quick update

today our paperwork is on its way back to Guatemala! Hope to be back into PGN by Dec 7th.

Howdy...

Just wanted to say "hi" to those folks who check-in from time to time.

Nothing new to report - our document is still at the Atlanta consulate - its being authenticated. Hopefully they will send it back to our agency this week, then they send it to Guatemala. The document has to be translated before it can be added to our file..then finally we will be resubmitted to PGN.

I'm thinking PGN will finally get around to reviewing our application in mid-February, at which time they better give us the green light. Not sure I can handle another kick-out.

Keep in mind..once we get the green light - then its still another 6-8 weeks before we can go pick her up. That's pretty close to the tentative suspension date of 04/01/08.

Tonight I'm spending the evening going through a HUGE bag of hand-me-down clothes from a friend at work - I'm all about sharing. Little girly stuff is SO friggin cute!

ps. Cari, from our agency, is down in guatemala this week visiting with all the children. Just think she could be playing with Fern right now (I'm so jealous!). Hopefully next week - we'll have new pics to post.

The Grand Adventure

So, I headed out to Arizona last week to skate with all the guys from the Old Man Army. For those of you who don't know, Old Man Army is a skateboard company out of the Phoenix / Tempe area that caters to old dudes like me, that just can't seem to put down the useless wooden toy, 30 plus folks. Thats not really all that old but when the average age of a skater is around 16, then yeah thats pretty old, at least the youngn's think we're old, we wear (GASP!!!) pads and helmets, we've got families and jobs to think about here.

Got to Phoenix around 4, former Wilmington resident "Calamity" Jean and "Boise" Tom Kilroy picked me up at the airport, after a quick drop off of gear at the Hideaway Lodge we're off to the Tempe Skatepark to meet up with some other old dudes. Tempe is just mobbed with people, kids, old dudes, the works. I got in a couple of runs in the flow section and quickly learned that you just have to go, with this many people its kind of hard to be polite and take turns, you either go or get left behind. After Tempe we head off to the "Pool Party" at an undisclosed location. Some friends of Jeans were kind enough to offer up their empty swimming pool for folks to skate. Food, beer, skating and one hell of a honky tonk band called Flathead. Some of the most insane ripping I've ever seen, I held back and shot pictures, I'd be back here later when the session wasn't quite so heated. I was just in awe, one local guy slammed so hard he split open his helmet, not even fazed, he just grabbed another one off someones head and kept on keeping on. The Arizona people are true rippers.

Next day, we lead a seven car caravan up north, the goal is Wickenburg, Prescott, Chino Valley Private Ramp and Goodyear to round it all out. We hit up Wickenburg Skate Park first and meet up with some of the folks coming in from Northern California. Wickenburg has a great bowl, I could've stayed here all day, I really liked this bowl, but the caravan must march on. Right as we hit the road disaster strikes. Jean, husband Steve, Boise Tom and myself are in Jeans VW Van when we get rearended by an RV. I was showing Tom pictures on my camera when we got hit, one minute I'm in the back seat, the next I'm up in the front. We never even heard squealing tires, homeboy in the RV never hit the brakes, just walluped right into us at around 35-40 MPH. The van is toast, as well as the driver of the RV, he had no ID, no insurance, and the RV wasn't even his. Due to the Box o wine they found in his front seat, he got a free ride to the Wickenburg pokey. Serves you right buddy. We regather and regroup into other vehicles and before too long, we're back on the road, through dessert and hills and those crazy cactuses that you see in old westerns.

Onward and upward, he head up into yonder hills towards Prescott, great park. Everything here is twice as big as back home, it feels really good to be skating the big stuff. Next up we head out to Chino Valley to skate Tom's (different Tom) ramp, beautiful creation out in the middle of nowhere. A skaters dream come true. Finally get back to Tempe for Italian food and beers around 8ish. Its been quite a day.

Sunday was the actual BBQ at Chandler Skate Park in duh!! Chandler, Arizona. Eight states and three countries are represented, with Jonno coming in from Thailand and Paul coming in from the UK. Never in my life have I seen some much unity with skateboarders, it didn't matter if you were kickturning and flailing or if you were getting 5 foot airs with style, everyone was just as stoked. The Death Race was just a scarey thing, raffles were held, stuff given away, and lots of skating going down. Even Patti McGee showed up, Patti was the first ever proffesional female skateboarder, and even made the cover of a 1965 Life magazine. She's a legend and paved the way for all of this thing we call skating. I gotta add to that its pretty cool to see a bunch of skaters wearing my designs, and seeing folks come up to the merch booth and commenting on the shirts, it was a great little ego boost.

After a great afternoon, some folks headed off to Goodyear Skate Park, Jean and I headed back for food and one last visit to the Pool Party Pool. This is the first real pool I've ever skated and had an absolute blast, didn't quite make over the light, but made it over the painting of Mr. Rogers, and never bailed, so I was pretty happy.

Thanks goes out to all the Old Man Army guys for all the hospitality, Lox, Jean, Steve, Patti, Boise Tom, Chef, Lou, Jeff, Bobby, Dan, Old Man Mike, Old Man Brian (aka Grumpy Smurf), Chino Valley Tom, Hughes, Greg, Louisvilles 'Concretins' crew, the owners of 'the pool of make believe', skinner, andy, jonno, trev, dave, crash, and anybody else i may have managed to leave out, thank you all so much for such a wonderful time and such amazing hospitality. It certainly was a grand adventure.

you can see more photos here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/20736622@N08/

Do Over..

I spent all day Monday painting the bathroom - two coats of green and it wasn't the right color - what a bummer. It turned out too minty green.

So tonight I changed it back to white (sure wish you could just flip a switch to change paint colors). Now trying to decide what color to use. We are STILL waiting for final inspection and hopefully the doors for the built-in cabinet will arrive soon. I'm ready to move back to my bathroom. Those treks upstairs in the mornings are getting really chilly!

A few updates..

Its Friday nite - Jer is in AZ for a gathering of the Old Man Army. They may sound menacing, but really just a bunch of old dudes who like to skateboard.

So while he is off doing his thing - tonight I'm heading out with some girls to see a band - then tomorrow I volunteered to babysit for a friend of Jer's. I'll be hanging out at the house with a 11 month old girl for about 9 hours! I figured it would be good practice and give me a little taste of my future life! Sunday and Monday (gotta love bank holidays) I'll be painting the new bathroom green. I will share pics when its done.

So enough about my boring life.. on to the adoption news - the reason why you check this site..

Presidential elections were held in Guat last week - the good guy (or shall I say the lesser of the two evils) won. What that means for the future of guatemala adoptions - who knows.

Our agency is moving pretty quickly with fixing our paperwork. By now it should be in Atlanta at the Consulate for authentication. Then it comes back to Raleigh, then to Guatemala where it has to be translated..then finally back into PGN..could be another 2-3 weeks.

On a positive note - Guat congress met last week - nothing definite yet - but sounds like they are in favor of bumping out the suspension date from 01/01/08 to 04/01/08 when hopefully the US will also be Hague compliant. Also, they are considering a "grandfather" clause for the pending cases.

Now..back to something negative.. learned yesterday that in guatemala - the holiday season is from Dec 6 - Jan 6. This of course means very very little paperwork will be processed as everyone will be out in the streets celebrating - so not fair - I want a month off for the holidays!

That's all for now..everyone send out some good vibes to jer so that he has a SAFE weekend skating with the big kids (can't afford any hospital bills!).

Blueberries for sale...

What do you do with 10pds, yes 10 pounds, of wild maine blueberries??? Let's see - ya got blueberry muffins, blueberry cobbler, blueberry milkshakes, blueberry waffles.......yummm I could go on and on.

My Mom sent me this frozen care package - I've put it into about 30 ziplock bags and its now sitting in my freezer. Let me just tell you - working with blueberries can get pretty messy - my hands have purple stains all over them, but the cold, fresh juice at the bottom of the bag - so worth it!

Thanks Mom - you're the greatest!

ARGH...we've been kicked out...

Today we got a call from the agency - after 6 weeks in PGN - we've been kicked out. Apparently Guatemala had issues with the social worker's report being signed by our agency and not by the individual social worker, which it turns out is NC law - whatever. Anyway to make a long story longer...

It should take our agency approx 3 weeks to resolve and have our paperwork re-submitted to PGN so we can start again at the bottom, yes I said the bottom, of the pile! So all told..this probably added about 2 1/2 mons to the process. Yes, they are killin' me, but before we know it, Fern will be home and there will be NO more weekends sleeping in till 11:00am!

And to boot...still no news from Guatemalan gov't as to what they are going to do with the existing cases prior to the big suspension date of 01/01/08. Let's hope they agree to grandfather in ALL adoptions already in process.

adoptonewz

So Alvaro Colom is the new president of Guatemala, Mr. Colom, I know you're busy and all, but lets take a little time to address this adoption fiasco you have going on in your country, Fern called last night and said she wants to come home, you can make that happen Mr. President.

Also, a great editorial in the Washington Post concerning Guatemalan adoptions.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201782.html

Has it really been 5 years?

Well its been five years now that we've been married, I kind of always worried that our anniversary was on the mexican day of the dead, but i guess that has turned out to be a good thing. The past five years have soared by, in restaurant land if you make it through the first five years then you have a pretty good chance of making it. Well we've hit that mark and i think its gonna be alright.

I feel so grateful that i get to spend everyday with my best friend, that we've built a home together and that we'll soon start a family with Fern, I've been truly blessed. Mom said she prayed for Selina to come to me, I guess ya'll were a little worried about me, huh? Granted I probably needed a little grounding, I needed to grow up a bit, settle down and figure out some kind of plan. Wild nights only last until the sun comes up, but true love lasts forever.

I love you more now than I ever have Selina, Happy Anniversary.

And we'll go honky tonkin, honky tonkin......

I guess its no real secret that I love honky tonk music, none of that new Nashville stuff mind you, but real live honkey tonk music, the stuff that Hank Williams and Jimmy Rogers poured from their souls, songs of heartbreaks, fistfights, boozin and loosin'. Country music always reminds me of being young and riding around in my Dads car (the green LTD really was the best) listening to the radio, solid country gold, I'd never admit it at the time, but I always secretly hoped the next song would be Johnny Cash's 3 Feet High and Rising, and really hoped it wouldn't be Kenny Rogers belting out "You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille" (This would inevitably lead to Dad singing 'You picked a fine time to leave me LOOSE WHEEL', hardy har har), but everytime i hear those songs of Merle Haggard, Willie, Waylon, Johnny, Hank, and the west Texas tales of Marty Robbins, it makes me think of my old man.

Now Nashville is cluttered with this American Idolized version of country music, Kid Rock singing country? Give me a break!! 'Honky Tonk Bedonky Donk?? Country rap? What!!??? BLASPHEMERS!!!! BLASPHEMERS!!!! You people have no business in Nashville, oh wait thats right, everything is business in Nashville now. "Welcome to the Nortel / Coca Cola / Microsoft, Grand Ole Opry! (brought to you by Ford Trucks, 'Built Ford tough!!')"

Now I know this all sounds bitter, but there is a saving grace. Several area bands took the call to save this precious artform, and for years have been belting out classic honky tonk the old fashion way, with no money and lots of beer, folks like Caitlen Carey, Two Dollar Pistols, Whiskeytown, Tift Merrit and Hank Sinatra bring back true country roots with a punk rock Do It Yourself ethic that has no match. Take that Nashville, welcome to North Carolina, pull up a chair we'll show you how its done.

Our good friends in Hank Sinatra will be playing their last show on December 8th at the Local 506 in Chapel Hill, billed as "The Showdown at the Hoedown" this is bound to be a great show, with Two Dollar Pistols and a reunited Backsliders to boot.
I've had the privelage of doing all of Hank Sin's posters over the past year, Jeffro and the guys give me free reign to do whatever I want to and its given me a chance to flex some creative muscle and for that I'm grateful. So I did this poster as a last hurrah for them, Hank Williams redefined, I like to think its a statement on country music today, the mainstream killed it, but it still lives on in some sort of weird twisted punk rock way.. (ain't that deep?)

you can see the rest of the poster on this page, right underneath the photos: http://www.hank-sinatra.com/index.cfm