19 Months and Grandparents??

We hit the 19 month mark yesterday. The latest rumor is that China will refer to the 19 of December 05. That will be just 5 days. And that means they have only referred from somewhere towards the end of September to December 19, maybe 3 1/2 months for the ENTIRE YEAR!!

So, are you ready for our news? I think the title gave it away but we are going to be grandparents!! Wow - its weird writing that. Grandparents. T's girlfriend is 5 months along and is due in May. She is having a little girl. Shocked? We were!! Shocked and disappointed. I think we have accepted it, what choice do we have. He still plans to go to college up in West Virginia and she does to. He can do it but it will just be a bit harder. We went to Big T's brothers house yesterday for our family Christmas and she went with us. Everyone could tell and asked me if she was pregnant. Then the jokes started. Poor T!! His uncles and cousins teased the hell out of him but he just smiled and joked right back. We should have warned his girlfriend about how they are but I think she was okay with the teasing and joking. At one point Big T's oldest brother handed T a full coverage chemical suit and told him he should wear that for now on!! Imagine the jokes getting worse from there. Too funny.

New Years Eve - what are you guys doing? I think we are going over to a friends house and party with them. Or maybe we'll stay home? Who knows, we are still up in the air for our plans...

Exciting Times

I've got to be cryptic here but there are some exciting things happening in our part of the world. No, it's not adoption related (man, I wish it was!) but it is very exciting anyways!! More news coming later...

A Different Way To Think

CCAA just referred through December 14, 2005. That is 6 days worth of referrals. Well, actually it's only 4 days due to the weekend. Sometimes they give LID's for the weekend and sometimes they don't. Either way, 4 or 6 days suck. I was holding out hope that they would actually finish December this month. Ha!! What fantasy world am I in??

I think I'll start thinking of this as how many more days until our LID. From December 14th until May 30th there are 167 days. Hey, that's not so bad!! (cough) 167 - nice round number (gag) So if CCAA continues to match 6 days each month....well...you do the math because I don't want to! It just makes me sick.

Little T - we know you are out there somewhere! Papa George and Nana Edie are watching over you for us!!

Wordless Wednesday - Merry Tossmas

Well....wordless video!!

Click on the Stop light!!!

http://www.citizenlink.org/Stoplight/A000005834.cfm


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18 Months

18 months
78 weeks
549 days
13,176 hours
790,560 minutes
47,433,618 seconds

What else is there to say? Thank goodness Christmas is right around the corner otherwise I think I'd just go crazy!!

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard

Wordless Wednesday

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Decorating for Christmas

So I decorated for Christmas last weekend. Big T didn't want me to start so early (huh? early?) but I did. Wow - I didn't realize what a huge project I took on. I got him to go up in the attic to bring down the totes filled with decorations. He had the boys help and they kept coming and coming and coming! Soon I had 10 totes stacked up against my front door. As I started to wade through them memories flooded back and the tears started to flow. You see, the majority of these were mom and dad's.


I've mentioned before how much my mom loved Christmas and how much she loved to decorate. Well, she went above and beyond people! She would decorate each and every room in the house! Even rooms that weren't used and that people wouldn't see. It didn't matter. It was Christmas, a time to celebrate, a time for good cheer, a time to give, and a time to DECORATE! Ha - I can still remember daddy fussing about having to drag all that stuff in from the barn. He absolutely hated that part! We went to visit them in 2006 and all the totes were sitting on the front porch so Big T and I decided we would put them out in the barn. Well, daddy didn't like that one bit and he fussed and fussed. He said that he would take care of it and he was none too happy that Big T and I were doing it until...until I pointed out to him that it was JULY!!! He then smiled his wonderful smile and said I guess you're right!



I set up mom's Christmas village on my grandmother's buffet. This was one of her favorite Christmas decorations. She would get the angel hair from the store and spread it out on the buffet. Then she would lovingly take each little house, each little store, each little tree and create a wonderland right there in our dining room. I can remember her very first Christmas village. It had little pine cone elves that stood all the way around the entire village. Each elf held a lantern that lit up. It was as if they were guarding the village against harm.


Another one of mom's favorite decoration was the nativity scene. Big T was surprised I kept my mom's since I had one of my own. I set this up on our mantel. It looks so nice with the lace runner she gave me. I could always count on my sending me a new Christmas decoration and a new ornament each year!! Above the mantel I have the wreath and hanging Santa Claus and Snowman she gave me.


My Aunt Connie (actually, she was my mom's aunt!), whom I never met, used to make ceramics. She made this beautiful ceramic tree that lights up from the inside. Hmm...I'm not describing it too well. There are colorful pieces of plastic called globe lights that go in holes on the tree. When the light in the middle is turned on it looks like the Christmas tree is lit up. Here's a picture of one. This is similar to mine but much smaller.









Anyway, its old and its cracked and I'm not even sure it still works. Did I throw it away? Nope - brought it home. I'm going to have Big T take it to the garage (oh no!!) and see if he can fix it.



I also kept some of their Christmas ornaments. There are some that are older than me! We won't put our tree up for another week but I can't wait to get them out and tell the boys all about them!! Decorating the tree has always been something we've done together. Big T and I fuss with getting the lights on and then we get out the ornaments and hand them one by one to the boys for them to put on the tree. Trust me - we had some very interestingly decorated trees when the boys were little and could only reach so high!!

Sweet Face

Bitching and Sad

heh - that's right, its time for another pity party. I'm sad that my friends have moved away and I'm sad that we still don't have little one yet. I've been dreaming about her for so long and it just seems that this dream keeps getting fuzzier and fuzzier! Then I see where other people who were logged in well after us get a sn referral and though I'm extremely happy for them and the child I also feel like hey - its not fair! I've been waiting for almost 19 months now and here they are just logged in THIS YEAR and they already have a referral or they aren't EVEN logged in yet and they are paperchasing but they have their referral. Oh - that is so bad of me. I know. Again, I'm VERY happy that they have their daughter or son but I guess I'm jealous too.

aaahhhh shit....I just want our daughter!!!

Missing You

My neighbors left yesterday. I'm so sad. I'll miss them terribly!! When little one finally gets here we plan to take a trip to Iowa - where they moved too!! Jeez...all the way to Iowa!! Hey J - what were you thinking??

Anyway, I've been missing them and also missing someone else. I know you read this so I just want to say that I love you!! Please know that you both have been in my prayers and to call me if you need anything.

Short Weekend

Well, it wasn't really short because I was off Thursday and Friday too. We went to my brother-in-law's house Saturday and had a great time celebrating the Marine Corps Birthday! We brought D and H with us because they are moving to Iowa on Thursday and we wanted to spend some time with the rugrats. We are both going to miss them so much!! Oh - we'll miss C and J also! ha! I'll post pictures this week.

I volunteered to scrap some pictures for my agency CCAI. I did one book and sent it back in August and they sent me another huge box of pictures to scrap. I finally finished it this weekend!! This time I created 2 12x12 books and 2 smaller ones. I'm so happy to have that done! It seemed to have taken forever!! I really enjoyed doing it though because it allowed me to see all those beautiful little girls faces!!

Adoption news - none, nada, zip! Don't ask. China referred up to December 8th of 2005. Remember a referral is a picture of your daughter along with the basic information like date of birth, weight, size, etc. It took them 6 long months to get through November so there's no telling how long it will take to get through December even though December is smaller than November. Our agency received a new SN list last week so maybe we'll know this month, though I really doubt it. We should see her face in December or January. Only time will tell. I know that mom and dad are watching over little T right now and that puts a smile on my face.

One other thing happened this weekend - Friday night. T wretched his other knee at wrestling practice! He was doing the last sprint of the day and when he turned he just fell over. He has to go to an MRI tomorrow and its swollen. He's on crutches and has a knee immobilizer on it. Ugh - just before the regular wrestling season starts too!! November is just a hard month for him I guess...

One year ago yesterday

I was traveling yesterday - back up to Wisconsin - so I wasn't able to post.

Anyway - yesterday marked 1 year without my mom. Wow - a year already. I miss her so much! This time of year was her favorite. She always decorated each room. Poor dad had to haul the stuff up and down stairs and help her put it up, out, on! I ended up taking most of her Christmas stuff home with me and I'm looking forward to putting it out.

Mom had such a funny sense of humor. She would laugh until she had tears in her eyes at some stupid joke she heard. She was the type of person who would do anything to help out a friend or stranger. The world was such a better place with her.

There's more I want to say but I'm unable to now for many reasons...

I love and miss you mom!

Another Month

Yep, 17 long months waiting for little T. When will this insanity end???? Who knows. We just sit and wait. and wait. and wait. and wait. and wait. and wait!!

Tagged

I've been tagged by Karen over at Livin' in the Moment.

Rulez:

Here are the rules which must be posted on your blog if you are tagged:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.


1. We are adopting our 3rd child from China! (well duh!!)
2. Christmas is my favorite time of year.
3. My husband and I meet in college and his line was "Where's my orange juice?"
4. Styx is one of my favorite bands.
5. I love to play blackjack!!
6. I grew up in a small town where the water runs north.
7. Both my boys are my pride and joy!!

So now I get to do some tagging. Lets see -
Jonni, Stacy, Carla (who just posted a picture of her beautiful baby!!)

Happy Halloween!!

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

Wordless Wednesday

 

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Interesting Conversation

Sorry guys - I meant to post again last night but I was out late partying!! HA!! NOT!!

Anyway, last weekend I went to my girlfriends babyshower. I was talking to another mom when she asked me if I was adopting from China. I said yes very slowly. She then goes on to say that her friend can't adopt from China now because she's single and how unfair it was. She said that China should be happy that we even want to adopt the girls and give them a better life. Those girls are just so lucky and my daughter will be so lucky that we've adopted her! WTF??!!! I told her that we would be lucky that China will allow us to adopt one of her girls and she said why - all they do is throw them away anyways. Jeez,I just shook my head and walked away. She tried to talk to me later but I just ignored her. Unbelievable!!

In Class once again

Yep, I'm in Wisconsin again stuck in a training class. I'll be here until Friday - so much fun...NOT! I might do WW tonight if I can get to a pc.

I'll post more tonight!

Wordless Wednesday

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Dinner Table Conversations

We were sitting around the table tonight eating left over spaghetti. S (a very close friend's daughter) was talking about giving blood for the first time today. T was eating a hunk of cheese. Somehow the conversation got around to people being caught having sex in the bathrooms. S was saying how unsanitary it was and L...he says why? There's soap! OMG!! Way funny. Then the conversation turned to cows. Don't even ask me how - they are teenage boys! Anyway, out of the blue T says that cows do not have "outer anal sphincters". Huh?? He then continues and says "They can't control when they poop!". Yep, this is dinner conversation - sex and poop!

WW

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Sweet 16?

I didn't post this yesterday - but we hit our 16 month LID anniversary! I don't know if its sweet or sour though. At least we are 16 months closer to little T!!

Weekend

What a bust this weekend was. Saturday I was sick - very sick. I had a headache that just wouldn't quit and then I was throwing up all night. I came so close to telling Big T to take me to the ER. Ugh! I felt better today but completely drained. I was able to vacuum, dust, do laundry, and cook today but had to stop quite often to rest.

My oldest has a girlfriend who lives 3 houses away. Yes, this is nice because I know where he is but he is over there every.single.day!! This has been going on for a while now and we were hoping he would hear the subtle hints we were dropping. Nope, he didn't hear them. So, we have decided to take action. He now has to spend 3 days here at the house. I originally said 4 but Big T said that was too much. 1 of the 3 days has to be a weekend day. It was so nice today to have him home after his ballgames. We actually ate dinner at the table - the 4 of us! Wow, I missed that. I enjoyed hearing the 2 boys laughing together and messing on each other. I've asked him which days he was going to choose during the week but they haven't decided yet.

Head in the Sand

No, not me!! I realize that our referral is a ways away and I'm okay with that (today). This is a friend who adopted his daughter a 2 years ago and is waiting for for his second one. His LID is August of 2006. He thinks that he will get his referral in May of 2008. MAY OF 2008!!! When I told him that my LID was May of 2006 and I wasn't expecting a referral until December of 2008 he just said I was crazy. When I told him that they have only referred up to November 25 of 2005 he said he knew that and by his calculations he should have a referral by May 2008. I sure would like to know what calculations he's using because I sure wish China would use them!! I mentioned that I could print up some statistics for him and he said no, don't, he doesn't want to see them. He's happy where he's at right now. That's all fine and well but why try to fool yourself? He's only setting him, his wife, and his daughter up for a huge disappointment. I just don't get it.

And what's up with this mystery agency getting referrals for February LID's?? This really makes me mad!! No, this pisses me off! So...who is this agency and can I sign up with them??

Because its funny

Wordless Wednesday

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Happenings

Lets see, what's been happening around our world? The boys are very busy. School started about 3 weeks ago and is in full swing. L has already brought home his first progress report - the kid is doing awesome!! All A's - a complete turn-a-round from last year. We are so proud of him. T is also getting all A's as usual. He still hasn't made a decision about college though. He wants to be a pediatrican but where to go to school is still up in the air.

The boys have also been doing sports - baseball and wrestling. They practice baseball on Tuesdays and Thursdays and wrestle on Monday's and Wednesdays. T is on a fall ball team and has double headers on Sundays for the next month. Soon wrestling matches will be gearing up and we'll be sitting in hot smelly gyms - oh the joy of it!!

On the adoption front - no news. Our agency received a new list of about 30 kids a few weeks ago. We won't see little T on this list but we are hoping the next one (November/December) we will. All we can do is wait and pray.

Pictures will be coming soon!

New Look

So I emailed Sara over at Wish I may Wish I might and asked her to redo my blog again. I needed some change, something different. I like the design she came up with though I might change the background.

Sara - thank you so much!!! You did a wonderful job!!

~Carla

Wordless Wednesday

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Wordless Wednesday

Senior Pictures

Oh my. T got his Senior pictures back the other day. I had very mixed emotions. My little man has grown up! When I pulled the pictures up I just stared at them. Wow - where did my baby go? Then I grabbed my cell phone out of my purse to call...my mom and dad. Boom - there go the tears once again.

Hmph....enough about that crap

As soon as I can scan those prints I'll put them up for ya.

Camping

Ok - trying to get myself out of this funk I'm in, I'll talk about camping. We had a great time last weekend, just the 4 of us. We took the boys to Bush Gardens and had a blast riding all the roller coasters! Our favorite was the Griffin. OMG!! It was awesome!!

You go up 205 feet in the air, dangle over a 90 degree drop straight down, and then hurdle down at 70 mph. It is a great ride.

After that we just hung out at the lake. Big T almost bought a boat but decided to wait until next year.

Camper









This last picture cracks me up!! These people were sitting outside and watching TV!! Nothing like getting back to nature!

4 Lousy Days!

Oh my...4 days...that's all CCAA could muster this time around was 4 lousy days. I've been in a funk all day after I saw that over on RQ. I told my dh that we should just pull our dossier - forget this whole idea. He said no, of course but jeez, 4 days!!

And here we are at 15

Not fair. It's just not fair. Yep, I'm having a pity party today. It's not fair that we don't have our little one. It's not fair that my parents will not be able to meet her. It's not fair that my oldest will be in college and his little sister will not be able to enjoy him or he her. It's not fair that another birthday, Labor day, July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas will go by and she won't be able to celebrate it with us. IT'S NOT FAIR!!!

There, I feel better. Sort of.

Here - go check out J&J!! They are in China right now with little Sofia. She is beautiful!!

I'm Here

Just wanted you to know that I'm here!! I'm taking training classes in Wisconsin and won't be back until late Thursday night. We went camping this past weekend and I have some pictures to upload when I get back.

J & J!!!! In China!! WOW!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

New Look for an old chair

As you know we brought back my Grandmother's furniture from NY. The table and chairs are in great shape but the fabric on the chairs was beyond help. I went to the Cloth Barn and picked out some new material and big T helped me put it on the chairs. Check it out! I love the new look!!

Gymboree

Who doesn't love this store??!! I got the cutest little dress for Sofia while I was in NY. I could have spent a bunch of money there but my youngest was with me and he's not much for "girl" shopping. While I was surfing on the net today I came across a site that was having a contest for a Gymboree gift card for $250.00. Just click on this picture and follow the directions on how to put your name in the hat!! Good luck!

Out of Review

Oh wow!! I can't believe I completely forgot to say congrats to my fellow May LID'ers! We are out of review!!!! Yeah!!! That means that China has looked at our dossier and said yes, we can adopt from their country. Yesterday the referral calls were being made. China referred through November 21st. Over at RQ they are predicting that the December LID'ers will be the first group to hit the 2 year wait. I tend to agree with that. I also think that if we don't receive a SN referral we'll see our little girl by December of 2008. That will be a wait of 31 months - almost 3 years.

3 years....nope - not gonna accept that. I just can't see China letting that happen. Plus with people going over to SN or adopting from another country or just plain dropping out the time line should pick up a little.

14 Months and Other Thoughts

Wow, I missed our 14th month anniversary. Just like I missed the 12th and 13th! ha! No big deal anymore. Just another month in a long line of months!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not but we have also turned in a medical checklist to our agency. If a child comes available that matches a need we feel we can handle then our agency will refer her to us. This process takes anywhere from 6 to 8 months. We turned this in on 5/17 so we are all ready 2 months in. Who knows what will happen....

On some of the boards I'm on a discussion is taking place about going to a doctor, ER, dentist, or where ever and being asked for the adoption papers for your child. I asked my dh about what he would do and he of course says "It won't happen here..." Well, just because we live in a little town doesn't mean it won't happen! Some people are saying its racism because the doctor wouldn't ask to see the papers for a child that has your same color/eyes/hair. Some people are saying that the doctors are trying to protect our children and want to verify that the child IS ours and not some child we abducted. If we are questioned I'm not sure how I'll react. The insurance card should be enough "proof" that the child is mine. They could even call the insurance company and verify the child is covered. I think if they do all that and STILL need proof that I would need to talk to the office manager and then to the doctor directly. A lot of times the doctor doesn't know what is happening in the front office. Sometimes the front office people take the rules of HIPAA way out of context. If they still want me to produce the adoption paperwork after I talk with the office manager and doctor then I will probably find a new one. Protecting our children is one thing but getting into my daughters private business is another!

So, what would you guys do?

Oh - one more thing. I'm noticing that when I pull up my blog my computer is freezing. Are any of you guys experiencing this?

Well it's getting late and the morning comes way too fast. Here's H and D saying it's nite nite time!

A few pictures and a Thank You

So we are back. The house in NY is pretty much emptied out. It was hard and a little weird when we pulled out for the last time. We usually honk our horn to say good-bye and DH did again which made me smile. We took Lil'bit (Boston Terrier) to a wonderful lady in Virginia and Carrie and Goldie (Boston Terrier - sisters) went to a family in NY. My parents spoiled those 3 dogs - cooked for them every night. Poor babies were with my dad for over 3 days in that room, but they say that when a dog smells the body they know that the person is gone. All 3 dogs have lost weight and when Lil'bit came into the house for the first time in weeks she looked around for dad. DH was sitting in his old chair and Lil'bit jumped right up on him, looked at him, and jumped right back down.

Thank you guys for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers. It means a lot to me knowing that people whom I never met are thinking about me and my family. I'm okay, haven't really "broken down" as DH says. Of course, I haven't done that for momma either. It all happened so fast that I guess I'm still shell shocked. I know that dad is so much happier now that he's with mom.

While back in NY we went to my DH's family reunion. This occurs every 2 years and is a blast. DH's mom is 80 years old and really enjoys seeing everyone get together like this. I have pictures that I'll share.

We borrowed a friends trailer so we could haul back grandma's dining room set. On the way up we blew a tire and lost a fender. Jeez...it might have been cheaper to rent a U-Haul!! Oh well, so it goes. We packed a dining room table, 5 chairs, a buffet, a china closet and a couch table! I also went through all mom's Christmas decorations and lugged home a bunch of it. She loved to decorate for Christmas. I also lugged home over 100 beanie babies to sell so if any of you are collectors let me know and I'll make you a GREAT deal! Yep, she collected those, even the ones from McD's.

I'll go for now and leave you with some pictures.

Beanie Baby Hell!!



My dad was in heaven laughing his ass off at this. He would sit in this chair and all 3 of his Boston's would be with him. Well, KaCee just had to be by her daddy so she jumped up and made herself at home!!





Big T with his brothers youngest son.

This is Big T's niece's daughter. Isn't she just beautiful?!!



L and Big T's brother's youngest daughter. L hit a foul ball off his foot a few weeks back and while he was messing around with the other kids he aggravated it. The ankle swelled up and he was pretty miserable for most of the day. We ended up taken him to the ER on Sunday to see if he actually fractured it 2 weeks ago and finally broke it. It ended up being a deep bone bruise. He is wearing an ankle support and is on crutches.



This is Big T's brother's 2 older kids and K's girlfriend.



Pictures of my grandma's furniture.