It's been 8 weeks...

since we started this. Just 8 weeks...some days it seems like it has been three years and others like it just happened yesterday. Time is weird. I just found out that a family on the deafchina message board ( a message board for people who have adopted or looking to adopt deaf children from China) had their daughter adopted out from under them. Now, they had received a PA but not the LOA and they were months from finishing their paperwork and didn't expect to get her until the Spring...but they are devastated. As we would have been! Now before you ask the obvious question, No - I really dont think that this could happen to us. You cant say you are 100% sure of anything when dealing with the government of another country....anyone that says they know for sure hasnt been on the same roller coaster we have for the past three years... there were a few extinuating circumstances that led to this nightmare for the family...none of which we have anything in common with....but I have heard other adoptive families say..that until they landed on US soil with the child in hand, did they truly relax.

There are other families that have the same LOA date as us who are expecting to travel in just a week or two. Im just tired of trying to guess.... it will be November - Im fairly sure about that. Im thinking anywhere between the first two weeks....obviously hoping for the first week or last week in October...but who knows.

We have sign language class tonight....Im officially overwhelmed with memorizing signs that I only use once a week. It really is true that if you dont use it, you will lose it.

We should start packing...there are all these things you have to think about... bringing clothes of different sizes because most of the time the kids are much smaller than they are reported to be. You have to bring gifts for certain officials and they cant be in white bags because that means bad luck so you have to really pay attention to the details. You have to be sure to bring enough because you cant give them anything that wasnt American made and so good luck finding that in China! Fortunately we dont have to worry about diapers or formula like most of the parents do...but we will have our own issues Im sure.

Still working on the house...room by room it is coming together. Rob has decided to build her a dresser. It will look fantastic as long as she can survive without it for say...the next 6 months.

Off to run errands! Hoping for TA today!

Still waiting for TA

Hoping to get Travel Approval by Friday/Monday ( really by Friday..but I'm trying to sound cool and collected like it really isn't a big deal). Then two or three days to get the CA and travel dates confirmed. Hopefully will get to travel within the first two weeks of November...hoping...but it is totally out of my control...a situation I don't tend to thrive in...

I was putting together a care package for Molly...but think we will just wait. Planning on taking three pair of shoes...size, 7, 8 and 9 in hopes for finding one that fits!

Hopefully the next time I post I will have REAL news...not just mindless babbling.

In the meantime... here are my two favorite soccer boys! They look quite nice next to their little sister in her soccer uniform, dontcha think?

Before you start thinking that this little girl doesnt have anything to wear...

We did some MAJOR work on the house this past week. Fortunatley for us, the boys got in some pretty big trouble which grounded them for the last few days of the fall break so Rob and I got a lot of cleaning done around the house. I love it when a good punishment coincides with some needed time at home. I finally got all of Molly's clothes sorted and hung up/ put away. I thought before any of you faithful readers decided you just coudnt wait to go out and buy something GIRLY for Molly... I wanted to show you what we recently discoverd. This little girl...whom we have never met already has more clothes than both my boys put together. Here is a example of what I mean. Below is a picture of Robby's closet -

Now, he has some pants, shorts and the usual collection of white tshirts and underwear..but this is really the majority of what we will call The Robby Barrie Collection ( formally the Jack Hawkins collection). Even worse is what is currently in Jack's closet. Now you must realize that both the boys wear the same sizes in just about everything...so Robby and Jack have lived very comfortably with the clothes you can see in the pictures:



Okay....so now for the shocking part. Below is what you will find in Molly's closet. And before you go thinking that this is EVERYTHING....its not! This is just a collection of the clothes that will fit her RIGHT NOW! Under the bed are three big space bags full of clothes 4T and above. Oh, and the closet photo doesnt include the 10 pair of blue jeans, 15+ pair of shorts, and about 12 bathing suits!


Oh...and the kicker is that out of all the clothes you see here...we purchased NONE of it. They were all gifts from neighbors and friends and sisters of neighbors and friends! Amazing isnt it!

Still no news on the TA....we are shooting for the end of this week or the beginning of the following week at the latest!

Ho.....hum......nothing new.....

but the end is going to creep up on me and I will be packing random items in a bag at 4am for a 5am flight... I know that will happen. Only because it always does. There is still SOOOO much I want to get done..find a dresser, get all the TONS and TONS of clothes we have for her put away. She did get a new ceiling fan. The old one looked like it belonged in one of those places that you tend to find near the airports...you know what Im talking about, right? Im not quite sure what heavy object had fallen on Robs head when he chose that fan...but it didnt work right anyway so I was glad to see it go.

The carpets have been cleaned and the systematic cleaning of the house has started...so it looks REALLLY bad. On top of that Im workng my absolute hardest to get as much of my work load done...still have a few websites to do before we leave. As much as I would like to just spend 100% of my time on the house and getting ready for this, I have to wrap up some existing commitments before we go.

No sign language class this week...its really kind of getting tough...so much to remember.

Thats it for us for now. Waiting on the TA which could come this week...but I would be shocked to hear that it did....would be a little less shocked for it to come next week and the following week we will be sitting by the phone again. Still waiting for that INS update...should come soon!

Whew....what a day....

Well, we can check another fingerprinting session off the list....one more crucial step closer to getting Molly home. Last night we had dinner at a friends new restaurant ( it was fabulous, by the way!) and spent the evening sorting clothes with our hero Vickie who was nice enough to volunteer to run our garage sale while the family drove to Birmingham. After sorting clothes until 11pm, we woke up at 4am to get everything out in the driveway and then hit the road by 6:30am so we could arrive at the appointment by 9am. We were in Birmingham for about 20 minutes, then we turned around and drove all the way home. When we got back Vickie had sold 75% of everything...we made a killing by the way! We took over and ended the garage sale about an hour and a half later. Now we have a nice little addition to our adoption fund as well as the two crucial stamps we needed to get on our fingerprint form in order to bring Ms. Molly back into the country. All we are waiting for now is the home study addendum to get processed through the INS and the Travel Authorization from China.

We wrapped up the evening at the camp site of the same friends who ran our garage sale and celebrated Jacks 5th birthday as well as their daughters 19th birthday.

Heading to bed....so glad this day is over...but not as glad as the poor woman who sold everything out of our garage from 5:30am until well after 11am.

THANKS VICKIE!!!!

It takes a village...to have a garage sale..

Well, we have the BEST friends in the world. After hearing about our fingerprint dilemma the Herbst's have graciously offered to come over at 5:30am and sell everything in our garage while Rob and I are driving to Birmingham to get finger printed for the 5th time! That's right... we have been fingerprinted 5 times in 3 years.... it is easy to understand, after all, fingerprints change so often.

Thanks Herbst's! We owe you BIG TIME!!!!

Be careful what you wish for...

Well, we wanted the soonest possible fingerprint appointment and we got it! Saturday, October 4 in Birmingham. Unfortunately, that is the day that our community hosts its semiannual garage sale. Rob and I have been collecting and stacking everything we can find that we don't need anymore and putting it in the garage in anticipation for Saturday. All of the items, 75% baby things we thought we would need for an infant, are now taking up over half the space of a three car garage. Now we find out that we have to be in Birmingham! UGH! I have been trying to reschedule the appointment for the past three days and of course cant get anyone to respond. Be careful what you wish for! We will have to hold another garage sale in the next few weeks if we cant make this one because it is impossible to walk through the garage right now!