Going Green!

Ed and I have been doing a lot of research lately on going "green". Ed is an electrician and has taken particular interest in solar and other forms of renewable energy. He is hoping (yes, our fingers are crossed for yet another thing these days) that after special training, he will take the lead of a solar division at his company! In our own lives we have been making some small changes like switching our light bulbs to fluorescent, running less water, turning off the dry cycle on the dishwasher and hand drying etc. We also hope to trade my SUV in for a Hybrid (once we can afford it)!

It was as if my step-sister was reading our minds yesterday when she sent a link for a website. I strongly urge you all to take a look. I don't know about you, but I get SO sick of junk mail in my mailbox everyday! Maybe it's because we have a baby on the way, but Ed and I have grown very concerned about the environment, in addition to the crazy amount of mail that is needlessly sent to millions every day! According to Green Dimes, we chop down 100,000,000 trees and waste 28 billion gallons of water EVERY YEAR producing this stuff. Most of this goes straight to the trash or (hopefully) recycling bin. Green Dimes is an organization that will add your name to a registry in an effort to reduce your junk mail by 70-90% within two-three months...thus helping save the enviornment for our little ones! The cost you-only $0.10/day! Plus, the organization will plant a tree for you monthly! Go to www.greendimes.com for more info!

My other "green" item....cloth vs. disposable diapers. We have decided that for the "bulk" of our diaper usage, especially when at home, we are going to use cloth diapers. I realize there is a debate about that cloth vs. disposables too...but I'm not going to dive into that now :) Anyway, everyone I talk to seems to have a differing opinion about brands are best, so I need your help. Because these bum covers are not very cheap, I would like to start stocking up now, but I can't decide on a brand. I would love to hear some testimonials if any of you blog readers have tried any that you liked or didn't like and why.

Ok, I'm done with my enviornmental plug for the day! I'm still hoping to get a magical phone call, but I'm guessing it's not going to happen today since office hours are half over and I know much of VN is shut down for Independence Day as well!

Anyway, TGIF!

Random Thoughts

Nothing much for me to report...however, our agency just posted an email stating that 9 waiting families will be getting their travel approval within three weeks! That means they could have their babies home by the end of May! I'm so happy for you guys...I know it's been a really long wait!

I am making Ella's scrapbook/baby book, which is often referred to as a "lifebook" in adoption lingo... Anyway, I have come across several websites that offer great papers, stickers, etc. specifically for adoption. If any of you are working on books, here are a few sites you may want to check out!
Adoption Shop - scrabooking
Scrap and Tell
Poems about adoption

A good weekend

Adoption news first...as I mentioned in my previous post, our agency has signed on with a new orphange in the Tay Ninh province. They were expected to get a list of available children from that orphanage this weekend! Not sure if any of the children will be girls under 12 months, but I've got everything crossed right now. We are still #2 and Julie, who is #1, is also requesting a girl. So, if there are two, we should both get lucky...if there is only one...Julie will get that referral and we get bumped to #1! Good news either way you look at it!

I also told a few of you that I would post what I worked on while at my mom's house last weekend. This is my latest addiction- onsies and bibs! I plan on making some diaper bags next!

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes as my mom and I prepared to launch our line of baby bedding! Gallery Night was a hit! We had a great time sipping wine and chatting with people on Friday night. There was a huge crowd that attended. There were probably over 100 different shops and art galleries taking part in the event, plus it was over 60 degrees and beautiful outside (very nice April weather in the Midwest)! Didn't sell any bedding sets yet, but we had a lot of people interested and taking our business cards. We did sell a bib and diaper bag, but it was obvious that most people were at Gallery Night to puruse and not purchase. Our display will be there for good now which is nice...we will be adding and changing the selection as needed. Here are some pictures of what our display looks like.

(above: Thurs. night-we had just finished setting up )

Just FYI...the store is very contemporary...polished concrete floors with bright orange and turquoise walls. We made the bedding set to match the store and it looked great. The store is "loaning" Ella's crib right now until the one they ordered arrives. Also, we were displaying 5 additional crib sets and each set comes in a basket with matching liner (that's what is displayed next to the crib).

Overall...a wonderful and relaxing weekend! I feel rejuvinated to start a new week!

What a day...

First things first...Adoption news. We got some much anticipated and needed communiction from our agency today. Our paperwork is indeed just waiting for LID (log-in date) in Hanoi and they were going to call Vietnam to find out the exact date (although it doesn't seem to be all that important). Also, our agency is just signed and sealed an agreement with another province in Vietnam, which means they should be getting more referrals and quicker. Our director said that there are currently 22 babies under the age of 2 in the orphanage and they expect to receive a few more babies from the local hospital into the orpanage within the next few weeks. I'm not sure which province though...if it's the one we are currently working in (Binh Duong) or if it's the new one (Tay Ninh). She said that since we are #2, we will definately get an referral in May! Now, I'll admit, I was hoping it would be a little sooner, but Ed promptly reminded me that May is only two weeks away. Let's pray the referral comes on May 1st which is literally two weeks from today! ;-)

This is news I really needed. I know that when compared to many other families, we haven't been waiting long at all, and our process has been fairly painless, but I was having a bad week last week and wasn't sure how much more of this stress I could take! I am very thankful for the updates and feel like I will be much more efficient and effective at home and work knowing I have some precious information!

My second big item...My mom and I found out yesterday that we are "launching" our crib bedding line this weekend! We are going to be setting up a crib & display at a local children's boutique. They are one of many local shops, boutiques, and art galleries which particpate in Gallery Night. It's a laid back setting (after hours for most of the businesses) where many of the stores serve wine and appetizers. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? It should be a great time for us to get some contact with people and to get our name out! We frantically began sprucing up our website, making displays, fliers, and brochures last night. It's good to have something to keep me busy!

Now, I just need to find something to wear and take a deep breath ;-)

THE SHIRT SAYS IT ALL!

No baby news...I had a nice email conversation with the agency though, so I hope to be getting some answers regarding timelines shortly. In the meantime, I've been sporting this t-shirt from Adoption Mama:

_________________________________

WARNING

I am in love with a child I haven't met yet.

I am in the process of adoption.

I am subject to cry at any moment.

Please bear with me until my referral comes.

_________________________________

A glimmer of hope...

What I was able to disseminate from a few rather vague emails from my agency today, was that our dossier has been translated and we are just waiting to get logged in at the DIA. I have NO idea how long that will take! I'm hoping it's speedy because I'm going nuts over here!

I'm currently at my mom's, where we busy sewing more crib bedding sets. We're trying to get ready to sell our sets in a local children's boutique (possibly by the end of the month). I left with the dog because Ed is refinishing our hardwood floors and we can't walk on them AND I thought it would take my mind of the adoption...but no, I cut fabric the wrong size at least 5 times. My mom said "here, you sew for now, I'll cut". Oops! Nothing that couldn't be fixed, which is good! She's being very patient with me...bless her heart!

That's all for now. I hope that I'll have either a log in date or referral with my next post...but that's wishful thinking, I know :)

One month down!

Well, it's been one month since I received the call that our dossier was in Vietnam. We're hoping to hear something soon...even if it's just an update. I am giving myself until the end of the week until I stalk our agency director for any piece of information she may have :). Thanks for the positive thoughts and comments...they help a lot!

On a side note...we are supposed to get up to 7" of snow tomorrow night! What a terrible week for my spring break :( booo.

Pizza and Babies...Yeah!

Ed and I spent the day celebrating an early Easter with my family, including our nieces, Gracyn and Alicyn. After tearing apart her Easter basket, we took Alicyn to Chuck E Cheese's for some yummy pizza and lots of rides.

We also got some good cuddle time with 4 week old Gracyn.

We had a great time with them and got a nice baby "fix"!

We are looking forward to spending the day tomorrow with Ed's family who came into town.

Hope you have a wonderful and blessed Easter.

I've been tagged...

So I was a few days behind in reading my regular blogs...I didn't notice that I had been tagged by Jenn ("Long Adventures"...who is now the mom to an 8 day old baby!).

Being tagged means I have to provide all of my readers with a list of 10 things about me. Let me think...

1. I hate it when people litter, especially cigarettes! It's like my own little personal crusade to get people to stop this terrible habit. Why do smokers think it's okay to throw a flaming piece of paper full of chemicals from their window into the path of an oncoming car, seriously??

2. I'm obsessed with Grey's Anatomy! There was a time this year when I was at parent-teacher conferences until 8:00 (the time the show airs). I had to call my mom, who, bless her heart, is also in love with the show...She gave me the play by play over the cell phone until I made it home to watch!

3. I was a huge New Kids On The Block (NKOTB for all of you children of the late 80's) fan. I had "Teen" and "Bop" pictures of the entire boy band wallpapering my bedroom. I even had the denim jacket full of buttons. I was able to go to 2 of their concerts!

4. I love to decorate! Love it, love it, love it! While I was growing up, I would get the idea to rearrange my furniture in the middle of the night. I'm a very petite person (a whopping 5 feet tall) and I would move all of my furniture on my own out of pure determination to see how different I could make my bedroom look. Now that we have our own house...I still play around a little but unfortunately our rooms are too small to do much. I still LOVE to pick paint colors and fabrics etc. As much as I love speech therapy, I think I would have been a darn good decorator!

5. My mom and I own our own small business where we design and make children's bedding! We came up with the idea while trying to decide what to do for Ella's room. She can sew...we design together...it's perfect. We are "launching" our line of bedding in a local children's store in about a month.

6. I hate it when my neck gets wet! Really! If I get rain on my neck or if Ed has wet hands and touches my neck...it makes me crazy! No idea why...it just gives me goose bumps!

7. Ed and I sleep with our 50 pound dog in between us! She puts her head on the pillow, body under the covers, and I literally "spoon" with my dog! Is that weird?

8. I love donuts! They are one of my favorite foods in the world! My mom introduced me to eating powdered sugar donuts with peanut butter...SO good! Try it, you may agree!

9. My husband Ed and I met on a blind date when we were 16! We were set up my a mutual friend that I went to high school with and Ed worked with. We never broke up once and have been together for almost 12 years! We got married as soon as I graduated college...our 5 year anniversary is in August (we are hoping to spend it in Vietnam with our new daughter)!

10. Ella is Ed's great grandma's name. We've loved the name ever since we decided to start a family.

Ok, so that's a little bit about me. My turn to "tag" now. I am not sure how many I need to tag, but I am tagging Jessica of "Our Golden Child" and Katie from "Oh BTW - Journey 4 Baby Ben". Have fun!

I've got nothin'...but a video

No news for us...

I was checking out blogs on the blogroll and I apologize because I don't remember which blog I found this on. It's a beautiful 4 min. video showing several families picking up their babies in China. This process is a bit different in Vietnam, but you can get the idea of the love and excitement they are feeling. Disclaimer...you may get teary eyed like me :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yHTaxn_aDM