False rumor

Ok, the first rumor has been confirmed as a mistake.  Breath.  We're back to waiting. 

Ug, an icky rumor

Rumor yesterday that the UK says the next batch is Apr. 30th.  Really hoping this one isn't real. 

Piano Recitals

So proud of our girls.

Lili's video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ItZ7ZwFW-0

Fei's video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDiYjKxnHxc

Nothing

It's not time for rumors but the nothing is hard.  How many times a day is reasonable to check Rumor Queen?

We went with friends for a walk at Holland Creek and it was really lovely there.  When we got home I was rushing around getting the kitchen cleaned, feeding animals, organizing the next day and then looked at my family all reading and it was just so sweet and calm.  Calm is good now that Isabel is around, we treasure the calm moments!

Walking Isabel

In our effort to train Isabel asap we've been out walking almost everyday.  We've been on quite a few fabulous hikes lately.  Making an effort to see as much of our valley as we can.  We visited an old Chinese graveyard last week and it was really quite lovely. 

RQ projections are out

RQ projections are up and she has us as next!  So, so exciting.  We're starting to think this might actually happen after all these years.  Amazing.  Surreal.  Reminder, we're log in date May 8. 

We went bike riding yesterday with friends, exploring more of the Cowichan trail.  Then home and visit/play with friends.  Dinner out and another walk with the dogs.  We're clearly clueless about how to get Miss Isabel to walk nicely on the leash.  She's growing really fast and walking her is getting harder with all of her pulling.  She does much better off leash, but that's just not a good idea yet.  She's still so unpredictable.  On the up side we're really exploring our areas trails and hikes and we're all really enjoying that.  Eric is riding today and the girls and I are planning to go see a matinee of the new Shrek.  

Kinsol trestle

We've been trying to walk Isabel every day.  Last night Eric took us to see the Kinsol trestle.  Very cool.  Two hour hike was quite the adventure.  Isabel did it though.  Miss Lacie required a lift for about 20mins near the end.  Eric took the picture with his cell. 

New kid in Fei's class

There is a new girl in Fei's class.  It's her first week and she is creating chaos already.  I've been telling the girls for two days to just stay away from her.  Today I came home and they ran to me to tell me that the new girl told N, who told L, who told S, who told Fei that she thinks Fei is stupid because she is Chinese.  I'm spitting mad about the incident.  I get that she's had problems at her other school, that she's new and likely scared etc. but racial hatred from such a young child is simply intolerable.  She didn't come up with that on her own.  I don't relish meeting her family!  Apparently she has already been sent to the office but the girls don't know for sure what for.  Nice way to end the school year.  Sadly Fei wasn't the only target, the kid has issues with skin color and was just as awful to other minority children.  So...how do I proceed people?  What would you do if it was your child?     

Nextish

Lili and friends dancing at the school fun fair, she's in the middle.

Goldstream, first camping trip out in 2010

Fei, dancing the Sword Dance, she's wearing red, in the middle.

Lili, dancing the Lilt, she's wearing green, on the right.

Fei watching the big girls dance while resting on Grampa.

It's official, the next cut off date was April 26/2006. Arg. So, there are now 11 calendar dates ahead of us, two of them business days in China. Who knows what will happen next. I wish I could say we're next, maybe I can say there is a good chance we're nextish.


The girls fun fair at school was on Friday. They had a great time. Lili danced in the variety show with four of her classmates. I'm so proud of her for doing things like that. No fear. After the show we picked up the dogs and headed out for our first camping weekend of the summer. We got there late and Isabel was out of sorts. The kids had a snack and went right to bed. There were five kids in our group and they had a great time playing hard all day. Lili and Fei were counting days on the calendar this morning, they're ready for summer holidays, they want to get back to more camping. Isabel accepted being anchored to the ground and sleeping in her crate. It went better with her than we anticipated. We came home early Sunday, the girls had a birthday party to attend and then we ended the weekend at their dance recital. Again, so proud of them.  What a busy weekend. 

Looking like Apr. 26

It's looking like the next cut off is April 26th, one day less then the worst case guess from RQ.  Arg.  But on the bright side, it's 5 more calendar days off our 16.   Now thoughts are that the next batch will finish April in the July batch and the early May folks won't start until Aug.  Either way it would be a summer match and we can live with that.  I'm a little sad that a miracle isn't likely to happen this week but happy to see referrals coming out for families right on schedule.  It's always a happy time to watch the announcements roll in.

Just came to my attention

A rumor was just on RQ that a large agency reports CCAA is matching right now.  We usually see the next referral batch soon after this rumor.  Someone else posted how many log in dates were ahead of them and I then I did a mental count, which is 16.  Seems so huge.  No way we could possibly be soon.  Then I went to a 2006 calendar and did the counting...of those 16 days, 11 were weekends and holidays in 2006.  There are only 5 log in dates to be matched ahead of us!!!!!  OMGosh.  I didn't realize we were 'that' close.  Breathe.  This is getting sooooo exciting.

Poor wee Isabel

I can only say that for a little while.  Poor little thing was spayed yesterday.  She was woozy, vomiting, dizzy and walking into things.  She was dog tired and slept most of the day.  Unfortunately for Eric she was up at 4.  Today she is more like herself but obviously has a sore tummy. 

It's mine and Eric's 18th wedding anniversary.  I don't recall a year that we had our anniversary at home, but for Isabel we kept things pretty low key.  I took today off work and we spent the day together and that was nice and peaceful.  Any time without kids is peaceful.  This morning Eric woke me up with chocolate cake in bed.  Pretty exciting, he knows me so well.  The kids were floored that they were getting chocolate cake for breakfast!  Tonight Lili and I set the dinning room up with the good dishes and finery, lit candles and put on background piano music.  It was lovely.  Kids didn't realize that they've never had dinner with us on our anniversary and were somewhat touched to be included.   We should use the dinning room more often.

So, no more adoption news.  I check several times a day now.  Seriously obsessing now.