Where in the World is Sam? Location Revealed

Many of you caught onto that last clue and guessed correctly that we are hoping to adopt from...

Drum roll, please...
Oh, come on. That was pitiful. Give me a little more than that.

Better. Thank you.

TA-DA!

If you didn't figure it out, you could click on the picture from the last clue, and see the file was named Majuro airport, which was a big, big hint. Congratulations to all who guessed it!

The first to catch on (and with the very first clue!) was Stacy , who didn't come right out and say the Marshall Islands, but let me know she was onto me with this comment:

"I'm 99% sure I know which country, but I'm not going to say specifically because I didn't get it from your clue, but from a comment made on a previous post and I message on a different yahoo group that I think was yours and thus that almost feels like cheating. Why I picked up on these things I don't know! But I'll say if I'm right nobody has guessed it yet, it's a country name usually referenced with two words but I think officially is really three. If I'm right I bet you know what I mean (and if you think that's saying too much, feel free to delete/edit!)..."

Stacy wins the highly coveted "SUPER SLEUTH AWARD" for catching on so quickly. Congrats, Stacy! She also gets to go around obnoxiously saying, "First!" all day long.

The person who first mentioned the Marshall Islands by name was Rachel after this clue. This was the clue that seemed to confuse several of you, but Rachel got it, so she wins the prestigious "SMARTY PANTS AWARD" Congrats to you, too, Rachel!

That was the clue that said:
"The area we've chosen to (hopefully) adopt from is not actually on any of the seven continents. It is in a region associated with one of them, obviously, but not ON one of them. (Here's a bonus hint, just so you won't hate me too badly. We're trying to adopt from an area associated with a continent that begins with the letter A, but another, more specific, name for this region begins with an O. Most people don't use the term with the O- most people use a term beginning with a P. Most people assume that this area with the P belongs to a different continent beginning with an A, but it doesn't. It belongs to one of the other A's)."

The A was Australia. The O was Oceania. The P was Pacific Islands, not the Phillipines. The "different continent beginning with an A" was Asia. Make sense?

From worldatlas.com: OCEANIA, the smallest continent, is one of the most diverse and fascinating areas on the planet. A large percentage of geography experts now consider the long-established continent of Australia to be more accurately defined as Australia/Oceania. Collectively it then combines all of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, as well as the thousands of coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific Ocean, including the Melanesia and Polynesia groups. Oceania also includes Micronesia, a widely scattered group of islands that run along the northern and southern edges of the Equator.



Congrats to all who guessed correctly! You each get a

as a token of my highest esteem (whoopidee doo). And thanks to everyone who joined in and played the game!

I'll post tomorrow about how the homestudy went, and everything that's been going on around here.

Where in the World is Sam? Clue #4

This is the airport. You've got to be kidding me. I'll need to be sedated if I'm expected to fly in and out of this. Remember the rules: You can guess as many times as you want, I won't reveal the winner until all the clues are given. If you already know the answer because I've told you or because you belong to the Yahoo group for this program, don't spoil it for those who want to play!

Where in the World is Sam? Follow-up to Clue #3

Alternate post title: "Address All Hate Mail to Darrell"

Most of you who took a crack at guessing on the last clue I gave assumed Sam will come from a continent beginning with the letter "S." But we didn't say that. Why would you think that? I mean, just because we ruled out six continents... How silly of you to think the answer would have to be the only continent remaining.

Before I explain, I'd like to get into the spirit of the political season by doing my best impression of a politician. I'm going to pass the blame. It was all Darrell's idea. Darrell's a great guy- God love him- but he's a terrible person. It really is his fault. He thought it would be tricky and clever to throw that clue at you. I was for it, but that was before I was vehemently opposed to it, so how could anyone blame me? I take no personal responsibility in this shameful display of flim-flammery. In fact, I wasn't even there at the time. Let me say that again... Time.

(Unless you caught the SNL parody of the VP debate, you're thinking I had a few too many cocktails for lunch. Go watch it. Too funny.)

If you're one of those really smart geographer-types, you would argue that every place on the planet belongs to one continent or the other. And you would be right, you picky little smarty-pants. But Darrell and me... We're not so much on the smarts or the geography. That's what makes us such capable homeschooling parents.

Here's the deal: The area we've chosen to (hopefully) adopt from is not actually on any of the seven continents. It is in a region associated with one of them, obviously, but not ON one of them.

Here's a bonus hint, just so you won't hate me too badly. We're trying to adopt from an area associated with a continent that begins with the letter A, but another, more specific, name for this region begins with an O. Most people don't use the term with the O- most people use a term beginning with a P. Most people assume that this area with the P belongs to a different continent beginning with an A, but it doesn't. It belongs to one of the other A's.

Now that really was a good hint. Convoluted, but good. Maybe even too good. If you're on your toes, you should be able to pinpoint the region, if not the exact location. I'll even toss you a bonus to the bonus hint... One of the commenters from the last clue was very, very warm. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Where in the world is Sam? Clue # 3

Are you ready for another hint in our little game? Who wants to figure out where our baby will come from?

Oh, be nice. At least feign interest for my sake, would you?

If you don't recall, the first clue was: We can choose gender in this program. I also gave an accidental second clue, which Tracy was smart enough to catch, when I said we were working on our dossier. According to her, domestic adoptions do not require a dossier, nor does Korea.

So... here is your third clue: We are not adopting from a continent that begins with the letters A, E, N, T, or B (See what I just did there? See how I intentionally threw in some nonsensical crap for no good reason? Yeah- I'm good at that. It's my gift).

Remember, the only rules are: You can guess as many times as you want, I won't reveal the winner until all the clues are given. If you already know the answer because I've told you or because you belong to the Yahoo group for this program, don't spoil it for those who want to play!

We have a tentative appointment for our first home visit with the SW on Nov. 1st and some of the 50 million documents I've had to order (birth, marriage, divorce certificates) are starting to roll in, so we are making some headway. We're far from done though. We need to get our physicals redone. We still need to get our Ii71-H changed and fingerprints redone. We're also required in this program to get a separate FBI check done, so we need to get fingerprints for that, too. I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff we still need to do. We have to compile five sets of the dossier (Oops. That may be another accidental hint- I dunno.). It's driving me nuts. I want it all done NOW. I want my baby home. I feel like I've been waiting so long already, that starting over from Square One- and the idea that our real wait is just beginning- is pretty tough to swallow. I know several of you out there know exactly how this feels.

Tomorrow we're taking the kiddos up to KC. We're going to the zoo, an arts, crafts and music festival, and visiting my MIL. BUSY!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

A Pig in Lipstick

Alternate title: "If You Give a Pig a Pancake..." Chances are she'll inhale the whole stack, then look like the unfortunate creature below. These are the choices for the pics I have to send to the agency. I have to choose two. Whaddya think?? Would you give these idiots a kid?

1. Fat and happy.
2. Still fat, less happy. 3. Fat, happy, and in love. I love this one, BUT I was afraid the agency would see all that neck fat and worry that I might try to eat the baby. That isn't the impression I want to make.

4. Oh so casual with the leg propped up.
5. Lookin' all schwanky and uppity (and sparkly... do you think the agency will go for sparkly?). Vote for the two pics that make us appear to be decent parent material.

And... You can put this in your "All I Never Wanted to Know and Then Some" file: I don't know what the deal is with my skin lately. My face is just exploding with zits. Ex-puh-loading. I had to slather a bucket of crap on my face (aka concealer, for the non makeup savvy. Not literal crap. That would be gross, and just weird.) to cover them for those pictures. I think the stress of the last few weeks, with Vietnam and then deciding to start over again, is working it's way out through my skin. I'm Forty-Freakin'-One years old, people!! When does the teenage acne crap stop? You know what's funny? I never had trouble with zits until I turned 21 (Why, yes, Michelle- that is funny )... At the age that signals the official beginning of adulthood, when most people are throwing their old Clearasil tubes in the trash, my face decided to unleash He** on me. I took that horrid Accutane crap when it first started (huge mistake), and have been on just about every other thing under the sun since. ENOUGH! I want clear skin before I die. I guess the upside of it is... oh, forget it. There is no upside.

Well, that was hardly blog-worthy, but that's never stopped me before. It's all I've got for today.

Ooh, one more thing. Darrell thinks I should hold off on changing the name of my blog. He wants me to wait and see what happens with the new adoption plan. He also thinks we should use the name Sam for either a boy or a girl... . And there's your first hint about the new program we've chosen: We are allowed to specify gender. But- we have decided to leave it open. The only reason we requested a boy in the VN program, was because we were told there were more people preferring girls and more boys available. I would rather have it be the way it is when you're pregnant- you get what you get and you like it.

So for those of you who would like to play the "Where in the World is Sam?" game, you've just received your first clue. Not a good clue, I know- but I'll give you better ones when we're ready to let the cat out of the bag. You can guess as many times as you want, I won't reveal the winner until all the clues are given. If you already know the answer because I've told you or because you belong to the Yahoo group for this program, don't spoil it for those who want to play! If you are able to guess the program from this one crappy clue, I will be amazed. So amazed that I just might send you a check for one million dollars -*Might* being the key word, there (say *one MILL-ion dollars* in your best Dr. Evil voice).

Okay, so the prizes in this game are... um... kinda nonexistent, but play anyway!