Times are a changin...

Hello all! I am writing this while flying 37,000 feet above ground. They have wifi on our plane-so cool! I can check email, and everything. We are high above the clouds, beautiful and sunny, leaving dreary, rainy, and cold PA behind.

Kids are enjoying the flight....they were all a bit nervous when we boarded, but are lovin it now.
Well, that's all for now. As Chloe would say-C-YA!

Wow, it's been awhile...

Our little "princess"

Yum-brownies are good!

Helping G do homework

You are sssoooo funny brother!

I can't believe it's been 4 weeks from my last post! I guess that shows me how truly busy we;ve been since the kids started back to school. Things have been crazy, but it's a good crazy! Chloe just is growing by leaps and bounds-especially her vocabulary! Her newest thing to say to me is, "I know Mom!" when I tell her to be careful. And she just says it with "the Look" on her face. Oh my, and she's only 2! We are in for it!

We are leaving for Disney in less than 12 hours! Can't wait to escape to the warm weather in Florida for the next 8 days! It has been awful weather here in PA. Today, the high was 50! And rain, and windy, and well, I couldn't think of a better vacation than being in Florida swimming, and seeing Mickey! Chloe just loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so we KNOW she is going to love Disney. the other kids are excited too-this is their first plane ride-Dan and I are flying veterans by now. A 2 hour flight to Florida will seem like a cake walk after flying 15 hours to China!

I am going to try to post to the blog each night-and I do stress the word TRY, but, I will do my best! Please pray that all goes well with the kids and our flight south. Warm weather and sunshine here we come!

Here comes the big yellow bus....

Sign of summers past...

"A man" after riding the bus for the first time

What a cutie!

Here's C after getting home from school the first day-CRASHED on the couch!

Orientation!

Waiting for it to begin...my how old he looks!

Mrs. Gross reads the class "The Kissing Hand"

What a crew!

Chloe was so happy to see them and have them home!

Well, you realize summer has officially come to an end when you can hear moms shouting those two words, SCHOOLS IN! (just kidding, sort of ;) and when you see this pulling up...it's hard to believe it's September already! Our youngest son, A, started Kindergarten today. We had a half day orientation yesterday at the school, where they learned about bus safety, lunches, blah, blah, blah. He was quite upset when we had to leave at lunch time. He is MORE than ready to go. Makes me feel good he WANTS to go, and doesn't bother me in the slightest he wouldn't rather be home with me....it's just who he is! A real go-getter! C man started 6th grade-hard to believe my "oldest BABY" will start junior high next year-man, do I feel old :) G man started 3rd grade, and all is well with him also. Chloe is LOST without them at home, and doesn't quite understand that Mama has some stuff she has to tend to in the house, and can't be outside ALL DAY...

We are coming up on our 4 month mark of meeting Chloe. I have been reading a few sites about China adoption, and the direction it is heading, and it doesn't sound too promising. The C@A@ has gotten through March 24, 2006 of referrals. (Sure you all could figure this out, but it is now SEPTEMBER 2009!) A client of a particular agency posted on a forum that their agency sent out an email to everyone that they are predicting (based on the past year and a half rate of referrals going out) that they will only start giving out referrals to families who have a Log In Date of October 2006 in the year 2015! 2015? Unbelieveable. That means they will take 6 more years to do 6 months of referrals! And to think when we started out in all of this, our original Log In Date was April 2, 2008! It could very well have been atleast 15 years until we would have gotten our referral, if the China program would even still around by then. There is also another rumor that the C@A@ is telling agencies to talk to the people who are still in the wait for a NSN's child, and possibly swaying them into going down the SN's route, possibly meaning that the NSN China program will one day be done and only be SN adoptions. Again, no concrete info, just a rumor from another adoptive parent.

I thank God everyday for helping us find our daughter, steering us in the right path, helping us find Bay Area Adoption Services, and literally putting her file and life, in our hands two days after we joined BAAS' yahoo group. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason and a purpose, and I truly believe she was meant to be our daughter. I tried to think back on her birth day, what I was doing that day, or where we were and I finally found out the other day by chance. Our niece, who is also adopted, was born 5 days before Chloe was born. I was going back through pictures of when we first held our niece in the hospital, and I happened to look at the date on the picture, and sure enough, it was the same day Chloe was born-coincidence, I think not...

When we first started the process of adoption, we were told the wait was 18-24 months-(ok, are you kidding me? )BUT, we said we were in it for the long haul. But after researching wait times and referral rates, we weren't sure it was ever going to happen. I FEEL for the families who are still in line for NSN, seeing as though they may have YEARS of waiting, most of whom might drop out, and never get their child they have longed for..
Not only is the line getting longer, but there are now new requirements for children to receive TB testing, and longer stays in China, possibly resulting in a 17 day or longer stay come October 1. Again, we are SO LUCKY we were able to get Chloe home safe and sound, because there seems to be alot more red tape and more requirements happening to those who are traveling now. And to think I thought that traveling during the swine flu scare and having our temps taken a million times by men in space suits was an inconvience to us...but boy, looking at what people are having to go through to get their child...we had it EASY!

Not sure how and why I this post took the direction it did...maybe just another reason to hug your children a little longer tonight, and say a prayer for those who are still waiting with empty arms...

On a happier note, only 29 days until we leave for DISNEY-WOO HOO! Can't wait to blog those photos!