What We've Been Up To

I don't know if I haven't blogged in a few days because we've been so busy or because there's not a lot going on. (i.e. "We're boring") Here's some highlights of the last few days:

• Poppie T and Mama Nita sent the cutest little onesie to us. Who knew there was a Smith University out there! Wonder if they'll waive tuition for us one day?
• Football Season is going strong. As of today, LSU is the #1 ranked team and the Broncos lost another game. I guess you really can't win them all.
• Last night I went to an Autumn Moon Celebration. Autumn Moon is a Chinese Celebration and the local group of adoptive families always meet together to eat and then go to the park so all the girls can play. Here's some info. on the Autumn Moon Festival: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival
• The new TV season has started. We're both hooked on Survivor (we even have a "fantasy Survivor team"....more info will be blogged later) and I'm hooked on The Office. It started last Thursday and I was excited all day because of it.
• Friday was the last day at the nursing home in Bastrop that decided to go with another company. Starting tomorrow, I forsee a lot of driving in my future.
• Onto referral news....not looking good again this month. As of right now it looks as if 5 days will be included. I have nothing else to say on this.

Looking forward to another week!

Sweet Video

While drinking my coffee and playing around online, I came across a "gotcha day" video. It can be found at http://www.holtintl.org/flash/index.shtml. Look at the bottom of the page and there's a link to click. It comes up as a "pop up", so you'll need to temporarily allow pop ups.

BTW, this isn't our agency, but an agency a friend used a couple of years ago.

Last Weekend

Last weekend was very nice for us. To help celebrate Brian's birthday (which has turned into "Briantember"), my mom came in. She cooked for us Friday night, so we both ate way too much. On Saturday, we went to Century Tel's annual picnic. "Picnic" is really too small of a word to describe it. The pecan grove, next to Century Tel, is turned into a small carnival. There are rides, booths and tons of food. The weather is nice and we tried to enjoy ourselves. However, being the childless couple at a family function is never fun. On the upside, only one person asked "Have you heard anything?". (This is the person who asks Brian this question every single time he sees her!)

After the picnic, we went to the mall to pick up nursery decorations. What is going on Bella's walls has been a source of discussion for quite a while now. :) B and I had both seen some things in Kirklands we really liked, but while we were looking around, we found other things we wanted instead. Here's the final verdict: Bella's walls are going to be decorated with sunflowers and nursery rhymes. Here's the best pics I could get:

We can't wait to see all of these things on her wall!

Saturday night, the three of us were sitting outside. There was just three of us...obviously someone was missing....our little girl. I guess she decided to send her proxy because look what landed on the table in front of us:

A ladybug! Ladybugs are considered to be good luck to the Chinese adoption community. Was it just coincidence this ladybug flew on the table as we were sitting outside without Bella? Maybe, but it's more fun to think it was a "sign". :)

Sunday was spent decorating for fall. I love this time of year and always look forward to having fall decorations around the house. After the Louisiana heat in the summer, any sign of fall is always welcome. Here's a few pics of our home:

Forgotten Anniversary

We've been waiting so long, we don't even realize when we hit "mini-milestones" anymore. September 14th was our 18-month anniversary....18 months since our paperwork was logged in. Maybe it's a good thing these dates slip by us??? Maybe we're just too numb now???

There will be a longer post in the next few days. We had a busy weekend I'd like to type about, but it was a very long day at work, so I'm off to enjoy dinner with my husband.

In the News

Funny how a top Yahoo news story can grab your attention and directly impact you becoming a family....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070915/wl_nm/china_family_planning_dc

Happy Birthdays!

Happy birthday to Daddy-to-be ...and Poppie-to-be!

Love you both!!!

Happy 2 Year Anniversary

It was two years ago today that we mailed our application to our adoption agency, Harrah's Adoption International Mission. I remember rushing to the mailbox that morning to put the application in it. We never, ever imagined it would be two years later and we'd still be waiting on our baby girl. Brian and my dad's birthday is tomorrow, and I remember telling both of them she'd be home for their next birthday. Little did we know what the CCAA had in store for us. We'll continue to wait, as long as it takes, and hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later.

In honor of our anniversary, here's a very sweet song from Steven Curtis Chapman.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=demRHgul2Zk

Top 10 Signs

I'm home sick today, so to entertain myself, I decided to post this to our blog. I came across this post a couple of months ago on a message board. It made Brian and I laugh out loud!

Top 10 Ways You Know You've Waited Too Long For a Referral From China:
10. You've stopped telling people you're adopting from China because chances are the next time you run into them you'll still be waiting. Done!

9. When someone tells you a far off date in the future as 12-18 months you think to yourself "wow, that's coming up so soon!" Done!

8. You know people who have had two kids in the time you've been waiting for a referral from China. Done! (It's very entertaining when these people choose Brian and I to complain to about how much trouble their children are.)

7. The last Olympics were happening when you started trying for a family and there's a good chance you'll be in China for the '08 Olympics there. Done!

6. You know couples who have gotten engaged, married and had a baby all while you've been trying to start a family. Done! (See #8 above)

5. You try out all the baby stuff on the cat to "practice"--and you take pictures to post on your website because there's no other news to report. If it weren't for Brian, I'd totally be doing this. Does posting pictures of yarn count?

4. You automatically convert the time to Beijing time in your head because you think maybe the CCAA is working on referrals. Done!

3. Your nursery bedding has been discontinued. The bedding hasn't been discontinued, but the furniture has been.

2. You've had to dust cobwebs off the changing table in the nursery. Done!

1. You'v e gone on your last childless vacation.....5 times!!! Done! We've actually lost count of how many "last childless vacations" we've been on.

God Said "Ha"

Did you read yesterday's post? If not, you need to before you read this one. Here's what happens when B and I make a plan:

I've been working for over a year now in two nursing homes. The homes are around the corner from each other. I go to work early and leave work anywhere from 1:00 to 2:00 (usually). It's really a perfect situation. Every now and then I have to travel to another nursing home, but it's OK because not only do I get paid my "drive time", I get paid mileage. We've recently decided my mileage checks will go towards the one remaining credit card debt we have. Once again, it's pretty perfect. B and I have been talking a lot lately about how this will be a great setting for me once Bella comes home. I have tons of flexibility and the nursing homes aren't too far from our home. I might could even just work part-time and leave work earlier than 1:00!

Well....today God said "ha".

Around 2:00 today, our Area Manager informed us that we will no longer be providing services to one of the nursing homes I work in. After several years, the nursing home has decided to go with another company for it's therapy. Where does this leave me? It leaves me with a job, but driving all over north LA to get all my hours. It also leaves me with no "extra" mileage checks. It leaves me with a schedule that will be difficult when a baby gets here. Trust me, I know I'm lucky. One of my co-workers will no longer have a job, but it's just another example of of plan falling apart.

A Quote

I'm currently reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. There's a quote in it that made me laugh out loud: "If you want to see God laugh, make a plan". That quote so describes the last three years of our life.

Referral Day

The CCAA announced the cut off date for the referrals scheduled to arrive this week. It wasn't two days like I was expecting; it was four. Four friggin' days of referrals. Pardon the bitterness, but when we started the process the CCAA was referring a month worth of dates at a time. Better luck next month.

Another week has come and gone

Another week of working (B and T) and watching rumors (just T) has come and gone.

The biggest thing that happened in our house was the start of the LSU Football Season! LSU beat MS State 45-0! Brian and I both wore our LSU clothing and snacked on football food while we cheered on the Tigers. Hopefully, Bella will be cheering with us next year. Everyone is thinking positive that she WILL be here, so Mimi-to-be went ahead and bought her some LSU clothing too:

The second onesie says "Future Cheerleader". Brian said she can wear it, but it'll never happen. :)

A few more highlights for you:

• This week also marked the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The effects of the hurricane are still being felt throughout the state. Thanks to Katrina, we had a few more hurdles added to our adoption journey.
• Saturday, we went to the movies and watched Halloween. I probably should have waited until after Brian's upcoming trip to watch a scary movie. I'm going to be alone a couple of nights this week waiting on Michael Myers to appear out of nowhere.
• After the movie, we went to Boudreaux's for dinner. There was an Asian family there and they had a daughter who looked around one-year-old. We both became stalkers as we watched this little girl throughout our dinner.
• I'm now hooked on Design Star on HGTV. My favorite, Will, was booted off tonight. I have no idea who I'll vote for next week. Isn't it amazing this will be something I'll think about during the week? Maybe I need another hobby.
• On the referral front, it looks as if referrals could be arriving at adoption agencies this week. I'm bracing myself for a cut-off date of Nov. 24th. That's right....it looks like it will only be two friggin' days of referrals this month.