5.

5 Months that is. And one day, to be exact. That's how long we've been on the waitlist. Honestly, we are doing good. Time has gone by fast so far. It's nice to realize we are more than halfway through the estimated wait.

We can't wait to see the face of our baby girl, but are totally trusting in God's perfect timing. We know that he already knows her face, her story, and how she'll fit into our family. That gives us alot of comfort.

Sometimes, I wonder where she is. What her birthmother is facing. Do they have nutrition? Do they have a home? Are they healthy? Then I quickly realize it does me NO GOOD to wonder. I just have to believe that God has this one. He knows it all, and probably more than we ever will about her story. He knows it. He sees it. He cares about it. He loves our girl more than we ever will be capable of. He will comfort her, and love her now, and when she's here with us. That gives us the ability to trust his timing.

Baby Girl, we're getting closer! We can't wait to see your face.

Photos...and my bday!

I have been busy editing photos this past week, which has worked out well, since my family has been sick! I posted more on my photoblog...but here's a sneek peek!

And, my ADORABLE cousin babies!! I wanted to chase down the big one and kiss her, and just shut that blue suitcase and bring home the little guy!

So, my fam has been sick all week. First my darling teacher hubby brings home some germs...then he kindly shares with all of us! Of course, it's never everyone at once, but staggered to cover a whole week...awesome!

So, Monday was my birthday. Sick kids and all, we were housebound. BUT My sweet friend, Heidi, brought me a yummy birthday Mocha, delivered to my door (Thanks Heidi! You are so thoughtful and knew just what I needed!).

Then I got a wonderful package delivered to my door...with Baby Lucy inside! I giggled and LOVED her! For those of you who don't know, we plan to name baby girl Lucy. I showed her to Hayden and asked if he could guess what her name was...and he nailed it! Lucy is so special...she is from Pottery Barn Kids catalog and she has an adorable white counterpart named Abby. My sister in law Rachel pointed them out to me, and instantly we knew the pair was a must have for our family! My neice's name is Abby, and since we plan to name our girl Lucy, it was a match made in heaven! Rachel and her family sent Lucy to me for my birthday, and I'm in love! It was a fun symbol of what this year to come holds for me.

My hubby also brought me these lovely flowers, beautiful fall colors, which I love!

Today, one of my best gal pals came over with another home delivered Mocha (my friends KNOW my love language!) and the CUTEST thing ever...personalized stationary picturing each of us!

Tomorrow, mom and I take off for Seattle! I am SO ready for a girly weekend!

funsies

It's been a good week round these parts. I'm a lame blogger these days...not alot of blogworthy news at our house these days.

A few happy fun things....First I found these at a local consignment shop earlier this week. I couldn't resist. These in brown, were my FAVORITE Robeez Booties for Jack...how could I resist pink ones? And for 8.99 in near perfect condition? These babies sell for almost $40 new! (and, I used store credit, to boot! No cash out of pocket. Gotta love that!)

Then, today I had the craigslist score of a lifetime!! You know how I LOVE me some craigslist deals. So, in my adoption mama haste, a few months back I bought a Moby Wrap. Then I babysat my unsuspecting baby cousin (second cousin, actually) and forced him to try it out with me. He was only 5 months old, and happy to oblige :) I however, decided I should've saved my money and gotten the Ergo that I really wanted. Moby was not for me.

So, I posted it on craiglist yesterday, stating how I'd rather have an Ergo. Ergo's however go for about $120 compared to my $40 Moby. I figured I could use the cash. Then, lo and behold, a wonderful craigslist shopper called. Sweet Sarah, I'll call her. She was "desperate" for a Moby. Her baby was too small for her nearly new Ergo and it wasn't working for them. And, she wanted to trade me, straight across, for her Ergo. SCORE! I told her that I realized that her's was worth more than mine, and I unfortunately, don't need it for awhile and wasn't ready to fork out any extra cash to make up the difference. She said she didn't care, she was desperate, and would happily trade me straight across. It is in nearly perfect condition! Yay, craiglist! I LOVE you.

Then, tonight, I got to have a fun night with my friend Christy, who is also mid adoption waiting and waiting for a referral for a sweet little man from Ethiopia. Christy and I got onto the waitlist within a few weeks of eachother and are lucky enough to live close enough to hang out occasionally! I love Christy, she is so much fun and she never gets sick of hearing about adoption stuff. (Nor do I get sick of hearing about hers! Match made in heaven)

While hanging out with Christy, we wandered through Washington Square mall. We stopped by Lucy athletic apparel, where I found this. I'm pretty sure I need this for my birthday. Perfect or what? I love it, and my husband recently stole my waterbottle, so really, I NEED this one, don't you think?

On a bummer note, I typed up a whole post the other day about how much I'm looking forward to going to Seattle with my mom for a weekend for my birthday. I talked about how much fun we have together, how we don't really ever get sick of hanging out together, and how I can't wait to go here. How I cant' wait to sleep all night long, in a place that someone else cleans, and someone else makes beds. Where someone else will cook and clean up the dishes. And do the laundry, and where we get to go shopping at places called Fabric Crush. Then, my browser crashed, and I lost it. So, there you have the nutshell version.

Now, I must go clean up my kitchen and pick up some dirty laundry, since there is no one else here to do it. :)

4 Months

Well, today we have been on the waitlist for exactly 4 months. According to the latest update from our agency, the current time on the waiting list is averaging 8 months. While there are no guarantees that it will be exactly 8 months for us, today feels like kind of a landmark for us. Half of the wait (approximately) is now behind us. (At least, the referral wait...there will definitely be more waiting after that, even harder waiting, really!)

We are getting frequently asked, if there is any adoption news. To lots of our friends and family, and at times us, it seems like we've been in this process for a loooong time. It has been a long time, just over a year now, since we started. So, we've gotten good at saying that this is the boring, no update phase of waiting. Just wait. Wait for the phone call that will forever change our lives and bring us closer to our girl.

We have been thankful for a busy summer, it made these 4 months go very quickly. Honestly, I hope the next 4 just as fast...even faster would be great! We have many birthdays to look forward too, the holidays...and then I expect by about January, I'll be really ready to see our little ones face. :)

I bought some cute fabric today to make a little photo  book of our family to send when we get our referral...and got some major cute inspiration from a new fabric store in Battle Ground called Aunt Tam's. I can't wait to get started on Lucy's room. I've kind of been holding myself back, fearing getting it all done and perfect and then still having to wait 6 months to put her in it! I am a major MAJOR nester so it's been a challenge to reign myself in. But...Aunt Tam's has the cutest fabrics and ideas. I told my mom it's my new "happy place". I want to live there! It has a little faux kitchen, bedroom, nursery...all beautiful and colorful and inspiring. If you live in the area, it is a MUST see. To see some of the darling stuff made from the goods at AT's, go here to visit one of my new fave blogs and tell her I sent you. Beth is an amazing photographer! love love love her stuff.

I was "featured" at Creative Parties and Showers!

I have never been "featured" anywhere...but today, I was featured over at my amazingly talented friend Shannon's blog, Creative Parties and Showers. It's chock full of fantastic party ideas! Really creative fun parties people...if you are planning one soon,  you should definitely check it out. My Robot for Hayden's 5th birthday party was featured today! I blogged about Hayden's party here.

Yes, I'm THAT mom.

That's right. I'm a Twilight Mom. Did you know there is actually a website, dedicated to Twilight Mom fans? It's true. The sad thing is, I'll admit, I actually prefer this one. Sometimes when I can't go to sleep, and nothing is on tv, I do visit it. Sick, I know. I can say that I do NOT own a pocket sized Edward, or a Twilight tshirt (yet...never say never).  I resisted reading the "saga" for months. I can be a little rebellious sometimes, especially when it comes to what "everyone" is reading. But finally, I couldn't take it anymore, and I had to see what the big deal was. I picked up Twilight. After 2 weeks of feeding my kids nothing but PB & J while I read the series...I was hooked. Sorry my friends that I gave flack. You were right. I did love it. It fed my inner 13 year old teenage girl longing for love and thrills...and vampires. The really funny thing is...I borrowed the books from my "little" brother...he's about 6 ft, 300+lbs, a truck driving, gun toting, deer hunting, beer drinking man. How awesome is that? (We also share a love for One Tree Hill, but I'll save that post for another day :)

SO, I did it today. I purchase a movie ticket for the midnight premiere of the second Twilight Saga movie...NEW MOON. Yes, Yes, I know it does not come out for nearly two more months. Yes, I know I'll be sitting there with a million girls crying over Edward and Bella. Yes...I know. And, Yes, I am excited about it. And just to show you how ridiculous I am...I will give you a preview. What fun is a post with no pics or video?

Robot Party for my 5 year old baby!! And a good blog link on transracial adoption.

Well, my first born baby boy is FIVE. I totally burst into tears on his birthday because I realized how big he was...how OLD he was. Five is way to old. Where has this half decade gone? ugh.

Anyhow, he has known for months that it had to be a robot party. HAD TO BE. So, I set to work finding robot stuff. I'm not a huge fan of character stuff (ie Thomas, Diego, Disney). I just really hate giving MORE money to those company than is absolutely necessary, you know? So, it was a homemade robot party. I made decorations out of canning jars full of my hubby's nut and bolt and washer collection, fancied up with some metallic pipecleaners. I served veggies and dip and party mix in tin muffin pans. I made robot tshirt (that I scored at Dollar Tree!) that I think turned out pretty cute. I also made I spy robots, which I forgot to take a picture of. Basically, a fleece robot filled with rice and all kinds of little trinkets. Then my mom and I sewed in a little vinyl window, and gave it with a little photo and directions of what to search for...I tried really hard to not give a baggie full of candy to our robot friends. So, they each got a fun tshirt and stuffed robot in the little goody bag.

I found a cake on the Cookie Magazine website. I'm not a huge fan of this mag, but they do have fun party ideas.

 

 

 

All in all, it was a super fun party...Hayden LOVED it. It was the first birthday that we let him invite who he wanted and he was really into it!

p.s. if you've never linked to Kristen over at Rage Against the Minivan...you should. She is hilarious, posting her theraputic posts on motherhood and transracial adoption. She always makes me laugh! She had a great great post today on interesting conversations in thier house. She has a 5 year old african american son, and two biological daugters, 2 and a half and an infant. They are in process of adopting another son who's currently waiting in Haiti for the adoption to be finalized! She blogged about how they are dealing with some conversations in home about the physical differences they have called "but Jafta doesn't match"...good stuff.