Friday, June 30, 2006
Fireworks & Cake!
We are off, to Jacksonville Beach for the 4th of July holiday! It's my 2nd favorite holiday of the year (behind Thanksgiving), I get fireworks and birthday cake. Could it get any better, I think not. I've always thought that the firework displays were in honor of my July 2 birthday--very nice of all those cities to spend all that money on little old me! It's also my best friend of 30+ years Danielle's birthday on the 4th, she tries to tell me that the fireworks are for her but I know better :) We are packing up her daughters, Brooke & Peyton, leaving the guys home with dogs and fishing to take care of and heading South. My poor brother Jimmy doesn't know what's getting ready to hit him, that's what he gets for having a house 3 blocks from the beach with a kickin' pool. I wonder how many bathrooms he has??? Oh well, we shall manage.
Last year I said it would be my last 4th of July weekend without Kacey. Well as Yogi Berra says, "it's deja vu (thanks jayme for the correct sp) all over again" but this time I really, really think I'm right!!!
Enjoy the long weekend, tomorrow it's July and that's Kacey month boy and girls!
| posted by Julie at 9:19 AM
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Welcome Spicy Katie! Your Mommy will be there soon.
| posted by Julie at 9:30 PM
Fairy Tales Come True!
“Fairy Tales can come true, it can happen to you if you’re young at heart!” I often think of this song when I ponder my upcoming adoption. All the negative stuff that used to go through my brain, you are too old, too single, too fat, just too--too have just disappeared (or at least hidden themselves far away). Every month of referrals brings me closer to her and makes my heart feel younger. I promise you all that I haven’t felt this good in a long time, except for that little pain in my shoulder, well I am going to be 45 years old on Sunday what in the heck do you expect JThis month’s referrals are extra special for me because I have not one, not two but THREE special people who’s dreams are coming true via a couple of very non-descript looking packages from DHL!
First there’s my GW buddy Linda, she and I are both singles and started this process together. I don’t remember a time in the last 12 plus months that I haven’t been emailing and chatting on the phone with her. Some long time readers may even remember me bringing my I-171H from BCIS to the mailbox in record time with Linda’s great advice “why don’t you try whistling all the way down the driveway, that way the mailbox knows you are happy and excited”, day 2 of whistling and guess what showed up! Now I whistle my way to the mailbox all the time, just for fun. If the whistling hadn’t worked I was going to try walking backwards down the hill so I’m sure glad it did, I’m not the most graceful of people! Linda and her sweet grand daughter Madison were delivered the great news “it’s a girl” just yesterday afternoon. Miss Katie currently lives in foster care in Hunan and was born on September 11, 2005, you know I’ll never forget her birthday that’s for sure! She is quite lovely and OH THE HAIR, it’s ready for pretty bows and barrettes!
The next two little darlings come via CCAI’s great white stork, Jill and Stephanie are in my waiting families group and boy have we been doing some WAITING together. We’ve had dinners, lunches and shopping outings for months and months and months and now it’s their time! They both have beautiful families and I know that big brothers Max & Keegan and big sis Mia will be overjoyed with their new sisters.
Stephanie’s Chloe was born on September 20, 2005 and Jill’s little Liza is from Hunan and was born on October 16, 2005. These sweet little ones will come home to such happy families, what a joy.
I’ll follow their trips and cheer all three of them home with their sweet girls then it will be my turn. With a little luck and a little love from CCAA that next stork will be carrying Kacey. I’ll feel 18 years old again and my heart will feel full of joy, only this time it will be for ME and my family we’ve waited a long time to be next and boy are we enjoying it!
Don’t worry though, this monthly adrenaline rush is addicting and I’ve got many families waiting behind me, so Kacey and I will be cheering for each and every one of you when your special time comes!
| posted by Julie at 9:21 PM
Monday, June 26, 2006
Now this is a face every mother would love. Thanks to Bonnie & Clyde for hosting a great picnic on Saturday.
| posted by Julie at 8:21 AM
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Lucky Ladybug Skirt!
| posted by Julie at 1:14 PM
Julie & Kailee, she's practicing her WAVE!
| posted by Julie at 1:13 PM
The Stork is in the Air!
*Disclaimer, this post is the opinion of the Author not based on concrete fact. Read at your own risk, the author has choosen to BELIEVE The Rumor and CELEBRATE and that's that! Author also understands that anything can happen and has faced much disappointment in the past months--she knows things could easily go a little wonky. The Author fully accepts this risk will suck it up, put her big girl panties back on and move forward should that happen! Love, The AuthorThe stork is in the air, in her pouch are referrals for families logged in from June 16-28. How do I know this? I woke up at 2 AM and just couldn't get back to sleep, finally at 3 AM I got out of bed, logged onto my computer and clicked on the official CCAA website to read this outstanding news. I then proceeded to call L.B. (LID June 20th-included in this batch) to wake her up to see HER message, she'd been up until 12:30 waiting for the change but fell asleep...I think she was happy I called, she called me back happy this AM which is a good sign :)
This news is a BIG DEAL intrepid readers, why? That's 13 days of referrals, the most processed in many months and the end date is only 10 days from my log in date of July 8th.
Net/Net: I BELIEVE that I AM NEXT, the next stork to leave Beijing in 4-5 weeks will be carrying Kacey's picture and information in her pouch! It's not 100% in the bag but I'd put the odds at 75-90% and that's certainly enough to get me to the betting window with a big pile of cash. I've done the math on log in numbers between the 16th and Kacey and I just can't find a formula that says I'll be left behind.
Yesterday was such a lucky happy day that Bob said I needed to buy 2 lotto tickets, one for me and one for Kacey her ticket was a winner, well she just won a ticket but we are still in the game! I was so giddy I also threw in another $1 for a Powerball Ticket for Friday's drawing!
OK, I just thought I was ready before now I really have to get cracking, today I go to the immigration office to be fingerprinted, my prints expire on July 16 and have to be valid until I return from China. As you may remember that experience was just dismal and disgusting the first time around but this time I'll be skipping past the smelly unhappy people with a smile on my face--what long line? I can't be detered by a silly, silly long line not me because I'm next, I'm ready to go, I'm the luckiest person in my world today!
In an effort to get cracking I went to see Sonia and baby Kailee (home this past Friday) last night and she started showing me all the stuff I should and should not bring with me to China. Well I had been so. so excited all day and reality hit me so hard holding Kailee and seeing all of Sonia's travel gear that I just threw up! I'm going to continue blame it on the first chicken wings I've eaten in 6 months and the searing heat--but honestly some people cry from extreme excitment and happiness and I throw up it's so unromantic! I better have a couple of garbage cans within reach when my Stork lands next month.
My feelings right now are indescribable I can't imagine this happiness growing with every next step in the coming months. You just think that you are a happy person until you find yourself in a situation like this, then you are sure you know pure joy!
Until later, I've gotting packing to do! Also need to get those visa applications filled out, meals made and frozen, baby proofing for the deck, cabinets locks installed. I have a lot to do and hopefully not a lot of time to do it in.
P.S. I'm giving much credit to my lucky ladybug skirt, I may start wearing it around July 20th and just keep it on until my stork flies--kind of like a major leaguer and his lucky hat.
| posted by Julie at 11:56 AM
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Florida Sunshine!
The sun is shining brightly on Florida and these beautiful faces prove it! Both these little darlings met their forever families this year and it looks to me like all involved are very happy about it!
This adoption has been a crazy journey but, as I've said before the BEST part (besides the future Kacey of course) is the wonderful people that I've met and having been able to rejoice in their happiness. I've been up and down on the old emotional rollercoaster but never once have I been less than thrilled when my buddies received there referrals then went on their magic journeys to China!
I'm feeling a bit reflective as it's grows ever closer to my turn, must be all the sunshine from my Florida Girls!!!!!
| posted by Julie at 8:45 AM
Saturday, June 17, 2006
My Bags are Packed I'm Ready to Go
OK, I'm ready to go. No really, I'm ready to go.
What I've done to prepare:
- Nursery complete-check
- Extreme shopping-check
- Bought everything on every packing list-check
- Packed, re-packed, re-packed again-check
- Cleaned and organized every room in my house-check
- Painted the front door so Kacey feels welcome-check (that one sounds a little crazy even to me)
- Followed every BLOG I could find-check
Here is what's left to do:
A referral for Kacey, oh crap that's a big one and out of my control-no check
TA Approval from China-no check
Consulate Appointment-no check
Visa-no check
So as you can see my list of checked items is MUCH bigger than what's left so I'm ready. It's that simple, lets just move this along because I'm ready!!!
| posted by Julie at 9:04 AM
Monday, June 12, 2006
DAMN I LOVE Mondays!
It may be a temporary thing but the past couple of Mondays have brought me so much happiness I can barely stand it.
This morning I'm proud to introduce, Amelia pictured with her proud Mom & Dad. Our next dinner is going to be rocking good. Love you guys!!!!!
Check out all the great photos and follow their journey at http://babybennett.blogspot.com/
| posted by Julie at 11:56 AM
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Kacey's name in Chinese!!!!
| posted by Julie at 11:48 AM
Beautiful Growth Chart!
| posted by Julie at 11:46 AM
11 Months-Kindness-Perspective
I've got a few things on my mind today so I thought I'd roll them all into one post and get back to the day!First, it's June 8th, the 11 month anniversary of my log in date--you've got to be kidding me I should be home hanging out at the pool with sweet Kacey by now. Instead I'll celebrate with a Lean Cuisene Pannini (my favorite) for lunch and whatever is in the fridge for dinner, BLAH.
I must admit that this month finds me much more sane and grounded than others have, I think I may just be numb. Don't worry, I'm sure that the next round of referrals will rattle my cage to the good or to the bad :) Maybe I'll skip my post for the 1 year anniversary or go buy myself some expensive and beautiful stationary, if I remember correctly the 1st anniversary is paper so that may work!!! I love writing thank you notes (a weird thing I forgot to add to the 6 odd things about me) so the stationary would be well loved and used.
Next is kindness, NEVER underestimate the kindness of other people! As you know my Mom retired from her job at the end of the school year and one of the wonderful parents (Kim L.) made Kacey this beautiful growth chart. Can you believe it, the pictures absolutely do not do it justice. It's hand painted and she sewed a beautiful border around it and the most amazing thing is conduct research on the internet to write Kacey's name in Chinese characters. I don't even know this kind woman and she made us something that my family will cherish for many, many years. Thanks Kim, I'm dragging the chart around with me in my car to show everyone who will look!
Last is perspective, just like many of you who read my BLOG people ask constantly WHEN I'm going to get my referral. Well for the last week or two my resigned self has been saying with confidence (I know, I know, why would I have any confidence) that it will be late August. To me August is a tragedy but to ALL the people I've told lately (every single one) they say "WOW that's so soon I bet you are very excited"! So really it's all about your perspective on things, I tend to dwell on the fact that I've been waiting forever and others celebrate that fact that I will have my picture of Kacey before a single leaf turns brown in North GA. I think I'm going to change my tactic and celebrate August my youngest brother was born in August, I love the month of August. It's a warm and lazy month, really too hot in the South to do much around the house, better spent with a nice cool glass of wine, trashy magazines and a couple of hours at the pool.
Stay cool y'all!
| posted by Julie at 8:48 AM
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
It's Official!
We have a new Georgia Peach! Miss Kailee put her footprint on the dotted line and is now working towards coming home.
I personally love her style with the sassy hat, it goes with red ink on her toes! If you're not you should all be following Sonia and Hugh's trip on www.babykailee.blogspot.com where you can see all the pictures and enjoy their big day and the coming big days in China with their little Hunan Hottie.
We can't wait have them home, Sonia said I can practice my "hair fixin" with K's beautiful head of shiny black hair. As a ponytail girl I do need some work.
Congratulation guys, she's a beauty!
| posted by Julie at 10:25 AM
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Missing Sonia & Waiting for Amelia!
We had a great time celebrating with Miss Emily but we were also thinking of Sonia and Hugh in China with only hours between them and the fabulous Kailee! We missed you guys but know that you were exactly where you wanted to be.
Cindy and Jimmy are leaving on Thursday to meet Amelia, I think Cindy (standing right side) looks fabulous and cool as a cucumber with only 6 days to go I hope I'm holding up as well as she is.
The photo is of Cindy (Amelia's Mom), Daphne (Emily's Mom-sitting right), Lisa (Future Baby S's Mom) & Me (Future Kacey's Mom).
Future Kacey's Mom needs to get out to the pool NOW as she looks like she's been living in a cave for the Winter :)
| posted by Julie at 10:40 AM
Happy 1st Birthday Emily!
A big Happy 1st Birthday goes out Miss Emily. She'll be one year old on Tuesday but we celebrated with bbq & cake on Saturday. She got tons of great gifts and CAKE, she loved the CAKE. Enjoy the photos, we all enjoyed sharing her big day.
| posted by Julie at 10:35 AM
Friday, June 02, 2006
Lisa with a LID of July 8th
I didn't know how else to get in touch with you so I thought I'd write you your own post!!! We have a very nice YAHOO group for Great Wall Families logged in on July 8th, we've got 11 of us signed up and would love to have you too. Just click on the link and follow the prompts for an invitation.http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GWCAJune24-05DTC/
It will be great to know the people that we'll travel with or at least meet up with the second week at the White Swan!
If the link does not work just email me at jthomas4760@yahoo.com and I'll fix you right up. If I had a picture of you I'd have added it to this interesting post :) :)
| posted by Julie at 3:40 PM
