Holy cuteness, Batman!

Check out Luca's Blog for a picture of Lea, their new daughter! I am loving her hair!!!

Another family grows.

Good news to celebrate over here!!! Yes, referrals only went up to September 8th this month. But included in that batch was Luca and hub's referral!!! Luca is part of the little Boston area MIWs (Moms in Waiting Club), and as Sparky noted, she is the first of us four to become a RLM (Real Life Mom)! These smiles are nothing compared to the ones they have on now.



Here's the baby info:
Feng Chao Xue
Born: 11/24/2005
Anhui Province

This is a picture of the lantern that Luca and hubs created and released for their daughter back in July:



There'll be much celebrating on December 15th, and we all get to drink, too!!! Take that, biological moms to be!

And so it has begun.

Today is Thankgiving, the first of the winter holidays that we thought we'd be spending with our daughter. I am trying to smile, even if it is a weary smile.

Life is certainly not bad. We are in Minnesota, in Tim's parents'home. Our trip here, while long, was pretty uneventful. I have no "flying on the day before Thanksgiving" horror stories to share. I got a Happy Thanksgiving kiss and hug from both my mother-in-law and my father-in-law this morning. Shortly, we will sit down to a wonderful meal with Tim's parents, his grandma, his sister and her family. This is a nice family, a funny family, a fine way to spent the day. We've been blessed in many ways.

Nonetheless, a part of me is just so bone tired. Part of me would rather be home, cuddling with the dogs, making dinner for a few close friends, and yes, getting to know my daughter...feeding her what might be her first bits of turkey and homemade cranberry sauce, getting intimate with all the joys and challenges that being a mother will bring.

I am not normally a "the glass is half-empty" kind of gal. In general, I am pretty damn appreciative of the luck I've had in my life. But this yearning for a daughter thing...it's a full time job. And I am ready to be promoted to the next level.

Once more, with feeling.

Today I sent an email to our adoption agency, requesting the packet that guides you through re-doing your I-600A form. Our I-797C (same as the I-171) expires in April, but after our issues getting it the first time, I am not taking any chances. I don't see us traveling to China until late spring or early summer. Oh, and in case I haven't mentioned it lately, I WANT MY BABY ALREADY!!!

One year.

Tomorrow, Tim and I will have been logged in with the CCAA for one year. One year. How can time pass so quickly and SO SLOWLY, all at the same time?

What's funny is that, quite unintentionally, our day tomorrow centers on the adoption process. For lunch, we will meet two couples using the same adoption agency as us that also have November LIDs; in fact, one couple shares our LID, so we know that we will be traveling with them. After that, we will go to the housewarming party of a woman I got to know because she is a friend of the chairperson of my dept., and she is also adopting through CAWLI --- her LID is 11/23/2005. She is adopting as a single mom, and she and her mother have just bought a new two family home in preparation for the arrival of the little one.

And so. Some of these days of waiting are OK and some days are simply awful. There are days when I think I simply cannot wait much longer. But you know what? I can, because I have to. And no matter what the days brings, every night I remind myself that we are going to have a daughter...my beautiful husband is going to be a father and I am going to be a mother. It feels like my own kind of prayer, as I wonder where she is and say goodnight. I can't wait until it's our reality.

Am I just negative?

There are all kinds of rumors flying around in my October 05 and November 05 DTC groups about December LIDs getting referrals in February. I am reading these posts thinking "What planet are you living on? No freaking way".

So, am I just negative? October and November 2005 are supposed to be huge months in terms of number of dossiers received by CCAA. How it is possible that CCAA is going to get through 3+ months of dossiers by February, when we are now all ecstatic when they do 2-3 weeks of dossiers per month?

And this, my friends, is why I REFUSE to go on the Rumor Queen site!

Because we can all use a little dog poop humor.

Windshield Wiper Poll Answer

I know thousands of you loyal readers are waiting with baited breath to find out if I cleaned my windshield a few weeks ago. I did not, in fact, clean my windshield as the convertible pulled up alongside me. While the little devil on my shoulder told me to shower the driver, my angelic nature oozed to the surface and drowned out the poor boy. Maybe the convertible guy had it coming, but who knows what he would have done in response? If you read carefully, you'll notice that I was attempting to drive in a safe and efficient manner. Spraying him probably would have defeated this purpose, and I can use as much practice as I can get before Bella is a passenger. For those of you who would have done it, well, I'll see you in Hell! :-)

By the way, my shoulder devil looks very similar to Ookla the Mok from perhaps the best cartoon of the 80's, Thundarr the Barbarian! Do you have a shoulder devil, and, if so, what does he/she/it look like????

One last thing. Yes, Tammy does look at me every so often with a puzzled look on her face and wonder what planet was the origin of my birth. I just smile at her and say, "You married me! HA HA!"

Why you should never, ever, ever cook for Luca and hubs.

This past weekend, Sparky, Kikalee and hubs, and Tim and I all went over to Luca's and hubs home for dinner and conversation. Luca and hubs are most likely going to receive their daughter's referral at the end of November, so there is a true excitement in the air over there. They have a gorgeous home, with all the wall artwork done by Luca's hubs. Who knew? Talent lurks EVERYWHERE. Except in me.

Then there was the meal. First off: Dumplings. Made by hand. With a dipping sauce that is still being raved about by Tim, he who pretty much raves only about the following things: his muscles, his Buca boy (that's our SCHNAUZER, people, not a pet name for something else), professional wrestling, and plasma HD TVs. Then homemade soup, with tiny, perfectly cubed pieces of pumpkin. And those were the appetizers. Then they come out with something like five dishes! Spare ribs, noodles with chicken, beef with vegetables, sauteed green beans, jasmine rice, and I know I gotta be forgetting something. Amazing. The evening concluded with a great game of Danish origin. Each person brings a gift worth $5. There's lot of gift winning and stealing that goes on, and in the end, some win, some lose. Kikalee and hubs started out strong, but walked away with nothing. Tim and I walked away with the following goodies: a travel adaptor kit (much needed), a China calendar, and a book called "Mind Games". Nice!

On the way home we discussed how our plan for hosting a "Fast Foods of the US" dinner for the PIW (Parents In Waiting) gang just had to go.

A Poll (warning: blog entry has the H-E-"double hockeysticks" word in it)

A while back Tammy and I took an online poll called Dante's Inferno Test which foretells which level of Hell we will go to upon our deaths. From what I recall, Tammy will go to Purgatory (Repenting Believer...*YAWN*) and I will go to the 2nd Level (Lustful...that's the ticket!). I think I was put at this level due to having taken some pleasure out of the misfortune of others, either that or placing a lot of emphasis on science and logic and taking the Lord's name in vain. Either way, I wasn't too surprised that I was going to Hell. In fact, Tammy reminds me of this...all...the...time. The funny thing is that she's rarely joking.

Anyway, back to the story. I did mention I have a story, didn't I? No? Hmmmm. Sorry about that. There's a reason I'm telling you about this poll we took. A couple of weeks ago I was driving home from work in the USS STARSHIP Murphy, otherwise known as our Honda Odyssey, when I noticed a small, sporty convertible (top down, of course) behind me. I'll give you one guess what the person driving this car looked like. That's right-Edith Bunker. Ok, so maybe it was more like a just-in-time-for-a-mid-life-crisis kind of guy. You know the type. This young lad is cruising back and forth across lanes trying to somehow shave 30-45 seconds off his commute home. He is repeatedly speeding up next to me in the right lane, giving up, and then turning back into the lane behind me. Mind you, I'm in the second lane from the left, he has yet to attempt the actual "passing lane". It was one of those kind of traffic days. I'm thinking to myself, "Saint Tim, here you are trying to drive in a safe, efficient manner and this bozo is driving like an arse. Maybe it's time to try out the new windshield wipers." And my hand inches towards the wiper controls.

So I ask you all, should I have conveniently cleaned my windshield as this fellow pulled up next to me for the umpteenth time? And more importantly, did I?

I look forward to your comments.
Please keep in mind that I was/am already going to Hell.

Referrals from our agency

Here is the latest update from our agency, CAWLI:

We just received referrals! We received six beautiful girls from Hunan. The age of the girls ranged from 8-11 months old. The cut off date for referrals is August 25, 2006. That means these families waited about 15 months for their referrals to arrive.

One of these girls is Cheryl and Bruce's Shao Ming Yue, soon to be "Mya"!!! I am so freakin' happy right now!!!

I will now begin compulsively refreshing Lisa and Eammon's blog site...

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE NEW FAMILIES!!!

Joyful news!!!

Cheryl and Bruce just got the call from our adoption agency, and at 1:15pm they will see their daughter's face. Until then,here's what they know:

Shao Ming Yue
born 1/21/2006
from Hunan Province

So so so happy for them!!!

Yahoo!

The CCAA has updated its website and referrals are going up to and including August 25, 2006. This means Cheryl & Bruce and Lisa & Eammon should see their daughters' faces today or tomorrow at the latest!!!

Yes, it's quite a ride when you live on Planet Adoption!