Happy Thanksgiving to All!

And to all a good night! That sounds off for some reason, but now is not the time to dawdle on such things. I have over two months of updating to do. Excited yet?

We have been officially awaiting placement for a year as of last month. This meant that we had to update our home study with Bethany. We got to do a fresh round of doctor's appointments, background checks, and financial records; fortunately, we were not required to update our fingerprints at this stage. We had a meeting with Mark after the October waiting families meeting, where we received a little pep talk to go along with the formalities and the box-checking and the whatnot. He made a point of noting that the wait can be discouraging -- which it is, at times. We were officially re-approved on October 29; if all goes according to my malevolent schemes, there will not be a second re-approval necessary. Insert your preferred diabolical laughter here.

We have an additional feline member of the household, of sorts. We have been adopted (oh, the irony) by one of the neighborhood cats. We have dubbed our new benefactor Prince, as Kakolookiyam is too much of a mouthful. Based on his unabashed sweetness and ready litterbox usage, we have surmised that he is an abandoned housecat. He is also as deaf as a post. No, this is not the typical selective deafness inherent with the species; we can readily sneak up on this cat if he does not see our approach. The various members of our household have adapted to him in their own unique ways: Ashe follows him around constantly, while Samus tolerates his existence (after her initial olive branch extension resulted in a pimp slap) and Peaches makes noises like this dude every time she sees him.

With today being Thanksgiving and all, and with us in Bristol rather than a Carolina to celebrate with family, we participated in our customary tree-trimming extravaganza. We made egg salad, bought a sliced ham, and ate way too many snacks while setting up our Christmas decorations. To be honest, Sandi had succumbed, so some decorating had actually been done before today. We still need to put our lights out on the porch; we ran out of sunlight getting our eighteen hojillion ornaments on the tree. I am finishing off our stock of little weenies as I write.

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend, everyone!