First Card!

Today I received my very first Mother's Day card! I had given Paul a Father's Day card in 2005, but that pgcy didn't begin until after Mother's Day so I had never received one before. Anyhow, in the mail today I received a beautiful card for a "mother-to-be" from my sister-in-law. I am going to be keeping this card for a very long time. Mother's Day has been a very difficult day for me emotionally for quite awhile - long before we started ttc 6 years ago. This year it will be a very happy day for me! I am sure it will seem even more real to me next year when I have a daughter I can hold in my arms on Mother's Day, but what a thrill to have a little girl kicking inside me this year! At this time last year I was very, very, very discouraged. We had been contracted with Lifetime for 2 1/2 years to no avail, and our dossiers were in Ukraine, but we started to realize they would likely expire before they were submitted to the SDA. We weren't pursuing any fertility treatments at that time. This year I am very, very, very excited to be counting down the weeks and days until I get to hold my child in my arms and give her lots of hugs and kisses.

Speaking of Lifetime, I received a thick packet in the mail yesterday from the BBB that contained Lifetime's response to my complaint. The BBB has asked that I respond by 5-12. I do plan to respond, but this will be the last time I continue this process with the BBB. It just stirs up too much anxiety and frustration within me to think about it. I want to put it behind me and think about it as little as possible as it's not a pleasant topic by any stretch of the imagination. I can't think of any decision I've made in my entire life that I regret more than the one we made when we signed a contract with them in 2004. I'm dubious anything will come about as a result of my complaint, but I felt I needed to make at least some small attempt to try to help prevent someone else from going through what we have with them.

As for the grading, I now have 40 done and only 28 to go, and I plan to grade more before I head back to school to give my third exam at 6:30pm. I have graded 67 of 121 exams, but those were done by machine and the rest are essay exams that will take a lot longer to grade. Tomorrow I don't have any appts so I am hoping I can make a LOT more progress with grading. Paul is finishing writing a paper that is due tomorrow. I think he's going to submit it today. Then he's done with the requirements for the spring semester and "all" he has left between now and the end of July are to take his physical chemistry comprehensive exam and to write and defend his thesis. That will keep him very busy! He starts at PSU on August 4th. He'll probably get about one week off in between when he finishes his master's and starts his PhD. Well speaking of grading I should get back to that! :-)