Thank you for the most AMAZING surprise shower!

Here is where my mom, aunt and cousin held my shower. Boy, does my mom know me and what I like. Thank you to my friends for helping with the goodies and yummy cakes.

Happy Omi and Opa! You worked yourself crazy! I loved every minute of seeing everyone.

Grandpa Kimball did help with the great surprise and doggie Nicky too! Thanks for living in such a great location. I love the manor house!

The generation dress, that my Grandmom Enos made. It was first worn by my mother Eva then by my aunt, myself and many cousins to follow now it is almost time for Eliza to wear this piece of history.

Aunt Linda and Uncle Kenny signing the guest book.

Thanks Val for the shower hat! This will go in Eliza memory box.

Shan, what a vision for a beautiful "Marching Panda" cake! We are the last of the Marching Panda group to head to China.

Little Eliza.... we are coming to get you soon! We already love you!

Thank you for all of the Surprise gifts! They were all perfect and everything that we needed! We are so very..........THANKFUL!!!!!

AWESOME SHOWER!

Thanks for patiently sitting through the mounds of gifts!

Theprayer and the hope of you since the Great Wall.

The cousins! They are such sweeties and cuties! Don't I have cute family members!?!

The Garambone girls! So sweet and gentle!

Eliza is already spoiled with your love! Thank you for all of the people who traveled near and far. You truly made a girl super surprised. Thank you to my friends and family for supporting us in our journey.

First Night and New Year celebration!

We had our foster family for the New Year. It was GREAT! We took them to First Night that was very kid friendly. The kiddos enjoyed the bounce houses and making different crafts.

Here is the first conversation of 2010, I heard between the two boys at the ripe time of 6:30 am:
After being up for every hour on the hour because the kiddos did not sleep through the night. I woke up to a wet bed and then I put the boys in the tub. D said, "Look A there is a poopie in the tub." A says, "No there is not D." D affirmed, "See poopie!" A, "No poopie!" I sent Richard up stairs to see if there was a poopie in the tub after the conversation. R (DH! :)) comes down, "Yup, A is right there is no poopie in the tub." We switch roles and I hand off K (that LOVES to be held) to R, and go to take the boys out of the tub. "Yup, there was a big poopie under D." I guess that was my Happy New Year present from the all the boys, including R. Hee! That is what happpens when boys outnumber the girls by three to two in a household for the night!

We are so pleased that the bio-parents decided to keep up in their lives. The kids have enriched our lives and continue to bring us laughs and love.

Happy New Year!!!!!

The Great Wall 23 years ago...

Twenty three years ago, I climbing up the steep stairs of the Great Wall or should I say scaling the steep steps (I am scared of heights) screaming at my first younger brother to help me. While, he ran up and down the steps like a GI Joe Ninja warrior, crying as I was climbing. By the grace of God and my families help, I got to the top with my father in front of me and my mother behind me coaching me all the way. As I got to the top of I stood on the Great Wall and thought about many of the same thoughts that I have today. I was in wonderment of the mounmental wall this was and is today. I listened to my father tell us the tradition of the wall. I thought about what I learned in Chinese Day School from Grace and St. Peters... about how this at the time was the only man made structure they could see from the moon. As I ran around on the wall with my brother looking in the little windows and ducking down in the square forts, I thought that I was the luckiest girl around to be in my Chinese Grandmother's and Grandfather's homeland. I was proud that my father was able to take his family to see his heritage. This was the time when not many Americans were allowed into this Communist country. I remember because my mom had blonde hair and blue eyes, people would stop her and stare at her. Some of the richer Chinese tourist would ask to take pictures with her.

The most astounding remembrance to date is the prayer that I had on the wall. The ironic thing is I remember closing my eyes and praying to God telling him that I would be back to pick up my daughter. You see, at the time it was a few years into the one child rule and our guides secretly told us about what families would do... leave their girls, have forced abortions, drown their baby girls, give them to other family members that could not have children, try to send them to a "paper father" in another country and such. Our guide told us about these girls but told us never to tell. I remember saying on that Great "Grand" Wall that I would be back, come helter or scelter to adopt a little one.

So, in two weeks I will be standing on the Great Wall ,with my husband, again praying about my little girl's face that I will be able to see in a few days. I am excited to go to her region of China because I have never been there before. We hear that Hunan is a beautiful water town like the town that we live in. Their are lots of artists and musicians. Little Eliza is suppose to like music which pleases my husband because he loves music and I am sure he will want to help teach Eliza how to play the guitar.

I am so thankful that my husband wanted to self actualize this prayer and dream with me and I am forever Grateful to him for that. I do LOVE him. He is an AMAZING husband and will be an incredible dad even if he does not realize it himself.

I am thankful for the continued support of my family and Richard's family. I am thankful for the support of our friends and that we have friends that 'truly support' our dream.

Super Girlie! Watch out Richard (and world)...PINK is coming your way!

A BIG THANK YOU to Grammie and Granddad for getting Eliza her girlie new ride. This is the carseat that Eliza will take her first car ride in the USA in!!!! I was in between the super girlie Lauren model or the brown and pink model (more me) but my best friends, Beth G., Jen, Abbie and Jenny would always say get the super girlie one...so here it is is. Now, my other best friend Nadin would say that it was "Over the top, and too PINK" but she would approve because that is her nature then she would expose Eliza to some Star Trek.

Got our Travel Approval (TA) today!!!!

We got a call from our adoption agency that our TA came into. Our adoption travel advisor asked if it was alright if we were in China for the 14th? Are you kidding me? It is MORE than alright!!!!!

On another note, I do have to say that I am a PROUD sister to my baby brothers (that are not so baby). My first (younger) brother is following his dreams to become a doctor. He is giving up his life, his aeronautical engineering degree, his Masters in Business from Johns Hopkins and pursuing his dream to become a medical doctor. I am extremely proud of him and his courage to take the road 'less traveled', give up everything, and pursue his dream when he could be living the life of luxury, making money and being satisfied being an engineer. Today I helped him with the moving of furniture but more importantly mom and dad busted their booty to help him move the 'big stuff.' RJT, thank you for pursuing your dream and showing us how to dream BIG.

Life before Eliza and waiting!

We had the opportunity to use an AMAZING photographer Jim Ritch. If you are interested in professional adoption or children photos he is amazing, as well as specializing in weddings. ritchphotos.com.

Printed with permission from Jim Ritch.

Visas!

Today our Visa's are suppose to be coming in from the Houston Consulate. I ahve to wait at home to sign for this package till the tracking number says aproximately 4:30 pm. We are still waiting for our travel approvals (known in the adoption world as our TA's). After we recieve our travel approval then we move onto waiting to get our aapointment from the American Consulate in Guangzhou. Our adoption agency says this takes approximately 3-5 days. Then a travel agency will contact us to book our international flights. We send our intra travel money to our adoption agency along with the fees for travel and then we board the plane.

So you ask, where are we in all of this...we could recieve our TA in as little as three weeks from Dec. 2nd but more like like five to six weeks then add on approximately a week and a half so my prediction is we will travel the end of January beginning of Feb. but of course, I have been wrong in this process before. :)

Gathering the paperwork to take to China, I must admit is a bit nerve racking. Making sure you have all the right papers. I 600 A, I737 C, I184 W, medical paperwork, promise to vaccinate the child, Visa paperwork, the brown envelope paperwork, homestudies, extra copies of passports and visa stamps, extra passport photos etc. I want to take the entire binder that I have collected with me but knowing that I am only allowed 44 pounds on the airplan will not allow me to do so unless I go naked and I can bet a million dollars that know on on the airplan or in China wants to see me naked, so I chose clothes. :)

Telling the Grandparents...they are in LOVE!!!!

The grandparents were super excited to finally see little Jin Li Jiang's face. We did a write up on her province, an attempt at an annoucement and a paper with all of her important information on it that we used as a placemat. It was a lovely day and I think all were finally happy to see and "meet" Eliza Hayden-Li. We surprised both R's family and my family but... R's dad guessed what was happening as we got into DC. We had Dim Sum at To*y C*ang Resturant to celebrate. Jul*e from Jul*e Bakes made an almond cake with raspberry filling and the top layer was chocate cake with a cream cheese filling. It was AMAZING to introduce them to our daughter. Yes, pinch me... I said "OUR DAUGHTER." :)

Introducing...Eliza Hayden-Li

Richard and I are proud to announce that the stork has arrived for the K-family. Her name is Jin Li Jiang and she is from Pingjiang county in Hunan, China. So, she is a spicy baby. We are over the moon in love with her. She was born on June 21st, 2009 and her intake into the orphanage was June 24, 2009. She is only 5 1/2 months old. Her paperwork says that she is a quiet baby and at the time of her medical exam she was only two months old and 11 pounds. She knows the differences between people she knows and strangers. She is closest to her caretakers. We are looking forward to getting to know more about Pingjiang county.

Thank You RQ!

Here is what one of my favorite blogging websites has posted, RQ (she is an active adoptive mom that tries to keep us waiting parents informed and brings up vital topics to educate us on in the adoption world):

"I just made my rounds and there seem to be a few rumors floating around… I see more talk of “the rest of March”, and I see a European board that seems to think this batch has been signed and that if referrals didn’t get mailed Monday (our Sunday night) then they’ll be mailed Tuesday (our Monday night). I can’t really tell where they got that info, I’m assuming from one of the very few agencies in that country." taken from chinaadopttalk.com, Nov. 30th post.

Again, Thank you RQ! And the wait continues...

My Favorite!!!!

Taking A- his presents and spending time with K-

Lady Bug and Bad Rumor Post

Yesterday, while in an Illustrator class that I am taking and co-worker said to me look at the lady bug flying around the room, you know they bring good luck. Secretly I thought to myself, yes and they are the Chinese symbol that good things are about to happen. Maybe that means that the referral for the little one is on its way. But... today I hopped on R*mor Q**en, and now some rumors are flying around that referrals will not be out till December. As I am reading this, my hubby calls in to check-in... and I said that I really don't mean this... but stick a fork in me "I am done." My DH says, "No, if a fork is stuck in you, you will still bleed you are not done yet." I replied, "I know." He said because of my age "You can stick a fork in me and I am done." My reply, you are not done either....we both said I love you and quietly got off the phone.

This has been a heart wrenching wait but I know it is worth the wait. The last two sets of referrals have been extremely painful becuase of the skipped months, and the cut of date of 3/28 right before our date. Simply frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The wait continues...4 years 7 months 19 days since LID

The wait continues...we have been logged in 4 years, 7 months and 19 days. We starting paperchasing for our little one on October 30th, 2005. It has been a long road and many things have had to stay status quo while at the same time life did go on. Rumor Queen is predicting 32 day wait which will lead us to Nov. 14th for notice for our referral however, if it is another wait like the last batch of referrals our referral date will not be until Dec. 25th, Christmas Day. I surely hope not because I know that our agency will be closed and that would be such a bummer. So, we wait---

Parachute...

Today, like any other normal weekend, I was at the oriental grocery store with my mom and dad. Over the loud speaker the store normally filters in 80's and 90's karaoke type music with elevator type tones to the music. Many songs from artist like Jour*ney, El*ton John, and various other artists that I whole heartly still admit that I listen to from time to time. (I do love me a good eighties or ninties song especially when jamming to it driving down the beltway.) Then one of my favorite songs comes on... a song that Kai-Li used to love for me to sing to here. Now, those of you that know me, know that I do not have a good voice, in fact my husband goes running (and he does not run, trust me he is a self proclaimed foodie) when he thinks I am going to belt out a song. Though ,the sweet little girl that we had for almost a year, would look deep into my eyes, smile and coo as I would sing her this song by P*arachute, "She is L*ove, Love, Love, Love." I would long into her vibrant blue eyes, that were so true to the light, that I could see my reflection in the sky blue of her eyes. She would coo and bop up and down. Today and forever in my heart, that song has taken on a different meaning for me, than the group intended it for. But it is so fitting for the past year of my life and hopefully for this coming year, it will be the anthem that I sing for the girl that I fostered and our China baby that will join our family. Kai-Li was PURE LOVE... "She is LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE"