Good news, bad news...

My documents made it to my agency in Kentucky, and yes, Kim, I was stalking the FedEx tracking page. I probably bogged the site down for other people trying to track their packages! Then all of a sudden, bingo...it showed a delivery confirmation!

About an hour later, my phone rings and it's my agency saying that got my package and they reviewed it, and they have some bad news. Ok, BAD NEWS...so what can it be?? Did the CCAA change some regulation, did they start the dreaded weight restriction and I'm out??? What the heck is it...talk faster please...

It turns out that checking my documents about a billion times before I sent them wasn't enough. I forgot to bring our marriage license to the Secretary of State's office for certification with the rest of our documents! I don't know why I forgot that or what I was thinking, but that's what I did. I was expecting something MUCH worse than this to qualify as bad news, so I was relieved that it's something easily taken care of.

They are going to overnight the document back to me, I'm going to run it over to the Secretary of State, then overnight it back to them. They are going to send the rest of my dossier off to their courier at the Washington, DC consulate and then the courier will expedite my last document so it catches up with the rest. It's a $60 mistake, but, hey, it could be much worse. The good news is that we probably won't loose any time because of it and that's the main thing.

I'm looking forward to DTC so I can forget about the paperwork and move on to fun stuff like the nursery!

Documents sent...

FedEx picked up my documents late this morning, so they should be en-route to my agency in Kentucky right now. When the FedEx guy came into my office this morning I was out, but Gilbert (helping us out at the front desk) told him that he'd better protect that package with his life if he knew what was good for him. I was telling Gilbert when I put the package out that it contained 4 1/2 months of blood, sweat, and tears and is not easily or quickly replaceable.

I would feel a lot better if my tracking number would actually show me where my package is right now, but there's nothing posted yet. This is what I get on the FedEx web site: Sorry, we are unable to process your tracking request. Please retry later, or contact Customer Service. I hate this message! The pick-ups guys carry those little barcode machines around, you would think they could update their site sooner for nervous people like me!

Dossier docs ready to go!

Well, our dossier documents are ready to be sent to our agency, along with a big payment, to send our dossier off to China. If all goes well, we may be DTC on Friday, January 13.


It's hard to believe that this table full of documents took 4 1/2 months worth of work to obtain, notarize, and certify.

Although I'm VERY excited about being done with the paperchase and almost DTC, I have a lot of mixed emotions. I've tried to stay hopeful (hence my screen name of Hopeful Gal on the discussion forums) through this process so far, but I know the real waiting is still ahead. Also, our past attempts at parenthood have always ended in disappointment and grief. With the ever changing world of China adoptions, I will try to stay positive, but this is a big (not to mention expensive) step ahead and like anything else there are risks involved. I just feel like this is all too good to be true and there is that past voice of disappointment saying don't get your hopes up too high. Can any other waiting parents relate to my feelings?

Birds and wishes...

I'm not much of a bird person, but I'm babysitting a cockatiel while my friend, Jennifer, is out of town. I'm a little scared of birds and Jaci tends to peck at you when you try to pick her up, so before I went over to check on her for the first time I figured out a strategy. I decided to bring along my leather gardening gloves so she couldn't draw blood and I wouldn't be scared to have her out of the cage.

The first time I went over to check on Jaci, I propped the cage door opened and changed her food and water. She didn't look like she wanted to come out, so I did a quick check on the rest of the house. When I got back, she was out of her cage and standing on the living room floor. I sat on the sofa, and she waddled right over to me. After that, we were friends. I've been over to see her a few times now...I still wear my leather gloves, but I'm not as scared of her anymore.














She's made friends with Joe too...












Now on to the wishes part...check out the newest page of Lauren's wish book here.

Dossier photos...

I finally got our dossier photos done and here they are



Tomorrow I'm off to the Secretary of State's office to have all our AZ notarized documents certified and I'm hoping to have all our paperwork ready to FedEx to our agency by Friday.

It was a great holiday!

We had a really nice Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Eve at Joe's parents' house and his Mom was discharged from the hospital just in time to spend the holidays at home, which was really great. We munched on a wonderful buffet of goodies and kept our annual tradition of watching at least one full run of The Christmas Story movie marathon.

Christmas day was at our house with my brother and his family, my Mom, and my sister-in-law's parents. We had a nice dinner on the back patio (the weather was great here in AZ) and then opened gifts.

Here's Joe helping the girls open one of their gifts Christmas morning.



The most played with gift of the night was this silly frame thingy with plastic pins that mold to the shape of whatever you push into it. Here's Katie & Emily molding their dramatic and silly poses.



Lucy was a little freaked out by all the commotion and planted herself to the side of Jim's leg for the second half of the gift opening.



Check out the cool gift my Mom gave me. It's a Mandarin Chinese travel pack which includes books and a CD with words and phrases, dictionary, menu reader, emergency expressions, etc. It will be nice to hear the pronunciations of the words on CD.



I hope everyone had a great holiday this year!

Merry Christmas!

To all my friends out there in the blogging world...Merry Christmas to you and your families and may all your wishes for the New Year come true!

It's incredible to imagine that we may have our precious daughter here by this time next year and Joe and I will have new names...Momma and Dadda! That would truly be a dream come true.

This year, we are spending this evening with Joe's family and having Christmas dinner here at our house with my family. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and watching my nieces and nephew open their gifts...kids make Christmas even more special.

Another wish complete...

Check out Lauren's latest wish here.

Frown turned upside down!!!

I posted a little earlier this evening that I was bummed out. Well, it's amazing how quickly my emotions can turn around! Since then, Joe walked in the door with the mail and handed me our usual stack of junk. As I'm sorting through it, I notice a US Department of Immigration envelope peeking out from between the ads. Could it possibly be it...the all important I-171H form??? Yes, it is!! Three weeks and two days after our fingerprinting!

It's a very unofficial looking form, but it does say Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition. Sounds like we're approved to me!

Now, I have to head over to the Secretary of State's office and get a bunch of stuff certified. There's a goofy affidavit I need to sign and have notarized swearing that we received our I-171H and it is an original copy, and our agency said to wait until we actually get the I-171H to complete the affidavit (instead of cheating, like I wanted to do and have it done before hand).

After I get everything certified it's all off to our agency to be authenticated at the Washington, DC Chinese Consulate office. If all goes well, we'll be DTC for sure in January!

Sigh...

I just got an e-mail from our agency saying that the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) has confirmed they are extending the wait time for families by assigning referrals for only half a month at a time. The families getting referrals this month have LID's (log-in dates) up to April 14th. The second half of April won't get their referrals until January!

Based on this, my agency is predicting that the average family's wait from LID to referral could be 8 - 9 months. When we started this process, the wait time from LID to referral was 6 - 7 months. We probably won't be DTC until late January, then hopefully LID by late February or early March. This means that now we won't get our referral until late October or late November and traveling in December or January!!!!

OH MY GOD...I really had my heart set on having Lauren home by next Christmas. This was supposed to be our last Christmas without our child. This morning I was just happily waiting for our I-171H, and now I'm totally bummed out!

My agency's e-mail goes on to also say that because of the influx of families applying to adopt, the CCAA will be raising their standards and scrutinizing the applicant families much more closely (like we haven't been poked and prodded enough with everything we've gone through to get to this point)!

I'm just really bummed out right now! :(

3 weeks ago...

Oh where, oh where is the 171...oh where, oh where can it be??

We went in for our FBI fingerprinting three weeks ago today and still waiting for that darn I-171H! Tick, tock...tick, tock...tick, tock. The waiting game continues...

First Wish Complete!

Check out the first completed wishes page for Lauren here.

We were ready to drop...

Joe and I offered to take our nieces (11 and 9) and nephew (3) for the day so my brother and sister-in-law could finish up their Christmas shopping this past Saturday. We had the kids from about 8:30am until 6:30pm. We started the day at a freeway opening...I know, it sounds kinda weird, but we celebrate freeway openings around here. Actually, it's a big family event with tons of booths handing out freebies and they bring in those giant jumping things for the kids. This time they brought in snow, since we don't see much of that around here, for the kids to play in.
After that, we took the kids to lunch at Applebees then back to our place for hot cocoa and cookies. By the time we finished up with that and fed the dogs, it was time to head off to the evening we had planned. We went out to a great upscale, outdoor shopping area not too far away that has a great feel during the holidays. They have Santa, carolers, and carriage rides in the center square.

The kids got to visit with Santa


then we did some shopping and got in line for the carriage rides.


I managed to get this great photo of the kids while we were there, to bad it was too late for the Christmas card photo.



By the time we got home that night, Joe and I just dropped from exhaustion! I kept asking him on the way home if he really thought we could keep up with Lauren. We sure had a hard time keeping up with our nephew...I kept looking for the "off" switch, but just couldn't find it! Also, we had a little scare at the freeway opening when we lost sight of him for about 30 seconds, which felt like 10 minutes of pure terror. He was literally there one second and gone the next...turned out he decided to go into one of those giant, blow-up jumping things all by himself. We found him in there just happily jumping away. Meanwhile, I thought I was going to have a heart attack....how do you parents deal with this? We were watching him like a hawk and he still managed to slip away from us.

Bunches of Packets...

Check out all the scrapbook packets I put together tonight. I'm putting 15 packets in the mail tomorrow.

I have the greatest friends ever....

Last night I had my 15th annual treat's exchange. I have a group of friends who have participated in the exchange since the beginning, but over the years I've had new people join in. Usually the exchange varies between 12 to 20 people, but this year I had a group of 13.

Everyone brings individually wrapped servings of whatever kind of treat they would like. This year we had everything from hot cocoa mix to homemade marshmallows dipped in chocolate (yum!).

Here's a look at the treat table
and previewing this year's stash
After we chowed down on the dinner buffet and started to gather around to collect our treats, Miyoung announced that since this was my last exchange (I'll be busy getting baby Lauren settled in next year), they had a surprise for me. She brought out a big container full of baby books! Everyone who came brought a baby book to start a library for Lauren! So, one by one I got to go through all the books. I was SO surprised and Lauren felt more real than ever!!

Here's a shot of the group. Miyoung (on the far right, next to the table) and Jennifer (2nd one in on the left sitting down at the table) organized "the library"
Here's a shot of me with Lauren's library

Check out these adorable board books, from Jennifer, that make a tea set
and this book, from Judy, written and signed by a local author. The author wrote "To Lauren Elizabeth, Please...Always look both ways! and welcome to Arizona"
Here's a couple of close ups of all the books


Thank you so much to all my friends at the exchange for making my last one the best ever! I absolutely LOVE all the books. Lauren is going to be one VERY lucky little girl!

Must Have Book...

I was shopping at my favorite store, Target, yesterday and found the most darling children's book on Chinese adoption. I picked it up because of the adorable cover and the baby's almond shaped eyes.

It's the story of a ladybug, named Dot, who lives in a Chinese village. One day she finds a baby girl left by the side of the road in a basket. Dot ends up traveling with the baby to the orphanage and realizes that this is the place where babies come to be found. Then one day, Dot travels with the baby to meet her mommy and daddy, they name her Shaoey and they all fly off in the plane to go home.

The book is written in rhyming verses and here's my favorite verse:

It was all making sense now! Each bed in the room
held a lost little bundle of love,
and the sound they were making is the song babies sing
when they're needing their mothers to come

Dot landed on top of her little friend's rear
and whispered, "I've got some great news!
we are where mommies and daddies come looking
to find special babies like you!

Mary Beth & Steven Curtis Chapman

I think all my fellow waiting parents will love this book. It may make you tear up a little when you read through it for the first time (like it did me), but I think it will be a great book to read with our little ones!

Lots of Wishes...

I have lots of good wishes scrapbook packets going out this week. Check it out here.

Baking Cookies with Aunt Donna & Grandma...

This is Emily, Donna's niece, typing at my Aunt's computer seat. Today, my parents were out so, my sister, Katie, and I went to Aunt Donna's house. My Grandma came to watch my brother, Josh. We made cookies to pass some time. We also took pictures.

This is a picture of Josh sprinkling as many Red Hots as he can possibly fit on a batch of cookies.



















Here is Katie using the cookie dough gun to design a batch of cookies.













And last, this is Marvelous Me putting sprinkles on a batch of cookies.

Christmas Decorations...

I woke up with a mission today to get my decorating done, including all the ornaments on the tree. My hubby left for work early this morning and shortly after I found myself sipping a cup of coffee in front of the computer checking e-mail and surfing adoption blogs. I finally tore myself away from that and swung into action.

This is my entry way and Mr. Moose here greets the visitors.



Here's the tree and I've got a close up of a few special ornaments.



On one of my many trips to Starbucks for my peppermint mocha fix, I spotted thier new ornament for this year and HAD to have it.



















This ornament is in honor of baby Lauren. It's a cute little glass ladybug that hangs from the center of a glass ball. Love it!



















This ornament I found at a boutique. Supposedly it says love in Chinese, but I have no idea if it really does. The girl who made it gave me a internet printout that she copied the character from, so maybe it really does say love. I'm going to just assume it does. :)

Not enough time in the day!

Lately, I've been having trouble keeping up with everything between my full-time job, taking care of the dogs, cooking meals, Christmas shopping and decorating, and keeping up with the house cleaning. Actually, to be truthful, what happens is I disappear into the computer room to just do a quick e-mail check and before I know it I've been surfing adoption blogs and discussion forums for an hour or two. Everything else seems to be sliding. I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping, but I usually have my house and tree decorated by now. My house is done and the tree is up, but not decorated yet.

I think I just have the adoption on my mind and wish I can just fast forward to next Christmas when we will hopefully have Lauren here with us.

Can anyone relate to this? I sure hope it's not just me. :)

It's Raining Wishes...

Oh, the power of blogs...check it out here.

Weight Issue Continues...

Well, rumor has it that there was a meeting in China between the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) and the in-country adoption agency representatives last week. My agency hasn't sent out an update yet on what was discussed, but I've heard from quite a few waiting parents who have heard from their agencies. It seems that China is NOT instituting a weight restriction right now. I'm relieved, but won't be totally relieved until I hear this directly from our agency.


With all the worrying and stress over this whole weight issue over the past couple of weeks, I just had to treat myself to something so I got this adorable Asian print bag. There's a girl at the office who makes these bags and has a variety of quilted, Asian fabrics. She makes different sizes and styles. If you're interested in ordering a bag you can contact Amber here.

Where did he go?

Joe went out to the garage to fill up the dog food containers and I caught this cute shot at the door.

I had mentioned before that our greyhound, Addy, has cancer, but she is doing very well right now and will hopefully be with us through the holidays and beyond.

Another present...

I've said it before...I love presents! Check out the new pillows for Lauren's room here.

Another item checked off the list...

Well, after waiting three long hours at the immigration office today, we are now done with our FBI fingerprinting. When they send out the letter with your fingerprinting appointment date and time, they make it sound like the appointment time is just for you. Little do you know, 100+ other people have the same date and time. Luckily, a friend of mine gave us a heads up about the wait time, so I was prepared with my brand new Oprah magazine to keep me busy.

Now all we are waiting for is the all important I-171H form to arrive. This is permission from the federal government to adopt an orphan and is the result of the court approved Home Study and the FBI fingerprint clearance. The I-171H, along with all our other documents, make up the dossier that is sent to China.

Please keep your fingers crossed for a speedy delivery of the I-171H!

Update on Rumor...

After hearing the rumor yesterday that the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) may be instituting a weight restriction for adoptive parents, I e-mailed my agency to confirm. According to my agency, they are aware of the rumor but haven't heard anything about it from the CCAA. They are assuring me that if they hear anything official, they will let us know.

I just read yet another forum discussion thread on this, and I'm starting to get a little freaked out. There are a couple of people saying that their agency has confirmed the rumor but that they don't have the details yet.

I don't know what to think right now, but this is definitely putting a damper on my excitement. Joe and I have our appointment tomorrow morning at immigration for our fingerprinting and I should be really excited about this next big step, but just can't muster up any excitement with this rumor looming. If this turns out not to be a rumor, all our hopes and work on our dossier could be down the drain.

Worried about Recent Rumor...

In the adoption world it seems there is always some rumor flying around about the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoptive Affairs) on the discussion boards. Usually it's rumors about time frames for log in dates, referrals, travel, etc. and I don't pay much attention to them.

What I heard this morning though, really got me upset because it hits close to home. The latest rumor is that the CCAA is thinking about having weight restrictions for adoptive parents, as Korea already does. Of course, there is no official source for the rumor, but several adoptive parents have heard the same rumor from different web groups and discussion boards.

If China were to institute a weight limit, I'm definitely off the charts! Korea's weight chart is ridiculous...it's separated my male and female and there is one weight depending on your height. There is no consideration for body frame size at all.

I e-mailed my advocate at our adoption agency this morning asking her to check into this rumor for us. Please pray that this is really a rumor and if not, that they will announce a date off in the future that they will start the restriction so it doesn't affect us parents already in the paperchase.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is a day for reflecting on our lives and everything that enriches them. We are so thankful for our family, our friends and our pets. We are also thankful for our jobs and our home.

It's hard to imagine that last Thanksgiving we weren't even talking about adoption yet, but now we are almost at the end of our paperchase and I am fully absorbed into the adoption world (I know you waiting parents can relate). This year we are thankful for the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) for giving us the opportunity to become parents. I am also thankful for all the other waiting parents who share their thoughts and feelings and all the parents who are back from China and sharing their lives with us. These blogs are such a wonderful network of support and hope for all of us waiting parents.

Thank you all!

Dog Day Afternoon...

I came home from the office early today and was doing some cleaning. I realized that I hadn't seen Lucy for a while and look where I found her...curled up in a ball on the sofa. She sure has a rough life!


Mom, please get that camera out of my face so I can continue with my nap. I've had a rough morning of eating, snacking, resting, and that long walk.

Waiting Families Dinner...

Yesterday evening, Joe and I attended our first meeting of the Arizona Chapter FCC's (Families with Children from China) Waiting Families group. This is a group of families all somewhere in the waiting stage of adopting from China. Usually the meetings are hosted by one of the waiting families and is at their home, but this was the last meeting of the year and was a dinner at a nearby restaurant. We met several very nice couples, are of who are much closer to traveling to China than we are. The group is chaired by Maria, who has already been to China and has a beautiful daughter named Paige who is 21 months now. She passed around her photo and she is a little doll. The group will meet again after the holidays, and we are looking forward to hosting a dinner sometime next year.

Yesterday was National Adoption Day, so Maria handed out a copy of the following poem at the dinner last night:

The Daughters of China

There's an unseen tie that binds them,
A red thread that will not break.
They are woven in a tapestry
It took five thousand years to make.

Their eyes are wide with wonder
Tiny hands reach out to touch
The faces of the families
Who have wanted them so much.

The daughters of China, they fly across the seas,
Off to unseen places and possibilities.
They are gifts to those who cherish them
By those who just could not.
Acts of hope and faith and love
That we never will forget.

They were given up for reasons
That most will never know.
Now they're daughters to the families
Who have come to take them home.

And someday they'll too be mothers
And have children and a home.
Thread by thread they will tie the knots
To weave new tapestries all their own.

The daughters of China, they fly across the seas,
Off to unseen places and possibilities.
They are gifts to those who cherish them
By those who just could not.
Acts of hope and faith and love
That we never will forget.

Tim Chauvin

100 Good Wishes for Lauren

I need help from you all on my new project...check it out here.

Fingerprinting Scheduled...

Well, the USCIS (immigration) did get back to us quickly as soon as our approved Home Study was filed, but I'm a little disappointed that our fingerprinting appointment isn't until Tuesday, November 29th. I guess there are a lot of people in line for fingerprinting. I just hate for the paperchase to be at a stand still for 2 weeks, although I guess I'd better get used to waiting because our LONG wait really starts after we are DTC (dossier to China).

Dinner with Lucy...

Hummm, I wonder if Emily will feed me from the table like Mom does sometimes...


I bet if I really try and reach I can snag something when she's not looking...


Finally, she dropped something...thank goodness...


Aunt Donna...Lucy is eating Emily's meatball!

Scrapbooking...

I posted a new page, check it out here.

Baby Book...

I ordered a baby book that's custom made for China adoption from Cadoam. They have a bunch of different fabrics to choose from and I selected red with gold blossoms. All the pages are customized for China adoption including a page for referral day, arriving in China, first day together, etc. The pages have a copyright on them, so I probably shouldn't post them here, but this is the opening page.

Shopping Again...

Check out the new decor for Lauren's room here.

Home Study Approved by Court Already!

Wow, our Home Study was forwarded for Superior Court approval on October 18 and I got our Court approved Home Study copies in the mail yesterday! I can't believe I have the approval in my hands only 3 weeks from when my agency submitted to the courts. They had given me an estimate of 4-8 weeks, so it was a really nice surprise to get that envelope in the mail.

Now I can send the approved Home Study to USCIS (immigration), which will trigger them to send us for the FBI fingerprinting. The Arizona CIS office was quick early in our process sending us our confirmation of receiving the I-600A form, so I'm hoping they will be quick again.

I'm still hoping for an early January DTC! Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Passports have arrived!

Joe and I both applied through our City Clerk's Office for our passports, but Joe applied about 10 days before I did, so when a priority envelope came for me last week I wasn't really thinking about my passport. I figured Joe's would come first.

When I opened the envelope and saw what it was, it suddenly struck me that all this is real and we are actually going to fly to China to get a baby girl. I got a lump in my throat and with teary eyes I said to Joe...oh my gosh, are we really going to China and coming home with a baby? I think other waiting parents can relate. With all the paperwork and planning, I guess it's certain landmarks along the way that make all this seem real.

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like to fly and that I probably wouldn't be getting a passport under normal conditions. For some reason my fear of flying has grown over the years and now I fly only pumped up on meds. I'm definitely not looking forward to the flight to China, but I'm trying to focus on my reward for getting on that plane....becoming a family of 3!

Adoption Video...

I've been following Karen's blog for quite a while now and they have been home with their beautiful daughter Gwen for about 4 weeks now. They recently had an adoption video made by Red Thread Stories. I thought I'd post her video here so you all can get an idea of what our trip will be like next year.

Before you pull up the video, you'd better grab a hankie and make sure your volume is on. I LOVE the song they choose for the opening of the video and the choice of Here Comes the Sun when they meet Gwen is perfect. Click here to link to Karen's blog where you can pull up the video.

60th Wedding Anniversary...

Joe's parents, Fran and Ed, have been married 60 years on November 3rd, so last night we all got together to celebrate their anniversary.

The group included Joe's sisters Mary, from Florida, and Peggy, who's local, and his brothers Charlie and wife Teresa, from California, and Ed and his daughter Christa who are also local.

The evening started with Fran and Ed renewing their marriage vows after mass at the church they have been attending for over 30 years. After that, we headed back to their house where Mary, Charlie, Teresa and Peggy had recreated their wedding reception menu for dinner. Charlie barbecued a roast beef on the rotisserie and it was delicious.

Peggy ordered this pretty cake with calla lilies, the same type of flowers that were in Fran's wedding bouquet.

Ladybug Gift...

I love presents and these little ladybug juice glasses are so cute!

Thanks again, Jennifer!

Application Filed!

We just received a letter from the Superior Court of Arizona stating that our Application for Certification to Adopt has been officially filed as of October 27th. From what I've heard it takes about 4-5 weeks for their approval.

I can't wait to get this approval because the last step is next...getting fingerprinted and approved by the federal government to get that all important I-171H.

Pumpkin Carving Party & Halloween...

Yesterday evening was the big pumpkin carving party. It was a beautiful day at the park, the weather was perfect, we had plenty of food and everyone had a great time. After everyone carves their pumpkins, we line them all up and light them. The kids (and adults too) love admiring everyone's hard work. Here are a couple of my favorites, plus Emily working hard on her pumpkin.




My nephew had fun with this Mr. Pumpkin Head pirate kit. It worked out great for him.

Today I went straight to my brother's place after work to see the kids in their costumes before they went out trick or treating. Katie, Emily and Josh were all Star Wars characters and Katie's friend, Kyle, had a really cute witch outfit.















Even Chardonnay got into the act with her little doggie dress.