best to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle. But I took my time and managed to pull into the snow covered parking lot at work only 1 hour and 10 minutes after I left my home.
On the way home, the road near work was only about 50 percent clear and I decided to take the highway which is the long way home, but it was clear and a lot less stressful.
Tonight they are calling for freezing rain and black ice in the morning. No school again tomorrow and I plan to leave about 2 hours later than normal and take the highway!
My life is not dull!!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Hooray!!

At the beginning of the week, Natalie's NC birth certificate arrived. I started the process in February of last year. Everything was done in the state of NC, but I am amazed at how long the process was. That is one thing to check off my list of goals for this year. That allowed me to check off another goal which was to finish her Life Book. That is sort of a prefab 3 ring binder that has information about the journey to get Natalie. It was a lot of work and I am glad that I did it and did it within the first several years. There is a lot of information that is hard to remember. For example, what the major news headlines were at the time she came home. I've started finally working on a scrapbook for her first year home. My goal is to get it completed before her 2 year anniversary home which is in April. I'm plugging along and making good progress. (yes, another goal.)

Friday evening it started snowing and by time it finished yesterday, we had 8 inches of snow!! Natalie and I went outside in the 20 degree weather to try some sled riding. On Friday I called a local hardware store (due to the anticipated forecast of 6-12 inches of snow) to see if they had any type of sledding saucers. They had run out but expected a supply that afternoon. They called back later and reserved 2 for us. What a blessing! When we got there to pick them up, the place was packed and there were many disappointed people because all of the "sleds" had been bought or reserved. Natalie had never gone sledding and we were able to get just enough of a hill in the back yard right into the woods. She had a great time. It is much warmer today (34 degrees) so after her nap, we will head out again. No church today due to the weather and rough roads. I am pretty sure there will be no school tomorrow, but of course there will be work!! Enjoy the pictures!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

It's cold outside!!

Today it was 64 degrees which is a heat wave for us based on what the weather has been like the last month. Natalie and I were able to take her bike outside to a local track and she got to ride for quite a bit. I hope we can continue to have some "nice" weather so she can practice. In light of the very cold weather we had, the gas logs were on quite a bit in our house. I guess some others felt the chill of the cold as evidenced in the following pictures:

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Brrrrr, Lifebook and Readoption

Last year one of my goals was to finish Natalie's Lifebook and I thought I had pretty much finished it except for the re-adoption part. Well, looking though it, I realized that there is a section that you record comments from people to Natalie. So I looked back at my blog from the court date and the comments made that day. What memories they bring back.

It has been COLD here (for us in North Carolina) and right now it is 24 degrees. As I was scrolling down to read the comments on my blog, I noticed the temperature in Krasnoyarsk. It was -23 degrees!!! Brrrrrr!! :)

I started Natalie's re-adoption (she will have a birth certificate from North Carolina which would make her life so much easier) in February 2009. I just finished receiving the final approval this week. So on Monday I will send off for her new NC birth certificate. And I thought the paperwork took a long time in Russia!

Natalie went back to school this week and she did better than I thought. I thought the adjustment to getting up early and putting in 5 long days would catch up with her. It did, but not until today. She thinks she doesn't need sleep, but she really does. I'm been trying to wean her off her 2 hour weekend naps. I've been told by a lot of people that at school she will stop having naps after the first of the year. This week they did have naps. I've also noticed that with the 2 hour naps she doesn't want to go to sleep early. Unfortunately she gets up very early and really needs to go to sleep early. So hopefully making the adjustments with naps will help her to go to sleep early.

Natalie has made huge gains with her school work this past month. She has really mastered the alphabet, sight words and counting. There were days when I thought she never would:) But then again, I had days when I thought she would never learn her colors, especially blue! She just continues to amaze at how well she has adjusted and continues to adjust. She is truly a champion!