What a special treat for Abby to have Grandparents living in China! Abby loves to learn Chinese, so Grandma has started to teach her this song. Abby was singing bits of it this morning, so I think it started to sink in. We are happy to have it on video so Abby can watch and learn from it.

Grandma and Grandpa's VISIT!!!

Abby, Grandma and Grandpa!
Monkey Business......
Grandma and Abby
Grandpa and Abby

What an enjoyable visit!!!!

We had Grandma and Grandpa visiting us for 2 1/2 days! It has been a while since their last visit and Abby was super excited to have them here. They spent lots of time reading books, playing games and seeing Abby being a monkey. It was nice to just sit back and have a chat face to face. We certainly enjoyed it. Grandpa and Dad took Abby to her first baseball game and we introduced G and G to Mongolian style food at Daddy's restaurant!

Mostly we just relaxed, which we all enjoyed. Enjoy the photos, we think they came out great! You can see the happiness in Abby's smile!

Just Imagine.....

Just Imagine....

You are in your 40's, past child bearing age. You had been told by your country that only ONE child was allowed.........actually they force it.
You raise that one child, maybe even spoil him/her a bit because.................they are your ONLY CHILD....you hope that one day this ONE CHILD will be taking care of you.
Your ONE child goes off to school one day. An earth quake brings down the school and you never see that ONE CHILD again.

This is what is happening all over China. .......... my heart aches for the Mothers and Fathers that cared for that ONE CHILD.

Today they predict up to 50,000 gone. Mostly children and the elderly. It is a sad time for a country obviously working so hard for their top place in the world.

Just my thoughts....................it's hard not to think about it when I have my ONE Child's face to see every morning.

I could not IMAGINE the pain.

K

Mongolia.........NO MORE>>>

Well, we officially heard that our agency has closed it's Mongolian program.

They will be sending our dossier back to us, so we are officially off the Mongolian wait list. Atleast we are waiting in Thailand. I guess we will keep the mongolian dossier as a reminder of just how difficult adoption can be....

We are not putting much thought into this, since we have known this would happen. We are just glad another door opened for our family. We move forward from here.............

K and K

Biker Girl.............../ Dossier in line............!!!!!!!!

CONGRATS to Abby Liz for graduating pre-school today. It was her last official day of school, but we have a class picnic on Friday (hopefully it does not rain).

Her teacher measured all the kids in class today and compared it to when they measured them in September. Our Abby Liz grew 2 full inches............will she ever stop?

I had started buying new clothes for her in 4-6 (girls extra small-small), well they wont last long, looks like she will be in a medium sooner than I thought! She is also wearing a size 12 shoe! When we got her, she was in a 4..... :( Some things never change though, she still has the tiniest waist ever..........with long legs and a torso to die for. LUCKY GIRL! (my family genes couldn't be more opposite!)

As her graduation gift, we got Abby a new "big girl bike". It is pink and sparkly(18inch)........Just like her! At first she wasn't sure what to do, she is much higher off the ground. But within a few minutes she was just fine. We can already envision her flying on this bike that should last a few years.............hopefully!

Well, on the adoption topic................

We are glad to say that we are waiting. Our dossier is out of our hands and looks good to go from our agency. We will need new local background checks, but that is pretty easy to do. We hope to take care of it next week, just to have it done. But really until they get to us in line, we are fine.

It will more than likely be over a year before a referral. Some might think this is long, but really, it is pretty fast for international adoption these days. We are going to just take it one day at a time. There really is nothing else we can do.

Knowing that we actually have dossiers in 2 countries feels very surreal right now. We have no idea what is going on in Mongolia. Any news has been from forums on the net, not our agency. Needless to say, the gossip is not good. I think 1 family has traveled that we know about since August 2007, and even they waiting for what seemed way too long.

So many changes have been made since our journey to China for Abby. My heart goes out to all the loving families that no-longer qualify for their country of choice. It certainly IS painful, we know. But there are other doors to open.......you just have to find them!

K

Happy Mother's Day

Abby Liz is soooooo much like her Father....................read the first line of her Mother's day poem for me and you will see what I mean!

There is nothing better than being her Mom. From the moment we met, she has been our wish come true! I love you, Abby Liz! You'll never know just how much we wished and prayed for you. I am sooo proud and honored to be your MOMMY!

February 1994

I found this picture last night. I have been trying to organize my paper pictures, I have boxes everywhere! This photo is from my wedding shower in 1994. It is my Mom, me and my Mother-In-Law.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the Moms out there!

M....O...M....M....Y

AbbyLiz and friend Zan.....ready for school!

Mom's day at preschool was yesterday. We had sweet snacks and were entertained by the kids singing new songs they learned this month. This is a video of Abby and her class singing the MOMMY song. I just love it! I waited so long to be a Mom, and this made my waiting all worth while. Abby says she will teach this song to her brother, so they can both sing it to me every year! Gosh! I hope so........

Hope you enjoy it too! They are a small quiet bunch............but just soooooo cute! Only one more week of school left............where does the time go?

K

Dossier COMPLETE !!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we are finished with the paper chase again! Yesterday we sent our dossier out to Holt and hope to have it in Thailand soon.
What a relief to be finished, again! Kevin and I did a little happy dance and told Abby that we are done! All we have to do is sit back and wait for Thailand to find us our son. We are not sure what time frames to expect, we just expect this process to go through......................we can be patient for a bit!

Abby starts kindergarten this fall, she will probably be 6 by the time she meets her brother. She says she is going to be at the airport waiting for him with a bunch of blue balloons! When I imagine this scene in my head, tears come thinking of just how happy we will all be. Abby's smiling face as she sees her brother, and us. The excitement in her voice, the BIG BIG hugs she will have for us. Kevin and I will have our daughter, our son and a life time of joy together.

No matter how much pain the changes in Mongolia made to our families plans, We feel blessed.

OH HAPPY DAY!!!!

Next.............we find out our DTT date (dossier to Thailand) Hopefully it will be soon!

We are OFFICIALLY WAITING!

K

Grandpa Hank..................my Dad!

This is a picture of me and my Dad from LONG LONG AGO..............

Today I cannot help but think of him and what a great man and father he was. It was 6 years ago that he was suffering badly from Dementia. Kevin and I were living in Indiana. Because my Dad was staying with my sister, I always knew how he was doing. Fortunately, I made the decision to go to NY and be with my Dad, my sister said that it might be time.

At 7 am, on May 2ND 2002, with all his children by his side, my Dad passed away. I am so grateful to have been there to be with him. It was the hardest thing I have EVER gone through, but it is a wonderful memory, if that makes any sense at all. I had 5 great days with my Dad before he left us, days I cherish dearly.

I am writing about this on our blog for one reason. To thank my Dad. It was at his funeral that Kevin and I decided we wanted a family, NO MATTER HOW. It was the site of family, the love, the togetherness that gave us strength to move forward...............on May 3rd 2004, 2 years and one day after my Dad was gone, we got our "CALL" for Abby Liz.

I love you Dad, I miss you Dad................and Abby Liz knows you! Thank you for the strength, you raised me well. Thank you for those last few days...............

Moya droga yacha cohem! ( I love you!)

Your daughter, Kathleen