Bookshelf In The Nursery

Here's the bookshelf I put together the week of Spring Break! I had books for baby all over the place so it was nice to get them all organized in ONE SPOT! I don't think baby Rebekah will be needing any books anytime soon.....she has almost 200 now! hahahahahahaha.......oh the joys of being a baby of a teacher mom!

Fru Fru's Girl Will Have A Pair of Jeans!

I meant to post this the other day when I first got the package from Felicity (my LID "sister") but I didn't have my camera to take a photo. Here's the story:
The other week I was talking with my friend, Felicity about the whole adoption stuff and what we have for our babies and trying to organize nurseries etc. and I made the comment that my baby Rebekah has mostly pink, frilly, dressy, "FRU FRU" outfits in her closet! Oh yes, I am going to dress that little angel in as much lace and pink and fru fru frills as I can get my hands on. Even Doug has said, "Is our daughter ever going to wear just a pair of jeans?" ahahahahahahahaha Well, after telling Fliss about this, she surprised me with the cutest little pair of flare leg jeans and blue top! hahahahaha Yep, BLUE......not pink! So now our baby girl has some hip looking blue jeans and blue top when all that pink makes her sick and she needs a change! What would I do without friends like Flissy??????? And now her name for me is "FRU FRU." Love ya' girl!

PLEASE GOD, don't let them stop doing referrals because of this swine flu crap!

with rumors of the blasted swine flu going around, there are rumors that China will stop making referrals until it clears up.....that could delay us even more......i just can't take this anymore......is there some "cosmic" force of nature out there that is bound and determined that Susan Appleton will never ever become a mother???????? I had better just stop right now before I say something really ugly about this whole situation.....something that I wouldn't want people to read.........use your imagination.....

Our Niece, Caitlin, Spends The Night!

Well Thursday night was fun because our niece, Caitlin, was able to spend the night. We had fun hanging out with her and Friday while Doug went to work, I took her out to eat and then to the Science Museum here in Danville. She loved it! She also wanted to go visit my classroom so I took here there and she played school for a bit. She loved our cats (especially Chelsea, who was fascinated with her) and she loved being spoiled rotten. We let her pick out a new outfit and shoes and allowed her to choose where she wanted to eat dinner. We love you Caity-bug and you're welcome to visit anytime!!!!

Our Friends, Jamie and Matt, Have Their Baby Ella!

I went to our friends' website today and saw the pictures of Matt and Jamie's new little girl, Ella! What a sweetie! They got her today and she just looks perfect in their family! I sat here and cried tears of joy for this family who has waited along with us and now they are all together in China! One day it will be our turn too! Congrats Jamie and Matt AND little Ella! May the rest of your journey be a happy time for all of you to bond to one another and may you be blessed with good health, strength, rest, and a joyful experience! Praying for you daily and for your safe return to the good ol' USA! Love you guys!

Introducing: Bekah Bear!

Last week when we went to Roanoke, VA for Doug's citizenship ceremony, we decided to look around the mall afterwards and Doug suggested that we go to Build-A-Bear and make a bear for Rebekah. Of course you don't have to twist my arm to make me go there! I love it! So we went in, looked at the many choices of animals, and of course decided to go with the panda bear! I decided to name her Bekah since it will be Rebekah's bear. I dressed it in a pink baby onesie and diaper with "Hello Kitty" slippers (in honor of her cat sisters) and then put a pacifier around it's neck. I also found an American flag since both she and Daddy will be new citizens and Doug got her a Pawport (passport) that you can have stamped when you go to different Build-A-Bear stores. Apparently they even have some in China! It was a lot of fun and the guy who waited on us let both Doug and I put in hearts as her parents so Bekah Bear has 2 hearts! (Twice as much love for our Rebekah!). It was fun and I hope one day she will love her little bear as much as we loved making it for her while we are waiting to hold her in our arms!

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!!!!!

Well my husband was sworn in at 11:13 as a citizen of the United STates of America! Of course I cried all the way through the oath and then again when we ALL stood to say the Pledge of Allegiance! What a moving moment! It really makes you appreciate the rights and privileges of being a citizen of this great nation. The judge made the comment that yes, we have our problems right now in this country, but that the strength of our nation is in the hearts of the people and the way we stick together in tough times!
Doug just makes me so proud to be his wife! I love this man who is a wonderful husband to me, and will be the best Daddy to our baby, Rebekah one day! He is so talented, smart, hard-working, humorous, outgoing, and loving! It was a wonderful moment that he will never forget and neither will I. We were so blessed to have a beautiful sunny day for the drive up to Roanoke and then to have family and friends join us (thanks Stacey (my sister), my aunt Micky, my Mom, our friends: Cheryl, Doug, and Jack) made it all the more special. There were LOTS of friends, family and co-workers who sent me emails yesterday to put in a scrapbook for Doug and I just wanted to thank them for that. We got there EARLY and as we sat in the parking lot, I pulled it out and gave it to Doug and said, "These are all the people who think a lot of you honey and wanted to wish you well on this special day!" He was truly touched and read the comments over and over! It will be something that he can keep forever and remember this momentous event in his life (our life!). I have truly been touched by everything today that happened. As we were driving home, I thought about all the heartache we went through after we first got married and he had to stay in Canada for over a year before Immigration would allow him to move down here to live and work. It was HARD.....so terribly hard and not a night went by that I didn't cry because I missed him so much! We had HUGE phone bills and MANY MANY nights chatting online. We contacted our Congressman (Virgil Goode) who tried to move the process along and then once he was down here, we had the mounds of paperwork and forms and fees, and visits to Immigration for interviews and green card renewals and fingerprints...........and all of that was HARD......but without the difficulty of those many trials, we would have NEVER experienced the moments we had today of absolute joy! And that made me think of the adoption......if THIS was such a joyous occasion, how much greater will be the joy of having that baby placed in our arms??????? Oh my gosh, I cannot fathom it! And I think about all of the people who have (bless their hearts) tried to tell us that "the wait will be worth it," and we have HATED hearing them say those words! But they truly KNOW that joy, they have experienced it first hand, and they KNOW! So, with that said, I am ALLOWING myself to get excited again about the adoption. I allowing my heart to open and be vunerable and I just pray that Heavenly Father will bless me and Doug that we WILL experience this joyful event in our life SOON!!!!!!!!! WHEW.....what an emotional day! And to my sweet, wonderful hubby: I love you darling and am so proud of you and the man that you are! Congratulations babe!

Daddy Will Be A U.S. Citizen Before Baby!!!!!

Well, today Doug got his appointment to go and be sworn in as a U.S. Citizen.....it is THIS WEEK! April 9, 2009!!!!! THIS THURSDAY!!!!!!!! Talk about working quick...he just took the test and interview a couple of weeks ago! WOW! We've always had this ongoing joke that our baby would be a citizen before her Daddy, but thanks to this wait, that is no longer true......looks like Daddy will be a flag-waving U.S. Citizenship, tried, true and red-white-and-blue before we even go to China to get baby girl! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 Year LID-iversary TODAY (36 months!)

Well, I was sitting here today and all of a sudden realized that it is our LID-iversary! Our paperwork (the dossier) has been in China for THREE YEARS! I guess it's still there and I hope it isn't moth-ridden or so piled up with dust that they can't read it when they get to us. We still don't know WHEN they will get around to matching us with our baby. Right now the rumors are saying that they have given referrals to people with an LID of March 7th and 8th and we've seen people posting online about their referrals so I guess they only did those two days worth for this month. I have heard that the 7th was a huge batch though, so maybe the next batch will include more days! I was so hoping they would get to us by now, but alas, they have not...........oh well, there's nothing to do but continue to hang in there. So......happy LID-iversary to us AGAIN!

Doug and I went out to dinner at Outback to celebrate our LID-iversary. We talked about our baby girl and the projected time that we might be getting our referral. There is a referral calculator online that you can type your LID in and it tells you when it is projected that you will receive your referral. When I typed in April 5, 2006 it said Sept. 7, 2009. So............for all of you who ask me WHEN it is going to happen, we have that GUESSTIMATE and that's about it. Of course we hope it will be sooner, but we hope it won't be later. Of course this means we will have to update our homestudy AGAIN for the 4th time because it expires in August......oh well.......
Anyhow, afterwards we went to Target for a few things and while there, I made myself go to the baby aisle and look around. I did end up buying a cute little white summer-time shirt (18 months) since I've promised Doug not to buy anymore dresses! hahahahahahahahaha I do want to try to find some baby bib-overalls and "frill them up" with some lace and ribbons! hahahahahahahaha Every little southern belle needs some cute little bib-overalls! Anyhow, that's it for our LID-iversary!

Why Am I Not Excited??????

It seems like everyone with March and April 2006 LIDs are getting excited, so why am I still feeling NOTHING?????? So many of my online friends are getting nurseries ready, buying stuff, practicing packing, gathering packing lists, etc. etc. and feeling giddy with excitement, but I am feeling NOTHING. I WANT to feel those old feelings that I used to have when I used to think about our baby girl and everything associated with the adoption, but there's nothing in my heart that flutters when I think about it at all. Maybe I need to buy something or redo things in the nursery or sew another blanket/quilt/taggy blanket or SOMETHING.....maybe I need to go look at baby supplies/clothes or do the baby registries......I just can't seem to summon up the desire to do any of it. What is wrong with me????????