Sunday, June 26, 2011

sheets, band aids and cups!

These are a few things on my mind!  People have began to ask me what we need as we anticipate the arrival of our Little C.  I don't know seems to be the answer from me.  There are a few obvious things I am aware of, her bed (we ordered yesterday!)- sheets, comforter and pillows, pretty rugs and drapes that match.  OK that will be easy, but what else? Clothes? I am not sure what size she is (I am trying to guess based on the "measurements" we got) but who knows now!  How about toys...well we don't know what she will like and she is 6.5 so while she won't even know what she likes the first few months, I don't want her overstimulated or with a lot stuff she does not even like..books- OK yeah books are good- but what books- she needs to learn english what will stimulate her? initially- I am thinking preschool books (pinkalicious, knufflebunny...type books??) maybe some DVD's fun movies for kids? 
But on my commute (at least an hour a day each way) I start thinking about other things like band aids, we rarely have these in the house, we will need these for sure, then the other day I was unloading the dishwasher and thought my little girl cannot drink out of these big glasses she will need her own cups and plates.  What else do I need?  I feel like there must be more but I don't know what!  Any suggestions from those who brought home older children? 
I will continue the search of what else I need- I walked through Target the other day to see if I saw other things that seemed appropriate but I got overwhelmed bought myself some lip gloss and left!! 

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Referral!!

I realized I did not make an official blog of this!! I have been so caught up in the awe, the next steps and that pesky thing called a job!

It is official though, we have a referral for a 6.5 year old girl!  We are thrilled! 
We have sent our paperwork in and now we wait for our court date- I have my timeline expectations set low- probably November- but I did have a dream the other night that we got a date in before our the court closures!  So doubtful!!

Now begins the lists- what do I need to do! I have started everything from thinking about her room to calling schools!  I need to get organized this week about it all though and make sure I don't miss anything!  If anyone has any advice please comment!!! 

Well off to peruse the Pottery Barn Kids website!! 

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Help!

Seems I cannot comment on anyone's post- it keeps kicking me back to enter my email address...
I am so happy for so many of you out there!!!
Great things are happening!!  Congrats to those going to get their babies, those that are only awaiting Embassy dates, those who are awaiting "due dates"!!

I am so HAPPY for you all and when I can figure out what the problem is I will post on your blogs!!!!

Monday, June 13, 2011

I am in love...

How does this happen, one minute you think you have a plan and are on course for how you life will "be", next thing you know that plan has completely changed and your happier than you could imagine!

Ok- so we do not have a referral YET, but great things are happening!  Let me tell you how Duane and I ended up crying in a Denny's restaurant on Friday!!

Friday is always our day together, we both are off work and we usually just hang out and enjoy each others company, this Friday was no different, we went to Denny's for brunch (yep I said Denny's it is a fave- they know us!) we were catching up on our week when I was alerted by my phone that I had an email (time 12:48 yes that is important) It was from our caseworker and the subject line said Ethiopian Dr response...I started freaking out, our waitress had just set our food down, so I was trying to pull up the attachment...it seemed like it took FOREVER to load...(first of all our CW said it could take up to 3 weeks to receive a response- we got it in 4 days!!) so it loaded, we had asked 2 questions, only 1 of them could have possibly thrown a wrench in our decision (but doubtful) but both were answered...she is fine, she is perfect!!  I looked at Duane and both of us started crying, we were laughing, crying...all in the middle of Denny's...it may seem silly, it is not the referral yet, no court date to make it really real, but it was "our" answer, and it made it all real to us! I had to respond though...to tell her ok- next steps, let's go, give us paperwork, homework something...let's keep moving!  I sent a reply and what did I get- yep the good ol' auto reply- we are sorry on Friday's our offices are closed at 1pm...ARE YOU SERIOUS...we now have to wait ALL weekend to see what is next. UGH.  Well we bailed on our food and got out of there so we could cry some more and let our families know that we have conquered another step. 
Of course because prior to that I had already made a phone appt with our CW for tomorrow, I did not get to talk to her today.  So tomorrow I find out what's next, I am hopeful that it is referral paperwork, because all I can think about is this precious little girl and I want her here NOW! 
We are in absolute love with her, I feel like my whole life has already changed and I could not be happier.  The road ahead for us is not going to be easy, but I know it is the right road, God has made our path very clear and this little girl is going to teach me more than I can imagine and I cannot wait!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Major Changes for Month 3!

Well I am a few days late for our "official" 3 month waiting blog!

A lot has happened in the last few weeks. Duane and I watched again as no sibling referrals came through, knowing that there are a few families in their 16th month we felt frustrated so we set up an appointment to speak with our caseworker at WHFC, while we waited for that day- we attended the conference call for children waiting in Russia, China and Horizon kids.  As we listened to the call, we did not feel the same draw to Russia (while they really need families, we feel connected to ET) as she spoke about Horizon kids that interested us a bit, but with the age piece we were not sure...  after the call came the weekly update, so we decided to look more indepth at the Horizon Kids, WOW- we felt a strong connection to two different pictures, how does this happen, I mean it is just a picture and a blurb...but we felt it.
So the next day was our call with caseworker...we initially spoke to her about the wait- why is it so long- she told us due to all the families waiting, I pushed a bit on this...letting her know that the frustration is not on how many people are ahead of us but NO referrals!  She explained that there are so many agencies and that orphanages do not work with single agencies therefore- the list of waiting parents is endless! She told us for referral through bringing home it could be a total of a 2 year wait...while of course that could change, she did not seem optimistic.
As we began to explore with her about the Horizon Kids we started to think that we could open up our parameters a bit.  We began to research on a few different pieces and try and decide what direction we wanted to head into. 
We have made a decision and are now in the process of finding out more about a horizon child!  We are trying to be cautious- as there are a few more steps we go through and things to find out before we move forward to a referral match.  But we are pretty excited!! I should know more in the next couple of weeks!
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