Bedroom suite complete..

We were able to get the rest of the nursery furniture to add to the crib. It's soooo beautiful and we love it. Thanks to my parents for gifting us all this!! Right now we're trying to figure out how to arrange it in her room. We have come to the conclusion that we are big furniture people in a small furniture house. Claire is going to have to play in the drawers cuz there's not much room left. Notice she already has a stuffed animal collection going. The dogs however believe that all the new toys are for them....that's going to be an issue....haha!

We have decided that we are going to try to do the mural ourselves and have purchased a small projector. Fairies and Fairies all around is what we're going to do. Jon is going to trace it all and I am going to do the painting. Uggghhh....I hope it turns out okay! I'll show the progress b/c there's not much to report.

Our paperwork made it back to the orphanage on March 31st. Say a prayer that we get a fast, efficient judge. We don't anticipate hearing anything until July. Hopefully at that time we will know about our court date, then travel two months later. PRAY!!!

The care package was rec'd on Friday, so visions of Claire with lots and lots of new things gets met through the day...

The weepy gene?

Please tell me when that weepy gene thingy sneaks in? Because all I was trying to do was track a package from here to ....oh I don't know...Taiwan, and all I did was read this:

Your item left the United States from MIAMI at 6:52 PM on April 8, 2008.

Next thing you know....tears....

GAWD!! Seriously!! Is this going to happen a lot?

1st care package

So I'm thinking we may have sent just a little too much. Jon said he felt better knowing that we sent her some clothes. The care package included: a photo album with pictures of us and the grandparents, a giraffe that plays music, a crib toy that lights up when spun, the softest blanket eva, a homemade blanket, booties, and hat(b/c I know that she just needs a hat in the tropics), 4 sleepers with footies, the "Daddy says I'm beautiful" onsie, and two disposable cameras.
We're trying to hold off on some of the other outfits we bought her b/c we know that we may not get any of this back. We're hoping that she's home before she outgrows some of them. If it looks like she'll be too big before she's home, then we'll send them over.
It weird to know that in a little over a week, our precious baby girl will have something from us, finally!!

34 well earned years!!!

I was wrong...
I thought it was going to be a bad birthday.
I thought that yet again, being without a child, would define me.

But I was wrong.
It was not being childless that defined me, but the journey that got me here.
So now it is simple.

I was wrong.
I was never without
I just had to get there

I was always a mother
journeying to her child.
Waiting for her to find me

So I was wrong.
It was a good birthday
Because she found me.

Outa my hands..

The paperwork did make it to a fed ex yesterday and we rec'd confirmation this morning that our agency has rec'd it. WHOOHOOO!! They said they will get it to Cathwel ASAP. So you may ask..what's next my friend...How long will it take?
So glad you asked..because I was wondering the same thing..
I asked our coordinator...

She informed us that it takes(I always love this disclaimer..give or take) about two months to get a court date.
I was satisfied with that bit of information...Jon was not..
So I had to ask again..

And she told us that after we rec'v a court date, it is typically another two months until travel. So I am guesstimating August. And since our fingerprints will expire once again on August 25th, Let's hope we get a travel date before they expire.
I really anticipate having to redo them once more because we'll be so close...but shhhhhh!! Don't tell Jon that just yet!!

Not today!!

It's just not meant to be. It seemed like a comedy of errors today as we tried to get our authenticated paperwork back to our agency. It got delivered to us today, Jon dropped it off at my job, so I could make copies..
The goal was to get to the fed ex place by 5pm...
BUT....
-I had to stay late at work b/c a rep was running late. Which put me leaving close to 4pm
-All I saw were brake lights...Traffic was stopped on the highway.
-Jon was not back from trying to get meds at Walgreens when I finally got home
-Finally, get a few signatures, a couple of copies.....shooooot...I FORGOT, WE need the BIG check and one more notarization....
-Jon and I off to the bank to get a notarization and the "BIG" certified check. It's 4:45

NEW GOAL....get to other fed ex place, across the river and through the woods by 6pm
-Out of copy paper
-stop off at Winn Dixie to get paper
-Winn Dixie out of paper
-Go back the other way(by the bank we were just at) to get paper at Office Depot.
-{pass the fed ex truck picking up the 5 pm pickup}
-Back to our house, sign, sign, more copies, copy, organize...back out the door.
-Okay so not going to make it to the OTHER fed ex place by 6pm

NEW GOAL..get to the main fed ex hub by 7pm
-Drive halfway across town to what we think is the fed ex main hub...Nope it's the freight hub, with no one in the office.
Seriously?

NEW GOAL...just get to any fed ex place so Jon doesn't need to go another day without sleep and it will be ready tomorrow without an extra trip
-We're halfway to downtown, so we drive the other half...
-FINALLY....with paperwork in hand....go up to the counter..
-"we need to mail this"
-"fed ex?"
-"Seriously dude, we're in a fed ex kinkos, what do you think?"
-"Our system just went down"
-"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"
-"nope we have a call into tech support"
-"Thank you very much"
Out the door...
CAR WON'T START!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!

Another turn of the key and the car started, but I'm thinking that we weren't supposed to get these papers out tonight. Ya think? So off we headed home....

Never thought we'd see that!!

All the way from Taipei, Taiwan......
Making it's debut in Claire's room...


With the help of an unsuspecting new Daddy
and two unsuspecting furry siblings..


THE CRIB...
complete with a fill in Claire, and the biggest pink bunny ever...








I never thought I would see the day when there would be a crib nestled in the corner. This was always the "soon to be baby's room". It was the scrap room, the guest room, friends and relatives room, but it never seemed to get to the point of just being the baby's room. Now it is!! Now there's a crib in Claire's room!!

7..no..8..no...wait...7.....huh?

We rec'd a phone call today from TECO. We paid for expidited service for the authentication of 7 items. But apparently they counted 8. I swear it was 7. I went over in my head all the items that needed to be authenticated and couldn't for the life of me think of what the 8th item could be. But since regular service is 2-6 days, if they waited for us to send them the extra 23 dollars for the extra document we would fall under the regular service anyways. So I told them to just authenticate the 8 items with regular service(which is cheaper). They told me that they would issue us cash in the return envelope since they would then owe us some change(anyone else think that is weird...oh well) Anyways....after thinking and thinking about how I caused my child to have to stay a few days longer in the orphange I rushed home to prove that it was only 7 items. I looked again at all the documents, as we had made a copy of what we sent. 7...there were only 7 items...I made Jon come over and count with me...7...see Jon...7. Utterly annoyed with me, but thankful that the mistake wasn't his...he told me to call them and try and figure it out. So again they pulled our file...8 they tell me, there are 8 items..Seriously? What are the items....wellllll come to find out that an extra little document slipped it's way into the envelope during the midnight frenzy to get all the paperwork together. So now we will have an official TECO stamp on our agency referral acceptance contract.....which needed to be notarized, but not really TECO'd. Oh well. I'm sure they'll find that cute.

GIFTS

The generosity is already pouring in. Claire is already starting to receive great gifts from family and friends alike. I'm sure that I'll have a hard time showing them all and thanking everyone. So from the start..Thank You to everyone for all the wonderful gifts. Claire has rec'd clothes, stuffed animals, handmade blankets(one of which I don't show b/c it has our last name on it), bowls with spoons, and forks, sippy cups, clothes....all from loving family and friends. She is a much anticipated and much loved little girl already!!

TECO bound!!

On Thursday night one of my closest friends sister(who's also a friend) notarized all our stuff for us. Thank you Charlie!! We always knew that she would do it for us, but I always hate to call in favors from people. It makes me feel like I'm 'using' someone and that's why we didn't initially go to her. But since the girl at the bank was unaware of her job duties(yeah, I'm still a little irritated) we had to call in the favor. Thankfully so....we got all the paperwork together and Jon got it to fed ex on Friday. The other good thing about going to my friends house was that Claire got this...














Isn't' that just too too cute. And it means more because my friend Jennifer is a die hard Georgia fan. I'm surprised that this outfit didn't spontaneously catch on fire in her house. Thank you Jennifer!!

And I saw this the other day and thought it was so so sweet I had to buy it for her. I can't wait to see a picture of her in it.

So all is well, we should get the TECO papers back next week, then off to our agency, then back to TAIWAN and into court!! It's so weird. I remember reading all about others who were TECO bound and it seemed so far away. Now it's us. WE'RE TECO BOUND!!

To the B*t*h at the Bank today...

NO You do not know what it is like. You could not sympathize with our situation. Have you waited in excess of five years for a family, then two of those for a picture of your child that resides on the other side of the world? Because if you knew what that was like then, you would have notarized the Effin contract. Do I know what the contract says? YES!! I provided you with the translation. But just so you know. Your notary stamp has nothing to do with what the document says, only that we signed it, and that we are who we say we are. That's it. The document could say in English that my Brother resides on Mars, and you would have to notarize my signature, that is it. Nothing else. You effin witch. Seriously could you show one ounce of compassion. We are not the only people in the United STates that have needed to sign an adoption contract in Chinese. Seriously it goes on every day. You told me that you would notarize the translation, Please explain to me what the FUCK good that would do me in a Taiwanese court? Don't give me that flippant' smile, and tell me you wish you could help me. If you wish you could help me then you would have done it and notarized the contract!! You could loose your license? Seriously your license, to notarize? ARe you kidding me? It's not a license to practice medicine lady. No one is going to die if you notarize our contract. But instead, because of you, because you choose NOT to notarize our Contract, my child, my sweet sweet daughter will have to spend more time in an orphanage because now we have to wait yet another day to get our documents notarized, then copied, sent to TECO and so on. Because of you, you little witch. I will find the supporting documentation that states you were supposed to notarize it. And I will provide you with the information on what your job is. Bite me@!@!@!

RANT DONE...I normally try not to use outright profanity on this blog(even though I do in real life), BUT she warranted the F word!!

Today...

The 9th. Of every month. I celebrated it. I cringed it. I watched it's passing every month with nary a word. I marked it's coming and going every month. Today would have been 24 months on the waiting list. 24 was causing much strife and knots in my stomach. I hated 24. I knew it was coming. But it didn't see us, not this time. And I am grateful that I didn't have to post a big ugly 24, but instead a big beautiful picture of Claire. But it has visited my friends. And some of 24's friends have visited my friends. I don't like 24 and his friends. Go away. Stay away from my friends!!!
To my friends that are still waiting...I am thinking of you. I know that it is hard. I'm going to hunt down 24 and his friends and annihilate them....Banish them...roast them...
On the Anniversary of what would have been 24 months for us, I am celebrating the strength and support that you all have given me to get through each month to that call. Thank you for journeying with us, celebrating, crying, hoping, and praying. It has made the difference. And I hope and pray that you are sharing that call and photo with me very soon!!

{{{HUGS}}}

She's not missing any bottles!!

We rec'd the rest of the paperwork yesterday. I will tell you that I am a little overwhelmed and had to just put it away for a day. Jon is out of town for the weekend so we can't do anything about it right now. You would think that after 5 plus years of trying to have a family then almost 2 years on a waiting list, that we would be ready to bring little Miss Claire home...NOT!! We have so much to do, so much to buy, so many things to sign, gifts to buy........Can I just fast forward to holding her in my arms....

Our last stats had her at 60 cm, with her wt @ a whopping 14.3 pounds. Seriously, I don't think she's missing any bottles. She's a healthy little thing and that's how we likes it.

Oh yeah, and here are more pictures to ooogle over..

I don't know why I love this picture so much, she has this odd look on her face, but for some reason it's my favorite right now!

Love her little smile!!

Introducing....

Our Daughter.....

Claire Jocelyn

Our prayers have been answered.....

Just a few more...

We have pictures!!! I will post them later though...after all of our family has seen her gorgeous face. Seriously, she's cute, I'm not joking...she's beautiful!!! I'm not biased..she really is cute....Ok maybe just a little biased....

update @ 7:46 pm. I am sorry guys....We are having a difficult time with one email....once this important person gets to see her face, I will post for you all!!

What's next?

For those that aren't up on the Taiwan adoption front, I thought I would fill you in on what will be happening next for us.

The following are estimates: Please don't freak out: It may not take as long: It might take longer!! It is what it is...

2-4 weeks:
Hopefully in the next week or two we will rec'v pictures of our daughter(EEEKKK, I said "our daughter!!"):0)...With these pictures should be the contracts and information on additional paperwork that we must do.

4 weeks:
The additional paperwork is sometimes called the second dossier. We have to get some things notarized, additional paperwork that they already have rec'd...twice, we know this, we'll deal..then some things need to be Authenticated at TECO(Taipei Economic and Cultural Office) in Miami(we will deal with TECO through the mail). I am told this takes about 4 weeks.

4-6 months:
Once we gather all the paperwork and it's all signed and notarized, authenticated, we will send this back to our agency I think? or maybe Cathwel? Not sure, but it somehow gets back to Taiwan and then enters the court system. I am told the average court process right now has been 4 months. There is one VERY slow judge in Taiwan. Those worst case scenarios took LONGER then six months. Pray that we do not get that judge. We won't know much during this period. There are two rulings. This period is for the first ruling.

10 days:
Once we get a first ruling, there is a 10 day grace period. This is the last chance for our daughters birthmother to change her mind.

3-4 weeks NOTICE:
After this grace period, there is the second ruling. Our daughters adoption will be final in Taiwan. We will then get notice to travel. It seems that families are getting somewhere in the range of 3-4 weeks notice to travel.

This is my understanding of what will happen. For those that have BTDT, if I am mistaken please enlighten me!

THE CALL

It has just hit me again, so I thought now was a good time to write about it. Thanks for putting up with the last post, it really was fun!! So in my head I had a vision: I would get the call, I would be very calm, and reserved. I would write down all the information, keep quiet, go home, buy the blue or pink(but I was really thinking blue) booties, wrap them, sweetly wake up Jon and present him with the booties. We would cry, sniff, sniff, hug, love, love. We would buy flowers for both our mothers and balloons for our fathers, we would wait for them to be delivered. Then and only then would we announce it to everyone else.


This is what REALLY happened. I was at work, so that means frumpy green scrubs, blue clogs, hair up in an OR scrub hat with frogs on them(get the picture), I just finished scrubbing out a friend, I was back at my desk, which by the way is in the back, in the supply room..sorta office space style. I was putting an instrument tray together, getting frustrated, when in the left pocket....vibrate, vibrate....who could that be?.....it's an out of state number.....it can't be...that's not Bonnie's number(We know we're waiting for a call from Bonnie)....do I answer and hang up, like I do with wrong numbers, or answer.....I stare at the phone, lean back, answer....
hello
Hi Ann, this is Bonnie from FHSA
(still calm)is this "the call"
yes, this is the call.....

OH MY GOD**the following are gathered accounts from witnesses, because I really don't remember much**
I come tearing out of the room running, sobbing out loud. Now let me just explain, this was not the single tear running down a cheek. I'm talking snotty sobbing, out loud sobbing, screaming sobbing, heaving sobbing screaming and I apparently didn't know what to do..so I was running/pacing up and down recovery room. They actually heard me on the adult side and one girl came out ,found me leaned up against the wall sobbing, started hugging me and telling me it's going to be okay....
"We have a baby, we have a baby"
more hugging, "okay, so this is good crying!!"
"yes, yes, we have a baby!!"
By that time all my friends have come out to see what happened, and basically who died.
"This the call we've been waiting for" more sobbing
meanwhile, Bonnie is trying to get the fax number
Now I tried really hard to give her the fax number, but apparently, so I've been told, I was not well understood, I wasn't making any sense...so I just handed off my cell phone to my friend.
She then finished talking with Bonnie, who got the fax number and told her to tell me that when I calmed down and could breath, to call her back.
I then got on the phone to call and try and wake up Jon. I called four times, no answer.
Finally I screamed/sobbed into the answering machine that he needed to get up, he needed to call me, why was he not answering the phone.
Welp...he heard me on the machine...again thinking that someone had died...he bolted out of bed, and later we would come to learn, he popped a rib out of place....got to the phone, called me back...
"we have a baby!!"
He thought that something terrible had happened and at that point was in a lot of pain.
so then I looked down on the piece of paper that I had written down ALL the information on the baby and all I saw was.....
IT'S A GIRL!!!!!! But you see that right, that's all I wrote. That's all the information I had...at that point the fax started coming through. I'm on the phone people are gathered around me. My SIL who sometimes works on my side is walking up from lunch, sees everyone gathered around me and me sobbing and thinks something horrible has happened to Jon. I just put up that piece of paper with "girl" written on it. GIRL...can you believe that. So Jon asked me what her name was and I proceeded to give him the wrong birthdate and the social workers name(thinking it was our baby's name). I was shaking and so NOT calm. So when Jon started passing on information it was wrong. I am such a total dork!!!
Then I found out that they had put a patient in the back room, which is right close by the room that I came screaming out of. Luckily a coworker explained to the family what was going on. Because I am sure that all the screaming and sobbing scared the family. It's a Girl!! We have a daughter. All this time we thought little boy. I was and still am absolutely stunned that we have a daughter. We already had the medicals examined and accepted last night. I'll let everyone else know what's next in another post. We anticipate photos in 2-4 weeks. It's all really a blur. I wish I could tell the story better. I am just so overwhelmed with happiness.
I my minds eye I thought I was be so pulled together. I would be calm, cool, and collected. Let me just tell you that I was so far from cool. I so lost control. I just couldn't hold back all the emotions. It's been a long time coming. We have tried for so long to start a family. So so long. And after all the years of tears being shed out of sadness...I had some making up to do and had just as many tears shed in joy!

For some reason I can't seem to put into words how I feel right now. I am grateful. I am humbled by the path that has been layed before us, I am amazed. I am stunned. I am scared. I am in love with a child I have never seen. I am the Mommy to a baby girl!!

update @ 9pm: sorry guys I forgot to give any more details. She was born November 3rd, 2007. She is at Cathwel. She's healthy. Her name from us is being debated at the moment.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daytona 2008

NOT the Daytona 500, but the day before. Formally known as the Busch series, now the Nationwide series(or so I've been told). Jon won tickets through his job(they have such neat insentives) It was my first time to a race. Jon kept asking me if I wanted to go down to the fence. I didn't feel I "needed" to go down to the fence. But after much insistence by Jon, we went down to the fence. I'm standing there as the cars are driving by on a caution flag....Jon told me..."just wait"....Then they really started driving, they were flying by, it was extremely loud, the wind was wooshing by and you get sucked toward the fence..Seriously, it was soo cool, I think my exact words were this is "effin awesome." Never thought I would be a Nascar fan, but it was pretty fun.


diclaimer: some photos have been edited so that it's subject wouldn't feel so bloated..yay photoshop!!

23 months!!!!

I have tried and tried and tried for hours to upload a video. I started @ 11 am. It is now 5 p.m. I am tired. I am over the video thing. There are typos in the poem at the end. I know this. But I am tired of editing.

But anyways. We've been waiting 23 months. That's all I have to say