No News + A Few Good Books

For those following along, we are still waiting for our SCL (Seeking Confirmation Letter) Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs). As soon as we know, you will know. I suppose it is not entirely a bad thing we are still waiting. Our social worker came by last week to see the new digs (a formality) and we realized our homestudy is not written to allow us to adopt a 3 year old with special needs. So, that is having to be rewritten (or will be as soon as we get our new police reports showing we have committed no crimes). When I have told people that adoption is not for the feint of heart, I've been serious. So, for now, we update and wait and....read lots of good books.

One of the pluses of living in Nashville is access to the great library system they have here. Noah and I frequent 3 of the libraries, including the downtown library and it is so much fun. We have gotten lots of great books and one of our favorites lately has been Thea's Tree by Alison Jackson. This is a clever take on the Jack and the Beanstalk fairytale and is great for older kids.



We are huge fans of the Nate the Great series by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and we found some of the books on CD, so our car rides have been filled with listening to the story of a 9 year old detective who loves pancakes solving neighborhood mysteries. Big fun!

And, of course, we are listening to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone again...and again...and again. Noah really gets it now and says he is ready to move on to The Chamber of Secrets. We are going to try it. It is a little scarier and the kids are a little older, so I'm not sure. Maybe when he turns 8. We'll see.

See keep checking back here for more book recommendations and updates on our journey to Arwyn.

Waiting

Well. You can imagine what is often on my mind. We first saw her face 3 weeks ago. We were in the middle of a SERIOUS crisis involving the sell of our home and the purchase of our new digs. I had told Nathan the day before that we would have our referral that week and it came within 10 minutes of my calling Nathan to tell him our house was not going to close.

Though we reviewed the file and consulted with the international adoption ped and we both knew we would accept the referral, neither of us had the emotional or mental awareness to click in. We sort of put the entire thing on a back burner for a few days. One we got through the move, in fact, our first day in the new house, we received an update and it all began to sink in that she was going to be ours.

Now, here we are, three weeks after seeing our little girl's face for the first time. Actually, let's go back to last night. Nathan's BFF Mark came over for dinner and I quickly got him downstairs to see her photos on the laptop. As I zoomed the photo, it hit me....my little girl is living in an orphanage on the other side of the world. The photos up close did not paint a pretty picture. I am telling myself that she is being taken care of as well as possible, but to see the state of the part of the orphanage in the photo was not encouraging.

I didn't cry last night. The Universe knows how many tears I have shed these last few years waiting for this adoption. But, it was there, nonetheless. We have received our pre approval and now I we are waiting for our Letter of Acceptance. We hope it comes soon.

Please keep all of the orphans of the world in your thoughts as you lay down tonight. And, keep of their caregivers in your thoughts as well.

Peace Out
Dana

Special Needs Adoption

PA!

Hi All,

We received our PA (Pre Approval) from the CCAA to adopt our little one. It came yesterday. Now, I have to put together a care package (with joy!) to send to her.

It will have a little stuffed gift from us as well as a photo album with photos of us. The nannies in the orphanage will show the pics to her and hopefully she will have some idea of what is transpiring.

I have more thoughts to share but that is all for now.

Peace.

It's A Girl!

That's what I've been telling folks. It's a girl! We have received (and accepted) the referral of a beautiful 3 year old from China. I cannot share much about our little one right now as she is not officially ours, but we will soon be parents again.

I have so much I want to post about her and will as soon as we get the official word from the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs, but as far as we know, she ours.

Now....what the heck do we do with a 3 year old?

Just kidding. It's going to be interesting bringing a really small one into the house again. We have so little to do and so much time! Wait. Reverse that.

Truly, though, we are so excited. Nathan has been quiet and is digesting it all. We are just coming through getting moved into our new digs and are still trying to get settled. So, I don't think it has really sunk in. But, I can tell you that we all look at her photo many times a day and I'm really connecting in such a heartfelt way.

I spend a large part of my day imagining meeting her and introducing her to Noah for the first time. So, it's finally here and we are finally going to be parents again and we are truly grateful.

Peace Out.

Dana

The Answers

We don't always have the answers, we parents. It's too bad, really, and often quite stressful. Sometimes we don't have the answers because we are the problem. The problem: 1 pair of stressed out parents who have been trying since June 26th to close on their home and move the family to a new home; one home stood on its head - mostly packed up - often a disaster zone; things breaking all over the place and having to be repaired; 1 bored kid; 1 babysitter who is also the aunt who has not been given clear instruction by the aforementioned parents on how to take care of the 1 bored kid. So, a recipe for disaster.

Now, we are in recovery mode. We are attempting to recover any sanity and peace that once existed in our home. We are attempting to keep the peace during the next 24 hours when we find out once and for all if we are going to have someone buy our home and close on the new home.

To reconcile the issues within our home I have been burning lavender candles and sage like crazy. I am attempting to give the 1 bored kid - the Sun - more attention and have been attempting to keep the home clean and clear of clutter, a sure stress builder in any home.

To be truthful, he's been a real trooper. We have shown our home, looked at countless homes, packed up the majority of his toys and books and he's really hung in there. This week, though, this final week when it all comes down to the end, he has sort of lost it.

We are now the meanest parents ever and he does not like us, or so he said before bedtime. Hold the phone! It's family meeting time. I find when we are in these situations with Noah the best thing to do is to give him room to cool down and realize what has occurred, then sit down and ask him why he is behaving a certain way and what we can do to help the situation. Don't get me wrong, there are those times when I'm the Mom and you'll do as I say, or else. But, there are these times which we recognize and we make a huge effort to find the underlying cause of bad behavior because for the most part, he's the best kid ever.

I know I'm rambling at this point, but it is so hard. As parents we are expected, by ourselves, to know the answers, but truthfully, we are just winging it most of the time.

Happy Parenting.

Bloom Where You Stand

What I'll miss from our house are my glorious flowers. Well, the gladiolas are actually Nathan's but I get all of the benefit from them. Can't wait to see what blooms at the new place! Even Hammie likes the flowers.

Avast Ye Matey, It's My Birthday

Well, another year is marked today. I have hit the age of 37. I was not really happy about the approach of this day, but now that it is here, it is fine. Yesterday was delightful. I received 2 gifts of $25.00, one in check form, one as a GC to Panera. Then, after work I went out with my oldest and dearest girlfriends. I cannot express enough the joy of being connected to these women after all of these years. One I have been friends with since the age of 12, one since 13 and one since 15. Due to my work schedule, they met and had dinner and then I met up with them and we scooted over to Dan McGinness - an Irish pub. We stayed for 3 hours just talking and catching up. We had a great time. I do wish we could do it more often, but life happens. Perhaps we will begin to see one another more regularly, that is my birthday wish. One of them anyway!

After a scant 4 hours of sleep I met with the chair of the parent alliance and we discussed the upcoming school year's volunteer duties. I returned home and the rest of the day was so wonderfully relaxing and organic. After a short nap, Nathan, Noah and I snuggled in bed, then left for one of our favorite places, Moe's for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for mattresses. Once we returned home, it was more of the same, lounging around the house.

The high point of this relaxing day was brownies prepared by my guys and having sandwiches in the living room. Here are some photos of Noah from tonight. Well, the high point may not have been the brownies. Seeing Noah in the mustache he painted on with eyeliner may have been the highlight!