Thanksgiving

Well. Jason and I headed to Sarasota for Thanksgiving this year. It was great to visit with Jason's mom and enjoy some time on the beach! Took a few nice runs along Siesta Key, ate some great seafood and relaxed! We realized it will be the last Thanksgiving without XiaoJun! We had a great Thanksgiving update on our little guy too! A woman I have become acquainted with though the Lu'an SWI Yahoo!Group sent for an update on her son. She will be traveling to meet him very soon. She asked the SWI who her son's best friend is and it was Xiao Jun! It was wonderful just knowing that he has a good friend where he is but even better because this family lives outside of Chicago. We had already talked about our kids meeting again once they are both home and now it seems even more important. We go to Chicago several times a year and this should be really fun all around! Oh, and the best part is that we saw some new pictures of him. He's still as cute as a button and looks healthy :)
We had our homestudy update done a week or so ago and it was submitted to our agency for approval. We have not heard back from them on if there is anything else we need to do but hope that that was it. It was just a REALLY quick visit and some changes to the description of the child we initially expected (we expected a girl between 0-48 months and ARE expecting a boy that is 4!) funny how that works out.
Now, we basically just wait some more. Once we get the LSC there is some more paperwork, of course.
Next weekend I am moving everything into a storage locker in the guest bedroom to set it up offically as XiaoJun's. Will post pictures of some of the cute things I've bought and received soon...there is quite a bit!
I ordered a super-cute little backpack from Chasing Fireflies. This is the best website for unique kids stuff I have seen recently www.chasing-fireflies.com . Make sure you put the dash in the website, otherwise it is something else entirely!
On one of my Yahoo!Groups someone who recently went to China to bring home their 6 year old boy posted a whole list of things that were helpful to them in China. Things that helped them bond with him and make him smile. It was a great list and I am going to work my way through it and make sure I have it all ready to go!

Not much to blog about.

Not too much to blog about today, but wanted to post anyway. I met with my Chinese Adoption Book Club on Sunday and it was great. I really am glad to have met these women, all whom have adopted from China. It's so good to have people to talk to that are in the same situation, or have been there before. So far, there are about 8 or so of us. I'm the only one with no kids yet, just one on the way... Some of the women are waiting on their second child and others recently returned with theirs. It's a great group. We read a book called "Chinese Cinderella" by Adeline Yin Ma. It is a book that is on the Lone Star Reading list for 6th grade in TX. Some of my students read it for their summer reading project. Deals with abandonment through the eyes of the narrator, Adeline. It's a memoir.

A Few Pictures!

I decided to add a few pictures to my blog today. I'm still nervous to add pics of Anderson...does anyone know the rule on that? Can we post pictures of our kids before the LSC/LOA? I'd sure like to share his picture, he's sure a cutie! These pictures were from last week at the UT game and of our dogs celebrating Anderson's birthday in absentia. We got cupcakes and some gifts for him and had a mini-party. This weekend I decided to get a storage unit to move the stuff from the guest bedroom that will be Anderson's. We have a little guest house/cottage behind our house that we currently have a tenant in. He is moving out in April, but I just think I need more time to get Anderson's room done and have space to put stuff I buy him. For those of you not in TX...we don't have basements!! It's as bad as it sounds. There is nowhere for us to put stuff! On top of that, we live in an older home built in the 40's so at some point our carport was converted into living space, so we have no garage either! We simply can't keep anything that isn't necessary. Once the guest house is back in our hands, it will all be good.

I got another cute outfit today for Anderson, and some books. I also got some Chinese flash cards for kids. Figured they would be good for us and also might help us use with Anderson Xiao Jun. That's about it for now. I'm looking forward to my Chinese Adoption Book Club tomorrow. It's only the second time I've met with them, and last time I didn't have Xiao Jun to talk about yet! So, excited to share the news!

Inaugural Blog

Well, here it is. My very first blog post. I never fancied myself much of a blogger, but, then again, there is a first for everything. And, if I've learned one thing in life, it is to never say "never". I guess I am only blogging because of the fact that we are on this journey to adopt a little boy from China. I say journey because it is a nice word for "stressful-neverending-confusing-roller-coaster-hurry-up-and-wait-emotional-ackronym-heavy-paper-chase"...with a happy ending of course!

I really wanted to start this blog because I know how much I have enjoyed and relied on the blogs of others going through the same thing. There is so much unknown in this process, and it is great to see all the other people and how they are handling stuff. And I LOVE seeing the blogs from China on/after Gotcha! day...those are the best! I hope my blog can be a source of information and support for others earlier on in the process than we are.

Where to start, where to start?? I guess with a bit about us and why we chose to adopt. Well we live in Austin, TX...moved here for a lifestyle change from the hectic lifestyle we led in Chicago, it's been a great move. We have an awesome (bit of a stretch) house, 3 great dogs, a yard, an organic garden (with one pepper growing!), good friends, and last but not least...GREAT weather. We heart Austin!

We decided to start a family last year (thinking it would be a few years out...another surprise!) and adoption was our first choice. We have a lot of family on both sides that are adopted and it was always something that was important to both Jason and I. We found an agency that we are very happy with and started the paperchase in February. At first, we were going to wait for a non-special-needs child, but quickly changed our minds for many reasons. We are so happy we did because otherwise we wouldn't be waiting for Anderson! Fast-forward a few months and here we are. We are currently awaiting our LOA/LSC for an awesome now 4-year old little boy (his birthday was last week). We can't wait to meet him!

We are hoping to travel in early spring: April, May...maybe sooner? We have our PA and are having a homestudy update done on Monday to update our dossier to match Anderson and his SN. Will post more later, thanks for reading!