Banners, Pink Balloons and Yummy Food !!!

Today my co-workers held a baby shower for me.

It was great !

Their gifts and good wishes to Alyana were so thoughtful and much appreciated.

They are simply the best group of people.

We went searching for a Christmas tree today and look at what we found,




A 13 and a half foot beauty.

Now we know it will fit in our livingroom BUT fitting through the front door might be a bit of a challenge :)

Stay tuned.

We tied our ribbon around it and will be back in a couple of weeks to cut it down.

I went shopping yesterday and this is what I bought ....



We leave for China in 42 days .....

Oh my goodness .....

How in the WORLD will I be able to fit everything into a few suitcases ??

Ben is getting pretty excited about being a big brother and is asking lots of questions about our trip.

I bought this awesome book so he can learn about China.

It's The Magic School Bus Series and is called "Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Imperial China" by Joanna Cole.

It has lots of info about China.

By the way, if you don't know already, Ms. Frizzle knows EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ........


Well, at least in our corner of town. The lights are "springin" up all over the neighbourhood.

Yes, I know what you are all thinking, it's only the 20th of November.
I just can't help myself ......

I love it.


Here is a picture of Aly and her first Christmas tree.




We were kinda hoping that Miss Aly would be home for Christmas but at least we know that we have been matched and we will be bringing her home to her forever family soon.

It's actually quite surreal at the moment.

I have have been busy decorating, making red pepper jelly, reviewing +++ packing lists ( there are at least 6023 lists out there of what to bring to China), spending time with my favorite boys.

Update:

It has been a busy couple of days.

We filled out our paperwork to obtain our Travel Visas and sent it off to our agency today.

We have been emailing our travel agent re. dates for our trip. It looks like we will be leaving on the 5th of January and returnng home on the 19th of January. We decided to splurge on a seat for Miss Aly. This will give us some extra space and hopefully allow us to snooze on the return flight home.

Wow, things are happening quickly.

We also were able to connect with a gentleman who searches for finding ads and he emailed us today informing us that he found Alyana's fnding ad. He will be sending it to us in a few weeks. This will be the earliest picture we have of her so it is very special to have this.

KISSES IN THE WIND

I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.

I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.
--- Unknown

A closer peek at where Alyana's orphanage is located.

Just click twice on this map to bring the image in closer.

The YouXian orphanage is on the eastern side of the province.

A staff member from our adoption agency is going to China on Tuesday and is willing to take a small package to Alyana.

We were able to send a small toy, a camera and a picture of our family.

Here is what we sent ( minus our family picture,that was slipped into the package just before sending).

This time next week this blanket will cuddled up next to our little sweetheart.






How great is that ??

Here are a few pictures that were taken when we went to receive our referral on November the 7th/2006.



The first picture is me with the social worker who gave us the wonderful news about our daughter. What a great job she has !




The second is a picture of John Paul and I with Alyana's Referral Package.

Can't you see her beautiful little face ??



The last picture is the best !

This is when Ben saw his little sister for the very first time.

Another picture .....

Finally, the post that I have been dying to add to my site .....

Drum Roll , please .......


Here she is:

Alyana ( middle name still undecided)
Born: January 13th/2006 -Youxian, Hunan
Presently residing in Youxian SWI.







She is adorable .....and yes, we are in love.

News from our agency ...





1) Our daughter resides in Hunan Province in You Xian Orphanage:




and

2) Our departure date for China will be January 6th/2007.


We expect to hear from the social worker tomorrow with many more details.

This is Ella Grace , Alyana's cousin.

She was "testing" the new crib to make sure it's going to be comfy for her new cousin.





I guess it passed the test.

It didn't take long for the Zzzzzzz's to start.

Here is what I've accomplished so far today.






Ok .....I confess ......this wait is tough ...

Here is the scoop.

We have to wait for our province ( New Brunswick) to send us Alyana's referral information.

This means waiting for N.B to receive the CCAA package, N.B sending this information to our agency in Ontario , our agency translating the information and returning to N.B who will then courier it to us.

This means that we will hear about our daughter on Tuesday.

I hope the weekend passess quickly.

It sure will be nice seeing all those beautiful referral pictures.

We will hang onto to those images over the weekend.

Andrea

This is what I woke up to this AM.



The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before December 31, 2005.
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before August 25, 2005.


We made it.

I have to pinch my myself.