JANUARY 2006
Today, 1/1/06 I feel a
bit better, but Mel is still very sick. I am
wishing he had gone to the doctor on Friday.
By mid afternoon I was feeling pretty perky.
I decided since it is the first day of the
New Year I should get something done….not
something small mind you. No, I decide to
not to just clean our bedroom from top to
bottom but to change it around. Am I crazy
or what? Amazingly enough in about 45
minutes I had everything but the bed moved
or in process of moving and within 2 hours
it was all done. I was totally zapped at
that point…wonder why? However our room has
not looked better. We now have room for a
crib if needed and the room just feels
better. When you walk in you see the bed and
it just says “RELAX”. I must provide before
and after pictures at some point. I am sure
my husband thought this behavior was just
part of the stomach virus/flu symptoms I
have had for some 48 hours. Remember the old
saying “Men are from Mars, women are from
Venus”, it is very very true.
Today is 1/7/06 and Mel is still pretty sick
with his respiratory infection, but I feel
pretty good. We had hoped to meet our friend
Lana (who is also adopting from China) in
Georgia for lunch this weekend but she was
not able to join us and Mel really isn’t up
to a trip yet.
We received a packet today 1/14/06 from
Holt…we thought it was our LID notification,
but it was not. It was a letter telling us
we were DTC 12/16/05 and a nice booklet of
things to do while we wait.
Today 1/15/06 is our first Chinese
language class. The class has been
meeting since September, but we have been
allowed to join in anyway. We went to class
and were initially overwhelmed because
everyone has already had some 15-20 weeks of
lessons, but after awhile we were able to
follow. After class we went to a nice
Chinese buffet for dinner.
Mel gave me a name idea he had…Paladin.
I asked him how he knew this name or where
it came from. He said something about a
person on an old television show had this
name. I can’t even find what it means, not
that it was a name to truly be considered. I
asked him was this supposed to be a “simple”
or “easy” name. He thought it was simple.
We decided to open all the presents for
“ladybug” this evening and we took a video.
“Ladybug” received some beautiful outfits
and a nice book about Christmas and some
stacking cups and a photo album and her
“first doll” which we will send in her care
package once we get her referral. In
addition we wrote a letter and put it in her
first Christmas card, which one day when she
is older she can open. Mel did something
really sweet, he bought me a pinky ring with
a ladybug charm, earrings with a ladybug
charm and a ladybug charm for my charm
bracelet. The sweet part is he bought 2
additional ladybug charms for each of the
daughters we plan to adopt from China.
In addition our dossier has been in China
1 month now, we sill have no word on our
LID.
Today is 1/22/06 and this past week I
traveled to Chicago on business. Mel also
traveled to Kentucky for business. Mel is
feeling much better and has lost some 15
pounds during his 3 week battle with an
upper respiratory infection.
On Saturday, I found the most adorable
towels for “ladybugs” bathroom. They have
bunnies on them and I will provide a
picture. I also found her some socks with
rubber patches on the bottom to keep from
slipping.
We received a note from Brigette and Al in
Knoxville who have the same DTC as us and
they received their LID of 1/13/06. We still
have no word on ours, but I did speak to
Ellen C at Holt and she said Holt is working
on a way to begin distributing LID
information once they receive it.
We had our 2nd Chinese language class and on
the way to class we listened to our language
cd and learned numbers zero to ten. In
addition we learned a bit about our
instructor and about Chinese culture and
many new phrases and words.
Next weekend is Chinese New Year and
on Saturday we will be going to the FWCC
celebration with Robert, Jill and Lily. On
Sunday we have been invited to Lily’s
Chinese New Year celebration and on Saturday
February the 4th we will attend a Chinese
New Year celebration with Stan, Beverly and
Abigail in Knoxville.
1/24/06
“Too often we are so preoccupied with the
destination, we forget the journey” -Author
unknown
I have been thinking about this a lot lately
and try not to focus so much on the long
wait until referral that we don’t enjoy this
time we have enjoying the process and each
step along the way. Sometimes that is hard,
because when we started the process the wait
until referral was 6 months and now it is up
to 10 months and rumor says it could
increase. I just keep thinking that whatever
time it takes is the right time, meaning our
daughter may not even be born yet or she may
not be ready to be adopted. I trust that
once we have completed this process and we
are a happy family of 3, the time spent
waiting will be but a faint memory.
Certainly we know our life will change
considerably once we become a family of 3,
but we are looking forward to a new normal
and all that it entails. We also are making
the most of each day until that time by
doing things that would not necessarily be
considered “child friendly”, theater,
movies, sporting events, painting and
organizing our home and of course preparing
the nursery. Seeing others complete their
journey gives us hope that in time our
journey will also be completed.
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Nursery package and color swatches
Package from Holt
The kitties in the tower
Blondie with Ladybug's toys
Marmalade enjoying Ladybug's presents
New bunny towels with bathroom
color swatches |
Today 1/28/06 promises to be a very fun day!
We have our Chinese New Year celebration
with Chattanooga FCC and we are going with
Jill, Robert and Lily.
What can I say our day was full…we decided
to detail both our vehicles which turned out
to be more than we could do in one day, but
we tried. We picked up the Chinese dishes at
Imperial Garden and met up with Jill, Robert
and Lily and traveled to Chattanooga for the
CNY party.
A room full of many children, most of whom
were born in China. It was so fun to see all
the children playing together, most were
girls but there were 1 or 2 boys. We met
some other families from our area and just
had a wonderful time. There were also a few
families who had recently gotten referrals
and were wearing buttons with their child’s
picture displayed. Our hearts were warmed as
we thought of “ladybug” and how we will be
celebrating CNY with her for the first time
next year and many years to come.
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
We received this nice quote in our goodie
bag from Robert, Jill and Lily this evening
at their CNY celebration..
“A child’s life is like a piece of paper
on which every person leaves a mark.”
~Chinese Proverb
This is so true…we are raised by our
parents, but so many people have influence
on our lives.
Post card exchange started today, 1/30/06.
Let me just say this right now, before you
continue reading this post….empty your
bladder now.
Speaking of cards…let me take you back for
just a bit to December 2005. We received
so many wonderful Christmas cards and many
with such sweet wishes for us and for
ladybug and our journey to her. Well one
card really touched our hearts in a special
way. On Saturday December 24th I went to the
mailbox and oh goodness we must have
received 10 Christmas cards that day. I
began going through them and reading the
notes and letters and looking at the
pictures.
I came to a card from my Dad and Purcey…aka
Shirley. A pretty card with a snowman and
pretty sparkles. The message read:
“Season’s Greetings…and best wishes for a
beautiful new year.”
The card was signed
“Lots of Love” for both of you and LOGON!
Purcey and Me
Well I began to think, who is “Logon”,
do I know them, did we get the wrong card
from my father? Did my father get confused
and write the wrong greeting and maybe Logon
is someone’s child? Did he really mean
Logan? Is my Dad losing his mind?
Well when Mel came home I showed him our
cards and didn’t mention anything about the
“Logon”, but when Mel read it he said,
“see your Dad knows how much time you spend
on the computer too, he even mentioned it in
his Christmas card.” Well at this point
I am laughing because my Dad has no idea how
much time I spend on the computer and Mel’s
comment just shows you the “Venus and Mars”
theory once again holds true…no correlation
between my computer usage and the message in
my father’s Christmas card.
Later that day I called my Dad and we
chatted and I said thanks for the Christmas
card and then he put Purcey on the phone.
I said “Purcey, what did Dad mean about
Logon, on the Christmas card?” She said “you
know when you told us how to logon to your
website…well I think he thought you had
named her Logon…as in logon ladybug!!!”
Well Daddy got back on the phone and I am
laughing hysterically and I said “why did
you think Logon was her name”…he said
“well you know like Logon/Shogun…sounded
like a nice Chinese name.”
Oh my word…classic Daddy. Rest assured
the names Logon, Shogun or for that matter
Logan are not in the running, nor do they
have any Chinese significance, sure made for
a good laugh though.
Today, 1/31/06 I talked to Margie on the
phone and told her about my new name
idea…Mia Louise or Mia Deahn. She
thought that it was important to have a name
that seems Asian and we talked about how to
select the right name. A name is so
important, but I don’t think we will know
the right name until we see her picture.
When I told Mel of my new name idea he said
“Mia…oh no I think kids would call her Mi
Mi mouse, you know Mi Mi mouse, Mickey’s
sister.” Well once I could quit laughing
and started breathing again, I explained to
Mel that there is no Mi Mi mouse, there is
Mickey and Minnie. I am not going to count
Mia out yet, Mi Mi or no Mi Mi mouse.
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