Judy and Don Have Marlee!

It is just so amazing that all of these people I've "met" online, who I feel like I know, are finally in China getting their babies.

Judy and Don, who have grown children - one of whom is in Iraq, but will be on his way home soon, are in China right now and finally have their dear Marlee. She's adorable!

Click on their names and see for yourself.

You May Need Kleenex

Go read this blog. It's over in the list on the right, but they are in China now and just got their baby. The mom couldn't travel, so it's the dad and one of their sons. The dad's post is awesome.

Did I just say awesome?

And Just Because...

You know, the pics I posted on referral day have gone off of the first page of the blog, so...

The Things You Forget

I'm starting to realize a few things. Did you know that just because you had a baby almost six years ago doesn't mean that you have any clue what to do when faced with bringing home a ten month old?

We were at lunch with friends yesterday who have a baby girl that is 2 1/2 weeks younger than Jiayin. Every time I look at her I just can't believe that's how big our baby is like right now. When my friend took out the baby food to feed her (oranges and what?) I suddenly thought, can't I just feed her table food?

I was talking to A last night about it after he had just made P a peanut butter sandwich. I guess we can't just make 2 peanut butter sandwiches to feed the girls dinner, huh? We just started laughing the idea of all the things we've kind of forgotten about that P can do on her own. All at once I'm thinking, "what was I thinking?!" and "I can't wait!"

So, I'm off to Gerber.com to find out what it is babies are eating these days.

Nursery Pictures...Finally

The nursery is pretty close to done. We need to take those things in the pictures that don't belong out of the room. We need to put a few baby toys in. Oh, and we need the baby!

Better Left to the Professionals

Way back in the summer of 2005, I sent an email around to several friends asking them to contribute a square of fabric to make a quilt for the baby. The quilt is called a "100 Good Wishes Quilt." There is a Chinese tradition to welcome a new baby where a quilt was made out of the clothes of friends and family to wrap the baby in good wishes.

I received a few pieces, then joined a quilt square exchange on one of the adoption yahoo groups I belong to. Allen's mom brought a treasure trove of pieces of clothing from several relatives on Allen's side of the family. Add to that several quilt squares that my mom had that were fabric from clothes that she'd made me in childhood, and getting 100 squares was no problem.

Summer 2006 arrived and my mother and I finally got together and sewed together the quilt topper. Now, it's March 2007. The quilt topper is in danger of being a wedding present to our newly referred daughter. Last weekend, a friend of mine told me about a local store where I could take the topper and they would magically turn it into a quilt. A friend's mom, well also a friend, had offered to sit down with me and help me turn this topper into a full-fledged quilt. While I'd still love to sit down with her and learn to quilt, I just didn't see it happening anytime soon.

So, I left the topper in the hands of an able professional, picked out fabric for the back and will go back in about a month to get it. A month may seem like a while, but really, I still have a blanket I started crocheting for P WHEN I WAS PREGNANT WITH HER IN 2000 that I haven't finished yet. A month is nothing.

In other news, our agency sent our acceptance to China today. Now another countdown begins - waiting for travel approval.

Also, go check out this blog. These people are in China now getting their precious girl.

One More Step

Today, we sent our acceptance letter to our agency. There were two documents to sign, actually. One for the agency, and one for the CCAA . We actually had to check a box saying that we accept the child assigned to us.

We spoke last night to a doctor in Denton that knows a thing or two about international adoption. He had reviewed a copy of the medical records that our agency sent to us. He confirmed that all of Jiayin's medical info looks great. He said that her weight at 5 months was in the 75th percentile on the Chinese girl growth charts. That's a first for us. We were happy that P was finally up to the 50th percentile at her 5th birthday.

We had a little party over the weekend to celebrate the referral. We had a few friends over to pop open the bottle of Dom sent to us by some out of state friends a year or two ago. So, it was like they were here, too. It was a nice celebration.

So, our next stept in this process is....waiting. We are now waiting for travel approval (TA) from the Chinese government. Others from our agency who received their referrals at the beginning of February had about a 4 week wait for TA's, so I'm assuming ours will be something similar. Then we wait a little bit longer for a Consulate appointment, THEN we'll know when we are actually to China to bring home our baby!

More Referrals

More cute little faces:

Journey to Baby Lexi - Lexi, 9 mos, Guangdong
Our Heart's Desire - Fu Baohong, 9 mos, Fuling SWI, Chongqing
A Child Born in the East - Fu Fang Qi, 17 mos, Hunan
Sophie Elizabeth - Feng Xiao Jia, 8 mos,
2 Cranky Cats - Jin Chun Xiao, 11 mos, Jiangxi
Sophie May Qian - Wu Huiqian, 14 mos, Gansu
Meili - You Fu Lai, 14 mos, Sichuan
Our Journey to Jae Lyn Feng Xiao Jie, 7 mos, Feng Cheng SWI, Jiangxi
Lovin' Cora-li Lian Bao Lu, 11 mos, Lianjiang SWI, Guangdong
Journey to Alexis Fu Baofan, 10 mos, Fuling SWI, Chongqing
Journey to Faith Yangxi Zi Zi, 6 mos, Yangxi, Guangdong province
Baby Makes 3 Lian Zhi Hui, 9 mos, Lianjiang SWI, Guangdong

Where Is Jiayin?

Where, oh where, is my Yin Yin? Below is a map of China. At the bottom right, sorry Southeast, edge of the country is a purple colored province. That is Guangdong. The province where she is waiting.



The next picture is of Guangdong Province only. Well, mostly. If you look a little to the Northwest of Macau, you will see Jiangmen. That is the city where her orphanage is.

She's already a southern girl! Living near several rivers that run to the South China Sea. I can't wait to see it.

More Referrals!!

OK, I guess Miss Jiayin can share the spotlight with a few other babies. It only seems fair.

Shania - Fu Bao Jun, 14 mos, Fuling SWI Chongqing
Waiting for Melina - Lian Ai Ning, 7 mos, Guangdong
Journey to Lindsey - Lindsey Jean Zhi-bin, 10 mos, Guangdong
Journey to Jaiden - Ling Qian Huhan, 10 mos, Jiangxi province
For Zoey - Jin Chun Hua, 11 mos, Jiangxi
Meaghan Grace - Zhu Min Zhu, 14 mos, Guangdong
Table for 6 - Xi Zhen Rong, 7 mos, Kunming SWi, Yunnan
Ainsley's MeiMei - Yue Meng Ru, 7 mos, Jiangxi
Christiana - Fu Bao Fang, 9 mos, Fuling SWI, Chongqing
Countdown to Caroline! - Ling Cha Jian, 8 mos, Jiangxi
Have Yet to Decide Her Name - Baohong Fu, 10 mos, Fuling SWI, Chongqing
Journey to Caty - Huang Wang Cui, 7 mos, Hubei
Emily & Rachel's Dad - daughter, 12 mos, Gunagdong
Our Magical Mystery Tour - Fu Hao Huang, 21 mos, Hubei
Bringing Home Peanut - Feng Xiaojiong, 7 mos, Fengcheng SWI, Jiangxi
Here's Isabelle! - Isabelle, 14 mos, Chongqing
Journey to Maya Lily - Lian Bao Yan, 11 mos, Guangdong
And Mia Makes 3 - Feng Xiao Lei, 8 mos, Jiangxi

Here She Is!!

I just can't believe it.

It's a Girl!

The call came at 2:00!

Here's what we know:

She is 7 1/2 months old! Her name is Xin, Jia Yin (nickname Yin Yin). In December, at 5 months, she weighed 15 pounds! She is in Guangdong province. She has chubby cheeks and no hair. We haven't seen a picture yet, but will receive one later today.

TODAY'S THE DAY!!

We received word from our agency this morning that referrals are on their way and should arrive in their office today. Once received the agency will call all families this afternoon with the good news. We will also receive a picture via email.

I will post everything when we receive it. It could be late this afternoon.

I can't believe it's finally here! I can't breathe.

I am happy to say that the LID group right after us is also included in this batch of referrals. Their documents actually went to China the week before ours, but were logged in the week after ours. Last week it looked like they would not be included.

Do The Crazy Dance With Me

Oh, come on. Don't act like you don't know the steps.

I haven't heard anything from our agency so far today. Two people on a yahoo group with Oct. 27, 05 LIDs said they've been told they're not in. They did not say how their agencies knew that. They did say that their agencies didn't know the official cut off date.

What this says to me is that there IS a cut off date. Which means they are wrapping up matching. WHICH MEANS next week is looking better and better for referrals. That's what I've been assuming, but I have seen a few rumors that it could be 2 weeks before referrals arrive. I'm choosing to stick with past experience with our agency and hoping that common sense will somehow factor in.

Whenever I hear something like referrals could not be here for 2 more weeks, my first thought is "there's no reason for that." Then I remember that several times throughout this process, there has been no rhyme or reason for all kinds of things.

To quote the late Uncle J, "It is what it is."

I will post any updates if I get any.

Almost Through Another Week

So, here it is late on Thursday night. It has been a long and tiring week.

Uncle J's funeral was today. It was a lovely service. That sounds cliche, but it was nice hearing what a strong, brave, and faith-filled person he was all the way to the end.

There are no more adoption rumors to report from today. It's probably a good thing that most of my day was otherwise occupied, or I would have been glued to my computer hitting refresh on my email and my yahoo groups.

Our agency sent an email saying they are trying to get any and all information that they can on referrals and hope to have an update tomorrow. If we hear anything, I will definitely post it.

I'm going on a women's retreat this weekend. The timing couldn't be better. I didn't decide to go until a couple of weeks ago, and boy am I glad I did. Hopefully it will recharge my reserves for the anticipated joyous news next week.

It's The Last Day of February...

...do you know where the children are?

OK, I'm just a bit anxious. No, not anxious. Flipping out? Yeah, that's more like it.

I still have no ideas of when referrals will arrive. Phoebe assures me that we'll see her sister's picture tomorrow. I don't know if she has an inside track, but I'm not holding my breath.

I haven't seen any rumors about when referrals will arrive. I really miss the Rumor Queen, but hey, what are you gonna do? Rumors are starting to swirl about where she actually is.

I emailed our agency yesterday asking if there was any reason to hope that there would be a batch of referrals this week. They don't know, but are staying in contact with the Beijing office awaiting any word.

UPDATE: We received an email from our agency at about 9:30 this morning that the next batch should include our LID. We assumed that, but it's nice to see it in writing. The email seemed to indicate that there were no LIDs after ours, which makes me a bit sad. Allen pointed out that when they've sent similar emails in the past, referrals usually arrive the next week.

I will post when I have heard anything new, rumor or otherwise.

So close...

Emotional Rollercoaster

As you know, we are getting nearer and nearer to our referral. It's so amazing that we are finally here. I'm not holding my breath that they will be here this week, but I'll probably go a bit nutty if they don't come next week. I'm getting so excited and can't wait to see our baby!

At the other end of the emotion spectrum, I'm very sad to say that A's uncle passed away this morning. He's been fighting cancer and had beaten it, only to have it come back and spread. Aside from the loss of a loved one, there are a couple of things that make this particularly difficult.

First, he was so excited about our adoption. He had been to China for work several years ago and spent an extended amount of time there. He couldn't wait to see us go and to see our baby. I so wanted him to see her. We talked about it whenever we saw him over the past couple of years. I really enjoyed talking to him about China.

The other thing that makes this particularly hard is Phoebe. Last year at Uncle J's 60th birthday party, P just latched on to him like nobody's business. She told everyone "he's my GREAT uncle!" Then she announced that she wanted to sit beside him at dinner. She did sit beside him and talked to him ALL NIGHT! She was so well behaved, even when other kids got bored waiting for food. She was thrilled to be able to sit right next to him and talk and talk.

Last night, we told P that Uncle J was very sick. She asked if he was going to die. When we told her that he might, she started sobbing. She said she wanted to see him again and that she didn't want him going anywhere! She cried again last night when we put her to bed and prayed for Jesus to make him well.

My poor girl. This is her first experience with death. I know she'll come through it. I know she'll probably run and play with her cousins after the funeral. It's just going to be a rollercoaster for her.

One Week Down

So, I've managed to make it through the week. The CCAA was closed all week for Chinese New Year. Happy New Year, by the way. The month of March starts next week. We may have "March Madness" that has nothing to do with basketball.

I'm not convinced referrals will come next week, though I'd be thrilled. Will they or won't they? Do-do-do-do-do. Hmmmmm

The website that I (and the rest of my fellow October LIDers) have been relying on for rumors, has been quiet. The "Rumor Queen" has been on hiatus, supposedly out of town for work. I'm wondering if she's out of the country being united with her baby girl. I don't know if families go to China during Chinese New Year, but it's just too coincidental. How dare she go anywhere when I'M desperate for rumors?! The gall of some people! :)

So, I may not be able to post about any rumors this time around. You never know. Maybe the "Rumor Queen" will return from her business trip this weekend just in time for referrals.

Sigh. Someone knock me over the head!

Oh, and I do actually have pics of the mostly finished baby's room. I just need to get them posted. I will do it soon.

OK, Referrals Can Come Now

Back in December, we filed for the renewal of our 171H. This is the form from our government that allows us to bring an orphan into the country. We initially filed for this in May 2005 and received our 171H in August 2005. It expired last week.

When we refiled in December, we were told it would take about 60 days to process. It took just under that, so I'm excited. They even needed an addendum from our social worker at the end of January, and still did it in less than 60 days.

I think this could be a big reason why it's been OK in my mind that referrals haven't come. I had a fear that there would be a big delay in getting this form which could delay our travel once our referral arrives. Now that this little bit of worry has been taken care of, let the referrals start pouring in!!!!

I'm Feeling Much Better Now

Well, I'm on my way to being excited. Thanks in large part to my friend Sarah, who called last night to share the seemingly simple fact that February is already half way over. She was so excited upon having this realization that she had to call to get me excited. As she said, it does in fact seem like I JUST posted those referrals that came February 1st and two weeks have passed. Only 2 or 3 weeks to go for us.

That's just crazy. Without Chinese New Year thrown in, I'd say for sure it would only be 2 weeks. I don't know how Chinese New Year is going to effect the timing. Last year, CNY was January 29. There were referrals January 4, January 25 and February 25. From that, it looks entirely possible that the next batch won't be effected by CNY and will come in just 2 weeks. With CCAA closed for a week, it seems like there would be a delay. Hmmm.

Jeez. Now's the time when I start babbling incoherently.

Has it Really Almost Been a Week?

What can I say? There just isn't a whole lot going on right now.

I'm still feeling a bit unprepared. I'm actually kind of trying to psych myself up for this whole "here's your baby" thing. I guess after 2 years of being in this process, I have just tried to keep the excitement down. AND my excitement has been quashed by the length of time and life in general happening.

I need to start repeating daily "We'll get her picture in less than a month" or "She'll be home by summer". Is it anxiety about having 2? Is the anxiety winning over and keeping the excitement down? After so many months of trying not to think about it, here I am less than a month away and I can't manage to finish the nursery or go to Babies R Us to register. NO, I'm actually not registered anywhere for anything.

Would it help if we had a name picked out? Would that help me think of her in more concrete terms? Does God have a surprise boy picked out for us, and that's why I'm not in love with any names?

This weekend, I walked around holding my 6 month old (where has the time gone?) god-daughter. She is just a beautiful, sweet child that I love to hold and kiss the top of her head. As I walked around, I thought (aside from all the sweet, loving thoughts) "My back hurts. Heaven help me, how I'm I going to do this all the time?"

Is this the down before the extreme high? I think maybe I ought to ramp up so that the high is easier to maintain. The referral pics from the last batch didn't really help me get excited. I love seeing those beautiful pictures. They bring tears to my eyes to think of all the happy families.

It wasn't even that we weren't in that batch. I didn't expect to be, and that was really all right with me.

I know that when it is our turn in a few weeks, I will be extremely happy and excited. But it's not happening just yet.

Somebody send me some baby love excitement.

I Don't Want to Brag, but...

No, I'm not going to brag.

This morning, we had our family interview at the school Phoebe WILL be going to next year. We found out how she did on the test she took a couple of weeks ago. She did very well. We are extremely proud of her, because she did her best and it showed. If you want to know the details of how she scored, email me and I'll be more than happy to spill everything.

We are excited about the new school. They have a great curriculum and philosophy. I'm a little anxious about the homeschool aspect of it, but I know we can do anything we put our minds to. It's such a fantastic opportunity for Phoebe and for me. After A & I went to the informational meetings in December, we both left thinking "I wish my school had been like that. I wish I'd been taught like that."

I'm going to miss the school P goes to now...well, until little sister enrolls in a year or so. It's a fantastic school and she has learned so much there. But beyond that, she has been so loved and nurtured there. Each year, her teachers have been so loving and caring. Beyond school subjects, P has learned to be loving and caring as well.

Can You Say Calm AFTER the Storm?

Last week was a wonderful week. I love the anticipation right before referrals arrive and the frenzy that occurs when they DO arrive.

Now we have about a month to get ourselves ready for the next round. Fasten your seatbelts.

Today I had a conference with P's Kindergarten teacher. She used words like "passion", "enthusiasm", "animated", "free spirit". No surprises. I was happy to find out that P is getting better at focusing on, and finishing her work in a timely manner in class. Her teacher did tell me that sometimes for work, P has to be separated away from the others. Apparently, even if P sits next to a child who isn't a "talker", that child becomes a talker. It's like magic.

I'm also finding that P has a pretty firm grasp of sarcasm for a 5 year old. I have no idea where she gets that. Yesterday, I put a "My Little Pony" band-aid on her foot and she asked me which Pony it was. They have names? Anyway, I told her I didn't know, but I'd look to see if it was on the band-aid. I leaned over and looked at the band-aid and said "Nope. Not there." She said with a smile,"Her name's 'nope not there?" That's my girl.

P's teacher told me today that last week, the teacher had left the room for a second and another teacher came in. She and P had a conversation about something, then the other teacher asked P if she was Mrs. W (her teacher). P's response was "Do I look like Mrs. W?" Alrighty then.

Other Things Happened This Week, Too

Just to make sure you're caught up.

This was P Monday morning, well part of her anyway:




Notice the second row of teeth?





Turns out the girl has a bit of shark in her. Must come from her dad's side. He is an attorney after all (love you, honey). OK, there are only 2 extra teeth. Her two bottom middle permanent teeth decided they were going to come on out, but were nice enough not to push the babies out. Hence, my shark girl. She had an appointment on Monday for a cleaning anyway, so while we were there...P got her first taste of nitrous. I'll spare you the "after" pics because not only are they close ups of the inside of a 5 year old's mouth, they feature bloody pits where the baby teeth were. P went through the whole thing just fine. She wasn't bothered at all. And there was the added bonus of the visit from the Tooth Fairy Monday night.

On a more serene note, we woke up this morning to this:

An actual blanket of snow fell overnight. We rarely get actual snow here, so it was a really nice change. We usually get ice that makes the roads a bit dangerous and people a bit nutty. But this...this "snow"... it made everything really pretty and "Winter Wonderland-y" AND the roads were clear. Apparently, even on the dry roads, some people felt the need to drive slowly because of all the snow on the grass, but for the most part things are running smoothly.

While I was out taking pics this morning, I came across this:

I'm ready for my close up.
I'm not fat, I'm just poofy.

Ah, It's been a good week.

More New Arrivals

Belzma
Journey to Jaci
Bottles and Bones
The Stephensons
Bringing Libby Home
It’s time to fly….
Jonna & Joelle
Karenca
The Silk Road to Siena

The official cut-off date for these referrals has been posted on the CCAAs website. Referrals went thourgh 10/13/05, so they did about 2 weeks' worth of referrals. Let's hope they at least finish off October in the next batch.

*The picture above is from a card from Love Without Boundaries .

Parents Who Are Expecting In This Batch

Our Journey to Marlee
Kaffee Klatsch
kb8wfh's Harmonics
Katiebugs Journey
Natalie
A China Journey
Jessica Faith
Bringing Home Hua Feng
Thomas Blog
and Autumn makes six
Three Peanuts
China Stork
Love Internationale
Born in our Hearts
Bringing home Hannah
Granola Girl
Frostography

Referrals Have Arrived!

I'm happy to say that referrals have finally arrived. No one is sure of the cut-off date, though it is somewhere between Oct. 13th and Oct. 16th. It's such an exciting day to see the joy from all of the yahoo group friends I've made. I can't wait to see pictures.

I will post links to websites of those "expecting" this time around as soon as I can. People with our agency should receive pics via email today, others may take a day or two.

I LOVE referral day! Next batch, I'll be a basket case.

Packages and more packages

Our agency emailed again today to let everyone know that "the package" I mentioned in yesterday's post was, in fact, not full of referrals. They apologized for getting everyone's hopes up, although they never said they were sure the package contained referrals. They said that they "hoped" it did. I know, not being in this batch it is probably easier for me to not be annoyed. There may be others who are annoyed, but I hope that doesn't last long.

The agency email went on to say that the CCAA had mailed another package yesterday and one more today and, again, they REALLY hope that one of these contains referrals. These packages should arrive this week, so hopefully that means referrals will arrive this week.

Folks, I don't know what I'm going to be like next month. I may need assistance completing my daily errands, etc. Hopefully I'll be able to drive from point A to point B without taking out pedestrians or other cars due to my distracted state of mind. Carrying on a meaningful conversation may be right out.

The Referrals MAY Be On Their Way

No one is quite sure when referrals will arrive. There are rumors that they have already been sent, but the CCAA is not confirming this.

Our agency sent an email this morning saying that the CCAA would not say whether referrals had been mailed (remember that policy change from a couple of months ago?). Our agency did say that there was a package on the way to them from the CCAA, but they receive a package from the CCAA every week. The are cautiously optimistic that this package contains referrals, but they can neither confirm nor disconfirm this.

Hopefully, the package does contain referrals. If so, they should arrive tomorrow or Thursday. Hopefully we'll be seeing pics of babies soon.

What Will the Day Bring?

There are no rumors yet on when referrals will be sent. All hope is that they will arrive this week. It's possible they won't be mailed until Friday, which would have them arriving next week. (By the way, next month at this time, the above sentences will look something like this: slosd' ifl ijhweljlskdj hblah jjd dsijflj *#&@ oiej ejrlje duh, drool)

There still isn't a firm cut-off date. Still just speculation. It isn't looking good for referrals going through 10/17/05 LIDs, but they should go through sometime in the teens.

When I know something I'll post it.

Meanwhile, P went for testing on Friday at the school she's going to attend next year. She was there for 2 hours and did fine, I'm sure. Personally, I was nervous the whole time. We'll go for a family interview on Wednesday of next week at which point we'll see how she did. As I said, I'm sure she did fine. It's not the SATs and she's pretty smart if I do say so myself.

Over the weekend, the cleaning continued - in a "it gets messier before it gets better" kind of way. We totally rearranged and cleaned out the office - cause that's where the new baby will be spending sooo much time. I know, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it feels so much better in there now.

On the red tape front, we received a notice from USCIS asking for an addendum to our home study update. The upside of this is that they are actually processing our documents. The downside is our social worker apparently didn't indicate HOW she got the updated information from us. It seems odd to me, and a little picky, but hey. She's on the case and will get that sent off to them in the next day or two. Hopefully they will be satisfied and we'll receive our renewed I171H shortly. Last time around, they asked for an addendum 2 1/2 months after receiving our application. This time, it was only a month. So that makes me feel a little better. Not as good as not needing an addendum, but good.

So, how you doin'?

For Your Entertainment

Rumors and Expectations

Well the rumors are starting to swirl. The referrals are expected next week. They are expected to go up to LIDs somewhere between October 13, 2005 and October 17, 2005.

Our agency sent an email this morning saying that their next batch of referrals should include the 2 LIDs before ours. I don't know when the official cut-off date will be, but for our agency the batch of referrals that arrives at the beginning of February will go through October 11, 2005.

Yes, we're next .... Weeee're so next! Our referral should arrive in March. Chinese New Year begins February 18 and usually the CCAA is closed for a week. I don't know how this will affect "our" batch of referrals. Last year, the CCAA actually sent 2 batches in January - one at the beginning of the month, and one around the 25th; then one around the end of February. There is speculation that there could be another batch before Chinese New Year, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Either way, I'll probably be a babbling idiot around this time next month, just wondering when, when, WHEN??

No News Is...Uh, No News

Well, it's that time of the month. That quiet time right smack in the middle of referral batches where no one has heard anything.

This week has really been an odd one. Monday, P didn't have school because of the holiday (not to mention hazardous roads conditions). She went to school Tuesday. Then, no school again Wednesday, this time JUST for the ice on the roads. Today is Thursday. P went to school. I was going to IKEA with S. After doing carline at P's school, I called S - she and her chilluns are sick. No IKEA. So, home again home again. What shall I do with all this alone time?

Nothing. P's teacher called around 10:15 and said P wasn't her usual self. So, P's at home. Again. Today. She's disappointed because she was supposed to go to a friend's house after school and now that isn't going to happen. I'm trying to force her to rest. She really doesn't seem that bad.

Anyhoo, there is nothing to report on the referral front - although I DID have a dream the other night that Homeland Security asked us for a monthly income sheet in order to process our documents. That's not actually something they need in the real world. I guess I just need a little worry. The thing is that I keep thinking we really will be in the March referral batch. That will make everything a little less stressful on the form processing front. If we're in the February batch, I may stress about when our new form will arrive. See, the US Consulate in China is now requiring agencies to verify parents' expiration dates for their I171H AND their fingerprints. We won't have that information until we receive the new form. I just don't even want to worry about whether we'll have that info when needed by the Consulate.

Here's an idea: I just won't worry. (HA) What has worrying gotten me in the past? Nowhere.

NO Worries Here... That's me!

Let the Cleaning Begin!

Last night we FINALLY got the Christmas decorations out of the baby's room and put back into the attic. Heaven help us, I don't know where we are going to put the storage boxes, etc. during Christmas next year. We'll figure that out when we get there.

Today, I cleaned up the rest of her room....Mostly. I have maternity clothes that I loaned to a friend's daughter that I need to go through and sort. Some will go to a friend and the rest I will bag up for the local charity. Apparently, I won't be wearing those again. But, that's ok.

I made a short list of things that I need to do to get the room presentable. Kind of a first round of cleaning/decorating. Then we'll see what needs to be done from there. Maybe I'll finally get some pictures up of an almost completed nursery.

I keep eyeing the refrigerator, the pantry, and the junk drawers (still haven't gotten to those) as things that need to be cleaned out. Why the sudden need to go through and toss expired medicine? It's not something I've set aside time to do before. P's closet, the playroom, MY closet, the OFFICE (yes dear, I know)...the list goes on and on.

And it must all be done now.

OK, I Hadn't Thought of That!

I've been cruising along with no expectations (really!) of getting a referral in the next batch.

Now some smarty pants on one of my Yahoo groups had to go and remind everyone that in October 2005, as with every October, the CCAA was closed for a the first week for a national holiday. Here I am thinking, "Oh there are 3 weeks' worth of LIDs until they get to ours. There's no way we'll be in the next batch." Now you take the first week of October out of the equation and it gets the mind wondering (and wandering).

Again, September 29 last year was a big day, so that will affect things, but is it possible....

Let's not fully go there. I'm still keeping my sights on the batch after the next one, but this does raise some questions for me.

Say a Prayer

I'd like to ask anyone who regularly reads this blog to say a little prayer for the Holland family. Fr. David is our priest. His wife, Gina, passed away Saturday evening after a short fight with pancreatic cancer.

She was such a wonderful person with a laugh that filled a room. She successfully battled breast cancer about a year and a half ago. She faced it and came through it with grace. She also faced this battle with grace and strength facing what she knew were tough odds.

We will all miss Gina and her laugh, her strength, her courage, her giving spirit.

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Magi at Kaffe-Klatch, so I thought I'd play along. She probably thought I wasn't playing, but I've just been a bit under the weather.

A - Available or Taken: Taken
B - Best Friend: Sue
C - Cake or Pie: Pie - Something chocolate and gooey
D - Drink of Choice: Water, Bailey's, Guinness
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday: Computer
F - Favorite Color: Purple
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Gummy Lifesavers!
H - Hometown: Grew up in Longview, Now Highland Village
I - Indulgence: Shoes & Purses
J - January or February: January - wedding anniversary!!
K - Kids and Names: Phoebe, 5 & Little sister TBD
L - Life Incomplete Without: Family and Friends
M - Marriage Date: 1/7/89
N - Number of Siblings: 1 brother
O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P - Phobias or Fears: Small spaces
Q - Favorite Quote: Sometimes destiny doesn't give us what we ask for so that it can give us more than what we ask for.
R - Reason to Smile: My Phoebe girl
S - Season: Fall
T - Tag 5 People: Heather, Judy, Terri, Krista, and Erin
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I'd love to get paid for painting pictures.
V - Veggie You Don't Like: Lima beans
W - Worst Habit: Not taking chances
X - X-rays: ?
Y - Your Favorite Food: Snickers, Pasta
Z - Zodiac: Virgo

You Just Keep Thinking That

Only a slight annoyance?

Since I didn't get a response from CIS about whether we really needed to go get fingerprinted for a third time, I decided that I wasn't going to slow down this process by waiting on them for a response. This morning, we went down to the same fingerprint location where we've gone the last 2 times.

The first time, in June 2005, I seem to remember taking a while. The last time, in September 2006, was quick. It lulled me into a false sense of .... something. Anyway, today we got there just before 11am. They are open on Saturdays 8-2. We were given our numbers. Allen was 611, & I was 612. 11am - They're on 595. That doesn't seem too bad. 12 noon, they're on 610. Not bad, not bad.... 1 pm - They're on 610. Bad. Very bad. Apparently, and I can't necessarily prove this, at 12 noon, everyone in back that was doing the fingerprinting went to lunch. Sure when their lunch hour was over at 1, there was only another hour that the office was open, but darn if they didn't enjoy that full lunch hour anyway!

Like I said, I can't prove they all went to lunch, but they didn't call a single person back during that hour. We, of course, were not allowed any food or drink while waiting. 1pm comes around, they start calling numbers again. Nobody in the chairs waiting in the back for printing. They call enough numbers to fill up the chairs. There were 2 people working/waiting to start taking prints. Allen mentioned to his guy the seeming lunch break and of course his guy said nobody took a lunch break. Of course over the course of the 15 minutes we were getting printed, 4 or 5 employees came in with to go cups looking like they'd gone to lunch and a few of them went "back" to work.

I know people gotta eat. Heck, I was pretty hungry myself! It would have been nice if they had just come out and said, "Hey look, we're not going to work for an hour. If you want to walk next door and grab a bag of chips and eat it outside, you're not going to get skipped." But for some reason, I guess they thought we wouldn't notice.

So we finished there around 1:30. Somehow.

Then, we went to eat. I could have eaten our table, and almost thought I was going to have to. For about 10 or 15 minutes we thought we were eating at an establishment where everyone was taking a lunch break. Long story short, we ended up with a floor manager and 2 waiters looking after us. Low blood sugar makes me, uh, assertive.

Anyhoo, what a day. Now there can be no delay with CIS processing our documents - unless of course they happen to be reading this.

Overall, It's Only a Slight Annoyance

We received a letter from Homeland Security today. Hmm. What could it be? I know they haven't already processed our paperwork. We've already received a letter acknowledging receipt of our paperwork. Surely, it's not....

It is. It's a fingerprint appointment letter. Huh? OK, so maybe I haven't been paying attention. Maybe I've been ignoring things said on various yahoo groups. Apparently, even though we had our fingerprints renewed in September, and they expire in December 2007, they are acting like we need to have them done again. SURELY, we don't really have to go have a fingerprints taken a 3rd time (3 months after the last time). Surely not. Hey, don't call me Shirley (sorry, I couldn't resist)

I sent an email to the Dallas adoptions person at the CIS and hope to get a response tomorrow. Our agency told us to send a copy of our old I171H with our renewed fingerprint date on it, so that they would know that we have valid, current fingerprints. We did that. Hopefully, this letter gets automatically generated and we don't really need to be re-re-printed.

We shall see. It's not a lot to get worked up about. It's just spending Saturday morning at the immigration office, maybe grab some tasty Mexican food afterward.

It's Official

The CCAA has updated its website. The official cutoff was indeed September 27, 2005. So, that leaves about 3 weeks worth of LIDs until ours! I'm NOT, NOT, NOT getting my hopes up for our referral to be in the next batch. I'm NOT. I AM hoping for the batch after the next one and will probably be very disappointed if it doesn't come by then. What can I say, I don't want to set myself up, but REALLY it shouldn't take them more than 2 months to get through 3 weeks of LIDs. REALLY.

OK, breathe. We really are getting close.

Here are some more pics of babies with new families.
On our way to China
The Story of Gracie
Gleason Journal
A Daughter
McFees Girl
Journey for Maggie
Journey to Zoe
(Music) We Cross our Heart

Baby Pictures Are Arriving

Referrals are coming in for this month's referrals. The official cut-off date is still not clear. September 27, 2005 LIDs are included, but September 29 LIDs are not. Not sure about September 28.

A lot of people are upset that the CCAA didn't cover more LIDs, but hey, I'm just excited they made it almost to the end of September. The covered about 20 days. It seems like it's been a while since they covered that much time.

Here are some links to people "expecting" in the current batch of referrrals:

Sink or Swim
My baby Ava
An Invisible Thread
Waiting for Emma
Our Journey to Margaret
Miah Miah Miah
Our Family Journal
Our Journey to Marlee
Adopting Mia
Goliath Family
Margaux
Our Journey to Mylia
Journey to Grace
Journey to Elizabeth

Here We Are - In 2007

Happy New Year everyone. It will be an interesting year.

As we near the 2 year mark of starting the adoption process, we are so close to actually receiving our referral! The rumor update today is that European agencies are receiving referrals for LIDs at least through September 27, 2005. The only LID our agency has in September is September 12. The next LID at our agency after that is October 10. Hopefully, we'll find out an official cut-off date soon. But maybe they'll make it all the way through September. The 27th is pretty darn close!

I still don't expect our referral at least until the March batch, if not after because October is so big. But, Good Lord, we're getting close.

2 kids....what was I thinking?!

Some Things Are Fast and Others Aren't

Today in the mail, we received a receipt from the Department of Homeland Security stating that they had received our new I600A application. This came as a little bit of a surprise.

December 20, our social worker sent an email saying that our agency told her that they had sent our criminal background check clearance to her on that day. I haven't heard anything from her since. I was assuming that she had gone out of town for the holidays, etc. and that the USCIS would be closed various days and had decided that they would probably get it sometime after the first of the year. So, today, whatever today is, we received this piece of mail. And, truthfully, it could have come yesterday because I don't think we ever went out and got the mail. Let's say it arrived today - the 30th (ok, I looked). They say they received the application on December 27 and the envelope is post marked December 28. Could this year's Christmas miracle be a speed up at the CIS? The receipt states that processing takes approximately 60 days. They may have said that last time when it took 90, but they requested additional documents. Either way, we should have our renewed I171H by March-ish. Which sadly, should not have any effect on our travel to China.

Which brings me to the seemingly slow things. Everyone is on pins and needles waiting for word on this month's batch of referrals. It's about that time of the month, and people are getting anxious. Clearly, we won't be hearing from our agencies before January, but there is the possibility that the referrals could have gone out yesterday. Hopefully we'll hear something next week AND they will cover at least a couple of weeks' worth of LIDs.

Home Again, Home Again

Well, we survived the cruise. Next...Christmas.

We had a great time on our trip. I managed to relax, so I'm not really overly stressed...right now.

Tomorrow's Christmas Eve, and I'm so excited. It will be a busy day greening the church and all, but I'm looking forward to it.

I can't wait for Christmas morning - to see P's reaction to whatever Santa may bring. It's going to be a fun time.

I've been totally out of the loop on the adoption front. Our agency is closed until Wednesday. The next batch of referrals should be due out shortly. I'll poke my head in on some of the rumors and report back and the goings-on.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. I thought this last year, but I think I'm pretty safe saying that we'll have our new daughter next Christmas.

It's Cruise Time

Well, we're off. I won't be posting for about a week. I'm looking forward to lying on a beach, lying in a deck chair, lying on a massage table, lying.... OK, you get the idea. I ain't doin' nuthin'. OK, I'm going to do as little as possible. I suppose I will have to transport myself from our room to the aforementioned relaxation spots.

We haven't packed anything yet, but hey, no chance of overthinking it at this point, huh?

Oy, My Child

When I picked P up from school today, her teacher asked me to have a chat with P about focusing on her work and listening. Oy. Like she'll listen to ME.

So, I asked P what was up with not listening in class. She, of course, said she didn't know. I told her to ask her brain why it couldn't listen in class. So, she paused, asked her brain and paused again.

Then she said that her brain wasn't where it was supposed to be when she was in class. I asked her where her brain was. She said that it was supposed to be in the middle, but during class it was over on the right. (Isn't the right brain the "artsy" side?). I asked her why her brain was on the right and what it was doing there. She asked her brain, then said that it went over to the right because it wanted to watch TV, have something to drink and eat a sandwich.

Oy.

This evening, I asked P what she thought we could do to keep her brain in the middle during class. She suggested "brain medicine" that "tastes really icky". I suggested maybe we could remind her brain every morning that while she's in class, her brain has to stay in the middle. She thought this was a good idea.

Oy.

Christmas Is Almost Here

So, I haven't posted much in the last week because I thought I was going to lose my mind last week. Let's review:

Phoebe and Allen were both in a community theatre production of "The Littlest Angel". While neither of them was actually the Littlest Angel, we did all have to be at the theatre every night last week. Phoebe had to be there 6:30-8-ish each night, and Allen stayed later. As soon as I get a copy of the pics my mom took, I'll post them. Phoebe had a great time. She was a little star. Literally, her role was as one of the little stars. She basically ran out at appropriate times and raced around other characters or sat on the edge of the stage listening to songs. The rehearsals stressed me out for the week. It just seemed like we didn't have a lot of together time. While I have several things to do this week, at least my family is home for dinner every night.

I've started working with a trainer at the gym. Yesterday we worked on my legs for 30 minutes. Who knew they were so weak? I use them daily. I'm a bit sore, and walking funny today, but it's a good pain, right? Tomorrow I'll meet with her again. We'll work on my chest or back. As long as it's not legs, I don't care.

Phoebe's class Christmas party, sorry "luncheon", is Thursday. ("It's a luncheon mom, not a party"). Then Friday, I'm one of the drivers for her class to go to Casa Manana in Ft. Worth to see "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."

Saturday we leave for a cruise with Allen's family. It should be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to lying on a beach and doing nothing at all. That should be just the thing to really enjoy the holidays when we return. I have major plans for relaxation!

Hopefully, within a few days of Christmas, the next batch of referrals will come out and we'll see what progress China has made. We'll be a little bit closer.

Time Is Ticking

I really do feel like we're getting closer. I mean, obviously, we've been getting closer the entire time we've been waiting. It just didn't feel like it.

I do have a feeling in the back of my mind, a fear if you will, that once the CCAA starts matching October LIDs things are going to slow down to a few days at a time again. Who can say? Certainly not me.

But, I think it's safe to say that I ought to finish up the nursery and all those prep type things that I haven't even thought about. Probably ought to read the documents that our agency sent us so long ago about the referral phase of this process.

Last year at this time, the slow down was just beginning, and I don't think anyone expected to still be waiting now. But at the same time, I think we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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.

Rumors and More Rumors

October's referrals have not arrived yet. There has yet to be much news of WHEN they will arrive. However, there are rumors and speculation about when the cut off date will be. Last month's referrals went through dossiers logged in August 9, 2005. Rumors about this month's referrals cover a range of cut off dates from August 23 to August 31.

While I think few people believe that referrals will actually cover the rest of August (wouldn't that be lovely), the big question seems to really be will it be the 23rd or the 24th.

What difference can one day make?, you may ask. Well... for one thing, our agency doesn't have any dossiers logged in after last month's referrals until the 24th. There are several weeks' worth of dossiers that were all logged in on August 24th. So whether it's the 23rd or 24th could mean the difference between our large, China-only agency getting referrals or not. It would also be a positive sign as far as the number of referrals China has worked through this month, possibly meaning a slight increase in monthly numbers going foward.

BUT for now, we watch and wait to see what the cut off date will be in actuality. There are lots of people out there on pins and needles with an 8/24 LID. I really hope we hear something definite (and on the positive side) soon.

I can't imagine what it's going to be like when we get closer to our LID. Probably little sleep and not much food (though lots of chocolate).

Are We There Yet?

Who would have thought at this time last year that we'd still be a-waitin'? Certainly not me. Yes, it's been one year since China logged in our documents. Even though, as I write this, it's still the 18th here, it's the morning of the 19th in Beijing.

I don't know what to say. I guess I've learned patience...or learned that I can't stand learning to be patient.

Actually, I THINK I'm a little more laid back in general than I was a year ago. Maybe just more worn down. Kidding... I've taken the adoption attitude of "it's out of my hands" with a lot of things. When there's really nothing you can do about a situation, it's best to recognize it right away. If you don't, you get such a headache from smacking your head against the same wall over and over again.
Also, I'm really having to trust God on this. I keep thinking that God has known all along who our daughter is, and knows whether she's been born. I think God has known from the beginning when we will get our referral. I don't believe He "made" it take this long so that I'd learn valuable life lessons. I just think He knew how long it would take, and was just waiting around for me to turn to Him after getting that headache I mentioned above.

Of course, I'm also having those "what was I thinking" moments. Not because I'm regretting going the adoption route. I'm freaking out over being the mother of two. TWO?! They'll out-number me! Gang up on me! EEK. Those thoughts don't stay with me for long, but they do pop up every now and then. Sure the total number of children won't outnumber the total number of parents, but day in and day out... oh, I just don't want to think about it.

So, here we are. One year later. Last year, I was afraid that we'd be traveling to China on Phoebe's birthday last May. Now, I'm starting to wonder if we'll be traveling on her birthday NEXT May....

It continues....

Hey, It's October!

I figured that since the last post on my blog was dated last month, I should post something...anything...

Over this past weekend, we went to visit my parents. For those of you who don't know, my dad had bypass surgery at the end of June. It took us all by surprise, but couldn't be avoided and luckily he didn't have a heart attack before hand. Anyway, he's "feeling much better now". It was great to see him feeling so well. I think we all need to watch out now that everything is pumping the way it should be and the doctor has said he has the heart of an 18 year old.

While we were at my parents' house, my mom and I turned that crazy fabric into a crazy crib skirt and a crazy valance. It looks really cute. I have not taken pics of it yet, but I will and I'll post them soon.

This week I've actually had 2 custom jewelry orders! Oddly enough, both of them are for "Mother's Bracelets", even though I didn't have any examples of them on the website. Strange world. Someone ought to sell tickets. I'm going to post both of these bracelets on the website - maybe more people will want one for themselves.

Today being the Feast of St. Francis, Phoebe's school had a Blessing of the Animals before school today. Senna did well. Apparently she only goes into attack mode when someone comes to the front door. Out there on neutral turf, she's fine.

Tomorrow will be a bit of a sad day. A friend at our church died in her sleep on Sunday night. She was the wife of one of our retired priests. I'd gotten to know her this year, and was looking forward to knowing her better. She was very smart, no nonsense, and was hilarious! We're all going to miss you, Pat. A lot.

Dig That Crazy Fabric

I've been looking (and looking, and... oh, sorry) for fabric to make a crib skirt for the nursery. I tried to find something of the crib set variety that was already made, but out of all the things available on the web, nothing was doing it for me. So, the search began. I knew, or thought I knew, what I wanted. I was going for pink corduroy as the main part of the skirt with a cute stripe and/or border added. That's when I discovered that on the bolt, the cords of corduroy run horizontally and not vertically. Sure, it could still be done, but not nearly as easily as buying 45" wide fabric and cutting it down the middle for the 20" drop and sewing it to a sheet. So, I started looking for something else that could be done easily and still be cute.

Here is what I've bought. Since I surprised myself with the choice of the bunnies on the wallpaper, I guess it should make sense that I chose fabric that kind of surprised me too. Are you ready??

The first picture will be the main part of the skirt. The second will be a 4 or 5 inch stripe around it a few inches from the bottom.





Now, of course, the colors don't come across very well. Well, the pink does. But the, let's call it plaid, is actually brighter than it looks. And the bits that look like cat-sick-yellow are actually close to the color of a Wal-Mart price tag, but lighter and not quite as bright.

I think I bought enough fabric that I can also make a window valance. Because, if you're going to go, you have to go all the way!

The Jewelry Website Is Open

Well, after quite a steep learning curve on building a website, I am happy to announce that my jewelry website is now up and running. The address is littleshopofbaubles.com . I have high hopes that someone, somewhere out there on the world wide web will stumble into my little shop and find that perfect necklace that they didn't know they needed.

We shall see.

C

Referrals Are On Their Way!

After all that talk of being surprised by the arrival of referrals, our agency sent an email today saying that referrals are on their way. So, they did get a warning this time before just receiving them out of the blue. When I first read the email, I was REALLY depressed. Our agency is getting referrals for parents whose documents were logged in through July 29, 2005. Que? As you may or may not recall, last month's referrals were for documents that were logged in through July 22, 2005.

Now, what actually makes this slightly less depressing is the following information: The actual cut off date for this batch of referrals is August 9, 2005. So, China did do more than one week's worth of LIDs, it's just that our agency doesn't have any LIDs after July 29 until August 24.

So, congrats go out to all of those families who are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the referrals. I can't wait to see all the pictures.

Referrals Are On Their Way?

As it turns out, the surprise referrals last month were not the fluke they seemed to be. Apparently the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) informed our agency that they would no longer be giving any agencies the advanced notice that referrals were on their way. So from now on, it seems, we (parents and the agencies) are going to be surprised each month by the arrival of those packages of good news.

All of that being said, there is a rumor today that referrals were mailed today. I'm not sure what the usual travel time is once referrals are mailed, but if they were indeed mailed today, they should arrive some time next week. Of course, I'm sure lots of people will be watching for the CCAA website to be updated with the cut off date for this batch. Repeat it with me... "more than 9 days", "more than 9 days", "more than 9 days".....

Checking In

Well, the calendar on the wall says that I haven't posted in 2 weeks! Two weeks?! You'd think a lot would have happened in that time.

There hasn't been a whole lot going on.

Rumors are already swirling around about the next batch of referrals. Everything from "they'll only cover a few days" to "they'll go well into August LIDs. We'll see when we see.

Meanwhile, our fingerprints that we had to have taken to adopt expire today. We have received a letter allowing us to go get re-fingerprinted, and we will probably do that on Saturday. It kind of makes me laugh that we even have to be re-fingerprinted... As if I've become Jimmy Hoffa in the past 15 months. I understand that taking the fingerprints generates an FBI criminal check and that they are really just seeing if we've been naughty, but it seems like there should be a way to do that without taking the fingerprints again.

It's strange that each office of the USCIS (Immigration) has different procedures. I was expecting to have to pay the $70 per person fee for fingerprinting again, but apparently in Dallas, that is not the case. Thanks to a woman on one of the yahoo groups that I'm on, I was able to email our request to be re-fingerprinted on 9/7/06, and we received our letter on 9/9/06. Yes, that's a 2 day turnaround. That's the quickest action I've seen on any of the paperwork we've received during this entire process.

While I haven't been blogging, I have been working on getting a website up and running to sell handmade jewelry. I've become addicted to making jewelry over the past several months, and I have high hopes for others actually liking it, too. Blogging is much easier than e-commerce. I will post when it's actually up and running.

And finally, since I've been thinking about it all day, I have to make mention of today's date. I can't believe it's been 5 years since we were all glued to the TV in disbelief as those insane people took down the towers. Today, I watched a little bit (only a little bit) on CNN.com as they streamed the broadcast from 5 years ago. It was still unbelievable. It was very surreal watching the reporters talking about events as they unfolded, knowing that they didn't know what was coming. It was like knowing the future and watching as everyone else found out what I already knew. I remembered the disbelief, the confusion, the sadness. I remembered all of the flags that flew for days and months afterward. Then, I took a little drive to the grocery store and I was a little annoyed that I didn't see many houses with American flags out front. I didn't see flags at half staff in front of businesses. I know with all of the media coverage going on this weekend and today, that it's not possible that people have forgotten.

But, have they remembered?

And Yet... It's True

The CCAA (the China Center for Adoption Affairs) updated its webpage today to reflect the most recent referrals:

"The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before July 22, 2005."

These referrals surprised everyone, including our agency. The agency sent an email on Friday stating that they'd suddenly received referrals for families with a 7/20/05 LID. (The next LID for our agency is 7/27/05). Usually our agency receives word from the CCAA letting them know that the referral batch is on its way, and the referrals arrive a few days later.

Maybe this is a good sign that referrals actually arrived less than 30 days since the last batch, instead of the usual 31-35 days. Who knows?

This whole process has really taught me (although I slip daily) to enjoy every day and not just sit and wish the days away.

The living continues.....

Happy Birthday to ME

It's my birthday, and I'll cry if I want to....

Yep, today is my birthday. What will the day bring?

Rumors are bouncing around about referrals coming in. Apparently some people with 7/22/05 LIDs have received referral calls! How odd. There has been no indication that referrals are on their way. We haven't received any emails from our agency about referrals being on their way. What's up?!

The downside of the the rumors is that people are saying that the cut off date for this batch is, in fact, the above mentioned 7/22/05. Huh? That would mean that referrals cover 9 days' worth of LIDs. Mmmm, lovely flashbacks to April and May referrals. Whee, let's see...If referrals come once a month, and cover about a week's worth of LIDs, with an LID of 10/19/05, we'll get our referral....Hmmmmmm. It's like a word problem from 5th grade math made up by a sadist.

On a positive note, all of the above has yet to be confirmed and is currently only a rumor.

For the most part throughout this process, as rumors have swirled, they've pretty much bounced off of me. Some have turned out to be true, others have not. As I told a friend yesterday, if this one turns out to be true, I think I'll have to officially give up on meeting our baby this year.

There are certainly worse things going on in the world. And I was just thinking the other day that between me and my baby's birthmother, I definitely have the better part of this deal.

So, what will this birthday bring? Reminders of how much I love my friends and family? Reminders of how lucky I am? Reminders that no matter what day it is, my family still generates dirty laundry and dishes? Reminders that I have no control over our adoption process, no matter how much I may try?

I'm going to go with "Yes" to all of the above.

The Bunnies Have Landed

We put up the wallpaper this weekend. It looks great! It wasn't as difficult as I expected - especially since we borrowed my dad's self-leveling laser. We just set it up in the middle of the room on a tripod and, whee...., a lovely red line where we needed it. It makes such a difference! Next - painting the bathroom...

Phoebe's First Day of Kindergarten

Phoebe started Kindergarten today. She's returning to the Montessori school at our church where she's been going for the past 3 years. Otherwise Mom would have been a wreck!




Does she look ready to go?