This Weeks 3 words:

Please send prayers!

This has not been a good week for us and we would welcome any and all prayers, thoughts or good vibes.

Barry and I are blessed to have 13 beautiful and amazing nieces and nephews, as well as two really adorable great nephews. I thank god every day for the wonderful family that he has wrapped us up in and I hope that our daughter comes soon so that all of these wonderful people can love her as much as they love us!

One of our nieces was diagnosed with cancer last week and it has rocked our little happy world to its absolute core! We just cannot begin to understand how someone who hasn't even begun to live her life can be faced with such an awful illness. We don't currently have all of the information, she will see an oncologist on Thursday and we will start to better understand what we are facing but in the meantime........

We could really use some good vibes here!

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

30?! How did that happen?

Happy Birthday Krissy!

My little angel, My Niece and now My friend!

30 years ago today you came to this earth and made it a better place for all of us. I was 14 and swimming in my girlfriend's pool when your mommy told me you were coming. I fell in love with you in that moment, and I have loved and admired you every day since!

You were a beautiful baby, an absolutley adorable toddler, and just one of the cutest little girls I have ever seen. Now you are an amazing young lady and I hope that life always gives you it's best, because you deserve nothing less.

Enjoy your day and make your Mom give you a big hug and kiss for me!

What am I reading?

Reading????

No, there isn't a lot of time for reading and when I do read it is mostly adoption related books. I have been reading about attachment issues and bonding, I have been reading stories from other adoptive parents and I love them. They are very inspiring and make me feel, even at some of my lowest moments, that this will eventually REALLY happen. But sometimes you need to just read something for the enjoyment of reading. To get lost, if even for just a little while, in someone else's world.

I recently got lost in Afghanistan........

I love to read about the humanity of life, about what makes people who they are and ties them to there beliefs. The Kite Runner is a story that is so beautifully woven I never wanted to put it down. It flowed from beginning to end and when things were finally all laid out for you, it was believable and tragic but yet human in even the most inhumane times. I started this post about what I am reading but to be honest, I finished reading the book before I finished writing the post! :) I was surprised at the ending and how the protaganist was put in a situation I think we can all relate to at the moment.....(let's just say there was frustration and an I-600 involved!).

I loved this story and I hope if you have a love of reading you will give it a try. I am definitley looking forward to reading this author's next book and seeing the movie they made about this book.

http://www.kiterunnermovie.com/

Happy Reading!

3 Words

My 3 words:

This weeks's 3 words are brought to you by the "Fantasy Land of adoptions" and they are..........

Confusion!

Frustration!

Trying!

Friday at 4:30pm we received a 4 page email from our agency telling us that we "should" re-file our I 600A (and pay the $830.00 again) because of the Hague convention treaty going into effect on April 1st. The email implied that if we do not do this then we stand the chance of having to jump through some additional, last minute, unexpected hoops before being able to bring home our daughter. (When ever that may be!)

Now, I don't know maybe they just sent this out to everyone and they didn't look at individual files. Maybe our social worker doesn't realize that we did this in the fall and we are still currently waiting for our I-171h approval to be received in the mail but, we have paid them a lot of money for this service don't you think they should look at these things????? Won't the USCIS (Immigration) think we are crazy if we file a 3rd I-600A before we even receive the approval on the 2nd one we filed???? Of course, the email was sent out after 4pm so we couldn't reach anyone in the office on Friday, we tried. This morning.....you guessed it our social worker is out of the office. No one has her schedule but I can leave a name and she can try to call me this afternoon.

We have been waiting 2 years for something most of us were told would take 6 months. We started this process in August of 2005 with the agency and if they would have moved a little faster we could have had a LID of December 2005 and be home with our daughter right now. I am sorry my patience has been all used up and I just don't think there is any more in the pot for me to call on! I am frustrated, I am angry, and I am definitely worried that we will never really get to go to China to get our daughter and that we are getting older every day and may have no other options by the time this is done.

I'm over the edge, I will come back but I could use some support! Anyone have a rope?????

(Ok, I'm done whining.....time to be productive.....thanks for listening!)

Thank you Stamas Family!

We love this quarter's book selections!

Our monthly book exchange is now a quarterly book exchange and with good reason.......I think Jamie has more books than I do! (And I have a lot of books!!)

This quarter's theme was "books that have meaning to you" and these are just adorable.

The first book "Corduroy" is about a little bear in a store that wants a home, and a little girl named Lisa who eventually takes him home and becomes his friend. It's a very sweet story and I love it!

The second book "Click, Clack, Moo" is too cute for words!

Thank you so much to the Stamas family for these wonderful books, Jamie will love them!

So much to say .....so little time......

A 2006 Referral!!!!!

First and foremost......the CCAA is finally referring to families that had their paperwork logged in, in China in January of 2006. WOW, they are finally at least referring our year!!!!! We are getting much closer and it is exciting, even if we are still a long way off. Progress is progress!!!!! I will update my CCAA Box later to say Reviewed through 10/31/2006 and Referred through 1/4/2006!

I've been tagged.......some day soon thanks to my lovely friend MK, you will have to hear 7 things that you don't already know about me......Hmmmm, what will they be. Sorry, you'll have to wait and see because today I have to run and get my hair cut.

I'm jumping on the 3 words band wagon......You've seen it on ABC Good morning America Weekends (if you watch) and you've seen it on a bunch of blogs attributed to different people. My friend Stacy is where I saw it and she always inspires me, so she has inspired me to do this. I have my 3 words for last week but no time to say them.....Hmmm, maybe I should change my 3 words to........

I Haven't Time!

(Ohh, I have already cheated by using a contraction my 3 words were really 4!)

Well, that is enough of my musings for today, I really must run......Be happy, be healthy it's March!