Lindsey

These pics do not do Lindsey justice - I think she looked even better in person. She looks just stunning in black! This is actually the very first time she wore a black top. I need to buy her more black clothes, she looks so great in them! Her pants are falling down a bit :-) but she still looks cute.

New Dress

It's time to put away the winter clothes! Well I know better than to put them away and lock them up :-) but I am so sick of Lindsey's winter wardrobe (and mine too!). So I bought Lindsey this new dress last week. The first pic is her sitting watching TV waiting to go to an adoption seminar (given by my agency, AWAA) and the second is afterward.

Thanks Cindy!

Thanks again Cindy for my March Secret Pal gift! Here it is minus the purse which was in Lindsey's room when I took the picture (and she was napping). The outfit is so cute!

Can you believe we ended the swap with March because when we started we thought we'd be getting our referrals soon? Now we are most likely not even halfway there. We WILL get there though! Yes one day I will be posting a picture of my sweet Allison dressed up in this cute little jumper!

Weekly Encouragement

Since there is SO much negativity going around, especially in my DTC groups (and I won't even GO there right now, maybe I'll give my thoughts on that another time but let's just say I'm not participating in the doom and gloom), I thought I would post a scripture on Sundays to encourage us during the wait.

Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
WEEPING MAY ENDURE FOR A NIGHT,
BUT JOY COMES IN THE MORNING.
~Psalm 30:4-5

I know there is great JOY at the end of this long wait!

Amen!

States I've been to

World (or US) traveler I am NOT obviously! The only place I was actually at in California was LAX on our way to and from China in 2004. We just passed through Kentucky on our way to Georgia in 1994, so I was only there for a few hours. I think I have slept overnight at least once in all the other states shown in red.

HOWEVER, how many people can say they've been to China in their lifetime? Twice. Hah! So there!



create your own visited states map

Bye bye ladybug???

The ladybug in my ticker is almost falling off the edge! OH NO!!! What does that mean? It must have heard that the cutoff for this batch of referrals is May 30.

Ramblings (what else is there to do during this long wait?)

There are 2 pieces of what I think is misinformation floating around and it drives me nuts when I hear them!

The first is the statement that the reason the wait is taking longer is "things slowed down around Chinese New Year". Things slowed down well before that. I believe September was the last time a full month's worth of LIDs got referrals *until* January when the CCAA got a second batch of referrals out just before the CNY break, resulting in about a month's worth of LIDs referred in January. How is that a slowdown around the CNY? If anything it sped up just for that month, then went right back to the snail's pace that began in October 2005.

The other statement is that the CCAA moved their offices and that is why things slowed down. According to Jane Liedtke, CEO of OCDF (Our Chinese Daughters Foundation) and resident of Beijing, they have not moved yet and plan to move in April. She had lunch with the director of the CCAA himself. I got this information from her email list that I have mentioned here before http://groups.yahoo.com/group/askjaneinchina I trust that her information is correct.

Then there is the latest rumor out of Spain that the next batch of referrals will only contain LIDs up to May 30. How depressing is that? They were wrong last month when they said the last referrals would contain about half of June, so hopefully they are wrong again. But it seems that other than last month usually they are right. I'm trying not to get too depressed about that. They could always send out another batch in a short period of time. They did in June 2004 when they sent referrals just one week after a batch had come out. I know this because my neighbor got a surprise referral that time!

Please I just do not want to travel in winter! Maybe it sounds dumb but I can handle waiting longer (I have my hands full with Lindsey, crazy lady that she is!) but I can't handle the thought of lugging all our winter gear to China and freezing our buns off during the Beijing touring.

Note to self: " He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." Trust God's plan for you, and in HIS timing!

Snow be gone!

My latest obsession is finding the unmelted piles of snow around here and willing them to go away! Most of the snow has melted except for places that are very shaded or where a lot of snow was piled up (parking lots, etc.) I have even gone to the few piles left in our yard and kicked them so the snow was spread out so it would melt faster. I guess I just feel like when the snow melts and spring gets here (not just on the calendar but weather wise) then we will be that much closer to our daughter and the time will go faster! I love winter but it gets long and by this time of the year I am just so ready for it to be over.

I was freezing my buns off today taking my dog for a walk (it was about 30 degrees and very windy) and I saw my first robin! On the first day of spring, how fitting.

Okay so this was the dumbest, most boring entry I have made for awhile. LOL I really need some good referral news I think!

Pre-Referral Stress....

....no, not now. I'm feeling very excited and antsy, but not stressed...yet. The title of this entry is the title of an email message I sent to my agency group shortly before we received Lindsey's referral. We knew we were definitely next but at the time I wrote this I didn't know when we'd get our referral. The last batch came out on March 9, I posted this message on March 30, and our referral came on April 8 (2004).

Here's what I wrote:

Over this last year I've read many posts from people who were next for referrals who seemed a little, ah, crazed--couldn't sleep, posting weird things, obsessed.:-) And I thought, what's the big thing--your referral will be here any day now and everything will be fine. Why can't you sleep? Ha Ha.

Now it's my turn and it's sooo hard! I can't concentrate on much, I check my mail every hour, I had to force myself to do some housework earlier instead of sitting here at the computer. Sometimes I think if I press Send/Receive Mail enough times something good will show up! :-)

So I've been following the paperchasing sagas and reading about Shelly's dad and other things and not really saying anything because I just can't focus! I don't want to be me-centered but I can't think about much else other than when is my referral coming. So forgive me and know that I care about each of you and hope that the paperchase will soon be over for some of you, that those waiting to turn 30 will be able to handle the wait, that new members will find love and support here. I love reading about the recent China trips too!

What a ride this is!

Eileen
Group 142
Going nuts

*************

Isn't that funny? I can't wait to get to that point again!

I've been reading more posts that I wrote right before and after our referral of Lindsey. I'll post a few more of them here in the coming days. It's so fun reliving our last adoption while we just wait, wait, wait for our second referral.

5 Months!

I can't believe my ticker says 5 months since our LID. It's a big chunk of time! Then again it's not so big compared to the possible total wait. (And to think we'd be just a month or two from referral if the timeline would have stayed as it was when we first started paperchasing!) BUT, I'm happy that we made it this far, and think the rest of the time will go pretty fast. It's been in the upper 40's this weekend (but 30's again the rest of the week with possible snow showers, phooey) and much if not most of the snow has melted. Hooray! As spring comes and then summer the time will go really fast.

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart;

Wait, I say, on the Lord! Ps. 27:14

I bought something!

I'm not buying any (or many) clothes for Allison until after referral when I have a better idea how big she is, and what time of year we'll be traveling. But this outfit has a ladybug on it! AND it has a "red thread" (okay it's pink) from the ladybug going down to the pocket. You know how much I am into ladybugs and red threads!!!

Okay so I'm not into those things. I bought this outfit because it is cute and it was FIVE BUCKS! Jeans, short sleeved shirt, and jacket. The jeans might actually fit Lindsey but the tops are a bit too small. I might just have Lindsey wear the jeans and save the rest for Allison.

FYI, if your new daughter is anything like Lindsey - she wears a bigger size shirt than pants. So I don't normally buy 2 piece outfits like this. Just a thought when you're out there buying 2 piece outfits for your child, one piece might fit but not the other. I buy everything separate (right now usually 24 months pants and 3T tops).

Have a great weekend!

Thanks Secret Pal!

My February gift arrived a bit late but that's okay! It just stretched out Valentine's Day a bit longer. Look at all that pink! Two pair of pink jammies, pink socks, a pink purse, pink candies, some pink on the bear (which plays music) and a pink sticker book. She sent many more chocolate kisses and suckers also. Thank you!

I put everything in the "Allison tub" except for the sticker book - hope you don't mind I'm going to give that to Lindsey.

Psalm 113

Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God, Who is enthroned on high,
Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
To make them sit with princes, with the princes of His people.
He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!

**************

Almost 18 years ago Jay and I decided we wanted to start our family (after almost a year of marriage). My sister was going through infertility problems so the thought was in my head but I didn't really think it would happen to me. Guess again. After over a year of trying I was of course getting very discouraged. At the same time, we had been searching for a church home for awhile and finally found one we loved. The problem was, there were SO many pregnant women at that church! I remember sitting there one Sunday morning thinking "It figures, we finally found a church and I have to see so many pregnant women." Almost immediately after I thought that, they had a time where anyone could share a scripture, a testimony, or anything they wanted. Someone right behind me shared Psalm 113 and that last line stood out to me of course. It turns out, as I sat there that morning, I was a few weeks pregnant with Ben and just didn't know it yet! I will never ever forget how God gave me that scripture to encourage me that morning.

Shortly after Ben was born (8/13/90) I started longing for another child. We had some minor medical intervention to conceive him so I thought, well we'll just do that again and we'll have more children. But it was not to be. We went through many many years of tears and prayers and I finally came to the place where I was content with the one child I had. I kept adoption in my heart though until God finally brought it to pass (I will share more on our journey to adoption in another post - this one is long enough!). I had told God many times over those painful years that if He ever blessed us with more children, I would be sure to give Him all the glory and praise for answering my prayers and giving me the longing of my heart.

So today I just want to publically praise and thank God for His MANY many blessings to me especially the blessing of my 2 and soon to be 3 children!

She's so funny!

I hope you will put up with me sharing more funny things about my daughter Lindsey. This morning we were driving to church for Bible study and she said,

"I smell something! It smells like.......air!"

(after some conversation I realized she meant the air was getting warm in the van and she wanted it cooler)

Afterward we were walking out to our van. It rained/snowed last night and this morning was sunny so it all turned to slush. She had a blast splashing in the puddles and her pants and shoes/socks were soaked. So anyway right now she just has on her shirt and undershirt, no pants no socks. We just finished lunch and she still had her bib on, but the bib part was on her back. I leaned over her to wipe her mouth and she said "I'm Super Map!" (she meant Super Man)

One other thing, yesterday was Jay's birthday and we went out for dinner. When we got home I was going to get Lindsey out of her carseat and she reacted as she usually does and wanted daddy to get her out. That's fine. So as he's getting her out, she said to him "I love my mommy but I don't want her to get me out."

Life is a continual adventure with this child! We are always laughing (when we're not pulling our hair out!) I've sure been blessed!

*********

(edited to add:)

In the 10 minutes after I wrote that entry, Lindsey did a few more funny things! First of all she said to me "Come and see my DDDs!" She was talking about her DVDs, her movies from the library. She had taken them out of their cases and stacked them on top of each other. Sorry library!

Then it was time to change her diaper before her nap. She always likes to "be an animal" to me - she starts aways from me then either roars like a lion while walking toward me, or hops like a bunny or frog, or acts like a monkey, etc. So this time she wants to hop on one foot. "This is how you do it mommy. You put your one leg up here.....and hop!" (She couldn't do it very well but she tried!) So she says "I'm epersizing!" (exercising)

I had cupcakes in the oven and had to wait until they were done before I could put her down for her nap - I told her this. So a few minutes later she asks me if the "muffin cakes" are done.

This girl is a hoot! And now she's sleeping, I'm off to do the same! YAWN! I love naps!!!!!!