Merry Christmas

New referrals came last week with the cut-off being December 14th, 2005. Jeez, I'm hoping the new year speeds things up for our Elizabeth. It' almost been a year now since we logged in to China. Will we ever see her? I keep the faith that she's just not ready for us yet. I think about her every day.

Here's hoping you all have blessed and joyous new year!

December Referrals.....Finally!

China Center For Adoption Affairs has updated their site!

Let's see......another 3 1/2 years for us???? Lord, I hope not!

Frustration

Aaaarrrrgghhhh!!! It looks as if this month's referral batch only went up to November 30, 2005. At this rate I'll be at least 43 when Elizabeth comes home. I'm trying to stay positive and think that our baby is just not ready yet. I hope and pray that referrals speed up for the 2006 year. We're in it for the long run. I just keep telling myself that it gives us more time to save, finish projects, spend extra time with the three kids we have, etc. When it happens it will be joyous and hopefully I'll forget about all the stress this is creating in my mind. On a positive note, Alex just finished cross country season. He shaved almost two minutes off his time from the beginning to the end of the season. It was awesome to watch him run. Donovan is practicing his dribbling for basketball; which begins in November. MK is becoming my clone. She has decided she wants to let her grow like mine and she wants to be a teacher. I love it!!

New Referrals are IN

Referrals were posted from the CCAI (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) today. Only four LID dates were given referrals this month which goes from November 22-25, 2005. This is a VERY large month for LID's, so hopefully it will start speeding up soon. Congratulations to all the families who will be seeing pictures of ther little ones in the next couple of days!! Each month brings us a little bit closer to Elizabeth!

August ends......

Donovan recently set up a lemonade stand in the front yard. Phillip helped him make the drinks and Donovan sold the drinks for .25 each.. All the neighbors came and he ended up making $17.50. Our young entrepeneur is doing a great job!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

"Isn't she lovely isn't she beautiful. I never thought through love we'd be making one as lovely as she, but isn't she lovely made from love." - Stevie Wonder

Our baby turned five today; the apple of my eye; my little shadow. I am so blessed by God.

August Referrals Came Today!

Today referrals for all families with LID's through November 21, 2005 came. (With a LID of 2/7/07 I think it's gonna be awhile before we're up to bat!) I'm sooo excited for all those families who can now take a great big breath and finally let themselves feel the joyous blessing(s) awaiting them on the other side of the world! Congratulations to you all!!

Family members: If you go to http://www.chinaadopttalk.com/ and myadoptionwebsite.com you'll be able to see some of the cute little babies!

We Need You Here Elizabeth! You're Missing All The Fun!

Elizabeth,

Summer is coming to an end, and school begins in just a couple of weeks. I wanted you to see all the fun things you'll be doing with your family when you come home to us! We've done a lot since spring break. We've gone to Gulf Shores, Alabama, hiked Indianapolis, and have gone canoeing down Sugar Creek and walked the trails at Turkey Run State Park. Soon you'll be in these pictures with us!

Shakespeare: A Mid-Summer Night's Dream

Alex has been participating in Shakespeare's A Mid-Summer Night's Dream at the Putnam County Playhouse. It has been so exciting watching him play a woodland fairy. Here is the headshot they did of him for their website. He loves doing the plays at the playhouse in the summer. I'm sure he'll be involved every year. He currently wants to be a dermatologist when he grows up. He will be traveling to China with us to get Elizabeth. He is soooo excited to meet her. Alex Asbell...you ROCK!

Oh Canada!

Phillip, his dad, brother Patrick, and Jeff Elkins recently spent two weeks at Red Lake, Ontario fishing for Northern Pike and Walleye through Viking Outposts. They flew in 100 miles to their destination. Phillip caught a 36 inch Northern that weighed 15 pounds. They made lots of good memories and got to spend good, quality time together.

It's A Family Reunion

I can't wait until Elizabeth meets her family. Family is what life is all about. Yesterday was Father's Day and we all got together to celebrate dads. Here are some

pictures of the important dads in my family. From left to right: Picture 1- Grandma and Grandpa Hicks, Picture 2 - Phillip and Kathi (Elizabeth's soon-to-be parents), Picture 3 - Uncle Todd and Aunt Michelle, and Picture 4 - Great-Grandma and Grandpa

Morrison.

Purdue

I finally get to start my summer today!! I've been taking an Engineering class at Purdue all week. Thought I was in over my head but as it turns out, it was a lot of fun really. Did you know that engineering is involved in almost everything around us? If there is a problem that needs to be solved then call on an engineer to fix it! Purdue has a great program and really, really smart faculty that facilitated our every need. They welcomed all of us touchy, feely teachers and made us feel very welcome. So if any of you Purdue University Engineers from the INSPIRE program read this, you guys rock!! Nothing new on the adoption homefront. Just started reading The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Hoping to learn a lot about Chinese culture during the long, long wait that's ahead of my family.

Summer Vacation!!

Well, the school year is finally winding down. I will miss my students. But....I am soooo excited for vacation! We have absolutely NO plans which great! Nothing but swimming, camping, visiting family. Our yard sale is coming up with proceeds going towards our China adoption fund. Looking forward to it. I've had many friends contribute items towards our sale and for that I feel blessed. It's a great feeling to have true friends who just want to give to the cause. I did a small fundraiser at my school and raised several hundred dollars for my China fund. My goal is to have all five of us travel to China. Don't know if it will happen but it's a goal.
We're still getting our quilt squares from our China group and it's lots of fun! I'll try to post some pictures of them after I piece them all together. Of course, that won't be for a while. Life is good!

One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt

Yesterday referrals came to families with LID's through November 1, 2005. I'm hoping things speed up this coming year, but I am doubtful. I'm trying not to listen to too many adoption rumors out there because it can be a bit overwhelming. But....pictures of the new babies are JUST SOOOOO ADORABLE! That keeps me motivated. My DTC group is doing a 100 Good Wishes Quilt swap. It's a Chinese custom to send an expectant mother a quilt swatch with a wish for the child on it. I'm hoping to sew a small quilt for Elizabeth's bed with the fabric squares and add the wishes to her scrapbook. I hope I can get 100 wishes!! Family and friends if you are reading this and want to send a wish for Elizabeth, make the quilt square 8"x8" and then write a wish for her on a notecard with a little 1"x1" swatch of the same fabric attached to it. Here is a cool website in which you can see what one of the finished quilts look like. Of course mine won't be nearly this nice. http://www.originalquilts.com/100_good_wishes_quilts.htm Oh yes, also my secret buddy sent me the cutest little ladybug books for Elizabeth last month! Thank you so much!

They Say It's Your Birthday! We're Gonna Have A Good Time!

Today is my birthday! Woo Hoo! I had a perfect day. Flowers, strawberry ice cream cake, sushi, a new, pink ironman watch, and my awesome family showering me with love. I am so lucky to have them in my life!! God is so good to me. The postcard exchange is going well. I received some great postcards from other DTC families all over the United States and world. It's so much fun to read what they have to say. I will put these in Elizabeth's scrapbook eventually. She'll get a kick out of them. Well, I've been thinking of fundraiser ideas for our adoption. Here they are:
1. yard sale in May
2. cleaning services for a day - April
3. dance lessons - May (I used to teach at Arthur Murray's back in the day)
4. Homemade pies - October
5. 5k fun run - Little Jiaozi Run!
I don't know. Hopefully something will pan out.
We will begin our Secret Buddy Swap in April. We will be swapping with a secret someone until our referral. We're hoping to only have 15 swaps. I think this will make the time go quickly. There are so many great families involved in our lives right now. Have a great day!

Making Friends Along the Way

Our DTC (Dossier To China) group began a postcard swap recently. We will be exchanging postcards with other adopting parents of Chinese daughters and sons from all over the United States and Europe. The purpose of the exchange is to help us occupy our time until our referrals come. A referral is when our adoption agency sends us a picture and medical history of our little girl and we say "YES!" The other reason for the swap is to meet other adopting parents who might potentially be travelling with us. Should be exciting.

The Wait Begins

March 1, 2007
We received our LID (log in date) from China on February 8, 2007. This means that now we wait for a long, long time until baby Elizabeth comes home forever. We started the adoption process back in July and began gathering our documents for our dossier (the package with your entire life history in it) in September. We sent our dossier to China on January 12, 2007 and it logged in in February.