Baby Shower at Work

A big THANK YOU to all my Tempe friends that showered me and Ava with beautiful gifts yesterday. And, especially to those that organized it, Amber, Martha, Nikki & Shauna (who wasn't able to attend due to the birth of her son Connor yesterday morning).

Donna had this beautiful necklace made with Ava's photo on the charm- so sweet. The "All About Me" scrapbook set is really cool. It has all the items you need for each page and even a guide on how to lay this out. Ava received her very first, full-size Asian baby doll, it's an American Girl Bitty Baby. The hair clip box is a great idea and I'm sure we'll get tons of use out of it.

Ava received a number of beautiful outfits, shoes, books and gift cards. Thanks again for all the love and support over the many years this process has taken. I'm very blessed to have such wonderful friends. -Michele

The packing has begun

Well, not really the packing but the collecting of things for the trip. Really, it's just Ava's things- and boy does she have a lot of things. It might be time to re-evaluate what I need to bring to China for Ava and what I should get there.

Cutie Pie!!

The FedEx guys

Within the China adoption community, taking a photo of the "FedEx guy" that delivered your referral package is traditional. Needless to say these guys were a little confused when I asked to take their photo but they were good sports.

Referral at last!!

Isn't she beautiful!!

Her Chinese name is
Xiao Jia Hui

to be
Ava Janet

Born: April 13, 2006
Hunan Province
Zhuzhou SWI

As of end of October
height: 24 inches
weight: 14 lbs
health: normal

DTC: 8/26/05
LID: 9/26/05
DOR: 1/3/07
AHH

Waiting for "the call"

I should be hearing from my agency sometime today. The European agencies received their referrals yesterday so the U.S. ones should be hearing soon. I left a message for my agency to see what time their DHL mail normally arrives but have not heard back from them. Hopefully, they are busy sorting through the referrals.

Still no definite cut-off date for the referrals. The European agencies that have already received referrals only had LIDs to Sept 27- apparently no Sept 28 or 29 with those agencies??? So, I know for sure that I will be included but there are many people logged in on Sept 29 who are anxiously waiting to see if they will get their referral today. Of course, the CCAA still has not updated their site.

2006 comes to an end

Although I really believed that Ava would be home for this holiday season, I'm not complaining. I'm still expecting to see my beautiful Ava's face this coming week! Of course, my referral is not a sure thing until the CCAA changes their site indicating Sept 26, 2005 is included or my agency receives my referral, which ever comes first. I believe the referrals left China on Friday or Saturday and will hit the agencies on Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2007!

6th Annual Cookie Exchange

The cookies, 10 varieties this year.

Baby Shower for Nancy & Brian

Nancy and Brian received their referral at the beginning of December for their adorable daughter, Lily. Some of the waiting families, along one family that just returned with their twin daughters, celebrated with them last weekend.

Kim & Scott with their twins Jayden and Jenna, Brian & Nancy, Donna & Joe, Dan & Laura, me, and Heather & Damon.

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14 months down- 4 weeks to go!

The latest batch of referrals are already arriving at the agencies. They run Aug 26 thru Sept 8, 2005 - 13 days. This falls right where I expected.

Congratulations to all the families receiving referrals this time and especially to my local friends, Nancy and Brian. I can't wait to see baby Lily!

If you look at the number of referrals and not the number of days in each group, the last few months have been pretty consistent. Whether the CCAA went through 11, 18 or 13 days, the same number of families received their referrals.

So, based on the number of referrals remaining consistent, the next batch of referrals should go through Sept 29 - Oct 8, 2005 (keeping in mind that the CCAA was closed the first week of October so there is no one logged in between Oct 1 -7). Sept '05 is when the CCAA slowdown started and so there are a number of days in September with no one logged in. This is good for me :) since the referral groups over the past few months have been based on the number of babies available and not a time frame.

It's not a sure thing but I feel very confident that I will receive info on Ava in the next batch of referrals - which should come out sometime between Dec 25 and Jan 1. Whoohoo!!

Thanksgiving

Baby Jason's first Thanksgiving. Although he didn't get to taste the turkey or build a gingerbread house, I think he still enjoyed himself.

Gingerbread houses

On Thanksgiving, the kids all made a gingerbread house. I made the houses ahead of time and bought all the decorating stuff and the kids had fun putting them together. I'm pretty sure Kayla and Kenzie ate more than they attached to their houses.