I thought it was stress.....

Well~ I have been having "stomach pains" off and on for about 2 weeks now. Well I have just chalked it up to stress and waiting for that elusive TA. Well last night in church I was hurting so bad...I could not get comfortable..the longer I sat the more unbareable the pain. I am thinking ok...I must be really stressed about that TA..(I was sooo hoping would come today). Well not only did TA not come today..I went to the doc and he said it was a "gall bladder attack"..so my gallbladder is going bye-bye tomorrow. He wants to go ahead and get it out so I will be ready to go to China and not have to worry about an "attack" there. Well I checked the internet to see if this "attack"( I like saying that word) could be caused by stress. Here is what I found.

"CBN scientists believe the latest finding supports a link between social stress and digestive function and could have implications for understanding disorders such as gallstones, a product of excess bile accumulation, in humans.

"Because social stress activates the nervous system of humans in similar ways as it does in fishes," said Earley, "the study could hold clues to evaluating the risk factors that contribute to gallstone formation in people."


So I guess I am like some kind of fish?!? What does this mean?!?!?!?!?!?!

Nope

Ok..I just got off the phone with Karla and TA has NOT been mailed. My gut is since it was not mailed today it probably wont be this week.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday with our homeschool group. As we were viewing the petting zoo Bert was saying this sure seems like the "same ole same ole"...of course when you have been going to the pumpkin patch for 10years in a row it does get quite mundane! I cant wait to take Sophie next year. I really thought she would already be with us this year. Speaking of Sophie...Karla said it would be next week before the TA came in.

Sophies room/packing advice

This is a painting for the wall it is a copy of Sophies fabric
a closer look
diaper station
view of Sophies room from the door, I am waiting on my mom to finish her drapes and bedding
The MOST important thing to pack is hairbows to match every outfit!!

Uh...its Tuesday..

Its Tuesday now and still we wait

For Oh that so important date

They say the time will surely fly

Once we are holding our cutie pie

Once we hear the day is true

We'll come to get you Sophie Ru!!

Countdown begins...

Ok folks...I know it is getting close. I know this ...
1. because I am taking Ambien and have been awake since 5am...took it 11:pm.(I should be in deeeeep sleep right now)
2.Karla said it would be here the end of the month.
3. B/c this is the LAST full week of Oct. and right now I am not considering those 2 pitiful days that fall into next week and are still named Oct.
4. I just kinda got a feeling...(and If I am wrong dont remind me later)
5.B/c I went to "The Market" yesterday and bought 6 gifts for the lovely orphanage people.(actually I bought 5, one person gave me one free b/c I was adopting)
6.And many more reasons but basically I just want to go soosooosoooo bad!

What, you make ask are we counting down to?? TA in hand of course!!! Which means we get for sure travel dates, book a flight, fly to China, pick up Sophie, never sleep on Sunday afternoons or ever again(for several years), visit pandas, fly to GZ...swear to treat her like a princess..fly back to Alabama...show up at airport and watch my china friends and my family have a Jerry Springer feud over who is getting to get her first. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE..lol.

YEE HAW BABY!!!

AHHHHHHHHH..ok God really wont give you more than you can bare!!!(see yesterdays depressed post)!! I just got a call from Karla at LL and she said she talked to their contact in China and our TA will be here the end of the month!!! YES>>>> Do you hear the Hallelujah chorus?? I do !! Oh thank you Jesus!! Ok I havent even started calling anyone yet! I just wanted to get this on here. Thank you all so much for your prayers about TA.Ok the next thing we need to pray about is that we will get a quick consulate appt!!!!

I cant take much more...

Oh this waiting STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok we were told the next SN TA's should be coming toward the end of the month. Well every day after today is TOWARD the END of the month, right? 65 days from LID. I know people have waited much longer on their TA's than this. But they are BETTER people than me. I cant wait any longer...

My adoption friends...

Today I met at the Cheesecake Factory with my adoption friends.We had SOOO much fun. After we ate we all went and spent money at Pottery Barn Kids.
Roberta also let everyone in on the wonderful news that they have found their son on LL's WC list. They are nameing him Matthew. Congrats to them and I hope the whole referral process speeds up so my other friends will be holding their daughters soon. The waitress was so sweet..(and talkative). We told her we why we were there and she brought us all our cheesecake with a candle and "congratulations to you" written in chocolate. What a great day!!

Oct 11th

Since we have been DTC the date, Oct 11th, was the day I figured we would hear something about our travel. We are 76 days from DTC and 60 days from LID. Our SW told us they are not expecting any more SN TA's until the end of this month. So how many more days to the end of the month 20 days. So maybe in 20 days we will hear something. I would really like to travel and be back home by Thanksgiving. But at this rate who knows. Oh yeah, yesterday I got the "Brown Envelope" in the mail.

Why I havent posted in a while...

This is our backyard

The bride and groom

My kitchen (after the fact)

Elizabeth(miniature bride) and her Aunt Laura

Well, the wedding reception is over and done with! YEAH!!! My very dear friend who is like a little sister to me tied the knot on Sat. The reception was at our home so I have been crazy for weeks trying to get everything ready. Although it was the perfect opportunity to get my "honey-do" list done...I am glad it is over.
I will post more pictures on this wonderful occasion later. I accidentally gave the CD with most of my pictures away..so I need to go make another one.
Anyways it has taken more than an hour for me to do this post. I dont know how to get the captions on the pictures like they need to be(obviously). I need a crash course from Dr.Mintz. And never fear for Kim will keep my blog updated the whole time we are in China.

S L O W road to China?

Ok well I got it from a reliable source that we might not hear anything until the end of Oct. I know it has been a possibility the whole time I just didnt want it to be a reality. Another thing is CCAA(china center of adoption affairs) is closed for a week in Oct. So that puts them behind..and also a lot of other adoption agencies dont allow their people to travel in Oct..so they will have Nov. consulate appointments. Which from what I can tell would mean that even if we did get out TA by the end of Oct. we might not be able to travel till late Nov. Who knows??? This probably does not make sense to you unless you are adopting or have adopted. It barely makes sense to me. But anyways please just keep us in your prayers for a speedy TA.
thanks so much!!!!!

Just wanted to post a picture of some really cool kids!!
Also I am soooo happy for Jeremy and Alicia Nails..a Lifeline family that received their TA this past Friday. They are heading for China on Oct 11th.
We are on day 60 of our wait from DTC. I am thinking it is going to be closer to the end of Oct before we hear anything.

Cousins

Kaitlin and Aunt Laura bought the girls matching PJ's the other day..they are sooo cute!! I always have to let EG get her silly picture in and then do my serious..smile and be cute.

Shameless plug

Ok...I hate when I go to blogs and the owner has not updated anything new so I am going to try and update more. Even if is just about life in general and not our specific adoption journey. And that way my good friend Eric wont be dissapointed the many times he signs on during the day at work..having to mute the site so no one will peek over his shoulder and catch him reading adoption blogs..hee hee.
Anyways..the book you see pictured is an AWESOME book on child rearing. I love James Dobson, Stephen Covey and many other excellent family and child care authors but I have to say this one takes the cake on how to apply Godly parenting. Most books you read you wonder if the family is really as wonderful as they sound. Well let me tell you. I read this book over a year and a half ago..emailed the authors with specific questions(they were quick to respond.) And had the wonderful pleasure of getting to meet them and spend some quality time with them over this past month. And they are everything I had hoped they would be and more!! They have 5 of the most well behaved, polite, generous, caring, intelligent, self motivated and hilarious children I have ever met!! I just cant say enough about this family or their book. Even if you already have "perfect" children and have all the answers to parenting. I still think you will enjoy this book.

Close up

Thanks Dr. Mintz for doing the close up!!

Guess who???

We received some new pics of Sophie from a nice family on my Adoptchengdu site. Can you recognize who she is??? Yellow shirt and look at the 2 pigtails!!! AHHHH I cant wait to squeeze her up!!! I am praying everyday for TA..please keep praying it will come quickly!!! The waiting is A G O N Y!!!!! These pics were taken on Aug 21st. So Sophie was 14 mos. She is now 15 mos. Her hair might be to her waist when we finally get her!!

My Cool Catssssssss

For Sunday School this quarter the kids are doing a 50's theme and of course they looked sooo cute. The first picture is of EG and my niece Kaitlin.
No news on the adoption front although we are on day 46 of our wait to TA.

Chengdu

LID

Yes...we heard this morning we have LID. The date of Log In Date was August 11th. I am still counting our TA from DTC b/c that is just how I want to do it. No other adoption news yet..