Proud Cousin

My cousin and his wife just had a new baby boy - their second boy. I just went to see him the other day and he is just too cute. Here he is at a lovely 8 days old.

Please, No More Rain!

Well, we had over 2 inches of non-stop rain yesterday and more on the way today and tomorrow. Tonight, the rain may turn to snow. We'll have to wait and see. YUCK!! Robert took this photo this morning of the flood plane behind our house. We even had ducks swimming by... I think they enjoyed it more than we did. Let's pray for a dry basement!

Only 5 days worth of matches this month

Well, as usual, it's my monthly bad news post... only 5 days worth of referrals were matched this month. The CCAA has matched families with Log-In dates of January 5 - 9, 2006. I don't think anything else needs to be said. BUMMER!!

We have 186 days worth of matches to go. If you do the math (which I don't want to) we have way too many more months to go.

Journey to our Daughter

Well, since our wait seems to be ever extending, I've found myself to be waxing more poetic these days. Today I just sat down and wrote this poem. You may want to have some Kleenex handy...

Journey to our Daughter

Our journey began with doctors.
Infertility - they tried to figure out why.
I would never have my own child,
I felt like I would die.

But then I heard a whisper
That was oh so far away.
Will my husband hear it?
Would we decide today?

Our journey didn’t end here.
We still had much to learn.
We wanted to be a family
And for this, we would yearn.

But then we heard that whisper
That was oh so far away.
Our child is out there somewhere.
We’re waiting for that day.

Our journey continues further
To find out where to go.
We discussed our many options -
China is how our family would grow.

Our journey isn’t over -
We’ve been waiting for over a year.
Our daughter is still out there.
Her cries we still can’t hear.

But then we heard that whisper
That was oh so far away.
Our child is out there somewhere.
We’re waiting for that day.

Our journey will take us to our daughter.
We’ll look into her eyes.
We’ll finally be a family.
I think we’re going to cry.

Snowy Update!

Well, it's official ... we broke the 100" mark for snow for the year. We are now officially at 100.4" of snow and more on the way on Wednesday evening through Friday. When will it end?!

Last night's snowfall were the big sticky flakes - looks beautiful, but makes for near white-out conditions. This is a picture Robert took off our back porch.

What happened to Spring??

Happy Spring everyone! We thought we'd do it a bit different in Wisconsin - i.e. about 10 inches of snow are expected for today! Yes, snow..... I thought Spring meant pastel colors and tulips and daffodils, but I was wrong! We've already broken the record snowfall amounts for the year, so I guess someone wants to make sure that this record is REALLY going last for a very long time!

I took this photo this morning, so we actually have even more snow than what's shown. What's scary is that we were first beginning to see some grass on our lawn and now it's gone again! One of these days...


So, while we're freezing our tootsies off, my parents left this morning for Costa Rica. Now why couldn't I have joined them?!

Madison Weather Strikes Again!

Well, Heather and Dustin got fogged into Madison and were unable to leave today for China - so that means that attempt #2 will happen tomorrow morning. I have been given the privilege (if that's what you'd like to call it) of picking them up at 5 am tomorrow morning and driving them to the airport. Should be nice to send them off (although my appearance at that hour may scare them!).

Yesterday, I had lunch with Heather and Kris to wish her a "bon voyage" at the Great Dane (favorite local brewpub).


Afterwards, Kris and I spent the day together shopping (for Kris) and returning (for me). Later, Kris came over and I cooked her Thai Red Curry chicken and we made chocolate dipped strawberries. YUM!! Here she is proudly displaying one of the creations!

20 months and counting...

Well, it's been 20 months now that we've been waiting for our daughter. When we started this whole process we figured we'd have had her already at this point. But, time passes and along with it, the international adoption community at large.

We've seen an increase in the waits for most countries (most especially China) - partly due to overflow from people no longer wanting to wait for Chinese children and also the new Hague convention treaty which goes into effect on April 1st. Not all countries are Hague certified which means that you can no longer adopt from certain countries anymore (another cause of the increase in waits everywhere).

So, our wait continues and life goes on. We have no choice but to accept "what is" and not "what was".

In the meantime, our daughter's room is ready and waiting for her to fill it. Her closet is teaming with clothes thanks to Aunt Ruth/Uncle Todd and Tanya/Jerry/Elie. (I can't wait to see her in them.) She has her crib, dresser, night stand, changing table, teddy bear chair and paintings that I've made for her. She is already so spoiled...

We occasionally get glimmers of hope. We have friends leaving for China on Tuesday to pick up their son. He is a beautiful little boy and we can't wait to meet him - a future playmate for our daughter (they only live a few blocks away from us).

Next set of matches are in!

Congratulations to all of the families who received their matches yesterday! The CCAA matched families with log in dates of December 28, 2005 - January 4, 2006! Another 8-day batch...

At least now the CCAA is out of the 2005 LIDs and is into 2006. Only another 27.5 weeks worth of LIDs to go... (We are 7-14-06). If they continue on the 8-day track of matches, that means another 24 months to go from now. We keep hoping for a speed up, but doesn't seem to be in the cards. Maybe after the Olympics in China are over??? Time will tell...

A beautiful poem

I found this beautiful poem that I think I'm going to put in her Lifebook (adoption version of a baby book). I couldn't resist making it look pretty...