OK, this is pretty cool!

Maybe most of you already know about this, but I recently discovered Bloglines. If you're one of the techies who's been doing this for years, just ignore me. But if you're a newbie like me, you might find it pretty darn cool.

Bloglines lets you subscribe to the blogs you read most so you can see when a new post has been made. Rather than clicking on link after link only to find no updates, you can see all your subscribed blogs on one page and the ones with new content will be highlighted. It also can generate a list of links to your favorite blogs that you can include in your blog (they call it a blogroll). It may also do laundry and dishes, but I haven't figured that out yet.

Anyways, if you click on this link, it will walk you through setting up an account and subscribe you to my blog. This is not a paid advertisement - I just thought it was cool and had to share.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the daddy's and daddy's-to-be!

To my own dad, thanks for being you and for everything you mean to me. You're my role model and whenever someone says, "you remind me of your dad," I take that as the greatest compliment.

To my H.B., you're gonna be an awesome dad. I can see it in the way you care for and about me. I can see it in the way you love children. I can see it in your eyes every time we talk about our child in China.

Hooah!

For those of you not acqainted with the word, here's the definition of hooah!

hooah (hoo ah) adj., adv., n., v., conj., interj., excla. [Orig. unknown] Slang. 1. Referring to or meaning anything and everything except "no". 2. What to say when at a loss for words. 3.a. Good copy. b. Roger. c. Solid copy. d. Good. e. Great. f. Message received. g. Understood. h. Acknowledged. 4.a. Glad to meet you. b. Welcome. 5. "All right!" 6.a. I don't know the answer, but I'll check on it. b. I haven't the foggiest idea. 7. I am not listening. 8. "That is enough of your drivel; sit down!" 9. Yes. 10. "You've got to be kidding me!" 11. Thank you. 12. Go to the next slide. 13. You've taken the correct action. 14. I don't know what that means, but I'm too embarassed to ask for clarification. 15. Squared away (He's pretty hooah.) 16. Amen!

Today was the Hooah Race. A 5k/10k run/walk hosted by Ft. Mac and the surrounding communities.

Hubby was in charge of transportation for the race - bussing runners from post to the start line and returning folks to their cars after the run was complete. This meant arriving at 0430 (yikes!) and working until everything was done. He did an excellent job of keeping things organized. I tagged along and tried to make myself useful.

I took the time to walk the 5k. I walked with some of my friends from work. It felt good to exercise and to be part of this event. My friend, V took third place in her age group! (I didn't come in last, at least.)

It's neat how the Army combines early morning exercise with a family event. At the finish line, there were static displays of Apache, Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters and a climbing wall and laser rifle ranges for the Soldier wannabe's. HB and I were even involved in handing out awards for the tot trot (a 25 yard dash for the little ones). He got such a charge out of hanging the medal around each little one's neck. He's going to be such a good daddy.

After securing multiple vans, we headed home for a much-needed nap!

Random Rant

Just some random things that are eating at me:

Target’s new ads have the theme of something-less, e.g. breath-less, time-less, limit-less. Fine. Why must they bastardize the English language to create fabu-less, marve-less? Does that not mean less fab and marv? How will our children ever learn to spell?

Why does blogger not remember me, even though I consistently check the little box when I log in? Is this a perverse experiment to see how many time I'll check the little box?

Why is the Army phasing out the Class A/B uniform (dress greens for all you civilians) and making Soldiers wear Dress Blues as their only dress uniform? Don’t ask me why this one bugs me so much.

There, now I feel better.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear Army,

Happy birthday to you!

Today marks the 232nd birthday of the US Army (big A, always big A). Of course the Soldiers celebrated by getting up at 0 Dark 30 to go for a "fun" run. That's a little too hooah for me!

The theme this year (as you can see from the coin above) is:
Call to Duty: Boots on the Ground
Army Strong

My theme:
Call to Bed: Slippers on the Floor
Coffee Strong

Fast Times at Blogger High

Now that I’m in the blogisphere (did I really write that?), I spend more time checking out other people’s blogs. I’ve come to the conclusion that the blog world is kind like high school.

You’ve got the popular kids. Their every post is read by hundreds of people and their simplest observation brings dozens of comments. RumorQueen is easily the most popular girl in my high school.

Then there are the quiet kids, who blog regularly but rarely get noticed. Some seem to want to be noticed, others appear happy to express themselves without comments.

I’ve noticed the band and choir kids – they always have music playing on their blogs. The jocks’ blogs are very active – usually a slide show of their latest adventure. The techies have very sophisticated blogs, full of links, surveys and other doo-dads I would have no clue how to pull off.

Then you’ve got the rest of us. We write about what’s on our minds. We are visited by friends and family who occasionally leave their tracks on our comments page.

I'm wondering if we had one of those high school yearbook votes where you pick the blog most likely to succeed/the prettiest blog/most athletic/class clown/most popular, etc, who would win. Since I’m clueless about how to pull that off technologically, I’d have to ask you to post your nominations in the comments. Unless I’m the unpopular kid and no one’s reading…

10 Month LIDversary

Yada, yada, yada....

OBE

The Army (big A, always big A) has an acronym that is my new favorite. Overcome By Events (OBE) is a military term for a situation wherein the initial solution to a problem is rendered useless by unexpected events, raising a need for a different solution.

When I first started blogging, I thought this would be a nice documentation of our adoption process for our child when s/he comes home. Nine months, four weeks and one day later, I am finding little to write about our adoption process. Friends ask why I don't write as often as I used to. How many ways can you say, "We're still waiting. Things are moving slow."? However, I am enjoying keeping the blog and writing about the experiences of everyday life. So I think I will continue to expand my posts beyond thoughts about the adoption. I hope y'all don't mind.

Referrals

Referrals have finally arrived. Congratulations to all those who are getting "the call." After initial rumors of a big batch, referrals only went through November 7 (six days). There are "only" 276 LID days ahead of us. *Sigh*

Reflecting on the Weekend

Suddenly, the first Friday of June was upon us. So off we go to Cobb County to our First Friday Group. We had dinner with A & M as has become our habit. Joining us were K&M from Sheridan's Shenanigans, who have accepted a referral of a darling little boy from China. Sending prayers for peace to them as they wait for final approval from China. Our First Friday hosts have decided to begin another adoption journey that will end with the adoption of their daughter, Hope. It's fun to hear them talk about paperchasing and referrals. J & A are making final plans to travel to pick up their precious little Laney. E & H were there with their new little one, home from China. We left at the end of the night feeling very connected to our child, wherever/whoever she or he may be. While we dread the trip to the North side in Friday traffic each month, the support and feeling of belonging we get while there lessens the pain. I know that so many propspective adoptive parents have no such resource and would drive hours to experience what we have.

Saturday took us to an outdoor concert to see Foreigner. What a blast!

I spent Sunday afternoon sitting in the backyard with a book. That's my definition of fun! The book I'm reading is called The Waiting Child by Cindy Champnella. I'd have to recommend this for anyone considering adopting a child from China. While parts of this story tug at your heartstrings, it is truly a story of hope.