Thank You Karen!

I am so lucky!! I also feel so bad that I haven't posted!!
Thursday, March 22nd, was our 1 Year Log In Date Anniversary .
On that day, I had a busy day scheduled at work. My partner and colleague Karen and I were presenting all day educational sessions to the nurses where we work. We had been working on this project for the last 2 months, and were finally seeing it to fruition!!
Well when I arrived at work that Thursday morning, Karen handed me the above package!
If you'll notice the Lindt chocolates attached!! They were (operative word being were) lady bugs and bugs in general, and were delicious. No, I didn't eat them all myself, John helped :-)!
Inside the package was a lady bug wind sock!!!! that you see above. As soon as John get's a new flag pole (the last one cracked in the wind several months ago) this wonderful wind sock will be flowing in the breeze in front of our home!! Thank you so much Karen. You don't realize how much you have helped me over the last several months. You've kept me sane!!!!!!
Also, a special thank you to Karen's son Bobby, who created the page on the package with the cute picture of the lady bug. You are awesome buddy!!!!!

Would You Believe It's Almost One Whole Year!?!

Take note of the little lady bug above that has been slowly making it's way through the tulips:-).
In 3 days it will be our 1 year LID anniversary. How surreal that feels. I remember counting one month, two months, three.... wow now it's going to be 12 months since we were logged in.
On the bright side we are definitely through the review room, hurray!!! On the not so bright side....how much longer do we have to wait ? The average wait is now up to about 17 months from LID and still climbing. How do I feel about that?? Sometimes I get so angry I want to scream. Sometimes just a few tears make their way down my cheeks when no one is looking.
Both John and I are trying so hard to be patient. We know that the Lord is in control and that everything will work out for His glory. With that being said, that dosen't mean we both are not longing so much for the day we bring our daughter home. And sometimes that longing just takes my breath completely away.
Another frustrating thing, is that we need to reapply for immigration approval, as it will probably expire before we receive Renee's referral. That means another $685.00, not to mention a home study update which includes another set of physicals, PPD's, financial forms.
Oh, and another set of finger prints.
Well, it's time to get to bed, as I hit the ground running at 5:30am, so good night and I'll be back soon!

I know It's Been Awhile!

It's been a rough couple of weeks. After John's Mom's funeral, I just started to feel really, really stressed. That culminated to chest pain that landed me in the hospital at the end of February. We thank God that everything was fine, but that was a wake up call to us both to try to make sure we live healthily, and to try to handle stress better.
We received the paperwork yesterday to reapply to the USCIS for approval as ours will probably expire before we receive Renee's referral.
Good news!! March is completely out of the review room.
More to come.....