"I used to sit and watch the pouring rain, I used to wish to be back home again
I hadn’t the strength then, I hadn’t the chance to reveal it
But it’s all in your hands."
-Guster
No news from London: Land of Money Woes and Sadness. Actually, it is no news from Stratford because that's where they are now. So my fingers are crossed that there is happiness and joy and money and Jess is having a wonderful time. This morning they were supposed to go to a Shakespeare Mass at the big church, and I hope Jess went, just to say she went... not because it is church. It is something to behold and enjoy, and I would hope she opted for it and didn't blow it off.
This coming for the woman who completely overslept church this morning. Duh.
Over here, we got Geoff from my parents on Thursday. He came back with many sheets of stamps from Grandpa's stamp album and they're with his collection now. It is raining this morning and cold and gross so I may pitch the idea that we work on transferring what he has received off of the sheets and into his album. But I have a lot of other things to do and he's not begging me to do it so I think maybe it is better if we just leave that for another rainy day.
We did a ton of yard work yesterday. Everyone else in the neighborhood has their yards in ship-shape but for the past couple of weeks we've been too busy to touch ours. This weekend we had the chance. Doug got rid of all the leaves out back and raked out front. The only thing he missed was our open lean-to shed which over the winter got filled with leaves. I went and got all sorts of pansies to plant along the front fence, and 4 buckets of daffodil because I'd like to build a Wordsworthesque daffodil patch on the island beside our driveway. Just fill it with daffodil and maybe some phlox in between and bits, or something. So four buckets for 20 bucks is a wee start, but each year I will add to it and before you know it we'll be wandering lonely as a cloud and LO! our hearts will soar as they dance! Hurrah.
I'm silly, yes.
Okay, many of you have been looking for an Anya update.
Last thing I told you was that in February she'd be here. The date was pushed back to I believe June, which works out great for Keri because she would have had no time to prepare the kids and do everything she needed to do for the Rebel trip to London if the adoption took place in February.
Essentially, she has to spend a month in Siberia to solidify the adoption, and she'd be bringing an 18 year old home to the USA to only turn around and leave her with virtual strangers (grandmothers, aunts, uncles etc...) while she took the London trip. She didn't like that idea, and had really wanted the December date so there would be some good acclimating time for Anya to learn the family and realize she isn't being abandoned for 10 days when Keri leaves.
The push back of the date buys her some time to do some fundraising. We're looking at throwing a shindig with silent auctions and stuff... I am going to set her up with paypal for the folks who can't come from far. Once she gets back from London and can breathe for a minute...
Like I said, she will have to go to Siberia for about a month (and June is so much better than February anyway, right!), which will be a huge pain for her but when she gets back she'll have some bonding time before the summer program starts up. Anya will hopefully be immersed in enough English that she can meet people and be comfortable. Nastia will have to be "the big sister" and teach her things that she needs to know. Hopefully they will be joyful to be with one another. Nastia has become rather American, so I hope she will be a great guide and teacher to her big sister.
So yeah, it's still a go... the date just has been pushed back... and I am hoping that everything is going to work out just fine.
Cross your fingers and continue to pray for Anya. She is confused and sad that the adoption hasn't happened yet, but Keri says she isn't in crisis the way she was in December when Keri actually feared for her mental and spiritual stability. She seems okay, and understands... Hopefully when she arrives here it will be a dream come true and a happily ever after.
My sister in law is friends with them (small world, innit?) because they go to the same church. They didn't know their mutual connection for quite some time because D's married name is different, and he never would have connected her to my last name if she didn't say something to him one day and they made the connection to our college ... and she realized the overlap years with me and asked him if he knew me. We were incredibly close back in the day, out of all the people he could have known at ole GC, for her to be my sister in law was totally random. I had no idea where he'd ended up. I thought he was in Chicago at the time, so when he contacted me and told me this, it was a cool discovery. He is a professor at Geneva now, and she's an alumni.
D says they lost everything in the fire and that the Red Cross is putting them up until insurance money comes in. I'm not sure where Mrs. Mark is from, but Mark grew up here close to our college. His parents were faculty members there when I was a student. So having immediate family to help out is something missing... If Mrs. Mark isn't from the area they don't have grandparents to hand the babies off to, and it is probably a huge stress to be staying in a hotel with babies for an extended period of time.
My heart soars that the neighborhood boy and some other neighbors rushed into the house and rescued not just the humans but their dog. I'm so glad they are safe. But the loss of everything is just horrifying to me. I'm going to contact the Red Cross in Beaver Falls to see what I can do to help. Send money, boxes of baby clothes. Whatever I can.
I haven't seen Mark in about 3 years. This photo was taken in 2004. Not seeing someone for a long time and butting up against a sad event really hits me hard. I miss him. I'm wondering if he lost his bagpipes in the fire. That would be sad.
Anyway, I've pissed away the day so far and have a couple indoor projects I can do so I ought to get on them. More later.
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