Long time no Blog

I know.. looser.. yup me looser. Well I mean there has been things going on but nothing really about adoption till now. I can update you that China is working on Dossier's that were received in late Feb 2006. So we've got while to go (ours is Oct '07)

We have more paperwork to do!! Wahoo? nothing for China.. all US Gov type stuff. ya see the paperwork that gives us permission to bring a foreign orphan into the USA is only good for 18 months and ours expires in March. Just recently the government added one free renewal (it costs around $700). For the renewal we have to get all sorts of stuff again. A quick Home Study visit, a note from the doctor says we are still healthy, another police clearance report, another Florida FDLE report all sorts of fun stuff. I forgot what it was like to do all this paperwork!! Luckily we've got lots of time. Also our fingerprints expired in Nov..so we'll have to do them again ...or we might not depends on if the USCIS thinks we need to. fun huh!

Well we are all ready for Christmas. The tree, trains and everything is looking good and it wasn't at all stressful this year.

Our big hope is to have her home by next Christmas.. but at the rate they are going it's not looking like that'll happen. We'll just keep hoping and praying..what more can we do.

So there you are.. an update!

Merry Christmas
Zai Jian
~Donna

Seeing Double???

Ok.. so it's been a while.. sorry. Been really busy. Let's see what have we been doing while we wait for China.

*Ballroom Dance lessons!! yup We took 8 weeks of Cha-Cha and now we are in our 3rd week of Salsa. It is sooo much fun! I just love being able to do more than sway back and forth when we dance! If you live in Orlando check out Nannettes.com! She does classes all around town and they are fun!

*Remodel Master Bath.. We've started the process, it takes a few months to order the cabinet and counter and all that. We are VERY excited. I'll post pics as it goes along. Our bathroom is in sad shape.

*We booked a cruise! We are going in January with my folks on a cruise on a brand new ship called the Solstice. We figured this will probably be the last trip we'll be able to take with them child free!

Another thing I've been working on is some more fun projects on the sewing machine. I bought a pattern months ago and fabric to make stuffed animal parrots. Well I decided to model them after our own babies! I finished one this week. First one complete is Hap's double.

Aren't they cute! Once I finished it I swear that not only Hap gave me this worried look of.. OH NO she's gonna replace us with something quieter and not so messy! Next is Chester! Then I'll do Murphy's double.

Well it's summer here in FL and we had one heck of a storm this past Sunday! Here's a picture of the ominous dark clouds just before it came thru.. then a shot of it just POURING!!

I'll start looking at the China websites after the Olympics. I just wish them luck in getting the air cleaner.. last news report I saw they weren't having much luck.

Zai Jian.

~Donna

Disney... LAND?!?!?

Yup... I finally got my turn to go to California for work! It was great. I went out to help roll out a new program that we have here already. The sys admin who normally covers that program here is on Maternity leave, and she would have been the one to go.. Luckily I have some knowledge on the World side and was able to help her leader.. I even created a spreadsheet for them to track some data!!

I really liked California's... weather... a bit hazy.. but the temperature was soo nice. Cool in the morns and eves and not too hot during the day. David was able to fly out for the weekend and we got to play some in the park, got to go to Long Beach and tour the Queen Mary and go to an Angels game, with Tim! Can you believe it.. the Braves were there!! And they won too!!! The only thing I didn't like was how over-crowded and over developed everything is. Were was the occasional field with cows!??! I know I know,, LA is the second largest city in the US and I can see why. I missed green. Was glad to be home to nifty storms and lots of green green green.

Here we are in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle. It's soo tiny compared to ours here at World. But it was the first!... Snaps for Disneyland's castle.

Update on the baby birds. Seems that 3 of the 4 survivied and now all can fly...and are driving their parents nuts! Yesterday all 3 were in one tree standing around mom, I'm guessing, and complain, complain, complain. Feed me-feed me-feed me. And you can see that the parents are about done feeding these guys.. They should be hunting on their own. They still give them a bug here in there. I did see the babies trying to catch bugs on my screen the other morning.
This picture is from June 8th... 3 weeks ago. They are fully feathered and have their long tail feathers now. Will try to get a picture of them. It's gonna be difficult, they don't sit still for long!

No update on China..

Zai Jian.
~Donna

Baby... Mocking Birds

Nope no news for us.. I try not to read anything online.. it just depresses me. I think the last time I looked they were matching families who got their paperwork in .. in January 2006.. so it's best I just avoid those websites... We just hope and pray that the rumor that they are going to "speed up"after the Olympics is true.. keep praying and praying.

On the local front.. Our resident Mocking Birds built a nest in our Bougainvillea right next to the house. She laid 4 eggs around May 14th ish. They were blue with brown spots.

The birds hatched.. I think around May23rd and they are growing soo fast. In this picture their eyes aren't open yet(taken 5/31). To get this picture I made chirping bird sounds and BOING their little heads would pop up with mouths open wide! You can just see all four mouths wide open!

We peeked in on them this evening. Now thier eyes are open and they now CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP when mom or dad come in with a tasty bug. Before, they'd just open wide and wiggle! Now..they make a racket! We can hear them in the house when a parent comes in with food! Also, we are able to stand right next to the nest and look in. These birds know we won't hurt their babies.. they trust us. Neither of us has been pecked at or dive bombed at...Very cool huh! Will try to take another picture tomorrow as now they are starting to get some of their flight feathers in! They were dark grey fluff balls just last week! Wow they grow sooo fast! And it's been fun to watch them grow.


That's it for now.

Zai Jian.

~Donna

Slow, slow ..and slower

That's all I can say on how the process is going. So no news there.. just that it could be more than an year before we leave for China.. oh well.. dang Olympics!!

We did do some work on her room. A few months ago the pipe leading into our house broke.. $400+ later a plumber fixed it(late at night) and we got some water damage in the closet in her room. We have this week off to relax and catch up on house stuff. We replaced the baseboards in the closet and the rest of the outside wall.. and the baseboards along the front of the house in the living room too.(they were having issues) That's the last of the outside walls we need to replace. Ya see our baseboards were basically pressed cardboard and any sort of moisture.. and they'd go yucky. MOISTURE in FLORIDA.. nah!!! So we had to paint and clean up the closet. And it looks good!! yey! That would have taken a weekend or two.. and we were able to get it done. Not much else going on. Just enjoying our time off together.

Zai Jian
~Donna

Think "Price is Right"

It's.....A NEW CAR!!!


yup.. I got a new car.. a 2008 Glacier Blue Honda CR-V. I like it.. it's growing on me. My sister needed a car.. long story... so I sold her the Aztek. It was hard. I LOVED that car. I cried as she drove away in it. But now it can do what it was meant to do.. drive kids around. We bought that car just as we were starting to try to have kids..yup it's been that long. Since 2001 we've been trying to start a family. Well this new bugger will cart around the Foster kid now.





Here's a shot of it.. again long story.. bought it in Brandon, which is near Tampa.. and had to drive home on I-4 in driving rain! talk about nerve racking.. brand new car in pouring down rain! Well bluey handled well and made it home. It's smaller than the Aztek but gets the same gas milage.. don't get that.. but I'm slowly getting used to it. Will be 2 weeks this Sunday. I like the "zippy-ness" if that's a word. Also love that we can hook the XM radio right into the AUX port. NICE no more staticky radio thing.. that drove me nuts!

last week we had the Moellers here in town. Had lots of fun at Disney.. and very tiring. Also that's when Carol came down to get my car. That was a great visit. Had fun just hanging out with her!
Well it's late.. and I'm pooped. no China update..

Zai Jian.
~Donna

totally bummed

I made the mistake of surfing the net for info on how China Adoptions are going.. and well .. it ain't good. The folks who are getting referrals now waited on average 25months. and it just keeps getting longer and longer. Then there is this "little" thing called the Olympics. Can we say depressed.. bummed. Asking WHY alot.. WHY us. We aren't horrible people. We wouldn't beat our kids or starve them or... days like these really test my faith.

sorry all.. it helps to put all this in writing.. to share. it's hard. And for those of you who have children and can have children. Count your blessings EVERY DAY.. because I think most of you don't know how lucky you are.

~Donna

Nice Surprise!

Thank you Aunt Suzanne!! What a nice surprise to get two cute books in the mail! I think so far this kid has tons of books.. and not much else! too funny how we all think alike!

Xie Xie ( thank you)

~Donna

Couture..

Ok maybe not TRUE couture.. but some cute outfits I got for our gal.

too Cute! They are a bit larger than I think she'll be when we get her.. but she'll grow into them!

Zai Jian.

~Donna

Boogity Boogity Boogity Let's Go Racing!!

No adoption news.. Just that it's been 4 months Sunday since we got our LID. We might go to the Chinese Families in Waiting Dinner this Monday.. just depends.

Last Saturday we went to the 2008 Daytona Bud Shootout! And what a race! We had a great time and had great weather too.

Here are some pictures from the Race and of me with my Driver's car(well a display one)

Zai Jian

~Donna

Super Bowl Sunday!!

Go..... well... Giants I guess, really don't have a favorit. Gonna route for the Giants just to knock those cocky Patriots down a peg.. and wreck the perfect season.. sorry. New England fans... gotta go with the under dog.

Ok.. so I've been pretty busy making Barbie Doll clothes for our daughter. Here are pictures of all the outfits I've made.

I had a lot of fun making them!! Also these pictures were taken with our new camera! since I smushed our old one :( We had to get another. We got a Canon PowerShot A720 IS. So far I like it. Just got to get used to all the functions and stuff. The only thing I don't like is they don't have a 3x2 picture setting.. so all the pictures are squares. Should be interesting to see how they print up when I take them to Walgreens to be printed. OH well.. It's supposed to do better in low light situations compared to our old camera. We'll see.

That's it for now. Today I took everything out of her closet to clean it out. Also had to rip up the baseboards.. having moisture issues.. ug. Gonna have to replace them and paint the closet. yuck painting a closet is no fun.

Zai Jian.

~Donna

Sad News...

Just 4 days after I posted the video.. the morning on January 8 we learned that David's mom passed away from complications from cancer. David had just gotten back home from a quick visit to see her that weekend. He got to do what we all wish we could.. to say I love you and goodbye. We left for Atlanta Thursday Jan 10th and the funeral was Friday in Atlanta then Sunday in Cochran, GA. We drove home from there.
It was great to be home.. but we it was also great to be around all our family. Being around family during times of sorrow definitely helps. We had a few more days at home.. to finally get our Christmas stuff taken down and put away.. then back to work.
Please say a prayer for David and his family.
Will update the blog in a few days. I've been making Barbie doll clothes.. so much fun and some of them are coming out pretty cute.
Zai Jian.
~Donna

Happy New Year

OK .. yes I've been a slacker.. but crazy busy!! Well first we went on a week cruise the week after Thanksgiving.. it was FABULOUS!! what a great time we had and some fantastic weather too! We went on the Mariner of the Seas out of Port Canaveral to their out island, St. Thomas/St. John and St. Maarten/Martin. Too much to tell.. just a great relaxing trip. The last REAL vacation we had was Aug 2005!! So we figured lets go now before we really can't for a while!
Then it was ...decorate in RECORD time.. got the Tree, Trains and the outside lights up too this year. whew.. even baked! I can't believe we got so much done! We had a great Christmas. My folks were able to visit and brought yummy baked shells and Eggplant parmesan.. and Trish and Pat joined us for dinner. Lots of fun.
No news from China.. and as I've said before we won't hear anything for at least 18months.. and that's being optimistic. Long waiting list. that's ok.. all good things come to those who wait!
We did however get a GREAT Christmas present for our daughter from Grandmother and Papa Dean. See the video.. yes my first attempt at attaching a video! Isn't it cool. An HO model train with Disney stuff all over it. Too cute!

Well hope everyone has a great 2008!... Hey that rhymes!
Zai Jian
~Donna