Taylor Addison

My new niece was born on Saturday, May 23, 2009, at 4:29 am. She was 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20" long. She has a beautiful head of hair and is absolutely precious and perfect in every way.

Mom and dad are extremely happy and doing well. Everyone should be heading home from the hospital today. I wish them the best!

We're Moving on Monday!

That's right! We finally got a closing date for the New York house. We're closing on Monday, March 30 at 1:30 pm. Once the closing is completed, we'll turn over the keys to Michele and Brian and we'll hit the road and head to our new house.

We're scheduled to do the walk-thru in the new house on Wednesday morning at 9:30 and then we'll close at 11:00 that day. We should be moving into our new digs by 1:00! YAY!

The irony of this story is that when we bought the NY house back in 1997, we moved in on March 31. The night we moved in, Bob's Uncle Rick was in the NCAA playoff tournament and won that year.....hmmm, let's count the similarities. We're moving at almost the same time (moving day is technically April 1), Uncle Rick is in the playoffs .... it'll be fun!!!

While I'm excited about moving, I'm not really looking forward to the drive. Since our closing in NC isn't until Wednesday, though, we've decided that after the closing on Monday, we'll only drive about 1/2 way and stop somewhere in Delaware for the night. That will probably also be better for Shania since the longest car ride she's ever taken has been from Ronkonkoma to East Hampton or Riverhead! There's a HUGE difference between 10 hours to NC and 1/2 hour to the east end. I'm sure she'll be fine.

Hope everyone is well! I'll keep in touch!

Love ya,
Faith

Finally, we to the CO

Yes, I finally picked up the CO from the town today! It took some doing on my part and a lot of praying but they finally issued it.

Hopefully, within a day or so we'll find out when our closing is set for. Looks like we'll be in North Carolina soon!!!

We Finally Had our Inspection!

Yes, the inspector was here yesterday. He came and looked at the sunroom ~ didn't bother to check the fence or shed issues. He asked me a few questions, asked for a letter from my architect stating the footings were to code, and went on his merry way. I immediately called the expeditor who typed up the letter. Bob and I picked up the letter and brought it down to the town. As luck had it, we met the inspector in the building dept. and handed it directly to him (thank God! now it won't be lost or misplaced.) He said the papers will be processed ~ in lamen's terms, the CO is being typed up.

We then went across the hall to see how long this process would take. A very nice woman there told us that we could request "Rush" service; however, we have to wait a day or so for the paperwork to reach the typing bin. I plan to call the building dept. tomorrow to request this service.

Maybe luck is finally on our side! YAY! If all goes well, we can hopefully close sometime next week or early the following week. Our buyers would like it to be early next week as he has the week off from work. All I know is that I have a closing set for March 31 at noon in North Carolina. I want to make that date!

I need to run for now. Lots to do, including packing! I'm also attending an alumni meeting at LIBI tonight. I'm hoping to see some of my friends from nights so I can say "goodbye". It's funny, I'm going to say goodbye but I'll still talk to them by email or on the phone, which is all I do now! Funny how life works!

Be safe, my friends!

Love and kisses,
Faith

Almost time to move!

The permit has finally been issued and the inspector is due to come out on Monday, March 9. Hoping all will go well and he'll approve the CO. If he does, I'm told it only takes a day or so to get the CO. Once I get that little piece of paper, I can forward it to my lawyer and the buyers bank will finally set a closing date. YAY!

I've spent the last few days packing all the "non-essential" stuff in the house. My kitchen is down to the bare necessities (plates, glasses, pots to cook in) and the cabinets are getting bare! We've sold quite a bit of stuff, too.

Once we get settled in NC, I've got a tentative interview set up at Garrett Reporting in Raleigh. I spoke with one of the owners and she was extremely nice and helpful. Hopefully, this will work out and I can finally get working!

Shania started her allergy shots about a month ago. The vet told us that after a month of shots, we should see some improvement. Of course, in the World of Shania, that improvement hasn't come and we're about a month and a half in. I have to call Dr. Lachhar on Monday to see what our next step is going to be.

We've got a busy few months coming up....we start, obviously, with our move to North Carolina. April will bring Bob's birthday, May brings not only my dad's birthday but the birth of my newest niece/nephew, June is when we'll be traveling to Whistler, British Columbia, Canada for Bob's Circle of Excellence Award, and then in July ... the big finale ~~ MY GRADUATION!

My hope is to finally hear something about the adoption by November. For the last few months, the monthly newsletter from CHSFS has said families have waited 34 months from LID (Log In Date). If this remains to happen, 34 months from our LID (01/11/07) will be 11/11/09. Keep your fingers crossed for us. Now, wouldn't that just be the ultimate birthday present?

Until next time, be well and enjoy!

Faith

See Our New House in North Carolina

Hey Everyone,

What an awesome Valentine's Day Bob and I had this year! We were in North Carolina and bought our dream house. Click the title above to see the pictures.

Our hope is to be living in this house by the end of March 2009.

We'll never be able to top this gift to each other!

Faith & Bob

What does a Court Reporter Do?

So you want to know what it is that I've been going to school for? A news station in Philly recently did a segment on what a court reporter does. Take a few minutes and watch the clip. It'll give you a better understanding of what I've been learning:

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/video?id=6649456

Just Another Day ....

You're probably wonder what we've been up to. Well, a whole lot and a lot of nothing! Let me try to explain that.

As you all know, we are planning on moving to North Carolina. We were honestly hoping to be in our new home by now but things just didn't work out that way for us. Our fist buyer was a single mom who ended up losing her job, so we lost our buyer. We then went to our backup buyers, and lucky for us, they were still interested.

We also finally had our hearing to see if we were going to be approved for the variance on the sunroom ~~ or rather, the enclosed porch (as the Zoning Board referred to it). There were four issues on our plate to deal with ... the sunroom, the location of the shed (which we had moved to try to come into compliance), the brick paver patio around the pool, and the fence. Lucky for us, the Board approved the enclosed porch so long as we never utilize it as living space, put heat in it or electric it in. They also approved the pavers. We were told that we either had to relocate the shed or get rid of it. Well, due to the size of our property, there weren't too many options for relocating unless we put it in the middle of the yard on the side of the house so we decided to take it down. As for the fence, the Board never approves a fence (even though it was there when we bought the house) so we either had to cut it down from 6 ft. to 4 ft. or move it in 10 feet to be up to code. Well, two Sunday's ago, Bob and Dan went out on the coldest day of the year and took down the 6' sections in the areas in question and replaced them with 4' sections. Now that we've done all this work, we're hoping to get a re-inspection soon and get the final paperwork on the sunroom.

As of today, we are officially in contract. The buyers bank appraiser was here on Monday, so it looks like things are finally moving forward. My guess is that once the buyers get their mortgage, we can finally close. We were given an "on or about date" in the contract of March 16 so we're just about in the window to close.

As for a house in North Carolina, that's a whole other story. We had made an offer on one but after the inspection and losing our buyer, we chose to back out of the deal. We are now searching again for our new house. We think we've narrowed it down to two. We're going to fly down next weekend and hopefully, make a final decision. What a wonderful Valentine's Day gift that would be!

There's really nothing new to report on the adoption front. We're still in the never-ending holding pattern. The last round of referrals were for February 2006. Our Log-In date is January 17, 2007 so we've got quite a wait still ahead of us. Once we get settled in NC, we'll sit down and re-evaluate the situation and see which way we want to go.

On a positive note, both Bob and I have some things to be proud of.

Bob was nominated for the Circle of Excellence award at work for a second time and he has won. The award ceremony is being held at a beautiful resort called The Fairmont Whistler in Vancouver. We're not sure when it will be held yet but it promises to be a fun time.

I FINALLY finished school!!! I passed my last test and handed in all my final paperwork last Friday. What an amazing feeling! I'm so excited and I can't wait to get my feet wet and work. I actually sat in on my first deposition last week and it was a blast. That was the case I used to prepare my school transcript. The official graduation will be July 12 and it's going to be a wonderfully exciting day.

And finally, an update on Shania. We took her in for the allergy testing because her itchies have gotten much worse and found out that our poor puppy is allergic to everything! Several types of wood, trees, and grass, mold, and dust. She's also allergic to turkey (which she loves!), corn and rice. We are now in the process of giving her shots to see if they'll build her immune system so these things don't bother her anymore. We've also had to change her food to a prescription type that's very expensive. Did I mention that it is like $65 for a 20 lb. bag??? But on a much more positive note, Dr. Wen (her holistic doctor) said that her knee is just about stable and she's doing wonderfully. He's cut her medicine down from 10 pills a day to 6 (it's all herbs). I know she's feeling better because she runs around the yard like a luney toon!

So, that's about all there is for now. Like I said, not much going on but a lot going on.

Well, I'm going to get going for now. I'll check back in a while and give another update when there's something to tell.

Take care, stay warm, and be well!

Love and kisses,
Faith

Happy New Year!

Just checking in to wish everyone a very Happy and healthy New Year. May 2009 be a wonderful year for everyone.

Much love,
Faith