I'm in Florida right?

This is how I feel.

My blood has totally thinned.


I can't hang anymore.

I'm soooooooooooo cold...

I can't seem to get warm.

I'm pitiful I know. But I guess I am a true Floridian again. After being in VA for 7 years I was okay when the temp dropped, acutally liked it. I would mock with true superiority those with mittens and a...gasp... a coat. Who needs a coat? It's beautiful...I would say.

Not anymore. I can't find my mittens or my scarf. I know I have bloggy friends up North where it's really cold and they have snow on the ground. And I know that this will only last a few weeks, but I just can't seem to get warm. I'm blasting the heat like there's a blizzard outside. If I were me a few years ago I'd make fun of me. I know it's really not that cold, but I'm ready for some heat!!!

New Banner

This has nothing to do with the adoption. But, I am just silly excited about our new banner. I have been trying like crazy to learn photoshop and I've finally figured out enough to mess with the banner. I love the way it came out. The building in the background is a building from Taiwan and then there's one of our wedding pics and a clock, of course because we are eternally waiting. Trust me guys this took me a very long time to figure out. So I just hafta toot my horn. Toot!! Toot!!!

This little piggy came home!!!

I was a little curious of what the attributes of our child are supposed to be based on Chinese folklore. I know it's not science, but it's fun to read about. Come on who doesn't look at that little paper place mat at EVERY single Chinese restaurant. It's the first thing you do when you sit down. You search and search for the year that you were born, then revel in the fact that you are a leader, or a loyal spouse. Then tease your dinner mate for being a moron. For example I am a tiger. Need I say more. Jon is an ox. Explains so much about us, don't you think?

I was rejoicing in the fact that our child was going to be born in the year of the dog....honest..loyal..dedicated......come on folks we're dog people. So it was perfect. What better child for our family then one based on a DOG!! He would be THE perfect fit. So when our referral didn't come, I had to look to see what the Chinese culture says is the animal represented in the new year to come...Imagine my horror when I learned that it was the year of the PIG. I thought to myself , that couldn't be good. Now really...the pig...all sorts of negativity swirled through my brain. And since so many of us will be getting our children this year, or our children will be born this year(even though we may not be home with them) I thought I'd school us on some attributes we can look forward to. Here's some of what I learned:

1. In China, the Pig ( 亥 ) (a more correct form would be the Boar) is associated with fertility and virility. To bear children in the year of the pig is considered very fortunate, for they will be happy and honest.(yippeeeee!!) (And yes we will be "bearing" our children....through countless hours, months of waiting, 20plus hours of international flight, piles of paperwork!!)
2. Contrary to its rather negative connotation the Pig of Chinese Astrology can be the most generous and honorable Signs of the Zodiac.
3. Pigs are nice to a fault and possess impeccable manners and taste. They believe in the best qualities of mankind.
4. Pigs also care a great deal about friends and family and work hard to keep everyone in their life happy. Helping others is a true pleasure for the Pig, who feels best when everyone else is smiling.
5. A Pig with no one around to appreciate its giving nature is a sad sight.
6. Pigs make great companions in part because of their refusal to see the more negative or base qualities in a partner
7. Pigs are highly intelligent creatures.
8. Pigs tend to make wonderful life partners due to their hearts of gold and their love of family..

All sounds good to me!!! Let's bring our piggy home!!

I can't hear you!!!

I'm not listening.....I don't hear you.....I don't want to hear it!!! You can't make me hear it!!

NANANANANANANA!!! I can't hear you!!!

Okay so if you read the last post, on our agency website they changed the referral wait time to reflect the current wait..12-14 months. Okay, so I dealt with that. No biggie...remember?

Well today we rec'd our newsletter from our agency and it said...


"Taiwan: Although we have had several families come home with their children from Taiwan since the last update, the length of referral time continues to increase. The number of applications increased while the number of children available for adoption did not grow at the same speed. Cathwel is well aware of how long some families have been waiting (up to 16 months) and have tried to remedy the situation."

Okay so quick question as I may be missing something. People help me out here...I may not be to smart these days(note sarcasm) How can the average wait for a referral be 12-14 months if some families have been waiting up to 16 months. Numbers have never been a strong point for me, so maybe I'm not getting it? How does that make sense?!!!? And I wonder how they're going to remedy this? Anyways I will embrace my new positive mantra and say that the 16 months is the exception. Yes, sometimes I live in a fantasy world. But cut me some slack. I need some fantasy to get through the day, okay!!

It be official

It's official, we still have to wait. Our agency has now stated that the wait for a healthy infant is 12-14 months. Didn't get upset about this although I had to tell Jon. He was like:"don't get upset, we already knew this".

me: "I know, but now it's official, they put it on the website"

jon: "But we knew this, so it's no big deal"

--end of conversation--

He's right, no big deal. We knew it was coming. I usually see things on the boards right before our agency makes the statement. So with that in mind we should-and I say should loosely-receive word of our child between March and May. Now we usually have Mother's day at our home every year. So let's hope that on this Mother's day I can proudly display a picture of our child.

I GOT DOUBLE D'S....

DOUBLE DIGITS BABY!!!! Now see...... I knew where I was going with that title, What were you thinking? We made it to the double digits. What's cool about being at ten months waiting and into the double digits is that we CANNOT go into triple digits(now refrain from any sarcastic remarks!!! It's hard, I know!!)

This means that we are at least halfway to having our baby home. Even if it takes 16 months for a referral and 4 months for court we are halfway there right NOW, TODAY. And tomorrow we'll be more than halfway. How cool is that?

So in honor of our double digits, 10 months, and in synch with my wanting to be more positive..

MY TOP TEN REASONS WHY THIS WAIT WON'T GET ME DOWN....

10: Because we are halfway there and they can't take that away from us.

9: We are at 10 months and I have not been committed

8: We have more time to spend...errr...save more money.

7: Our marriage is stronger having gone through all this.

6: I have met some wonderful families and friends through this journey.

5: I learned to maneuver my way through cyber space...and trust me this took time.

4: We have polished our interviewing skills.

3: We've almost learned the meaning of patience.

2: Our house is cleaner due to homestudies....and homestudy updates.

And the #1 reason why this wait won't get me down.....(drumroll please....)

***OUR CHILD IS WAITING FOR US****

1 year ago today...

See I knew that there was something that I wanted to write about. But for the life of me I couldn't figure it out. The large print on the calendar should've clued me it. I can be so not with it sometimes...like when I was adding $5, and $5 to $24....I had to think about it...Duh!! I even asked the lady if I was adding it right....ummmm... ADD $10. See what all this adoption stuff does to your brain. Oh wait...I digress...today...1 year ago..we started our adoption. I'm so giddy about this. I remember how nervous and excited we were about it. We were so careful about filling out the application. We knew what a big step this was. If many of you don't know, Jon and I struggled with infertility for a very long time. Last year it was 3 1/2 years of TTC(trying to conceive). We actually were in the process of saving for IVF. We were pretty close to having all the money for ONE shot at it. I just felt that it wasn't the right choice for us at the time. So we jumped back onto the adoption discussion. So much stress was involved with TTC, so much pressure, so many tears. And when we filled out the application all that pressure, all that stress was lifted graciously from our shoulders. Now I'm not saying that there isn't a whole party full of stress now, but it's different. When we filled out that application, said a prayer, sealed it and mailed it, we were able to breath. We were at peace. It had been a long time since we were able to breath and look at eachother in a whole new light. There were no more schedules, no more sex only on this day, or not on this day. No more sitting on my head afterwards, no thermometers, no more peeing on a stick, no more calendars, no more monitors, no more doctors appointments, and no more 2 week wait. Goodbye to all that happened the minute we sealed that envelope. Last year at this time, we became again just a married couple. It was so refreshing. Then 4 days later we had our first homestudy visit. Talk about fast. But last year on this date we were very excited and very hopeful. Today I celebrate that!!!

Happy New Year...a better perspective

See I told you all that I would be more positive today. Actually, it required a stern, but loving tongue lashing from ole' hubby. A long talk about the fact that we are NOT going to change agencies. And a reiteration about the fact that we are NOT going to spend our last day of 2006 down or depressed. Oh we got out of the house, a major accomplishment from this homebody!!

Soo...on a better note...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It's a new year and I am bound and determined to have more good days then bad. I hope 2007 brings HOPE to us all. I pray that our children where ever they may be are loved and well taken care of. I pray that their care takers look after them with love and concern as they wait for their forever families. I pray for patience for us all. And most of all I pray that this is the year-The year of the pig-(yeah more on that later)- is the year that we are united with our children. The children that were chosen for us, the children that were meant to be in our families and the children that even though we haven't met them or even see a picture of them yet, we already love from the bottom of our hearts!!!