Gottcha Day 14 mos. to 14 yrs. ...... 01-12-95 !!

This is Adam's assignment picture given to our social worker from his orphanage director.

He is fourteen months old here. Fourteen months to fourteen years...........

Gottcha Day fourteen years ago.........I was in LaGuardia Airport in New York, waiting for the delayed arrival of my son, Adam, coming in from Hanoi, Vietnam. His plane was delayed due to fog, coming from the west coast where he went through immigration, so we went anyway and waitied for over 5 hours. Some of our family in the New York City region brought us deli sandwiches and we had an airport picnic. Things were different then...we were permitted to wait at the gate with our greeter and family. Today families have to travel to Vietnam, a couple of times I believe.

As I write this tonight, it is so different as our family is waiting again. This time for a referral for another son from Taiwan. I know that some of your are probably scratching your heads thinking that is a huge span in age, yes, you are right, but we love kids and the time is right!!

This is Adam one week after he came home on January 12, 1995. Today he is still a happy kid, very tall, and into computers & baseball. Below is my handsome young man, going to the sophmore (HOP, equal to the Jr./Sr. prom for underclassmen). We are very proud of him, even though he is typical teenage boy soild through!!

We Love Him !!

Since we don't have our referral to talk about, I thought I would share a glimpse into our current family as we wait. Helps pass the time.

Our daughter's Gottcha Day isn't until September...maybe I can squeak that in early :-)

We would love to hear from other waiting families too !

Catching up.....Finally !!

The kids are doing homework, all the appliances are fed & running, my husband is out taking care of a couple errands, even the dog is sleeping ~ it's my turn to catch up!!! Finally !! I started this blog at a very busy time of year (poor planning there) and hosting the holidays for two large families took up a lot of time. Everything is cleaned up and tucked away until next year. It's kinda sad to pack up the decorations, but I know, that we will take them back out in less than a year! The holidays are one of our favorite times of the year, and a great excuse to bake & indulge in lots of cookies! Our holiday was filled with a lot of love and fun times. My mom, even did pretty good. (Note: My mom can't get around like she used to and is on oxygen 24/7---emphysema. She has her good days and her struggle days, but still holds her own.) My niece had her baby about a month ago so it was her first Christmas, and of course her Great Aunt Terry (yes, I'm a GREAT Aunt already ugg!) bought her the cutest outfit. I didn't have time to take a picture, the ham needed my attention, then she fell asleep. :-( But Emily got to feed her a bottle.

On the adoption front, nothing new. Big frown here. We are still waiting. When we started this journey, I really had hoped that we would have received a referral by now. I was given the impression (in not so many words) that things were moving along 'pretty good'. We have been on the "official" waiting list since April 2008. I know that some other families have been waiting longer than that. I give all of you a boatload of credit ~ what 's your secret ??? I'm not trying to sound worse off than anyone else in our position, but this adoption, (#3) seems to really be a test of paitence!?!?! Some days are easier than others and as the new year begins, I am really trying to turn my paitence into a stronger Faith. In a weird twist, I had to return a few things for Mom the other day....while waiting my turn, being patient of course, I looked around and saw a display of wall plaques, the one that caught my eye, read like this.....

Faith.....is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Is that a sign or WHAT !???!?!?! I was on the right road!! Guess who bought that sign and another titled Family .....yep, that was ME !!! I proudly hung them on the wall in my kitchen that evening, when in doubt I can look there, and then check the adoption blogs of course! :-) I feel better now! Gotta go check some homework........