National Cornbread Festival

Rick and I attended the National Cornbread Festival this past weekend in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee. 'Betcha didn't even know there was such a thing! The weather was perfect, and the crowds were manageable. Approximately 44,000 folks attended last year's festival. I don't know about this year's count. Ironically, I didn't even have any cornbread the whole time I was there! Rick had pinto beans and cornbread for lunch and bought a bag of cracklin' corn bread to take home. I feasted on real kettle corn made in a huge vat and stirred with a big wooden paddle. Mmm, mmm, good! Sure beats microwave popcorn.

There was lots of Bluegrass music to be had, including some impromptu jam sessions. Rick and I toured the Lodge Cast Iron factory and brought home 19 items. Yes, we do like our cast iron!

Click the title of this entry to see more pictures from the exciting festival!

One Year Mark of LID

Today is the anniversary of our Log In Date (LID) with China. LID is the date when a waiting family's dossier is logged into the Chinese Database to wait for an adoption referral. At the time of our LID (April 10, 2007), the wait time for a referral was approximately 17 months from LID, which would have had us traveling to get Elianna in late Fall, 2008 (just 8 months from now!) The wait time now is close to three years, which would mean a travel date of approximately Summer, 2010, more than 2 years from now. Those wait times could increase even more, but our hope and prayer is that wait times will decrease, and we will travel to get our little girl sooner than later. She already has a Christmas stocking waiting for her!

This summer we will renew our home study, immigration paperwork, criminal background checks, etc. By the looks of things, we will have to renew everything at least one more time after that before we travel.

Hope

Bessie is the most hopeful dog I know. Surprisingly, she only does this when Rick cooks, not when I do. Hmmm.