Project Living room almost done.

Okay the walls are all done in the living room. Now we can get the trim up and push everything back into place. Yippee! This was one project I had been putting off but really wanted to get done before Olivia came home. Mike can normally have the trim up in one evening. I will probably have to buy a few more pieces and stain them, but it shouldn't take too long.

No TA this week so that means that we won't hear anything for the rest of the week since CCAA is closed this week for Chinese New Year. This is the year of the Dog. But my little girl was born in the year of the Monkey....same as her mommy! Mike says "Great, just what we need is two monkeys in the house!"

20 Years and counting....

I forgot to mention that Mike and I celebrated our 20th anniversary this last week. WOW! 20 years-it blows my mind. We decided our gift to each other this year would be a trip to China. Cool huh?

Mike and I married very young. I was 18 and he was 19. It was a pretty crazy time. I was finishing up my senior year in high school. He was going to trade school an hour away.

I remember it was a cold wintery day that we got married on. I remember being worried that the weather would get really bad and no one would be able to come. But they came. About 300 of them.

We honeymooned in Fort Wayne (couldn't afford a honeymoon so a few friends of my mom's went together and got us a hotel room for a couple nights). It was Super Bowl weekend. We got a pizza and sat on the bed with our pizza and watched the Super Bowl.

It hasn't always been easy, pretty tough at times actually, but in our case getting married young was a good thing. We finished growing up together. I can't imagine being married to anyone else. I can't imagine anyone else being the father to my children. Mike is my best friend and I thank God for him every day. Here is to 20 more babe!

Okay I am a nerd. But I just found this site. It is pretty cool. Just had to post it. Sorry if you have already seen it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8524684692908021783

Some people just have too much time on their hands. If you have not seen this yet, watch it clear through. :)

Long slow wait

Well this wait will be fairly uneventful. While waiting for TA's there is not the rumor mill to follow and the ups and downs that there are with referrals. It is basically turn your letter in and wait for CCAA to do something with it. So the next six weeks is gonna be slow.

We did get a call from our Pastor's wife on Friday. The church would like to do a fundraiser for us to help bring Olivia home. Probably something like a dinner. I am so excited. I think it is awesome because it is a way for the church to get involved in our adoption, share in our excitement and a way to bring everyone together for a purpose. Of course, Mike sees it as a charity thing. He is not real excited. I gave him many arguments as to why we should agree to it. I finally won him over but it is grudingly. It does not bother me at all. We are always one of the first to step up and help people and everytime we do so we feel blessed. Sometimes you have to be able to recieve. Besides, this adoption and trip is going to happen no matter what. so it is not like we are asking for it.

I bought paint for the living room. I figured that is something I can work on while waiting. (Knowing me it will take about a week to get it done). But that will be one more week down.

I have one suitcase completely packed and three others half packed. I am down to mostly things that we are still using and can't pack until the last couple days before we leave.

The stork alert has just been alerted for the next batch of referrals. This last week has been a roller coaster ride for those waiting. I am SOOO glad to not be in that stage of the game anymore. ;)

We Got An Update Today

Today we received an update on Olivia. It is dated January 11th. She now has 16 teeth. But she is still only 19.8 pounds and 30 inches tall so she has not grown much in the last few months.

She is walking and running freely. She can say Mama, meimei (sister) and Ayi (auntie). She can follow simple orders. She is lively and a little shy before strangers. She likes to sleep on her belly. She drinks milk and eats rice cakes.

That means she will probably still be in 12 month clothing when we go get her. She is still a little peanut but is growing up while we are sitting here waiting on paperwork. How frustrating.

I have been tagged

I've been tagged by To China For Holly.
Here are the Question's I was asked!

What were you doing 10 year's ago: I had a newborn at home. (My baby is now 10!)

What were you doing one year ago: We had made the decision one month earlier to adopt so I was in the middle of a massive paperchase!

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Ice cream
2. Milk duds
3. Caramel Corn
4. Strawberry Smoothies
5.

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Adopt again
2. Buy my husband his dream farm
3. Buy a new vehicle
4. Put money away for my kids college
5. Donate

Five things I like doing:
1. Reading
2. Eating
3. Reading blogs on the computer
4. Sewing/cross stitch
5. Meditating

Five things I would never wear, buy, or get new again:
1. Brand new vehicle
2. Stretchy pants (stirup)
3. Tank tops
4.
5.

Five bad habits:
1. Snacking
2. Obsessing about our adoption
3. Being On The Computer way to much.
4. Listening to gossip
5. Talking To Much!

Five favorite toys/games (I can only think of 3):
1. My Mp3 player
2. Maj Jong
3. My Cell Phone.
4.
5.

So, here's how you do it. Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and then add YOUR BLOG to the bottom spot.

The Teague Family
AdoptionJourney to Sarah
twoladybugs
Lindsey's Mei Mei
ChinaMama

YOU HAVE BEEN TAGGED!!!

Where will our trip take us......

Here is a map of China. We will be starting out in Beijing. You will find that in the northern section in green surrounded by blue. We will be in Beijing for about two days visiting the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tiennamen Square. We will also use this time to get accustomed to the 13 hour time difference. Next we will travel to Guangxi. That is in the southern part of China. You will see it in the teal color. This is the province that Olivia is from. We will spend about 5-6 days in this area doing the adoption paperwork on the China end and getting aquainted to our new daughter. We will get to do some sightseeing and shopping while here also. From there we will travel southeast to Guangzhou which is located in the Guandong province (in yellow right next to Guangxi). We will be very close to Hong Kong. While here we will finish the US side of the adoption and receive Olivia's visa to travel home. We will be here for about 3-4 days. From there we will travel home. The whole trip should take about 12 days.

Here is another map. This also shows the province where Olivia is from. We will be very close to Vietnam while staying in Guangxi.

One week

Well one week ago today we got to see the pictures of littel Olivia. Now we are once again back in the waiting game. Our agency should be sending our acceptance letters back this week. Then we have to wait for TA (travel apporval). That normally takes about 4 weeks to get back but I am figuring 5 weeks because of CNY. Once we get that back we will travel about 2 weeks after that. It can't be soon enough for me.

I have sent a care package to Olivia and I am hoping to come up with a letter to the orphanage in Chinese with several questions for them. I would love to know what they call her in the Orphanage. Is she potty trained? Does she still take a bottle? Is she still in the orphanage or has she been moved to a foster family? The list goes on.

Anyway, like I said we are back to waiting.

WOW! She is so sweet

Okay-after having a couple days to let it sink in I cannot wait to get my hands on my little girl.

We got our report on Olivia on Thursday. She is walking and learned to say Mama on May 13, 2005. She has 10 teeth. She loves music, is affectionate and likes to help. The report says "when a younger sister falls down, Guo Guan will go to them and try to pull them up. Sometimes she will grab them in the wrong position and it makes us to laugh." She is a moderate sleeper, fairly extroverted but cautious of strangers. She likes to try to feed herself and her food is all over the place.

I went through her closet and drawers last night and pulled out all the 6-9 month stuff. Man, I have no sleepers/pajamas for her and very few other 12 month clothes. I thought I would be sad, but instead I thought, "Yeah, I get to go shopping!"

I have learned that her orphanage only adopts out toddlers. I don't know why though. I also got pictures of the orphanage. It looks to be very clean and well taken care of. It seems it is a showcase orphanage and they have even allowed tourists in. That makes me feel good. Also, Half the Sky Foundation is in there. This is an organization that was developed by adoptive parents. They raise money and work with some of the orphanages to improve them. They also train the pre school teachers to do a better job. They build playgrounds and add things to the orphanage. Good information.

Here are a couple links to see her orphanage:
http://www.halfthesky.org/02CentersPrograms/centers/guilin.html
http://www.guangxifamilies.com/Guilin/

We Have A Little Girl!

OUR REFERRAL IS HERE!!!
This afternoon after being told by our agency that the package was not coming today we got a phone call saying "It's Here!"

Here is the important stuff so far.

Name: Yang Guo Guan (pronounced Yang (like long) Gwa Gwan)
Birthday: May 20, 2004 (estimated)
On Sept 26th she weighed 18 pounds and was 29 inches long (she is just a little peanut!)

She was abandoned when she was about 3 months old without a note, so her age was estimated-thus the May 20th birthdate.

I have to admit I was shocked and initially bummed with an older referral. We got the oldest one in the group. But she is so adorable in her pictures and we know that God desires her to be part of our family if she cannot be with her birth family.

Okay....Meet Miss Olivia Stahley....

Trying to stay cool.....bad news

Well our package has been delayed in New York due to the New Year holiday. It is suppose to be at our agency by 12 noon tomorrow. There are other agencies that recieved their packages and people are posting their referrals. It is really hard to read the other referrals and know we are still waiting. Well, another 24 hours to go.

Happy New Year to ALL

In less than one hour it will be 2006. Wow! 2005 has been a roller coaster ride. We watched one child graduate high school and go on to college. We watched another child start her first year of high school and another one move up a grade and mature at what seems like to fast of a rate.

We continued on our journey for our adoption. Hard to believe we started at the end of 2004 and will complete this journey in 2006.

I want to wish all my family and friends a joyous New Year in 2006 and may all your dreams and wishes come true.

ALERT, ALERT, ALERT!!!!

ALERT........ALERT.......ALERT..........
I am so excited I can hardly stand it. A stork alert has been issued and my referral is in the air on its way to the USA! Because Monday is a holiday we won't get them until Tuesday. Needless to say it is going to be a tough next few days.

Happy Holidays To All

Twas the night before Christmas and all in the Stahley house are tucked in and comfy for the night.

Last night we had Christmas with Mike's family. It was a lot of fun. Mike's parents took us all (14 of us) to Red Lobster for Christmas dinner. Then everyone came back to our house for present time. We had done a name draw at Thanksgiving time so we each had one person to buy for. It was fun watching everyone open their gifts and see what the bounty was. Mike's parents did not stick to the rules and passed out money envelopes to everyone. Shame on them...but I love them. :)

Tonight we had our Christmas program at church. It was put on by the children from the church and was very cute. The rest of the night we are just spending relaxing at home. Watching movies and staying warm.

Tomorrow is pretty low key for us too. No plans except for our own Christmas at home. I really like that. We don't have to rush off to anyone else's home. My dad is coming though in the morning to watch us open our gifts and eat some goodies for breakfast.

I got the COOLEST gift yesterday! My super-cool Lovebug sister from Kentucky sent me a gift and I love it. It is a little denim backpack and she had Olivia's name put on it. I can picture our little one when she is about two years old walking around with her pack on her back. Thank you Sheila, I love ya girl!

Merry Christmas to All and remember the Reason for the Season.

Suprise Mail

Today in the mail I received an envelope from Brazil. Many years ago we had an exchange student that stayed with us for a year. Gleise became our oldest daughter. It was a wonderful experience having her with us for that year. The following year she came back and stayed with us for a month. We had kept in touch for a while, but over the years that communication has run dry. I knew she was going to Australia for 6 months and then we just lost track. I only have an old address for her mother. Anyway, today I got an envelope with two pictures in it. They are of Gleise's almost two year old daughter. She is sooo cute. There was just a quick note on the back of the picture and no return address. ARGH! Well I am going to give it a try. I typed up a letter and I am going to send it to her mothers old address. Maybe the mother still lives there. I hope.

Please feel free to add comments to my journal. I have no idea if anyone out there in cyber land even reads this. LOL!

The first half of the Lovebugs got their TA's today. YEAH! I don't know why that excites me so much but I guess I feel like we can't get our referrals until the group before us gets their travel plans. There is a possibility that they will be leaving on January 4th.

Mike said something today about heading to Kentucky for a couple days next week. WOW! That came out of the blue. So, we may be planning a trip south for a couple days.
Chinamama

Home From Iowa

Well we just got home from Iowa this afternoon. We went out for Christmas with mom. Olivia got her first two Christmas presents. That almost made me cry.

We drove out Friday night and had Lisa and baby Nolan with us. (Jon had to take Megan to the airport so she could fly to Texas to spend Christmas with her dad.) We got there pretty late that night. On Saturday most of us went shopping to help mom spend the rest of her money. In the afternoon mom and Gordon treated us to a movie. (Note: Go see The Family Stone-it is really good.) That evening we opened presents and were up till about 1 AM.

Evan is home for three weeks too. He met us at mom's house. He is staying out at mom's for a couple extra days.

Tomorrow is a FREE day. Whoo Hoo! No school and no plans. R-E-L-A-X-A-T-I-O-N!

ChinaMama

Same old, Same old

The home front is pretty quiet right now. Only two days left of school and then two weeks of Christmas break! YEAH! I am sure ready for this. I will love not having to get up at 6 and go out and start my bus in the freezing cold weather.

Christmas shopping is done and wrapped so now I can just kick back and relax. We are leaving Friday night and heading to Iowa for Christmas with my mom. Then nothing until the 23rd when we have the Stahley Christmas. We really have a pretty light schedule this year.

This is really a week of anniversaries for us. On December 11th we made the decision to adopt. On December 12th we contacted our social worker for the first time and on December 13th we sent in our application to the adoption agency. So I guess you can say that a year ago this week we got the ball rolling in the process.

I have been sick this week with a headcold. This has put me in a rather grumpy and tired mood. Hopefully I will have it kicked here in a day or two and then be great for our vacation weeks.

Mike has been puttering around the house driving me nuts. He has been washing dishes (by hand instead of the dishwasher) and today he swept the living room. Now I know most of you women would think "That is Awesome" but on a certain level it bugs me. It makes me feel like he doesn't think I am doing my jobs right. I know he is trying to find things to do, but he hasn't even started on my honey-do list and the lack of income is really bugging me too. I think he will be helping the neighbor guy on his farm some, so that will keep him out of my hair.

Next Batch of Referrals

Well the latest batch of referrals has arrived. They came on December 8th which is awesome because that is two days less than a month from the last batch. They have been coming 5 weeks apart, so that is good news. Our agency did not receive any referrals because our group is the next batch they are expecting. The cut off for this batch was April 14th so we missed it by 3 days. We WILL be in the next batch though. YAHHOOOIE! I can hardly wait to see sweet Olivia's face. I think this month will go quickly.

We got 10 inches of snow on Thursday night so yesterday we had a snow day-meaning no school. Morgan and I went Christmas shopping. I think she has most of her stuff done now.

Mike is laid off. Bummer! This is about two weeks earlier than we hoped for. I am just praying for that there are no unexpected expenses this winter.

One more week of school before our Christmas break. I am looking forward to that. Evan will also be coming home in a week and be home for about three weeks. Hopefully my sanity holds out. LOL!

Oh Paybacks!

Remember about 5 weeks ago I told the story of how I went down to Kentucky to surprise a few of my Lovebug friends. Well there is a such thing as paybacks. Friday night we came home from going out to eat and found a 6 pack of Ale-8 on my front porch. (Ale-8 is a pop that is made in Kentucky that Morgan has become a big fan of). I knew immediately that something was up and sure enough within about 2 minutes a vehicle pulled into my driveway with Kentucky plates. After I got done screaming and going crazy I got to sit down and visit with Sheila, Jack, Kim and Kimmee who made the 6+ hour drive to visit me. It was so awesome and they got me good. I did not have a clue they were planning this (believe me my fridge would have been stocked and my house clean if I knew!). We stayed up until 1 AM Friday and Saturday night gabbing and laughing. We went to Shipshewana to visit Amishville. It was exactly what I needed this weekend to pull me out of my funk from the bad referral news. The weekend flew by and now I have the energy to wait another month. Thanks girls! I love you!

One more month

Well word is in.....we got cut again. They only matched up to April 15th. Referrals are suppose to be sent out at the beginning of next week. That is the only good news I heard so far. (The referrals have been sent about every 5 weeks and this time it is less than 4 weeks). I thought I was prepared for this, protected my heart and all, but I guess that wasn't true. I had an appointment to get my nails done today and when I sat down, Dawn looked at me and said "Why do you look so sad?" To which I replied "Whaaaa whaaa!" Yep, I started bawling. How embarrassing. I am such a dork! The thought of waiting one more month isn't too bad because it is December and because of the holidays will go quickly-what is bad is that I am still 3 months now from holding my little one. Instead of traveling in December we will probably travel in March. ARGH!!! I am going to take 1-2 days to cry, scream and throw things and then I will move on to positive thoughts.

Well, I can now say I am 99% positive we will be in the next batch. We technically only missed the cut off by 2 days (the 16 & 17th were weekend days). SO-around the first part of January we will get to see the face of the newest Stahley member and I will get to start packing and planning.

I just read a post from another mom-to-be in the same situation that we are in and I totally agree with her. I need to picture God asking me "Do you trust me?" And then I need to completely and totally trust him and his plan and get off my high horse.