The Low-Down

CCAI received 56 matches with this batch of referrals. 6 boys...yeah, 6...and one set of twins. That's actually a pretty big bunch of kiddos with families now. How wonderful for those families and kids!!
No, I didn't find my camera. This is a picture from a few weeks ago. Notice the leaves are already changing in this tree. How bitter-sweet. No news on the camera actually except that it may have been stolen instead of just misplaced. Now I'm pissed if that is indeed the case. Who steals a camera at a friends wedding shower in a church of all places?
 

August Referrals

Well, August referrals are here. They are kinda skimpy...July 14-July 22, 2005...9 days, and not even all of July. There are still 9 days left in July, maybe they're saving those for September. Yeah, come on, drag this out a little longer. Oh well, at this point does it really matter? Congrats to those who have also been waiting forever and now know their children!
We did go on Friday and get our fingerprints updated. Both at the USCIS and the WV State Police Department. I had my physical today and now we have everything we need for our updated homestudy. I will put that stuff in the mail tomorrow. We're still holding out for a minute before we renew our I171H. That's a chunk of dough I'm having a hard time spending again.
Notice the lack of a picture to go along with this post. We had Emily's bridal shower on Sunday and it was fun and she got lots of good gifts. I took lots of great pictures and then I lost my camera, in the church, before the shower was even over. We dug through the trash. We searched high and low. And we could not come up with the camera. If anyone out there has any idea where my camera might be please let me in on that little secret.

Happy Birthday to Emily and Me!!

On this day in 1977 a little 7 year old me was given the bestest ever birthday present by my brother and sister in law...a tiny newborn niece. There have not been many years that have gone by without us celebrating this day together. We had fantastic rigatoni, dump cake and that delicious coconut cream thing last night. It is wonderful to share this day with you Emily. And you have finally caught up with me...we're both 29 today!
We love you Em. Happy birthday to us!!

Thank You Secret Pal!!

Thank you again to our great secret pal! We love the travel items and the bonus picture frame. The frame is really super cute with all of the little critters and flowers on it. We will hang the neon luggage tags right on our luggage and it should be very easy to spot ours with those bright tags. Those nalgene bottles will get a ton of use. We love to camp and use those kinds of bottles a lot. I also do a lot of sewing but do not have a travel sewing kit. That too will come in awfully handy.
I am sad that this secret pal exchange will be coming to an end soon. We look forward to your great gifts every month. But we are also looking forward to our girly too. We can't wait to find out who you are. Maybe we'll end up being travel buds!
Thanks again!!

Hannastock X

It was the tenth annual Kroeger farm party this weekend. We had a great time, especially on Friday night. As expected and without fail, the rains came and drowned us on Saturday. It was fast but furious, and just in time to move the festivities to Bobette's house. We missed Mike Morningstar playing some good 'ol music on his fantastic hickory stick but were glad to just hang out up on the mountain. Mike was entertaining to all of the kiddos on Friday night when he broke out the WV fireworks. They are all just big sparkelers. In WV, fireworks aren't allowed to shoot into the air.

Another Tuesday Morning Outfit

I haven't bought anything for the baby girl for a long time. I've been thinking maybe this has all been a bad dream so I kind of put my "shopping for my daughter" obsession on hold. I'm creeping back into the excitement again, slowly but I am feeling a little twinge of a flutter in my heart again from time to time instead of just the dull ache of not having her here with us. I was at Tuesday Morning yesterday and there, alone again, was this super cute outfit. If you remember, I found this one way back when at the same place and had to buy it so there was really no need to leave this one hanging. Now it's hanging in our girly's closet. Too cute!
 

And Gymboree too!

I also had a gymboree coupon. How could I resist? You know, if you don't use those coupons, they take you off of their mailing list. I have to get the coupons!! So I bought these cuties from the summer clearance for a song. Hopefully they will fit miss girl next summer. I was imagining her little brown self in this dress at the beach next summer. I really wish they had the shirt in my size :)

Happy Birthday Larry!!

Hope you are having a great day today. We wish you a wonderful birthday!! We love you, hope to see you soon.
 

Happy Birthday Maggie!

Larry shares his birthday with our mean ass cat. She is 12 years old today. I couldn't get her to wear a silly hat. But I sure would've if I could've. Happy birthday 'ol girl.
 

It's Official

CCAA has updated their site to officially state that referrals are through July 13, 2005. CCAI has not updated their site to let us know how many kiddos. I guess I'll excuse them as they're probably pretty busy with the referrals:) One family who received their referral says that there were 22 CCAI families that recieved their referrals. Don't know if that includes any twins. If not that would be 22 kids for 22 CCAI families. Congrats to everyone who has now seen their childrens faces!! We are getting closer...very slowly, but we are getting closer.
I had dinner tonight with some friends from work. I have been putting them off and putting them off about a shower. Tonight, we decided that we would plan the baby's shower when we work on our next schedule. That will be a little later this month. I can't believe that we will get to have a baby shower for our baby. They have always been for someone elses baby. It has been so long since I have thought about this as being real. Is it real? Will we really be parents?