Fun Days

I love this time of year. The birds are out, the bulb flowers are just starting to peek through the surface of the ground and there are lots of opportunities to be outside. Yesterday Ramzie and I spent most of the day outside cleaning up the yard. We also went to an easter egg hunt with our local FCC group. It was fun. Of course everyone was wondering if we have heard when we will travel to get Meina..... No news yet.

I am off until Tuesday, so we have a few more days to "play".

Joanie

Nothing new from China

Zip, Nada..... I was really hoping we would hear about TA this week so that we can make plans to travel and get everything lined up for Ramzie while we are gone. As many of you may know already, she is not going with us to China. We thought about taking her, but she really does NOT want to go. So she will be staying with Oma and Opa (my Mom and Dad) while we travel. To be honest I am very stressed about this. I cannot imagine how it will be to be apart from her for 17 days! But I know this is what we must do to travel to complete our family.

This week I have been on night shift so Ramzie has been home at night with our friend and her daughter. She is having a hard time with daddy not being home when I am working. I am so glad we only have less than 1 month before Mike is finished with his training- I know he is too.

Other than that I have been shopping, making in packing lists and getting ready for Easter.
Oh we also set up a travel blog that we will post to while we are in China. The link will be in the sidebar.


Joanie

Visa applications and Spring!

I just love this time of year! Tuesday was just gorgeous this week. It was 73 degrees when I picked Ramzie up after class. Instead of heading home to do the basic, clean up the house, and fix dinner we went to the park to PLAY! We spent most of the afternoon there..... it was a great afternoon.

On the adoption front, we are moving slowly towards the finish line. This week's paperwork consisted of visa applications and other paperwork for our agency for our travel to China. It is looking like we will get to travel around the first part of May. So Meina will be about 12 month old. I am sad that I will be missing her first B-day. But we will have a celebration when we get home.
I am so blessed to have so many people who are offering help and support. I just want to take the time to say THANK YOU!

Finally, and very certainly NOT least, Mike's brother and his wife are expecting twins and we found out yesterday there is one boy and one girl!!!!! We are so excited for them. They have been such wonderful godparents to Ramzie and always supportive of us and our journey to China for our girls.

Love to all,
Joanie

We are getting closer !

Another good week of progress. We received our LOA on Monday and it was signed and sent back to arrive at our agency- CCAI today. Now we will start the wait for the next (and final) approval. It is called the Travel Approval. This will allow us to got to China to adopt Meina.
I am dying to get there! We have not received an update on her which is really hard. I am trying to keep busy. Actually I am doing a pretty good job of it. Today they delivered Meina's dresser so Ramzie and I will be rearranging her room this afternoon.
Ramzie is doing so well and growing like a weed. Took her to the pediatrician last week and she is 42" and 35.5 #.

She is really excited to have a sister and, so far, she isn't phased by her room being changed so drastically to accommodate her. In fact, she is a bit put off that I have the crib set up in my room right now. I explained that we will need to see how Meina transitions before we move it to their shared room.

Mike is doing well in his training right now so that is keeping him busy. We only have 6 weeks left!!!! THANK GOD.
This truly has been the hardest thing we have done in 14 years of marriage. We really enjoy each others company and being apart is so hard. On top of that, I feel very bad for him missing so many things with Ramzie. But we are so proud of him and it will be over soon enough.

Take care everyone!
Joanie

I wish.....

Oh, how many sentences I could make staring those two words.....

I Wish-
I knew that Meina was safe and getting all the nourishment, love and attention that she needs.
We would get an update on how my baby is.
We would get our LOA (the next step towards getting her home).
Mike was home so whenever I have a thought about her, I could just share it with him.
I JUST HAD MY BABY HOME!

So I will end with this thought 6 years ago I wished for a daughter and I have her here beside me reading a book. So instead of sitting on the computer hitting refresh on my email (just in case our agency sends me some news) I am going to go spend quality time with my wish come true:-)

Joanie