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.