Motherhood vs Mother Nature

This week we received our travel itinery for China and it looks like July 27th will be Gracie's Gotcha Day! We travel to Beijing on July 23rd and then on to Nanning on July 26 to meet the new one.
In the meantime, we have some serious getting ready to do. Loads of paperwork of course. And we have to get another 50 people pregnant before boarding the plane. And we have to pack 2 weeks worth of supplies for the four of us, in three bags weighing less than 40 pounds each without using helium. But none of these tasks is as forboding as the one I face when I look out my windows because while I've been fussing about with all of this adoption stuff, mother nature has been having her way with our 70 by 280 foot property, seeding and growing on everything from our driveway to the fence. And the crows have eaten every cherry off my tree, spitting the seeds all over the driveway. The garbage and yard pickup people have been on strike for 9 weeks, and its getting pretty ugly around here.
We considered putting a FOR SALE sign up at the house but figured we would have to get the yard under control just so people could find the place. so we scratched that idea. So this weekend I waged war on mother nature power washing the driveway and resanding it, pulling weeds, cutting the lawns. By the time I finished sanding the end of the patio, weeds had already started growing where I started.
I have to admit that I miscalculated when planting our yard...we moved from Calgary where if you put three plants in, you get one to grow. In our current city, if you put three plants in, they will divide into 12 and seed most of the block before the next season. Our garden was going to be my retirement project...something to keep me out of trouble 12 hours a day. This plan however, has gone by the wayside since kids have appeared in our lives. And I've tried to be an organic gardener, but today I caught myself thinking about nasty solutions not excluding chainsaws, gasoline and matches. If my State Farm agent is reading this, I am just kidding, really...
But I will persist. If nothing else, it is a great distraction from counting down the minutes to Grace. This property is going to look like Wisteria Lane if it kills me or drives me to horticide. You know by the time I get on that plane, I will be a crazed woman with bug bites from head to toe and a couple of knees that no longer bend. But there is nothing to do on a 14 hour flight but sit, eat, drink, and sleep. It's like business class solitary confinement. Tony can't wait.