For Your Surfing Pleasure

Waiting for Arden (LID 8/26/5)

Bringing Kennedy Home (LID 8/31/5)

Linda and Danny (Dutch) (LID 8/31/5)

Petit Coeur de Chine (LID 9/2/5)

Bringing Home Olivia (LID 9/7/5)

Suereth Blog (LID 8/30/5)

Waiting for Lucy (LID 9/8/5)

Crazy about Cali (LID 9/5/5)

Journey to EmmiGrace (LID 8/30/05)

The Howells (LID 9/8/5)

The Sauers (LID 8/26/5)

Grendel’s Kitchen

Reggae got soul (LID 9/7/5)

Isabel Grace (LID 8/30/5)

Journey to Lily Grace (LID 8/30/05)

Fireworks and Fireflies (08/26/05)

Our Adoption Journey to Ada (8/31/05)

Miss Audrey (LID 8/26/05)

Towe (LID 8/31/5)

Babies Have Arrived

The latest batch of referrals arrived today. The official cut off date was September 8, 2005. Our agency received referrals for 8/30 & 8/31 LIDs, but doesn't have any September LIDs until the 12th.

They are about 6 weeks from our LID. If they continue to do 2 weeks of LIDs per month, then we're looking at about 3 months until our referral. IF, IF, IF... So, end of February? Beginning of March. Traveling over P's birthday?

Gosh, I have a lot to do. All those things I've been putting off because it seemed like our referral would take forever. Catch up on P's photo albums, etc., etc., etc.

Rumor Update

It's that time again. Rumors are beginning to swirl about the next batch of referrals. Last week people were saying that they'd heard all of September 05 LIDs would be included in the next batch. That would be lovely, but I don't think it's likely.

Now the rumors are that the cut off date is September 7. Big difference, huh? Last month's cut off was August 25, so that's almost 2 weeks. It's still better than those batches that came over the summer that covered less than a week.

We're in the process of renewing our I171H form that expires in the middle of February. This is the form that allows us to bring an orphan into the country. We need a new one if we won't complete travel before it expires. I'm thinking we won't be back from China by then! :) I think we may be lucky to have a referral by then.

So, should I start a betting pool on when we'll travel? Before P's birthday or after?

Thanksgiving Has Come and Gone

Well, it's the Friday after Thanksgiving. I am not shopping. I think I might injure someone if I were out there fighting the crowds. Actually, I may go to a couple of stores later this afternoon. I think it's less frustrating to shop on this particular day if there isn't something particular that you are looking for. Randomly wandering around isn't so bad.

We've had quite a week. Last weekend's celebration with my family went really well. It was great visiting with everyone. P had a blast playing with her cousins. My brother and A cut shelves to go into a closet for more storage. Mind you I bought the shelves at Ikea about 6 months ago, but hey, they are FINALLY in!

We also cleaned up the guest room, actually set up a bed in it and moved out the spare furniture that was in there. We've had the bed for several years, but it's spent the last couple in the garage. We bought a mattress set this week and had to alter it to fit in the frame (I'll post pics later).

Our small group from church came over Wednesday night for Mexican food and 'ritas. Ours is an extra small group with only 3 couples (and 4 children - at this point). It was great, and I got a baby fix (N is 13 months and E is 3.5 months).

Yesterday, A's family came over to celebrate Thanksgiving. It's so funny to compare my family with A's. They are opposites. Mine (my parents and my brother's family of 6) is so quiet that A doesn't know what to do with himself, and A's family (his parents, sister and nephew) is so NOT quiet that my dear no-stop talker P said, "Guys, can we just get quiet and eat?" We had fun though, and P got to play with another cousin. A's parents actually stayed with us over night since there is a bed now in the guest room instead of a futon.

Today, I'm enjoying the relative silence of only two non-stop talkers in the house and counting my blessings of all the wonderful people in my life.

Enjoying Life

I saw this picture on a yahoo group, and couldn't resist sharing it.

I've been stressing a little bit this morning because I'm finally recognizing how much I need to do between now and tomorrow afternoon when my family comes over to celebrate Thanksgiving. I've been pretty laid back about it all week, because it's my family and they are pretty low maintenance. As long as I make mincemeat pie, my dad and brother will be happy.

So now I'm thinking, "Gee, I guess I ought to take all of the Halloween stuff back upstairs so that it can go back into the attic" and "Hmm, might want to sweep up the dog hair" and "I should probably go buy food aside from the pie fixin's".

A on the other hand is planning to take an early lunch and go see the new Bond flick.

So, do I clean or go to the movie in the middle of the day with hubby?

Beautiful Things Can Come In the Mail

I had a bit of a book shopping spree last week. Most of them have been trickling in. Today I received several from Amazon (more on those books in a later post) and two books from Half the Sky(http://www.halfthesky.org/) arrived today! They are beautiful. One is Good Morning China, the other is mei mei, little sister, portraits from a Chinese orphanage. I slowly paged through both of them and I'm about to do it again. The watercolors in Good Morning China are so pretty, I can't even describe them. This particular one is a special edition that Half the Sky is selling until the end of the year. The binding is a traditional handmade Chinese binding. I love it!
Mei Mei is wonderful for totally different reasons. The entire book is black and white portraits of children in orphanages. They are breath taking, smile inducing and tear jerking all at once.

If you haven't visited Half the Sky's website, go visit. It's a wonderful organization created by families who have adopted from China. They do some great work!

Shots, But Not The Good Kind

I went today and started the round of various vaccinations that are recommended for going to China. Today was Hep A and Hep B, next month it's MMR and another round of one of the Heps and maybe a Tetanus. Then, it all started running together. As long as the doctor's office keeps up with it, I'll be OK. They also took some blood to "check my MMR titers". I need to get online and find out what that means. All it meant today was that I had to have blood drawn - which is worse than a shot as far as I'm concerned. It was all made better because I got a Bugs Bunny Band-Aid on one arm, and a Tazmanian Devil Band-Aid on the other arm. P, very sweetly, asked me if I also got a sucker. Alas, no.

Before all the shooting and drawing, I went to the gym! There's a new LA Fitness near us (probably less than a mile). I went and looked around last week and went back to join yesterday. My friend and yogi, S, went with me while I signed up after dragging me out of my house to go to a yoga class somewhere else. So I had a lovely yoga class yesterday (thanks, S) and a treadmill and weights session today.

What will tomorrow bring?

More Babies!!

I love the story on this website about choosing a name (and I love the music - you can't beat Astrud): Journey to Jinji
A Look on the Bright Side
Emsley
Journey to Isabelle
Journey to Eden
Journey to Mia
Journey to Lindsey
Journey to Mia
Bringing Sarah Joy Home

Babies With New Families and Vice Versa

Go take a peek at some of the little cuties:

Our next adventure
Our Journey to Madison Mei
San Diego Seigels
Amy’s Space
Sebago Girl
The Three Miracles
Camille Chronicles
Three’s a Charm
Waiting for Michella
Lindsey’s MeiMei (Music)
Our Journey to Abbey Road
Journey to Emilia
Emily
To Tess & Back
Moon Pies and Moon Cakes
Our Family Journey (Music)
Malia
Caroline on my Mind
Our Journey to Baby Shanahan
Sara
T&G’s Red Thread
Journey to Tinkerbelle
Our Journey to Megan
Our Journey to Cate

Official Cut Off Date

Well, it's official. The cut off date for referrals that are supposed to arrive today is 8/25/05. We are getting closer. I'm pretty excited because 8/24/05 was a big day for log ins, so there is a glimmer of hope that MAYBE the number of referrals per month is on the rise.

We'll get there.....

Babies Due Tomorrow

Our agency has sent out an email saying that referrals are on their way. Yay. They cover dossiers that were logged in August 24, 2005. This is pretty good news. There were a LOT of dossiers logged in August 24. The hope is that the CCAA didn't split the day an only send referrals for some, but not all of the people logged in.

This also means that the wait is holding, tenuously, at about 14 months. Which leads to yet another rumor bouncing around.

There is a rumor that someone with a log in date of 10/24/05 was told by their agency to look for a December referral. That would include us. And that, in my opinion, would be a miracle. Major, divine intervention, full on miracle. So, I'm not convinced that it is humanly possible, and I'm not holding my breath.