Happy 18th Birthday Josh and Happy Halloween

Today is my first baby's 18th birthday. I still can't believe it has been 18 years since I first saw his little face. We brought him home on Nov. 2nd, 1990 and it was 70 degrees out that day - not normal Michigan weather for sure! That first night home he was a little fussy so Charlie and I slept on our bedroom floor with him between us (We had a waterbed so that would not have been good in our bed). He was a really great kid and he has grown up into a responsible, polite, loving, hard working, and intelligent young man. We are very proud of him and know he will do great things in this world and never let any grass grow under his feet. Here is a picture of him just a couple days ago wearing his favorite shirt that he has worn since 4th grade (you can see him wearing it years ago in the little apple picture).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH - WE LOVE YOU!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!

PINK...PINK...PINK... We cannot believe it - It's a GIRL! Can you tell I'm excited! My brother just called and he said those words I never thought HE would say It's a Girl! If you don't already know, my brother has 3 wonderful boys: Matthew 5 yrs.old, John 3 yrs. old and Justin 2 yrs. old and now they have a little girl....Carolyn Marie. My parents now have 5 grandsons and 3 granddaughters. Just one year ago it was 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter - the girls are catching up. I will post a picture when I get there to see her ... hopefully tomorrow evening. Lia now has a little cousin to play with - very fun!

Another Special Delivery!!

Not quite the same kind of Special Delivery as our last one. We are awaiting the news of my new niece or nephew. My brother Kevin and his wife Kathleen are at the hospital today having their fourth child. Their other three children are sons, so we are hoping this one is going to be a daughter/niece/grandaughter. Of course, we will be thrilled with either a boy or girl. I will post as soon as we find out!

We also had a special visitor today! ABIGAIL and her mom, Janell. Janell dropped her kids off at school and had to kill a little time before an appt. so they came over to play for a little while. Lia always loves to have friends over and it was great to see Janell again. Abigail gets bigger every time I see her and she changes so much, such a little sweetie. Her and Lia play well together. Thanks for coming over Janell and Abigail - we had fun!

Special Delivery!

Lia received a package today from her friend Zoe. The box arrived on our doorstep just after lunchtime and it was addressed to Lia and Aaron. Lia was so excited so we opened the box up. There, underneath the "EWWWWW" underwear and other clothes Aaron left at the Freeby's in September was a package wrapped up for Lia's birthday. She was so excited she tore into it immediately. You can see from the pictures that loves her present! She played with it for about a half hour until I broke the news that it was naptime for her, I know MEAN MOMMY!

Zoe, Thank You so much for the dolly for Lia - she LOVES it!

Also, Liz thanks so much for sending Aaron's clothes and hat - I can't believe you kept his yucky underwear around for that long!!! You are truly wonderful friends and we can't wait to see you all again.

Beautiful Fall Day

Sunday was a lovely warm Fall day. We went outside and played in the yard. Of course, Aarons favorite is playing catch with dad. He insisted that they both put on their Notre Dame jerseys and go out and play catch. I even got in the game a little and did some blocking, however, I don't have any pictures of that - ON PURPOSE. Lia went on the swings with our neighbor Emma. Emma turned 3 in June so they are about the same age. They have fun playing together.

More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from "The Birthday". There is also a close up picture of her dress. I have worked many hours on this dress as it was my real first attempt at sewing actual clothing. Usually I make purses or bags or doll accessories. I was pretty pleased how it came out and got many compliments at the party.

Birthday Pictures

Lia had a wonderful birthday party. Everyone came over about 6:30pm and then we did a pinata outside right away before it got dark. Lia pulled the lucky string to release the candy and then the kids went crazy. After the pinata we came back inside and had a few munchies and then opened presents. Wow, this girl got a ton a presents! After presents we had cake and ice cream, of course it was a DORA cake. My dad has never heard of Dora - well, he sure got an education last night! My parents were the last to leave and they left about 9:30pm. Those that came to the party were: Grandma and Grandpa Rahe, Grandma Irish, Aunt Rhonda, Randy, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Kathleen, Matthew, John, Justin, Aunt Leanore, Zach, and Eric. Lia was super tired but had a hard time falling asleep. It is now 8:00am the morning after and she is still zonked out. I think she has figured out that this birthday thing is pretty fun. Enjoy the pictures.

Happy Birthday Lia!!

Today is our sweet baby's 3rd birthday! She woke up nice and early this morning and keeps saying "It's my birthday!" Alyssa already gave her the present she bought her - a Dora camera - so she is having fun with that right now. We will have a family birthday party tonight for her so I will post pictures later. It's so hard to believe how far she has come since January and I know I am going to cry when we all sing "Happy Birthday" - I cry just thinking about it. She is such a joy and we all can't imagine life without her.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIA, WE LOVE YOU!

Pumpkin Hunting

We spent Saturday afternoon at a local pumpkin patch. Charlie, I, Lia and Aaron all went. We had cider and donuts and played with the bikes and in the straw barn. They also had kitties and goats and ducks and bunnies to pet and play with. Then we headed out to the pumpkin patch to pick out our prize pumpkins that Charlie will carve this year. Lia kept trying to pick up the huge pumpkins, but then settled for a little one that was "Lia's size". It was a beautiful fall warm afternoon and we had a great time.

The first picture is of Lia in her new Halloween shirt that we bought while we were visiting the Freeby's. Zoe has a matching shirt in Minnesota so we wanted to put it on here so they could see Lia wearing it.

Homecoming

The top picture is of Alyssa and her date, Collin.

The bottom picture is of Josh and his date, Alicia.

The kids had a great time at Homecoming this year - If I may say so myself they DO clean up pretty good.

JUST GETTING BACK INTO THIS BLOGGING THING!

So we are going to close down our babyjellybeans site very soon and decided to start this blog back up. We have been very busy lately and so I am not sure how much I will be posting, but check back often to see updates on our family.

Josh is now a Senior and is on the Soccer team right now. They haven't won a game yet this year, but it is a new program for our school so they are just starting to get it up and running. The team has definitely shown improvement and I am very excited for them in the coming years even though Josh will not be playing with them. Josh also has a job at Schuler Books in their Cafe. He enjoys his job and the money helps to keep his tank filled.

Alyssa is a Sophomore and has been keeping busy with JV cheerleading. When sideline cheer is done she will join the Competitive Cheer team - she really enjoys the cheer and gymnastics. She is also involved in Hip Hop dance and will have a recital at the end of the school year.

Aaron is in 4th grade and is on the Rocket Football team. He is sort of the star of their team. He has made 2 touchdowns each in the last 2 games. We are so proud of him and I love it when I hear his name on the loudspeaker - I even cried the first time he made a touchdown - I guess that's what proud moms do!

Lia is almost 3 years old now. She talks a ton and can count to 10 and sings songs and is just a complete joy. We are still working on the potty training. She seems interested but when I ask her to sit on the potty, I get a resounding "NO". We have caught her a few times and got her to do #2 on the potty so at least she is getting the idea.

Tonight is our Homecoming game and tomorrow the dance so the kids are all very excited. The 3 older kids are all riding on floats and throwing candy. I guess its up to Lia and I to catch enough candy for all 4 kids!

We have also made the sad decision to sell our boat. It is just not big enough for all of us anymore and it has become a "chore" lately to go there and stay on it. We have thoroughly enjoyed the times we had with it, but all good things must come to an end. :-( We are now talking about putting in a pool if the boat sells - stay tuned!

Take care,
Love, Colleen

WE HAVE A REFERRAL!!

For those of you who have not heard yet - we have a little girl waiting for us in Shanghai CWI. She just turned 2 years old and is just perfect! If you want to check out our new website, it is www.babyjellybeans.com, Childs Name: Lia Hall, Password: Shanghai.

We hope to travel in December or January to adopt her.

We are totally in love with her!!!

April Update

The CCAA has matched and sent out referrals through October 26, 2005. It seems like this process is taking forever! I think about Lia often and I have dreamt of her many times. I know in my heart that she is out there somewhere - she may not even be born yet. At this point I feel we are looking at a referral next Spring - hoping for much sooner but I feel Spring is reasonable. The Olympics are in Beijing in August of 2008 so we are hoping we don't travel at that time. Only God knows and our family is in his hands. Only 243 Log In dates until ours!! God Bless!!

November update

Well it is between the holidays now and I have to admit this time of year makes me sentimental so I find myself thinking of China and our little girl many times throughout the day. There is a new song by Third Day called "Merry Christmas" that is about a little girl in China waiting for her parents and I cry every time I hear it. This is such a long process and at times I think, wow we have been in the process for 10 months already (since Feb), and other times I dwell on the 10 - 20 months we may have to wait yet. However, from all that I hear it is definitely worth the wait. Thankfully my kids keep me busy. I thank God everyday that we are blessed with this wonderful opportunity and I know Lia will be a loved and welcomed addition to our home.

On November 30th referrals were received for those who had their dossiers Logged In by Sept. 8th, 2005. Only 260 more Log In dates before they get to ours! (but who's counting)

Thank you all for joining us on this journey. We appreciate all your love, prayers, and support. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Update on referrals

On November 2nd, the CCAA updated their website to report that babies are matched for those who had LID's up to August 25th, 2005. This seems to be a little bit of an increase this month so hopefully we will start to see an increase in referrals and our wait will decrease a little. If you remember our LID is June 26, 2006.

September Referrals

Well, just checked the CCAA website and they have updated that the next cutoff for referrals is August 9th, 2005. They actually matched 18 days this time so hopefully this means they are speeding up their referrals a bit. (Last month they only matched 9 days). Congratulations to all the new families who will finally see their babies face this week!

OUR TIMELINE

Not much new these days. On August 28th, Bethany received referrals for those who were logged in at the CCAA up through July 22nd, 2005. At this rate it looks like it will be at least a year before we get our referral.

We are using this time to read books about adoption and getting Alyssa's room ready for the baby. Please keep our family in your prayers.

In case you are curious - here is our timeline in the adoption process.

2-17-06 Sent in our Formal Application to Bethany Christian Services
3-1-06 Began Homestudy
4-24-06 Sent finished Homestudy to USCIS (Govt. agency that issues the I-171H)
5-17-06 Fingerprinted for I-171H (Form from the US Govt. that allows us to bring an orphaned child to the US for adoption)
6-1-06 Received I-171H - HAPPY DAY!!
6-2-06 Took State Sealed documents to Grand Rapids Bethany Offices
6-20-06 DTC (Dossier was sent to China)
6-26-06 LID (Login Date) This is the most important date. After China gives referrals to everyone who is logged in before us than we will get our referral. Right now the wait is approximately 14 months, with travel about 6 weeks after referral. There is no real way to know when we are going except to watch referral dates each month. China gives out referrals about every 4 weeks (give or take a few days).

WELCOME

Welcome to our Blog. We will use this as a communication to everyone throughout our adoption process. Right now we are waiting, and we will be for quite a while. I will post periodically so you all know where China is at giving out referrals.