I got it!

I've been driving myself crazy trying to come up with a name for my new book blog. I asked for creative ideas (and got a few, thanks!) then I realized that if it's too catchy/creative, then it doesn't feel like "me". So I was almost all set just to call it "Eileen's Book Blog". LOL

Then I started thinking about how I want to get back into crocheting again. I've done some here and there since we brought Lindsey home, including making her and Allison afghans, finishing the afghan I started for myself years ago, and a few other small projects. I doubt I'll be able to crochet every day or even every week but I want to get back into it.

So I thought why not combine the two interests - reading and crocheting. Then I can talk about what I'm crocheting as well as reading. I was making lunch today and a name came to me.....

.....Books and Hooks! It may sound dumb but I like it. So I created the blog, don't bother going there yet though because I'm still working on setting it up.

Gotta run, I'm off to the library! :-)

Creative people - HELP!!!

Despite the fact that I am trying (and pretty well succeeding, with some work to do yet) to spend less time on the computer since we've come home with Allison, I want to start a book blog as of the first of the year (which is only a little over a week away!). I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE to read and I've seen so many great blogs about reading out there, I'd like one of my own.

Anyway, I want a cool name for it, and I'm not that great at coming up with things like that. The name of this blog proves that. LOL If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I was thinking of calling it something in Latin since I'm learning Latin with Ben (and I LOVE it!) and it feels very studious. LOL Otherwise something having to do with coffee and reading, LOVE coffee too. Drinking a cup of coffee curled up with a good book is a little slice of heaven you know. Or neither of those things, just something totally cool. :-) Thanks!

It's been awhile!

I don't plan to disappear completely but haven't really had much time to post. I'll upload a few pics for now. Everything is going GREAT here! Allison is awesome! I LOVE having 2 little girls!

Home!

We've been home a week already, time flies! It's so great to be back. I don't think I'll be blogging much but I'll try to check in. Everything is going well. Allison is a very happy and content baby and so far sleeps all night. :-) We are falling in love with our little girl more and more each day. Lindsey is doing well other than the usual challenges you can expect from her adjustment to her new role as big sister. Here are a few pictures of the girls in China:

This is it!

Hi all, This will probably be my last post to my blog until after we get home. We leave in just 4 days and I'm going to wrap up all my "computer stuff" and get this laptop packed up and ready to go! I can't believe the time is almost here. I've been walking around with butterflies in my stomach constantly! I have a terrible cold, hoping to get rid of it before we go! I am almost packed, not sure if everything will fit! Here's a pic of all the "stuff" not including any clothes! Don't worry, this is before I took things out of their boxes and consolidated and all that. (Note the dog on the left *G*.)



I'm going to be journaling from China on my password protected website. If you want the info, email me and ask. If I don't know you from Adam you'll have to give me some info about yourself first! I won't have time for any chit chat, just the facts ma'am. If you email me after Tuesday I doubt I will be able to get you the info.

And one last picture of Princess Lindsey (she was at a princess birthday party):



Zai jian for now!!!

One more, and two more

One more Thursday, one more Friday, one more Saturday, one more Sunday (after today)

Two more Mondays, two more Tuesdays, two more Wednesdays!

Before you ask, let me save you the breath.....NO, I'm not packed yet. :-)

I do however, have in my possession Allison's new carseat:



and the double stroller:




We finally picked those up last Thursday. I knew what I wanted, we just had to go buy them. Lindsey has a Britax Marathon too and I love it (she has the denim cover, Allison's is houndstooth) so that was an easy choice. I also love our Graco Quattro Tour single stroller, so it made sense to just buy the double. I'm looking forward to pushing the girls in it! I'm not looking forward to buckling 2 girls in carseats. :-)

Happy Sunday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON!

Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl! I wish I could be with you on your birthday, but we'll be there soon! Your big sister Lindsey is ready to play with you! I love you!

Thank you!

SO many people have commented or emailed me to congratulate me, wish me well, all those wonderful things. I want to thank each one of you from the bottom of my heart. As you can imagine life is super busy right now with homeschooling, one very busy 3 year old, and of course an upcoming TRIP! So I can't always respond to everyone individually, but I have read each message and saved them all.

As you can see from my new ticker, we leave 4 weeks from tomorrow! I know that time will go FAST but it also seems like forever! Thanks again to everyone for everything.

WE GOT OUR TA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES! We got our Travel Approval yesterday on Day 34! I doubt that's the fastest ever, but it's the fastest I've heard by one day. Another October LID family got their TA last summer in 35 days, another family a few weeks ago on Day 40, and another just this past Monday on Day 39.

So, without further adieu (or is it ado? hmmmm)........here she is......

Miss Allison Lingyun Kunstman!!!

All good things....

....must come to an end. And so must this blog. But not yet! :-) I am, however, going to phase this out before we go to China. I'm switching to a password protected website for the rest of our journey. I just feel like I want to keep some things private. If you're with AWAA, you will see the website with username and password in my signature line of my (infrequent!) posts to the email group there. If I personally know you or you've commented in my blog and really want my website info, I'd be happy to give it to you. You'll find my email in my profile. If you're just a lurker, well, I don't want to shut you out necessarily, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Maybe you don't care about my little life anyway. :-)

Another reason for phasing out this blog besides the privacy issue, is the time I spend on the computer. Once we get Allison home, I want to cut most of my computer time out and focus on my family and other things. I know many people are able to keep up their blogs, etc. once they get their child home, but I know myself and I know I haven't the discipline to stay off as much as I'd like to. I have a vision in my head of what I want my days to look like. I want to start them out with breakfast with my girls (and Ben is he's awake LOL) and not start it off on this computer. I want to get outside more, play with them more, and GET CONTROL OF THE CHAOS around here! :-) Will it happen as I envision it? I don't know but I hope so.

I leave you with a few pictures from last weekend when we went up to a friend's cottage. I love the brother/sister pics. Oh Lindsey can annoy Ben and vice versa, but there's also times when they make me go awww and warm my heart.

We made it to Day 30 of the wait for TA. That went pretty fast! We're really hoping to travel early November.

AMAZING RACE starts tonight! Woo hoo! Oh, and the Packers lost. Woo, big surprise, not.

I'll write again a time or two before I close this blog. It's been fun but as I said, it's time is done soon.

We are in t-r-o-u-b-l-e!!!

I volunteer in the church nursery once a month. Lindsey does so well in her class, I don't want to be in the same room she is in and have her think that is the way it is going to be. So when she was in the 1 year old room, I served in the 7-12 months area, when she moved to the 2 year old room, I served in the 1 year old room. Well this fall she moves to the 3 year old room, so I signed up for the 2 year old room (well of course). Except the children don't move to their new classrooms until next week, but the new fall/winter volunteer rotatation began yesterday. SO, I was in the same room with Lindsey. First it was just her and I, she was showing me the toys, and then a little crying boy came in. I went to pick him up and Lindsey had a FIT. I was the only volunteer in the room at the time and I had to tend to this little boy (thankfully he stopped crying immediately when I brought him to the train table). But the rest of the morning went well....NOT! Oh that was difficult. She is SO jealous of sharing our attention. So like I said, we are in TROUBLE when Allison comes! Eeek!

On another subject, Lindsey slept in her crib until she was almost 3 years old and then moved to a toddler bed (thanks Dawn!). That was to be temporary until we could find reasonably priced matching twin beds. We just bought matching headboards, put one in the basement for now, and set the other one up on Saturday. (We'll set the crib back up probably next month.) Her room still needs much decorating. Whatever we got done before she came home is what is done today over 2 years later. I can't believe some of the elaborate nurseries some of my fellow adoptive parents have created! Lindsey's room has been pretty bare. Hey, we're slow, what can I say?

Goodbye LID Ticker!

I left my "days since our LID" ticker up there for awhile, for some reason couldn't let it go. Dumb, because it no longer matters how long it's been since we have our referral for our precious Allison. I'm moving on! :-) (Had you noticed our Allison's birthday is only one day before our LID?)

I'm not crazy about the white backgrounds on the birthday tickers but it's the only way the text will show up.

That's my exciting entry for the day! 8 days down, ? to go!!!

Whirlwind Days

THANK YOU to everyone for your wonderful congratulations! I will be saving them all.

I just got caught up reading everyone's blogs that I have links to on the left and will continue to keep up as best I can. I probably won't be able to comment much anymore but I will be there behind the scenes cheering you on! After being in "shut down mode" for so long with the wait getting longer and longer, I now have SO MUCH TO DO! Not only do I have to finish up my lists of things to do to get ready for the trip, and then actually DO THEM! But I have things to get caught up on around the house, and most importantly, before we leave I have to make sure our homeschool year is up and running smoothly (okay as best as we can!) so that we don't lose too much time while we're gone. I remember all too well how hard those first days/weeks/months post-China can be and this time I will have TWO little ones AND it will be right in the middle of the school year. Last time we got home June 10 so I had most of the summer to adjust before starting school. And Ben is a Junior this year so no slacking off allowed! I still have to finish a little planning and getting things ready to start the day after Labor Day.

So crazy days ahead for me, wonderful, wonderful but crazy days! Thanks again everyone for taking this journey with me.

REFERRAL!!!!

Yes, you read that right! Last month we filled out the SN application with our agency. We received our referral last Friday, August 11!!!! It's been a bear keeping it secret this past week! But I wanted to wait until our LOI was offically going out. It's being sent to China today!

Here's the important info!

Chinese Name: Cheng Ling Yun
Soon to be: Allison Lingyun
DOB: 10/11/05
Kunming City CWI
Yunnan Province

She's only 10 months old! We had requested 18-24 months but God had a different plan! I am thrilled. Time to dust off the crib again! Woo hoo!

I can't post pictures until we get TA. Believe me when I tell you that she is adorable! :-)

Prayers going out to all my fellow blogger friends who are still waiting...and waiting.....and waiting.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Ben is 16 today! Happy Birthday my #1 favorite son! :-)

Sixteen years ago at this very moment I was in intense pain LOL and would be until 6:12 p.m. when Ben was born! He was 7 lb. 2 oz. and 19.5 inches long. Quite the adorable baby too if I say so myself.

I am so proud of the person Ben has become. He's a wonderful son. He likes music, his iPod, music, church youth group, music, hanging out with his friends, music, Civil Air Patrol, and music! He wants to go into the field of aviation after graduation.

I love you Ben!

Homeschooling!

Shannon asked about being a home teacher. I don't really talk about homeschooling much if at all on this blog, but it's a HUGE part of my life! You might not be able to tell with all my talk and pics of Lindsey, but I do have *two* kids :-) and I've homeschooled my older one for 10 years now. I love it! Well, sometimes planning for it, reading about it, and talking about it is more fun than actually doing it LOL but I do love it. While I will stop short of saying it is the best method of education for everyone, it IS a wonderful way to educate your children and my first choice. I am a HUGE believer in homeschooling!

This year we are trying something new for history. Trisms This curriculum includes not only history but writing and composition, humanities, economics, logic/critical thinking and more.

We will start the day after Labor Day as we always do. I'm looking forward to another year of homeschooling. Other curriculum we are using includes:

Video Text Algebra

Apologia Biology

Latin Road to English Grammar

Rosetta Stone Spanish/

I also love Sonlight curriculum. We used it last year for world history, and planned to use it again this year but I decided to go in a different direction with Trisms. I do hope to use Sonlight with the girls when it is time to homeschool them. I am so looking forward to that!

PLEASE do not write me and say "I would never have the patience to homeschool." Big pet peeve here! WHO in the world does have enough patience....for anything? Certainly not me! I don't understand how patience is the one thing that everyone thinks you need to homeschool. Not that you don't need some, but it's not the number one thing! Yet that seems to be the number one objection most people have to doing it themselves. If you don't want to homeschool, that's fine! But if you have any desire at all, don't let your perceived lack of patience stop you!

You know, *I* don't have enough of anything to be a good mom, to homeschool, to be a good wife, friend, etc. But GOD has everything I need! So if God calls you to homeschool, He will give you the ability to do it. NO saying "I don't have the patience" or the this or the that.

Stepping off my soapbox now! Have a great day!

More pics

Just a few more pics from Saturday...

Lindsey....

New Packers coach Mike McCarthy

They won!

It was a little hard to decide who to root for last night - Green Bay or the Packers. :-) We had a great time! One of the first things I taught Lindsey when we first brought her home was Go Pack Go! It came out more like "Doh, doh, doh!" but she could pump her little fist with the best of them. Of course now she says it all clearly. Here's a few pics from yesterday. The first one is Lindsey with 2 of her July03 Dragonfly "sisters".

The happiest Packer fan on the block

Brett Favre....

....in action!

Packers #1 Draft Pick - AJ Hawk

FOOTBALL!!!!!!

Woo Hoo!!!!! Football season is almost here. I LOVE football. Love it, love it, love it. Did I mention I love football? Of course my favorite team is the Green Bay Packers, Go Pack Go! Yes I love football!!!!


Tonight we're going to the 6th annual Packers Family Night which is a glorified scrimmage. They have the scrimmage, then a jersey giveaway, "other entertainment" (not sure what that is going to be) and fireworks at the end. I can't wait, just to be in Lambeau Field is so awesome. I've only been to 2 regular season games (tickets are hard to come by!) but they were a blast. Family Night is a great way to get into Lambeau, much cheaper than a game, just for fun. First we're going to a cookout at Dawn's house then on to the game.

I hope the Packers have a better season this year than last! (4-12) Ah the good old days when they won the Super Bowl in 1997. That season was just so much fun and winning the Super Bowl was so cool. Losing the Super Bowl the following year was so painful! I can't watch any highlights from that game, especially post-game watching John Elway hoisting the Lombardi Trophy afterwards. Ugh!

The first preseason game is next Saturday night against the Chargers and the first regular season game is Sunday, September 10 at 3:15 against Da Bears. Go Pack!

Nothing to say?

Post pictures of Lindsey! Sorry but I just have nothing new to say anymore these days! Just waiting and waiting and waiting. Enjoying the summer. Getting ready for the school year (we homeschool). Plugging along. Have a great day!

Sleeping Beauty

June 2005

June 2006

Like mother, like daughter

Lindsey can use the computer! She can play some Reader Rabbit and likes to do the activities on the Teletubbies and Sesame Street websites. She can't do everything, still needs my help for much of it, but she can control the mouse, click the right mouse button, even drag and drop. It's so cute to watch her on my laptop, moving the mouse around and clicking, and sometimes giggling at what she is doing.



(Side note: forgive my lack of writing lately - I seem to have "bloggers block"! I can't think of anything interesting to write. Most of the adoption news (not that there is much) is well covered on all the other adoption blogs, and I really hate to whine and complain which seems to be all there is to do regarding this slow adoption process! Really I am doing okay with the wait and the summer is just flying by.)

9 Months!

So here we are at the 9 month point. The rumors are looking good for a possible October referral (that's only 3 more months!) but I'm not getting my hopes up. Can this be compared to my pregnancy with Ben in a way - I went into premature labor at 25 weeks. Complete bedrest for 12 weeks and 3 hospital stays during that time. At 37 weeks I went off my medication and bedrest. Walked around for almost 3 more weeks with contractions but no baby. I finally had to be induced due to pre-eclampsia (or whatever that is, that was almost 16 years ago!). So the slowdown is like the bedrest, the rumors are like the 3 weeks I walked around expecting something to happen any minute, but it didn't. Dumb analogy maybe, but since I'm at the 9 month wait point it reminded me of a pregnancy, my one and only pregnancy. That's the best I could come up with! :-)

So when I was on bedrest, I thought that time would *never* end. I was blessed in that my sister came over every day and did a little housework, watched TV and played games with me, so that helped pass the time. We played a lot of Yahtzee and watched a lot of The Price is Right. ("Full house, be there!" - that's for you Ginny.) Now it's been almost SIXTEEN YEARS since that ended. Then walking onto the Lifest grounds for the first time this year, I said to my sister "Weren't we just here, like yesterday?" but it had been a whole year. My point is time flies. My referral will be here before I know it (I think!). We're almost getting to the fun part of the wait, where our referral is coming into sight (if the rumors are true). I won't be taking too many computer breaks if we get too much closer, but I'm off now for a few days.

And now for a photo. Lindsey was mad about something here, well she *was* mad, she was over it here but she refused to smile. She was looking like this on purpose.

Lifest 2006!

I just spent a wonderful but exhausting few days at Lifest, a Christian music festival near my home. The best thing is I got to see one of my absolute favorite Christian artists, 4 Him (second only to Steven Curtis Chapman, and even then it's almost a toss up). http://www.4him.net/ It was one of their last concerts as a group after 16 years together. They are so awesome! It was the second best concert I've ever been to, the best one being when I saw them 2 years ago at Lifest. :-) They sang one of my favorites, Fill the Earth. I've always felt the power of God through His creation and this song captures that so well.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Psalm 19:1

Besides 4 Him, we saw Chris Rice, Salvador, Jars of Clay, Mark Schultz, Relient K, The Afters, Kutless, MxPx, a comedian, an improv act, and parts of other concerts/acts. My first Lifest was in 2002 when I just went to see SCC. I didn't think the rest of Lifest would be my cup of tea (thinking it was more for teenagers) but when we got there and I felt the awesome atmosphere and realized there were other artists I would like to listen to, I bought a full 4 day ticket for the following year. That year was a BLAST. I had so much fun. The next year I didn't get to go as much since we were newly home with Lindsey, but I did manage to get there for awhile. Last year I went every day, and this year 3 out of 5 days.

Three years ago during Lifest we were paperchasing for Lindsey. Two years ago we were newly home with Lindsey. One year ago we were paperchasing again. This year we are, well of course, we're waiting. Next year will we be paperchasing again? Uh, no, I don't think so. :-) We are almost 100% sure this will be our last child. I know enough never to say never, but I am pretty sure.

Last year at Lifest I was trying to get some pictures for our dossier too (didn't get one that turned out good enough, we were always so hot and sweaty). This year I didn't take a single picture, but here's one of SCC from last year if you don't mind. :-)



If you listen to Christian music, who is your favorite singer/group/band?

Good things happen....

...when I take a computer break! So I'm off again! Well soon, anyway. I want to log on tomorrow morning to hopefully read about a fellow AWAA family's Gotcha Day. I probably won't be blogging for another week. I doubt the CCAA website is going to change this time like it did the other week when I was gone, but I'm sure hoping for TAs for Krista, Erin, Heather, Valerie (blogs linked in my links section) and also 2 families from my original agency DTC group who have found children in the waiting child program. I'm praying for them to come this week for all of you!

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you; May He send you help from the sanctuary and strengthen you out of Zion; May He grant you according to your heart's desire, and fulfill all your purpose. Psalm 20:1-2, 4

Moving along

Congratulations to all the families who received referrals this week! It really makes me excited to get mine! Many people are now thinking referrals will speed up some more, but I'm still feeling like they are going to stay about the same as they have been, and don't plan to get our referral until next year. I hope I'm wrong though!

We applied for Lindsey's passport yesterday. The clerk wasn't quite sure what documentation to take. I brought everything under the sun just in case - birth certificate, COC, adoption decree, Chinese passport, etc. - because I have heard different clerks seem to ask for different things. So in the end she just took the birth certificate but said they may write and ask for her COC (Certificate of Citizenship). I said that was fine, we have time, and I would prefer not to send off the original COC if I don't have to! She said they are taking about 8 weeks to process. I was looking at my passport and noticed it was issued the day Lindsey was born. I don't think I had noticed that before.

Here's a pic of Lindsey once again feeding a goat, this time at a local zoo. We went last week when hubby was on vacation.



And one of her coloring:



Have a great day!

Back in action!

I shut my computer down and put it in the closet on Saturday, June 17 at approximately noon and didn't turn it back on until yesterday at approximately 8 pm. My break was about 7 1/3 days long, and it was GREAT! It was great not to be obsessing over the wait, checking the RQ site every 5 minutes, hoping for some bit of good adoption news with every check of my email. LOL And while I was gone, good things happened! See, it's NOT the ladybug sightings that bring referrals, it's when I'm off the computer! I think I've discovered a new adoption good luck symbol! Oh brother.

So this is old news, but I HAVE to post this, since I have an October LID. Here it is:



FINALLY! Yea!!!

I'm still trying to catch up on emails and blogs. As soon as I do, I might just take another break! It has been so good for me. I'm enjoying the summer so far.

Have a great week everyone! It should be exciting with referrals rolling in. My agency will be getting over 30 I believe.

Taking a break.....again

Okay this time I mean business!!! I have some things I need to do on this computer over the next day or two, then I'm putting this baby in the closet for awhile! I need to get off of here and get some things done in "real life". The wait will still be here when I get back for sure! (ugh)

I'll post again in a week or so. I doubt I'll be able to hold out any longer than that. LOL

(Krista, I sure hope I come back to news of your TA!!!!!)

I'll leave you with some pics of Punker Dog (a/k/a Chester, my 5 year old Westie, the BEST dog!)

8 months

I am struggling with what to say. I don't want to be negative and whiny. I'm happy we made it to 8 months. But are we even halfway there? I just don't feel quite as excited at the 8 month mark as I did all the other month milestones. I need some good news to perk me up! (Unfortunately I don't think there is any for awhile yet.)

Wrapping up my trip down memory lane:

To answer the question about the jet lag, it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected! Like I said we got home Thursday, June 10, 2004, at 5:30 a.m. After our long ordeal, we actually felt energized once we got home. We thought "hey, maybe we can just stay up all day then, go to bed tonight at a normal time, and start getting our body clocks adjusted." Ha! By mid to late morning, I was more tired than I have ever been in my life! :-) That first day was rough. But by the end of the weekend, I think I was feeling pretty much back to normal. Lindsey was sleeping through the night within a week of being home so that helped. She had a bad cold when we first got home, Ben was sick, my MIL was sick, and the weather was cold and rainy. That didn't help with our adjustment at all! The whole first summer is a bit of a blur, and things got better and better after that.

So I'll be blogging in the present once again, waiting, waiting, waiting..........

Isn't he cute?

Have a great week everyone!

Coming home! (June 9, 2004 - Wednesday)

Hard to believe 2 years ago today, we were leaving China. We reversed our flights from the way over - Guangzhou to Shanghai, Shanghai to LAX, LAX to O'Hare, O'Hare to home airport. Well, that was the way it was supposed to work anyway! First flight went fine. We had a longish layover in Shanghai. Poor Ben was so sick by this time (went to the doc when we got home - he had a bronchitis and a sinus infection!). He was feeling nauseated so someone gave him a prescription med for that, totally helped his nausea but wiped him out! He had to sit down in all the lines in Shanghai. So we finally board the plane that will take us to the US.






That flight went pretty well (it's a total blur as I look back). Lindsey was fussy since she had a cold (was much better from the night before at least) and slept fitfully on and off all the way home, as did I. After a long flight, we finally landed on US soil! YEA!!! We were soooooo tired, but happy to be in the good old U.S. of A.

Now the adventure begins!!! When we were getting to our gate at LAX, we heard our flight was delayed 1/2 hour. No problem. But we got on the flight on time. But then we were told, we couldn't take off - planes in Chicago were backed up because of weather problems on the east coast and in the Chicago area. We ended up sitting on the plane for FOUR HOURS as it got hotter and hotter and stuffier in there. By the time we took off, we knew we would miss our flight in Chicago but hoped for the best. We finally got to O'Hare only to find out our flight home was cancelled. So here it is after 10 pm I think, we can't figure out what to do. We were too tired to think straight! There was no one around to help us. They closed the customer service window and told us it would reopen at 3 am. We thought about taking a cab home (a 3.5 hour drive). All the cabs were taken. We went across the street to a hotel, all the rooms taken. So we plop down in the lobby of this nice hotel, feeling like hobos, slap happy, tired, and I just broke down crying. There were 2 businessmen sitting nearby, we got to talking and telling them our story. They said they were having a meeting the next day and had a conference room reserved - if it was okay with the hotel we could crash there for the night. We were all set to do that, but first we found a phone and my MIL called my FIL. He told us Jay's brother and his wife were on their way to pick us up! They were only about an hour away by this time. (When they heard our flight home was cancelled, they immediately set out for Chicago knowing we might need a ride home! GREAT thinking.) We were so relieved (although not too thrilled about having to drive all the way home after all the long flights!). Of course my BIL got lost trying to get out of Chicago and that added about an extra hour to our trip!

So instead of getting into our home airport at 10:10 pm on Wednesday night, we pulled into our driveway at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. But we were HOME.