August 27, 2008. Today is our 30th (yes 30!) month anniversary since LID. I haven't really posted about the long wait in awhile but I think a 2 1/2 year anniversary is worthy. Plus, today was our 3rd fingerprinting appointment. How timely is that? I didn't really realize that it was on the 30 month anniversary until after we were finished but once I double checked the date and saw that, I had a plan. This time, instead of going to Atlanta we went to Florida. But first let me digress.... I had a meltdown Tuesday night. I came home and decided I would cook our favorite pasta dish. I was doing just fine until I got the mincing the garlic and suddenly felt a sting on my thumb. That's when I realized that I had cut my thumb. I was not enough to bleed but was certainly cut in two places. I called Geoff and told him I was about to cry and what had happened. He told me it was fine and to not worry. Well, I cried. And cried. Every single time we have gone to Atlanta, the first thing they did was make us hold out our hands to check for cuts! All I could imagine was making ANOTHER trip to good ole' Florida and ME having to come back! I just couldn't bare that thought, much less another week of waiting to get this done! Short story is it was okay and the lady didn't even notice my cuts!

So after our appointment, we went to a really cool outdoor mall in Jacksonville called the St. John's Town Center. It has a Pottery Barn Kids and all kinds of cool little shops! As we walked up, we saw a PF Chang's and decided that we should eat there and celebrate our LAST fingerprinting appointment and the 30 month milestone. (Who would have ever thought that we could celebrate after waiting THIS long! But at least at this point, we are definitely on the down side of the wait!). We toasted our iced sweet teas and ordered a bunch of Chinese food that was delicious!!

Despite it all, it turned out to be a really nice day. Then we came home and had dinner at Sara and Chris' house and played with Brennen. We both still have a feeling our time will be December. Of course, it's not as soon as we wished for but it's finally in sight. I get so emotional these days that I just about can't mention the adoption without my eyes welling up with tears. I can only imagine what a mess I will be when we finally see our precious little daughter. She IS worth the wait...every single second!

Tropical Storm Fay strikes a punch!

Well, today was the day. The day we had a fingerprinting appointment in Jacksonville. We were to be there at 9:00 AM. I get 3 personal days a year and any days Geoff takes right now are coming out of his vacation time. Well, last night my sister called to ask about our trip since the weather has been so bad with Tropical Storm Fay. In fact, on my way out of school yesterday one of my good friends told me that Jacksonville schools were closed. So we checked the Jacksonville website and it had not offices listed as closed. We checked again before we left at 6:00 this morning... still no closing. So off we went in the wind and rain. I noticed when we hit Jacksonville that the roads were pretty quiet and when we finally drove up in the parking lot, my heart just sank. There were only a few cars. No light on... CLOSED! Geoff got out and checked the door and there was a note on the door that it was closed due to the weather and that anyone with a fingerprinting appointment could come back any Wednesday. So guess what we will be doing AGAIN next Wednesday??? I'll tell you nothing is a certainty in this adoption journey except that you can only expect the unexpected. At least we made it home safe and sound. I'll have to take another personal day next week and that will leave me one for our referral. I want to be HOME when we get our package from FedEX. I'd like to be home when we get our referral but I don't know exactly how that works. I don't know if we will know when to expect the call... so we'll just have to see how it works. I've already decided that Geoff will be the one talking to Mei because I know I'll be crying my eyes out with joy! I'll need the level headed on of us in charge that day!

Okay... so I've been a blogger slacker... AGAIN!

I can't believe a month has gone by since we posted. I didn't mean it to be this way. I guess the last few weeks before I had to go back to work snuck up on me and once we started, HOLY COW!! I forget each summer until it happens AGAIN how busy the beginning of school can be. I'm exhausted every day and it's like riding a roller coaster, you can never tell from one day to the next what the next day will hold. I'm tired of working day and night and just want to "fast-forward" my life about a month or so until the madness is over.

On another note, I'm very, happy about referrals this month. My friends Kathy and Melissa got referrals yesterday!! Yea REFERRALS!!! Melissa little one is only 6 months old!!! Kathy's little one is 18 months old! We have not seen pictures yet but I'm sure they will be precious! The rumors this month were that it would only be a 2 day referral month and I was a bit down about that but it turned out to be 5 days and I'll take that. CCAA is now through Jan. 31st of 2006. Sure we've been waiting almost 30 months now but hey, we are getting there and we just know that our turn will be here soon.

Watching the 2008 Summer Olympics has been bitter-sweet. I love watching and learning about China but I've found myself having some unexpected emotions. As we watched the opening ceremonies, I cried. I was just overwhelmed and couldn't quite put my finger on why. I found that many others in my Yahoo group have felt the same way. After all, China is our daughter's birth place and will forever hold a special place in our heart.

On another note... Sara's second baby will be another boy! We found out last week. They are still trying to name baby #2. We would have liked a little girl for Lexi to play with but Mother Nature has another idea, another playmate for Brennen. AT least Lexi will have two little nephews to take care of her!!

I'll do my best to try to get back on schedule posting. It HAS been tough beginning the year. Next week we will be heading to Jacksonville to be fingerprinted ONE MORE TIME for our USCIS paperwork. I guess until we get that referral and come home with our daughter, we'll just keep jumping through all these crazy adoption hoops!