Shopaholic

My name is Shelley and I'm a shopaholic! I feel better already having admitted that. Today is now day 73 of our LOA wait. While sitting around today feeling sorry for myself I decided to take everything out of Ella Kate's closet just to see what I had. I knew it was alot. After clothing only boys for 13 years I was more than ready to shop for some cute girlie things. Well. shop I did. To excess? Um, yes, I think so. Especially now after I have taken it all out. Now this has been since July so it's not like I went out on a Saturday and came home with all of this stuff. Most of it is size 4, but there are some 5's for later ;-) Also, almost all of it was bought on sale. That being said, hubby still will not see this picture. It doesn't look like quite so much hanging in the closet, and in the drawers. Anyway, here it is.

socks and stuff

tutu's!

bows!

shoes

p.j.'s

swimwear

summer

more summer ;-)

dresses

fall/winter

Gasp! All of it!

I had so much fun shopping that I really had no idea that I had this much. Luckily I have a friend with a daughter that is a little younger, but smaller. She will get a lot of hand me downs. Or maybe we will get Ella a little sister down the line. I had a great time shopping, but I think I will stop. For now.

 To add to all of this, I also received this beautiful gift from my secret pal. Thank you so much. It really brightened my day and also arrived on Ella Kate's birthday. Her necklace will look so cute with any of these outfits!

Thank you so much. This will come to China with me!!

Day 71 :-(

These past few days have been incredibly hard. I am sad and I am really mad. This LOA wait is just awful. I just do not understand how this process works. Why are people that have LID after me already getting there LOA. It is not fair. I hate to complain because I know that there are people that have waited far longer than 71 days, but when I see people passing me by, AGAIN, it really gets me mad. I have to wonder how the system works over there. Why isn't there a system? Why don't they leave that office in the same order that they were logged in. Is that really such a difficult thing to accomplish? What do they do? Do they just throw them up in the air and whichever dossier lands on the desk is the lucky one? We have hit every holiday and delay possible and I am just pi$$ed. I am tired of waiting and I am sick of Ella not being with her family for another day of unfair waiting. And no one running any of this seems to care. I could go on and on about this and how unfair it all is, but it won't make a difference. Just having a really bad few days over here. Oh, and I just heard that they are having yet ANOTHER holiday over there. May something or other. Come on! We just want our daughter home.
 Sorry about all of the complaining today, just had to get it out.

Happy Birthday baby girl!!!!

 Right now it is a little after 8 a.m. in China. I hope Ella Kate woke up happy this morning. Today is her 4th birthday. I would guess that she doesn't know that her birthday is today. So sad. We had a cake sent to her and asked that it be delivered on or very near her birthday. We also sent a care package that she should have received last week. I hope that from this, she now knows that something is happening. I hope she had or will have a great little celebration, eating her cake with her friends. I really wanted to be there by her birthday. We are terribly sad that she is spending another birthday in an orphanage. On the bright side, this is it sweet pea! No more birthdays with our your family! We will have a little cake here tomorrow for her. I probably should have done it tonight, but I had my mind on the date here rather than in China. The orphanage also said that I will not get pictures of the party, but they will take some and give them to me on gotcha day. Sniff, sniff. I would love some pics of her party now, but the rules are the rules and I will wait patiently.
 In other news, we are on day 68 of our LOA wait. Really???? 68 days??? The first 60 days were no sweat. I fully expected to wait about 60 days. Truly hoping it would come in under that, but that did not happen. But now, if it is working hours, I jump every time my phone alerts me of an email. I have unsubscribed to so many companies that would send coupons or sale info via email. How dare they when I am on pins and needles waiting like this. And the phone, forget it. I get so mad if it is not THE call that I don't even answer it. Well, I would if it was school or the hubby, but that's it. Hopefully tomorrow will be the day. Ella's birthday here and LOA all on the same day would be fabulous!! Fingers crossed.

Birthday girl!!!!!!





Making some progress

We are making some progress, and that is great! We found out a couple of days ago that as of March 30 we were out of translation and "in process". It seems like our agency is expecting us to wait about another 5-6 weeks unti we have our LOA here. 3-4 weeks in review and another 2 weeks for the LOA to be issued or something like that. It is still a long ways away, but if it happens in that time frame I will be happy. I see these families that are waiting 100+days. not fair.
 I have been working on getting a care package together. I think I am done. I have some suckers for the kids, a small bag a candy for the nannies, a few outfits, a Pocahontas doll, a couple of hair things and a photo album. I really want her to get the photo album. I hope she does get the package and can share her things with her friends. I am also sending a cake for her 4th birthday :-( I am so sad tht she is spending another birthday without us, but this is the last one that she will spend in an orphanage. Now that makes this mama happy. Not sure if we will get pictures of the birthday party. I hope so, but am not expecting it after the changes to the way updates and photos are done. We will see.
 I have also been working on filling out the I800, I864w and the ds230. I am just about done and I will scan them to our agnecy so they can look them over and tell me what I screwed up on. Some of it is just a little confusing.

Here is a pic of the care package...

Here is another picture of our little beauty, Ella Kate. It looks like her left eye has a little bruise and was swollen. She is still beautiful, even injured and swollen. I love this girl so much. Can't wait to bring her home.

 Hope everyone has a Happy Easter. We will have a crawfish boil at my house. yummo!!!! I will hopefully make lots of desserts. I will also have a store bought just in case.

How cute is this??

So,I ordered this shirt about a week or so ago. how cute did this come out? I guess the thing that gets me the most about it is that it has Ella's name on it. Although her closet is full, having somethng with her name on it makes it different. Kind of like I am not just buying random items. I don't know. Probably doesn't make much sense, but when I saw it I just about cried. really cute and good work.

On another note, we are on day 37 of our LOA wait. Oh how I hope it comes quick. I want my girl home NOW.

Bunk beds are in.

Today is day 26 of our LOA wait. I seem to be okay with the wait up to this point. It gets to me every few days, but this is the stage that I know the wait time will be unpredictable.. I really thought the U.S. side should have moved faster and more efficiently. I hope that I am pleasantly surprised at how the other side works.
 We finally have Brandon and Evan's room painted and the bunk beds are in. Bunk beds should come with a warning that if you are not a world class athlete then putting the fitted sheet on the bottom bunk will wipe you out. Boy, was that a chore. After the beds came, I had to go out an get a new mattress for the top bunk. We were hoping that Brandon's twin mattress from his other bed would work, but it is a pillow top and he would have rolled right off of the bed. A quick trip to Sam's and the problem is solved. The boys just love the bed. Thank goodness.
 We also got our new T.V. stand.  It is really sold as a buffet for a dining room. I thought is was great looking and it is perfect for our den. The only problem is that it is a tad shallow, as it is made for plates, not t.v and stereo equipment. G drilled some well placed holes in the back for the wires to come through and we are good to go. I also could not have been happier with the sales lady at the store. She was not all over us the way the last one was. I was happy for her to get the commission on the sale.
 Here is a picture of the bed, before I got the new top mattress. That's why the top is not made up. Just as well. I was too tired from getting that fitted sheet onto the bottom. I am also adding a pic of our new T.V. stand. It looks a little small in the picture, but it is about 43 inches tall and 70 something wide.

Day 21 and waiting

Well as of today, we are 21 days into our LOA wait. Hoping the wait isn't long. We have been in the long line for everything with this adoption and I just hope this moves right along. Fast would be fantastic, but I would be tickled with an average wait of about 60 days or so. Please, please. please don't let this be one of those ridiculous waits.  I can't believe we are finally here and waiting for our LOA. It has been a long, long road so far. We first saw our beautiful girl July 5. I can't believe we are now in March.
 Well hubby took the day off tomorrow to paint the boys room. I spent the better part of the day taping the baseboard and around the doors. I think we will do Brandon's room , the hallway and the bathroom tomorrow and  this weekend and move on to Evan/Ella's and Jordans rooms next week. I'm going to have to say that taping up the baseboards has to take longer than the actual painting. On top of that my manicure is a total mess from running my fingers along that tape. The bunk bed (and new t.v. stand, yay) will be delivered Friday. I hope Evan doesn't get too upset giving up his room. We have told him that he would share a room with Brandon, but hearing it and the reality of it might be 2 different things. Evan is usually in my bed anyway so I don't know what he will do.
 Well, off to bed. Evan has speech early tomorrow and then we will help G paint as much as we can. To finish off the day I will go to dinner and do a little shopping with a friend. Great way to end the night.