Three More Days......

The Countdown has begun. I will be leaving in less than 3 days. I am almost packed. Actually, I have packed, unpacked, packed again. I think i may have to do this one more time. Everytime I do that, I take out more stuff.

I have everything I need for Katy. Now the question is how do I bring my stuff. Thank God for the Space Saver bags. I have used two of them and you can fit alot into them. Then just suck the air out.

I still have a very long To Do list, but I am going to finish it tomorrow. Then I can enjoy the 4th of July and relax.

I also received Katy's finding ad. Whenever they find a child, the SWI will take out an ad in the newspaper to see if anyone will claim them. There is a soomeone in China that searches the archives and will send pictures of the ad to you. It actually looks really good. There is a picture of Katy at about 2 weeks old. This is another thing I am going to put away for her. She will be able to look at this when she is alot older.

OK, I have to go. I have to pack again.

Guess Who Is Leaving in 7 Days

That would be me!!!!

I am getting closer. Two more days of work, and then it's all about the trip. I have started packing, finished the crib, and have shopped until i have dropped.

I will be posting some pictures again, as soon as i can find my cord to bring them to my computer. Probably should find that soon as I am going to need it for China.

Hold on Sweetie, 12 more days until I am holding you. I will be there soon.

I Have Met Such Wonderful People on this Journey

I have met such wonderful people on this journey to bring our baby home. When we had our travel meeting today, we got to see our friends, Colleen, Shirley, Kathryn and Sam. They were so kind to give Katy the most wonderful gifts.

I snapped a few pictures:

Thank you Kathryn for the cutest picture and frame. This is going into my car on my dashboard so i can see her as i drive to work. (Actually, that might be a bad idea as i will be looking at her the whole time and not paying attention to the road. Maybe it will go on the fridge)

Thank you so much Sam, for the wonderful beach towel. I love the pink and green. It is going to match wonderfully with her bathing suit.

Shirley, this blanket is awesome. I love the color, ladybug, and it is so great to have something with her name and birthday on it. It is so soft and I can't wait to bundle Katy up in it. Thank you so much.

Colleen, I love the little onesie. The saying is absolutely true. She is worth the wait. I am going to snap one of her first pictures of her in this. Thank you so much.

We have been overwhelmed by your thoughtfullness. We are so looking forward to sharing this experience with all of you. So far it has been great, and it is only going to get better. Thanks again.

Brigit & Dave

Introducing China 138 !!!!

Here we are - China 138.

Today we had our travel meeting with the whole group we will be traveling with. It was such a great meeting, and we talked about alot. I did know alot of what they were talking about, but it was nice to hear it from Wide Horizons.

It is starting to become real. We were talking about the moment when we will be meeting our children and what to expect, and i started to feel like I was going to burst into tears. Happy Tears, but still had to hold them back.

I can just imagine what that day is going to be like.

We met for about 3 hours and then headed off to lunch with some of the group. It was alot of fun to excitedly talk about what we were going to bring, about the long trip, how we picked China to adopt our babies, the heat in China, the food, and we went on and on.

It was nice to see my old friends, as well as meet new friends.

Thanks Colleen for taking the picture and sharing with everyone. I am sure this is the first of many pictures of the group. I can't wait to see the picture with us all holding our girls.

15 DAYS TO GO !!!!!!

We Have Our Travel Dates !!!!

Our itinerary just came through. I will be leaving for China on July 5th. That is only 2 and a half weeks away !!!!!!!!!

I will be holding my beautiful baby exactly three weeks from now.

July 5th - Leave for China!

July 6th - Arrive Beijing

July 7th - Great Wall, and the Summer Palace.

July 8th - Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven.

July 9th - leave for Nanchang. Meet Katy that afternoon !!!

July 10-13 sightseeing in the Province, legal paperwork....etc)

July 14th - leave for Guangzhou

July 15 - local sightseeing.

July 16th - photos for babies and physicals.

July 17th - Visa Appointment.

July 18th - Swearing in Ceremony at the Consulate, fly back to Beijing. Stay over in Beijing.

July 19th - leave Beijing....arrive home to start our new life as a family of 3

I am so excited. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with everything i have to do, but i just need to take a deep breath and relax. Everything will come together.

Hold on sweetie, I will be with you soon.

Survivor China Location Revealed...

Just read on a fellow adoption mommy's blog that Survivor China is rumored to be at Lake Poyang. This is in Katy's province of Jiangxi and is near the capital, Nanchang.

Guess where I will be in July - Nanchang.

Check this out!!

Location of Survivor China Revealed A reliable source has revealed to SurvivorSkills that the production for Survivor 15 will be based in the Jiangxi Province of Mainland China. The filming locales, and base camp should be around 40 km (24 miles) from the capital of Nanchang.The filming will most likely be at Lake Poyang. Lake Poyang is largest freshwater lake in China. It has a surface area of 3,585 km² and a volume of 25 km³

How cool is that. I am not sure how far Guixi is from Lake Poyang, but I will be in Nanchang, and may see the Lake.

Another cool thing is my friends, who i will be traveling with, thier daughters are all from Lake Poyang Social Welfare Institute. (orphanage)

Dave and I don't miss an episode of Survivor.

We are Survivor geeks, but this season is going to be extra special. I can't wait.

Travel Approvals Are In !!!!!!

I got the news today that our travel approvals are at Wide Horizons. That means they can now make the Consulate Appointments and we will be on our way.

I am guessing the second week in July. Maybe July 9th.

Wow, that is close. I am starting feel overwhelmed again. I have to start packing. I also have to finish the room.

Why is it that we have been waiting for over 19 months, and now i feel like it is coming way to fast.

I don't care. As long as i get to hold my baby in my arms by the end of next month, all will be right with the world.

We have a travel meeting on June 20th and will hopefully find out everything then.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Our Baby is 9 Months Old Today !!!!

Today Katy is 9 months old.

I feel sad that I am not with her today, but we will be there soon. I am so happy we are going to be spending her 1st Birthday with her. I have already started thinking about how we will celebrate her big day.

I am sending wonderful thoughts to you sweetie, and soon we will be together.

Update Since our Referral......

Lots have happened in the last couple of weeks.

• We have formally accepted our referral. (No surprise there) Katy is one step closer to us. I think about her at least 500 times a day. I have been carrying her pictures around and look at them whenever i am having a bad day, or pretty much every minute. It instantly puts me in a good mood.
• My wonderful friends threw me the best baby shower. We received some of the cutest outfits, and alot of things from my registry. I had been waiting along time for that day, and when it was here, it exceeded my expectations. I will post some pictures very soon.
• The nursery is almost done. Just have to get a mattress and bedding and it will be ready. I have also started my packing list. Still have more shopping to do.
• It looks like we may be traveling some time in July. I am getting really excited about that. It doesn't seem that faraway anymore. We have actually started planning our life around Katy. Invitations to parties and events, holidays, vacations. The list goes on and on, and it is fun to think we will be celebrating life's events with our little girl.
• I have celebrated my first Mother's Day. It was a little bittersweet to not have my Katy with me, but Dave made it feel very special. He bought me a beautiful card, and gave me a digital photo frame. I already loaded it with my 3 pictures of Katy and can stare at it all day if i want.
• Also, did anyone catch the last episode of The King of Queens? I really was disappointed with it. (Spoiler Alert) They ended the series with Doug and Carrie adopting a baby from China. The thing is, it was so not right. In the next to last episode, they decided to adopt a baby, then last night they get a call from thier Social worker that there is a baby they have been matched with. This all was supposed to happen in three week time. Also, they automatically sent the picture to them via her blackberry. The baby was only 4 days old, and they flew to Beijing the next day to pick her up. WHAT??? Now i know it is a TV series, but they couldn't do a little research. I think they should have at least made it seem a little real. Anyway, just wondering if anyone else caught that episode.

That is all for now. More updates later.

Dreams Can Come True !!!

With great excitement, we would like to announce our Referral news. We have a daughter.

Guo Yuan Sen, soon to be Katherine Linda was born on September 3, 2006 in the Jiang Xi Province in China.

We don't have all the details yet, but should see her beautiful face either Friday or Monday. It's going to be a long week.

Words cannot express the feelings i have right now. I have been in a fog all day. The funny thing is, i was driving down the highway to visit a client, when the phone rang. I saw that it was Wide Horizons and nearly drove off the road to answer. I pulled off the highway and into some random parking lot get all the information. I was able to make about three calls when my cell phone died. Thanks God one of the calls was to my husband.

I pulled myself together, visited my client for about 4 hours, drove home and have been on the phone and internet for the last hour spreading the news.

I will hopefully hold her in my arms in July.

Come back soon to see her debut.

I am off to make some more calls.

Here She Comes !!!

The stork is going to be landing at our house in the next few days. You heard it here. We have received confirmation that we have been included in this batch of referrals and we should be receiving a call any day now.

We probably won't see Katy's picture until sometime next week. At least we will know her Chinese name, where she is, how old she is and hopefully more. Then we meet with the social worker next week and receive our packet of info.

Stay tuned for some exciting news.

With A Heavy Heart We Are Forced Again To.....

We may not get our Referral this month. It has not been confirmed, but it seems likely.

Rumor Has It....

I thought i would fill you in on the latest rumors. I have heard that Referrals have been mailed, and are somewhere in the US.


This could mean we could get our call as early as Monday or Tuesday!!!!


The funny thing is, next week will be two years exactly that we received our packet in the mail from Wide Horizons. We started this wonderful journey on April 5th, 2005. Now we are going to see our beautiful baby's face possibly on April 5th, 2007. WOW.


I am going to be a Mom. I can't believe it.

This Says It All

This seems to be my motto for the last 17 Months. As i get closer to our referral date, I look back at the last couple of years and can't believe how slow it seems to have passed.

Every month that the referrals were issued I knew we were getting one step closer but it still seemed so far away. Now, we are weeks away from looking at our daughter's face for the first time and can't believe how quick it is coming. I feel like I have a million things that should be done, but I can't bring myself to do them yet. I want to see her picture and then it will be real.

So, from the time we receive our referral to the time I board the plane for China, I am going to be a woman on a mission. I have my lists ready, I have my ideas in my head.

I am just Waiting, Hoping and Dreaming, and definitely won't have to Repeat.

Look for coming attractions of Katherine Linda's beautiful face. It should be anywhere from April 2nd to April 12th.

Happy Birthday !!!!

March is a very busy month of birthdays for me. So I thought i would send out a Happy Birthday to my family.

Cori, Lily and little Brian - I hope you all have a wonderful birthday.

Love, Sister and Aunty.

Referral News!!!

The latest rumors are referrals were sent with a cut off date of October 24th. What does that mean for me.

WE ARE NEXT !!!!!

We will be in the next batch of referrals due at the end of this month. I am beyond excited. I am trying to remain calm, but i keep breaking into a big smile everytime i think about it.

I am not going to be posting again until i hear more news from the referral front. I have been incredibly busy with work, trying to tie up projects until my baby leave. (it feels weird to say that) I also need to start getting ready for a baby in the house, and my trip.

Hang in there, good news coming soon.

The Shopping Has Started

Today was a really fun Sunday. I met up with three other October Mommy's at the Holyoke Mall for some shopping therapy and lunch.

I think they have created a monster. I attempted to buy out the whole mall. The picture is my loot from today. As you can see, it is a lot. And this isn't even showing the layer of clothes underneath.

It was fun, because we bought alot of the same clothes so we can dress our girls up in matching outfits in China.

Thanks Girls for such a fun afternoon. I hope it is the first of many.

Referrals Have been Posted through October 13th

We have got the word. Referrals have been given out through October 13, 2005.

I got an exciting call today from my social worker, because she wanted to let me know, we were next on the Wide Horizons list to receive our referral. Can you believe it!!! It seems surreal. I still cannot believe it. We are next.

I have had a goofy smile on my face all day. So we are extremely close. I am still thinking we will get our referral at the end of March, but best case scenario is the END OF FEBRUARY.

I think this is going to be the longest month of my life.

(This picture was borrowed from my friend's blog. I think it is so cute.)

Happy 15 Month Anniversery

Happy Anniversery to Us. We have been waiting for 15 months for our baby. This is the date we turned our paperwork in on October 28, 2005.

The good news is we are so close. We could be seeing our baby's face at the end of March. This will be unbelieveable. If we get our referral in March, we could be holding our daughter in May.

Let's keep our fingers crossed, and as my fellow October LID'er says,

Let's Go China !!!!

More things to cross off the baby checklist

I have been slowly checking off things from my to do list for the adoption. I so far have quite a bit done.

Get fingerprints redone - Check

Re file with CIS for the I600 A - Check

Finish Baby Registry - Check

Refinance our mortgage - Check

Get shots for trip - Check (ouch)

Buy new mommy mobile - Check

Here is a picture of the new vehicles. I say vehicles, because D had to buy one too. I am in love with the truck. I don't think i have ever had such a nice vehicle in my life. It has everything. My favorite options are: the heated seats, the sun roof, the 4 wheel drive, the navigation system and the automatic car starter. Those are just a few of the new bells and whistles. You can see a peek at D's new truck behind mine.

Now I just have to figure out how to pay for them. (just kidding. The plan is in place)

We are getting closer. Rumors look good for this month. I don't want to jinx it, so i am not going to mention my prediction for referrals this month. Let's just say we may possibly be seeing the Easter Bunny in China this year. (Note the keyword, POSSIBLY)

Keep those fingers and toes crossed. More later.

We've been shopping again.

We have had a refrigerator down in our basement for about 5 years, since we bought a new one. The night before Dave's big birthday party, he decided to defrost the freezer downstairs.

Very important tip: Do not defrost your freezer with a sharp object. He was chipping away at the ice and put a hole in the freezer.

Actually that is good news for me, because i got my new refrigerator. I found the best deal at Sears and bought a bottom freezer refrigerator.

Let me tell you, I love this appliance. It is big, roomy, and i love having the refrigerator at eye level. I highly recommend this to everyone. (OK, I know it is sad that I am now getting excited about appliances. When did this happen)

I thought i would share some pictures of my new favorite thing.

Referrals Are Here!!!!

Today CCAA changed their website. They have matched and sent referrals through September 27, 2005. We are getting closer.

Congratualtions to all the new moms and dads out there. Can't wait to see the pictures.

We are October 28, 2005. If they keep up this pace, we may see a referral at the end of March. Keep your fingers crossed.

Happy New Year !!!

I am so glad 2007 is finally here. That means Katy will be here soon. We are anxiouly awaiting this months referrals and hope they finish off September 2005. Why? Because that means they are going to start with October, and we are October 28th.

I am predicting today, that we should see our referral in February or March. Can you believe it. That is only 2 or 3 short months away.

We had such a fun New Year's. We again had our annual New Year's Party with our neighbors. What a great time. We decided to do something different this year. We hired babysitters and all the kids went to one neighbors house for crafts, food and movies. And the adults went to another house for food, fun and drinks. We then all tramped back to the "kid" house and rung in the New Year with everyone.

I have attached our group picture.

What a motley crew we are. Anyway, thanks to P & H and J & J for opening their house to us.

So the countdown begins. I will write again soon, when we find out what referrals were given out this month. Should be any day now.

It's Starting to Look Alot Like Christmas.

We have finally put up our Christmas Tree. In the 9 years we have lived at this house, we have only put up our tree a handful of times. The reason is we are not usually home for Christmas. There always seemed to be no point.

This year, however, we are planning on being home. After we celebrate Christmas Eve in New Hampshire with Dave's family, we are coming home the next day. I will be cooking a big roast pork dinner and we will have Dave's Nana here, along with his father and lady friend.

I am actually looking forward to it. I love to cook, and because we have always celebrated at Dave's sister's house, I have always felt useless, as she cooks the big meal. Well this year I am. I already have the cookbooks out and have been planning my menu.

Also, because it is a small crowd, I can have a nice sit down dinner with all the trimmings. Yay.

Here are a couple of pictures of our tree and my favorite ornaments:


This first ornament, I bought last year. This is a panda, with a good wishes quilt and lady bugs all over it. I bought this in honor of Katy. I remember when I bought this, i thought she would be with us by now. Boy, was I wrong.

The second ornament, is from this year. I bought this at Pier 1. It is a special handpainted design done in the ancient Chinese tradition of (OK, I can't find the paper that describes it) Anyway, it is painted on the inside of the glass ball. THis picture does not do it justice. It is white with gold painting of doves and it says Peace.

December Update (Warning - this post is long)

Hello Everyone,

I am back. It has been too long since I have updated my blog and I thought I would do that today. Boy, to catch up on two months. Let's see, where should I start.

1. ) We had a wonderful dinner with some fellow adopters from our Adoption Agency. What a great nite. We met at Chuck's Steakhouse in Auburn, MA and had a great time. It was so nice to meet new people that have a common interest. I hope we can make this a regular meeting. I think there was talk to try to get together for Chinese New year in February.

2.) We got our fingerprints back and approved. Now we have to work on getting our I600 form redone. This will be another $400. Yuck. But hopefully this will be the last time.

3.) We have officially passed our 13 month anniversery of LID. I cannot believe it has been over a year. Trying to be the optimist that I am, i have to keep saying we are way more that half way there. (I say this with a big fake smile on my face) I think I am going to need some Botox for all the clenched happy faces that I have been making.

4.) We had my husbands big 40 birthday party in November. What a great time. Lots of good friends, family and fun. Unfortunately I can't show any pictures for fear of revenge from the party goers. Everyone said they had a great time. I know that Dave did. He let me know when he rolled out of bed the next day at 1:00 pm. (Just in time for football) Oh well, it was his birthday so i cut him some slack.

5.) The most wonderful of all was the visit from my sister and her family. They flew in from California and stayed for about 10 days. We had such a good time. This was the first time I had seen my neices for 2.5 years. They have grown so much. The last time I saw my neice Lily, she was 3 months old, now she is a toddler. This was also the first holiday I have spent with them in over 5 years. What a great week. We went to the Children's Meuseum, had a lot of playdates with my other sister and her family, we had Thanksgiving at my cousins house, a fun shopping day with just me and my two sisters in Burlington. I could go on and on. Instead I will share some pictures:































6.) The last thing I would like to say is that referrals were given out at the end of November through Sept 8, 2005. That means if they keep going with the amount they have been giving out, we can expect to see our referral at the end of February, or March. This is my best guess estimate for December. Let's see what happens at the end of the month.

So you can see why I haven't been blogging lately. Too much going on. But I am turning over a new leaf and will start to blog more often.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and wish everyone a wonderful holiday season.

Happy 1 Year Anniversery

Today is our 1 year anniversery of our LID. Our paperwork was officially logged into China on this date last year. At the time it was supposed to be a 6 month wait, but as you know, it has turned into a 14 to 15 month wait. (We hope).

Today we are expecting our referral to come at the end of January or February. Traveling to China in March or April.

How do I feel about it? Good and Bad.

Good, because we are that much closer, we won't travel in the middle of winter and i may have some of the summer off.

Bad, because it has been 1 year, with another possibly 4 months to wait until we see her face, and I really don't want to face another holiday season without her. But we need to be positive and look on the brightside. We are getting closer.

Today we took a ride into Boston and had our fingerprints done again. They run out on November 6th. It was a fast trip as there wasn't too many people there.

We also have a dinner planned with some people from my adoption agency. I am so looking forward to meeting these people. Right now they are going through the same thing i am, and it is nice to commiserate with someone. I will be sure to post pictures.

We are celebrating the night by ordering Chinese Food and having a quiet night. Let's hope we won't be celebrating next year without our Katy.

You'll Notice A Change

Unfortunately, in my ignorance of how HTML coding works, I messed up my original blog and could not get it back to the way it was.

Here is a new layout. I thought the pink was appropriate. I will be adding some other items to the blog in the future. Right now I am just glad i got it back to a readable state.

More later.

A Moose Is On The Loose

Today, while I was working on my computer at home, I looked out my window to see two Moose, a mom and baby, wandering up our road. Yes, you heard it right. Two Moose. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of them, but I think my neighbor did. I will try to get those at another time. This is off of the Internet.

Now I have to tell you, I live in a very thickly settled neighborhood, in a town of about 35,000 people, next to a city of about 100,000 people. This is not Alaska, but the suburbs of Boston.

My husband was working downstairs in the basement, and thought the house was burning down when i started yelling for him. But it's not everyday you see a moose walking up our road. They wandered through our neighbors yard and kept on walking up the street.

We called the police, but apparantly it was old news to them. They must have been wandering for quite awhile. Not sure what happened to them, they must have kept going to the big city to check out the sites.

Adoption Update for July

There is not much to say in the way of the adoption right now. We are still in the waiting process. At least our paperwork has been moved to the matching room. This is a good sign.

Dave and I did have to update our homestudy. It is required that an update be submitted every year until the adoption goes through. At least it wasn't as detailed at our first one. Just another CORI check and doctor's exam. We also will probably have to have our fingerprints done again. This won't be as much fun. Anther set of forms, travel to Boston again for fingerprinting, and wait for our I171 form to come in the mail. Plus this cost money. I have to look it up, but i think we are talking around $600.

July Referrals should be posted this week. What we are all anxious to hear, in the China Adoption world, is that all of July 2005 will be included in this batch. There is a slim chance, but we musn't get our hopes up.

It looks like i may have to update my Referral ticker at the top. I think i need to push it out another few months. I am going to wait until this month's referrals have been posted.

This month has been very busy though. We had our annual Fourth of July party, we went on our summer vacation with my family to Ossipee Lake, NH. And we had the Girl's Party i mentioned below.

August will be the month for me to get my butt in gear and start shopping and setting up the nursery. I want to finish my registry, start looking at some of the big ticket items we need to buy and possibly start setting up Katy's room. This waiting is not good for my procratinating problem. I keep putting things off and before you know it, i will be scrambling around as I usually do.

Above are some pictures from our vacation this year. We stayed at a beautiful lake in New Hampshire. I got to spend some quality time with my niece and nephew, relax, shop, and read a book. You can't a

Thank You to My Wonderful Friends and Family !!!

This weekend was my Sister In Law's Annual Girl's Party. Every year she has a party at her house in New Hampshire with all the girl's. She has different vendors selling their wares, she had chair massages, we all bring our favorite dish, read Tabloids, drink cocktail's, and talk, talk talk. There are no husbands or kids allowed.

This year she decided to have a raffel for Katy. Her husband donated some Red Sox Tickets, the various vendors donated jewelery, skin care products, and other things and then she sold tickets. Everyone joined in. What a great time. The best part was she raised $600 for our little girl. Unbelievable.

How fortunate i am to have wonderful family and friends that support us so much. I would like to thank my Sister In Law, her niece, who organized everything and collected the money, all the vendors who so generously donated thier products, and everyone who bought tickets. Included are some pictures from our fun night in her pool house.

We Are In The Matching Room !!!!!

It's official. We are in the matching room. I just visited the CCAA website and this is the news that greeted me.

What does this mean, you ask. It means that somewhere in China our paperwork has officially been reviewed and now has moved to the "Matching Room". They are going to be looking at our file and matching us with our little girl.

This also means they have given out referrals to anyone that had their paperwork sent in by June 28, 2005. Four more months left.

Oh my God. I am so excited right now. It is going to happen. It is actually going to happen.

Update to my long wait

I know it has been a very long time since i posted, but there is just nothing going on in the adoption right except waiting.

Dave and I traveled to Washington DC for Memorial Day weekend. What a great trip. We saw so much and did so much. I will post pictures later. Unfortunately, I dropped my digital camara and can't seem to turn it on now. So i will have to resort to the old fashioned pictures that Dave took. As soon as we get them back i will post.

I wanted to share this beautiful poem i found on another board. This sums up my feelings right now.

Somewhere far across the sea
Waits a little heart for me
Amazing though how it may seem
We both are sharing the same dream
I long to tuck you in at night
And hold your tiny hand so tight
To kiss your tears and keep you near
To chase away your every fear
No one knows the tears I've cried
The emptiness I've felt inside
Only God knew what to do
A red thread tied from me to you
And now my love it's almost time
When I'll be yours and you'll be mine
Soon forever-never to part
My child I bore inside my heart

I don't know the author's name, but i give her all the credit she deserves, because that is a beautiful sentiment.

More later.

Our Secret Pal is Revealed !!!

This month we all got to reveal ourselves to our October DTC Secret pals. I received this wonderful gift from my pal Jodi. She has been so generous and thoughtful with her gifts. This was what she sent to me this month. That beautiful blanket was handmade by Jodi. I will definitly treasure that. Also the book, Shaoey and Dot is a wonderful book by the Chapmans. It is the story of a ladybug who comes across a baby in China and follows her travels to find her forever family.

I can't wait to bundle little Katy in that blanket and read her this wonderful story in her room. The image of this keeps me going in this long wait.

As far as the wait is concerned, we are now at about 11-12 month wait. That means I won't get to see little Katy's face until early fall. I just hope she is home in time for Christmas. That would be the most precious gift i could ask for this year.

I would like to say a very big Thank You to my wonderful secret pal, Jodi. It is nice to finally put a name to the gifts i have received every month.

Our Kitchen is Almost Done

I know it has been awhile since I have posted, but we have been very busy in our little corner of the world.

We have been thinking of remodeling our kitchen for a few years now, and with all the delays in the adoption wait, we finally decided to do it. Our house was built by my grandparents about 60 years ago, and it is very sentimental to me. I have a hard time making any significant changes to it because I have very fond memories of growing up in this house. But now that we are having big changes in our life, we need our house to match that.

Our kitchen was split up into two rooms with this annoying half wall that blocked alot of sunlight and made the room really hard to manuver in. We decided to knock down the half wall and put in a french door out to our 4 season porch. What a difference. We are just about done. We are now waiting on our new countertops. They should be here in about another week. I hope. Below are some pictures of the before and after.


As you can see I still have a lot of painting to do, but i am almost finished. I will be sure to post pictures when the countertops are in and everything is painted.

Happy Birthday Corinna Bean !!!

On March 22nd, my little sister will turn 36 years old. She would probably kill me for writing her age on here, but that's OK because she lives 3,000 miles away from me.

Dave and I just bought a new Printer, Scanner, Copier and I was testing it out with some old photos I have. I scanned this picture from 1974, I think. Cori is on the left and I am on the right. Aren't we cute. I especially love the overall's my sister has on. Also, you don't have to adjust your computer monitor, she does have red hair. She has the most beautiful red hair i have ever seen.

This is one of my favorite pictures of us. If that driveway looks familiar from the snowblower post, it is. Dave and I bought my Grandmother's house after she passed, and that is where the picture is taken. The wood fence is gone, but the rest of it looks the same.

I want to wish my little sister a Happy Birthday this week. And don't worry Cori, your present is in the mail. I love you.

I Am Back from My Trip

Well, I made it home safe and sound. What a long trip. I spent a week in Orlando, FL to work at a client site and then flew to Phoenix, AZ for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to attend a consulting summit. I flew back to Boston on Tuesday, March 14th. It was good to get home.

Sorry no pictures. I forgot to take my camara with me. It was all work, work, work anyway.

I did get to spend Saturday with my Aunt M. She lives in Florida and was able to drive up and meet me. We had such a good time. We went to this little town called Mt. Dora and hit this huge Antique Market. It was a combination of outside and inside booths. There was so much to see. I zeroed in on some wonderful Fiestaware, but didn't buy any. I couldn't figure out how to get it home without breaking it. I did find a beautiful vintage tablecloth. It has such a pretty design on it.

We then went to Downtown Disney for dinner. We ate at this Crab Restaurant on a steamboat. Good Food. My flight left for Phoenix at 7:20 am, so we didn't get to stay out late. That's OK though, because i was pretty tired from all the walking that day.

Well it's back to reality. It is cold here in New England. I miss the warm sunshine. I was definitly spoiled by it.

Happy 4 Month LID Anniversery !!!

On February 28th, it has been four months since our paperwork was Logged in to China. I can't believe how fast the time is going by. Although I am getting a little depressed with the extended wait and rumors flying around.

One exciting thing is they passed out referrals this past week. Our agency received 19 referrals. Congratulations to all those new families. The CCAA has sent out referrals to anyone who had their paperwork logged in to China by May 25, 2006. That was about a 9 month wait. Apparantly their was a large number of dossiers sent to China for May, that is why they have split the month. (LID's with May 13th were sent at the end of January)

What does that mean for me, well it could be another 5 months, or 6 months, or 7 months. No one really knows. I am trying my hardest not to read any rumors or guesses. I am instead going to look at the top of my blog and read that timeline - 4 months, 4 weeks until our referral. See, I already feel better.

Sunday, March 5th I will be flying to Orlando for work. Can you say "Warm Weather". I checked the forecast and it will be a high of 74 degrees on Sunday. I will be staying in Orlando until Sunday, March 12th and then flying off to Phoenix for a consulting summit. Can you say "Really Warm Weather". I probably should start looking for my summer clothes to pack. I think I will look pretty ridiculous in my sweaters and boots. I am already going to look extremely pasty white with my New England "Winter Tan".

I will post more when I get back from my trip.