....and down comes a little ray of hope....

Two posts in one day?! Why, yes! I forgot to post earlier that we got some very encouraging news from our agency on Friday when I called to check in--she said that they were expecting to get quite a few baby girl referrals in the next couple of months and that it looked like our wait may be cut a little shorter as we will hopefully be moving up the list at a nice pace. Let's just hope and pray this will all happen as they predict--especially for those on the top of the list who have been waiting on pins and needles, I'm sure, while no referrals have been coming for the last couple of months! She even said we should even plan on starting our dossier in Jan sometime, so that's good news!!! Just when I was thinking this might never really happen......a little ray of hope! :)
P.S. and I can happily report that the Christmas tree is now fully decorated, and with wrapped presents underneath too. Things are looking up!

Playing Hooky Meeting Some EXTREME people

Well, just wanted to post some pics and share a brush with TV we had in our city last week--Extreme Makeover Home Edition was in town most of the previous week and a half or more rebuilding a home in our downtown area for a very deserving family. The mom is a SW who works with kids at a charter school, her husband is blind and they have two kids. Whenever I watch the show I always get teary at the end. The whole city was caught up in the bewildering process where they completely demolished the house and rebuilt it in one week. Now, being in the industry of design and dealing w/permitting, I know this had to take months of coordination to get approvals and inspections lined up in such a short span of time. (And quite frankly it has always made me wary about the quality of the finished product!) The City officials must have pulled through though and the house looked pretty sturdy. It turned out very nice and I was happy that they made an effort to make it look a little vintage like the rest of the neighborhood, however, a bit fancier. One of my coworkers got caught up in the excitement and talked a couple more of us into taking a few hours off work in the middle of the day to take a shuttle to the house and help yell, "MOVE THAT BUS!" It is very near our office and we figured we wouldn't often get this opportunity, if ever again. It was quite a circus over there at first--there were thousands of people there to cheer them on. It was so interesting to see some of the process of producing the final moments of the show.........let's just say it is very slow and the move that bus is yelled quite a few times throughout the day to get as many versions as possible, as well as the crowd, over and over again. After the family was inside, (which we unfortunately missed that actual moment, due to some transportation issues, darn it) most of the cast of designers and carpenters were outside shaking hands, signing autographs and posing for pics--except Ty, it seems he causes such a frenzy, he can only keep a distance and wave at the crowd or people just lose their minds! Whenever he looked out at the crowd, everyone started cheering and the girls were screaming! Too funny. My favorite is actually Ed, the carpenter. In fact Maggie and I got our picture taken with him and he was EXTREME-ly nice......and adorable-love the accent! okay, I know, I couldn't help it! Heh, heh! P.S. the episode is supposed to air Jan 21!

It's beginning to (slowly, very slowly) look a lot like Christmas...

Well, we finally got our tree up--but not decorated yet! Ha, ha. It has lights, but no ornaments yet. You could say we like to savor it, but really we just haven't been able to get that far yet (or perhaps we're just being lazy about it!), but wanted to get it all sparkly at least. It's pretty funny, though- we had to put the tree up in Buttercup's room thanks to our tiny, make-shift upstairs living room. We are living on the upstairs level of our house while completing the renovation of the downstairs level (which is not going very forward at the moment, unfortunately, due to some trouble getting a contractor to come over to give us an estimate on plaster removal). Our upstairs has a kitchen and basically is set up as a two-bedroom apartment. Since we haven't put up a crib yet, her room is the only room with a spot for a tree. We can see into her room from our mini-living room, so it works! The cats are loving it as a nice nap spot underneath. Hubby said we should take a pic, but then thought she may want the tree in her room every year if she sees it. Hopefully we can resume the big tree downstairs in the real living room next year and have a baby tree in her room too. :) No news on the adoption front. We are still at the same place on the list that we have been since we got on the list and hoping for some news this month on moving up a couple notches, unlike last month. Urrrgggghhhhh. Happy thoughts.....happy thoughts.......
This is what Buttercup is getting for Christmas this year. (notice the proximity of the peeking tree branches :) ha) ...A litttle asian dolly, a cute pink and green knit beret and matching pink socks. We may even wrap them and put them under the tree because she will be with us in spirit as we celebrate this year. They will be waiting for her when she finally gets home. I hope and pray it is by Christmas next year.



I think this doll has the sweetest little face! This wait is hard.

The Funk is Finally Fading

I'm finally back--For some unexplained reason, I just have been in an adoption-related funk this month. I just was in no mood to think about it, much less blog. Sorry for the lack of activity (again!) It just seemed to be so far away still and very out of my reach. There has been no news from the agency this month regarding any referrals and we have not moved at all on the list. This sign hangs in Buttercup's room, and I admit it is more for our benefit to remind us........to believe that this will actually happen, just not on our schedule. Right now, I have to admit it doesn't seem any closer. But visiting with lots of family over Thanksgiving that is very excited for us and getting to see my brother and SIL and my niece (and the new little bump) in from CA for the week was very nice and helped a lot. We had lots of good food and did a lot of visiting. We also got the news that this little bump will be a baby boy! He is due to be born in late May/early April. I told my niece she was going to have a baby brother just like me! (she's 20 mos old, so I didn't expect her to get the concept, which she didn't! ) :) Well, we are very grateful that this pregnancy seems to be going along smoothly so far. I even got to feel him kick a few good strong ones. My SIL is very excited for us and said we are "pregnant " together-me on paper of course. She brought up a good point that I hadn't really let myself think of I guess. She said "we are praying for Buttercup's birth mommy since she is probably already pregnant too." I guess that is most likely true! I had never really looked at it that way, unfortunately. That's a nice thought. I am very thankful to her and I hope she is okay is taking care of herself and Buttercup. We will keep her in our prayers.
This is Buttercup's new little rocker that my dad and stepmom bought for us. They found it at an antique store and gave it to us a couple weeks ago. It is a very sweet addition to her room and I can't wait for her to rock her babydolls in it..............Until then I'll just keep trying to believe it will really happen someday!

Ocracoke Island & the Outer Banks

Ferries, Lighthouses and Sand, Oh My!

I've been meaning to post about this- We celebrated our 6th anniversary on Oct. 14 by spending a beautiful weekend at the Outer Banks in NC (home of the famous lighthouses). Amazingly, this is actually only the second time I have ever been to this area. It used to take about 5 hours from where we live so we usually go to the beaches that are closer, but they have redone a bypass that gets you there in around a zippy 3.5 hours. We stayed in a very friendly and lovely B & B called the Thurston House on Ocracoke Island, which is only accessible by a ferry that you can drive onto. I can't remember ever taking a ferry, but I sure made up for that on this trip! The weather was gorgeous and we had lots of yummy food. I think we even decided on our real name for Buttercup (it's the one name we keep going back to and seem to agree on), but we don't want to decide for sure until we see her little face. (Sorry, Mom!) We bought a handblown glass fish to hang in the nursery window, and a signed children's book by a local author- "Pelican and Pelicant" (such a cute story!). We'll definitely be visiting more often.......a very family-friendly place for when Buttercup joins us!