Getting a tad anxious...

Okay, today I am TIRED of waiting! Probably because I kept my 8 month old nephew last night (the cute one in the recent photo!). It triggered the "I want my baby" button in me! I might have even called poor Nate "Taryn" last night! Anyway, I know others in our travel group have been feeling this way for a while now, but it is defiantly getting harder to wait...And we still have at least 6 more months (if everything goes as it has been looking like it will!)! I have even been buying Asian dolls for her room! Every time I go on line to look at them I get all "maternal" about it! It is funny how you can love a child you are not carrying inside of you as much as you do the biological ones! I feel bonded with her already, and I know Steve does! Every time I ask him about it he expresses concern about not knowing if she is born yet, or what is happening to her, etc... It has defiantly been a "different" experience compared to our two boys! We are just ready for her! The whole family is I believe! I just had to "blog" about it because I know so many of you feel the SAME way! Talk to yah next time!

It's about time!

Okay, Okay... When I started this I envisioned myself being a tad more on top of the blogging than I am! It has been a while! But, the nature of the adoption "wait" is just that... A very long...Wait! That is all we are doing! I don't know about the others that are on this adoption journey with me, but it is getting increasingly harder to answer the same question over and over again! That is..."Have you heard anything about your little girl yet?" The answer is always the same..."No, we are just waiting!"
And, that is what we are prepared to do! However long it takes we are going to wait! It makes it a lot easier when our days are filled with the daily ins and outs of taking care of the rest of our family! Our boy's are very distracting by just being themselves! I have been buying stuff for her bedroom, that helps to pass the time a little. It will be fun to finally put it all together!
I do have to say that I have had a few "annoying" comments lately. I have heard them before, and we have even had to take a preparation course on dealing with comments. But, for some reason, this particular one bothers me the most..."So, you are doing this to get your little girl..." I could scream when I hear this one! As if we don't love our sweet little boys enough, that we have to add our "long awaited" girl to be "complete". WHATEVER!!!!! I actually had a very (rude) family member argue with me recently over this issue! They were convinced (with all of their knowledge of us...) that we were doing this to get a girl! We don't ever want our boys to think they were not good enough, or for Taryn to think she is this "token" girl! As we stated in the opening blog, we are doing this to help a child. To give a child a family, home and love. We would have 5 boys if we thought we would not go insane, or 5 girls for that matter. Taryn is simply a fulfillment of a plan we had before we were even married for our family. IT IS THAT SIMPLE!
Sooooo, now that I have stood on my soap box about this issue, I hope everyone is doing well right now! Keep praying for her, she could be born by now! The date is still way up in the air! We are thinking December or February! I will try to be more faithful about posting information as well as some random pictures every once in a while! God bless!

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Answered Prayers

God is so Awesome! I can not even believe what has just happened. For a year and a half we have prayed for a better job for Steve-a year and a half! And, we were willing to pray longer! I am proud to announce to everyone that prayed and had to listen to all of my "sob stories" about Steve's job-HE GOT THE JOB AT TRAIN! YEAH, YEAH, YEAH! AND, I am not finished...The whole time we have been praying, I have been asking for what, by our standards, would be a significantly better job. It was a stretch because he is one of the top Engineers at the horrible company he has been working for. Well...They offered him more insurance and significantly (he won't let me say anything else, and would probably not like me saying even that) more money! Those of you who know our situation with the adoption, hopefully realize what a HUGE answer to prayer this is for us! I am so very amazed right now at the 100% (not just 50%) answer to our prayer...TOO COOL... I mean I am blown away excited right now! I don't know how else to describe it! And, it couldn't have happened to a greater guy! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for your prayers...They worked!

Glass half -full, NOT half -empty!

After reading all of the emails from our potential travel mates...I feel a little differently! Of course, everyone else was VERY excited and did not look at the half-empty glass as I tend to do (that is a nice way of saying I can be negative. Those who know me are laughing right now!). Anyway, after having the entire day to dwell on it, I realize there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with going next year! The end result will be the same either way...We will have our third child home, and safe with us! So, that being said, I will "sign off" and try my best to view everything in a more "positive" light! Of course, the grandparents are hearing none of it and insisting she will be here in November or December! Denial? Only time will tell...Until then, we wait!

The "mysterious" Log in Date has arrived!

Poor Taryn...This is what she has to look forward too!

Okay, maybe I was in total denial, I don't know, but now it looks as if we will be traveling to China in January or February 2007! Actually, it will probably be February 07, because we can't travel during the Chinese New Year, which I think is almost the entire month of January. This fact has "overshadowed" the joy of having our LID at the moment! I really believed we would be going to get Taryn in December! That was when I was just "guessing" at our LID-I guessed wrong! I was thinking the beginning of February (or hoping). The later day in February gave us another month-January or February OF NEXT YEAR!!!! This is upsetting for 2 reasons: 1. Our precious daughter will be waiting for us longer (and vise-versa), and I can barely stand the thought of her in the orphanage. 2. We do not get the tax credit money back until 2008's taxes! Believe me, that is a considerable amount towards her adoption-later than planned.
So, our date is February 23, 2005... There's not much else to say! Except, now when people ask me "when" it will happen I will have a more definite time frame! We should get our referral in December, so that will be a fun Christmas present!
Now, now I am starting to understand the "dreaded" wait I have heard other adoptive parents talk about! It somehow seems so much longer when you look at next year!
Okay, I am done "venting", we are that much closer to bringing her home!

Aprils list!

It is April and still no log in date for us. However, we have been assured by our agency that we have one by now it just hasn't been sent in as of yet. We are hoping our date is in early February as our Dossier papers were sent in mid-January. A log in date (LID) is important to us because that will be the "official" date our waiting period starts. That is the date we are "logged in " with The People's Republic of China and begin to be "considered" as parent's for one of their waiting baby girls. So far, it seems most people are still waiting 10 months for their referral (the picture of their chosen child) and then another month to travel and pick up their child. So, if nothing changes (no SARS or bird flu epidemic!!!) it will hopefully be November or December-we can only wait and see!
We do however have a "list" of people we will probably travel with! That is cool because we can all start to get to know each other before we spend 14 days together in China! I guess I was naive to think most of the people would be from around here because our agency, A Helping Hand, is in Lexington (only 30 short minutes away!). But, it turns out, there is a large variety of States represented in the group. That will be fun to get to know others from everywhere! This group is also significant in the fact that all of our daughters (and sons) will be given to us together, at the same time. We hope Taryn will have some life-long friends in this group!
Well, that is the only "update" we have for everyone. Just continue to keep us in your prayers. Most importantly pray for Taryn (and the other waiting children), we just want her to be "safe" and healthy until we can be with her...