Happy Friday and a couple of favorite pics!

Gracie (2) on the left with her BFF, Julia. They have the same birthday and are from same SWI. We met in our travel group.

Grace age 2, going down the slide.

I don't know about you, but I am so happy Friday is here and this week is finally over. It's just been one of those very long weeks. Let's see, we had problems with the furnace/thermostat of course when it's something like 5 degrees outside here in WI. That got fixed fortunately. Today Grace had a large cavity filled in one of her molars, and she cried throughout the whole procedure and I had to console her (help hold her down a little bit too). It was just one of those things that both of us were totally exhausted afterwards and extremely happy it was over. Grace has had cavities filled before and done very well with it all, but for some reason she just felt like crying and doing a fair amount of wiggling and resisting. And then I've been a "single Mom" all week while Dan is out of town for work. Grace has missed her Daddy so much this week, and I will say so have I. Thankfully it's the weekend very soon! :) Oh, and here are 2 very cute pics from the summer Grace was 2. When I look at them now, she was such a baby then.

Some things about our girl

Grace wearing my glasses in a Gracie way.

~ Grace has a wicked (in a good way) sense of humor and loves to laugh and make others laugh.

~ She has a kind and loving heart, and a gentle soul.

~ She loves school and her teacher and her friends.

~ She's learning to swim and she's naturally athletic. Gymnastics is her favorite right now.

~ She's a Daddy's girl. Hmmm I was one (and I still am) too!

~ She's a smart one. Is starting to read a bit on her own, she knows many sight words and she is very visual.

~ She has a strong spirit which will serve her quite well.

~ Grace has come so far in the last 4 years. 3 years ago Grace was identified as having a "significant speech delay," and mild sensory integration issues. She started with speech therapy 3 days a week and OT for sensory stuff, once a week. The sensory issues resolved pretty quickly. With much hard work on her part, Grace is "graduating" from speech this month. Her articulation issues are resolved, which were pretty monumental. We are so fortunate to have her in our lives. I have learned so much from her in so many ways. :)

Blogging with a Purpose Award

I was surprised and flattered to find out that Kim of Journey to Baby Lem gave me the Blogging with a Purpose Award. Thank you Kim you are very sweet, and you have made my day! Kim is a fellow Wisconsinite and she and her dh wait for their first child. You know I'm not sure really what purpose there is for my blog other than being a way to communicate to friends, fellow adoptive parents and waiting parents about what's going on in our life, in my head, and with this wait. The blog is therapy for me.

I'm supposed to nominate 5 people for this award, and that part was easy. I could have nominated many more. Here they are:

Angie, of A Mother's Place. Angie is a fellow Nov 06 LID friend and her blog is a calm oasis for me. She always has the "right" words. She is a Mom to 2 wonderful boys and she is waiting for her daughter from China.

Karen, of Morris, Party of Four. I adore Karen's blog and I'm not sure she knows that I read it faithfully. Karen has a deep faith and is an amazing writer. I love her writing style. She and her family wait for an adorable (and I mean adorable) daughter in China. Hopefully she will be home with them very soon.

Ashley of Waiting for Lilly. Ashley is a dear friend and another LID group member. Ashley and I have many email conversations about everything. She has 3 teenage boys that she is a mama to now and she is waiting for her Lilly to arrive. She is a supportive friend and someone I will meet hopefully this year in person!

Gala at Story of Our Life. Gala's blog is as real as it gets as far as life, kids, job and husband. I have met and know Gala in real life and she has a kind heart. She is a sweetie.

And finally Verna, of Families Grow ~ Watch Ours. Verna is the blog fairy and she has done my blog and many others. Verna is a busy Mom to soon to be 5...she and her dh will be traveling to China soon to bring their little boy home.

Award Guidelines:

1. Awarded parties must nominate 5 people who have not received the award.

2. The blogs that receive the award must serve some purpose.

3. In their post about the award they need to link back to the original entry.

4. Awarded parties must post the award banner on their site. The banner must be linked to Eric Novak's site.

Thank you

I want to say thank you for the very kind comments, and I even received a few emails. I couldn't get through this wait without your support. No one really understands how difficult this whole thing is, not our parents, siblings or even closest friends. I was an infertility patient for many years and was on that hellish roller coaster too. Somehow this roller coaster is a bit different because I believe there is a child at the end of this road for us all. And when I say my heart aches, it aches for everyone concerned...waiting parents and more importantly the children who wait. Because that is what this is all about... those children who need families, where ever they are from --Ethiopia, Taiwan, Mexico, Korea, the Philippines, India, Haiti, China or from the United States. Take care my friends! :)

No words anymore

(hope)

There's a lot of sadness right now in the world of China adoption. And it's not really because the little box on CCAA's site closed...it's because if insane sounding rumors are trickling in, that talk of lengthening wait times to referral. I can hardly press the number keys on my keyboard...2011, 2012 possibly for our late Nov. 06 LID. My heart aches. This past summer I cried endlessly about this wait when I started to realize what was truly happening with adoption from China. This adoption program has gone from one of predictability and transparency to one of uncertainty and endless waiting. No one knows what is going on---other than we are on some out of control rollercoaster and we don't know when we'll be able to get off the ride. The only glimmer of hope that I still have and that keeps me still going is that CCAA has publicly said that things are slowing down, but if we are patient we will get a referral. I honestly don't know what to say anymore when people ask me about the wait. Because I have no words.

Hola! from Mexico

Here are some photos of our trip...can't believe we were there only a week ago. We will return someday soon I am sure. Ahh...now back to the real world. :)

It's gone now

On CCAA's website there was a little box with the title "Documents Processing." It was great because we could see how far they had gotten with referrals, and what LID month was having their dossier's presently reviewed. Our LID month of Nov 2006 is presently in review. Well CCAA has taken the box off their site and now it's replaced with instructions to "check with your agency for information." This was the only teeny-tiny bit of information that CCAA would give out publicly and now it's gone. Ughh. Also more rumors are coming in about possible increasing wait times. At this rate I will be using a walker and wearing Depends when this child arrives!

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Grace with her hair braided. :)

The 3 of us having dinner in Playa del Carmen.

Main pyramid at Chichen Itza.

Gracie and me the last day of our trip.

Western Caribbean on the Mayan Riviera.

Hola! My Spanish is pretty limited I have to say, we celebrated the New Year in Mexico for a week after the Christmas holiday. This was my first trip to Mexico and I have fallen in love with another country and culture. Dan, Gracie and myself stayed about an hour south of Cancun in the town of Playa del Carmen, in a resort on the western Caribbean...the entire area is called the "Mayan Riviera." We relaxed by the ocean, swam, had margaritas (yum), Grace found many shells, did some shopping one day at the local market (brought back some silver jewelry for gifts), ate a lot of good food, relaxed some more, took a day trip to Chichen Itza (site of extensive Mayan ruins), went to a fun New Year's eve party at the resort and met many, many warm, friendly people from Europe, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico of course. Grace was quite the little traveler and charmed most everyone she met. It was a bit surreal arriving back to Wisconsin to the snow and cold, but it is great to be home! Here are a few photos, I will post some more maybe tonight or tomorrow. :)