handsful

Referrals come out today for a total of 9 days worth of LID dates. Congratulations to those families who get to see a picture of their child today!! There is one family that I have been following and they get their referral today! See this link:

http://salsainchina.blogspot.com/

I’m excited to see if they receive a boy or girl (they didn’t have a preference!). **Posted later, same day….Oh my! She got twin girls!!!

I’m a little disapointed at the small number of LID dates that the CCAA was able to match. If the numbers stay small, our wait time will continue to grow longer. I’m trying my best to keep my focus on God’s plan. We know that the timing will work out perfectly so that we receive THE child meant for our family.

A fellow prospective adoptive mom “tagged” me, which means it’s my turn to answer some fun questions. Here goes…

I am…a mother of 4, including a set of triplets.
I want…to be the woman God designed me to be.
I wish…China could speed up it’s referral process!
I hate…rude and selfish people. Well, I dislike their behavior, I don’t really hate them. :)
I miss…all of my family that lives out of state.
I hear…Marley crafting at the table, Randy on the phone, and the boys talking.
I wonder…why it’s so hard for my kids to remember to brush their teeth!
I regret…nothing, everything happens for a reason.
I am not…a good eater. I’m as picky as can be!
I dance…with my husband and get a crook in my neck (he’s tall…I’m short!)
I sing…in the car (doesn’t everyone??)
I cry…when I think of the sacrifice Jesus made because He loves me.
I am not always…patient with my kids (ouch)
I make…my own wheat flour and really good whole wheat bread. Yum.
I confuse…people when I give directions to somewhere. I’m directionally challenged.
I need…sleep and chocolate. Not necessarily in that order.
I should…be doing the laundry.
I start…too many books at one time!
I finish…things that I should.

I’ll now tag Janet and Elise!

After lots and lots of name talk and debate, Randy and I are pretty settled on a name for the baby we’re waiting for. There have been many on “the list” and Randy wants it known that he still has the right to change it, should another name strike his fancy.

For those who don’t know, our daughter Marley was going to be Rachel. About 2 weeks before she was born, he announced that he heard the name Marley and wanted to use it for our girl triplet. At the time, I was in the hospital, having been on bedrest for a week. I was uncomfortable, tired of nurses waking me at all hours of the night to check heartbeats and give me shots, and missing my 2 year old daughter Abbey terribly. I would have agreed to name said-girl triplet Rufus, if he could just rescue me from the current situation. Guess I was a bit vulnerable! We talked about it and polled the nurses on what we should name her and, in the end, she was deemed Marley. Funny thing…she looks nothing like a Rachel and the name Marley totally fits her personality (massively feminine with just a touch of attitude).

So, back to the name. Both of our daughter’s names end in “ey” and we wanted to try and continue that with girl #3. We also wanted the name to begin with a different letter than any of the current Clark Clan. We wanted a name with a nice meaning. Last, we wanted something unique and not-overused (but not too unique to be weird!).

With all of that in mind, we’ve chosen the name… Lainey. It means bright light or sun ray. We love it. If Randy comes up with a new name, I’m reserving the right to refuse. ;)

The China Center of Adoption Affairs in Beijing, China has officially put us in line for a baby girl. Our official LID (log in date) is 8/1/06. We are put together with other prospective adoptive parents with the same LID date and we will all get our referrals together at the same time. The current wait time between LID and referral is approximately 12-24mos. When we first started our paperwork back in March, the wait was 9 months. We are hoping and praying that the wait time will shorten, rather than continue to lengthen. At this point, we are just happy to be done with the “paperchase” part (which is rather like finishing the Tour De France!) and anxious to meet the little girl that God has planned for our family.

Thought you might like to see the picture that I took of the entire dossier paperwork, before I sent it off. 4 1/2 months of work!

I realize we have all the time in the world to find a crib set. But, nevertheless, I’ve been searching for just the right one. With our first child, we didn’t know if she would be a boy or girl, so we went gender-neutral with Noah’s Ark. Loved it. With the triplets, we knew that they would share a nursery so we, again, went gender-neutral with primary colors. Very cute. This time, I KNOW it’s gonna be a girl. So I want something girlie, with pink!! I also wanted ladybugs on it. You can see how my search criteria narrows things down a bit. Well, I actually found it last night on ebay and Randy graciously allowed me to purchase it. It’s a discontinued pattern from Pottery Barn Kids called “Bright Stripe Ladybug” and just exactly what I’ve been looking for. We went ahead and purchased it because it’s difficult to find new, and in a complete set.  I hope Baby Clark will like it!

I got home today to find a box on my front porch from “FTD”. My mind quickly scanned what day it is. Birthday? No. Anniversary? No. Hmmm… I opened the box to find a beautiful red vase, bag of small black rocks, and a gathered bunch of bamboo stalks! I dug through all the styrofoam peanuts….no card! Then, I thought to look at the shipping papers. It was from my husband, Randy! Thanking me for being a great mom. Awwww!!!! As I thanked him later, he told me that he had chosen the bamboo to send on purpose, knowing it would remind me that there is a little baby girl (or WILL be a little baby girl…is she born yet?) waiting for me to be her mom. Bamboo originates in Southeast Asia, and is known for symbolizing health, love, luck and good fortune. I don’t believe so much in luck. However, when I look at my bamboo, I will most definitely think of love!