They call her Angel baby

I had someone from our local area translate Dreamsicle's documents that we received that were written in Chinese. Her story is hers to tell but suffice it to say that I shed many tears over her circumstances and that of her mother and father. In her documents, her orphanage director refers to her over and over again as an angel baby. He writes that when she smiles everyone in the room smiles too because she looks just like an angel. We already knew that she was Heaven sent, this just confirms it.

Walking On Sunshine

I can't seem to get this silly grin off of my face. I have Dreamsicle's pictures framed and placed everywhere-on my desk at work, at home, in the car...on the floating playplen, you get the idea. I received my Fed EX package of all her material today. In the package are the originals of the photos. The picture of her sitting in the chair with grapes covering up her "business" is hysterical. The scanned image cut off the bottom of that photo. If you look closely at the picture of her in the walker-her feet are not in the shoes, there are strange bumps in her pants that I believe are her real feet. They placed these same red shoes where her feet should be in the grapes picture as well. Her outfit was so large that her legs must not have stuck out of the bottom of her pants so someone cared enough to complete her ensemble. I find this strangely comforting. Her face is seared into my memory. Oh how I can't wait to see my babe smile.

She is a tiny little girl, much smaller than I was expecting. I have done some serious shopping but only minimally in the size that she will need. Today at lunch I changed that. I work close to a mall. In and out in 20 minutes with 5 outfits~including socks, and a gorgeous little sun hat. Approximately 6 weeks before we travel leaves me plenty of time to give my girl plenty of clothing choices. After all, has anyone ever heard of a girl with too many clothes?

I'm walking on sunshine.

She's Here and I am in LOVE!!

Defining Moments

There are moments in everyone's life that stay with them forever. Things happen that touch you so deeply that you remember where you were and exactly what you were doing at the time of the occurrence. Today is one of those days.

Today at 3:15 pm on Monday June 26th, 2006, we received our referral for our daughter. I was sitting in my office when my cell phone rang. I heard someone introduce themself from our adoption agency and had one of my friends start videotaping the call. I have not received her photos yet but I am already in love.

Her name is Liu Kang Ge
Her birthday is August 2, 2005 (10 months!)
She weighs 13.5 pounds
She is 26 inches tall
She is currently residing in the NanKang orphanage in the Jiangxi Province

She is a deep sleeper
She holds her head up
Grabs for toys
Tracks
Recognizes the difference between strangers and caretakers
She laughs out loud
She is quiet-Ha! Poor thing has no idea the family she is joining.

This was my defining moment....

UPDATE!!

We just received an email from our agency stating that the referrals are on the truck to be delivered today!!! Happy Day!!

Hopes Dashed

I just checked in on another blogger who has the same LID and is using the same adoption agency as we are. She has been stalking er, tracking our DHL package. She called DHL this morning and was told that our package is not scheduled to arrive in Texas until tomorrow.

I think I'm going to be sick.

**Warning** Emotional Basket Case

I am an emotional basket case right now. I find myself giggling for no reason, only to have the laughter change to tears in 2.5 seconds. For no reason at all.

I am anxious, nervous, excited, giddy, wired~beyond belief. I can't wait to see her face, find out how old she is, where she is currently living.

So here's the deal...

Our adoption agency expects to receive our referrals by 1:00 pm Texas time. That means 2:00 pm our time. So don't look for an update until late afternoon tomorrow. I'm fairly certain that some of you may know to check back here because you will hear me screaming with joy when that call finally comes.

One more day!!

COME ON TIME.....FLY!!!!!!

Can this weekend possibly move any slower? McGyver and X*Boy are up North fishing, Chester is now in California on base at Twenty Nine Palms, and U*Haul and Pixie are at Pixie's graduation open house. I have one more open house to make today but I'm kind of procrastinating. I'm hoping if I draw things out it will help me make it through the rest of the day. What in the world am I going to do with myself all day tomorrow?

My Life's Dream

When I was a little girl, I would imagine what it would be like to marry my Prince Charming, raise a family and live happily ever after. My dream family always consisted of 4 kids-two boys and two girls. The boys would be the oldest so that they would always be able to protect their younger sisters. In real life my Prince Charming is more like McGyver and we ride around in a white Chevy truck instead of riding on a white horse. In the happily ever after department, we have seen our share of sorrows ( losing our son), had our share of hard times (being so broke I did the laundry in the bathtub) but have been blessed beyond words with the birth of each of our boys.

It has taken us so long to get here. So long to fulfill our dream. The family dynamics are a little different than I imagined all of those years ago. Dreamsicle will have three big brothers to protect her instead of two. She will be the only girl. You know what? On the eve of receiving our referral, I can't imagine my family any other way.

Come On Referrals!

I am jumping out of my skin waiting for the infamous "Stork Alert" from our agency. They issue a "Stork Alert" when they have been notified that the referrals have been mailed. It looks like families with LID's through June 28th will be receiving the information on their babies at some point in the not so distance (please, please, make it be the not so distant) future. Soon. Just not soon enough. I am so ready to see her face. Last night before we went to bed I made McGyver go into Dreamsicle's room with me. I was just so excited, talking a mile a minute, asking him if he could imagine our daughter in her room. You know what he told me? He told me that he had spent time in her room that morning, by himself, imagining that very same thing. Awww, I love that man.

In the latest Klutz update...I have bought several new outfits for my upcoming travel. One of those outfits consists of a breezy, scrunchy type skirt that I wore to work on Monday. Mondays are our staff meeting day. I was running a little behind schedule so I scooted into the conference room where most of the staff was already assembled. In my haste I started speaking to the staff while closing the door. My skirt got caught in the door and stopped me dead in my tracks. After I gathered my wits and allowed the laughter to die down I proceeded to make my way to the front of the room. I tend to be very animated when I speak, often using my hands to make a point. So the sassy little bead bracelet that was on my wrist decided to take flight during the meeting. Luckily the girl sitting closest to me was paying attention and was able to duck before the bracelet caused her any bodily harm.

Come On Referrals!!!!!

I've Lost My Sanity

I can't sit still, I'm holding conversations with myself, I'm having palpitations. Concentration? HA! What concentration. Over rated anyway. Two weeks. (maybe 3) Two weeks until I stare into the eyes of my daughter. I am bursting, BURSTING with anticipation. For the person that is used to opening all of her Christmas presents up and then rewrapping them just because she couldn't stand the suspense, this last two weeks is going to be torture.

Speaking of torture-today is refingerprinting day for the McGyver family. Please help us get in and out of there quickly.

Good Times

This weekend flew by-thank goodness we had an extra day added to the weekend. There was just too much fun to be had to fit into two days. U*Haul and Pixie had their open houses this weekend. Graduation was a teary event for me as I watched my baby boy receive his diploma. It was great to watch him greet everyone that came to his party as they arrived. I was so proud of the way he handled himself, making sure he stopped and thanked everyone for coming. It was so nice to see our family and friends. One of my cousins has a son who weighs 21 pounds so I grabbed the baby carrier I have decided on using and did a "test carry". The carrier was comfortable to wear and the babe looked downright snugglish in it. We then moved on to the stroller and he seemed to enjoy himself in there as well. I love spending time with my extended family. They are so much fun. And good sports. I drug everyone of them upstairs to see Dreamsicle's room. So anyway, the party went off without a hitch, people stayed until the wee hours of the morning but I caught some shut eye then popped up a little while later ready to go.

It was time.

Time for the maiden voyage of the new and improved floating playpen. We launched in the morning and did not come off of the water until dusk. We are friends with a couple that have a pontoon as old as ours and they completely redid their boat this year as well. We spent the day with them out on the water. McGyver and this guy started threatening another one of our friends at the party on Saturday that they were going to "pimp his boat" since he has an old pontoon and hasn't done anything to it yet. Monday came and we took the boat out again. We ended up with five families meeting up on the water. It was so nice to relax and visit. We eat very good while boating since we have the permanently attached grills on the pontoons. I think I stuffed my face with more food (ribs! chicken! corn on the cob!) in those two days than I did in the whole week before that.

Yesterday morning I hopped on a plane and will be out of town until Sunday. I'm down south so it is hot but very bummed that their pool is inside. What's up with that? Up in the frozen tundra where I live the majority of hotels have outside pools. Here, where it is warm more months than not, the hotels have pools inside. Hmmm, go figure.

This week brings me another week closer to seeing Dreamsicle's face. Come on June-hurry up and fly by!

Not this time

I know, I know, I wasn't going to post anything adoption related until next week. I lied. It's official. Referrals are going through June 15th. I'm okay with that. Barring some crazy thing happening, we should be next. I just read that last line and laughed. This whole adoption wait has been a crazy thing so who am I kidding? June will be our month. Finally. Four weeks people, four weeks! I told McGyver last night that if we get our referral the last week of June we can pretend that the fireworks being shot off on the fourth of July are in celebration of our referral. What fun we will have on the floating playpen with the other members of the Redneck Yachtclub celebrating our baby's referral. Four weeks. Okay maybe five. The end is near. In a good way. I'm positively giddy. And. I. Have. Four. Weeks.To.Go. or maybe five.

My mission at some point this weekend is to upload all of the pictures (correctly sized I might add) from Dreamsicle's room and the floating playpen in all of it's new found Safety Red glory. And pictures of U*Haul and Pixie's graduation and open house-yippee! Four weeks (or five)!

I have to start posting more pictures

Alright, I know I'm dealing with some serious sizing issues with the pictures posted below. I had better get busy posting pictures so that I can figure out how to do this correctly before we go to China, don't you think?

Dreamsicle's Mirror

Dreamsicle's Grandmothers rocker, my dresser (repainted) and her crib

Hawaiian Surfer Frog Chick II

Hawaiian Surfer Frog Chick

Not This Time

It's looking as if I should have been running down the road of denial instead of skipping. Those pesky rumors seem to be picking up speed and it looks like we won't be receiving our referral this time. Spain is reporting that referrals will go through June 15th. You know what? I'm okay with that. As long as they make it through June 15th I can hang on for another 30 days. I keep telling myself that four weeks after referrals go out this time it will finally be our turn. Four weeks. Not a lifetime, just. four. weeks. I really have been living deep in the land of denial though. I was so convinced that June 20th would be included in this round of referrals that I actually sent an email to another blogger with the same LID as me telling her to hang on because we were so close I could almost hear our babies giggles (blush) sheesh, did I really say that? The wait? It is getting to me.
This week U*Haul and Pixie graduate from high school and their open house is next Saturday. I will post pictures of Dreamsicle's finished room sometime this weekend but then for the next week I am focusing on my baby boy and his girlfriend. I owe this time to them so at their open house I'm wearing my "don't ask" button. Not because it is too painful to talk about the adoption but because they deserve that day to be about them.

Skipping Down The Road of Denial

The rumors have started. Initially the rumors were good. Everyone was on board-referrals would go out for at least those families with LID's from June 7th-June 20th. The rumors have begun to darken. Referrals will only be given for 5 days worth of LIDS per month from now until eternity. That, my friends, is not going to happen. Nope, nope, nope. Not believing it. I have my hands covering my ears as I hum, loudly I might add, to keep those thoughts from entering my head. I am choosing to continue to skip down this road that is going to bring me to my referral at the end of this month. One more week, my referral is coming in one more week. Please, God, let it come in one more week...