Our Peruvian Adoption & The Surmountable Brick Wall

In the ongoing Adoption Column on the left, I mentioned that "no news is good news" in the world of adoption. Well, we received some news.....

It appears that Peru is not recognizing or accepting George's Peruvian birth certificate. They want him to submit an American birth certificate.

Apparently, they are confused because after George was born in PERU, he moved to the USA at age 4. Around age 7, he was adopted by his step-father and his name was changed. They want a Birth Certificate that reflects George's current name (by the way, George has never had an American birth certificate). Unfortunately, in the NINE months we have been working on the Peruvian adoption, this is the first time this American Birth Certificate issue has come up.

In the course of this adoption, we have provided Peru with every bit of documentation we could possibly muster up (PERUVIAN birth certificate, adoption decrees, adoption certificates, the whole 9 yards...). It looks like this is not going to cut it.

When discouraged by this whole dilemma, I refer back to this motivating quote: THE BRICK WALLS ARE THERE TO STOP THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH A very wise man named Randy Pausch based his life and his teachings around these words. You may have heard of Randy Pausch from the "Last Lecture". Amazing man, Amazing story.

So, with this in mind, I am going to embark on getting my 43 year old husband his very first American Birth Certificate--->jet-blasting by this brick wall!

The TERRIFIC Two's

Marcella turned the big '2' on Saturday!!!

In lieu of a birthday party at home, we decided to go to the Kalahari in the Wisconsin Dells, with Grandma and Papa Lynn. We hadn't gone to the Dells in many, many, many years---but its amazing how priorities and interests change once you have children. We all had an absolute blast, celebrating the arrival of Marcella's 2nd year.

Mar's all-time favorite song is the "Star Spangled Banner" (perhaps all of the baseball games we go to have something to do with this indoctrination....or perhaps she just really is this patriotic....i think it might be a combination.) Anytime we are ANYWHERE and see a U.S. flag (no matter the size or distance away), Marcella immediately points it out, announces "FLAG!!!" and we proceed to sing, "Oh, say can you see...." It may not be pretty, but it is patriotic.... With all the practice we have been getting, Marcella and I may very well be invited to sing the National Anthem for this upcoming World Series in Milwaukee....

So, when we asked her what kind of a birthday cake she wanted, it was only natural for her to respond

"FLAG CAKE!". For the last month, she has stood firm in her request for a 'Flag" cake, despite alternative suggestions such as a princess cake, or a beach cake, or a kalahari-themed cake. And good thing Grandma came through! Grandma made her the coolest flag cake ever, from scratch! When it was unveiled to Marcella, her eyes got as big as balloons, and it was almost as if you could see her thought process "Oh my! I really do have a flag cake for my 2nd birthday! Dreams DO come true!". And by the way, the flag cake tasted as good as it looked!

In between cake & sun & water & fun, I decided to try the surfing ride at Kalahari. Oh boy. Here is a little 'documentary' of the surfing incident. (Click on the video below to see the big kahuna.) Marcella is going to look back at this video on her 18th birthday (ok, or her 13th/14th/etc), and just shake her head at her loca mamacita!

Here's our Happy Little 2 year old in her sunshiney dress. She lights up our every day in so many ways. We are eternally grateful for our princesita.

The Wisconsin State Fair!!!!!!

I thought I would take this opportunity to AVOID writing anything about my beloved Brewers (namely because we have had a rough little stretch this past week....no further commentary necessary......Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....), and instead to focus on the fun we had tonight at the State Fair in Milwaukee.

A big part of the fun at State Fair is the FOOD. Here's a little recap of what we devoured. As you are reading this, ask yourself HOW many people you think were involved in this feast...: a footlong corndog, a regular corndog, a churro, cheesecurds, a fish taco, a deep fried shrimp skewer, 2 cream puffs, 2 carmel apples, a smoothie, lemonade, rootbeer, 2 beers, and a deep-fried SMORES on a stick.

Marcella, sitting proudly (and tiredly) with her grand prize, a Curious George stuffed animal.

2 things before I sign-off:
1) There were 3 adults and 1 toddler involved in the Fair Feast; and 2) the Brewers shut-out the Braves tonight.....Finally, a victory.....A moral victory if nothing else! And, oh yeah, the Pirates beat the cubs.