Referral Day Video

Warning - this video may make you cry (it still makes me cry). Disclaimer - please excuse my puffy eyes, no makeup, flat hair, shaky voice, whimpered crying and the extra 30 pounds the camera added on to me. Hee, hee. ;) Basically, I look like a mess. I was completely exhausted from crying and from the tons of phone calls I made and e-mails I sent that day. Well, no matter how I look, it was one of the best moments of my life (and Doug's!).

Going Back To Referral Day

Like in the classic and timeless movie "Wayne's World", I am going to take you back to referral day...dododo, dododo, dododo, dododo.

Unfortunately, Doug had to work on referral day. Not only did he have to work that day, he had a completely full and crazy schedule. He had Mandarin class (he takes a class once a week offered by his company), then a lunch meeting with a vendor and then a very important two hour presentation meeting. You never know when the call will come in or if it will come in at all, so I told him to have his cell phone charged and with him at all times. I had informed my agency that we wanted to three way the call since Doug had to go to work. So, we were ready.

I knew I would never survive the day sitting at home by myself, so I had my mom come over to wait with me. She came over around 10:30 AM and we honestly didn't expect the phone to ring until that afternoon. I had my piece of paper with pretty ladybugs printed on it and my list of referral questions, a pen and the cordless phone sitting on the kitchen bar downstairs.

Around 11:30, my mom and I were upstairs looking at the nursery and the phone rings. We look at each other and I said "It can't be..." I see the caller ID and it is my social worker. OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG. I start to shake. I have to grab a crappy cordless upstairs phone that I can barely hear on. It is the receptionist at my SW's office saying she is going to call Doug for the three way call. She says, "If I accidentally hang up on you, I will call back." I start to run downstairs and...she hangs up on me. That's ok, I needed to change phones anyway. I position myself at the kitchen bar and she calls back. She puts my social worker on and Doug is on the phone too. (Doug got the call as he was leaving Mandarin class to go to his lunch meeting. He took notes in the company copy room!)

I hear my SW say, "I have good news for you." My mom is looking at me with tears in her eyes and is snapping pictures. Then she says, "It's a girl and she is 10 months old." I start to cry. She starts giving me details. I look down at that lovely sheet of paper that I had in front of me with all of those questions and ladybugs, and I totally flip that freakin' thing over to the blank side and start taking notes. I am scribbling down her name, birth date, etc. That piece of paper had all of the details written down but it looked like a complete mess. So much for organization... As the call was winding down, my mom had to remind me to look at my list of questions just in case my SW missed anything. My SW told me that my agency was going to send pictures of Briana later that day via e-mail.

Of course, once I get off the phone I hugged my mom and we cried. Once I got myself together, I called Doug back. He was on top of the world, but he had to go to his lunch meeting. So, I start making the calls. My sister, my sister-in-law, my grandma and the list goes on. My sister was so excited that she hopped in the car and came over. It took hours for me to call and e-mail everyone. While I was working on that, I had several of my friends (you know who you are) that kept e-mailing me asking where her pictures were! :)

I promised Doug that I would not look at Briana's pictures until he got home. He promised to come home as soon as his meeting was over, and he got home a little before 4PM. My mom and sister told us they wanted to give me and Doug private time see the photos, so they took off for a little while. We hounded, um I mean called, our agency asking when we would finally get the photos, and the contact at our agency said she was sending them right then. I guess it was around 4:30PM. We hung up with her and we sat at the desk in my office. With one click, we were going to see our baby. When I clicked that attachment and it opened, I couldn't believe my eyes. She was beautiful - absolutely beautiful. Insert sobbing here...

When my mom and sister came back to the house, then they got to click the attachment. The picture pops up and the looks on their faces were priceless. Insert sobbing here...

You can see above that my sister bought me these beautiful roses and my mom bought me a huge ladybug balloon. Then my mom gave me a beautiful necklace with three hearts that says, "Today, Tomorrow and Forever."

After my mom and sister left, Doug and I printed out Briana's pictures. Every time I walked into the bedroom that evening, Doug was sitting on the bed just staring at her. It was the sweetest thing ever. I couldn't stop looking at her either.

So, that was referral day. It was one of the most monumental and amazing days of my life. And Doug and I did video our reaction when we saw our baby's face for the first time, but I don't know how to post it just yet. So, hope to do that soon! Stay tuned...dododo, dododo, dododo, dododo.

Dear Friends & DHL

Here is another picture of our baby that we received in our referral package yesterday that my agency had not scanned for us. Oh my gosh, I can't stop looking at Briana's pictures!

Thursday, I had several surprises! My sweet, fabulous friends Mick and Kathy surprised me by coming over to my house and taking me out to a celebration lunch. My doorbell rang and I looked through the little window that is right next to the door and there is Mick waving in at me. It was so funny! And she brought me a picture of Briana already framed. Too sweet! Then that evening, another doorbell ring. It was Georgia and Jeff bringing me and Doug a wonderful gift bag of goodies! It contained a cute little outfit including adorable hat for Briana, candies, cookies, beach ball and a gift certificate to Longhorn. (And yes, Doug and I already had a celebration dinner on you last night!) Mick, Kathy and Georgia (and hubbys of course), I honestly can't thank you enough for all the gifts and love you have given me and Doug these past few weeks. Your excitement for us has been absolutely amazing. I know when you all get your referrals, it will feel like referral day for me all over again. I love ya!

Friday, Doug and I got our referral package delivered via DHL. It contained the pictures we had received via e-mail, the little extra picture, referral information (which my agency had e-mailed on Thursday) and documents that need to be signed and returned next week. That poor DHL driver! He rang the doorbell and started to bolt. He wasn’t going to have us sign for the package – I was shocked! I flung open the door and had to yell to him as he was going down the walk, "Um, excuse me – you just delivered our baby!” He turned around and his facial expression was priceless! I have never seen anyone so puzzled before. We explained our story, and then he hugged and congratulated us! What a nice guy! After a few pictures and a cigar that Doug handed him, he went on his way!

In a day or two, I am going to go back and tell you about the events of referral day - which I am so happy my mom and sister were able to be a part of. It was wonderful and amazing (and kind of a blur)! So many phone calls and e-mails! I was exhausted by the end of the day.

Here are pictures of me and Doug with the DHL driver!

Introducing Briana...

This is our daughter Briana Adelle Ai-Juan...she is just amazing. I can't stop looking at her beautiful eyes and her long fingers. I will post more info when I get it tomorrow, but I just wanted to post her pictures tonight and share our baby girl with all of you. She was born August 5, 2006 and we are over the moon!

I GOT THE CALL!!!!!

OMG! I got the call!

It is a girl! 10 months old!

Her name is Jiang Ai Juan and she is in the Dianjiang Social Welfare Institute in Chongqing. I will post more info when I get it!

I don't have a picture yet, but I will post when I do!!!!

Thank you all so much for your support! You all are the best!

This Will Be A Long Day

I contacted my agency yesterday, and they said they are hoping that the referral package arrives at their office today -- so they are going to prepare to give the good news today. As soon as they get the referrals and look them over, they will start making calls. Please hope the package arrives today! I will be waiting by the phone! If it for some reason weird reason the package doesn't come today, it would HAVE to be tomorrow. (But I think it will be today!)

Wish me luck!!!!!

I Hear That There Is A Stork In the Air!

I decided to go over to Kathy's house today for lunch because there was no word at all this morning that referrals were on the way. I needed to get out of the house and my mind off of referrals. But I did check the RQ site before I left Kathy's house to make sure there was no news - and there was nada.

By the time I got home, I had three e-mails sent to me from three different people and got a phone call from a friend saying that RQ posted that someone got "the call!"

Oh my gosh, could I get my call tomorrow? I think I might faint!

I will keep you all posted!

Trying Not To Be Anxious

I am trying not to stress. I am trying not to stress. I am trying not to stress. That is what I keep telling myself and...it is not working. I am very anxious right now. I want "the call." I want a picture. I want some information. And I want it yesterday!

Tomorrow is the fifth of June and I can't believe how quiet things are. I figured we would have heard something by now. I am tired of trying to figure out what the hold up is. This is so frustrating...

Ok - I need to lighten the mood. Doug and I went to a super fun potluck at Provinos on Saturday. It is always great seeing all of the adoption gang and especially getting to see Maisie and meeting our newest member Emily.  Good luck to Ann and John who are going leaving on June 15th to go to China to get their daughter Katie!

19 Months

Today is our 19 month LID anniversary. Wow - I can't believe we have been logged in over a year and a half. Hopefully, this is the last time I will post an LID anniversary!

It's Too Darn Quiet!

It is the weekend and now all is quiet on the rumor front. No word on cutoffs, no word on when they will be sent, not a freakin' word.

I must keep busy...

I am going to the Atlanta adopters potluck tonight, so that should be a lot of fun. I need to get some gadgets lined up for the Gizmos for Babies website that I work on (which is one of Doug's "gizmos" websites), so I can keep busy with that this weekend. I also have some scrapbooking to catch up on. And ugh, I should pull some weeds in the yard. That one I may try to avoid...

I guess I should enjoy this quiet time right now. This is the last weekend (I hope) before a new life begins for Doug and me. We won't have Briana home yet, but we will have a picture and lots and lots to do.

So I hope everyone enjoys the weekend! Let's see what next week brings!