Florida bound for the weekend

I am off to Jacksonville, FL this weekend to see this pretty lady....Krista and I have been friends since middle school. She is pregnant with TWINS, and in this picture she is at the end of 21 weeks. She is due at the beginning of October. She is expecting a BOY and a GIRL and right now they are known as Sweetpea and Peanut since the names are a secret.

I mailed all the items for the shower this weekend since I am flying down for the quickest visit ever...arrive tonight at 10:15pm them home again on Sunday afternoon...and thankfully everything arrived intact--even the diaper cake!

Be back next week, have a great weekend!!

Adoption Pictures

These were taken by a friend of mine, Lisa who I used to work with....thank you Lisa for such an amazing gift. There are many more, but these are some of the highlights!! We can't wait for the day when we get to take our daughter to play at this park.

Winston

Was introduced to this blog today....http://www.jessicaclaire.net/ ...and wish we had the same 'baby' pictures to share.

Meal Plan Monday

It's Monday, again....here is our plan for the week!! I am excited to have a few meals where we are eating out, then hubby is on his own while I am off to Florida for the weekend to help with the baby shower for my best friend!! She is expecting twins (boy and girl), and we are all ready to shower them with love.

Monday: Rockfish and tomatoes in the oven with rice and broccoli

Tuesday: Out with Deb (hubby on his own)

Wednesday: Dinner with Adele

Thursday: Spaghetti with meat sauce

Friday: I leave for Florida : )

Saturday: Florida

Sunday: Hope to make it home for a dinner date with hubby after my weekend away

Have a great week, it will be nice and easy cooking here!! :)

Adoption Update

Our I-800A application is officially in the mail and off to Texas!! We received our approved and notarized homestudy in the mail yesterday, and I wasted NO time getting everything put together to be sent via Fed-Ex this morning. I mean after all, the form was filled out, the check was made out, and the certificate copies were made....I was more than ready! Right now they are telling us the wait time is 35-40 days for turnaround time. I have a photographer scheduled for July 31st to take some lifestyle shots of us, and something to document our journey. We had our passport pictures taken on Friday, and I need to remember to pick them up...there are a few forms left to update, but we are very, very close to having everything we need for our dossier. I can't wait to be DTC!!!

Feeling a little OLD...

I have seen a few blogs over the past few days posting '30 before 30', where you post a list of 30 things to do before you are 30 years old....I thought wow, that sounds like fun. I wonder what I would post? Travel to Asia, tour a west coat winery, advance in my career?? Then wait, it hit me....I am 32....does this mean I have to post a '40 before 40' list?! UGH....

Meal Plan for the week

Monday: GNO---Ava's with Brooke

Tuesday: Shrimp and tomato and feta cheese salad

Wednesday: Shrimp and fresh pasta with pesto

Thursday: BLTs with tater tots

Friday: tuna with mashed potatoes and vegetables

Saturday: Charthouse with Bennett and his wife....a FB reconnection from Elementary School!! : )

Sunday: spaghetti with meat sauce

Have a great week!! We had a nice weekend....enjoyed a ~10 mile bike ride up on Kent Island on the Cross Island Trail. It was beautiful riding along the water and in the trees. Much prettier than we anticipated. This is a new find and something we will go back to for sure! I wish I had my camera with me to post pictures....next time!

Adoption Update...

We have been in the process of gathering paperwork to adopt a little girl from China for a little over a year now...it is a LONG tedious process but I know that it will be worth it in the end when we are holding our daughter in our arms one day. However, that day seems to be further and further away every day. It's hard for me. Todd and I are the type of people that we will analyze something to the nth degree...then once we make up our mind we are READY! When we started the paperwork process we were told 3-5 years...we then went to a conference that told us they were hopeful that the wait time would shorten to 18 months again...now we are being told 7-10 years. Really?! 7-10 years???!! That's just insane to me. And, to make matters worse our home study agency is taking their sweet little time getting this home study complete AND the international agency is being very picky about the wording they would like to see...I am trying to stay level headed and calm...but really I just want to bang both of their heads together and tell them to just get this done.

We've been working on our homestudy since September 2009...it's just the 2 of us in the household...nothing fancy to us either....now I have NOT met the dossier submission log in date with my international agency and have to go 'on hold' until I have all the paperwork gathered. Once we get the homestudy approved we can apply for the I-800A...but in addition to that I have other paperwork that has to be updated....this is a long journey, it's heartbreaking, and there are times I don't feel like I have anyone other than Todd to turn to....I long for our daughter from China. I feel this is what we are meant to do in life....we are fortunate enough to supply a warm, loving, caring home for a child in need....but why does it have to be this hard????

Good news is that today the social workers have communicated and they hope to have some resolution to the home study by the end of the week..fingers crossed!!

Meal Plan

This is a little late in the week....but I will be linking up with Meal Plan Monday....check it out for other meal plans!!

Tuesday-Taco night
Wednesday-leftover roast chicken with fresh pasta and marinara sauce
Thursday-St.Michaels concert picnic...tomato, mozzarella, basil and proscuitto sanwiches and fruit
Friday-shrimp and heirloom tomato salad with feta cheese and balsamic dressing
Saturday-spaghetti with meat sauce
Sunday-shrimp with fresh pasta and pesto sauce

Have a great week!

Our weekend in Charleston

The other weekend, we flew to Charleston to stay with Nick and Cory who are expecting their first baby in August. It's a GIRL and her name will be Lucy Ryan McBee. We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend with such good friends and their families...here are a few shots from the festivities...

The Tearoom in Summerville, SC that had the BEST Sunday brunch

Todd and Nick escaping cleaning inside and spending some 'quality time' together

Presents for baby Lucy

The delicious food and diaper cake by the fabulous hostesses and Cory's Mom

Nick and Cory...the happy parents to be!!

Todd and Whitney...friends from college. Whitney is getting married in October, we can't wait!!

Nick, Cory, Me and Todd

Dinner at Magnolia's in Charleston....right after they asked us to be Lucy's Godparents. We were so honored and Nick brought tears to both mine and Todd's eyes when he asked us. We were very happy and shocked all at the same time. Lucy...we can't wait to meet you and share such a special part of your life with you. You will be one loved little girl!!

Thank you Nick and Cory for a great weekend....