Is it a sign???

We will cling to just about anything these days that give us any hope. Brad went to P.F. Changs for lunch today because I was too tired and blurry eyed to pack his lunch. Check out both sides of the fortune cookie fortune he got!

Besides the very meaningful message, check out the lucky numbers! Our baby girl is due to come off the database on December 10th and we are flying home on the 18th.

All Cried Out!

This has been a horrible day! I think I may actually be all cried out! We lost our referral today due to something about the birthfather and his "status". We were on an emotional roller coaster of phone calls, referrals, different travel dates and changing airline tickets (that cost us a lot of money in fees). I canceled our Nov. airfare and then rebooked it because we thought we got our referral back, but it was a different referral. We do have a new referral and expect to travel December 12th. She was born in November of 2008 and we even got some pictures. The IA doctor said she looks good from what she can see and what little info we got. She really is a cutie, but I'm having trouble even feeling excited. We have been on cloud 9 the past couple weeks and were SO CLOSE to finally traveling and then KABOOM! I am terrified we will get attached to this baby girl and then have something go wrong. My faith has taken a beating today. As nice as it is to have pictures, traveling blind has it's advantages. Now I need to book airfare, change our hotel accommadations AND apply for new visas. The originals were a big waste of money! I have the worst headache and red, puffy eyes. Can you tell I'm a little cranky???
Please keep us in your prayers that this was our LAST setback and that the little girl we keep looking at and falling in love with will come home soon.

The Sweetest Little Things

I celebrated my 37th birthday this weekend! Even with all the rain, it was a great weekend filled with sweet surprises. A bunch of my relatives gave us fabric for our 100 Good Wishes Quilt! They are all so cute and a lot of thought went into each chosen design. We can't wait to see what our daughter's quilt turns into. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. The fabric and especially the "wishes" or sweet thoughts mean so much to us. You can check out our new fabric pieces by clicking on 100 Good Wishes Quilt on the sidebar.

Mom and Dad gave me this cute little ladybug blankie! They bought it almost a year ago and held onto it until things actually seemed real :) We are only 3 weeks away from meeting our baby girl!!! Can't get more real than that!

A Little Update and Some Pics

We have been on full speed ahead with travel plans. Airfare...booked, hotel...booked, visas....applied for, and money ordered from bank!!! I can't wait to get on that plane! I swear I wake up with a smile on my face. Aidan said to me, "Travel dates aren't that exciting. Getting our baby home IS exciting." It's been 2 1/2 years that we have talked about their baby sister. I don't really think they believe it's happening. Anyway, we are keeping busy with travel arrangements and list checking :) I'll leave you with some pictures I meant to post earlier.

Aidan was one sick little guy, but is all better now! Just wanted to share the picture of him hooked up to his "gas mask" (as Nate called it).

We went to visit with family in Virginia a couple weekends ago. The boys LOVE seeing their cousins, Ryan and Emma!

I told myself I wouldn't buy any clothes until we met our daughter, but I caved when I saw the cupcakes! I have a thing for cupcakes, especially carrot cake ones!!!

Our wonderful friends, the Afflerbachs, gave us these adorable outfits! We can't wait to see our baby girl in them :)

We're Going to Russia!!!!!

We got travel dates!!!!!! We have our appointment on Nov. 10th, so we will leave on the 7th! I'll keep this short for now since I have so many calls to start making! I'll post more later :) Woo hoo!!!!!!

STILL NO TRAVEL DATES!

This is so unbelievably frustrating! All we know is that we are going to be going in November. When? We do not know yet. The children must be on the database (or in the orphanage) for 9 months before they can be adopted. Our baby is still on the database and they can't schedule travel until she is close to coming off. I have no idea when that is suppose to happen. Hopefully we will travel in early November so we have a chance of getting her home by Christmas. I really thought it was slam dunk for that to happen, but now things don't look so sure.

Aidan has been really sick the past couple days with pneumonia. He is finally starting to look, act and breathe normal. Having him home was a nice distraction today. I'm glad I didn't obsess all day over travel dates to not even get them. We will get there!!!

Going Private

As we embark on this amazing journey, we are all so excited to meet our baby girl! However, due to an insensitive comment on my last post, we will be going private from here on out. I know I don't owe anyone an explanation, but I want to make it perfectly clear that our daughter's health is our main concern, not her ethnicity. There are very few people that even know our file with Russia stated we were interested in a caucasian girl. I've never posted about ethnicity. So, I have my suspicions.

We started our adoption journey with China 2 1/2 years ago. Clearly, we are more than comfortable with a child of a different background. Making things go "quicker" was not the reason for us including "eurasian" on our paperwork. It was done strictly out of wanting a better chance at a healthy child. We knew the baby that was meant for us would find us, whether caucasian or eurasian. We will be proud of our daughter's heritage and make sure SHE is proud!

I have gotten such support from so many of you and I truly appreciate your kind words. If you would like to continue to follow along, let me know and leave an email address.