Monday Meditations

Wow! The CCAA has picked up on the reviews!!! June 2006 has been completed in almost record time!
This morning,

I'm praying that I will be patient. God's timing is so much better than mine. He will fill the desires of my heart.


I'm praying that my family and friends will continue to encourage me. When they hear 2-3 years, I see their expressions change.

Praying that LynnMarie will be a blessing to everyone she comes in contact with.

Praying for everyone who handles our dossier. Our agencies, the postal systems, the CCAA review, the matching room, etc. Thats a lot of people!!!

What about you?

Specific requests

1)Lisa and Doug- Today is their Gotcha Day

2)Michael and Kim- they leave for China in just a few days

3)CJ and Donna- will be travelling to China in the next few months to go get Shelby

Also, check out this new family! Paisley joined her Forever Family today! I have loved this blog!

More thoughts

Hello friends! What wonderful news to hear that that the CCAA is done reviewing all of JUne 2006. That means there is less than 12 months to go until they review our dossier!

Thanks for all of your wonderful comment on the post below. You guys are wonderful.

There are times when someone says something that really sticks with you. We have been attending our First Friday group for almost 10 months now at the Chapmans and have found such wonderful support and encouragement. The one thing that I have heard is that what we are going through is not just adoption. Adoption takes an hour, parenting lasts a lifetime. We are not just preparing our homes and looking forward to our referral and going to China, we are becoming a family. When I really think about it, its really quite surreal.

The idea that in a few years (hopefully sooner) life as we presently know it will be forever changed. Our priorities will no longer just be on Michael and I, but our child. This has already started. My mind wanders on what life will be like. We are going to be watching everything through her eyes and that is simply amazing.

We are still in the early waiting part and I am having so much fun! My dreams have changed and only for the better. A lot of you know me simply from this blog. My craziness can be found over at my personal blog

I thought I would add a few more things I am looking forward to.

I can not wait to take LynnMarie for walks around the mall.
I can not wait to take her on a picnic.
I cant wait for her first pictures.
I cant wait until that first family Christmas card and portrait
I cant wait until I buy her first Halloween costume.
I cant wait to get her pictures taken in a pumpkin patch.
I cant wait to see her feet in the sand
I cant wait to make her breakfast
I cant wait for her to be able to pick out her own book bag
I cant wait to make Christmas cookies with her
I cant wait to go see Christmas lights around town and have a contest on who ever finds Santa first wins ( I did this with my cousins)
I cant wait to see what she is interested in whether it be dance, singing, piano or whatever she can dream up
I cant wait for her to teach us things

Traditions

One of the things that I (Amy) most look forward to are starting family traditions. Vacations, holidays, etc.

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. From Thanksgiving until Christmas Day, I sooo love this time of the year. I cant wait until LynnMarie can experience that with us.

I cant wait to get up on Sunday morning, and go to church and then spend the day as a family.
I can not wait to get her ready for church.
I cant wait to take her to our First Friday group
I cant wait to get her ready for school.
I can not wait for her to see the magic of Christmas.
I can not wait to hear her say her first prayer
I can not wait to hear that first giggle turn into a belly laugh
I can not wait to see her on Grandpas boat!
I can not wait to see her on Michaels lap in the recliner reading a book!
There are more......
I can not wait to take LynnMarie on her first Disney Cruise! In case, you did not know, I LOVE THE DISNEY CRUISE and I am thrilled they are building 2 more ships!

Do you have any favorite traditions?

I can not believe how many blogs I am reading now. I love it and I am learning so much. If you are not on my blogroll, let me know so I can add you. I am really trying to find some June 07 LIDers!!

Our LID book

This is the book I chose for this months LID book! Michael gets to pick next month! Scroll down for Mondays Meditations!

Monday Meditations

What on your heart and mind today?

Today,I am praying for

1)paperchasing families will stay encouraged rather than discouraged
2)our marriages during this wait. I hear it can be stressful (smile)
3)our babies in China- that all who have contact with them will be blessed
4)that we are patient and know that God's timing is perfect

Specifically
1) Shelbys parents- they will be travelling this fall to bring her home
2)Michael and Kim-they are travelling in the next few weeks to bring Sheridan home


For those new here, each Monday a group of us pray specifically for the adoption process

3 months down

happy 3 months to us!!
stay tuned to see what book we get today! We buy a book each LID anniversary each month. It seems more practical than buying baby things and you can not have enough books. Any suggestions? It does not have to be adoption related!

finally my thoughts on infertility and adoption

Just a normal post.. We will soon hit the 3 month mark and its been pretty good, mostly because of you guys. Thanks for all of your nice posts and encouragement on this blog.

I love to read blogs. I read happy ones, sad ones and those who are discouraged. I read the ones that say "maybe God doesn't want me to be a mom" and it makes my heart hurt because I have been there. I have not shared our infertility issues on this blog because well,there aren't that many. We have not spent a lot of money or time on this issue. One day maybe, but not now. To me, deciding to adopt and paperchasing was my way of starting our family.

I have been there friends. I have felt that jealousy. Lets be honest here. My younger sister got married before, and had her first baby before me. Boy, was I jealous. It was hard. But then Janie was born and that jealousy feeling died. Janie was just my niece but I remember crying the day Kelly left her with a babysitter when she went to work. I told you I was psycho. and then she had Seth. No more jealousy because I wanted Janie to have a playmate and what a playmate he is. Then, there is Owen, the baby. I remember Kelly showing me the picture of Seth with a big brother picture on it.. I dont think I have ever been more excited about a baby than when Owen arrive. Have I told you how beautiful they are?

So, then I get married and go to work at a Childrens Hospital. Not a good place to work when you want babies..Its not the patients that get to you, its the staff. One by one a staff member gets pregnant. Sometimes you are thrilled and other times you just don't want to hear about it. Mind you, I do celebrate every birth because every baby is just so fun, but dang, it gets hard to hear about it.

I am at the point in my life where I am just excited about people having babies. Perhaps its because I am more mature, perhaps its because, I now know I have no control over when God places a baby in our heart or arms. I do know that the feelings I had overwhelmed me. I wasted a lot of time being jealous. What a horrible, terrible, yucky feeling that is.
Now, as much as I want to be happy for every pregnant person, there is always that one that just bothers me. I love her to death outside of work, but when she got pregnant, I just wanted to ignore her. So what do you do when that happens? You throw her a shower! Haha! And we had a great time.

So, for those who are discouraged regardless if its just the long wait, or if its infertility, or if its jealousy, I have been there. You can not stay in that place. Find some encouraging friends. Pray. Stay positive. Its hard, but once you let go of those feelings (and yes they do come back and visit) you enjoy this beautiful gift. I am so glad I have you guys on this long wait. I am blessed my husband is okay with the wait.

I remember one night we were talking after we had been married a bit and realized that we may have a problem getting pregnant. He promised me a baby. He didn't care if it was biological or adopted and that was a most wonderful moment!!!

God is so amazing. 6 years ago I thought people who adopted were cool and full of so much love and look where we are!!

I dream of the day we see LynnMarie!!!

and on another note to anyone who is not adopting but has friends who are adopting, please don't ask your friends if they plan on breastfeeding their 9 month old daughter from China! I don't care what the books say. That questions is just weird!!!

Personal Identity

This is just a post to demonstrate my successful effort to be able to post with my own account and icon so you guys will know when it's me instead of Amy.

Our first secret pal gift!!

How cute is this????
Thanks Secret Pal!!!

Just stuff in general

No I am not buying anything. In case you did not hear, Michael accepted a job offer at Walgreens this week. You can read about it over at his blog!

Yesterday, Michael had something to do, so I walked around the mall. I visited the Childrens Place and Gymboree and went somewhere new. I went to my first children's clothing visit at a department store. I went to Macy's! Wow! I did find their 50% rack but still. Definitely not in our price range right now, but they had some really cute outfits. I have learned that there are certain types of outfits and material that I prefer..Its really really fun to window shop!

I think we have decided to use the spelling LynnMarie for now. Still getting lots of questions. I went to a shower this weekend and a stranger knew we were adopting and asked what the proper term was,. Do you say 'Good luck on your adoption' or good luck with the process or good luck with your baby? I explained that all were acceptable and it was just a nice sentiment.

I'm enjoying my yahoo groups. I have joined 3. One is for April DTC (dossier to China), one for March/April LID and I moderate a group for April LIDers! These should keep me busy for a while. I have been assigned my secretbuddy and my LID buddy! These should all be fun!

Monday Meditations

Morning!

Today, I am praying for our

1) our babies- that they will be loved and will be a blessing to all they come in contact with
2) our spouses- most of us are moms or moms to be (like me) and the daddies and daddies to be sometimes do not get the support and friendships like we do
3)our family and friends- that they will understand and support us during the wait
4)our hearts- that God will use this time to mold us into the parents he wants us to be. Its easy to write that but sometimes its hard to remember that His timing is so much better than ours
5)I am always praying that things go smoothly with matches and referrals and that anything that can go right will be right and that things will speed up


Specific prayers
1)my hubby (head over to valtool.blogspot.com) has an interview today at 1pm. Pray that he will find the right job.
2)Michael and Kim- they will be travelling to get their son very soon. Pray for travel mercies and a smooth adjustment. I just can not wait to meet him
3) my attitude- that it will stay this positive. It truly is by the grace of God I have not gone crazy over fears, time frames and such. Usually I would be freaking out about the stuff

Do you have something you would like to add?

Quilt and questions

More squares have been added to the Christopher Quilt Blog. I am mentioning it because our first square from our family is here and I want you all to see it!

BTW, scroll down to see answers to the questions you asked about! We are still taking questions!

Amy's Answers to questions you asked

1) Michael answered this below and yes we did meet online and I am glad we have an unsual story!

2) I hate to start with the worst parts of marriage because there are few but its the change. When you wait as long as I did to get married, you have your patterns. There is a period of adjustment which has lasted a while.. The best thing is you have a permanent best friend. YOu have someone that wants to do thing with you, someone that knows you so well, its crazy..I love it. Being married to Michael has brought our both of our strengths and weaknesses Believe me, Michael and I have had some struggles but I think we come out stronger. Marriage rocks!

3) I think he answered this I am 32, he is 36 physically.Mentally I am quite younger

4)My favorite book of all time is a piece of Christian Fiction called Pretense by LOri Wick. I give copies out during my contests on my other blog. Its very long and it is a great story..Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers is another good one!

5) Why is the wait so long? FOr what I have heard and read, its not the amount of orphans or babies in china its getting the paperwork done for them.

YOu have heard me mention paper ready babies and this is what I am talking about. I do not know whats taking so long in getting the paper work done!!

6)OK~will I EVER finish nursing school?? And, will I EVER get to take the NCLEX...and PASS??

this is from Eric and Heather-- OH I hope so, its best job and you have so many options

7)How many children total would you like to have?

My desire was to have 3-4 but I think MIchael and I would like 2. I really want LynnMarie to have a sibling. Praying for that now

8)Are there particular chores in your house that are assigned to each of you?

Not really. I tend to do the kitchen more and MIchael does it while I am working. Michael is really good at cleaning bathrooms..At the moment, its pretty equal

9)What did you like least about living in Orlando?Which area of nursing is your preference? Do you prefer working in a hospital or privately?

a) the traffic plus all the Disney stuff was nearby and I did not go much

b) I work in pediatric craniofacial/neuro now and I love it

c)I have only worked in the hospital but would love to try hospice sometime

10)Who does most of the cooking and grocery shopping in the house?When you go somewhere who normally drives?Who sits down and pays your bills?
We both share cooking and grocery shopping but I think I do the most cooking. Michael always drives. We talked about this once. Still dont know why. Michael pays all the bills. I really should be involved but I am not (yet)

11)Will you go back to China for your second child?
My heart is open to anything. I do desire 2 children and I the doors are opened to that, then I will walk through them. I have learned not to fear or worry. I think about the wait, the money and things like that. It is an option

Keep the questions coming!

First set of answers - by Michael

Amy and I met online. It was in the late Spring of 2000. She had just graduated from nursing school and had moved to Orlando to start working. I was living on Orlando and she emailed me based on my profile on an online matchmaking service that had a Christian sub-area.
We spoke on the phone and exchanged email for a few months finally going on a first date in mid-late August. Amy was looking for someone who knew orlando and could offer advice on churches/shopping/etc. So we did the first date and her thought was "Nice guy, could be a friend."
We got engaged the first week of November. I had planned to wait a bit longer, perhaps to January at our birthdays (we have the same birthday). As it was, I had a job where I traveled a lot and I had taken a weekend to party with Parrothead friends in Key West. I got home, did laundry, saw Amy and asked her that night, spur of the moment. The following morning she took me to the airport for another work trip and she told me yes.
We were engaged for 11 months, getting married in October, 2001.
As for Gymboree, I liked the nautical theme red/white/blue but it was the 1920's/1930's white sailor suit with the puffy marshmallow hat that I have no taste for.
As for the time to wait for China, that is simply a matter of beaurocracy. We have it here in the USA, and they have it in the People's Republic.

Our weekend I want your questions.

We are heading to a shower this weekend for some friends of ours. They will bringing their son home from China in a few weeks and we can not wait to meet him. These are such special times. On another note, MIchael and I walked the mall today and walked into Gymboree and no, we did not buy anything. I learned that Michael does not like little sailor girl outfits..HAHA!

Okay. We both blog. Michael blogs here. Amy blogs here. This is our family blog. I want you to ask us some questions. Anything. Get to know us. Make us think. I did this on my personal blog and got some good questions. The questions don't have to be about adoption. I haven't told Michael this so I hope he does not mind. We will both answer these throughout the day

All right. I am ready. Ask away!

Don't forget to stop back by on Monday for weekly prayer group!

Adoption Thoughts

Do you know what I was thinking about today? As much I might complain or explain the wait to people, I hope I am not discouraging anyone from pursuing adoption from China. I have been wondering about what I am passionate about and perhaps my passion will be encouraging others to adopt (regardless of being domestic or international). This has truly been the coolest process. We have seen families being made and it just makes my hear smile when I see pictures of Gotcha Days and referral days!

On another note, I am taking care of a sweet little 6 year old named Rebecca Claire tonight who is from China. Her parents used CCAI and gave me so much information. Its been quite cool to talk to this family!

Thank you all for all the love, encouragement you have given Michael and I. As we continue to wait, we dream about LynMarie (orLynnMarie or Lynmarie or Lynnmarie) and what it will be like to hug and kiss her..What a fun day that will be. Until then, we will pray for her and those who will be surrounding her.

We both have new posts over at Amys and Michaels blogs. I am having people ask me random questions to see how honest I am. I have had some great questions. Feel free to visit!!

Monday Meditations

Morning everyone, from work!! Its officially Monday so I look forward to going home and having my prayer time before going to bed. Does anyone have anything specific they need prayer for?

This week,
I am praying for
Michael and Kim. They will be heading to China in a few weeks and picking up their little boy. Pray for travel mercies and a smooth adjustment for this new family! They are precious.

Friends who need to be logged in before September 1st.

Pray for more paper ready babies. Pray for a decrease in wait time. Also, pray for all of us that are waiting. Its Gods timing but it's so hard to be patient. I know that I just can not wait to get my hands on Lyn Marie (or however we spell it)

Pray for those who care for our babies. I pray that all who come in contact with our little girl will be blessed. I know God is at work right now. I love to think about that.

I am thankful for my First Friday Group. I am thankful for my Yahoo groups which are keeping me busy. I am very thankful for each one of you who has ever posted here regardless if you are adopting or not. Each one of you has been such an encouragement to Michael and I and I am loving this time in our lives, although I of course wish the wait was not so long....

Dinner,Friends, Support, Quilt Squares

Tonight was our monthly support group at the Chapmans or as its called "First Friday". We started the evening with dinner at a Mexican restaurant with the Kim and Michael and Tymm and Laura. Its amazing how many friends we have made during this process.
Next off we headed to our gathering and who did I see at the door? It was Miss Laney! Yes Miss Laney was there, after only being home for a few days. Many of you have read me talk about her and some of you read her blog over the past few weeks. Call me emotional, but I felt some tears when I saw her with her mommy. You see..Laney is the first baby we have seen come home after watching the process..Seeing her was precious. A fun time was had by all, starting to really get to know some friends and even got 2 new quilt squares!

There were actually several babies there and I wish I had been able to meet them all. I met some new people and visited with other families.

There is one lady who always encourages me. She is a mom and is happy and positive and loves Jesus. Just talking to her brings me a sense of peace.

Visiting with these families is such an encouragement each month. Families who attend are in all stages from those paperchasing to families who are home with their children!!!

A lot of families saw their baby's face for the first time today. Congrats to you all!

Perhaps a picture tomorrow...

So, I like pollls!!

OK, I like polls. I like to hear what everyone else likes. I love your opinions!! So, tell me what nursery ideas you like. We cant guarantee we will use the winner and we have a long time until we even decide but its still fun!
BTW, new quilt squares were added today..Click here!

What nursery theme do you like best?
	lady bugs
	fireflies
	Disney
	baby animals
	ivy and or flowers
	Ocean theme
	primary colors
	black and white
	other cartoons
	Noahs ark
	teddy bears
	precious moments
	other-tell me your idea
	Hello kitty
	butterfly
pollcode.com free polls

Names and such

Now that we have chosen the name, there are more questions. How should we spell it? Do we need a middle name or possible use part of her Chinese name?
What do you think?

Lynn Marie or Lynnmarie or Lynmarie or Lyn Marie

Do we do an American name or Chinese name? Mind you, we have plenty of time to think of this but I think name idea posts are fun..
She will be called Lynn Marie and I am just loving it..It does seem classy and when I think of her name, I think of the color burgundy. Isn't that odd?

Hope all of you are doing well and let me just say, bloglines is saving me a ton of time and good news from the CCAA is that May 2006 is out of the review room. Woohoo!!!!

The ladybugs are out!!!

As you can see the lady bugs were out and Lynn Marie got her first outfit yesterday. I had never been to Gymboree but BIL and SIL took us in there and we found a wall on sale! How precious is this. They even bought Lynn Marie her sock! Seriously, there is reason I had not been into this store before!!! They have a 2.99 bin! Holy Cow! That rocks!!!!
Just thought I would share

Monday Meditations

Hope you will join me in prayer today. Now I know those of you on the waiting game pray daily, but its nice to know a group of us are lifting up the process in prayer each Monday!

As always, I am praying that the wait will decrease! I am waiting that more China babies will become paper ready. I am also praying for every family whose wait has reached a year or more! those families need some encouragment!!


Anything that you need prayer for?