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.

Go Sun Devils!!!!!

This Thursday the Arizona State Football season begins!! I am an Alumni of ASU and Dan has been a fan of ASU all of his life. We are season ticket holders, so needless to say, we are really excited to see a new year begin!

Above is Lauren's cheerleading outfit her Grandma Connie bought for her last Christmas! Thank You Grandma Connie!! :) We all thought Lauren would be accompanying us to the games this year, but is seems we will have to wait yet another year. Grandma Connie and Grandpa Don also have season passes, so we will have lots of fun in the future!

Since becoming ticket holders, Dan has taught me lots about football. Our typical "football class" is held at our favorite breakfast place, Mimi's Cafe. Dan takes the napkins, tears them into little pieces, rolls each piece into a tiny ball and then places them on the table in "formation". He points to a "player" and I recite what position he plays. :) The waitresses think we are crazy, I'm sure! :)
It's lots of fun, though.

I will say, even though I know a lot more about football now, I still am apt to be people watching and searching for the Team Mascot "Sparky" during the game. :)

Go Sun Devils!!

Thank You Leif and J.D.!

Last night we had our friends, Leif and J.D., over for dinner. We had such a nice time! Pictured above is the beautiful gift they brought for Lauren! They have a friend who lives in China and they were able to get this through her. The scripture words of John 3:16 are written in the form of a cross! We will treasure this forever. Thank You Leif and J.D.!!

Leif and J.D. are just starting the paperwork towards their adoption of a baby girl from Guatemala!

News From CHI !!

Our Case Worker, Marianne Adams recently sent the following message:
Friday, August 25, 2006 Subject: China Referrals


37 CHI July 15 and July 21, 2005 log in date families received their
referrals on 8/25/06. All the referrals are for little girls. Most of
the referrals are between 10 to12 months old. Three families received
toddler referrals with two of them being 2 year and 4 months old. The other
one was one 2 years old. Two of these above families requested 0 to 18
months and the other family requested a 2 to 3 year old. One family, who
requested a 3 to 5 year
old, received a referral for a 4 year 3 month old. The girls are from the
Guangdong, Hubei and Anhui provinces. We expect these families will travel
in about 8 weeks. This batch of referrals were from 7/14 through 7/22,
2005 log in dates. The wait time from log in date to referral is now 13-14
months. There were no Chinese expedited referrals in this batch.

p.s. These are the referrals that we should have received Sept 1st and they
came early.
So these are considered Sept. referral group. BUT, the LID is July 15th-July
21st.

So...the wait continues to grow slightly. If the 14 month wait could hold steady, it would not be so bad for Dan and I. It would put us at getting Lauren's referral in May and traveling in the summer. Since Dan has the summers off, this would be ideal! It is all in God's timing!

August Secret Pal Gift! Thank You!

The gifts were so pretty! I almost didn't want to open them!



Lauren will look so cute all wrapped up in the hooded towels with ladybugs on them! The rubber ducky tells whether the water is the too warm or just right. The travel bath items will be very helpful on our trip to China! The sweet card says:

"Home is a place we all have to find, child.
It's not just a place where you eat or sleep.
Home is knowing.
Knowing your mind, knowing your heart, knowing your courage.
Ift we know ourselves
we're always home
anywhere."
The Wiz (1978)

So true. I will keep this card for Lauren's scrapbook.

Thank You again! Secret Pal!

Check It Out!

I've added Scott Robert's blog as a link. Go to his blog to see amazing pictures of China and his tips for traveling in China. When you go to his site, go to July 26,2006 on his "posting calendar" and you can see his trip from the beginning. He and his family are in China now and are adopting their second daughter from China.

Our Nursery is Coming Along!

I was trying to show the detail of the Toile border, but the picture is not as clear as I was hoping.



As you can see Lauren already has her own collection of stuffed animals! She's spoiled already! :)



Here is the quilt rack my awesome mom bought us. It's cherry wood and will match our crib set we have picked out beautifully! The sweet quilt was made by my grandma. It was only her second time making a quilt. She did a great job!

News from our agency!

The following news was sent from our adoption agency, CHI, today:
Congratulations to the 13 CHI June 29, 2005 log in date families who received their referrals today. The referrals are all little girls between 7 ½ and 21 months old from the Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. We expect these families will travel in about 8 weeks. Congratulations to these CHI families!!This batch of referrals began with the June 29, 2005 log in date. TheCCAA has not posted the cut off date for this batch of referrals ontheir web site yet, but we believe that the cut off date is July 13 based on other agencies reports. I will continue to monitor the CCAA web site and post the official cut off date. The wait time from login date to referral is now 13 months. There were no Chinese expedited referrals in this batch.Ann TollefsonChina Program Director

Well, we are another referral pack closer! It looks like we will have plenty of time to save money and get the nursery ready. Each month gets a little harder emotionally though. I received some clothes for Lauren from a friend at work. I washed them today and was putting them in her closet and thought of the day I will get to hold her in these clothes! I can't wait. Dan and I went looking at cribs today. We picked out the set we like. It's a Stanley cherry wood "crib to grow". It's beautiful!

Thank You Palo Verde Friends!

I was at work yesterday when I suddenly noticed a large group of my co-workers standing behind me. I looked up to their smiling faces and they handed me the note pictured here. Enclosed was $540.00. Needless to say, I was speechless. I did not, and still do not, know how to thank all of you for your generosity and more than that your awesome friendship. It means more to Dan and I than you will ever know. When I tell Lauren of our adventure to get her someday... you will definitely be a part of that story.

We are going to the bank on Monday to deposit the funds into our special "adoption" savings account.

May God bless you in return.

All Our Love,

Dan & Mardi

Gifts From My Secret Pal!

Our Children's Hope International adoption agency has set up a yahoo chat group with those of us with a March '06 Log In Date (L.I.D.) We have been talking back and forth for some time now and have just recently set up a secret pal exchange. It is my first ever and I'm having lots of fun with it! I have an awesome secret pal! She is crafty too!

The pictures are of the two books she sent and the beautiful ribbon with Lauren's name. The book "Shaoey and Dot" is a book written by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife. They have adopted 3 little girls from China and have now written this book. The story is of a ladybug named dot and how she finds a baby in a basket, Shaoey, and they become friends and journey together to find Shaoey's family!

As far as our progress with the adoption, it is about the same. The average wait is still 12-13 months. We have been spending our summer camping, seeing a show in Las Vegas called "KA" by Cirque De Soleil. The show was absolutely amazing! Other than that we are working on the house, and trying to save as much as we can for our trip to China! :)

We just got a digital camera. I know, welcome to the 21st Century, right?! :) Anyway, these pictures didn't come out as well as I would have liked. I will keep learning more about the camera and hopefully post some pic's of the nursery so far.

Our 1st Ultrasound!

Well, the wait is averaging 12-13 months from LID. We are are 4 months into that wait. So...I figure that makes us officially Pregnant! Here is our 1st ultrasound! :)

Dan and I went ice skating today and as we watched all the little ones buzzing by, we talked of our future with our little Lauren. During this wait time it almost seems surreal that we will actually have Lauren in our arms some day. She will change our lives forever.

Lauren, we love you and are praying for you everyday!

News From Our Agency

On 6/26/06 Children's Hope International received China referrals fromthe CCAA for June 16 through June 28 log in dates. CHI received 19 referrals for our June 20 and June 22 log in date families. The referrals, all girls, range in age from 7 months to 17 months. The girls are from the Guangxi and Hunan provinces. We expect these families to travel to China in 6 to 8 weeks. Congratulations to these families!

The current wait from log in date to referral is 12 months.

Ann TollefsonChina Program Director 314-812-1722 (office) 636-928-2970 (home)

Dossiers On The Move!

News from China: A new set of storks have taken flight. Those with Dossiers up to June 28th will be receiving their long awaited referral pictures! This means the wait average remains at 12 months. The dossiers of October 31, 2005 have now passed review and are moving to the matching room. Even though there are still many ahead of them, the next stage for these parents is to be matched with their babies! What this means for our dossier is that we are getting closer to entering the review room and may even be entering the review room. This review room is where they look over our dossier...again... and make sure they do not disapprove of anything. Then we will be moved to the matching room. Lauren's picture will then come via the infamous UPS stork :) If the wait continues as it has been, we should be getting Lauren's picture March '07. Of course, this wait time can change anytime. Congratulations to all of you with referrals on the way!! You will be in China before you know it!! :)

Celebrating Our 7th Anniversary

June 12th--Dan and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary at The Boulder's Resort in Carefree, AZ. Only minutes from home, but we felt miles away. Our favorite amenity was the famous Golden Door Spa. Upon entering the spa we were welcomed with robes and slippers. We enjoyed waterfall-like showers, eucalyptus steam baths, japanese baths, and an array of fresh vegetables and fruit laid out in various places. Drinks and lunch were brought to us while lounging by the pool. I enjoyed a 50 min. massage while Dan checked out the workout facilities. We took walks and saw bunnies and quail everywhere. The golf course was beautiful to walk along. We spent our time relaxing and reminiscing. It is so amazing to be married to my best friend. Our marriage is the best gift I have ever been given. We laugh together and love together. When I prayed for a husband, I had never dreamt there was a man like Danny to share my life with.