Something to pack for the trip....

This was the theme for my September Secret Pal gift and my Pal didn't forget a thing! Did I mention already in a previous post that I have the best SP ever? Hmmm...I'm pretty sure I did, but I must say it again...SP, you're the BEST!

This month's box was decorated with adorable Asian cherubs (double click any photo to enlarge)...

aren't they too cute??

I had so much fun opening up all these little packages...

Check out all the items we have now to put away for the trip...

The items include:

• Chopsticks
• Luggage strap
• Bibs
• Chinese Dictionary
• Travel clock
• Drink mixes for bottled water
• Rolaids for after a dinner of stuff we don't recognize
• Purell
• Clip-on calculator
• Scented diaper disposal bags
• Air freshener
• Baby wipes in portable container
• Oxyclean for stains
• Travel toothbrushes & paste
• Little stuffed ladybug bear for Lauren to play with
• Charmin to go....very important item ;)
• Jet-alert caffeine pills for dealing with the time change
• Plastic loops for hooks things to diaper bag/stroller

Even with all these things, my VERY favorite item is this quick reference book chock full of all kinds of information we'll need in China.

When I first opened this I saw our address info, photo and an adorable little card that says "On our Way to Lauren Elizabeth." At that moment, it hit me...we ARE actually going to China and I got teary eyed. Sometimes I have those moments were it feels more real than other times and it just hits me. I think all you waiting mommas totally understand this and have your own "moments."

Inside this book, there is tons of information that we might need while in China like our pet-sitter, passport and agency info; symptoms and treatments for all sorts of conditions that we could encounter; medicine info, info on how to get medical treatment while there; info about the food, water, and making phone calls to the U.S., info on American friendly restaurants and shopping in Guangzhou, and more!

This reference book is SO thoughtful and SO very appreciated. It's just the right size to slip into our backback while in China so we have everything we need with us while we're on the go.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Secret Pal!! Next month we find out who our Secret Pals are, but this organized little book is a GIANT hint to who my pal is.

For those waiting to travel...

This poem is dedicated to all the waiting mommas who have their referral and are waiting to travel, including Christi, Tiffany, Mary-Mia, and Kim...

A Baby Asks God

A baby asked God, "They tell me you are sending me to earth
tomorrow,but how am I going to live there being so small and
helpless?"

God said, "Your angel will be waiting for you and will take
care of you."

The child further inquired, "But tell me, here in heaven I
don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy."
God said, "Your angel will sing for you and will also smile
for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy."

Again the child asked, "And how am I going to be able to
understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?"
God said, "Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet
words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel
will teach you how to speak."

"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?"
God said, "Your angel will place your hands together and will teach
you how to pray."

"Who will protect me?"
God said, "Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life."

"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore."

God said, "Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will
teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next
to you."

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from
Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, "God, if I am to
leave now, please tell me my angel's name."

"You will simply call her, "Mom."

Thanks & Wishes....

Thank you to all my Blogville friends for your kind words on my previous post about our 7th month anniversary. You all always know the right thing to say, and I can always count on you all to lift my spirits. :)

I just posted a couple of new wish pages you can check out here.

Wow, it passed without notice...

Huh, I didn't even notice that our 7th month anniversary of our LID passed right on by last week. I've been so busy, I didn't even notice. I usually have it on my mind each month around the 17th.

When we first submitted our adoption application back in August of last year, this is right about the time we would have received our referral if they would have stayed on track with 6-8 months. Last Christmas (like many of you) we celebrated our final Christmas without a child. I was SO excited back then knowing that next Christmas we would have Lauren here with us...it was going to be SO special. We hung ornaments on the tree just for her and just knew that next Christmas we would be wrapping presents for her.

Now we are looking at getting our referral sometime around next June and I still haven't fully accepted the fact that another Christmas will come and go without Lauren. Everytime I think about it, I start to tear up and quickly try to direct my thoughts to something else (as I am doing right now). I'm sure many of you have been having the very same feelings and I know I'm not alone, which is very comforting to me. I'm so thankful for my waiting momma friends.

Now if only I could figure out a way to accept that we still have a long wait ahead so I can move on and enjoy the upcoming holidays, even without Lauren by our side.

Back from Philly!

I got back from Philly on Sunday evening and then I was up at the crack of dawn to head back into the office for a big dose of reality. I was dog tired and it was definitely a Monday in every sense of the word!!

I am SO glad I faced my fear of flying and got on that plane to Philly because I had an absolute BLAST with my Precious Panda "sisters"!!! I can't tell you the last time I laughed that much and felt that comfortable with a group of women. Even though we are from all over and have different stories of how we came to adopt, there is definitely a very special bond that we all share and an unspoken connection between all of us. I think we all felt the connection and will carry that with us during the rest of this wait and beyond.

Susan and I arrived on Thursday evening and stayed at Stephe's place in Deleware. On Friday afternoon, Cheryl (our 4th roomie) came in and the rest of the group trickled in later that day. Friday night we all got together at Stephe's place and Susan made baked ziti and meatballs (double click photos to enlarge).




Saturday morning we all met up and headed to Philly for our China town tour. It was raining at the beginning, but you can see that we made the best of it...plus, the weather cleared up pretty quick.





We had a great time on the tour and then headed to Reading Terminal Market for lunch, and then back to China town for some shopping. After we had our fill of shopping, we headed to Independence Hall to see the Liberty Bell...



...then onto South Street to hang out and relax a bit over drinks and appetizers. Our night ended back at the hotel hanging out and letting our hair down...what happened in Philly, stays in Philly...right, ladies?



Stephe, thank you so much for organizing this wonderful trip and being our hostess with the mostess for the weekend! To the entire Philly group, it was a pleasure meeting and getting to know each and every one of you! Thank you all so much for a fantastic weekend.

Heading out tomorrow morning...

I'm heading out to Philly in the morning for my 2nd trip to meet bloggy friends! My 1st trip was to Salt Lake last month and I had a great time. This time instead of heading just one state over, it's all the way to the east coast!

I'll be meeting 11 ladies from my DTC group, the Precious Pandas. I'll be staying at Stephe's place, which is really cool because Stephe and I will be in the same travel group to China (we are with the same agency and have the same LID). I'm looking forward to getting to know her in person before we actually travel to China. Also staying with us is Susan and Cheryl. I also get to meet Kim of One More Makes Four who I've gotten to know a little bit (she's so sweet) and Wanda, who just sent me the cutest wishes page for Lauren.

Oh, did I mention that I HATE to fly and have been freaked out about the flight since Monday? I was nervous on the Salt Lake flight (which was only 1 1/2 hours), but I'm in full scale freak out mode for this 4 1/2 hour flight to Philly!!! I keep telling myself that this is good training for the dreaded flight to China, but judging by how freaked I am I think that Joe will have to knock me out and drag me onto the China flight on one of those rolling luggage carts! I'm on my own to Philly, so I have no one to roll me onto the flight!

Well, I'm heading off to start packing and then I'm going to take some deep breaths and try to relax a little this evening. I know you jet setters think I'm ridiculous, but I just can't help it. ;) At least I just suck it up and still get on the plane!

Another step ahead...

The CCAA just updated their website that they have completed review of dossiers logged in before December 31, 2005. This means that they are probably now reviewing January and February LID's!!! I would imagine they were partially done reviewing January by the time they updated their website, so with a 2/17 LID we should be getting really close to review. There are rumors that people with February LIDs have been contacted for clarification on their information, which is a good sign.

Oh my, I think I'm getting nervous now...I hope our dossier is in good order.

This and that...

I've been meaning to post a photo of this cute little mini-diaper bag I bought from Danesha of South Meets East. She has different fabrics she makes them out of and they are the perfect size for a quick trip out with a couple of diapers, a bottle and a small toy.

I love this Asian retro fabric...isn't it cool???










I guess Joe had a long, hard day at work today...what do you think?

Once Lucy saw him resting, she had to join right in and I just had to snap a photo.

I've been busy the past week with some blog re-designs...check out Journey to Annaliese and Bottles and Bones (formerly Welcome Home Lily). I love making Blogville pretty. ;)

Chinese Cooking Night #2...

This past Saturday evening, Joe and I had a Chinese food cooking night at our place. The "chefs" for the evening were Michele, Heather & Damon, Nancy & Brian, Jennifer, and Linda Marie.

Linda came over a little early to help with the initial prep work and surprised me with a brand new rice cooker! This is probably the ONLY kitchen appliance that I don't already own. I know, those of you who know me are shocked that I didn't already have one. ;)

These were the recipes for the night (two of them we already tried and knew were good):

Egg Flower Soup
Egg Rolls
Kung Pao Beef
Shrimp with Snow Peas
Almond Chicken

Linda and I did some of the initial prep work before everyone else showed up, so by the time everyone started arriving we had the meats cut up and already marinating. Considering we had nine people in the kitchen at one time, the timing of everything went VERY well and we actually had all the dishes prepped and ready to cook at the same time. Of course we had a little help with these chocolate covered coffee beans (yum) and lots of red wine!


Here's Nancy hard at work on the Almond Chicken recipe...


and Michele giving a quick lesson on how to roll an egg roll...


Oh, and Brian hamming it up for the camera...


After all our hard work, we were rewarded with a really tasty dinner! My favorites are still the soup and the kung pao beef (from our first cooking night). The almond chicken was also really good. I think if you want to plan your own cooking night, you can't go wrong with these three recipes. Here's the kung pao beef and the almond chicken...


Thank you to everyone who joined us...we had a great time! As you can see, Lucy was just exhausted by the end of the evening...

Thoughts and prayers...

Today, my thoughts are with the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001, tragedy.

My prayers today are for the parents who lost their children, the children who lost their parents, and everyone else who lost friends and loved ones five years ago today. May you all know that our hearts are with you.

New Wish Pages...

Check out the good wish pages I received from Sandy and Shannon here. They are both so cute!

Secret Pal Strikes Again!

Our August theme was Keeping Baby Safe, and Lauren sure will be safe now! First of all, check out how my Pal decorated the shipping box...each side is different.






The box was filled with little gifts wrapped in red tissue...











and each had their own tag with a hint of what was inside.











Here's the hints and what the gifts were:

• Would Lauren be safe if she was swinging like a monkey in front of the window when you weren't looking? - cord wind-ups for blinds


• Would Lauren be safe if her momma couldn't see her big brown eyes on the way to the park with Addy & Lucy? - rear view mirror for the car so I can see Lauren in the back seat


• Would Lauren be safe if she decided to walk out of the house late one night to go visit one of her China sisters? - adorable soft, Asian doll for Lauren to hug


• Would Lauren be safe from the fashion police if she didn't have these? - totally cute barrettes


• Would Lauren be safe is she unbuckled her car seat and climbed up front to drive with her momma? - "Hands off" buckle covers (pretty cool idea!)


• Would Lauren be safe if she had nothing to cover that beautiful skin of hers? - totally adorable, Asian style PJ's


• Would Lauren feel safe at home if she knew one of her little China sisters was here with her? - door knob covers. This one also says it's a clue to who my Pal is. Hmmmm....wonder if this means it's someone who will be in China when we are?


• Would Lauren be safe if she accidentally gave herself a shocking frizzy perm? - shock guards for the outlets


• Would Lauren be safe running across the room to give her momma a big kiss with hair in her eyes? - snag free rubber bands

My favorite items are this adorable doll...


and these oh so cute Asian inspired PJ's...


Thank you, Secret Pal, you are the best!

Scrapbooking day...

I had a really nice day over Michele's house today. We had lunch, tried out her Cricut machine and I put together a scrapbook layout for my exchange this month.

First of all, Michele is such a perfect hostess....for lunch she served baked salmon, veggie lasagna, and a spinach salad. Later on we had cream puffs with berries in Grand Marnier. Everything was so tasty and the dessert was wonderful!!

For those of you interested in the Cricut, here's a sample of what you can do with it. We cut out the ovals first (they have slits on them to feed the ribbon), then the shadow background for the letters, then the actual letters. It's really easy to use and pretty quick. If you like to use die cuts on your layouts, I think you would love this machine.




Here's the layout I put together, with some help from Michele, for my exchange this month. Michele had a great idea that I had never tried before...she put a tiny piece of foil in the center of the mirror embellishment to make it reflective. Very cute...that's an idea I will definitely use again.

Scrapbook swap...

I received my August layout from Sara of the Ladybug Hunters Scrapbook Club. Our theme this month is Bath Time. Check out this adorable layout! I love the hidden journaling tag and the adorable embellishments.


Sara, thank you very much for this layout...it's a great addition to my album!

Post-referral sunshine...

Through all this post-referral depression, there is a shining light...Christi finally has her referral to Abbey!!! She is simply adorable.

Congratulations, Christi, your day has finally come and I'm so happy for you!!!

Referrals are in...

Just got an e-mail from our agency saying that they received 10 referrals today for LID's between 7/14/05 and 7/22/05. All babies are from the Guangdong province, so an extra five days in China for all these families.

So the CCAA ONLY matched 9 days worth of LID's since last month. Ughhh!!! So families with a 7/23 LID are now firmly planted at a 14 month wait! Wow, to think that the wait was 6-8 months when we started all this last year!

I wish we knew the CCAA's grand plan for things. This waiting each month to see how many referrals crank out is for the birds!! I'm getting flashbacks of waiting each month to dip the stick for the pregnancy test....only this may be worse because it's so TOTALLY out of our control!

Sorry, I'm just suffering from post-referral depression (PRD). Kind of like PMS, only no meds will help! I'm pretty much 100% sure you all can relate. ;)

Nothing much new, except my blog look...

Nothing much is going on lately and since I can't get motivated to do house projects, why not create a new look for my blog. A girl needs a change every once in a while, right?

One of our local FCC-AZ Waiting Families, Nancy & Brian, just started a blog for their journey to Lily. They were LID last August 26th, so the stork is due to fly for them sometime soon! Check out their pretty blog Lily of the Valley, which was designed by another local waiting momma, Heather.

Although I have nothing new and exciting going on, there must be some excitement in Blogville. Anyone care to share?

Oh, by the way, do you guys find it strange that with all the computer savvy that Blogger has, they can't seem to figure out how to make the post spell checker ignore the words "blog" and "blogger." Just think that's kinda funny.

6 Month Anniversary...

We have been logged in for six months today, so if things don't slow down any further we're at the half-way point to referral...woohoo!! This month is also our one year anniversary of submitting our application to adopt from China.

I can remember watching National Geographic's China's Lost Girls last July and thinking about all those abandoned children and that maybe one of those children could be our daughter. Over the last year, each day seemed to tick by oh so slowly, but overall it seems like just a flash and here we are now. It's funny how that happens.

I'm thinking that this six month mark might give us the motivation to get our projects done at home so we can move onto putting together the nursery. I've been wanting to paint and redecorate our master bedroom and bath, then clear out our junk room before starting the nursery. Usually I'm right on top of any kind of redecorating project with no procrastination, but for some reason I just haven't been moving forward with these projects.

Lately, I've been thinking that maybe subconsciously I'm afraid to move forward for fear of actually getting everything done and being ready to do the nursery. There's something about getting the nursery together that scares me a little....like if the nursery is done, we're going too far and what if something happens with the adoption. I know it's not practical to wait until we get our referral to do everything, but it seems like it's still not "real" enough to proceed.

Has anyone else been stuck at this same point? If so, how did you get past it? Any words of wisdom from Blogville?

Good wishes just in...

Check out the latest additions to Lauren's Good Wishes Book here.

Furbaby...

Lucy loves her daddy. Anytime Joe sits on the chair in the family room, Lucy is by his side.





If he stops petting her, she sits up and lifts her paw.

When she really wants to lay on the charm, she leans her head against the chair and gives him an adoring look that can't be resisted.

What would we all do without our furbabies?? They really do help us through this wait, don't they?

If you have a cute photo of your furbaby, leave a comment here and post a photo...I'd love to see your baby too. ;)

Box came from Salt Lake...

Check out what I bought for Lauren's room while in Salt Lake here.

Had a great time in Salt Lake...

I'm back from Salt Lake City and had a fabulous time with my bloggy friends! Lisa W. was the perfect hostess and gave us a whirlwind tour of Salt Lake.

She picked me up at the airport on Friday at noon and we headed back to her place. She has an absolutely adorable 1920's bungalow...it's so charming and full of character. Her street has great big trees and lots of greenery, very different than my neighborhood here in Arizona.

Lisa S. and Mary-Mia also arrived on Friday and we all headed up to Park City, a ski town which was home to the 2002 Olympic skiing events. We stopped by Olympic Park to check out the site of the ski jump and bob-sleigh events. After that we had a nice, leisurely lunch (of course, Mary-Mia had tacos) and did some shopping.

On Saturday morning, Lisa W.'s mom, Sunny, came over to make us all a special treat for breakfast. She made the most wonderful Norwegian pancakes that we filled with butter, jam, and sour cream and sprinkled with powdered sugar...YUM!

As we were finishing breakfast, Tiffany, who also lives in Salt Lake, and Julie, who's flight had just gotten in, arrived at Lisa's. Since all the Utah trip bloggy ladies were all together, Mary-Mia and Lisa S. gave us some goodies they had brought along.


Mary-Mia had these adorable little shirts printed up with our daughters' names on them and Lisa S. gave us each a goodie bag filled with fun stuff....mine had ladybug playing cards, an adorable photo album and a ladybug memo cube.

We spent the day doing some shopping and then we stopped by Tiffany's house, which was built in the 1950's. She's done lots of renovating and the place is really cute. Just like Lisa's place, it's filled with lots of great character.

Here's Lisa W. with Tiffany's baby, Beau.

Saturday night we had some great Thai food and Lisa S., Lisa W., Julie, and I stayed up late chatting and laughing...it was a really nice evening.

Sunday morning we all met up and saw the weekly performance of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...it was a beautiful and touching performance. This is the longest running weekly broadcasted performance in history and they have it down to a science. It was quite a treat to see them perform live.

Mary-Mia had to head out to catch her flight after that, and Lisa W., Lisa S., Julie, and I took a walk through Temple Square. After that, Lisa S. drove us up to the Snowbird ski resort and we took this massive tram ride up to the top of the tallest peak (12,000 ft elevation). I was pretty nervous on the tram, but it sure was beautiful once we got up there. The next thing on our agenda was the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island State Park where antelope and buffalo roam free. We didn't see any antelope, but we drove through a big heard of buffalo including a momma with her two babies. They crossed the road right in front of us and were just about 10 feet away....pretty cool. We had a full day on Sunday, so we just chilled out that night and took it slow and relaxed a little on Monday.

Lisa W., thank you so much for opening your home to us and spending your time keeping us entertained. I so enjoyed meeting you and Mesa, who by the way, is the sweetest dog ever! Mesa really is 90lbs of snuggle fun as Lisa has said before on her blog...I definitely found that out first hand as Mesa came in to say good-night my first night there.

Great weekend ahead....

Well, I head out tomorrow morning to Salt Lake City for a girl's weekend with some bloggy friends. I can't wait to meet Lisa W, Julie, Lisa S, Mary-Mia, and Tiffany!

It seems so strange that I'm actually going to meet these ladies. I've been e-mailing back and forth with Lisa W. and Julie for many months now and we have been following along on each others' journey. Blogville is a funny place...you feel like you really get to know people through their blogs. When I started this journey, I never imagined that I would actually be heading off to meet bloggy friends who are such a big part of my support network. I originally started poking around on the internet just to get some adoption questions answered and I quickly discovered a whole world of support and friendship.

By the way, Lisa W, I got my hair chopped so I'm glad you recently posted some photos of yourself on your blog so I can recognize you at the airport! Otherwise, you would be holding up a limo driver sign that says "Looking for Lauren's Momma". ;)