December Referrals

Well, December referrals came out today. First the good news, they are early by China adoption standards. The bad news, they only progressed three days to August 10th. The only other upside is that they will possibly get more referrals out before Chinese New Year(jan. 24). I did have a chance to talk to our social worker, and the Grand Rapids staff thinks that we will get our referral in January. So we don't really know what to think. We do know that this is our last Christmas without our daughter. We also know, with a reasonable amount of surety
That she has already been born. We also know that a baby born over 2000. Years ago has everything in his hands, and he will make all things beautiful in his time.

November referrals

Happy Thanksgivng! We have quite a lot to be thankful for. God is good, all the time. November referrals came out on Friday-although it is always more complicated when holidays are involved. They advanced to August 7th. So that means they matched 5 days of Lids. We do not know for sure when we will get our referral, but our best guess would be either at the end of January or the end of February. In the mean time we are getting ready for Christmas. The tree is up, and we have a couple of rehearsals left for our concerts. Next weekend we sing with the UD Schola Cantorum on both Saturday and Sunday in the Christmas Gala Concert. Then on Saturday night we will be singing some of the favorite choruses from Handel's Messiah. We will then repeat that concert on the tenth. It is a blessing to know that this will definitely be our last Christmas without our daughter!

October Referrals

Well it is hard to believe this.  BUT THEY ARE FINALLY IN AUGUST!!!!!!!!! They did not get very far into August, (August 2nd to be exact) so that means that I can only take out 4 red stones from my jar (I will be doing that when I get home from school today!)  But normally, if there is a normal in all of this, they skip October and combine batches at the end of November--so we are thankful that  they did not do that.  We may still be on track to get a referral by the end of December or January.  In fact our Social Worker sent us information today on doing our last Home Study update.  So yes, there is always more paperwork, but at least it will be the last time!  

In other news, Mark got a new job (and there are indications that he is working with other Christians -a big answer to prayer) I have already "hosted" the Oktober Fiesta (I will post pictures later--they are on the home computer) We have all the parts to our Crib--so that might get put up this weekend (if we do, I will also post pictures of that!!)

Mark and I are singing with Schola Cantorum--and are preparing for a concert in November--singing and going to rehearsals is a great way to pass the time! We are also rehearsing parts of the Messiah to sing at our Church and at the Hatboro church in December.  Oh--and we also bought a new car!  

September Referrals

I can hardly believe that one month has gone by.  School is rolling along, which helps to pass the time.  This month brings great news.  We are able to remove 14 stones from our jar this month.  They progressed from LID 7/14/2006 to 7/28/2006.  It has been a long time since they have done so many days.  This means, Lord Willing, that we should be getting the referral for our daughter either in December or January!  It could, of course, be later that that (or even earlier!)  We are definitely tired of waiting, and just want to go get her!  

14 stones taken out of the jar!

They make a happy face (use your imagination!)



 So we are getting closer!  Please pray that we have the patience to wait it out these next few months. 
We still know that God is in control and that He guides our steps and has been through this entire process.

5 Years today

It has been a very busy week here in DE.  On Tuesday we expereinced an earthquake (ok--it was only a little shaking) but it was still weird.  Then last weekend, Hurricane Irene blew through.  We came through both of these "natural disasters" with out any damage--just a few frayed nerves (I am not a big fan of Tornado Warnings at midnight)

So we come to today--and it is our 5 year anniversary of having our Dossier logged in in China.  I can hardly believe that it has been that long--and with the business of starting school with the freshmen today, I had almost forgotten that today was the day. 

Although not official it looks like they made it all the way to July 14th. (for those of you keeping track that is a disappointing 2 day advance from last month.)  But it does bring us two days closer.  For now I am concentrating on my classes, still praying that very soon I will see my baby's face.

July Referrals

Aunt Sandy taking 6 stones out of the "waiting jar"

Aunt Sandy made a flower out of the stones she pulled from the jar!

End table with flowers from Aunt Sandy (we like to decorate!)

July Referrals came out today.  We can take six stones from the jar!!!  Acutally Aunt Sandy took them out today.  We also finished the painting, and new floor of the nursery!  We have a very pink room.  Aunt Sandy also helped to pick out some very cute decorations for the room! I need to add the border, figure out something for the closet, and hand the valance in front of the window.....for starters!
So they are now to July 12th.  Not quite half way done with July, but every day they refer brings us a day closer!!  There are only 50 red stones left in our jar!!

Here are some pictures of the room so far!

June Referrals and VBS

It has been a very busy month.  I ended the school year very well.  Graduation was on June 4th--and as always, it was a beautiful ceremony.  We then finished up with giving the younger students exams, and closing out the school year. We also finished with the Church Choir.  We ended our "season" by singing at the evening service for the OPC's 75th anniversary at Sandy Cove.  We had a lot of fun.

I then spent a week doing some much needed house projects.  The first was to have a farewell party for all of the dust bunnies whooping it up in our bedroom.  As I got further into it, I decided that the whole room needed to be changed around, vacuumed and dusted.  It took me the better part of a day (I even washed the walls--and no, I am not coming to your house:-) We also had some work done in our back yard--much needed work.

This is a before shot of the back corner (but after they cleaned it out)

The third week began with my Mother, my sister Brenda and my niece Felicia arriving at my doorstep (yes, I knew they were coming!)  On Tuesday we traveled by New Jersey Transit to Hoboken, NJ to try and get a glimse of the Cake Boss.  We didn't actually see him, but we did have some very good cake! On Wednesday, we took a driving tour of the Brandywine Battlefield (well....we only did a small portion of it--it is a very large battlefield)  We then went to the Herr's Potato Chip Factory for a tour.  On Thursday we headed down to Rehoboth--my niece wanted to see the ocean.  We then had a lovely visit with my Aunt Arlene, uncle Ralph and my cousin Evelyn.  On Friday we headed out for Baltimore (with very ambitious plans)  We started at the National Aquarium--one of the best that I have ever seen.  We then decided it would be too much to go over to Fort McHenry, so we are saving that for another time.  We did see some of the Museum ships in the harbor--that was fun.

This week I have been leading music while on a Faith Expedition. Have I said before that I love VBS?? It is always a very tiring week (I am not really sure why, as we only work for 1/2 of each day.  This year's theme was "Faith Expedition"  We went on a journey to learn about how Moses was given faith to follow God's plan.  David was given faith to believe the promises of God.  Daniel was given faith to obey God.  Matthew was given faith to repent and give his life to Jesus. Finally, Paul and Silas were given faith to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Of course, we are given faith to do all of these things too.  I have to admit, that sometimes this faith seems elusive.  Especially during this very long wait for our daughter--the thought "will she ever get here" has often taken a journey through my head.  But in the end, I do admit that God has given us the faith and the courage to endure this very long wait.

Speaking of the wait, Referrals for June came out yesterday.  They were able to advance 6 days to July 6th.  It is not as big as last month's, but we will take any amount of days that we can get! I took a picture of the stones from my jar on the rug for Rebecca's room (the room still needs to be done, but we have the rug!!)

May referrals

Well, surprisingly and amazingly they got through the month of June this month. I was expecting only maybe 2 or 3 days, and it turned out to be 10!!! As you can see, I was once again able to do some artwork with the red stones from our waiting jar! I think that it might be time to start working on a nursery for our daughter. We are down to two months (which we think will turn into 6-8 months of waiting). We could be wrong, but I hope that we are not! In the meantime, Mark is hiding from me, because I have a list of things that I would like to get done--as it is a long weekend! It won't be too painful (I love being the supervisor!!!) The weather has been beautiful and graduation and the end of school are only a few short days away! Let the summer come!

April Referrals

CCAA Portal Update!

LID’s through the review room: September 30, 2010 (previously June 30, 2010)
LID’s through referral: June 15, 2006 (6 day advance)

Really these are the March Referrals (I hope) as they came out on April 1st (so that means that they were sent from China in late March) They have now referred through June 15--yah!!! half of June is finished. According to the rumor queen they should be in August by the September Referrals.. I am not, however, going to hold my breath on that one (although she is usually right on the money)
In the mean time, we had a great time with my mom, my Aunt Onetta and my cousin Gary this past weekend. They were on their "spring break" tour--we did more laughing than anything. It was really good to have them here this weekend.

March Referrals

This has been a very busy month so far (and it is only the 9th!)
Referrals came out the end of February--since it had only been 3 weeks since the last batch. This one was quite a surprise.

CCAA Portal Update!

LID’s through the review room: June 30, 2010 (no change)
LID’s through referral: June 9, 2006 (7 day advance)

This is what we see on the Bethany Blog website--which tells us how far they are with referrals. So they are wll into June now!

We were able to travel to Michigan for David and Katrina's wedding. It was a very short weekend, but we had a great time. We were surprised with a quilt for our daughter. The Quilt was made by my cousin Pam, my sister Sandy and my Aunt Onetta. From what I understand, a lot of love and laughter went into the making of the quilt. It will be a precious gift to give our daughter when she arrives.

Happy New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!

Yesterday marked the year of the Rabbit in China. It was also the day that referrals have arrived from China. They made it into June! June 2nd to be exact. Mark and I celebrated the "new year" by going out for a nice Chinese dinner last night. The Lord Willing, that will be our last Chinese New Year without our daughter!

In other news, we have been dodging ice and snow storms this year. It should actually be the year of the snow shovel.