So Pilgrim Chapel

This morning's sermon @ Pilgrim was about ego and basically the benefits of letting go of it. Our designated minster is out of town so today's minister was Chad Quick. He lives in Kentucky and his main job is Hospice work.

So after Chad finished the service the adults (approx 20, age 30 - 85) came down to the basement via the scary (esp if your are old or tall) steps to the basement.

Shad was just great entertainment at this coffee hour. And egoless is not the word anyone would choose to describe it. So it probably was not 5 minutes before Lee pointed out the newspaper picture above the food table. It was of Shad (in a leisure suit) shaking hands with some old guy. Also on the food table was one of those Arcadia book, this ones title: The Cincinnati Sound. So when Mindy (designated minister's DIL) and I were looking through the book we found another picture of Shad that we both thought "whoa" and "hollywood" .... in a dreamy way. When I showed it to Shad he was like "Oh yeah I was really handsome."

And then he said "there should be more pictures of me in there too." He is an incredible person and amazing story teller.

Here is a link to his website:

http://www.shadoshea.com/about/index.php3

I knew he was famous before I read this today but I did not know how famous. Wow!

The pictures at the top of this entry are ones I copied from his website. I'm going to see if I download a picture of the bookcover.

So the reason for the title of this blog is not because many people are that famous or colorful. But this group is unique.

UPDATE : JUNE 6,2009 email from Bob Croskery.

A little after midnight, Howard Lovdal, whose public name was Shad O'Shea died at the VA Hospital.Shad had been a loyal "Pilgrim" for seven years. He had been one of my very dearest friends for more than 30 years.There is now a huge hole in the hearts of all of us who knew him and loved him.If you are among them, I do hope you will make a special effort to be at Pilgrim Chapel in the morning.If anywone were ever "truly alive," that person was Shad. Tomorrow, we celebrate LIFE!Bof

When I read this email today I gasped in shock. John can not believe this either. We both assumed Shad was traveling and that is why we had not seen him in the last couple weeks. What a fantastic guy. This afternoon on my way to the grocery store I saw a guy driving a white cadillac with a dog in the passenger seat (head in the wind) it gave me a lump in my throat. We were so lucky to know Shad even just a little bit.

Deadlines and our last 1-171H update

Our I-171H expires on April 9, 2009. The official name of this US Citizenship and Immigration Service document issued by the US Department of Homeland Security is Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application For Advance Processing of Orphan Petition. If this document were to expire we would lose our grandgathered status and have to do more extensive background checks. Specifically, we would have to get checks for every address we have lived since the age of 18 for more than 6 months. This process is further complicated by the fact you (adoptive parent) are advised to not renew too early as you risk an additional expiration date. So in February when I asked our international agency if I should start requesting renewal documents I thought I was being proactive. Turns out I was not as our paperwork was just turned in last Friday. Today, Tuesday April 7,2009, we received a receipt from the US Dept of Justice for the $830.00 fee required to process renewal paperwork. So we got our paperwork in 2 days before it expired. YIKES.

Part of our renewal paperwork required an in-home interview with our social worker which we scheduled for Wednesday, March 25,2009. Cherie, our social worker, probably was here 45 minutes total. Anyhow she was impressed with the changes in the garden since her initial homestudy interviews in 2006.

This first picture was taken in Spring 2006 right before the backyard clearing began. This was also about the time of our 1st homestudy interview. Cherie also taught the first adoption classes we took in September 2005. She is the person we have worked with the longest through our adoption and unfortunately her agency is closing and she has no employment plans as of now. Our new HS agency is Adoption Connection.

Update: Starting in August 2009 Cherie will be employed at Adoption Connection and once again assigned to our adoption case!

The next couple of pictures show mid progress replacing the fence and tiering the garden. I love this picture of John and Lucy!

The next picture shows what our garden looks like now.

During our 2nd homestudy interview we also took Cherie throught the first floor apartment, something she had not seen on the initial homestudy. She likes old homes so I think it was kinda entertaining.

The room with the fireplace will eventually be our library when we "take over the whole house". Right now we don't need the space and the extra income is nice. This apartment's kitchen (room with 3 glass doors and red floor) will be eventually become a 3rd bedroom. This is another picture from the 1st floor kitchen. The tenants who lived here when this picture was taken were an interesting couple. She worked for Warner Brothers (music promotion manager) and he played bass and was from Sweden. The ballroom dancing photos are of his father who was still competitively dancing while they we our tenants. They only stayed a year but I thought they were fascinating. This room is now the 1st floor apartment bedroom but someday will become an office. We are thinking we will buy a big partner desk and put it in the middle of this room.

The last picture is of Lucy in the garden with William. William had allergies when he was born and is the reason at age 10 Lucy moved in with us.

Pet Nanny Report Mar 2009

Spouse and I have been home now for 48 hours after traveling for the past 2.5 weeks. Kitty has been purring a remarkable amount since we have been home.

The scan on this entry is unreadable but basically recaps what was happening at home while spouse and I were in New Orleans, Natchez and Branson Mississippi and lastly Florida. The scan is PN's "Daily Dairy".

Basically each day PN:

1. refreshed food (and LN ate a lot) & water

2. scooped litter boxes and swept

3. gave TLC

4. brought in the mail.

And some of her comments:

"Lucy has a lot to say today.""Put her in my lap and gave her lots of TLC""Could not find brush to brush her"."Was in your area so I stoped by to check on Lucy.""Combed her a little." "Treats" "UPS box put on counter."" Good time on the deck.""A little play with feather.""She has a lot to say today.""Combed Lucy on patio."

The first night we were home spouse woke up to see her laying on our bed, 4 paws in the air and purring. By the 2nd night she was back to sleeping on "her" fake fur blanket in the river room.