Now more about Mia!!!

Mia is 11 months old today 8/27/10! What a precious gift that I received these photos on her 11 months birthday!

Thank you to the Angels that made this possible.

So this is what we've learned about our daughter in the last few hours. She was born and found on the same day 9/27/2009. From the records, she weighed 8.5lbs at birth and measured 19.2 inches long. She is a quiet baby, likes to listen to music and likes her toys. She is a moderate sleeper. From her update we find out that she is 28" tall and weighing 22 lbs and she has 8 teeth. She likes to eat and is not a picky eater. Some of her favorite foods are rice, steamed eggs, vegetable broth on her rice, cookies and fruit.

We are so in love with her already! We're coming soon baby hang on!

Finally Fedex Delivers!

Here are the girls waiting desperately for Fedex to arrive. How do they know that I'm waiting for someone.

I just think that's so funny! .

The moment we've all been waiting for...

The moment was not as exciting as expected since I had her picture and updated pictures in my hand, but after all the Fedex guy did deliver the package today with all her medical information translated, copies of her records when she was admitted to the hospital when she was found and copies of her check up at 8 mos. I'll post more about that later. This post is just about FRANKIE the Fedex guy. Now some of you may wonder why that name is a big deal to me. Well that's our Godson's name and Mia's future protector. It was yet another amazing sign from above that she is meant to be ours. I thought it was interesting too how a grown man says his name is FRANKIE, not Frank.

We received the greatest gift!!!

I sent a care package to Mia through Ann of Red Thread. I want to send a more personal one too but I wanted to get one there as fast as possible. I open up my email and this is what I find today...

Pictures taken yesterday of my baby!!! Oh my goodness!!!

She's a big girl!!!!

Here she is with her Nanny. I love the spikey hair and those cheeks.

We are so in love!!!

We have a DAUGHTER!!!!!!!

Not of my flesh, nor of my bone

but I am so happy to call you my own.

Please Welcome....

Jin You Na

Soon to be

MIA LEILA YOUNA MUNOZ

Born 09/27/09 - 11 months almost

Rui Jin SWI, Jiangxi Province

We are over the moon with excitement!

Fortune Cookies

We had Pei Wei this week and these were our fortunes.

Chris' fortune was the 1st one and mine was the 2nd. How cool is that?

The little box...

Has changed!!! AHHHH!!!

Finally this little marker of our happiness has met our hopes and dreams! China made it to the 15th so IT'S OFFICIAL! Now where is that referral???

Zero chopsticks!!!!

I'm overwhelmed with emotion as I write this. Our agency still has to call us with the details of our referral but we are just days away from knowing who our daughter is. Just a little more time! Pray for us!

Need I say more...

The stork is flying to the US with referrals. Rumor has it we are in this batch!!!! We are overwhelmed with joy as we wait to hear the news we've been waiting for.

Weekend Getaway!

In preparation for an exciting week, we hope, we decided to have a little getaway at the beach to release some tension and relax. This place was so cute and the beach was great. We stayed in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea at a tiny hotel right on the beach. It was a great, much needed, treat! Now let's bring on the referrals!!!

Pray we get to May 15th this month!

It's August 1st!!!

It's August 1st and "She" is all I can think of- I hope we get to see her soon. I pray every night that she is warm and her tummy is full and that she can feel our love embracing her from here. In hopes of receiving our referral this month, I pray that she is very young so that she hasn't felt the absence of our love for too long. I pray she has lots of hair and that she has a button nose. I pray that she has 10 little fingers and 10 chubby toes. I hope she has long eyelashes and pink rosy lips. I pray she will be ours soon.
She is so loved already, even before we meet, not just by us, but by so many.

I spoke with my agency director this week and I almost fainted. I was so nervous I didn't realize he was just returning a call from earlier this month. I freaked out and couldn't even talk. False alarm! I have Chris on pins and needles as I remind him that this is very much like being close to a pregnancy due date. My water can break at any minute. Everyone at his job is on high alert. I've asked him to have his cell phone with him at all times. He even found a sign on another blog asking the Fedex guy to ring the doorbell when he delivers our referral package because he's delivering our baby. It's pretty funny!

So are we prepared? NOT!!! We have the essentials, lot of love and are ready to bring home a baby. That's all that matters. Everything else will come with practice.

This box means so much to us right now. Everyone pray that the bottom date changes to May 15, 2006 in August. May 15th, May 15th, May 15th!!!

How Matching Works

Look at the stacks of family files waiting to be matched with their babies. Somewhere in this room our file will find it's way to our baby. The employees in the matching room will review our file and look at the babies that are available for adoption and try to find some similarity between the two and that's how the magic happens. Our file could be on someone's desk right now waiting to find the perfect baby for us. It's going to be a hard couple of months. First the wait to see her face will seem endless and then the wait to go get her will be even more difficult.

Imagine knowing your child is half a world away and you can't run over there the next day to get her, hold her, squeeze her and tell her everything is going to be ok every night as you tuck her in to bed. Uggghhhh! Patience is not my best quality. This is the true test. Patience!!!

5 Chopsticks Left!!!!

So it looks like China referred through May 10th, 2006. If China refers 5 more days next month, we are in. I am beside myself right now with excitement! It is a very good possibility that we could see our daughter's face next month. I am close to tears thinking that our dream is so close to coming true. I want to run outside and scream to everyone that passes by that I will soon be a mom. Chris is so excited too. To be honest, I think it was more like shock when I told him the news this morning. It's almost here, it's almost time!

The tough part will be getting through one more month not knowing anything about our daughter. It's been 4 years and 2 months of waiting but it feels like these last 2 months will be the hardest.

We're almost there baby girl. I promise I'll be there as soon as I can.

The count down...

We needed a visual so Chris and I got creative and decided that we were going to use chopsticks to count down to our "due" date. Every month when a batch of referrals is published we will remove the number of days referred in the same amount of chopsticks from this vase. It will be our turn when the vase has 0 chopsticks left. So lets pray for 9 days of referrals in July so we can send 9 chopsticks packing!!!

We'll keep you posted.

Susie

April 26th!!!

Ok so China referred up to April 26th, 2006 so that means we have 19...19!!!! more days ahead of us. Our date is May 15, 2006. When China gets to that date you'll here my scream around the world. Oh boy, I'm about to faint. So what does this mean to the non-China adopting masses? We have to keep waiting but the Good News is the first few days of May 2006 are very light in applications so there is a possibility that they will get further into the month than usual. Everyone chant with me "Please get to May 10th...Please get to May 10th..." There is a very good chance that China refers up to the 9th of May this July. We may be seeing our baby's face in August 2010. I'm being very optimistic here. I have faith that God will work his magic and send Chris the best birthday present ever...A DAUGHTER!!! Please keep us in your prayers.

It's May 15...Again!

4 years ago today a package arrived in China that contained an application, a life story, and a dream to adopt a baby from China. These 4 years have gone by so fast and so slow. I remember when a dear friend of mine said "you have to wait 1 year to adopt a baby? You'll see that will go by in no time" Well 1 year turned into 2 and 2 turned into 4. Here we are still waiting and waiting for our dear daughter. Every May 15th I think about this journey and remain strong and patient knowing that we will soon see our daughter's face. One more year has gone by. Many things have changed in our lives but 1 thing remains constant, we can't wait to be parents. I thank God every day for giving us this option and I pray that our baby is healthy and protected until we can be with her.

Tomorrow will be our 6 year wedding anniversary and we are celebrating in San Francisco. I'll post pictures soon!

OMG...No More Groups Ahead of Us!!!

China has referred babies to families with LID up to April 17, 2006. 28 days until our LID.

I'm thrilled to report that our agency has just sent our referrals for Group 121 (April 12, 2006). So we are the next official group (Grp 122) in line to receive a referral. Now China still goes by dates (ours is 05/15/2006) but this is a HUGE milestone in our journey to China. We are ecstatic. Hopefully if all continues on this positive path, we should be able to see our baby's face by August 2010!!! and pick her up by September or October 2010. I pray that she is protected and feels safe everyday. That she is held, loved and fed and that the Holy Spirit holds her tight so that she doesn't feel alone at night, until we can be with her.

Sleep well my baby...Mommy and Daddy will be with you soon.

This little box...

This little box represents the light at the end of the tunnel! Per the adoption board's predictions, it seems as though the month we will see our baby's face can be as early as July or August! We are super excited, unprepared but nevertheless, waiting to see her face. I can't wait to post that news!

Referrals have been completed for families whose applications were received in China by April 11, 2006. That's only 34 days until our LID date, May 15, 2006.

1 More group down, 1 more to go....

I can't believe it. It's so exciting to report that the next group from my agency has received referrals. Group 120 was logged in March 2006 and have just seen their babies' faces for the first time. We have 1 more group ahead of ours, Group 121 (LID April 14, 2006) and then it's our turn! We are Group 122, logged in on May 15, 2006. I really hope they finish all of March by October 2009 so we can stay on track.

I'm guestimating (guess + estimate) March-April 2010 we'll see our baby's face and then travel to pick her up in May or June 2010. I hope it's sooner but I'm still guarding my heart.

July Updates

Oh boy this has been a fun month. My cousin Chari and her 2 boys visited from Georgia. We spent the weekend in the keys with them and had a great time playing with the kids.

July 4th was nice and quiet at home and with friends. Just this past week we rented at the beach with friends and family and had 3 days of side splitting laughter and tons of fun. WOW! That's all I can say.

July 21st, we celebrated my parents 25th Anniversary. It was so nice to share so many years of love and dedication with our family and friends. I'll post pictures later. Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad! Chris and I also celebrated 8 years since we met. Yes, we met on my parent's anniversary! How cool is that?!

And now on to China news! Referrals came out on July 21st for 2 dates in March. Families with a LID date of March 21-22 will be seeing their babies' for the first time this week! I know this process has been slow but I have faith that once March 2006 has been completed we will see an increase in the number of days referred.

We have 54 days of LIDs ahead of ours. Our LID is 05/15/06. It all depends if China increases/decrease the number of LIDs per month. See the chart below to see how we determine when we will receive our referral.

- 2 days per month/27 more months
- 3 days per month/18 more months
- 4 days per month/13.5 more months
- 5 days per month/10.8 more months
- 6 days per month/9 more months <--- This is the most likely
- 7 days per month/7.7 more months
- 8 days per month/6.75 more months
- 9 days per month/6 more months
-10 days per month/5.4 more months

Just to give you an idea what is taking so long. China used to send out referrals for 30 days of LIDs. Once the program became so popular, China couldn't keep up with the demand for babies and domestic adoptions became very popular too. China decreased the number of referral days from 30 to 15 to 10 to 6 to 2. There have even been months that only 1 LID gets referrals. Those have been very frustrating.

We look forward to that day when we can post our baby's photo! Thank you for sharing our journey with us.

The Oxen and the Tiger

I was born the year of the Ox and if the baby was born after January 26, 2009, she will be an OX like her mommy! Daddy on the other hand is a Tiger. Sounds just like us!

You are a Ox
Born leaders who will work hard to achieve their aims. Dependable, good organisers and not easily influenced by others. Patient, loyal to their friends and expect loyalty in return. Tend to have lasting relationships.

You are a Tiger
Sensitive, emotional and adventurous. Confident, risk takers and dislike taking orders. Good at seeing problems, but less able to see the solutions. Often seek a shoulder to cry on when feeling down. Warm and generous to the people they love.

June 2009 Referral Update

We just found out that the next batch of referrals included families logged-in through March 20th. That was 6 more days off the calendar. That means May 15 - March 20 = 56 more days of families ahead of us. It's getting closer.

My mom swears she knows it's going to happen this year. I estimate another 7-9 months. Boy I hope I'm wrong and she's right. But that would mean China would have to do a minimum of 10 day referrals the entire rest of this year to receive our referral by December. That hasn't happened in the last 2 years so I'm not counting on it. But I can say that I think it will be sometime in February or March of next year. We'll keep couting down and praying that China speeds up so we can see our baby's face soon.

Heaven sent...

I was at the airport today attending a meeting for work and as I was leaving my boss and I decided to pop-in to the Brighton store. I have a cute Brighton bracelet my very dear friend Mayelin gave me so I thought let's see what else they have. I shopped around for a few minutes and although they had cute stuff nothing caught my eye. Then all of sudden as I was giving up, this necklace appears. Its a silver chain with a gold fortune cookie on it and it has a silver fortune sticking out of it that said "Lucky". I showed it to my boss, who knows my secret (at work it is) and she said "Oh that's cute you have to get it." As I rummage through the few that were left, I find another that says... are your ready for this..."Mom". I flipped! So I make my purchase all excited and leave the store. I take it out in the car one more time to look at my sign from above and notice that I hadn't gotten a different necklace at all, I just had missed the complete fortune. It says "Lucky" on one side and "Mom" on the other. "Lucky Mom" By now I'm in tears. Was this the sign from God that I've been waiting for every day when I say "God please give me just a little more patience"...I think He just answered me.

Where is she now or where will she be in China?

When we started this journey it always came to mind that although our daughter was not with us now, she was in existence somewhere out there. Since referrals slowed down, that notion seemed to fade away. Recently, since our 3 year LID anniversary (May 15th), those feelings have resurfaced and I have this internal excitement over our daughter, that I can't quite explain. Being that we may be just shy of a year to meeting her, she already exists, that just amazes and saddens me. She may already be born or close to it. If she's still growing inside her biological mother then she's experiencing the warmth yet confusion and stress of her mother's impending difficult decision to let her go.

It makes me sad to think that by the time our daughter meets us, she will have had two major losses in her life. She will lose the love of the mother who she grew inside of and her caretaker whom she'd grown to love. This will be a difficult transition for our daughter. We have educated ourselves on helping her to cope with these feelings that she may not be able to articulate until she's much older. Don't worry baby, we'll be here for you the rest of our lives, God willing.

--Although you didn't grow under my heart, you grew in it.

5 Year Wedding Anniversary and other news

I'm trying to stay current on this blog, but really it's not much fun without news from China. The good thing is this week referrals went out to families that were logged in March 14, 2006. Our Log-In Date (LID) is May 15, 2006. So we have 62 days of LIDs before us. The next group from my agency will hopefully get their referrals by June or July and then we're down to 1 more group ahead of us! Things are getting a little more exciting, although sometimes I feel like hurry up and wait.

I estimate it could be another 6-9 months depending on China. We have the crib and dresser now. I guess we'll be getting some more little things each month. We are still debating the name but hopefully we'll be ready to share it once we see our daughter's little face.

On other new... we just got back from a beautiful weekend getaway in Key West. It was ultra romantic and relaxing. We celebrated 5 years of marriage. I am truly blessed to have the most wonderful husband in the world.

Another year, another goal!

I've been in HR over 8 years. One of my career goals has always been to become a certified Professional of Human Resources. To do this I have to sit for an exam. After a few months of studying and tons of stress I have achieved this goal on Saturday. I am so ecstatic! Now we can move on to the even bigger things.

My agency thinks that 3 -4 groups may be traveling this year. If that happens, we should be in the 4th group! I really hope things speed up this year. On another note, we have to redo our homestudy and get our immigration paperwork approved again. Hopefully this long wait will soon be over. 32 months and counting!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of fun and family! We had our traditional Christmas breakfast at our house again this year and it was great. Hopefully this will be our "Last Christmas" without our daughter. China has finished sending out referrals for families in February 2006. Now they are moving on to March 2006. We still have 3 groups from our agency ahead of us and that equals 75 days of applications ahead of us. I'm really hoping for a 2009 baby!

Wishing you all a Happy Holiday season and wonderful New Year!

Another Halloween

That means I am 1 year older. You can forget about it... I'm not telling you how old I am. What 's important is that I feel young and full of energy, most of the time. LOL!! I can't believe it will soon be Halloween again and we are still waiting for news from China. Thankfully China has gotten midway through February 2006 (We're May 2006). This means there are only 87 days of families ahead of us. If you subtract weekends it sounds even better. I haven't seen much of a speed-up in referrals after the Olympics as everyone in the adoption community had hoped. I also think that the heath issues in China as a result of Melamine in some of the formula may have been one reason that things didn't take-off running after the Olympics.

On other news, we'll be visiting family in Georgia this Halloween for my cousin's wedding. I'm happy to be getting my dose of cool fall weather. We're also heading to Disney this weekend for the Food & Wine Festival. A little getaway before the Holiday madness is always good.

Thanks for checking in on us!! I hope all is well with you & yours.

Susie

An update

Since the last time I wrote in February we've had one more group from our agency receive referrals. This is very good news. It also means we only have 3 groups ahead of us now. The adoption community is really hoping that China speeds up the referral process after the Olympics. If this happens, there is a good possibility that we may be in China early next year. Our 18 month journey has turned into quite the ride, but we know that this is God's Plan and we accept that we will be with our child when the time is right. China is now sending out referrals for families who applied in January 2006. At least we're in May 2006.

We were forced to start working on the baby's room due to an AC leak. We've painted and put in laminate floors in light colors. The closet is next (see pictures). So it has been a little exciting around here. The next few months will hopefully bring more good news.

On other news, Chris's business is going well. He loves being his own boss and it has it's perks too. As for me, I started a new job working for an aviation company in Miami as the HR Manager. I've been there for 2 months and I'm starting to feel at home. I love what I do and everyone is great to work with.

I look forward to sharing more news in the coming months.

Some good news...

News coming out of China has been very very slow. The good news is this week another group from our agency will be receiving referrals for their babies. That will leave us with only 4 groups ahead of us. If we can get through those groups this year, we will hopefully get to see our baby's face by this time 2009. All we can do is hope and pray that things speed up and that all the babies receive the love and the care they desperately need. We'll keep praying!

Thank you for checking in on us.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween is one of my favorite days! It's also my birthday.
Here are my two doggies dressed up for the occassion. They are such good sports!

The Children Need You Too!

The children of China need your help.

Little Leiah Faith was born with clubbed feet and needs special medical care and personal attention from her caregivers. I'm lucky enough to get to sponsor her along with her program coordinator to make sure she gets the basic care at least. If you can make a small monthly monetary contribution, please contact Love Without Boundaries (www.lovewithoutboundaries.com) and you can sponsor a child too. Check out the website.

Extremely Good News on Adoption!!!

We were on vacation in the keys for 4th of July and we had a nice surprise. The China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) posted an update on the website that all applications through May 31, 2006 had been reviewed. Our application is dated May 15, 2006. So we're 1 step closer to our baby girl. We are very excited. Our application is now moved to the "Matching Room" where we are matched with our little girl. This process will still take a while since applicants from November 2005 are still waiting for babies. Nonetheless, we're approved and moving forward. Keep praying for us and that the process speeds up so we can have our baby home next year.

Happy July 4th!!!

May 16, 2007 - Happy 3 Year Anniversary!!!

We celebrated our anniversary a bit early because Chris was leaving to Singapore for 3 weeks right in the middle of May. I can't believe it's already been 3 years that we've been married. We've been together for 6 years and we've done so much in this time. Our biggest adventure is still ahead, parenthood.

We found out this week that our paper work is in the Review Room right now so we are very excited. From the Review Room it goes to the Matching Room until it is our group's turn to be matched up with babies. I can't wait for that day.

Well keep praying for us that we make it through review and on through our journey.

Check out my slide show!

It's mini Me! Isn't she cute???

February 2007

We just got back from Las Vegas. We went with another couple and had a great time. We stayed at the NY NY which is a blast since there is so much to do there alone and of course did the typical sightseeing stuff. We saw David Copperfield (I love him!!) Carrot Top (SUPER FUNNY!!) and Zumanity by Cirque du Soleil (not so hot). I've seen much better CDS shows. We won $250 bucks playing the slots. Not too bad. We really don't play much else so that was pretty cool.

Nothing new on the adoption. February brought referrals for those families waiting since October 2005. That means we still have 8 months of referrals ahead of us. Wait times have severly increased due to some changes in China. But we're in it for the long haul. That gives me plenty of time to work on my Mandarin.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Wishing you the best this holiday season and lots of love and laughter in 2007!!!

This is my wonderful family! Starting on the right my baby sister Julie, my mom, my dad, my big sister Nancy, Me & Chris on the floor. We had our traditional Christmas breakfast at our house with all of our family and some of our friends.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!