Foster Sisters

We met up with Lily and her family last weekend. Lily was in foster care with Calla in China. The girls see each other about 2 times per year and yet they act like they are old friends. Do they know they spent their first 10 months together? Do they know they were born 6 days apart halfway around the world? Do they have some vague memories of playing together and just pick up where they left off? We have a photo of the 2 girls on Calla's dresser, and when she looks at it she will often say, "We haven't seen Lily in awhile." I hope they feel some connection and will draw on this as they get older. Lily has a new sister at home now, but Lily is the closest thing Calla has to one. I would be pleased if she always considered Lily a sister.

Anticipating Chinese New Year

In fact, it is not really Chinese New Year; it's the Spring Festival. Since we are in the middle of a blizzard right now, I have a hard time calling anything "Springy". Nevertheless, we are expecting to have a grand time at a local CNY celebration this weekend. We are meeting up with some of our new and old friends who have Chinese daughters and joining the local Chinese American group to eat and socialize. I think it is beyond generous of them to include our girls in their celebrations. I think the PRC would be proud of them for looking out for their little sisters. Our Chinese friend, Iris, is joining us, so I am anxious to get her take on the celebration. Today we are decorating our door with good luck couplets, hanging our lantern, preparing our red envelopes, and trying to decide if we will use the firecrackers we bought. See #1 in this post.

Last Batch of Referrals

The last batch of referrals went through October 13th dossier log-in dates. Our log-in date is November 22nd for daughter #2. The China Center for Adoption Affairs has been matching about 10-13 log-in dates per batch. That leaves about 3-4 batches before our turn. With the Chinese New Year approaching it is hard to guess when the next batch of referrals will come out. After the next batch, I should be able to make a better guess about when we will see our new daughter's face.

Two Words

Colts Win!

50 Years!

Today is my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. FIFTY YEARS! I'm not sure what kind of commitment that takes, but I think it is very rare these days. In addition to commitment, I think it takes some measure of kindness, forgiveness, friendship, and a big dose of humor. I hope Doug and I have enough of these qualities to brave the next 44 years of our marriage! Hats off to Mom and Dad for hanging in there!

Disney World

Calla and I had a great time in Disney World this week, despite the fact that it was the coldest it had been in Orlando in the last 41 years! Mom and Dad loved spending time with Calla (and hopefully, with me too). Here are ten random thoughts about our Disney World trip:
1. All the music/sound in the attractions is too loud. Calla covered her ears in nearly every attraction.
2. The princess characters are VERY patient!
3. I would make a terrible Disney princess. See #2.
3. There is only one store you need to visit. Mouse Gear in Epcot has EVERY item we saw in all the other stores. Unfortunately, we visited this store last.
4. The food in the restaurants was either really good, or we were just really hungry.
5. Piglet is adorable!
6. I wonder how long the characters have to practice to get their autographs to meet the standard. We got three different Jasmines to sign Calla's autograph book, and all the signatures were identical. You gotta love this attention to detail.
7. After seeing Cirque du Soleil, I have officially determined I have zero talent.
8. Walt Disney was a genius (and he and his family were/are VERY rich).
9. Calla LOVES her grandparents.
10. My parents love Calla very much.

Getting Started

This is my first blog entry! We are about 3-4 months away from getting our referral for our second daughter. I wanted to learn how to use the blog before we started to get really busy preparing for our new daughter.