Happy Birthday L!

Today is the day of the birth of my soulmate-L. I love this man so much it makes my heart hurt. In honor of his birthday, I thought it would be appropriate to list some of the things that I love about him.

1. He could give McGyver a run for his money. Seriously. Give this man a bobby pin and a stick of chewing gum and he can fix anything.

2. He is the most down to earth man I have ever met. Material things do not matter to him, nor do they impress him.

3. He works out regularly and has huge arms. When he wraps me up in his arms there is no where else in the world I would rather be. (one exception might be when he wraps me up in those arms and he is wearing a tank top and has just worked out and my nose is stuck in his pit but you get the idea)

4. He loves unconditionally.

5. He has a quick wit.

6. He is honest and has been a terrific role model for our sons.

7. He is happiest when he is with his family.

8. He has a huge heart for people who are hurting.

9. He sings to me while we are riding in his truck.

10. He balances me out. He's calm and level headed and the best thing that ever happened to me.

Happy Birthday Babe-I love you!

Two Down

August 20th marked month two of our (hopefully) 6 month wait until referral. Some days I think the time is flying by and other days I feel as if I am just hanging on by my finger nails. We haven't begun to purchase anything for our trip yet and have not started on her room. I have been filling the time with purchasing clothing but I really don't want to overshadow this important time in W's life by focusing on Koli rather than on him.

I had a heart to heart with W the other day and he really wants us to keep his room in tact. It is important to him so I will leave his room as is and we will move the office-making that Koli's room instead. Once W leaves for boot camp we will begin the process of transforming the office back into a bedroom and I am sure that will help pass the time and make me feel as if we are moving forward. I read alot of blogs written by my fellow adoptive moms. Some have already made the trip, some are currently traveling and others are in the big wait stage just like us. Almost all of them comment on how much they are preparing for their travels months ahead of time. I feel like I should be doing something, I just don't know what that is.

Story Problem

S gets up in the morning, late due to the power going out because of a rain storm. She quickly showers and dresses in her way too cute for words pink pants, slips on her sassy pink sandals and runs out the door. As S is running to her car over her mud soaked driveway her sassy pink sandals slide causing S to fall down. What does S do?

She has to go back into the house to change, because she is late she throws on the first thing she can get her hands on which happens to be the colors of black and gray. Kind of like her mood today. Ugh.

Redneck Yachtclub Rules

The top 10 rules I think are important for any potential yachtclub member to agree to are as follows:

1. I will agree to have a doggy life jacket on board my floating play pen before my Rottweiler decides to jump off the boat in 30 feet of water just in case he figures out that he can't swim.
2. I will agree to always remember to bring the tongs home that were utilized to flip food on the on-board grill to wash-just in case visitors to the floating play pen think "a little dirt never hurt nothin'".
3. I will agree to hunt down any other boaters who happen to have "found" a neon blue bouy with the last name of H written on it.
4. I will agree to always make sure that there is extra gas on board just in case a "short ride' turns into an all day event.
5. I will agree to be very careful before stepping foot on the floating playpen when husband is pushing water off of the canopy after a rain to ensure my not getting drenched by said water when it comes flying off of the top of the canopy and down my shirt.
6. I will agree to never, ever, ever park at the dock that the H's have rented for the summer, even if said slip happens to be empty at that moment and is located at a store and you just need to "run up and get supplies but will only take a minute" when the H's return to dock their boat.
7. I will promise to always pick up the poo left by my dog when I let him run down by the water so that no one steps in it when returning to the dock after dark and suddenly feels a squish.
8. I will agree to always empty the on-board port a potty after every trip.
9. I will agree to always have a cooler full of my very own favorite beverages located on my own boat before I tie up with the floating play pen (this rule does not apply to Koli's favorite aunt).
10. I will agree to always try to assist S in her efforts to wrestle the Jumbo Size Air Horn Can away from L whenever possible.

No Stalker Mom

The dilemna has been solved-I will be attending my conference in Orlando where I will happily stalk the mouse. When L found out that I was considering attending the conference in San Diego he about had a heart attack. I think he had visions of me schleping a lawn chair and cooler half way across the country to set up W watch 2005. So there will be no stalker mom in San Diego, the Marine recruits can rest easy now I am sure.

We will be holding W's going away party the last weekend of August so if your in my 'hood, stop by-lots of food and fun to be found.

Thanks to another blogger who is waiting to adopt her daughter from China, I have become obsessed with baby shoes. Shoes were not on my radar of things to purchase yet but after reading her question about shoes on one of my previous posts I set out to see just what is available in the world of little girl shoes. Oh My Heavens! I am currently in the process of attempting to purchase shoes to match the outfits I had already purchased for Koli. Once I started buying shoes I realized that care had to be taken to find the perfect tights to match the shoes for those outfits that are appropriate for the cold weather months. Speaking of cold weather months-holy cute boots! I picked up a pair of faux Ug*gs that are pink and absolutely adorable. I am having a little problem figuring out what size of shoes to buy but I'm sure with a little practice this will get better.

I'm going through another cycle of "CAA". CAA stands for Cry At Anything. Sappy commercial? Turn on the water works! Hug my boys? Use a box of Kleenex! I'm not sure what is happening but ever since we made the decision to adopt I'm going through these emotional cycles that come out of nowhere and tend to freak my family out. Which is kind of fun in a sick sort of way. Might as well keep them on their toes, huh?

This and That

So have I gushed lately about how super cool my family is? I got home today and found a large box in my mailbox. My cool cat cousin and her husband had sent us a Chinese book and CD's to help us learn Koli's language! How very, very thoughtful. We are thrilled! I have already popped the first CD in and am going to put these in my car so that I can have a solid 2 hours per day of uninterrupted learning time as I travel back and forth to work.

It is official...I am beginning to look like An*dy Roo*ney. I have cancelled my hair appt three times now which also means that my eyebrows have not been waxed like they should be. I don't tweeze my own eyebrows, I'm very dangerous with a pair of tweezers-I tend to get one brow looking nice and the other will become non existent as I struggle to get it to match the first brow. So I have learned to leave my eyebrow grooming to the professionals, except when I get so busy at work that I can't seem to keep my appts. Then I start looking like An*dy. Not such a becoming look on a female.

I have a dilemna. I need to attend a conference this fall as I am pursuiting an additional certification for my job. I have the option of going to Orlando where the conference will be held at a Disney resort (can you say "Disney Freak"?) I love that place. I also have the option of attending the conference in San Diego. Yes that's right, San Diego. The same place where W will be since he will still be in boot camp at the time of this conference. Did I happen to mention that the conference is about 3-4 blocks away from the boot camp training thingy? I know that there will be 100's of bald headed Marines but there is a chain link fence that divides the street from a part of the base. Although the chance is slim, there is still the possibility that I could spot him. We have a very common last name but nobody runs like my W so I'm sure I could spot him if he was running in the vicinity of the chain link fence with his last name stenciled on the back of his shirt. I know I would not be able to speak to him or call attention to him but I just might see him. So what would you do-attend the conference in Florida that is being held at one of my favorite places in the world or attend the conference in San Diego with the hope that by walking by the base a couple of 100 times a day I could perhaps catch a glimpse of my son?

Somebody Stop Me!

My name is S and I am a shopaholic. I have this problem that consists of not being able to walk by a children's store without being drawn in by some unknown force. Before I know it, I have an armload of girl clothes at the check out register and am happily swiping my debit card and entering in my pin #. I only have one problem. Koli doesn't have a room yet. So I have bags and bags of adorable girl clothes that are threatening to take over L's office. So much for hiding my addiction from my husband. We plan on turning W's room into Koli's bedroom once he leaves for boot camp but until then the bags keep piling up. I keep telling myself to at least wait until I have space to hang them up but that magnetic force keeps drawing me back in. Anyone want to come with me and see if you can cure my addiction?

Whoo*zits and What*zits

I had decided that when we travel to pick up Koli, I wanted to purchase a wrap or pouch to carry her around in. I'm all about making sure that our precious girl bonds with us so thought that having some skin to skin contact would encourage that rather than simply placing her in a stroller. I purchased two different types of hip slings/wraps/pouches to try to see which one was the most comfortable. Heaven help me. After taking the first item out of the box, I decided that it would not be necessary for me to read the instructions. After all, how hard could it be to take a piece of material and two rings and form an opening that would fit my pretend child? I had purchased a 20 pound bag of rice as a stand in for Koli. In real life I am on the growth stunted side. I had purchased the "medium" size wrap since it states that most people fit into the medium category and there is a large difference in vertical between me and L. So my thinking was to buy the medium than we could both use it. After last night I see the error of my ways. The piece of fabric could have wrapped me up in it 3 times, come to think of it, I think it did wrap me up 3 times. I was in the comfort of my own home, by myself, and almost had to dial the emergency number for help. I began by wrapping the fabric around my body, thinking that I would then somehow pull it up to my waist and then attach the rings. All fine and good except that I wrapped on of my arms inside the fabric, twice. After doing a little twirly dance number to extract my body from the fabric I tried again, remembering this time to keep both hands free from the wrapping process at all times. I was a little more successful on this attempt and actually managed to pull the yards and yards of fabric up to my waist this time. Only then I realized that I did not have the little ring-y things in my hand. So I had to walk to the kitchen table, reach out to grab the ring-y things and then try to somehow connect them near my shoulder. While using both hands to try to connect the ring-y things I let go of the fabric in the wrong place and the sling once again looked like a dress. Now armed with the ring-y things, I pulled the fabric up once again, kept my hands positioned where they needed to be and somewhat successfully attached the ring-y things. I then proceeded to place ever so lovingly into this pouch my 20 pound bag of rice. That would be the 20 pound bag of rice that somehow popped a hole in its bag and began leeking all over the floor before I realized that my load was not simply getting lighter because I was getting used to it but because approximately 5 pounds of rice was now spread out on my floor. Tonight, I try the other one.

Sweet Dreams

I keep having this dream night after night. In my dream I can see the outline of Koli. She is about a year old with dark hair that is in pig tails. I can see that she has a round face and is wearing an impish grin but the rest of her features are fuzzy. She reaches out to me and calls me Mama. I am so happy and content as I reach down and pick her up, snuggling with her on my shoulder. I inhale deeply and smell baby lotion. So that is my new obsession-baby lotion. I purchased a large bottle of it recently, not to wear but just to open and smell. Every time I smell it I am reminded of my dream and I just close my eyes and relive the scene.

Today was referral day-not for me but for some fellow bloggers that I am getting to know. One family in particular has touched me from the very beginning. I won't link to their blog without their permission but they have the most amazing video of her referral phone call. I sat watching that video with tears literally streaming down my cheeks. Congratulations K & S-I am sure you will be amazing parents! Watching that video made everything that much more real for me. Seeing K's hands visibly shaking as she fumbles for something to write with, hearing the unsteady tone of her voice which was filled with such excitement and anticipation, I can so relate to that. I placed a pen and pad of paper in my glove box after watching her because I am prone to moments like that. In my case our referral call will probably come just before I hit a dead spot on my way home from work with my cell phone. I can see it now-congratulation L & S you have been referred a .......
Maybe I will have to tote around my bottle of baby lotion when our turn comes around, so that if the cell phone isn't in range I can just open it and smell.

Oh Happy Days!

Last week was such a terrific week. Not only were we notified of our Log In Date, but the infamous Brown Envelope appeared in my mailbox on Saturday! That's right ladies and gentleman, the H family actually received the brown envelope! It really is a relief to know that not only does the Chinese government know about us but the American Consulate does as well. All is right in my world at the moment.

My Mom dropped by on Saturday and gave me a gift. She had purchased a beautifully illustrated childrens book on adoption. The author was present at the festival that she was at so she was able to get this book signed. It brought tears to my eyes when I read the book. My Mom and I just stood there for a few minutes, both misty eyed after I was done. The book was great and I love my Mom so much for taking the care to purchase this. I have to send a big shout out to one of my best friends in the whole wide world-T-. T ran into my Mom at the festival and pointed the book out. It just gives me such a warm and fuzzy feeling to know that not only is my family excited about Koli but that my friends are too.

We Are Expecting!!

What a great day! I opened my email up this afternoon to find a message from our adoption agency. They had been notified of our Log In Date and it is June 20th! So let the official count down begin!! If everything stays the same we can expect to receive our referral in December. Oh happy day!! The best part is that we already have one month under our belt. Thank you Heavenly Father!!

Lucky Bamboo

Things seem to be so connected some days that it is really kind of scary. I received a piece of "Lucky Bamboo" from my staff last year as a gift. All year it has steadily grown and then all of a sudden it has just begun to take off. I kept the little tag attached to it and reread it this morning. This is what it says "We sincerely hope this gift of lucky bamboo will bring happiness and good fortune to you." Hmmm, our dossier is in China, meaning our precious Koli is one step closer to us and all of a sudden my bamboo is starting to look like the beanstalk from J*ack and the Beanstalk. I know, I know, cheesy but come on people-I'm looking for anything to make me feel like we are still forging ahead.

As I mentioned before we are planning on getting to know the other 5-6 couples in our area that are using the same adoption agency and were DTC the same date as us. I have talked with a couple of them and they have received their brown envelope. Of course we have not received ours because that is the way things go in the H household. The brown envelope is filled with important documents that are sent to you by the US Consulate in China. It contains things like Visa applications, etc. Receiving the brown envelope is like Christmas for some people (me being one of them). I would race to the mailbox every day waiting for it then I found out the other people in our travel group have already received theirs, which made me feel like I was the kid on Christmas morning that received the lump of coal in her stocking. I have been assured by our adoption agency that not everyone receives the envelope and they have all of the necessary documents that are contained in the brown envelope at their office so not to worry. It's still a little disturbing to me but I am trying to focus on the positive. We still have not been notified of our LID (log in date) yet. This is the date that the Chinese government officially logs your dossier in to their system for processing. I don't expect to hear for another few weeks and keep telling myself that the longer it takes for me to hear, the less waiting time I will actually have left when I find out the date. It typically takes up to 14 days to be logged in so if that is the case we are looking at June 24th or somewhere close to that date as our LID. Which means that we will realistically not get our referral until January. I'm hoping for our referral in December but don't want to get myself into the lump of coal category again by setting myself up if it doesn't come by Christmas.
L made another trip to Cabela*s last week and came home with two very adorable outfits for Koli. Of course they are camo colored but they do have ruffles and bows so I'm happy, we are making progress.

Redneck Yachtclub Part Two

Oh what a weekend we had! I do not have the pic's ready to post yet but they are hilarious! When we pulled up to the island, everyone's mouth dropped open (in awe I'm sure). We headed out to the middle of the river to watch fire works, ended up tying up to three other boats and could not get rid of the river police. They kept circling our entourage dying of laughter. They wanted to know if they could use my port a potty (are they nuts?) and were completely dumbfounded by Koli's Favorite Aunt's lighting system. Her boat had PVC pipe that ended with an elbow attachment. On the elbow attachment they had placed a DISCO BALL!! It was attached to a battery so while the fire works were flying the Redneck Yachtclub was helping with the lighting from the DISCO BALL (very festive) and the Tiki Torches. Both of our boats had signs on them that said Redneck Yacht Klub established 2005. What a great time. After the fire works we pulled back into the cove at the island, set the tent up on the floating play pen, blew up our air mattress and settled in for some good sleep. The only problem with the good sleep theory was that we were right next to where the campfire was on shore. Fourth of July, an island, adult beverages, nice weather does not equal good sleep when you have a dozen people who can stay up all night celebrating! So we did the best we could trying to get sleep and spent the next day on the floating play pen just relaxing. We actually had two separate boats pull up next to us and ask how much the membership fee was to get into the "Klub". Stay tuned for pic's.

Redneck Yacht Club

I am back from Hawaii-had an absolutely fabulous time with my mom and the conference I attended was tremendous. In fact, the organization that sponsors this conference is going to make Maui the permanent meeting site! So once a year I will be able to go to Hawaii without alot of out of pocket expenses for me-Woo-Hoo!! We are already planning for next year's trip. I will be bringing the whole family and sure hope Koli can tolerate the long plane ride just a short time after we bring her home.

Now on to the topic of my heading. This weekend is Fourth of July. We recently purchased an old pontoon boat. We had a larger, nicer boat but L felt strongly that with Koli coming we needed to "right size" and purchase something that was more like a giant play pen. The boat is orange-not modern cool orange but circa 1970 shag carpet orange. It has brown indoor/outdoor carpet on it. We had to buy chairs to sit on so we searched and searched and finally had to settle on hunter green resin stackable chairs. Because it is close to the Fourth of July holiday most places that carry boat accessories are pretty low on supplies. We needed to have bouys to hang off the side of the boat. Could not find a white one to save our lives so we ended up with neon blue bouys. To add to the festivities L insisted on purchasing Tiki Torches for all four corners of the giant play pen. We have a tradition of pitching tents on an island friends of ours own for the weekend and watching the fire works off of our boat. L has decided that we do not need to pitch a tent on the island when we have the giant play pen. So we have purchased a tent that will fit on the deck of the boat and will be staying on board the ship. He also invested in the surround normally used for a solar shower which he has hung from the frame of the play pens canopy, thus giving me an instant bathroom with the port-a-potty safely tucked away inside the shower surround. He came up with the bright idea to permanently mount our charcoal grill to the front of the boat. Can anyone think of anything more redneck than our boat? I am going to try very hard to post a picture of the floating play pen sometime after the holiday. While searching for all of our classy accessories L spotted the teeniest tiniest life jacket that he begged to purchase for Koli. Very cute if you would like your daughter in camo color. I think not. So if anyone is on a certain large body of water that is really a river in Michigan and you see the floating play pen, give us a shout-we would love to meet you. Happy Holiday everyone!

Mean People Suck

Mean.People.Suck.

I am fairly new to this thing called the adoption community. Those of you that know me know that one thing I do well is research and plan. So although we have not been part of the adoption community for long I feel that I have done a fairly decent job of bringing myself and L up to speed on all of the important things regarding China and adoption. I am constantly amazed at the attitudes of other adoption community members. I used to be glued to the big board regarding China adoptions, now I can barely bring myself to view that board once a week. It is inexplicable to me how people who are traveling the same path can be so cruel and condescending to each other at times. I personally don't care if someone is searching for the perfect patriotic outfit to bring their new daughter home in. Doesn't matter to me. Not one iota. I don't care if they want their Coming Home Barbie or not. These things hold no relevance for me. That they are of importance to others is pretty evident on the big board. I try to live by the rule that if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. There are obviously lots of people out there whose Mama's never taught them that rule. Why the need to put someone else down? Beginning this process of international adoption has forced me to really examine what is important to me and I can tell you that how someone else is going to dress their baby is not on my radar. I have been shocked on more than one occasion by the remarks people make to me when they find out we are adopting from China. I think that everyone who has made this decision has been faced with the same kinds of questions. Things like-Why do we feel the need to buy our baby? How come we are not strong enough parents to take in a foster child or two and adopt them? What's wrong with a good ole American baby? Normally I try to deflect the questions and move on. I'm not sure how I am going to react once we have Kolaina home and someone makes a racist remark. I hope that I can remain calm while letting the person know how out of line the comment is but I am afraid that the Mama Bear in me will rear her ugly head and leave the person asking the question realing. I don't want to be a mean person so just play nice okay?

Expectant Mother Parking

Since we have made our decision to adopt I feel out of sorts at times. In my mind, I am an expectant mother. I giggle when I pull into a parking lot and see the reserved parking spots for expectant mothers. I have such a desire to utilize one of those spaces but am such a rule follower that I will not do it. But why shouldn't I? Although my ankles are not swollen (let's not talk about my belly) I am technically an expectant mother am I not? I have begun to hang out in baby stores, searching for furniture, bedding, etc. It is almost as if I am invisible at times. Those women who are obviously expecting are swooped upon by the store employees. I can wander aimlessly for 30 minutes without anyone coming up to ask me anything more than if I need help accessing someone's baby registry. I often wonder how they cannot tell that I am an expectant mother from the excited glow my cheeks exude whenever I am near baby gear.

I'm makin' a blankie

I should 'fess up right from the get go that I have this wonderful dream of receiving squares of fabric from people all over the world that will be lovingly sewn together by hand by me as I gaze dreamily at the fabric I am handling, creating a quilt for my daughter. In all actuality what is going to happen is I am going to put a shameless plea out to everyone reading this blog to send me two squares of fabric (8 x 8) along with a 3 x 5 card that has your wish for Kolaina written on it (on the card, not the fabric) and I will beg my mom to make the quilt for me. I alluded to this quilt in a previous post but wanted to give everyone some history behind this desire to make this blanket. The quilt is commonly known as a 100 wishes quilt or a Bai Jia Bei. I was initially going to ask for one square of fabric with the wish written directly on the fabric but have since read other people's ideas on how they are putting their baby quilts together and really like some of them! So, if you could be so kind as to send two squares of fabric I will use one to make a square on the quilt and the other one will be attached to the wish that was written on the 3 x 5 card and stored in a box for Kolaina to be able to read the wishes and feel the fabrics of her quilt. It is my understanding that this tradition started in Northern China as a way of welcoming a new baby. So for those of you that lurk here and know my address or see me in real life, bring on the squares! For those of you that just read the blog, please email me at hll_sz@yahoo.com and I will give you the address to send the squares too. Don't worry Aunties, I have forwarned my mom. :) What would be really cool is if I could convince all of my cousins (and I have a couple of ultra hip chic's I am proud to be related to) to get together to have an old fashioned quilting bee-and yes right now my ultra cool chic cousins are spitting diet coke out of their noses at the thought while my other cousins who are the craftiest things this side of Martha Stewart are probably seriously considering the idea. Darling way cool big sister of mine, can you please send me a couple o'squares of one of Dad's flannel shirts? Koli has to have a part of Pa-pa in her blankie don't ya think?

I am a chatter box tonight. Did I tell ya'll that my 72 year old father in law wants to go to China with us? I think that is the coolest thing ever. I am leaving for Hawaii in three days with my mom. I'm so over the top excited about this-can anyone think of a better place to chill with your mama? I am very thankful that this summer will be busy. It will help pass the time while we are waiting for our referral. I will be traveling in a few days for a week, will be out of town the week after the fourth and once again in August. Once school is back in session it will be a whirlwind because it will be D's senior year and he plays football. So by the time football is done Thanksgiving will be right around the corner, then December will be upon us. December will see us heading out to San Diego to watch W graduate from Boot Camp and hopefully bring us good news in the form of our referral. I have never wanted six months to pass so quickly before in my life. Here we go with that patience thing again, huh?

More Ponderin'

I'm not quite sure when I became such a klutz but I did several things today that just reaffirmed the fact that yes I am indeed a klutz. I used to be a cheerleader. A flyer to be exact. I could scale many levels of people in a single bound, end up on top of a mount smiling and willingly jump/twist off and land on my feet. With a smile on my face. Somewhere along the way I seemed to have lost that grace and poise. Imagine if you will approaching the front of your all glass building where there is a meeting room filled with your colleagues looking out, you know they can see you but you can't see them through the smokey glass. You know the room is filled with people because you checked the schedule the day before, you walk tall as you are approaching the building, shoulders squared, head lifted, maybe even flipping your hair casually just to appear like you have it all together. You are wearing heels, feeling pretty good about yourself when IT happens. Just before the entrance your heel gets stuck in the crack in the sidewalk filled with goo. Your shoe sticks, the rest of your body does not. You end up propelling forward in an awkward hopping motion since you now only have one shoe. Shouting to yourself inside your head-do not fall, do not fall, do not f...... You end up not falling but not because of your cat like abilities but because your awkward hopping, forward propelling motion lands you in a bush instead. Leaves me to ponder-will Kolaina think I'm a cool mom if something like this happens while we are somewhere, like the mall, and she is hyperventilating because at the same time she spots the boy she has a crush on from math class he spots her and her mom is oh so gracefully hopping around on one foot because she just lost her heel?

If this was an isolated event it might not have got me pondering but many of you know the story of me losing the top to my swimming suit while at the completely packed pool in Hawaii and of me not having a pocket to carry a t*mpon in and ever so cooly tucking it into my pants waistband only to discover that it came out my pantleg while I was walking-that would be walking right in front of one of my male bosses. I probably don't have to remind anyone of the time I gave myself whiplash while wearing heels and having my heel sink into a hole in the floor at the office of my previous employer (in my defense I was walking REALLY fast to keep up with someone who had VERY long legs). I think I will take up ballet, or maybe yoga. I think I need to do something to help me get my coordination back. Or I need to hope that I have a really clumsy daughter.

Things to Ponder...

It is pretty incredible the way this adoption has kind of flowed right along with big moments in W's life. We received our corrected 171-H on W's graduation day, we received word that we were DTC the day before W's open house, we should receive our referral around the same time that W graduates from Boot Camp. I was talking to one of my friends about all of these coincidences when she made a startling observation. I have told people that I really believe that Kolaina was born in December. December just happens to be the month that W and M were born. December 2nd to be exact. She asked me if I had thought about the possibility that she could share a birthday with my boys. Huh? Nope, that thought never crossed my mind. Now it seems that that is all that I think about. The Chinese have a belief (I am paraphrasing here) that when someone is born there is an invisible red thread that connects that person to everyone who will be important in his/her life irregardless of time. The timing of all of these events does tend to make one go hmmmmm.

We Are DTC!!!

We received word on Friday that our paperwork made it into the "China Box" and was being mailed to China that day. So we are officially DTC. What does DTC stand for you ask? It stands for "Dossier to China". It is the next major hurdle we had to cross. We now wait for word of our LID which is our "log in date". The log in date is the official start of the waiting. Typically speaking you can expect to receive your referral for your daughter six months after your log in date. Since we are June DTC our referral should come right before Christmas!