Shopping Time

I could not resist! I went into TJ Maxx tonight with two tired boys and I am sure TJ Maxx would have preferred I just went home! I actually went in looking for something for my foyer but ended up in the baby girl section. It was not my fault, I just followed the carriage. The ladybug bins match Lily's bedding and I have plenty of stuff to fill those up! The picture is of 8 girls from around the world and next to each girl is the word for "hello" in that country's language. I love the picture and it will look perfect in Lily's room. I think it may be time to start taking down the wallpaper...

17 Months

That time of month again, LID anniversary. 17 months ago today we were logged into the CCAA for a 6 - 8 month wait. We are still here waiting and not going anywhere fast! I am actually doing OK with the wait, better than I have been in the past. Don't get me wrong, I still have my moments of sadness but I know our time will come and Lily will be home with us and the pain of this wait will be a thing of the past. The summer has offically started and although I never thought 6 months ago I would have another summer without my little girl that is exactly what is happening. The boys and I had a great day at the beach today with friends and I am excited for many more summer days at Minot Beach! Referrals should be coming next week and I think they will probally get to November 15th or so. Rumor has it that the CCAA should be done referring November by the beginning of September. I really want that to be true and then at least our "99" friends will have their daughters home for the Holidays!

Happy Birthday Bryce!

Happy Birthday Bryce! My baby turned 3 today. Three years ago he was born on father's day and on my grandmother's birthday. Bryce celebrated his birthday today with his Great Nana Brown, he is so lucky to have a great grandmother (and a great grandfather!)! Bryce is a funny boy whose personality is really beginning to shine and he is always making us laugh. Bryce lives live with a lot of passion, he loves hard, he plays hard, he tantrums hard! Bryce was only 9 months old when we decided to adopt and it is so hard to believe we are still waiting. In some ways the wait has allowed Bryce to be our "baby" a little longer and he defiently needed that. I think that Bryce is now ready to be a big brother!

Amazing Pictures

I found this website on Rumor Queen this weekend. Her site is about much more than just rumors! Anyways if you click on the link it takes you to a web page called A Child Right. Click on the picture in the bottom left under "news" and it will take you to a photo album with pictures of the orphanages in China. This organization brings filters into orphanages around the world that allows children to drink clean water! We take clean water for granted and after reading about this organization and the work they do I feel compelled to make a donation. This organization was in China this past May and they took lots of pictures of the children and there are pictures of very young children, including newborns. What this means is that it is possible that Lily could be in one of those pictures. Once we get her referal and find out what orphanage she is in I will defiently go back and take another look at those pictures. I was overwhelmed looking at the pictures, knowing we could be looking at our daughter or at least looking at pictures of children that could be the same age as Lily right now. I have seen pictures of the orphanages before, but if this is your first time it may be difficult to see. The hardest pictures for me to see are the ones of the infants drinking from a bottle propped up. It is a comfort to know that the children are now drinking formula with clean water and our daughter could be benefiting from this organization.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's in my life; especially my dad, grandfathers, father in law and of coure my husband! Watching Pat be a dad to our boys is amazing and the boys have one fun, patient and loving father. I can't wait to see if Pat has tea parties as well as he play superheros!

Weekend Fun

Great weekend! Started off with a visit from a great friend who I have known for many, many years. We had a nice visit and it was great seeing her, although I was a bit distracted by the addition to my family for the evening. We had the pleasure of babysitting my 8 week old niece, Addison. I am out of practice with infants so my entertaining skills went out the window! Sorry Aimee!! We had Addison until Saturday morning so I was up at 4AM giving her a bottle and a bit tired by Saturday afternoon. I forget how often infants eat and need their diaper changed! It was great having a little girl in the house and seeing the boys with her was just so cute. They wanted to hold her all morning and loved just holding toys up in front of her face. Shea asked when Lily was coming and was not happy with my answer. I told him she would be here around Christmas and then immediately said, "probally after Christamas". Shea was upset when I said after Christmas and it broke my heart. I sometimes forget that he has been waiting as long as us for his little sister and I am sure that 161/2 months feels a lot longer to a 4 year old! On Sunday we made the trip into Cambridge for the Dragon Boat Festival. We met our friends Dave and Sandy and Sean and Laura. The weather was beautiful and the festival was fun and filled with lots of adoptive families. I love seeing other families with their children from China and I can only hope that next year Lily can join us at the Dragon Boat festival.

Refferals

It's official. November 7, 2005 is the cutoff for this month. I am numb about this wait right now. I know it will eventually happen but I just don't understand why this is taking so long. I believe it is still possible to at least have a referral before Christmas but I am losing hope each month. We went to our waiting meeting last night and it was a difficult one. People are very sad and angry right now. It always puts things in perspective because you hear other people's stories. People have been waiting a long time to start a family and have gone through lots of loss, something we have not had in the process of growing our family. I do think though I just may take the summer off from the meetings. We already have plans to see the "99" ers during the summer and they always give me the strength to get through another month!

Goodbye Old, Hello New

New House Old House

We survived the move! We spent all Memorial Day weekend moving boxes into the house and then the movers moved the furniture in on Wednesday. I can't belive how sore I was from moving boxes, and I like to think I am in some sort of shape! I love the new house. The new rugs made a huge difference and the extra space is great. The boys miss our swing set at the old house but we will eventually get a new one. I don't miss the trees and all the that comes with a lot of trees but I do miss the shade. Our new lawn needs a lot of work but that will come with time. My first indoor projects will be painting the kitchen and Lily's room. Referrals have still not been sent out and it now looks like the cutoff may be November 7th, making for just 6 days of referrals! I really can not even predict where that puts our refferal but it certainly is not getting any closer!! For now I will enjoy our new house and I am really looking foreward to the summer.