CRAP!!!

Seriously! How much more of this can we take? It looks like CCAA will only get through December 19! Since our agency doesn't have anyone logged in before then, there will probably be no referrals for them this month! This is so disappointing! We are literally moving backwards right now! With a LID of January 23 it would seem like we are so close, but at this rate, we could still be 6 months away! One thing is for sure, we will not lose hope in bringing home our daughter (or son) from China! We truly believe IT WILL HAPPEN!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy New Year, too!

23 Months!

I can't believe we have waited this long for our Kaelin! If someone would have told me last Christmas that we would not have her by this Christmas I would have said they were out of their mind! Well here we are a year later and no Kaelin. But you know, I'm not that sad. I have my 5 beautiful, sweet, amazing kids and a great husband and I love tht we are all together home and it's Christmas! God has chosen the perfect little girl for us and it is just not time for her to be here yet. We have a really good feeling that she has been born and now we just pray that God will fill her little heart with peace and keep her warm and fed until we can come get her and love her forever. Next Christmas is going to be unforgettable!

Ta Dah!

Kaelin's room is almost done! I am so excited that Kaelin's room is finally coming together. After 5 trips to the paint store and 3 different carpet stores her room is almost finished! I chose fernwood green for the walls and cinderella pink for the ceiling. The carpet is the softest shag and feels so good under bare feet! All we have left to do is order the roman shades for the windows and finish the seat cusion for the window seat! The bedding is Pink Daisy Garden from PBKids and the crib is a Babi Italia Eastwood in dark cherry from Babies R Us. Instead of buying the dresser that went with the crib I decided to use the dresser I used for all five of my kids! I love that I am using it for Kaelin too! All I did was paint it white replace the old hardware with the cutest ladybug knobs I got at Target.com. I also scattered the prettiest little fairies around the walls, they are precious! The chandelier is also from Target! The best part is my sweet adorable husband, who I love beyond words, is getting me the Pottery Barn Kids Dream Glider in the light pink cotton twill for Christmas! It takes about 6 to 8 weeks to come in so it will be a while before I can post pictures of the room completely finished. The pictures above are just a sneak preview!

Referrals thru December 14, 2005!

Today our agency received referrals for 15 families! Even though CCAA only did 6 days worth, it is still an encouraging step in the right direction. At this rate, we should see our referral for Kaelin in May. Who knows, maybe right around Mother's Day! Of course, any sooner would be even better! Congratulations to all you lucky families!

Newest Members of the Family!

Meet Hannah and Fiona! Hannah is my daughter, Sarah's, new foster dog, and Fiona is my son, Adam's, newly adopted kitty. Hannah is a two-year old Basset Hound who was found abandoned on the streets of Memphis last month. Sarah is a volunteer for an animal rescue league there and took Hannah in until she can find her a loving home. Hannah has been through a lot as she was abandoned soon after delivering a litter of puppies. Even considering the trauma of losing her puppies and being homeless, Sarah says that Hannah is an absolute sweetheart! Although Hannah was a bit emotionally traumatized when Sarah first took her in, she is now doing well and seems to be recovering nicely. Sarah is bringing Hannah home with her for Christmas and we all can't wait to meet her! I hope Sarah can find a home for Hannah, soon. I am such a sucker for animals, hmmmmmm. Gary is already rolling his eyes and saying Good Grief!

Fiona is a lovely brown and black tabby cat. She had been hanging around Gary's company's warehouse and sleeping in a high-lo for several days when Adam decided to adopt her. Needless to say, she has been at my house most of the time and loves her new family! She is so affectionate and gets along very well with our cat Tigger and our dog Storm! She actually chases Storm (our 75 lb English Setter)! It is too funny!

Since we have been logged in at CCAA our family has taken in two dogs and three cats! Now, if we could just add one Chinese baby girl to the mix, our family will be complete!

My Sweet Girls!

Leave it to my two sweet wonderful girls to know just how to cheer me up! I got a big surprise package from The Land of Nod a few days ago! Inside was the cutest toy! A lady bug ride on toy for Kaelin! I absolutely love it and I have actually had my eye on it in the Land of Nod catalogue for some time now. They had no idea that I wanted it! I guess they know me too well! I can't wait to see Kaelin riding it around the house! How cute that will be!

Marie and Sarah, you are the best daughters a mom could ever have, and I love you both all the way around the world and back a million billion times!

A Poem

Dedicated to my beautiful mom

Tears

Let yourself cry

Tears are the balm of the soul

Tears are cleansing

Tears are healing

Tears are renewing

Crying rids the body of toxins and the soul of illusions

Sometimes we see clearly only through the blur of tears

They wash away the layers of self sufficiency and pretension to reveal the core of us

That is pure spirit ~ resilient and immortal

author unknown

Referrals are on their way!

Well, it's that time again! Our agency is expecting to receive referrals for families logged in through December 8th, '05 this week. Why does it seem that every month referrals come, we still have about a 6 month wait? I think, this time, we can honestly say, "6 more months!" If CCAA stays consistent in doing 1 week's worth of LID's per month, then it will take them at least 6 more months to make it to our LID of January 23, '06.

Dec 9-16 in Dec

Dec 17-24 in Jan

Dec 25-31 in Feb

Jan 1-7 in Mar

Jan 8- 15 in Apr

Jan 16-23 in May (US!)

Although, 6 months seems like an eternity, it is actually just enough time to finish Kaelin's bedroom, install a new kitchen floor, clean and organize our house top to bottom, baby-proof everything, and buy everything on my packing list! Yikes! All of the sudden I'm feeling fairly panicked, here!

Congratulations to all of the families getting their referrals this month! Especially to our friends, Cheri and Shane, who are going to see their daughter, Hope's, sweet little face this week! We are so excited for you!

Happy Birthday! Sarah!

Today is our babygirl's birthday! I woke up this morning thinking how could this be? How in the heck is our little girl 22 already?! Sarah, better known as "Bunny" (nickname given to her when she was a week old by her big brother, Adam) was such a beautiful baby when she was born! She actually looked Asian! She had (and still does) gorgeous dark brown (almost black) shiny hair, big brown eyes! What a beauty! Sarah has brought so much joy to our lives and is such an exceptional daughter! I wish she could be home on her birthday, but she is in Memphis working hard on her Master's degree in Dietetics. We miss her so much and can't wait to see her on Thanksgiving. WE LOVE YOU, BUNNY!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

21!

Yep, we've been logged in at CCAA for 21 looong months! Now that CCAA is finally working on December of '05, maybe we'll see some real progress this month with referrals. There is a rumor over on RQ that CCAA has matched through the 10th! I'm not even going to get excited about this one! But I am crossing everything I can possibly cross that this is the case! There is also a thread over on RQ that talks about January '06 already being matched. If this is true, then how sad is it that our dossier could have a photo of our daughter attached to it and it is just sitting on somebody's desk collecting dust! Even more disturbing is to think that whether we've been matched or not, our daughter could possibly be sitting in a crib (with no mattress) cold, hungry, or wet with no one to tend to her! While we are here just dying to hold her, feed her, comfort her, play with her, keep her warm, and most importantly, LOVE her! I try not to think about that so much as we pray every day for the opposite: That she is being well cared for in her SWI or, even better, in a loving foster care home. Every night we pray that her guardian angel will whisper in her little ear, "Mama and baba are coming, just hold on a little longer."

It's Been a While....

I love this picture of my mom and dad (taken last year)! I know it's been a while since my last post, but my focus has been on my mom this last month. She is now out of the hospital and in a nursing home. I go there every day to see her and make sure she is getting what she needs. Even though, she appears to be getting good care, it is still such a depressing and sobering place. Nothing makes you think about your own mortality like a visit to a nursing home. It is so hard to see my mom in this condition. This is not the mom I once knew. I wish her doctors and nurses could have known her before she became this way! I wish they could know what a wonderful, intelligent, and talented woman she was/is! At least she is still so beautiful ! So many times her nurses comment on what a beautiful woman she is! The good thing is that she still recognizes her family and we are so thankful for that! But, she has lost her ability to walk or even sit up, and only stays awake for short periods. One thing she has not lost is her ability to hear! Yesterday, I said something funny to her nurse and mom laughed right out loud! We thought she was asleep! That brought such joy to my heart! No one really knows, except God, how much time my mom has, but she sure is fighting to hang on and we are so glad for that!

On another note, I turned 46 last week! It really didn't even phase me, either. I don't feel any different than when I turned 40! Except that my feet have been hurting when I get out of bed in the morning! Maybe I just need new tennies, I hope! Age is just a number, anyway, right?

Prayers for my Mom

Sorry that I have not posted in a while. My mom is very sick. She has a weak heart along with serious liver and thyroid problems too. I have been spending most of my time sitting by her hospital bed. We are hopeful that the treatments her doctors are trying will help. We are praying that she will come out of this and survive, but we just don't know and neither do the doctors, really. Only time will tell.

My mom is a very wonderful and talented woman. She is also a very gifted seamstress and quilter. Above is a photo of one of her masterpieces! This quilt is my most cherished possesion and I will treasure it always! It is called "Heritage Medallion" and it is all hand quilted by my beautiful mom!

It is our prayer that my mom will be able to meet her 17th grandchild! Please pray for my mom.

Today is our 20th LID anniversary.

Grouchy Red Pepper!

Sarah planted a pepper plant last spring and this is what it produced; just this one little grouchy red pepper! Sometimes I know just how he feels!

649 Down! 119 to Go!

Back in May of 2006 I started a paperclip chain. Each paperclip represented a family with an LID before ours waiting for referral with our adoption agency. My chain has now gone from 649 paperclips/families down to only 119 paperclips! We are definitely getting there! Since our agency received 22 referrals, I was able to take off that many paperclips this month!

I wish I had started this chain when we first became LID, then there would have been even more paperclips to start with!

Referrals!

Yesterday, (I'm a little behind posting) our agency received 22 referrals, all girls! This time CCAA made it to November 25, '05! Considering Nov 22 and 23 were big LID days this is sort of good! December of '05 is said to be smaller than November so, hopefully, things will move a little faster once they are completely out of November. Here is my prediction or WAG:
Finish November and up to December 5th in October '07
December 6-20 in November'07

December 21-31 in December '07

January 1-12 in January '08

January 13-23 in February '08 (US!)

So now, since Chinese New Year is on February 7, '08 and CCAA will be closed that whole week, I am thinking that we should get our referral the week of mine and Gary's 26th Wedding Anniversary which is Feb 11! Wouldn't that be the most amazing gift?!

Or, even better, CCAA mails referrals before Chinese New Year and we see Kaelin's sweet little face in the end of January! It feels so good to finally see a light at the end of this loooooooong tunnel!

Introducing Charlotte!

Our daughter, Marie, adopted this adorable kitty a couple of weeks ago! She is such a sweet little furball and so full of boundless energy! I guess this kind of makes me a grandma! He He!

Also, referrals are due to arrive next week, I strongly doubt that CCAA will make it out of November! But who knows, it could happen! And these are the days of our lives. Sighhhhhh.

Gifts From My Precious Panda Secret Pal!

Yesterday, I found a big box of goodies on my front porch from my secret pal! Inside there were so many cute things: 3 adorable rompers, a book called "I Love You Through and Through", a soft little "Peek-a-Boo Panda book, a starfish teething blanky, and two colorful sets of abc123 refrigerator magnets! I have know idea who my secret pal is, but I really appreciate her thoughtfulness and generosity! It won't be long now before all of these wonderful gifts will be put to good use. Thank you, secret pal!

Almost Forgot!

Wow! I just realized it is our LID anniversary today! We've been so busy lately that this time it almost got away from us! We truly think that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, finally. We are hoping that CCAA finishes November LIDs in October, then December LIDs in January, and finally JanuaryLIDs (US!) in February. So I am predicting that we get our referral on February 5! But don't hold me to that, it's just a very hopeful prediction.

I got back from visiting my mom tonight and her kidneys are starting to function again. She's not out of the woods, yet, but it was good to hear the doctor say she was responding to the medication. Thank God! She still has a long way to go and will be in the hospital for a while longer. The doctors and nurses never tell you anything is for sure, they always just say, "We'll just take it one day at a time!" I told her she has to get better because she has a granddaughter that is still waiting to meet her! Hurry up CCAA!!!!

Catching up!

Sorry, that I haven't posted anything in a while, but life sure can keep us busy! We just moved Sarah down to Memphis TN so she could start grad school at University of Memphis! We left on Thursday afternoon and drove as far as we could (packed to the hilt and towing her car!) Wow, was it hot! When we finally got there on Friday, it was 105 degrees, ugh! Mind you it was in the 70's when we left Michigan, so it was quite a shock! Moving was horrendous, but we managed to survive it and get Sarah all settled in. I think we all lost about 10 lbs in sweat! We didn't do too much in the way of sightseeing because of the heat and we were totally exhausted from moving. How can one little girl have so much "stuff"?! We did go down to Beal Street and have dinner on Friday night, the BBQ was really amazing! Then after we finished moving her on Saturday we went over and walked around the campus at U of M. It is such a beautiful campus. Sarah really thinks that she will like it there. We wish we could have stayed a bit longer but Gary had work bright and early Monday morning so we had to get home on Sunday. BTW it was a whopping 59 degrees when we arrived home! I just turned the air conditioning back on yesterday because it got up to 90! Good grief!

On the day we got home we found out that my mom had to go into the hospital because her kidneys are failing. We are waiting to find out if she has to go on dialysis. The doctors are giving her medicine to improve her kidney function, but it isn't working the way they would like. I have been spending a lot of time up at the hospital to stay with my mom. Her nurses are always so busy they can't always get to her so my sister, and dad, and me all take turns staying with her to tend to her needs. I will have more to report when I get back from the hospital this evening.

Happy Birthday, Gary!

Today is our fearless leader's (aka) "The Big Man's" 46th birthday! I met Gary when we were both 12 yrs old and, honestly, he hasn't changed a bit! (except for maybe that little bald spot on the top of his head and he has gotten a bit bigger!) I can't believe that was 34 yrs ago!

When we started our adoption we were both "only" 43! How depressing is that? We are having his favorite, hamburgers on the grill and corn on the cob for dinner, after he finishes 18 holes of golf, of course! It's so exciting to know that we will have our little Kaelin home to celebrate her daddy's birthday next year!

Target!

Sarah and I went shopping at Target and we just couldn't resist! How cute are these boots?! And, well, the onsie pretty much says it all! What fun!

Referrals are in!

Our agency received referrals! CCAA made it thru November 21, 2005! We are really starting to see the light at the end of of this loooooong tunnel! Congratulations to all of the families who saw their baby's face for the first time! Someday soon, that will be us!

Tag, You're It!

I have been tagged by my sweet friend, Susan R! So here goes.....


5 Things I was doing ten years ago:

1. Driving to and from cheerleading competitions/practice, wrestling tournaments/practice, baseball games/practice!
2. Working for my husband's company.
3. Teaching Sunday School.
4. Helping with an avalanche of homework and school projects every night.
5. Going to bed exhausted!

5 Favorite snack foods:

1. Candy, especially, big chewy sweet tarts!
2. Chocolate anything
3. Lay's potato chips
4. Cheetos (baked, not fried)
5. Vanilla wafers dunked in canned chocolate frosting!

5 Songs I that I know all of the lyrics to:

1. Happy Birthday
2. The Rainbow Song
3. The Barney Song
4. Theme from Sesame Street
5. The Star Spangled Banner

5 Things that I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Pay off our mortgage
2. Pay off our kid's student loans
3. Pay off our family's mortgages
4. Buy my husband a golf course
5. Donate to many different charities

5 Bad habits:

1. Eating way too much candy
2. Not exercising enough
3. Snacking before bed
4. Waiting until my car is buried on E before I get gas
5. Never keeping my cell phone charged

5 things that I like to do:

1. Eat
2. Read
3. Watch movies
4. Shop
5. Kiss my husband

5 Things that I would never wear again:

1. Hair scrunchies
2. Leggings
3. A perm
4. Short shorts
5. A bikini

5 People I tag now:

1. Kathy C
2. Rhonda
3. Sharon
4. Wendy H
5. Lori H (I know you don't have a blog, but I pick you anyway!)

Cute dress!

Our sweet daughter, Marie, bought her little sister this adorable dress at a cute little boutique in downtown Chicago. She also got her a pink heart-shaped reading rug it is so cute! Out of all of the dresses we have bought, this one is my favorite! I dream of a day next summer when Kaelin will be wearing it.

Another LID Anniversary!

Today marks, yet, another LID anniversary! I do know that one day, hopefully in the not too distant future, we will be celebrating "Gotcha Day" anniversaries, instead! From the looks of things we still have about 7-8 more months (optimistically speaking) to go before we meet our precious daughter for the first time.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Please keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times!"

Here we go again!! There's a silly rumor over on RQ that says that referrals will go all the way thru early December in the August batch! I'm not sure if we want to get on this crazy rollercoaster, but what the heck! If it turns out to not to be true than we will throw up when we get off, and if it is true we will throw up anyway!

Here we go!!!! Weeeeeee!

Red Egg and Ginger Party

One of our Yahoo groups sent us this interesting Chinese custom.

The Red Egg and Ginger Party is an ancient Chinese tradition: A baby's first month birthday calls for a celebration. Proud parents introduce their latest addition to friends and relatives by holding a red egg and ginger party. Traditionally, the baby's name is also announced at this time.
Guests attending red egg and ginger parties bring gifts. Lysee or "lucky money" in red envelopes is often given to baby boys, while girls may receive expensive jewelry. The guests don't leave empty handed, either. The parents hand out red-dyed eggs, symbolizing happiness and the renewal of life.
Red egg and ginger parties have their origins in ancient Chinese culture. As in other countries, infant mortality rates in China were quite high prior to the medical advances of the twentieth century. A baby who reached one month of age was likely to survive, and so the event was celebrated.
Traditionally, this was also a time to reintroduce the mother to the world. The Chinese believe mothers are in a highly weakened state in the period immediately following birth. Just as English custom calls for new mothers to enjoy a brief period of confinement, Chinese mothers have traditionally been expected to rest indoors for one full month after giving birth. This helped ensure they didn't become overtired, or contract any germs or illnesses from the outside world that could prove dangerous in their weakened state. Besides resting, they drank a nutritious broth made with pig's feet, eggs, vinegar and ginger. Many new mothers still follow this ritual today.
In the past, due to the traditional importance of male children in Chinese culture, red egg and ginger parties were sometimes given for boys only, or the celebration for boys was more elaborate. Today, parties are given for babies of both sexes.
In recent years, some of the traditions surrounding red egg and ginger parties have been modified. Parents may choose to hold the celebration at a fancy restaurant, complete with costumed Chinese performers or even a children's magician. Also, the baby may be anywhere from one to three months old by the time the party is held. But the custom of passing out red-dyed eggs continues. Parents may also use the brightly colored eggs to announce the birth; an even number of eggs are sent out for a boy, and an odd number to announce a baby girl. (I copied this info from About.com)

If you go to http://www.naptimecards.com/sel-red-egg-and-ginger.asp you can find cute invitations for a Red Egg and Ginger Party! Maybe we will have one for our little Kaelin when she is finally home!

Life as usual......

Sorry that I have not posted in a while! Sometimes you just gotta take a break! Marie came home last week and she, Sarah, and I had such a great time together! We mostly went shopping, ate good food, watched scary movies, and played in the pool. Sunday we had everybody together for the first time since Christmas (I know, pathetic!), I loved every minute of it!
Later today, Gary and Sarah are driving down to Memphis, TN to find Sarah a place to live while she attends University of Memphis. Ugh, it's a 15 hr drive, poor Gary! I wished they were flying, but they both wanted to drive! Too late, now. They are only going to drive for about 7 hrs tonight (maybe less) and finish the rest of the drive tomorrow. I decided to stay home with the boys and the dog and cat! I hate long car rides!

Well, It's that time again!

Rumor has it that referrals are on their way from CCAA. This time, they include up to November 14, big surprise, haha! One week's worth of LID's per month appears to be the norm now. At this rate we are still looking at an 8 month wait! (that sounds like a long time, but people just now getting logged in are being told they will have a 3 yr wait!) So, it's really not so bad. Hopefully, they will not go below seven days anymore, because if they do, who knows when we would get our referral for Kaelin. Good Grief!

My Secret Pal Strikes Again!

Today, I got these cute things from my secret pal! I love the pop beads, especially, because my grown kids used to play with those when they were babies. I'm getting such a stash of goodies from her that I am running out of places to put it all. Maybe one of these days we'll get Kaelin's room finished so I can display all of these wonderful gifts!

DVD Swap!

My fellow "Precious Panda" sent Kaelin these cute DVD's.

Justin, Marie, Adam, Sarah, and Marcus all grew up watching these! I can't wait until Kaelin is watching them too! Thank you, Kathy!

Happy Birthday, Adam!

Today is Adam's 23rd Birthday! I remember his first birthday like it was 5 minutes ago, he got a little Fisher-Price record player and a yellow dump truck. Sighhhh! Where did the last 22 years go! I can't believe how old my kids are getting, for that matter I can't believe how old I'm getting!

Happy LID Anniversary!

Once again, we have made it to the 23rd of the month, our log in date anniversary. It used to be kind of exciting because we knew that we were getting closer to our little girl. Now, it's just like, "Eh, whatever" another month gone by, "big whoop di do!" Sooner or later it's gonna happen! It has too! One of these days things will be totally different and we'll be celebrating our "gotcha day" anniversary! Hallelujah!

Happy Father's Day!

Today we honored the "Big Man"! To start his day, we had blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs! Then we went to church and the service was, of course, all about dads. It was really good, they even rode a Harley across the stage! The whole thing reeked of testosterone! After, Gary and the boys went and played 18 holes of golf. We ended the day with a cookout by the pool with Gary's dad and brother and his family.

The kids got Gary a movie called 'The Greatest Game Ever Played" and we all watched it after everyone left. (I only pretended to be watching, I was really goofing around on our family blog. he he!)

We really wished Marie could have been here, we all miss her so much!

Amazing Chinese Dancers (all 21 are deaf)! (Click off music video on lower right to hear this video)

Happy Birthday Storm!

Our English Setter, Storm (appropriately named), turned 1 year old today! When we brought him home last September he was so little and sweet. Since then, he has grown into a 73 lb slobbering bulldozer! We have really grown to love him, even though he gives the cat hell and has chewed on nearly everything we own! He didn't like his birthday hat very much, be we made him wear it for his picture.

Happy Birthday Marie and Justin!

Our twins, Marie and Justin, turned 25 years old today! I can't believe that I am even saying that! What's really weird is they are 5 years older than the age that I had them. That day was truly one of the most memorable and blessed days of Gary's and my life. Even though they were born premature, they were incredibly beautiful and healthy! I wish they could have been together for their birthday, but I guess that's life. We celebrated Marie's birthday while we were in Chicago with her and we are celebrating Justin's tomorrow, when he has "time"! Gary took him on an all day golf outing for his birthday and they won't be back until later tonight. What a crazy life we all live, but what are ya gonna do!

Swimsuit Swap!

My Precious Panda friend sent me this cute swimsuit with matching flipflops and sun hat. I can't wait until next summer when Kaelin is wearing them! Thank you so much Laurie!

Our visit to Chicago

We went to see our daughter, Marie, in Chicago over the weekend. We had so much fun with her! On Friday we spent the day with her 2nd grade class. We played games with the kids and painted pictures. Gary was so cute painting a picture with one of the little girls. We also learned some spanish in science class! Part of their school's mission is to encourage the children to be bilingual in many of the subjects. That is so cool! I wish I could post a picture, but I can't do that without permission from all of these beautiful kids parents, oh well! We had such a great time and her class is amazing. Not only are most of them bilingual, they are all so well behaved and smart! She is doing an incredible job with these kids, and it really shows. We couldn't be more proud of her! I was able to post a few pictures of her classroom and some of her with her good friend, since high school, Stephanie. Who is also a teacher in Chicago where they share a really cute apartment together. I wished we had more time to visit, but we plan on coming back again this summer.

Happy Birthday, Marcus!

Our youngest son, Marcus, turned 19 years old on Saturday (we celebrated on Sunday). We had his favorite, Jamaican Jerk Chicken and mashed potatoes. His cake was a passion fruit cake and it was amazingly delicious! I wish I could take credit for making it but I bought it at a wonderful market called PaPa Joes. Marcus is one of four of our kids with a June birthday! I'll never forget when he was born, we almost didn't make it to the hospital! We got there at 4:05 am and he was born 24 minutes later at 4:29 am! I must have slept through most of my labor, no doubt since he was my fifth! I had probably gone to bed exhausted that night! He had (and still does) the cutest dimples and so much hair he looked like he was wearing a wig! His adorable girlfriend, Katie, baked him a giant chocolate chip cookie and got him Tigers baseball tickets! They are so cute together!

The stork is on it's way to our agency!

Referrals are on their way from CCAA. Too bad they only got through November 7th, though.
Congratulations to all of the lucky families who are included in this batch.
Someday, it will be our turn. Sighhhhhhh!

Slooooowly Creeeeeping Forward!

Referrals are due out this week from CCAA. From the sound of things, it looks like they will only get through November 7, 2005. Crud! That's only a five day batch! (Not counting Sundays)

I've now come to the sobering conclusion that if this snail's pace keeps up, we will not go get Kaelin until Spring of '08.

Approved for another 18 months!

Today we recieved our new I-171H form in the mail! This is, basically, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration giving us new permission to adopt an orphan from overseas. It involves getting new FBI fingerprinting, new criminal clearance letters, new physicals, new financials, new letters of employment,new reference letters(thank you to Tina and Hugh , Cheryl and Bill, and Mike and Lisa ), a new homestudy and more money! Our old I-171H expired on May 16, so our renewal came right on time! This measly, one page letter must accompany us to China, we can't adopt Kaelin without it! This approval from USCIS is good for 18 months. Hopefully, God willing, this will be the last time we have to do it again. We opened up a bottle of champagne to celebrate! Woo hoo!

Happy Memorial Day!

We will probably just spend this holiday hanging around the house and hopefully get some flowers planted. We bought a new grill yesterday, so we'll break it in this afternoon and cook some yummy Jamaican Jerk chicken. We opened up our pool a couple of weeks ago, but it's still a little too chilly to swim in, 72*, brrrrrrr! We've always got the hot tub, though!

Since there is not much to report on the adoption front, I'll give a quick rundown of what all of our kiddos have been up to.

I'll start with Justin since he is the oldest, but only by 3 minutes, sorry Marie! Justin is on the very brink of graduating from Central Michigan University. He has to take two more summer classes in order to get his degree in Assembly Engineering. We are so proud of him for sticking it out and working so hard to graduate from college. Good job, Stone (his nickname since birth)!

Marie, twin to Justin, and teacher extraordinaire! Marie graduated from MSU in 2005, and now lives in Chicago and teaches 2nd grade on the south side at Carson Elementary School. She has done an incredible job with her class. Since many of her students are below poverty level and use Spanish as their first language, it has been a real challenge for her. We can't begin to express how proud we are of her and her desire to teach in the urban setting where she can reach out to high risk children. She is truly an amazing person and we love her more than words could ever express! Gary and I will be going to see her in June and we will also get to meet her class and watch her teach, we are really looking forward too it! We miss her so much!

Adam, "Mr. Independent", is currently living on his own, which he has been for 3 yrs now! He is working for Gary's company and doing very well. He comes home a lot, especially, when he is hungry and in search of food! Adam enjoys going up to his grandpa's (Gary's dad) cabin on the Au Sable River and fly fishing. He caught a beautiful trout on Saturday, then released it back to the river.

As I have previously posted, our daughter, Sarah, just recently graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Dietetics. She is currently a waitress in a nice Italian restaurant nearby in order to earn money for her move to Memphis. She will be moving to Memphis in August where she will begin her internship at U of Memphis and work at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. We are going to miss her so much!

Marcus, our youngest, just finished his second semester as a freshman at Oakland Community College. He is following a path in Criminal Justice, but he is also checking out other options and he is currently taking a summer course in Business. He is also a die hard Detroit Pistons Fan!

We wish we had something to report on Kaelin, but all we know right now is that she is in China, somewhere. We pray for her everyday that she is being well cared for. Hang on little one, daddy and mommy are coming to get you, soon!

Don't forget to say a prayer for all of the soldiers who have served or are currently serving in the armed forces. Especially for all the soldiers fighting in Iraq.

Have a Great Memorial Day!

It's official, Sarah is a Graduate of MSU!

Our daughter, Sarah, received her college diploma in the mail, today! So she is officially a Michigan State University alumni at the ripe old age of 21!

More Gifts from My Secret Pal!

I have the best secret pal! She sent me a "boo boo" package with all sorts of baby first aid goodies. She also sent me an adorable onsie that I can't wait to put on our sweet little Kaelin!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my (Diane's) dad's 76th bday! We celebrated last night with his favorite, german chocolate cake. He loved his new "Mantis" for his garden that we got him. Happy Birthday Dad!
I have a feeling that his birthday wish was for his granddaughter to get here, soon!