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!!!!!!

Bibs!

I'm in a "Bib Swap" with my October DTC group. Each month for six months we send a bib to another member. Each month has 2 themes you can choose from, or you can send anything you want.





Here's my bib with matching burp cloth from January
(Thanks Diana!)













And here's February's bibs which came from Canada and included a bag of Hershey's Hugs (Thanks Debbie!)

Going somewhere?

I was in the kitchen making supper last night. Jay was in there too. Lindsey was in her bedroom playing. Then she came out and said "Look at me!" She had taken her turtleneck off so was in her t-shirt and pants, plus these dress shoes she just loves to wear around the house, ALL THE TIME. As you can see she loaded herself up with as much "stuff" from her room as she could carry. She has on a backpack and a fanny pack and carrying 2 diaper bags and another bag and a purse and who knows what else is under there. And then of course the hat. Nice look. It was just too funny.

Then and now...

The first one was the night before the FCC CNY event in early February, and the second one is obviously the same pic I posted below from this year's dinner in late January - so just about a year apart. She's changed so much in one year, not just in looks but in everything. Yesterday we took her crib down and she started sleeping in her toddler bed! It took her awhile to fall asleep for her nap today, she kept getting out and asking for stuff and playing. Silly girl.

January 2006 - FCC Chinese New Year Party

Poor girl wasn't feeling too good that day, but we had spent $33 for this and we were going! Three days later she was diagnosed with pneumonia. Boy did I feel like a bad mommy for taking her despite the money involved! (In my defense I just thought she had a bad cold and never dreamed she could have pneumonia.) But she did okay and she improved almost immediately once on antibiotics and all was well.

The wait.....no rumors....and attitude....

We went out of town to visit friends this past weekend. They live on the WI/IL border. They got none of the 10 inches of snow we got on Thursday. It was COLD this weekend! We set out for our trip (8 a.m.) and it was -15 degrees. Yes, MINUS 15....15 below zero. Got that? :-) Brrrr!!!!!

So anyway, back to the wait. (No new rumors for this post!) I laugh at myself sometimes because I give this big speech about enjoying the wait, etc. And I am living that out for the most part. But just so you don't think I have a total "la de da" attitude, here's what's been going through my mind the past couple days....."okay, we spend the weekend visiting friends and when we get home and then wake up Monday morning it will be the 20th. So I get through the week, then this weekend go to my church's women's retreat. When I get back from that February will be just about over. So what do I have going on in March? Ater this happens, we'll have 5 months of the wait over. Then we have to get through this, then that, then April, then blah blah blah." I can try to figure this out with the best of them. :-)

Mostly I just want to get past winter! Summers always go fast, and I plan to enjoy each day even if we are still waiting for our referral the whole time.

Have a great week!

November/December 2005

Before I get to the pictures, I want to share something Lindsey said last night. It was so funny! First of all earlier in the week or last week we were watching the Olympics pairs figure skating. She was mesmerized by it, loved it. Then last night the men's individual long program was on. She saw the first skater and said "Hey! He doesn't have a friend!" Then she said "He can't do it by hisself! He hurt he-self!" She just couldn't figure out how he could skate alone after watching pairs. Too funny.

November 2005:

Messy girl after eating pudding:


Now she's eating what she calls a "sticky bar" (Rice Krispie treat!)


Christmas Eve 2005:

August, September, October 2005

I need to get caught up to the present so you can see more recent pictures of my sweet little girl (who wasn't so sweet last night at 2 a.m.!!!!!). Here you go....

August (I LOVE this picture)


September


October (riding my dad's scooter, on her big brother's lap)

The wait....and rumors....and attitude

Stephanie commented that I have an optimistic attitude about the wait.....well I try! Here are some of my thoughts about waiting....

The wait WILL be over one day....and when it's over, I doubt you're going to want to look back and realize you spent that time frustrated and miserable. You may not see it now, but this time has a certain magical feeling to it that can't be duplicated. Try to enjoy it!

When the wait is over and you're home and you have your child - well, there's sort of a letdown feeling. Not with your child, don't get me wrong! But you've lived for so long in "wait mode" - expecting, anticipating, wondering, worrying, dreaming of that wonderful day to come, the day you meet your precious new son or daughter. And then......it's DONE, it's over! You'll never again feel that certain magical feeling of wonder and the unknown, sharing the fears and joys with fellow wait-ers, "how old will she be, where will she be from, what will she look like......

(unless of course you do it again!)

There's nothing you can do about the wait so you might as well make the most of the time. I know some people hate me saying all this stuff and that's okay. :-) Of course I have my moments of crabbiness and I get tired of waiting too. I just try not to live there.

So the latest rumor is that referrals will be sent out at the end of the month and will include the rest of May and half of June! I quickly got my hopes up for a July referral when I heard that. That was last night. This morning I'm a bit back down to earth realizing that may not happen.

I found out more about the rumored CCAA move today too. They are moving in April and no one knows if it will cause delays or not. I found this out from Jane Liedtke of the "Ask Jane in China" email list. It's a very informative source of info about all things China.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/askjaneinchina

Happy Valentine's Day!

4 months down!

We made it to the 4 month mark! When we started out of course we thought we'd be over halfway done with the wait by now and now we might have a few more months before we get to that point. But 4 months is 4 months and the wait is actually going pretty fast.

If you're new to my blog you might wonder why I have all these pictures of Lindsey when this is supposed to be about adoption #2. Since there hasn't been much going on except waiting and more waiting I've been posting pictures of Lindsey every month from Gotcha Day to the present. When I get caught up with those I will start focusing more on the current adoption. I hope you are enjoying the pictures of Lindsey. She is truly beautiful inside and out and we are SO blessed to call her our daughter!

Have a great day everyone!

July 2005

Wearing her brother's Civil Air Patrol uniform (you can still see the scars from last month's owie).....



Lounging in her easy chair....oh for warm weather again! (It's 25 degrees and lightly snowing as I write this - pretty but I'm done with winter - when winter is done we will be that much closer to CHINA!!!!!)

June 2005 - 2 years old!

Lindsey turned 2 on June 1. This first picture is her at her birthday party on June 4, while everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. She was just beaming as you can see.

Riding her bike!




Uh oh, Lindsey fell at the end of the driveway at my sister's house late June. That night right after it happened, all we saw was that her face was bleeding right under her nose, nothing too major. When she woke the next morning.....woah! She scraped herself up more than we thought! There was a scrape across her forehead, one all the way down her nose, and the one under her nose. It's weird that we couldn't tell this the night before. This is her a few days after it happened.

I'm starting to feel better today, thanks for all your well wishes!

When mom's away....

.....the kids will play!

Okay so Mom hasn't been away but I've been sick! So, um, I've been letting Lindsey watch entirely too much TV and all kinds of other fun things. This morning the living room was covered with bandaids, tape, and stickers. (She is obsessed with bandaids!) I gave her (dry) Lucky Charms for a snack and she just eats the marshmallows out and leaves the rest! BAD mommy! The last thing, remember how she likes to draw faces? She drew several more.....on the carpet (with washable crayon, so I hope it washes out of carpet).

Life with a 2 year old and a sick mommy. Sigh. I hope I feel better tomorrow or I will really have a wild child. As soon as I'm better I'm going to have to lay down some new ground rules!

The Red Thread

So awhile back I posted that I'm not real into the whole ladybug craze. Yes I like an item or two of clothing with ladybugs on it (and Lindsey does own a few things) and I think they're cute and I have a ladybug on my ticker. But I'm not into the "I saw 10 ladybugs today! Referrals must be on their way!" thing. Um, I have read these posts just about every single day and we all know referrals don't come every single day. :-)

So now I'm here to confess I don't care for the whole "red thread" craze. I don't think it's bad, it's kind of cool, etc. - but I don't go all ga ga over the saying and don't plan to put it on my blog, referral announcement, or anywhere else. I guess I've seen it a million times everywhere I turn and I'm not that into it. I know many people are and I'm not knocking it, it's just not my thing.

There, I said it....again.

*******

Here's the saying for those of you who don't know: "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but may never break." It's been said this is a Chinese saying but it was actually made up by an adoptive parent, albeit modified from an actual Chinese saying regarding marriage, not adoption.

More May 2005

I couldn't pick just one from May so here are even more. I don't know why my last entry posted twice, ooops.

My little artist

Lindsey loves to draw faces. I'm amazed that she is able to put all the features in the correct places. Maybe all 2.5 year olds can do this, but I'm impressed. Here's one she drew with her tub crayons yesterday morning.



Poor little girl has pneumonia! It started with a cold last Saturday (which I caught and I'm not feeling the best - yes feel free to feel sorry for me *G*). She seemed better one minute and not the next. I finally took her to the doctor on Wednesday evening. She listened to one side and thought she had viral bronchiolitis, but listening to the other side she thought pneumonia. So she's on antibiotics and doing pretty good. She actually slept all night last night which she doesn't always do even when she's well! Tuesday night we were up on and off all night with her. She is as energetic as ever while my energy is just about gone (typical!).

My little artist

Lindsey loves to draw faces. I'm amazed that she is able to put all the features in the correct places. Maybe all 2.5 year olds can do this, but I'm impressed. Here's one she drew with her tub crayons yesterday morning.



Poor little girl has pneumonia! It started with a cold last Saturday (which I caught and I'm not feeling the best - yes feel free to feel sorry for me *G*). She seemed better one minute and not the next. I finally took her to the doctor on Wednesday evening. She listened to one side and thought she had viral bronchiolitis, but listening to the other side she thought pneumonia. So she's on antibiotics and doing pretty good. She actually slept all night last night which she doesn't always do even when she's well! Tuesday night we were up on and off all night with her. She is as energetic as ever while my energy is just about gone (typical!).

May 2005

Lindsey's first haircut...

April 2005

Lindsey is supposed to be napping right now, but instead she is jibber jabbering in her crib to her animals. "Ah-body! Ah-body!" (everybody in Lindsey-speak) Then she proceeds to tell them all what to do. There are so many blankets and stuffed animals in her crib there is barely room for her. Soon we want to transition her to her toddler bed. We will eventually have a regular size twin bed for her and the crib for Allison, and then 2 twin beds for them when Allison is out of the crib. Lindsey is 2 years, 7 months, 3 weeks old - Ben was out of his crib right at 2.

Man I wish I had a pic of Lindsey with her pigtails! She looks soooo cute!

P.S. I just heard her say "Okay little doggie! Don't cwy!" Oh this is just hilarious all the things she is saying. But go to sleep little girl!!!! :-)

Okay....

.....I'll stay! Thanks again for all your kind comments and encouragement.

I wasn't sure if anyone really wanted to hear my boring thoughts and if I was just being a bragging mom with the pics of Lindsey. :-) I'm glad she is a reminder to those of you who are first-time adopters that it really does happen and dreams do come true!

I put Lindsey's hair in pigtails today for the first time ever but Ben has the camera with him in North Carolina! So I can't take a picture. I can do it another time but it was a BEAR getting her to sit still long enough to get the pigtails in. A talented hairdresser I am not. :-) But it turned out pretty good, the part is as close to straight as I can get it. Wish you could see her, it's adorable! Instead I will post an April 2005 picture soon.

What to do???

Besides the fact that it was a very crazy week and I haven't had much time to do anything with this blog, also I have had so many nice comments here and other places that you have enjoyed my blog and pictures of Lindsey, etc. So I'm feeling reluctant to delete my blog - it's just so final! I also like looking at my ticker every few days and seeing the time pass from LID. So I may just think about it some more.

My crazy week - Monday night we had our 17 year old Burmese cat put to sleep. Sniff sniff. Tuesday night I went to see my niece in her junior high school play, Cinderella. She had the lead, what a beautiful voice she has. Wednesday we had an appraiser come over so I spent the day cleaning up the house. After she left we went grocery shopping. Thursday morning at 6:30 am I spoke to an infertility group at my church about our adoption experience. Afterwards I came home, got Lindsey dressed, and went right back to church for women's Bible study. Thursday night was my once-a-month book club. Yesterday was spent getting things ready for my son Ben who left this morning for North Carolina to visit some friends (fellow travelers for our first adoption). Whew! He's flying by himself but he's quite confident so I'm sure he's doing fine. He's actually delayed in Detroit right now though, just 15 minutes so he'll be okay. He won't be home until Thursday afternoon! I'm going to miss him but hey he's a teenager and gone a lot these days anyway. :-) I'm going to my neighbors for a playdate in 1/2 hour. She has 2 little girls from China, 4 & 2, and is LID 8/30 for their third!

Thanks for your kind comments about my blog. I'm still here, for now anyway. Have a great weekend!

Saying goodbye

Hi everyone,

For some odd reason last night I was laying in bed just feeling very uncomfortable about all the personal things about myself I have out there on the net. Especially all the pictures of my precious little girl. I don't know why it came up but I wonder if maybe God is telling me something. There has to be a reason why I'm feeling like this all of a sudden as there was nothing to trigger these feelings, no incidents or anything like that. And then this morning I found out there are some security issues with one of my Yahoo groups and I wonder if that is confirmation of my feelings at this time. Now that I think of it my adoption agency group has just stopped putting pictures of our children on their group homepage. Just another piece to the puzzle.

So as much as I hate to do this, I've had SO much fun doing this blog and getting to know some wonderful people, I'm going to delete my blog in the next few days. I'll still visit yours :-) so hopefully I can keep in touch with many of you. Thanks for all the wonderful comments about my daughter and other things I have posted.

May the referral wait speed up as 2006 rolls on! I wish the best to everyone with their adoptions.

More March - Easter

I couldn't resist posting more pics from March. I love all of these from Easter. It was SO fun to finally be able to buy an Easter dress for my daughter after having a boy all these years! :-)

March 2005 - 21 months

3 months!

Today marks 3 months of waiting in the books!

I really haven't done much to get ready for Allison yet. I typed up my packing list the other day. I was "packing list obsessed" last time and for some reason I still love talking about them. :-) Awhile back I said I would review each category here in my blog but that fell by the wayside for now. I will get back to it when I get caught up on my Lindsey photos to date.

I am doing the Secret Pals and Cybershower with my September DTC group, and a bib swap with my October group.

With the slowdown I feel like we have so much time to go yet so there's plenty of time to get things ready. But now that we're in the second trimester :-) I would like to do a few things.

I sure hope another batch of referrals comes before Chinese New Year (a whole month this time too!)

February 2005 - 20 months

This is Lindsey dressed up for Chinese New Year with our Families with Children from China group in early February. We had gone to this the year before when we didn't have her yet. It was so wonderful to be there this time with my own Chinese daughter. She had such a blast this day, running around and soaking in all the activities. This year's celebration is this month on the 29th.

January 2005 - 19 months

December 2004 - 18 months

November 2004 - 17 months

My little Packer fan! I asked her the other day what do you say when you're watching the Packers and she said "Woo hoo!" Okay, not so much this year, but hopefully next year will be better! :-) One of the first things I taught her was to throw her arms up in the air and say Touchdown! She learned that one really fast. :-)

October 2004 - 16 months

September 2004

The first summer home is sort of a blur. :-) So I didn't do a very good job of labeling photos and I'm not quite sure which photos belong to July and which to August. So I'm skipping August and starting up with September when I started getting a little better at keeping track of which photos were taken when.

July 2004

June 2004

I've posted a picture of Lindsey on Gotcha Day, and some more recent photos. Now I'm going to post one of her from each month we've been home. We got home from China on June 10, 2004, and here are 2 pictures of her from later that month.



(Edited: I thought maybe Lindsey looked a little older in the picture of her with her Great Wall t-shirt on her, and I checked and the pic may be from July or August so I deleted that one for now.)

Proud mommy

I read a lot of blogs and so many people have lots of clever, witty, and interesting posts and mine are rather boring. So I will resort to posting more pics of my beautiful little girl for now. :-) It's late so I'm just posting this one and will do some more during the week. Background to this photo: for some reason Lindsey doesn't want me to take her picture most of the time. The little bugger will turn away from the camera so I have to be sneaky. Before I snapped this she was sitting on the floor looking snuggly in her jammies with her stuffed piggy and her blankie watching a show. "Oh how cute, I have to get a picture!" But as soon as she saw the camera she got up and started being goofy.

O Christmas Tree

We finally put up our tree last night. We have an artificial tree that we've had for close to 15 years I think. We keep the lights on and put the whole thing downstairs when Christmas is over. We don't care to have it up forever and ever so we usually put it up about 2 weeks before Christmas and take it down on New Year's Day.

Anyway, Lindsey had a great time putting ornaments on. She went back and forth, back and forth, from the box of ornaments to the tree. The bottom of the tree is loaded with ornaments where she put all hers. We have some rearranging to do when she's not looking. :-)

My favorite ornament is one I made in kindergarten, 36 years ago. We traced our hands on red felt, cut them out, and decorated them with glitter and shiny things (not sure what they're called!). I remember trying to cut the felt with the safety scissors, not easy for a tiny little 5 year old! I wrote my name on the back. It's my prized possession and the first ornament I put up every year.

Two Months!

Two months since our LID - 6, 8, 10 more to go?

Referrals

My agency (AWAA) got 22 referrals today! They're for 2 groups in April with LIDs of 4/11 and 4/14. Another half month's worth of referrals, but we're 2 groups closer nevertheless! We were expecting this again. The CCAA actually has put on their website now what files have been reviewed and up to what date they have matched. That is really nice of them to put that on their site now.

There's been a lot of whining and moaning (sorry folks!) about the longer wait lately and it was starting to get to me. I know the wait is hard, especially for first time parents, but we can't let life pass us by while we wait. I choose to focus on the fun parts and the wonderful opportunity I've been given (again!) to bring another wonderful daughter into our family. The waiting time *can* be a joyous time, focus on the positive!

Thanks Secret Pal!

I got my gift from my Secret Pal yesterday (September05 DTC). I got a Hello Kitty pen, notepad, stamp, and hair clips; a CD of kids music; Quack the Duck book; and a ladybug frame and earrings (I don't have pierced ears though!). Very cute, thanks!