This is a Test...ONLY A TEST...

We had a sleepover at our house last night. We had Devin (8), Kyle (5), and Gabrielle (11 months). Their mom and dad went shopping on "Black Friday" to hopefully find some good stuff for Christmas.

The boys are always great to have and we haven't had a sleepover in a while so we knew that they would be fine. Gabrielle on the other hand was our test...but I must say, I felt like I cheated!! She slept through the night and woke up with a big smile on her face and was just great all day then I took them home.

It will be interesting to see how we do on our final exam in China...(I think that we will ace it!)

Happy Thanksgiving...

I love the holidays! I worked two days this week and have five days off!

I've been up early this morning getting everything ready for dinner later today. We have only 12 people coming to dinner this year (we usually have between 16-20). You would think that we have 40 with the amount of food we have!

I requested a 15 lb. Turkey, but Michael ordered a 25lb Turkey instead. We also have a 10 lb. Ham, two pans of lasagna and meatballs!! Everyone is going to have to TON of leftovers to take home with them tonight.

I love having family around and it helps at the holidays knowing that we do have a loving family already here and that it's only going to get that much better once our daughter comes home.

I'm so thankful for the blessings that we receive each and every day and for the health and well being of our families.

Living Life To The Fullest...

This is what you try to do each and every day. Sometimes it's hard to remember that when you feel like your "family" life is put on hold and waiting to start.

I'm finding that it is too easy to agonize over the wait and every now and again I get so insightful...SCARY! But, we do need to live our lives to the fullest. Life has not stopped because we are waiting for our child.

Michael and I had a great weekend. We had friends up from Virginia and went to Newport RI. We did absolutely nothing for 2 1/2 days but eat, drink and laugh...just what the doctor ordered! Oh yeah, we went to one of the mansions "The Breakers" to see how the beautiful people live...I can only say amazing!

So in this crazy roller coaster ride called adoption with it's many ups and downs, we must all remember that we are still among the living and I know that I have been wishing away the days, but I've realised that I truly need to appreciate our time alone together (me and Michael) before our daughter comes home. Once she is home and our entire world is turned upside down we are going to miss our time alone.

Today is a good day...who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Nine Month Anniversary...

Wow...today marks our Nine Month Anniversary!! I can't believe that it is already nine months. When we started this process we were looking at 10-12 months and we would have almost been there by now...unfortunately, the way things are going we could be looking at fall/winter 2009 and possibly 2010 before we meet our dear sweet girl.

On a happier note--we are ALMOST into the double digits of our wait and with the holidays the time is really starting to fly buy.

Waiting Family Meeting

I went to my first waiting family meeting last night with our adoption agency. I'm part of the "freshmen class" meaning that most of the people in the group are graduating seniors who just got referrals or are waiting to travel to pick up their children. Really when you think about how long this wait is turning into it is going to be like four years of high school, but instead of a diploma when we graduate we will finally be starting our family.

The group consisted of two sets of families, those waiting for China and those who already met their children in Guatemala and are waiting to go back and pick them up.

I'm not sure what I expected when I went to the meeting, but I liked it. I got to meet J. from my yahoo and RQ group...It's always so nice to put a face to someone that you chat with on line. J and her husband are LID the same time as me and Michael and we will definitely travel together to China.

Michael is so supportive of me and was coming to the meeting, but I let him get out of it at the last minute...he is so crazy busy and is traveling this weekend and I felt bad making him come with me...I really couldn't ask for a better man to support me especially in this crazy adoption journey--I love you Michael!

Michael is the type of person who will get more involved once our referral date gets closer...he is a here and now kind of guy and with the current wait being 25 month and getting longer we still have a ways to go before the here and now.

I think that I'm going to have to make it a point to go back to the meetings. I really want to meet other interracial families so that our daughter can see that she is not alone and her adoption story is quite similar to other children.

Quilt

I'm starting to go a little crazy with my quilt!! I've had all of my fabric cut for a while. I've got all of my first pieces sewn together. Last night I was trying to sew my 2x2 into 4x4 block and I have to tell you I was ready to pull my hair out of my head!! I couldn't for the life of me match up the block so that they rested evenly under the one's on top...I had to walk away because I was getting so aggravated.

Michael came home and I told him the problem I was having and he said to me "just throw the machine across the room and you'll feel better" MEN! enough said.

I'll pick it up again when I have more patience.

Extra Special Surprise...

Last night when I came home from work there was an extra special surprise in my mailbox from my February Secret Buddy. The reason that it is extra special is because this swap group only swaps every other months so this was a total surprise.

We got a very cute pink sun/pool/beach hat for our girl. I swear that our buddy is a mind reader! I have not really bought anything for our daughter because the wait has been so long, but every now and again I allow myself the simple pleasure of buying a little something and I've been on the hunt for hats! I've been hitting the sale racks and I got a $12 hat for under $2. So now my hat collection consists of 3 wonderful hats, one from my SIL, one from my secret buddy and one from me.

I'm not sure if I will have a little "hat rack" in the babies room or maybe put some pegs up in the closet for her hats...my dd will have two huge walk in closets in her room, so I may end up with the pegs in one of them.

Thanks SB!! Your awesome!