Here duckie duckie

Josh's mom and I took the kids to the park to play and feed the ducks a few weeks ago and we had a GREAT afternoon. It was a beautiful fall day! The kids are getting so big...I can't believe how time flies. (Can you tell I was organizing my pictures and getting our media stuff together in preparation for our trip to China?? I promise to post pictures more regularly of the whole crazy family.)

Only 12 more days until us!!!

China got through 12/14/05...only six days this months. We had hoped for a couple more days...but we're excited that there's only 12 days worth of people in front of us. It's not impossible that we'll get a January referral, but not really likely. BUT WE LOOK SOLID FOR AN EARLY FEBRUARY REFERRAL...I think that we are NEXT NEXT. Hopefully only one more month of people getting their babies before us. I can't believe it. Okay, I think we need to start the nursery now. We'll be in China sometime in the next four months....YIPPEE!!

Thankful for the holidays

I've decided that I'm a little sad that Katelyn is not home this year for the holidays and at the same time I'm really thrilled that our last couple of months of waiting are falling over holiday months because they are speeding right by. I can't believe the first week of December is just about through. I have no idea where November went. Although I can't wait for our referral, I'm starting to get a bit panicy. We've done nothing but wait for so long and the reality that there will be a buzz of activity soon is a little daunting. What do we need for the baby? What do we need to bring to China with us? How are all of the travel arrangements made? How much notice will we really have before we actually know our travel dates (Some people get the okay and they are flying out within the week...yikes). What if I'm not a good mom? What if we mess up our kid? Will she adjust quickly? Will she resent us later for taking her from her country and moving her around the world? Will we ever get our carpets clean enough so she's not constantly putting dog hair in her mouth? How often does she need to eat? What kind of bottle will she like? Will the dog jump all over her and knock her down (he's still a puppy)? How will Brandon and Ashley feel about her? Will they feel threatened? What if we can't keep all the plates spinning? What needs to be child proofed? How old will she be? Do I need psychotherapy? (Don't answer that...) So you see, I'm getting a bit manic!

We're waiting for this months referrals to come out. Rumor has it that they are going to get through December 14th or 15th...we were hoping for a bit farther. If they only get through 6-7 days, it looks like we will in fact get an early February referral. Spring in China sounds good to me. Hold on tight folks...the new year's going to be exciting....and not another Mother's Day without my baby!!! Whooo hoooo I say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally referring December, '05!!!

People who are logged in the same month as us are getting referrals!!! It's so exciting to finally see other people from our month getting their babies. The China Center of Adoption Affairs has gotten through December 8th. That means....there are only 18 days worth of people before us!!!!!!!!!!! I think that means we have two more months....I'm banking on a very precious New Years present.

So I'm going to keep painting our family room/dining room/kitchen this weekend and hopefully bust that out. We need to get the nursery painted soon. (We means I need to....just in case you were wondering.)

Here's to the holiday season being busy and full so that it speeds right by. (Usually I'm not one to wish away a season of time...but give me a break...let's go already!!!)

How old will Katelyn be?

How old do you think Katelyn will be when we get our referral? Take the poll that I made in the righthand sidebar.

Children have to be in the orphanage for at least six months before they can be referred internationally...it's China's rule. So...the youngest she will be is about 7 months and she most likely won't be older than 12 months at referral.

Just something silly to pass the time...

22 months...

Well, today is 22 months. There's a rumor that they'll get through December 12th sometime next week...but I just can't even get excited at this point until it actually happens. We've been on this rollercoaster too long to fall for those kinds of tricks. If they can get that far, I will feel confident in an early January referral. Two more months...can it really be true?

This weekend I'm attending a Children in Crisis seminar down in Wilmore at Asbury College. I'll have more to write about that after the weekend is over and I have a chance to process what I'm hearing. The speakers are focusing on the despair and then the hope surrounding children around the world and then what our response as the Church needs to be.

They talked tonight about children of war, exploitation, children on the street and child labor. God sees each child as his creation...fearfully and wonderfully made. Much of the world sees children as expendable. This is despair. Fortunately, in Jesus, there is hope.

The speaker tonight gave us an important question to ask ourselves. She said that with so many children in need throughout the world, we obviously cannot help each child. But she did ask us to ask ourselves, "Who are the children that I am responsible for?" This is obviously a big quesiton for me ministry-wise but also personally as we adopt Katelyn and prayerfully consider what our next steps will be in growing our family.

I feel really blessed that we get to adopt a child. I know that many people will look at this and think that adoption is second to conceiving our own child...but I know I will never feel that way. There are so many children in this world in need of a loving family...and we so desperately want to add children to our home. What a win-win situation. I'm so thankful that God's plan is again...so perfect. It makes every moment of the wait worth it...what's a couple of years within the context of eternity....just a drop of rain really.

I'm growing bitter...

So China got through 5 more days of people....two of those days were a weekend when there was no one logged in and the other few days weren't all that big. I'm so confused. I really don't understand why they only got through 1/2 the number of people they did last month. I really believe they have a quota and it's just not a published number and China is trying to stay underneath some kind of ceiling. Lucky us.

So they are finished through 11/30/05. At least they are officially done with November 05. I just can't believe they didn't get into December....So sad. So this basically means that we won't see Katelyn's face until 2008. Another Christmas without our kid. At least we should be getting a referral at the beginning of January...we hope.

On a positive note, traveling to China the end of February, beginning of March should be nice. There's no holidays then and it is off season so travel should be less expensive (I'm grasping at positive straws here...humor me.) Maybe we'll be there for my birthday (March 13th), that would be pretty cool.

The thing that kills me is that the main form that we needed from our government to send our packet to China back in the fall of 2005 got lost in the mail (yeah for real) and set us back a month so we were logged in at the end of Decemeber instead of November. Little did we know that would mean it would take six months longer to bring our child home. I just keep thinking that will all make sense when we have the child with us that is perfect for our family. That's the only thing that keeps me from truly growing bitter.

Please pray for Josh and I, we're growing very weary of the wait.