Mental holes

We got a phone call today from our caseworker at Catholic Charities to schedule our first interview. We are going at 4pm on Monday, Nov 9. We have to bring the paperwork they sent us, and she said there will be more as well. She'll also go over the process with us, how to get all the paperwork together, to do the home study, etc. I guess we will also find out exactly what the process entails.

So I'm not having the best week. My job is making me mental, my car gets towed, Skipper gets in to the Halloween candy and then pukes wrappers on my bed and Jerry drills a hole through his finger - literally. As I type this Skipper is insisting that I pet him - not Jerry, me. He is in the midst of Shed-athon 2009, by the way. Jerry is howling at him to get him to bark - which he has done exactly three times since we got him in February. It makes me worry sometimes about being a good parent when we are clearly in need of some parenting ourselves.

We adopted Skipper from the Buddy Foundation in Arlington Heights. We saw puppies and pretty poodles and 40lb average dog. And then this guy comes lumbering in the room, with his cross eyes, dry nose and meth mouth. They weren't sure how old he was - anywhere from 7 to 12, but probably 10 and 90lbs. He is half lab/half golden they say, but looks like he has some hound in him. And he just leans on me, leans on Jerry and is just so happy to be petted. We felt like he adopted us. He's a really good dog but has shown his mischievous side: he jumped over the 3' gate, bit a skunk, loves to run through the garden when its wet, insists on sleeping between us in bed and wakes me up at 5:30 every morning because he wants breakfast. He sticks his nose in my face and then licks me, and if I roll over he starts whimpering until I get up.

It sounds ludicrous I know, but it really gave us hope and inspiration to adopt children. Its this big huge long process and can really feel overwhelming at times. But Skipper is a sign I think sometimes, that its all going to work out.

As long as Jerry doesn't drill a hole through anything else.