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I received a beautiful flower arrangement
from Mel, with all my favorite flowers and a
sweet note. Then another flower delivery
came. My dear friend Rhea sent me a Lilly
plant that was just beautiful...there was a
ladybug on one of the branches. After
reading the note and seeing the ladybug I
had my first cry of the day.
Remember, the greatest gift
is not found in a store nor under a tree,
but in the hearts of true friends. -- Cindy
Lew
I received a surprise visit from Jill and
she dropped off a beautiful garden plaque
that said, "Leave a path in the garden so
the angels can walk through". I love
anything with angels and anything for my
garden is a hit. I then received several
calls from family and friends wishing me a
happy birthday. I got the cutest
gift from my niece Colleen, a ladybug
trinket that said, "ladybug, ladybug fly
away home." Mel surprised me with an IPOD
Nano which has tons of space like 60 gb and
I am so excited, I think I could probably
put our whole cd collection on it.
As the day came to an end we celebrated at
our favorite local restaurant Café Roma and
instead of birthday cake a trip to Dairy
Queen for a small french silk blizzard
topped it all off. I am so blessed to have a
super fantastic husband and wonderful
friends and family.
Today is April 13th
and about the only bad thing about being
born in April is the April 15th tax filing
deadline. Most years we file very early, but
for some reason this year I didn’t so the
birthday is over for now...I need to get our
taxes in the mail today...and I did. I
had a grand slam shopping day...I found
Ladybug’s crib! I had found it on the
internet and then found it was recalled. I
then found another Spindle crib by
Stanley. It is very old fashioned and will
go well with Grandma’s furniture. I will
post pictures in our photo album if I
can. We won’t be ordering it until late
summer or so unless referrals pick up. Another
grand slam...the glider rocker from
Jill and Robert. We are so excited, it is
exactly the one we wanted and it was what
they used with Lily, what a treasure.
Nothing like a getaway to the Mountains
to celebrate 4 months of waiting for our
dear sweet daughter and Easter. Today is
April 14th and we
headed off to the mountains. We had a nice
lunch on the way at Apple Cake Tea Room and
then we were off to Dollywood. They had a
Chinese acrobat team and several other
International groups for their Festival
of Nations. Turns out Good Friday is a
busy day for them, we had a nice time and
bought season tickets so we hope to visit a
few more times this year. We have a nice
drive up to Gatlinburg and had a very nice
evening and perfect weather. It could have
only been better if we already had
Ladybug. We talked of all the trips we will
take with her and all our FIRST.
Today is Saturday, April 15th
and we got up early to visit the Aquarium of
the Smokies. We both thought if you have
seen one aquarium you have seen them all...NOT
THE CASE. We had so much fun..check out
our pictures in the photo album. We toured
thru shops and visited the craft fair and
just had a very relaxing time. I also
started a good book and enjoyed some time to
read. We didn’t even go out in the car there
was enough to do just in the walking
area. We had another nice evening the
weather was perfect.
Happy Easter...
April 16th,
2006. We began our journey home through
Pigeon Forge with shopping at the
Outlets. We then visited the Airplane museum
and I read while Mel toured all the
aircraft. We had an awesome 3 days and we
are now ready to face a few more months of
waiting until we meet our daughter through a
picture and then travel to China to become a
family.
"To get through the hardest journey we need
take only one step at a time, but we must
keep on stepping" Chinese Proverb
Well we have officially been
stepping 120 days/ 4 months. I created a
spreadsheet to track referrals for the last
3 ½ years and this is what I found. The
shortest wait until referral occurred in
January 2005 and the wait from DTC until
referral was 185 days...we can only
dream of that right now. The longest wait
over this time period occurred during April,
June and July of 2003 and the waits were 381
days, 463 days and 406 days. Currently
the last group that received referrals was
at 327 days which falls into the 11 month
time frame. Once I
saw the numbers in black and white I
actually was comforted to know the shortest
and longest time frames and the average is
271 days.
So for a minute I will guess...if our
wait time is average... we will get a
referral in...September 2006. For this
to happen, the CCAA would have to double up
on at least one month, which they have done
before. Now let’s look at worst case
scenario...a 12 to 13 month wait, would put
our referral in December 2006 or January
2007. So there you have it. I suppose
worst case scenario is China closes their
adoption program, but we have more faith
than to think that. There are no new rumors
right now, so we will just keep on steppin’
and before we know it, our little ladybug
will step right into our arms.
"Who finds a faithful friend,
finds a treasure."
-- Jewish saying
Today is April 17th
and it is "back to work" for the
BIRTHDAY GIRL. After work today my
friend Dee Dee came down from Loudon and
brought the "birthday party" to me. She
brought a cake that said, "Happy Birthday
to Ladybug’s Mom". She brought a wishing
bracelet that had ladybugs on it and a
framed poem about ladybugs and a beautiful "dreamcicle
collectible" of a mother and her child. It
was just so good to see her, the gifts were
a bonus and much appreciated, but time spent
with friends is priceless. Of course we had
to take a trip to "ladybugs closet". She got
to see all the bargains I have gotten
lately. She said, "there won’t be
anything to buy when I give you a shower." I
am sure there will be things to buy as there
are so many things needed to get ready for a
baby.
Well today is April 19th
and the birthday continues... a present from
my sister Teri, the book "What would
Jackie Do?’ Back in 1996 I got tickets
to the Jackie O auction in New York City and
made it possible for my twin sisters, Teri
and Cheri to attend. They both grew up
adoring Jackie so it was an awesome
experience for both of them. I also ordered
the Ladybug buttons today for the cute
things Margie is knitting for Ladybug.
Today is Thursday, April 20th
and I got a BIG surprise when I went to
the mailbox today. I had one of the outfits
I bought on Ebay, but on the front porch I
had a BIG box. The box was from
Kansas, and initially I thought it might be
from my January DTC secret pal, who has been
"missing in action". I begin to open the box
with much excitement and anticipation and
OH MY GOODNESS...I emptied out the
packing popcorn to find so many goodies...SCRAPBOOKING
HEAVEN...several different types of
pens, so many different stickers and
embellishments, several kinds of paper, page
protectors and a scrapbook, all put together
with beautiful ribbon. I opened the card and
tears came to my eyes...my dear friend Lori
who was my neighbor when I lived in Kansas
had gathered all these goodies to celebrate
us and our dear daughter. The last part was
beautifully wrapped in striped tissue paper
with a pretty ribbon, guess what it was...a
ladybug romper! It is a light green
with pink accents and in the middle it says
"Ladybug". This is what the note
said...the envelope "The Fannon family",
the card "A home where a
child is welcomed and loved is the happiest
home anywhere." "Wishing you and your new
child a lifetime filled with love and
happiness. Congratulations to Everyone." Then
the note said "Emily and Mel, Here is
something I could not resist in getting for
your daughter. How excited you must
feel. Emily, I used to do Creative Memories
so I have enclosed your first Creative
Memories collection so you can start on your
daughters album. Have fun with it, someday
you and your daughter can sit back and
cherish it together. Lot’s of love and
blessings!" The Cunningham’s
When I lived in Kansas, Lori lived a few
doors down. We have not seen each other in
probably 10 years, but have kept in touch
with email and cards and notes. She has not
met Mel and I have not met her husband Eric
or her son Ryan, yet it just seems like
yesterday since we last played in a
volleyball game together.
Some people come into our lives and quickly
go. Some stay for awhile and leave
footprints on our hearts. And we are never,
ever the same.-- Anonymous
Today is April 21, 2006 and we are
getting ready to leave for our East meets
West seminar in Atlanta. It is all about
adoption and various stages of the process,
it should be awesome.
I will share a little drama we went through
this week. There was some confusion
regarding our registration for the
conference...long story short somehow we
were not officially registered. Well when I
realized this I pretty much panicked as we
have been planning to attend since
February. Since the conference was sold out
it looked pretty grim for us to be able to
attend. However, I just prayed it would all
work out. This morning at about 10:30 am I
received a call from Lindsey from GWCA and a
family had cancelled and they were able to
work us in...HALLELUJAH... my prayers were
answered.
After Mel got off from work we left for
Atlanta, not 10 minutes down the road the
interstate was closed due to wreck. After
sitting for an hour...reading the paper and
keeping ourselves busy, I convinced Mel to
turn around like many other calls and drive
in the opposite direction in the emergency
lane back to an exit about 1/4 mile back. We
made it and heard on the radio some 1-2
hours later the interstate was just
clearing. Well we made it to Atlanta and had
a nice dinner at Bahama Breeze and the I
drove to the hotel, HOLY COW...the storm of
all storms hit at 11 pm at night while we
were trying to find our hotel...of course I
became convinced we would be struck by
lightening, but as you can see we made it.
Today is Saturday, April 22nd and
we are in Atlanta for the East meets West
conference put on by GWCA. The conference
was GREAT... we met Stephanie and her
husband from our December DTC group and
several other couples as well. We learned a
lot about parenting an adopted child as well
has having a “transracial” family and the
challenges we may face. What a fantastic
day, the bonus seeing so many little Chinese
girls with their families. We even met a
couple who were placed with twins. We now
feel energized to face a few more months of
waiting.
Today is Sunday, April 23rd and
we are both pretty tired from our trip to
Atlanta. In class today we learned a popular
Chinese children’s song and a poem. During
our last class on May 21st we
have to perform the song and the poem for
the other students. On the way home from
class I commented...I liked the song and the
poem and thought it would be okay...Mel
quickly said, “just wait ‘til the stage
fright steps in and you can’t remember a
word”. I just busted out laughing...here
we are middle age and all these young kids
will be staring us down trying to speak
their native language, it should be a hoot.
The clock is ticking on the December DTC and
January DTC quilt swaps... I need to send
the squares by May 3rd. I had cut
out about 30 squares back in March and
almost had carpel tunnel from the
scissors. I have since found that a rotary
cutter is much easier...oh my word what a
difference. I cut out like 80 squares
tonight in less than an hour. I also used it
to cut my cards and some other things, what
a tool.
I had purchased a table on eBay, a little
Pottery Barn spindle table for ladybug’s
room, it came and it is perfect. I can’t
wait to feel ready to move forward with her
nursery. With the wait times so long I just
don’t want to look at a finished nursery for
8-10 months with no child. We are making
progress, just slowly.
Well today is April 24, 2006 and I have been
working night and day on quilt squares. I
have about 100 squares to create, along with
the wishes and addressing the
envelopes. Check out the pictures in our
photo album.
Today is April 25, 2006 and
this was the message on the CCAA website:
The CCAA has finished the review of
the adoption application documents
registered with our office before
September 30, 2005.The CCAA has finished
the placement of children for the
families whose adoption application
documents were registered with our office
before June 6, 2005.
April 26, 2006
There is nothing like a dream
to create the future.
~Victor Hugo
Today is April 27, 2006 and much to my
surprise I received a very large package
in the mail from my new January DTC
secret pal. The exchange began back in
February and my original secret pal just
never participated, so I was given a new pal
and oh my word, she really made my day
today. Today I took the big plunge and had
my haircut...as in cut. I had wanted to grow
it out a bit while we are waiting and since
the wait times have increased so much, I had
begun to imagine my hair getting “way” too
long. The new “do” is so much more fun and
easier.
April 28, 2006
The most beautiful thing we
can experience is the mysterious.
~Albert Einstein
Today is April 29th and I am
feeling a bit overwhelmed as April 29th
was Martin Dean’s due date. I burned a
candle today and of course you can’t help
but imagine “but for...” he would be turning
one. At the same time I also celebrate
today, because a year ago I could not even
imagine putting one step in front of the
other, much less imagine I would see a day
that I would smile and feel joy. I celebrate
that I can remember, but I can also move
forward and that life will go on, and
although it will be different, it can still
be fulfilling and rich.
I am not sure why I chose
this day to go to Babies R Us,
but I did and it was interesting. Here is a
snippet from a post I did with our DTC
group:
I thought I should share this experience, it
was interesting. This will be our first
daughter so many people are asking what they
can get us...the answer is difficult because
we don't know her age etc. I had wanted to
wait a bit longer for us to register but
thought it might be helpful to family and
friends who are anxious to celebrate the
coming of our daughter. I tried to register
on line, but it just was harder than I
expected. In February we had shopped
together and decided on things we liked so
on Saturday I trekked to Babies R Us to
register. This is where it gets
interesting...There were many couples either
in line to register or in the process. I got
in line and explained to the gal that we
were adopting, before she could ask "when
are you due!" She smiled and tried to adjust
the typical questions to my scenario...she
left out "are you planning to breastfeed?"
She quickly got me logged in and handed me
my gun...and I ventured to the car seat
area. There was a grandma and her daughter
checking out the car seats in detail and
when the grandma saw my gun...she
immediately looked at my tummy to try to
determine how far along I was...as I noticed
her I just smiled. The look on her face was
so confusing, wish I had a camera! Mind you
I am a large woman, but I don't look
pregnant. This scenario repeated each time
someone noticed I had a gun and they would
glance at my tummy, and then the puzzled
look. I share this story with each of you
for a few reasons, mainly as a heads up. I
didn't expect anyone to be "checking me out"
as I went through the steps of
registering. Fortunately I was not in a
"hormonal" way or it might not have seemed
humorous to me. I also share it for other
first time Moms, it really made me feel
closer to our daughter almost a "right of
passage". I have always been in Babies R Us
to shop for someone else’s baby or shower,
kind of like "always a bridesmaid, never a
bride". It also made me fast forward to the
day I am in Babies R Us with my husband and
daughter and we get the looks from people
trying to figure out who our daughter looks
like.
All in all it was a good experience and it
certainly gave me a lot to think about and
it was a good way to pass a Saturday
afternoon. One thing I noticed is all the
recommendations are for newborn babies, it
would be nice if enough people contacted
Babies R Us and they were able to put
recommendations together for families who
are adopting, that didn't include breast
pumps and pads and certain products geared
to newborn babies. Good luck to all of you
when you go out and register. Happy
registering!
April 30, 2006
If we could see the miracle
of a single flower clearly, our whole life
would change.
~Buddha |
