Baby Jesus with a mohawk (lol Allison)

The Yurt the Nativity set came in

His room so far, I need to get a dresser/changing table.

Reminiscing- and news

I got some news from J about the situation in Bishkek. One MOE stepped down and another is up for appointment. Turns out a couple of signatues are needed for the letter that gives us the ok to book 'pickup' travel. Hopefully they will get moving again next week. In the mean time I am hoping and praying that this will happen. I need all of you to take a moment and say a quick prayer to get those letters signed and babies home for C&T, C&J, Me, T and the W's. We are all in the same boat. Some have been waiting 3 months to bring their babies home. We will know more next week. I have gotten some comfort in the pics and videos that I took when I met my son. Reminiscing and remembering how he looks and how he looked at me make me sad and happy at the same time. I ordered the crib mattress (the vibrating one) using some rewards I got from work, gotta love free money, so his room is almost ready. I dont have the pics uploaded from the shower but here are a couple of his room (work in progress) and the Nativity Yurt I got in Kyrgyzstan for him.

Porkchop is 4 months old

Happy 4th month birthday baby! The baby shower was fun fun fun..we had cupcakes, yummy! Porkchop made a haul, lots of great gifts and I am very very touched that everyone came and are all so encouraging and supportive. I am now working on the thank you cards. Its even more fun. I get to look at the gifts AGAIN and imagine him playing with the toys, wearing the clothes, (and diapers-woo hoo) I promise I will get them done soon. I got a call from Mom today that he got another box from a friend in South Dakota, this one had a Bumbo in it.. of course I had to ask what color.. and its green. I love green, have I ever told y'all that? I have been told by some experienced parents (J&J) that a Bumbo is a necessity.. i've seen them online and they are very cute. I wish things would get back to moving along in Kyrgz. I havent heard anything different, we are still waiting to see if things will start again. There are 2 families that went on trip 1 before me and 2 families that went right after me so I am somewhere in the middle of the line. I dont want to bug J too much but anticipate an email to her or a call by Wednesday to see if she has heard anything else. I am watching the C's blog and T's blog ,as well as, the ICF group to keep up to date.

No news

Nothing is really going on, just waiting. Hopefully things will keep moving. There are rumors all over the groups that are a bit scary I have been communicating with my agency and things are still unknown at this point. J is really good at keeping us updated (sometimes I pester a little). I am waiting patiently and know its going as fast as it can. Still frustrating though! I miss porkchop and keep watching the videos and look at the pictures we took. I am excited about the baby shower this weekend. I am so excited to see what B gets, and to show him off (allbeit virtually). I'm more excited to see people that I havent seen in a while. Since I travel so much I am often not the best at keeping in touch. When I get home I want to stay at home and veg..not very social huh. I will get better once I stop traveling. I hope to hear good news soon for other familes ahead of me, you know who you are.. i am thinking of you.

Baby shower this weekend

I am attending my baby shower this weekend and am excited. I am bringing all the pics and video from my trip and will have the opportunity to see friends and get them updated on the progress. I know of one gift and am excited to see it. We are going to make some fleece blankets at the shower. I bought the fleece and the woman at J. A. fabrics told me how to make them so there arent any knots. B had one when we visited him and they were so warm I want to take some back with me when I go get him in Dec. Mom and I have decided to save a little space and use a dresser I already have for B. The prompt for this---- i found a smokin deal on a glider and ottoman at a garage sale this past weekend. We were on our way to a birthday party for a gorgeous little girl adopted from Guatemala and stopped. Its white and I will get new cushions for it to match B's room but works just fine. We also painted the letters (his name) and got a shelf to put them on. Good thing Mom painted it neutral colors (sage green and blue) so I can keep changing my mind. The quilt set is the same but I wanted incorporate the gifts I got in Kyrgyzstan and the color scheme is a little bolder. Its coming together slowly and I will post pics when I get it done.

Shopping and Baby Book

I hadnt thought of it yet... but suddenly today I felt the need to go shopping for a 'Gotcha' outfit for Porkchop. I dont why I got the feeling, but I am going to start looking. I know I want something warm for him (which is hard to find in Phoenix) since I think it will be Dec 1 when I go.. Thats the date I have zeroed in on. I dont have any solid info leading me to think that in 5 1/2 weeks I will be holding my son again, maybe its just hope. Warm clothes.... I will start looking.
I also ordered a baby book. I found a website online http://www.baby-memory-books.com/default.asp that has books that you can add customized pages to. I got the Little Dots baby memory book and added the 'foreign adoption' and 'single mother' add on pages to customize it. I liked it because I am not a scrapbooker but love the way scrapbooks look and how they are so customized to perfectly capture the thoughts. I also liked that they had options for my specific situation. When we got home from Kyrgyz there was a suprise, a package from S, a friend and co-worker from South Dakota. It was Porkchop's FIRST gift.... It is a totally adorable 'froggie' bath towel with a hood and the J&J bath set. So cute.. I love it. I took pictures and will put them in the baby book. Thank you SB!

Back to the grind

Since Mom and I got back from our visit with Porkchop its been a whirlwind of back to 'life'. I am thrilled with knowledge that my life will never be the same, and excited to get him home and begin a new chapter. Work, however, is just as I left it. I had 121 emails and am still catching up. I am working like mad and trying to make arrangements to stay home with Porkchop when he gets here. One of the emails I got (and of course I opened it first) was from J at ICF. She said that my Dossier should be out of Washington by Friday and off to Kyrgyz on Monday. Woo hoo. I dont know when court will be for me but am hopeful that he will be home just after Thanksgiving. There are a couple of families that should have court by Oct 19 and hope things go well and move steadily to keep them on track for bringing their babies home by mid November. T is leaving for Kyrgz to meet her daughter and I am so excited and happy for her. We've got some new families with ICF and its wierd to think that just six months ago I was in their shoes, gathering docs, preparing for the homestudy, worrying about what was to come, the cautious optimism that a child would be referred to me soon and wondering when I would travel. The process continues....... hurry up and wait.

International travel-this is a long one

The trip back was fairly uneventful, except for the beginning. We got to the Manas International Airport around 4am. Security wasnt opened so we stood by the door.. getting our place in line. One thing we learned very quickly (in Wash DC on the outbound flight) there is really no order to boarding a plane.. or any form of a 'line' with the Russian people. When they finally opened the doors Mom and I held our ground and only let 2 people in front of us.. then... the problem. The security guy kept asking us for tickets. We tried to tell him our tickets were at the check in counter and all we had was our confirmation from Orbitz, which he looked at like it was written in a foreign language lol.. after 3 tries he motioned for us to 'get out of the way' and he let a few more people through. In the meantime a woman came from the check in counter with a passenger manifest, thank goodness, and we handed him our passports. He was trying to match our names with the names on the list and couldnt figure it out so I had to point to our names on the list. Whew, the guy was on Moms last nerve (she didnt like the pushing or the brusqueness of the people). Apparently, in Bishkek, they screen the the luggage BEFORE you check it, so we sent the bags thru the scanner and went to the desk. A very nice lady at the desk helped us get the bags checked all the way thru to IAD, but we had to check at the transit desk in Moscow to get tickets for the trip to Washington.. uh oh. We had visited the Transit desk on the way there and it wasnt a pleasant experience (think pushing and brusqueness--in Russian). Oh well we'll cross that bridge when we get there. We are our way to Moscow and one flight attendant in particular is grating on Mom's nerves.. I think we were both tired, sad, frustrated, intimidated, all sorts of emotions and she said 'I'm going to complain about her'...I asked her (with a little giggle) Who are you going to complain to?.....I think that was just what we needed to bring everything back into perspective and 'go with the flow'. We had a little laugh and hoped that everyone thought we were laughing at them.. By the time we got to Moscow we were determined that we were going to get down to business and not let anyone mess with us.. grr grr.. lol. The transit desk went off without a hitch we just gave them our passports and asked for seats together.. 'Yes' the woman said and proceded to give us tickets for 11G and 12E.. WHAT! Awwww crap, those arent together. 'Go with the flow' .. It all worked out, a little Russian woman didnt want to sit in the bulkhead cause she couldnt stretch out her legs so she traded with mom. Woo hoo. Customs in Washington was great.. a guy wanted to push past us but, we were on my turf now and I just put my luggage cart solidly in his way. hehe. We have decided to go with British airways for a better chance of English for the majority of the trip... All in all it was an adventure with an awesome reward in that I met my son and had a wonderful visit with him. I cant wait to bring him home.

Time to go

Ok, today was saaaaaad. I cried a bit when we left B. He was sleeping and I put him in his crib and jetted to the car. B(our coordinator) told me that he would do everything he could to get him home soon and that B would be well taken care of. But there is always good with bad. I got to feed him again and got a couple little smiles, so I am holding on to that. I dont think this pic really shows anything other than 1/2 a cute nose and part of an eye with some long eyelashes. But it is him. He's sucking his thumb, something I think all the babies there do. Mom and I have had the great opportunity to spend time with a couple of familes here and I cant tell you what a comfort that has been to know things are moving and babies are going home. We are trying to get packed and get to bed early. The flight leaves Bishkek at 6am so we will be getting picked up at 3am. This week has gone by way too quickly and I can only hope that the wait until I bring him home goes by just as quick.

Hello again from Bishkek

It looks like the internet is hanging on today. I wasnt able to get on yesterday at all. The visits have been more than I could have hoped for. I have gotten to feed him every day so far and today I got a little stinky gift to change. It was good though. I think he wanted me to have the full experience this week so I can get prepared. It did give me a chance to see him almost naked though. They bundle the babies up soooo much and I wanted to check out his leg. I havent mentioned it before but when I got B's referral they were concerned about one of his legs, but they are perfect, little legs. I felt his feet and counted ten little toes so I am very happy. We did some quick assessments on him and he turns his head for finger snaps and a krinkle toy (woo hoo) and follows a toy with his eyes (woo hoo). All limbs move great and he pushes when I was holding him up. He liked bouncing. I got a little laugh yesterday with the toy I brought him and he has smiled a couple times. Only fussed a little with a little tiny cry then found his thumb and went to sleep. I am trying to send the pics for C and C from my yahoo account, one pic has attached and I am waiting for the other one. Veeerrrry slow uploading. I will keep an eye on it.

We're Here!

We made it. We landed at 530 Monday morning and got to Demi House finally at 7pm. Then we got a call from our coordinator telling us he would be by to get us at 9am. OMG. No sleep, no shower, lookin mighty fine, Mom and I got in the car for a crazy trip to see B. I must say he is soooo cute. Here is his hand. Thats all for now. He is so much smaller than his pictures make him look. Tiny but perfect. I am soooooo happy. We met with director, she's nice, and went to the room. I was so lucky to get to feed him! You know those shows where they feed the orphaned lamb with a bottle? The bottles look alot like those. Very functional and work very well. B ate like a champ and then, to make his new momma proud, let out a very respectable burp. Its Tuesday here and I got to go visit again. More pics and some video of him. The internet is very sketchy so I dont know when I will post again. I will catch everyone up when I get close to home.

And We're Off!!

Ok, We are off. Final preparations are made. Boarding passes are printed for the first leg and the shuttle is coming at 4am to get us. A little known fact for those of you planning on flying out of Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) - the ticket counters dont open til 4:30. We should be getting there just as they open. Mom and I figure both the big bags are going to be over weight so we are planning on paying the extra for the trip there, domestic requirements are a little less (50lbs instead of 70lbs). Mom got a spanking new Vera Bradley backpack for the trip and I bought a diaper bag there. They are so cool looking and totally washable.. love it. I am so excited for T. She got a referral for her girl! Yay.!!!. I am going to try to visit a couple more babies while I am there and am hoping to use the excuse of new blankets for M(R) & M(A) to get pics for a couple of waiting familes. So we are finishing up packing and taking some snacks along just in case. I will be back on line when we get there so come back on Oct 6 and i will hopefully have posted the big meeting.