Quickie!!

No....not that kind of quickie!!

Here's a quick page I did tonight of my niece. I've played with the picture using photoshop and then used scrapbook flair to create the page.

Happy Easter!!

I hope everyone had a Joyous Easter! We went to my BIL's and enjoyed the day with family. As you might know our niece had a baby a few months ago and today was the first time I've had the opportunity to hold him. What a cutie!! Here are some pictures of Little A and also our other little niece and nephew.










I've also been busy on my sewing machine and made this outfit for Little T. I've already started on another one and I'll post a picture of it when I complete it.




Nothing happening on the adoption front. Still waiting for our agency to get another list in. It's so frustrating!!

Check this out!!

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Referrals are Here!

Well, CCAA referred from December 28th until January 4th - 8 days. God that stinks. And hurts.

162 minus 8 leaves just 154 days until our LID!! blech.....

Happy Leap Day!!!

Hi Stranger

A couple of things to talk about. We didn't get a referral from this past list. I'm okay with that. It's hard but God has this in his hands and I have to trust that. Our agency has requested another list so hopefully it will come in March. Will we get our referral then? Who knows - but it is more likely to happen.

Wrestling is finally over. T won conference champion and was one match away from going to states. I truly believe that if he hadn't been hurt at the beginning of the season he would have gone to states. He was disappointed yesterday to say the least. We are so proud of what he accomplished!! To go as far as he did was a testament of his devotion and commitment. Baseball has already started and he has his first scrimage on Monday. No rest for the weary!!

L is also doing baseball but will be on the JV team. He's excited to start in again after his diappointing wrestling season. He just needs to realize that he has to put forth an effort. Things won't come as easily as they did when he was younger.

Work - god, what a mess it is. We are in the middle of a huge conversion from one system to another one. Part of the conversion is combining the hospital and the SOM's data so there is just one medical record for a patient. Great idea - bad plan. The hospital will control the server and be the "gatekeepers" of the data. This means that any changes we want to make, say to add a cpt code or a billing area or even a doctor has to go through their change management crap. Not a good thing because our users are totally spoiled. Plus there will not be any custom programming for the new system which means I am literally working myself right out of a job. The go live isn't until late next year and then we will keep the legacy system up for another year but it's still scary!!

Little T's OGWQ is close to being completed. I've got 4 more rows to quilt and then I'll put the border around it and viola! Its done. Big T can't get over that I've actually done this. I've included a picture of the back material that I choose. The border is a pink chenille that will really set it off. I can't wait to finish it!














Here are some wrestling pictures and a scrapbook page I put together.

Happy New Year!!

Actually, yesterday was Chinese New Year in China so I'm a day late but Happy New Year anyways!!

Is it 2006 yet?

Heh, you're probably wondering what in the world I'm talking about. Well folks, referrals are starting to arrive. Remember last month they got through the 19th so you would hope that they could get through the 31st this month. News Flash!! They didn't! Are you suprised?? I'm not! They did 8 days worth this month and got through the 27th of December. Hey - they just started December in November of 2006 and these are only February referrals so what are we moaning about?? 5 months to get through one month??

So, let me answer my question - no, it's not 2006 yet!!

162 - 8 is 154 - only 154 days until our log in date!

How long have we been waiting????

MONTHS!!!!

Sock Hell and Other Juicy Tidbits

Ok, I'll admit it! I can't stand folding socks!! I hate it! Because of this we have what they boys have nicknamed "Sock Hell". What is it? Its a laundry basket filled with unmatched socks that they must go through each morning. Do you think they would take the initiative to fold them? Hell No! They are boys and teenaged boys on top of that!

I have been totally freaking out the past few weeks. Our fingerprints expired last year and we went and had them taken again in November. I was told that here in our state we have up to one year to get USCIS an updated home study. Cool...or so I thought. At the beginning of this month we received a letter from Homeland Security stating that effective January 3 you must now send in a home study update within 30 days of your fingerprint appointment. Oh shit!! They gave me until February 7th to get them an update. I have to get physicals lined up, new letters of reference, a social worker - total panic mode. This cost us an extra $250 bucks to boot because we have to expedite our home study. Good grief!!

The boys are doing great. Wrestling is starting to wind down. Last weekend they were at a team tournament. T went 4 and 0 and L went 0 and 4. Poor kid, he's so frustrated. He'll do fine, he's just in a very difficult weight class!! Big T is great as usual. This wait hasn't gotten to him at all except for the fact that he says he is getting older!! Ummm....aren't we all???!!!!


Lets see, other than that not much else has been happening. Oh - I ended up cutting my hair earlier than what I originally thought. I've been growing it for Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for children suffering from long-term medical hair loss. I was going to wait until we got Little T's referral but it got to the point where I couldn't stand it so I cut it all off!! I think J measured it to be 14 inches in the back. She cut it into a cute style. I've never had my hair this short so its a very big change for me. Poor J, she told me after I left her house she had to take a Zantec before bed because she realized she had cut most of my hair off!! She thought I was going to hate it - but hey - it's just hair!! Actually - I like the cut.




No news on a referral yet. I know my agency is still going through the files and having some translated. It's still a slight possibility we'll hear something from this batch but it will probably be the next one.

New List!!!

Yes! Our agency got their new list on Friday! I'm so excited - this could be the list that Little T is on!! Wow....this actually will happen this year - that is so hard to believe. After waiting for over 19 months and to be so close to our referral, man, I'm jumping up and down!!! Please, please, please let our daughter be on this list!! Everyone, keep your fingers and toes crossed!!!

I swear, I can't concentrate on anything!!!

Gifts and Nomination

Wow!! I got my very first nomination! Yeah!! Jonni over at Journey to Sofia & Samantha nominated me for the "Blogging With a Purpose" award! Wasn't that sweet? Jonnie went to China last August and brought home adorable little Sofia. She and John are paperchasing right now to for a little sister who will be named Samantha. I've met some wonderful people out here in this big cyber world. They have helped me during my loss of my parents and during this long wait for Little T. You are all wonderful! I enjoy sharing in your joy as you each meet your child!!

Here are the guidelines -

AWARD GUIDELINES:
1. Awarded parties must nominate five people who have not received the award.
2. The blogs that receive the award must serve some purpose.
3. In their post about the award they need to link back to the original entry.
4. Awarded parties must post the award banner on their site. The banner must remain linked to site.
Eric Novak's

Here are my nominations:

- Karen over at Living In the Momement. Karen is a mommy of 2 wonderful little boys and used to work with me. She's a no nonsense type of girl who stands for what she believes. I met Karen at work where we were always joking around and bitching to each other!! She is also a cat lover so she can't be half bad...

- Shana over at Waiting For Sophie. I've enjoyed her blog since 2005 when she and her husband adopted their beautiful daughter Sophie Lu. They also adopted handsome Ollie from Guatemala when he was 8 months old. She is a wonderful writer who takes such pride in her family. I know I can go to her blog for a quick fix of cuteness!!

- Mary-Mia at Do They Have Salsa in China?. She and Rod adopted their identical twin girls in 2006. She is very down to earth and keeps us all in stitches over the shanigans of her girls. Go on...go visit her but beware of the cuteness!!!

- Carla at Ladybug-Katie. She and her husband just got back from China a month ago with their beautiful daughter Katie. She also has 2 handsome little boys who are spoiling their little sister. Carla and I met over at RQ and became friends right away. She is a funny writter who has a thing for sales!! (hehe...)


Now, not only did Jonnie nominate me for this award but when I got home Friday there was a package sitting on my counter from her!!! (nice wrap job!!) If felt like Christmas all over again! Here are some pictures:


She also sent some chocolate malt balls that were quickly devoured - God they were good!! (you must send me more!) I just love the little glow worm - when you squeeze the belly it lights up and sings lullabies. The sweet sweater and jeans - I just can't wait to get those on Little T! Look close at the socks - they say "little dancer"...cute!!! Not only did she go crazy with that but she also bought my son and his girlfiend some items for their baby! Jonni - thank you so much. That was very thoughtful!

Pictures !!

Big T has been bugging me to get some pictures of the boys to send to his mom. Here are a few of them. I've also added pictures of T's girlfriend (who is almost 6 months along now) and our dog with her new toy that she got for Christmas!!

T putting his little brother in a head lock! Hey - save that for wrestling!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

L said he wanted to show his belly to so here is a picture of all 3 of them - what a bunch of monkeys!!

 

KaCee and her new Christmas Toy!!

 

5 days

Yep, they referred 5 whole days - didn't even finish December 2005...just wonderful. Wanna know something else? 2 of those days were weekend days....so really, they referred 3 days. Wow...



But - that is 5 less days for the count down!! So now there are 162 days left before our LID! Yah!!

Thoughts of 2007 and beyond

I know, I know, I haven't even wrapped up Christmas yet and I'm already doing a post for 2007 - oh well!!

2007 - what a year! I lost my dad just 6 short months after my mom died, found my friend again, saw other friends become parents for the first time, laughed, and cried. T became conference champ again, contracted MRSA and spent some time in the hospital. L played baseball and thoroughly enjoyed himself over the summer. When my neighbors moved to Iowa I not only lost a good friend but 2 sweet little carpet munchers whom I dearly love and miss. This is the year we were "supposed" to have seen little T's face, the year that we decided to do a special needs adoption and the year that my oldest son announced he was going to be a dad.

2007 - gone in a blink. Yes, it went by fast - too fast! What will I change, what will I do differently this year? One thing I know for sure - I will start living again. I will start doing things and not worry how it will affect our adoption. If a new opportunity presents itself I will not turn it down without even thinking about it. I will enjoy my boys, husband, and new granddaughter. I will trust that God has a plan for me and my family.

Resolutions? Nope, I break those anyways. I'm just going to eat better, exercise more, be more patient, more tolerant, and laugh. Our referral will happen when it's meant to. Life is just too short to sit here and worry about the what if's. Will I still stalk RQ? Of course! But - I won't worry about what is said because there is nothing I can do to change it. Will I bitch about the wait - oh no doubt, bitching is a women's right, isn't it?

2008 is going to be a great year! We WILL meet Little T this year, we will meet our granddaughter this year, T will graduate high school, we WILL travel to China, and L will continue to amaze me with his sense of humor and sense of self. 2008 - an Olympic year for China and a heart-stirring year for our family!!

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


To see other Wordless Wednesdays click Here!!

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

To view other WW's click here.

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!!