Wednesday

Is it Wednesday already?

We hit 10 weeks of waiting on LOA yesterday... still no word from our agency lady who said she would get back to me.... but the Chinese embassy is closed this week anyway, so nothing is going to happen anyway, so next week, I will be bugging her to death b/c an 11 week wait is pretty unheard of.... I still would not be surprised if we got it a month ago and she never bothered to check her email for it....

*snark, snark... might as well be my middle name... :)

Watched The Little Couple last night get their son in China and I cried.... it brought back so many memories - good and bad - of being in that place with Wallace... I dont know if we are more prepared or less prepared for this new one.  It blows my mind to think we will have 4 kids - I think we are crazy sometimes, but I know our family isnt complete until she gets here.

Our memorial day weekend was good... we didnt really do too much... we visited with family, and I spent the majority of the 3 days working on photo props... b/c Im crazy.

This week and the next two weeks are pretty crazy.... either we are at the ballfield for Gabe's practice or games, we are the gym for Emma's practice or Im doing photo shoots.   But then, its always like this as summer starts gearing up.  July should be pretty laidback since we hadnt planned anything since we were hoping to travel then.  September is still the projected month to travel and we are looking forward to it.

Im actually trying to talk Daniel into letting us go ahead and start at least gathering everything we need for the trip now, so when it comes time to actually pack, it will all be one spot... sounds like a good plan to me.

Anyway... nothing new to report.... still waiting.

Friday

Im so happy its Friday and that its a 3 day weekend... :)

But not so happy as in our adoption agency lady was supposed to be finding out where we were in the LOA wait, but I havent heard from her since earlier this week when I first emailed her.... in other not-so-great news - a friend recently found out that the Chinese part of the adoption phase is integrating a new computer system, which means nothing will get done all of next week in any Chinese adoptions.

So yeah... breaks my heart a little bit... lets just cross our fingers that it doesnt hugely affect the rest of the process.

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In other news, Emma made cheerleader.  She is sure excited... and oh my goodness, yall is she the cutest thing out there.  She is the smallest so will definitley be a flyer (girl on top).  And this girl has been working hard!

Yes... I am one of those moms who is living vicariously through my daughter.... dont care... :)

And since all the kids are out of school now, we now have a 1st grader, a 4th grader and wallace.... I cant believe they are turning 9, 9, and 7 this year.

Sigh.

Daniel gets out at lunch today and him and Wallace are taking me out to lunch... hurray.  I am super duper excited.... such a rare treat!

The next 2-3 weeks are busy, busy... so Im hoping that will help take my mind and heart off this whole adoption wait.... and really September is only 3 months away, thats not too long, right?

Have a great weekend!

Still waiting

Blah, blah, blah... nothing new to say.

Except Im kind of losing faith in our new agency worker - the one we had for our dossier was amazing and awesome.... but the one for this step... well, not so much.  She didnt even tell us we were LID until we asked about it and that was 2 weeks after we got it.

Recently, I found out that quite a few people got LOA on Monday... people that were LID a month after us.  That seems weird.  So I emailed our worker 2 days ago to see if she had heard anything about hers, but hadnt heard anything this morning, so I emailed her again, and she finally emailed back saying the typical wait was 5-16 weeks.  Originally, she told me (9 weeks ago) that typical wait was 5-12 weeks.   So Im kind of losing faith in her "expertise" in this area.  I am truly wondering if we have attracted another scatterbrained adoption worker.

Yall dont get me wrong, she is really nice.... but she really seems to lack the understanding of the urgency of the situation and the importance of keeping us updated.... which is really frustrating.

Honestly, I wonder if we are going to have a repeat of the LID situation where she emails me something along the lines of "oh, you had LOA for 2 weeks now, they have been waiting on you to send back your LSC stuff"... which will be good b/c we actually have it, but bad b/c we will have lost 2 weeks that we cant regain.

But who knows.... who honestly knows why China doesnt process things in order, or what is going on.

Trying to really believe that everything works out in the right time... its hard to hear that though when my daughter is waiting on the other side of the world and Im not allowed to go snatch her up yet.

Anyway... long story short.... we are still waiting and havent heard anything.

In other news, Gabe had his awards day yesterday and he got an award for highest average in math - which is awesome, since he was only 1 of 4 kids in his class to get an award.... proud mom.

And today is the last day of class for all 3 kids - they get out at 11 today and boy have they been looking forward to it, I cant even tell you.  And poor Daniel has two more days before he is out for the summer.  Must be hard (ha ha, sense the sarcasm from someone who works in a cubicle 40 hours a week, regardless of the season).... no doubt though I am happy - all 4 of them have worked really hard and will definitely have a lot of fun this summer.  Maybe they will come and take me out to lunch every once in awhile even.

The weather has finally decided to stay warm here, so this past weekend, Daniel and I decided to switch out seasonal clothes for the kids.... Daniel took on the boys and Emma and I took on her closet, which had become a mess - but she was a trooper and such a help and we got it all done.  It severely made me want to nest for Willow though so my patience is wearing a little thinner every day... but I promise I am trying.

At least its Wednesday and this weekend is a 4 day weekend.... :)

Pics

 (her daddy had to leave in the middle to get back to work so he met her when her class lined up)

Today was Emma's kindergarten awards day... and boy did that girl shine... :)  She won everything but the perfect attendance award, but thats alright too. 

So still no LOA this week... 9 weeks waiting on Tuesday - never imagined it would be this long, but it just means the wait for LOA cannot be too much longer... so nervous and excited!

Hope yall have a great weekend!

Tuesday

So we hit 8 weeks of waiting for LOA today... so sad I still cant show you pictures yet.  Honestly, I did not think it would take so long for this step b/c besides a little snag with the home study being written up, everything else has been sailing along.  Well, I am getting a good lesson in patience, I guess.

So Friday night, Gabe had a baseball game and his team came so close to winning... heartbreaking b/c they played so well... nevertheless, they had a huge cheering section... :)

Saturday, we went to a birthday party and it was even warm enough (which is weird to say for MS in May) that the kids could play in some water - they had a blast.

And then Saturday night, Daniel and I had a real date night... it will probably be our last one for another year or so, so we figured we better make it good.  So we went and saw Gatsby, which I loved b/c it was very true to the book, the acting was good, the scenery was brilliant, Baz Lurhman is amazing and the soundtrack fun.... after that, we went and got a late dinner and then a 1/2 price milkshake from Sonic to top it all off.... how fun.

Sunday was Mothers Day, so the kids made me cards, which was so sweet... and then off we went to the zoo, which is one of our favorit-est places to be, and the weather was just perfect.  That afternoon, I had an engagement shoot (total goth/steampunk - score me!) so Daniel and the kids visited Target and 2nd & Charles.... we also visited World Market, where Daniel and the kids got me a silicone spiked bracelet, which Emma found and knew I would love - love how my kids are ok with my goth/punk self.... :)  The kids voted to eat dinner at Cracker Barrel, where they were complimented by the waitress on how well behaved and polite they were - which was also a nice mothers day present to me... :)

We didnt get in until late, and everyone hit the bed around 10:30 (kids) and 11:00 (mom & dad)... so we were all quite tired when we had to get up at 6 on Monday.... but we survived.

The weekend was so fun and amazing so that will definitely be a source of good memories when I need something to hang onto in the ebb and flow of life that always happens.

So we are doing good.... :)

Hopefully, we will get LOA soon b/c that would be awesome... we still plan to travel in September... and we still need around $6-9K before we travel... its all so crazy, but we will make it, I guess.

If nothing else, Daniel and the kids will soon be out for summer and that will make everything seem better... Hope you are having a great week!

Happy Friday!

Yay, I finally get pictures up on this blog.... you would never even know I was a photographer, would you?

Anyway.... today was Wallace's kindergarten awards day at school.... he got a drama award, a music award and a star student award.... His class did a couple of songs and motions with them, and although he wasnt really singing, he did mouth all the words and did all the motions correctly with everyone else.  When he came in, he went straight to his spot and stood there quietly.... when they called his names for awards, he stood up, and then sat back down nicely when his turn was over.... so in other words, he did amazing today.  I was super impressed - he was so good and seemed genuinely happy that his family was there (A, you were missed!)

Its hard to believe that Wallace is 2-3 years older than the rest of his class.... he is getting so big though and is such a big boy! 

Cant believe that school is almost out.... the kids are all ready, Daniel is too!  And finally the weather has finally decided to turn warm... now if it would just quit raining... :)

I hope all of you have a great weekend... and to all the women out there - happy mothers day!

This is for you!

Monday

Happy Monday to all of you, my dear readers... hope you had a great weekend.

Well, we didnt win the Disney contest, but it was so much fun to be a part of it, and thank you so much if you voted and if you shared - yall are awesome.... and I cant be too disappointed about it, a sweet family who lost their husband/dad won - so I wish them the best and hope they make a bunch of great memories.

Well, we did not get LOA last week... which means that we are pretty much resigned to traveling in September.... we might could get travel dates in August, but I have a big wedding in August that I am already committed to, so even if we got August dates, we would have to wait until September anyway.

And both Daniel and I have come to peace with it and are actually kind of excited about it.  September actually really works out well - Daniel will be settled into the school year enough that it wont be too much of a burden to leave for 2 weeks.  There are no holidays or birthdays to miss and the weather is usually nice which means it should be nice where Willow lives as well, which will make it easier to pack.  It also gives us another month or two to fundraise and save, which we still have a good bit still needed, but we will get there, Im sure.

And if you think about it, thats only 4 months away.... only 4 months and our lives will change forever!  Thats just so crazy to me.

But with hindsight from Wallace's adoption, I have learned to cherish this "quiet before the storm"  b/c yes, it will be a storm when it all goes down.... and we will probably feel like we are dying.... but it will pass too... so I have learned to savor this time when I am just a mother of three, when life is quiet (or as quiet as it can be with 3 kids), when life is ordinary and we have this one last summer of peace before everything breaks loose.

So right now, since we have a sort of date in our head... I am beginning to enter the nesting stage a bit.  Trying to make lists (I love lists! they complete me.) - figuring out what to pack with the 44 lb weight limit, figuring out what we will need for 2 weeks - for us, for Willow, for our kids who will be still here.... what our 3 here will need while we are gone..... what we need to take for gifts in country and for willow.... what we need to buy to put in our pantry and fridge so when we get home, we dont have to get out.

There is still so much to be done.... but we are growing excited as we are about to enter our "third trimester"... its so exciting.

Thank you for loving us and supporting us through this wonderful time in our lives... :)

Disney giveaway!

Hey, our family made the 3 finalists for a Disney giveaway - if you have a minute, could you visit https://www.facebook.com/2cutiepatootiespersonallyforyou?fref=ts - and click on the Talley family - I think once your pic shows up next to it, then thats good!

We would love to win... and the kids would absolutley love to fly on a plane to get there... so could you vote - and maybe share?

(anyone have any idea where we stand in that - I cant check fb from work, and last night we were still down by about 500 votes or so)

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So still no LOA today, so Im guessing we are traveling in September, which is just as good - it means we wont miss any birthdays, weddings or holidays and the weather should be nice.

Hope everyone has a great weekend... thanks for voting for us!

Wednesday

We hit 6 weeks of waiting for LOA yesterday.... if we dont get it this week, then we probably wont travel in July, which kind of breaks my heart.  If not this week, then it will most likely be September before we travel.

The Little Couple on TLC are adopting a little boy from China and the first of that journey was shown last night.... it was exciting to see someone else going through the same things.  I cried quite a few times for them b/c the emotions that I felt being in their shoes were so overwhelming.

If you havent been through it, then that probably makes no sense.

They did make the comment though that what they were going through was kind of like being in the pregnancy stage.... having done both (carried 2 and adopted), adoption is way, way harder.... but their parents were super excited about being grandparents, so I guess I lived vicariously through them on that part.

To be honest, I havent allowed myself to call myself Willow's mother yet... I havent allowed myself to feel that attachment or that mother bear instict.  I know she is being cared for lovingly, so I have to know that that is enough.  I made the mistake of believing in my heart that Wallace was mine from the first time I saw his picture - that resulted in my heart being ripped out of my chest and repeatedly being tortured.  I still have the scars and even some of the wounds havent healed yet from that.  So Im trying not to make that mistake again so it will extend my patience.... hopefully.

Adoption is hard... and you never fully get it until youve been through it and are standing on the other side.

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So I just got back from Wallace's play.... which I know all of you have been wondering about.

And Ill say.... I have mixed feelings about it.

There was another little girl who was also handing out programs, and she did not seem special needs... but - we all had to sign the guest registry where there was a stack of programs that we all could have just gotten.  So in essence, "handing out programs" was not a real role in the play nor was it necessary - heck, they did it out in the hallways, not even in the same room as the play.  After all the parents came in, Wallace and the girl walked down the aisle to sit in their seats that was, thankfully, at the front with some of the other students.

And the other special needs kids were actually in the play, one with a major role, so that was really great to see and his teachers did a great job there.

There were only 2 speaking parts.... and one speaking/reading part that was given to a child who was not even in their class (there were others that were not in the class that were helping as well).... most of the kids got to wear a costume, walk down the aisle and stand in one spot the whole time.

Wallace could have easily done that - so Im not sure why they couldnt have added one more bridesmaid and groomsman to the cast.  And actually, I think he would have enjoyed that much better than handing out programs to a bunch of strangers.

So mixed feelings.... I think the teachers and school did a good job including the kids with special needs, but I think they could have actually included Wallace in the play itself.

Props to the teachers and principal though - I know with me coming it could have been a tense situation, but they carried on as normal, which was nice....

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So between the Little Couple episode last night, knowing that it we may not travel until September, and Wallace not really being in the play.... my emotions are leaning towards the weepy side today.  Trying to hold off b/c I have plenty of good things going on in my life... but I really want to just find a corner and cry it out and let it go.

Methinks that really isnt going to happen... so I guess I will just deal with it... :)