Sunday, December 30, 2007

What a wonderful Christmas



Christmas was really wonderful this year. It sounds strange to me to say that because we still do not have Sophia and really still have no idea when it will happen. We know for sure that she has been born and that we missed her first Christmas and that part WAS hard but the wisdom of a 6 year old put it all in prospective for me. Wendy's daughter Kate said to me don't worry kids in China don't think about Christmas they celebrate Chinese New Year... How cute.. out of the mouth's of babes.. Wendy and the girls got here on Friday evening. Early Sat morning we got up and went to Downtown Disney for the day. The girls had a great time riding the train and sitting on Santa's lap. We also had ice cream and did a little shopping, I think we all had a good time really. Sunday was filled with baking and relaxing over coffee. Monday we strolled through our downtown and then went to the Children's mass at our church. It was so beautiful.. They did a live Nativity and brought the animals right into the church. Wouldn't you know it both Kate and Claire fell asleep about one minute before they brought in the animals Oh well they got to see them outside after the mass... I have to share that at the moment when I turned to see Kate sleeping on Riz's chest I lost it. I had been very emotional all day and had been thinking about Sophia, Aidan and all our children still waiting for us and the sight of her sleeping on his chest sucking her little thumb pushed me over... Now Wendy and my mother took one look at me crying and started crying too.. we were a real mess but it was beautiful. Christmas eve the elves came and left new PJ's for the girls so they would be dressed nice for the Christmas morning pictures. Christmas morning was great, we could hear that the girls were up and just dieing to see if Santa had come. When they came downstairs their faces were priceless. The excitement was great and I have to say Kate and Claire are great at opening gifts. They both take their time and really look at what they got and then pick up the wrapping before moving on to the next gift. It was a good morning that only got better with the preparations for our dinner, prime rib all the trimmings and of course eggplant parmigiana. It was great and all the food was yummy. We opened gifts with the rest of our family that evening and were thrilled to see everyone open their gifts. We were thrilled to receive money from my mom and my in-laws to help with the trip to China for Sophia. My mom gave us the money belts we needed and we each received a travel pack for our flight it has a inflatable pillow, eye patch, ear plugs and a blanket. That will come in handy for sure on that long plan ride. One of the most special gifts this year was a hand made wooden high chair from my in-laws. They bought it while they were in North Carolina. It is beautiful and a real heirloom. . Because our family is so large so spread out we can't always get together at the same time but we heard from many on Christmas day and then on Thursday we spent an evening with my brothers, mother and niece. Friday we did our annual Christmas with our best friends Matt and Lisa and their children Ethan, Ashley and Allyson. We started doing this a few years ago waiting until after the holiday to get together it takes the pressure off of us and the kids know they still have something to look forward to. Matt and Lisa spoiled us this year and as always went over board. They also gave us a nice donation to our baby fund. They gave me the most beautiful painting of a
Chinese girl looking at a Christmas ornament. We were thrilled to death with everything and the generosity of our friends and family. We appreciate you all thinking about Sophia and including her in our celebration more then you all know. One day we will share with her just how much you all loved her before she was here with us to celebrate.
Kate and Claire














Claire working her magic on Papa











Go here for the artist







He is going to be a GREAT! dad....

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Martha Stewart or Jeff Foxworthy


I was recently asked by a good friend if our Christmas was more like a Martha Stewart or Jeff Fox worthy Christmas... I thought about it for a moment and decided that our Christmas is more like Martha Stewart meets the Sopranos... We try hard to live up to the Martha Stewart image of the Holidays but somehow fall short. I am not sure anyone can live up to that kind of detail although I love it and try every year... Our Christmas always includes family, gifts, tradition and most importantly food...
I always bake cookies some of my own recipes some I have gathered from friends and others that are old family recipes of Italian cookies. We always have the tradition holiday fair and no good Italian house hold would be complete at the holidays without a good Eggplant Parm (parmigiana that is on the table). My father in law honors us with that dish every year because he make the best Eggplant we have ever tasted. We will play music and graze on goodies all day and this year we feel very fortunate that our good friend Wendy will be joining us with her two girls Kate and Claire..... I love Christmas and all the trimmings.....


Friday, December 14, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!




Today is my mother's birthday, although she tells everyone that she stopped having

birthdays at 29. She has be 29 my whole life LOL..... Mom Happy 29th birthday again.... Just think next year on your birthday you will have a new granddaughter to love. Riz and I want to thank you for everything you have done for us while we wait to bring Sophia home. We really appreciate all you do in both action and in words it means more then you know. We love you very much.... Happy Birthday....

Love Susan and Riz

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

New yahoo group


We have decided to start a yahho group so that we can stay in touch while we are in China to get Sophia. We will still have the blog and will continue to post messages here, but blogger is not accessible in China. We want to stay in touch with family and friends while we are on the trip of our lives. We will be able to post messages and photos to the yahoo group. You will be able to leave us messages and view the photos. You will need to sign up for a free yahoo e-mail. It is easy and again free... If you have any trouble signing up for either yahoo e-mail or our yahoo group, please e-mail me at sophiajoy06@yahoo.com and I will help you. Once you are on the group take just a moment to introduce yourself to the other members. There will be a mix of family, friends, co-workers, and adoptive parents in all stages of the process on our group so feel free to get to know one another….

OK so go join....

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chinabug06/


Thanks for being interested
Susan

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Cheri and Shane
















They left early this morning from Cleavland headed to Guangzhou China. You can follow their journey here.They will arrive in China tomorrow around 10:40pm our time. Then they will TRY (yeah right) and get a few hours of sleep. The next morning (our Tuesday Morning) they will finally have Hope in their arms. We are so very excited for them. Somehow, it makes this whole process seem more real to us . Cheri has also started a yahoo group just in case she can not access blogger from China (this has been known to happen). If you have not done so please join her yahoo group here (Layla Join the yahoo group).

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Referral Day


I just love it! Even tho they only made it through 6 days this time I just love referral day. The joy that all the families are feeling is amazing. The Dec.DTC2005 yahoo group is a buz with referrals.. It is wonderful to see some happiness at the end of this journey. Riz and I want to congratulate all the families who will be seeing their children for the first time in the next day or so. We share in your joy....

So this is where things stand for us... The CCAA matched families with LID's from Dec. 9 2005 through Dec. 14th 2005... That puts us within 30 of our LID of Jan. 10th 2006... That is a great feeling inside 30 days WOW less then a month away.... OK so we still don't know what that means for when we will get our turn for referral day, but it is coming and hopefully soon... What is soon you ask? Well soon could mean anywhere from Jan 2008 to well I am not going there but we truly believe that we will see our referral day most likely in March.... Come on March...