No News Yet

Sung to the tune of Oh Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone:

Oh where oh where is my baby's TA?
Oh where oh where can it be?
There has been no news yet and I'm
outta my mind
I'm ready to meet my babyyyy.

Losing my mind folks-losing my mind.

BUT! in other news I have finally found the elusive stacking cups! Yeah!

Happy/Sad

First let me preface this post by saying Congratulations! to all of the families that will be receiving their referrals within the next two days. I am seriously overjoyed for you. When you see the picture of your baby for the first time, well, the feeling is hard to put into words.

Having said that....

When are TA's going to be sent???? The usual order is one group of people will receive their referrals (like we did in June) then 3-4 weeks later they receive their TA's (travel approvals). This event usually alerts the next groups of individuals waiting for referrals that they will receive their babies information, or referrals shortly thereafter.

That did not happen this time.

We received our referral and have been (ahem) patiently waiting for our TA -only to be notified that the next batch of referrals is being sent. What The Heck? Where is our TA? My poor group has been the group with many firsts (not any of them being good firsts) I feel like I need to do a huge public service announcement regarding my apologies to all of the other families who received referrals with me because this is the kind of thing that happens to the McGyver family all of the time. My patience is gone now people. Where is my TA? I just want to get my daughter, is that too much to ask?

Engaged!

Chester made a surprise visit home this weekend. His brothers picked him up from the airport early Monday morning, we sequestered him safely inside the house all day yesterday. Last night we concocted a diabolical plan to get Princess to "meet" me at a local park. When she arrived at the park, she saw my vehicle but it sure wasn't me that got out of the driver seat. Chester proposed, she accepted and wedding plans are already in full swing. The big event won't be until May of 2008 but she is a planner, that Princess of ours.

We couldn't be happier. We adore her and she just seems to "fit" into our family naturally.

Don't worry family-I'm going to have them stop by the family reunion this weekend for a big ol' lovefest.

Oh happy day!

Nesting

There is some serious nesting going on around the Casa de McGyver. Every sheet, blanket, and washcloth (yes, all 22 washcloths) have been washed, dryed and put away. McGyver assembled the highchair yesterday. I have Dreamsicle's clothing choices in a pile to pack for the trip. My backpack is filled with all of the 750 gazillion things that MUST! NOT! BE! FORGOTTEN! to take with us by way of medications, lotions, potions and other assorted sundry.

I'm getting the nervous butterflies beating against my stomach again. We're getting close-I can feel it.

For those of you that have BTDT-may I please ask for a word of advice? Dreamsicle weighed in at 13.5 pounds when she had her check up in April. I'm guessing that she's not going to weigh over 20 pounds when we get her so I'm packing clothing that fits up to 20 pounds. My question is in the diaper dept. Should I take 2's or 3's? I know that I can purchase diapers once we get over there but have heard their not as absorbent so I want to bring some with me. What size would you all recommend? And on a side note-where in the heck did everyone find stacking cups? I cannot find a set of stacking cups to save my life. I've looked at Walmart, Meijer, and Target and have not been successful. Any other ideas? For toys I have a crinkle book, a hard page book, a small plush toy and a set of keys, any other must brings?

I want to come home!

Anxiety

I am beginning to experience anxiety while waiting for our Travel Approval. The CCAA has finally decided to move and different agencies are reporting different things. Our agency is stating that this move has been well planned and should not cause any delays but there are other agencies saying just the opposite. As much as I want to believe my agency, with all that we have been through already I'm inclined to think that we will get caught in the middle of this. I simply cannot bear the thought of having to wait until sometime in September to meet Dreamsicle.

I have been watching the national news and seeing the flooding that is taking place in China right now makes me anxious as well. I keep thinking of all of my blogging buddies who have just received their referrals and their babies are in orphanages in the affected areas. If you are so inclined, please keep them in your prayers that the people of that region remain safe.

I'm anxious about what to do regarding our plane tickets. Do I go ahead and bite the bullet and pay large sums of money to purchase the adoption rate tickets now or do I gamble and see what I can come up with once we know for sure when we will be traveling? With the price of fuel being what it is right now, I'm up in the air on this one (geesh, no pun intended I swear).

I need to let the people know who have emailed me with their anxiety over their take on my feelings about receiving our daughter that I really don't have blinders on. I may write on my blog all sunshine and light types of posts but in real life McGyver and I are fully prepared to deal with any issues that Dreamsicle may have. We know what the risks are and will love this lil' darlin' no matter what. We've overcome other challenges with our children and both of us know that the road may be all uphill for awhile. But when you get to the top of the hill-the view is spectacular.

Weekend Update

McGyver and I spent the weekend up north. We have a 5th wheel that we normally camp in (McGyver likes to tease me that I don't "camp", I "RV") but because our weekend plans involved water he talked me into staying in his hunting camper. The camper slides into the back of his truck which allowed us to pull the floating playpen behind the truck. After getting over the initial insult of my insisting I had to clean the camper before I would stay in it, we headed north. Late Friday night we arrived at the cabin of our friends. We stayed in the camper that night, then got up early Saturday morning for our water adventure. We are life long residents of our fine mitten shaped state but shamefully had never been to this particular body of water. When we arrived at the lake I was in shock. The water was so clear that you could see the bottom, even in 10 feet of water you could still see the bottom. I was so mesmerized by the fact that I could see the bottom that I kept begging McGyver to jump in the water just so I could watch him go under and still see his body as he touched bottom and came back up. There were 5 families that made the trek up north with us and we spent the day boating, grilling and socializing. In the evening we actually docked the boats and were able to walk into town and have an adult beverage while the kids went for ice cream. What a fantabulous time we had. We came home today but we will definately be making another trek up there this summer.

On the Dreamsicle front~we have another picture of our angel baby. A woman from the NanKang message board had donated some items to the orphanage. As a thank you they sent her a picture with 9 babies in front of the donated items. She generously posted the picture knowing that 4 families had received referrals from this orphanage this time and thought we might like to see the photo. I opened the picture and there she was! On the far end, leaning like a drunken sailor onto a walker that had another baby in it. She is about one month older in this picture than she appears in our referral photos. She still has a receding hairline but seems to have more hair where she sports hair. The look on her face is hard to describe. She doesn't look sad, she's not smiling-but she seems...serene/content. I love this picture so much. She still looks like a tiny little munchkin but she is just like a bag full of eye candy to McGyver and me. We hope to receive travel approval sometime within the next week (crossing fingers and toes on this one) so be ready for an out of control mom- to- be once I receive word of the date that we will actually be traveling to pick up our bundle of sweetness.

Shower

Today has been a great day. I have no idea how the 60+ people that I work with pulled it off but they managed to throw me a surprise baby shower. A Surprise baby shower. Dudes-I am the one that checks our company email-I'm still shaking my head in disbelief that 60 people could keep such a huge secret from me. The gifts-oh the gifts! Dreamsicle is the proud owner of three onesie's that are custom made-the first one reads-My big brother drives a dump truck and has the name of our construction company on it. The second one reads-My big brother is a Marine and has the Marine Corps eagle, globe and anchor symbol on it. The third one reads-My big brother is a Flying Dutchman and has his college logo on it. She now owns a hand made quilt-it is knitted-the cool thing about this is that each square was knitted by a different person that I work with. I am so touched. She also has a hand made quilt from one of the ladies that custom makes a baby blanket for every baby here. So many, many goodies (and her high chair-yeah!). I am literally going to have to back my vehicle up to the front door to haul my stash out of here.

Random Ramblings

This weekend was a good one. Spent alot of time on the floating playpen, hanging out with friends. We watched the fireworks from the boat again this year, there were some really cool ones. Each time one of the more spectacular ones would appear I would whisper into McGyver's ear, think about next year.

I had a t-shirt made with one of her pictures on it (the one with the grapes of course). It was easier to have people stare at my chest than worry about bringing her photos out onto the water and run the risk of getting them wet. This is the one weekend of the year that we virtually run into everyone that we know so believe me when I tell you that my way was much more efficient than hauling out the trifold picture frame.

It's amazing how much stress has been released from my body since we received our referral. I had no idea how much it was affecting me until I had a chance to unwind this weekend. No stomach pains, no reflux, no insomnia. I'm telling you-stress released.

We have decided to send a care package to Dreamsicle. We will be including, among other things, a small photo album with McGyver, myself and the boys. One person per page. This has become quite the project. Every picture I find of myself I'm not happy with. I don't want to scare the poor baby, or freak out her caretakers so I think we will be taking some new photos today. Bad hair and weight gain over the past twelve months has not made for a cute mama. We are also sending her a blanket. We started sleeping with it last night. I fell asleep holding the blanket and realized in the middle of the night that the blanket I chose was rather warm. This resulted in making me start to sweat. In my sleepy half delirious consciousness I made the connection that sweaty mom was probably not the scent I wanted to send to my daughter so I threw the blanket off of the bed. Maybe we will each just hold it for awhile as we watch tv.

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.