14 Months!!!

Our 14 month LID anniversary was yesteday! 14 months ago we were logged in and thought we would have a referral in 8 months, it looks like we have another 6 - 7 months to go. The truth is the time is starting to go quick and I feel like the end of this wait is in sight. I didn't even realize yesterday was the 26th and that another month had passed until today. Last week I came to terms with the fact we will not have a referral this summer. I honestly think we will get our referral in October and travel sometime around Thanksgiving and Christmas. The spring will go quick with our move at the end of May and then we will have a great summer. Pat and I will take one last mini vacation with just the two of us in August to Nantucket and then fall arrives. Shea starts kindergarten and Bryce starts preschool and mom will have lots of time to prepare for our trip to China. So I guess I am at peace with 14 months of waiting behind me.

I - 797C

We received our new I - 797 C today!! When we were putting our dossier together 18 months ago we had to apply for Immigration approval, aka I -797 C . This is a requirement of the US and it states that we are approved to bring an orphan into the US. This document is only valid for 18 months and it must be valid when we travel to China. So, we have been waiting for almost 14 months and we will not be in China by July 2007 so it was time to renew our I - 797C. Renewing this document meant we had to get another set of fingerprints, because they are only good for 15 months!! I just don't understand why my fingerprints have to expire but the FBI requires all adoptive parents to get refingerprinted if they have not received their child in 15 months. In the end and after another $720.00 our fingerprints and immigration approval are both updated and we are all set for China! Unfortunately, we still have quite a few more months to wait but let's just pray we do not have to do any more updating!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I just want to say Happy Birthday to my father!! I am a lot like my dad, you could say we were cut from the same mold. He's the grandfather to six and soon to be seven, when my sister delivers any day. I really hope he has another grandaughter this fall! Love ya dad!

Lily and Mia

The end of a long day of playing!!

Bryce, Mia, Matty, Lily, Billy and Shea on top of couch.

Lily and Mia

We had some friends over Saturday afternoon that we have met through the adoption process. We met Abby and Mike last year at our waiting meetings and we bonded right away. They have a 4 year old son and Abby is a teacher; I think teachers tend to graviate towards each other! They brought their beautiful daughter Mia home from China last May and it was the first time I was able to see a family brought together through adoption. Karen and Bill also came over with their children Billy and Lily. I met Karen through our agency yahoo group and she only lives a few towns away. Karen and Bill brought Lily home from China in September and it was nice having a Lily in our home, even for just a few hours. We had a great time Saturday afternoon and seeing the girls together was awesome!! All the boys played so nicely and I just could not get enough info. from Karen and Abby on what to expect when we go to China. Karen had also brought along a DVD of her trip to China and watching their "gotcha" moment sent chills down my spine. I tried taking pictures all day but they kept coming out horrible. I had the camera on some setting that was making the pictures blurry so I was unable to get a lot of clear pictures. Finally I had Bill take a look at it and he worked his magic and fixed the camera. Thanks Bill!! Unfortunatly, at 7:00 none of the kids were in the mood to have their picture taken, as you can see by the following pictures. I had looked foreward to this visit all week and it was exactly the medicine I needed to get through this month of waiting!!

Couldn't Resist

I have seen this sweater for months in the LL Bean catalog and I have wanted to order it but I just haven't, and probally because Lily already has a closet full of clothes! Then I went to the new store in Burlington, MA and I just could not leave without buying it. It is so adorable and it even has a baby ladybug on the back right hand corner. I however did show some restraint and did NOT buy the ladybug jacket. There is always next time!

The cycle Begins

So, the month is half over... In China adoption world that means I am glued to my laptop. I check Rumor Queen hundreds of times a day (thank God she's back!!) and I read all my favorite blogs and yahoo groups several times a day. What am I looking for you may ask. A glimmer of hope. Usually the rumors start off good; somebody hears that a speed up is about to happen or this will be the month where the CCAA will get farther with referrals than expected. After 14 months of waiting and the wait has only gotten longer you would think I have lost all hope. Nope, not yet!! I will spend the next 15 days thinking it is still possible for me to get an August referral and then referrals will come out and I realize we will be lucky to have Lily home by Christmas. I'll be sad and frustrated for a few days and then I focus on something else for a few days and then it is the 15th again!! The cycle feels like it will never end, but I know that our month will come and it will be our turn to see our daughter's face. I will not lose HOPE!

100 Good Wishes Quilt

After collecting squares for a year I finally had the quilt made! A women in town made it for me and she did a wonderful job. When I picked it up I actually cried because I just could not believe it was completed! It was so emotinal thinking that all our families and friends have contributed to this quilt. I want everyone to know how much we appreciate their help in making this quilt for our daughter. We have a lot of extra fabric left over and I think we will be making a second quilt. We would really like to take the second quilt with us to China and donate it to Lily's orphanage. Many of the orphanages in China do not have heat and it would be wonderful to know that our families and friends will have a part in keeping a child warm.

China Families meeting their children

What a party!!

So we had a birthday party on Sunday and our dining room table ended up flipped over onto it's side! I guess I have a rowdy family!! The table actually started falling over in the middle of singing "Happy Birthday" and within 30 seconds three grown man and one 2 year old have the table upside down trying to fix it. Now the table is 2 years old and nothing should be wrong with it! One of the screws in the leg is stripped and now the table can not stand up. I called the store and they told me there was nothing they could do because the warranty is only good for a year! I took that really well so they asked me to take digital pictures and send it to them. So, after seeing the pictures they decided to send someone out to the house to fix the table. I really want a new table but I guess I'll have to be happy with a table that can stand on it's own! After referrals went out yesterday for only 11 days I was not a pleasant women to deal with so I guess the customer service women was able to pick up on my instability!

First Post

After 13 months of waiting for our daughter from China I have decided it is time to start a blog! It is amazing the things we have done during this extended wait that was never in our plan, including a trip to Disney and selling our house. So I guess this is one more thing to help pass the time. I have another website at lily.chinastork.com but I think I need another place to sort through some of the emotions with this never ending wait!!

This wait has been full of time deadlines that have come and gone. With a 1/26/06 LID I originally thought a fall 2006 referral, then I was sure our daughter would be home by Christmas! 2006 came and went but I had hoped we would bring Lily home for this summer and then that expectation was gone! I just could not imagine going through this summer without Lily but I stayed positive and thought about all the fun things we could do with the boys and I really thought we would have a picture by August. Well after referrals that came out today I am again disapointed and realizing we will be lucky to have her home for Christmas 2007! I can't even imagine that scenario but I have to be prepared!!

I will use this blog to talk about the adoption process and as a way to express some of the emotions I am feeling. I will write about the boys and the funny things they do to keep me sane.
So, I guess this is my first post. How did I do?