WOW Review room is flying!

Room 2 of 3 has is flying fast. They have processed November and December 2006. They have matched up to January 9 2006.

I have said it before, I will say it again, get those review room folks into the matching room those folks know how to move the papertrail along!

Congrats to those who are thru the review!

National Geographic info on China

Natioanl geographic video of China

NG has some cool pics etc of China, nothing adoption related, but nice to see some cool pictures etc...

South Carolina update

Updated(ing) the blog to reflect the dual path we are on. We got our home study updated over the weekend. SOOO thankful to our social worker, who has gone out of her way to push things ahead quickly as possible!

So once the editors give it a nod, it if off to the AB gov't for their nod, then we are in the race "officially"!

It is a crazy feeling. Our hearts have been full focus on Julia, while knowing we would look at a second adoption, and it is a crazy shift to think that it is possible that we may end up with a little brother or sister for Julia before we get her. They could end up being around the same age... too much to wrap the brain around, but our hearts are having no trouble being ready to welcome ANY child God chooses to bring into our home.

We have had to adjust our brains though. When you have been on a one way path and suddenly there is an unexpected turn in the road, it is a great twist, but opens up all sorts of fun conversations and things to think through...such as... does the room work for 2 cribs(then the thoughts of what colors would work...what if we have a boy from SC and then Julia...my suggestion of painting the room white didn't fly with my creative wife ;) ).

Because we have said we are open to either gender from SC we have no idea what gift we will get. We have done up name lists for both genders, but obviously don't know at this point what name to put to this "face" of a child who is birthed in our heart at this time.

It is fun looking at the emotions and thoughts you have during these adventures.
For China, Cara and I were totally on board for wanting a girl, considering the circumstances they are in. For SC, it is a totally different thing. Obviously we will take in and love equally whatever gender of child we get, and in whatever order we get them, but as you speculate and talk through stuff at present Cara is more inclined towards a little black girl. I am thinking it will be a boy.

Then the male logic side of me goes,"A girl would be easier, don't have to worry as soon about them sharing a room, they could share clothes, less duplication of things..." Then in the next thought, "YES! Think of the toys I can buy for my son, even though they may be more for Dad..SWEET DEAL! A boy would balance out the genders in the home, that is a good thing..."

Heh, who knows, it will be an interesting adventure. Some of the differences between the adoptions is that for SC we sent a profile of who we are and our Lawyer/Agency down there shows that to birth moms they have contact with and that mom picks us. With China the match is done by the "agency" (CCAA) in China. SC, when the match happens, will be a quick notification and turn around. For China we will know when the match is coming and then have 6-8 weeks to plan for the travel.

Well, there are some random thoughts as we continue on this journey!

Approval gotten

Great news, we got the little white envelope with the approval to adopt from the US within it, someone other than Anne signed it, but it was signed, YAHOOO! We now try to get our homestudy updated quickly and effectively. Smiles around our home this morning! :):):):)

Adoption 2 but 1 status

Our US adoption is clicking away. We are awaiting official word from the Alberta gov't that they give us the nod, the profile and the smaller paper work trail is complete and mailed off to our US contact today. Once we get official Alberta word, we will get our homestudy updated and from there it is full steam ahead.

April 16 we have a phone interview with the US contact.
Got the financial updates and refinancing stuff sent off.
Cara bought 2 sets of PJ's for the baby...here we go again! ;)

So the sooner Anne Scully gets that approval done for the Alberta Gov't thing will go quick for a splurt, and then if the homestudy update goes quick, we are completed in amazing time what we can do.

A day off

What do I do on a day off, well since no one asked, I will tell you anyway ;)

Typically I like to do as little as possible, but to seem like a super hero I will tell you of my last day off.

The day starts with me helping Cara make pancakes and bacon for breakfast, we then talk and plan our calender for the month(visits, meetings, her craft classes, my kung fu stuff...)

I then do some calls contacting some folks about US adoption stuff, getting finance stuff going etc.

Then off to the store, need to check to find a good deal on a lawn mower, stop by Walmart(no good deals yet), browse through the dvd and playstation games, then off to the comic shop to pick up comics. A run across the street to the Christian book store to get some supplies for Sunday(Okay it was work related, on a day off, but it was close!)

Stop by 7-11 for a slurpee and home to read some comics and enjoy a slurpee. From there I went out and raked the front lawn(the snow is gone from the front). I put a lot of work into it last year and I want to keep building it up and getting it healthier and a deeper root base. After that I ironed some shirts(Cara will do it for me, although she hates ironing, but I felt like it and we take turns doing it). From there my domestic gene kicked in and I did some dusting(something we both don't like to do) and washed the floor.

Then half and hour of playstation games, supper, catch Survivor on TV and then off to Kung fu. Home to shower, unwind for an hour then off to bed.

Terribly exciting I know. :)