Busy Week!

Lots of stuff going on over the past 10 days... Of course things at work have been incredibly busy since the tragic earthquake in Haiti...the agency has been overwhelmed with calls and emails from well-meaning people who want to help the children there. Haiti is not a country that our agency works with, so it has been hard to explain to people that we could do nothing but encourage them to give money to any of the other many reputable agencies who are working there. In fact, I was very proud to hear that the adoption agency I am using in Colorado, CCAI (who launched a Haiti adoption program last year), was taking monetary donations and had already flown into Haiti (in a donated private jet), to get supplies to their partner orphanage in Port au Prince. Details.

While the people of Haiti were in the news and hearts of people everywhere this week, here in Spokane the big news was the National Figure Skating Championships. It did seem a little weird to be "celebrating" ice skaters with festivals and concerts downtown, while so much of the world's attention was on Haiti (and rightfully so!) But life does go on, and with the Winter Olympics only a month away, the National Championships in Spokane would determine which skaters would represent the U.S. at the 2010 Olympic Games.

Steve was able to get us some media tickets for last weekend's Senior Pairs Championship (long program). They ended up being at the far end of the rink, just to the left of the "kiss and cry" area you see on TV. We sat in the 4th row - great seats! Now, I rollerskated competitively back when I was in middle school (that's me in the white dress circa 1984). I even skated with a partner, so I was very excited about going to this event. I had been to the post-Olympic ice skating tours, and professional shows before, but I had never attended an actual "competition" at this elite level. Let me tell you - it was weird, because in many ways, it was very similar to the regional and state meets I went to as an amateur rollerskater back in Jr. High. There were vendors set up selling skating costumes, and reps from all the skate boot companies, including the brand I wore (and still have in storage) as well as backdrops set up for photos...but mainly what all came flooding back to me was the TIME involved in these meets! It is a lot of "hurry up and wait". Four couples would come out to warm up, then they would each skate their routine, and then you would wait 5-10 minutes for the judge's results, and then the next couple would skate. After the four couples, the zamboni's would come out to clear the ice, and there would be a 20 min. break. Then the whole thing would start again. So basically, just the Senior Pairs competition would take all day. You only see a few hours of the National competition broadcast on TV, but it actually covers two fulls weeks of 16 hr days at the arena. We only ended up staying about an hour and a half, but it was fun to see what it was like.

The Friday before Nationals kicked off, there was a concert downtown by a group called The Fab Four. They are a very popular Beatles tribute band. We actually saw them perform when we were down in San Diego last February. They were fun to watch, but even more fun was watching the crowd respond. Steve and I were on the younger end at this show for sure. The majority of the audience was in their 50s & 60s. But everyone seemed to really let loose their "inner teenager" at the show and have fun.

Finally - on Thursday of this week, my social worker returned from vacation and was able to get my homestudy addendum written. I rec'd the notarized copies in the mail yesterday, and will get that mailed off to the immigration department tomorrow morning so they can continue the processing of my I800A.