I LOVE America ... but NOT the Bureaucratic Red Tape

Bureaucratic Red Tape that goes hand in hand with every part of my life at the moment. Sometimes I think I need to fill out a government form to go to the potty!!! And my luck... that request would be rejected!!!!

YEP... you guessed it ~ even with all the good intentions of some very helpful folks at the Consulate in Sydney... the last item that we need for Abby's immigrant visa has not been received yet. Should have been here last week... Monday at the latest... but it is now Tuesday and I am getting all too familiar with the words "not yet".

If not received in the morning, I will again have to push our departure back. I so wanted to find a house and "slightly" settle before the kids started school. Looks like I will be shuttling them to school from a hotel room for the first few weeks at the rate we are going.

Oh well... what can I do... but moan and groan about it all!

In other news... I had lunch today with the most amazing lady ~ Sandra. I met my cheeky friend Sandra when I went to work to fund Lilli's adoption. I can honestly say that she is a true friend. We just hit it off! I will miss her tons! She was always available for great long lunches and fun chats over large mugs of hot coffee. She has promised to visit me in Alabama... I am not going to let her out of that promise!!!

Daniel's leg looks horrid.... I am thinking the Dr that stitched him up would earn a name like "the Butcher" or "Scar Master" in the Hollywood Plastic Surgery World.... Daniel's leg will always carry a huge reminder of his big Aussie bike crash! Funny... he seems to LOVE that idea!

Joey is recovering from a Stomach bug.... too funny how puzzled he was over the fact that he was not hungry for 2 days.... My grocery bill dropped tremendously and the economy in Canberra took a slight dip when my 16.5 year old BOY endured this "forced" fasting!

Holly is in and out as always... running around making time for all of her 21 best friends before our departure.

You know... I was thinking about when my best friend moved away in elementary school many many moons ago. She left... and that was that. Who knows where Bambi is or what she is doing. Our children are lucky as they have the ability to keep all of there friends around the world via msn messenger! True benefit of the modern age.

The little girls continue to have a ball inside while there is yucky weather outside. The house is much emptier... lots of space to run and hide and jump and play! Especially in the master bedroom which is just a mattress and box spring at the moment.... JUMPING HEAVEN!