Not for us but...

I never thought that I would be so excited for another family. Someone from our agency announced their referral yesterday. They had been waiting almost exactly 24 months!! They had asked for either gender 0-4 years old and rec'd the referral for a little girl born in July. She's absolutely gorgeous with a head full of thick hair. I wish that they had a blog so you could all see, but they don't. I swear I shed some tears for them, they've waited so long. So now that means we take one step forward...wooohooo!! Only two familes ahead of us for our agency. It seems that referrals are beginning to trickle in too. A family from another agency rec'd their referral I think about a month ago. Bring it on....I hope this means that things will begin to pick up referral wise.

New Header

Isn't the new header the cutest!! I couldn't go without THANKING Sarah, from Journey to Hannah Claire, for the nicest gift of a new header. She just whipped it out last night without a problem. I love the new colors. And just in case you're wondering Sarah is just waiting for that phone call about Hannah, which by the way should be coming very soon!!

I want...

* to talk about something other then adoption
* to stop obsessing about time lines
* to stop waiting
* to have an answer, when someone asks "what's going on with the adoption"
* to know when our child will be home
* a "paper pregnancy" that parallels a real time pregnancy
* to stop putting our lives on hold
* to feel free to spend money instead of saving for an adoption that is taking forever
* to feel secure that this will really happen

I HAVE...
* hope that one day I will no longer talk about adoption, but our child
* knowledge that I am not alone
*to continue to wait
*no real answers to "what's going on with the adoption"
*no understanding of when he will be home, BUT THAT he will one day come home
*a "paper pregnancy" of two elephants(did I just compare myself to elephants?)
*to hold on just a little bit longer....or more, but we will
*money in the bank and that's always good, adoption or not

*faith!!

I171h refile..

Just wanted to let you all know that we were able get the extension on our I171h for FREE!! There have been inconsistencies with immigration offices all over. The discrepancy was centered around whether or not families rec'd their original I171h on the lower fee. Some offices were saying that if you paid the old fee then you weren't able to get the free extension; that the free extension was only if you paid the new higher fee. Our agency told us that with the cover letter we had to request the "one time, free extension of our I171H" So that's what we did. We had to fill out a new application, send in all the copies of everything of past, but we did NOT include any money and hoped that our office would allow it. And today we rec'd our new I171h FREE!!! Yay!! Finally something worked out for us. Just wanted to let everyone know because I know that there are many families in the same situation as we are. Have a great weekend!

Oh, but immigration took away one child. We had approval for two children, just in case, even though our homestudy was only for one child. Our agency even told me before that immigration usually doesn't allow a difference. So we again asked for approval for 2 children, but they only gave us approval for one. Oh well

A good omen?

Well here we are again friends. But now we're at 19 months. Remember how I said that I wouldn't make it this long. Remember how I said that I didn't think I could do deal with this long of a wait. Well I'm dealin'.

Not to say that we're dealing with it well, but we're dealing.

The good news is that there is some communication from Cathwel with another family from our agency. It's not a referral yet(although I think it may be coming soon for them) It is communication which means we know that Cathwel really is out there and they do know that there are families waiting!!

Other odd happenings in our little abode. We've had this fish tank for about 4 years now. Big, fierce, hugely ignored. Fish disappear. We have African cichlids which are pretty aggressive and have been know to cut out the competition in the tank. We were down to about four fish, two of them cichlids. I'm sitting on the couch today and I notice something very small wiggling away out of the corner of my eye. I'm thinking to myself what varmint go into the tank. I mosey on over and it's not varmint, it's baby fish. Where did they come from? Okay so I know where they come from, but the other weird thing is that the other "half" of an obviously breeding pair is no where to be found. I even looked behind the tank to see if she took the leap to lower ground. Nope not there....but anyways...even the fish are fertile and they get babies!!

So we're thinking that this is a good omen? I mean it's been four years and we've never had baby fishies before. And I know in some cultures, if you dream of fish it means a little one is on the way. If the fish are multiplying in your own home, does that count!???!

File, File, and refile

Okay, so some snipets from this weekend:

*Our I171h refile, will be in the mail tomorrow. I'm getting pretty good at paperwork. We requested the "one time, no charge extension of our I171h." I'll let you know if they let us do it.
*This should be the last of our paperwork til we know of our little man(I hope I don't eat those words)

*Not only am I not 19, I am not 10. Went to a birthday party at pump it up.....took my nephew....and well.....I'm not a stand on the sidelines kinda Aunt. My back is ailing again. But I smoked him on the obstacle course(yes I am bragging about beating a 10 year old!!)

*Jon on the other hand is 10. He scared the doodles outa my nephew on the gocarts. My nephew told me that Jon was running kids off the track and making them spin out!!

*Much to my sisters dismay...I have introduced the nephew to the Starbucks frappaccino

*Camp is set for hunting season.(I supervised)
*Let's all say a collective prayer that Jon doesn't get life flighted out of the woods this year!!

Hope you all had a great weekend!!

So here are the STATS...

I emailed our agency today with a few questions.....

It seems that there have only been 5 referrals in the last 9 months. Which means a referral about every OTHER month. There are still three families ahead of us, two asking for infants(0ne family a girl and the other family either gender) The other couple is asking for either gender 0-4 years old.

Now IF the three families go before us and the referrals follow the list, then we are looking at APRIL!@!! Did you hear that?

In case you didn't let me repeat that for you.....APRIL!!!!!!

BUT if the referrals fall out of line and families after us get a referral before us, on the third month of the new year, when the moon is in the 12th night, then it could be after that. Or if the 10th star to the right of Venus, at the second moon of Jupiter has an eclipse before the fourth night of the second quarter of 2008, then I'm going to SCREAM!!!

Okay so you get it. IT's going to be a long time, with no way to predict when this is all going to come to a glorious end!!

Taiwan Treasure...in the making

Bear with me as I learn about the camera, uploading, and editing. It only took me two hours to figure out where the connection on the camera was(I'm not kidding!!) In this thing called adoption you must maintain a sense of humor. To Jon, thanks for being a great sport and allowing me to publish this to the world wide web. I love you honey. This video is for your viewing pleasure. Come, enjoy, learn about our little treasure in the making...

Remeber how I said....

....I was a jet ski champ.

....not so much. Please remind me that I am not 19 years old anymore.

I went back to work with a little back pain. By the end of the week it was worse. We drove down to Orlando for our "other" nephews birthday.

...and by Saturday night...

walking was a luxury....

...by Sunday, it remained a luxury.

Which brought me to...

*a call in on Monday(I HATE calling in)
*a doctors visit
*a shot in my junk
*a readjustment(which scares me every time he does it)
*a tongue lashing about my back exercises
*a "reminder" that I have NO muscle tone(which I should) to support my back
*mandatory exercise(!!!!!)
*AND...a calling out in front of my mother in law(who manages the office)!!!which went like this....."Tell Mrs.(Mother in law) what your physical therapist told you"

.....(head hung low)"....to do my back exercises"

..."and have you been doing your back exercises"

now I'm thinking to myself...doesn't jet skiing count as some form of exercise and technically I was obviously working out my back or it wouldn't have been hurting....
"no, I haven't been doing my back exercises"

I getcha doc, I gethca.

6 years married...who whuda thunk it!!

So another year has passed and we are again celebrating our Anniversary. Last year I said it would be our last Anniversary before our little one gets here. I won't say that again.....but I can hope it.

You all know that we got married in Maui and so I've posted another wedding picture. This is one of my favorites!! We're hoping to go back for our 10 year Anniversary with a little one in tow and stay at the same place and take some family pictures in the gazebo that we got married in.

So instead of proclaiming that this will be our LAST anniversary sans child....I just want to say Thank You to all our family and friends near and far who have wholeheartedly supported us no matter what. I want to say Thank You for standing by us, for rooting for us, for lighting a candle, saying the rosary, praying for us. I want to say Thank You for hoping for us when we didn't have hope, for carrying our faith when we didn't feel we had any, for the shoulders we cried on...

I want to say Thank you for Celebrating with us each minute step in this long and drawn out process. And although I won't say that this will be our last anniversary I will CLAIM that this coming year is going to bring us all a lot to Celebrate and be thankful for!!!

There...I claimed it!!

Did you want pictures?

(click on the captions box above)


First off I must explain the lesion on my face in some of the pictures. I haven't gotten a cold sore in 8 years..so what do you think pops up on our first night. Jokes on me. Not only was I so bloated that we almost had to cut off my ring, I got a HUGE herpetic lesion on my face. And I don't get a little fever blister on my lip, I get a volcano running down my face...seriously. Try feeling sexy for your hubby when you're bloated and you have this lesion on your face. I just sat in the mirror thinking to myself..."you have got to be kidding!!!" I kept shoving my face at Jon asking "can you see it"
"no honey, it's barely noticeable"
He lied, I know, but that's love.

Destin is absolutely beautiful. The water is crystal clear blue green. They describe the beach as "sugar sanded" and they aren't lying. The sand is white as can be and feels like a handful of sugar. We will definitely go back with our little one...when he gets here.

Our days consisted of swimming in the pool, hanging on the beach, eating of course, swimming in the pool, nap from 3-5, snorkeling on the beach, the pool again...you get the picture.

We rented jet skis which seemed like a great idea. We forgot how much fun they were and were asking ourselves why we don't have ours anymore. We had a blast jumping the jet skis. In my mind I was a jet ski champ...and Jon too. We took control like we owned the ocean...
We paid for it later. My back is killing me and Jon's shoulder reminded him that it hasn't been a year since the accident. But we were fierce!!

We got out on the go cart track. Yes this was a first for me. Again Jon was floored that I hadn't done this before. Jon raced past me as I cautiously eased the go cart out. Little kids were racing by me as I maneuvered the little machine. I did get the hang of it and raced around like the champion that I am. But I came in last. I felt like such a looser. But the next time, I'll take him!!

We did some snorkeling. The water is soooooo clear. You can see like 15 feet down. Now I don't really have a fear of the ocean. We're both pretty strong swimmers and I really don't fear that a shark is going to just swim up to me and say hi. BUT when the water is that clear you see everything..ignorance is bliss I say. I CANNOT hang with the jelly fish. I just can't. Jon was way out and I was following, but then I saw one. So I would swim the other way, then I would be minding my own business and then BAM, right in front of me....you get the picture. So finally I just took off the mask and swam in ignorance.

The dolphins were right off shore several times which I love. If it weren't for the jellyfish I would've been right out there with Flipper and his friends.

We had a blast and for a moment we were just a couple on vacation celebrating 6 years of marriage. We weren't an infertile couple, we weren't perspective adoptive parents, we weren't waiting for anything, and we definitely weren't a couple that have been on a waiting list for 18 months. We just were......It was awesome!!

We're BAAAAACK

We're back from vacation. It went by very quickly. I will upload photos a little later today and post some. It'll take a bit to figure out the video stuff though. But I had to post a quick post to mark 18 months on the waiting list. I can't believe it's been 18 months, but I guess we're getting there. Been wondering if he's actually born yet. I'm over the wait and there seems to be no end in sight. Anyways....later today I'll tell you all about it and post some pics....til then......we made it to 18 months!!!!

It's official....

But now we just have to wait to leave or they won't let us in the door. We still have to pack, but can't leave for a couple more hours.

Poor surgeons yesterday got a countdown of how long they had til I went on vacation. I kept telling them they had to finish because my vacation started in 3 hours, then 1 hour, then 15 minutes. There was no pressure for the resident to close incision, I wasn't breathing down his neck, watching every painstakingly slow stitch. No I didn't. I wasn't turning off the OR lights before he had dressing on. I DID NOT clean up the room and disconnect everything before the official surgery was over. I would NOT do that!!!

Okay, maybe I did, just a little. But darnit they were running behind and it wasn't my fault.

All the batteries are charged, got a new memory card for the camera. We can now take more then 8 pictures at a time, finally. The video camera is set although we don't know how to use it. Jon's about to get us coffee. He is being a little mean and says he won't swim near me in the ocean, lest I attract sharks. Give you two guesses to what that means. Why does that always happen on vacation. I swear God has a wicked sense of humor!!!

Anyways.....gotta pack!!!

WE ARE OFFICIALLY ON VACATION!!!!

T minus 6...

First off my apologies to everyone who has to deal with hearing the most annoying daily reminder that we are going on vacation. And after another 10 hour call day I am reminded of the fact that I REALLY need a vacation.

Been trying to get ready for Jon's sister who will graciously be staying at our house to watch the dogs. She'll surely have her hands full with her 2 year old and our 2 "children". I apologize now for their spoiled behavior. But they will LOVE having the baby around.

We'll be taking our new video camera to practice so when we do eventually get back, you all will have to watch video of us, which won't be too exciting, but we need the practice of uploading video and such. Not much else.....T minus 6 days and counting!!!

That's where our children are....

My father just sent this to me. Please say a prayer for all the families. My Dad said "This is the projected path. It is expected to be a cat 5 before it strikes Taiwan."

The arrow is pointing straight to Taipei, where our orphange is at. I hope they are prepared.

Vacation....BACK ON!!

We couldn't hang with not having a vacation again, so we bit the bullet and booked a week on the gulf. Now it's not the Bahamas, but we just couldn't swing a trip to the Bahamas this time. So we decided to take a trip to the beaches on the gulf. We can drive there and most importantly there is a hurricane policy. AND with a little itsy bitsy storm a brewin' off of Africa and heading this way, this was important. So pray that we either avoid all storms or it takes a direct path to our destination. The warranty only works if the National Hurricane Center says that a hurricane is going "to HIT Jon and Ann's condo!!"

Just a little glimpse into my husbands mind. The above picture is what sold him on our rental. It's a 700 foot lazy river on the resort grounds. We are on the bottom level and from my understanding we have very easy access to this little "river" from our room. So I will have to stock up on Corona and an inner tube, that way as Jon floats around the "river" as he passes by I can pass him another. Okay so does that make us sound like lushes? Really we're not. We're just super excited about our vacation. So less then three weeks to go and we're basking in the sunshine, floatin' down a river, chillin' on the beach...and anything else related to the water!!

Just calll me Super Girl!!

Okay so the title has nothing to do with the post, but I liked the picture. Our homestudy visit was fine. Our homestudy coordinator is soooo nice and very laid back. When ever she comes, it's like visiting with an old friend. She has two children adopted from China, so I always feel very comfortable with her in our home. She was right, she didn't look at anything and the visit was very informal. We have all the paperwork done and now all she has to do is wait for the DCF and FDLE to come back which should be in about 3-4 weeks.

On another note, it is blazing HOT!! And our AC went out again. Thankfully Jon's brother is a wiz when it comes to AC and hopefully our house will delve below the 85 degree mark tonight.

Time to break out the toothbrush!!!!

So seriously, I get to spend Friday night cleaning like a fiend. I got a phone call from our homestudy coordinator at 5pm tonight. She tells me that she's going to be in town tomorrow to do a post placement, and can she stop by to do our update?

UMMMMMM!!! I know that I said that I wasn't going to clean, but come on. Did you really think that I wouldn't do anything? And with about 17 hours til she gets here and our house in disarray(it is Friday and well by Friday our house is a little disheveled after a long week) we will be the Merry Maid squad.

Jon has decided that he has to do the lawn and I can't really not clean up the dog hair. So for our relaxing Friday night we are going to clean-even though she told us not to. She said she wasn't even going to look at our house. But she'll see it even if she isn't looking. So despite her trying to convince us not to clean, we are. I'm breaking out the proverbial toothbrush and I'm getting to the scrubbing!! Wish us luck!!

Join me in celebrating

17 months!! Okay, so I'm really not that excited about 17 months, but we have made it this far and that's nothing to scoff at. There have been some referrals(not from our agency), but referrals none the less. I did find the motivation to get most of the paperwork for our home study update done. Everythings pretty much done except our local background check which will probably be done tomorrow or Monday. Everything is mailed out and now all we need to do is have them come to our house and write up the fact that we are still waiting...I mean still qualified to be parents, oh and pay that little "update" fee. We haven't murdered or molested anyone this past year so thumbs up to us. Do I sound a little jaded? Okay let me try again....

**what this post should say**

YAY!!! We have made it to 17 months. Isn't this exciting. I can't believe that we have made it this far. We continue to be elated at the prospect of being parents and can't wait until we learn of our little one. We have been using these past months to get our house in order and spend quality time with eachother. We know that once little baby is here, free time will be sparse. Our marriage has grown stronger as we have waded through this process of adoption and we know that when we finally get our referral news this will all be worth it!!

(is that better?)

I'm just not motivated

Nope...just not feelin' it. We are starting our homestudy update. Our agency let us wait a bit(wasn't that nice) so we wouldn't have to do two homestudy updates. Now when she gave me the list it didn't seem that bad. Not a big deal. I let it sit Thursday and Friday and put it aside over the weekend, thinking I'd start tackling it today. So I pulled all the forms I printed and was feeling like I could breeze through it, have hubby sign here here and here and be done with it.

You'd think that we hadn't done this before. The forms make no sense and I really have NO desire to even fill them out. Isn't that sad. So I just put it away again. You'd think that I'd be in a hurry to get this all done and over with again, but I'm just not that into it. I don't even think I'll clean the house before they come again. Can you picture it....dust hangin' like a cloud in the living room, hair bunnies in every corner, evil creature eyes peeking out from the corner, unidentifiable things hissing from behind the couch(wait that's me), our creeepy bulgivonia plant overgrown by the front door. Nope I'm not trimmin' it. Yep, that's gonna be our home. I really should care, but I just don't. I don't even think I'm gonna mop. Last time, seriously I cleaned the floor with a tooth brush....yes I did. NOT this time. Can you tell that I just don't want to do it. Oh well one day won't hurt, I'll get to it.......

....eventually.....