Smelly Stuff

So, yesterday, a co-worker said, "In the morning, as I'm walking by people coming to work it's hard for me not to cough. Those ladies wear too much perfume. I'm glad that you aren't like that."

Which made me quickly realize that I had forgotten to put on deodorant. :)

Processing

I'm not going to lie to you. Today sucked. I was in a kind of denial/slow acceptance state all day. Late in the afternoon, I treated myself to a soda and small Cheez-It's bag and my tiny world seemed a little brighter. It's amazing what caffeine and junk food will do, but hey, it's the little things.

I am very excited for a couple of ladies in my Yahoo group who will see their children's faces this week. And we are next. In a month or so, we will post our exciting news.

Top 3 Reasons It's a Good Thing We "Should Be In" Next Month
1. It should be cooler in September.
2. More time to put some "glow" on my see-thru pearly white legs.
3. More time for Liam to warm up to our friends who may watch the boys while we're in China (Love you EE!)

Top 3 Reasons It's Not Such a Good Thing
1. Waiting another month to see our daughter's face.
2. September is a good time to travel to China which means the trip will probably be more expensive.
3. Since our Travel Approval will arrive after the August 1 date, we will fall under new post adoption requirements which will cost extra $.

So, please hold up your lit phones in the dark and wave them around in a tribute to my pity party. "Nah, nah, nah, nah. Nah, nah, nah, nah. Hey, hey, hey. Don't cry." Thank you.

China Update

According to a Spanish Rumor site, it appears that we have missed this month's referral batch by one day!! It looks like referrals include up to July 6 LIDers. We are July 7. We will hear more information this week from our agency as to what LIDs are included. Sooo, to be so close and yet another month away. It's a little stunning.

However, it's wise to look on the bright side of things. I have more time to concentrate on Jack and Liam. Liam's birthday is next month so I can give him and his special day my full attention. We will travel just a smidge later in the summer/fall so maybe it will be one degree cooler. (ha, ha).

And we know that unless something weird pops up, we are next. We will receive our referral at the end of July/early August.

China Update

Our agency posted its regular Wednesday update today....

6/22/2011

Organizing Paperwork

The CCCWA is beginning to organize paperwork to begin the matching process. We do not know the log in dates for the next group of matches at this time.

We will update this website when more information becomes available.

Will we be in this next group of matches?

Right now, our dossier (a packet including information about our health, criminal background, finances, etc) could be sitting on a person's desk at the CCCWA (the government entity responsible for international adoptions in China). On another pile are files of children who are available for international adoption. The people in the matching room look through these piles organized by agencies and check for the prospective adoptive parents' (PAPs) ages (to determine what age child they are qualified to adopt), their personalities and other factors to help them determine which child should be matched with which PAPs.

When I begin to think that we may be matched with our Maggie Rose in the next few days my heart begins to flutter. I begin to feel like I did when our profile was presented to a birth parent in the domestic adoption program. Would we be picked? Were we the right parents for their child?

And then the call. When we were chosen by Liam's birth mother, my legs shook. I had trouble walking. I wanted to scream to express all the joy and excitement I felt within.

Five plus years ago, I was ready. Ready for the moment when we would receive our match. In a year, we would have our daugher's referral. A year turned into years. I had to beat down the excitement. It's hard to live and sustain that level of anticipation for five years. Now? I am nervous and fidgety. It is hard to concentrate at work. I keep checking our agency's web site and a rumor site for updates.

In the next week or two, we may finally get the call and see our daughter's face for the first time.

Wild, Wild West

Mr. Serious.

The Heart Breaker.

China update (not really)

No new information on our upcoming referral. We expect China will start the matching process this week/next week. This is what we've seen the past couple of weeks.

6/15/2011

No New Information on Next Set of Matches

We have no new information on the next set of matches at this time. We do hope to hear from the CCCWA within the next week or so.

We will update this website when more information becomes available.

6/8/2011

No News on Next Set of Matches

We have not received any new information on the next group of matches at this time.

We will update this website as soon as more information becomes available.

Family Fun Fest

With decent weather last week, we decided to attend a Family Fun Fest, sponsored by the local Parks and Recreation. Jack played some hoops.

And enjoyed the bounce house.

Liam went home early with Mike. Poor guy. The gnats loved him for some reason. I guess because he's such a sweetie.

Saw some wildlife.

A flying squirrel - so cool!

Jack checked out a small snake.

Then became an honorary fire fighter. He was concerned about running people over.

A turkey vulture.

We saw my cousin Michelle and her daughter Della at the event. We hope to go swimming together on one of these hot nights. Jack is so ready!!

Happy Birthday Ali!

Last weekend, we celebrated the first birthday of our niece, Ali. She wasn't too thrilled with the cake or maybe it was the crowd of people watching and taking pictures of the big moment.

Here are a couple of other pictures from that weekend.

Miss Meaghan and Jack rode bikes together.

Look at that determination.

And then there's Liam, just a big bundle of cuteness.

One Step Closer

We received an e-mail from our China adoption agency today:

"This message is to notify you that it is time to download Pre-Placement Packet."

We are getting closer to our referral! The earliest we will hear match rumors will probably be in a few weeks at the end of June.

I guess it's time to get excited. After years of guarding my heart and mentally despairing about the adoption, it's time to start mentally preparing.

I will say that I believe God's timing is perfect. Without the long China wait and a deep desire to have children, we would not have our two incredible boys. I love my squirts. They are amazing.

Although infertility once seemed like a curse and an absolute sentence to a life without children, we were fortunate that the rough spot in the road led us down a much brighter path filled with more joy and love than we could ever imagine. We gathered into our arms two amazing boys and their families.

I am one lucky and blessed momma! Praise God for his love and wisdom!!

Weekend in Review

Crickey, it's Liam, the snake charmer.

We had a wonderful weekend down home. We attended a reunion for my dad's side of the family. Of course, we talked so much, we didn't take many pictures. This photo shows my dad (second from the right) and his siblings. Two brothers have passed in recent years, Slim and Buck. My uncle on the left, Junior, got in a fight with a porch swing and lost. :) His black eye almost looks fake.

We had a great time at the reunion. It's nice to see family at a get-together other than a funeral.

Liam cut his fourth tooth! He also landed his first big bruise on Saturday. Right on his forehead. You can see it on the top picture. Poor little guy. He is always on the go, go, go. I guess it's a miracle that this is his first one.

And here I am, being tackled. I'm going to be in big trouble when Liam gets to be Jack's age and they both tackle me. Liam already tries to tackle Jack. Ugh! I'd better start building some back muscles.

China Upate

chart taken fromRumor Queen

Wow! The late May/early June referral batch was big. Referrals were sent to the rest of the people logged in for June 2006. Now, it's on to July! Our log-in date is July 7. We are very close. In her first chart (Wntr 2011), Rumor Queen predicts that people logged in until July 12 will receive referrals in this next batch. But this is just a prediction. 

We may receive our referral at the end of June/early July or may have to wait another month. Even though it's been almost five years, it still seems a bit surreal. This incredibly long gestation period may soon be over.  

Skating to the 80's

Jack and I attended a Women's Network Roller Skating Party tonight. This was Jack's first time on skates. It's been a long time since I've gone but I used to be a very fast skater. I used to skate around my parents' kitchen when they had crappola green and black tiles and they didn't care what we kids did to them.

Jack went into the rink with my help and then a little walker-type thing designed to help kids get the feel for skating. In the end, he preferred to watch me skate around the rink. I felt like a kid again especially when I fell on my butt. Yes, I fell once and it hurt.

Happiness is holding a small child's hand.