PGN Approval Recap

Finally! My laptop is up and running again!! This means I can stop being so productive and I can get back to wasting time away on the computer. It also means I can finally show off some pictures and do some story telling that I intended.

It was just over a week ago now that we found out that our case was approved by PGN. I was feeling quite down in the dumps. Marcus had a doctor's appointment that day, his 18 month appointment. (He is in fantastic health, 33.25 inches tall and a whopping 22 lbs and 14 oz which places him in the 50th percentile for height and 10th percentile for weight.) I decided to take the day off work because running all over the city to get him to the doctor's out east, back here in the north for day care and then driving south so I could get to work just wasn't appealing. Marcus went down for his nap in the afternoon and I took that time to completely freak out, get completely depressed, and send off demanding emails to our agency. I was doing my best to get my hyperventilating under control because Marcus was waking up from his nap and I knew I would have to function again, when my phone rang. I couldn't believe it! It was our case worker calling. We were approved by PGN!! I immediately broke into tears and had to tell her to just hang on a minute while I cried. I managed to get it together and she said she would contact me later so we could make a travel plan. I had to get Marcus out of bed and was screaming and shouting to him about how his brother would be coming home soon. He looked at me like I was insane. That is usually how he looks at me though so it wasn't a big deal.

I hurried and got Marcus out of bed and we ran for the door. Greg would be home soon and I knew what I wanted to do. Our case worker kept telling me to get off the phone so I could tell my husband, but I had other plans. Greg would find out eventually. First I had to tell my neighbor.

I really didn't mean to tell my neighbor first. He just happened to be out in his yard when Marcus and I were heading for the car. He asked if we had anymore news about our other little boy and I told him. He threatened to grab Greg before I got a chance to tell him before returning to sweeping his sidewalk.

Marcus and I went to the grocery store and headed right past the produce, cut through the card aisle, danced by the fresh bread, and stopped abruptly at the bakery counter. I was floating on air and nothing was about to bring me down. I skimmed the cake selection and spotted only one cake that didn't have pumpkins or ghosts on it and said, "I want that one!" The woman asked me what I wanted on the cake. I told her, spelling each word carefully. Apparently she wasn't listening too carefully though because when she showed me the cake again a few minutes later, it looked like this:


I said, "That's great!" and she handed the cake over. Really, I could care less. I was happy. I was flexible. It was just a cake for Greg and me. I wasn't going to make her redo it. The bakery lady gave Marcus a cookie and we made a mad dash for the register.

Just as I slid the cake box onto the conveyor belt, the label on the cake caught my eye - "Double Layer White Almond Cake". Interesting, particularly because I am not a fan of food in my food, you know, like fruit in my jello or nuts in my cake. Whatever. The cake was for Greg. The cake was for celebration. I didn't need to look at it, or eat it.

Shortly after Greg got home he spotted the cake box on the counter and lifted the lid. I caught him in the act and told him not to pay attention to spelling. He was a bit hesitant with his hooting and hollering until I confirmed that we were indeed done with PGN. Most of the evening was spent in shock.

Marcus headed to bed and we were ready to see if double layer white almond cake was any good. First we needed to have a bad case of the giggles. Greg cut into the cake and then decided, he better fix it first. A "u" was removed and a "s" was relocated and at last, a successful message!


I told Greg that it wasn't the cake or the spelling that counted, it was the thought! He reminded me that it was a good thing because out of those three, the only thing that I got right was the thought. We laughed all through our cake eating (the cake was pretty good) and discussed how the cake was the perfect symbol of our adoption process. There were some mistakes, sure. There was some confusion. We had to do a little rearranging, be flexible and make unexpected adjustments for it all work out. But in the end, it was still some pretty darn good cake.