California Babymoon

We spent a 4 day weekend in California this past weekend. It was what some might call our "babymoon." What is that? It is an adult vacation for a couple prior to introducing that new little one to change your vacation habits forever! According to wikipedia it includes things like prenatal massage. Ours included wine tasting, hiking, and lots of seafood.........ha! Advantage adoption!

I dare you to take this.

We flew in to Los Angeles and went to The Getty. It's a great art museum overlooking the city and has beautiful gardens and buildings. It's very peaceful.

More!!!!!

Naomi Update!!

We received another update and lots of new photos on Naomi again on Wednesday! We got a detailed schedule of her daily routine and new growth measurements. She is a short little thing. We know what language is being spoken in her foster home, she is potty trained for the most part, sleeps in a crib, has an older foster sister who were in some of her photos (although we took her out of those on here), like toys with sound and music, and will get to stay with her foster parents until we come! The other awesome thing was the foster family took photos of her in a red headband we sent. They put it on workout style but it's the thought that counts. In the same photo, the photobook we made her is sitting beside her too. Our picture and her picture are on the front. The stickers all over her in the other photo are the ones we sent her. It was amazing knowing our daughter has seen us and are so happy her foster family did this for us, without us asking. Her  hair is still what we are calling "90's flattop" and leaves a bit to be desired but she's able to overcome it with her cuteness right now! And it looks like she loves a good dress, she's got a few waiting for her here already. She is so loved in the US and China right now!

Yellow is my color

I'm number one!

These people look easy to wrap around my finger....

Where do you want this next one?

More photos........

They said 'YES'!

We proposed with a lovely, organized mound of paperwork that included all of our personal and public history. They new we didn't have herpes and how much we still owed on our mortage, probably some questions a few people wouldn't have minded knowing prior to taking the plunge. We laid it all out there. China said, let me think about it, I need to be sure I'm ready and.......after a long, long, long, did I mention long, 3 months after Naomi's referral, they said 'yes'! We finally received our Letter of Acceptance from China last Tuesday. Never has a summer lasted so long, we pretty much went from Memorial Day to past Labor Day waiting for this piece of paper to change our lives. The bad thing was it was taking longer than expected and there were many, many people waiting, some a month longer than us, which was scary. Our Letter of Acceptance is China's official acceptance of us as Naomi's future parents and of her specifically as our daughter. The adoption is not completed until we sign the papers in China. We received it in the mail on Thursday at which time all paperwork was promptly FedEx overnighted to it's next stop. I've never been so happy to start engaging my FedEx account again. They should give adoptive families some sort of special FedEx card that affords you exclusivity. Exclusivity to what, I'm not sure, maybe a specially designed envelope or....just something to fill my need to feel special. I'll spare you the boring details but bascially the US government is working on our paperwork for the next month and a half probably and then everything back to China's government who will approve us to travel and then we set our travel dates. Our agency optimistically told us very late November to December to expect to leave! I'm thinking we leave closer to Christmas but we will see.

For the first time in 3 years we feel us becoming a family of three is going to happen, and happen soon. We've allowed ourselves to think of Naomi as our daughter but truthfully

Cooks 6, IKEA 0

We waited to start Naomi's room until we knew it was for Naomi. Some people adopting before or after infertility are able to start preparation for a little one before they reach that milestone. We are not one of those couples. We were only able to start creating her space once we knew we could walk by her room and envision her playing on the rug or sleeping peacefully in her bed (they always do that, right?). Also we wanted it to suit her personality. That may sound odd given we have never met her face to face. From the moment we saw her photos however we started to get a sense of who she was. While very few can understand a connection with your daughter you have never held or heard make a noise, it happens and you start to think about who they are. Naomi....we have a feeling she's a strong willed little girl who marches to her own beat. We hope in the end her spaces end up creative, fun, and unique.

When people asked us what we were painting her room and we said, gray!, it sounded pretty boring. But stick with us! We added a 

Someone needs a 12 step program.....

Ester has developed a destructive obsession this summer.

Who me?

In the mornings recently I've been finding my flip flops drug out of my closet and

Fall Clothes are here!

I secretly loved back to school shopping. I still get excited when I see the school supplies out and can't resist looking at them. Lisa Frank stuff anyone? I know I was (am?) a pretty big nerd. I also love fall clothing. I think part of it is that it's my favorite time of year, but layering jackets, sweaters, t-shirts, skirts, leggings.....I'm getting excited thinking about it. Usually I'm looking for myself but now I've switched almost all of my clothes shopping efforts to Naomi. She may end up being a little spoiled, with clothes at least. Some day she'll thank me when she wins Project Runway and meets Tim Gunn. The new fall styles are coming out and I love them!

I would walk.......10,808 miles?

That is how far Naomi is from us right now! As I was wonder what she is doing at the same moment I am thinking about her the thought occurred to me, how far away is she? Turns out 10,808 miles....approximately. That is actually almost as far away as two people can be on Earth, at least according to wikipedia. Apparently the Earth's circumference is about 24,900 miles which means we are only a little less than 2000 miles off from being as far away as two people can be. She has been feeling that far away.

It's been about 48 days since we received her referral and there is no sign this process is going to speed up. Unfortunately it looks like processing of paperwork is slowing down a bit in China. We are waiting for our Letter of Acceptance which we were hoping would show up in the next couple of weeks but doesn't look like that will happen. There are people who have been waiting

Naomi Update!

We received an update on Naomi yesterday! We weren't expecting it for another month or so. We found out her palate was repaired in April and are awaiting the surgery report from this. So now there is a possibility that we won't have to do a major surgery when we first get home, just have to see how the repair was! We also received a little bit more info on where she is living and that she is eating well, walking, and beginning to speak and follow instruction. Her foster family also calls her "ding ding" as a nickname!

Our last major renovation..........probably

It took us about 6 weeks but we finished! We are really proud of it and I love cooking in it. Of course it snowballed as any renovation does but we stayed pretty much on budget. We did all of the work ourselves with the exception of having the cabinets installed. Reused our office chairs as dining chairs which I love. Check out before pictures in the "Our House" tab. We finished a couple days before our referral for Naomi so it was great timing because now we can focus on her room. Hoping to have a celebratory party for being in our home 5 years soon!

It's a girl!

We have been matched with our daughter! Introducing......Naomi Xiang Cook.  It is so wonderful to be able to say that after waiting so long for her! As some of you know the week leading up to Memorial Day was very difficult for us and God brought us this little girl when we needed her most. We were matched with her on last Thursday and sent our letter of intent to adopt her on Friday!

She is just over 15 months old and has a repaired cleft lip and an unrepaired cleft palate. She will have those surgeries to repair her palate when she gets back to Nebraska. Luckily there is a great pediatric craniofacial team here in town. We are totally in love with her and can't wait to start preparing for her arrival!

Sore thighs and other random weekend stuff

It has been a pretty excellent 72 hours! Today we got our LID (log-in date)......which means we are officially eligible to receive a referral for a child and will be eligible for the May match. The date our dossier was logged in actually was 4/27 but we didn't find out until today. Don't know if we will be matched but actually being able to be is a huge psychological milestone.

I did the Lucky Bucket Run Saturday night as well. That is where the whole sore thighs title comes from....just in case you were wondering. It was a good time. I saw someone running in a full gorilla costume go down hard in a mud pile. That was pretty awesome, and I kept running. She was okay. I'm pretty sure it was a she because it had a seashell bra on. I guess it could have been a cross-dressing gorilla. We'll never know. Anyway.......I finished the 7K and it was a pretty tough trail run. This was a preview of the course.

I did get to run through several small streams and then pull myself up steep embankments with a rope. It was challenging for me and I got a good idea of where my fitness was and wasn't. Here we are with our co-running couple post-race. They all did much better than me but I did finish!We look much cleaner than we actually are. Fun time if anyone is interested next year!

Adam, me, Emily, and Jon

Our kitchen remodel is progressing.......slowly. We did reach the official "I want to burn this renovation down" point the middle of last week. That usually comes a few weeks in to any renovation around here. I cried, Adam mumbled through his teeth, but we moved past it after

Mother's Day

It has been an uneasy week. Amidst all of the other distractions in our home this week, I had in the back of my mind today was approaching. Mother's day is one of the most difficult days of the year for women who have been struggling to be one. I am very lucky to still have my mother. There was a time I didn't know if that would be the case. I appreciate her and celebrate that today. But..........If I'm being completely honest, there is part of me that can't wait for today to be over.

I found myself quickly flipping through a TV channel this week if there was a commercial on for a Mother's Day sale, which there a a freaking lot of. Avoiding the question from people who don't know me, "what are you doing for Mother's Day?" Providing the canned response, "we don't have any children."

I find myself already thinking about our future child's birth mother.

3 weeks later

It was 3 weeks ago today that our dossier was sent to China and that we started demolishing our kitchen. Where are we today..........no kitchen, no log-in date! Our kitchen has went from this.....

to this....

1960's wallpaper anyone?

Basically all we have are the cabinets in. It is progress but still nothing we can actually cook on or wash dishes in. Have you ever spread peanut butter on a sandwich with a plastic fork.......I have, not easy. Next week we get our new stove, countertops, etc. in. Only thing left will be the backsplash after that. I never thought I would miss cooking so much. We've been pretty much eating out every meal for the past 3 week as well. We have covered the dining scene here for the most part so any type of cuisine we can tell you where to go probably! I think at one point

San Antonio

We went to San Antonio last weekend to visit my brother and sister in-law as well as our three nieces and nephew. It was hot....really hot. When we left Omaha on Thursday it was like 50-something here and when we got to San Antonio the next day it was 93. We (mainly Adam) took some pictures of "the kids" with our new camera that turned out really well. Now I just need to figure out how to use it!

Fighting Against Hope

I was proctoring the exam for our geriatrics elective a few days ago and given I had to just sit there for about 2 hours for everyone to finish, I had some time to kill. Luckily I had brought my laptop with me and it was fully charged ( a rarity for me) and I started going through more of the guidebook on our agency's website. I ended up reading an article that talked about this concept, fighting against hope. It was like a lightbulb went off and I realized that is the perfect term to describe a lot of the feelings that go along with our situation.

It does sound a bit weird to say it, not quite as inspirational as fighting against cancer or something like that, quite the opposite actually. But for people who are pursuing adoption after infertility I think it describes a lot of how we respond and react to situations/ news. Adoption is a significantly different experience for those who cannot have children of their own versus those who can and have. I've encountered some parents who already have children who think it's completely the same, but no way is that true. I've found most people

DTC!

That is dossier to china for all of you non-adoption lingo experts. Just like every profession has their own jargon so does adoption and infertility. Lots of acronyms! After 5 months of paperwork, anxiety, and high usage of FedEx (we have our own account, we're that important) our dossier paperwork is complete, assembled and on it's way to China today!

It will probably take a few weeks for them to check it in and give us our log-in information. We need the log-in information to be eligible to be

They exist!

Our documents have returned from the US State Department today!

They were there almost 5 weeks and caused us major stress the past couple of weeks. We are just so happy they don't have to be redone....again. We have one document to be walked in to the State Department hopefully tomorrow or Thursday. Hopefully before that freaking government shutdown. Then to their last stop at the Chinese Embassy and hopefully have our dossier ready to send to China next week!

Stuff liked in March

1. An Idiot Abroad
I've developed the habit of searching the DVR guide each week using keywords, "china" or "adoption" to find television shows on either subject to record. Many people laugh when I tell them that, including my husband when he found out I was doing it, but I have discovered a lot of great shows about modern chinese culture and international adoption from doing this. This weekly TV planning routine lead to the discovery of this television show. The first episode was about China and my search picked it up.

The show is on Science Channel, no idea why, kind of like Ice Road Truckers being on History channel. Ricky Gervais produces it and basically sends his friend, Karl, on trips to the seven wonders of the world to experience the culture in depth. Karl is someone who has never really traveled outside of England and has a fairly narrow view of the world. The show is very funny and inevitably you will see other people you know in Karl. I'd watch it for just the scenes of Ricky Gervais laughing hysterically if nothing else.

2. The Moth
I'm a sucker for good oral storytelling. Probably because that was what I would have loved to have done if I had went my original career path of journalism. While This American Life is still my favorite, I've recently subscribed to this podcast and have really enjoyed it.

They hold events across the country and

I started crafting....ahhhhh!

I always think wreaths for doors sold in the stores are so expensive for fake flowers. It is also hard to find anything more modern and different. I had seen a post on another blog about making yarn wreaths. So I decided on my week off I would attempt to make one. It must be all of those years spent watching my mom craft wearing off on me! I must say it turned out pretty darn good!

I bought a foam wreath form, although I would recommend a straw wreath but keeping the plastic wrap on it before wrapping. The foam occasionally made a small mess. Simply wrapped yarn around the form, which did take awhile. I used some sticks from outside

Asian Food Night

I attempted to make some Chinese food last night. I have never made much Asian food in the past even though I cook quite a bit. I have received a few Asian cookbooks over the past couple of months and now that work has calmed down a bit I thought I would try a few recipes. I started out with some pretty basic things. I made potstickers. The recipe ended up making about 40 of them but once I figured out how to assemble them it actually went fairly quickly. I ended up freezing about half of them for later.

They had great flavor and we used plain soy sauce for dipping. To cook the potstickers you brown them in a bit of oil first and then pour chicken broth in the pan and almost steam them until all of the liquid is absorbed. Stand back when

Everybody makes mistakes

Hello, my name is Kristen and I am addicted to painting. I hadn't had my fix in awhile so last weekend I decided on Friday I need to repaint the living room and dining room, oh yeah and bathroom. I have officially painted every wall in the house at least once since moving in, some rooms 3 times. I like to pride myself on doing a fairly good job choosing colors but occasionally mistakes happen. There was the "disco dining room" incident a few years ago where I thought the paint treatment where you mix glitter in with the paint to give a shimmery, elegant look to the room was a good idea. Let me tell you, it never is. It ends up looking like a 5 year old did an art project on your walls.

Well this time I made another color mistake. Since we are getting a new kitchen in late April that will change the feel of the current kitchen, I thought the dining and living rooms all needed to have the same feel since they flow in to each other. Being that I am obsessed with gray I chose out a shade and proceeded to paint the entire living room. When I finally paused to look at it, it was a mysterious shade or purple. Maybe it had something to do with the yellow underneath it?

Waited for the morning and still saw purple! Ended up repainting everything to a lovely cream shade. Looks a lot better than

Buckle your safety belts...

That's all I have to say about the past couple of days on the "adoption rollercoaster." You fill in the words he is mumbling to himself. I would but there would be a lot of asterisks used. More to come later when I get more information hopefully tomorrow. The Vandermemes have sped up. I'm not sure why, but it's kind of scary. They may be taking on a life of their own.