papa was a rolling stone...

Okay, I have a pdf file with the article, but I'm too dumb to figure out how to make it appear as a post! I tried cutting and pasting - no dice. I tried importing it as a photo - no dice. Any thoughts?

Jimmy makes Rolling Stone

First of all, that's Kurt Cobain, not Jimmy, on the cover!

This is quite possibly the coolest thing that has happened to anybody in our family, but an interview with Jimmy was just published in the Brazilian Rolling Stone magazine. WOW!

The guy did the interview a month or so ago and we weren't sure it would be published, but it came out yesterday. WOW WOW!

I don't even read Rolling Stone magazine because I think you need to be way trendier than I am and know way more about music than I know, but I bought my first copy yesterday. It was wrapped in plastic and I asked the guy at the newstand if he had an opened copy (a la Barnes and Noble) that I could look through first. I didn't want to spend R$9 if this wasn't the right edition. He only had one plastic-wrapped magazine (apparently we live in the neighborhood where they sell more home magazines and less rock and roll magazines). So I bought it - and of course told him that my husband was in the magazine (I thought).

I walked nonchalantly down the street until I was out of his sight before ripping off the plastic to scan the table of contents. Jimmy was in the table of contents. WOW. It wasn't like he was part of some compilation article where he didn't get a mention. He had his own section with a page number.

It's a whole one-page article and you know Rolling Stone is an oversized magazine, so it's a lot of words and this very serious picture of him. He looks super-smart and official and handsome with his dark suit and fancy glasses.

When I found out about the interview, I immediately thought I might get to be in the magazine. Don't those magazines always have a picture of the couple lounging on their sofa in the fancy apartment, glass of wine in hand? Okay, well that was a fantasy. So then I asked if Jimmy could at least mention me in the article. Reportedly, he mentioned me six times in the interview (and he says he has the interview tape to prove it). But wouldn't you know I didn't get a single mention? Granted, the published interview didn't give a lot of opportunity to discuss me. The questions were about Obama's plans for diplomacy, the Taliban, the Amazon, Jimmy's role in Afghanistan and other matters of foreign relations. And I'm quite sure it would've been difficult to mention me in the context of those subjects. I mean, was he supposed to say "the US is engaged in Afghanistan to fight the atrocities of the Taliban, and did I mention my wife, Susan, doesn't wear a burqa?" Tough transition, you know?

We don't have a scanner but once I find a scanner, I'll scan the article and include it here. It's SO cool!

unnatural gait

My calf muscles are so sore today that when I first stand up to walk (even if I've only been sitting for 20 seconds), I can only walk with my knees bent. Is this natural? I think not.

nightly prayers

As we progress more fully in the adoption process, we continue to address with Mac what it will mean to bring home an African-born child in terms of race, this child's life as an orphan and his subsequent assimilation into a family, and Mac's adjustment from only-child status.

Tonight during prayers, as normal, we prayed that our child would feel our love all the way from Brazil to Ethiopia and that he would know we were preparing our hearts and our home for his arrival. I reminded Mac during the prayer that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" and that this meant God didn't just love America or Brazil but that God loved Africa, too. Mac interjected and said God loved even the aliens. My teachable moment was entirely lost on this precious 6 year-old. Yes, God does love the aliens too.

my birthday party

Jimmy threw me a fantastic birthday party last Wednesday night at the Hilton. I had such a great time celebrating with friends here; I wish I could have a party like that at least every other week. We had great food and the most delicious chocolate cake ever. Jimmy even thought to order chocolates from my favorite chocolate place as party favors for the ladies! How lucky am I?

random thoughts...

1. Mac is on a field trip today and he was SO excited to get up and out of the house this morning. Too bad I can't call everyday a Field Trip Day.

2. Mac has his Spring Picnic and Easter Party tomorrow at school. I bet tomorrow's wake-up will be just as easy as today's.

3. It's a very fast descent from happiest happy to saddest sad. A worse ride than Space Mountain at Disneyworld and I hate Space Mountain.

4. Jimmy helped organized and played in a charity softball tournament all day on Saturday. When we got back home, we ran by the grocery store and while he was parallel parking (and holding up traffic for approximately 20 seconds), some old guy yelled at him to "go back to his own country." That really stung me, especially after having spent the past 11.5 hours raising money for charity in this man's country. In 11 years of foreign service life, we've never been told to go back to our own country. Wow.

5. The trip to Rio last Thursday was successful. I had all my documents and the package was DHL'ed to Lima, Peru yesterday. The last immigration form Rio sent took Lima 6 months to approve. We are praying for a faster turnaround.

6. I had Round 2 with Carla, the Trainer, today. Tomorrow's going to be painful.

sore....but going to Rio

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. In fact, for a little while, I thought maybe I hadn't gotten my money's worth out of trainer Carla yesterday. Now here we are, a mere 7.5 hours after the alarm clock's ring, and I can barely move. Everything hurts. Even the parts that I didn't know she was working yesterday. OUCH!

In more pleasant and exciting news, I am going by myself to Rio tomorrow to the consulate to file our petition for advance approval to adopt an international orphan. I am so nervous about this. I've spent the last couple hours running around, making copies of documents and buying little plastic folders to keep all my documents organized.

And yes, to any State Department people reading, I have become that person who shows up at the consulate with reams of unnecessary paper. They ask you to bring your last Form 1040; I'm taking not only the last three Form 1040s, but also every supporting document that went into filing our taxes. We're talking 6 or 7 inches of paper just for that. I realize this is overkill and I don't intend to pull these documents out unless I'm asked. I have the "required" documents in one binder; two copies of every "required" document in another binder (overkill again, but you never know); and all my other Nervous Nellie documents in a third binder. There will be no need for anybody at the consulate to even know I've brought the Nervous Nellie documents. But if they need to see proof of rental income in 2005 from the beach condo we sold a year ago, I have got it. Better safe than sorry, I say.

I fly out at 9:55 tomorrow morning, supposedly landing in Rio at 10:55am. I intend to go to the Copacabana Palace Hotel to treat myself to a celebratory early lunch (celebratory because we've made it this far in the adoption process) by their spectacular pool and then I will go to the consulate for my 1pm appointment. I get back on a plane at 3:55pm and land in Sao Paulo at 5pm. Pray that all goes well and smoothly and without incident.

Also pray that with the current soreness in my body, I am physically able to carry my pounds of paper!:)