The Nursery

It is basically done!!! Only tiny details are left. Its been about a 2 yr process and boy, what a process it has been! First, about 2 yrs ago, when I thought we were about 1 yr from referral, we bought the furniture. I got it on sale and then had the store hold onto it. They did that for about 6 mos, then they called and said I had to come get it. I guess baby stores just don't comprehend a 37 month pregnancy (application to referral). Silly them.

Then about 1 yr ago, Bombay Kids was going out of business and I was able to get all the bedding, chandelier, shelf baskets, window coverings, etc all for about $300!!! Full price would have been well over $1000 so I couldn't pass it up. When we were about 2 mos before referral, we finally painted the background color. Not sure if you can tell from the pix or not but its a lovely soft shade of green (we had to paint it twice, first color was much too bright) and the ceiling is a very soft blue. Then came the crown moulding. We also changed the closet doors to bi-folds. The old ones were sliders and completely limited access. We also had the door cut into a dutch door in hopes of keeping the cats out. Plus, I thought it would be nice to be able to close the door without it being closed completely.

Then came the painting of the flowers and the fairy. I hand drew it and just painted it in. I think it came out pretty nice and really matches the crib comforter. I even managed to sneak in a couple ladybugs!

Anyway, here are some more pix.

I also decided that we needed a little artwork. I looked everywhere to find something that I thought would look good in the room. No luck. So I finally decided to paint a little picture myself. Add a repainted 50 cent picture frame that I picked up a few years ago and Voila!!! Artwork.

I am definitely not an artist but I'm pretty proud of myself for making something that's acceptable to hang on the wall.

What do you think???

Last thing, the chandelier. It was plain so I bought some beaded shades and dressed them up with a little trim and velvet roses, same thing on the curtain tie backs! I love them, soooooo girlie!!!

Very thankful
Yesterday was a big day!!! My last day of work for 10 weeks!!! I can't believe it... 70 days of no work!!!! Yeah!! Not a minute too soon either because it seemed that until I stopped working I wasn't going to be able to move forward with packing and all the final things that need to be done. On my way home, I stopped by and got the last form I needed for the trip--an immunization form-- notarized. Five minutes and, just like that, the last piece of paper was complete!! Its been a long road.

Today was a pleasant day, very relaxing. I did a streamlined version of the feast just to keep things simple. Brett's home from school which always makes the house feel more warm. Its weird because, when he's gone, I don't really miss him--not in the way I thought I would. He's gone and doing what he needs to do, I'm glad he's moving forward with his life, I feel like he's safe so, overall, its ok that he's not here. But, when he's home, the house just feels more complete. Even if he's upstairs or somewhere doing his own thing, its so much more comfortable with him here.

Its been just the four of us for so long. In just 9 days we will officially become a family of 5. I can't believe it!!! I'm thrilled and, truth be told, a little terrified. We're sailing fast into completely uncharted waters. The slow boat to China that we've been on for the last 3-1/2 yrs has become a speed boat. And, to keep the water metaphors going, I'm a little afraid of crashing and drowning. Is that weird?

I feel guilty being so frightened or even seeming like I'm questioning. There are literally thousands of people who would be overjoyed to be in my shoes. I'm overjoyed to be in my shoes. I know how fortunate I am, not just in the IA sense but in all areas of my life. I have two beautiful, intelligent, healthy, happy children. I have a wonderfully supportive husband who has always been there for me. We are fortunate enough to have jobs that work for us and afford us the ability to have a nice life and put our kids through college. Its all pretty good. I hope this is the right thing. I believe it is but, I'm really getting nervous. Will I be able to meet this challenge?

Travel Arrangements made, visas are in hand!!!
Today was a pretty nightmarish morning at work. I drove in murderous traffic, got screamed at and, to top it all off, had a client make blatantly anti-asian racist comments to me. Yeah, I know. However, the day does end up getting a check in the W column because it was so productive in regard to my quest to get to Georgie!

I got on the phone with the travel agent and in 2 hour-long calls had pretty much everything all wrapped up. The agency's travel person, Lynn, was super helpful and very nice to work with. Almost all of our air travel and hotel is booked with the exception of the Beijing hotel and BJ to Nanchang flight. That will be taken care of tomorrow. We decided to get G her own seat on all the flights for two reasons: first, extra squirm room and second, luggage weight. Buying her a seat means she gets to bring her own 45 lb bag and carry on!!! Yeah!! So now, the only leg of the trip that is possibly problematic is the BJ to Nanchang flight. If we get charged extra, we're just going to deal.

I was also able to pick up our visas in LA. It was super easy and only took about 5 mins from parking the car to pulling away from the curb!!! And, another plus, I was able to pay with my credit card, gotta love them points!!!

OK, so here's the itinerary:
(its been updated a little)

12/1 --Mon: fly LAX to Beijing non-stop
12/2 --Tue: arrive Beijing 5:30 am, check in Novatel Peace Hotel, rest day
12/3 --Wed: Lama Temple, Water Cube, Bird's Next, Olympic Park
12/4 --Thu: TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City, Lunch at local family's house, Hutong Rick Shaw, Acrobatic Show
12/5 --Fri: Great Wall, Summer Palace
12/6 --Sat: fly BJ to Nanchang, prepare for Baby G
12/7 --Sun: Georgie Day!!!! scheduled for 5pm
12/8 --Mon: Registration at Civil Affairs office, notary, apply for Georgie's chinese passport
12/9-12/11 --Tue-Thu: paperwork, bond and shop, hopefully visit orphanage
12/12 --Fri: receive adoption paperwork
12/13 --Sat: fly Nanchang to Guangzhou
12/14 --Sun: free day= bond and shop
12/15 --Mon: medical exam and visa photo
12/16 --Tue: CA (guide takes paperwork to consulate)
12/17 --Wed: receive Georgie's US visa, swearing in ceremony at consulate
12/18 --Thu: fly Guangzhou to BJ then BJ to LAX

Georgie, we're coming soon!!!

Great news!!!
We have our consulate appointment (CA)!!!!! We are confirmed for 12/16!! I was really hoping for sooner but we'll take what we've got. At least now we can finally begin making travel plans. Tentatively, we will leave on 12/1 tour Beijing for a few days, fly to Nanchang then meet Georgiana on 12/7, fly to Guangzhou and have CA on 12/16, and be home on 12/17!!! I can't believe it. We began this process in 8/2005 and now, 3 years and 4 mos later, my dream of having a little girl will finally come true.


My last day of work will be 11/26, we'll have the Thanksgiving holiday with Brett and Casey, then off we go!


I'm so excited!

Just for fun, here's a never before seen photo of Baby G. It's her mugshot, gotta love that hair!!

TA is on the way!!!!

For the last few weeks my morning ritual has been:
1. wake up, shower, dress
2. feed cats
3. check computer for info on TA's
4. call Bobby and say "no info on TA's yet"
5. go to work feeling mildly depressed and slightly numb while muttering pathetically to myself "I want my baby"

But not today BABY!!!! Today was good news! Bobby's been working a weird shift so he was there to read it to. This is what today's email brought:

"Dear Families,Your TA's left China yesterday so they should arrive at HAIM
office on Monday.I'll post to the group. This means we should be able to request
your CA date by Monday night. This should make your weekend much happier.
Patricia"

Yeah!!!!! Of course, we'll meet another slight delay due to the consulate's closure on Tuesday 11/11 for Veteran's Day but at least we have made progress!!!! I'm still crossing my fingers that our CA will be 12/9. There is a very slight chance. More likely it will be later but that's not within my control so I'm just crossing all crossables that it is sooner rather than later. Anything that gets us home as early in Dec as possible allowing for maximum time to be spent with all five of us together before Brett has to return to school is good in my book.

Today's a good day!

More waiting...

I swear you'd think I'd be an expert by now, but no, I'm not. We returned our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) to our agency and everything once again left our control. Our travel group's LOA's arrived at CCAA on 10/10. We are now waiting for TA (Travel Approval) to be issued. Our agency says the average time frame for receipt of TA is about 4 weeks after CCAA receives our LOA. This Friday will make 3 weeks, four weeks would be 11/7, next Friday. It could come later and it could certainly come sooner.

There are actually some people who received referrals when we did who have already traveled to China to pick up their children! Its frustrating. I so very much want to get to Georgie, I want to hold her, touch her and feel her soft skin. Strangely enough, Bobby is quite a bit more stressed out about this part of the wait than I am. He was so calm for the wait to referral but now that there is a real person and not just the hope of a person, he wants to get going FAST!!!

So, we wait. The one good thing about this part of the wait is that there are so many things to do!!! We've been working on G's room. The crown moulding is up (but not painted or caulked yet), the flowers and fairy are painted (but need to be finalized and in some instances redone). We've purchased the car seats, stroller, and high chair but still need safety gates, drawer latches, table corner protector, a crib mattress, formula, gifts for nannies, etc. I still haven't secured day care. Like I said, lots to do.

But, through it all, I think of Georgie... every day, every hour, I think about her. Its better than it was before there's longing and desire to meet her but not the ache of insecurity I felt while we were waiting for referral. Overall, this is a much better waiting place.

Baby G officially has a name!

~Georgiana Rose NianSheng Crowell~

When searching for the "perfect" name for our Baby G, I consulted naming books, hit the net for ideas and thought, and thought, and thought. I wanted a name that was:

--pretty but solid,

--didn't make her sound like a stripper or a ding dong,

--had some history to it,

--wasn't trendy or overtly kr8tiv,

--lended itself to a cute nickname ie. Georgie or Gigi,

--definitely not too common --anything in the top 500 per the social security baby name index was out!

--timeless--could just have easily been used in 1808 as 2008,

--and, would serve her well from babyhood to adulthood, SAHM or corporate CEO, cheerleader or valedictorian.

I like most of the common very feminine names of today: Sophia, Isabella, Juliana, Lily, etc but they are so, so common. So the secret was to find a name that would have the feminine sound I was looking for but not result in her being "the chinese (insert name here)" --that is how Georgiana originally caught my eye.

The name, a derivative of George of course, has been around forever. A woman named Georgiana Pittock had the first of what would become the annual Portland Rose Festival in 1889. Georgiana Darcy was the cultured and kind sister of Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice published in 1813. Georgiana Cavendish (b. 1757) was the Duchess of Devonshire and, interestingly, the subject of a movie coming out this year The Duchess starring Keira Knightly.

Then, what to pair it with. I've always loved the name Rose. Its classic, simple and beautiful and flows so wonderfully with a long name like Georgiana. I did consider some other very lovely options: Lorelei (kind of mouthful), Elise (this was my second choice), Lenore (after my mother), Skye (beautiful but a little too trendy for me), Sage (seemed out of place next to Georgiana). But, I always came back to Rose.

Her chinese name. People have varied opinions but, to me, it was important for our daughter to carry her chinese name if al all possible. G's name was Zhang Nian Sheng. Zhang comes from Zhangshu the SWI where she's been housed since birth and is given to all children who are placed in the orphanage. I consulted with several native chinese speakers on the characters of Nian Sheng. I originally had concerns because the name seemed like a boys name. Traditionally girls have been given pretty, nature-type names with meanings like Gentle Stream, Beautiful Lily, etc. Boys have traditionally been given names suggesting hopes or promises of success for the future. G's name means that she will grow to be an educated woman of recognition and respected prominance. I have been told that this type of name has been more commonly chosen for girls in modern China. It seems to be sign of China's greater respect for the abilities of women. Anyway, it is a "good name" and seems to fit our hopes for G so I like it!!!

I believe that NianSheng is pronounced like "N'yen Seeng" but I will have to confirm that as well as the tones once we're in China due to differences in local dialects.

So there we have it!! Baby G has a name!

Preparations:
OMG!!! What have I been doing for the last 3 yrs??? I cannot believe how much stuff we need and don't have. It doesn't seem like that much but, when a person has to research and think about every single thing like I do, its pretty time consuming. So, we've been doing the best we can and trying to tackle the must have's now and worry about the other stuff later.

Progress:
Car seats: I'm going to get a Britax, probably the Marathon, I just can't seem to figure out the difference between them all. This is one of those things I need to work on.

Stroller: heck if I know. So far, I've been leaning toward the Peg Perego Pliko P3 (say that 5 times fast!!) its fairly light, roomy, big basket, etc. I've also been looking at the Bob. We figure this is a must have that can wait. We'll probably buy a stroller in china so its not a huge deal if we don't choose a larger one until we return.

High chair: I want something that isn't hideous. Problem is, all the good looking ones have issues. I think we've finally settled on the one pictured to the right, the Combi Hero in Wasabi green. Its is height adjustable, one hand operated, converts to a booster chair, looks pretty easy to clean and is not overly huge or ugly.

Cart/high chair cover: these are the greatest inventions ever!! I so wish they had these things when the boys were small. There's a lady on ebay who does custom mades with about a million fabric choices, she also does car seat covers and they can match!! This is probably what I'lll do I just have to get my act together enough to order it.

Clothes: I've been buying clothes off and on for the last 2-1/2yrs or so. But, as anyone who is in the china nsn program knows, it is tough. You just don't have any idea what size or age (for some even gender) your child will be. So, what I've done is buy things from size 9 mos up to about 24 mos. I've only bought on EXTREME sale. Like when Kohl's has their 70% off clearance plus the 30% off coupon. I've purchased really, really nice sets and outfits for like, $1.50 each. I've also hit up the kids resale store every once in a while. Great stuff, pretty much all like brand new many still with tags for like $2 a piece. But, when you buy like this you end up with a strange assortment of stuff. Yesterday, I laid it all out and tried to sort through and figure out what we needed. I think for now, we're good. I plan to do the major clothes shopping once we return so I'll know exactly what size to get. I'm sure I'll be doing a little shopping in china as well.

Nursery: We have the furniture, I bought it over a year ago. The background color of the room and ceiling are painted and I've started drawing out the figures. Bobby got a good start by priming the closet doors but those still need to be painted. We have the chandelier but we don't have the ceiling medallion I wanted yet. We still need crown moulding. The closet is still full of stuff. Yes, there's lots to be done.

Anyway, we are slowly moving forward. I'd really like to get this stuff done with because in a few weeks we'll be needing to make travel arrangements and getting ready for the trip in general. Lots to do!! Very exciting!!

We received our referral packet from HFS!!

I waited for the DHL and made a run for the door when I saw the truck! I opened the door with a big Hello! and asked if I could take his picture. He hmm'd a little then said "ok" I explained to him that he was delivering my baby. When he looked at the sender, Harrah's Adoptions, he got a big smile and said "sure" --thanks Mike the DHL guy!!!

The actual pix of Baby G look even better than the emailed ones did! Interestingly, the mugshot one that I wasn't too pleased with yesterday, now looks adorable! The info we received is mostly in chinese but some can be figured out. Her stats at birth were:
weight: 3.2 kg --a little over 7 lbs!
length: 49.70 cm --19-1/2"




Things she can do:

~Hold her head up while lying on the stomach
~Roll from supine to prone position by herself
~Sit alone quite steadily
~Tear paper!!
~Grasp toy near hand
~Crawl on hands and knees
~Locate the direction of sound/voice
~Hold blocks in each hand at the same time
~Look for a dropped toy
~Visually follow moving toys
~Reach and grasp a toy beyond
~Follow someone by moving head from side to side
~Laugh out loud!!!
~Eat biscuits without help
~Distinguish between strangers and acquaintances
~Turn head when name is called

Under personality they checked: active, restless, has a ready smile, fond of toys and music, obstinate sometimes, fond of games, quick in reaction. She sounds like quite the little firecracker!! I notice they did not check: quiet or fond of quietness!

It is said that she is closest to her caretaker and then there are several characters written in chinese. Not sure if that's a name or what at this point.
Harrahs sent this little bracelet as a gift to Baby G. The card has the chinese symbol for "love" stamped on it. The card reads:

"The Chinese symbol of Love brings our warm welcome to your precious little one. We are blessed to be a part of such a beautiful miracle!

Love,
Your Harrah's AIM Family"

One day later...

and another picture! I'm sitting here waiting for DHL to bring my referral package. The office in our house, thankfully, faces the street. Every time a car drives past I look quickly to see if its the truck delivering my baby. I'm not quite sure why I'm so excited. My understanding is that everything we get today is in chinese. But I want to snap the delivery person's pic like I've seen in so many people's blogs, so cute!!

So, while I'm waiting, I'm going to record yesterday morning's events and the "Referral Call":

I had to work... I was so bugged. If I would have been more sure on friday that the referrals had been sent, I would have made arrangements to not have to work. By saturday, I was pretty sure we'd be getting our call on monday morning.

Sunday night I stayed up way too late snacking and watching the new shows on TV. This was done to keep my mind calm for monday. It worked pretty well.

Monday morning I woke up early and went right downstairs to check RQ blog. It said referrals were arriving in Europe and they'd be hitting the mid west agencies that morning as well. I was thrilled and NERVOUS!!! Called Bobbyat work and gave him the update. Ran upstairs and got ready for work as fast as I could go. Back down to check RQ, referrals were arriving on the east coast!!!! Called Bobby again. Called my mom said "its happening today, I've gotta go, I'll call you later"

At 8am I really had to leave the house. While driving, I called Bobby again then my secretary at work and asked her to check the Harrah's yahoo group for me. She told me HFS posted at 8:05am that referrals had arrived!! they were sorting through them!! and would be making calls that afternoon!! They're in Texas so that's 2 hours ahead of us. I figured they'd be calling my around 10am. By this time I was so nervous, I don't even think I could see straight.

I showed up at my appearance a complete and utter wreck, explained to my concerned opponent that I needed a continuance due to a "family issue" --Hello??? I'm having a baby here, I definitely think this qualified for a continuance, don't you?? Drove to the office, dropped off files, made some arrangements for my afternoon and next morning conferences to be covered and darted out the door. The plan being to go home, get the call, and then wait for Bobby to open emailed picture.

At 9:40am I was talking to Bobby while getting into the car when their was another call coming through. My heart stopped as I looked at the number... it was my AGENCY!!!! I told Bobby, hold on a second, its them!!!

Me: Hello.

Her: Susan??

Me: Yes.

Her: This is _____ from HFS, I...

Me: (interrupting) I know who it is!!!

Her: I have some news for you. You have a baby girl.

Me: (unintelligible utterance)

Her: She's just beautiful!! She's a beautiful baby girl and her hair (giggle) her hair is kind of sticking up on her head. She was born January 7th.

Me: What year??

Her: 2008.

Me: (crying) Can you hold on a sec? I want to write this down.

(it was only at this point that I realized I was not writing any of the info down, my pretty ladybug paper I had planned to create for documenting this moment had not been created--I'm not really sure why that was in that I had 3 yrs to do so... anyway. So then I start rummaging in my car for a pen and I do mean rummaging. I opened the glove box and started flicking things out onto the floorboard. Napkins, calculator, restaraunt coupons go flying. Aha!! A pen!!! Now paper... hmmm search, search. Aha again!! a post it!!!

Her: Her name is Zhang Nian Sheng. She's at the Zhangshu SWI in Jiangxi province. She weighs 7 kgs (I had no idea at the time but apparantly that's about 15 lbs) She said some other stuff too but I don't remember what it was. My mind went a little blank. She did say that the pix would be emailed within the hour and the referral packet would be sent to us by DHL the following day. Then that was it.

I called Bobby and told him: We have a little girl, almost 9 mos old!!! I told him about the orphanage and stuff too but Bobby says he couldn't understand a word I was saying!!! Since I was still in the parking lot of work, I ran back inside to share my good news with my co-workers. Hugs, hugs!!! I must have looked a little crazed because my boss actually asked if I needed someone to drive me home LOL!!

On the way home I called everyone to tell them "its a girl, its a girl, I have a baby!!!" I called Casey and caught him between classes "you have a sister!!" he seemed pretty happy!! I kept calling Brett at school but couldn't get ahold of him. Bobby couldn't leave work until 11am. He didn't think I could but I promised to wait to open the pix til he got home. I finally got Brett on the phone and told him. He was excited said "wow! this isn't just paperwork anymore, there's a real person now!"

I talked to Bobby from the time he left work and kept telling him "come on, drive, drive" Finally, he was home and we opened the email together...

First pic: mugshot. I've seen tons of these by now. Not usually the best shot. Totally understood the giggle about the hair. There's tons of it, coal black!!! She has very fair skin, cute as a button nose and lovely symmetrical features.

Second pic: sitting in the office chair. I was so excited because usually referral pix have the kids totally bundled up and you can't see their little bodies. Our little girl is wearing a short sleeved onesie (I think the pix were taken in July, when it is hot!!!). You can see her sweet little toes, squishy little arms, and chubby thighs!! First thought: she looks so healthy! She seems to be sitting up on her own too so it seems she's physically fairly well developed.

Third pic: in the waker. She's making a little smile. Its the one showing the most personality and was, at first blush, my favorite. Again, she looks healthy and well taken care of.

Then, more calls, posts to RQ and assorted yahoo groups!! Emails galore. A very happy day. Bobby printed out the pix. Bobby and I decided to do lunch (for some reason we didn't do chinese food as planned and did Olive Garden instead). We did take our printed picture with us to look at. Also put "her" in the cart at Costco, just for fun!

Since then, I can't stop looking at her pix. My baby. Finally, after all these years, I have a baby girl!!! I feel a ssnse of peace and calm I haven't felt in an awfully long time.

Where is Baby G???

We have been told she is currently residing at the Zhangshu Social Welfare Institute in Jiangxi Province.

Jiangxi is shown on the map below in pink in the south east section of the country. It is said to be a beautiful area with tall mountains and fresh water lakes. The climate is warm and humid in summer and cold in spring and winter (I checked out the temps on weather.com, I think we'll get lucky at the beginning of December, not too hot, not too cold) Jiangxi is home to Poyang Lake which is the largest fresh water lake in China and has a large habitat of white cranes. The province is best known for porcelain **I think there's some serious shopping potential here!!!**

Zhangshu City is in the center of Jiangxi Province. The area where the orphanage is located is quite poor with many families involved in the farming of rice. The entire city has a population of 536,000 (which seems like a lot to me!). The orphanage is said to be a rather small one with a very small IA program. One family who traveled in 3/08 said there were only about 20 children there at that time. It seems, and I could be wrong, that they only place a few children per year. The families that have adopted from the orphanage have said that the director cares a great deal for the children and that they are generally very well cared for (what a relief!!). The nannies live with the children with 3 cribs and one nanny per room. I have a feeling she is going to be very attached to her nanny. This is great for attachment to the adoptive parents but very, very hard at first for the grieving child.

Here is a picture I found of the Zhangshu SWI on the net:

It seems that children are received in Nanchang which is a large city about 1 to 1-1/2 hrs to the north. Some families have been able to visit the orphanage and others have not. I would like to do this if at all possible. Even if aren't able to go into the orphanage, I'd like to at least see the area where Baby G spent her first mos of life. We'll have to see if this will be possible.

Here she is!!!

I'm in LOVE!!!! She looks healthy and well taken care of! Her hair isn't really sticking up so much as there's just a lot of it!!! Ooooh, I need hairbows, great big floppy ones!!!

Bobby says no but who cares????!!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Name: Zhang Nian Sheng
Orphanage: Zhangshu, Jangxi Province
DOB: 1/7/2008
weight 2 mos ago: 7kg (not sure what that is in pounds!!!)

they said she has hair sticking straight up off her head!!! She laughs out loud, watches people and has a ready smile!!! I'll have the pix in about an hour. Bobby will be home in about 1-1/2, then I'll post them here.

I cannot believe this has finally happened. I feel so relieved and happy!!

Harrah's posted....
at 8:05am PST, referrals have been received for 2/13/06 families!!! I should be hearing something soon!!! OMG!!! This is happening, its really happening... to me!!!!!!!!!!!

I realized that I never did a referrals post from September 2. These are all families from my RQ Feb 2006 room. They are so beautiful and, only a few weeks later, making plans for travel!!! We should be on a list like this soon. Can't wait!!!

M&M’s Mommy
Journey to Kavanna
Journey to Lydia
Searching for Kassandra
Becky
Waiting for Lily
Baby Gasser
Our Journey to Malia
Lin Family
ChinaBabyBarnes
Baby Sun9shine

Waiting for Lily

The following families in the SN program would like to share their news:
Room for at least One More
Journey to Kelsi Rose

Update:

the bad rumor aka "the rumor which will not be named" has now been replaced with a new rumor... a good one!!!! Supposedly, referrals will be normal (you know, the new crappy normal of a few days but whatever). And, to add to the excitement, a member of my RQ feb group posted that her agency has informed that 2 packages have left CCAA en route to her agency!!! One of them must be referrals!!! That means that referrals could start arriving as soon as MONDAY!!! OMG!!! Of course, it could be Tuesday.

To think that at this moment we have likely been matched with the little person who will become our child. More than likely, we have a child, we just don't know who she is yet. Isn't that weird??

I'm so excited and nervous I can hardly contain myself!

Click... click... click... click....

That's the sound of the coaster heading up the ramp. What a week already. I checked the RQ yesterday ---was it really only yesterday??? it feels like so long ago---anyway, I checked the RQ yesterday morning and found the following: "Really bad first rumor"

Before even reading what the rumor was, my heart sank. I felt immediately ill. But then I thought, what could this rumor be? I mean, how bad could it be?? CCAA only has to do 2 stinking days for us to be included in the next batch, surely we will not be affected by any rumor no matter how bad.

Yes, you guessed it... a one day batch. Un-freaking-believable. The way its being laid out is that because of the poisoned baby formula (they're calling it "tainted" but let's tell it like it is, shall we?) CCAA is going to be doing a tiny little batch.

Here's the excerpt from RQ:

"because of the bad formula issue, there will not be as many referrals this
month, and the cut off may be the 10th. The source says that the CCAA is talking
to the orphanages and finding out which were using the affected milk and which
were not. It is unclear if the small month might be because they are busy doing
this and don’t have time to do many matches, or if they are only going to refer
the babies from orphanages not using the bad formula."

Of course, I'm not sure this really makes any sense at all. Neither explanation has any logic to it whatsoever. Next week is a holiday in China, CCAA will be closed from 9/29-10/3. If the referrals aren't mailed tomorrow before they leave on vacation, they won't be going out until at least the 6th. Mailing them out on the 6th doesn't make much sense either. So, who the heck knows what's happening.

On to the poison formula. I am so mad, angry and sad about this. I cannot believe that anyone would attempt to increase profits in this fashion. It just doesn't make any sense at all. For the first time during this entire process, I am mad at china. I'm at the point where I don't trust any of their agencies at all! I don't trust my US based adoption agency either for reasons I won't discuss right now. I am so tired of being lied to over and over.

I'm exhausted from this process. I'm out of tears. I really just want it to be over. Stop the ride please, I feel sick, I need to get off.

Over the last few days...we "celebrated" our 31 month LID-versary. Thirty one months and four days ago our dossier was logged in at CCAA. Of course, we didn't know the precise day we'd been logged in until a few months later. Nevertheless, on that day, our paperwork was briefly reviewed by a clerk of some sort, stamped, and placed in storage with the dossiers of approximately 30,000 other hopeful families.

When we originally sent our dossier off I was so happy and relieved to have all that paperwork behind us. Brett was finishing the second half of his junior year of high school, Casey was a freshman, and I foolishly envisioned taking Baby G to Brett's football games in the winter of that year, 2006. Certainly that Christmas would include little girl things. Little did I know that two Christmas seasons would pass without the need for any dollies or pink items under the tree.

Now I sit, smack dab in the middle of the fall of 2008, ever hopeful that not another holiday season will be celebrated before our family is complete. We shall see. Intellectually I believe that we will be included in this next batch but emotionally, I'm having a hard time letting my guard down. Month after month has brought mostly happy stories for those who have waited and waited their turn. Likewise, each month there seems to be at least one sad story of someone being skipped, a referral made far outside of expectations or even dramatic and life altering occurences that prevent families from completing their planned adoptions. I try very hard to remember that for most it works out well and allow the stories of the less fortunate to shift to the back of my consciousness. There the bad thoughts sit, huddled up in a dark corner, hidden but not forgotten.

Most days I muddle through but some days the stress of the situation has been too much and I've felt like I was going to burst from frustration over this process of waiting and waiting and waiting for something that may never happen. At the same time I have to face the fact that, even if it does happen, it may not turn out to be the positive experience I've been hoping for.

Its all just a giant crapshoot and, at this point, the dice are still rolling.

Happy Birthday Brett!!

Today, Brett turned 20!!! Wow, my first baby is no longer a teenager. It's pretty hard to believe. I keep thinking back to when he was small. He learned to walk very early (7 mos!) by 9 mos he was running as fast as he could go away from me!! When he was 3 or so he had the most beautiful hair which was cut into a step cut --very popular at the time. He would have his bath and while his hair was still wet we'd come it to make sure there were no tangles. Once dried we'd just have him sort of shake his head back and forth and his hair would lay perfectly.

Brett was born with, and of course still has, beautiful long eyelashes. When he was first born they were so fine that they were actually a little hard to see. But now they've grown into thick long lashes that frame his beautiful brown eyes.

Its funny, when my kids were small I was always waiting for them to get a little older so they could move on to the next step. It felt like I was always in such a hurry. Now I wish we could have all those moments back to live again.

Today marks the second decade of Brett's life. He's getting ready to return to college in just a few weeks. It will be fascinating to watch what the next 20 yrs bring for him.

I love you Brett, with all my heart!

Your Issue Profile: 56% Obama, 44% McCain

Truth be told, you're not really satisfied with either of the candidates. You could vote for either of them. You are the typical coveted swing voter. You may want to narrow yourself down to a particular set of issues in order to pick your president. Or start looking at third party candidates. One of them might suit you better.

Should You Vote for Obama or McCain?

I'd say that pretty much sums it up for me. I keep asking myself "is this the best we've got?"

I have this sinking feeling that the next 4 years are not going to be good ones for our nation no matter who ends up as president.

CHINA ADOPTION FORECAST SAYS:

Our prediction for LID 2006-02-13
China has 4 days of
dossiers to be processed before they get to your dossier.

China currently processes about 6 days of dossiers each
month.
Our best guess: 2008-09-23

Today was so exciting. Feb 2006 families lid 2/1-2/9 have been posting their referral info and there have even been a few pix already. As usual all the babies referred have been absolutely precious! I removed another 9 clips from the paperclip chain, it doesn't look very intimidating anymore with those 4 scrawny clips left. HAH!!! I beat the wait. I did it!

Next month is it, I'm sure of it! Only 4-5 more weeks and we will have a picture!!! That will be followed by... more waiting, of course! But, we have finally made huge progress, this is really going to happen sooner rather than later!!!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is beyond exciting!!! Checked the RQ blog this morning, didn't really think it would say anything, almost didn't even go there and guess what???????????

RQ reports, referrals through 2/9!!! Again, OMG!!!, are you kidding me?? I was expecting 2/7, hoping for 2/8, never in my wildest dreams thought that 2/9 could be in for this month. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

The first news came from the Norwegian agencies (they're open today, no Labor Day for them, right??) and it has now been confirmed by at least one US agency (thank you to that agency who went in on a holiday and checked) that the CCAA box has changed and shows 2/9 as the cutoff. Feb 11 and 12 were weekend days, very unlikely anyone lid on those days. That means that, although CCAA would need to do 4 calendar days to get to 2/13, its only 2 lid days. In the 3-1/2 yrs I've been watching china referrals I have never, not even once, seen CCAA refer what amounted to 1 day of referrals. I am 95% sure we will recieve our referral in october!!! I will see my baby's face in less than 6 weeks, we will have her here before christmas!!!! Twenty years and 1 mo after becoming a mom for the first time (Brett turns 20 next weekend) I will become a mom for the third time. Finally, we will add to our family the little girl we've always needed to make our family complete!!!

I am so excited, I keep crying... is this really going to happen???? YES, it is!!!

MORE LIGHT or MORE TUNNEL??

My sister in law sent me the pic above which I thought was freaking hilarious! Anyway, since the last time I posted, things have continued to become more and more exciting. Let's see, another set of referrals came out last week, the August batch, which officially went through 1/31/06. Now, no one was logged in between 1/28 and 2/5 but apparantly CCAA wanted some sort of end up month thing going on so there you go. At first look, "real" referrals were only for 2 days 1/26 and 1/27 which showed shockingly small numbers on the RQ polls. But, after looking around it appears that perhaps one of those days was a huge lid day for a european country (France, Italy?? don't remember) and obviously the families from countries besides the US and Canada are likely to not be very well represented in RQ polls. Overall, I see this as a positive as it means that CCAA likely did not refer a tiny little batch this time.

OK, so what happens next??? Referrals for 2/2006 will begin next month. I have my fingers crossed that CCAA will make it to let's say... 2/8??? If so, it would put us on track for an OCTOBER REFERRAL!!!!! OMG!!! Can you even imagine?? I can't. Must control emotions. Breath, Susan, breath. ahhhh. ok.

So, the more likely thing is that they will do less and we won't get our referral until November but even still, that is 12 weeks from now!!! 12 weeks!!! I can totally make it for 12 more weeks. I am an expert waiter, I should get a gold medal in the mentally and physically demanding sport of Waiting. There are still tons of things that can go wrong but I'm trying hard not to let myself even go there. I'm trying to stay "positive"

Also in the last few weeks: the olympics kicked off on 8/8/08. I got to see the opening ceremony on tv and was seriously impressed!!! We enjoyed a quick trip down to sea world in san diego "Shamu, Shamu"!!! We "celebrated" 30 mos of being lid (now at 5 times our original estimate). And, the best news of all, my mom is finally starting to feel human again.

Things are looking up!!!

Below are the lucky families who received referrals over the last two months. Seriously, these kids are sooooo cute!!!

July:

For Chandler With Love

Jodi & Tom Shaw

And Merrilee Makes Three

Littlemisunshine

I dream of Kassidy

Jade

Eva Grace

CaseyWillow!!

A Clear Sign

Landyn

Journey to Annaliz

mcmanusadoptionjourney
Pickalilly

Filling a Place No One Else Could Fill

Notre rencontre d’amour

Waiting for Mia
The following families in the SN program would like to share their news:

Our Leap of Faith

Journey to Della Grace

Hannah

August:

Lily’s Wait

Abigails Journey

Alyzabeth An

Waiting for Savannah

Our Wait for Lily

Our Journey to Sophie

Red thread to Texas

The following families in the SN program would like to share their wonderful news as well:

Here is Jack

Mom2mygirls

Invisible Red Thread

Miles and Miles to Mylei

And a referral from Taiwan!

Precious wonders and little monkeys

Referrals are on their way! Teeny tiny batch --they only did through 1/25. That means 5 calendar days but only 3 lids due to 1/21 and 1/22 being weekends with no families logged in. Whatever. I still get to take 5 paperclips off the paperclip chain and my number officially drops to 19 lids ahead of ours --minus 9 for cny which leaves us with 10! yes 10! real lids ahead of us.

Of course, no one knows what's happening with the olympics or anything else but, without a doubt, we are getting closer not further away. Its just crazy!

The other big positive is that my agency will be receiving referrals this time for their 1/24 lid families. That means, for my agency, we are the next log in group. As long as nothing weird happens with the olympics (again, anyone's guess) we should have our referral no later than november! I'm still hoping for sept (longshot) or october (it could happen) but, for sure, by november. We should at least have a pic of Baby G by christmas. How great is that???!!!

The Stork Has Landed

These are the RQ families that received referrals in June. Most will travel by the first part of August. Congrats to all!

Welcome to Sgroi-land
Yvo-Sanne
The Wong’s Journey
The Davison Family
Copy by Kaplan
MeiMei Lily
Xiao Yue
Gentle Years
Journey to S.
Blessed Journeys
The China Expedition
Of Paths and Errands
Blogging to Brielle
Katie
Dragon Scales and Mermaid Tales
Waiting for Natalie
Our Journey to Ainsley Anne
Loving our Lady Bug
Mae12
The following families have their referral but no pictures yet:
Whatever I want it to be….
The following families in the SN program would like to share their news:
Lost and Found Journey
Love you Forever
We’ve Been Truly Blessed!
Andy and Susan China Blog
God’s Next Chapter
Moore Family (login:moore/pw:faith)
Wall of Precious Stones
Aging with Grace
Northcountry Family
The following sites have music and are not work safe:
Lillian Rose
The Monahan Journey of Love & Life
From Dating to Diapers
We’re coming Bella

I SEE A LITTLE LIGHT!!

So, the rumor of referrals going through the 22nd didn't turn out to be true, or maybe it did?? No one's completely sure and most people, including me, have decided it doesn't really matter much in the scheme of things. The 21st and 22nd of Jan 2006 were weekend days. RQ's poll shows only a few people lid on those days and its likely that those were accidental votes. So far, no one in either my yahoo groups or RQ has come forward to say that they had a 1/21 or 1/22 lid and did or did not get a referral. So I guess its a moot point. People have questioned why ccaa doesn't just go ahead and state referrals went through the empty days. For that there is no answer other then, ccaa doesn't do it that way. They give you the empty days at the beginning of the next month.

OK, now we've cleared that up. This is where things are starting to get exciting!!! We now have only 24 calendar days ahead of us, read it again, 24!!!! Nine of those are cny days = no lids on those days. CCAA was closed 1/28-2/5/2006 for cny so no one is lid on those days. Again, a smattering of votes on RQ's polls, probably done in error (or possibly stupidity). The next referrals willl likely go through 1/27/06, with the next batch covering all the cny days plus a few days maybe up to 2/9??? If so, the next batch would include US!!! Read it again, WE COULD BE GETTING A REFERRAL IN SEPTEMBER!!! We would be home with our new child by Christmas!!!

I cannot even believe it.... after almost 28 mos of being lid and almost 3 yrs after starting this process, we may be only 3-4 mos away from referral. Its almost hard to accept that it could be true. Everyone who has been waiting so long is almost afraid to allow themselves to believe that it may actually happen!!! I've actually allowed myself to hope and believe again. Many months ago, I told just about everyone in my real life that the adoption "just didn't work out" it was so much easier and less painful than having to explain the process over and over and over and over and over again. But, this last weekend, I told one of my neighbors, it just sort of slipped out.

So, there are still things that can go wrong but, for now, there is a glimmer of hope. Its a nice feeling!

Happy Dance????

Alrighty then, this is going to be something you haven't heard in awhile.... let's say about 28 mos or so. I think there is some good news on the horizon. RQ has a rumor on her board that says that referrals are on their way and that they go through 1/22/06!!! Count 'em up folks, that would be 10 days. RQ had predicted 1/23 as the "horrid case" for referral cut off and I thought "YEAH right!!!!, never gonna happen" --I expected referrals to go through the 18th or possibly the 19th at the absolute latest.

So, at this point its just rumor but it does have a little traction. It appears more than one agency may be reporting this but its a little difficult to tell sometimes. Anyway, if true, it would mean that we'd be down to only 22 lids ahead of us!!! 22!!! and 7-9 of those have no lids on them at all due to CCAA closure for CNY in 2006. So it would really be like only having 13-15 days ahead of us. If CCAA does an average of 5 days per month, that would put our referral at Oct or even possibly Sept (slim chance), travel by Dec.

I really hate to even hope, once I stopped doing that the wait became much, much easier to handle. My motto has been "think pessimistically, avoid disappointment" and its been working better than one might imagine.

Anyway, I'll save the pic of a cuter happy dance for when the rumor has been confirmed as fact. Until then, we have the guy above who seems blissfully unaware that there is anything wrong in his world!!!

SHARON STONE IS AN IDIOT!!!

Apparantly, Stone was in Cannes yesterday and she was asked if she had heard about the disaster that hit China recently, and her answer was:

"Of course I have. Well you know at first I thought I'm not happy with the way
the Chinese are treating the Tibetans….and I've been concerned with should we
have the Olympics because they're not being nice to the Dalai Lama who's a good
friend of mine." And then all this earthquake and stuff happened and I thought,
'Is that Karma, when you're not nice and the bad things happen to
you?"

Are you freaking kidding me!!! First of all, why do we care what Sharon Stone thinks about this? Second, the only good thing about her having said something to damn stupid has been the outcry for her having said it. How awful.

Listen up Sharon, 5 million people are now homeless and about 80,000 are dead due to this horrible natural disaster. What awful thing do you think those people have done to deserve this? Whatever you think about the Chinese government, Tibet, etc the dead and homeless in China did not deserve this.

What a fool!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... TO ME!!!!!

Well, its here, I'm officially 42 yrs old today. Weird. Bobby asked me this morning "so, do you feel any older today?" --uh, yeah, I feel a little older every day LOL!!! But really I don't feel any older, I still feel pretty young. I find it a little hard to believe that I'm not only 40 but in my 40s!!!! Geez, where did the time go?? I used to be in my 30s, I vaguely remember being in my 20s. Hmmm. I hope the next 40 yrs doesn't seem to fly by like the last 40 has.

Anywho, no special plans for the day but I did play hookie from work!!! Yippeeee!!! Normally I might spend a little of my time cruising the RQ forums but, alas, the forum is down. Sigh. My mom's still in the hospital so I will be stopping by for a visit. Pretty basic day really.

So, here goes:

"Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to me"

5/5/08
May referrals are out. They only did 3 days (through 1/12/06) its depressing but not surprising. China adoption forecast estimates us getting a referral on 10/17/08 now so I guess that would mean November. CCAA is really not working the month of August, I believe. There are varying accounts, of course, but I've heard from more than one source that Beijing is going to very difficult to navigate and the chinese government really doesn't want anyone traveling unless its for or related to official Olympic business. So, they'll probably be working but not everyone and not a lot, I'd imagine. So, what does that mean? I think they'll send out referrals in August just before the olympics start. Then, in september, there will be few if any referrals. That puts us at dec for referral if they were to go at about the same speed. But, I don't think its going to go at the same speed. I think it will do what its done every month for the last year or so and slow down further.

Bottom line: I don't expect a referral until 2/2009 --9 mos from now. That would be 3 yrs lid to referral for us. We'd travel in april. Yikes! When we originally logged in I expected the wait to be about 9 mos which would have been nov 2006 --we're still 9 mos away. Always have been.

32 lids to go--9 of them with no lids due to closure for CNY in 2006. Sigh.

Here are the blogs for this month including some special needs referrals. There was a referral for twin girls, very exciting!!! Congratulations to the lucky few who made it in this month!!



Where is Lilly?
Sunflowers and Ladybugs
As we wait for LilyKate
roysamuel
Our Journey to Georgia
Baby Izabella
Strawberry Blond??? Yes, Strawberry Blond - From China!!!
Baby Sis
Ladybug Happenings
Our Expanding Family
On our way to Olivia
The following families in the SN program would like to share their news:
Our Joyful Journey
Making Room for Mallory
Journey to our son in China
williamsfamily1990
Baseballs and Ballerinas
Our Journey to Sophie
Journey to China AND Vietnam

CATS AND KITTENS!!!

My mom loves to go to the theater. I do too. But, it is always soooo expensive and a little bit of a pain to have to haul our butts out to LA, find parking, etc. There's this old theater in downtown San Bernardino called the California Theater. It's probably about 100 years old. I've been driving by it on my way to and from work for years now. I finally looked it up and found that they do a musical series there each year. Because it was very reasonably priced and so close, I thought it would be fun to give it a try. So, I bought tix for mom and myself. So far we've seen Peter Pan (good but, you know, aimed at a younger audience), Pirates of Penzance (it was OK but, I guess I'm not really a Gilbert and Sullivan fan), and most recently CATS.

The CATS performance was wonderful-- very professionally presented with great sets, costumes and singing. This was a very quality performance. Its weird because I'm pretty sure that CATS is one of the most popular of all the Broadway plays but I'd never seen it. I remember asking someone once, "What is CATS about?" To which they responded "Its about cats." I remember being a little annoyed at what seemed like kind of a smart ass response. But, I have to say, if someone asked me the same question, I guess I'd have to give the same response.

Anyway, it was really great and mom and I have only one more performance to go --The Music Man --another really famous musical that I have never seen. Can't wait!

Now, on to the KITTENS!!


Bobby and I have been wanting to get a kitten. Our last effort at pet adoption didn't go very well. We tried to adopt an older cat (about 3-4 yrs old) thinking that an adult cat would be fine for us. That turned out to be somewhat of a nightmare. Poor little Delilah, she was very sweet but had obviously been abused in the past and had some weird issues. Plus, she wouldn't use the litter box which turned into a nightmare. Unfortunately, after trying tons of things, we finally had to return her to the rescue after having her with us for almost a year. I felt awful but it just wasn't working.


So, we decided to try again but this time with kittens. We figured this way we can get a fresh start. We're now "fostering" 4 little kittens who were abandoned at about 4 weeks. Here are pix of their cute little faces:

The little siamese one is Henry. We chose the name because he is the sweetest, calmest little kitty you could ever imagine. Like an old soul. So precious, he'll come and sit with me for hours. Love, love, love this little guy!!! Very gentle and pleasantly playful.

Next is Zorro!!! Bobby picked his name because when we went to pick them up, the were all in a pet carrier. The other three were hiding in the back but not Zorro. He was right out front protecting his siblings with all his tiny little might. Z has a permanent look of surprise on his sweet little face and is by far the most playful and aggressive. He's an ADHD kitty, constant motion until he gets exhausted. Then he'll settle down and let you hold him. Sooooo, cute.

Next is Petunia. She is such a sweet and gentle little thing. She is just precious and so lady like. That's why she has a flower name. Plus, we'd just planted some petunias in the yard that day so I had flowers on the brain!

And finally, last but definitely not least Ink a Dink (Inky). Of course he's just about completely black so he's like a little ink spot but, and I don't think you can tell this from the pix, he is the tiniest little thing you've ever seen. Just about as skinny as can be. Yes, the runt. But so tough!!! Because he's so tiny we've been bottle feeding him to make sure he's getting enough nourishment. He wasn't a fan of the kitten formula but seems pretty happy with warmed goat's milk. Ahhh, my little sweetie. He loves to be held right on your chest and will stay there for hours!!! If I sit down, he crawls onto my leg. If I'm standing somewhere, he'll come over and stand on my foot!!! With careful feeding, Inky is getting bigger and a little more confident. He pretty much always has that same shocked look on his face as he has in the pic.

April referrals:
Not much to say. They only did 5 days including 2 weekend days. Its the tiniest batch I think they've ever done. Its probably less actual referrals than last year when they did the 2 day batch. They've now referred through Jan 9, 2006. They're crawling like a snail through Jan. My latest chinaadoptionforecast.com estimate is Nov 2008, I think. I don't think it could go much slower unless it actually stopped which it could (may??) do during the Olympics. I hope it doesn't stop. Its agonizing to have it move so slowly. Its as if you were dying of thirst and attempting to drink through a pinhole. So, anyway, here we are. There are 35 calendar lids ahead of us but 9 of them have no dossiers logged in due to CCAA's closure for Chinese New Year (CNY). So, we really only have 26 days ahead of us. How sad is it that as close as we are I'm still not sure this will work out for us??

Anyway, here are the new families from RQ:
Our Journey to Adopt Grace
My Answered Prayers
Zoe Chronicles
Journey to Adopt Lucy
Waiting for Molly
Lookin’ for Number Four
Jade Carroll
Precious In My Sight
Journey to Alice
The following families in the SN program would like to share their news:
Chloe Brown
Andy and Susan
Parenting Cubed
Our Journey to Macey
Our Journey to Michael

25 months today.

I've been pretty busy and haven't had time to post in awhile. My 2 yr LIDversary came and went with little fanfare. I wasn't sad, glad, relieved, or anything at all. I don't even think I was numb. I believe I have just resigned myself to this wait. It just is. I hope it happens for us, I really do. I'm not sure it will and I've accepted that it might not. I guess I'm at the point where, emotionally, I've stepped away from it. As Doris Day would say "Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see..."

So, there you go. I still visit RQ every single day to see what could be going wrong (or right of course but that never seems to happen:-). Today brought news that a Dutch documentary on child trafficking may bring adoptions to a permanent or temporary halt in the Netherlands. Brian Stuy of research china has made a claim that he knows of at least one chinese child adopted to an american family who was stolen from their parents. Who knows?? With the Beijing Olympics on the horizon and the world's interest and concern with the human rights offenses in China, the next 6-8 mos will likely be filled with talk of China, their economy, product recalls, the government's abuse of power, etc. I'm trying to just let it roll over me because, like most things in my life lately, there's nothing I can do about that.

In other news, Casey got his driver's license!!! OMG!!! He's had his permit for over a year and has been driving with Bobby on nearly a daily basis but now he has a license and he drives on his own!! Its pretty intense driving too. Not like when I first got my license and all I had to do was drive 2-3 blocks down some residential streets to get to school and then a few more blocks to friends houses and the local Del Taco. Casey drives up and down the 210 freeway in peak traffic hours. He's a very good driver so I'm confident in his abilities but still, its very scary for mom and dad!! I guess it was time to cut the apron strings a little, he is 17 and half and will be senior next year. Sigh.

Brett is starting the last quarter of his first year of college. He's decided that engineering is not the path for him --way too much math!!! Next quarter he'll be taking what he considers fun classes including Greek Mythology and a critical thinking class. According to him he just wants to read a book and have a test anything but MATH!!!

Me. I've been working on having my closets redone. Finally, they're coming tomorrow to do the tear out and the install on Sat. I am going to have the closet of my dreams, sort of. I've been shopping and shopping for the perfect chandelier to go over my tub --soooo girlie, I know. I'm very glad to be married to a man who is very confident of his sexuality and is not in the least bit threatened by all the flowers, pink and purple he's forced to live with!!! In my free time I've been fairy shopping with a vengeance. I've picked up some really hard to find figures for some really good prices. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE ebay. Honestly, how did I ever buy anything at all before ebay.

So that's all for now. I've posted the latest Babies blog from RQ for the last referrals. They did 8 days, they're up to 1/4/06 --only 40 more lids before ours!!

The following blogs have pictures!

Ellie Morris Journey

Countdown to Aubriana

Journey to Double Happiness

Finally A Family

Lily Rolaine

Koss Family

Voyage to Karson

Journey to Grace

Marossie Comes Home

Pearls from China

Peacocks can fly

Much about Marlo
The following families are expecting referrals this month:

And Ella Makes Three
The following families in the SN program would like to share their news as well:GracieOur Journey of Love

She Burbles at Happy

Little Latham

East and West Kids

Blessings from China

Minarovic Family
And here is a happy domestic interim adoption:

Tree and Dave
The following blogs have music and are not work safe:

One More Ladybug

Beach Baby Blog

Pix of Casey's room. Just thought I'd post them. I did it about 5 yrs ago.