The Surreal Life

Grim Fandango -- have I really gone a full week without posting any updates here? That is, like, the insanity of a manatee! I wrote up a summary of our weekend below; check it out, if you are so inclined (and you had better be).

We finally returned to Bristol at midnight or so Monday morning, and it has taken us most of the week to get ourselves in order. For instance, we finally unpacked our bags this evening. Sandi and I have taken turns fighting some bug which left us with all the energy of a three-toed sloth on an antihistamine. To give you an indication of its impact on our lives, I went to bed at 8:00 PM yesterday. The flipping sun was still in the sky, and I was asleep! What in the world is up with that?!? Sandi took the opportunity to do some more decorating in the nursery; you should take a peek at the pictures below.

The big event of the week was our monthly waiting families meeting in Knoxville on Tuesday. The topic of the discussion was multiple adoptions, and we had a couple who had adopted three children through Bethany as special guest speakers. Their (greatly condensed below) story was fascinating, primarily because they simultaneously adopted two children who were not siblings. Bethany generally requires a one-year interval between adoption proceedings, but one of the two bouncing babies in this situation was the biological sibling of the couple's first adopted child, and the family had already entered the finalization stage for the adoption of their second child. This made for some interesting thought processes on my part during the ride back to Bristol. As you may know, one of my few real skills is looking at a set of circumstances and generating a 'nightmare scenario' within its framework. This couple's adoption journey has now forced my poor brain into knots trying to top its bizarro-world qualities.

Amazing as it is, the meeting itself was not the surreal part of the evening. After we adjourned, we had to hand in a form for the upcoming extended family shindig; Mark has a knack for getting us to hand him stuff even after we have finished all our paperwork. We got to talking to the guest couple, and they are both from Winston-Salem. Being able to talk about the Reedy Creek area and the quality of Lexington-style barbecue on the other side of the Appalachians made for a wild experience. To compound the zaniness factor, Jerry and Belton had originally planned to have a family with biological and adopted children, much as Sandi and I had envisioned.

I think that pretty much covers what we have been doing for the last week, unless you want me to go into the subject matter of my analysis class. No? If you insist, I will call it a night. Have a great weekend!

An Overlate Update . . . er, Mate

As mentioned previously, Sandi and I were in North Carolina last weekend. The trip was our first back to the home country since our beach trip, so the agenda ended up more than a little full. We had to pull the old Scooby-Doo trick of splitting up to get everything done. While Sandi and Joyce went to Walnut Cove to visit her grandfather, I headed to Mt. Airy with my parents to attend a get-together with Dad's side of the family. Andrea and Stephen were able to get away from Columbia as well, which made for the most complete collection of Carrolls in a good long while. By the way, a complete collection of Carrolls has roughly the same street value as a Betamax copy of The Star Wars Holiday Special.

On Sunday, our home church (that makes us sound like missionaries -- I need to find a better phrasing) had a home speaker: Dr. Ergun Caner, from the divinity school at Liberty University. Since my only prior knowledge of Dr. Caner was that he got into a silly-string fight with students at Andrea's graduation, it goes without saying that I went into the morning service with massive expectations. I found him to be a very engaging speaker, in spite of his media-unfriendly facial hair; his humor easily outstrips my best comedic efforts. Moreover, his messages had a good deal of theological meat to them, which is always a huge bonus in my book. His role as theologian and apologist got me thinking about what I might be able to do when I have a chance to go on sabbatical; if my mathematical colleague Bill could study the piano at Cornell for a year, can I wrangle some theology classes? Of course, this would be several years down the road, so I have a while to formulate my malevolent schemes.

This is where I would normally wish everyone a good weekend, but that is in the post above. Seriously -- what are you expecting here? Go home, and get off the lawn!

Nursery Setup

They're Off!!

The first week of classes had a rollicking start at King. Of course, this is exaggeration, since most of the campus does nothing more than hand out syllabi and maybe give a quick introduction to the course on that first day. To make matters worse, I decided to cancel my afternoon classes due to the large number of race-induced absences (many sports teams and other school-affiliated groups do fund-raising, and the men's vocal ensemble is singing the national anthem at some event on Friday). I do get to teach some stuff in my morning classes, though, and I am pretty excited about my analysis (think advanced calculus) lecture tomorrow. I managed to find a book which gives some motivation for the material, which is one of the largest stumblingblocks most students have with the class. In case you are interested (you know who you are), I recommend A Radical Approach to Real Analysis by David Bressoud. While it is not the actual textbook I am using, it does a quality job of giving you the backdrop of the subject.

Once Sandi gets off work tomorrow, we will be on the interstate for a weekend with our families. I hope you enjoy yourselves as much as we will. Take care, folks!

. . . And Then There Were None

Our home study has come to its end. Well, technically it still must be written, but our portion of the study has come and gone. Our home study was this morning, and things went just as well as our previous meetings have proceeded. We gave Julie a little tour of the house, and we had to answer a few questions. Nothing was as difficult as that 'values' mind-warp from the first interviews; we verified that we had smoke detectors, a fire extinguisher, the types of heating and water we have, and so forth. We also had to provide immunization records on Peaches, Samus, and Ranger. Curiously, the pets' records would be unnecessary if they stayed outdoors full-time; apparently children spend even less time outside these days than I thought. Perhaps rabies has become a disease of the great indoors?

Classes start tomorrow for me, so I had to take a quick trip to campus to print out my syllabi for tomorrow. After that, we followed our usual post-study routine of playing video games. Having finished Final Fantasy VII, we moved on to its successor Final Fantasy XII, which has virtually nothing to do with the previous and intervening games. That is one of the trademarks of the series -- that, and heroes with ridiculous hair. Keep me in your prayers at the start of this semester; I am teaching a class at 8:00 AM, which requires me to get up at an absurd hour so I can walk to campus. Those poor Calculus III students . . .

Fleeing Bristol prior to the upcoming race, we will be headed home for the weekend. We look forward to seeing many of you then. Have a great week, everyone!

A Birthday Extrrrrrravaganza

Since my faculty workshop concluded yesterday, we were able to spend Sandi's birthday together -- a distinct advantage of summer birthdays. To celebrate the occasion, Sandi and I headed to Johnson City for lunch at the Olive Garden. Afterwards, we hit the mall so that Sandi could check out Lane Bryant for some nice shirts to wear at the bank. We also visited GameStop, where we bought a new game for the Wii.

Of course, Sandi felt a burning desire to accomplish something during the day, so we went to Lowe's and bought lumber and hardware to set up some shelves in the nursery. After we got home and relaxed for a little while, we rolled up our sleeves (not really, since we were wearing short-sleeved shirts, but you get the idea) and got to work. My outrageous physical weakness made the process of holding up the shelves while Sandi checked our laser level and screwed things into place more exciting than it should have been. The finished product looks very nice, though, and Sandi was able to display her collection of Thomas Kinkade plates. You can check out some pictures of our handiwork below.

On Saturday, we will both be on campus for freshman move-in day. I will be representing the mathematics department at a check-in fair, while Sandi will be helping out her boss do something bank-related. Unfortunately, this means we have to get up early that morning. Oh well; you sacrifice for work sometimes. Have a great day, everyone!

When Dumb Wiring Attacks

Before I get into the meat of this post, I thought I should tell you about a little tidbit we discovered at yesterday's picnic. While we waited for the chance to introduce Sandi to my colleague Bill's new wife Elizabeth, we were talking to Ray, the head of the physics department (to be more precise, Ray is the physics department, and the astronomy department as well), and his wife, Andrea. We were discussing the adoption proceedings, and amazingly, they actually worked with Bethany years ago. We had heard of a Tri-Cities branch from the Knoxville folks, but we had no idea I worked with some of its former members. Did you just feel that? I think the world just shrunk a bit more.

That helps transition me to today's news . . . well, in no way at all. Several weeks ago, we received a night light for the nursery, which Sandi happily took into the room to put in place. She found, much to her chagrin, that the outlets in the nursery were inexplicably upside down. Fast forward to today, and when Sandi arrived home from work, she wanted to realign them. This, of course, requires someone to go downstairs to cut the breakers while she works. Did I mention that our breaker box is completely unlabeled? So I go downstairs with my cell phone to determine which breaker juices the wiring to the nursery. This is where things get ridiculous; I had to kill two breakers to knock out the power to those two outlets, which are on opposite walls. Also, it would seem that this maneuver also killed the electricity to the entire living room. Get this, though; the outlet on the shared wall with the living room was on the other breaker! In addition, these two breakers power most of the bedroom (the television was still operable, but by this time I was out of eyelids to bat) and the refrigerator's outlet in the kitchen. Call me crazy, but this does not seem like typical electrical work. I have theorized that this house was some contracting apprentice's final project; either that, or we are on the cutting edge of home design. Um, great?

The cumulative fatigue of the day is about to claim me. Have a great day tomorrow!

Yes -- Phil Works!

On the whole, I tend to leave my working life out of conversations with others; the shop talk of a mathematician is prone to leave people's eyes rolled into their skulls. However, it is once again the time of year for classes to resume, and my faculty workshop for the coming year begins in the morning. With a full year of faculty responsibility under my belt, now the real fun begins . . .

Most people would have no way of knowing this, so now is as good a time as any to mention that I am teaching an extra course this semester. The dean decided another section of pre-calculus would be a good idea, and I stepped into the breach. On the upside, I get paid more for the additional workload. Since I am no longer a newbie, I will also be doing committee work for the benefit of the college community this year. I have been placed on the Information Technology committee; the only thing I know about this is that meetings are evidently well-stocked with refreshments. I am also overseeing the 'quantitative thinking' portion of the college's core curriculum -- perhaps due to my participation in the numeracy workshop over the summer.

Sandi and I went to a campus community picnic this evening at King. We had a pretty good time, and we met some new people. This might seem unusual, given the college's size, but flux is somewhat built into the framework. One colleague in the biology department went to England for a year (on sabbatical, I suppose), and pretty much his whole department had changed by the time he returned! Sandi also had the chance to get a quick baby fix from the faculty children who were present. I tell you no lie; the theater chair's daughter has the sweetest hats!!

Down the Home Stretch

I am sorry I have not gotten the chance to post an update since the interview on Thursday. In case you were eating the furniture with worry, things went very well. Julie called us "a hoot," and there were not any questions which really put us on our heels. The toughest going came when each of us was asked to give three words to describe our marriage; this was complicated by the fact that we could not duplicate words -- no, not even synonyms. Sandi called us 'fun,' 'sweet,' and 'solid,' whereas I went with 'whimsical,' 'cooperative,' and 'communicative.' Of course, if you know us well enough, you most likely could have put the lists to the people without my giving you the names . . .

As the games list attests, we finished Final Fantasy VII over the weekend, and we were also able to do a bit of downsizing in the basement. We took a carload of stuff over to the Salvation Army for deposit. I was out of commission with a headache today, but Sandi definitely enjoyed not having to work for the first weekend in a month.

All that remains for us to be an official 'waiting family' is the home safety check. Given the amount of time and effort it has taken us to reach this point, it seems strange to be not simply able to see the light at the end of the tunnel but to also make out the scenery beyond. Have a great week, everyone!

T Minus Twelve Hours

Give or take a few minutes, anyway. I spent the day tidying up the house, which was much less arduous this time. In the morning, we will need to vacuum and straighten up the sofa, but otherwise we are ready for this interview. Sandi and I briefly discussed what sorts of questions we might get asked tomorrow. She went to bed early to capitalize on the lack of a crack-of-dawn early alarm in the morning.

In your prayers, please include fair weather for the interview. If Ranger must sit in the kennel during the proceedings, we may very well lose our marbles.

I suppose that covers everything for now. Oh, except one thing -- heavens to mergatroid, my wife is using Internet shorthand . . .

Family/Friends Weekend

Here's the info I have so far on the Family/Friends Meeting:

Domestic Waiting Families Annual Extended Family Dinner

July 30, 2008

To Our Domestic Waiting Families:

SAVE THE DATE!!

Bethany of East TN will hold our Domestic Waiting Families Annual Extended Family Dinner on Saturday, September 6th at 6:30 PM at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in West Knoxville.

This is a wonderful event we hold each year that allows you to bring your family members (and friends) to meet with our staff and to learn more about adoption. We'll have a great time of dinner & fellowship together and then a special panel of adoptive families and birthmothers will share their adoption experience with you, your parents and any other friends & family members you want to bring that evening.

I'll send you more details about this event by 'snail mail' next week.....but save the date now and plan to attend this "can't-miss" event!

Mark

That's all I have right now but I really hope someone will take advantage of the opportunity to meet Mark (He's a hoot!) and have any question's answered that you may have.

Like Philip said our 2nd homestudy visit is Thursday and only one more remains. By the time we have this meeting (on the 6th) we should be "OFFICIALLY" waiting.

I also wanted to second what Philip said; we were both very excited to get to show off the nursery. It's not finished but at least it feels like one.

TTFN

Another Weekend Closes

As I mentioned last time, my parents came into town for a visit yesterday. Oddly, they actually beat me to our house. You see, I received a text message from Mom at 8:30 AM saying that they were leaving. Working from the assumption that my travel time from the Winston-Salem area to Bristol is about three hours, I left the house to drop off some recyclables at 11:00 AM. As I pull into the parking lot, however, Mom calls me and says they are at the house already. Er . . . oops? To inform the curious, my drive time includes a rest stop (since we virtually always have Ranger with us, a straight shot is impossible), and they were able to make the trip on a single gas tank. Moreover, my dad does not have my lawful stupid paladin-like obsession regarding the strict observance of speed limits; he set the cruise control at a blistering sixty-nine miles per hour on the interstate.

We enjoyed the time we got to spend with them. Ranger got the chance to show off his commands from obedience class, and the nursery decor was a big hit. Once Sandi got home from the bank, we went to lunch at Fatz Cafe, whose name does not feature an accent. I suppose the odds of a restaurant chain from South Carolina looking French are pretty slim, now that I think about it. Peaches even came out from under the bed to say hello, which is pretty amazing. They headed back home around 5:00 PM, leaving us to Final Fantasy VII and a good night's rest.

I wish I could report something really exciting today, but not much has happened. We played more Final Fantasy this afternoon and generally braced ourselves for the coming week. Keep those prayers coming for our couple's interview on Thursday; there is no telling what I might end up saying without them. Have a great week!

Staggering into the Weekend

Sandi had a nightmarish day at work today. She was scheduled to work until 5:15, but she ended up staying at the bank until it closed at 6:00. Why did this travesty occur? Since today is not only Friday but the first of the month as well, there was a great convergence of paydays. Making matters worse, the third day of the month falls on a Sunday, which meant that pretty much all Social Security checks hit today. To add just an extra pinch of insanity, Sandi's boss is on vacation this week, so the lobby staff was shorthanded. By the time my poor wife finally made it through the door, she was fresh out of energy; she ate supper and headed straight for bed. Then she gets to get up and go through another four hours of banking fun tomorrow morning -- yay!!

Things are looking up tomorrow, though, for my parents are driving up to visit from North Carolina. This will be their first chance to see the refurbished nursery in person, which is pretty exciting. Of course, that means I will need to do some last-minute cleaning in the morning.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!