This Time Last Year...

We were in Alaska for Travis and Rebecca's wedding(My BIL and SIL)! Happy First Anniversary Travis and Becca! Today is also the ceremonial start of the Iditarod! We saw this last year and it is amazing! We didn't realize how tiny (thin) the sled dogs really are! The movies portray them as thick coated Huskies, but the dogs are really far from that.

Troy and I have been busy with work, church, stamping workshops, etc. It is nice to have off this Saturday to just be US! It is snowing AGAIN, but just a beautiful dusting! It is a great day to stay home!

Troy moved our furniture in our guest bedroom into our empty 4th bedroom to have the "nursery" a blank slate and ready to go. We still have a long wait until we get our kid(s), but it is cute to see his enthusiasm to get it ready. We always talked about decorating it once we get our referral, but there are still nail holes to patch and clean up.

Seven Years Ago Today...

...Troy and I had our first date. At the time, he was living in Austin and I was in San Marcos. He showed up at my apartment door with a dozen yellow roses. We went to HEB to buy our groceries for dinner (chicken with pesto, pasta with alfredo sauce, salad, garlic bread and wine) and had a wonderful evening of delicious food and conversation. Little did we know we would end up engaged by the end of the year. Another cool fact is that Feb. 18 is the first day of Chinese New Year. God knew all along His plan for us. We have a kid(s) waiting for us in China!

Pics From the Blizzard!

Troy is using our tree trimmer to get some of the heavy snow off our awning!

You can see how deep the snow is compared to Jack! He finally has a decent area to potty in!

I was out shoveling snow again to make our entrance hazard free!

Our Senior Pastor showed up with the churches snow blower to blow our driveway and sidewalk! Thanks Pastor Wray! By the way, didn't they say to stay off the roads?

The tree was Jack's potty area before we got MORE snow and our driveway was plowed!

Jack had to check on his bunny friends underneath the deck first thing in the morning. I had to shovel snow away from the door so he could get out. This was earlier in the morning before we had a big dump. Jack would have been buried in all the snow had he gone out in the afternoon!

It's A Blizzard!

We are snowed in today and the conditions are so bad the snow plows are not even running! We are expecting between 10-15 inches of snow before this is over with! It is hard to say how much we have gotten so far since we are experiencing 40 MPH winds and we have 3 feet snow drifts in places. All I know is that it is too deep for Jack to play outside. We are taking him out front where he found an area that does not bury him in snow to do his business! I will attach some pictures once this storm passes by.

2 Months Down....It's A Heat Wave!

Today is the 2 month anniversary of our Log-In Date! Plus, it is 31 degrees outside! It seems like a heat wave compared to the highs of 10 we have been having around here! We did buy some heaters to warm up our basement so we do not have to bundle up to play darts!

Thank You Feb. Secret Pal

Troy and I (really me since I read all the posts) belong to a Yahoo CCAI Nov./Dec. Log In Date group, The Winter Blossoms. These are the people we will be traveling with so we are starting to build friendships, provide support, answer questions, etc. This group started a secret pal exchange that will take place every other month with a theme. February's theme was Chinese New Year. This is the Year of the Pig. The picture will describe what we got in the mail from our secret pal! Thank you Carol and Lance from NY!

You Know You Are Getting Older When...

...you feel out of place. Troy and I decided we would try ice skating at our Civic Center on Friday night as part of our "Date Night". Little did we know this was the local hang-out for the Jr. High kids! We were the oldest ones there besides a few of our friends from church who were chaperoning their children. Hopefully the kids will think it was "cool" their pastor was ice-skating with his wife!

Ice Darts!

Troy and I enjoy playing darts together and we try for 3 games of 301 4 times a week! Lately it has been so cold that our basement is a freezer! We put on our hats and gloves the other night and had a little fun trading hats. I decided I am a better player with my fleece hat on and without the gloves.

Troy's First Time Stamping

Troy learns how stress relieving it is to place eyelets in a card!

He takes his time matting the completed card!

Troy proudly displays his completed works of art!

Way to go Troy!

Let the Limbs Be Gone!

Today was a very exciting day for our neighborhood. 55 days after the Nov.30/Dec.1 ice storm, trucks arrived in our area to pick up the tree limbs that scattered our sidewalks! It has been an eyesore and it makes walking the dog a challenge. (Actually, the limbs were a blessing for me. They blocked my car from going into the lake on Sunday as I was forced off the snowy road trying to miss a white truck driving in the middle of the road.) This has been the talk of town as to whom has their storm debris gone! We don't have any major trees in our yard, but our neighbors were not so lucky!

Stylin' Jack!

I found the "I poop, u scoop" t-shirt at Target last week and thought it was PERFECT for Jack! We also decided to put him in his "Sled Dog in Training" shirt from our trip to Alaska to prepare him for todays snow!

I Should Be at Church....

...but my car is in a ditch. We got 2-3 inches of snow last night and I left home early enough to give me time to safely drive to church. Well, a truck decided to drive in the middle of the road heading towards me as I was going downhill. I drifted slowly to the right to get out of his way only to land in a ditch and into a pile of sticks from last months ice storm. Luckily, I was not far from home and was able to walk home and call Troy at church. We are going to see what we can do when he comes home. I am upset this happened, but I am glad I was not hurt. My biggest fear was drifting off into the lake a few yards away! We will see what state my car is in once we get it out!

One Little Ladybug...

...Since today is the one month anniversary of our LID. This means we are one month closer to our kid(s)! We remain optimistic that China will speed up their referrals despite what everyone else thinks. God is in control and miracles can happen!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends who we are not able to be with on this day! Lots of love and Jackson kisses...Troy, Amy and Jack

The Surprise Gift in the Mail

We got formula in the mail today! Not just one can, but two!!! What does this mean? Is this a sign we are getting 2 babies? I am going to hang on to them just in case, especially since they don't expire until 5/08. Hopefully we will have our kid(s) by then.

We Have Our LID!

YES! This is the day we have been waiting for since we began the process back in March. Our official LID (Log-In Day), our "place in line" is 12/11/06! Time to celebrate and shop! We thought we might decorate the "kids bathroom" in a rubber ducky theme. The walls are already bright yellow and Troy has always wanted this. It is also gender neutral since we do not know if we will be getting a boy or girl since we are open to either, AND TWINS!

6 Years Ago Today...

Troy and I got engaged at the Bethany Senior High Christmas Party! The host presented Troy and I each with a gift and I was to open mine first. Follow below to see it all unfold!

I am opening my gift only to find...

That it is an angel Christmas ornament with the ring tied to the dress!

Troy is trying to untie the ring from the dress.

And he gets down to ask the question...

With tears and all in front of 30+ youth...

I said YES!

Adoption Advice for Waiting Parents

Praise God for Eric and Mitzie Tibbets! Troy and I received the first copy of Shaohannah's Hope Today. This is a newsletter put out by Shaohannah's Hope, an adoption ministry founded by Steven Curtis Chapman to "mobilize the body of Christ to care for orphans". The following article by Eric and Mitzie was just what we needed to be reminded of during our wait for our child(ren).

Eric and Mitzie Tibbets- Parents to Bethany, Judson and Aleena (adopted from Russia 2005); waiting on Josiah from Guatemala

During your adoption journey you are likely to become child-focused instead of God-focused. You might even think more about the creation instead of the Creator. Let me challenge you that if you are longing more for the child instead of the Savior, you may want to pause and take inventory of your relationship with God. After many years of infertility and empty arms, it is easy to be impatient for the blessings of a child. I’d like to share a few truths we learned as we journeyed with God:
* You aren’t waiting on man, you are waiting on God.
* God isn’t going to send you where He is absent.
* God is not bound by geography, timelines, politics or finances.
* God hasn’t asked you to walk this path alone. Not only will He remain with you each step of the way, He has prepared many warriors to go into battle with you. You’ll be amazed at who He uses to meet your needs.
* Don’t put serving the King on hold. Waiting doesn’t equate to idleness. Invest in the wait, don’t waste it.
* God’s gifts to us are never late; they are always on time and far beyond what we could ever imagine.

Adoption is about stewardship. Your child and everything you possess belongs to God. During the wait, surrender it all to God, for His glory.

Storm Update Pt. 2

In this mornings paper, 18,000 residents are still WITHOUT power! Troy and I feel so blessed to have had power and only minor issues! So many of our friends have lost trees, have structural damage to their house, etc. It looks like a tornado ripped through the city, but only in winter. It was 38 yesterday and the ice melted from trees and power lines which has been good. We got another inch on snow last night and the high today is to be 20 degrees! It is to be in the 40's this weekend which is perfect weather to help clean up all this mess! We take so much for granted (power, heat, technology) etc. that this storm has made us reevaluate how we live and our priorities.

Winter Storm Update

Blogger is now working...so here are some pictures I was wanting to post earlier.

We are grateful to still have power, but 40% of Decatur still is without! After driving around town, it looks like a Siberian war zone. Trees and limbs are down everywhere...streets are blocked...power lines remain down in some places. It is sad, yet beautiful in its own way. We only have about a 1/4 inch of ice on our plants/trees, put the north side of Decatur has 1/2 to one inch of ice. It is crazy!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Jack celebrated his 3rd Birthday today and woke up to snow!!! He absolutely LOVES playing in the snow and demanded to be outside three times in the first hour he was up! I took him on a walk to access the trees and limbs down in the neighborhood and he had a great time bouncing in the snow! Troy still wishes Jack was 2, but says Jack is now 2+1! Next year Jack will be 2+2! Troy has a thing for the number 2! I will post pictures once I figure out this new blogger!

Operation Kirby, Whirlpool and Fans!

Just when I thought all was well with surving the ice/snow storm that has hit the midwest, I go to our basement. There I find a 6x6 soaking wet area of carpet near my crafting area! I call Troy downstairs and he ran to the sump pump only to find it not working!!! Last night we lost power for an hour and a half. No worry since we have a battery back up to our sump pump. Well...we were hit by lightning about 2 months ago and it damaged the surge protector and we never reset the back-up battery. Big lesson learned! Luckily the sump pump is now back in business. Since then, we have been busy doing some grape stomping using ALL the towels in the house and drying towels in between using the Kirby vacume cleaner which can suction up water. We also have a fan going at the same time.

Winter IS Here!

I am using a new version of blogger, so bear with me. I want to add pictures, but it is acting up.

It rained and sleeted on Thursday and we had a thick cover of ice over everything! Then came the snow early Friday morning! Here in Decatur we go 4" and it is beautiful! Troy and I are fortunate to have only lost power for an hour and a half. 50% of Decatur is still without power going on 24 hours now, due to the ice and falling tree limbs. Jack and I took a walk around the neighborhood and accessed the damage! Trees and limbs are down everywhere! School was canceled today and most businesses were closed. People were advised to stay in. All we heard were chain saws and snow blowers busy at work.

Remembering...Joey

Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of Jolee, better known as Joey, crossing over the Rainbow Bridge. She was such a special dog who passed away too soon at the age of 5 due to a back injury. Joey was such an incredibly smart dog, a cross between a toy and minature poodle. She amazed us with her intelligence, her love of people, especially children. She got to go to school with me for 2 years while I taught in Wimberley and became the school mascot in a way. She played soccer in the elementary P.E. classes with the kids, was a "drug" dog in the high school (she stiffed out marijuana and cigarettes in two of my students packbacks), and loved to sit and look out windows. Joey made friends wherever we went or lived. She was known as the "little dog in the window" in our neighborhood of Dogtown in St. Louis. We miss you Joey and can't wait to see you on the other side!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wish all our family and friends safe travels and a day to reflect on God's gifts to us this past year! We are so grateful and thankful for all of you in our lives, our health, our Dossier being complete and in the hands of Chinese government, and most importantly, our relationship with our Savior, Jesus! Without him, nothing is possible!

Our Dossier Arrived!

We got word last week that our Dossier was delivered to the CCAA on the 15th of November! This is great news! Now we are waiting for a speeding LID. This is our place in line! We are so grateful the paperwork is done and our wait begins!

We Are DTC!!!

Our dossier is on its way to China! Check out the email we got:

CONGRATULATIONS, Troy & Amy,

Here’s the news you’ve long been waiting for—your dossier was sent to China late Friday afternoon (11/10/2006)!

Here’s what to expect for the next month:

The CCAA will receive your dossier in approximately 3-5 days. Our China Department will contact you by email once your dossier has been received by our representatives in China and hand-delivered to the CCAA.

The CCAA usually logs in dossiers within 4 weeks of their receipt. This Log-In Date is called your LID, the date that you may “count down” to your referral. As the CCAA is the ultimate authority in logging in your dossier, we are unable to estimate your LID. The CCAA should notify us of your LID within the next 8 weeks. We will e-mail you as soon as we have confirmation of your LID and will then give you instructions on how to download your LID Packet. Your LID will also be posted on your personal online Parent Access Network (PAN) page of the CCAI website, www.chinesechildren.org, the instant we are notified of it.

Again, congratulations! If you have any questions about this e-mail, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Congrats on hitting this milestone!

And It Is In...

I got a call today at work from CCAI! Our Dossier is in translation! This means it has passed critical review and should take 2-7 days to be translated! WHHOOO HOOOO! For some odd reason, I have this feeling the CCAA will be speeding up its matching process. I don't have any research to back my "feeling" up, it is just one of those intuition things, maybe.

By the way, did you vote? I did! Our polling place was at "The Zoo" which is perfect for our elections in Illinois!

And It Is....

Off and in the mail! The 171-H along with our second agency fee and CCAA fee are flying the FedEx skies to CCAI! My dear friend Glenda and I took the Amtrak train from Lincoln, IL to Chicago on Wednesday to get our 171-H authenticated (I probably spelled that wrong, but oh well at this point). It was kind of stressful for me, but we got it done! I am grateful Glenda went with me for her prayers and suppport! I took my camera to document the journey, but it was acting up for the first time! Satan likes to ruin things you know. I am blessed that all is in the mail and we are done, so far! I mailed our materials Fed Ex this time at a Mail Box Etc. for convience sake and paid extra $ then USPS, but come to find out, a member from our church owns the business and I supported him. Plus, he said he would pray over our documents! That touched my heart! Thank you Tom and Jerrie!

My Crazy Experience at the Secretary of State

This morning I worked at the prenatal clinic and checked to see if they had a notary to save me one stop in my round of errands! Praise God they did! She notarized a copy of my 171-H and then I was off to the bank for $, the gas station and Springfield. Luckily, I made sure I had some silver change for the meter when I left this morning. I got to Springfield and found a parking spot, put my $ in and it did not work! I moved to the next empty place and it worked. I was a little frustrated at this point. It was VERY windy and the drive from Decatur to Sprinfield was tough keeping my car straight, so I was a little tense when I arrived. I found the SOS building only to be told the Index Department is down the street. I head to the correct place and wait to be helped. 10 minutes after I gave them my document to be certified, they came back and said they could not do it because the notaries stamp had the incorrect expiration on it. I was furious! The lady asked a notary in the office if she could help and she did. We made another copy of the document and I had to hand write this required saying on the back. The document got certified and I headed back home in the wind. Once I got home and looked at the document, I forgot one small line regarding expiration the notary is to sign. I called CCAI and told them about it and they checked with their translation department and said it should be OK. I think I will remain stressed until we get our log-in date. You want it all to be so perfect and done with and these little things happen! I know God is testing my patience! Oh, I almost forgot that they did not have a cash box to give you change for the certification, so you had to have the exact amount! I wound up with my $2, but half of it was in pennies! I lost most of my silver change in the parking meter that didn't work!

How Much Does an Adoption Cost?

We have been asked many times, "What does it cost to adopt from China?" You will find the information below. One of the things we liked about CCAI was their honesty and explanation of all the expenses, including the Agency Fee. They even gave us an itemized breakdown of how they came up with the fee to cover their services. I find them very legitimate!

$150- Application fee
$545 Money Order, plus $70 per adult for fingerprints- USCIS Filing (I-600A)
$1950- First agency fee
~$450- Dossier Preparation (postage and fees to get documents)
$1500-$3000 - Home Study Fee (depends on what agency you use)
$2300- Second agency fee
$610- CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) fee when you submit dossier

Wait for Child Match

$500- Post Placement Deposit (refundable)
$80 per person- Visa to enter China
$900-$1600 per adult plus $100-150 return lapsit ticket - US Domestic and International Airfare
~$1900 - In China Travel and Accommodations
$400-800 - Adoption Registration and Notarization
$100-150- Child's Passport
$3000- Orphanage Fee
$600-800 per couple- Food
$70- Child Physical and Photo
$380- Child U.S. entry fee

Total: $15,000-$16,000 for two adult travelers (not including home study or post placement costs)

What's In a Dossier?

We have been asked what type of information is included in a Dossier for China! Here we go:

1. Adoption Petition (CCAI gave us a template and we customized it to fit us.)
2. Birth Certificate for each of us.
3. Marriage Certificate
4. Employment Verifications
5. Financial Statement (CCAI gave us a template and we filled in the appropriate info.)
6. Physical exam for each of us.
7. Police Clearance Reports for each of us
8. Copy of our 171-H
9. China Home Study Report
10. A complete set of photocopies of the above.
11. 2 Passport copies each
12. 3 Couple photographs
13. 8 Family Life photographs

#1-9 each have to be notarized, except the Birth and Marriage Certificates. (Thank You Pat P.), then certified by the Secretary of State of the document's originating state (we delt with Iowa, Texas and Illinois), and then Authenticated by the appropriate Chinese Consulate/Embassy that serves the document's originating state (we delt with Houston and Chicago).

CCAI has a fabulous Dossier Guide that walks you through each step and gives you templates and checklists. They also provide all the addresses of the Secretary's of State and Chinese Consulates! I can't say enough good things about them! They even answered all my emails in the same day! Way to go CCAI! Many companies need to take Customer Service Training from them!

The Long Awaited 171-H...

Is here! It arrived on Friday and we were sooo excited! It is the most beautiful piece of mail we have seen in a long time. We have waited 10 weeks and 2 days for it exactly! I am taking it to Springfield on Monday and Chicago on Wednesday to get all of its appropriate seals! It looks like we will have a Log-In Date of 11/06! A couple of months later then we expected, but completely out of our hands!

I almost forgot...

CCAI did call us a week ago and had the opportunity to look through our Dossier despite it being incomplete! So far, everything looks good! This is great news because once we send our 171-H to them, the dossier will be sent to China!

Troy and I have been looking at unisex nursery bedding just to get an idea in case we get a "surprise" domestic adoption and one we can use for our Chinese adoption. My parents are giving us two Chinese folk art pictures that a student gave my mom years ago. They are in my childhood bedroom back in Austin. Troy and I have always admired them. We are wanting something that will go with the pictures since they have a lot of primary colors in them. We found this bedding called "Alphabet Soup". We are still looking for fun! There are sooo many choices!

Stork Parking

Last Saturday, Troy and I went to Springfield to the Babies R Us to look around at cribs. We had a potential DCFS foster/adopt case that a family wanted us to have their child if "____" was taken away. The child has not been taken away, but the case continues to be investigated. In the meantime, we figured it wouldn't hurt to look and see what is out there. Babies R Us has "Stork Parking" for expectant moms, so Troy and I took the opportunity to park since we are "paper pregnant" for a child(ren) in China! We both smiled and wondered what the others were thinking! I know there is a lot of controversy out there about this idea, but we wanted to have the same opportunities as "traditional" expecting families.

In the meantime, we are still waiting for the 171-H. It will be 10 weeks this Wednesday that we have been waiting! Hopefully soon! We continue to remind ourselves that God has a better plan for our family then we do!

The Weeks in Pictures!

Troy turned 32 on September 26 and proudly displays his new grill!

Troy got invited to the Illinois/Iowa football game by a season ticket holder of Illini tickets! He figured it would be polite to wear his Illinois hat which a church member gave him, but of course he wore his Hawkeyes shirt under his jacket! He was happy to report the Hawkeyes won 24-7!

This cardinal was spotted outside our bedroom window singing away one Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church!

A beautiful Monarch butterfly that was found in our backyard with an injured wing! Jack was playing with it and I had to catch a picture!

Our incomplete dossier, minus the 171-H we sent to CCAI!

Just a Tease!

The first piece of mail I saw in our mailbox on Saturday was from USCIS! I quickly got the letter opener and ran down the basement stairs to Troy and yelled, "It's here! Our 171-H is here!!" I was SOOO disappointed to find it was just correspondence regarding my Sept. 8th phone call checking in on the status. I guess I should give them props for beating the 30-45 day time frame they would respond to my inquiry.