Just another week in paradise

This week has honestly been fantastic! I am waking up each morning and pretty much the first thought that pops into my head is ..... Elizabeth! Work has been great, chores have been great, daily drama of just life has been great. I think everyone needs to either have a child or get the news that their adopted child is now theirs. Somehow just getting a phone call about our baby girl has made life in general much more tolerable.

We have gotten alot of questions over the last week that I thought I would take a minute to answer a few:

1. We requested a child, boy or girl, didn't matter, but we did request preferably younger than 12 months of age. As you all know Miss Elizabeth is, obviously, a girl, and she turned 10 months old yesterday!
2. We are in the process of completing ALOT of paperwork to get our visas to travel to China and to be allowed to bring Elizabeth back to the US. Each nite this week has been about 1.5 to 2 hours each nite of paperwork, photocopies, etc trying to get everything squared away.
3. We will probably travel sometime in July. Until our visas are issued and the consulate in China issues us a date to be there, we just do not know when we will travel. Once the visas are issued and the consulate gives us an appointment then we get what is called TA (also known as travel approval) and we will be able to make travel arrangements, etc. We will also know our exact travel dates at that time.
4. Yes, we are going to register for things that we need when she comes home and in fact, will be doing that this weekend at both Babies R Us and Target.
5. Yes I am going to take some time off from work, hopefully about 8 weeks to bond and get to know our baby girl.

That seems to top the most frequent questions we have received this week. Hopefully this answers any questions our readers may have.

Now for a bit of a reflection over the last 3 years:
Shortly after we decided to adopt and told our parents, I was down visiting my parents for the weekend and decided to look at a JCPenney catalog my mom had sitting around. The very first page I turned to was the nursery bedding sets and the exact page I turned to was the Fly Away Home page which is a ladybug nursery set, and happens to be the exact one I ordered. I took that as a sign that we were supposed to have that set.
A few weeks ago Patrick went to get his haircut and when he walked into the barbershop his barber was watching a video on where to eat in Guangzhou, China. That just happens to be where we will be ending our trip to China and at that time we did not have any clue as to when our referral would be coming.
Several days after Patrick's haircut he was walking out our front door and there were 4 ladybugs on one of the shrubs against the walkway, and he turned around and walked in and said "I think we may be getting a referral soon because I just saw 4 ladybugs."

These are just a very few things that have happened over the course of the last few weeks and 3 years. We had faith that this little girl was going to be the one chosen just for us, and that as soon as we saw her face this long wait would suddenly be forgotten. All of this is true. Elizabeth has been chosen just for us, and will be loved immensely and nurtured to be the very best she can be. We have both fallen just head over heels in love and can not wait to meet her face to face and finally get to hold her once and for all. Our life is a fixin to change, but in a way that will be a change for the good!!!

Please keep checking back for updates here about our travel arrangements. It will probably be a little quiet for the next couple of weeks and then once we get notice we have been issued a travel approval then things will really get moving at lightening pace.

Until next time.....

What a weekend!! But we are ready for our girl

Well, I have been delaying putting the nursery together for the longest time. There were really a couple of reasons behind it A: Our "junk" room that was now becoming our guest room was just out of control and the thought of tackling it was honestly, overwhelming. B: the second reason was I just could not keep looking into the nursery at an empty crib for a long period of time. And now that is was 3 years in the waiting, I don't regret that decision one bit.

However, as you all know we received our referral on Thursday so there will be a baby in this house in just a matter of weeks, so I had to get to this project. Long story short-Patrick and I worked all day Saturday (from about 9:45 am until 7:30 pm) and then I worked on Sunday from about 10 am until about 6 pm, and guess what. There is no more junk room, there is now a nursery and there were no big fights about what was getting thrown out or recycled. So overall a great weekend!!! Exhausting, but great.

Now for the best part: Our baby girl now officially has the name of Elizabeth Grace!!! We really wanted to see her picture and look at it before deciding if she looked like an Elizabeth. And obviously we thought she did. Elizabeth is special to both of us, as my sister's middle name is Elizabeth and Patrick's grandmother's name was Elizabeth, and lastly we just thought it was a beautiful name.

Would you like to see another picture of Miss Elizabeth???

Take a look.....

Here she is!!!!!

Here are a couple pictures of our beautiful baby girl, we are making the final decision on the name in the next few hours so stay tuned in for that....

We have a...........BABY GIRL!!!!!

After 3 long years of waiting, it bring us tremendous pleasure to announce the impending adoption of our baby girl!!!!

We received the call today around 3:45 pm and were informed we were the proud parents of a baby girl, born July 27, 2008. Her name is Chen Yu Heng and she is currently living in an orphange in the Hunan province. We were told she is a tiny little peanut, weighing only 14 lbs and is 25 inches long. They say is active, a moderate sleeper and loves to play with toys and reach for things. We will receive more information on her tomorrow when our big FedEx package arrives. That is also when we will be posting her picture!

Just wanted to give everyone the great news........

Where have we been??

Gosh, until I looked at our blog just now I had no idea how the time had elapsed since our last post! Wow, time flies when you are having fun! As you can tell by the lack of any post for the last 3 months, things have been kind of hectic.

We had been contemplating remodeling our kitchen for quite some time, but always found a reason to postpone it. Well long story short, our neighbors are good friends with a guy that owns a cabinet company. "Good friend" drops by casually on a Sunday morning, gives us some ideas on how to "re-do" this kitchen and off we go looking at sinks, faucets, doors, cabinet hardware etc. Well 5-6 weeks later after the casual Sunday morning drop by, we have a brand new kitchen and spruced up bathrooms as well. Pictures are coming, but we are absolutely thrilled with the new kitchen and baths. Money well spent and it all looks fantastic.

Then just as the big remodel was over with we hosted the annual Easter barbeque for the MacDonald clan. Patrick's family has hosted a barbeque on Easter Sunday for the last 45+, maybe 50+ years. It really is a family reunion that just always fell on Easter Sunday. As the years have gone by the younger generations have taken over the responsibility and for the last 6 years Patrick and I have been the host and hostess, along with Patrick's cousin and her husband. This year we had just about 90 people show up. The weather was nice, breeze was blowing, no rain, and the food as always was fantastic. We provide the meat and drinks and everyone else brings a dish to share. It was alot of fun, as always.

Then just about the time we finished cleaning up from the barbeque, we got news that referrals from China just may go to March 14th this time. And the rumors were coming in from all directions that this just may be the date, making the likelihood that we are in this bunch very good. Well, panic has now set in. Because once we get the referral we will leave for China about 30-60 days after that! Good Lord what have I been doing the last 3 years, we are not ready!!!! Patrick has already threatened to take me to the doctor for a "calming" prescription, and we have not even received "official" word yet. This could all be just a tease and then we go back into waiting mode again! Even now as I am typing this I have this little list running through my head about things I need to buy, good tips for packing, how clean do I really want the house to be before we leave, etc. You get the point, I am just about crazy now and if we don't get the call this month then it starts all over again next month.

Now we have the swine flu to contend with as well. It could change plans for traveling to China. Again, could, no definite word one way or the other. We have updated our travel immunizations and are preparing as if things will go on until we hear from our adoption agency otherwise.

I have said it over and over again in the previous post and still believe it now, it will all happen in God's time, and it will happen just the way it was intended to happen. Not a minute sooner, not at the moment I want it to, not when we think it is going to happen, but when God says it is time. I do have that faith and am looking so forward to the moment when we finally get to hear "I have a baby for you." Just thinking about it brings a flood of tears!

I am very emotional, very excited, very manic, very unpatient, and VERY ready to be a mom. Patrick is very level headed and calm, but has recently been saying "it will be nice if we get the call this month." He is a man of few words but the mind is always churning. He has been waiting on this with just as much excitement as me, he is just not as vocal about it. He is going to be a fantastic father, and I can't wait to see him with our child.

Well, we will keep you posted. If the "call" comes in this week I think you will hear our shouting all over the state of Florida. Follow along here for any updates as well

Until next time........