Countdown graphic...

A friend of mine at work, Janet, asked me to add a countdown to our LID on my blog. I figured, okay, we're finally close enough for a visual countdown calendar. I'm going to get this onto my sidebar and start marking off the days matched until our LID.


There is something sort of satisfying in crossing off the days! Let's keep our fingers crossed that we get to cross a whole week off very soon.

Bullet Post...

It's been a week since I last posted and I don't have anything major going on, so I thought I'd try a simple bulleted update post...

• It seems that matching may have begun, so rumors should be rolling in soon on how far they got and when we'll see referrals. It's that oh so wonderful time of the month when I stalk Rumor Queen waiting to find out how much closer we are to our daughter. There are 35 calendar days until they get to our LID. Come on, CCAA, you can do better than 3 days this time around!


• I've been down for the count with a stomach bug since Sunday night, so I spent all day Monday on the sofa just a quick sprint away from the bathroom. Not a great way to spend a holiday weekend, but I'm finally feeling better today.


• I added a new blog on my sidebar under "Just for Fun". If you like Costco, check out Addicted to Costco. Jim, thanks for the link.


• I've been helping a friend of mine out with a big, themed high school graduation party she is throwing for her son. It's a tiki party complete with a tiki bar, limbo, torches, pulled-pork barbeque, and lots of other themed stuff. We also put together a video slide show and will be projecting it onto a big wall, which should be pretty cool. Here's a photo of the cupcakes we're baking for dessert (this was our test run). I'll have party pics on Sunday.

Great video...

I discovered this DVD, Found in China, while searching on Amazon to see if there was anything new out there. Joe and I just watched it this past Saturday and we both highly recommend it for anyone adopting from China.

It's a documentary that follows several families, including eight Chinese adoptees ages 9-13, back to China on a heritage tour. The group travels to quite a few provinces and visits the orphanages where the girls are from. One of the girls actually gets to met the man who found her in a box outside his office about 11 years ago. Another girl gets to met her foster parents and another meets her primary care giver from the orphanage. It's very interesting and touching to see everyone's reactions, including the parents, the girls, the staff in China and the Chinese locals. The show includes interviews with the girls and their parents after the trip and it's interesting to hear what the girls have to say about their experiences.

Long before we saw this documentary, we knew that we would take Lauren back to China at some point. Watching this confirmed just how important this trip will be and at what age is a good target. Every child is different, but it seems that 11-12 years old would be a great time frame to shoot for.

If there are any local families who would like to borrow the DVD, just let me know.

New look

I've seen so many cute blog makeovers lately that I thought it was time to change mine up too. I know this design looks a little like Valentine's Day, but I love the colors and was up for a change. I had a digital scrapbook kit I had downloaded for free and that's what I used.

Maybe it's just the thing I need for my blogging slump.

27th Month LIDversary...

Yesterday marked 27 months waiting to bring Lauren home.

This is the first month I actually forgot to post on the 17th of the month. I think I've been in a bit of a blogging slump lately and that's why I didn't think about it yesterday.

I kind of feel like I'm loosing steam or momentum with the wait dragging on and on. With rumors of a slow down over the summer for the Olympics, I'm thinking how could they possibly go any slower than this month's 3 day batch. Then I think, well they could do 1 day batches...ughhh!!!!

I'm not going to say I'm loosing all hope that this will ever actually happen, but I can say that my hope is waning a bit.

Happy belated Mother's Day!

I haven't been much in the blogging mood lately for some reason, but wanted to chime in and say that I hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day. I'm sure it was a very special day for everyone celebrating their very first Mother's Day! I hope it was a good one.

Joe and I, along with my brother and his family, took my mom to brunch at a local, historic hotel (for the locals...we went to the San Marcos). They had a really nice buffet and we had a long and leisurely meal. My nieces and nephew made a big platter for my mom at one of those pottery painting shops. They did a great job and even included Lauren's name. My niece, Emily, gave me this gift bag...


with this little ladybug in it...


It's like a little ladybug chia pet! I'll have to post another photo later when it sprouts.

Just think...next Mother's Day I'll have Lauren home! Gee, I hope I'm not delusional...what do you all think?

Help, I need a techie...

I got an e-mail message from my digital cable & internet provider over the weekend saying that I've exceeded bandwidth limits and violated their user policy. With that, they deleted my web file manager with all my blog graphics. The e-mail states that they also deleted my web site since it exceeds the allowable traffic. The funny thing is that I don't even have a web site through them.

As a non-techie person, I'm assuming that using them to host my blogger graphics is what's causing the problem. I'm thinking that each time my blog gets a hit, it counts as "traffic" to the graphics I store in my file manager through the cable company. Is there a techie person out there who can tell me if this might be the case?

After speaking with my cable company by phone and in person at the office, I still haven't gotten a straight answer out of them. Now I don't know if I should upload all my graphics again and re-link everything in my Blog or give up on that and redo my blog in the new Blogger and upload the graphics directly.

Help!

**Update**

I found a site to upload my graphics for free and link them in my Blog, so I should be back to normal. Let's see how long this lasts.

Referrals and food...

Referrals are officially through January 12, 2006. That means there are another 34 calendar days before they get to our dossier. The two referral calculators I check each month are guesstimating October or November for us...that's 6 to 7 months. Hmmm...seems it's ALWAYS moving out and forever another 6 to 7 months!

This past weekend was a good one. On Saturday, Joe and I took my mother and nieces out to dinner and to the Chinese Art Academy's spring performance.


They had artwork displayed in the lobby, which was amazing, and the dancing was just beautiful. The costumes were very colorful and the dancers used fans, Chinese hats, wands with long ribbons, and other props for their routines. The music was very different, but very good. I think the kids really enjoyed getting a taste of Chinese culture.

Sunday was a lazy day and my friend, Christine, stopped by to work on her son's graduation video. We're using Window's Movie Maker to put together a video to show at his high school graduation party at the end of the month.

We were flipping through the latest copy of Everyday with Rachel Ray and spotted a recipe for Sliced Steak Gyros that looked really good. We decided to head out to pick up the ingredients and make some dinner. Joe grilled the sirloin, while we put together the Greek sauce and sliced up the veggies. Also, we put together a quick cheese tortellini side salad.



Dinner turned out great and it was a nice, spur of the moment way to spend the evening...cooking and sipping on some nice red wine.

Matching and nursery update...

Well, according to RQ matching has begun at the CCAA. FINALLY!!! I'm dying to know how far they will get this month. I feel like we are SO close, yet SO far at the same time. If only they could kick out an 8 day batch, that would put a nice dent in the 39 days that separates us from our referral. Come on, CCAA...you can do it!

I have a few friends from my Yahoo DTC group (Hope, Susan, and Emily) who should be getting their referral and I just can't wait to see their pics! All of them will be first time mommas and I'm SO excited for them!

Over the weekend, Joe did a little project in the nursery. Click here for an update.

Impatience...

There are 39 days separating last month's referral batch with our log in date and I'm getting more and more impatient! I knew the waiting would get harder the closer we got, but it's harder than I thought it would be.

Wren's Referral Estimator is pointing towards October for our referral and China Adoption Forecast is predicting August as their weighted average based on past statistics and December based on last month's referrals.

I've been trying to prepare myself for December and trying not to focus on referrals each month, but I'm not having much luck. I have a hard time concentrating on other things for the week or so before referrals come out...I guess I'm still holding out hope that a surprise large batch will appear out of nowhere. I know...that bubble should have burst MONTHS ago! I wish there was a way to forget about everything until our agency calls one day.

More for the closet...

I know we don't need anything else for Lauren's closet right now, but we couldn't help picking up this adorable jacket at Target today on sale for $8. It's looking like it will probably be cold in China when we travel. If so, we'll bring this...


I LOVE the colors in this pretty little dress...it matches the nursery!


Well, here's to starting our monthly roller coaster ride. Rumors should start rolling in this week! Let's all keep our fingers crossed for at least at 8 day batch.

26th LIDversary...

Well, today is our 26th LIDversary.

For some reason this milestone is hitting kind of hard. I think it's because it marks waiting exactly 20 months longer than we had expected. By the time we get Lauren, it will be close to the 3 year mark.

Also, with Joe turning 44 this coming Sunday and me right behind him, I'm just getting bummed out and feel a little cheated by the system. We should have been able to enjoy being parents at age 42 and 43 instead of waiting until 44. I'm sure others in this situation can relate.

Ok...end of whine session.

Comfort food, anyone?

Potatoes, bacon, sour cream and mayo...need I say more? Here's a good recipe to whip up if you need some comfort food with the next batch of referrals...


We had some friends over from our Waiting Families group for a bar-b-que and a couple of people asked for this recipe.

Potato Salad

2 pounds of potatoes (I use Yukon Gold for the smooth, creamy texture)
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayo (not miracle whip for this one)
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions, plus more for garnish
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, plus more for garnish
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

Peel the potatoes and boil them whole in salted water until tender (about 15 minutes) Drain well and cut into small pieces. In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream and mayo; add the potatoes when slightly cooled; add the scallions and bacon; season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate at least an hour for the flavors to blend. To serve, garnish with the extra bacon and scallions.

Now, get a plate and fork and enjoy!

It almost seems real...

when you put the crib up, doesn't it? It's one thing to have it in a box propped up against the wall for two years, but it's quite another thing to actually have it assembled in the room!

Click here for pics.

Is she born?

Over the past week or so I've had this feeling that Lauren may be born. I've had a passing thought of this before, but for some reason now it's seems to be sticking with me. Maybe it's because I've started working on the nursery. It will be fun to find out later that her birthday is in April. Joe's birthday is April 20th, so maybe it will be around his.

Until Forever

This morning in China a mother cries
She'll never forget her daughter's eyes
Her heart is broken and filled with pain
The tears run down like the falling rain.
She has no choice but to leave her there
The cost of keeping her is too much to bear
She hopes her daughter will one day know
True love can be found in letting her go.

This morning in China a baby cries
Hungry and scared as tears fill her eyes
Her mother has left her in this public place
Another lost daughter of the Chinese race.
Someone passing by has heard her soft moan
She's soon quickly taken to a foster home
It's there she'll reside in the care of another
Until she's adopted by a brand new mother.

That very same moment, in the U.S.A.
A women cries as she starts to pray
Her heart is heavy but filled with much love
She prays for a daughter she thinks the world of.
"Dear Jesus I ask that your arms would be
Wrapped tightly around the one picked for me
Guard her in China "til I make my way
And then in my arms forever she'll stay."

Tim Fisher
December 24, 2003

Nursery & Hummingbird update...

Check here for our latest project in Lauren's room.

Sad news on our tiny tenant, but she has abandoned her nest for some reason. A day before she left there was a wind storm and one of the tiny jelly bean sized eggs fell out and broke. It was the saddest thing to see...I even got a little teary eyed over it. That night, we checked on the other egg, which looked fine. She sat on her nest for another day and then took off and never came back. I was so worried, I e-mailed a hummingbird society I found on-line and they had confirmed that if she had been gone for more than an hour she isn't coming back. Now I'm wondering if the egg that is left will hatch. Does it need the warmth and nurturing from the momma to hatch? Anyone have a clue on this?

Cookies anyone?

Anyone care to join me for some chocolate chip cookies?

I've been in full scale funk mode since rumors of this month's referral batch started. When I'm in a funk, healthy eating tends to go out the window and sweets start looking really good. When the cravings started kicking in this evening, I thought about the I Can Make You Thin guy from the TLC show and his wacky trigger point tapping technique for about one nanosecond right before I put the cookies into the oven. Oh well, so much for that show!

So, who else is totally funked out with this month's news? Five days...give me a break! After the last two 8 day batches I was having visions of actually getting a referral in September. Ha, that vision has faded and now I'm getting a sinking feeling that October or November is looking more likely. Just thinking of getting through another Christmas without our daughter is making me nauseous...wait, or is that the plate of chocolate chip cookies. Hmmmm....

Guess what we did today...

Yup, we finally painted the nursery! We did all the tape up work last night and started right in on the painting this morning.
We did two shades of violet...lighter on top and a little darker on the bottom. There's a border that will run between them at chair rail height.

It's funny how different the color looks depending on the lighting on the walls. I think it looks different in the two photos below of opposite walls. The photo on the bottom is a little truer to how it actually looks in the room.


Now that Joe has the blinds back up it looks even more different. We're going to let the paint cure for a few days and then put the border up.

What a strange feeling it is to finally paint the nursery after two years of waiting. On one hand it makes this feel more real, but then I think about the months we still have ahead. In any case it is sparking up my excitement and now I can't wait to get the border done and start decorating!

Same photo one year apart...

I just posted the most recent of these photos the other day, but I just ran across the same photo taken almost exactly one year ago. It's funny that Tess is on the left and Lily is on the right in both photos. Look at how much the girls have changed in just one year...

Hummingbird update...

I'm off again today so I've been keeping an eye on our tiny new tenant. I noticed that she actually left the nest for a little while, so I got a couple more shots. Here's the nest from the back side where it's really built up...


and here's how it looks from through the lantern...


We put out our feeder hoping that she would use it, but I don't know if she's found it yet. I think we need to get something so we can hang it up high for her.


She's back again tending to her eggs. Isn't she darling?


I did a quick Google search on hummingbird nests and our new little resident may be with us for a while. Check out this video of a patio nest. It took 40 days for the babies to hatch and be big enough to fly away. This video is awesome...