Jumping On The Carousel

At the blog carnival over at (sorry, my linking ability is non-existent) http://www.growninmyheart.com/what-no-one-told-me-about-adoption-carnival-one.

The things No One Told Me About Adoption:

1. No one told me that the very minute I held my daughter for the first time that I would
almost hyperventilate
2. No one told me that our older kids would love their baby sister as much as they do. I fully
expected them to like her but the sheer joy each of them feel every time they see her has
been remarkable.
3. No one told me how truly hard it is to determine whether a behavior is one that is due to
having been institutionalized for the first twelve months of her life or simply Dreamsicle being
herself.
4. No one told me how extremely hard it would be to watch your daughter be overly outgoing
and charming to complete strangers, knowing she was doing it because of her level of
discomfort with the situation but having the strangers think she was just "the cutest little
thing". That wasn't charm, it was pain in disguise.
5. No one ever told me how difficult it would be to get assessments when concerns arise due to
where we live.
6. No one ever told me that I would end up being the disciplinarian in the family for this sweet
girl. The man that raised three sons that we can be proud of, simply cannot reprimand her.
7. No one ever told me how much we have gained by being older parents.

Whose next?

Can We Talk Healthcare?

Those of you that know me in real life know that I own a company that helps with the administrative portion of physician practices. This puts me into a sort of unique position to discuss this issue. I see the results of people who have lost their jobs and thus lost their insurance (keep in mind that we here in the Mitten State have been especially hard hit) every day. The flip side of that is that I see the shrinking reimbursement that my clients are seeing from insurance companies on a daily basis.
Having said all of that I have to tell you that I do not support the plan that is being laid out right now. It shakes me to my very core. Does this make me a bad person? Does this make me a conservative crazy? Heck no. It makes me an American. Someone who sees the struggles that both sides are facing. And in my case, there is actually a third side-that of being a small business owner. A small business owner that can afford to purchase healthcare for me, McGyver and Dreamsicle but not for my employees. This is due to the current regulation that will not allow me to purchase the same low cost plan for my employees that I, as the business owner, can purchase. There are portions of the current plan that excite me-specifically to change the regulation that would allow us to band together with other small business owners to be able to supply our employees with affordable health insurance. There is nothing that would make me happier. But there are far more proposed changes that concern me. The cost to implement this overhaul is a big one. In my opinion, it would be impossible for a plan of this scope and size to not have a price tag associated with it. If that cost isn't absorbed by the taxpayers, is it then expected to be implemented by lowering (yet again) the reimbursement physicians are receiving? It has to come from somewhere folks. I believe that an overhaul of the healthcare system is necessary, but I also believe that something this important deserves much more time to develop. Let's take it slow, keeping open minds and open hearts instead of dividing by party lines.

This Date Will Forever Be Etched In Our Minds

This day, September 11th, will forever be etched in the minds of all Americans. I can still remember where I was-getting ready for a staff meeting-when suddenly one of my co-workers entered the conference room with such a shocked look on her face that I knew immediately something terrible had happened. She could not speak, I thought tragedy must have struck her family. She finally whispered a plea-turn on the television...please...turn on the television. I found the remote, powered the television on just in time to see the 2nd plane hit the Tower. Right then other staff members began entering the conference room-eyes glued to the tv. No one could speak. Tears began to flow. Soon, the entire 75 person staff was crowded into the conference room-trying to understand what had happened. Who could have possibly held such hatred for our country that they would want to kill thousands of innocent people? We sat there that morning and began to pray. We closed the office early that day, I know that everyone wanted to get home to their families just as badly as I did that day. When I arrived home, my boys were shaken-filled with questions. I can remember being very careful with the answers I gave them to the questions they asked. I am certain that the effects of having lived through 09/11/01 shaped my boys view of the world.
I was a chaperone for Chester's New York, Washington DC Senior Trip. One of the areas that we visited was the 09/11 site. While many of his classmates seemed to view the site much like any other historic site I sat back and watched my son stand solemnly at that big gaping hole. He removed his ball cap and whispered oh so quietly "we will never forget".
The following September 11 found my son at his first day of bootcamp. He could not forget. He felt that it was his duty to help contribute to the ongoing protection of this great country of ours. Four years and two tours in Iraq have taken place since that time. Today is the last official day of Chester's enlistment in the United States Marine Corps. We are so proud of the time he served and so thankful that he is home safe with us. The fact that he is home safe with us on today of all days is not lost on any of us. Today I thank everyone who has ever served or is currently serving in our military. And I pray for our collective family of Americans-that we never forget.

Random

I am going to work on changing the background of my blog this weekend. I opened it up today and realized that it looks a little dark and depressing-which is not who I normally am. I think I went through a dark and depressing phase with the loss of Grumpy Old Man but hey-I see the light-just in time for Fall to hit the Mitten State-which means that light will become scarce soon. Speaking of Fall, for some unknown reason I am excited for Fall this year. I am actually giddy with the thought of dressing Dreamsicle in her yummy sweaters, being able to visit an orchard and carve a pumpkin. This is the first year that I have set out Halloween decorations since Dreamsicle joined our family-in the years past she was just too timid and would not have been able to tolerate any type of scary looking (albeit fun scary) stuff hanging around the house. Not so looking forward to the white stuff that blankets our State after the Fall but I do have the Disney trip to look forward to in December so that will help. Speaking of Disney-I may be just a tad bit too excited for this trip. I have already loaded the camper for our December trip! I know it is early, but I just couldn't resist. We just need to add our toiletries and food and we can be on our way. In my defense-if you have ever tried to clean and load a camper in the middle of winter here in the Mitten State you would totally understand why I decided to undertake that project right now.
McGyver and Chester are OOT bear hunting until Sunday. Dreamsicle and I jumped into our jammies yesterday when we got home from work/daycare and lounged around all night long watching cartoons and eating junk food. It was extremely relaxing and so nice just to snuggle with my big girl. She has her pre-school open house tonight which she is totally stoked for. She starts school next Monday. Leave it to me to have scheduled an uber important loaded with future possibilities meeting for the morning of the first day of her preschool-she goes in the afternoon so I am hoping I can race back in time to take her. Those of you that know McGyver know that he is super cool but could not possibly tackle a pony tail to save his life. Well, he would tackle it, but I am not so sure what the result would look like. Dreamsicle's hair is still baby fine so if you don't use product you can't do anything with it.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for the Monday uber important loaded with possibilities in the future meeting if you would please-I am more than ready to take our business to the next level!

How Old Am I?

Ever since I hit my forties, I cannot seem to remember how old I am. I always seem to think I am a year older than I really am-this causes my younger than me by two years sister much stress as she is constantly having to figure out if she is really as old as I am saying or not. Today is my birthday and she posted a comment on my facebook wall wishing me a Happy Birthday and asking that very question..now how old are you?