We Had Someone Better Than Santa At Our House Today!

The FedEx Man! In his delivery TWO new pictures of our Lily! Sorry Santa, but that's hard to top!

I just cannot wait to kiss that sweet head.....

.......and rock her to sleep......

P.S. Santa: thank you for making all my wishes come true :)

Some More Pictures From Our Lily Day Yesterday!

We get the call from our agency, we can go to their office & see Lily's face!

Family of 3 about to turn in to 4!

1st Family Photo of 4!

A sight I never thought my eyes would see, my two baby girls!

And after more mountains of paperwork, it only gets better from here!

Meet Our Daughter........

Our Lily

........this moment is worth every minute of our 45 month wait :)

she is 10 months old

birthday february 26, 2009

waiting for us: GaozHou City Social Welfare Institute, Guangdong Province

her favorite toy are toys that make sound, she is a deep sleeper :), and is closest to care taker......

we hope to leave in 4 weeks or 7 weeks to travel around the Chinese New Year......WE ARE READY TO GO TOMORROW!

We Have Received Our Call, Today Is THE Day!

and we will wait no more, today our red thread brings our Lily to us.........we're off to the agency, we shall return with a picture to share!

We've Got A Feeling About Tomorrow.......

.......that the stork just may be flying tonight! this V-E-R-Y night! Fingers crossed and many prayers being said.......stay tuned!

Ummmmmmmm....Rumor Queen Post Tonight...

All I can say on this Christmas Eve is Thank You Santa & Thank You God......

Paige & I just got back from lighting candles & saying prayers for Lily at our local Shrine, and I get back to this post on the Rumor Queen website (for those that do not know Rumor Queen, it is a website that is like the bible for waiting parents who are adopting from China, she posts daily about what rumors are being said in the world about waittimes, the special needs program, travel approvals coming through, EVERYTHING) and this is her post tonight:

December 24th, 2009

"An agency has posted that the CCAA’s internal box has changed to show matches through April 3rd.

Usually we get a lot of agencies reporting this when it happens… but with today being Christmas Eve? We may not see agencies confirming it until Monday.

I’ve been peaking in occasionally this morning, but our out of town family will begin arriving soon and then I won’t be able to check in as often.

With only one agency saying it, it’s hard to give it an R rating. It is definitely not an R4 or R5 until we get more agencies saying it, though.

If the cut off is the 3rd, that would be very disappointing (unless you happen to be included, of course). Here are the projections. I really don’t want to have to make a smaller column."

WE ARE AN APRIL 3rd FAMILY!!!!!!!!! It appears our time is edging closer, and closer.......what an amazing Christmas Gift!

I am SOOOO happy to post this!

"Welcome to Child Referral

Traditional Program Child Referral

April 2006 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6

CCAI's LID - 4/03/2006 4/04/2006 4/05/2006 4/06/2006 4/12/2006 4/17/2006 4/20/2006 4/24/2006 4/25/2006 4/29/2006

12/23/2009 Working On The Next Set Of Matches We believe the CCAA is currently working on the next set of matches. We do not know the cutoff date on the next set of matches at this time. We will update this website as soon as more information becomes available. We wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season!" CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! Right now in China our Lily may already to MATCHED to our family! As Jack always says, "We're Adlers! We're FIRST!" So with that theory Lily's filed has probably already been matched to our family's file! I knew there was more than one reason I loved Jack! Santa, do you think you have room for our match in your sleigh tonight??!!

During Our Being "Next" Time........

There have been sharing ice pops & lolly pops with daddy.........

passing a little bit of boredom.......

.......and definately ALOT of silliness while waiting!

Oh Lily just you wait until you meet your family

and

discover how silly we are

and

how much we already love you!

Next!

China has matched up until March 31, 2006! Which means WE ARE NEXT when the next set of referrals come through. It will be a long month or more!

This set of referrals arrived December 2, 2009. We have at least 18 to 52 days until receiving Lily's referral--after waiting 44 months, now that we are down to days, I can handle that!

Paige & Her Imaginary Cousins In Action! #4

Last video/post! just gotta love my kiddo!

Paige & Her Imaginary Cousins In Action! #3

Video/post #3 continued in "imaginary cousin" video series!

one more to follow! :)

Imaginary Cousin, Video #2

........this one is continued from the video/post below so scroll down to see it.

.....more to follow my people!

Paige & Her Imaginary Cousins In Action!

So Paige played "Super Model!" today, she was trying on her holiday 2009 & going to meet Santa outfit today and needless to say her reaction to it was "LOVE IT MOMMY!"

Then, she started talking about her "imaginary cousins" which infiltrate our house regularly these days.........and I got it on video, there are a couple of videos so I will post more in different posts here, stay tuned for more "Paige Moments" and tell me if you think she needs counseling! :)

P.S: our phone started ringing in the end of this video, so it is NOT your phone ringing!

Paige Is Now Taking Musical Theater & Loving It!

Yes, my little ballerina has decided this year, she would rather take Musical Theater! So we hung up the leotard & tights and put on Paige's rather "outgoing personality" and love of putting on shows and sent her to Musical Theater!

Here she is right before her 1st class, as you can see by the video she was a little excited to say the least!

FINALLY Some Good News On The Adoption Front For A Change!

It seems I only have negative things to post about Lily's adoption, so I am THRILLED to finally have some positive news to put out there in the blogsphere!

Tonight we received an email from our agency letting us know that our pre-placement packet was ready to be downloaded from our agency's website for adoptive parents!

Believe it or not this is the LAST packet we will receive from our agency BEFORE we receive Lily's referral.........after 42 months of officially waiting & thinking many times this just isn't going to happen, we have finally received our preplacement packet! this is good news! It proves we are 1 to 2 months from receiving referral!

Fly China Center of Adoption Affairs stork, FLY! FLY! FLY!

The best part of this blog post, is this little gem:

Paige, the sweetest, funniest, smartest gift from God (thank you God!), handed me this picture she made for me. "This picture is Lily finally coming home to our house."

She is bald in the picture because I have told her numerous times that Lily may have a shaved head when we bring her home. She keeps saying, Lily will have cute pony tails and I don't want her to be disappointed. She is clearly listening to me!

She handed me this picture less than 30 minutes before I received the email telling us of our preplacement packet........I think God is clearly talking to my girl, don't you!?

Thank God For Madonna!

......and her song with Justin Timberlake (love him!) 4 Minutes.........

Paige LOVES this song and so do I, so no complaints from me!  The less Barney, Wiggles, and Playhouse Disney playing in my car the better :)

So this morning we are grooving and dancing our brains out on the way to preschool, we pull up to the drop off spot at her preschool, a teacher's assistant opens the car door, and for the 1st time ever in Paige's school career.......she CRIES and wails, "I want to go home Mommy!"

All of the other teacher assistants & the school's director, looked shocked and start whispering.....Paige is the kid who bounds out of the car, tells anyone who will listen what she had for breakfast and that she likes their shoes today......so this was a different Paige, one they had not seen.....yet!

I pull the car out of the drop off lane, and talk to my kiddo.........what's wrong, why do you want to go home?, are you scared of something?, tell me the truth.....Now there was a large part of me, that wanted to pull out of that school lot, take my babe home and make snacks and watch movies all day with her :)

Finally, she says, I need to hear Madonna one more time.......and so 4 Minutes is cued up on my ipod and we sing and dance without the constraints of a seatbelt & car seat harness.  And oh we danced!  I can imagine what the teachers thought.......We drove around to the drop off spot again, teacher's assistant asked if she was ready now, Paige responds, "Yes!  I just needed to dance with Mommy to my favorite Madonna song again!"

that a girl, miss Paige!

I am working on a Madonna playlist for my ipod for Paige, care to share your favorite Madonna song that you think should be included?  Leave it in the comments section of the blog!

Channeling Ray Charles' Spirit.....

From beyond...........

My Grandpa would be so proud!  He was a huge harmonica player!

This just tickles my pickle!

Watch Out Vanessa Hudgens.......

Paige is learning your song, "Gotta Go My Own Way", learning slowly as you can see on this video, but learning!

We just love our little rock star!

Cousin Melissa Is ENGAGED!

CONGRATULATIONS MELISSA & LEE!  (a.k.a. by Paige : Sport!)

I am ashamed to say, I do not have a picture of Melissa & Lee on my computer, shocking no!  So I picked this pic of my beloved Jack, with soon to be bride, Melissa!

We are so thrilled and excited for you two to start your new life together!  

My advice to you both:

Live every day as if it were your last

And

Live every night as if it were your first (of course I mean after you're married, but I may forget to tell you this at the wedding--you know, wine!)

And

ELOPE!

We love you both oodles! 

I Need An Epidural, Please! Or.......

I'm gonna strap myself to a rocket like Paige and shoot me over to China to find out when the heck we are going to get our referral!

Here is the reason I am so excited this month:  referrals (the pictures of the babies and their pertinent information for the waiting parents) are due to hopefully arrive this week.

Last month China matched waiting families whose paperwork was logged in in China through March 24, 2006.  We are logged in April 3, 2006--VERY important information for a waiting parent.

Well there are rumblings around the Chinese Adoption Community that China may refer waiting families with log in dates through March 29, 2006.  When I read this I REALLY paid attention!  We've been waiting so long, that you get immune to a timeline because you just get burnt in the long run......

Well, if they do get up to the 29th, we will receive our Lily's referral NEXT month!!!!  Holy Shasta people!!!  But this probably isn't going to happen and it won't be until November or December, there is a slight chance this could happen!  So I am on high alert and ready for my epidural about yesterday!

:)!

1st Day Of School was A SUCCESS!

Paige received 5 awards for using a polite word......yes she said FIVE polite words in 3 hours people!

......AND

Received a "GREAT DAY" report card sent home to Jack & I!

that's a fantastic job Paige, Mommy & Daddy are very proud of you!

.......and no, sweet child of mine, you are not getting a prize because you got a great report card........

yes, she asked...."just something little mommy to play with"........oy!  these kiddos!

1st Day Of School!

yes, it is that time of year again and Paige was THRILLED to start school again!  She really missed her friends and the routine........

here she is with her reading & math teacher, Miss Heather
here she is ready to get in the car and GO TO SCHOOL!

....here she is playing legos with her friend who was in her class last year at Meet The Teacher last week....

......walking in to Meet The Teacher day last week, watch out Miss Lucy & Miss Sara!  :)

Styling at Meet Your Teacher Day....she picked out the dress, shoes, & hat :)

And lastly, a video of my girl ready to rock her way into Preschool for one more year!

10 Years Old!

Our niece, Allyson, turned 10 years old today!  She was the flower girl at our wedding.....and now she is TEN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

My "Baby" Survived Her 1st Day At Camp!

For all the years that I have known Jack, I hear stories about his "growing up years" at the JCC (aka: the Jewish Community Center)........

Well now years down the road, Paige will have her own JCC stories!

Today was her 1st day at JCC Day Camp!  This was her 1st lunch "away" from any grown up that I know.......she brought her lunch and ate it, all by herself!  Without Mom to open her yogurt!  Where have the last 4 1/2 years GONE!?  WOW WEE!

Here's my girl with her camp counselors........

.......and here she is ready to rock...........she is soooooo Eloise in this picture, no?  (Eloise = the little 6 year old that lives in the penthouse at the Plaza Hotel in NYC.....)

Thank you to Grandma Carole for taking Miss Paige to camp!

Lily's Adoption Update:

Referrals were delayed a little last month due to the Swine Flu.........but we officially have 14 log in dates ahead of us before we see Lily's picture when we get our referral!

October is shaping up to be our month for our referral!  I don't know if I believe I will see my Lily's face in less then 4 short months......after almost 4 years since we started the adoption process, can it finally be our turn?!

My friend, Kim, left today for China to meet her little baby Annie.  So very exciting! 

And another friend, Tina, will most probably get her referral NEXT month...just WEEKS away!

This is starting to finally happen PEOPLE!!!!!

Please keep praying, we are close, but not there yet and we need your prayers still.  

The Swine Flu is lingering in the background of families travel to China.  I know of one American family who was quarantined at their hotel for 7 days because they showed signs of the flu when arriving off the plane......the father had a positive culture for Swine Flu and is now quarantined in a Chinese Hospital.  The USA has issued a travel alert to all citizens traveling to China.......so this journey is still far from over for many families....... 

She Danced Her Brains Out.....

.........with such poise & grace!

Mommy & Daddy were so very proud of you & your accomplishment!

Paige's Dance Recital "Speech"......

This was a HUGE accomplishment for Paige, because at dress rehearsals she put her head down and cried when it was her turn to say her name.........we practiced all week, and I am so proud of her!

The recital video will be a while, I have to ask Jack to download it for me, but we have it and it is GREAT!

Music Mania - Dance Recital 2009!

The dance studio, which is owned, run, & taught by the one of the sweetest & most calm woman on the planet, Miss Lorraine.  She started her career in entertainment at the age of nineteen when she began dancing professionally with Six Flags Productions. She then performed on different cruise ships and with professional shows throughout the country.

This is Miss Lorraine's 1st Dance Studio, and Paige has been dancing with her since day 1.  It was great to see her studio's attendance SOAR from last year to this year's recital!  She says she is living her dream and it's nice to see that happen to someone soooo nice & special in Paige's life!

Before the recital started she had the students who were awarded trophies this year, come up on the stage and announce their names to the audience.

Here is my lady "Joyfully Performing" before she announced her name to a full house. 

Here she is celebrating during the costume parade!  I love that my lady is just so HAPPY in her life! 

Paige Earned Her 1st Trophy EVER!

Paige completed her 2nd year of dance with our neighborhood dance studio in May.  She was BESIDE herself when she received her dance trophy!

I am proud of my little girl, for choosing an activity and sticking with it!

She is taking the summer off from her dance lessons.....since this will be the last summer she is my only daughter, and we have been reading loads of books, learning American History by watching Little House On The Prairie dvds :), (Paige will say can we watch "history" mom?)  We are waiting for some Little House books & American Girl Kirsten books to be delivered  from our library........to continue our "history" lessons during the rain/thunder/hail storms we get every afternoon around here.

I am spoiling her rotten........Yes, I am guilty!  

I can say with confidence that this will be her last summer as an only child, next summer my Paige will be a BIG sister!

So I am enjoying the heck out of these days.........but we are both excited to have Lily join in our daily adventures....

....A Little Girl's 4th Birthday Dreams Come True......

My niece who shares Jack's birthday had a most amazing birthday with her mom at the American Girl Cafe!

Paige & I went with our "chosen family" Cheryl & Kirby last summer so when I talked to the birthday girl on the phone we were able to discuss the special pink lemonade, the bright pink gerber daisies on the table, the appetizer spread with pretzel rolls, strawberries, melon cut into gerber daisy shapes.......she was a little confused as to how I knew so much about the restaurant she was sitting in with my sister, while I was not there!

Here is my little niece gabbing away to me during her special lunch........it kills me!

The great thing about all the technology our world has is that I was able to experience her American Girl lunch like I was sitting across the table from her!

Glad you had such a special day!  Cathy Loves You Kid!

A Bit of a "blogging break" For This Mama!

........no I didn't just get off the island after my stint on Survivor, do you REALLY think I would EVER EVEN ATTEMPT that show?  Amazing Race, yes....they have toilets, food, & 12 hour REST periods!

So I am back!  And will be blogging again to my best ability.......

It's Somebody's Birthday In Our House........

It's Jack's (a.k.a. Paige's Daddy's) birthday!

Paige is currently on "vacation" AGAIN, this time with Grandma Carole & Papa George in St. Louis.  She is visiting Aunt Rachel (Jack's sister), Uncle Scott, & cousins Allyson & Daniel.  

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday Daddy!  We love you so very much!  

Today is also Claudia's, our niece's, birthday!  She turned 4 today.....and is enjoying a day with her Mommy, my sister, in NYC!  Claudia has been calling with updates about her special day.  She called after her horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park and during her birthday lunch at the American Girl Cafe......she was tickled that she was drinking pink lemonade.....Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet Claude-hope all your birthday wishes come true!

Prayer Works!

China FINALLY sent referrals for this month!  Families with log in dates from March 8 to March 14, 2006 received their referrals!  We are April 3, 2006....things are slowly moving along!  YAY!

Fingers Crossed & Praying To God......

There has been a "rumor" out in the China Adoption Community that the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs has suspended referrals until September 2009 due to the Swine Flu.......needless to say that makes Jack & I sick to our stomachs and we are HEALTHY!

We spoke with our agency today, who told us that they believe referrals should be received the end of this week.  Now no one knows how many families will receive referrals, but we would be THRILLED with any amount of referrals......it would bring us one tiny bit closer to our Lily..........

We know you all are praying for our Lily......can you please say one extra prayer tonight?

Family Is A Good Thing.......

.........this picture was taken after a fun-filled but long and hot day at the Magic Kingdom.......Paige just loves having her cousins visit!

Wildfires Are Awe Inspiring Works Of Mother Nature....

.....last week Paige and I were sitting in our living room catching the latest episode of Toot & Puddle, when out of the blue there was this lightning strike that sounded like it landed right on our sofa!


....we both jumped out of our skin, and then poor Paige freaked out more when she saw her mama was really freaked out......


1st we shut off Daddy's plasma T.V., (I would not want to live through the experience of something bringing harm to Daddy's T.V.)


2nd we started reading all the Toot & Puddle books we picked out together at the library


3rd within a few minutes, Paige says, "I want to look at the sky and see if I see rain yet." So off we go to the patio, where I can see the traffic behind our house is at a standstill and fire engine lights......


4th "Hmmmm......Paige lets go out the front of the house and see what's going on"









.........and this is what greeted my eyeballs........do you see the flipping FIRE TRUCK & SMOKE that is DIRECTLY across the lake from our house?!?!?!?! That lightning bolt started a fire in the conservation area next to our house!!! OMG!

........It takes a few seconds for my brain to process what my eyeballs are seeing, and then Paige & I race back to the house, & "Smart Mommy In An Emergency Situation" grabs her CAMERA and goes back out to take PICTURES, by the time I got there the flames were low.....phew...


I tell Paige to get dressed (she was in a nightgown) and think to myself, "Get cat, get dogs, get Paige & get Mommy and Paige's sleeping blankets".......(NO THOUGHT to the house insurance papers, pictures, passports, birth certificates, nope just the cow blankets Paige & I sleep with!)


Now mind you, while these thoughts are racing through my head, Paige is running around the house in underwear freaking out like her mother (poor kid is doomed).


But then after a call to Daddy, who called our neighbor Bruce, who went out and surveyed the wildfire situation and declared an all clear......Paige put back on her nightgown & Mommy had 2 glasses of wine.

........and here is a picture of Bruce, "assessing" the wildfire situation!

Our neighborhood was VERY fortunate, there are many other local central Florida neighborhoods that are being evacuated due to wildfires.......and some families lost everything......

I personally wanted to run up to those firemen and hug them! A huge thank you to all those firefighters who are keeping people safe!

It Sure Has Been A While!

.......please accept my apologies for not posting!  Life just sometimes gets in the way of blogging!

Since my last post:

.....Paige got a new "fancy" flower hat in her favorite color, pink, of course!

......had a couple of sleepovers at Grandma Carole's & Papa George's house....

.....attended one of her "best bud's", Blace, 3rd birthday party

......had a playdate at our house with Cousins Sam, Molly, Michelle, & Jason from NY

.......went to the Magic Kingdom with her cousins for Sam & Molly's 1st trip ever to see "the mouse"

.......and went to preschool, dance school, had just a couple of meltdowns, and watched her favorite new tv shows: Special Agent Oso & Toot & Puddle a gajillion times with her Mama

.......she now knows her phone number & address by heart

......and right this very moment she is on vacation with Grammy & Pop Pop on Long Island for her other cousin, Claudia's 4th Birthday party TODAY!

.......and in about 24 hours, my little monkey will be back home in Orlando wrapped up in my arms--I sure did miss you kiddo!

Happy Earth Day 2009!

We didn't do much of anything to celebrate Earth Day, but Paige proudly wore her "Love Her" planet Earth t-shirt........

Happy Earth Day!

It's An Epidemic, You Know........

In World News according to Paige, all baby dolls & stuffed animals in the United States of America, have the flu...........

I received strict instructions from Paige this morning as she was leaving for preschool: "Mama, if you hear any pretend calls for Mommy, Mommy, you need to get up and check on my babies."  

......sweet Pluto.....

...beautiful Daisy, she was the 1st "baby" to come down with the flu last night...so she got the "best bed" in Paige's bookcase.......

......even Donald Duck isn't immune from this sickness.......:(

I think I should be able to hold down Paige's Hospital until she gets home in three hours.....(I love my little girl and her imagination!)