Snow and Nothing Else

We are realizing just how boring we are. I mean, who posts pictures of the ice on Lake Michigan and the snowstorm that just hit? Jeez, we really need our baby to stir things up around here. Right now it's like the quiet before the storm.
The CCAA reopened this week after being closed for the Chinese New Year. No one seems to think they will get referrals out this week and expect they won't arrive until next week. Until then we are hanging tight and waiting to see how close they'll come in this next batch.
Stay tuned!

Cutting through Ice

Lake Michigan was pretty frozen on our latest trip to the island.
The ferry can really cut through the ice but at one point the boat actually stopped, went in reverse and then gunned it into the ice!


The birds trailed behind us ready to take advantage of the brief open waters...note how quickly our trail froze behind us!I took this picture of George from the inside of our bathroom looking out the window as George sits on the disconnected toilet on the front porch doing his business in the middle of a blizzard.
He claims it was the most scenic bathroom experience he's ever had...I believe it.

Weekend on the Island

To kill time before the ferry departure, we stopped at our favorite store in Sister Bay. This time we noticed that they now have a coffee house down below. George stopped in for a hot tea. You can rent skis down there too.
The above photo is the road that leads you to the ferry. It's so curvy, I think to slow people down...perfect transition to Washington Island where it's described as:
"north of the tension line."

Below I'm braving the ride on the ferry. Okay, I didn't stand outside the entire ride. We drove by Nelson's Hall and saw fish for the annual fishing derby on display. The bar was pretty packed for a Sunday morning.
Here's the view from the bunkhouse to the house. Believe it or not, we did quite a bit of clearing through here. That thing that looks like an outdoor shower is not, it's a light that is supposed to go off when the sewage tank is full. What I'm starting to wonder is how do I know if that lightbulb is still good...

When we arrived everything inside the house was frozen; olive oil, hand soap, paint and I kid you not...the radio. We had to warm it up by the fire to get it to work. The place heats up in no time with the woodburning stove but the paint was ruined and we couldn't paint as we had hoped. George ripped out the old shower, then he decided he should take out the toilet, and then he decided to rip up the flooring and all the trimwork. We now have a hole in the bathroom floor and a toilet on our front porch.
We still have a lot to do which is just fine. It will keep us preoccupied while we wait these final weeks of waiting for our referral. We really hope it will make time fly.

continued below...

Continued...

We walked out onto the lake where the ice meets the water.

The photo below shows how far we walked out on the ice.

You can hear the water crashing under and against the ice.

Where we walked it was frozen solid a foot thick.

The water was so clear it was like walking on an acrylic table.

Front door

Back of the house

Sunset from our deck

We're going to the Island!

Whew! We got a spot on the ferry. Since it runs only twice a day in the dead of winter, you need to make a reservation. It's the final weekend of the fishing derby so the ferry was packed but there was a cancellation and we're going afterall!

Our new camara arrived so check back for pictures of the lakehouse and whatever else inspires us.

Vday

Happy Valentine's Day to my one and only.

xxxxx

Nothing new

Everything seems so quiet now. We had a great weekend with Elizabeth and Rob who came to visit. They brought their dog, Molly, who is awfully cute. We had some nice meals, played some games, watched t.v. and movies. We took Molly out to Lake Winnebago which was completely frozen over and let her run. It was fun (but scary) to drive on the frozen ice too...never done that before! We went to the Lands End store and George and I ordered our diaper bag backpacks for China which was exciting!

There are no rumors on the next batch of referrals. Chinese New Year is Feb. 18th and some think another batch will arrive before then but most do not. The Rumor Queen is gone for a while so it's hard to know what's going on and what's coming next.

We think we'll be going up to the lakehouse this coming weekend. Should be a nice way for us to celebrate the CNY and thinking of our little one half a world a way...

Happy Birthday Lilah Lucy May!

Today is our Goddaughter, Lilah's, 2nd birthday! I was so blessed to be there when she was born, to hold her first, and to hear her first cries. I also was lucky enough to watch her for a whole week when her mom and dad went on vacation. It was a year ago, just after her 1st birthday. She was a great test to what all of a sudden having a 12 month old in the house might be like!
Lilah is beautiful, funny, sweet, smart, tough, and sometimes a little stinkerpot. :)
I just adore her. Happy Birthday Lilah!

I was babysitting her and this is what happened when I fed her, what a mess!
Lilah visiting us...she was just crawling, what a smile!

What a day!

Two great things to report:

1. Our I 171H came in the mail today! This is the result of our re-file. We are now completely up to date on our paperwork AGAIN. Our story was clearly heard at the USCIS (United States Citizen & Immigration Services). Their standard turnaround is 90 days, ours took 7!!!

2. Referrals arrived today! The cut-off isn't known for sure but it's looking like October 13th of 2005. We are November2, 2005 so we are very very very close! I don't think we'll make the cut for the next batch but we should be in the following batch. Wow, probably only 8 weeks more before we see our daughter's face!

The Rumor Queen got her referral today and will likely be traveling in 8 weeks so I don't know where I'm going to get my daily fix, my any little tidbit of information on what is happening next. We'll have no clue when our call will come. It will be like going into labor...without the braxton hicks...without the water breaking...it will come with NO warning.
HOW AM I GOING TO SURVIVE THIS???