Gotta love the USPS...

I didn't post for a day or so because my Blog was really messed up. I searched and searched on how to fix it and finally I realized that the answer was so simple! Don't you love it when that happens?

So I called GWCA today and again they were so helpful but unfortunately, they have not received our application. I was so sure they would get it today! How on earth it could take an 9x12 envelope to get from Dallas to Austin, using Priority Mail nonetheless, longer than two days to arrive, I have no idea. We are so wanting to get on with this step in the process so we can move forward. We honestly would really like to be approved by April 13th because we will be seeing Matt's parents for Easter and we would love to tell them the great news. So keep your fingers crossed that that happens! We are going to fill out another application and fax it in Monday just to get it in. My guess is the other one will arrive either tomorrow or Monday but I do not want to delay any further.

The good news is that we finally meet Erin tomorrow. She is our reigional coordinator for GWCA and has been so helpful already! She always lifts my spirits! Plus I know she will answer the million questions that we will have.

I noticed day that Parker looks so big to me. I think it was the sandals he was wearing. I know that sounds weird but he has been wearing socks and shoes for the winter and now that he is sans socks, his legs look so long. I was looking at pictures of him at about this time last year he looks about the same but a bigger version of himself. He is growing up so fast! I am hoping that we can get him to the Easter Bunny this weekend. There is a great one at a local mall close to us...just hoping it won't be like the Santa debacle or even Sir Topam Hatt who we saw last weekend at our "Day Out with Thomas" venture!

Getting a Little Anxious Here!

What a day today has been! We had our friends Celia and Rebecca over for a playdate this morning. Well, Parker is in this phase as of the past two weeks where he likes to strip off his pants and his diaper and walk around with nothing but a shirt and socks on. Once I got over the inital humor of the situation when this first occured, I found it annyoing. Yes, I love my little boy to pieces but putting his diaper and pants back on five times in an hour is tiring. So I have tried putting him in the tightest pants I could find. I put him some tighter elastic waist jeans this morning knowing that his friend Celia would be over (remember they are both about 2 1/2)...needless to say, while Rebecca and I were visiting, Parker and Celia were playing in his play room. A short time later, Parker graced us with his presence (his naked presence that is) and Celia (who was laughing this goofy cute little laugh) followed behind him with her shirt off. After Rebecca and I got done laughing, we promptly clothed our children again. However, Parker and Celia both proceeded to declothe again until they both finally got in trouble. You gotta love toddlers. Oh and now my son has taught one of my best friend's kiddos to take her clothes off for laughs. Great!

This afternoon, I noticed that my housekeeper who we have had forever, got some kind of cleaning solution on our new comforter and now it has little bleach spots on it. I mean come on! We get new bedding every blue moon and I really splurged on this bedding! We have literally had it about two weeks. I know she didn't mean to do it but ARGHHH!!!

Later on we had a tech guy come over to install a DVR...well when he came back down from the attic, he asked me if I had a litterbox upstairs. I said, "No, Why?" I then asked him if it smelled like cat pee up there and he said yes. He was such a nice guy but this confirmed my thoughts. One of our beloved cats suddley went blind at the end of last year. He has now taken to leaving little gifts upstairs in Parker's play room. I have cleaned, scrubbed, etc but to no avail. I was so close to ripping out the carpet with my bare hands today. We don't want to get new carpet until our cat passes on because he will just continue to do the same thing. Needless to say, we will be getting new carpet before our daughter comes.

Lastly, GWCA has still not received our application. Of course this is not their fault but that is what happens when you get so excited about something. You want things to happen immediately. They should get it tomorrow so I will call again. Of course they will then have to approve us so I am waiting on pins and needles until I hear from them. My friend Erin at GWCA has been a great sounding board.

Enough for today...I am going to see if my kiddo still has his clothes on!

Trying to figure this out...

Okay so this is my first official posting on my blog. I am still trying to work all of the kinks out so bear with me. I have started this blog as a kind of online journey to document our life and experiences during our adoption process. We have decided to adopt a daughter from China via the Great Wall China Adoption Agency. After researching adoption several months ago, and trying to decide between trying to have another baby or adopt, we decided to put all plans on hold until my husband finished his PhD at the end of the summer/fall. However, we came across it again on our way back from Palm Springs during Spring Break week. As we were sitting in a plane on the runway waiting for a gate to pull into, I pulled out the old American Way magazine. There in the back of it was an ad for the GWCA agency and felt like something clobbered me over the head (no it wasn't my luggage). I just felt this strong connection to the ad. I came home and looked at the website and then scoured the internet about Chinese adoptions. I emailed my in laws minister (who adopted a daughter from China years ago) and he said he knew people who used GWCA and were very happy. After researching more and more, I couldn't find one bad thing about GWCA and one person who had a bad experience. The deal was sealed after I spoke with my regional representative Erin. She was so helpful and I just knew it was the right decision for us. So after we watched our video and read over all the materials, we were ready to begin our journey to adopting a daughter.

I will actually try and put a timeline up on another page if I can figure that out but so far here is what we have done...

Sunday, March 19...requested information packet from GWCA
Saturday, March 25...received packet from GWCA (yes, took forever to get mail from Austin to Dallas!)
Monday, March 27...sent application into GWCA (keep fingers crossed)

Right now we are just kind of in a holding pattern until we hear back from GWCA. Keep your fingers crossed for us. More later!

The Three Muskateers!