We are DTC!!(dossier to China)... {adoption update}

 

 

 

Today was a full day.  Jeffrey had orchestra at the school in the morning, MB, Mickey and I had "coffee club", Jeffrey had a field trip with the 5th grade class he attends gym/music with, and tonight my friend Michelle organized a shopping event/adoption fundraiser at the store Hot Mama in the mall.  More to come on that- it was so great!!
Meanwhile, all day I was an absolute basket case inside- and so were the kids!  You see, our dossier was picked up from the Chinese Embassy on Wednesday(the Embassy was closed on Monday and Tuesday due to a Chinese holiday) and then overnight-ed to our agency that same day(cost: $57 to overnight it people!!- how crazy is that???).  We also had to overnight new cashier's checks to our agency the same day(long story but we sent the wrong amounts the first time which ended up being kind of a big deal since each check costs $5 and then we had to overnight it ($20) so that our coordinator got the correct ones in time).  Boo.  We got over it.  Stuff happens, right?
Now, our agency only mails dossiers to China on Fridays(not sure why, but that's the deal) and so it was VERY important to us that all of our stuff got to her by Thursday so she had time to make some copies, look it over and make sure everything was in order.  Everything got there on Thursday.  YAY!
There was always an off chance that our dossier would not get mailed on Friday... since she said she "should have enough time" to get it ready.  And what if there was something amiss?  So that is why we were so nervous all day today.  I checked my email 600 times at least, waiting to hear from her that it was sent.  The kids kept asking me if it was time to celebrate yet.  "Are we DTC, are we DTC?" is all I heard all day(that didn't help my nerves).  I started doing time zone figuring in my head... our agency is in CA so 2 hours behind... what if she goes home at 4pm today since it's a Friday?  What if she never emails us to let us know, assuming that we were assuming it would just go out?  I already emailed her once in the morning, should I do it again?  Would she hate me if I did?  Is she home sick?  Should I make John call?  If so, what time?  I decided for the sake of all of our sanity, that John would have to call her at 3:30 her time.  That seemed safe to me.  So he called... and she answered... and said yes, it was mailed(like it was no big deal! ha!!)  In the background MB was yelling "did she mail it? did she???"... oh my goodness- I wonder what our coordinator thinks of this family that emails her almost everyday(I'm exaggerating- but not much) with a million questions and screams like a nutcase over any news.  ugh...  Anyway- WE ARE DTC! WE ARE DTC! WE ARE DTC!!!!!!
This means dossier to China.  And THAT means that ALL the paperwork that we have been working on for 6 months, sending all over creation for notarizations, seals, and approvals, has FINALLY been put all together and mailed off to China!!!  This is a big milestone in the process.  HUGE.  And we are over the moon happy about it.  I was shaking and felt like a nervous wreck after we found out though- maybe because it suddenly felt so REAL, ya know?  Hard to explain...
So now what?  We wait to hear from China that they received it(happily, I don't think there's any holidays this coming week) and then we are officially LID.  Another HUGE milestone.  It stands for "log in date"- which is a really big deal because we cannot be matched with a child until we have our LID.  The sad news is that the next shared list(the list that only comes out once a month from China with all the new children that are available for adoption) is probably coming out this coming week.  I'm sure before we can even hope to be LID.  So that stinks.  But maybe, just maybe there's a chance we could find our daughter or be matched somehow this coming month???  Nothing is impossible, right?  I'm not getting my hopes up though... even though that is what our heart's desire is, we realize that it's a possibility that we could be waiting months for a match(our agency said it could be 3-8 months).  I'm assuming that's worst case scenario- ha!  It's been known to happen faster- our coordinator is actually known for being a really fast matcher- so we'll see!
It all depends on so many things...
We will keep you posted though!  So again, coming up next in this process is:
 LID and then:  our baby girl!  I can hardly believe we've come this far!

I heart Winnie-the-Pooh

This came out today: we are so excited! The first movie-in-the-theater we ever took the boys to was a Winnie the Pooh. Happy memories...

New Member of the Family: "Blue" the ceramic dog

I spotted this guy at Pier 1 and HAD to have him!

John said sure so I went back a couple of days later and picked him up-

he was the last one!(phew)

Here's how Amber and I got him safely home:

And here he is in his new home:
Love it!

this makes my heart happy

my new bff: the NOOKcolor

John got me a NOOKcolor for Valentine's Day and I LLLLOVE it!! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about not holding a book and also how my eyes would feel but it turns out I like reading from this better than a book and my eyes actually seem better too! Now I want everyone I know to get one so that we can "lend" each other books. Did you know you can also borrow ebooks from any library from your computer??? I didn't! Then you just transfer them to your NOOK. That's what I'm doing today- figuring out how to do that.(do you think I'll have to first pay my $30 fine at our library?? ugh.) It also plays pandora, several games, and you can go on the internet. They said they will be adding more apps all the time. And every Friday they offer a free book for downloading. I just finished reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult- REALLY good. But sad.

"Mary Beth is thankful for Mommy"

Mary Beth's class makes books all the time and they get to bring them home for a night at some point throughout the year. Each child has a page they contribute to the books. This is Mary Beth's page from their kindergarten "Thankful Book". It made me cry. We may never see this book again so I took a picture of her page so I will always have it.

And Mommy is thankful for you my sweet baby girl!

"the piggy commercial"

i love this skating party

photo by Geneve Hoffman

party from Beautiful Days

well, i love the idea of this party(you must check out all the pictures). if I enjoyed being miserably cold or trying to balance with thin pieces of metal on a sheet of ice then i would truely love this and do this, but alas i don't. so i can't. {that and the fact that my backyard is the size of my kitchen}
and yes, i do realize that lots of people(for instance all my friends and family members) enjoy outdoor winter activities- but i am not one of them. don't judge me. it's COLD outside, it's difficult for me to walk in snow without falling down, and i have a trick knee. you would think that even one of those excuses should be enough for everyone....

one little word

{image from Ali Edwards}

Is anyone doing this for 2011? I love the idea: instead of {or along with} resolutions you pick 1 word for your theme word for the year. Examples could be: play, joy, create, love...

Ali takes it a step further by turning it into a year long project for scrapbooking. You can read more about it and even join in by going to the link above.

You can frame your word on cute paper and set it out where you can see it. Great reminder.

My word this year: INTENTION(as in living my life with intention)
What's your word going to be?

Happy New Year!

In this season of Hope

Make at least one

really great snow angel,

enjoy the company

of those around you,

savor the future and

take time to create a

memory...

image from Patina White

I just thought this was so cool!
{she has a SUPER cute blog and house so you should go check it out!}

super cute Christmas story video

A Very Merry Christmas to you!

{ sketch by Lindsay at her awesome blog Lindsay Letters }

Listen to this lovely song {and watch the video} by Audrey Assad with Chris Tomlin... here

love this

I love this post by Sarah today over at Cloverlane: http://memoriesoncloverlane.blogspot.com/2010/06/little-things.html
go read it if you have a minute.

Can someone PLEASE teach me to create a shortcut to something????? Like this- I just wanted to put the title of her post here but it put the whole address! HELP!

children

You are the trip I did not take;

You are the pearls I cannot buy;

You are my blue Italian lake;

You are my piece of foreign sky.

(“To My Child,” quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54)



I read this poem in THIS post(which is a great read by way so go read it!) and I loved it. I think it's beautiful... having kids, loving them, and staying home with them means so much more than all the silly things we give up for awhile to do it. I never feel like I'm missing out or that I'm not being fullfilled. I recently found a letter I wrote to my older self when I was in high school. In it I said that in 5, 10, 15 years, ect. I hope that I will be a mommy. :)

Poem

If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again

by Diane Loomans

If I had my child to raise all over again,

I'd do less correcting, and more connecting,

I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.

I would care to know less and know to care more.

I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.

I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.

I'd run through more fields and gaze at more stars.

I'd do more hugging, and less tugging.

I would be firm les often, and affirm much more.

I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.

I'd teach less about the love of power

and more about the power of love.

I always pray that I can raise my children without (too much)regret and that I can savor every single moment of the precious few I have with them being my little peanuts...

slow down!

From Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes Sunday, April 11th:



(CBS) " We’re doing a lot of complicated things in the world these days and we’re doing them too fast. Something’s got to be done about the passage of time. It’s got to be slowed down. The days, the weeks, the months and the years go by too fast. Our lives go by too fast.
We’re always hurrying time along by looking forward to things tomorrow instead of enjoying today.
Last weekend I heard a television weatherman say that summer was right around the corner. Well, summer is not around the corner. Summer starts on June 21. The corner is still 71 days away. I mean what’s the rush?
Planning is bad for the passage of time. Planning anything a month in advance makes that month pass quicker.
In March I was looking forward to the beginning of April because I like April but I was so busy looking forward to April that I forgot to enjoy March which isn’t bad, but first thing I knew, March had passed and I’d hardly noticed it.
The days that drag are the days when we have nothing coming up in the future. We could use some of those days because they’re what we need more of to make time last longer – days that drag.
So, slow down, don’t plan, savor every minute.”

wonderful quote

Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Upon receiving the award, she was asked how we all can promote world peace and she answered, "Go home and love your family."

art

I've seen this link on a few different blogs lately and wanted to share it here also. My kids love watching this over and over- and so do I! I think Mickey thinks it's possible to do this himself... :)

love

Jeffrey brought this home to me from school the other day- wow. His class makes the most BEAUTIFUL art- I'll have to post more soon... but I "love" this one for sure- what a wonderful valentine!

this made me cry

Sarah over at Clover Lane (LOVE IT!) had this on her blog today- that's where I watched it for the first time. I cried. I bet I would have cried even more if I had teenagers...

You should watch it.