Beautiful little faces in China

I love this video because it shows such beautiful little faces of children who are living in orphanages in China. The beginning of the video shows what a woman faces when giving up her baby. She has no choice. She can't have more than one child. She's pressured to have a boy and is forced to give up her daughter to try again for a son. It's illegal for her to give up her baby so she's forced to leave her somewhere...a park, police station, market, or an orphanage. It's illegal for women to use an ultrasound to find out her baby's sex. There is a black market where women can have ultrasounds to find out the gender so they can abort the baby if it is in fact a girl. Millions of baby girls are believed to die this way. I think of the birth mother of our daughter all the time. I can feel her pain of having to give up her daughter. I only wish I could tell her how much we will love and cherish her baby. We are just so grateful that our daughter was given life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC2rmCRQRKQ

Where is our baby???

Referrals are rumored to be on their way! Hopefully they'll arrive before week's end and we'll know the next cut-off date. We still believe we are just two referral batches away after this one arrives. With the Chinese New Year falling mid February this year, it's hard to know what the timing will be since it can be up to a two week holiday.

Among so many things we are wondering about our baby, one of them is...where is she???
She has to be born by now, so where could she be? I love to look at this map of China and imagine where she is and who she is...this little being we are destined to meet...at the end of a very long red thread.

Referral Buzz

Rumors are already flying on the Rumor Queen's website. The next batch of referrals are rumored to be arriving next week and having a cut-off date of somewhere between Oct. 11-18!
WOW!!! This is big news for us!!! IF the cut-off date is Oct. 18th, then it means there could be a SLIGHT possibility we could be in the next batch. But, either way it's good news, it means we are VERY close!!!

I feel like all of a sudden I have a million things to do! We are doing so many projects for the lakehouse. I couldn't even get into the nursery right now to organize anything because it's so overfilled with things to take up north. I really am more prepared than I think. George and I did decide today that our shopping trip for our camara will have to be very soon. Then, we just need a carseat. Oh, diapers...wipes...bottles. Just one trip to Target, right???

Sonogram

In the adoption world, we're called "Pregnant on Paper." This image is used a lot to convey the fact that we are really expecting. Just because I'm not carrying her does not mean in any way we aren't carrying her in our hearts. She is such a part of our lives and has been since we started this process. Since we don't have her name picked out yet, she's usually just referred to as "little one." Carrying her in my heart is a lot easier physically...I can have a glass of wine whenever I want, have boundless energy, and the upside to this gestation of an elephant...I have a lot more time to shop and prepare for her. She's probably born by now and it's hard to imagine her all alone without us. I have to trust that she's in good hands and in due time, she will be smothered by us! :)

Yipee! Rules have changed!

Just got word today that the WI Immigration office has revised their policy on accepting re-files for approval to adopt. They now will accept these applications 90 days prior to expiration as opposed to 30 days! Yeah!!! My social worker and agency really worked hard for this and used us a perfect case that could potentially be affected if they didn't revise. We're so close to the expiration of our Approval to Adopt that we didn't gain much time in this new policy revision. It does make me feel better to be able gain any possible time and also to know that this will give a whole lot of peace of mind to other WI families. We'll just have to see how it all turns out and what the timing of re-approval and referral will be...it could still be a tight squeeze but at least our re-file will be in the hands of immigration officers and when push comes to shove, we'll get our Senators involved to get our re-approval in time.

NOW, I seemed to have lost George's Birth Certificate and I'm in a mad rush to get together all the necessary documents together to submit for our re-file including another large check all so we can get the "approved" stamp that we had 18 months ago!!!

House Guests - Update

What a face! Moonbeam is such a stinker. George put her in a box and we laughed when we realized it was already addressed to her "Master." We thought hard about just taping her up and sending her back! No, but she's obsessed with our laptop. She sits on the keyboard and watches the cursor and tries to catch it.

House Guests!

My parents dropped off their animals (well, some of them) while they go and stay with Grandpa while he recovers from surgery. Homer, the dog, Moonbeam, the abandoned cat, and Trudie, my childhood cat. She pretty much hides in the basement. Homer has a yeast infection in his ear, Moonbeam was just spayed and her hormones are all over the place, and this has confirmed me not wanting animals for a long time...until at least our kids beg for them.

Moonbeam meows at me, lunges for my neck, chases and nips at my ankles...I thought I already was on edge but she's making me crazy! I give her credit for what she's just been through and Homer is just a little man, he has very good manners.

Great weekend

Mary and I went to Chicago for the weekend to shop. We had lots of fun and did some pretty good damage. Ok, Mary did most of the damage but I really didn't have much to get. After coming home I realized that I didn't buy one thing for our little one. George admitted he was pretty amazed.

George went to the lakehouse by himself. He had a great time and with this unusually warm weather, he cleared more of the "forest." Here are some photos he took while he was up there.

Paperwork Renwal Stress

Ugh, our agency just posted a reminder (that came from China) that all of our paperwork MUST be current at the time of referral. Sounds simple but "the time of referral" is so up in the air, there's really no way of knowing when that is. Looking into a crystal ball would actually do. The problem is that our I-171H (U.S. approval to adopt) expires on March 6th. In the best case scenario, it is possible we could receive a referral in March. Being in the lovely state of WI with a new adjudicator in the Dept. of Homeland Sec. office, he won't accept re-applications until no earlier than one month prior to expiration (Feb.6th). So, if we get our referral in March we will be waiting on a re-approval with the possibility of not being able to travel to meet our daughter. The director states "There is nothing sadder than a family with a referral who cannot travel with the rest of their referral group." Uh, yea! I've thought I've been at a tipping point a few times in my life but this would definitely push me over the edge...without a doubt.

Referral News

Referrals arrived in the States today! Families with Log-In dates up to September 27th of last year were matched with babies! Wow, we are getting closer. Only a little over a month worth of log-In dates until it's our turn! We are hoping for our referral at the end of March or worst case scenario, end of April. We are really starting to feel like we are in the final stretch....we are so excited!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2007 came in without much hoopla but we greatly welcome it nonetheless...it's a new year!!!
This is the year, the year we will finally be connected to our daughter!

We had a low keyed weekend at home, just the two of us. George started building a bookcase for our lakehouse. I sewed and we both rearranged furniture. I finally caved in and gave George the okay for bringing up the big t.v. from the basement to our living room. It actually looks okay and I have to say, the High Definition is like getting a pair of glasses, it's unbelievable.


Referrals are on their way...I will post the news as soon as I hear it. This is for the families of last September...we are still last November. Hopefully they will have gotten through all of September, we'll see!!!