Open Forum

It's been pretty slow around here lately when it comes to blog-worthy buzz. I think Artem is starting to cut his two year molars and has been a little on the cranky and needy side. Sometimes I feel as if nothing short of me juggling flaming knives while standing on my head will keep him happy. He was really putting me through the paces the other day and I had to get some errands run. It was one of those days when I was making deals with God, hoping and praying that I could get through the next few errands without Artem going into meltdown mode. You laugh, but I'm 99% sure many of you have copped that same plea deal with God on one or more occasions. Anyway, we made it through our errands, set a record for number of trips to the "naughty spot" in one afternoon, and after finally getting him to bed, I was able to use the little girl's room without someone running a fire truck up my leg while yelling, "woooo, wooo, woooo" and I looked down and noticed my shorts were on backwards. Worse yet, they had a logo on them which meant that I had run all my errands that day with my pants on backwards and the patch on my rear end. Ahhh, just another day in mommyhood.



I've got this nifty little site counter on the blog that tells me how many people have visited the blog and also tells me where they come from. Our blog averages 124 returning visitors a day and 222 new and returning visits a day. Tuesdays seem to be the biggest day, not sure why, but Tuesdays always have the most visits. Our blog has readers from all over the world; Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Cyprus, Netherlands, France, Russia (or Chussia as Artem calls it), and 38 "unknown" countries as Stat Counter calls them. I'm telling you this because I want to know who you are. If you are one of the regular readers drop me a line in the comments section and say hello. I love following other people's blogs and cheering on adoptive families on their journey; leave your link if you want and I'll add you to the blogroll and check in on you every now and then. Even if you aren't an adoptive family, but you have a really great sense of humor and your blog will make me laugh and forget about the fact that I just spent the whole day with my shorts on backwards, leave me a comment and say "hey".



I do have a point to all this, I promise, and will eventually get to the title of this post, "Open Forum". When I started this blog I did it as a sort of journal for Randy and me to keep track of dates, milestones, and happenings on our journey to adopt. I also knew it would be easier to update our friends and families through the blog rather than individual emails and phone calls. What I didn't expect was after one year our blog would have almost 100,000 hits and have 124 returning visitors a day from all over the world. I frequently get emails from people that read the blog telling me that the blog inspires them to keep going through their adoption struggles or it gives them a chuckle in the morning to read about "Potty Training 101". While that was never my intent, I'm happy and humbled to know that it does that for people. I've considered many, many times ending the blog since our "journey" to adopt is over and now we are settling into our lives as a family. But I remember before we received our referral how I lived for updates from families that had come home with their children. I needed to see that once they were home they settled in and became a "normal" family, for lack of a better word, and that life after the crazy ride of international adoption was going to be okay. It was reassuring to see them going on with their daily lives and seeing how much joy their newly adopted children brought to their family. International adoption is a huge leap of faith into a very unknown world and following other people's stories carried me through some of the crazy times we faced during our adoption process. Remembering all of this, I decided not to stop blogging and continue to share our story of becoming one of those "normal" families I loved reading about.



So in the spirit of helping adoptive families through their journey, I'd love to open up the blog to questions from people that read on a regular basis or occasionally stop in. Is there something you've been wondering about? Something that you've wanted to ask but never were brave enough to hit the "comment" button? Why do I use quotation marks so much, why do I refer to myself in the third person, what does "digress" mean anyway? Ask it now in the "open forum" and I'll do my best to answer the questions in the days to come. If you still don't feel comfortable asking your question in the comments section, drop me an email, my address is in my profile.



And dog-gone-it, all you 124 returning visitors, leave me a comment and say "hi" so I can get to know you!



And because my sister told me tonight she needed her "Artem Fix", I leave you with one of those pictures that makes you say, "ahhhhh".