Merry Christmas to all

I have to confess. It took me a while to get in the Christmas spirit this year. I got my shopping done fairly early, but I just wasn't as excited for Christmas to actually get here. Maybe this adoption wait is making me a more patient person. Not likely, but it's a thought. I did get a burst of Christmas joy just in time.

We had a wonderful and simple Christmas at our house. My family spent the night. We were up until early morning playing games. It wrapped up with a trivia show down first with my sister and I versus the husbands... then a face off with the husbands. D's parents will be here later in the week to celebrate his birthday. So, our celebration will carry on most of the week. D got me this Vietnamese Madame Alexander doll for Christmas. Isn't she sweet?

I got some good adoption news on Friday. I stopped by the agency to drop off a small gift for our coordinator. She told me that we are still on track to get our referral at 15 months, but it could happen in as short as 12 months. That puts us at April to July for our referral. There have been several referrals at our agency and more coming. It always helps to be reassured that things are still moving along. We are much closer to being matched with our baby. It has been 8 months now since we turned in our dossier. The wait has been hard. Every month that passes brings us closer to our family. I am working on a list of things to do after the first of the year. I will post it on the side bar so I can keep track of my progress. I don't want things to sneak up on me. If you have suggestions on anything I might be missing, let me know ; )

In knitting news, I was pleasantly surprised by the quick success of our Etsy site. I did not expect to get so many orders so quickly. On top of that, I was surprised with 6 email orders from friends of friends of friends. I was still able to make a few Christmas gifts, but I was very busy, I am well over 100 hats sold towards our adoption fund. I need to tally up the exact figure. My goal is still to give away at least as many hats as I have sold. I think I should still be in good shape there. It has been a blessing for the fun that I have had doing it and for how it has helped me with the wait. I highly recommend a hobby for all those anxious waiting families out there.

I think I'll stop rambling now. Merry Christmas! A.

Shopping for Christmas

My sister and I have started a little shop at Etsy. We have both always been crafty, just in different ways. She is a graphic artist/art teacher. She is very talented and is currently illustrating a book. She painted some adorable baby shoes. I just started posting them tonight. I hope to have some more added this weekend. I have also added some of my baby hats to the shop. There is a link on the side bar that will take you straight to our site. It's not real fancy just yet, but we are working on it. I think I will ask Hannah' Claire's Mom to help us out with a shop banner. She does such a great job!

I also want to say a big Congratulations to Alexia's new family! A.

December, already?

Christmas is quickly approaching. Back when we first started the adoption process, I never thought we would still be childless this Christmas. It's been hard, but we're hanging in there. The good news is that other families with our agency have referrals coming over the next few months. I'm so excited for them. I'm also eager to follow their travel journals. It is amazing how comforting that is while you are waiting.

It's probably difficult for people who have never adopted to understand how hard the wait is. For one thing, with a pregnancy, you know all along exactly where your baby is. Your doctor never tells you it could be 12 - 18 months before you see your baby. And, you don't usually have to worry about filling out some new form before Homeland Security will let your baby out. I shouldn't be silly. I am well aware that there are a whole lot worries in pregnancy and delivery too.

As far as our adoption progress... there's really not much going on. We just passed our 7 month mark since our dossier was turned in. It will likely be late spring or early summer before we hear anything significant. We are praying that things go well and that the US and Vietnam governments re-sign agreements in March. This is necessary for adoptions from Vietnam to continue past the summer. There are a lot of people working very hard to make sure this agreement is renewed. It will be a big relief when it is signed.

In other news, we were able to scratch off another thing on our "Do before the baby comes" list. D and I took in Infant/Child CPR class this week. The list is getting short. One thing still looming on there is the Nursery. I am hoping to have that to work on after the first of the year. We still have no baby furniture. Once we get that part...I can dive in. I know that working on the nursery will be a big comfort and help me feel closer to our child.

I better wrap this up. I have knitting waiting for me. The sweetest little girl turns 1 this week, and I'm working on something special for her. Stay tuned and I will post a picture. A

Appletini and Cupcake...mmmmm

I've been a busy knitter lately... churning out baby hats like no body's business. It really is a good way to keep myself busy during the wait and at the same time, raise funds for the adoption. Pictured is my current favorite. The Cupcake "Icing " is the softest chenille-like fluff. It's just Yummy with a cherry on top. I will post more hat pictures later.

OK, back to the wait. We are still waiting to move up on our agency's list. The referrals are coming any day now... for months. I'm trying to stay optimistic, but it's very hard. I have been stalking the blogs of the families ahead of us... and they have spotted me... more than once. That's OK though. They definitely know where I'm coming from. We still have a pretty long wait ahead of us. Our coordinator said she would let us know if things looked more positive later. For now, we are looking at early summer or so for a referral. So, for now I knit.


I still haven't done much with the nursery. I hope to get moving on that pretty soon. I was in there folding and sorting baby clothes the other night. It's starting to feel more like a baby's room, but it will help a lot when we get a crib in there. I also need to find a great light fixture. I am not loving the light in there now. I think it was about the last one we picked out when we were building the house. The lady said "Here's what we usually use in the bedroom". We said, "we're tired of making decisions... that one will do". It is a glass dome light with a pointy thing in the middle. We "not-so-affectionately" refer to it as "The Nipple Light". I really can't see leaving that in my son's bedroom. (insert your own favorite D. joke here, you know he's come up with some) I've been a little discouraged by the lack of selection I have been able to find online for lighting. If you have any suggestions, let me know. The room will be decorated with Jungle Animals.


Now, you are probably saying to yourself, "What about the Appletini... I heard there would be Appletinis".

Be patient, there is an Appletini... and a Mimosa. I got a package in the mail yesterday from Sonny and Shear I've Got Ewe, Babe Yarn Shop, and of course I love packages. Their logo is two sheep that look like Sonny and Cher. Anyway, it contained two hanks of the softest Yarntini superwash merino sock yarn. The colors, of course, were Appletini and Mimosa. I can't wait to knit myself some snazzy new socks.
I guess that's all for now. A

Vacation

Well, I'm on vacation. I had lots of plans for all I would get done, mainly I've just been relaxing. We've spent some time in the pool, and I have almost finished a sweater for the baby. It's my first attempt at a top down pattern. I enjoyed making it and especially enjoy the lack of seaming that it needs. I'll post a picture when it's done.

D had to get an MRI on Friday. He's been having a lot of knee pain. Today we saw an orthopedic surgeon. He will be having cartilage in his knee repaired Thursday morning. Please, say a little prayer that all goes well. They will be doing the procedure as outpatient and are pretty optimistic for a quick recovery. I've already told him he's grounded from sports!

There have been no real updates on the adoption recently. We are still waiting to hear about some referrals for our agency and hope to finally be move up some on the waiting list. It will be a thrill to just have a new answer when people ask how it's going. I usually just say, "Fine, still waiting". What I really want to sayis something like, "Well, one day I'm excited and hopeful, one day I'm weepy, and the next day I'm anxious and nervous... and other days I'm all of those and more... and of course we're still waiting ; )".

I can't imagine how hard it will be when we are closer to getting our referral. I'm over-the-top excited for these families right now.

Best Wishes, A

Made in Vietnam...

I'm in love. Tuesday, I stopped by our Adoption Agency to drop off my booties and hats for the orphanage. On my way back to work I stopped at Knitwitts, a local yarn shop. I was ready to start a new project. I picked up some yarn and I needed some bamboo needles for sock knitting. The lady pointed out some on the counter that were made of rosewood and all her knitters love them. I had seen them when I first came up and they were very pretty but more expensive than what I normally used. She pointed out that they were made in Vietnam. That sold me. I bought a set and they are wonderful! The are handmade in Vietnam for Lantern Moon . They have some of the most beautiful things. So, if anyone wants to know what I want for Christmas ...
And, in adoption news... today marks the thrid month of our official wait for a referral. A

TGIF!

Friday is a wonderful thing! At least for me it is... D doesn't have weekends off so he doesn't share my love of Fridays. He says Monday is his Friday... and he's off on Tuesday... so Friday's his Tuesday... it's all very confusing ; ) Anyway, I'm happy that it's the weekend.

This has been a buzy week. I've had something going on every day after work. I've also been doing a lot of knitting. Wed night we had a meeting at church for our Prayer Shawl Ministry group. It's really a neat project. Our women's group knits cozy shawls and prays for the person who will receive the gift. The shawls are then blessed and given out to people who are in need of special prayers for an illness or other hardships. They attach a tag and a cross to the shawl and enclose a card explaining how it was made. The Thank You cards we get from the recipients are so heart warming and I love all the ladies involved. While I was there that night I picked up another knitting task. We had five newborns on the prayer request this week that are in the hospital. I'm making super soft baby hats for them. I will be frantically finishing them up tonight and tomorrow. It's so sad to hear about little babies having such a rough start...

I've also been working on knitting baby booties and socks for the orphanages in Vietnam. Our coordinator will be traveling there this summer, and she has agreed to deliver them for me. I sent hats earlier in the year, so I thought I would try socks. This was my first attempt at sock knitting... and I'm addicted. I rarely knit for myself, but I can already tell that this will be my indulgence. Now I have visions of striped Merino wool socks dancing in my head. I did visit the The Village Knitter today. I couldn't resist picking up some sock yarn for me ; ) They ladies there are so sweet. They invited me to come knit with them... I might take them up on that.

I don't really have any new adoption news except to say that we are looking forward to those referrals coming in August! I know our ticker up there says we've been waiting just over 2 months... but that's not really true. I've been waiting all my life...

Best wishes... A