Lily's Room

Here are the long awaited pictures of Lily's room so far. We are not quite finished yet.
I found a pink Pottery Barn lamp shade at a yard sale and have since went crazy with pink and green. This is the diamond wall that we painted. It was a lot of fun to do.


Brian built these cubby shelves for her. He is going to build custom size boxes which I'll paint to go in the cubbies. This will give us storage to put her toys or lotions or whatever in.
He is also going to build a cornise box with scallops at the top of the closet, which I'll paint white and hang butterfly curtains at each end. On top of all that we need to get closet doors. I think in the end it will look good. Right now it's an organized mess.



This is the butterfly material to put on the closet and also the window.


Lately, we've been collecting toys. We were asked at Costco the other day if we were shopping for Christmas. We just laughed and said "kindof." My sister got her the leap frog Lily. I think she is going to love this. It says "Hi, my name is Lily" and other things. It is so cute. Thank you Sally.

Last but not least, we got her a pack-n-play yesterday. This thing came with so many extra things and no instructions. Luckily I probably won't need to use the extra things, cause I couldn't figure it out.
I think we are pretty much ready. Now we just need a baby to put in all this stuff!

Coming across old things

As I am unpacking boxes to move back into our house after renovations, I came across this piece of paper. A year and a half ago when we were first starting this adoption process, my friend to me to a card reader. We had a good time, took some notes and thought nothing more of it. It's interesting to me after having such a hard time with this months referrals that I came across this paper. The notes that she had made for me are:

Be open to all and attach to nothing. Buddist saying.
Meaning: Not attached to any certain outcome. Open to all.

Contemplate yourself as surrounded by the conditions you wish to produce.
Meaning: Don't buy into negativity, only focus on what the end result is.

How you think creates your reality.

This lady may tell everyone these things, who knows. All I know is that at the time I was like, ok that's nice, whatever. But today it really spoke to me and made me realize that that is just what I need to do. Not get caught up in the now and focus on the future when she is here. The end result.

One Year Anniversary

Today is our official one year anniversary for our log in date. On one hand it has gone fast and on the other hand it has been very slow. I feel much better today, it is a wonder what a good nights sleep and a nap will do for you! Brian and I went to breakfast this morning at the Good Egg. It was so yummy. We really wanted to go to this place called eggceptional because it really is eggceptional, but when we drove up they were closed. Very disappointing, but our breakfast was really good anyhow.

I Know it's Not Confirmed

I know it is not confirmed, but it's rumored CCAA didn't get as far as many had thought they would. When I read this news I just started crying and I can't stop. I'm crying for us, looking at adding yet another month to the wait. I'm crying for our friends possibly not getting their referral when they are sooo very close. I have been telling everyone worst case senerio October referral for us, now it looks like November. I think I just need to stop talking about it to people. I'm usually a very positve person that tries to find the good in everything and everyone. I just feel so sad right now. I can only imagine what those with really close dates must feel. To make myself feel better I went to a friends blog and just looked at all of the pictures of their precious little girl and told myself that it happened for them, it will happen for us. It is just so hard to believe when I feel so sad. But, like I always do, I'll get up, take a big swallow, lift my chin up, smile and keep moving forward.
Those of you who did get your referrals this month, congratulations and good luck to you!

Our Furry Family

We'd like you all to meet our furry family. It all started with our cat Kaylee.

She is almost 8 years old. She has always been a nervous cat but is mellowing out in her older age. She is very prissy and likes things her way. She loves to lay on your lap at night but only if you have a blanket or something on your lap. She also brings luck into our house with 6 fingers on each front paw.

Then came Max. He is almost 7 years old. He is a head strong yellow lab. A very mocho man except when it thunders. He than is a scared little boy that wants to hide inbetween his mama's legs. When he was young, he did what he wanted. This includes jumping over 6' brick walls or through single pained windows. If he gets it in his head there's no stopping him. He now has a doggy door and doesn't like wires. As he got older he has relaxed and listens and is very loving. He is a good dog and we love him.

This is Duncan. Duncan died one year ago at the age of 5.5. He is absolutely the sweetest dog. He always wanted to please you and do everything you wanted. He would cuddle so close he couldn't get physically closer to you. He loved his Dad like no other. But above all he loved to play ball and frizbee. He was amazing with his catching ability. You could throw a ball as hard as you could right at him and he'd catch it right in his mouth and love it. He begged for more. If we weren't careful he'd play so much he'd make his paws bloody from running and stopping. Duncan lived life to the fullest and we miss him terribly.

Our baby is Gracie. She is one year old and very much a type A personality. I think she was sent to us to get us ready for our baby. She is wild, does what she wants when she want and hunts anything and everything. We have had to "kitty" proof our house. Close the doggy door at night so we won't wake up to all kinds of surprises. At the same time she is very loving. I have had to work on her a lot to not bite. She is pretty good now (at least with me). This is the one we are worried about with the baby. She gets very jealous. I hope she does well because we really love her and don't want to give her away but if we have to choose between baby and cat I am sorry to say it has to be baby. Even so, Gracie is a joy and she keeps us laughing.

New Burst of Energy

I don't know if it is the new B Complex I have been taking or the new carpet but I have had this new burst of energy. I think it could be that for the first time in over a year we've been able to actually organize and move back into all the rooms. A year ago we were going to move so we started fixing up the house. Then it turned into staying and remodeling. Stuff has been anywhere and everywhere. Shoved into rooms as we lived around it. Getting our carpet installed was the last of the flooring and I have been moving things around and organizing stuff better than before. With every step I take it is like a cleansing process. It just feels so good and makes me so happy to look around and not see disaster. With this new found energy I'm going to go do more!

Very first post

Welcome to our adoption journey. We are nearing the end of the long road to bring home our precious Lily. With an LID of August 26, 2005 we are close, but it really feels like we are turtles walking the road. The closer we get the slower time passes. We have kept ourselves busy with house renovations and meeting new and wonderful friends with the same goals of adoption from China. Please join us as we get closer and closer to the beginning of our small family joining together.