Happy Birthday Debby!!

We were so glad to get to see you all for Christmas, even if it was just for a minute. We'll be seeing you again soon! Enjoy your day today, for it is your birthday!! We love you, happy day!
 

Happy Birthday Sissy!!

I have called my sister Robin, Sissy, for as long as I can remember. It is so strange to introduce her to people and call her Robin. Often, I don't call her Robin. I call her Sissy and don't even notice.
So, happy day Sissy! We love you and are wishing you a great day today!!
 

Merry Christmas to All

And to all a goodnight!!
Oh yeah, and WE ARE NEXT!!!

What Flower Are You?

My friend Carrie had this cool little ditty on her blog from a friend of hers. I happen to be a daffodil.

I am a Daffodil What Flower Are You?

Neat-O

Here's what a daffodil says about me.
"You have a sunny disposition and are normally one of the first to show up for the party. You don't need too much attention from the host once you get there as you are more than capable of making yourself seen and heard."

What flower are you?

All Smiles

Last night was the annual NICU ornament and cookie exchange party. This year the party was at our house. We had a great time, ate lots of good food and exchanged some de-lish cookies and beautiful ornaments. Kelli left before we busted out the camera so there is a person missing from the picture. I wondered how we would all fit in our little house but it worked out just fine. As you can see, even Fisher enjoyed the party.
Each year we have decided who will host the party the next year. Last year, I said that I would host the party if we weren't in China. Next year, we'll have our girly with us for our first Christmas as a family. I can say that now and know that it will be true because WE ARE NEXT!
Rumors are flying that referrals could be out before Christmas. I don't believe it. We leave on 12/29 for a New Years weekend at a cabin where we have welcomed in the new year several times before. We would love to have a picture of our sweet girl to take along. We're anxious to see how the next couple of weeks play out. We received our new I171H on Thursday. We're ready to go. Bring on that baby girl!!!
 

Families, Families, Families

For thoses of you who have been wondering what has been going on with the babies in this post, they now have a family!! These families got thier girls early this week.

Check out Alexandra! She is a big beautiful girl. I think she looks exactaly like her referral pic only happier now that she has a family. It has been great to see some smiles out of her.


Maisie has hair! What a sweet little girl. She is so bright and beautiful.




Tess is just a tiny litte baby girl. Oh! I could just kiss that little face!!





I have not been able to get a new picture of Abby. I will try to get one soon.

These families traveled about 5 weeks after thier referral. We'll keep our fingers crossed that we can travel as quickly so that we can get home before Chinese New Year which is February 18. That is really soon. After waiting all this time, I can't believe we're really going to be next but WE ARE NEXT!
 

Happy Birthday Fee!!

Happy Birthday today to Mike's sweet, sweet Grandmother, Fee. We are glad we got to see you and spend a little time together over Thanksgiving. We hope your day is great and we love you lots! Happy Day!!
 

WE ARE NEXT!!!!!!!

The CCAA has updated their site to say that the new batch of referrals include LIDs up to 9/8/05. Congratulations to those families!
What this means to us is that we will, beyond a shadow of a doubt, know our daughter with the next batch of referrals. That could be by the end of December or very early in January. Let's all take a moment wish hard that we will know that girl before the end of 2006.
 

Happy Birthday Judy and Happy Thanksgiving

Every once in a blue moon my sister Judy shares her birthday with Thanksgiving day. Today is one of those "once in a..." days. And so close to her husbands birthday that you'll see the same picture just a couple of posts of one an other. I know that it has been a near hurricane in November at your house but I sure hope that you have had a great day. We love you. Happy birthday!!
 

A Long Way to Drive for Beer

Yesterday, on Erica's birthday, we loaded up the dog and the growlers and took a little trip to Morgantown. Not only is Morgantown home to West Virginia University but even more importantly, the West Virginia Brewing Company. I "did time" at WVU back in the day. It was the most miserable year (before this wait for our daughter) of my life. I get this sick feeling in my stomach and head when crossing the bridge from Westover into town even today. The brew pub was not around when I went to school there. It probably wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway. The Apricot Wheat is a seasonal beer :)
We did get the growlers filled, as evidenced by the picture. 2 Ned's, 1 Appalachian Ale and 1 mix of Ned's and the Apricot Wheat. It's very similar to a Magic Hat #9. The perfect mix between bitter and sweet. Ned's is far to hoppy and bitter for me but I do love that Apricot. Can you tell who's gonna be drinking this beer? Notice there's no growler of only the Apricot.
 

Happy Birthday Erica!!

It is great to have a birthday on a Saturday! Even if it is a gray and dreary one. We hope your day is a great one Erica. We love you!! 

Happy Birthday Chauncey!!

Today's birthday wish goes out to our brother-in-law and our Asia connection extraordinare, Chauncey. Also Dad to the dapper fellow in the yellow shoestrings and a beautiful girl. Chauncey travels to Asia lots with work. We're keep wondering how cool it would be to have a by chance meet up in Guangzhou or some other city in China when we go to get our girly. I guess we'll still be wondering for a while.
Happy Birthday to you today Chauncey. We hope your day is a good one. We love you!
 

Babies, Babies, Babies

Just thought I would share some of these beautiful girlie's pictures with our friends and family. This is what we have to look forward to. It's not looking real good for the end of November but maybe by the end of December.

First is Alexandra. This is our Secret Pals Anne and Gunther's first baby girl. Isn't she a cutie? I could just kiss those cheeks!

Second is this sweet, sweet girl Miss Maisie. She is Lisa and Eammon's first baby girl also. Those eyes could melt your heart. And they have mine. We've all been waiting to find out Maisie's name. It's perfect for this beautiful girl.

Sara and David received the referral of this beauty, Abby. She is a tiny peanut with all of the hair that Maisie is missing. Too cute. We've been waiting to know Abbys name also.

Last but certainly not least is Tess. Tess is Julie's first daughter also. This cutie is full of personality in this picture. We have known Tess' name but just for a little while.

This is just a small sampling of the 61 babies that were referred to CCAI parents. These are folks that I keep up with on their web pages or blogs. Or in the case of Alexandra, a special girl in our hearts. We can't wait to proudly place our own sweet girls face on this blog and give her a name.

We're Home and Oct/Nov Referrals

We returned home from the Clemson football game to see our yahoo group lit up with referrals. How wonderful for those families who now know their children and may actually have them in their arms before Xmas. Congrats to all. This group included our great secret pals Anne and Gunther. Their beautiful daughter Alexandra is just perfect. This group included LIDs August 10-August 25. CCAI received 61 babies, 5 boys. One of these boys went to a family who specifically requested a girl and they could not be happier.
Could we be next? The CCAA covered 15 days of LIDs this time. That means there are only 18 days left to refer for us to be included the next time. Come on CCAA!! Bring on 20 days next time!

Happy Halloween!!

We're wishing everyone a happy and safe Halloween tonight. Poor Fisher will be spending the night at the Pound (the kennel). I'll be spending the night with all of the NICU babies and Mike will be spending the night in a hotel somewhere. We were a little leery of leaving Fisher here alone with all of the trick-or-treaters out and about so to the pound he'll go.
We still don't know anything about the next batch of referrals. Apparently there will be no referrals for October but hopefully they will arrive early in November (like, really early maybe later this week). And then maybe there will be another batch at the end of November and that will include Little Miss McFee!!! Yep, we could know our girly as soon as the end of November. We'll have a little better idea after the current batch arrives. I'm tired of not knowing this girly name and we need to see her face before we can give her one. We would love a nice gift of our daughter for Thanksgiving. Is that too much to ask?
 

Happy Birthday Lillionna!!

Happy day to you Miss Lilli! 2 is a big birthday for a big girl. We had a great time at your party tonight. Your Hello Kitty cake was beautiful and delicious! We love you so much and hope your day was great!!
 

Nice Evening for a Walk

It was a beautiful evening so Mike and I decided to take Fisher and the camera and walk out on the ridge and try to get some sunset pictures. It was so cold that we didn't last until the sunset but I still got some good pictures. The horses came to the fence and posed with the sun shining. The trees looked firey and we enjoyed the peacefulness of the country. I can't imagine ever living in town again. We are discussing trying to sell our house but we don't know where we would move. It would be hard to top where we live now. I really hate to think about it, but would love to have a new house. This house is a pit.
Referrals have supposedly been on the way for a week now. We are certainly not included. It would sure be nice to know how far into August they will get. I don't know what the hold up is. Usually when CCAI announced that the referrals are on the way, it's just a few days before anyone knows what's going on. Hopefully we'll know by the end of the week.
 

Oompa-Loompa

Is anyone besides myself reminded of those silly green guys in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory by this picture of me? Hmmmm?
 

Happy Birthday Samantha!!

Today is your day sis. Sorry it is so rainy and cold. But it is a fabulous day no matter what because it is your birthday! Hope it's a good one. We love you much. Happy birthday!! 

Thank You Anne and Gunther from CO...Our Wonderful Secret Pals!!

This month was the big reveal for our secret pal exchange. Our fabulous pals were Anne and Gunther from CO. Thank you for the great gifts this month. All of the Dora dolls are so cute. We are so excited about the National Geographic China book. Hopefully we can learn a lot about our girly's birthplace from it when we finally find out who she is and where she is from. The calendar has such beautiful pictures.
We can't begin to express how thankful we are to have had such great secret pals. This has been so much fun and we are so appreciative. We dream of coming to CO some day to Sam Bush's Telluride bluegrass festival. Maybe we could meet up and enjoy some great pickin' together with our girls. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be lucky enough to travel together to get our girls. That would be nice but I bet you guys will see Alexandra's face before the end of this month!!! We're keeping of fingers, toes and eyes crossed for you too.
Thank you again. We appreciate you guys so much!
 

Brrrrr

It has been pretty chilly here in WV. This morning when I left work I had to scrape lots of frost off of my windshield. I hate to do that. I want sun and warm not frost and cold. But I guess it means we are getting closer to our girly. Is anyone as tired of hearing that as I am of saying it?
This is our back yard. It was damn cold!
 

The Haul

When we brought all of the gifts in from the shower we had to laugh. They covered the entire floor of baby girl's room. Looks like I have some work to do.
 

Un-be-lievable

We had a baby shower last night! Yeah, a baby shower for our baby. I was floored by all of the wonderful gifts and all of my friends and family that came for the party. We had great food and fellowship and tons of damn good gifts. I was feeling really silly about the shower but soon lost my embarrassment as I was simply overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and thoughtfulness. There were paper lantern, fans, bead bracelets with Chinese characters and red eggs. Everyone signed a great big flag of china for our girly. It was really spectacular.

I need to say a big thank you to everyone that came and gave our girly such great gifts. And a gigantic thank you to everyone who planned and organized such a fabulous party! We love you all.