What a weekend.

This weekend we hosted the lastest waiting family monthly party, and the whole weekend was geared around it. Friday and Saturday were prep. Saturday night..the big event. And Sunday...recovery.

I signed us up to host in January hoping that would force Jeff and I to wrap up this home improvement thing we've had going on. I thought the fear of having house guests would be the motivator we need to get cranked up again and fininsh! And we did.....mostly.

Jeff was still laying flooring the morning of the party (I included a pic of him cutting quarter round that morning!) I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared.

In the end, my first grown up party turned out really well. The weather was wonderful, so people could hang out on the patio. We got to visit with people who we've met along this long adoption wait and who's company we truly enjoy. We also met some new people who I hope we'll get to know as well as this long adoption wait continues.

Today we've been super lazy slugs as we try to recoup from the past 2 days of flurried activity. Tomorrow is back to normal.

Lessons learned:
I need to get together with friends more often.
I really like hosting people at my house.
Next time....more beer.

My First YouTube

I love this dog. She snores regularly, and I laugh every time. Also, she has recently suffered home grooming, so be kind. She doesn't know how rough she looks. Sweet Baby.


**UPDATE: I see that YouTube takes some time before it process the video. Lesson learned. Check back later, please.

Sick day

I called in sick today. hee hee. The wierd thing is, I'm really sick, but the PO has me so conditioned I feel guilty staying home when i really am sick.

I used to drag myself to work no matter how sick, but now that i have over 9 weeks of built up sick leave and have been told I won't be able to use any of it when Zoe comes! I don't feel quite as bad staying home as I used to.

Yesterday, I spent the day coughing and sneezing all over everyone's mail. And I'm not the only sickie at the PO right now. I'm sure half the zip code could be infected soon. So....word to the wise, wash your hands after reading your mail. It's icky.

I said I wasn't going to blog about it, but .... I mean .... c'mon! 2days?!! We waited until almost mid-month to get 2 days worth of referrals? I'm not sure what to think.

Either the CCAA has DRAMATICALLY cut down on the number of referrals they normally issue each month, or those 2 days were humongous! And I mean big. There's talk around the internet that the next couple of batches could be for equally small numbers of days. I believe that could be true. Although my agency doesn't share any information on how many dossiers the send, they do say how many referrals they received. And they haven't had any in the past two batches. I believe my agency handles more chinese adoptions than any other and they didn't get ANY in the past two months (except expedited) I think we are in for a doozy of a batch next time. All of those people who should have been spread out over the month of October were clumped together at the end.

I know no one outside the community understands all that, so let me break it down for you. Remember how I thought I'd get a referral in September at the latest? Well, October is looking more likely. November is a strong contender, and rotten stinking December is an actual possiblity. To summarize: I have no idea when I will see Zoe for the first time. If it's really that bad, she may still not even be born yet. I don't see how it could possibly be any later than December, but I've said that too many times to count.

Also, there's other weirdness in the Chinese adoption world. Someone on RQ mentioned a family who requested a girl as young as possible, and they were referred a 4.5 year old. Also, in every batch I hear of more and more boys going to familes who requested girls. Overall, it's still extremely rare, but it does make this pink-nursery-decorating-future-Mommy nervous.

I'm sure it's just the shock of the 2 days, but I have less faith in the program lately. For the first time, I question whether it will actually happen, whether we made the right decision. With almost any other choice we would have had a baby by now. We could still switch to some countries, start all over and be done before we see Zoe.

This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done.

How can I possibly kill the next 7-9 months?

Skimming over the bad news...

We all know the referral news is horrible this month. I'm not blogging about it, because it is just. that. bad! I've had my cry, I'll probably have more, but I'm choosing to focus on the positive, and we do have some good news...

Our Fish are Healthy!!!



The poor little guys have been looking peakish lately. One especially, was looking as if he was not much longer for this world. We didn't think too much of it, because we've had them for some time, and my sister had them before that, and how long can goldfish live, right? So while I was at work the other day, Jeff looked it up, and goldfish can live for 15+ years!!! Who knew! He also found out what was wrong with our little Nemo and Ariel.

Turns out (and I'm embarassed to say) we weren't keeping the tank properly. Not cleaning it enough. Feeding them too much. (Excess food leads to excess poop) And we didn't have enough gravel in there. We've added the gravel, the appropriate chemicals, an extra light to warm them up, and even a lovely bonsai type tree thing. Jeff refuses to have a sunken ship or treasure chest, but he did let me have some sparkly gravel to sprinkle on top the of normal gravel. We also got some live plant pods that we hope will grow soon.

It was really incredible how quickly they perked up, and we're so happy. I know they're only fish, but it's nice to have them there.

15 months

Oh look, here's another anniversary.

15 months down
4.5 to go???

I have my heart set on an early August referral. I know I said it could be September, and it could be, but since I have no idea, really, and I need something to hang my hat on, I choose to hang it on August.

Party Pictures

1. The Birthday Girl
2. Make this picture bigger and look at Jeffrey
3. Georgia and Nana
4. Cool new shades
5 Even the baby-on-the-way gets presents
6. OMG, are we a cute couple, or what?
7. Only part of the party spread
8. Happy Nana with Grandkids. Soon there will be FOUR!
9. My only good shot of Jeffrey

A Birthday tree? Oh, Yes!

"Georgia," you say, "Why are you posting a picture of a Christmas tree?"

It's not a Christmas tree! My sister and her family have made it home from Germany for a month's visit. And because my niece has a birthday this month, and my mother tends to go overboard, we had big blow-out shindig for the neice the moment they got out of the car! This is a picture of the birthday tree!!

Here's the kids and my brother-in-law as they pull up. Notice the wiped out look on my nephew's face. Poor kid. Long trip. But nothing perks kids up like PRESENTS!! It was like a mini-Christmas. I'm posting pictures, but none are really very good. Those kids are faster now and hard to pin down for a good photo.

I'm thrilled my sister is here this month. Adulthood and babies have made us much closer than we ever were as children and that's nice. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to really visit and catch up while she's here. I know they're here for the whole month, but this is one busy family. They'll be going between grandparents, in-laws, church family, friends, and mission work (the real reason they're in the states.)

The comings and goings of my sister's family will keep us on our toes and should make the month go by really quickly. A real distraction from the Adoption wait. They leave in early April and by then, I'll only have 4-5 more months of waiting for Zoe.

A bit more crankiness...

I've been more than a little cranky since the last batch of referrals. (Just ask Jeff...poor thing) The serious possibity of a September referral has jumped in front of me and it was quite a shock. Not sure what was shocking about it. Every month it moves back more, but I thought for sure. FOR. SURE. that August was the end. It couldn't possibly be any later than August.

But, no....

Once again another month (potentially) has been added to the wait. Now I don't think it could possibly be any later than September. There's no way. But next month, will I say October?

It's been a long time since the adoption wait brought me this far down. I know it's a cycle and it won't last forever, but it surely stinks right now.

Sunday afternoon at my house

Tagged...Why I blog.

First of all, what does MEME stand for? I know what it is, but I don't know why it's called that?

This one is "5 Reasons Why I Blog."

1. I started because my sister had one, and I gotta be cool like her.
2. I really enjoyed reading other adoption blogs. I loved hearing about other adoptive famiilies' experiences, and I thought (ever so humbly) that others might like hearing about mine.
3. I thought it would be a good way to record what we do while "Waiting for Zoe" The extended wait has made it less of an adoption blog and more of a "here's what we did today" blog. Hopefully that will change in the next few months.
4. It's a great way to let family and friends we don't see regularly know what we're up to. It's odd to talk to friends and have them say, "yeah, I saw that on your blog."
5. I've met great friends in the adoption community and hope to meet more.

Thanks, Lisa, for tagging me!

Our Fortunes!

We went to Panda tonight. We frequent the Panda because it's close, cheap, and hey, the Orange Chicken is yummy.

I tried to take a picture of the fortunes, but no-can-do. My camera's not that cool.

Mine said, "A beautiful, smart, and loving person will be coming into you life." Yes, it said "you life."

Jeff's Chinese word to learn was September ( Jiu-yue) And September is the month I now think I'll be in China.

Neat, huh?

My Eddie

If you've read my blog at all, you know I have a bunch of cats (5). I love them all. I have a special place in my heart for each of them. But this one... Eddie. He is something altogether different. He's so funny! He comes when you call. He sits up. He tries to grab you when you walk by him. And when he's ready for attention, he sits on you. I just love this funny boy so much, I thought I'd put up some pictures.





And look at the one on our bed. Look where his front paws are. They're behind him like he's leaning back.

I thought I must have interupted a private kitty moment (if you know what I mean). But by the time I left the room, found the camera, and made it back, he was still sitting that way.

And before you say anything...YES, we have sheets with ice skating cats and dogs.

14 months and counting...

We've made it to the 14th month of waiting. Oh wait, this would actually be the 15th month, wouldn't it? I've always gotten confused on the 18th-century-is-really-the-1700's thing.

Either way, today is our 14 month anniversary. We do have mini-cause to celebrate since our homestudy has now been sent off to USCIS and all we have to do is wait for the new 797. The re-filing is done.

And really, we've been very busy lately, so time is moving sort of quickly.

We're almost done with the bathroom project. I know, I know, we started it ages ago. We thought it would be faster to hire someone, but turns out, we hired the sloooowwwweeeest handyman ever. Fortunately, he's honest, cheap, and does really good work, so we keep calling him. Here he is doing our shower. LOOOOVE the subway tiles.
And here's the finished project, although it's very hard to see.

And the other side of the bathroom....
If you click on it to make it big, you can see the lovely floor tile, It's so white and clean. Probably not the smartest choice for Zoe's bathroom, but it is so nice. Also, the sink was probably not the best choice, but also so nice. Even the social worker said, "eh, step stool will be fine."

We have other things keeping us busy, too, but Americal Idol is on. I don't want to miss out on current Pop culture.

Also, I love the pudgy curly haired guy.

Zoe's sweater

I finally finished it!! I started knitting this sweater last September. I worked a little and then put it aside for a couple months. Work a little more. Put it away.

And then, when I finally thought I was done piecing it together, I turned it right side in and realized I'd screwed up the sleeve seam.

I would have left it that way and pretended it was suppose to be that way, but the other side was done right. In frustration, I put it away and didn't know whether I would take the trouble to fix it or not.

Then today, I see on one of Stephanie's blogs
(she has three) that she made a mistake on the sweater she was making for her daughter. She was fixing it and that was the inspiration I needed. I took it out and instead of surfing adoption blogs all afternoon, I finished Zoe's sweater.

Any knitters will be able to see the other little imperfections, but we're not after heirloom quality here, folks. It's just a little something I made for Zoe.

Spending Spree

Jeff and I are on a roll....

First we found the perfect patio set for the sunroom.


Then, the cutest ceiling fan for Zoe's room.


Look at this cat tree!! It beats the heck out of our $30 Wal-mart cheapie one


And finally, I couldn't resist. A diaper backpack for Zoe. I think it'll be perfect for the China trip.

Mysterious Mailbox

Last week as I left for work, I saw that our mailbox was on the ground and the post had been knocked askew.

We have these skater kids who hang out in the street and so naturally I assumed it was them. They've been known to yell at passing cars (including us), and frequently don't get off the street when cars come. You have to inch around them. Quite frankly, I'm intimidated by them and scared that they know when I'm not home. It wasn't a far-out assumption that they would vandalize a mailbox.

We set it back up, but didnt' secure it to the post because we had planned to buy a new mailbox anyway. Also, my mail carrier works next to me all morning and just hands me my mail before we head out to deliver.

The other day, Jeff came home from work and said the mailbox looked like it had been fixed. Sure enough, I went down to check and someone has re-screwed it to the post.

Huh...

Now we figure somene must have hit it while driving down the street and then come back to repair it. It's not likely since we live on a straight street with no traffic other than the neighbors, but I can't imagine the delinquint kids would come back to fix it.

Whoever it was, they didn't leave a note, or any explanation.

The other reason July is a big month!

PRESENTING.....


My new niece or nephew! My sister finally mentioned it on her blog, so I assume it's now mentionable on mine. My sister is making me an aunt again, and I couldn't be happier.

As any infertile will tell you, there's a weird mixture of joy and jealousy when someone close to you announces a pregnancy. I had my afternoon of "stupid uterus" and "rotten ovaries", but it didn't last long. And with that out of the way, it's so fun to think about a fresh new little baby.

Since I won't know Zoe as a newborn, and I wasn't particularly interested in babies for my first niece and nephew, it's more fun this time around. I go to the the baby stores and (poor Jeff) have a whole new section to wander around. Newborn stuff is precious, isn't it? And now that she's coming home in March, I hope we can do some baby shopping together.

How awesome is it for two sisters to be able to go shopping for the babies their expecting together?

She doesn't know boy or girl yet, but should soon.

And to tie this in to my previous post, her baby's due on Harry Potter's birthday. How many of my fellow dorks know what that is?

Ask, and you shall receive...

Ooooh....Here's something else to look forward to. The release date was just set for July 21. How big of a dork am I if I place my order now? Jeff will never take me to a book store at midnight, will he?

Referalls are in!

So...the cut-off appears to be October 13, 2005. Blugh!

That doesn't go with my plan of a May referral. It doesn't even go with my plan of a June referral. But July is nice too, right? July is lovely.

Here's the reasons July is lovely...

1. It most likely means September travel. Cooler weather, but still light packing.
2. I can easily stretch my leave thru Christmas.
3. Um....

Yeah, that's about it.

But still, end of July is only 6 more months. I can do that, right? We'll have no trouble saving money by then. My house should be friggin' fantastic by then. I'll get to work all summer and since the mail is light in the summer, it means easy overtime.

If you have any more ideas why July (or possibly later) might be a good thing, jump on in and let me know...I'm having a hard time convincing myself.

The Basement's Skylight

You know how you start a little project, but it just ends up uncovering another, possibly bigger problem???

Here's ours...

It looks like there's been a leak next to the tub. See the hole in the floor?


Come...let's have a closer look.



Now lean on over and look right down there....See the shelves? They're in my basement.

Busy Busy Busy

Our house has seen a flurry of activity lately.

Jeff got a nice bonus and I've been working all available overtime, so the extra cash plus a desire to get all this home improvement stuff over with, has led to us enlisting help. (Hiring folks to do the work for us.)

Now with the help of a handy-man, a plumber, and a tree-guy, we're going gang-busters!! Our handy-man deserves a post all of his own. He's quite a character.

The main project is our hall bath. Our handy man is re-tiling for us. Floor and tub. Also the walls are a wreck, so he's fixing that too. If we really feel like blowing cash, we may have him finish the flooring for us, too. We've had a ply-wood floor in our hallway for a month or so. And two bedrooms are still waiting for carpet removal. I really want all of this done by April, because I feel like a June referral is in my future (once again, no guarantees here)

I never remember to take "before" pictures, but here are the "during" pictures.




This project should take another week or so.



The tree guys were only a one day project, but what a day. They took out our dead Sweet Gum tree, two 80 ft pines, and some other big branches. It was scary to watch the guy shimmy up the tree, hang from a tiny branch up top, and have his chain saw swinging from his hip. I saw him lose his footing while cutting branches around our power lines. I had flashes of dead tree guys and huge law suits. Crazy.

It costs a fortune to have trees cut down, but we did learn a thing or two about our trees. Turns out we have a pecan tree. I told the guy it didn't produce pecans and he reached down and picked one off the ground. Oh. I guess I've never seen unshelled pecans before. Now I know to look for them.


And as for the plumber, he has to work around the handyman who is re-tiling and repairing walls. I also think he'll be removing one of our hot water tanks. (We have two....long story)

Even though we're now hiring folks to do stuff, it's still a lot of work. Every night last week was spent running between Lowe's, Home Depot, and Ikea picking and choosing tile, sinks, vanities, and lighting.


Add to all that, today was re-fingerprinting day. We had an 8am appt down in Atlanta. And this afternoon is my Dr. appt for the homestudy update. All they have to do is sign this little form that says I'm not contagious or mentally/physically unstable. Should be quick.

And whew...I guess that's about it for now.

The Beauty of May!!

My agency does this prediction thingie on their monthly newsletter to give their families an idea of when they might be able to anticipate their referral. They make it clear that this is not a promise. It is not even based on any actual knowledge of what the CCAA will do. It is merely a projection based on what the CCAA has been doing recently.

This month, the newsletter brought joy to my heart for 2 reasons.

1). For the first time, my LID is close enough to actually be included in the predictions.
2.) It has me getting my referral in MAY.

MAY!!

I love May so much. It's 4 months from now. Practically right around the corner.

Before you all get excited. I don't really think I'm going to get Zoe's referral in May. I've seen the stat's on the Rumor Queen and June is looking more likley. July is a real possiblity. And August wouldn't terribly surprise me.

But MAY!! Someone's put it in writing and I can go look at it anytime I want.

May!!

It's Baaaaaack!

The train wreck that is American Idol.
(The auditions, that is)

The very first girl up made me close my eyes and plug my ears out of embarassment for her.

Poor, poor, thing.

Obviously many just want to be on TV, but this girl was for real. My heart breaks for her. I can't watch.....and yet.....I can't look away.

Must... go... watch... more...

Fingerprints

We received our invitation to be fingerprinted! yeah!

I should be frustrated. Afterall, re-doing the paperwork is annoying and costly. But still.....it's nice to be getting adoption related mail again. I have our appointment to look forward to and that should take me to the next referral batch. Also, I like feeling like I'm participating again. I haven't had a thing to do for Zoe since the paper chase over a year ago.

Now I do.

Bunco update

I'm late to this bunco thing, and I have indeed been missing out. It was FUN!

Since getting married, my girlfriends have taken such a backseat they've pretty much gone their own ways. Coordinating husbands, homes, jobs,and kids is near impossible. Any girl-gathering takes Herculean effort, planning, and then someone always has to back out anyway.

I think that's why it was so fun...hanging out with girls again. And although none of them could really be described as "girls", when women have a no-boys gathering, we become girls again, don't we? Lot's of giggling and silliness. Throw in some gambling and adult beverages and you have a winner of a time.

I'm really looking forward to next month.

Bunco, Ma'am?

I have been invited to play bunco with the neighborhood ladies. I hear it's the hip new thing that's usually associated with older ladies...like knitting. I also knit, so I am slightly worried.

What I'm really worried about is socializing with these ladies because I also deliver their mail. On the one hand, it would be nice to meet more ladies in the neighborhood. On the other hand, i don't really want to get chummy with my customers. It's quite a pickle.

Jeff and I went to a Christmas party down the street this year and the hostess kept introducing me as the mailman. While it made for a decent icebreaker and I could show off my skill at matching names with numbers, I also saw the flash of embarrasment on Mr. Playboy's face when he realized who I am. (Ms. Penthouse, however, has no shame.) I can't stop staring at the Scientolog% family and wondering if they've made it over the Bridge of the Err yet. (I totally made that up and apologize to any Scient@logist. But to an outsider, you must admit, it looks weird.)

I know so much about my customers it could be awkward. In addition, I do occasionally make mistakes. With the people I've met and know personally, I take such care with their mail that it really slows me down. I double, and triple check everything instead of trusting myself like I do with everyone else. The more careful I get, the slower I will get, and I can see myself stopping at every box and putting their letters in one by one instead of tossing the bundle in like normal.

I would turn them down, but this is my third invite.

I'll let you know how it goes. I'm suppose to bring 5 bucks and my own liquor. Whoopee!

Another Catch-up

Soooo, It's been awhile, huh?

I have quite a bit to catch up on and plenty of time to do it, since Jeff is currently occupied with the season premiere of "Beauty and the Geek." Oh yeah....not kidding. And don't worry, Deanna, we're recording it for you.

Christmas was quiet. Just us and my parents. It mostly involved eating too much and home improvements. I know you're thinking we must have redone our whole house by now. Sadly, no. We still have plenty to go. The area of activity this holiday seaon was the laundry room and adjoining half bath.

We turned this...



Into this....


Hmmm.....looking at the pictures it doesn't look like such a big change. You'll just have to trust me. We removed wallpaper, caulked, painted the trim and walls, and added new hardware and door knobs. Not changing the floor was a huge mistake, but c'mon.... We're not superheros.

I didn't take a before of the half bath, but here are the remnants. Yes, we've had a toilet in our yard for about a week.

It's really hard to take a picture of the world's tiniest bathroom (2x6) Here's the afters...





Here's a few Christmas pics from Mom's house.





As far as the adoption, we're inching our way towards referral. The CCAA has given referrals to those logged in thru 9/27. That means they need to cover 84 more days before they get to ours. I think no matter how you do the math we are set for a June or July referral. And that's fine. I have my moments of being upset. Like when I sent off my forms (and checks) to renew my I-797. That was a grumpy afternoon. But the wait itself doesn't get to me anymore.

7 months? No problem.

Ho Ho Ho!!

I finally found the Christmas spirit!! It may have been because.....

1. The Weather. We finally have a bit of nip in the air. All week I've been delivering packages while wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The chill today made it seem so much more Christmassy

2. Gifts on my route. I love getting presents on my route. All year it's complaints, but at Christmas the people who actually like me show up...with presents!! (And if any postal folks are reading, I did not accept a cash gift....wink wink)

3. Annoying co-worker is going away. It's a Christmas miracle!! My cubicle neighbor who would complain if he won the lottery is taking another route in the other zip code. Oh yeah!!

4. Finished Shopping. We went to Bath and Body works tonight which is where you go when you have totally run out of ideas. We got lovely candles and hand soap for a few co-workers who have put up with me talking about the adoption all year.

5. Staying Home for the Holidays. We have finally commited to not leaving town this weekend. We were talking about meeting Jeff's parents in South Georgia again this year, but since that would mean 7 hours in the car (yuck) We are staying home. Jeff is on call, so he really shouldn't leave town anyway. This means I get 2 days to lounge around by the fire in my jammies.

6. An Amazing Sugar High. The Christmas goodies are a-rollin' in. A co-worker made his yearly batch of New Orleans Pralines and gave me a mondo-bag. And today one of my customers gave me this mini-cake thing with whipped cream and these little chocolate shavings on top. Just so you know, I have always had awesome mail carrying skills, but today I added eating cake with a fork off a doilie while delivering, to my repetoire.


Whatever the reason, I've got the spirit. So if I don't post between now and then ... Merry Christmas!!!

One Year

A year ago today our dossier was logged in with the China Center of Adoption Affairs. Our official wait began. I flipped thru the blog's archives to find the post about my LID. It's like a trip down memory lane..

So Excited...
So Hopeful...
So Silly!!

At the time I thought I'd never make it the 6 months to referral. 6 MONTHS, OMG!!! That's pretty funny now. Here we are a year later and we're once again thinking it will 6 months to referral.

Baby Dreams

I know lots of waiting mommies start having crazy dreams. I've heard of several who dreamed their referral ended up not being a Chinese child, but rather an African man/Russian boy/old man,etc.

Mine wasn't crazy or anything. I don't even remember the dream. I just woke up knowing Zoe would come from Guizhou province. At the time, I wasn't even sure Guizhou was a province, but I looked it up and it is. In my head I was saying (gwee-zhoo)

Now...the likelihood of Zoe coming from here is pretty small. Not many referrals come from here. And I'm not into the red thread/ladybug stuff, so I don't really think my dream means anything. If I had to put money on a province it would be Hunan, or Jiangxi, or Guangdong...one of the biggies.

But if Zoe does happen to come from this province and is born on the 7th or 8th December (night of the dream) I wanted to go ahead and document it.

This makes me laugh...

I can't help it! I especially love the Donny Osmond-looking guy who dances behind Weird Al. It's just funny.

Oh yeah...Happy Anniversary

Well, I can't fault Jeff for forgetting our anniversary.

I did, too.

Silly us.