Easter Celebrations

We had a wonderful Easter celebrating the fact that Jesus is resurrected! We met Nana and Papa and Auntie Julie and Uncle Bill for dinner and had a wonderful evening as a family.

It's almost Easter, please no more snow!

Well we truly thought the snow season was coming to end an end this week because Thursday (my birthday and also the first day of Spring) was very sunny and beautiful. In fact it was so nice that Lia and I were outside picking up all the sticks in our front yard and raking up leaves. And then Friday hit and with it came the return of the snow. In fact we got about 5 inches of snow last night. Lia and Dan were out this afternoon and made a very cute snowman named Chilly as pictured here.

So I don't know what all this snow means for our Easter dress up plans. It's going to be hard to wear a short sleeve summery looking dress and white shoes if we're walking through snow to get to church........

But Lia did have a lot of fun yesterday doing Easter eggs with her best friend Hannah B. I forgot my camera so Hannah's mom is sending some pictures of the girls working on their creations which I will post later.

Inching Closer......

Well they sent referrals last week and made it up to Jan. 4, 2006. We were logged in on Jan. 23, 2006. The Rumor Queen, a blogger who knows all about China adoptions (even our adoption agency checks Rumor Queen), is predicting that we could get our referral in May or June. I still think it will be June but we'll see.

So now the reality is setting in for me that we are going to have to go back to China again and leave Lia behind. Not excited about that! And we're still not sure if we got our referral in June,
would our travel plans be impacted at all because of the Olympics in Aug. Usually it takes about 6-7 weeks after your referral before you leave to go to China. So for all of you who pray, please continue to pray that our travel plans will work out perfectly and that it won't be too expensive (b/c of the Olympics). And pray for Lia that we will be able to prepare her well for our two weeks apart and that the time will pass quickly for all of us.

One of my friends just got her referral last week for an almost seven month old baby girl. She was so cute! Can't wait till the day that we're sending out our pictures to all of you of Chloe and my sister's daughter Lucy!

The Chinese Acrobat Show!

Chinese New Year

Every year since we've been a family we have always celebrated the Chinese New Year with our good friends the B's. We had plans to celebrate together on the actual weekend of Chinese New Year this year but it got delayed because Dan, Lia and I were all sick that weekend. So tonight we finally got to do our New Year celebrations with the Bakers and also another couple we've met through our adoption agency. That couple, Rick and Vicki, are a couple of weeks ahead of us as far as their Log In Date in China but we were both logged in the month of January. So they hope to possibly get their referral in the next batch from China that comes in a week. So we spent a fair amount of time telling them about the trip to China, the adoption process and what they could possibly expect. And for the first time this year Ava, who is Hannah's baby sister, joined in our New Year celebration. And next year when we celebrate CNY we are planning on Chloe joining the gang. And also this year, Lia and Hannah both brought their American Girl dolls dressed in Mandarian style dresses as well. It was a great evening. Happy Year of the Rat!

Snow, snow and more snow

I heard on the news last night that our area has gotten 83.5" of snow so far this season. They said that we're well on our way to getting over 100" of snow. And interestingly enough, there have only been five other winters since the late 1890's that we've gotten over 100" of snow. I know people are talking about global warming but we're sure not seeing it here.

When our referral might arrive

I know everyone is wondering when our referral will come. Obviously we're wondering too :))

At this point in time I'm thinking we might see it sometime between May and July. China just sent referrals today and they got up to the group that was logged in on December 27, 2005. We were logged in on January 23, 2006. China is doing about one week of paperwork per month. So that's why I'm thinking it will take another three to five months to get to us obviously depending on many days they do per month from now till they get to us.