Saturday, May 31, 2008

WOW!

Our Sophia turns 15 months old today. We are just a few short days away from finally having her with us. By the time she turns 16 months old we will be celebrating together and what a happy day that will be.

Today all we can do is wish Sophia a Happy Birthday

Yesterday we received our Airline tickets from our agency. We both had a moment when we saw Sophia's name on an airline ticket, WOW, we weren't prepared for that. We have our bank on stand by with the money we will need for the trip. The last minute shopping has kicked into high gear and we start packing tomorrow... WOW, this is real not a practice pack but the real thing. I will take pictures of the massive amount of stuff we are going to attempt to take with us LOL (really not as bad as it looks LOL)

We find ourselves saying WOW a lot lately... LOL "WOW, in two weeks we will be on a plane to China" "WOW, it two weeks we will be standing on the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!" "WOW, in two weeks we will have our daughter in our ARMS.....

12 more sleeps to China.........

Friday, May 30, 2008

Sophia's Care Package


When you know you have a child half way around the world that you can't get to until two countries an adoption agency and an airline say it is time what do you do? You put together a care package and use yet another government agency the US Post Office to send your child a few things to make yourself feel better and hopefully will make her life a little more comfortable. We did just this a few weeks ago for Sophia. We also sent a few things for Sophia's foster mother, 2 disposable cameras (for her foster mother to take pictures of her and where she is living), and a photo album filled with pictures of our family. Sophia's grand parents all sent her something in the box too. We hope that this package arrived to Sophia's foster mother but we wont know for sure until we are there. We hope she is enjoying the things we sent for her (candy, perfume, nail polish, lipstick and writing paper). We hope that Sophia is enjoying the toys that we sent to her, we e hope the soft blanket is giving her comfort. Most of all we have two wishes... one is that we will receive the cameras back with the photos taken. Those pictures will be priceless to us and to Sophia one day. The other wish is that this care package and its contents show Sophia's foster mother that we are forever grateful to her for caring for Sophia during the first year of her life and that Sophia is joining a family that loves her beyond measure already.....
13 more sleeps to China.....

Thursday, May 29, 2008

14 more sleeps to go







It is so nice to be able to count down to our departure for China instead of counting up to our referral..






14 Days from today we will be on a plane headed to Beijing China. We will in fact have been on the plane for 8 hours already with 7 hours left before we land. we will have been traveling for nearly 20 hours... WOW that is so unbelievable to us. This is what we know so far






We leave Orlando Airport on June 12th at 9:07am headed to Chicago O'Hare.



We arrive in Chicago at 10:47am and meet up with most of our travel group.



We all depart for Beijing China at 12:43pm



13 some odd hours later we arrive in Beijing on June 13 at 3:00pm and meet up with the rest of our travel group and Uncle Zhou.



We leave Beijing on June 15 at 5:10pm headed to Jiangxi (Sophia's home province).



We arrive in Jiangxi at 7:30pm (Zhou is trying to arrange for us to get our Baby that night because it is Fathers day not sure if that will happen or not but if you think about it even if we get them the next morning it will still be Fathers Day here in the US.... hee hee hee ) .



We leave Jiangxi as a family of three on June 20th at 5:45pm headed to Guangzhou, our final stop in China.



We then will leave Guangzhou on June 25th at 8:25am headed for Hong Kong we arrive in Hong king at 9:20am.



and finally we will board our plane for home on June 25th at 12:45pm we will arrive home to the US in Chicago we arrive at 2:20 pm and have a short lay over departing Chicago for Orlando at 5:45 and touchdown in Orlando will be 8:41pm



There are many more details of our trip. We are expecting an e-mail from Zhou at any time about the particulars of our trip. When we will see the Great Wall, The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, The Olympic Venus, When our Family Day will be, When our legal stuff has to be done and when our Consulate appointment is (we know this already is the June 23. I will explain more about this appointment in another post). We can't wait to share all the details with you...

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Time to Celebrate


It is official we are going to China on the 12th of June, Wooo Hooo.....
We got word a few minutes ago from our agency that they have conformation of our Consulate appointments and we leave for China the 12th of June.... We don't have the details of our itinerary yet but Gotcha day should be Fathers day the 15th of June...
We will keep you posted ...We are so excited.. Two weeks from seeing our baby girl....


Love
Susan and Riz

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Happy Birthday Chris


Riz's little brother turns 35 today.... He will hate that I posted this picture but it was the only one I have on our new computer. Riz and I wanted to make sure he knows we love him and wish him a Happy Birthday.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

The adoption Community mourns'

We want to express our deepest condolence's to the Chapman Family. Their family is facing unbelievable tragedy, today as they attend the memorial service for their youngest daughter Maria (sitting on Stevens Lap). On Wednesday May 21st their youngest daughter Maria was struck by the SUV their teenage son was driving. She was Life flighted to Vanderbilt medical center in Nashville TN. She later passed away from injuries sustained during the accident. Words can not express the grief that the whole adoption community is feeling for the Chapman family. Steven Curtis Chapman(Grammy winning contemporary christian singer) and his wife Mary Beth have 6 children (3 biological and 3 adopted daughters from China). The Chapman's have done so much for the adoption community through their foundation Shaohannha's Hope. The adoption community is grieving right along with them for this little girl...

Friday, May 23, 2008

We have some news

We got word yesterday that our Travel Approvals (TAs) are on their way from China. They have not yet been received at our agency but they are coming any day now. This gives our agency the go ahead to make our Consulate appointment (CA) with the US Embassy in Guangzhou China. This Appointment is the last thing we will need to do before we come home with Sophia. Once our agency has this appointment things will move quickly. We could be days away from getting on a plane and heading to China to get our girl. We will work with our agency to arrange flights and hotel reservations in the next few days. We did find out that thanks to the falling dollar value and the rising oil prices our airfare is going to cost us almost double what we had expected Ugggggg.... We can hardly believe that with 3 weeks we could be in China. In fact 3 weeks from today we may be touring the Great Wall, The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square and many of the wonderful sites of China.


We can't wait..........................


UPDATE!!!!! TAs are in... We received a phone call from our good friend Julie Hedden( a fellow EAC Adoptive mom) and Kim(our agency rep) at EAC this afternoon. Julie asked me if I had heard from anyone from EAC today. I said NO and she said well guess what? Your TAs are here at EAC! We were all very excited..I was on speaker phone and could hear Russ and the kids (Julie's family) in the background. It was so sweet of her to call us with the good news. it made hear the word on TAs even more special. She asked me to call Susan L ( a fellow EAC mom who we will travel with) and share the news because she did not have Susan's number in her cell phone, I of course said I would. I could hardly wait to call Susan with the great news.We agreed that it is a great way to start the long weekend. We now are waiting on Consulate appointments to be confirmed by the US embassy in Guangzhou China. NEXT flight arrangements....

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Monday, May 19, 2008

A Gift

Today we were given an unexpected gift from China. We received 7 additional photos of our daughter. She is 6 months older and bigger. She has more hair and a mouth full of teeth.

So here is what we know

Sophia now weighs 18.7 pounds

She is 30 inches tall

her feet are 4.3 inches

She has 8 teeth

She is still in foster care

and she likes motorcycles LOL

and if you ask us more beautiful then ever. We are totally and completely in love with her and can't wait to have her in our arms....










More on the Earthquake in China

We have been very blessed that our Sophia is safe and is not being directly affected by the earthquake. Many children however are being directly affected below is a letter that was sent by Jenny Bowen the Executive director of Half the Sky to all it's supporters.. ....Our hearts go out to all those families with children in the affected area, to those who still don't know where their children are and to the people of China. China has become part of who we are part of our souls and we feel like we are not only adopting Sophia but a country....... Please help if you can.....

The nannies moving babies to the temporary tents

The Devastation

Nannies caring for the children

They try to make life as normal as possible


Dear Friends,
It’s Monday afternoon here in China. As I write this, the entire countryjust held 3 minutes of silence to commence a 3 day period of national mourning. It began at 2:28 pm, marking the very moment the massive quake struck in Wenchuan County, Sichuan. Flags flew at half-staff, the people wore white flowers and, heads bowed, held hands. Across the country, horns and sirens wailed in grief. There are 32,477 people confirmed dead, more than 35,000 still missing. Sadly and predictably, we are getting more information about children newly orphaned. We are now bringing together people and resources to prepare and train caregivers to help children through the next difficult phase of recovery. Unlike emergency relief (not our specialty but we're learning fast!), this is an area where HTS does have great expertise to offer. We will give all we can to these children who have many hard days ahead of them. I will be sharing our plans as they evolve. Meanwhile, we continue to focus our attention on the most urgent needs of affected children – children in institutions and children orphaned or displaced by the disaster. What follows is our most recent news. I’ve posted a few photos on ourwebsite: http://halfthesky.org/work/earthquake08.php and will update as more arrive. Ziyang Social Welfare Institution – Building sustained severe damage. They care for 48 children, 20 of them under four years-old. They request50 cribs and cots, bandages, 10 milk pots, children’s clothes, 100 sets of bedding, bowls, spoons, chopsticks, toys and stationary supplies.
Deyang and Nanchong Social Welfare Institutions both have received notification that they should prepare immediately to receive newly orphaned children. All the children are living in tents. HTS will provide additional tents, beds and other requested items. Guangyuan SWI – The children remain in tents. They were notified that they will be receiving several newly orphaned children (perhaps 50-60)very soon.
Shifang saw many of its schools destroyed, hundreds of children and their teachers buried. They sent us this heartbreaking story during the rescue efforts at Hongbai Primary School:“‘We found him!’ Teacher Zhang Huibing’s body was finally discovered, frozen in a posture of pushing against the door frame. According to the students saved by him, when the earthquake happened, Teacher Zhang was on the platform of the classroom on the second floor, which was very near the door. He yelled to the students, ‘Run outside! Hurry!’ And he somehow held the door frame up with both arms as the children ran out, one by one. Just as all the students were safely evacuated, the building collapsed on him. Teacher Zhang, who was only 30 years-old, had a four-year-old child of his own.”
As I mentioned in my last note, Mianyang has become a major refugee center. Of the more than 20,000 refugees in the city’s Jiuzhou Stadium,“scores” of them are young children. We are told, but this is not confirmed, that the entire center area of the stadium is reserved for toddlers and infants. Most are said to be from Dujiangyang, Beichuan and Mianzhu. Ma Lang is on her way to Mianyang now, so we will learn more soon.
Many children who have lost or become separated from their families are being brought to Chengdu, but not yet to the Chengdu Children’s Welfare Institution. Some have been taken to the Sichuan Children’s Center (an after-school and weekend activity center for children.) About 30 children, from Yingxiu and Dujiangyang, were taken a Chengdu citypark, the Qingyang Sports Center, which has been converted to a refugee camp. Some children have been united with family members. We’re told that some from the media are actively trying to reunite families. Most of the children in this camp who survived were in their teens. They told us that many younger children in their town did not survive because those in theprimary schools and kindergartens were napping when the quake hit and could not run.
The youngest camp resident was 16 days-old. The military police made aspecial effort to bring her and her very young mother down to the campfrom Yingxiu. The baby was only 11 days-old when her daddy perished in theearthquake. Perhaps today's most heartbreaking story was about some of the 70 injuredchildren who’d been carried down from the affected areas to HuaxiHospital. Most of the children were reunited with parents or relatives;some were even well enough to leave the hospital after treatment. But a few children remained alone and unclaimed. They were required to sign their own consent forms so that the doctors could amputate their limbs to save their lives.
Half the Sky spent much of the weekend purchasing requested supplies and shelter, organizing distribution and continuing to assess needs. In addition to the much-needed and wonderfully generous monetary donations from our amazing community of supporters, we have been flooded with offers of in-country help from from volunteers. As you can imagine, many requested items are getting harder and harder tocome by. Just today we doubled our refugee tent order to 200 – all thatwas available immediately – and already have requests for more. Shoppers in Chengdu have begun filling a no-longer-habitable room at the ChengduCWI (Children’s Welfare Institution) with everyday goods destined forhard-hit areas.
Others around China are working on fulfilling our giant shopping list. Some are flying in to Chengdu, hand-carrying items from our medical wish-list. Our wonderful friends at Gung-Ho Films, a Beijing-based film production services company, are offering logistics support, including shopping, shipping and door-to-tent delivery! I can’t really express how moved we are by your generosity and your trust in Half the Sky to ensure that the children benefit from your gifts.
Today 3 more HTS Beijing staffers and 2 Gung-Ho staff traveled to Chengduto help facilitate our relief efforts. We all feel privileged to be ableto help.If you would like to donate to Half the Sky’s Children’s Earthquake Fund, it would be great if you would do so at Global Giving as (even though theytake 10% for processing and we do not (100% to the kids but at cost to ourprograms) it allows HTS staff to focus on relief efforts while keeping ourprograms going.http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/2100/proj2086a.html
If you prefer to donate directly to Half the Sky, of course that’s fine.Here are the various ways: You can donate by calling Half the Sky (+1 510525 3377) or on our website: http://give.halfthesky.org/prostores/servlet/Categories?category=Children
Many companies have announced they will match employee gifts forearthquake relief. Please check to see if your company will double yourgift!If you would like a Canadian tax receipt, please donate athttp://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?CharityID=s86248
If you would like a Hong Kong tax receipt, please call us at +852 25205266 or online athttps://www.paydollar.com/b2c2/eng/charity/payInfo.jsp?charityId=4947
Thank you so much for your kindness and concern.
with love,
Jenny
Jenny Bowen
Executive Director Half the Sky Foundation
http://www.halfthesky.org/

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Earthquake in China


I totally copied this form my friend and travel partner Susan's blog. She nailed everything so perfectly, I could not have done any better. Susan and Jonathan's daughters and Sophia are in the same province but different cities. Sophia is with in 700 miles of where the earthquake took place. She is fine from what we hear from our agency , but we can't help but worry until we have her in our arms.





"Quick update on the earthquake
Many of you have called or emailed me this week about the devastating earthquake that occurred in China. Our girls are living in the Jiangxi province, which is 700+ miles from the epicenter in the Sichuan province. We have heard from our China Coordinator and everything is fine - the girls are safe. Unfortunately, this is not the case for tens of thousands of people. Please keep all those affected in your prayers over the coming weeks and months, as they begin the process of dealing with this tragedy and rebuilding their lives and homes. Here is a link to a great map that shows the areas and orphanages that have been affected. If you want more information, or are looking to help, check out one of these two great organizations, Love Without Boundaries and Half the Sky, who both have people on the ground in China working hard to help people cope with this disaster. "

Monday, May 12, 2008

Emotions i never expected


Here we are Monday the day after Mothers Day and 11 days post referral. The last 11 days have been some of the happiest of our lives. Finally seeing our daughter for the first time was like no other feeling we have ever had. We were so happy to be able to share that with all of our friends and family. In the days that followed referral we were glowing from the joy we were feeling. Our dreams had come true, our prayers were answered. On Monday the 5th we found out just how much our prayers had been answered. We received our FedEx package from our agency with all of Sophia's information that I listed in the previous post. In the last 28 months we have said a prayer every night asking god to watch over our daughter and to keep her safe, well cared for, warm, feed and loved by whoever was caring for her. Monday we found out that Sophia has been in foster care nearly her whole life. This makes us so happy because we know that Sophia is interacting with a family. She is bonding to someone who is caring for her, all good things for her physical and emotional development. The emotions that we did not expect about this are empathy, guilt and sadness. Our hearts are sad that because Sophia has been chosen to be our child that she and her foster family will be experience a loss. Most times when a child is being referred for international adoption and they are in foster care they are removed from the foster family, sometimes at referral time and other times it is just days before being untitled with her new family. This is done to help the child brake that bond from the foster family and then bond to her forever family more easily. We are not sure if Sophia has been taken from her foster family yet and wont know until we are in China. I have sadness for my daughter and what she is about to loose. Her care giver, her surroundings, what is familiar to her, and ultimately her homeland. We know that it is a necessity for these things to happen for us to become a family but in someways we feel guilty about this. So what was unexpected for us was to feel the ultimate joy of becoming parents and sadness all at the same time.....









Friday, May 09, 2008

One week ago
















What a week this has been...It is hard for us to believe it has been one week already since we first laid our eyes on Sophia's beautiful little face. We have spent the last week gazing at these 3 little pictures and wondering how much our daughter has changed since they were taken in November. Our agency is working on getting us updated information about Sophia and hopefully updated pictures. We have a care package already to put in the mail, I'll do that on Monday. Tomorrow we are spending the day baby shopping.. We need to get a car seat and a few other items, so we are making the trip to Babies-R-Us. Riz has always wanted to buy me a rocking chair for Sophia's Nursery. When he was born his father bought one for his mother to rock him in when he needed comforting. Riz wanted to do the same for me and Sophia. We are going to look for a rocker while we are out tomorrow too. Riz is also planning on taking me to dinner at P.F. Chang's (one of our favorite places to eat Chinese) for Mothers day. Sunday we will go to church and then spend the day with family. This year mothers day holds new meaning for me. Although I have felt like a mother for two plus years now it is more real, more special this year because I know my daughter. I know what she looks like, where she is, that she has big brown eyes, pretty dark hair, tiny little ears, a button nose and most of all the sweetest smile I have ever seen.... I am really looking forward to my first "not sad" Mothers Day.. This year no sadness only joy....


Happy Mothers day to all the mothers out there. To those still waiting, for those who just received referrals especially all my Jan 10th travel mates. To all my wonderful friends and most especially our family...we are so happy to have you all in our lives and are overjoyed that you all will be sharing in Sophia's life...


Love

Susan and Riz

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

This is a miracle


Riz and I have been overwhelmed with emotion in the last 4 days. More excitement then we ever dreamed, more love then we could have imagined possible, more happiness then two people deserve. The past four days have been such a high that a euphoria has come over us. After so many years of wanting and dreaming of a family it has finally happened for us. We look at Sophia and know instantly why god chose this road for us, She is our little miracle. To think of all the things that had to take place to put Riz and I in the right place at the right time when Sophia was ready for us, it is a miracle. We look at her and our hearts fill with more love then we ever thought possible. She is ours, our daughter our miracle. God is great!

We have a few more details about our daughter....
We have decided to incorporate Sophia's Chinese name into her American name.
Name: Sophia Joy JinTe Rizzo (Jin means Beautiful... Te means Special).. We certainly think she is both beautiful and special..

Birthday: March 31, 2007
(3 days before Riz's birthday)

Weight: 15lbs (in Nov.)

Height: 23in (in Nov.)

She is in Wanzai, China and is in foster care. She has been with the same foster family since August 17th 2007
(3 days before my birthday)

The medical report says that she is a "HEALTHY" "NORMAL" baby. She was approximately 7lbs 4oz at one day old
18inches in length at one day old

Her diet consist of Milk powder and Rice cereal about 10 oz at a time (She is a good eater) along with mashed fruits and vegetables conji, (rice porridge) and noodles (that is our little Italian girl LOL).

She likes to suck her fingers while she sleeps and is a deep sleeper ( I see naps in her future with daddy). The report goes on to say that she can distinguish between acquaintances and strangers and has a ready smile. She babbles and giggles at her foster mother who she is very close to (great for bonding and attachment development). It says she likes to mimic adults and waits for them to respond to her (so cute). The report says she likes TV, music and to be outside (perfect we do too). Her developmental report says she can stand with assistance and can sit on her own. She can transfer toys from one hand to another and if she drops a toy she looks for it. She turns her head and follows sound and movement. She knows her name and turns when her name is said. She can pick up small objects like beans (Beans is a nick name Riz calls me) with her fingers. She can reach for objects near her and likes to "taste" everything with her mouth. She can hold her head up while lying on her stomach, She can roll supine and prone on her own. It says that she is fond of playing games, reading picture books, playing with toys has a quick reaction and is obstinate at times Oh NO LOL.....

again... we are truly blessed and in love with our daughter Sophia Joy JinTe Rizzo


******OUR MIRACLE*************








Thanks Stephe we love you...


Saturday, May 03, 2008

Our Day



All I can say is WOW! the past 24 hours have been like a dream cometrue. Our morning started with doubt that it would even happen thisweek. i truly believed that it would be next week before we heardanything. i kept checking and re-checking any board I could think ofall morning. I had to step away from my computer at 11:30 for a shortfew minutes and when I came back and opened our agency board UncleZhou had posted a message the subject CONGRATULATIONS! my heart skipped a beat and I started to shake and breath heavy. I opened it and it said "referrals are at the office Kim is busy copying them right now she will call you soon. The babies are young around 10months from Jiangxi and there are TWINS! OMG more hyperventilating and I called Riz who was with the Doctor he works with. I could not speak i could not get the words out I mumbled something and hung up.He ran over and we hugged kissed and said this is it.. He ran back to his office closed up his day I posted some incoherent message to some group not even sure where or what and off we were to get home for the phone call full expecting it to come much later in the day around 3. On the way home we called family and friends and i called Hope to alert her to what was going on. When we got to the house Riz put the camera on the charger and I got my call sheet and pen ready then I put on some make up. I was going in the bathroom to make sure would not have to pee during the phone call and RING RING the phone started ringing (12.54pm). Riz and I almost fell over each other getting to the phone. We looked at the caller ID and it said European Adoption Consultants... I began to shake harder and cry (so did Riz)we said this is it.... and I answered the Phone (Riz now running around trying to get the camera set up to video tape the call..) Kim said Susan I said yes she said this is Kim I said yes and she said are you home for lunch I said yes and she said is Riz with you and I said yes and in a very excited voice she said THIS IS IT! OMG more shaking more crying Riz still running around trying to find something to prop up the picture on. OK we are ready ... Kim is now on Speakerphone camera is recording (although from my chin(make that double chin) down..lets just say Riz should not quit nursing LOL) Kim aid what do you want to know and we both said everything..Chinese name: Wan Jin Te (we now know this means (Wan)She is fromWanzai County in Jiangxi(Jin)Precious or Golden Jewel (Te) SpecialBirthday: March 31st 2007 ( 2 days before daddy)Weight: 15 pounds, Length: 23 inches.....we don't have all the other details yet they were being translated and are on there way to us now.Kim then said she "She is a stinking cutie pie" and Riz responded with where are the pictures.. Kim said OK I will send them now...We sat there together alone and opened first her close up picture. iwas shaking and crying and overwhelmed with the fact that that was the first picture I ever saw of my beautiful baby girl... Then the second picture the one in the high chair came up and I could not breathe (more shaking more crying) and then the third picture what we now fondly refer to as the laughing picture came up and we both lost it completely. We hugged we cried we laughed we said how beautiful our daughter was and could not stop staring at her. .... It was wonderful more then I had ever dreamed of.. well worth every second we waited for her. We looked into those dark round eyes and understood that she was ours. This is why we missed last month by that one dreadful day...Both our cell phones and our home phone were ringing off the hook during all of this mind you. Our doorbell has not rung so much since we have lived in this house. It was wonderful... Mean while I was thinking of all of you and knowing that you were waiting for details.I kept sitting down at the computer to post and then the phone would ring or someone would come to the door. I finally told Riz I am not doing one more thing until I post to the Panda's .... OMG I wish you all could have been here with us...A friend called me yesterday and hit the nail on the head... She said this t me When you look at her picture don't you feel like you have always known her? Like she has always been yours? Like she is part of your soul?Of course through my tears I said yes that is it exactly... I can't wait to share in each of your moments. I am telling you it is the most AWESOME experience... We love you all so much..I want to respond to each and every message but it is just not possible I currently have over 300 messages to read. Please know this We have read all the comments to our blog and each message that you all have sent. It warms our hearts to know that we are so loved and now Sophia will be as well. Thank you to each and everyone who commented on how beautiful our daughter is... We agree...Hug sand Kisses to you all...
Susan, Riz and Sophia
Still not 100% coherent

Friday, May 02, 2008

AND HERE SHE IS!




With happy, joy filled hearts we introduce our daughter Sophia Joy (CHINESE NAME TO BE DECIDED ON) Rizzo... WOW! that is awesome to write that after all this time. It seems so surreal, so wonderful... our prayers have been answered and our dreams have come true today..



Today was everything we have dreamed about for more then two years........... and more. We will share how everything happened today with all of you but, first we know you want the details, so here are the pictures of our beauty. When you are done gazing at her scroll down and find out all about our girl..Isn't she the most beautiful little girl you have ever seen? ........ We Think so...........




Her name : Wan Jin te





Her Birthday: March 31st 2007 (2 days before Daddy)



What city and province is she from: Wanzai Jiangxi




How much she weights: 14 pounds



How long is she : 23 inches




Once Zhou translates our referral information, we will have more to post:



We can't stop looking at her pictures. She is absolutely beautiful and she's OUR baby!!!! Our agency told us that we should be able to travel sometime in June


We are so in love !!!!!!

Stay tuned







The referrals are here

we don't have details but we know they are here we will be hearing this afternoon

OMG we are parents

A Jingle from the past



Keeps coming to my mind..Can you guess which one? This wait is a killer..People always told me the closer you get the harder it is and I never believed them but it is oh so true...
So, here is where things stand as of 9:16 Friday morning May 2nd... Rumor Queen is saying "something" is in the air. We are not sure what this is but there is speculation it could be referrals. If this is in fact referrals then we would expect to see them start arriving any time now. In fact RQ's post says that 2 agencies are saying they expect something on Monday. We may be looking at one more weekend of waiting (there goes that jingle again). If we don't hear anything today it will be next week for sure..What day, well, that is anyone's guess, we of course are hoping for Monday, the agency says it could be Thursday or Friday...in any case we are just a few days from knowing our daughter and that is an awesome feeling... We will keep you informed as soon as we know something....
oh and one more thing..Each month around referral time RQ post a "BABY" post where she list the blogs of all the families who are expecting referrals in this group. Well today she put out the call for all those families to list their blog in her comments section so she can put that list together. I have been waiting so long to type my blog in that post and I did that this morning, it was an awesome feeling....