Update on the LOA, part 3

Due to super internet sleuthing (mainly that means I read way too many blogs, emails with complete strangers, and chatted in an online forum full of China adoptive parents), I found out that our situation is not without precedent.

Yes, that is right, this exact situation happened to another family with a different agency in September. Yes, last month. Their LID was August though, which was currently in review. Oh goody. What does this tell us?

Well, we will probably have to wait until the CCAA finishes reviewing all of September 2006 LID before we get our LOA. Yes, it bites.

When will that happen? We're not sure. However, it's good news in that we've not gotten questioned. It's happened in the recent past, and we have something to go on. Best guess is that September 2006 will be out of review by the end of October. Yeah. THAT long.

We, of course, have lots of hope that our agency can find out more information, information that is not "guesswork" and perhaps we will get that LOA before the end of October. Maybe.

Good news is that we SHOULD be able to travel to get Katie before Christmas. Whether that means we are home for Christmas or not is the question. I'm personally still holding out hope for November 15th as our travel date.

Update on the LOA, part 2

We heard from the agency today, and as we were expecting it was very vague. I think perhaps even more vague than they were expecting. To basically quote them, this is our information:

The CCAA processes files in order with regards to Log In Date, acceptance Date (what we term LOI), and then other factors.

That's all the information we have at this point. We've obviously fallen under the other factors, so who knows. The agency is checking on our case specifically and hopefully we'll hear something a little less vague by Friday.

I did ask what the "other factors" could mean. It could mean we were pulled for detailed medical review (but all 4 families from our agency? especially when one had no issues to speak of), it could mean we were being reviewed, it could mean our file was put at the bottom of a stack for some unknown reason. I was told that we did not hear that our file had been misplaced, nor did we hear that the file had been separated. Both things have been told to the agency before, so not hearing them is good. We were not told that anything was specifically wrong with our file. Another good thing. Whatever "other factor" involved means that it happened to 4 families together. Of course any of these things are still possible to be wrong with our file, but they are becoming less likely.

You can interpret that yourselves, I am personally leaning more toward something happened and the CCAA will correct it as soon as they possibly able to.

BTW, 2 different agencies told their SN clients who were skipped last week that the person who signs off on the LOA is out of the office until Friday. This means, that our paperwork could not be signed until Friday, then we would get it Monday the 15th at the earliest. I told this to our agency, told her where I had heard it, and they seemed to think it is probably true.

What this means to us as far as travel:

LOA this week, we *might* make the Nov 1st group, but unlikely.
LOA next week (the 15th), we should make a November 15th group (if they have one)
LOA the week of 21st, we might make November 15th, but possibly the 22nd (if they had one)
LOA the week of the 28th, November 15th is out, 22 is a maybe, but more than likely Nov 29th (if they have one)
LOA the first week of November, then travel would be in December...moving the LOA out by each week pushes travel out by a week each time.

Have I mentioned that I do not wait well at all? Really do not wait well.

and now he is 5!

Samuel is a very happy 5 years old now. He had a wonderful birthday party, a wonderful birthday, and is happily learning how to play his Wii.

Yes, it is HIS Wii. He, of course, must share with the other boys in the house. We are waiting to add to our Wii games though, and they are currently playing lots and lots of sports games. I think Samuel loves creating Mii people though. If he knows your name, then you more than likely have a Mii.

Dh has a beard and mustache for his Mii. I have sunglasses. (We have neither, BTW.) I helped him create Katie (she's as short as he could make her and as skinny as he could make her. I helped him find the black hair, the darker eyes, and a more "girl" hairstyle. So, now, my life is punctuated by "Katie hit a homerun!" Then a little later "MOM! You made a great catch!" I hear lots of little boy giggling, and not so much whining. In addition to this wonderful new pastime, I also have the pleasure of seeing them play with all their new toys. Lots of new pirate gear and swords, Star Wars toys, remote control cars, and foam rockets. Both boys are loving the new toys. I'm loving the relative peace and quiet.

This is Fall Break week for all of our school friends, and as such, we have lots of playdate opportunities, lots of pumpkin patch invitations, and even invites to go to the zoo or the science museums. The kids do have Karate on Thursday and homeschool science classes on Wednesday. But, alas, I do not have the joy of dropping them off at Friday classes this week. Luckily, due to Fall Break, we have a slower week scheduled. I also have fewer work obligations other than computer work at home. I'm looking forward to the pace of our life slowing down somewhat.

I am hoping to get papers and things shipped this week, so that I'm ready for when we do get that all important LOA. We still have not heard what happened, but I'm encouraged by the fact that it seems other agencies are seeing a "slow LOA" for their Sept 2006 LID people. Here's hoping that we get that LOA tomorrow on day 102.

I can not believe that we passed 100 days of waiting for LOA. Never thought we would wait this long. Never.

What an exciting day

For those not in the know, if we had stayed on our NSN track, we would not be looking at a late 2009 or early 2010 referral timeframe at current paces. However, in much better news, after I think a record breaking 6 months China has finally finished referring out November 2005 LID group. A huge collective sigh of relief was definitely heard around the world.

We learned this week that they once again had a fairly small referral batch, making it a rough week of news for many China prospective adoptive parents (or PAP). Many of these families have been waiting for over 2 years, or close to 3 years just to get to this point from applying with their agency. When we all signed that disclaimer that nothing is guaranteed in international adoption and we are taking a risk, they were not joking.

I found out that there 4 families skipped with our agency, and I found out that another agency had a skipped family (only one out of all of the SN PAP). Her situation, would be scarier to me as she was the only one. However, she was also the only one in her own "batch" as well. Then, there is a family who was anticipating their NSN referral and did not get it. That has got to be awful!

On a joyful note, to end the week, our agency did start making new SN referral calls today. So many families saw their daughter or son's face for the first time today. It is such a special wonderful feeling. I hope they have an awesome weekend basking in the glow of their new child.

It is amazing to me how much of my current life revolves around this adoption, how excited for perfect strangers I am, how sad I am for others when they get bad news. Isn't the internet grand?

We've made it to Friday

Fridays are a great day in our lives, it's Co-op day! This means, that my kids both go off to school from 9-1, and JM continues on until 3. We made it.

Of course we forgot to memorize Samuel's poem, guess I"ll work on that in the morning.

I made it halfway through to when we *might* hear something, our agency will be asking questions on Monday (China time) and we might hear something back on Wednesday from them. Oh how I hope so. I guess, honestly, we're only 1/3 of the way there...but it feels like a long time ago that we heard the bad news.

I have a busy weekend, it's birthday weekend. Samuel has his party, with 10 friends coming! We have family coming in to helps us celebrate, which means game nights and card playing, and food...lots of food. The boys get to have their cousin spend the night...in their room with them!

Then, Monday, we'll do our special "family celebration" with Samuel and as is our tradition he will choose where we eat. Anywhere we wishes to go, we go without complaint. I predict we'll either be eating Burger King or Jason's Deli! Now, for my birthday I choose someplace like Macaroni Grill, Outback, or Japanese steakhouse. Not Samuel though! He's still young enough that Burger King seems like a treat. Just hope he doesn't choose Chuck E. Cheese's. OH PLEASE don't let him choose that!

So, you see, Tuesday will be here before we know it. Hopefully we'll have some news between now and then.

Update on the LOA

We have officially been skipped, in every meaning of the word in relation to China SN adoption. Yes, it's frustrating. No, there is nothing we can do about it.

What does this mean exactly? Well, others at our agency with LID after ours (but in 2006 still) and LOI dates the same or after ours did get their LOA today. We did not. Nor did other families who were LID September 2006.

Okay, now what? Since China is closed for national holidays our agency has to wait until Monday to contact them to find out exactly what is going on. They will ask nicely for the liaison to check on each of our paperwork stuff. I know of at least one other family in this situation, and I was led to believe there are more than 2 of us. The liaison will get back to our agency, and we should know something by Wednesday of next week (October 10th). We've been told to be prepared for vague answers like "we are processing the paperwork."

What is the best case scenario? Best case is that there was just a paperwork snafu and our LOA is sitting in China just waiting to be mailed. We'd get it next week. Or for some reason they prepared things out of LID order which is not normal for them, but who knows.


What is worst case?This one is hard for me to swallow. Worst case is that our dossier was never matched with our LOI. This means that we are no further along than we were June 29, 2007 when we sent the LOI. This could have happened because the dossier was probably sitting in the review room waiting to be reviewed when we sent the LOI. It may have never been pulled. If this is the case, our agency is going to ask nicely for expedite on our paperwork. If they do expedite it could be another month to get the LOA. If they don't, then we are looking at another 90+ days.

When will we travel?We honestly do not know. We can tell you with certainty that October 25th is out, as is November 1st. It's possible IF we got that LOA next week that we could make the November 8th time...but more than likely it will be November 15th. We really hope, at this point, that we are able to travel and have her home by Christmas.

I'm very upset with the knowledge that paperwork is keeping us from holding our baby girl in our arms. It's been so long already, almost 100 days. As soon as I have that LOA I can post her photo to this blog. If you are interested in seeing her photos now, email me.

Day 94.

We did not hear anything. We do not have any idea when we will hear something. We just hope it comes very very soon!

*sigh*

Have-A-Kelly

We spent much of today preparing for birthday season and Christmas. This means we took the kids "window shopping" at various toy stores. We came away from this with loads of new toy ideas, many of which we hope never make it into our home.

"Have-A-Kelly" is what I heard when JM was telling me about one particular toy. "HUH," I said. "Have-A-Kelly? What's a Kelly?" JM would reply, "No Mom, Have-a-Kelly." I swear that is what I heard. After 5 minutes, during which he got progressively frustrated with me, he finally pronounced it in such a way that I could understand. "Havoc Heli" and then he talked about the battle set and how it had a red heli and a blue heli. He also told me that it doesn't break easily when it crashes.

Later on he wanted to know exactly why he could not get this set of Star Trek micro machine ships. We explained that they don't make them anymore. He said, "Well, I'll ask for them for Christmas." To which we explained that he wouldn't get them because they don't make them anymore and we couldn't find them. He got a little more frustrated with us and exclaimed, "But I'll ask for them for Christmas MORNING."

Ah-ha! He's thinking Santa will bring them, but can't remember that it is Santa. He knows someone brings "gifts" for Christmas morning. But since we don't make a big deal out of it being Santa he must not remember very well. Hmmm...I think we might have a problem. He's going to figure out this year that the person (or persons) are Mom and Dad. See, when I was near his age I asked for something completely unattainable to see if Santa was real or not. JM is going to ask for something completely thinking he can get it and then be totally disappointed. OR NOT! Micro Machines Star Trek

*hint Grandparents JM and Samuel want some of those!*

Do you even want to know the price Dh paid for the 2 sets (#1 and #2) when he was in college? Huh? I think it was like $5 each.

Oh look! MORE

anyone want to help us out in finding the Lego Minifigs? You know, the people? The boys really only want all the little people to play with, and they only want the Star Wars, Harry Potter, or Pirate ones. Yeah, the popular ones! Never mind, search engines to the rescue.

and that is the list we are currently up to. Helicopters that don't break easily when crashed (yeah right), special collector's edition Star Trek micro machines, and Lego Minifigs.

Guess it's a good thing we started NOW!

Busy busy Saturday

We had games this morning, bright and early in the nice cool fall morning weather!

Samuel's game started at 8:30 with Dh as a coach to the 5 little soccer players. JM's game, which started at 9am, only ended up being a practice as our team only had 4 players. I was chosen to sit with JM since Dh had to coach. I don't do mornings, so the thinking skills at that time left a little to be desired, which is why I made the mistake I did.

I saw JM bat twice between 9 and 9:30. During that time JM hit the ball down the first base line, but got out at first. This was HUGE. Remember, he's playing his first ever kid pitch league and had gotten hit early in the season. Lately, he's been "running from the ball" and not staying at the plate to actually try and hit a ball. His 2nd at bat he once again hit down the 1st base side, but more between 2nd and 1st base positions. 2nd baseman picked it up and overthrew to first (JM would have beaten it there btw). JM ran on to 2nd, then on to 3rd narrowly missing a tag out at 3rd. He was all smiles, and so was I. I was now awake enough to realize something...the coach that I thought was coach of our team was not acting like he was overly confident. In fact he mentioned he would be thrilled when Dh made it down to take over. OOPS. Dh is, umm...about the 4th assistant coach and I thought the parent helping out was one of the assistant coaches. No biggie, I figured it was close to the end of Samuel's game and I would walk up there to meet with Dh so I could walk Samuel down to the field where JM was and Dh could run ahead. Told you I was starting to think. I get up to the soccer field and tell Dh about the situation down on JM's field. Dh finishes refereeing the soccer game in about 1 minute and then takes off for the baseball game.

I walk with Samuel back to the baseball field after doing our "celebration tunnel" and getting Samuel's snack (which I ended up carrying). On the walk back I got to hear all about how Samuel sort of scored a goal. He "deflected" the soccer ball with his legs while standing next to the goal and the ball went in. Hey, in my book, that's a goal! He was all smiles, and so was I. I was also much more awake now. We sit and watch the rest of JM's game/practice/scrimmage and I see JM make some awesome catches at catcher position and he even managed to learn a little more about playing that position!

All that, and we were home by 10:30am.

We do some housework, try to make sense of where we should be with our homeschooling work, and then work on some of the lessons and study for upcoming tests...and then I go to work and Dh took the kids to a friend's house. I meet up with them at the friend's house for some great fellowship...and now it's time for bed.

We have another early morning tomorrow! Perhaps one day soon life will slow down? Maybe?

More ladybugs

We heard nothing this week, despite the hopefulness brought from ladybug sightings. But the week's showing dwindled...

Monday night there was 1 ladybug.

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday nights there were no ladybugs. *so sad*

Tonight...there were 4! and 2 were needing to be censored from the kids eyes (if you know what I mean). LOL

So, perhaps, these 4 little ladybugs might mean something? Hmmm....we know that China is probably working this weekend before their big national holiday week, and we know that in the past they have liked to clear out the work load as much as possible. So, here's hoping that Monday or Tuesday we have some GREAT news to share.

If not, then it will be at least another week, and we will fly right by that 100 day mark.

and there was much wailing and nashing of teeth

no, not from me for not getting a phone call today (on day 89....tomorrow is day 90 of a 70-90 average wait).

but from the kids when I finally broke down and picked up their Lego pile of bricks. I've told them all day to clean it up. Multiple times. Did it get picked up? No. They must not care for them or they would have picked them up. So, "bye bye Lego bricks"

I'm sure they will get more for birthdays and Christmas so I'm not concerned at all. Plus it wasn't all of them.

Okay, enough with the whining and complaining!

Exciting things have been happening in our family, yet I've focused on the "no phone call with LOA" through most of it here. I need to share the "fun" things we've been up to.

First off, I decided that our nasty stained carpet (it was light creme and NOT scotch guarded for those of you with children) needed to be cleaned REALLY well or replaced. After about 1 hour of trying to clean, we opted to replace. Perfect distraction during this wait...right? Oh my word has it been exhausting. We have new carpet in, it's lovely. We are so tired though. Tired of packing up junk, tired of moving furniture, and tired of sitting at the table to be on the computer. But man oh man that carpet is so pretty. It's "flecked" but mostly a dark khaki (color of wet sand). It has brown, black, and creme pieces in it. I was also smart and got the special pad, the moisture blocking pad, so future stains won't soak in and come back to haunt us.

Secondly, JM pitched a baseball game and actually struck some kids out! After his first outing where he walked 4 batters in a row, we were so proud. He's also doing a great job with the catcher position as well.

Third, Samuel is now an orange with black stripe belt in Karate like his brother. He passed his test, and he is just about always kicking at least waist high these days. Not bad for a 4 year old (okay, he's really ALMOST 5).

The boys also got new gameboy games for helping us move furniture and take out the old carpet (well, Samuel helped us out by staying out of the way and away from the dust so we didn't have to administer any breathing treatments). The games have really helped them stay busy during the long hours we've needed to get things back to rights, shopping for organizing things (be still my beating heart), and time for us to be on the computer...like now. ;)

See, I told you, EXCITING times!

We have not heard anything yet

87 days down, tomorrow is 88 days.

We've heard nothing on our approvals, and it is supposed to be 70-90 days. I think we will pass the 90 days mark personally. So, that is our "no news" day.

Do I *really* need to tell you how I feel right now?

Something is going on outside...

there are now 6 ladybugs. Hmmm..."double lucky" perhaps?

But honestly, WHERE did they come from? All are attracted to our outside light on the front porch (along with about a gazillion other little flying insects). We're having to go in and out the front door since our garage is full of furniture. Why? We're getting new carpet upstairs tomorrow! :) We've worked really hard to get it ready to go, and now, tomorrow I entertain two boys while the installers do their work. I can't wait for it to all be done though.

I hope, really really really hope, that we hear from the agency tomorrow.

3 ladybugs outside tonight

Dh saw 3 ladybugs this evening!!! Since ladybug sightings are considered "lucky" in China adoption and since many of our own "ladybug sightings" do seem to have significance to our adoption situation, I'm hoping this means good things on Monday. If we do not get our LOA next week, it is doubtful we could travel October 25th. That breaks my heart to think about. I'm just so ready to go and get her.

3 ladybugs...for our 3 kids? Or for Dh, myself, and Katie traveling? I like the 3 kids idea, especially since 2 were bigger and close together and one was little bitty and about a foot or so away from the other two.

Today we were cleaning out our computer area, and I found a picture that Samuel had colored last September. It was an outline of China and he had colored sections, then he drew a smiley face on it. I remember saying to a friend, "I'm going to keep this. When we get our referral I want to check and see if she is from the province where Samuel drew the smiley face." Guess what? She is! How is that for another "red thread" connection?

One more thing checked off the list!

Our homestudy addendum for the SN adoption is just about done (emailing between the SW and my agency is happening today). :) Then, once that is done, we will have the finalized versions of it!

I have to say our Social Worker rocks! She's one of the fastest people I've ever heard of getting done with the homestudy and the addendums. She contacted me Tuesday to get started, Thursday it is basically done.

Phew! One of the major stresses of this process is lifted. Now, we just need to get that LOA/RA!!!

Just keep waiting.

That's what we are doing. Waiting. Thursday marks day 83 since LOI (not that we're counting or anything). The average time for someone LID before LOI (which we were) is 70-90 days.

We're at 83 days. Mighty close to that 90 don't you think?

We did see movement at our agency this week though, someone LID 7/06 (we're LID 9/14/06) with a LOI of 7/13/07 (we're LOI 6/29/07) got their LOA/RA. How's that for lots of numbers and letters? What this means is that their dossier was definitely translated and was being reviewed for NSN when they sent in their LOI. It was pulled and processed faster than our own as it was in the midst of review to start with.

What does this mean for us? Well, we have to be getting closer right? It means that they are working on things, and it does not appear that we have been skipped in any way...yet. :) We have to trust that it will shop up soon, and who knows, it might show up by the end of this week. I am not sure, but I think our agency will inquire about it after 90 days. However, they may wait to 120 days.

At this point, I want it. Plain and simple. We are hoping to travel with the October 25th group. Please please please let us travel with them!!!

Will it be this week?

That is what all my agency friends are wondering along with me? Will we finally see our LOA/RA this week? Could the end of our wait for our daughter be almost over? Maybe?

I've decided it is hard to wait, even when you are trying ever so hard to find peace and knowledge that this is really out of your control. The timing will be perfect whenever it happens, I know that. But this waiting. This not knowing. This uncertainty of when we will travel is really starting to get old.

We have developed some rather expensive "coping" techniques this past week. Too many more weeks of not getting that important piece of paperwork might see us more broke than we ever seem to be. We are finally replacing carpets upstairs (yes, all those who have been in our home can breathe with relief that we addressing that problem finally). I've also started shopping for our trip more. This typically means Katie gets yet another outfit. This past weekend I found her a bib for the trip. Then I saw the cutest hairbrush for her...it's a ladybug.

So, I'm really hoping we hear this week. Not too sure how much longer I can keep shopping. ;)

He says the cutest things!

I sent Samuel to the bathroom to clean his face, wash his hands, and brush his teeth. After a good long while of hearing the water running, Samuel calls out "Moooom! Where's my....where's my....where's my tooth soap?"

awwww....Tooth SOAP! I love it.

I had to go help him find his tooth paste, and I told him "Here's your tooth paste, be sure to brush your teeth really well." I'll check of course.

Love Without Boundaries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceAmyu1FpBc

Katie, luckily, has not needed surgery while in China for her heart condition (and we're hopeful she won't need it once home). However, she has benefited from Love Without Boundaries through the medical fund. She was able to have 2 heart ultrasounds. While her orphanage is not one of the poorer ones, I know medical checkups like she had are not cheap.

Love Without Boundaries also has a great foster care support for the Yunnan province

the diving video

Here's the one of him diving. Just kindly ignore my voice. Does anyone EVER like their own voice?

Note to self, when videoing in China do NOT talk! LOL

OH, and isn't that little foot kicking up at the end of the dive just adorable or what?

Testing out video

What we learned with this "test" is that videos in low light are not great. :) 2nd, I think Samuel is just about the cutest little diving board jumper in history. I'm going to see if I have the video of him diving, it's even better than this one. Of course it was in daylight.

We bought the little Flip Video for our trip to China, and tested it out last weekend. It's not too bad, it's extremely easy to use. It's tiny so taking it to China will be easy, and it runs on AA batteries (which is even better as all my various cameras have different size batteries!).

Not looking good for this week!

While some of the much anticipated and longed for LOA's for our agency did arrive, ours was not one of them. Since today (Thursday) marks 69 days since we sent our LOI, I was not totally expecting it. I think we are getting close though as others near our date out there in "internet-land" have gotten theirs, especially since they have similar "dates" to go along with their LOI.

So many of you have asked when we might travel, and after this week we are pretty much assured that travel before the end of October is out. Our new "hope for date" is October 25. In order to make this date we will really need to get our LOA in the next couple of weeks.

I am really hoping to have Katie home by Thanksgiving! I really hope we do!!

What did you do Labor Day weekend?

We visited family, and went to Dollywood. The boys had a great time swimming daily in grandma's pool, playing with cousins, and riding rides in Dollywood. Samuel was finally tall enough to ride the "big boy" rides (not to be confused with being tall enough to ride roller coasters).

Samuel also learned how to dive into the pool, and loved showing off his new skill to all. It was so cute. He is not afraid to go under the water at all anymore.

Making a few changes

Updating the look of the blog, playing with templates. I didn't like that the widgets on the side were getting cut off. So, here I am, changing the template around to make it more pleasing to me.

One thing I notice is that my photo needs to be updated. I think I'll see about getting a cute one instead of a pretty one. :)

What do you mean, baseball practice?!

Yes, fall baseball has started back up and we're headed the baseball field AND soccer fields each and ever Saturday through October. Unfortunately games are at different times, which means that it feels like we will be living there. Oh joy.

JM is doing well with the baseball, and can actually hit a ball pitched by his coach. Next practice he goes against an actual child pitching. That should be very interesting. He also needs to learn about such things as stealing a base. Yes, very interesting times indeed.

I was going through some photos and ran across one from this past May when we were going to the ball field all the time. Samuel wears his crocs everywhere, and the baseball field was no exception. Due to the dryness of the weather, there was quite a bit of dust and dirt to make it seem like heaven to any 4 year old boy. After on particular night of frolic with his friends he took off his crocs and told us his feet were dirty.



I'll say they were dirty! LOL

So, it's not surprising that we didn't learn from the spring season and once again Samuel had dirty feet after baseball practice. Good thing he doesn't mind baths and showers.

Just finished the book!

What book did JM just finish reading? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, yes, he's just finished book 4. He told me that he is ready to start book 5 tonight. He does know and understand about the book, and he is going to write a book report on it (well at least I'm hoping I get him to write a book report on it).

I had him take an Accelerated Reader quiz online, and he scored 100%. I'm so very proud of him, even if he did take after his father in spelling.

Waiting is just hard

One thing that I never really thought about was how incredibly hard it is to wait. To wait while you have a photo of your child and know that while they are cared for and probably loved by their foster mother or ayi, that it is not your love. Not your care. 58 days of waiting, 61 days of knowing who our daughter is, and we do not know how much longer we have to wait.

Each of the few photos we have are precious. Each of them have been studied for any clues to who she is, what she likes, and any gleaming of any possibility of what her smile looks like. In all of them she is not smiling. I want to know what her smile looks like. I want to gaze into her eyes and see the iris and whether or not the color is all homogeneous, or does it have slight variations. Does she have a favorite toy? Does she really like music? What does she like to eat?

Yes the wait is hard for referral. Yes the wait is hard after referral. I think waiting is just hard. I follow all sorts of blogs, and there are some who get monthly photo updates. I think of how wonderful that would be since I have my total of 5 photos with no hope of getting more. But then, it has to be hard for them as well getting those photos, as it's a physical reminder that they too are still waiting. The ability to send a care package is not something we have with where Katie is. The director of the orphanage will not forward the package to the foster parents, and thus Katie would get our package until about 3-5 days before we met her. So we have to decide if it is worth it or not.

All we can do at this point is pray for patience and pray that officials in all governments involved will work fast and get us all of our approvals. We can take it one day at a time, and hopefully before we know it we'll be leaving on a jet plane.

We have a fingerprint appointment!!

YAY! We go Tuesday morning Sept 4th to get fingerprinted, yet again! I think this makes 4 times so far in this process for me? Perhaps 5?

Now we're still waiting on that Letter of Acceptance or Referral Approval (LOA or RA). Some people from our agency got theirs this past week who had Letter of Intents near ours. However, they had already been through review with the CCAA. We have not. So, we are still waiting. The "average" I have heard is 60-90 days for those who have not been through review. Today, Saturday, is day 57. We're getting closer.

I really should fill out that Travel Packet information to get our Visas, tell them our preferences for flights, and other such information that is necessary to getting us to China and back. I am actually amazed at how much coordination goes into our travel to pick up Katie. I am also shocked at how much I still have left on my to-do list regarding packing for this trip.

Katie's clothes are picked out, and the carseat is bought.

I still need to finish her room. I need to purchase gifts for the people in China we will need to give thank you gifts to. I need to find powdered form of Gerber Liquilytes. I need to get our homestudy addendum done. I need to get the forms back from the doctor. I need to...

At least we know they got it!

Our fingerprints have expired, so we asked USCIS to issue us new appointments to get them updated. It's been 3 weeks since we sent it to them, and we got a note today saying they got it.

Now we need that appointment. It would be nice to have it done sooner rather than later as we can not leave without it being done. Absolutely can not leave.

Guess what I get to do tomorrow?

I'm getting a pedicure! :) My very very first one, and it's all thanks to JM's baseball team (I was team Mom and the wonderful ladies on the team got me a gift certificate). It is enough that I'm treating one of my best friends to a pedicure with me. I mean, what's the fun in going all alone?

After that I'm meeting Dh for lunch. Just us two. It'll be just like a date! I have no idea where we are going eat, but I'm vetoing places with light up drive through signs. We might end up somewhere with a light up sign (on the inside) but it's a yummy fast food Asian place. Mmmm....Vietnamese Crunchy Noodle Bowl! :)

That is of course if I can wait that long. We really need to go grocery shopping (well I do), and there really isn't much left to eat here. Although, I think I have enough for a "veggies" night. I do have soup mixes, but for some reason I'm thinking soup on a day that it has been 101 in the shade just doesn't sound appetizing. Eating out *might* work if I can take a look at our budget envelopes for eating out and entertainment. I might still have some money there.

Math Helpline

Okay, I think I will not show my boys this. I can only imagine that they would get ideas I would rather they not have.

1st soccer game and day of school!

He was so excited to get to play his first game in a uniform! He loved it.


My how big they have gotten!




In his classroom, doesn't he look oh so proud. I asked him if he was nervous, and he replied, "Not really. No I'm not nervous. I'm okay Mom." I then asked if he was ready for me to go. "Yeah Mom, I'm good. You can go now."

It's been a year.

Can you believe that it's been a year since we were DTC? 1 year ago today all of our hopes and dreams were sent to China via FedEx. I wonder if FedEx knows what they are holding in their hands when they get these packages?

It's hard to think that Katie was a brand new little baby when we sent our dossier to China.

We've been "in process" now for 1 year and 9 months. We hope to have completed the adoption by the time we hit our 2 year anniversary of applying to the agency. LOL

I don't like that ticker

Why? I feel like its wrong when it's not. I've been waiting 7 weeks. 6/29/07 was on a Friday.

However, in all reality, I have been waiting 1 month, 1 week and 6 days as of Saturday. Why? Because 7/29/07 was on a Sunday.

Grrr....I want one that counts days. Pure days.

I'm old, and I kept forgetting

LOL Forgive me that ticker, I just kept forgetting how many days it had been. Okay, this isn't quite what I had in mind as it gives month, weeks, days, but it will suffice for now. ;)

100 Good Wishes quilt

I would like to make one for Katie. *okay you can ALL stop laughing now* It's a wonderful tradition from Northern China I believe (yes I know she's from Southern China). People give you 100 10x10 inch square pieces of fabric (either something they have bought, or something that has an important meaning to them). They also put a piece of that fabric on a card/paper with a wish for the child.

So, if you are family or friends and would like to help me out on this, I would appreciate it! :) I figure, at the very worst I can finish it for Katie's firstborn child.

It's good to have a goal. Right?

Honestly, if I end up with less 100, I'm good with that. I would like for her to have at least a doll cradle size quilt though. Thanks to my friend Carla, I already have 2 squares! I'm hoping that my other bloggy friend Carla will send me some as well. Don't you love the internet where you can find people who are adopting, who share the same name as you?

Katie's name meaning!!

Okay, I know you all have been just dying of curiousity about Katie's name. What does it mean? Well, I finally got someone to translate it for me other than the basic symbol translation.

Xiao Lan means "Morning Orchid"

Katelyn means "pure"

So, pure morning orchid. See, you were just wondering and staying up all night wondering, right?

High School memories, so be forewarned!

1. Who was your best friend? I had a few, but Sarah was probably my best. Although Beth was a pretty good one as well (still is actually). But then again, Carrie was sweet and we sure did get along great in college. Yet, Suzanne and I probably hold the longest friendship record...okay she probably holds that with Shannon but I definitely think she is my longest running friend. I mean, we met at swimming lessons...when we were 5 or something!

2. Did you play any sports? In high school? Not a chance. I learned my lesson in softball as a child.

3. What kind of car did you drive? Oh I was the ENVY of all my friends. I drove a nice 1988 silver Mercury Sable. Yeah, I was something alright. My parents felt like it was a SAFE care. I guess since I totaled it my senior year of high school, it was. Never knew going 35 and rear ending someone could do that much damage! LOL It was replaced by a nice safe 1988 silver Ford Taurus. We're consistent that way.

4. It’s Friday night. Where were you? Football season, I was at the game wherever it might be. Sitting in the stand, either sweating or freezing depending on the time of year in my nice oh so lovely band uniform. Yes. All 4 years of high school.

5. Were you a party animal? Depends on what you consider a party animal. LOL I was a band geek. I partied with the band geeks. Guess that answers THAT question now doesn't it. ;)

6. Were you considered a flirt? I have no clue. I had boyfriends, and lots of friends that were boys. I know I knew how to flirt, but was I flirt? Probably, but I didn't think I was then.

7. Were you in the band, orchestra or choir? Yes, as I answered above. I'm a band geek. Choir? Let's just say that my children tell to please be quiet and leave my singing ability out of the conversation!

8. Were you a nerd? Hmmm...I didn't think I was. Perhaps I should ask those friends listed above? I did graduate 2nd in the class...yeah, I guess that seals THAT. Further evidence? I think I joined just about everything I could, and was on all those lovely academic teams. LOL Just might have been a bit of nerd I guess...didn't think I was though at the time.

9. Were you ever suspended or expelled? Oh heavens no. *giggle* I was beloved by all (the teachers that is). I remember this ONE time getting sent to the principals office (yes one time in ALL my years as a student) and the principal looked at me and asked me what I was doing there. I told him. I yelled at a fellow student because he was driving me CRAZY asking to see how I worked a Calculus problem (remember that nerd thing...does getting almost 100's in Calculus make one a nerd?). Mr. Principal sent me back to the room without any punishment. I think the boy I yelled at got detention.

10. Can you sing the fight song? I do not think it has words. I can hum it VERY well. Well, honestly, I can hum the drum part, then the trumpet part that comes in...and then I might start getting confused on what the "melody" is and hum the mellophone part that I played for 6 years (our middle school band had to learn it to play at a few middle school functions).

11. Who was your favorite teacher? Oh, now, see, the "beloved by all teachers" part makes this one tough! My band teacher would probably be my favorite. Although those years of "One more time through, then circle up!" could do me in. Or, perhaps, Geometry and Algebra 2 teacher...she was really sweet. My latin teacher was always great fun. The "dreaded" Senior English teacher though, I did like her. I still say she was "misunderstood by all." OH, Mr. V....and Shakespear Studies for zero period (oooh...there's evidence I'm a nerd again, I voluntarily took EXTRA classes starting at the unseemly hour of 7:30am). Mr. S (Junior English) was pretty cool, he was also Prom Committee advisor (yeah did that too).

12. What was your school mascot? OH this one is good! A BLUE and ORANGE yellowjacket. Yeah...made sense to us then too. LOL


13. Did you go to the Prom? Oh yes. All 4 years. (hmm...could that be "flirt" answer as well?). OKay, one year, my Sophomore year I was on Prom Committee and helped "serve" and "take up tickets" and such. I even wore a matching dress with 5-7 other girls (Beth of best friend forever above did it with me).

14. If you could go back, would you? Are you KIDDING? Heck no! Now, college...I might be persuaded to go back to college when I met Dh. :)

15. What do you remember most about graduation? Big things shake to the top, little things go to the bottom. If you are going to do something, do it BIG. You want to be on top.

It's a toss up between that and the knowledge that our wacky school had Class President and Vice President give speeches instead of Valedictorian and Salutatorian (which meant I was off the hook!!!)

16. Where were you on Senior Skip Day? I'm not sure if we had one. I didn't skip, and yeah, that does give more weight to the "nerd factor" does it not?

17. Did you have a job your senior year? I wasn't allowed to work during the school year. Something about maintaining my grades. I did work at a grocery store the summer before though. :) Before scanners...I had to *gasp* type in the price for EACH item bought.


18. Where did you go most often for lunch? Since we had to stay at the school, I typically ended up eating with my friends in the band room. Yeah...that nerd/band geek thing again. I tell you, I was a PARTY animal. LOL

19. Have you gained weight since then? Why yes I have! I now weigh a whopping 12 pounds more...or maybe 15-20. I can still wear the same hideous clothes if so desired.

20. What did you do after graduation? Went to college, met Dh, got married, had a baby, THEN graduated from college. :)

21. What year did you graduate? Isn't this one of those "security questions" I had to answer somewhere? Let's say it's been long enough for me to laugh at myself there.

22. Who was your Senior Prom Date? Senior Prom? Um...Tab. That was his name. LOL

23. Are you going/did you go to your 10 year reunion? No I did not. It was only a catered dinner at a hotel not in the same small town we grew up in. It was $125 for 2 people for dinner. I had 2 YOUNG children, I was a SAHM, and well...for $125 I was not going to eat crappy catered food. Evidently others felt the same way. Only about 30-50 people showed up (that's including spouses).

For our 15 year? We're over-throwing the "rulers" and planning our own! (the class president plans)

Just a Little Test

This is just a test of the emergency email posting. I need to make sure
this works before we go to China as I would really hate to not be able
to post things to the blog! :) I'm helping someone from our agency out
to see what happens, so don't get excited...we're not close to traveling
YET!

Still hoping for October/November....would love Sept but it's highly
unlikely. Heck, I would LOVE August, but I really doubt that one occurs!

I had a surprise in the mail!

I got a package from our agency that had travel information in it! OMG it seems so real now. The package contained such wonderful tidbits of information as how much cash to bring, what documents we needed before we traveled, info on when different payments were due, sample itineraries, recommendations on what to pack, and other interesting things.

One item of note was "luggage weight limits" for our travel. On the international portion of the trip we're allowed 50-70 pounds PER bag checked. On the in-country flights in China we are allowed 2 bags per person checked with a combined weight of 44 pounds.

Did you REALLY catch that? We can only bring luggage with a TOTAL weight of 88 pounds for 3 of us (Katie won't have a seat on in-country flights). To give you an idea of how I pack, on our trip to Disney World for 4 people and 7-8 days, our luggage weighed around 150 pounds total.

88 pounds.

I do believe we'll be paying that extra fee for over-weight luggage. LOL

27 days of waiting

We've now been waiting for Katie's RA/LOA for 27 days. It seems like it is so much longer!!!

Because we are going SN now, we have a few things to "paperchase" now. First up is we need to be re-fingerprinted (you know because the first set of prints expired...hmmm...). Then we have to update medicals for a renewal of the 171h form (just in case we do not travel before Jan 31, 2008...at which point you will probably be visiting me in a special home). We also need to have a homestudy addendum covering us for a SN child before we travel. Our homestudy agency is waiting to do this until after we get RA/LOA because if it takes until December to get RA/LOA then we will just have to do a homestudy renewal for expiration. If it comes before then, we just have to do the addendum.

What's the difference? Not much, except in the eyes of the USCIS people and how much it will cost us in the end.

4 weeks down. I would guess around 60 more days to go (or 8 more weeks). I hope that the next 4 weeks go by as quickly as these have gone.

They did it!

JM came in 3rd place in forms (out of 5). He did really good, except he turned the wrong way when he started. But he kept on going, stayed focused, and finished it!

Samuel came in 2nd place in forms (out of 5). He did Kihon Kata Ich after all, and did GREAT! The only thing he missed was yelling at appropriate times. :) *sniff* He looked so cute.

In sparring, Samuel came in 2nd place (out of 2). LOL He didn't get any points, but he sure did have a GREAT time.

JM, in sparring, did not place. He *almost* beat the 1st place person, and if he'd kicked just a TAD lower, he would have. He kicked the chin/neck area, so it didn't count. Glad the other kid was NOT hurt. He did really awesome at not getting upset or frustrated. He knows what he needs to do for the next tournament.

Overall, it was quite a fun morning. Watching the older kids and Sensei do their forms and sparring was really neat (and I hope motivating for my boys). I told Dh, that I am excited that Katie will get a chance to learn Karate. I think it will really help her....like when she goes off to college as a black belt...LOL I won't worry so much about those boys bothering her! Seriously, I've loved seeing how confident the boys have gotten with it, how respectful (well sometimes), and how focused they are with it.

Then...any guesses as to WHERE I went next?!

Harry Potter book 7 is in the house!!!!! LOL I'm resisting reading it though, because the yard needed mowed and the flowerbed needed weeded...the house needs cleaned. I have work stuff I need to do. I have clothes to tag for the consignment sale. I do not have much time to sit...and read all of HP7 today. Tonight? Yes. I probably will be VERY sleepy for Early worship in the morning, but I"ll know if Harry lived or died...and what happens!

Tomorrow we do something new...

The boys are going to their first ever Karate tournament, where Samuel is sure to be the youngest one there...and sparring.

I may not survive.

However, both are also entered into the forms competition. This means that both must get up, in front of judges, announce themselves, the do their Kata...by themselves...in front of people. JM is ready (and eager), Samuel on the other hand, is well, a little more timid.

We've been practicing, and he's no longer whispering his introduction to us. I'm not so sure he will speak loud enough for someone to hear right next to him tomorrow morning though. JM should do great. He's excited.

JM is doing Kihon Kata Ich which he is learning to earn his Orange with black stripe belt. Samuel, who is also Orange belt did not know this form yesterday. He now knows it. However, we are not sure he should do this for tournament. Samuel, rather emphatically said, "But I'm ORANGE belt!" Well, yeah, but he's can do the Taiso Renshu form, which he does know WELL. *roll eyes*

But you know, that's only if he survives that sparring. JM? He's eager for sparring in tournament. Let's all just hope his partners survive.

Why did I think Karate was a good idea for the boys again?!

I wonder...

I wonder if I sent a digital camera, fees to pay for internet, oh I guess the computer, and yeah...the email service...could I get updated photos at least weekly?! I'm dying here, I need more photos. Video would be nice as well. I am very thankful that we did get updated photos, and that I can gaze longingly at my daughter's face. But, wow, the longing to hold her in my arms is so strong. I was doing really well until JM told me that he wished that we could just go and get Katie already. He told me that he really wants her to come home soon.

yes, I just about cried.

You should hear him with everyone we meet. "I've got a new sister. She's in China. Her name is Katie." Then if I'm around and I'm showing off her photo, he says, "That's MY sister Katie."

Yeah, that just about got me too.

19 days since LOI...and counting. Oh how I wish we could have the world's fastest LOA/RA in history!

Have you heard of the purple bracelets?

There was a church pastor who handed out purple jelly bracelets to everyone in his congregation, and encouraged them to be "complaint free." There were a few rules for wearing the purple bracelet:

1. Put it on either wrist.
2. When you catch yourself complaining, take it off and put it on the other wrist.
3. Keep doing this until you've gone 21 days without having to change which wrist the bracelet is on.

The online article, which I sadly didn't save the link to, mentioned how everyone who participated had a better outlook on life, said they were happier, etc. It's the POSITIVE thinking. Hmmmm...It's an idea to try. It can't hurt anything, right?!

New photos!

I can not believe how much new photos can make your day! Of course the 5 photos I know have are not nearly enough for me, but I can gaze at her beautiful face and then go look at her soon-to-be room and feel all giddy inside.

We hit a great clearance sale at a Gymboree outlet this past weekend, and man oh man I got some great deals. Then a good friend gave me a Target bag stuffed full of clothes her daughter had worn (when she was 12 months, and it's iffy if they will fit Katie or not, but hopefully they will).

I've also been looking at all the things we need to prepare for, pack, and all the things we must do before we travel, and WOAH there's not much time!!! One important thing is we need to get our USCIS fingerprints done again as ours have expired already. *sigh* At least we're probably not going to have to redo that 171h. 13 days since we were LOI....77 (or there abouts to go) until we get referral approval.

More than you wanted to know about ME!

What were you doing ten years ago?
Living in Arizona as a Newlywed and going on the "Grand Tour of Arizona" with my parents when they came to visit. We visited both the South and North rims of the Grand Canyon in 1 day! Doesn't that make you want to go on vacation with us so badly?!

What were you doing one year ago?
Stalking the mailbox/mailperson for my 171h form so I could FINALLY be DTC.

Five Snacks You Enjoy:
1. Dove dark chocolate
2. Veggie Bites - Broccoli and Cheddar
3. Dark Chocolate M&Ms
4. Oatmeal Raisin cookies
5. Trail mix

Five songs you know all the lyrics to:
1. Grace to You (hymn sung at our wedding)
2. Let's just say "Veggie Tales Song" and you can practically pick one. ;)
3. Kiss the Girl - Little Mermaid (ummm...yeah, left over from high school days)
4. Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride - Jump 5, Disney Mania 3 (have to have song on though)
5. I will be here - SCC (have to have the song on though)

Things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1. Pay off debt, and get that new house
2. Pay for rest of our adoption, and give adoption grants...lots of them
3. Give LOTS to Love Without Boundaries/Half the Sky/A Child's Right
4. Save in Money Market for future
5. Give to church and family

Five Bad Habits:
1. Procrastinating at just about everything
2. Reading fluffy romance novels late at night
3. Not doing laundry until it's a HUGE pile
4. Not doing kitchen stuff until it's a HUGE pile
5. Picking/scratching my face (and I wonder why I still have acne)

Five things you like to do:
1. Take photos and learn better ways to do so
2. Read fluffy romance novels
3. Play piano
4. Read fluffy romance novels
5. Take photos

Five things you will never wear again:
1. Some of the outfits I wore in high school
2. Some of the dresses I wore before I got married
3. High HIGH heels
4. Spandex in public when I'm not working out...
5. Crocs all day in Disney World

Five Favorite Toys:
1. Computer
2. My Camera
3. My "big" lens
4. My "little" lens
5. Cell Phone

Where will I be in ten years?
Knee deep in photography, homeschooling, kids, and teenage angst!

We have a referral for our Little Princess!

I'm so happy, excited, over the moon with JOY to announce that we have accepted the referral of a little girl who was on our agency's SN list.

It is so surreal right now, and it's just starting to sink in that I have a daughter. That we will have our little princess home with us by Christmas (if things go smoothly). Since it is a SN child, we are not supposed to share photos openly until we have TA, but trust me, she is CUTE! (yes, it deserves ALL those caps!) If you email me, I will send the photos to you in email because I'm so excited to share her cuteness with everyone.

She was born August 1, 2006 and is currently in Kunming in foster care. We are LOI on June 29, 2007. WOW!

Personality Test

ESTJ - "Administrator". Much in touch with the external environment. Very responsible. Pillar of strength. 8.7% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

I took the Myers-Briggs test in college, and my results were not far from this one. The I/E part was more even, the S/N was more even, but the J...the J was as strong as I could get J. LOL The T/F portion (the 3rd letter) I think was still T. I remember that my chosen field of Engineering was not one of the fields that "fit" my personality test. I did end up changing majors (not based on the test), but it was funny to look back and realize that the personality test did NOT show engineering. LOL

I'm not sure that this is a true reflection of myself, I just don't really "see" it like I did the ones from college! I'll retake it later and see if changes, I bet it does.

Personality Test

ESTJ - "Administrator". Much in touch with the external environment. Very responsible. Pillar of strength. 8.7% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

I took the Myers-Briggs test in college, and my results were not far from this one. The I/E part was more even, the S/N was more even, but the J...the J was as strong as I could get J. LOL The T/F portion (the 3rd letter) I think was still T. I remember that my chosen field of Engineering was not one of the fields that "fit" my personality test. I did end up changing majors (not based on the test), but it was funny to look back and realize that the personality test did NOT show engineering. LOL

Photos from around my home.

Is it Friday yet?

Does this week seem like the LONGEST week ever? It feels like it should be at least Friday by now, and the agency should be starting to make phone calls. I'm keeping busy and distracted, until the phone rings. I then JUMP up for it and eagerly await caller id to pop up. I'm not to the "major disappointment sets in when it's not the agency" point yet, but it's not far from what I am feeling right now.

So, it's Wed. It's seeming like this week is dragging by, ever so slowly. I'm glad that the oldest is at day camp this week, all day long. At least I do not have to deal with the "I'm bored" and the resulting screams and thumps and bumps heard from the boys' room during the day. Of course, if I could get motivated to actually clean my house I think I would be good. But alas, I'm glued to the computer. Checking the yahoo group for postings of referrals, so that I might know when they start calls.

is it Friday yet?!

Waiting.

We got word that a new batch of SN referrals were received at our agency, and now we wait for translations. I have no idea how many girls or how many boys are in it. But this cycle is less anxious for me. I hope Katie's referral will be in this batch, but I'll be okay if it is not.

I feel like eventually we will have our daughter, I just have to be patient.

We have now been Logged In for 9 months.

A quick Carla blogging history

I'm going to let you in on a secret, this is not my first blog. It's not even the blog that my closest online friends read. It is the blog I send my family to though. ;) My very first blog I started WAAAAY back in early 2005. We were planning to adopt from China, but knew that I needed to "age into the system" so it was going to take a few months. We were not telling anyone, and I wanted to blog about my feelings. However, I needed it to be PRIVATE because, you know, the adoption was a secret thing! LOL I've gone since then to expand that blog, created one for public that did not mention names...messed that one up. LOL Here I am with the latest variation of my adoption blog. I still have 2 others I post to.

Did you intend to be a blog w/a big following? If so, how did you go about it?

Nope. I'd say I still do not have a following. I think it's something about hooking up with bloglines or something that I've not done. :) This blog is mainly for sharing our daily life and our wait for Katie with friends and family (and the occasional visitor).

What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?

That so reminds me of those old college applications! All I want to do with my blog is keep our friends and family who live away from us (that's all of them by the way), a way to keep up with our lives. It also gives me an outlet to write down all the fun and silly things the kids do. I highly doubt I will ever go beyond being a Mommy-blogger.

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?
That would assume that I had a focus to start with, right?! LOL

What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?

I feel like I'm STILL just starting out! :)


Do you make money with your blog?
Nope, but I'm interested in it. I think I would need more than my normal traffic amount (which is about...oh...1 a week?!)

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?
They know about it, I see someone from their area reading every once in awhile. The rest know about it, but don't seem interested to read.


Head HERE to read more blogging history from people how are MUCH better bloggers than I can ever hope to be.

Referral Math...for June!

CCAA did 6 days worth of LIDs. I will not speak about my feelings on that one right now.

There are now 311 days worth of LIDs between where they are now and our LID.

If they, somehow miraculously do full months, that is roughly 11 more months to wait.

If they, somehow surprisingly do half-months, then that is roughly 23 more months to wait.

If they, go somewhat on pace of the last few months and do 1 week a month, then that is a depressing 45 MORE months to wait.

Predictions put us getting a Non-Special needs referral, sometime in 2009. Do I honestly need to tell anyone how I feel about that?! LOL Since we started the paperwork in Nov 2005, that could potentially mean we waited 4 years (or 48 months). Poor dh living with a "pregnant" me for 48 months!

Our Unplugged Summer

I've done it now. I've gotten Dh and JM on board, and now I'm pulling the plug on my addiction favorite daytime pastime. Electronic devices will not be used from 8am-8pm...daily.

June. July. August. UNPLUGGED.

Yes, I can check email from 8pm until 8am, freely. I did give us the ability to check email during lunch break (noon-1pm). Because I can check email, Dh gave the boys the ability to watch a show, play a game, etc. I figured if I didn't go cold turkey I might actually last longer than a month week day.

Yes, it's not totally 100% unplugged, but for us, it's a major step of being unplugged. I know we can not do it 100% because my job must use computers and electronic devices. Plus, we're doing online banking, tracking of JM's school work with computer, Dh has fantasy baseball leagues to keep track of, etc. I'm ignoring that little voice that keeps saying that this is just excuses. Moderation. Yeah, that's what I'm going for...moderation.

There ya have it. Unplugged. The boys are going to clamor about being bored on Friday. I know it. I might actually have a clean house by the time my parents come to visit Saturday (oh WAIT, I'm doing a yard sale as well on Saturday morning, so maybe not).

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. LOL

I have the GPS, never need a map again!

Remember that line from Cars? I remember laughing at it, then we got a GPS. I was thinking, WHY in the heck would you need a map? How in the HECK can you get lost when you have a GPS.

Um, driving on mountain roads it's quite easy to get lost. Only, I DID know where I was, and I would turn around when it started looking a little too weird. But that GPS was certainly all messed up. It sent me down a dead end road. Yes, I went, just on the off chance that there was a bridge connecting me to the bigger road across the creek. As my brother was rolling around the back of the laughing his head off at me, I turned around in someone's driveway/parking lot. Drove BACK over the extremely tiny narrow road (it was hardly wide enough for the mini-van).

I even tried following this one road that went up and over the mountain until it got too scary (which happened soon after we saw the dead snake in the middle of the 1.5 lane road). Or it might have been the absence of guardrails on the extremely curvy road. My brother's girlfriend was trying her best to contain her laughter at this point.

See, it started because I was following the GPS. It said we'd there by 4:28pm (back to the campground that is) if we followed it's route. It's route took us WAY north, then back down. Little brother had a map. He told me turn on 416 and it would put us out right there at the campground, no need to travel UP and back down. No need to drive through Cosby again. Knowing that the GPS tries to stick to main roads, and this 416 road was a 35mph "main" road through the mountains. I thought it might be faster to take that route (yes, sometimes the GPS doesn't take you the fastest route).

I made the turn for 416, then the GPS freaked out a little trying to get us to turn around. I had to ignore it's directions for awhile, then it seemed to accept the fact we were not taking the other route. I had me follow 416 for a little bit, then turn left. I turned left. Little brother yelled at me that I turned off of 416. But see, I was trusting the GPS.

The GPS was wrong. It was confused. Those twisty curvy mountain roads did a number on it.

I finally turned around, took the road Little Brother told me to take, and we eventually got there at 4:48ish. 20 minutes later than the original time GPS had for us. Either trust the GPS or don't, that's what I learned. I also learned that the minivans in Cars who were trusting their GPS weren't so far off afterall. Okay, I think I would notice if I were driving through desert not on roads...but still, it's not so hard to get lost if you have a GPS. The good thing is if you use common sense and stick with main roads, that GPS will get you there. :)

Unfortunately, the entire point of trying to get to the campground faster is because I had to go potty REALLY REALLY REALLY badly. I made it, but dang it was iffy there at the end. :)

Works for Me - Cleaning tip #1

I tried Flylady, I really did. When we had our house on the market, it worked well. It worked well as long as I stayed on top of things, but I found out I'm a little lazy. If I do not have a reason to do something, I tend to not do that. Which explains the state of the laundry. Er..."Mount Wash-Me" and "Mount St. Fold-Me" that is.

One thing that I did take away from FlyLady, was the 15 minute rule. Even my lazy self can follow this one (well actually easily distracted by the blogs and internet self). Only, I figured if it was good enough for ME, then it was definitely good enough for the rest of the family. It is our goal (notice the OUR) to do this nightly, but sometimes life has a way of interfering. But, we do it as often as we can.

I will set the kitchen timer (aka Microwave Timer) for 15 minutes, and all 4 of us clean designated area. Dh gets one room, I take another, JM gets his room, and Samuel gets his room. Since they share now, one gets the bedroom, the other gets all the toys in the rest of the house. 15 minutes and we stop, no matter HOW little we've gotten done. It's not a replacement for true cleaning, but it's there for catching that clutter that seems to pile up.

I realize that if I set that timer for 15 minutes a day for laundry, then I would not have the mountains I seem to acquire weekly.

I survived.

Tent camping that is.

Yes, my boys asked (no read pleaded) with me to go tent camping. I caved in to their cajoling, and we went over Memorial Day Weekend. Where? To the Great Smokey Mountains (and Gatlinburg). We ended up meeting my sister, brother-in-law, 2 nephews, my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend. Yes, we had 12 people, 8 adults and 4 little boys.

Lessons I learned:
1. It gets REALLY dark at night, and a campfire is really not enough illumination to see the picnic table by.
2. It gets REALLY cold at night, and snuggling with dh is not always warm enough. He can only take care of one side at a time, unless I want to be flattened in which case the air bed beneath me was still cold...thus really only one side at a time truly.
3. Juice boxes in tents are not a good thing.
4. You really should listen to Mom when she mentions checking the area you are putting a tent down for rocks that poke up. Even if you are sleeping on air beds. You still have to WALK on the tent floor.
5. Crocs are good for community showers.
6. Hotdogs cooked over open flame do taste better than those grilled over charcoal. Yes they do!
7. Myth busters was right, ice water does cool things down faster than just ice.
8. Myth busters did not mention that ice water and "plastic" cheese do not mix well. Even if plastic cheese is still wrapped in original wrappers.
9. Pay close attention to where rocks, lines to tie down the tent, and steps are during the day so trips to the bathroom at night are not so eventful.
10. Crawdads are gross looking.

Yes, I will go back camping with the boys. I will go better armed though. Lights for my screened house for the picnic table, mag lite for walking with, more bug spray, citronella candles, cooking supplies, and dry ice for that plastic cheese.

More stories from this weekend to come. Aren't you looking forward to that?!

Yo Ho Ho, A Pirate's Life for Me!

Being the Mom to 2 of the biggest pirate fans, we chose to go to the Pirates 3 movie this past weekend (along with going out of town to go tent camping, which is an entirely different post). I was probably not really the smartest Mommy on the block taking my 4 and 8 year old to the 7pm showing (digital no less), after a full weekend camping, which probably explains why said 4 year old fell asleep in my arms halfway through the movie! But, we enjoyed the movie, and I would go again.

Spoiler alert below this...








are you sure you want to spoil the fun? or have you already seen it?








1. I'm not sure I'll recover from seeing Mr. Depp's nose THAT big. LOL
2. I'm disappointed in the ending, I wanted him to get the girl AND live happily ever after. This "visiting her one day out of every 10 years" thing is crap.
3. I hope, really really really hope you stayed for the "epilogue" after the credits. It's 10 years later (and yes it feels that way after all the credits). It helped the ending, but not enough.
4. Jack is crazy. I feared he'd lost it for good. LOL The whole symbolism, Davy Jone's locker thing, was just plain weird.
5. There are a lot of GREAT lines in this movie, but I agree with someone else. The best was said by the British sailor, "Do you think [Jack] plans this all out, or do you think he makes it up as he goes along?"
6. Do we know if there will be a Pirates 4?
7. Could Calypso bring Will back if she wanted to? He was just dead...right? Or did he sell his soul to do Davy Jones' job?
8. Did anyone else get teary eyed at the Will/Elizabeth scenes?
9. OMG, the wedding ceremony. LOVED IT! The kiss, the way the "world" melted away around them. (*sniff*)
10. I think this is one movie I'll definitely be able to listen to in the van. Over. and Over. and Over. and Over....

Harry Potter - Book 1

Why yes, I really do read to my kids. :) We are currently about half-way through this book, and they are BEGGING for me to read every night. I'm not sure if it is a ploy to stay up later, or if it is that they are actually enjoying it. But I know I'm enjoying it. We are scheduled to finish this book by May 31st. There are 18 chapters in book 2, which means we should finish that by June 18th. I don't think at that pace we are going to finish all the way through Book 6 by July 27th when book 7 comes out (or sometime around then, I'd have to go to the fire box to see what the pre-pay slip says).

Oh, you mean you didn't put that precious piece of paper in with the other "important documents" in your house?! LOL While I know we could easily replace it (just buy a book), I figured that the fire box was the best place to put a piece of paper so it would not get lost or thrown away.

I'm now trying to decide if I want to read more than one chapter a day to them, or if I want to try and encourage JM to read a book on his own. He's capable, but he sees the big thick books and has a bit of doubt that he can.

Works for Me Wednesday!

Baseball is on my brain these days. We're either at the ballfield watching a game. Driving the ballfield for a game. At the ballfield for concession duty, or a practice, or warm-up. Or we're getting ready to go to a ballgame. We only have one child involved in baseball this year, and I can only imagine how very busy we will be next year with two boys involved. Then, to think if Katie plays softball. OH MY, I'll practically be LIVING there every night!

As someone who like to be organized, the chaos in the dugout with 11 little boys was driving me crazy. Thinking the shoe basket had worked quite well, I translated this to the dugout chaos. I went to the Dollar Tree and bought 12 $1 "dishpans." These "bins" are big enough to hold a glove, a hat, a batting helmet, and a drink. The big bat bags go on the OUTSIDE of the dugout (to the back). The bins go under the bench, and lo and behold the boys keep the dugout semi-clean.

There was one unintended consequence I feel I must warn you about. There is now more room for being active, acting like a monkey, and horseplaying now. But the "dugout coach" deals with that. At least the extra bats are no longer being swung about. ;)

Be sure to check out Rocks in my Dryer for more Works For Me Wednesday tips!

OH it's been too long!

I know it's been too long because I actually had to enter my username and password to get onto my blog. After a few moment of panic trying to remember which of the gazillion passwords I had used, it came to me (well after 2 tries it did).

Baseball season is just about over, which means that I'm about to have a family life again. Honestly, it means that I'm about to have early evenings again so the kids are in bed at normal times, which means I get to work on my business stuff at earlier than Midnight times, which means I get to bed earlier so I can get up earlier and do more housework.

Speaking of housework, does anyone know of a good cleaning fairy? who's free? I think I need to just move and start over the house is just that cluttered! A good 6 weeks of clutter have built up on those "hot spots." We've managed to dig through it all to make sure all bills have been paid (and luckily THIS year we didn't pay late fees). Which has meant that we've had more money to eat out on, you know at grand and glorious places like Burger King or Dominos.

Which reminds me, I need to take stock of what all exactly we do have to eat in the house. I know we're out of Dr. Pepper, and I'm sure by days end I'll be in caffeine withdrawals. But food? I'm not sure what I have left and what I do not have left. I have bread. I have cheese. Lunch is covered. One meal at a time! Except that I need to plan for our camping trip, somehow, someway I volunteered to organize our extended family's food. During WHICH set of hours I have free I wonder?

I'm beginning to believe I need to post a to-do list online, as I'm sure that is about the only place I can put one these days that does not get lost. It might even hold me accountable. Maybe? Well, we can dream.

I'm sure all my 2 or 3 blog readers have now deserted my barren, boring blog. I am making a promise that I will try and blog more. Hopefully it will be stimulating and insightful, but I wouldn't count on it. My life just seem to be stimulating and insightful.

8 months

Today marks 8 months since our Log In Date. In some ways it has crawled by, and in others it has gone really fast. If I think too long about it, the whole adoption gets me down. We started this journey 18 months ago, well not counting all those months BEFORE we applied to the agency.

It took us 27 months to get Samuel here, and I survived that wait. It was well worth it and he could not be more perfect for our family. :)

So, 8 months down in our long wait. I wonder how many more God has planned for us? I wish I knew.

I've been thinking

STOP laughing at me! Honestly I have. Following Heather's story, and finding out the type of tumor she had and the life expectancy of 3-5 years. Wow. I've been thinking all day, if I were told I had 3-5 years to live, what would I do? What would I do differently? What is truly important to me?

I'd spend more time with the kids, with Dh, and spend more time creating memories AND preserving them.

Then I have been thinking, what is keeping me from doing that? This is where I am now. Figuring out all the places I could do better at making memories with the kids.

Hello? Hello? Is anybody out there?

Ever feel like that? Ever feel like you are totally and completely alone (well except with the kids clamoring for attention around you)?

Today a lady on another blog that I just started reading is having brain surgery to remove a tumor they found in early April. The next 48-72 hours in the lives of her family (and her) are going to be stressful. There is a prayer vigil going on throughout all their online blog friends. Each hour is covered, but any hour you can pray for them would be appreciated.

But one thing that I have heard others doing in honor of Heather and I know she would love it, is to set aside tomorrow for your family. Spend the day making memories, having fun, and enjoying each other as we never know how long we will have with them.

I know that many days I let the minutiae of my life keep me from doing all the things my boys would love. From building those memories of daily life. From enjoying them at the stage they are today. Today, I'm going to do what I keep saying I will do later. My boys are worth it. They are so very worth it.

Birthday Idea that worked for me!

Birthdays are not my favorite thing in the world. Nor do I like how expensive they seem to have become! Not to mention that both of my boys' birthdays fall in the last half of the year and during very busy times of our lives. Organizing them, paying for them, throwing them...just not something I particularly enjoy. I do it for the kids.

So, last year, I was talking with a friend and she mentioned that she gave her son the money she would have spent on the party as a gift instead of the party. She lets him choose each year. I liked it, but at the same time I wanted to make the idea mine. :)

I chose that every EVEN birthday party year after the age 5 each child gets to choose something in place of the birthday party. A special camp, a special trip, or something that will be non-material in nature. JM's 8th birthday was our "test" year. He chose to go to a week long camp (not going to say, but it's 9-4pm each day for 5 days). :)

This year JM gets a party with friends for his 9th birthday. My original thought was to alternate years, so that this year Samuel would not get a party. But I just can NOT skip his 5th birthday party. So, I made it through the age of 5 they get a party every year (after all those toddler/preschool parties are fairly low-key). This puts me having 2 parties every other year. I would rather make it where Samuel and JM alternate years for their parties. Maybe I should change it through the age of 6? Or JM has odd years, Samuel has even, but they get "big" birthdays as well (like 5, 10, 13, 16, 18...)

Some ideas I have to pitch to the kids for future "replacement parties" - week at same camp JM is attending but different version, a trip to Six Flags, trip to Cedar Point, annual passes to zoo/science museum/children's museum, donate to a charity organization, sponsor a child, etc.

For more Birthday Tips head to Rocks In My Drayer - Works for Me Wednesdays

Spring Reading Thing Update

I caved. I think I've read at least 12 Fluffy Romance Novels now. I started Little Red Book of Selling and Kitchen God's Wife but I'm having trouble reading them. I want pure fluff. I want "brain candy." I don't want to think. I don't want to be challenged. I need mind-numbing after the busy spring I've had with the business.

There's my confession.

Now, for my motivation. July is coming up quick and I really do want to have the Harry Potter books read with my kids, so I'm going to start on that very soon! YIPPEE!!!

Creative Kids!

This past weekend while working on my computer, Dh comes in laughing and tells me that the boys have successfully merged Monopoly and Battleship into one game! LOL I gathered that the idea was to play Battleship for each piece of property in Monopoly. I do not know if it was a full battleship game or not for each property, but I was quite impressed at how they merged the games.

And now it is May 1st

The big day. The day of changes to the rules for China adoption. Dh and I are grandfathered in for NSN, but will it matter for the SN process? I'm fairly certain that we qualify under the new rules, but until we know for certain I will not rest easy. My heart goes out to all those who did not make the deadline.

Now, the question is will we see a speed up in the referrals or not? I'm just not sure. I'm thinking we will not for a little while longer, perhaps September/October? When we get through 2005 LIDs?

I've been numb this past month

The 2 day referral batch was depressing. This months 6 day referral batch is semi-depressing because it is still so low, but SO MUCH BETTER than the 2 day.

I did my math, and I think we have 317 days of Log In Dates to wait now.

If they do 6 days a month from here on out, it's over 50 months MORE to wait.
15 days a month, it's 22 MORE months.

In other words, it's still a LONG way off.

I can not believe it is the end of April already, well I can, but wow this month flew by. I know part of it is because we have been so busy. Samuel was in swimming lessons this month, and finished up "almost" swimming. I know if I could continue for the next 2 months he'd be swimming great. Unfortunately, swimming lessons are full where I take him. Not to mention we are so busy with other things, that I am not sure I can continue at the same pace we had this month.

JM is playing baseball and has 2 games a week plus practices. While they are doing great, it's tiring to always be at the ball field. LOL He has started catching, and in his last game actually caught a foul ball and got someone out. It was a huge moment for him, and I'm so proud of him.

Karate is going great still, Samuel has almost gotten the first kata down. JM is ready to test for his Orange belt. I have been so pleased by the changes Karate has made in the boys, and I would highly recommend it to others. :) I do in fact!

Let's see...what else. LOL We're obviously STILL waiting on that referral from China. We're just going to keep on trudging down this path. I'm reminded of "Just keep swimming" from Finding Nemo.

The Shoe Container

Works for me Wednesday!

Having 2 little boys means that I end up with shoes all over the house. Being little (and boys) their observation skills when looking for lost items (such as a left shoe) are lacking. I finally gave in, and put a large box in the bottom of our coat closet. This is our "shoe box" and all shoes that are being used at this time go in this box for easy finding. Crocs, tennis shoes, dress shoes, etc. go here. The cleats go on the floor next to the box (due to the large quantities of mud/dirt that collect on them). I keep my dress shoes out of the box because I can normally find my own shoes.

This has really helped us in getting out the door faster, and helped us to keep from tripping over various loose shoes laying on the floor.

Spring Reading Thing! Update

Okay, I've been bad about updating what I've read. Honestly, though, I've not been very good about reading the ones on my list. You know, the books that are supposed to "enlighten" me. ;)

I have, however, read 5 more FRN books (FRN is Fluffy Romance Novel). At least I think it was 5. Let's see, there were the 3 Highland romance novels, the 1 modern one by Judith McNaught, then the 2 Regency ones and I'm in the midst of the 3rd...or is it that I've read 3 and in the midst of the 4th? I can't remember. Oh well, it's not like it's important or anything. I did have 3 boxes arrive in the past couple of weeks from my "book exchange" friends. 3 boxes of FRN books. I just wish I had time to actually read some of them.

JM has read through chapter 4 of Bridge to Terabithia. He is not too enthusiastic so far, but today he asked me where his Terabithia book was because he wanted to read some more. SUCCESS!

I have started Kitchen God's Wife (it's a little hard to get into for me right now). I did pull out the China adoption stories book, but with the depressing news about referrals I just did not want to read it. The church library had a book on adoption, so I checked it out. I'll let you know how it is (and add it to my list). They also had 3 FRN about pirates. I'm sure I'll get those read.

Been waiting to post about referrals

Why? Because it's just so dismal. I know there is nothing I can do about it, I know I need to be patient, but the news this month was really discouraging. After I eat my share of the Easter chocolate, eat some good ice cream, and read a nice fluffy romance novel I know I'll be more upbeat again.

So, the news...ugh...for those not involved in China adoption, it's 2 days of Log In Dates. This means that China got through October 26, 2005 this month (last month they got through October 24, 2006). Yeah. What does this mean exactly?

Well, we're not really sure. Less paper ready babies or were there a TON of families logged in on those days. One of the two is correct. What this means for us, is well, we're not sure.

Oct 27-31, 2005 = 4 days
Nov 1-30, 2005 = 30 days
Dec 1-31, 2005 = 31 days
Jan 2006 = 31 days
Feb 2006 = 28 days
Mar 2006 = 31 days
April 2006 = 30 days (this is when I hoped to be DTC by the way)
May 2006 = 31 days
June 2006 = 30 days
July 2006 = 31 days
August 2006 = 31 days (when we finally made it DTC after excruciating waits for fingerprints and USCIS approval)
Sept 1-14, 2006 = 14 days (we're LID Sept 14,2006)

See those days listed, China MUST get through all of those days for us to get our Non-Special Needs referral. If they continue at 2 days of LID, well, it's going to be LONG time. Days really don't mean a whole lot, because it all depends on how many families are logged in each day and how many paper ready children are available. If I've done my math correctly, we have 322 days worth to wait. Rumor Queen posted at one point that each month of LIDs will take an average of 2.3 months to get through based on recent statistics. There are still 12 months up there, and since I know Oct 31 is HUGE, it's possible next month will make it through Oct. 31,2005 only. This means, 12*2.3 = 27.6 (or 28). That means from TODAY, we have roughly 28 more months to wait. I sort of feel like things will speed up and it will be only 18-24 more months though because many of the 2006 months are quite a bit smaller than Oct 2005 and Nov 2005 months.

On the Special Needs front, we did not get a call with the latest batch. I have no idea when the next batch is due, sometime in the next 3-4 months (average for the past 9 months has been 2 months...but 3-4 months is normal). I have no idea if Katie will even be in that batch, nor do I know where we are on the list with our agency.

Boys and artwork

Sitting during worship with my boys is an interesting experience, and not always the most worshipful. I was helping Samuel with his paper and pens when the sermon started, and after he was done with dot to dots, he started drawing. Dh, who was sitting on the other side of Samuel, noticed after a few minutes that Samuel was drawing and because markers can be incredibly loud in a quiet room told him to write slower and quieter.

I watched Samuel for a few minutes and I thought about my own childhood drawings. I remember drawing trees, flowers, stick people, houses, rainbows, and other such girly things. I distinctly remember creating a full picture that could proudly be displayed on the refrigerator at home. Samuel, I noticed drew just like JM had done, his drawings are not static pictures. They are a process, and the end result really does not do the picture justice.

The final result of the drawing is a glimpse into Samuel's imagination. It's still proudly displayed on the refrigerator, but others can not make out what it is. To them it looks like a bunch of colors scribbled all together.

I see the ship. Inside the ship I see the people, and that green person is JM. I'm the purple dot-person. The red line going to the ship is the enemy firing something at the ship. The window filled with red is because the enemy shot that window out and that area is on fire now. The blue lines are us firing back at the enemy, the other red lines are the enemy firing back at us. The big blue scribble is the enemy ship exploding (underneath all those scribbles is a fairly cool little spaceship with red aliens). Then we can not forget the smoke from our ship. Nor can we forget the lifeboats that the aliens escaped in, and see, they are floating down to the planet. Oops, that one crashed.

Then, Samuel turns the page and starts a new "drawing" that is just as involved. Very rarely does he continue his story.

I've tried very hard not to correct either of my boys and make them draw a static scene. Why is a static scene correct? Is it really? What if, their drawings are the more correct? I don't know. I know the final products will never win art awards, but to me, they are priceless. They are priceless because they show their imaginations. Drawing, to my boys (especially when they are younger) is all about the process. As JM has gotten older he has made some drawings that are more static. Samuel is really good at tracing his hand. Both boys will color in pictures (Samuel's is always solid blue and JM's is always green).