Could it be June?

Yesterday we got a little surprise on the RQ website! Her projections show us getting our referral in June! Now, I know that her projections are just really good guesses based on poll information, but after waiting for soooooo loooooong it is very hard not to get excited! With a June referral that would put us traveling right smack in the middle of the Olympics! I have no idea how any of this is going to play out! Talk about suspenseful! The next few months are going to be nothing short of a carnival "puke" ride!

OMG!!!!! WE'RE NEXT!!!!!

Holy fortune cookies! We are next on our agency's list of waiting families! I wish that meant that we were going to get our referral in June but it will more likely be the first week in July! Here is what I predict (with help from RQ polls) it will boil down to in the next few months:
June - Jan 13-16
July - Jan 17-23 (US!)
Aug - Zero (curse those Olympics!) Just in case, though, Jan 24-Feb 1
I have started packing and trying to get organized, but we still have so much more to do! Yikes, what the heck have we been doing these last 3 years! Actually, now that I think about it we have accomplished quite a bit!
Just to name a few:
*Painstakingly completed a dossier and sent it to China!
*Read a bunch of books on adoption, attachment, and Chinese culture!
*Decided on a name!
*Adopted 2 cats and 1 puppy, who has grown into an 80 lb monster!
*Lost 2 dogs and 2 hamsters!
*Gary started a new company!
*Finished the nursery!
*3 graduations
*Finished 5 courses on international adoption (required by our agency)
*Took classes for Infant CPR Certification (passed!)
*Completed shots for hep A&B, typhoid, tetanus!
*Redid our I171H form and the mountain of paperwork that goes with it!
*Fingerprinted 3 times!
*Moved our kids 18 times!Marie 5x, Sarah 6x, Adam 5x, Justin 1x,Marcus 1x
*Made lifelong friendships with other waiting families!
This list could go on and on, but I have a lot to do today, so I better get going! AAACCCKKK! WE'RE NEXT!

Referrals are here!

Yesterday was such an exciting and happy day for many of our January Precious Panda friends! Referrals came in unexpectedly and took everyone by surprise! Although it was only a 3 day batch, thru the 12th of Jan, it was an amazing day! I can't tell you how uplifting it was to see all of our friends babies faces for the first time! The fact that we actually know them and have met them in person made it all that more special! So a huge and heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Susan and Riz and beautiful baby Sophia Joy, Scott and Hope and adorable baby Izabella, and Susan and Jonathon and their gorgeous TWINS, Eleanor and Lilykate!

3rd Time's a Charm!

This morning we went down to Detroit USCIS and got our fingerprints done for the third time! We left at 6:45 am and got back around 10:30. We are so glad that is done! The question is are we moving forwards or backwards? Now the hard part, waiting for our new I171H to come in the mail! I hate that they send such an important document in the regular old mail? We have pretty crappy mail service where we live! I am always getting someone else's mail! So that means other people must be getting our mail, too! Being the good neighbor that I am I always hand deliver it to their mailbox! I just hope other neighbors are doing the same for us! So for the next 3 months I will be the mail police and no one can get the mail but me! I just worry that this flimsy non-significant looking envelope will get thrown out with the junk mail!
More exciting news! Referrals are coming in this week! Hopefully CCAA will do a big batch! Hey if they did a two week batch we will be in! Ha Ha! Dream on!

27 Months!

'nuf said!

Bad Blogger!

I have been such a bad blogger! (hanging my head in shame!) Part of the reason is the weather around here has been too good to be true! Spring has finally shown itself and we have had some unbelievably gorgeous days! It has been in the 70s and sunny this past week! It is just too boring to stay indoors when it is this nice out! After suffering through one of the harshest and most brutal winters ever, this beautiful sunshine and warmth is about the best remedy anybody could ask for! I love being able to wear my flip flops again!
On another happy note, our daughter, Sarah, found Bruno a permanent home! If you have been following, you know Bruno is a Boston Terrier that she has been fostering for the past 3 months. He had spent his entire life in a small cage under horrible conditions in a puppy mill. We had the opportunity to meet Bruno when we moved Sarah last month. Wow, she has done an incredible job with him! He has amazingly transformed from being a scared, abused, sick, and shy dog to a happy, healthy, well-adjusted, dog! This is all due to Sarah's undying love and commitment to this little guy! It was very hard for her to give him up, but that is what she does! (Besides going to school and working!) She fosters dogs so they can find their forever family! We are so proud of her!

Who are you???

Sorry I haven't posted in over a week. There just isn't a whole lot going on and it has pretty much been life as usual around here. This is the boring part of the month where the thrill of referrals has come and gone and there are no rumors to report about the next batch. Talk about dullsville!

I happened to notice our visitor counter this morning and we have over 5,000 hits to our blog! The sad part is I only have eleven signatures in my guest book! I do plan on turning my blog into a hardcover book someday, to have for Kaelin when she gets older. We would love for her to know all of the wonderful family and friends who were also waiting for her to come home. So if you are reading this pretty please, with sugar on top, sign my guest book! It is located just below our family photos in the right column of our blog. Just click on "View My Guest book." Thanks for signing, it really means a lot to us!

Clearance shopping! Cheapest therapy in the world!

I am very excited that referrals came yesterday! Since they were only thru January 9th my bubble was to say the least, not burst completely, only a little deflated. To take my mind off my troubles I decided to go and get some much needed retail therapy! The better the bargain, the better I feel, too! I found some great buys off the clearance racks at Marshalls! How incredibly cute is this red ladybug jacket! It was the only one on the rack too! I swear I heard it calling to me! It was only 12.99! I love the cute little jean capris and lady bug zippy and the pink cotton dress is so sweet! I spent a whopping $30!
Last month I made a prediction that we will get our referral in June, well now I am changing it to July! Sooner or later I will have to be right!

10 minute project!

I have been wondering what I was going to do with this empty spot on Kaelin's bedroom wall until I stumbled onto these cute wall stencils at Linens n Things. They were so easy to apply and actually look like they are painted on! There were a lot of cute phrases to choose from, but I thought this one was so fitting! When Kaelin is finally home, it WILL truly be a MIRACLE!
BTW, I think the color settings on my camera are off! The color of Kaelin's walls are a much prettier shade of green than what the photo is showing!

Back from moving Sarah!

Phewww! What an exhausting job that was! Every time we move one of our kids they seem to have more and more stuff! This was the 8th time we have moved Sarah since her freshman year at Michigan State! It's a good thing we love her so much! Even though we had movers it was still a lot of work! But we are so relieved now that it is done! Sarah is in such a nice area, compared to her old place. We moved her to a place called Mud Island. Contrary to it's name, it is a beautiful place right on the Mississippi River. Even though it is farther from University of Memphis, where she goes to school, it is a small sacrifice for such a lovely place! Even though we were very busy moving we did take a little time out to enjoy ourselves and spend some fun time with Sarah! Saturday we ate at a place downtown called Huey's which looked like a dive when we walked in, but the food ended up being really good! It stopped raining for about a half an hour so we could take a walk on the Mississippi River Trail. We were a bit shocked to see how flooded the river was past it's banks! By the photos you can see how deep the water came up to the trees! Sarah said there are park benches somewhere by those trees under all that water! It rained the whole time and the river got even higher while we were there! Since Sarah's new apartment is only a couple hundred yards from the river we were a little concerned, but think that she will be okay (thank goodness, she's on the second floor). Now she is good until this December, then she will be done with school and needs to move back! Aye-yi-yi!