Welcome to the HOT box

Our A.C. is broken again. This is an annual thing. Seriously. EVERY SUMMER. Good thing is that it's not a terribly hot night. Our dogs do not agree. Tomorrow is a holiday. So unless Jon can fix it. We will remain HOT. He will try to fix it. I will stay away from him. But you're not interested in the humid, sticky state of affairs in our house. The mural is FINISHED. Enjoy the pictures....(if you want to see them bigger, click on the pictures)

Wait....you didn't want to see room pictures, did you? But we worked so hard on the pictures and you were a captive audience. Thanks for the indulgence. Now onto what you've been waiting for....

CLAIRE in all her glory. She's amazing. I can't wait to meet her, hold her and kiss her little face.

She's in a dress!!! Can't wait to dress her up.
Checking out the Grandparents. Jon's Dad really is in the album, even though this picture has him cut out. My folks are on the left. Jon's Mom is in pink.
Lovin' this picture for some reason. She's wearing a sleeper we sent, along with the blanket, and we also sent the giraffe.
My new favorite. She just looks like she's chillin'. I LOVE the onesie we sent. It's the "Daddy says I'm beautiful" onesie. I also made the hat and cream colored blanket around her.
Tummy time!!

No news

A few of you have asked me what happened in court. We have not heard a thing. We don't anticipate hearing. I asked our coordinator if we will and she told us that in about a week..or so, we'll hear either things "went smoothly" or that the judge is asking for more info. I asked around on my groups though and most people didn't hear a thing until travel notification. So I'm holding the impression that no news is good news. It's been several days since court and I would think that if the judge needed more info then our social worker in Taiwan would feel compelled to let us know right away so we could get all the info needed. So I'm hoping that things went well and she didn't "need" to contact us. It's a waitng game....so now onto waiting for travel notice.

On another note, yesterday we rec'd the coveted yellow envelope from our agency. I love the yellow envelope because it has pictures of our daughter. She's getting so big. So beautful. So healthy. Once we show family I'll post pictures. On Sunday the rest of the family will see her smiling face. Til Sunday friends.....

Court will now commence...

I'm not watching the clock...

I did not notice that it's now 9 am in Taiwan on May 21st.

The thought didn't cross my mind that sometime before I wake our case will be heard.

Nope not me.

I'm not thinking about the fact that in Taiwan right now, soon, our names will be uttered in a court room.

I've not even uttered a thought about the fact that someone is presenting our names in conjection with Claire's.

Not for one moment.

As court approaches....

My stomach is doing flip flops. The site of food is making me sick(not that I couldn't miss a meal). My face is breaking out and I just want to know that everything is okay. I stare at her picture and cry....it's not this end of the wait. I'm handling this end of the wait okay. We're preparing for her, it's fun getting her room ready. But when I stare at her picture and think that someone on the other end of the world is determining whether she gets to come home and we're not there, it drives me mad. If they had questions and we were there I could say me peace. She is my daughter in my eyes and in my heart. I just hate not knowing. I hate being out of control. Jon on the other hand is asking me why I'm worried. "it's going to be fine Ann""relax, try and get some sleep..." See how that just makes me want to strangle him. Jon is the opposite of me. He has that "everything's going to be alright" mentality with everything. Very rarely does he worry. "She's coming home soon, sweetie...."
Me on the other hand, I could pull out my arm hair one at time...I'm so nervous...

So this is the conversation today...

(I have just taken a shower and Jon says...)
You look real cute with that zit cream on your lip

yeah well my face is breaking out....Claire's birthmom is going to look at me and say that I'm not the one she picked out

Well good thing I'm better looking in person, then in pictures....

He can always make me laugh and lighten my mood. So Tuesday night as we sleep, they will have our hearing. I doubt I'll sleep. Say a prayer everyone that things go well. Let's pray her home!!!

Coming along

It's coming along, slowly but surely. Hope you all don't get tired of seeing room pictures..we should have new Claire pictures in a couple of weeks...til then....
So not the best side of me, but I wanted to show proof that I really am working on the room too!!

<----wood does come in purple, right?







<----this turned out so well, but it's not showing up well in the picture. We(I) still have a lot of detail painting to do though.


<-----Isn't she purty?





<----the latest addition

And last, but not least. Jon's Mom(the MIL-seriously she likes being called the MIL)...has started the shopping spree. I hear she did some major Grandma shopping. On Mommy's day we got our first car seat...yay!!! It's not out of the box yet, b/c our cars are not deserving of such greatness(they're filthy), but soon we'll be sporting the car seat! I'm sure it will make the chicks swoon when Jon rolls with the new car seat!! Thanks so much!!

Need I say more....EEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!

Good morning,

I have an update to share with you. Your court date has been scheduled for May the 21st. The adoption decrees are generally issued between one to two months of the court date. Once the decree has been issued Cathwel will inform us and you will be able to plan your travel.

Have a terrific weekend.
Bonnie

yup..

I forget that I have a picture of Claire on my badge. On one side it's my work badge, the other is one of her referral pictures. So depending on how it hangs, it's me or her. I forget that. People at work always see her and I forget. I was in the elevator the other day when someone I didn't know asked...."is that your daughter?" I almost froze, what do I say? Seriously this is the conversation I had with myself. Do I tell this stranger that yes, she is my daughter with the disclaimer that we are adopting her. Do I tell the whole story that we still have to go through court, but in our eyes she is our daughter..can they tell that she didn't come from me? No this woman can't tell by her picture, and she didn't want to hear the whole story, and I shouldn't feel guilty, there doesn't need to be a disclaimer when people ask me this. So with head held high I answered her..."yup, that's my daughter". And it felt good. No disclaimer, no nothing. Simply yes she is ours. Cool stuff.

More fairies..

So I got a little reprimanded by the "arteast" for not displaying more of the room in progress.
So here is a look at the Daddy to be working hard on his little girl's room. <------he's doing the bottom of the fairy tree.







This little beauty we finished outlining on Friday night. She will be floating above her crib.



<----this is the finished outline of the entire fairy tree house.

-a close up of one of the flowers-

The boy fairy on his snail...going to the fairy house. So as you can see progress is slow, with lots of detail painting to do. We didn't get a lot done this weekend as we had a wedding and first communion to attend. But progress will resume soon...