What a Difference a Day Makes

(could also be titled "Silent Auctions Can Be Dangerous!")

I am feeling back to my regular self again, thanks to my Social-Worker-Of-The-Century. For some reason last week just really sent me into an emotional tailspin. At this stage of the program, it is a gigantic roller coaster and things really change day-to-day. So even though I KNOW I have to just hang tight and roll with the punches, I wasn't managing this week. It was just a little thing - thinking that the dossier would start moving and then finding it wouldn't, but it just felt like one setback too many.

Enter, my great SW. She goes out of her way to call me from her home (with her sick daughter) late Thursday afternoon to fill me in on developments and make sure I didn't stress all weekend. The agency is looking to go ahead and send the next ready dossiers if the families involved are interested (ok, yes, that's what I thought the plan had already been a week ago, then wasn't, but I think this a solid plan this time). There is some risk involved, because the "orphanage situation" is not yet resolved. But it's not really a huge risk in the grand scheme of things, and that it'd be so frustrating if the agreements fall into place, children are available, and here the paperwork is still sitting here in Minnesota, weeks away from being logged in.

So, theoretically, my dossier could actually begin its tour of the world within a few days! Once it is logged in, who knows, but I am going to keep thinking that by the time I am logged in, the "situation" will be resolved. Though I'm excited right now, I am trying to keep that in check until there is ACTUAL, REAL movement. Then, I shall be doing quite the happy dance!

Also... I had the privilege of tagging along with a couple of other single gals adopting from Vietnam to the Baby James benefit today. I got to meet awesome blogger Jennifer for the first time and compare notes in-person with my fellow Crossroads pal (no blog yet for her, but I keep pestering her to start one!). It's funny, we email at least weekly to compare notes on what we're hearing from the agency, chatted much of the day, yet we stood for forever in the parking lot at the end of the day with a million more things to say! Our dossiers should be two of the next to go, and we are beyond excited.

But back to the benefit... I got a bunch of awesome stuff from the silent auction. Jennifer wrote about it better detail than I can - but at one point I was begging the volunteers to keep me away from the tables - I was the high bidder on way too many items! Luckily it worked out that I got just about the amount of stuff I was aiming to win. We were quite a sight - we had a lot of the volunteers laughing at us, trying to get everything out in one trip!

I didn't get a chance to meet the family, or I guess it's better to say I let the family focus on their friends and family. There was a good turn-out, lots of adoptive families which was fun. One of the people who helped with the benefit shared some photos here. I hope that the event was able to provide some relief for the family - they sure have had a rough journey, which is a vast understatement.

I've made a few references here, but not in my usual pain-stakingly lengthy detail, about the degree to which I've been impacted by cancer. In an obnoxious nutshell, my grandma (mom's side) was diagnosed with ovarian cancer about 10 years ago. Whoa - ten years, it's crazy to stop and think about how long ago this all started... My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer about 8 years ago. I lost my dad 5 years ago, and his sister was diagnosed with lung cancer about 8 months later. That August (four years ago this August) came the trifecta... My aunt (mom's side, but she's like a sister to me) was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Four days later, dad's sister passed away from her lung cancer. I was living in Madison at the time, came home for the service and surgery, went back to Madison, the next day got the call that Grandma had died of her cancer. Not that I expect anyone to follow all of that, but I think it's fair to say my family was getting kicked around a good bit by cancer for a few years there (and still continues, with my aunt and her continuing ovarian cancer).

I share all that craziness not to start up a big pity party, but to share why I hate, hate, hate cancer. Even with all of that, we haven't had kids in our family get cancer, thank goodness. That should just freakin' be against the rules of life, you know? So while I would say I'm pretty sensitive to the emotions of families dealing with cancer, when it's a kid it just really gets me. I think about little James and his family a lot these days, and things aren't really going very well. But I tell you what, that kid has such a little spark in his eyes - I hope to be able to follow that family for years ahead to see what kind of laughs he can provide his family/friends and the blogging world. And despite how rough their days are, his parents can find some humor in the midst of things to share in their blog entries, making me laugh and cry at the same time. I don't think it's a stretch to say that if anybody deserves getting rid of the Big C for good, it's them.

Whew...

Perhaps I'll get some pictures posted tomorrow of my benefit "winnings" and other miscellaneous stuff. I'm dog-sitting for a friend this weekend as well, which is always quite the adventure and worthy of a few photos as well!

Here's to a big week next week - you know it won't take me long to post about that - and it may even be short and sweet!