MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas!! Yes, we had a great Christmas. We kept things as simple as possible, which made it very enjoyable for all three of us!! Emily loved opening presents!! It has been Christmas for Daddy and Mommy since the first of August when we received her picture. Emily got lots of dolls, books, teddy bears, telephones and clothes. Of course, she liked the packaging the best....amazing, you don't have to teach them that!
Emily has been lots of fun. It is still hard for Mommy to beleive that she is actually here. She is babbling and talking up a storm. She also does quite a bit of sign language. She now says daddy, momma, dog (ALL animals are dogs!), Dora, bye bye and MINE (which she screams!) She now signing dog, eat, more, book, bye bye, no, yes. She likes it when mommy signs momma and daddy, but she won't do it!! She makes me do it over and over!
She eats and sleeps very well. I haven't found anything yet that she won't eat. Grandma gave her jello yesterday. once she got over the shock of cold, she loved it!!

WE'RE BACK!!

Well, we made it!! Tomorrow will be 1 month since Gotcha Day. All I can say is WOW!! I watched the video of when we received Emily, and it seems so surreal. Like I did not realize Donnie hugged Emily's Nanny. All I remember is the nanny being thrust our way for a picture. Our travel buddy that took our video videoed us for almost 30 minutes! Thanks Mike, you did a great job and it is such a blessing to us to have that footage.

We have been home for almost 3 weeks now and are adjusting quite well. Donnie was real sick when whe got home. Between being sick and jet-lag, it took him about 2 1/2 weeks to readjust. Emily has had some sleep issues since we have been home, but that was to be expected and she is sleeping better all the time.

Donnie and I are both amazed at how easygoing she is. She definately has a mix of both our personalities. I am very laid back and easy going, and Donnie is very active and intense.

Emily is doing great. We haven't got her out a whole lot yet. She loves her Grandma, Granny and Grandpa. She has met a few aunts and uncles, and her Great Grandma. She has been to church twice, and doesn't mind all the new faces - I think she loves the attention! She still doesn't have any teeth and is not walking yet. She eats very well. She is OK with the dog. She says dog and does the sign language for dog. The dog is so jealous and protective of her.

Well, I still don't know how to post pics to the blog, so I will continue to us the Journey to me site as well. I will try to post pics soon. We took over 1000 pics while we were in China, and we are in the process of getting them all sorted, catogorized, and then I will post some on my Picasa site for your viewing pleasure!!

TEN

We are now officially down to under 10 days till we leave!! I don't beleive it has has really sunk in yet. I guess it will be real when I am walking the floors with a crying baby!! In honor of 10 days out, here is a top ten list of prayer requests:

10) Safe travels
09) Good health
08) Not having to use a squatty potty!!! I know, I know, when in China Potty as the Chinese, but I just don't think I can!
07) Easy transition to China time
06) Good weather
05) Family and friends at home
04) For Emily - We have been anticipating her for 3 years, this will be very abrupt for her, and totally life changing. She is giving up EVERYTHING that she knows.
03) Greiving - that Emily would properly greive, and that we would be help her in a positive way.
02) Wisdom for Donnie and I. We have never been parents before.
01) Healthy Bonding.

I have begun packing, hope to finish next weekend, or atleast by next Tue. (we leave early Thurs morning.) This coming week will be a very rough one. My boss has asked me to work as many hours as possible this week. I am going to try to work 4 - 12 hour days, we will see. Donnie is going to be out of town alot this week too. During the evening he is going to paint the nursery. Again, a difference in our personalities, I was fine with not decorating her room, but he can't stand it. I think it also gives him something to do to prepare for her as well. I am only working throuh Thursday of this week, then I am out till atleast Dec. I plan on spending the week before we go finishing packing, and getting the house clean, and playing. There are several friends that I want to spend some time with before we leave, and I would love to find some time to scrapbook, but again, we will have to see.
I will try to post one more time before we leave. TTFN (TA TA For Now)

JOURNEY TO ME HAS UPDATED THEIR WEBSITE

Hey guys,
to those of you that will be following my journey in China, the website that I am using has been updated. You can still click on the link to the right on this website, but you will then need to click on "adopion stories", it will then bring you to a page that asks you to search by name or country. type in Emily for name, there are only 2, mine is the second. You can then save the page in your favorites for easy viewing. If you have problems, just e-mail me and I will see what I can do to help, but do it before I go to China, as I am not sure how access will be while in China. Thanks

ANOTHER MONTH DOWN, ONE MORE TO GO

Sept. has now come and gone. Hard to beleive that we have had her picture for 2 months now. Wow. It is even harder to believe that we will hold her forever in a little over a month!! Things are still really exciting around here. I bought myself a new camera with birthday money from my mother-in-law, so I am learning how to use it. Sat. I spent the day with my best friend and her family. We took the kids to the Corn Maze. They had a blast (Aunt Becky did too!).

44 DAYS AND COUNTING

It is official. We have travel approval, Visas, confirmed travel dates.....and yes, we have airline tickets!! you can check my journey website on the right, it is all there. We leave November 1, and return on November 15. In less than two months, we will be home and starting a new chapter in our life. How exciting!! The day I got our airline tickets, I was excited as the day I saw her sweet face for the first time. I can't stand the not knowing, and now I know almost everything I need to know. I know a) what she looks like, b) how old she is, c) where she is, and when I am I am going to go get her....YIPPEEE. Just as my feet were getting close to the ground again, here comes travel approval. I am beginning to like this state of euphoria......I may never come down, and you can't make me!!!
On the reality side, here are a few other things that have been going on in our life: Donnie quietly turned 41 last weekend. We have had 2 LSU parties in the LSU room, and I will turn 39 next week (for the first time I might add!).

TRAVEL MEETNG, VISA APPLICATION, BABY SHOWER OH MY!!

Wow, what a busy two in a half weeks!!! I have finally gotten some much needed sleep. I still am not eating very well, but I am finally walking on the ground and thinking straight(er)!!! Just so you will know, and I hope it doesn't surprise you too much, we DID accept our refferal! You didn't think we would do otherwise did you??
Your next question, when do we go get her. We probably won't leave until November 1. We are officially waiting for travel approval, which should come in in about 3 or 4 more weeks. There are two major festivals and a major trade show in China in October that makes travel in Oct. impossible, and we will most likely miss the September window by a few days. I am a little disappointed that we won't be in China in Sept. and that we will have to wait another 4-6 weeks longer than expected, but I know it is God's perfect timing and not mine.
Your next question... the wacky title. You know, Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh my!! We have been busy with travel meetings, applying for our Visa to China, and baby shower is this Sat. Donnie really got into the registry thing.
Our thoughts on the whole thing? We are still pretty excited!! The first couple of days, I forgot to eat, almost making myself sick!! Donnie's and my personalities have been real apparent. I have been so excited I can't seem to do anything, and Donnie is so excited he can't stop doing things!!!
I know this whole post probably doesn't make any sense at all!! Yes, I agree, my thoughts are still all over the place!!! Maybe my next post will be sooner and more intelligent!!!! Goodnite

pictures have been added

You can see our beautiful daughter by clicking on the link on the top right. I am in awe at how beautiful she is!! God is so good. I sang Amazing Grace all the way home to get her picture and info. Gods grace is truly amazing. I am just at a loss for words to express how I feel. It has been a long day, and I really need to scrape myself off of the celing and go to bed. I have been late for work everyday this week, I really need to be on time tomorrow. I have just slept like a baby all week. Enjoy her picture. I have a few more, but it is just too late.
Donnie and I wish to thank everyone for their love and support. Continue to pray for us, the next couple of months will be a whirlwind!!

IT'S OFFICIAL IT'S A GIRL

Yes, we received our referral today!!! She is beautiful!! And she is a BABY!! She is only 7 1/2 months old. Donnie has not seen her picture yet, so you can't see her till he does. Here is her info: Birthdate: December 17, 2006. Birth Province: Hunan. She has been in the orphanage and not foster care. Here name is Yin Le Ci (pronounced Yin Lee See). She is quite the cutie.
We will probably travel mid September - late October. We will know more travel info in about 4 weeks. I am walking on air!!!! I was going to finish what I was doing at work before I came home to take the call, but I forgot how to do my job!!!!! Oh well, they understood. Check back later for pictures. They will be posted in the new website that I created. A link to that website is to the right.
Thanks for following,
Mommy

HOW OLD IS EMILY

Ok guys, those of you watching my site, it is now time for you all to get in on some fun. How old do you think our baby will be at refferal? When we started this game over 2 years ago, my guess was she would be about 11 months old. My guess today, taking in to account that the babies have been getting younger, I still say 11 months old. Pending we get an August referral, this will give her a Sept. birthday. How cool would it be if she was born on her daddy's 40 birthday!!! Now that you know my thoughts, guesses and wishes... leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Today marks 20 months since our paperwork has been officially logged in in China. I tell people we are 20 months into a 6 month wait. Talk about deer in the headlight look!!!

Another thing that I am kind of excited about is that we could indeed be in China for Sept. It is a slight possibility we could be there for my birthday (the 24th) and an even slighter one that we will be there for both (D's is the 15th). This is just wishful and prayerful thoughts on my part. I know God has THE GRAND plan.

Stay tuned for more random ramblings, um, I mean posts!!! Looking forward to reading your guesses on HOW OLD IS EMILY.

7 DOWN AND 4 TO GO

Referrals just came out end of last week. They made it up to Nov. 14, 2005. We are now only 4 (yes, you saw right, F-O-U-R!!) referral days away!!!!! Yippeeeeeeeeee!!! Does this mean we are next----- Of course not a definate, but a strong possibility. We should know in the next 30 - 35 days. IF we get our referral next month, we should be traveling in early Oct. The babies also have been very young the last couple of referral batches. When we started, the average age of the babies at referral was between 11-16 months. They are now averaging between 6-9 months!!!

On the non-adoption front we have been very busy. We just finished VBS (Becky taught, Donnie did rec.). Several members of our church left this morning for a missions trip in AL, we desperately wanted to go, but everything is so up in the air, it is really hard to make plans. For the 4th of July, we had a BBQ at Donnie's Mom & Dads. The end of this month we are going canoeing, that is always a lot of fun. I don't think we will make it to the beach this year, but next year with Emily will be lots of fun.

GOD'S GRACE

I know, I know, it has been a long time since I last posted. It's not that I have been in a funk, to be honest, blogging just isn't much fun right now!!!! Looking back at my posts, I have said just 2 more months for well over 6 months now!!!!! Too funny. On the serious side, God has really been teaching me out His grace. I thought I learned that spiritual lesson a long time ago, but God has shown me His grace anew. You name it, what can go wrong has. But through all of our trials in the last couple of months, God's grace has been 100 times larger. I won't elaborate on my woes, but just knowing that God is in the midst, even when things are bad is great comfort. As hard as this wait has been, God really has given me peace and joy through it. I know your asking, I can hear you, "What is the latest, and how long now." Well, they are now up to Nov. 7th., which means that we are 11 referral days out. That's the good news. The bad news (you knew I had to go there!) is they are averaging 6 referral days a month!!! That still doesn't mean that we won't be next, but I know it will be in God's timing, not mine, and I am tired of guessing. Ony time will tell. I am trying ever so hard to be patient, enjoy the ride, and not whine!!!!

On the non-adoption side, we have as been busy as ever. My cousin came for a visit last month and we had a great time. See my Picasa for the pics. Other than work, that is about all.

I will try to be better about posting. Leave me a message (whether you know me or not!!) just to let me know that you have been by for a visit. The encouragement through this long wait is always welcome!!

NEW NEWS, OLD NEWS

I saw this post on another blog that I watch whose LID (date of paperwork) is the same as mine, and it sums up my feelings as well:

The old news is that the last batch the CCAA only did 2 (yes I did not mistype 12 or 22) LIDs worth of referrals. (Oct 25 & 26th) Thus my lack of posting to my blog. It was just too darn depressing to write.The new News is that this month they managed to do 6 (yes again I did not mistype 16 or 26) LIDs worth of referrals. (Oct 27 - Nov 1)I am posting just so it does not seem that I have gone into hiding although I kind of have. So this means that if they can manage to do 17 days next time (FAT CHANCE) then we are next, or if they can do at least 8.5 days for the next two batches we will get our referral sometime in July. If they cannot manage either of these two scenarios then your guess or a crystal ball guess is as good as any prediction I might make.Anyway, after 18 months since LID and 2 years since applying, I am just numb and so I hope I can wake up enough to believe it when it really does happen.I do have to admit that when I saw the news that they actually did a day in November, I burst into tears. MY MONTH!!, they are actually in my month now.Stay tuned for the next batch and if I can manage to I will post sooner.

FALSE LABOR

Well, it appears that the package that left China late last week held TA (travel approvals) instead of Referrals. At least some families are happy to be getting their travel approvals!!!! The only rumors that are floating out there now are that there will be no referrals this week, and next batch will NOT finish the month of Oct! UGHHHH!!! But you know how it is If you live by the rumor, you die by the rumor!!!! I just keep telling myself God is STILL in control.

REFERRALS ARE DUE TO ARRIVE MONDAY, APRIL 2, 2007

Will this be the month that we "know" when we get our referral?? I am hoping that China did at least 15 days. That will leave us 10 days out, a sure shoe-in for May. If they do 12 days, that leaves us 13, with the possibility of missing a May referral by 1 day. There is still a small chance that when referrals come in on Monday that we are in!!!!! Things are getting real exciting in our household!!!!! My Mom is getting real excited as well. She asks everyday what the rumor mill says. No matter what happens Monday, we will be one day closer to our sweet Emily Elizabeth. It is so hard to not wish this time away. I know she will grow up so fast. I also know my life will change dramatically when I become a Mom, and I can't wait!!!!!! Watch for more updates next week. Maybe next week will hold the answer to the million dollar question: WHEN WE WILL SEE OUR BABY'S FACE, AND ULTIMATELY BRING HER HOME AT LAST!!!

CLOSER...CLOSER....CLOSER....

I know I said I would post more as it gets closer, but suddenly time is moving very swiftly!!!!! Referrals have come and gone again...they are now up to OCT. 24, 2005. That means we are now 25 days away. Exactly when we will get our refferal is still up in the air. It could be next month (April), 2 more months or 3 more months...or longer (don't even want to go there!!!) It looks very possible that it will be 2 more months. Our anniversary is May, what an anniversary present!! Most of my anxiety is now gone...Thank God, literally!! I am now very excited. Donnie and I went out for lunch at a Chinese restaurant Wednesday and this is what my fortune said: on one side is a learn Chinese word, and the word was daughter. The fortune read " A beautiful, smart and loving person will be coming into your life." Sounds like a scrapbook moment to me!! I have also began an online photo album, here is the link http://picasaweb.google.com/beckyndonniespics. All for now. Mom in Waiting

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN I AM EXPECTING

I have always wanted to say that!!! Just a glimpse of what you should expect as we get our referral. The referral is when the agency calls us (called "THE CALL"), and tells us we have a baby. The agency will have the info translated and then Fed -Ex ed to us. The Fed Ex man will be our Stork, and yes, I plan on taking a picture and scrap booking the moment!! The package will contain pictures, age, any known information including medical history, likes and dislikes, schedule.... We will then be given as much as 7 days to review the info and accept or not accept the referral. And which do you think we will do??? From then, the agency begins working on getting our consulate appointment. This is with the US Embassy in China, where the adoption will be finalized. Once they have the consulate appointment, they count backwards two weeks, and that is our travel time. Then the agency works on getting our Visas, and making our travel arrangements. It usually takes about 4 - 6 weeks to get Travel Approval (called TA), and travel is usually 2 - 4 weeks after that. And while the agency is busy getting our appointments made, we will be completing things here, and be over the moon with excitement. I have been dividing the 36 days in my mind a million different ways to try to figure out when we will get our referral, and the verdict always comes out the same: I don't know!!!!! If I divide it by 2 that gives us 18 days for the next two batches. I can see them doing 18 for the next batch, and 17 the next!!!!! If I divide it by 3 that is 12 days per batch. I see 2 12 batches and 1 11 batch!!!! UGH!! Really, I am not a pessimist, I really think no matter when we get the referral I am going to be surprised....there is just no "science" to figuring out what the Chinese people are going to do. I would call them and ask them, but there are two barriers: 13 hour time difference, and I don't speak the language, HA HA. OK, enough for now....can you tell I am getting just a little excited!!!! Stay tuned, as time is getting shorter, you may see more posts, one never knows. Thanks for following my Blog!!! A special hello to Mary in New York, thanks for following, you have been a tremendous encouragement to me!!!

REFERALS

Referals have arrived. They are now up to Oct. 13, which means we are only 36 days away!!! in months, that could be anywhere from 2 more months to 4 more months. We are getting so close!!!!
The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before March 22, 2006.
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before October 13, 2005.

52 DAYS AND COUNTING!!

Referrals just came out for Dec. they are now up to Sept. 27.
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before September 27, 2005.
That means there is 52 days from where we are (Nov. 18) to where they have referred to. The average now is about 18 days per month. We are on target for a March referral, travel in late May. Like the cone that the weatherman uses for a hurricane, our probability "cone" is Feb - April, with March as most likely.
Sorry about the pictures, I am having problems posting them, but I have about three months to get it figured out!! We are in the middle of redoing our paperwork. We refingerprinted in Oct, I did my physical this week, and we meet with the social worker this Sunday. I freaked out a little in Dec. about updating everything, but I am better now. I guess I just thought I could wave my little magic wand, or speak it and it would be done!! I forgot about all of the buracracy (sorry, misspelled).
On the non-adoption side of life (yes, there is actually more to life than adoption!!) we are busy as ever. Donnie is coaching basketball for a church league, and it kicks off this week. That should be fun....watch for pics.
Oh, and Cous, if you are reading my blog (AND YOU BETTER BE) Happy Birthday to you!!!!