First things first: We are 7 months LID (paperwork logged in with the CCAA)!!!!

We are fast approaching our one year anniversary of when our home study was completed. We have just received paperwork in the mail stating that we have to get updated forms for our home study. We need an updated CORI form, updated medical form and updated authorization request form for the agency for both of us. Once WHFC receives these updated forms they will have our social worker update the home study for us. Oh yeah, these have to be notarized, too.

I’m not sure if they will send this directly to China to be added to our file or if we will have to take the update with us once we travel. With the number of families waiting to adopt, I can’t see them sending the updates — that would be a full-time job for a person just to find the files!! So we are off and running again with a smaller paperchase. I wonder how many times we will have to update our paperwork before the baby comes home????

Now for an update on us... it’s been a crazy seven months. Mostly things are good and the wait has been okay, but I’ll tell you, when you get down... you really get down!! I swear that it is only going to get worse the longer we wait — I’m experiencing the “Roller Coaster Ride” firsthand now and I DON’T LIKE IT!!

We still have not done ANYTHING with the nursery - still a big empty room with stripped walls. I'm getting tired of looking at an empty room. We need to get a plaster in to do a skim coat on the walls and then we will paint. I figured since the wait could possible extend to three years we may as well have a usable guest room instead of an empty room. I’ve decided on a Disney paint color called "Butterfly Flutter By" which is a light purple — this will work fine for a guest room.

I’m starting sewing lessons tonight so that I can try my hand at sewing our "100 Good Wish Quilt"... we will have to see how it goes with the lesson. The quilt may not turn out perfect, but isn’t it the imperfections that make it special??

So other than not doing anything in the nursery and starting sewing lessons it’s just been the same old same old... work, work and more work.

Today is our 6 month anniversary of our LID. YEAH US!! I can't believe that it is mid August already. We are going to be hitting our 1 year LID before I know it!!

We have been keeping so busy here at the house and at work that, thankfully, I haven't dwelt on the extended time for referrals. We still haven't done anything in the baby's room - it's still sitting empty with no paint on the walls. I'd rather look at an empty room than a completed nursery this early on so that's OK.

I'm up to about 82 squares for my 100 Good Wishes Quilt - the fabrics are beautiful and the wishes just bring a tear to my eyes! I'm going to look into possibly taking lessons on doing the quilting myself... we will have to wait and see how this goes... we may still send it to Natalie's sister to complete for me. I'll keep you posted on what we do.

I've joined quite a few swaps with my Yahoo groups. I'm currently in the January Yahoo group secret buddy swap and I just joined a second one with my February Yahoo group - I hope that I don't get too confused - the January swap is monthly and the February swap is every other month!! I've joined a couple of recipe swaps with both groups as well. I may have to drop out of these because I don't really cook that much and I'm already late getting out a "Chinese Recipe" for my February group.

All in all, I say that we are doing OK. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that this crazy wait speeds up and we get our girl home real soon.

Is This a Sign From Above?...

Since my last post I have been doing a lot of soul-searching and praying about whether or not to switch countries in the adoption process. The more that I think about it the more I know that we have to wait for China because this is where our daughter will be waiting for us to come and take her home.

It has been a heck of a couple of days! Last week I was out shopping for a ceiling fan for the baby’s room. All of a sudden I had this total feeling of calm that just came over me and in my mind's eye I saw our TWO beautiful girls! You all know that we applied for twins if they became available, but twins are very rare and more than likely we will only receive one child. I can’t explain why two, but it just felt so right.

I got to thinking… they say that the wait is currently at 18-24 months. We are now four months into our official wait. I really think that we have received a sign from above (you can call me crazy, but I believe it!!) that our daughters have recently been conceived.

Think about this... it’s nine months for the pregnancy, the Chinese government requires that they try to find the parents for six months before the child is made paper ready for adoption (this adds up to a total 15 months), we already have four months behind us in our wait so that brings us up to 19 months, the amount of time that it takes to make our children paper ready would be a month or three which brings you up to 22 months, we get our referral and can not travel for two months... and that brings us right to 24 months. You may think that I’m reaching, but it makes sense to me and helps me to realize that she/they truly are real.

I think that their mother is very excited that she is pregnant and probably a little scared at the same time. I pray that she finds peace within herself and that she loves these babies like only a mother can. I pray that she doesn’t blame herself for what she will do once the babies are born, and that she finds peace in knowing that these children will be okay and given the best chances in life that we can give them. I pray that she finds peace.

Our girls are coming!!

Waiting...

Well... we are officially four months into the wait. When we started this process back in August 2006, the wait was 8 months. When our paperwork was submitted to China the wait was 15-17 months. Today, our adoption agency has shown an increase in the wait to be 18-24 months and one of the rumor sites that I look at is saying that the wait will be three years before it gets any better.

What to do... what to do...

I'm so torn at this point. I truly feel that our daughter is in China and I hope that the wait will still only be 15-18 months - that I can deal with - I can live with 15-18 months. That would give us a referral this time next year.

I'm having a real hard time thinking about a two or three year wait to see our daughter.

So, what are the options?

• 1)... Our adoption agency has opened up their guidelines... if you are currently submitted with the China program you can enter into a second program (that was not allowed when we started this adoption process). Then whichever country comes up with a referral first is the country we adopt our child from and the other country's application is withdrawn once we accept the referral.

Now let’s look at the other countries - my second and third choice are Kazakhstan or Russia.

Kazakhstan requires that both parents travel for three weeks - there is no way Michael can be gone for three weeks and BOTH parents must travel. Then you leave for 30 days and have to travel back for another week.

Russia requires the same travel, BUT none of the adoption agencies in the USA have been reaccredited to work with Russia - they are taking applications, but they don't know if or when you can travel.

We are too old for most other countries or have issues with some minor violations with the law from high school days, so these other countries will not even consider us.

• 2)... We can get a private lawyer. In the United States you basically have to sell yourself to the birth mother. She will pick who will raise her child from a large list and "biographies" of these possible parents.

  We initially didn't want this because of a few factors:

  1. The birth mother can change her mind after the baby is born and you as the adoptive parent have no recourse and all the money and time that you invested are gone, you have to start all over.

  2. The wait to be picked can be between three and five years.

  3. I just don't like the fact that we have to sell ourselves as good parents. We have already completed a home study and they pretty much ask us about everything you can possible imagine! And who knows what is going to sell you to the birth mother... it could be that you played sports when you were in school or maybe she didn't like your look, you just never know. Sometimes you can get lucky and be picked right away like our friends, Don and Sandee, but that is no guarantee.

I have thought about nothing but our daughter for almost one year now... she is so real to me. On the one hand I feel like I'm betraying her by considering other options and then on the other hand I feel that by the time we get our daughter I'm going to be 46-years-old. Do I want to wait that long?

Michael and I have some serious soul-searching to do. Keep us in your prayers.

Wow! It's mid-April already, boy does time fly! I just wanted to update everyone on what’s happening...

We’ll start with the Nursery:

We have a wallpaper-free zone in the baby’s room!! Yeah! Thanks to Michael’s good friend, Sean O’Neil. You’re the best Sean (I hate peeling wallpaper!) We need to fill in some cracks in the walls and then we can paint.

My brother, Paul, has agreed to paint a mural in the room so we will get together once I’ve decided on the base colors for the room (I’m thinking light greens and yellows for the walls) and he will show me some ideas that he came up with. We are very excited about this, Paul does an awesome job! Thanks Uncle Paul - you’re the best uncle ever!! Once we get some colors on the walls I’ll send some pictures for the nursery page.

Keeping Busy:

I really can’t believe that it is mid-April, it seems like just yesterday we sent in our paperwork. Let’s hope that it keeps going by quickly - the key I’m finding is to keep busy!

I’ve joined a couple of online groups of waiting parents who have their paperwork in the same time as we do - this is fun.

We just finished up a postcard swap and I’ve received postcards from all across the country, as well as France, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. I’m keeping these for the baby - it’s really fun to come home and see what is waiting for you in the mailbox.

I’m also participating on a secret buddy swap. We send one present a month up until the time of our referral. This swap just started and I’m very excited about it – a present every month!! What can be better than that?! This keeps you busy thinking about what to buy and the waiting to see what you get... It’s like Christmas!! I’ll be posting pictures of our bounty at some point online, probably under the nursery page.

Lastly, I’ve joined another swap called the “100 Good Wishes Quilt Swap.”...

... To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or “100 Good Wishes Quilt.” It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a square patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. How cool is that!

I will be getting a letter out to all my family and friends to see if they would like to participate and the letter will explain everything! Please don’t feel that you have to participate; I am getting the letter to everyone (probably by e-mail) very soon.

BTW - does anyone out there sew?? I’m going to need to find someone to put this all together for me! LOL!

Please keep us in your prayers that we get our girl home with us soon, and please say a special prayer for our daughter’s birth mother who will be making the hardest decision of her life. I pray that she finds peace in her heart that her daughter will be cared for and loved very much.

Well... it's one month from DTC (Dossier to China) and 2 weeks from our LID (Log In Date). We've started work on the nursery. I pulled up carpet and there are beautiful floors that were hiding under the UGLY 1972 multicolored blue/green/white shag carpet. We have the floor guys here as I type doing the refinish (the nursery, my bedroom and the stairs) - OH MY - I don't think that these fumes are good for me!! They are getting worse as they come down the stairs! We will not be able to get upstairs until Monday!! Four days on an air mattress, so, if Michael is cranky you know why . Cosmo and Lucy are completely traumatized because they will be locked in the basement until we can go up the stairs on Monday! (Don't feel too bad for them - it's a finished basement with all the comforts of upstairs!)

My dear husband (dh) wants to also attempt a kitchen makeover before the baby comes and I've had a bunch of contractors who came by today. This is NOT my favorite thing to do... I would rather pull carpet and take down wallpaper and we all know how I feel about wallpaper!

So anyway, the real reason I'm reflecting today is that I'm getting quite concerned about my thought process. For some reason I can be in mid-talk and totally lose what I was talking and/or thinking about!!!! This happened to a girl that I used to work with, that's how we knew that she was having a baby (YES, I'm talking about Christina V). I was talking to my niece, Nicole, and she said that the same thing happened to her when she was pregnant!! I'M NOT PREGNANT!!!!!!! It's crazy... I think that I may have too many things going on in my mind. Between the house, work (it's a very busy time of year for me), and thinking about all the things that I NEED/WANT to do before she gets here... IT'S NUTS!!

Let's hope that this lack of memory gets better as I start checking off things on my "to do" list. Michael is having trouble keeping up with my thought process and the topic-switching that is going on constantly.

And........what was I saying?????

What a happy Valentine's Day!! Good News!!! WHFC has posted on their website that couples with their paperwork logged in with China by March 15th, 2007 SHOULD be ok and not have the new guidelines affect their adoptions process. Because we were DTC (Dossier to China) on January 30th, 2007 we SHOULD be ok. I know that there are no guarantees - we just have to have faith!

I belong to an online group of waiting parents and one couple who was DTC January 29th, 2007 just received notice that they have a LID (Log In Date) of February 12th, 2007. Michael and I have to be right behind them!

Now that our paperchase is done there is nothing to do now but wait. We are waiting for our log in date (LID) with the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs). This will start the "official" wait period for our daughter's referral. So far so good - I'm sure it's going to get harder as time goes on.

Oh! I almost forgot - I haven't told many people this, but we have requested twins if they become available. Twins are rare, but you never know, we may be doubly blessed!! I figured that our life as we know it is going to change completely (for the better of course) and if we can have sisters that would be awesome!

I'm going to start work on the nursery, but I wanted to wait until May 1st, 2007 to see what happens with the new guidelines and if we will be affected or not before I decorated a total girlie room. But, if the worst happens, I'll have to repaint - this should keep me busy for a while. I'm planning on decorating the room with Disney Fairies. I have all 8 of the dolls: a Tinkerbell lamp that plays very loud music (it scared me the first time I played the music, so we may not use that feature for the baby); a faux fur blanket with Tinkerbell in the corner; 2 Tinkerbell throw pillows; Tinkerbell drawer pulls for the dresser; I think all of the story books that go with the different fairies.

I'm planning on doing over our dresser for the babies' room and I'm going to an unfinished furniture store for shelves; a rocker and a toy box bench that I can do myself. I know, it sounds very ambitious - but I have a lot of time to get things just right!

Auntie Mary Beth is going nuts with her shopping! I told her that we need to send her to shoppers anonymous!! She already has her room ready for "baby or babies Cormier" - we just need the baby/babies! She/they are already spoiled rotten... it really is a beautiful thing!

I'm hoping to start pulling up the carpet and taking down the wallpaper this weekend. I hate pulling down wallpaper. Our entire house was loaded with it and the nursery is one of the two rooms that we have left to take off the wallpaper!! I'm going to try my hand at stenciling... I'll start on her bathroom stool and see how it goes. I may have to have the person that we hire to paint the room do the stenciling, we will see how I do.

Please keep us in your prayers and hope that our girl(s) come home soon.