Merry Christmas...a little late!

Hello Family and Friends,

I am sorry I am late posting this. I guess the season got away from me! I did get my cards out on time. I received several comments about my Christmas letter. The main one being that I am/was a Bah Hum Bug this year. Maybe I am/was just a little. There didn't seem to be a lot of good news this year. After rethinking about the year, I noticed I did have quite a full year!

In March my friend Lori came from North Dakota to visit for a weekend. She had never been to Texas and was not so in love with it. We did have a great time visiting the Fiesta store in Galveston, visiting Old Town Spring, and just catching up!

In April, my sister and I planned a 60th Surprise Birthday party for my dad. We really surprised him as he thought we just showed up for his Birthday. We had a about thirty people come to his party. We had several show up from Kansas, so that was great to have them! It was fantastic to see the surprise on my dad's face!

Then in May, my dear friend Elizabeth came to Houston for a scrapbooking weekend! Let me tell you, that is all we did! We did tons of scrapbooking and lots of chatting! It was wonderful to see her again!

Heather and the girls came June and July for a week of swimming in the pool. It was fun to watch Heather chase Lilly around the pool. Summer learned to swim and even learned to dive! Her Auntie was quite proud of her. She is only 5 years old!!

All of us girls also took a road trip in June to the lake. It was fun! Then in August Greg was able to take a week off and we went to the lake again! I guess we really love going to Table Rock Lake!!!

In September, we went to Fort Hood to see our wonderful friends Bill and Suzanne. We were named Ryan, Ben and Sarah's God Parents. What an honor! Suzanne and I have been friends since our time at Ft. Rucker together. Which was over ten years ago! It was great seeing them and catching up. Bill is an Apache pilot and left for Iraq in October. Please keep them in your prayers.

I went to San Antonio many times this year. My favorite visit had to be Halloween! I was able to see the girls for the big night and go out trick or treating with them. Summer was Jasmine and Lilly was a grape! They were very cute! We also found out that we are going to be an Auntie and Uncle Gregie again! My sister is pregnant with her third baby girl! She is due in May! Please keep her and the new baby in your prayers.

We have gone many times to the Gingerman, a local pub here with our adoption friends Carrie and Brian. We also have visited Chinatown several times. Not a place I am in love with...the food that is!!

Overall, it was a good year. It has been wonderful being back in a warmer area.

Greg and I had a different Christmas this year. I visited my sister and parents in San Antonio the weekend before Christmas. Then I came home to be with Greg for Christmas Eve and Day. It was different just him and I, but we made the best of it since he had to work. We spent Christmas evening at the neighbors having yummy enchiladas.

For those checking my site to see how much weight I've lost........drum roll please..........55 pounds!!!

Wishing you all a wonderful 2008!!!

Love,

Alicia

Riley is 4 today

Just wanted you all to know that our first child Riley is celebrating his fourth Birthday today! He had a Birthday bath, followed by two donut holes! He is one happy Bully!

We Passed!

I am late posting this as we had computer problems. Our news is great! We passed review! We are officially in the Matching Room!! Now, that still means we have a long wait ahead of us but we are cleared through China to adopt. This is a huge relief for Greg and I. I will post more later.

Oh and if you would please send me your email address. Our computer crashed so a lot of people I lost email addresses for. Thanks!

Love,


Alicia

Happy Thanksgiving...Go Kansas!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family! There is nothing new to report on our adoption this month. We are still in review. We have not heard anything so I am hopeful we won't! We are headed to my parents Tuesday for a week! We are so excited for Greg to have some time off. He definitely deserves it!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk! We are having a blast watching the football season this year. Every year Greg would say "Next year will be our year". Well he finally got his "next year". We went to College Station and watched KU beat A&M! We had a great time with our friend Chris. We know he hated to see his Aggies lose to us! Keep cheering on the Jayhawks! Don't forget in all the excitement that Basketball season has already started. We are 3-0!

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Love,

Alicia

In Review

October is flying by so I thought I would let you all know I am doing much better this month. Our paperwork is officially being reviewed this month by the CCAA. This basically means we will be one step closer to holding our baby girl. The wait is still super long, but getting through this will be a huge relief! This is the time China could disqualify us because of my Rheumatoid Arthritis. So, please pray this does not happen. I have a wonderful letter from my Rheumatologist so I don't think this will happen, but lets be honest it is a foreign country and they can do whatever they like.

I am happy to report that I have lost 45 pounds! Yeah for me! I have enjoyed trying new things and have really taken a liking to Yoga. I have a friend, Dinah, who is certified, so she comes over twice a week for my own personal session. My RA is doing so much better with my healthier living too. It is quite amazing! I have a lot more to lose, but slowly but surely I know I will get there.

I am flying to my parents tomorrow and will be there until Sunday! I have the best hubby for letting me do this. He has been working like crazy and yet he still is letting me fly home for a little time with my parents. Thank you Gregie! You are the best!

I hope this finds you all having a great Fall. It is pretty warm here still. I am so looking forward to the cooler weather of Missouri and the fall leaves!
Love,

Alicia

One Year....

This has been a very emotional month for me. Today is our One Year Anniversary for our Log in Date with China. We have been “pregnant” for one year. I believed we would have Mari in our arms by Christmas of this year. However, that will not be happening. I don’t mean to be a downer but, sometimes it is hard not to be. I don’t understand why we can’t be blessed with a child. I don’t understand how two high school sweethearts, who are best friends, financially stable, and have so much love to offer can’t become parents. Having RA hurts me physically, but no amount of physical pain can compare to the pain my heart has by not being able to share my days with a little one.

Hopefully next month we will have better news. I guess you could say I am pretty negative about our adoption right now. I hope this finds you all doing well.

Love,

Alicia

Summertime

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

August is almost over so I thought I should update our blog. We went to my parents the first week of August. We spent eight days on Table Rock Lake. I absolutely love that place. When I came back to Houston I realized I really want to live on a lake away from all the hustle and bustle! We had a fun time boating, swimming, and visiting with my family.

Greg started a new position too in August. He now is now working days doing a slightly different job than before. For all you who know me you know I don't really understand what he does. It has been different having him gone in the days. He is putting in long days.

My weight loss continues to creep down. I am losing at a snails pace, but at least I am losing!

Our adoption is moving at a snails pace too. Nothing new to report. Our new friends Brian and Carrie should be getting their referral in October. Hopefully they will ring in the New Year with their baby! We have really enjoyed doing things with them.

I am adding some pictures this time. I hope you enjoy seeing pictures of my nieces because they are all I take pictures of!!! Summer Paige will be starting school on Monday. I can't believe she is old enough to be going to school!

I hope this finds you all doing well.

Love,

Alicia

I Would Die For That

This song says exactly how I feel. Make sure you have a tissue.

Lucky 13!

Thirteen years ago today I married my best friend. Greg and I were just 19 years old back in 1994. We were not sure of much except for that we were in love. Today we celebrate our anniversary. I love Greg more today than I ever dreamed possible. He has made my life fun, exciting, and filled with love. I want Greg to know and the world to know that I love my high school sweet heart more than anything. I would not change a thing about our lives.

People often ask me if I had it to do over again would we have waited to have children. I know I would never want to take away the time that I have had with just us two. We have had some wonderful times. We have such fun stories to someday share with our daughter.

Greg, thank you for being you. Thank you for always taking care of me. Thank you for encouraging me to be the best that I can be at whatever I chose. You are the most caring, compassionate, and generous person I will ever know. I love you more than I can ever show you. Thank you for choosing me to be your wife.

Love, Alicia

Will things speed Up?

Everyday Greg and I read a website called China Adopt Talk. In the adoption community she is known as Rumor Queen. It has been a nice place for us to visit with others who are in the same boat as we are. I thought she did an excellent job explaining why things might have slowed down and if we can expect to see things speed up again.

Will things speed Up?

I don’t think I’m covering any new ground with this post. But I’ve seen people trying to work through some of the various theories out there and I figured we might as well put them all in one place.
Before we talk about what would have to happen in order for things to speed up, we must talk about why things slowed down. There are a variety of theories:

1. There are no longer that many NSN orphans in China.
2. There are plenty of orphans, but problems getting them made paper ready.
3. The CCAA has a yearly ceiling that they cannot go over, and that ceiling was lowered last year and then lowered again this year. The ceiling also includes SN children, so the more SN adoptions that happen the less NSN matches can be made.
4. The Chinese government wants to make the world think there is no orphan problem as we lead up to the Olympics. So they empty the orphanages out into foster care and say there are no more orphans. The long wait becomes proof that they have solved their orphan problem, since this proves there aren’t enough babies to adopt out.

Now, let me go through each of these.

1. There are no longer that many NSN orphans in China.

If this is the case then there can not be a speed up. If there are truly no more abandonments, or if domestic adoption has actually taken hold and the babies who are abandoned are being adopted, then IA is no longer needed in China.

2. There are plenty of orphans, but problems getting them made paper ready.

We are hearing word that all SWI’s can now send paperwork in. At least one agency has began working with an orphanage they are aware of that is full of babies that are not being made paper ready to help them prepare children’s paperwork for IA. If this is the reason then we might hope to see a slight speed up. I say slight because this problem would tell us that the orphanages previously sending paperwork are no longer capable of doing so, for whatever reason. So we would need to rely on orphanages not previously sending paperwork. So, this reason really isn’t that there are “plenty” of orphans, just that there are less than there used to be. If this one is true then I would expect to start seeing more babies in November.

3. The CCAA has a yearly ceiling that they cannot go over, and that ceiling was lowered last year and then lowered again this year. The ceiling also includes SN children, so the more SN adoptions that happen the less NSN matches can be made.

If this is true then we are stuck with what we have until someone tells the CCAA they can begin referring more NSN babies out than they’ve been allowed to do last year and this year. If this one is true then we also have some weird things that happen with attrition levels moving back and forth from NSN to SN, see the Attrition Logic Post for more information if you missed that entry.

4. The Chinese government wants to make the world think there is no orphan problem as we lead up to the Olympics. So they empty the orphanages out into foster care and say there are no more orphans. The long wait becomes proof that they have solved their orphan problem, since this proves there aren’t enough babies to adopt out.

This one gets more complicated. There are some who point out that if all they are interested in is the numbers that get reported then the last numbers that will be reported are this years numbers, in which case things might speed up starting with late November’s referrals, since those people will not complete their adoption until January of ‘08. If the State Department uses a different fiscal year then it could be even sooner than that. (Coincidentally, November is when we might expect to see a speed up from bringing in all of the SWI’s.)

However, if they want to be able to point to the actual wait as proof that there are no more orphans (and thus, no more abandonment problem) then we would not expect to see a change until after the Olympics.
And then there is the possibility that with the Olympics being China’s “Coming Out” Party, that things may never go back to the way they were. China will want to maintain the perception that they are now a First World Country and that they can “take care of their own”. Meaning they will want to keep up the illusion that there are no more abandonments and no more orphans.

So, back to our original question: Will things speed up?

I do not think that China just suddenly one month ran out of babies. They went from referring about a month every month to referring half months, and then went down from there. One would think that this would have been more gradual and not so sudden if it weren’t an artificially constructed “problem”.
I believe that some orphanages do have mostly SN babies and hardly any NSN babies. I believe that some areas of the country are more prosperous and that there truly are less orphans. A wonderful thing.
However, I am also aware of orphanages that are full of babies. And I’m aware of orphanages that have a small percentage of the babies now that they had years ago, but when families ask about how many babies are in foster care it brings the numbers back up to the same neighborhood they were in four or five years ago.
This means that I think there are babies available, and thus I believe a speed up is possible. I don’t believe it is probable, but I do believe it is possible.
If we are dealing with a quota, or with issues around the Olympics (and this could very well be that both of these are the case) then unless the theory is correct that they are only interested in published numbers, I don’t think we can hope to see a speed up anytime soon. If ever.

Where did June go?

We have had a busy month. I just got back from my parents house where we enjoyed the lake. I wanted to go to Ft. Hood to see my friend Suzanne for the 4th of July. Things did not work out as Greg was working and felt left out. So I am staying home. We may go to a BBQ with our friends that we have met through our adoption if we don't get rained out.

I hired a Personal Trainer at 24 Hour Fitness. I have been doing fantastic...just had to brag a little! I am down 15 pounds in 38 days! Yahoo for me! We have been counting calories and it is really working. Greg is down seven pounds too! With his job it is hard for him to exercise. But he is doing great too. Since I am paying a trainer I never miss a workout!!

Last week my sister, nieces and I made a trip to our parents in Missouri. We were there four full days and had a fun time. Summer rode the tube and thought that was just the best thing! Of course we had to monitor our speed in RPM's because we were going so slow!!! We boated and played on the boat dock each day. My nieces did wonderful again on the trip there. I feel like we are asking a lot of them to make the trip so I could never say they did bad. We had bad road conditions so our 12 hour trip became 15 hours. As an adult you want to scream so you can imagine how a 15 month old reacts. The long trip was well worth it. Seeing my parents is always fun. I can't wait for them to be grandparents again.

We are nine months "Paper Pregnant". When we started the process we were told our wait would be 8-10 months. So we figured we would have a normal pregnancy. As we all know things have changed drastically. We are now praying that we will get our daughter in early 2009. It is very mind boggling to think we will be waiting that long. I would prefer to believe it could be that long rather than keep thinking that it won't be and then be more disappointed. We have looked into other countries but China seems to still be the right fit for us. We continue to ask for your prayers in bringing our Mari home.

We hope you all have a fun and safe 4th of July! Take care.

Love,

Alicia

New Eyes for Greg

On Friday June 8 Greg got "New Eyes"! Greg had Lasik eye surgery. He is doing wonderful! On Saturday he read 20/20!!! It was truly amazing. Greg has worn glasses since he was five years old. As you can imagine he is quite excited and keeps saying to me "can you read what that says...because I sure can"! He has always wanted to have the Lasik eye surgery and this year for his 32 Birthday we bit the bullet and did it!

I hope this finds you all having a great June. It is quite steamy down here in Texas. My nieces will be here this afternoon! So we plan to do lots of swimming. Take care.

Love, Alicia

Meeting others in the same boat

As many of you know I have had an extremely hard time making friends this time around in Texas. I have had many bad moments where I have cried my eyes out because none of my neighbors will even say hello to me. As many of you know Greg is about as solid as they come and then there is me. Well, Greg took pity on me and left a message on a China board asking if there was anyone in our area like us! You know the type: we live in a neighborhood full of children, we have a four bedroom house, we have a family car, and we stare in awe at others children. To our surprise, this nice lady Carrie emailed me and invited us to a Families with Children from China dinner. Of course, Greg and I jumped right in our car and went! We met some wonderful people and we are so excited to have met others like us! No one can understand our wait except for people who are waiting or have waited too. It was such a wonderful feeling to be able to chat about our wait and see the beautiful children that are now with their forever family. So after last night I feel renewed like I can make this journey and I can stay in Texas even if my neighbors think I am weird for not having children!

I hope this finds you all having a great weekend. Greg's schedule has changed so now on Sunday afternoons he works. BUT he is now off EVERY Friday and Saturday. No more work 12 off two. Have a great week.

Love, Alicia

Auntie!!!

Last week my darling nieces Summer and Lilly came to stay with us from Sunday until Tuesday. My sister came on Tuesday and they all stayed until Friday. My sister, Heather, is an RN and since they are still new to San Antonio they do not have a babysitter. So for now I am the babysitter. I can't complain I am enjoying every moment with them. Greg and I are getting great practice being parents. Let me tell you, Auntie was very tired by Tuesday night. Summer is four and Lilly is 15 months. Summer is a typical four year old...she can do everything and knows everything. Lilly is a holy terror! She is into everything. Nothing is safe when Lilly is around. She loves Riley and will yell his name from every room of the house. It is so funny! We had a fun time. We went to the park, blew bubbles, had a play date with the neighbor, swam in the pool, and of course had hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.

I hope this finds you all having a great May. My friend Elizabeth will be here this Friday. I haven't seen her in almost two years so I am very excited. Have a great week.

Love, Alicia

April News

April has been a busy month for me. My sister, Heather, and I put on a 60th Birthday party for my dad. We spent about five days in Shell Knob, MO with my parents. My nieces did so wonderful on the road trip! Summer, who is four, watched her movies the whole way there. Lilly, who is one, did amazingly well too. I was very impressed! Ten hours in a car is pretty hard for me and I'm 32..I can't imagine being four! The party for Dad was great! We really surprised him! It is hard to believe though when your dad turns 60! I just don't see him being that old!!

While we were in Missouri we convinced my parents to come to our house. So they were here from last Wed until Sunday. Dad did some painting for me. He is the best painter. It is too bad though he has to correct so many of the mistakes that the other owners made. I know he isn't happy about it! Greg was able to take sometime off while they were here. That was nice.

We all went to a Crawfish Festival. And of course, we tried Crawfish for the first time. Can't say I love it. I like it in sauces but I'm not too into it when you have to pull that head off and work so hard for a piece of meat no bigger than your pinkie! Plus mine kept having the yellow gunk in them and I did NOT like seeing or tasting that!!

There is no news about our adoption. I wish so badly there was but there isn't. The only news is that the wait continues to grow longer. I almost hate typing that. It is very difficult for my heart. Please continue to pray for our adoption and that God will place a baby in our arms as soon as possible.

I hope this finds you all doing well. Take care.

Love, Alicia

Happy Easter

I hope the Easter Bunny was good to everyone! Greg and I had a pretty uneventful weekend here in Texas. It has been rainy and cold here this weekend. How quickly I have become wimpy back in the land of warmer weather!

My friend Lori came and visited last week! We had a great time, although I don't think she loved Texas as much as I do! It was wonderful having her here!

There is nothing new to report on our adoption. The wait continues to grow and it drives me crazy! There is not a thing we can do about it either. I think that is by far the hardest part. We just have to truly believe God's timing will be perfect for us. We look forward to the day when we can dress our baby up for her Easter picture, dye Easter eggs, hide Easter eggs, and of course see her smile when she realizes the Easter Bunny left her a basket full of candy!

Happy Easter!
Alicia

Sad Day

I should have never posted that last post. All I can say is the Jayhawks had a great season! We enjoyed watching them play ball and we are proud of our team! It won't be long and October 15 will be here and it will all start again! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Alicia

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

This time of year is like a holiday at our house! Greg woke up on March 15 unable to sleep as he knew March Madness had finally begun! We are so excited that the Jayhawks will be playing in the Elite 8 today! This will also be the first game we will be able to watch on our big screen TV and not on our little computer monitor. This year Texas and Texas A&M played the same time we did. Being that we live in Texas showing Kansas play was not a priority! So Greg and I watched our Jayhawks play on a slightly delayed computer screen. As Greg kept saying, at least we were able to watch the game. So cheer loud and root the Jayhawks on to the Final Four!!!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk Go KU!!!

Sonogram

We have been Paper Pregnant for six months! It is hard to believe it has already been that long. We wanted to share with you our sonogram. It brings us great joy to share this and hope you enjoy seeing it as much as we do!

What happens with our Dossier?

Each week we get an update from our adoption agency, Christian World Adoption. This week Virginia explained the process that we are in right now. She also explained why the wait to get Mari is taking so long. Here is the information that we received. CWA has been excellent to work with. They are always very upfront and honest and the doors of communication are always open. We would recommend them! I hope you are enjoying reading about our journey!

CWA mails the dossiers to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA). When a dossier arrives at the CCAA, the worker enters the family's information into the CCAA computer system. The date on which this happens becomes the family's LOG-IN date. The CCAA receives hundreds of dossiers every week, so it may take 3-4 weeks for them to log-in a dossier after it is received. (CWA will let you know what your log-in date is.)

All of the dossiers with that log-in date are kept together in a group. The group of dossiers moves from department to department over a period of many months. First the dossiers are translated, then they are reviewed, and then they are moved to the matching room where they will wait until the CCAA is ready to make a referral.

The "referral" includes 2-3 photos of the child, medical information about the child, and a brief developmental report. Most of the information is in both Chinese and English. The CCAA makes referrals according to the log-in dates on the dossiers,taking them in chronological order. To date, they have made referrals for families with log-in dates through October 24, 2005. Back in the"good old days" the CCAA used to mail referrals covering the log-in dates for an entire month at a time. Now they are only able to send referrals covering periods of one or two weeks.

So why is the process so slow? The process is exceptionally slow right now because adoption from China became SO popular that the CCAA received many, many more dossiers than they have children available. They are moving as quickly as they can to get through the backlog, but they have THOUSANDS of dossiers waiting and there are only so many children in the international adoption program. So we need to expect that the process will continue to be very slow for several more months. It is most likely that the wait will get worse before it gets better.

I hope this finds you all having a great Monday. We went to San Antonio over the weekend and went to the Riverwalk. It was great seeing my sister and nieces! Greg's vacation ends tomorrow. What a bummer. It was so nice having him home even though we missed our cruise! Love, Alicia

Different Trips to the Same Place

We received this at an adoption seminar and it just seemed so perfect. I wanted to share it with everyone.

Different Trips to the Same Place

Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You’ve heard it’s a wonderful place. You’ve read many guidebooks and feel certain you’re ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.

So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you’ll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait-and wait- and wait.

Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, “Relax. You’ll get on a flight soon.” Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, “It’s not fair”.

After a long time the ticket agent tells you, “I’m sorry, we’re not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat.”

“By Boat!” you say, “Going by boat will take a very long time and costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane.” So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.

It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three times, marveling about each trip.

Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite that you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than by air.

People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are able to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, “Oh be glad you didn’t fly. My flight was horrible, traveling by sea is so easy.”

You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you get there, but in the place itself.

Author unknown

No Cruise for you!

As many of you have known Greg and I were to take our first Cruise today! We were to leave out of Galveston for a five day cruise. Well Thursday night the flu came to our house and hit me hard. Needless to say the trip had to be canceled and we are at home rather than boarding our beautiful ship. It seems we just don't have much luck here lately. Greg had too much vacation and was at a use it or lose it point so now we will be staring at each other for a week! Greg has been a real trooper though, catering to my every need. Not sure I have ever told you all this but I truly do have the best husband! Please pray for a speedy recovery!

Alicia

Riley

Riley wanted to say hello! He is enjoying Texas and loves sleeping outside in the sun. He is getting braver and walking around the hot tub. One night he slipped and got his foot wet! He did not like that! We had to up his thyroid medicine and now he is back to his old self! He likes sleeping on the landing with his feet dangling off the stair. Isn't he just precious!!!

No news to report about our adoption. Greg and I are doing well and looking forward to March Madness! Go Kansas!! Love, Alicia

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year! 2007 is the year of the Pig. Feburary 18, 2007 marks the first day of the New Year in China. If you were born in 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983 or 1995 - you were born under the sign of the pig also. Legend has it that in ancient times, Budda asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He said that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. Those born in pig years tend to have excellent manners, make and keep friends, work very hard, and appreciate luxury. They are very loving and make loyal partners.

The Chinese New Year is the most celebrated holiday in China. It is also the longest holiday lasting for 15 days. Red is the color of choice as it is believed to signify fire. Fire is believed to ward off evil spirits. People wear and decorate with red. Children receive "lucky money" in red envelopes. Fireworks are a big hit also. It is believed that the loud popping sounds scare off evil spirits also. Families come together to eat, drink, and be merry! Sounds familiar!

On the 15th day of the New Year is the lantern festival. In many areas the highlight of the lantern festival is the dragon dance. The dragon—which might stretch a hundred feet long—is typically made of silk, paper, and bamboo. Traditionally the dragon is held by young men who dance as they guide the colorful beast through the streets.

Last night Greg and I celebrated the New Year by eating at Pei Wei. If we get our referral in early spring 2008 then Mari will be born the year of the Pig! What a wonderful year 2007 will be! Have a great weekend.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Timeline for our Adoption

• September 23, 2005 - Signed with Christian World Adoption
• September 30, 2005 - Greg sends Alicia a list of names he likes...our baby girl gets her name, Mari Olivia
• October 5, 2005 - Contacted Catholic Charities about our Homestudy
• October 12, 2005 - Ordered Birth Certificates and Marriage Certificate
• October 13, 2005 - Elizabeth is our witness to send our initial documents to CWA
• October 18, 2005 - Mailed application and check to CWA
• October 20, 2005 - Received access to China iplanner
• October 25, 2005 - Talked with Virginia our case manager at CWA
• December 10, 2005 - Have fingerprints taken at local police station in North Dakota
• January 25, 2006 - Find out Greg's fingerprints were good but Alicia's were not readable...just my luck!
• February 3, 2006 - Alicia has fingerprints redone
• February 7, 2006 - Alicia turns 31!
• February 16, 2006 - A new niece arrives...Lilly Kate is born!
• February 23, 2006 - Fingerprints are back and they are good! We can begin our homestudy!
• March 6, 2006 - 1st meeting with Amy our social worker for our homestudy
• March 30, 2006 - 2nd meeting with Amy
• April 3, 2006 - Go home to meet Lilly
• May 19, 2006 - 3rd and final homestudy visit, this time at our house
• June 16, 2006 - Greg turns 31! Happy Birthday!
• June 19, 2006 - Multicultural Families training in Fargo, ND required for homestudy
• June 20, 2006 - Alicia has Physical and lab work
• June 27, 2006 - Had passport photo taken and applied for passport...Happy Birthday Heather!
• June 21, 2006 - Mailed our I-600 to USCIS (this form is asking for permission to adopt a foreign born child)
• June 28, 2006 - Received 1-600 back with our FBI clearance appointment date
• July 3, 2006 - Greg has physical and lab work
• July 9, 2006 - We celebrate our 12 year Anniversary!
• July 11, 2006 - Went to Fargo to have FBI fingerprints done
• July 17, 2006 - Our Homestudy is finalized
• August 4-10, 2006 - Went on vacation to see Alicia's parents
• August 12, 2006 - Waiting in the mail was our much anticipated I-171H today! (This form is from the Department of Homeland Security it gives us permission to adopt a foreign born child) Also in the mail are our passports.
• August 14, 2006 - We had our documents Authenticated in Bismarck, ND by the Secretary of State
• August 17, 2006 - Fedex'd our dossier to a courier in Washington D. C. she will take them to the United States Department of State and then to the Chinese Consulate
• August 24, 2006 - FedEx'd our Dossier to CWA!!! All our paperwork is done...it took forever it seems!
• August 25, 2006 - Virginia received our Dossier
• August 31, 2006 - Dossier to China (DTC)
• September 22, 2006 - We have a LID (this is the date that we entered into China's system. All referrals are based on this date!) We are officially "Paper Pregnant"!
• September 29, 2006 - Greg received a promotion...we will be moving to Houston, TX!!
• October 22, 2006 - Received a beautiful dress for Mari from CWA
• November 1, 2006 - Greg leaves for Houston, TX
• November 12, 2006 - Alicia leaves Minot, ND for Houston, TX
• December 4, 2006 - Sold our home in North Dakota
• December 8, 2006 - Bought our new home in Texas!
• December 12, 2006 - Move into our new home...there is no place like home!

Welcome

Welcome to our blog. Greg bought a new XBox 360 this weekend so I set out to create this blog. Please bear with me as I have never done something like this before! I went to find "Blogging for Dummies" but I couldn't find it. I will continue searching!

The blog will mainly have information about our journey to Mari. We wanted to give all our friends and family a chance to follow us to parenthood. I often get bored though so I can see me throwing in tidbits about life in Texas! Which by the way has been great!

The wait for Mari continues. Our case worker tells us maybe sometime next Spring. We will have our Homestudy repeated in the fall as your homestudy has to be from the current state you live in.

I turned 32 this week and let me tell you that was not easy since I am still NOT a MOMMIE!!! I went to our park with my niece Summer and saw all the mommies with their double strollers and I wanted to gag! Is that terrible of me or what! I know God has a plan for us but somedays it is hard to remember that!