THE STORK HAS LANDED!!!

Presenting Gigi, the most beautiful baby in the known universe!!!

Fly Stork, Fly!!!

Our stork should be here soon!!!!

Here's the picture we put on our door for the delivery person so they wouldn't leave...we want to get his/her picture! I know, it's silly!

The Stork is on His Way!!!!

We expect to receive a visit from the stork tomorrow! He will be delivering a picture of Gigi!!! We'll post it as soon as we are able to compose ourselves enough to work the scanner!!!

Fly Little Stork, Fly!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Yes, you read that title correctly!!! IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

At 12:11pm this afternoon we got "the call" about our beautiful baby girl!!! She was born on March 1, 2008 and is now 13 months (and 2 days) old. We'll be traveling for her in about 2-3 months so she'll be about 16 months when we bring her home!

We are beside ourselves with joy!!! And cannot imagine how we'll get through the next 7-10 days as we wait for them to send us her picture and information.

Thank you EVERYONE for all your support over these past years, months, and especially these past few days as we anxiously waited for this glorious day!!!

WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!

Too happy to be upset...too upset to be happy

I am looking at this at the last little joke in this process, but I really need to get the call soon. As great as all of these rumors we keep hearing are, until the phone rings they are starting to just get me too anxious. First we hear that matching started over a week ago, which seems to be the case. Then, last Sunday night, we hear that matching is complete and some agencies are saying there could be calls by Tuesday. No news on Monday and Tuesday and then we start to hear that Europe and Australia who ALWAYS get their referrals first have not reported anything. Then we start getting reports that the referrals ARE done and on the way and there is even a report of at least one agency telling their people that they have arrived and to expect a call any day. Then that does not seem to be the case since nobody reported any actual calls. Every rumor seems to agree that referrals are most likely complete and COULD be in the air, but still not a single report of an actual call being made and now people speculate that the calls could be held up by the Chinese "Tomb Sweeping" holiday and we will all be called on Monday. If the referrals are complete and in the mail then why would this holiday delay anything. If it is delaying them, then that would mean they have not been mailed yet, which would actually mean we do not get called until several days later. If the last three years have taught us anything, it is that we need to be patient and that Murphy's Law seems to have numerous clauses concerning the adoption process, but COME ON...we deserve a call already. At a minimum, our agency could send out an email to lower our expectations or something because they have to know there are sixteen families freaking our right now. Even if they have no news at all they could reach out to us with SOMETHING!!
In any case, we know it is only a matter of days, but these last few days seems almost harder than the last three years+ have been. Please everyone...pray for them to finally end our misery and give us the call we have been waiting for...the call that finally tells us some details about our little Gigi. It is any day, but can't that day be today?

No News to Share Yet...

We're still waiting, as patiently as we can! We hope to get the call by Friday...it will be the longest weekend of our lives if we have to wait for Monday!!!! Fly little stork, fly!!!!

More Rumors...

Rumor Queen reported, "I’ve got a report of one agency saying that referrals have been signed." Woohoo!!!! She hasn't heard whether or not they've been mailed yet but another family said their agency told them to expect a call on Tuesday.

As you can imagine we are beside ourselves with joy and anticipation! And have our fingers crossed that we will hear by Tuesday as well. Either way, if this rumor is correct, the stork has selected a little princess for us to love and is preparing to deliver her to us at this very moment!!

Rumor Queen is Reporting That....

MATCHING HAS BEGUN!!!!!

WOOHOO!!!!!

ANY DAY NOW!!!!

China

We can't wait to find out where Gigi is and where our itinerary will take us in China. I will be flying more on this trip than I have in my entire life!

Any Day Now!!!

We're just giddy with excitement. We really should be getting the call any day now. I mean it's 3/25 already! Can someone please tell China that it's the end of the month and they need to get on with the matching process already and mail out those referrals!! I can't take it anymore! The month is still moving pretty quick but right now it seems like it's standing still as we wait for these next few days to pass!!!

Early Rumors

This month is just flying by which is just perfect! Rumor Queen (http://www.chinaadopttalk.com/) posted that there are some reports that the CCAA will match through either the 9th (which would be 3 days, another very small month) or through the 14th (which would only leave Dan & I laughing as we know things are going to speed up like crazy once we get our referral). The best thing ever about this month is that although I still check the Rumor Queen every day (God only knows what we would have done without it these past years!) it really doesn't matter what date they get through this month or any other month for that matter because we're next. I know there are thousands of people out there waiting for their baby who would disagree with me but some day they will be in our position and will feel the exact same way and besides I think we've more than done our time!!! 37 months and that's not including the 6 months of paper chasing when we first got started!.

The other thing she reported is that some of the people that received referrals last month will be leaving for China about one month from the date they got their referral...that is super fast! Holy Cow!! I doubt that will be the case for us since our agency is still saying 2-3 months but wouldn't that just be the greatest!!!

Today is already March 19th (happy birthday Joseph!) and we could be getting the call in as little as two weeks. Two weeks!!

SOON...very very soon!!!

We're about two weeks away from getting the call. The anticipation is enough to make you crazy! It's also a little too hard to believe that after so many years of waiting it's finally going to happen but it is!!! We're trying to get ready for her but things are not moving as quickly as they need to. The house is not baby safe yet especially her room. We have so many little projects to get done around here and I just don't see everything getting done in time for her. I don't want to waste a second with her when she gets here worrying about "stuff" around the house. Our leave from work is going to zoom by and I want every moment to be about her! I guess I just need to deal with things as they are and not worry so much about them. It's just hard because we really do want everything perfect when Gigi finally gets here which will be soon...very very soon!!!!

WE ARE NEXT!!!!!

WooHoo!!! We are next! After 3 years of waiting it's finally our turn...China matched babies through 3/6/06 so that means...WE ARE NEXT!!!!! It feels amazing to say that! This time next month we'll be anxiously waiting for a call from our agency to tell us we're parents! It's almost time to celebrate!!!!

WHERE ARE THE RUMORS??

This is really getting a little too much to handle now...we should have started hearing rumors by now! UGH!!! Does this mean they are matching more babies than last month so it's taking longer? That would be wonderful...take as long as you need!!! OMG! Could we actually make it this month? Wow! That would be a surprise! The silence is enough to make one go insane! And there's still speculation that there is a speed up coming. One that has them referring 10-15 days at a time again...Dan & I are sure that will happen...as soon as we get our referral! If you look at the past you will see the slow down basically happened at the precise time we joined the fun and we're sure it will end with us getting our referral! But if that's how it had to happen for us to get our Gigi then that's how it had to happen!! Come on referrals or even just a good rumor, I need something to work with here!! CCAA you can do 5 little bitty days, can't you? Holy Cow, you know they really could do 5 days...this could be it!!! But to keep it real...apparently 3/6 & our date, 3/7 had a ridiculous number of families logged in so it just depends on how many babies are ready to be adopted (and a whole lot of red tape, I'm sure! - which is ironic since red is such a lucky color in the Chinese culture).

It's Rumor Time!

Usually our favorite time of the month is rumor time but now that we're so close to being next and coulld possibly be being matched wth Gigi as I type this message (well, not really with the time difference everyone is probably sleeping right now over there LOL!) something feels different this time! Something more real and more important than previous rumors...this could be it!!!

Right now we've heard two rumors. A few days ago a European agency reported that the CCAA only matched babies through March 3rd...only one day! Ugh! But about 6 hours after that was posted on their site it was removed! We're not sure why. Now we're hearing that matching has begun or is beginning depending on which rumor is accurate. So all we can do now is hope and pray and wait!

Dan had a Gigi dream last night. We didn't make it into the next group but were invited to go along with them to see what it will be like. While there he said they asked us all kinds of questions including her name. They told us that there were a few babies they were considering for us but now that they met us and know her name they know who she is. They said they have a baby that looks like a Gigi. Dan told them that the chubbier the cheeks the better!

Ok, this is it...pray a little extra...we could be seeing her sweet little face in just a couple of weeks! If it doesn't happen this month then we know they just didn't get to our Gigi yet and we will wait for her! Please pray that Gigi will be a healthy, beautiful, baby girl (the room is very pink!)!!!

2009 so far...

So, for a host of reasons, this year has not started well. First, as many already know, I almost lost my job. In fact, I did lose my job as part of a layoff that cost my company more than 70 workers. At 11:34am, I was in an office finding out that I was going to be unemployed for the first time in close to two decades...and with our referral only five days away (well, five "referral days...but by now you know what that means). Fortunately, by 4:22pm that afternoon, I received a phone call from the director of my department advising me that he had contacted another department and found another position for me so I would just be transferring and not losing a minute of pay.

Moving forward from that, my birthday approached. This was a "landmark" year and I turned 40. I have never been one to dwell on numbers and ages and have always felt like you are only as old as you feel, and I have always felt quite young at heart. This year still hit pretty hard. Forty is just a little too old to call yourself young. I know I have plenty more miles in me, but I am years past my prime and, no matter how healthy a lifestyle I lead (not that I do at the moment) I will never again run, jump, climb or look like I used to. My friends and family definitely did there best to make me feel better about it and I could not be happier or more appreciative for each of them. My wife threw me the best birthday party I have ever had about a week-and-a-half early and it helped to soften the blow.

One day after my party, I received a phone call from my brother Steve that my father was in a coma in the hospital. He had been through this type of thing several times before, (including one incident about 6-7 years ago where he was unconscious for over a week and a doctor told me he would either never wake up or would be in a home the rest of his life if he did only for Dad to wake up that day and have a complete recovery). Steve assured me that it looked a lot more serious this time. Over the next week or so I got daily updates and it seemed to only be getting worse. There was no reason to be optomistic, and I was not, but there was a small part of me that thought "maybe" and I prayed daily that he would somehow beat the odds. One day before my birthday my brother and sister received the devastating news that they had lost their own father. I was sick for them and it only magnified my own fears. I was sure that I would lose my father on my birthday, especially as the day before the doctors got the latest test results showing no brain activity, removed his respirator and advised Steve and I that it was a matter of time. As it turned out, he was a bit stronger than the doctors thought and he made it through that day and the next. The morning after my birthday, as I prepared to leave for work, my phone rang. I knew by the ring that it was Steve and I knew from the time that this was not going to simply be an update. I answered the phone and Steve told me. My father had passed away. Peacefully and after a long period of sickness, but far, far too early.

I cannot describe exactly how I feel. Two weeks have passed. The funeral was touching and beautiful...and painful and cold. Friends and family consoled me and I put up as brave a front as I could. I feel somewhat better in the sense that I know it is going to be okay, but I keep coming back to the first thought I had when I heard the news. Why could he not have stayed around long enough to meet Gigi? He loved life and he loved all children. He adored my nieces and nephews and for the last seven years of his life he had a love affair with his "Little Mo," Steve's daughter. I know he would have just loved Gigi and I know she would have loved her "Papa Jerry." I will be fine and I know everyone has their time, but I am going to miss him terribly. We were not always the closest and sometimes there would be ridiculously long periods between calls, but he was always, and remains, the biggest man in the world to me and I loved him.

I believe in an ironic Universe. That is why I am absolutely sure now that China will refer through our date this month. It cannot take longer than the end of next month, but I am sure that we will now get our referral just a few weeks too late for my Dad to at least have known we were finally getting her and to see her photo. I hope that I can touch my daughter's heart the way he touched mine. I hope he can look down and see her when she comes and is just as proud of her as I know I will be. I am thrilled that we are so close, and that I will finally have something great happen this year, but it will be touched with the sadness of knowing that he will not be there. That is something I will get past, but will never understand.

5 to go!

We've known China matched 2 more days for a couple of weeks now but we got the official word from our agency this morning. That was nice to see it confirmed. Only 5 more days to go! Although we are very happy about this right now we are facing a great sadness. Dan's Dad has been in a coma for over a week now and there's no signs of his improving. We pray for a miracle but are prepared for the worst. It's just a matter of time now. Please help with your positive thoughts and prayers. Thank you!!

Happy Year of the Ox

Every month comes to the same mixture of emotions. We are excited to see when the referrals will come and how far the referrals will get. Rumors start swirling, some good, some great, some horrifying. This month was, indeed, only 2 days, which was disappointing to say the least, but when you are down to 7 days, 2 days is still progress. We are now down to FIVE days...only 5 more days, two of which are Saturday and Sunday, which (say it with me) traditionally do not have log-ins. March 2 (which is as far as they got this time) was a Thursday. March 7 (which is our log-in date) is a Tuesday. This means that all that is standing between us and Gigi is Friday, March 3rd and Monday March 6th. If they can just do three days (three actual days...not including the "gimme" weekend days) we could have a referral next month. This is not unlikely, not is it a given. It will either happen or it will not, but in either case, I do not see a scenario where it takes longer than the end of March (or a couple of days into April depending on how quickly they get the referrals in the mail) before we see her face.

Today is the beginning of Chinese New Year. It is the Year of the Ox. This will be a momentous year for us, and I am sure for all those reading this since you will all be a part of her life. As I write this, I am overwhelmed by the many emotional highs and lows of the past week. From great drama in our personal life, to the beginning of the Obama presidency, to being a part of the layoff at my job last week, to finding our just a few hours later that I would instead be transferring to another department, to receiving the last updated papers we will need for the adoption (unless somehow it was to take more than a year before the adoption...which is unthinkable), to being surrounded by all of my friends and family, many from out of town, celebrating (a bit prematurely) my upcoming birthday. The fact that so many people came for the party, in many cases driving hours out of the way and sleeping on deflated airbeds and on floors, just to ensure I had a happy birthday celebration, filled me with so much joy that I cannot contain it. I am saddened that Gigi could not be a part of it, but I am overjoyed knowing that she will be surrounded by the same people who will shower her with the same love I felt that night.

Lastly, a big thank-you to "Gigi's Mommy" who held my hand during the inaugeration festivities, who hugged me and told me it was okay while I was in the midst of the layoff, and who planned for weeks and executed such a wonderful party for me. You are my rock and my north star. I love you very much and I cannot wait until Gigi meets you. She is undoubtedly going to love you just as much!!

Rumor of 2 Days

Well, there's a pretty substantial rumor out there that the CCAA did complete matches prior to their CNY celebration that begins this weekend and maybe because they did it so quickly since the last referrals it's a very small batch...only 2 days.

Better than no days and having to wait until after their holiday! We really thought they would get through at least 3 days but figured the next cut off would be 3/6 the day before ours but that would only be a 1 day batch and maybe they don't want to put out only a 1 day batch so now they can do Friday3/3 and Monday 3/6 next time to have what will appear to be a 4 day batch but really only be 2 days...after which will come 3/7 and probably the rest of the month since we'll have our referral!! LOL!

Ok, so January is looking like 3/2/06...our best guess is February will bring us to 3/6/06 and March (which we'll find out about at the beginning of April) will bring us to our baby, 3/7/06!!!

Not much we can do but continue to wait!! and finish preparing for her since there is still so much left to do yet!!

OMG!!! ONLY 7 DAYS LEFT!!!!

Well, according to the Rumor Queen there are referral phone calls being made in Europe today...if they really made it through 2/28/06 then that means there are only 7 days left!! We've been waiting so long and taking our time about so many things...we're really not ready...don't get me wrong we're ready for her tomorrow if they will give her to us! but our home isn't!!! We need carpet in her room, wires organized and hidden, safety latches put on, shelves put up, bathrooms renovated, and the list goes on...we're just so clueless we have no idea how to do any of it! I have the next week off...I think I'm going to learn as I go and just start doing some things starting with my shower. I'm going to tear out the old tile and just figure it out as I go...how hard can it be?? Of course Dan is doing his share, like right now he's setting up his blu ray player that Santa gave him because what baby doesn't need a blu ray player in their nursery!! LOL!! That's about the extent of his handy man abilities...but I know he will be the best Daddy ever so that's ok with me! Well, lots to do so I'm signing off...we are hoping that since they did two batches of referrals this month it was because they want to get another in before the Chinese New Year celebration which begins 1/26/09. I hope that's true!! OMG, they only have to get through 7 more days 'til we see our beautiful baby!!! WOOHOO!!!