Things that I am (currently) obsessed with

I say currently because this list will probably change within a month or so (obviously I don't have the greatest attention span).

1. This blog - my husband and I stayed up until 11:30 last night trying to make our blog more custom and add the new title picture. I am still not happy with the exact placement of the pic, so maybe he will have to stay up until midnight tonight.
   
2. Other peoples blogs - want to find out about what the newest yarn that is all the rage? Check out a knitting blog. How about your fellow desperate house wives? Just check out www.crazyhipblogmamas.com. You can find anything and everything on a blog!
   
3. Jazzercise - I am not the type of person who likes to exercise and yet since starting at a local Jazzercise place I have really gotten into it. Jazzercise is a mix of aerobics, kickboxing, dancing, weight training and everything in between. We use weights and an exercise ball, which I am deathly afraid of falling off of!
   
4. Our adoption - I thought the wait wouldn't be so bad, and in many ways it isn't. We now have plenty of time to convert our daughter's old bedroom into a new nursery for the little one. Also, I have really tried to appreciate all the alone time that I currently spend with my daughter, since I know that will change in the near future. Still, it drives me crazy that you don't have any real idea when we will be able to go to China and get her.

Well, that's it for today. Like I said, I will probably alter this list every once it a while, although I have a feeling that last one will still be listed.

Tastes like beef...

The time has finally come. What goes around, comes around (or is it the other way around)? Anyway, my mother has always said that I was an extremely picky eater when I was a child. I still don't believe her though, since now I will eat just about anything (including snake soup and pigeon in a Chinese restaurant - quite tasty in fact). But now that I have a pre-schooler at home, I think I know what she was complaining about.

Don't get me wrong, Leah does like to eat. Yogurt, string cheese, wheat thins, fresh fruit, gummies, cheerios, all sorts of stuff. But when it comes to some other things, mainly meat, she doesn't even want to try it. Put hamburger in front of her, she says "it tastes like beef" (mind you, she has yet to even eat it). Pork chops? "Tastes like beef." Chicken? You guessed it. In fact, the only chicken she will really eat comes in nugget form you get at a fast food joint.

Could this be the influence of a certain godmother's fiancee who is a vegetarian? Probably not, but I am starting to wonder...

Kung hei fat choy

Or, Happy Lunar New Year! You can click on the link above to find out information about New Year traditions and celebrations.

Crayola Factory

Today, Joe and I took Leah to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. It is a hands on museum where kids can do all sorts of arts & craft projects with Crayola products. It is well worth the ride out there just to play with all the stuff. You can click on the above title to check out their website.

They also have a demonstration on how they make crayons and markers. Probably the most interesting thing that I learned is that about nine years ago Crayola started to add tiny holes into the caps of their markers. You know why? In case a child accidentally swallows a cap and it gets stuck in their throat, air will still pass through the holes. Pretty cool, huh. Take a look at your marker caps - do they have little holes in them?

We are moving forward!

On Tuesday our social worker came for a visit to our home - the last of four face to face meetings. While she took notes about our house, Joe and I read through an 11 page report about our lives. It was kind of weird to read about ourselves on paper. My favorite part was when she wrote (twice no less) that Joe enjoys to cooking "Delicious Chinese meals" in his spare time. Now don't get me wrong, occasionally Joe does cook and his meals are pretty yummy, but when I think about the words DELICIOUS CHINESE MEALS, it makes me think of his sister Lucy, who is truly a wonderful cook! :)

Once the homestudy has been submitted to our adoption agency (hopefully within the next week), they will notify us by mail and then send the report to the USCIS (US Citizen and Immigration Services) . It generally takes the USCIS 2-3 weeks to send us an invitation to have our fingerprints taken. Once that is finished, it should take around 2-3 more weeks for the USCIS to send out our approval (or 171-H) back to our adoption agency. Then, it will take approximately 4-6 more weeks for this form to be authenticated! Yikes! We are now looking at approximately 12 more weeks until we are DTC (dossier to China). Barring any major problems, I guess that means that we will be logged into the Chinese government system by sometime in May.

I am still hopeful that we will be able to go get our little girl by Christmas, but am unsure if this is realistic. We just have to wait and see.

This family is blog crazy!!

A week ago I didn't even know what a blog was. Now, not only myself but my sister and my dad have blogs too! You can check out their blogs by clicking on the links on the right hand side of this page.

My sister's blog consists of general thoughts, pictures of her family in Hawaii (where she lives) and currently anything to do with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

My dad, who is a huge movie fan, has all his reviews on the latest and greatest movies he has seen. Check back often because he watches at least three new movies (out on DVD) a week.

Enjoy!

Why are we adopting?

Years ago, when Joe and I first started dating, we talked about having children. He always joked about one day having 11 kids (since he is the youngest of 11), but in all seriousness, we knew that we would like to become parents. We also talked about fertility issues, and that if we couldn't have biological children, then we would both be interested in becoming adoptive parents. Of course, a few years later Leah was born. End of discussion, right?

Actually, the thought of adoption has always been at the back of my mind. I would often feel a great sadness after watching documentaries about foreign orphanages. Then, as fate would have it, we started sitting next to a couple in church - Debbie & Ray. They have three beautiful adopted children - two teenagers and one toddler. The more we got to know them, the more I realized that adoption is really a wonderful way to build a family.

In the fall of last year, I asked Joe if we could send away for some information from three adoption agencies, just to take a look. By the time we had watched the DVD sent to us from Lavida (the same agency that Debbie & Ray used), I was convinced that this was something we should do. Joe and I decided then to open our hearts to a new little girl for our family.

So that is our story. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we wait for our second daughter, all the way from China.

Stephanie

Adoption Update

As all of you know from our Christmas Newsletter, Joe and I are in the middle of the adoption process. So far one of three things that needs to be completed before sending our information to the Chinese government has been finished. Joe and I have pounded the pavement looking for and notarizing all sorts of information - financial status, birth certificates, background checks, employment verification, etc (you name it, we had to get it)!

The other two things that need to be completed is our homestudy and getting US government approval. Our social worker, who is writing up our homestudy, will be stopping at our home for a final visit this coming Tuesday. The Chinese government requires four face to face meetings to complete a homestudy report, which is really just a biography of our family. We are hoping that the homestudy will be finished and sent to the adoption agency by the end of January (keep your fingers crossed).

Next, Joe and I have to get our finger prints taken on a federal level to be approved by the US government to adopt a foreign child. The approval form is called a 171H and once we receive that then our paperwork will be send to China. Of course, then it takes another few weeks for the Chinese government to log it into their system. Your log in date (LID) is really when your actual waiting period begins. Right now the typical wait from LID is 8.25 months. Since Joe is Chinese and was born in Hong Kong, we hope that the Chinese government will expedite and then our waiting period would be more like 4 to 5 months. Of course, the rumor currently going around is that they have been busy with a lot of paperwork recently (i.e. many adoptive parents), therefore the waiting period may begin to creep up. We just have to wait and see.

Leah is really excited about becoming a big sister. She loves to pretend and has recently been sitting on our couch pretending to be in an airplane on her way to China to pick up her little sister. It is really sweet and I cannot wait to be able to see them together.

I will keep you all up-to-date with our progress here on this blog.

Stephanie

P.S. If you are interested, you can check out our adoption agency by following the link below.
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I know that Christmas 05 has come and gone, but I just wanted to share these pics with everyone. Since Christmas fell on a Sunday, Joe had a few days off and we all enjoyed a long weekend together.

We spent New Year's Eve with our neighbors participating in a progressive dinner. You move from house to house for each part of the meal. We had appetizers at one house, entrees at another and finally dessert here at our home. The weather wasn't the greatest, so it turned out really nice that we just had to walk and not drive to everyones homes. It turned out to be a really fun evening and I am sure that we will be doing it again next year! Joe and I feel truly blessed to live in a nieghborhood with such wonderful friends.

Stephanie

Welcome Friends!

Welcome to my blog, where I can hopefully keep friends and family up-to-date on all the stuff going on with my family. Actually, my sister Chris suggested setting up a blog, so here it is!
Stephanie