Hope That Shark's Not Hungry!!

John and I spent a fun weekend in Maryland, visiting my Dad and Colleen.
We drove down Friday night and arrived about Midnight. We stayed at a Marriott SpringHill Suites about 15 minutes from where Dad and Colleen live. It was perfect, beautifully furnished and immaculately clean.
When we woke up early Saturday morning, I looked out the window of our hotel room and noticed across the street in the mall.....OutDoor World (Bass Pro Shop). This is absolute heaven for anyone who loves to hunt, boat, fish.... John heard that... did I say fish??? My husband is a true beliver of the old adage, "A bad day fishing is still better than a good day at work", only my husband will tell you there is no such thing a bad day fishing, ever!!!!
When John saw OutDoor World his eyes got as big and round as saucers and he grinned from ear to ear. I knew exactly where we were going immediately after breakfast :-).
The picture above was taken there, and luckily the Shark wasn't hungry!!!

On Saturday afternoon, Dad and Colleen took us to "Dimitri's" a wonderful Greek, Italian restaurant. It was explained to me that the family that owns the restarant is Greek and the chef is Italian. John and I shared an awesome Greek salad followed by Beef Gyro's (not Veal). Deeeelicious!! I was real bad and then had a Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice cream dessert. John had Baklava. Boy were we full.
On top of that, Collen took pictures and I got the giggles (maybe outright guffaws is a better word), when my father kept saying "Feta" everytime we would ask him to say cheese:-). I think they were glad to see this rowdy crew leave!!!


On Sunday we went to church with Dad and Colleen, and then had a belated Mother's Day barbque. Colleens family came and we had a great time.
Before you knew it it was time to head back up to New York.
The drive up took 6 hours, 2 hours longer than usual due to lot's of traffic in Delaware and New Jersey. We pulled in last night about 11 PM.

Hopefully Dad and Colleen will be heading up here to visit early this summer.
I'll post more pictures when I get them.

Some Scriptures That Have Helped Me

As you can see from the title of our blog, "Our Journey of Hope", hope is the mainstay of what John and I are holding on to in what has become a really loooooong journey, much longer than we ever anticipated. John and I are Christians and although I don't quote scripture often, I have collected many scriptures over the last year and a half that have touched me and have helped me cope along the way.

My dream is to share them all with everyone at Renee's dedication ceremony.
Well last month, when referrals only arrived for 2 days worth of log in dates, I couldn't help it, but the despair creeped in. I didn't blog for a long while, because I just felt so "blah", I guess depressed is a better word! I just couldn't bring myself to write about what I was feeling.
During that time, I receive in the mail, a small card from my good friend Dee (who also happens to be the wife of our Pastor). On the front of the card was the following scripture:

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope..." Romans 15:13

Inside the card, Dee wrote another scripture that she said helped her through a difficult time in her life, when it was unclear whether she would be able to carry her last pregnancy to term.

"Lord when doubts fill my mind, when my heart is in turmoil, quiet me and give me renewed hope and cheer." Psalm 94:19

Oh how these scriptures helped "quiet and renew" me. Yes, as I've said before, there are days that I get very frustrated. The longing for my daughter just dosen't go away. But I am just keeping my eyes fixed on the Lord and doing my best day by day to keep the hope flowing.
Thanks Dee!!!

The CCAA Site Has Been Updated!

The CCAA must be back from vacation, as their site is now updated.

Thank you Rumour Queen for posting it first on your site.
I pray for my April 06 friends that the review date changes very soon as well!

Getting Closer Step By Step

Although the CCAA website still hasn't been updated yet, we know that referrals have gone out as of last week up to the LID of 11/1/05. We're finally through October!! Phew!!!!!!
If you visit the Rumour Queen's web site, you can find a link to the blogs of those who have received their referrals. Lot's of adorable babies!!!!!!
What does this mean to us?? Well, now there is only 142 LID's till 3/22/06.
How long will it take for the CCAA to get there? That's hard to say.
Right now it's at least an 18 month from LID wait. So the earliest we could receive Renee's referral would be September, but, if things continue at the same slow pace, that they have been, then we may not receive Renee's referral till 2008.
Yes the wait is long, it's frustrating, upsetting, etc, etc. but the bottom line is that we are in this for the long haul, no matter how long it takes. At the end of our journey will be our daughter Renee, so no matter how long the journey takes, she will be worth the wait!!!

Thank You Secret Pal!!!!!

Do we have an awesome secret pal or what??? For those who don't know what that means... I have a secret pal who every month sends me the most awesome gifts. Each month is a different theme that has been predetermined by the Yahoo "Marching Pandas" group I belong to. All of us are either DTC (Dossier To China) in March of 2006, or we are LID (Log In Date) in March of 2006. I happened to be both DTC (3/6/06) as well as LID (3/22/06)in March of 06. I've been part of the secret pal swap now since last year, and I have an awesome secret pal, who always out does herself!!
See above at the awesome gifts she has sent me this month. The theme was lady bugs and pandas. Note first on top are lady bug and panda bibs. Between the bibs is the most beautiful skirt for Renee. I giggle every time I hold it up, thinking how wonderful it will be to one day dress Renee in it. Below are a stuffed lady bug, stuffed panda, lady bug toy, and a mesh bag with lady bug suction cups that you use in the bathtub to hold all of Renee's bath toys. Way too cool!! Wait but there's more!!! There's a silverware set in the green plastic package with the panda on it, and I didn't notice this at first, but inside is a child size pair of chop sticks, wow wee!!!! There's also a panda wash cloth and last but never least, my secret pal always sends me a beautiful home made card. This one has lady bugs on it (of course).
I am so lucky. I look forward to the day that my secret pal reveals herself to me. I hope to remain in touch with her for years to come as we finally receive our daughters and can one day tell them about how we met and the wonderful gifts we shared.