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.