At the Lake

TS Ernesto might have foiled our plans to camp over the holiday weekend but we did manage to get to the lake for the day. We took our friends up, cooked out, played horse shoes, and went boating. We all had a blast! Here are some pictures.

Conversations About Future Jobs

5 yrs ago, T is 11, L is 8

C: So T, what are you going to do when you get out of school?
T: I'm going to cure cancer!
C: L, what about you?
L: I'm going to work at Sears.
C: Hmmm....okay.

1 Yr ago, T is 15, L is 12

C: So T, what are your plans for college?
T: I want to go to college out of state - maybe in Florida or California. I want to study bio-chemistry
C: Great - better start working on your summer reading!
L: Ma, aren't you going to ask me?
C: Ok L, what are you going to do?
L: Be a baseball player or work at Sears.

6 Months ago

T: Mom, I'm going into surgery.
C: Ok, are you going to specialize?
T: Yep, I'm going to be an oral surgeon so I won't have to be on call and work all those weird hours.

1 Week ago, T is now 16, L is 13

T: Ma, I decided I'm going to become a Pediatrician.
C: What happened to oral surgery?
T: I don't know, I just want to be a pediatrician.
C: Ok, what ever.
L: Mommmmmmmmmmmmmm......
C: What?!!
L: I'm going to be a baseball player.
C: Now L, you know that being a baseball player is probably not going to happen.
L: Yeah, I know, I have a backup plan though.
C: Good job, what is it?
L: If I can't be a baseball player I'm going to work at Sears.

The number 3

The number 3 has 3 additive angles, there were 3 stooges, there are 3 laws of motion discovered by Newton, a band called Three Dog Night, Three Mile Island, and 3 kings that visited baby Jesus. Three can represent the past, present, and future, a triangle, the Holy Trinity.

Yes, the number 3 is a magical number. Do you know what else it means? It means we have now been logged in with China for 3 months!!!!

Three...yep, I like that number!

Shopping the Blues Away

I went shopping last night for my August cyber shower buddy. This months theme is "The Red Thread" which is an old Chinese saying that means when babies are born they are already connected to the important people in his/her life by a red thread. This thread can be twisted or stretched, but not broken. So here I am looking around our huge city for something to do with China. What did I find? A few books, a ladybug (ugh) but not much. I ended up at Target and bought some real cute outfits, a blanket, some little people figures that includes the Asian girl, and a card.

Know what else I found?? A cabbage patch baby that looked Asian!! I was so excited, it was on sale and I grabbed it. L was with me and he thinks I'm totally nuts, which of course I am!! I also found the Dora doll dressed in a traditional Chinese outfit so I grabbed that to.

When I got home I checked my email for our reservations at the lake this weekend and I saw an email from my agency CCAI. Our first travel packet was ready to be downloaded!!! Yeah!!! Okay, so I have at least 9 months (and 1 day) of waiting but at least this is something!

Rough Weekend

I got a call Friday from my mom at work. First of all, since she had her stroke in January she hasn't called me herself at work so I was very surprised to hear her voice. Of course the doomssayer in me said - "OMG - What happened now". I asked how she was and she said she lost her brother. My uncle passed away at 72 years of age on the golf course. He was in great health so this is a shock to all of us. Mom wants me go to NY for the funeral but I just can't. I've been up there 3 times this year already and it's so hard. I wrestled all weekend with this, didn't sleep, just moped around. Big T said no - don't go. Even today I'm thinking about this and the funeral is tomorrow morning. If I end up going I would either have to drive 12 hours right through the night or pay out my nose for a plane ticket.

If that didn't make my weekend hard enough I learned at church yesterday that my friend who is adopting domestically was picked by a birth mother and her daughter is due on October 8th. Yes, I'm so happy for her but I cried all during the church service. I kept thinking why not us? Why are we having to wait so long? It's just not fair. Then I would think - OMG - I am being nothing but selfish - it's not about us - it's about a baby. A little one who needs a home and a loving family. Can you see where my head was at? I went home, cleaned our bedroom and just ranted all day. Thank goodness the boys were doing their show at a church in Smithfield.

Okay, so today is a new day. I'm still a tad grumpy, but I'm doing better. I'm still mad at myself for my reaction to her announcement. And yes, I know all the words..."it will happen for you too....she hasn't been born yet....it's not time yet...." blah, blah, blah - I don't wanna hear that. I can be upset about this process - it's the ONLY thing I can control. So, I'll be grumpy today and maybe tomorrow I'll be better.

New Look

Yes, I've changed the look of my blog once again. I get tired of the same format. A friend at work showed me this new template and it looks "cleaner" than my other one. Hope you enjoy it!!

Brothers

Weekend at the Lake

We had a great 4 day weekend. We went to Lake Gaston for the first time this year. The weather was beautiful and the water was warm. Big T and L went up on Thursday and T, his girlfriend, and I went up on Friday. L made some friends next door and hung out with them the whole time. He was able to go out on the boat and tube. We would love to get a boat but with baseball this would not be a wise investment as we would never use it. This weekend also kept me away from the computer and the rumor sites.

The campground we stay at is private and offers activities for all ages, from crafts, to pool games, to a dance on Saturday night. We played horse shoes together and talked Saturday afternoon. Big T told me that I have him hooked on this adoption because he went to town Thursday night looking for a folding table and also looked for Chinese dolls!! Yep, he's looking forward to this!!

Sunday we rented a pontoon and enjoyed swimming and boating. KaCee loved it but we need to get her a doggie lifejacket - she is hard to get back into the boat!! I left Jasmine at home because she was not feeling well. She is allergic to fleas and they have tore her up this summer.

We roasted marshmellows and made s'mores - one of my fav things to do while camping! At night we just relaxed by the fire. Our site was right on the water so we were able to watch the sunset on it each night.

I took some pictures and made some collages - hope you enjoy them!!

To Do List - Not enough

I have a very big to do list but it's not keeping my mind busy!! I mentioned earlier that I might go back to school but I wasn't sure. Well, I am! I don't know in what yet and I've got to study for the GMAT - but at least this will keep my mind busy. I've got to do something otherwise I'll go crazy because I can't stay away from the RQ site! UGH!!!!

Carry Me Away

It has been brought to my attention that I didn't give the link to where I bought my sling. It is a company called Carry Me Away. Go ahead, click on the name and check them out!!

Retail Therapy

oops...did some retail therapy today. I mentioned earlier that I was making a MeiTie carrier. I did and it came out very nicely but I also want to use a sling carrier. I was looking over my forums this morning and there was a thread about this very thing. I went to the mentioned website and saw they were having a sale! The one I purchased is similar to this one except mine is pink, of course!! I should get it in a day or two - hopefully on Wednesday so big T doesn't see it....haha!!

Happenings

Not much happening here on the home front. T is with his girlfriend at Bush Gardens and L is at his friends house. That just leaves Big T and me once again. The house is clean, I could work on the lawn but I don't want to. My friend called yesterday and I told her I was feeling blue about the wait. She suggested I go over there and we would scrap together. That was a nice diversion.

School starts in a few weeks for the boys so the time will start to go by more quickly. We are going camping next weekend!! Yeah!! This is something that we all enjoy. We have a membership at a camp ground on Lake Gaston. It has things for the boys to do, a pool, and of course the lake. Very relaxing!

I am also contemplating going back to school for my Masters. This would also keep my mind of the wait and would keep me busy. I can take one class per semester for free and get my books for free (due to working at the college). We'll see. I'd have to take the GMAT first..ugh!!

babies babies everywhere!!

So why am I posting a picture of some baby feet? Because another person has told me that she is pregnant!! Oh my - that is the 3rd person that pregnant and I know of at least 2 other people who are trying. On top of that, if you figure it out, these chicks will have their babies before I do and I started before THEY did!! That just sucks big time.

She's Home!!

Update on Mom:

I called last night to check on mom and see if she was still in the hospital. Dad said that she ended up not being admitted and he had to go back in to bring her home. The EKG's looked fine and the blood work did not indicate she had a heartattack so that was very good news. She goes to her heart and kidney doctors this week and they will follow up with her. It was probably angina. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!!

Mom in Hospital

Dad called last night. Mom is once again in the hospital. She was having chest pains and 3 nitro pills later dad takes her in. They were going to keep her over night to rule another heart attack out.

So he calls and talks to me about what happened. He said that after they ran a few tests and decided to admit her he told the nurses that she needed to eat. They found her a sandwich, she ate half and he ate the other half. Then they bring in a tray of food for her and she eats it up! BUT - he complained about it because he was hungry!!!! OMG!! Ya know, I love my dad with all my heart but he can be such an a$$hole sometimes. Get this, when he called me I asked what room she was in, you know, figuring he would know and all. Nope - of course not. He left her there in ER!! Yep, that's right folks!! He LEFT.HER.THERE.ALONE!! Keep in mind that since her stroke in January she has a hard time getting the right words out which makes it difficult to communicate with her. He said he was tired and needed to eat. Huh?? Tired? Hungry? What about mom laying there scared and wondering what's going on?? She's being poked and proded and he's not there. Freaking unbelievable!! My dad just doesn't get it. Big T just shook his head when I told him.

There are so many stories I could tell you about my dad. I do love him, yes, really, I do. It's just that he is very old fashion and very stubborn and sometimes I'd just like to shake him and make him realize what he is doing!! grrrr.....

FotoFusion

I bought some new software called FotoFusion. I've been playing with it tonight and created some collages. This first one is of my neighbor's little boy. Big T and I took him and his sister to watch the boys perform in Goldsboro's National Night Out.





This next one is of his sister. Isn't she a beauty?




Here's a picture of the boys and their youth group perfoming.




The next picture is our dog. She loves to swim!!



And finally, we went to the ocean this past weekend. Here are some pictures of the trip.

Adopted Son

I bet you didn't know we had an adopted son!! Yep, that's right, we do! But not in the normal sense you are thinking of. R is a young man that grew up across the street from us. His mom is a good friend of mine and he started coming over to play with our boys. His dad is somewhere...anyway, he really took to my husband and there it started. He looks to him for help, encouragement, and laughter! R sends my husband father's day cards and birthday cards.

So why bring this up? Well he is visiting with us for a week!! He is now 20 and living on his own up in Indiana. We took him to the beach this past weekend, I'll post pictures later. What a blast we had. T and I forgot our bag of clothes at home so I had to go shopping for some shorts and tops. Oh..poor, poor me. I know you feel sorry for me!! We are really enjoying his stay with us. Thanks R for coming to visit!!

Before I go I gotta tell you about KaCee, our 3 yr old black lab. She has never been to the ocean before. She loves the lake so we thought she would enjoy the ocean, and she did. A little bit TOO much!! I noticed her "squatting" in the water and I totally freaked out. DH just laughed, called her over to him, and proceeded to give me the leash. I walked up on shore and turned to see her literally spraying water and poop out her butt!! Yes, she drank the water and it messed her up big time!! Gross!!!!! What do I do with her? Here she is wagging her tail, wanting to go back in the water and with every wag she does out comes more!! I decided to take her back to the condo we were using. I tied her up in the kitchen to the oven door and went shopping. When I got back dh told me that he found KaCee in the kitchen with the oven door torn off!! Poor puppy...poor us....thank goodness the spraying bit was over before we got back to the condo!!

2 Months Down!!

2 months down.

Just Hanging Around

New Night Light

Check out this night light!! Don't you just love it. I saw it on another blog and she gave me the website. Yep, you guessed it...I just ordered it! Thanks Steph!!

On the Cusp

One of the girls who is "on the cusp" with a LID of July 14th (rumor has the cut off at July 13th) has created this spin off the Homeland Security alert messages. You can read her blog "Do they have salsa in China" by clicking on the name here or in my side bar. I've just added her blog.

Neighbor's Rugrats

I've talked before about my neighbor and their kids. D is 14 months old and a little charmer. H is 3 going on 30! Big T and I love them both to death. Here is a picture of both...aren't they cuties?

ER Visit

T started his first job yesterday. All was going well until I got a call from the emergency room asking permission to treat him, huh?? Treat who? OMG!!! His first day on the job, his first job at that, and he ends up in the ER!!! I left work and when I got there he was in xray. I finally got to see him and looked at his face. I told him it didn't look that bad and he said "okay...watch this!". He then proceeded to lift his eyebrows and all of a sudden 2 little "mouths" opened up on his nose. I screamed and jumped back about two feet! He was laughing so hard at me he didn't even realize he was gushing blood again. Three nurses and a bunch of gauze later it finally stopped. He ended up with 6 stitches, 3 on each side. I'm very thankful that it wasn't his eyes. He's pretty lucky! He went to work this morning but came home early. He's pretty sore, he'll scar, but he's okay.

Weekend Baseball

We had a very busy weekend with both boys playing in baseball touraments. L played with the 13 yr old allstar team, but they didn't fair too well. They were knocked out of the tournament Saturday afternoon. Before we saw that game we went to T's first game, which they won 2 to 1. His next game was at 7 (mind you that we are traveling an hour away for these games). They won that game also in extra innings with a score of 3-2. So now his team will go on to the state tournament! Ugh....thought I was done with baseball.

Not much happening on the adoption front. The rumors are now flying that the wait time will be 18 months. 18 MONTHS!! Big T's mom wants to have her home by next July for our family reunion but I really don't think that is going to happen with these new time frames.

This makes me so sad...

First Movie

Ok, no no one laugh at this!! Here is my first attempt to do a quick movie. I did one of T hitting one of his 2 doubles in last nights baseball game. Oh....and I bought my camera!! A Cannon Rebel XT. I'm just loving it!!

Rumor Queen

This is a snapshot from the Rumor Queen site.







So....our LID is 5/30/06. If the current trend stays at an average of 10 or so referrals per month that means we won't see little T until February of 2009!! That is almost 3 years!! I don't think we can wait that long. Of course - this is just a guess at what the future holds. Like RQ says, either CCAA is going to have to speed up the process or just shut the doors. My gut feeling? They will speed up. IA brings too much money into China. Between the orphanage donation required for each child adopted and the monies generated from the tourism I just can't see them shutting their doors. Not only is there the money issue but the more important issue is of the children. Although domestic adoption in China is on the rise, the fact is there are still thousands upon thousands of children being abandoned.

What does this mean for us? We gotta be patient! Our little girl is over in China. I've spoken to our agency and they say not to worry, China is going to close any time soon and the wait from LID to referral is 10-12 months.

I told you I was going to drive myself crazy during the wait!!!

Fundraising

While we wait for the referral of our daughter we will be doing some fundraising. I've ordered some magnets that we will sell, we will have a few yardsales, and I've created a fundraising site with some links in it. One of them is for ART.COM - This will allow you to purchase art at great prices. The other one a magazine renewal fundraiser. You can save up to 85% on the prices and 40% of your online purchases will go to our adoption fund. The new link is on the sidebar.

Happy 4th of July!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

One Month Down!!

One month down....11 more to go. Little T, we are one month closer to you!!

20 Years

20 years.


20 years ago we said our marriage vows and started our lives together as man and wife. We have learned so much. How to love, fight, forgive. (making up is always the best part!). We've learned what makes each other tick, what makes us laugh and cry. There have been many moves, houses, and cars. We've been through hurricanes, tornados, floods, sick kids, sick parents, sick friends, and many deaths.

As I sit here and think back over the years I'm amazed by you. You are our children's hero, my hero, my rock. You give of yourself so freely, to your family and friends. I see the love you have for me in your eyes and in your actions. When I said I wanted another child, you weren't happy, but you said okay, albeit a year later! People said that we wouldn't last 5 years, but look at us - it's been 20 years. 20 of the best years of my life.

Memories are many with you. From meeting you over orange juice to moving to NC to getting married and having our boys. Remember our "cut off the jam" roll-a-thons on the waterbed? We had no money back then, but boy did we have fun! How about the "glowing eyes in the closet"? Too funny. The parties at the trailer, our first new house, "Banana T". I could list a million of them.

Thank you for the past 20 years. I know the next 20 will be even better!!

Postcard Swap

Big T was proud of me last night. I actually sat down and wrote out the postcards for the swap that I'm in. Between baseball and NY I just haven't had the time to get them out - but today is the day! I'll run to the post office on my lunch break and send them out.

Now you may wonder what I'm going to do with all these postcards I got. Scrap them of course!! K at work suggested I put them in a pocket - which is a great idea! I'll show the picture side and create a pocket with a copy of what is on the other side.

Tonight I'll run to the store and get some material for the quilt swap. I've already got one square so I've got to get ready for that too. I'm also going to sew a wrap or a Mei Tie wrap or both! I haven't decided yet. The wrap is the most comfortable and versatile but looks more confusing than the Mei Tie. The wrap doesn't put the shoulder strap on top but rather puts the fabric on the ball of the shoulder making it more comfortable. I've seen where the two have been combined and I think that is the road I'm going to take.

This is what the Mei Tie looks like.



See the top 2 shoulder straps? I'll make those wider so they will wrap my shoulder instead of just sitting on top.

Blog looks

I'm sure you noticed (who couldn't) that the blog has changed looks and has been renamed. I haven't decided to keep this or switch back to the other one. The title also changed from ChopSticks to Baseballs and Ballerina's. Some of you might wonder where baseball comes into the mix. I have 2 boys ages 13 and 16 who play baseball almost year round and when not playing baseball they are in some other sport. If I'm not at a ball field of some sort I'm in a gym watching wrestling. I think this title more accurately describes us as a family - or will describe us as a family as soon as little T gets here.


On the adoption front nothing new has happened. China just finished matching babies with their forever families up to the 28th of June. This seems to be in line with the one year wait we are being told by our agency. Stacy, whom I met through one of my groups, sent me my very first quilt square (Thanks Stacy!!(Our Journey to Grace) I'll get a picture of it soon and post it.

Dolls

Magnolia




Check out the dolls I bought for little T. Magnolia is the first dolls name. Just click her name to go to the site. I saw it on Waiting for Baby Mia's site. Click the site name to check it out! The second doll I ordered from eBay. It is a butterfly cabbage patch doll which is Asian. I've been having a difficult time finding any Asian dolls, let alone cabbage patch ones. Isn't she adorable!!??

Thank You

Thank you

New Link

Check out the new link or just click here

Why China you ask??

CLICK HERE <------This is why

Another Adoption

WOW! I just finished talking to a friend who knows the saga of this adoption, how hubby was adament in saying no and how we finally got all of our paperwork together and sent off. She said some time ago that she would like to have another child but her husband did not want one. I mentioned adoption and she said her husband would have none of that! Keep talking to him I said. Guess what??!! I'm so excited!! They are going to adopt!! Yeah!! Not internationally, but through the foster system. They start classes in the fall.

Go Hurricanes!!!

Go Hurricanes!!!!!

100 Wishes Quilt

100 wishes quilt


You're probably wondering what this is!! Now that we are officially a "waiting family" we can start on the next project. Here is some information on the quilt:

To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Good Wishes Quilt." It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the family and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. We ask that you please participate in this project. We love the idea of welcoming our daughter into our home with a quilt that represents the good wishes for her from our family and friends.

Here Is What We Would Like You To Do:
1) Choose any 100% cotton fabric that you like. It can be from a piece of clothing or from a fabric store. It just needs to have a design and color that you like.
2) Cut one 8" x 8 square from the fabric.
3) On an acid free piece of paper (so it will last a long time), put a small piece of the fabric, include your "good wish note" and your name and address. The fabric will be used to make a quilt, and the notes will be placed in a life book which we will give to our daughter when she is older. She will be able to match the fabric and wish with the squares in her quilt.

Ideas For Selecting Fabric Squares - Select a fabric that is meaningful to you. 100% cotton fabric is best, as it washes and wears better. If there are several members in your family, please feel free to send more than one good wish note and pieces of fabric. We ask that the fabric is pre-washed (to prevent shrinkage) 8x8 fabric square and we will add it to the squares for little T's quilt. In China, these quilts were originally made from the garments of family and friends surrounding the child with luck and good wishes.

Ideas For A Good Wishes Note - Well, what would you wish for an infant to have in her life? Some ideas are good health, perseverance, compassion, love, and a sense of humor. Use that as a guide for your good wish note. Keep in mind that our daughter will not see your note until she is older. It would be great to get the fabric and notes by March 2007 so the quilt can be completed before we bring our baby home. Please take a few minutes from your busy schedules to help us create this very special keepsake. The miracle of this adoption has been helped and nurtured by so many of you and this will be so incredibly meaningful for us as well as our new arrival!

I will be sending out an email to our family. If you would like to participate please let me know by leaving a comment and I will email you our address. Once we start getting squares in I'll probably set up another blog for the pictures and wishes.

Home from the Hospital

Mom is doing well. She came home from the hospital on Sunday. The doctors are very pleased with her progress. She is able to carry on a conversation without being prompted and she has her appetite back!

Father's Day was great. I cooked T's favorite meal and invited our neighbors over. We swam and ate and enjoyed each other's company. Their little boy took a few steps at our house! Too cute! Their daughter was excited to see me after 2 weeks...she wouldn't leave my side!


While in NY I redid the room my mom will be staying in. My brother came in and put lamenated wood flooring in the room, I added an area run, dusted, cleaned everything up and it looked great. I also went and bought a sofa slipcover and new sofa pillows for the living room. My dad got a new phone for Father's day from me. This one has 2 handsets!! He thought you had to have 2 phone lines for this...too funny. I went through a ton of mail, dusted, vacumned, cleaned off the computer desk, swept and mopped floors. Mom said she was pleased with everything.

Not much happening in the adoption world. Just chillin'! We have 7 ballgames this week so we'll be very busy.

A Thousand Miles

I'm sitting at my mom's desk waiting to call the charge nurse and I saw this bookmark and smiled. Our journey to little T did begin with a single step. Not only will it be over a thousand miles but it will be for many, many months. The 12 month wait is very hard - we've only been a waiting family for a few weeks! I wonder at night if she has been born yet. Is she okay? Is she cold? hungry? scared? crying? So many questions are running through my mind. Are we just crazy starting all over with another child now that the boys are older and able to take care of themselves?

These questions may never be answered. Unless little T's mom leaves a note with her birthdate we won't even know that. That is scary - the "not knowing" part. We won't know her medical history, her family history - nothing. Of course, no one knows the future but at least we know our pasts. I can't imagine what it will be like for her when she gets older. I'm not prepared for the questions that I know she will ask - but that is something I can do while we wait to meet her. I can learn about China, read books, read blogs of other families that have adopted, and learn how they handled the questions.

Yes, our journey started with a single step - but it will continue for many many years.

Quick Note

Just a quick update. I am still in NY and mom is still in SICU. We are praying that she gets down to the floor today. She is finally responding to us!!!!

Adoption update - we received our LID (log in date). It is May 30th!! We made the May cutoff.

I'm Addicted

Being addicted to the RQ site I sent an email to our agency concerning the newest weight questions. Though I don't beleive that we have anything to worry about (rumors were for 300 or more pounds)I just felt better knowing something. Here is there response to me:

"The dossier department forwarded me your email and I am happy to try to reassure you. At this time, China does not have any restrictions for family’s adopting from China based on weight. If such a regulation should be put it in place, it does not affect people already in the process who are logged into the CCAA. I know it is a fear that many people are experiencing right now based on the rumors but we have not seen this to be an issue for anyone to date. We are a very cautious and conservative agency in making sure that we present dossiers to China that we believe are fully qualified based on China’s qualifications. I hope this helps! "

So I'm trying to stay off of RQ (sigh...like that will happen!) and being upbeat and positive about the whole thing. I'm in a postcard swap with one of the lists I'm on so that will keep me busy doing her scrap book. As soon as we get our LID (Log in date in China) I'll join a quilt square swap. (more on the 100 wishes quilt to come later!)

In other news - my mom is not doing well at all. Her heart valve is leaking to the point that it is breaking up her red blood cells causing her to get blood on a weekly basis now. On top of that she has a dissection of the arota. (<--click here to learn more about it!) She is taking tests today to see if she is strong enough to undergo surgery on June 7th. I'll be traveling to NY on the 5th if the surgery is a go and will probably not have access to the internet while I'm there. This surgery will be for the valve and not the arota. She will need to recover from this surgery and then go again for the other surgery. If she doesn't have this done she might live for another 6 months to a year. Please please keep her in your prayers. She is so important to me and has shared my dream of adopting even when big T wasn't on board. I so want her to meet little T next year!

In CCAA's Hands Now

More good news from our agency:

From: CCAI Dossier & China Departments



Congratulations! Your dossier has been delivered to the China Center of Adoption Affairs.



We will notify by email as soon as we receive your official log-in date (LID) from CCAA, and then you can go to the CCAI website to download Dossier Log-In Date Packet. This can take approximately up to 6 weeks from now.




Sincerely,

CCAI Dossier & China Departments

DTC!!!

Guess what??!!! I got the following email from my agency this morning:

CONGRATULATIONS, T & C,

Your dossier was sent to China yesterday afternoon (5/24/2006)!


WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! I can finally say we are PAPER PREGNANT!!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!


Yeah!!!!!!

Hillbilly

My Hillbilly Name Is...

Lil' Dixie West

Hillbilly Name Generator

I saw this on another blog and thought it was cute. What's your hillbilly name?

Lazy Weekend

What a great weekend we had. Little T made Jr. Legion baseball again this year, it was homecoming at church, little J graduated from pre-school, and the weather was just beautiful!!



I pretty much was lazy all weekend. Same old thing - vacuum, dust, dishes, laundry. When does a girl ever rest? Big T cleaned the pool and reminded me for the millionth time that he hates the pool. L & Little T went to a church competition Friday night. T came home that same evening and L got back Saturday night. Big T and I had a night to ourselves Friday night. Did we go out to dinner? See a movie? Have some fun? Rent a movie? Go to a nightclub? NO!! We just sat around the house, made a pizza bake, and enjoyed each other's company. Aren't we romantic??!! Actually, it was very nice. We talked about baby T, the boys, the future, and then just zoned out.

Our dossier has been in translation since last Thursday. I am ever hopeful that it will be sent to China this week. How I would love to finally announce that we are DTC (dossier to China!!)



Big T's mom was asking if she will be home in time for the family reunion next year. That would be great if she is. With the current timeline we can expect a referral next May and then travel in July. Usually the reunion is at the beginning of July but T's mom said that they could move it to the end so everyone can meet her. That would be so exciting. Maybe CCAA will shorten the wait time again - who knows what their plan is!!!

Jump!!

JUMP!! JUMP!! JUMP!!

People are jumping ship. The wait times have crept up to 12-14 months so a bunch of people are switching countries. Our daughter is in China. I knew this over a year ago. Yes, a year is a long time to wait but think about this. It is already the 19th of May. Half the year is almost over already!!! Between baseball, football, wrestling, church, and work time will fly by!! JUMP PEOPLE JUMP!!!! 'cause the more people that jump off, the closer we get to our daughter!!

In the meantime we'll just relax and take the slow boat to China. We'll be patient and wait for our little munchkin. This will happen - all good things take time.

This is so funny!!!

check it out!!

The Evolution of Dance

Yes!! We are in translation folks!! That means we will be DTC this month. Can you tell I'm excited?

How should we celebrate?? Hmmm....both boys are going to Asheboro for a church youth competition and will be back Saturday. T and I should go out, maybe to dinner and a movie. That would be nice. We'll see. I'd like to see the Poseidon Adventure but I've heard it wasn't that good.

Dancing my way to China!!

Nothing...nothing in email, nothing left on my answering machine, nothing sent in the mail...I'm going nuts!!!! I think I might needs some more retail therapy!

I saw this on another blog and decided that since we are adopting from China we could also adopt a "lil'monster". Check out the egg under "China Weather". This will hatch on June first. Wonder what the monster will look like?

Mother's Day was wonderful. The boys surprised me with a card and a dozen red roses. Even Big T didn't know that they got those. How sweet. Big T cooked my favorite Tuscan chicken and I pretty much was lazy the entire day. I had hoped this would be my last mother's day without little T but I guess that is not meant to be. I love my boys and I'm so grateful to have all 3 of them in my life. Our boys are growing up into fine young men!!

On the 11th I wrote that it had been almost a week since I sent in my dossier to my agency. In reality it was over a week!! They received it on May 2nd. Today is May 15th!! I haven't heard anything and I'm going nuts!! I so want to be DTC and LID this month...it's so hard to not have control over this.

Ok...it's been almost a week and I haven't heard ANYTHING about how the dossier looks yet from my agency. I'm going crazy wondering what in the world is going on..is it acceptable? is something wrong? is it all there? do I need to redo some paperwork? ugh!!

I brought KaCee to the vet yesterday for her annual heartworm check. We noticed a bump on the inside of her ear so I had the vet look at it. He said it was a hematoma. She is 3 1/2 years old, weighs 85 pounds and has never spent the night away from us! We take her and Jasmine everywhere - the lake, NY, the mountains. KaCee is even afraid of the dark! Anyway, the vet said that she would have to spend the night so he could drain out the blood and then bandage it up for 12 to 14 hours. Poor puppy - had to sleep in a cage...no one there to love on her and give her treats or play with her. I think that we, as a family, are more traumatized that she is!! I'll go pick her up tonight after work and I'm sure she will be even more spoiled when she gets home than she usually is.

My youngest son is driving me crazy - he is into playing this game on-line - which is fine. But, when you ask him to get off it will take him 30 minutes! He said he needs to finish a deal, say good-bye, etc. I've started to ground him from it and he's done better - except for yesterday. It was time to get off and get ready for Church, well he got mad and started running his mouth. I cut him short and said he was grounded from it for a week - that made him madder and he started slamming around his room. I ignored the little punk and told him to meet me in the car. When he came in I looked at his shorts and they were FILTHY!! I asked him to go change and he slammed the car door, kicked the pool table, slammed the screen door, slammed the kitchen door and stomped into the house - so I just left!! He enjoys the youth group at church so he didn't get to go. I was so mad at him! I went to Wally world for some retail therapy and found this:

Yes, I know - I already have 4 blankets for little T - but I just couldn't resist. I called J and went to her house to borrow her sewing maching. I'll post pictures when I'm done.

***UPDATE*** - I've finished sewing the blanket and now I'm cutting it. Ugh!!!! What a PITA!!!

Back to L - when I returned home from J's he was in his room and didn't say boo to me the rest of the night. He is only 13 and he needs to control his anger so no internet for 2 full weeks and no going to Bean's house either.

That's pretty much the happenings around this place for the past few days. Not too much excitment in hicktown USA!!

Guess what a fruitcake I am!! Yesterday I went to the post office to send in our 6 passport photos. I was so proud of myself getting those out right away. So I'm home in bed - it's a sleepless night and I'm starring at the ceiling thinking. I bolt up and say OH MY GOD!!! What a dumb arse!!! I sent the pictures with NOTHING ELSE!! No explanation of what they were let alone who they were of. And if their mail department is anything like ours, they'll open the package and throw away the envelope. I quick like email my agency first thing this morning and they said not to worry - they'll match them up!!

Whew....not only was I thinking I would have to shell out another 32 bucks but then I would be wasting another day when our dossier could be sent to China.

OMG...my oldest son is growing up so fast! This is his girlfriends Junior prom - his will be next year. Doesn't he look handsome??

Here's a picture of T & T ready to go to the prom. Aren't they a great looking couple??!!

Yes, I'm bored. On one of the forums I'm on it was suggested that while we wait we write down what we have done everyday. This way we will know what we were doing when our daughter was born, etc. So, even though we are not even DTC yet (should happen next week)I'm going to go ahead and start this. Since we would like a girl who is around 15 months there is a very good chance that she is already born! Wow...our daughter could already be born, sitting in China just waiting for us to come get her.

So this last week went by very quickly:
Monday I had to take L to the doctors for his eye. The school made him leave because they though he had pink eye. We tried to tell him he didn't, that his eye was just irritated from his contact but for safety reasons they said he had to leave. Well of course he didn't have pink eye but the nurse gave us a script for antibiotic for a sty he has on his other eye.

Tuesday T had a ball game and his team did not do well at all. He went 2 for 3 with a nice double but they still got beat by the mercy rule (10 run lead).

Wednesday I took L to the eye doctor for his yearly eye examine. What a fiasco that was!! They had a problem with big T's insurance and it took me forever to get it straightened out. Once we got back to see the doctor she examined him. She asked how long he kept his contacts in and I said too long. Well, sure enough, his corneas are swollen so she couldn't get a good read for his new contacts. He is out of contact for at least 2 weeks. Oh, and the sty...it's not a sty at all. She said it is a pore that is blocked, sort of like a pimple - but it's something else. Anyway, she tried to excise it but couldn't. He has to put hotpacks on his eye 3 times a day and if it doen't go away he will have to have it surgically removed! Oh joy!! We went out to dinner after that because big T and little T were in Wilmington for another ball game.

Thursday was a run around day. When I got home I had to take L to get his new glasses and little T to get his Tux for prom this weekend. OMG!! He looked so good in that tux! I can't wait to get pictures today!! We also went to our neighbors house for D's 1 yr old birthday.

Friday I relaxed - well almost. My neighbor called and asked if I could watch her youngest. No problem!! He is such a cutie patootie!! He hadn't had a nap so he was pretty tired and just a little bit fussy. At 8:30 I gave him a bottle and he was out like a light. Around 9:30 or 10 I brought him home. His sister was in bed already watching Buzz Lightyear and his grandma was drinking coffee and watching tv.

And you all know what I am doing today - Saturday. Working!! yuck...

It's 10:40 on a Saturday morning. I should be at home, just getting up from a restful sleep...but nooo.....I'm at work and have been since 9 this morning!! What am I doing blogging? Well, we are doing an upgrade and waiting for our vendor to finish it. They should have been done first thing this morning but of course they aren't. That means we sit here and twiddle our thumbs - not much else we can do. I've filed some, moved some files around...was a little bit productive but I've decided to take a break.

The bad thing about this whole deal is that today my oldest goes to his first prom. (Let me hear it...awwwwwww....)He goes for pictures at 5, has a dinner reservation at 6:30 and then off to the prom. I want to be there but it will take four hours or more to do testing and I'm almost an hour away from home. We won't be able to test until 11:30 at the earliest. You do the math. If I make it home it will be just in time. This makes me sooooo mad!!!

So it goes in the Saturday morning rut for C!! Oh well...I'll talk to my boss and see if I can't skate out early - we'll see what he says.

I received a comment from a reader about how she and her husband have talked about adoption. We too have talked about adoption in the past in fleeting moments. I even called to talk to a social worker about foster care but never followed up with it. The seed for adoption was planted years ago in both of us - it just bloomed quicker for me. For me the decision to adopt was easy, but for my husband it was another story. He wanted nothing to do with it for an entire year!! I cried, begged, pleaded, and prayed and still he said no. I don't know what turned him around - I asked one day on the phone and he just said "Fine - call my company - find out what they give as benefits - lets do it." I just about fainted!! We talked some more that evening about this life changing decision, about how it would affect the boys, us, our marriage and especially how it would affect her, our daughter, to come into this family, to America, away from everything she has known her short life. We of course went forward with it and we are looking forward to seeing her beautiful face next year.

If the seed of adoption has been planted in your heart, let it grow. It's a journey you'll never forget nor regret.

Tracking number 8XX4055XX34X
Signed for by T.KRIER
Ship date May 1, 2006
Delivery date May 2, 2006 10:22 AM

Delivered to Receptionist/Front Desk
Service type Priority Pak
Weight 2.0 lbs.

Status Delivered


That's right folks....our package has arrived. Now the agency does their critical review and then it flys off to China.

Tracking number 8XX40XX78XXX
Ship date May 1, 2006
Estimated delivery May 2, 2006 10:30 AM
Service type Priority Pak
Weight 2.0 lbs.

Status On FedEx vehicle for delivery

Tracking number 8X74XX578X47
Ship date May 1, 2006
Estimated delivery May 2, 2006 10:30 AM
Service type Priority Pak
Weight 2.0 lbs.
Status In transit

Details

May 1, 2006 7:38 PM

Left origin GREENVILLE, NC 8:44 AM
Picked up GREENVILLE, NC

My little brother is starting his own business cleaning up the debris after natural disasters like wild fires and hurricanes. His company is called Leve1dmc. I've put a link to his website on the side bar. He has also put some of the pictures he took of the California wild fires up on the site. I've included a picture here but you gotta go check out his site and look at all the other pictures.



Firestorm

DONE!!!! We are finally done with the paperchase. What you are looking at is the FEDEX shipping document. CCAI will receive our dossier tomorrow morning by 10:30. It then goes into critical review where they make sure everything is correct, mount the pictures and bind the whole thing together. Then they will send it to China which will be our DTC (Dossier To China) date. When China receives it and logs it into their system we will get our LID (Log In Date). Yeah!!! This is a huge step closer to our daughter. Now the real wait begins.