Happy Valentine's Day Everyone and Adrian- Happy Birthday!!

We aren't big on Valentine's day as a romantic day. It's Adrian's day and today he is 14. Did you read that right? Yep. 14!! He is so smart, patient, sweet and loving. I am so proud to have him as my son. I often wonder how I got to be so lucky with so many wonderful children. He was the first. He was the one who made us parents for the first time. He gave us something bigger than ourselves to think about. He made us realize how much we love children and love having them around. He's a true blessing and I hope he knows how much we love him, admire him, and wish only but the best for him. Happy Birthday Adrian!

Minor Setback

Well the I-800A was sent in with the homestudy on Friday and I'm reading through the homestudy Saturday and I find a mistake. Our homestudy provider only approved us to adopt a child with developmental delays. Dongyue's needs are a little more significant than that. Sure enough, after talking to my agency just now, we were supposed to have her exact special needs listed and an approval for those needs. Ugghh. But I'm starting to get used to this now and I'm not letting it bug me as much as I did before...So long story short, there is a way to fix it. Once my application is logged in at USCIS I will get an officer to discuss this with and send a new homestudy to. Breathe...

I-800A has been sent!

I'm doing the happy dance everyone!! Let's do it together!! Our homestudy was finally finished this morning. I drove down to Shelburne to get it so that I could send our I-800A in to USCIS today!! Of course, this means another 2-3 months of waiting but I am so glad to be just waiting, instead of being the go-between for the homestudy provider and agency. The agency is now talking about travel in November. I am still hoping for a September travel date but it is all up to USCIS and China now... Let's hope we get workers who are on the ball!

I am ashamed to say that I was in a really bad place this week about all of this. I even threatened, but didn't really mean it, to throw in the towel. I know, silly, but I wasn't sleeping and I was really frustrated. I have a couple of horoscopes sitting under my monitor at work that back when we were deciding to do this they kept me going. I'm going to share them here-

"Maintain a steady pace and remain sure of your choices. You have discussed an issue until you are blue in the face (I think they meant until Aaron was blue in the face, ha!). Have you not made a choice?"
"Understand what needs to happen. Keep reaching out for others. Look for the unusual path. Realize that what you want is going to happen one way or the other."
"Though you feel you cannot juggle a new opportunity in your life, you can. Stop. Toss negative thinking out of your life and eye newfound potential."

These keep me focused. Onward we go!

Cozy Blanket

I wanted to send Baby A a blanket and my agency warned that although we might send her a blanket it will probably get mixed up with the general wash at the orphanage and she might not get it back again. My solution to help avoid that happening was to take one of her pictures and transfer it to fabric, then sew it onto a blanket and trim it with ribbon. They will know exactly whose blanket it is just by a quick look! I'm so proud of it- here it is:

Flashback to the Summer

I needed a picture of our summer...

Adrian at the top of Mount Piscah- Look at all that green!

The waiting...

And so the waiting begins... Adoption has alot of waiting involved. Especially international adoption. There are a lot of hoops to jump through. Our homestudy provider is still working on our homestudy and I'm finding it almost unbearable because it is the first major step. If this step is going to take so long what will the other steps take!?

It's Official!

It's time to announce our good news!
We are moving forward with our adoption in China and specifically with a little girl named Dongyue. This means 'winter moon' in Chinese. We were waiting for some medical tests that the orphanage so kindly brought her to get. For only $50 we were able to get her thyroid tested, calcium level tested and an x-ray of her thymus and lungs. All of which appeared normal! We decided that if these tests were normal we were moving ahead. She does have a cleft palate and two holes in her heart that will need to repaired once she gets home. We understand there can be other issues such as attachment or learning disabilities, as these are common in children raised in orphanages, but we are willing to take that leap of faith! We know that whatever comes our way we will handle it and she will be in a loving home with all that goes along with being a family! We are truly blessed to have this opportunity!
This was our first referral pic.
She was 21 mos old.

This is our most recent updated pic.
She is now 27 mos old

My New Year's Resolution

Well I have achieved my New Year's Resolution. It was an easy one, yes, but I still feel like it was a huge achievement.  It was to try golfing. And I loved it!  The weather was perfect, the Bakersfield Country Club was beautiful, and the company was great!  Linda and her husband, Greg, who has been golfing for 3 years now, took me out for 9 holes, which turned into 12.... Here are some pictures of my accomplishment! Ladies' PGA Tour here I come!

Brief instruction on the first hole.  Look how dapper my instructor is dressed!

First Swing! See that first little knoll behind Greg. Yep, that's where it went!

Life is good!

I made it to the flag!  Double par isn't too bad is it?

Golfing Photo Op

What a beautiful place! No better way to spend a Saturday I think!

So where am I supposed to be aiming? Around the bend?

And she swings! Remember what I said about the PGA?

Taking a break. This is hard work ya know?!

Can't wait to do it again...

Adam turned 10 yesterday!

This weekend we celebrated Adam's birthday! It was a beautiful day and we shared lunch with our family out on the new deck. We also met Laurie's new boyfriend, which was great! Welcome to the family Michael- you're in for it now ;-)

My first attempt at blogging

I got to thinking today that I needed to start a blog. Why? Well I ask myself that too. Well, it is a good way to keep a diary or keep track of what goes on in life. Life seems to go too fast, this is a way to slow it down a little. Or, that's what I'm hoping anyways. And to reflect and appreciate the little things that happen day to day or in my case, more likely week to week. And maybe someone would like to check in once in awhile and see my boys as they grow. So here goes, here is the A family life...