Pre-adopt group

Today we attended our pre-adopt group at WHFC office. It was a small group, including us there were only 4 other couples. 4 families are adopting from Korea and one found a waiting child in Columbia. It was interesting to talk to them, each came with a different story. One couple is also in line with China and using CAWLI as well. It really put that process into perspective as they have a 6/06 LID and are persuing Korea in the meantime. That's right I said 6/06!!!!!! and they think they'll have plenty of time between the two adoptions as well. That definately put everything into perspective and solidified our decision of our continued adoption with China with a stop along the way to pick up a little brother or sister.
This weekend we did our online courses. They were very informative and we got lots of great info. Things are moving along. Our social worker led the group today and we connected with her and she wants us to call on Thurs. to schedule the home visit. I think thats the last step before she writes the homestudy (well, I think anyway.)
Joe's having his physical tonight. Fingers crossed that his doctor thinks he'll be a great parent!!
This weekend we also put cabinets in our mudroom (we did many projects) and they look great. I told Joe that someday we can hang little hooks from the bottom for little jackets, low enough for them to reach. He got this huge grin on his face and giggled. We love our babies already!!!

Medical Records Seminar

On Monday night we went to a medical records seminar with a pediatrician from Childrens Hospital. She was so informative and of course some of the stuff was alittle scary to talk about but she seems so positive and said the majority of children do so well (which we knew already). We'll contact her as our referral comes close and fax it to her to review. We'll also bring our baby to her after about 4 wks of being home just for a look. Well, if all goes according to planned we'll see her a few times!!!
We've been puttering along with the Hague stuff and Joe has to finish his chapters and then we have a group next Tues. Hopefully things will continue and our social worker will pick up the pace. We saw her at the seminar and she thought we looked familiar but didn't know us. After that I got the giggles because Joe couldn't believe she doesn't remember us after the looooooooong interegation. We'll have to see what she says this Tues. Who knows, maybe it will all make sense to her. Oh, at the seminar we got a baby bag with formula which had been left over from another class. I was shocked Joe let it into the house. The formula expires in 2009. Do we dare say we will be able to use it? We'll see.

Happy Father's Day June 15th

Happy Father's Day to our dad's!!! They are both such wonderful guys and we are so thankful they are both here with us and we could celebrate with them.
Also, Happy Father's Day to Joe! I know that he's a dad in his heart and can't wait for the day when I can see him be a dad to a little one. I know that I'll sit back in pure amazement. Someday honey.

Birthdays and Referrals

Happy Birthday Joe!!! Today is dear Joe's birthday. We had a little get together last Friday night and today we hung pretty low(after work). Another year older. At least we're the same age for one month!! Happy Birthday and many more.

Referrals arrived today and it appears that the cutoff is either 1/20 or 1/22 of 2006. This is alittle better than 3 days. Its also a happy time for one family that we know. My friend from gradeschools brother had a 1/16 LID and saw their beautiful TWIN daughters for the first time today. Thats right TWINS. They are 15 months old. My mom called with the news and tears sprang to my eyes. It's weird to think that someone we know got their referral. It's starting to happen!! We felt emotions for them like I know we will feel someday for our own referral. Congratulations to all those seeing their babies. This is the best time of the month. We continue to hold out hope and carry Ava in our hearts.

Dragon Boat Festival

Yesterday we went to the Dragon Boat Festival in Boston. It was a hot day but we had a great time. The races were fun to watch and the entertainment was great. They had Chinese dancers and Korean drummers performing. The atmosphere was just awesome and it's hard to explain but we just felt so comfortable all day. It was funny because we saw a couple from our culture class who were expecting a referral next with their baby. We were too chicken to say hi so we admired them from afar. Their baby was adorable!!! Joe was going to try some food wrapped in seaweed but at the last minute he chickened out so we ate chinese food (like you get at a restaurant). They had alot of crafts for kids and we can't wait to bring our children here someday. It was so interesting to just soak up the culture and language. We completley enjoyed ourselves!!!