email...

We received an email from the lady who order/deliver care packages for our baby girl! The email says she was able to contact our baby’s foster family and wanted us to know that our baby girl is doing very well and she is loved by her foster family. Awww, so sweet of her to share with us!

The reason why she contacted the foster family was to make sure they received our care packages (Yes, they received them and clothes fit her well :0)

The foster family expressed interest in communicating with us in the future. We wish we could communicate with them now- that’s impossible... but at least we know we may be able to stay in touch and share information about our girl once the adoption is finalized. We know the transition is going to be very difficult for our baby as well as her foster family; after all, they have been caring for her since she was just a few months old- that's the only family our baby knows. We know it will be tough, but it gives us hope knowing that if our baby was able to attach to her foster family, she will be able to attach to us.

We are so thankful for little information that means so much to us.

It gives us peace of mind knowing that our baby girl is healthy, she’s loved and she is well taken care of as we continue the adoption process and prepare to bring her home.

confession...

OK, so I have heard that the first step to recovery is to admit when you have a problem, so here it goes...

Hi! My name is Daly and I am a shopaholic. There I said it!

It all started three years ago when we started our adoption journey and it got worse when we received the referral of our little girl. It was at that point that I reached the point of no return. Oh it’s so difficult to say No! so many cute girly things – and the wait makes me relapse over and over….

Here’s the proof:

In my defense there were a lot of sales :o)

  Who can resist baby Gap clothes on sale?

 The purse with accessories is adorable with all the accessories (cell phone, keys, credit card, wallet and lipstick) a must for every girl!

Just a few toys, some books for her collection and an educational DVD :0)

Oh why bother…The heck with rehab I am an admitted shopaholic and I am not ready to change my ways. I will continue to shop until I drop or until my Honey put his foot down (he he) I really don’t think that’s going to happen :o)

Just kidding I love to shop but everything is under control trust me…

This is what we have been up to...

Not much...

Our dossier documents are almost ready. We still have to wait for our USCIS approval but at least we are being proactive :0)

Of course, I have been shopping…Oh my, I just fell in love with the cutest little back pack from Etsy! Of course, I gave in and order it. I can just imagine our Little Cupcake carrying her little "treasures" in her back pack (ha!)  I also bought two super cute juicy couture shirts – can you say  s-p-o-i-l-e-d :0)

too cute!

 I seriously need to start using my new camera; I keep forgetting I have it and keep using my phone camera ugh...

What else? Oh yes, our home study social worker recommend for us to see the documentary Somewhere Between, so we did and it was great! It’s about four teenagers that were adopted from China now living in the United States discuss how they deal and sometimes struggle with questions about identity. It gave us time to not only watch the video but also time to have to heart to heart discussions…

We know someday our baby girl will have so many questions and we will answer as best as we can. We do have one advantage, my husband has Asian features and I have dark eyes and dark hair. So hopefully our baby girl will not feel “different”. Don’t get me wrong, am not saying we will lie to her and pretend we are her biological parents, not going to happen! We are sure we will deal with the same issues so many adoptive families deal with… What am trying to say is that our daughter's adoption story is hers to share when she is ready to do so we don’t have to explain to strangers every time we go to the supermarket. 

Funny when we used to tell people we were going to adopt from Russia they would looked at us weird as if we were insane…A kid with blue eyes and blond hair? Some people are so insensitive... (there is such thing as Russians with Asian features by the way!)

 I remember having crazy dreams ... I would take our daughter to school, I don't remember her facial features but in my dream she had long blond hair and bright blue eyes. As she kissed me and said good-bye I would hear whispers from classmates (and their Parents) saying Is that her housekeeper? Is that her nanny? Comments that made me cry in my dream. ( I knew that was never going to happen since we had requested a child with Asian features).I know it's silly, I just couldn't believe how other people's rude comments affected me... 

Anyway, what else? We also watched the documentary China’s lost girls…so sad…

Lisa Ling joins some American families as they travel to China to meet their new daughters for the first time. The documentary explain how the ‘‘One child” policy designed to control China’s population has affected the Country and how the cultural, social and economic factors influence families to prefer or “keep” boys, and girls are often aborted, or abandoned. As a result, tens of thousands of girls end up in orphanages across China. (Currently, more than one quarter of all babies adopted from abroad by American families come from China and the majorities are girls). The documentary is both sad to see how so many kids/families are affected but it was also sweet seeing the featured families meeting their baby girls... oh we can't wait!!!

800-A mailed!

Today we had the pleasure of mailing our 800A application :0)

One more step closer to our little girl.

It's so easy to get distracted by fears and negative thoughts. 

We will continue to pray for patience and flexibility as we continue our adoption process.

Must remember:“Faith in God includes faith in his timing”

What a journey it has been...

Happy Valentine’s Day!

3 years ago on Valentine's day, we submitted our very first adoption application! So much has happened since then…

  

 This is my Honey when we received our first home study!

Three years later on Valentine’ s day (today:0)

we received our Home Study for China!

(LOL, It has been an exhausting journey, hope my Honey can make it!) 

                                   

 Our adoption road has been a long and bumpy one but now we are definitely in the right path. 

 More baby steps closer to our little girl!

Teeny, tiny baby steps...

We completed our 800A application and have all supporting documents ready to go- all we are waiting for is our notarized home study. We received an email today from our social worker and our home study has been finally mailed so we should receive it in two to three days (about freakin’ time!)

There’s still so much to do… We have been gathering the required documents for our dossier. Our issue right now is finding a mobile notary ugh!

 We knew we were setting ourselves up for disappointment when we got our "very own" target travel deadline- We were hoping to travel during summer so that we could celebrate with our baby girl her second birthday but of course that will not be possible. Everyone seems to work at the speed of turtles and mentioning that the documents needed are for an international adoption doesn't make much of a difference. We try to stay positive but it’s hard to accept that we have missed Gracie’s first smile, first steps, first words and first year of her life. We know there will be many firsts but nobody will give us those special times back- Most likely we will not even see any pictures of those special milestones:0(

For now we will continue to pray and wait...

In Love...

It is difficult for some people to understand, how we can be in love with a child we have never met and have only seen in pictures.

Truth is… we love our little girl, simple as that!  

Some things just can't be explained. We think that in order to fully understand, a person must actually go through the adoption experience or be very close to someone going through the process in order to understand…

                              How can we not fall in love with this cutie?

Baby girl, hang tight. Mommy and Daddy are busy trying to bring you home very soon. We are so excited and we can't wait to finally meet you.

We pray you are being well taken care of, that you are healthy and happy. We just can't wait to hold you. We are going to have so much fun together! Soon we will get your room ready and we will make it look really cute, but don't worry we will have a crib in our room just in case you get a little scared sleeping alone. We keep you in mind through everything we plan and do because you are already a big part of our lives. We love you Gracie,

Soon our family will be complete.

2013 The Year of the Snake...

Happy Chinese New Year... The year of the Snake...

My Honey's Chinese Zodiac is the Snake.
This will definitely be his year, The year he finally becomes a Daddy! 

Here's what we learned from our new story book about Chinese New Year Celebrations: According to the legend (one of the versions)…

A monster named Xi would come to the human world every 365 days.

The grandson of Emperor Shennong, whose name was Nian (year) came to help mankind… by giving a piece of sticky cake, making Xi unable to open his mouth to eat people any more (sticky cake,“Nian cake today) Nian also waved a piece of red silk, making Xi become dizzy and unable to walk. Finally Nian set off some fire crackers, the monster Xi was so frightened that he ran away and did not dare to return to the human world ever again. I love that the story was written in a way that is not scary for young children(as we had seen before). 

I know we cheated a little, we really wanted to cook our Chinese food this year but I was not feeling well, we will definitely cook for our baby girl next year!

Chinese New Year is a 15-day holiday, beginning on the first day of a new moon and ending with the full moon on the day of the Lantern Festival.

Here are some interesting Chinese traditions and superstitions...

~Chinese New Year’s Eve~

It is a tradition to clean the house from top to bottom to get rid of the bad luck gathered in the previous year (house may not be sweep again for a few days as all the new luck will be just swept away).

People go to the temples and pray for good fortune for the new year- they bring offerings of food and incense to please the spirits of the deceased so they bring good luck.

Families and friends visit each other and offer each other oranges, tangerines or sweets as gifts (prosperity).Family and friends celebrate with a big feast. Food must be prepared ahead of time, as one of the superstitions dictates that all knives must be put away, using a knife during the first days of the New Year “cuts off” all the good luck for the coming year.

Of course we had to make fortune cupcakes :0)

                                           ~The Chinese New Year ~

The festivities are a colorful display of dragon dances, lanterns, feasts and of course firecrackers.

Children receive red envelopes with money inside (“hong paos”/ mandarin) (“lai see” / Cantonese)

Dragon dances are an important aspect of the culture and tradition. A cloth dragon is held on poles by a team of a dozen or more members who make the dragon dance by raising and lowering the poles. Dragons were once imperial symbols in ancient China. They signify wealth, wisdom, power and nobility.

Most common way to wish a Happy New Year is Gong Xi – are good wishes or congratulations or Fa Cai- to become rich, acquire wealth.

Enjoying our cupcakes :0)

                                             

Love my fortune message :0)

                                                         

Just wondering...

We wonder if the measurements we received on our last baby update is accurate or did they weight her with clothes on… (In China young kids are usually dressed in many thick layers during cold weather). I keep buying baby stuff but drive myself crazy wondering if am choosing the right size. Yeah, I know so silly thinking and worrying about such trivial things.

I guess it's because everything related to our adoption is so out of our control and everything feels so impersonal.  It doesn't feel as if we are expecting and preparing for our child, with all the paperwork craziness it feels more like we are buying a house and are applying for a mortgage...so sad :o(

Buying clothes and things for our baby girl makes this process more exciting, Yes, finally preparing for our baby girl!

 Sometimes I feel sad wondering which clothes we may be giving away because our baby girl will be too big for those clothes by the time we finally meet her… it reminds me of how much we have missed from our baby's life. I understand that adoption is a process and every step is important to make sure everything is done correctly and legally to protect the children as well as the families but sheesh, it takes forever! I have to keep reminding myself that yes, we started our adoption journey three years ago but the actual China process has been going for only 4 months and we have made so much progress in such short period of time... I just want to hold my baby girl! The wait was easier before we received our referral...looking at her pictures and not being able to hold her is sometimes very- very difficult.

I don't know how so many families have waited for their kiddos 5+ years! If anyone out there is reading and have tips on how to deal with the wait without going crazy please share because we still have lots of waiting to do.

 I just received the organic baby outfits from Under the Nile, so cute and soft :0)I ordered them size 24 months... they look so big!)

Home study approved!

                                 ~Gracie in Chinese~

 I & A have strong family values, mutual goals and their relationship can be described as loving and secure.  They have a great support system who will welcome their adopted child from China.  This adoptive family meets all the requirements to adopt from China.  I & A are physically, mentally, emotionally and financially able to parent a child at this time.   [our home study agency] recommends and approves I & A for the adoption of a child under the age of 24 months in age, from the country of China."

OMG (tears of joy!)  The words above are words from our home study report, a eighteen page long (and very detailed) document that is the result of four interviews with our social worker, 3 office visits, 1 home visit, four letters of recommendation and many required documents)   

WE ARE APPROVED!  We are so happy, big step closer to our baby girl!

                       

A few things for Gracie...

I forgot to mention that we ordered our baby girl a "Happy Chinese New Year" care package-

We also bought a few more things for our Cupcake – these will be waiting for her when she comes home :0)

                                      Yep, wrapped around her tiny little finger …

 Dolls in Daddy’s home office :0)

 Daddy bought the book and blankie for his Lil' girl :0)

                                                 This tiny dolly too!

Missing pieces of the puzzle...

We were watching the show “The Locator” and our hearts ached for our little girl...

We know there are going to be some tears in her future, some heartache, and some hardship that no child should ever have to experience. 

There will be a time when we discuss her adoption story and we know there will be questions about her birth mother, birth father and the reason why she was abandoned.  We are so sad we will never be able to hire a locator to find those missing pieces of her life. It doesn't matter how much we love on her or how much we cherish her, we will never be able to give her what for whatever reason was taken away from her.

Our story will be a wonderful one- a new chapter in her life as we become a family but we can never erase the previous chapter….her life before she became ours.

The best thing we can do is to listen to her, encourage her to express her feelings and be able to answer questions as honestly and as best as we can.

We will always be there for her during happy times as well as the challenging times. We are aware that she may experience mix emotions through-out her life especially during special occasions such as birthday, mother’s day, adoption day anniversary, holidays, graduations etc. There may be times when she may face issues of identity, grief and loss. There may be times she may feel very sad, confused or angry. We will not be able to make those feelings go away but we promise she will never go through it alone.