Baby Registary

Well, mom is having me a baby shower in June since it would be very difficult for me to get there for a shower after we get the referral so we have finally registered. We are registered at Target (of course), Babies R Us and Walmart (for those who are not close to the other two). We are really excited about this continued process of preparing for our daughter.

I told mom this past weekend that I really feel like we are going to have her in our arms this year. We keep hearing that it could take a little longer than that but right now I just feel that I will have her with me before the year is over. Please keep saying prayers that she is doing okay and that we are going to have her home soon.

Trip to the flea market

Sunday Brent and I decided to go to the flea market here in Memphis. There is a big one here once a month. We have not been in close to a year, but I wanted to go and look for some bows that I had seen the last time we were there. We were just about finished with the first building when I saw some traditional Chinese dresses. I checked and the tags were actually written in Chinese. I ended up having a conversation with the person who was running the booth and she actually use to work at the White Swan hotel!!! I am sure that only means something to those of you who are familiar with the Chinese adoption process, but for those of you who are not familiar, it is the hotel that we will be staying in on the last leg of our trip to China!!!! We had a very interesting conversation that I will add more detail on later.

Homestudy Update

Today we had our homestudy update visit. It was exactly what I expected it to be, a formality. We have to have it done in order to update our fingerprints. Debby said that it should be ready by Monday or so and that she will put it in the mail to us so that we can go be refingerprinted. It was sad after she left because Brent told me that he feels further away from Kaleigh than he did when Debby did the home visit the last time. I do understand how he feels but I have to keep a positive outlook right now or I would be in the firm grasp of depression. I have to keep the faith that she will be home this fall or before Christmas at the latest.

Exciting News

No, the exciting news is not about our adoption but about our future niece or nephew. Yes, my younger brother Greg and his wife Emily have just found out that they are expecting. I am very excited for them and I know they have been wanting this and trying to plan for the right time to try. I will admit it does depress me in a way because it is so hard to keep waiting for Kaleigh. It is so hard to actually see the progress we are making toward bringing her home and it is going to be so easy to see the progress and the end of the journey that brings their baby home. I am still very very excited for them but it is making my wait a little harder than it was.

One Year Anniversary

Well, I meant to make this post on Feb. 22nd, but I forgot. I remembered what the day was the entire day I just forgot to make the post that day. Yes, the 22nd was our official 1 year anniversary of our LID or log in date. We definitely thought for sure that we would at least have our referral by now, but it hasn't happened that way. I know that when the time is right we will bring Kaleigh home to be with us. I guess this just gives us more time to plan.

Dreams

We are fast approaching our 1 year anniversary of our LID (log in date). We definitely thought that we would have Kaleigh home by now, but we are probably still about the same time frame away as we thought we were 1 year ago when we were logged in. However, for the first time in a long time I have started dreaming about it. It all started right after we found out we were out of the review room. The first dream was strange. I was back home in Hazard and someone (I don't remember who) dropped me off at the old A & P parking lot so that I could meet someone to get my luggage because it was time for me to leave for China. When my luggage arrived I had almost nothing. I had very little in the way of clothing and none of my gifts for the people in China and NOTHING for the baby. I just kept throwing stuff out of my luggage and screaming that I couldn't go to China without the rest of the stuff. The entire dream made no sense, especially since most people who know me know that I tend to be over prepared and well in advance. In fact, I have already started gathering a few things that I think we will need including travel items.

The next dream came last night and it was completely different. I dreamed that the next batch of referrals came though and they went all the way through 11/30 which would be about 6 weeks of LIDs. There is no way this will happen since about 16 days is about the most they have done since we were logged in. Back to the dream, I was so excited over this most people would have thought that I had received my referral because I was so excited. It of course was only because this meant that I was so much closer to my own referral but oh well it was just a dream.

I think that as things continue to progress I will get more and more excited about everything and of course more nervous. We are so ready to have Kaleigh home with us and a part of our lives. There are days that it is hard not having her already and some days we are just excited because we know that we are getting closer.

We went to the FCC Chinese New Year celebration here in Memphis last weekend and we saw some of the most beautiful children and heard stories that made us put our wait in perspective. I really enjoyed meeting both those who have BTDT and those who are still far behind us in the process.

Anyway everyone please keep praying for Kaleigh and for us. We are not sure if she has been born yet but if referrals happen the way we think there is a very good possibility that she is somewhere in China right now without a mommy or daddy and needing us there to love her and there is a mother somewhere in China who had to make the difficult decision to abandon her daughter in hopes of giving her a better life. We promise that we will do everything in our power to give Kaleigh the life that her birth mother hopes for her to have.

One Year Anniversary

Today is the one year anniversary of our DTC date. For those non adoption people out there that means one year since our paperwork left on its way to China. We definitely thought that we would have Kaleigh home by now, but that is not the case. Everyone is always asking us when is something going to happen and does China ever let you know where you are in the process. Yesterday we did get some news. We have made it through the review room and into the matching room!!!!!! So did all the other couples in our group!!!!! No that does not mean that our referral is just around the corner but it does mean that China has completely reviewed our paperwork and did not find any problems with it and they have approved us for the adoption. There was a post in one of my support groups last night that stated it so well "our paperwork is just laying there waiting on someone to staple that picture to it now". I thought that said it so well. We are now just waiting on them to make it through the months in front of us and to match us with our precious Kaleigh. They just handed our referrals that covered up thru LIDs of October 13th we are LID Feb 22nd so we are still a distance from getting that referral but it is exciting that we have made it past the last hurdle that could prevent us from getting our daughter. For everyone out there who has been praying for us thank you and please keep those prayers coming so that maybe the wait will shorten for us.

Memphis Symphony Orchestra

As many of you know Brent and I go to the Home For the Holiday's show put on by the Memphis Symphony Orchestra every year. Well, this year about 10 minutes before the show started I was doing my usual people watching thing and looked up in the balcony to my right and saw what appeared to be a 3 - 4 year old Chinese girl with her American mother. They were later joined by what appeared to be daddy and big sister. She was so cute and she was so affectionate with her family. Brent and I both kept sneaking looks during the concert so we were able to see how much she was enjoying it. She seemed to be loving it.

I was telling some of the people in my adoption group earlier that is seems that every time I start getting discouraged God sends me reassurance that we are doing the right thing and that one day we will have our daughter home and in our arms and that it will be even better than we have imagined.