Not sure what to think.....

This was on RQ yesterday. I am really not sure what to think about this.....

I am again seeing children with repaired special needs being referred to parents who are in the non-special-needs program. This cropped up last year and then seemed to fade away, but now it seems to be making a comeback.

So far these include things like heart surgeries, and extra digits (toes, fingers) that have been removed.

It can also include a repaired cleft, which to me is a bit scary for a family expecting NSN since children can require multiple surgeries for this until their faces stop growing and changing. Also, children who have cleft issues can have problems with other organs in their bodies. The same “issue” in utero that causes the cleft can also make some of the internal organs not develop properly and some parents who adopt a waiting child with a cleft do not know their child has these other problems until they are home with them.

A few agencies are now starting to warn clients of the possibility of being referred a child with a repaired special need so I’m assuming they have heard something from the CCAA that tells them this is will be the new policy.

FCC Brunch

Thank you Lee for hosting a wonderful brunch yesterday. Here is the (not quite) Red couch picture of (from left) Brea, Natalie, Mattie, Sammi and Gigi. This was Gigi's first big outing since they came home from China last Tuesday? I can't wait until Amelie is on the couch too!

Better chance of winning the lotto....

What? Getting a referral in 2008? Yeah, that too! But what I am talking about is changing our request from a girl as young as possible to twins. Yup, finally convinced David that we should ask for twins. Worse case, we still get one beautiful little girl. Best case, we get two. From what I understand only one in every 2000 referrals is a twin referral, but you never know!

August babes

Referrals came out yesterday-7 days of LID's-again. Seems to be the ongoing trend. I now have 156 LID's ahead of me. So 156 /7=22.28. So I have 22 and a half more months to wait. At least I am under two years now!

Summer Reading

Last month at our FCC meeting, our "troop leader" lent us all out books to read. I am in the middle of the last one and if you enjoy reading novels these are three wonderful ones:

. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai Sijie) about the lives of two teens, childhood friends who have been sent to a small Chinese village for "re-education" during Mao's Cultural Revolution

.The Waiting Child (Cindy Champnella) An extraordinary true story of human resilience in the face of tremendous odds. Adopted by an American family at age four, Jaclyn goes to her new home with a great burden. She had to leave behind a little boy who had been under her charge at the Chinese orphanage. Jaclyn inspires two families, several agencies, and two governments to cooperate to reunite her with 'her baby.' Everyone who reads this story will believe in the power of love to change the world.

.Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See). See's engrossing novel set in remote 19th-century China details the deeply affecting story of lifelong, intimate friends (laotong, or "old sames") Lily and Snow Flower, their imprisonment by rigid codes of conduct for women and their betrayal by pride and love.

I am reading the Snow Flower book right now and was teary eyed reading about the footbinding. It is a probability that my daughter's biological grandmother or great-grandmother was made to go through this torture in the name of "beauty".

She ate what?

I don't want to bore you to tears, my dear readers, with all my dull stories of my animals' antics. However, I have no child antics to bore you with so here goes. Let's play "Guess what Annie ate this week?" Last week it was dental floss and a half pan of brownies. This week my dear neighbor was watching her while we were at Mai Kai. She put a ceramic water bowl in her crate, no biggie, right? WRONG. Friggin dog ate a 2 inch chunk out of it, and I am not being generous or exaggerating with the size. That night I did not sleep, sure she was going to start vomiting blood at 3 a.m.. Nope, she pooped it right out the next day. I swear I could see her sweating when she did her duty. That could not have felt good. My mom had a good idea "why don't you just put a muzzle on her"? Nothing, and I mean nothing is safe! Someone at the dog park told me goldendoodles don't grow up until they are 3, so fantastic, I have two more years and two month of this? She'll just start behaving when we go to China I guess!

Mai Kai

In all the years I have lived in the area I have never been to the famous Mai Kai. Last week we finally went for my friend Heather's 29th (I am being nice in case you are reading this Heather) birthday. When we stepped inside I felt like we were in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The food was amazing, as were the potent Hidden Pearl drinks. We had a table right next to the stage where dancers performed routines from Thailand to Hawaii. Hope you had a good night Heather!

The start of my 6th trimester

We just passed the 15th month mark of waiting for sweet Amelie. I am really hoping against all hope that we are passed the halfway mark. I think I'll explode if we are not. The last few months they have referred out from 5-7 days of LID's at a time. What does that mean? There are 161 LID's before us. 7 into 161 equals 23. Twenty three more months ahead of us at this pace. Putting us at a June 2009 referral. Everyone, please pray for a speed up for us!

Gigi's Gotcha Day!

Congrats to Ana and Ron who finally have their daughter Gigi! They had their gotcha day on Monday. She is a cutie!

This was how my day started

As usual, my morning started out with two dogs and one cat jumping on the bed to say good morning-at the same time. However, this morning, I noticed in an instant that there were small gasoline smelling paw prints on my pillow. My dumb cat Higgins got into the oil pan in the garage that my husband used to change his oil in his car. Higgins usually goes right through the cat door to use the litter box and then comes right back in. Early this morning he had the bright idea to use his pad paws as a stamp and ink pad. Needless to say, there were black oil paw prints all the way up the stairs and into my bed. So, fatboy Higgies got the first bath of his 7 year life. I needed a new bed set anyhow. Hello Bed Bath and Beyond!

Did I mention that Annie ate a half a pan of brownies yesterday and a few yards of dental floss? Of course I didn't know about the floss until it, um, came out the end it did not go into.......

Thank you Fliss and Sherry!!!!!!!

My new FCC friend in Melbourne, Fl, Felicity, sent me a wonderful cd with songs about adoption. What a wonderful surprise I had to find this in the mail! I have to admit though, I can't listen to it when I work because I get so teary eyed listening to the words that I can't see the computer screen! Thanks again Fliss! Hopefully in the next few months we can meet up and "do lunch"!

And speaking of Thank You's.......I finally got together with my good friend Sherry who volunteered to put together my 100 good wishes quilt. We went to go to the fabric store, but it was closed, so we stopped at Baja for some sangria and tacos. After we looked at all (140) squares I brought with me, we decided the quilt was going to be ginormous (yes, this is a new word according to Webster's) and we will have to do some creative cutting to have them all fit!

Busy week!!

It has been a whirlwind of fun this last week. My amazing girlfriend's Heather, Ronnie and Concetta threw me a fabulous birthday party on Saturday. Heather turned her house into a funhouse complete with indoor shuffleboard...and golf and ping pong outside. My camera is long dead so I don't have any pictures to share yet.

Yesterday I attended Ana and Ron's farewell brunch. I can't believe it's time for them to get Gigi already. Follow along with them with the link on the left......

We brought the beasts over to Heather and Dan's house after to go swimming (I came over to help clean up, but my good friends did that for me too-they are the best).....this is poor Annie after her mean mom threw her in the pool. She looks happy, but she was not a happy camper! I thought retreivers were water dogs? Guess not all of them?

Hey big spender

I finally made my first big purchase with the help of my wonderful mother. I was so afraid that they would stop making this and I love it so much that I don't care if it sits in the closet for 18 months before I take it out of the package. It's called "Wabi Sabi" and it is so me! Am I crazy not to want bears and bunnies in her room? It was a little pricey but I justified it because alot of her other stuff will be hand-me-downs. Kuddos to Fliss with my same LID month who bought an amazing stroller at E-Bay for half price....think I will follow her lead. Nothing but the best for Amelie-so long as some of it is on sale!

Last night we had a little send off for Ana and Ron who are going to China to meet Gigi in 10 days. The guys went bowling and beer-ing while the girls went to Wendy's and ordered from our favorite Asian dinner, chatted and played with baby Brea and Sammi. The kiddos took a bath together....I am sure 12 years from now when they are teenagers they will be thrilled that this picture circulated on the world wide web!

I could have written this!

This story sounded like us to a "T"!


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17937816/

Birthday celebration and One month closer

Happy Birthday to Me! Looking forward to a day full of fun! My friend Traci and my Godson, her son, Jake are meeting me for lunch. Later in the afternoon we will be meeting friends from Michigan, Zack and April, at Watercolors for a Zackery Daquiri. Tonight we are headed to GOL for a dining experience I have been looking forward to for months!

It's also Fergie's birthday today too. I tried to take a picture of her in her tiara, but she was having no part of it!

On the adoption front, the lovely CCAA referred just one week again this month. What cracks me up is they have reviewed all of the May 06 files. It took them 4.5 months to get through April, our month and just a week and a half to get through May. What is that all about?

Because nothing is new with the adoption I bring you.....

POSSIBLY THE VERY BEST CHICKEN JOKE EVER!!



A chicken and an egg are lying in bed.

The  chicken is leaning against the headboard smoking a cigarette, with
a
satisfied smile on its face.

The  egg, looking a bit pissed off, grabs the sheet, rolls over, and
says,
"Well, I guess we finally answered THAT  question...



If  anyone needs it explained - read it a second time.

Figures my brother sent me this.....

Beast Update

As for the girls, they are wonderful. We had a scare with Fergie a few weeks ago. We had to take her to the ER vet twice, she was vomiting blood. This gave me flashbacks of Quincy, especially since it was the same ER vet we took him to when he passed away. She is fine now. Just a dog flu bug that was going around. She is so mellow that I check to make sure she is breathing every hour since she doesn't do much but lay around. She will play hard for an hour with her sister and then will sleep for hours. Just a Wheaten thing!

Annie is still eating everything....cell phones, remotes, my MP3 player, part of our dining room table. Last month she pulled a big ceramic cat dish off the counter and proceeded to chew it, there was blood on the tile, the couch and a part of the wall. It was like a crime scene. Smart girl she is, huh? I thought if we left her uncrated for an hour while we gone, what was the worst that could happen? Ha ha! And she never stops harassing the cats and Fergie. I can't for the life of me find the off button on her. I have met several other Goldendoodle and Labradoodle owners at the park, and they all say that their furbabies were just as big of troublemakers until they were at least two. If she does stop to take a two minute nap she usually plops her 50 lb body on top of her 30 pound sister with a thud. Not the politest mutt in the world. Did I mention her garbage fascination? She brought me a tampon applicator the other day. How nice!

We could be dancin' yeah!

David and I are still having an amazing time with our dance lessons. We have pretty much been concentrating on two dances....the Foxtrot and Salsa. As much as I love the Tango, you really can't find a place to dance it other than in the studio. You can Foxtrot to any slow song and can salsa anywhere down here. It's a great calorie burner and you can work up a sweat in an hour of practice. Our instructor taught us some fancy move the other night where I have to be bent in half while turning 180 not once but twice. I thought I was on the mad teacup ride after a while. I am not a born dancer, but we are starting to look better than we did before. Until a few weeks ago we looked like we were doing the Elaine dance from Seinfeld!

Time for the RQ roller coaster

People have compared the RQ rumors to the Charlie Brown-Lucy kicking the football cartoon. Every month there seems to be bad rumors, followed by good, followed by actual bad news regarding the amount of referral days. Referrals come out generally the first week of the month and are preceded by rumors the few days or weeks leading up to them. Yesterday a nasty rumor came from an agency that only TWO TEENY days are expected next week. Today the rumor is up to TEN DAYS which would be amazing. The more they do, the closer I get to an 08' referral!

In the meantime, D and I are keeping extremely busy! My calendar is booked up until the third week of August with baby showers, birthday parties, wedding showers, bachelorette parties and a trip to Orlando-Universal. And during the week we have ballroom lessons, adoption meetings and dog obedience. I highly recommend to anyone adoption from China to keep yourself so busy that you can't remember which day is which!

Ok, I am still a bloggy novice, can't for the life of me figure out why the font is twice as big at the end compared to the start of this post!