Phone Call Details

Ok, here is how it happened for all of you that asked me for details on the CALL.

I call AH on a regular basis. Yesterday I called in the morning but the answering machine came on and I hung up. lol Joseph was off from school yesterday because of Parent/Teacher Conferences. So he had a boy scout "go-see-it at Carvel. I didn't hear my phone ring and when I got home I happen to see that I missed a call. It was my agency's phone number but no message. So at 1:46 pm, I called Stacey back and we were just talking about nothing important and then I asked her what she was so happy about and she told me that they just sealed the envelope with someone's Dossier in it and where sending it to China. So yes that is a happy thing.
Now, I usually ask Stacey if she heard anything on our PA and she always tell me "no". So I said to her "I am not even going to ask you if your heard anything on our PA because you never do". So, Stacey got really quite and finally said, "well, I don't have anything officially in writing, but you do have a verbal PA"!!!! Well, I almost fell to the floor. I was jumping up and down and sputtering words which I don't even know what I was saying. She then starts to tell me that I need to have my travel meeting very soon because TA can come at anytime. WOW, was so not prepared to hear that. I have so much to do and I have no idea where to start. I am on overdrive now. Have not slept because my mind is going a mile a minute and to top it all off, I have to start calling for Jury Duty in a week. Can you believe that.
I am not going to stress out just yet. I will get it all done and hopefully it will all work out. So that is my story. I hope you enjoyed.

We got PA !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I just got the call today that we have PA !!!!(Pre-Approval) for our beautiful little girl Lily Rose. This is what we know so far. She was born on September 4, 2005. She was found on September 10, 2005 at the gate of Guo Tai Building in Chenzhou City. She was wearing a light yellow hat, and blue clothing. On that day she was brought to the Chenzhou City Children's Welfare Institute and the staff named her Chen, HengYun. "Chen" is the first character of the name of the city, Chenzhou. "HengYun" is their wish that when she grows up, she will have a constant drive to thrive & succeed & also will always have luck. That is the institute's good wishes for Lily Rose.

She likes to sleep with her hands over her head. They say that after she has a bath she likes to stretch her limbs without clothing.!!! Watch out daddy :~) lol She loves to be outdoors. She likes eggs, minced meats and noodles. They said she has fair, beautiful skin and she has cubby cheeks & a sweet loving smile.

I am so happy that I can finally post her picture for everyone to see. So here she is (if you click on the picture it makes it bigger)

APC Adoption Conference

Well, today was the APC's 26th Annual Tri-State Adoption Conference at C.W. Post College. Anthony and I went last year when they had it in New Rochell. That is how we spent our 1 year wedding annivsary. That was the beginning of our journey to Lily Rose. We went this year because we are now in the SN program and wanted to hear some of the International Specialist speak. Well, I am so glad that we went. We met wonderful people today. First off we met Bruny & Joe. A wonderful couple that lives 20 minutes away from us and they are also adopting a little girl from China. They are going the NSN route and have a LID of 4/4/06. We wish them lots of luck in their journey to their little girl Faith. We hope to become friends with this family and have our girls know each other. I will be calling Bruny sometime next week.

We were listening to Dr. Jane Aronson speak and I asked a question about our daughters SN and when the lecture was over a women came up to us and asked if she could speak with me. Well, I am so very glad that she did. She has a daughter with a similar SN from China that our Lily Rose has and she offered her knowledge to us, which I am grateful for. Her name is Lauren and she also is the Co-Coordinator of the FCC L.I. Region. We spoke for a while and I felt a connection with her. I will be joining the FCC LI group this week.

Right after I met Lauren, another woman came up to me and ask to speak with us. Her name is Michelle and she has extensive knowledge of our daughters SN. She gave me her number and e-mail address and a few places I can call for info on Lily's SN. I have to say, just meeting these 4 people made my day. I was very happy today even though Anthony and I were up and out @ 6:30am.

We also got to see some of the great people from our agency. It was a lot of fun talking and laughing with them and just hanging out. The info at this conference is awesome. We walked around and spoke with different people and it was just great. We also got to see the International Specialist that we used to look over Lily's medical reports from China. We will see him 2 weeks before we travel and then Lily Rose will see him when we return home with her.

So, all in all it was a great day and I look forward to next years confernece.

We sent our LOI - for our Daughter

I was not going to post this until we heard that we had PA, but I really can't wait anymore. We are really happy and I wanted to share this happiness with all of you. We sent out our LOI (Letter of Intent) for a beautiful little girl on September 29th, 2006. We are so in love with this little angel. She has the sweetest face and the cutest heart shaped lips. She is 14 months old and we hope to travel by March of 2007. We have not heard anything as of yet. We are hoping to hear something by the end of the year. I hope that I am not jinxing myself by posting this without having PA (pre-approval) but I figured the more prays the better. So that is what I am asking of any and all that read this blog, please pray that we are approved and get TA (travel approval) asap. We really want to bring her home and have her SN (special need) taken care of. I will post more about her SN after we receive PA.

I just this very moment received our "brown envelope" This envelope contains all the forms needed for our Consulate visit in China to finalize the adoption of Lily Rose. This just made me really happy. Now, if I could just get that PA phone call, I would be over the moon.

A Big Thank You to a Special Family

I have to send out a big Thank You to the Cox Family. First off, thank you Maureen for notarizing all of our documents. What a huge help that was to us. To Noel for helping Anthony paint the 2 new added rooms in our home. That saved him so much time. To Kathleen, Elizabeth and Thomas. You guys are great. Thanks for being such good friends to Joseph. How much fun will we have in the summer of 2007 with LilyRose here? This family has given us so much for our daughter Lily. Beautiful clothes that were saved from when the girls were young. Beautiful little green velvet dresses for the holidays, Mary Janes, lots of summer dresses and so much more. I am trying to get some pictures to show what great stuff we got from the Cox Family. The girls gave Lily a doll accessory set which includes a doll crib, stroller, highchair, doll carrier. I have to take a picture of this because it is the cutest. We are truly blessed with wonderful friends. Love you guys.

My Mom Is Great

My mom has been great. At first, she wouldn't talk much about the adoption because she felt that if she got over excited and things didn't work out, that would be a heartache for her that she could not handle. So now that we are moving towards something HUGH (which I will talk about in a later post) she can finally be excited. She is planning a baby shower for me and she has started to buy things for her new granddaughter. She really is very happy. I have to laugh because the shower is a surprise but we live in the same house. The construction on her part of the house is finished. We are almost finished on our part. So we have been cleaning her part like nuts so of course I "know" that the shower is soon. I am very grateful to her and my cousin Gina who will be Lily Rose's Godmother. Gina has been running around and coming here and helping my mom with all kinds of things. I have to say that I have been blessed with a great family. Yesterday, my mother and I ran to Toys R Us for some Christmas gifts for my son. Well, we came across the "seven dwarfs" and my mother had to buy them for Lily Rose. The cutest plush toys ever. Can't find snow white in a plush toy but still looking. I will post a picture in another post. But for now here are some of the things my mom got. The first little dress has little ladybugs on it. The white dress has little hearts all over it. This is a beautiful dress. My mother loved the 2 sweatsuits and she picked up the red ladybug also. So, our daughter is being so spoiled and she is not even home yet. But that's what it is all about.

More Thank You's

Here is another thank you that is a long time coming. To my special friends Peggy and Bob. Isn't it strange that you can feel such a bond with someone that you never met in person. Well, I have to say that I have a strong bond and a special place in my heart for Peggy. I have never met Peggy and Bob, but I am hoping that we can meet up soon. As soon as our girls are home. They are waiting on a Lilly too. (we are spelling it differently) If it wasn't for Peggy, I would not be waiting for my Lily Rose. Peggy helped me see that this is where I was suppose to be and she gave me hope and strength to continue in this adoption, which I am forever grateful to her for. So needless to say, she will be near and dear to my heart for the rest of my life. A month ago I received this big package and it had her name on it. When I opened it up, out came a bunch of clothes for our Lily Rose. I was so overjoyed. Then a week or so later another box came and it had some cute little things in it also. So, I just wanted the world to know how much we thank you.
I didn't post all the pictures of the clothes but you can get an idea of some of the great stuff I did receive.

Sending Out Thank You's

I just wanted to send out thank you's to our friends that have sent beautiful gifts to our Lily Rose. This cute little bear and beautiful blanket came to us a few weeks back from our friends April and Sean who are waiting for their adorable little boy Aiden. We are hoping to travel with them. April and I became fast friends recently. I look forward to our phone chats, with the last one lasting 2 hours. I can't wait to meet April and Sean in person. I can see that we will be friends for a long time to come. Being in this process and going through this long wait is hard enough, you need to have friends that are going through it too. April and I have been in fabric swaps together for a while also. We met on the OHGWQ group. Actually, I met some wonderful ladies from that group, but April is the one I speak with often. So April, I am so glad that you are one of my new "Forever" friends.

Halloween Is Over

Thank God it's over. This is one of my worst days. I have never liked Halloween, even as a kid. I would never get dressed up or go trick or treating. My brother would share his candy with me every year. So how ironic that this is one of Joseph's favorite days. He got up at 6:15 am and stood by my bed and didn't say a word until I opened my eyes. Then it was a free for all. He wanted to get dress at that very moment. The school allows the kids to wear their costume for the day. It was a crazy morning. Then he got home and he was ready to go. His Godmother loves Halloween also. (see picture) She gets dressed up every year and comes over and takes Joseph trick or treating. I usually walk behind them and she takes him to the doors.
This was the first year that Joseph wanted to have a scary costume. So he choose Scream. He loved it. We started out at 4:30 and got home at 6:30 we had dinner and then we go to my cousins house a few blocks away. We have done this same routine since we moved out here. So needless to say, Joseph has like 3 full bags of candy. Thank God he knows that he cannot eat that much and we send most of it to the school for the teachers to give out during the day.
But for all the moaning I do, I get a kick out of Joseph every year. When he goes up to the door and the people say "take as much as you want" Joseph will take one piece and say "Thank You". I always get compliments on that from each person who answers their door. He might be the biggest pain in the neck sometimes, but he is very polite. He can't wait for his sister to get home so that he can take her trick or treating. I hope all the children had fun yesterday.

I made it through the night

Well, I survived the sleep over. I can not believe I made it but I did. I have to say that I will probably never do that again for as long as I live. Hee Hee

My son had THE best time ever. We arrived at the Science Museum at 5pm. Of course we had to be the first ones there and the place was hugh. It is a mansion that was built in 1903 by a women who bred dogs for Kings and Queens for the Fox Hunts. The place was awesome. The other 7 boys arrived with a whirlwind. We feed them dinner and then the fun began. The science teacher that was the guide had them in an uproar. They saw all kinds of rocks, and even got to paint some of them. Then they all made there own volcano's. Even got to see one erupt. That was great to see. So at this point I am like "ok, this isn't that bad". No sooner did that thought enter my mind we were suited up and out into the woods for our 9pm pitch black nature walk. Hellooooooooo, it was like 10 degrees out. Out of the 10 flashlights, 2 worked. Yeah, dark, very very dark. The boys got to build a camp fire and out came the marshmallows. Did you ever try to get burnt marshmallows off your hands and clothes. Not a pretty sight. Anyway, back into the woods we went after an hour. Hiked deep into the woods trying to get back to the mansion. Finally get back and it's below zero inside. Finally get the boys ready for bed and realized that I forgot our pillows. Soooo, not only did I have to sleep on the cold hardwood floor but I had no pillows. So I rolled up sweatshirts for my son to use and I used my arms. Needless to say that I DID NOT sleep at all. A few of the boys kept kicking off their blankets and I kept getting up and covering them. 2 fathers showed up instead of the mothers and they were the first ones to go to sleep. Of course it was their sons that kept kicking off the blankets. 7 am did not come quick enough for me. 8 am we were hiking to the beach. Mind you no coffee and no sleep, I was not a happy camper. 9:30 am we were on our way home. My husband will be on sleepovers from this day forward.
My son had a soccer game today and I have to say they got beat really bad. But my son scored the only goal for his team today. I have no voice left. He really is very funny. After he scored the goal he ran up the field with the biggest grin on his face. He really loves soccer and he's really good at it too. His last game he scored 2 goals for his team. Can you tell I am really proud of him.
Until next time...

Wow, a long time has pasted

I can't believe this long has past since I was last here. So many things are going on this past month. We have been so very busy with our son. He is involved with so many different things and having the time of his life. His name was in the local paper for the first time last week. MVP for his soccer game. He is so very excited. Now as most of you know I am Den Leader for his Cub Scout Troop. We are having a sleepover Friday night at a Museum and I am so not looking forward to sleeping on the floor. None of the fathers are going, just the moms. My husband is so upset over this. He wanted to go, but can't b/c it is only moms. We signed our son up for this so that the "boys" can do this stuff together. Oh well, I'll let you all know how my back feels on Saturday. HAHA
Anyway, good things are happening for us on the adoption journey, but will post about them at a later date. I will be back again soon. Until then...

The first day of school

Well, today was the first day of school for my son. He was up at 6 am (bus doesn't come until 8:45) he was so excited. 2nd grade is a big deal to him. He was so excited to get to wear his new sneakers. Nothing else excited him but those sneakers. lol I was so excited that I did the Cha Cha when I saw that great big yellow bus driving down my street. But seriously, I am excited for him this year. He has a good teacher and he has some of his good friends in his class and he makes First Holy Communion. So this will be a great one for us. But now the running begins all over again. We just returned from his first soccer practice. He loves soccer. Plus he starts Fall Baseball soon. Now he wants to join a bowling league for the winter. So we will be very busy these next few months. But I'm glad, he loves it all and I love it because it makes him happy.
I just hope when I bring his sister home that she just likes Dance for now. lol I hope she loves sports as much as her big brother. With the size of my family, we will have no problem. Thank god for big families that live so very close.

We got our LID

Well, we got the call today that we have a LID. August 9th, 2006. We are very happy and ready to relax a bit. It was really funny how I was told that we have a LID. I e-mailed my agency over the weekend to let them know what was happening with the Crazy people and they called me today to discuss MY CONCERNS with OUR adoption and also to talk about my concerns for the other families involved with adoptions through them. As we talked for a very long time it was finally time to hang up and right before I hung up the phone I was told that we have a LID. It was a very good phone call as far as I was concerned. This is what it is all about. Hearing that you are one step closer to bring home your child. There is no better feeling.

It takes all kinds

I have been trying to keep off the boards and not get involved with all the bull---- that is out here but I have to say that sometimes you just have to open your mouth. International Adoption is a very hard process on it's own, but when you have people out there doing things to "stir up the pot" it's just adding more negativity to this process. There is a situation going on that involves my agency and ultimately will affect us in the long run. I felt that I should try to halt any further damage so that not all of us will suffer. Well, I have to say that I was attacked. It blows my mind that 2 people that none of us know will maybe cause all of us to not be able to adopt. As everyone knows, we are DTC on July 17th, 2006. After these 2 people get done what they set out to do, my DTC and hopefully soon our LID will not mean anything. I have nothing to do with what is happening between these 2 people, but boy will I suffer when they are both done. I was taught to mind my own business and let everyone do what it is that they must do. I was also taught never to intentionally hurt someone. I guess these 2 missed those lessons. I am really angry. My husband told me not to say anything to these 2 as did my agency, but I thought that since we are all adults and trying to accomplish the same things that it would be ok to voice my concerns, well I guess I was wrong and to think that I felt bad for each of these women.
Lets just hope that we all finish this process and bring our children home. Which was why we are all here in the first place. To bring our children home.

Even More Confused

Well, I had made my decision on the SN child that we were interested in last week and I called my agency to let them know that we were not going to take the referral and the agency told me that the medical info we had was incorrect. Some of the children's pictures got matched up with the wrong medical reports. Well, I almost fell off the chair. Of course the little girl we had was involved with the mix up. When they told me what her real SN was I cried. It was one of the things I feared most. I asked for the new medical report anyway. I hand delivered it to the Specialist myself on Friday afternoon. We have not heard anything yet since it's a holiday weekend. Hopefully we will hear from him this Tuesday or Wednesday. This is so very hard. We fell in love with this beautiful little girl. We look at her picture everyday and we really want to take her home. I am hoping beyond hope that the Dr. gives us some good news. Asking everyone that reads this to keep your fingers crossed for us.

Waiting on LID

It's been a long time since I have been here. We have been so busy this summer. Joseph had tons of fun. He really loved the summer Baseball camp. Boy, does he love Baseball. He had lots of play dates and spent a lot of time with his friends this summer. But, I have to say that I am happy that school starts very soon. I myself can't wait to return to work. I was very lucky to have some of the summer off and now it's time to go back to the office.
We are still waiting on our LID. We have not gotten any info on it as of yet. Anthony and I did look at the SN list and we pulled a file for a beautiful little girl. We had a Dr. look over her file and he requested some updated info on her. We did get some new info but it has made our decision even harder. I am so scared about this new info and it's all I think about now. We are still waiting on other info but who knows if we will receive it. I know that we have to make a decision very soon, because there are other families that are interested in her and I know that if we do not take her home another family will be right there to take her. That does make me feel somewhat better. I will update about that as we make our decision later on...

Dossier Somewhere in China

Ok, so I started to check the DHL tracking number for our Dossier. Well, as of today, our documents are sitting somewhere in China because they can't be delivered. One record says that the recipient has moved. Then later on it says that the recipient has refused the package. So who knows where they are now. In my earlier post I said that I wasn't overly excited when I heard that we were DTC that I would be more excited when I heard we had a LID. Well, when I first went to the DHL website and put my tracking number in I was very, very excited. I was going to have proof that my dossier was there. Well what a surprise I got. Sure it's in China, but just not where it is suppose to be. It's like a bad dream that I can't wake up from. I know that we are not the only ones that are having problems with this process, but that doesn't make it any easier either. I feel bad for me and all the other people that are having a hard time of it.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring us better news.

DTC

Well, we finally have DTC. We got the call on July 13th, 2006 that our dossier will be sent to China on July 14th, 2006. I thought that I would have been more excited about this phone call, but I was just like "Ok, Thanks". It was a weird feeling. I guess I really didn't believe it was finally happening. I am excited now though. I will be overjoyed when we get the phone call saying we have a LID. Getting to this point has been one of the hardest times in my life. I know it will all be worth it in the end as it was when I was having my son. All the hardships I lived through when I was having my son was SO very worth it when he was born. I know in years to come I will look back on this time in my life with a great big smile while I watch my children grow into wonderful adults. Life is good.

I171H

Well, it finally arrived. Our I171H approval arrived on Sat. June 17th, 2006. I knew before hand that we were approved though. I called immigration on Tuesday June 13th and left a message. Then on Wed. June 14th I called at 9:00 am and left another message. At 9:30 am the phone rang and it was immigration. The man was laughing and telling me not to call anymore that my approval was in the mail. So of course I kept asking him if he was sure that we were approved and he told me yes like 12 times and then said "now you don't have to call anymore" and then said goodbye. So I burst into tears of joy and called my husband and then ran downstairs and told my mother. It was a happy day for us. But I got the approval paper on Sat. and now this week I take all my documents and head into Manhattan to authenticate them and hopefully by the end of July off to China they go. I think once we get the LID I will be able to rest easier. I know the wait is getting really long, but there is nothing we can do about it at all so we will wait our turn and hopefully it won't take more then 12 months. I would be happy with any travel date as long as it is in 2007. That is our wish, that we travel to China in 2007. But no one knows. Our friend Lori is in China as I write this. Her daughter Paige is absolutely beautiful. When I opened the e-mail up that she sent I was overjoyed. The Child is precious. I cannot wait to bring our little Lily Rose home. Until next time...

BEAUTIFUL POEMS

I found some beautiful poems and I want to share them with all of you.

KISSES IN THE WIND

I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.
I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, We love you so and God will keep you strong.
Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, we blow you Kisses In The Wind.
May God hold you in His hand until we can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, we are doing all that we can do.
Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, we blow you Kisses In The Wind.
May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the Angels bring the Kisses that we send to you each night.

THE GIFT OF LIFE

I didn't give you the gift of life,
but in my heart I know.
The love I feel for you is deep and real,
as if it had been so.
For us to have each other is like a
dream come true!
No I didn't give you the gift of life,
life gave me the gift of you!