5 days later...

and still no referral news. today and tomorrow are holidays in vietnam, so it will probably still be awhile.

This is a little video of when we went to Maui over thanksgiving. We did a really cool tour with lots of crazy ziplines. true, this isn't climbing a big wall in yosemite, but it was still really fun!

5 days still no word

i know, i know, i am supposed to be not expecting to hear anything for like 2 weeks, but now i am so excited i can't help thinking about it all the time.

but today and tomorrow were vietnamese holidays, so probably nothing for the next few days at least.

don't worry, i'll keep you posted.

I haven't put up any pictures in a while. We really haven't been up to anything exciting lately, but here are some more pictures of hawaii life

a glimmer of hope???

maybe? could it be?

I was at work today and got this email from our case worker

"Emilie,
We are currently working to get the medical and photos for your daughter from the new province. We are working on the licensing process, but am asking the for the medical to be realeased now. I hope to have the information soon. I will contact you with another update shortly."

so of course i immediately dissected every single word. "your daughter" it sounds like they have our baby! and the "contact you with another update shortly" part. what exactly does "shortly" mean. Like this afternoon, or like in 2 weeks? Cris is thinking at least 2 weeks. I think so probably too. I am now hoping for a mother's day referral. i think that is reasonable. that way i don't think every single day is "the day".

the adoption world wheels seem to be moving a little bit faster. There are several families in vietnam now, (I was soooo happy to finally hear from Susan, who i have "met" through adoption websites) and lots of people are getting closer to their travel approval.

a glimmer of hope???

maybe? could it be?

I was at work today and got this email from our case worker

"Emilie,
We are currently working to get the medical and photos for your daughter from the new province. We are working on the licensing process, but am asking the for the medical to be realeased now. I hope to have the information soon. I will contact you with another update shortly."

so of course i immediately dissected every single word. "your daughter" it sounds like they have our baby! and the "contact you with another update shortly" part. what exactly does "shortly" mean. Like this afternoon, or like in 2 weeks? Cris is thinking at least 2 weeks. I think so probably too. I am now hoping for a mother's day referral. i think that is reasonable. that way i don't think every single day is "the day".

the adoption world wheels seem to be moving a little bit faster. There are several families in vietnam now, (I was soooo happy to finally hear from Susan) and lots of people are getting closer to their travel approval.

First off..

Congratulations to Lyndsey and Alex who tag teamed their first full marathon - and did so in freezing cold windy weather. You guys are awesome! Hopefully you can come and run in the Honlulu Marathon sometime!

Cris and I have just been in our usual routine...work all day, come home and play with the dogs, sleep and then work again. We've both been working a lot lately, which is ok for now b/c it takes our mind off of the terrible waiting. We have officially been in the adoption game since October, so 6 months now, which really isn't too long considering some people wait 2 years or more to complete an adoption, but it still feels so long.
Oh, while i was writing this i just got an email from Katie, our case worker at the agency. it says

"For now, we are currently getting licensed in another area in Vietnam. The orphanage in which we will be working has many children needing homes, and we have been told that there are babies in the orphanage waiting for placement. We are already working on our license and should be up and running soon with the area. Gina should have more information available to me tomorrow, but I just wanted to give you all an immediate update."

sounds promising. maybe i will have more news tomorrow.

nothing exciting here....

just the same old thing.
some days i do great with waiting. some days i can go a whole 24 hours wihout obsessing. those days i think i am an expert waiter. if i had to wait until december for a referral i would be ok. that happens about 10% of the time. The other 90% i am obssessively waiting for something to happen. I am googling random things, trying to find out if something new is happening in the vietnam adoption world. I am reading the millions of vietnam adoption blogs, I am checking my email compusively, and looking to be sure the ringer is turned up on my phone. Between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. i think about nothing else (which could eventually become a problem since while all of this obsessing is occurring i am also delivering babies and doing c-sections, and kinda sorta need to be thinking about what i am doing and not obsessing over timelines and agencies and referrals). then after 4 p.m. i start thinking about how maybe at 9 a.m. the next day i will get a call or an email. i think i might actually drive myself insane. legitamately insane.
Fortunately i have been working a ton, so i can have little breaks from my obsessing. I'll work for a while then obsess for a while then work for a while then go back to obsessing...you get the picture. I don't know what I'll do once the little june-bug finally gets here.
I have gotten into the habit of making long extensive to-do lists. sometimes i put stupid things on it like "1. wake up". That way i have something i can check of in case nothing else gets checked off. But it gives me something to work on when i start driving myself crazy. I also put stuff on it that i know i won't do any time soon, but eventually need to do, like make a will.
There are a couple of things i'm looking forward to over the next few months.
1. my 2nd wedding anniversary on May 17. you can see pictures of our wedding at www.crisandemilie.com which was going to be the webiste we used for adoption, but blogging sites are so much easier to update than sites from scratch. warning, there are like a million pictures on that website.
2. Going home to ohio to see my awesome family. All of my sisters/brothers will be home. And i will get to meet Cecily, my new little neice due in early may.
3. Being done with my second year of residency. YEAHH!!! 1/2 way done. (that doesn't happen til June 30th, but i am still excited about it)
4. Getting a referral....oh wait, im obsessing again
5. hopefully ditching my 1991 Honda Civic and buying a nearly new Honda Odyssey
6. My little sis moving to Hawaii to go to the university this summer

thinking about all of those awesome things (especially Number 4....oh wait i'm obsessing again) already makes me feel better about waiting and gives me lots of good things to look forward to.

I'd love to hear what you guys did to pass the time...some of you have lists on your blogs, but i'm open to new ideas to pass the time!

adoption news...

is sparse. I emailed our case manager yesterday to check in on things. We have been #1 on the list for a referral since January, and we were anticipating a referral in 1-2 months, (feb or march) but now it is mid-april, and still no referral. we are getting kind of tired of waiting, but there is so much that has to happen in order for an international adoption to become a reality. Right now our agency is only working with 1 small orphanage. After talking to our case manager, i found that they are sponsoring a second, larger orphanage in a different province in Vietnam. They are very hopeful that our referral will come from this new orphanage, but of course, things take time. So we are still in the waiting game. but don't worry, we will keep you posted as soon as anythign exciting happens.

email wars....

uggh. i am so tired of waiting. i know i have barely started the waiting game compared to some of my blogger buddies, but it feels so torturous because all the way back in January we were told there wa s a referral and we were just waiting for medicals. that fell through. now it is april and still no referral. We have been #1 for three months, and still no news.
anyway, i have been doing ok with the waiting, but every so often i go totally freaking insane. adn sometimes when i am insane i email our agency. that is a really really not good idea. maybe this has happened to you...you start writing the email, and it sounds fairly sane, then the frustration and dissappointment starts to build and the email gets a little ugly, then more frustration and more ugliness, then you just hit send, and it's too late to go back. yeah, so that happened to me yesterday.
our case manager actually took it pretty well (she's probably used to crazy prospective AP's), and then i had to do damage control and write a really nice email about how much i appreciate her working her hardest and that kind of thing.
anyway, long story short the referrals are slooowwww from the orphanage they are workign with (i don't know if maybe a lot of agencies are working with this orphanage), so they are working on getting licensed in another province and working with 2 orphanages. which is good news, but i'm sure all of this will take time time time time time time....
In blogging news, i have been visiting all my favorite blogs, but now that i read somwhere around 1,250,678,309 blogs, i haven't been commenting on anyone's blogs...sorry, i'm such a taker, not a giver. BUT i did want to give a shout out to Susan who will finally get to see her beautiful Lily Ana, and celebrate her first real mother's day with her baby girl. Congratulations Susan! you give me hope that one day i will actually have a referral, and a travel date, and a baby girl.

wonderful wednesdays...

I love wednesdays. Mostly because I only have to work 1/2 day on Wednesdays (at least for the next couple of months). Also because Lost comes on. Admittedly this show has become increasingly terrible since the first season. and yet i watch, hoping that it will start to get better. so today i was feeling so good i actually went for a run. recreationally. well, sort of recreationally. It all comes back to this Army thing. Every 6 months we have to take a PT test to be sure we aren't getting too horribly out of shape. So about 2 weeks before the PT test I start running and doing push ups. Then i kinda stop until the next PT test rolls around. It's a vicious cycle.
Life is otherwise pretty normal. I got Juneau on the waiting list for day care at the hospital. It is actually months long, so i am hoping we'll be able to get her in by fall (all of this is assuming we even have her by fall). It would be so awesome to have her in Day Care so close to me. Just 3 floors below the clinic. The day care workers are super nice, and said it would be great if i stopped by throughout the day.
26 days left in April. I'm really hoping that all of us with dreams of an April referral (which are actually leftover dreams of a March referral) will be getting some vey good news in the next few weeks. And I'm also sending good thoughts for those waiting for TA's this month. I've been really really excited to see some TA's given over the last few days. hmmm... i think back to the days i didn't even know what a TA was. Blissful ignorance.

Cousins

There are many fun times ahead for the Stickley Baby and her cousins. So far she has five cousins. The Matus gang (Alex, Lyndsey, and Brent), and the Alford's (Kaleb and Hope). There is one more cousin on the way (yet to be named Baby Girl Saccenti, due in May).

The Matus Gang
Alex is in the 3rd grade. She loves running, and will be running in her first half marathon in 2 weeks with her sister. She has already participated in several triathlons, and also plays in basketball and indoor soccer leagues. She is a serious Buckeye fan.
Lyndsey is also in the 3rd grade. She is also an avid runner, triathlete, basketball and soccer player. She will be running the first 1/2 of the Toledo marathon in 2 weeks, before handing off to Alex to finish the second 1/2. Last year she won her age group for the Chicago Kid's Triathlon.






Brent is 5 years old, and will start kindergarten in the fall. He is already showing his talent in playing the drums. He is a funny little guy, who is full of personality. His favorite movie is Cars, especially Lightning McQueen.

The Alfords




Kaleb is 6 years old. He is a big sports fan, and loves watching and playing all kinds of sports. His favorite team is the Florida State Seminoles. Kaleb is a really fun kid with a great imagination. He is an awesome big brother.















Hope is 3 years old. She is extremely cute and funny. She loves to play with her dollies and in her little kitchen. She also loves to 'shake her booty' (which she learned from grandpa)













We love our awesome nieces and nephews!

Hello April...

Well, no March referral. But that means DEFINATELY an april referral is on it's way (wishful thinking perhaps, but we will just go with it). Seems like there were hardly any March referrals. Of all the blogs I read (and I am embarrassed to say how many that actually is) i don't think I saw any March referrals. So maybe April will be a big month for all of us who are waiting to see our babies for the first time. I don't know how you guys who have been waiting for months and months for a referral do it! I am already going crazy, and we have really only been waiting for 2 months. But we've been #1 on the girl list for 2 months, so it's getting a little frustrating.
This weekend we went to one of those Mixed Martial Arts fights. Looking for George's McHusband actually fought in one of these this weekend. Yikes.
Nothing big planned for the next couple of weeks. I'm planning on going home to Ohio for a visit in May. I can't wait. All of the sibs will be there (I have 2 sisters and 2 brothers) and I can't WAIT to see them. Living in a Hawaii has put a little damper on getting to hang out with the fam. which is really the only bad thing about living here (other than the horrific traffic).