Oh WOW -- 13 months LID Today!

I just looked at our "ticker" at the top of our blog and saw that it said 13 months. Yep, Feb 27 marks our "lucky" 13th month of being logged into the CCAA. Wonder how much longer our ticker will tick? Not sure.

This month's art is compliments of Sara. I especially love how she showed the RED THREAD connecting Georgia to China - she is hoping that to also represent our flight path. They both want to fly OVER the North Pole insead of the Pacific! Either way is fine with me, but I do hear that the "over the top" is a more direct route!

What a Dufus!

I don't even know if that title is spelled correctly. I totally messed up our appt to be re-fingerprinted. I got the letter in late January, looked at it and wrote in my calender the date that I THOUGHT it said to go to the Atl USCIS office. I thought it said 02/26/07, but upon closer investigation (before we were about to leave), my heart sunk as I realized that the letter actually said 02/06/07 -- we MISSED OUR APPT! And we took an unnecessary day off of work! Which I cannot afford to do these days, as work is really hectic! AARGH -- I hate it when I do careless things! So, instead of being able to reschedule for a specific time, we have to join the masses of dufuses (or is the plural, dufi?) who either don't have an appt or missed theirs on any Wednesday! I can only imagine how long that will take! Gee WHIZ....

Still #1 on My List

That would be BILLY JOEL! That was my Val Day surprise for Doug. I got tickets to see his concert in Greenville, SC for this past Sat night. He was amazing! He sang my very favorite 3 BJ songs too --

#3 - "New York State of Mind"
#2 - "Keepin' the Faith"
#1 - "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant"

I was expecting #2 and #3, but in reality I never expected him to sing "Scenes" because it was never a big radio hit! He did a 3 song encore and it was the second one! "Piano Man" was the last one, not surprisingly! I was so excited! Doug was really surprised and proud of me for "pulling it off"! He is usually the one that surprises and plans for me! We stayed the night in Greenville and had so much fun!

We had dinner at Trios (Italian, appropriately) but he still didn't know why were in G'ville. We did a little shopping downtown and went into a little bead shop. We were telling the lady there about how the girls are making earrings and have their own business. She invited us to bring them to a special bead show on Tues night. We told her we were from Atlanta, so we couldn't. So then she said, "Oh, are you in town to see Billy Joel?" My mouth must have dropped open and Doug just laughed. I said, "We sure are!" and she knew by his look that it was supposed to be a surprise! Oh well, it was funny anyway! She felt terrible but it was really no biggie since it was only about an hour before we went to the arena! We did go to a cute little toy store and got Ally a little baby doll that smells like vanilla. Here is a picture! She is cuter than Billy Joel anyway!

We had so much fun! Luckily Aunt Amy was able to take Lauren to her soccer games. It was FREEZING -- literally, they were playing soccer in 26 degrees! Crazy! Sara was at her good friend Audrey's b'day party! We had FREE Chili's yesterday because Audrey's dad is opening a new restaurant in Hamilton Mill.

Happy Valentine's Day, ALLY!

Hi Ally! Maybe next Valentine's Day we will be able to give you a bunch of hugs and kisses and candy! We already LOVE you and can't wait until the day comes that we get the BEST NEWS that it is time to come to China to get you!

We are trying to put the finishing touches on your room, but it's hard to know exactly what to do -- will you need a crib or a big-girl bed? Don't know! I have a feeling that once things get a little closer, that we will suddenly realize that we have wasted the last year + not getting the necessities done AND that we will suddenly say "we have to get things done."

Like I said, holidays make me somewhat sad -- another milestone reminder of what we don't have. Oh well. We have a lot planned in the next few weeks that will keep us busy and give us things to look forward to! Our Valentine celebration for each other will be this weekend. A surprise, planned by me for Doug (daddy). I will write about it afterwards, since he doesn't know!

Still trying to consider optons for a middle name. Much will depend on if we name her Allyson (and just call her Ally) AND what her Chinese name is and how it goes with Ally!!! Much to think about!

72 Degrees and Sunny

This now has a new meaning to me! It was sunny today and when I noticed that the outside temp had exceeded 70 degrees, I put the top down in the car! Oh - it was just so fun! I pulled out my barrette and put my hair up and sun glasses on! Love it!

Getting Comfortable

It occurred to me just the other night, that Ally is already a part of our family, in a unique way. Lauren was getting ready for bed, and she simply said, "I'm gonna sleep in Ally's room." I just replied, "OK." And then it hit me. We are just casually referring to our little girl (all of us) even though we really know nothing about her! It made me happy to realize that we have become very comfortable with the idea of having another daughter/sister. Well, as comfortable as one can become with an "idea", because at this point, that is what she is. When we started this process (18 months ago), I was sure she was already born, but since so much time has passed, I'm no longer sure of that. But I have become comfortable with the idea of Ally.

Not Much to Report

The CCAA is now 105 days from our LID -- 105 days of paperwork (including weekends) for them to process and match before "our day" comes up! It's looking like anywhere from Aug to Oct that we might get our referral. Add about 6 weeks to either of those, and we could travel in mid-Oct to T'giving or early Dec. I really really really really (can you tell how much?) hope we are home with little Ally by Christmas. I would even be thrilled to spend Christmas in China. At this point, I don't even care when we get her; I just want to get her, already! Thoughts of having her here at Christmas warm my heart. Sara and Lauren will be so excited to "help" her sit with Santa and get his cookies ready! How cute will that be? It just HAS to happen! Do you hear me, CCAA? It HAS to happen!!! I can't believe I'm thinking about Christmas when it's just the beginning of February! This makes a person crazy!

Our friends, the Ankeriches are in the beginning stages of adopting again! Ella Kate will have a little sister (or brother, but really, it's China, so I'll say sister). I wonder how long thier wait will be (they just mailed their application)? We have already "entertained" thoughts of that, but I can't even "go" there until after we see how it all plays out with Ally.

Angie's family is home from China with little Becca. What a cutie! It was so neat to "follow" her journey. I hope we have a chance to see them this summer, if they get to GA.

I just realized that our lady bug "ticker" a the top of our blog had adjusted to 24 months (since it's past the one year mark).

Doug just looked over at me and said, "are you looking at 'your blogs'?" I nodded and smiled. He said, "pathetic," and grinned! Today in church a couple sang "I Wonder What God was Thinking When He Created You". Yes, I know it was meant to be a love song for the marriage sermon (and I did think of how much our marriage means to me), but I also thought of Ally when I heard it.

Another Update -- 16 days closer...

The CCAA just posted it's update. Referrals were sent for dossier received in China thru October 13. 2005. That is 16 days of progress for this past month.