Emily Margaret's Raining Fashion Statement

Hi all!
The weather here today was awful.
It was cold and sleeting,
the very definition of
G-R-O-S-S!


After running errands I came home
and checked the mail to find this...

we'll call it Emily Margaret's raining fashion statement! ;>

The cool part is how this cute
little number came to be mine.
I was visiting another family's 
adoption blog, when I came across
the coolest fundraiser.
They have a variety of prizes listed
and you bid on them.

I was super excited to win this raincoat.
Why??
Because rubber duckies was James' thing.
You see when we found out we were
pregnant with James we went shopping.
We shopped Babies-R-Us,
and a $3 rubber ducky was what Andy
picked out to buy for our new addition.
Of course I made fun of him,
and then it kind of stuck.
James had rubber ducky sleepers,
blankets, toys & even his 1st Birthday Party
was rubber ducky themed.

So it was only fitting that
the baby girl have a rubber ducky raincoat.
Because once she's home,
on days like today,
she's gonna need it! :)

God's blessings,
Sarah :D

Passports & Homestudies

Hi all!
Just wanted to give you an update.
I talked with Karla, our social worker, yesterday.
She's hoping to have our home study report in her hands by next week.
Hooray!
She said to be prepared to scramble around next week
and provide the agency with the various papers they'll need.
When I asked about our timeline she said
we're still shooting for first of next year.
SO, no promises for having our baby girl here
for Christmas, BUT we can still pray for miracles. ;>

I asked what I needed to be working on in the meantime
and we decided I could go ahead and do our passports.
First thing this morning I headed over to the courthouse.
I picked up the paperwork for our passports,
but the four of us will have to go back together.

Did you know that both parents have to accompany
their minor child for them to get a passport??
That way one parent can't take the child
out of the country without the other one knowing about it.
WOW, who'd have thought it?! 
But, pretty smart none the less.

So, the Hinson four will all take a field trip next week.
The boys will be so excited to FINALLY be a part of the process. :)

Speaking of boys, Joseph is very excited about the thoughts
of traveling around Christmas.
I think he doesn't want to miss any of his first
football season at the high school
BUT, he'd never say that! ;>

Andy's in B'ham today interviewing for a part time job.
He's doing his best to bring home our baby girl. :)

Emily Margaret, you're such a lucky girl
to have such a fabulous father.
He's doing everything he can to get you home!

That's all for now.
I'm off to catch up on some housework. :)
I'll keep you posted on any breaking news!
God's blessings on your weekend,
Sarah :D

Happy St. Patrick's Day Emily Margaret!

Hi all!
It's been a great week for Emily Margaret.
She got a donation towards our adoption,
from a sweet bloggy friend.
Hooray! :)
Then this afternoon my friend Allison
dropped off a bag FULL
of cute clothes, jammy tales & shoes.

James picked out this outfit and told me
it was Emily Margaret's St. Patrick's day outfit.

So Emily Margaret, wherever you are...
no pinching my baby girl,
she's got a green outfit waiting on her!
God's blessings on your night, Sarah :D

Updating The Process

Hi all!
I promised to keep you posted so here we go...
Around lunch time today I saw where I had missed a call.
I checked my voice mail and it was Karla from Lifeline.
She said she needed to talk about some things.
First thought, not good.
I called her back and was promptly put through.
She picked up immediately,
I was nervous.
After she asked how our home study was going we got disconnected.
Since I was working at the hospital
I knew that my cell phone might continue to act up.
But when I tried to call her back on the hospital phone
and it also wasn't working, I knew it was time to pray.
Something very bad or very good was about to happen,
and either way I was going to need the comfort of my Heavenly Father.

Once I'd spent a few minutes in prayer I tried the number again,
it still wasn't working.
Ok, this was gonna be big.
I couldn't help but wonder if this was THE call??
I grabbed my pen & paper and took off for another phone.
As I huddled in an old isolation room I called again.

This time when Karla answered I heard the seriousness in her voice.
Have you ever noticed how you take in every detail in times like this?
She said that she had some bad news but that it would lead to a good ending.
She asked me to hear her out before I reacted.
Um, OK?!
Karla proceeded to tell me that the CCAA
(China Center for Adoptive Affairs)
had made some changes in their matching process.
Those changes meant that the first month a child was on the shared list
only families that were already logged in could be matched with them.
If a child remained on the list then beginning in the second month
they could be matched with any family.
We are still probably about 2 months from being logged in.
So, that meant that we wouldn't be matched in March
and we only have a possibility of being matched in April.
My response??
Oh, ok.
Karla explained that she was going to get with our social worker
to see how far she was from having our final home study report.
I must have not said very much because she told me she was sorry.
I told her it was ok, that I'd been following the Rumor Queen
so I knew there were some changes taking place,
and I guess I was kinda prepared.
She told me I was taking it v-e-r-y well.
Now honestly,
I just wasn't prepared to break down sobbing on the phone at work.
Well not today anyway. ; >
I told Karla that my heart was very sad.
I'm ready to be matched and
we're ready to have a picture of our baby girl.
BUT, there are rules in place for a reason,
and we intended to follow them.
Karla was precious,
she told me she wanted to start touching base about once a week.
She thanked me for my patience and understanding. :)

Today was the first time in my life I've:

1. Been thought of as an under-reacter.

2. Had to be encouraged to keep following up on something I want.

Now that I'm home and things are sinking in,
here are my thoughts.
The CCAA has made changes to keep children from
waiting in orphanages for extended lengths of time
for their parents to come and get them.
I totally respect that!
So if that means that we are still months
away from being matched with our Emily Margaret,
I'm ok with that.

Because even though I haven't seen her beautiful face,
we have a God who has.
And although I love her with all my heart,
His love is stronger.
I guess I'm finding peace and comfort in His arms.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!
God's blessings,
Sarah :)

The Monchhichi's Making Me Do It

Hi all, happy Monday!
Today one of Andy's well meaning co-workers asked me how the adoption was going.
Poor girl, she had no idea I was near my wit's end UNTIL I replied,
"It's making me wanna stab my eyeballs out!"
Such a horrible thing to say,
yet it's one of my favorite quotes.
The paperwork, paperwork, paperwork,
UGH!!!

On a side note the Hinson four spent the day together yesterday.
As part of our outing we made a stop by Target.
Oh how I LOVE Target!
While James & I were browsing through the toy section,
I stumbled upon this...

Do you remember the Monchhichi's as fondly as I do?!
I had the little boy and girl.
They were one of my all time favorite toys!
So, it was only fitting that little Miss Emily Margaret got one too.
I plan to take it to China with us,
because I'm sure she'll love it! ;>

Now when I want to ditch the paperwork and stab my eyeballs out,
I think of little Emily Margaret waiting to play with her new toy and I keep going.
Yep, the Monchhichi's making me do it! :)
God's blessings on your afternoon,
Sarah :D

Friday's Assignments

Hi all, I hope your weekend is starting off right.
It's beautiful here!
Andy told me yesterday that we Spring forward next weekend, HOORAY!!!
I love the longer days and sunshine!

As you know, we are still in the paper chasing stage of our adoption.
Since we've been trying to get our act  paperwork together,
Andy and I have been spending our Friday's with a to do list.
Yes, we get dressed for the day, take the kids to school and then take off with my binder in tow.
I look like I'm carrying around a filing cabinet with me.
I am! :)

Yesterday's assignment was to get passport pictures done.
We each needed 6 photos.
Shall I translate that for you?
Passport photos are sold in sets of 2 for about $8.
That meant we each needed 3 sets.
And no, they won't give you a discount for multiple sets, believe me I asked.
We started out a Walgreens and they weren't very helpful.
It ended up that their printer was down so we left.
After talking to the agency and finding out that we had to have
the official photos, yep no DIY, we headed to the UPS store.
Thank you to the ladies at the UPS store in Cullman, you were angels!
I needed a scanned copy as well.
They scanned it, emailed it to me and I forward it to our agency from my Blackberry all while we waited on the photos to print.
Now that is service! :)

Andy & I also made the dreaded trip to the Health Department.
We got all of our birth certificates, our divorce certificates and our marriage certificates.
That was 7 total documents for $105.
We laughed that they had to dig through old boxes in the basement to find Andy's birth certificate.
It was entertaining to look at all that ancient history.

We ended our day with a feeling of accomplishment and some good news.
Here's how this matching in March plays out.
Our agency has 11 families to match in March.
The Hinson family is number 11.
So, if we're all looking for the same characteristics then we'll be the last one matched in March OR the first one matched in April.
But, if our family has marked medical needs that no one else has, then we'll be matched first.
Make sense?
Clear as mud??
Yeah, I'm with you.
Basically there is a possibility we'll be matched in March if not it'll be April.
SWEET!!!

Anyway, I'm off to scan the remainder of our documents and email them to the agency.
But before I go here's a thought that keeps us going.
There is going to come a Friday when our only assignment
is to sit back and hold our baby girl.
Emily Margaret, you're worth every assignment! :)

I'll keep you posted on any and all updates!
God's blessings, Sarah :D

Could Somebody Pass Me A Brown Paper Bag?!

Hi all!
I just got an email from our adoption agency.
It basically stated that they need a few more things
so we'll be ready when March's shared list comes out.
MARCH'S LIST???!!!?!
I've emailed them back to tell them thank you,
we'll spend tomorrow gathering the info,
drop it in the mail tomorrow afternoon
AND to make sure that MARCH wasn't a typo!
I was cool for the first 20 minutes after reading the email,
but now all I can think is
Could somebody please pass me a brown paper bag?!
I'll keep you posted!
God's blessings,
Sarah :D