Can't really write right now

I'm overwhelmed. Seriously.

We just had Shower #1 of FOUR that are being planned. The whole thing is unreal. We had a house full of people (and I mean A BIG HOUSE) and now I have a living room full of presents. Once I dry my eyes and I am actually able to think again, I'll list the items.

But I can say now that I have never felt so much love in my life. Charissa may never understand how blessed she is.

AND again!

http://www.10littlemonkeys.com/referral3.asp

We're working on getting ALL the brothers in there. We're also working on the spelling of "HuaPa." Hopefully once you've accessed it, those items will be fixed.

And for once it isn't Brett who was left out.

Celebrity again

www.yangchunkids.com

Go to the "New Referrals" page. Our Charissa is the leading attraction!

And some day, she'll be on www.10littlemonkeys.com. I wonder if her picture went through...

Brian

He is the one who is rarely EVER anxious about anything, but he said tonight that he "can't wait for the next 6 weeks to be over."

I believe he's smitten.

Bittersweet

Arrival:

Chun Huapa, female, was born on 07-15-2004 that was estimated by our doctor according to her developmental condition. On 07-18-2004, she was found in a carton on the Hongqi Road of Yangchun City. The policemen have tried hard to seek her parents or other relatives but without any positive results. She was sent to our institute on the same day. According to the physical examination upon arrival, her height was 46 cm (18.11"), weight was 3 kg (6.61 lbs.), head circumference was 33 cm. (12.99") and chest circumference was 32 cm (12.6"). She was in good health. We named her "Chun Huapa." (Mom's note: we've been told this is two separate words.)

(A month-by-month development chart is included. Most extraordinary is that she seems to have gained nearly 5 pounds and 8 cm (3.15") in one month. I'm trying to remember if the boys did that.)

Given the consistent love and attention provided by her caregiver, Huapa has been thriving. Huapa has a standard routine in our institute. Every day, we prepare well-balanced meals for her in order to assure that she receives a proper intake of vitamins and minerals. She is in good health and developmentally on target. She defecates and urinates well. (Does that bring a grin to anyone else's face? It's important, surely, but seeing it in print like this is so unusual.)

When Huapa was 3 months old, she could lift her head lying on her stomach. When she was 4 months old, her eyes could follow the moving objects. She could roll from one side to another. She would smile when amused. She could reach her hand to get something and loved sucking her fingers. When she was 5 months old, she loved putting something into her mouth. She would be excited when seeing food. She knew the familiars and refused to be held by the strangers. When she was 6 months old, when you called her name, she would turn around and smile to you. She knew the adult's face expression. She loved listening to the stories. What a lovely girl!

General disposition

Huapa is a quiet girl who loves listening to the light music, playing outdoors and playing with the dolls.

Immunizations

Huapa is up to date on all immunizations.


Respectfully submitted
Yu Hongying
The Social Welfare Institute of Yangchun City
01-14-2005

This kid is already a hot topic

Who knew?

One of the kids from school was working at the store where I went yesterday. She talked about the baby and she said, "You KNOW she's going to belong to the community, don't you?" I'd already been getting that impression based upon the fact that I have enough baby-sitting offers to take her through kindergarten if Brian and I date at least three times a week--and that's with a different sitter each time.

I came home from the store to find an Amazon package on our mower. I tried to remember what I'd ordered from Amazon THIS time (I frequently order, so I frequently forget WHAT I ordered), but nothing came to me. Confirmed it was mine and I opened it. It was one of the gifts I'd put on my registry and it was from a lady I'D NEVER MET in Frankfort. We've been keeping in touch sporadically through the listserv and she deemed it fitting to send Charissa a gift. (I'd just been thinking yesterday morning I needed to be sure she had something silky. Melissa delivered.)

Then this morning I went to church. I'd shared our IRS story with, among others, Larry, our minister. Larry met up with me after church. "I've been bad," he says. "I told David Wecker about your IRS story and he wants to talk to you." So it looks like the Cincy Post will introduce Charissa to the rest of the GC area!

I don't know what God has in mind for this little tyke, but it must be awesome!

One thing

Just bring me Hershey, Pennsylvania, and I'll be fine.

This is bad; Donald Trump, I may need your help!

One of the things that we get to do is that we get to send Charissa a box at the orphanage. So far, I have a bear, a blanket, keys, and clothes. I have duplicates of everything except the outfit, just in case we don't get stuff back. The outfit, though, is the one that she's supposed to wear to meet us.

Last night, I went shopping for that ONE special outfit. I ended up bringing home FOUR--and I showed GREAT RESTRAINT. I had about 20 I wanted to get.

This is bad. This is REALLY, REALLY bad.

I'm having a blast!

Ting's opinion

From my brother:

I don't have too many experices on babies. But I think she is a big one.

Ting

I have to agree--especially considering the size I was expecting! =D

GROWTH UPDATE

As of April 20, Charissa was 28.3 inches and she weighed 19.8 pounds. We should get almost all the info anyone has about her within the next couple of days.

It's official!

We've never taken this long to name one of our children, but this wasn't easy.

Our daughter's name is Charissa Ellen HuaPa Reid.

Here's her mug shot. :-D 

Here she is in her chair! 

Here's Charissa! 

Our little girl

Yesterday at 12:03, my life was turned upside-down for the fourth (fifth? sixth?) time in my life in a good way. That's when the FedEx delivery man came into my driveway with some of the most beautiful pictures I've ever seen.

I am purposely going to catch a cold

I foresee a need for Nyquil in my future AND in my present!

Went to sleep nearly having visions about our new little girl and even China itself. I only imagine it will get worse in a few hours when the pictures arrive. =)

Take a peek at Yangchun kids and their orphanage.

Aren't the young'ns BEAUTIFUL!

@@@@@@@@@@@@REFERRAL@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE REFERRAL OF OUR FIRST DAUGHTER...

CHUN HUA PA ("Chun"--surname; "Hua"--best; "Pa"--handkerchief--a luxury item a bride wears on her head at her wedding)
DOB 7/15/2004
Residence at this time--Yangchun SWI, Guangdong

Charissa was nearly 17 pounds and 27" long at 6 months.

Pictures forthcoming!!!

An amazing journey has now OFFICIALLY begun!!

"Neither rain"...case-in-point

As if to illustrate my warning to FedEx, this was on the listserv this morning from a waiting parent in Indy:

"I added FTIA to the Not called list but they do not call until they have them [referrals] in hand - not even a little peep out of them! They call as soon as they receive them with a little bit of information, then translate them, then fed-x them out. I've already warned the postman to get out of my way if the fed-x guy is anywhere around him next week (I figure that delivery picture is going to be of the fed-x guy flat on his back and me tearing the package out of his hands)."

Name game

Thought for a while that "Charissa" meant "grace." Actually, it means "joy." I think that fits every bit as well.

Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor restraining orders...

All FedEx folk beware: REFERRALS FROM CHINA ARE IN THE MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've seen some of these folks on e-mail. Things could get hairy for all drivers in the next few days... =D

S (AKA BP), Pt.2

Called the IRS. What we thought was confirmed!

Stunned (AKA BIG PRAISE!)

This is one of those things that "Oh me of little faith" is almost afraid to say, but I'm going to, anyway, because this is the way God's sense of humor seems to go. That being the case, I'm confident this will work out.

My wide-eyed husband met me at the door this afternoon with three dreaded words: "We're being audited." Since he's the one who falls apart in these situations, I can't. When I calmly (yes, I'm being serious) asked him why, he said we under-reported last year's income by quite a bit. I looked at the paper he handed me and sure enough, there was the figure he'd mentioned. I remembered that nearly matched the income I should have made from NKU AND I remembered an amendment that we had to do because we had forgotten to report that income.

I went to pull the return and the amendment.

Return found. Amendment MIA.

I called our tax preparer. After a brief investigation, his secretary told me that we hadn't filed an amendment last year. That had actually happened TWO years ago. I checked the letter we had received a little further and I found that the discrepancy had come from a report from the school board. I couldn't imagine what that was all about, but, feeling sick, I called our payroll clerk for the school district.

While I was on the phone with Trish, it occurred to her and to me (a librarian, no less) to actually READ what the letter said. THAT'S when I discovered that what the IRS had found wasn't an incident of under-reporting INCOME; it was an incident of under-reporting WITHHOLDING!

So now we're scrambling to find out if what we think will happen (that is, that we'll actually get a refund of some sort) WILL.

And what's funny about this is that just this morning...and the morning before...and the morning before...and maybe some nights, too...I've prayed, "Now God, you know that Brian will miss two weeks of work when we go to China and Brett wants to go and we don't want to borrow money for the adoption and...so You really need to do something here..."

UPDATE! UPDATE!!!

One agency has told their folks--who in turn shared with the listserv--that referrals are either in the mail or they will be very shortly.

One lady said she gets nauseous every time the phone rings. I feel her pain. The phone rang around noon today and I nearly "freaked," as Rich says.

:-s (Also known as "Goober"), pink frillies and dreams

Having to make room for the young'n, we moved Brett into his new room in the basement last week. Yesterday, we moved Brennan down there while we moved the basement furniture into Brett's room, where we will have a TV room.

So last night Goober-the-Lab, when we let him in, made his evening foray through the house. Usually he checks everything out nonchalantly, then grabs his favorite chew toy and annoys us silly to play; but this time he came up missing. About the time Brian was convinced that he had flown the coop through the front door that he discovered to be unlatched, Goober came trotting out of the new TV room as if to say, "I'm here." He went in later to check out the place again, sniffing and coming to us as if to say, "What's up?" He even enjoyed the new views from the windows. This morning he's asleep on the couch in there, his paw hanging over the side. I think he likes the new arrangement.

Yesterday, Karen sent TWO GARBAGE BAGS FULL of clothes for the baby. My heart melts...

Brian and I have regressed. We're sleeping with a pink Hugs Care Bear and a pink blanket. (It's especially tempting to go in now, when Brian is sleeping by himself with them, to get a picture.) We're sleeping with them so that, when we send them over to her, they will have our scent. We hope that will help her "recognize" us when we get her.

And maybe it was the bear and the blankie, but I had dreams last night where we got our referral and we got her that same day. She was at the social worker's office. Of course, we got her and I kept forgetting to pick her up to take her with us--all this while the SW was present. Not good...

Can you tell I'm worried about my age with all this?

Something to make my who-knows-how-long

My biggest fear in pursuing this adoption was the fact that I didn't know how my dad would react. When I begged him and Mom to adopt when I was little, Dad always said, "Now you won't like it one day when you have to divide up your inheritance with someone who's not your blood brother or sister." So I knew adopting a little girl--a little girl of a different race, to boot--might take him farther outside his comfort zone than he could tolerate.

So how do you think I felt when Mom just told me that Dad is telling people he has four grandchildren?

I said in my other blog that we've been seeing what grace can do around our house. I guess we're already seeing what Grace (Greek "Charissa") can do, too!

As it stands

I believe I will receive "The Call" during portfolio scoring, either at school when the teachers are in the library or at the school center when I'm with about seven teachers. Either way, I'm taking comfort in the idea that chances are decent that a bunch of kids probably won't be there to see me turn into jelly.

Giggles for the day--sort of

1. Today started off as a day of tension: will we or will we not get the call. We didn't, but I've decided that the longer they can put it off, the better for my work spaces. I spent the morning cleaning because I couldn't sit still. When I got home, I started this nesting thing that is supposed to be a sign of birth hormones kicking in or something like that. BUT I HAVE NO HORMONES--at least not the kind I'm supposed to have. (I won't even go there.)
2. But as tense as I think I am, I'm nothing compared to the lady who wrote on the listserv that she had broken out in hives at 3:00 this morning. Poor thing! I hope she gets her referral this month so that this can be over ASAP for her.
3. Rich's phone--a phone that never rings for an outside call, apparently--has rung two in the past three days. He says he "freaks" every time it rings for an outsider. If he's that bad now, what will he do when it's the real thing? (Again, I won't even go there.)
4. We're all checking the listserv every minute for some sign of a referral. Dell is going to make a mint on new keyboard and mouse deliveries after all this is over.

What we DON'T know

Someone ELSE said YESTERDAY that referrals could be held off until June.

Now wait JUST a cotton-pickin' minute...

What we know

CAWLI (our agency) got travel approvals today. Travel approvals for last month have to come out before this month's referrals can be released. Someone today said that she thought that TAs normally come out maybe a week ahead of referrals.

So...

We're getting AWFULLY close!

Did someone say the "R" word?

Don't get my hopes up--that is, not unless you mean it.

Amish and Chinese...

On another e-mail note:

My home location came up yesterday and, as it turns out, someone really close to us who is even closer to Aunt Patty and Uncle Bud is going to be right after us in getting her little girl. We're planning to meet up.

Should be interesting. The family lives right next to Amish country.

Red threads and a little girl

I didn't add this to the blog, but now--for reasons you will soon see--I will.

Early this week, all waiting families received an e-mail from CAWLI (our agency). The e-mail listed several "waiting children." These are children with special needs who are traditionally more difficult to place. Usually the issues are easily corrected, such as cleft lips/palates or holes in the heart which are corrected before they get home. And most of these children had such issues--except for this one little girl. This 13-month-old baby had a hand problem. "Left hand has missing digits," it said. I thought, "Hmmm. BRIAN'S left hand is missing a digit." (We know of at least one case where a parent and a child have similar issues and the match has been fantastic!) I called Brian; I talked to the boys; I asked Rich to ask Mom and Dad. We met up with some reservations, but Brian and I decided to call. Stephanie (CAWLI) told me that she basically had stumps for fingers on her left hand, but the rest of her was fine. "Ectrodactyly," she called it; but, she also warned, we were most likely matched. That would mean an extra wait of at least a month if we did take her. After some more consideration, we decided that maybe this wasn't the time for us to take a special needs child--that she probably wasn't our daughter. I felt confirmed when that small, still voice said, "If she were yours, she would have come to your attention before you were matched." Amazingly, I let it go fairly easily--something I can rarely do with anything, as you have probably guessed considering we're on the way to China in a matter of weeks.

So this morning I get online to find this e-mail from a family in our area:


Hi everyone!

We are _____________, parents to three great kids and currently waiting on our I-171H to come from Louisville. Supposedly, its due in about one week, though I've been hearing rumors of another slowdown. I'm curious about two things...

One: Has anyone recently recieved their I-171H from Louisville? I really really want that piece of paperwork because we have gotten word from our agency about a 13 month old girl with special needs that we think is our daughter. There is another family interested in her, though, so...who knows??

Two: The child with special needs has missing digits on her left hand...


To demonstrate just how unfair life is, NO one was here for me to cheer with or to hug; however, I DID have a computer keyboard:


Bless you! We nearly requested the little girl of whom you speak, but we have already been matched and it would have slowed us considerably. I'm SO glad someone in our area is looking to her! She must have been meant to be in the GC area! (WE were the other family, btw. I need to call Stephanie.)

Now, after I say that, I will tell you that when I called about her, I was assured that she had no other problems. We had that concern, as well. I've known another child with her condition--only she was much more severe--and she had no other problems except for her hands.

Keep us posted with her! She is near and dear to our hearts, too! My family will be happy to hear that she has a home.



To which I receive this reply:

Oh my gosh!!! As soon as I saw your message, I started crying!!!! I can't believe it... If she is truly meant to be ours, then she was obviously meant to be special to your family as well. I just can't believe this coincidence....Thank you so much for responding!!


My turn:

I can't, either, but we have a BUNCH of happy people today! We are SO glad for you and for her, too! We've been concerned about her even though we knew God's plan for her did not include us as her family, and vice versa. I prayed about it a lot and I felt like we were being told that, if she was to be ours, we would have gotten the news about her before we did.

Yes. She IS special to our family. PLEASE keep us posted on your progress.


Wow. This was neat! And to think it will only get better!

One question and...oops

The listserv discussion turned toward names in the past couple of days. As we shared our favorites, I asked if any teachers out there had a name that s/he COULD NOT use? Well, folks started listeing names. One teacher said, essentially, "Kids have turned me against the following names..." and she began her list. (One name on her list was "Tallulah," btw; I'm still amazed it took a KID to turn her against that one--no offense to any "Tallulahs" or parents thereof out there.)

After a sharing session, one lady popped on: "Now ladies, parents out there have taken a great deal of care in selecting names for their children. If the names they have chosen are on your lists..."

Part of me feels badly that someone was offended, but part of me is thinking, "Uh...let's get a grip here."

Oh, well, I posted my apology. Now it's time to let go.