I-797 is Here!

It's another piece of paper closer to Alaina! We should be getting our fingerprint appointment soon!

Football (actually Band!) Season

Tonight was the big game -- Mill Creek (Sara's school) vs. Dacula (Daddy's school) -- and since this is also their first "band rivalry" -- Sara in one band, Daddy directing the other band -- we had an exciting night! The kids at Dacula planned a "white out", so the MC kids followed suite with a "red out". That made the crowds quite distinct; a fun thing to do. I wish I had gotten a picture of Sara in her full band uniform, but by the 3rd quarter break, she was down to the bibs! It was fun seeing her and her friends so excited about being in the half-time show! Ally has still been very confused about Sara going to one HS and Daddy going to another -- and both of them being at band practice, but not together!

The crowd was HUGE -- we arrived just in time to see the half time shows, as Lauren's soccer practice ran late. We had to squeeze our car into a non-parking space at the nearby elementary school and walk to the high school. There were cars everywhere, even on the sides of the main road. I guess when you take 2 big high schools (one with 4000+ kids and the other with 2500+ kids) that are "neighbors" and have them kick off the season, you will have a crowd! We could hardly get thru the sea of kids hanging out behind the fields. Needless to say, after half-time, we were gone! I don't think we even saw a single play! Like my title said, "It's band season" -- at least for our family!

What Now?

"I saw the face of Jesus
In a little orphan girl.
She was standing in the corner,
On the other side of the world.
And I heard the voice of Jesus
Gently whisper to my heart,
'Didn’t you say you wanted to find Me?
Well here I am.
Here you are.'

'So what now?
What will you do, now that you’ve found Me?
What now?
What will you do with this treasure you’ve found?
I know I may not look like what you expected,
But if you’ll remember,
This is right where I said I would be.
You found Me.
What now?"
- Steven Curtis Chapman

I spent a lot of time in the car today (driving thru the N Ga Mtns for work) and chose to listen to my Ipod for most of the trip. For those of you who don't know, I like to listen to music very LOUD ... AND I love to sing along, LOUD. Fake microphone and all. Now, keep in mind, I spend a lot of time in my car by MYSELF! So, I don't subject anyone to my singing!!! Seriously...

So, I must have listened to SCC sing "What Now"? 20 times (yes, I'm still being serious) just today. I so very much needed to hear this. Just read the words and think of our little Ally or our Alaina, that we don't even know -- who is standing on the other side of the world right now -- or think of your little one... Just try not to cry!

Today brought me to a new place -- a place where I'm ready. Ready to pack up the family once again and take on the challenges of meeting a little 6 year old girl that needs a family. Ready to return to the place of Ally's birth to bring home another daughter. This time will be different, I know. I'm expecting it to be so much harder - on Alaina and all of us. Not that I'm pessimistic, just realistic. She is old enough to understand and be sad and scared. Hopefully, she will understand the good parts, too. Today was a good day!

My guess is that this is the verse that inspired this song (I tried to search for SCC's inspiration, but came up short)...

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40

A Special Thanks

I'm not sure how long my friend Renate has been reading my blog, but a few months ago, she did something that, to me, is such an amazing thing. You see, I have only actually talked to (in person) Renate twice, I think. She works in Texas with my company. Ally's story seemed to really touch her, and she was inspired to sponsor a little girl who lives in an orphanage in China through Love without Boundaries. This just totally warmed my heart when she told me! Thank you, Renate - you may never know how much your generousity will change the future of this little girl, as well as others!

Here is, I'm sure, an incredible blog. Lea and I met each other when Sara was a baby thru some mutual friends. I just happened to stumble onto her blog today (thru one of those mutual friends). And what do you know? Her post today was a tribute to her adoptive mom! Go(o)d timing, huh? I think so. She is posting one tribute each day for the next 40 days, so check in. Read the post for today, Aug 26...

Baking with Linzi

Let me just say that we are so thankful that Ally gets to visit Miss Sheryl and Linzi while we are working! Ally is so happy there and just adores Miss Sheryl and has so much fun with Linzi. It means so much to know that she is happy and well cared for. Here is just a sampling of the fun things she does with Linzi. Of course, whenever we do any type of cooking, Ally is all over it saying, "I na hep" (I wanna help).




We started calling her "Ally the Repeater" because she repeats everything MANY times ... many times. She loves to list everyone in the family, and if one of us isn't in the room, she has to know where that person is ... over and over ... "Where'd mama go?", "I want La-La", "Where's daddy's car?", "I want Gara", etc...

This is why I love TODAY!

I have long been a fan of the TODAY morning show on NBC -- Matt Lauer is one of my favs! Here he is with Al -- this is why I love that show! Lauren and I watched this clip this morning as she was getting ready for school!

LID!

We have a Log in Date -- Aug 12, 2008. Obviously, the CCAA is working during the Olympics, even though their offices are located in Beijing! YEAH! One step closer. There is a slight chance that we may travel over the Christmas holidays. To me, that would be ideal. We wouldn't have to worry about missed school work or missed work. I really hope that works out. It will likely be after Christmas because of the 800A form, but it could happen!

Olympics

I have just LOVED watching the Olympics. Spectacular - especially since we have been there (and look forward to returning)! I just knew that China would do everything possible to make these games incredible. The swimming is my absolute fav. Here are a few images that say so much!

FINALLY

The CCAA updated and our original LID is official --

CCAA Status


Reviewed through:
January 31, 2007

Placed through:
January 31, 2006

(Our original date for Ally was January 27, 2006). Like I said earlier, I can't imagine what today would have been like! It is so exciting for the other Jan 27'ers that I have "met" thru blogs, to see them actually realizing their dreams!!!

First Day of High School and Middle School

Sara started at Mill Creek High School (bus comes at 6:15 AM) today, while Lauren began Osborne Middle School (bus comes at 8:30 AM). It sounds like both girls had a great day and are excited about their classes and friends at school. Sara was surprised to find her best friend Audrey on her bus yesterday morning. Last year we drove Sara over to Audrey's each and every morning and afternoon so they could ride together. Ally went to Ms. Sheryl's and did great. She was so happy to see Linzi and Lucy said she ran right in and started playing. Ally will begin pre-school at North Metro after Labor Day.

Ally's Birthday Party

We had a beautiful morning on Saturday for Ally's party. It was under 80 degrees and we had a wonderful time at Dacula Park. We used the pavillion and playground and we were the only ones there. Ally enjoyed opening the presents while all of her friends quickly swept them away to check them out. It was great to see all of these little girls together. In the picture are Shelby, Ally, Danielle and Frannie!

Cannot Even Comprehend

Our original log in date for Ally has finally arrived from the CCAA. What that means is that, if we had not "found" Ally on Hope's waiting child list, we would just now be getting our referral for Ally. 31 months and 12 days after our dossier was logged in with China. The people who are "with" us represent 2 days of LIDs that will get their referral on Monday (most likely). I can't even imagine. I just think of how incredibly amazing it would be to sit here watching the Olympics ... knowing that we would finally be getting our little person's picture on Monday. More that that, I can't imagine the last year WITHOUT our little girl right here where she belongs!

Our Girl is 3!

Today we "celebrated" as Ally turned 3 years old! Actually, it was more like we dragged Ally around to her big sisters' schools all day as she turned 3. Her "party" will be this Saturday with a few of her friends and family. She is working on holding up "3" fingers when asked how old she is.

We just can't imagine our lives without this precious, little girl. It was 3 years ago that we were filling out our application to adopt Ally - just as her birth mom was making the painful decision to take her to the Xianyang orphanage to give her a chance at life. We are forever grateful. We so wish that her birth mom could somehow see her now. I think we would all smile!

Happy Birthday, sweet Ally! We love you!

Steven Curtis Chapman on Larry King

Tune your TVs to CNN on Thursday night (it's on at 9 PM in Atl), August 7 (tomorrow) to watch Larry King interview SCC. A brief interview was aired with SCC and wife Marybeth this AM on Good Morning America (click to see the clip). Just give the clip a few seconds to bypass the commercial! It was very difficult to watch as they talked about losing little Maria.

Obviously, China is in the news a lot these days because of the Olympics. I am SO excited about watching the games (more so than usual) because we have "been there"!

DTC for Alaina -- FINALLY!

Our dossier hit the Fed-Ex box yesterday and is on it's way to CHINA! Yeah - we hope to hear our LID soon! Big step! One step closer to that little girl!

PDA - Spontaneously Closed!!!

Yes, that is right! We went for Ally's annual pediatric cardiologist appt this morning and the doctor said that Ally's PDA (patent ductal arteriosis - hole in her heart) has closed! She even dismissed her from needing to come back on a yearly basis! Wonderful news and an answer (a good answer!) to many prayers. I told the doctor that we WILL be back once we get Alaina home from China too...

Ally was a big girl at the doctor and got on the table and laid down with no tears. They didn't even have to do the echo-cardiogram like we expected! YEAH! (pics taken with my phone)

At her 3 year well-check up, Ally got 2 shots without crying. She is also now officially on the growth chart! She is in the 2nd percentile for height (34 inches)! But she is in the 0 percentile for weight -- not quite on the chart at 23.6 pounds! Still a "little bitty chick-a-dee"!

"Night Night Daddy!"

For all of us, this post is H*U*G*E!

Daddy has been putting Ally to bed each night for about the last 9 months. If you remember, when we first got home from China, I slept in her room on a twin mattress on her floor. For quite a few months she had a hard time going to sleep and would wake up nightly screaming a kind of scream that pierced my heart - as if she was terrified. I just couldn't let her scream like that, so I would go get her or lay down by her bed (still in a crib).

We began working on that last spring and got her to a point where most nights she would sleep all night in her bed without waking up. That was great, but Daddy was still staying in her room until she fell asleep (sometimes taking over an hour). She would lay in her bed and he would sit in the rocker playing his Gameboy!

Well, a few weeks ago, we began the next phase - putting her in her crib and walking out of the room. For the first few nights she cried (but not that same scream of terror) for almost an hour. Yes, it was hard, but we stayed strong and let her cry. It has FINALLY paid off. For the last few nights, Daddy has taken her into her room, said prayers, and laid her down, and left the room.

Tonight, as she lay down, she said "night, night daddy" as he left the room. No tears, no screams, no calling him (or me) back into the room. I even got a kiss and a wave and a "night, night mommy" before she went to bed! WONDERFUL!!!

Before she went to bed, Sara and Ally had a "popcorn" fight in the family room. It started with Sara tossing popcorn into Ally's mouth. She laughed SO HARD when she missed, that Sara started throwing popcorn over her head. Ally's laughting continued as she began to toss the popcorn! It continued until there was a good bit of popcorn on the floor - Dash came in to help clean up!!!

Powdered SUGAR

I made the girls pancakes for breakfast this AM. Lucy went and took a shot of Ally squatting on the stool. Squatting this way is very common in China and we find it funny that it is an innate thing for Ally to do. It does not seem like a very comfortable position to me, but many Chinese, including the ederly, can be found squatting on the street (usually smoking a cigarette). As you can see in the picture Ally really liked the powdered sugar and we had a little cleaning up to do after she finished.

Little Szechuan Chinese Restaurant

Last night we met the Burkes and Williams families at Little Szechuan Chinese Restaurant on Buford Hwy in Doraville. All 3 of our families were in China together last summer. We were all special needs adoptions and we were all with Hope for Children. It was great to see everyone and how the kids have changed over the year. We also had a wonderful meal of Salt and Pepper Squid, Mongolian Beef, Moo Shoo Pork, Garlic Chicken, and Kung Pau Chicken. They also have the best green beans!!! Here are some pictures of all the kids.