It went something like this:

The alarm goes of at 4:09 here – sometimes I get up, sometimes I don’t. This morning, I decided to go ahead and get up so I could get some stuff done this morning before work.

Then, as the old man opens the door to leave, a cat runs in the house.

(Some back story – I’m a cat lover. I have two cats. With encouragement from my Dr. we decided to make them outside cats, because he was worried I’d get a scratch that could turn bad. They’re altered and they stay in the backyard – plus they have shelter. I’m not heartless)

Anyway – the old man opens the door and in runs this cat. I freak out. He freaks out. The cat darts into our bedroom and under our bed like s/he’d been studying blueprints all night and knew exactly where to go.

So, what do we do? We try to get it. J’s on one side of the bed with a broom, trying to ‘push’ him/her out and I’m on the other side, holding a towel so I can ‘direct’ him/her into the carrier beside my bed.

What happens? Oh, the cat comes screaming out from under the bed, jumps into my arms, starts shredding at the air with its claws like in the cartoons – then proceeds to CHOMP DOWN ON MY LEFT INDEX FINGER.

Top of my finger

Bottom of my finger

S/he then jumps out of my hands and starts running down the hall. At that point, I’m holding out my hand in front of me as it dripping blood, not quite sure what to think.

Right now, I’m waiting for the Dr. open in an hour. I did wash (scrub) my finger and my wrist with soap and water, then peroxide, but because I take steroids, its better to go ahead and get on antibiotics.

Already, its pretty swollen and warm and I can hardly bend it…fun times. (That stuff keeps oozing out of the bite…)

S/he also scratched my wrist pretty good:

Ugh.

Unbelievable!

**Also, no comments about my nails…I can’t type if they’re any longer than that…and its hard to type with 9 fingers – so deal with the typos/missinf words…this sux!

I watched a show a while back about a child who was born with a medical condition (parasitic twin) that required a precision surgical procedure to correct. The child and his family lived in Nepal. They lived in a small one room hut without running water, an indoor bathroom or electricity. They lived miles from civilization and getting to civilization took hours, because they had no transportation and had to walk.

They owned a farm and lived within a means that is typical of other Nepalese families. They were ordinary – with their hammock beds, thatched roofs and tiny shack.

Word of their plight spread and within a few months, Western Dr.’s visited their tiny village and offered help. It was clear that the child needed surgery to survive, so the family opted to accept the help offered and boarded a plane for the first time in their lives for the trip to LA.

Over the course of their stay, the cameras for Discovery Health followed them around and documented their experience.

The baths in the spigot outside the house in LA.

The comments about being homesick.

Missing family, friends, foods, tastes and smells of their homeland.

I remember wondering, before they actually commented about their stay, what they thought of the US. Would the transition back to what they’d come to know as ‘normal’ be hard, after having access to all the things by which we measure success?

Then the mother said something along the lines of: I’m ready to go home. It’s ok here, but it’s not home. I miss the food, my family, my life and my home. She missed her one room, thatched roof home.

The show stuck with me since watching it earlier this year. It stuck with me because it seems, we as Americans seem to measure the ‘fitness’ of a country/community/persons ability to provide for their children by American gluttonous standards.

The ability to afford luxury things like computers, gaming systems and spacious bedrooms with designer furniture has become the stick in which we measure a child’s need to be adopted.

A good example is the child who was airlifted out of Haiti and flown to Miami because of a medical issue after the earthquake. Her parents loved her and wanted her back. What happened was months and months of legal fighting all the while, the arguments were being made about the ‘quality of life’ this child could expect growing up in Haiti. She had a family who loved her and no doubt, her foster family loved her as well – but this child was wanted by her ‘loving family’ back in Haiti and we here in America were busy fighting them based on everything America had that Haiti didn’t.

Obscene.

I read a story about the 12 children from Haiti who were airlifted after the earthquake and sent to Pennsylvania. Already, the politicians are making their elitists statements about life in Haiti and how much better their quality of life will be if they stay here.

Quality of life as measured by who I ask? The mother from Nepal sure didn’t feel like the quality of life we offered here in the US was better than her life back in Nepal.

We sure do think a lot of ourselves – don’t we?

Don’t even get me started on the ‘quality of life’ concerns we American’s have as they relate to tiny children. Apparently, quality of life isn’t an issue for anyone over the age of 18.

This smells a lot like finding children for homes in need…vs. what adoption is really about.

Sorry about the short post last night. It was sort of an afterthought. You guys have rocked this journey with me for so long, I’m sorry that I didn’t think about posting sooner.

So, a new job…pretty nifty, huh?

I should recap some:

• The pay isn’t exactly what I wanted, but it’s more than what I’m making now. I should add, however, salary was less of a factor than other issues when making my decision to move on.
• The commute is longer, but I don’t think it’s going to be a huge deal
• The benefits are interesting…the insurance is actually a bit more expensive (which I thought was a little odd) but there are other ‘perks’ that make up for it. They do a lot for employee morale, it seems.

Overall, I’ll be making a little more, but I will also get more in the way of benefits – like vacation, floating holidays, holiday time and other perks.

I’ve got some paperwork to sign this morning and get back to them, so I am going to do that then it’ll be all official-and-in-writing. I did put my notice in yesterday, so the ball is rolling now with my current employer. I’m still not sure what to expect on that end. I don’t know if they’ll want me to honor my 3 weeks notice (I gave 3 weeks, by the way) or if they’ll walk me out after they’ve had time to discuss matters.

Anyway, more about the job:

The position is with a large web company that focuses on women’s issues. I will be working in their “Parenting” department which focuses on all things parenting related. It’s less seriousness and emotion (like adoption) and more every day parenting type stuff.  It seems like a really fun and inviting place to work – I spent some time there last week (during their last interview) and it was refreshing to see them all kind of pull together on a small project and make it happen…less working against each other for personal gain and more working with each other for company gain…something I’m excited to be a part of again.

So, it seems like a really great step for us (the family), but I wouldn’t be human if I wasn’t scared to death. When we made the decision to move to Arizona for my current job, I recall feeling much of the same. It was such a leap for us, but I knew it was good.

I know this is good – but I’m still scared.

As for the Dr. visit yesterday – that was fairly uneventful. Because stress can have such a huge impact on your health, he’s actually encouraged me to find a new job for some time, so he was pretty excited that I was reporting that I had done just that and would be starting my new job on the 16th of August.  We went over my numbers, which are still not where he wants them, but not as high as they were back at the beginning of the month. We talked about my meds (which he raised, again) and we talked about the plan for the next few months, since most everything will have to be put on hold until the insurance is all squared away and then we just BS’d, because he’s great like that. We talked about the iPhone4 (neither of us have it, but we both pre-ordered it and declined it upon delivery due to reported problems) and we talked about the iPad (he has one, I don’t) and then he told me to come back in October, once the insurance was all squared away.

That’s really it. I’m closing a chapter on the last 5 years and looking forward to what the future holds.

Well, if you’ve had access to the number of password protected posts I’ve made – then you know a little bit about what I’ve been up to. If you don’t have access, then you may be surprised to learn I’ve been doing a high-gear job search and after a rather lengthy process, I accepted an offer with another company today.

I should say, I got their offer and accepted verbally. I still have to send in the signed documents, but I plan on doing that in the morning.

This is a big change for my family – so much of my entire life, both personal and professional, has centered around adoption – it’s been exhausting. Sometimes, I just don’t want to be the adoption educator – it’s to much.

Anyway – I thought I’d share the news – I’ve put in my notice, so I no longer feel I need to keep this behind lock and key

I’ll update more as this sinks in. Right now, it’s all very bittersweet. It’s hard to say goodbye – but I know it’s the right thing to do…it still doesn’t make it easier though.

(I also went to the Dr. today – which I will write more about later…)