Guess What Day it is!!!!!!!

Day 42!

That's right, tomorrow we can breathe again. This is the last day Annie's birth mom has to appeal the termination of her rights, and so far, no word!! 7 hours and counting!! I think we made it this time, though I will knock on wood for saying that!

I know I promised a discussion on my relationships with Lainie and Annie, but I'm putting that off. I'll get back to it. I'm too excited about Annie. Now, if only I could get moving on Will's adoption. Have I told you much about him? See, he's not actually in foster care, his mom obtained custody back a little over a year ago, but he's still been living with us. She finally realized she doesn't make a good mom because it takes more than love to raise a child, especially a meth baby. So she has asked me to adopt him, since I am the mom who has raised him. This is great, but I'm having one problem. I'm not getting the state adoption assistance like I would if he were a foster child, and so far, I'm on hold because I can't afford the homestudy update. It costs just as much to update your homestudy as it does to get a new one. I don't have $500 to spare. I applied for a grant from the National Adoption Foundation, but have never heard back from them. I really don't know what to do, at this point, I may have to put off his adoption for quite a while. If you've ever considered donating to someone on their blog, I could really use your donation right now! That's right, I'm no longer above asking for a handout! I'd like to get all this done, make things legal and permanent quickly so everyone can get on with their lives. The legal fees aren't as big an obstacle, the lawyer doesn't ask for payment up front. But this $500 homestudy fee has to be paid before they'll do the homestudy.

I hate that I'm not wealthy. Just think of all the good I could do for kids if I had money. Of course, if I had money, I'd probably spend it all on the kids so fast, I wouldn't be wealthy anymore! :-)

Now that I've gloated, cried, and begged, I thought I'd vent. Why not be one of those obnoxious people nobody likes to be stuck sitting next to on the plane? What do I have to vent about? This blog. I wanted a new look, something nice. I found a template, changed up a few things, added all my junk, you know, moved in, and published it. Well, after hours of frustration, I finally got the main post column up BESIDE the side bar, but now, the comments are down below the sidebar, and I can't figure out how to bring those up. I've been playing with it all morning. And one nice blogger, Bozette, suggested I resize the pics to fit the bars. I appreciate the comment, but I don't know what that means. HELP! I admit, I'm new and uneducated in the blogging world. I'm learning HTML as I go, and it's mostly guesses with a lot of trial and error. My other problem with this new layout is that the nice people who created it, made the title in the header a link, so it has to be the same color as the rest of the links on the page. This sucks, because the color I want it to be doesn't work for the links on the rest of the page. I don't know how to fix that either. I wish I could just create my own layout, cuz I have a nice idea for a better header, but don't know how to do it.

OK, I feel a little better. Do you think my plea for money will work? I've noticed a lot of people ask for donations on their blogs...does anyone ever get anything? Is this parallel to sitting on a corner with my dog and a cardboard sign stating "Will Work for Food"?

Will Blog for Adoption Fees!

I'll talk to you again soon. Thanks for reading! I promise not to be so whiny next time.

Tune in again to read tales about the adventures from the Angel Retreat.

Donations to fund the needs and activities for the angels who live with us are always welcome.