It's a First!

Both my boys sat on Santa's lap without tears!! Shea was more than happy to walk right up to Santa and give him his list but Bryce was a little more hesitant. Once Bryce saw Shea sit on Santa's lap he figured the man with the white beard couldn't be so bad! Of course they both told Santa that they wanted a toy that I have not bought yet. Off to the store I went; we can not have tears on Christmas morning! I think I am recovered from the blow of the small referral batch last month, I can at least talk about it without tears. I am still praying for a May referral and in a few weeks when the next batch comes out we will have a better idea. Onto better news... Our "99"er friends will be home in Boston with their daughters this Wednesday night. I will be at the airport to welcome them home. It sounds like their trip to China has gone smoothly and both the babies and the parents have adjusted nicely. They have private blogs so I can't post the pictures but I will tell you they are beautiful children and seeing the pictures of the girls being placed in their parents arms are just amazing. I know how long they waited and I have seen all their tears of frustration but to see their tears of joy is just wonderful! Our time will come...

Referrals

Referrals finally arrived today and the cutoff was December 14, 2005. 6 Days. We are not getting our referral in April. I can't believe I am writing that but it is just not going to happen. 6 lousy days of referrals just sucks! My agency let us know last Friday what the cutoff was so I have had a few days to process it and I can honestly say that I am dealing with it the best I can. I was angry all weekend but I am now just trying to get in the mood for a joyous Christmas season! Oh, but first we have to do another home study update! Yes, our social worker is coming out to the house tomorrow and we will have our 3rd home study written and then we will go and have our fingerprints taken for a third time. The fun never ends.

Happy Birthday Lia!

November 30th friends who are traveling next week!!

Yesterday (11/30) was our friends, Marile and Dave, daughter's birthday. They are traveling on Thursday 12/6 to China and will be united with Lia on 12/9. We decided to celebrate with all our "99er" friends with dinner at our house. The night was fantastic and ended with cake and presents for Lia. It is hard to believe that the next time we see Dave and Marile, Nancy and Tom and Laura and Sean will be at Logan airport with their daughters! Our friends Dave and Sandy (who we will travel with) plan on going to the airport to welcome them all home. Nothing will keep me away! We can't wait to meet all the girls!

Dave and Sandy, and Pat and myself... Traveling sometime in the future!

Thanksgiving Recap

It's over. I was thankful for all I have, I cooked a turkey, had lots of family over, ate a lot of turkey, cleaned a lot of dishes and at the end of the day I was still sad that we had another Thanksgiving without Lily. Don't get me wrong, the day was great but I just am really ready for this wait to be over. Alright, back to Thanksgiving... I use the day to try and take a picture of the boys for the Christmas card. It was not happening this year, Bryce was just not in the mood! The one picture I did get had the lawn furniture in the background. So, back into the sweaters the boys will go and we will try again! The boys had a great day with their cousins and the adults were treated to puppet shows throughout the day. Pumpkin martini's were flowing so when my grandfather had to ask "who's baby Lily?" I was able to let it go. My grandmother quickly reminded him that Lily is the "Chinese baby". I just sat quietly and couldn't believe the conversation that was actually happening. Well, next year Lily just has to be here for Thanksgiving! Oh, that reminds me that today is that day that I said I would stop commenting on. Yup, 22 months of waiting. I know I said I would stop counting but I just can't so we will just go without the visual this month. So far this month there are no rumors about when referrals will arrive or what the cut off will be. I will keep you posted!

Hope and Perseverance

Hope without perseverance is anxiety. This is what was talked about during the homily at church yesterday. These words resonated with me. They were said and I knew exactly what they meant to me. In order to get through this wait I need both; hope and perseverance. I have hope most times and I feel like I am persevering but I know that sometimes I have lost hope and I have felt like giving up and my anxiety about our adoption goes up. I plan on holding on to these words for the next few months, I think I will need them!

Our "99er" friends found out that they leave on December 6th and return on December 19th. They will be united with their daughters on Dec. 10th. I am so excited for them and can't believe in a few short weeks 3 of the "99er" girls will be home with their families!! I am starting to feel like we are getting closer but I think it is only because our friends are so close to having their girls and it feels like it should be happening for us. Referrals should be arriving in 2 weeks and we will have a better idea if we are still on track for April. I plan on spending the rest of the week preparing for Thanksgiving. Let the cooking begin!!

Men at Work

We started taking the wallpaper off the walls in Lily's room! It was a family affair and we have made a lot of progress. The boys were very excited to help but their attention span is not that long and soon enough they left Pat and myself to complete the job. I overheard Shea telling Bryce we were painting the walls pink because girls like pink! So cute! Shea then informed me we should get some "China stuff" so Lily remembers China when she comes home. I just can't get enough of that boy, he is the sweetest 5 year old! My new thought is to put white bead board up on the bottom half of the wall and then paint the upper half of the walls pink. I am starting to get nervous about 4 pink walls! I have some thinking to do; bead board or not??

Yesterday my "99er" friends received their TA! TA is travel approval and that means they will know very soon when they will be traveling. They will definitely be going to China in December and be back home with their daughters by Christmas!! What a gift! This is the time of month where nothing exciting happens in adoption world and I just obsess on when the next set of referrals will arrive and how far they will get. As of now it looks like the next set of referrals will arrive around December 2nd and I am hoping for another 8 days or better. The new rumor on RQ today is that the wait will probably reach 4 years. Our wait of 2+ years is hard but I can't imagine a 4 year wait and it makes the chances of Lily having a sister from China very slim. For now I am going to continue to focus on the positive and hold onto hope that April will be our month!!