A Song From My Heart

A co-worker emailed me about a new song from Third Day regarding an adoption from China. I listened to it on Napster today and could not believe my ears. I could have written this song. I'm not sure what inspired Third Day to write this, but it speaks what us waiting parents are feeling this Christmas. The song is titled "Merry Christmas". I dedicate this song to Lauren this Christmas as my heart and mind is very much with her wherever she is today.

Lauren, mommy and daddy love you sweetheart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZahNQuAs5Cg

Mark Schultz

I thought I would share with you what I have just learned! Mark Schultz, a christian music artist, has put out a new CD called "Broken & Beautiful" and on this CD is a song called "Everything To Me". Mark was adopted at 2 weeks old and this song is to his birth mom. It's an awesome song. I'm not typically a crier and I teared up while hearing it for the first time. Mark has gotten involved in helping orphans lately and he is donating one of these bears shown above for every CD sold before Christmas. The bears will be given to orphans around the world.

Mark is also doing a "bike across the nation" to raise money for ophans. He will have a GPS on his bike and you can track his journey at markschultzmusic.com

Mark has also started the James Fund that you may want to check out.

Have a great weekend everyone! Christmas is just 9 days away! wow!

Handmade Gifts!!

I am amazed again at my Secret Pal! She is unbelievable!!

My neighbor brought over a package tonight that had been wrongly delivered to her house. I was so excited it was from my Secret Pal! I opened it and thought awww what an adorable Teddy! He is sooo soft!!... Then! I read his tag..."Handmade for Lauren by Mommy's Secret Pal." It took a second for it to register..she made this! I looked up and said to Dan, "She is going to be an amazing mom!"

I seriously can't quit holding this Bear! He is so cuddly. It came at just the right night. I have been missing Lauren tonight.

Along with Teddy came a little bear photo tag. My thoughful pal also placed a picture of a cute little chinese girl in braids into the photo slot. I am going to put this next to my computer at work to help remind me of why I am now starting the updates of our paperwork. Our fingerprints are about the expire and we have been told we will have to update our home study which will involve another home visit. Oh my gosh. I was so glad to have all that paperwork behind me and here we go again!

Thank You SOOO much Secret Pal!! Words really cannot say enough. You have way out done yourself. :)

9 Month LID Anniversary!

Well, we have hit our 9 months! However, we adoptive moms are special. We do not have the gestation period of 9 months, instead we are hearing our gestation is anywhere between 12-24 months! That links us between the Blue Whale with a gestation of 12 months and the Elephant which has a gestation of 22 months!

I will say however, by seeing other blogs, that our nesting periods are of greater proportion as well! Houses are being revamped, dresses and quilts are being made, and small business' are being started! I personally, intend to start my nesting by painting the inside of my home the start of 2007.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

I had a few people ask what Mexican Hot Chocolate is, so I thought I would post a recipe! It's a new found love of mine this year. A co-worker of mine who is from Mexico let me in on this wonderful concoction. Abuelita means "grandmother" in spanish. You will find Abuelita in the Latino food section at the grocery store.

Mexican Hot Chocolate
Heat 4 cups milk
Place 2 tablets Abuelita and milk in blender
Blend for 1 minute and pour into mug
Enjoy!!!

It tastes like hot chocolate with a cinnamon flare! :) I like to add peppermint mocha creamer to it as well.

I know some may not have a Latino food section at the grocery store. You may be able to buy it online at nestle.com

Christmas Time

I am finally feeling the "Christmas Spirit" in the air. Time has been speeding by and it just didn't seem like Christmas to me, until last night. We got out of our jeans, dressed up for eachother, and hit the town! We went to the Symphony Hall and heard "An Arizona Christmas". It included the Phoenix Symphony, Choir, and Girls Choir. It was absolutely beautiful. Downtown was lit up for Christmas and the air was crisp and cold. Life is just too good. I feel so, so blessed.

I am putting up the Christmas decorations in the house today. And, for year #3, I will put up Lauren's stocking. She may not be here this year, but she is definetly in our hearts.

I am off to make Mexican Hot Cocoa..mmmmmm. I wish you all could join me!

Zoolights!

We bundled up and went to Zoolights with my family last night. We had so much fun! Dan and I have been doing this every year since we were dating. We get kettle corn and hot cocoa and walk through the light display arm in arm. It is one of my favorite traditions. This year we went with my family and my nephew, Gavin, saw Zoolights for the first time! It was so awesome to see him get excited and point at all the lights. Anytime Gavin is around, life is that much better. I kept thinking last night of how fantastic it is going to be to see Zoolights with our Lauren.

And of course, we had to get a picture with the ladybug for good luck! We added Gavin for a little more luck to rub off on us! :) Anything to see this wait speed up! :)

Well, I'm off to go shopping. I'm just starting today!

Dossier's On The Move!

Well, the Fed Ex storks are on the move again! The CCAA has sent out another batch of referrals! Congratulations to all of you receiving good new from afar! Those of us who still have a long wait ahead will now begin our search for new little faces on your blogs! (It's what keeps us sane) :)

Precious Gifts

I hope everyone had a very filling and relaxing Thanksgiving Holiday. I have thoroughly enjoyed mine. We had a great time at Dan's family gathering which included playing Bocce Ball (lawn bowling) and visiting with family and playing with my baby nephew Nicolas. Friday we met Steph and Drew Wise in Prescott, AZ. and had a GREAT time! What awesome people! Saturday we had Thanksgiving with my side of the family and had such a fun time. Watching my nephew Gavin grow up before our eyes! He said my name for the first time! Ugh, your heart just melts! :)

I bought a new camera as well, since my other broke. Pictured here are the other gifts my awesome secret pal got for me this month. The chopsticks have little bunnies on them! I will cherish these gifts forever.

This posting is titled "Precious Gifts" because that is truly how I feel about my family, friends, and life...I am so blessed.

The Summit Challenge Was Awesome!

We are so sore we can barely walk, but we had so much fun! :) We conquered seven summits! The weather was beautiful and hanging with new friends was a lot of fun. Since I broke my camera I am sending a few pic's from others. Don't look for me, because I'm not in any of these. I will send some of our group later. The whole thing was timed and we had 30 minutes to get to our last mountain and I felt like we were on the Amazing Race show. :) We sped up to the parking and ran to the ranger to be checked in at 3:25 we had until 3:30. He said, sorry, You've missed the cut off. We said, oh no we didn't! We showed him our paperwork and he said to go ahead he had thought the cut off was 2:30. We than had 30 minutes to get our passports stamped at the top. We went up just in time. Yeah! We saw some pretty crazy hikers on our way, some with blood coming down their nose and arms and legs and hiking ahead in a daze...I thought, gosh, this isn't the Olympic Trials! Our group just had fun. On the second day Dan and I duck taped our feet to cover the blisters, it worked really well and was cheap. Just and FYI for the hikers out there. :)

Well, I haven't posted much lately and just wanted to post a little about what I've been up to. Dan and I said, this was our Great Wall training! :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Thank You to My Wonderful Secret Pal!

My Secret Pal is simply the sweetest, most thoughtful secret pal in the world! :) I came home tonight to find these wonderful gifts in the mail. I received the gifts pictured above and also a pink, extremly soft, blanket with "I Love Mommy" embroidered on it. I also received a pink, ceramic bowl with bunnies on it and a pair of little chopsticks with bunnies! She also sent the most beautiful handmade card!

I only wish I could include pictures of these as well. I was taking pictures of all my wonderful gifts and I dropped my camera... and it broke. :(
I am so bummed right now. These may be the last pictures I take with my first digital camera! Dan is going to take it to Best Buy and see if it can be fixed.

By the way, sorry it's been awhile since my last post. I've been working long days and life is staying pretty busy! We do the Phoenix Summit Hike this weekend! I was hoping to post pictures...bad timing for the camera to break!

Thank you so much Secret Pal. I really appreciate all your gifts. They mean so much.

It's Anniversary # 8!!

Wow, this last month has flown by! I actually had to be reminded by Stephanie that it's our 8 month LID Anniversary today! Yeah!

Starbuck's In China!

I was just browsing blogs of families who are in China now and came across this picture. Yes! They have Starbucks in China! I feel so much better about the trip now. :)

A Little Hiking With Friends

Phoenix Summit Challenge


Oh my gosh...my husband is trying to kill me. Of course, not literally, but he has signed us up for this Phoenix Summit Challenge. He introduced it to me a month ago as, "Do you want to go hiking with some friends as part of this REI trip? You climb 7 mountains over 2 days." I thought, sure, I love to hike.

Last weekend he mentioned how our friends (his co-workers) had been training for this Summit Challenge. I say..training? What do you mean training? He says oh, nothing, they've just been meeting and doing some small hikes to get ready. I then started to question this little hiking weekend. I asked him to bring home the information they gave him. I hadn't seen that information yet, so I went online and researched myself. .....It's a TIMED 7 Summit Challenge with meetings in the mornings and "debriefing's" at night! Holy Cow!! We get passports that we have to have stamped at each summit. The first mountain is 7 miles followed by 2 others that include straight up 1 mile jaunts. Then we start out again the next morning at 7 a.m. for 4 more! I have to work Monday morning. :0 aggghhh!

So, last night we went for a hike at one of the mountains. Now, here is where the killing thing comes into place. We are already training for a Marathon. My legs are very tired to say the least. So, I start to go up this mountain fast because I want to see if I'm going to be able to stay up with my group who has been training. I was almost to the summit and seriously..almost passed out. I had to sit and put my feet up! I was seeing black spots! This has never happened before. I am now nervous as heck for this Challenge that is only 2 weeks away!

So, tomorrow, we are setting out again to do another one of the mountains. Please pray for me!! :)

Oh, and next Friday, we are going on a two-hour horse-back ride with another group from his work. He informed me of this last night. I am just laughing now. I really can't wait until he is a stay-at-home daddy. :)

P.S. please don't read this out of context. I love my husband dearly, he is my best friend. He just cracks me up sometimes. :)

Unswervingly

The wait can be deafening at times. Some days I am totally fine and other days doubt creeps in. I was reading a China-research article the other night about the Hunan baby trafficking that occurred and after reading it, I felt really confused about what we were doing. I was questioning whether we were on the right path, etc. etc. I then went to bed and as my head hit the pillow and I stared at the ceiling I asked God, "What am I doing? Am I doing your will?"

I then picked up a devotional book on the nightstand. I opened it and the page automatically fell to a page I had marked earlier: "4/4/06--regarding adoption, finances, the future. I claim this verse." The verse is as follows:

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23.

I had underlined unswervingly twice. :) I just smiled and knew my answer. Yes, we are on the right path and we must stay unswervingly to that path!

New From Our Agency

The following is more information regarding the recent referrals sent out. Two sets of twins! Wow! Here is what Marianne, our AZ. agent said:

Children’s Hope International (CHI) is proud to announce that we received 28 China referrals on Thursday 11/2/06 for 26 CHI families with 8/11/05, 8/18/05 and 8/25/05 log in dates. One of the referrals is for a Chinese expedited family with a 1/6/06 log in date. All the referrals are little girls including TWO SETS of twins!! The referrals range in age from 7 to 12 months, one 14 month old, one 15 month old and one 3 year old. The children are from the Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces. Four of the referrals were for AZ. families. We expect the families to travel in about 8 weeks.



This batch of China referrals were from August 10, 2005 through August 25, 2005 log in dates. For these families, the wait from log in date to referral was 15 months.



Congratulations again to these blessed CHI families and everyone who moved up in line for referrals!

So, our wait is officially up to 15 months now. We are 7 months into that wait.

The Silence is Over

Congratulations to all of you who will be receiving your referrals very soon! Yeah!!

My Celebrity Look-Alikes

http://www.myheritage.com

How fun is this! I tried a picture with Dan and I wearing hats and it came out that both of us looked like Billy Bob Thorton! :)

Go Tigers!!

I am so excited to see the Tigers going to the World Series tomorrow! I grew up in the Detroit area and have been a fan of the Tigers forever. The past decade or so, they haven't been too exciting to watch, but boy are they hot now! My grandpa was the biggest Tiger (or baseball for that matter) fan I have ever met. He watched the Tigers religiously most of his life. He could tell you story after story about them. A few years ago, he pointed at the game we were watching together and said, "Inge.. he's gonna be good." Well, sure enough, grandpa was right, Inge is VERY good! :)
Oh, how I wish Grandpa could see the Tigers this year. He would be glued to the T.V. tomorrow. Unfortunetly, grandpa passed away suddenly last year. To know him was to love him. So, I say, Grandpa this ones for you! Go Tigers!!!

Yeah! Gifts From My Awesome Secret Pal!

How fun is this! My secret pal sent me a cookie pops pan. You make cookies on a stick! Lauren and I will have so much fun with these! Attached was a personalized "Moon Cookie" recipe card. (She has always added special touches in her gifts).

The book by Amy Tan, "The Moon Lady" was also included! The book is illustrated so vibrantly, I can't wait to cuddle up with Lauren and read it to her. My secret pal even inscribed inside the cover, "To Lauren Love, Mommy's Secret Pal". I will always look at that and think of these rare, special "waiting" months and how fun this secret pal exchange has been.

Well, I'm off to bed to read my new book, Goodnight!
Mardi

Becoming Parents....it's a wild, well worth it, ride.

I'm a huge fan of roller coasters and I love the feeling you get in your stomach when you drive on hilly roads... but lately I have been getting that feeling in my stomach just sitting still...and I feel like I am on the never ending roller coaster. :)

It's an amazing thing... becoming parents. There are definite up's and down's. I feel the up's whenever I am with my nephew Gavin. His smile is infectious and when he hugs you, there is no feeling like it. I can only imagine the day Lauren says "mommy" for the first time, or when she reaches out to me for a hug. I am not normally a person who tears up easily , but when I read of Gotcha days on other blogs or think of Lauren in my arms for the first time, tears flow.

I see the hard times of parenting when I see the lack of sleep on my co-workers faces who have been up all night with there little ones, hear a screaming child in a store, or a teenager rolling her eyes at her parents.

There are days when Dan and I talk excitedly about our future and vacations, trick or treating, daily life with our little Lauren. Then at times I am reminded that we will be going from double-income-go-anywhere-anytime....to single-income-watch-Barney-one-more-time.

Yet, my friends who had a baby with colic and didn't sleep for a year are expecting for the second time now. And we are saying, yes, let us on this roller coaster journey with unlimited unknowns. Becoming parents, it's truly a wild, well worth it, ride.


As all is quiet in Adoption, bloggy land, I thought I would share my thoughts lately.

Horray We're Half Way!!

Today marks 7 months since our L.I.D. !! We are being told the wait is 14 months from L.I.D....so that means we're half way to Lauren!!

On a side note: Check out Steph's awesome new online adoption store at www.cafepress.com/jiinkinkids

A Wonderful Birthday Weekend

What a wonderful husband I have. It was my 33rd birthday yesterday and Danny surprised me with a weekend away in Flagstaff. We started our trip with a 7 mile run on the beautiful Arizona Trail. As we ran, we saw a group of Antelope ahead and since our trail was winding, we kept running into the same group several times. I'm sure they thought,"hey, we're trying to nap here!" This is us on the trail. The Tree's were beautiful in full fall bloom.





We then checked into our hotel in Flagstaff and a tray of wine, cheese, and grapes was brought to our room just before dinner. So nice!



This is our chef at dinner. We had sushi and Tepanaki. We also had the craziest Tapanaki chef I have ever seen! :) He not only set a huge flame at our table, but he outlined our table and the one next to us with fire! We were surrounded by a fire ring! It was amazing!


My Japanese birthday cake. :)





To cap off a wonderful weekend, we went hoseback riding this morning. It was beautiful. I always say, if I could live life again, I would be a rancher. Horses are such beautiful animals. It's so therapeutic any time I spend time with them. We hope to own a few someday. We always joke that since we had "Lauren" and "Steven" picked out as our children's names. We will adopt Lauren and name our first horse Steven. :)

Learning Chinese!

"Lauren"



"Dan"

I had such a great opportunity this week! A new patient of mine is Chinese! She is from Guangzhou. I sat and practiced my Chinese with her. She nodded her head and said I was pronouncing some things like, Ni Hao, correctly and other things she looked at me confused and just said "no" :) When she was about to leave she said, Xie Xie!, and I jumped so excited and said, I know what that means! Xie Xie!! :) I asked her if she would help me with my Chinese and she agreed to. So, each time she comes in, we can have a mini-language lesson!

We also discussed things like how beautiful the White Swan Hotel is and the cultural favoritism for boys. She said the boys are very "spoiled". She talked about how she was treated much differently than her brother. Interesting.

Her daughters name is Jennifer. I thought of you Kayce! :)

CCAA Update!

Our adoption agency just sent us the following email:

The CCAA just updated their web site with the following information
about the next batch of referrals.

"The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families
whose adoption application documents were registered with our office
before August 9, 2005."

This means the CCAA has mailed out referrals for the July 23, 2005
through August 9, 2005 log in dates.

CHI has 13 July 27, 2005 LID families who will be anxiously waiting
for the referral package to arrive in our office hopefully on Monday.
Congratulations to these 13 families!

A huge hug to the 9 August 11, 2005 LID CHI families who missed by 2
days and the 10 August 18, 2005 LID CHI families who missed by 9 days.
CHI also has 7 August 25, 2005 LID families and 7 August 30, 2005 LID
families who have moved closer to their referrals.

The China team rejoices that the CCAA continues to mail out referrals
every 4 weeks and we celebrate with each CHI families as we introduce
them to their new family member!
Ann Tollefson
China Program Director

This means the wait continues to be at 13-14 months from L.I.D. to referral being sent. When this update says referrals have been sent to include March 7th, 2006...that's us!

The CCAA is reviewing January 2006 Dossier's now. This means our paperwork is marching along! After we clear the review room, Dan & I are running to the store to buy our beautiful crib we have picked out!

Pretty soon, this is all going to feel very real.

My Secret Pal is Unbelievable!

My secret pal outdid herself this month. Unbelievable! Dan and I just stood looking at the gifts with our jaws dropped!!! Included in our gift box was "pumpkin pie" bubble bath, mmmm. White Tea & Ginger hand sanitizer, travel diaper changing kit, Chinese playing cards, a personalized passport/ID holder for Lauren with real yuan inserted in the pouch! The money looks too pretty to actually use! :) Also, included was a beautiful journal that she personalized with "Journey To Lauren" made in beads. Then!...she also inlcuded a map of Guangzhou airport and and information sheet typed out of all the services, facilities, numbers for lost luggage, etc. etc. etc. There are no words to describe!! Thank You Secret Pal!!

Addicted To The High Country!

Here are my two favorite hiking partners, Dan and Bailey! We are on the Arizona Trail here. We have seen Elk up close and Antelope have run right past us while hiking this trail in the past. Of course, I had my camera this time, so we didn't see any wildlife. :)



The last couple of weekends Dan and I have been escaping the heat and heading to the high country of Flagstaff! We've hiked the beautiful trails and sat around the campfire. I love to hear the breeze through the Pines and hear the caw of the crows. The stress just melts off. We've also enjoyed a few long runs while up north. My favorite trail is the West Fork trail in Oak Creek Canyon. It takes you through some unbelievable canyons and the trail follows the creek for miles. Ahhh. This is how Phoenician's know it's actually fall!

Having Fun in the Sun!

We had lots of fun at the game last night. ASU VS NEVADA-- We won!! This is my Mother and Father-in-law with us. As you can see Don has placed his pitch fork sign conveniently behind my head! :)



Thanks Honey for all the great times! Can't wait for Lauren to be sitting with us next year! Sparky is waiting for her!

Arizona Mama's Strike Again!

I had such a nice time with my fellow "Arizona Adoptive Mama" yesterday! We had our pedicures and talked the whole time. While we were talking a lady next to us overheard us mention a blog and she asked, "why would you want a blog? What would you do with it?" I thought about that question later and thought, wow, what would I do without all my blogger friends out there! :)

It is such a great support system we have! I wanted to take this time and just say Thank You to all who write comments back and who are sharing this "waiting time" with me! It helps the time go so much nicer and I learn so much from your blogs and your insight, emotions, lessons learned, etc. You are awesome.

6 Months Down!!

Today marks 6 months since our L.I.D.!! However, the wait for Lauren has been much, much longer than that! The average wait times are changing everyday. We are patiently, yet anxiously waiting.

I often wonder if she is born yet. Is she waiting in a park to be found today? It is such a miracle that we will someday soon be united. I can only imagine the emotions of that day. It is surreal that as I sit here and type that our Lauren is somewhere in China. Her room is painted, her stuffed animals are waiting, her clothes are hung. We have dreams of us camping and playing, and trips to Disneyland someday.

In God's perfect timing.