Turkey Trot And A Trophy

Saturday morning, Pauly and I got up early and headed out for the Towamincin Turkey Trot 5K. Poor Judy was too sick to run this year...but hopefully next year, we will both be jogging with our little ones in strollers!

Holy Cow! Was it cold out that morning! 25 degrees to be exact. We registered early and as we were sitting in the car waiting for the race to begin, we kept asking ourselves..."Why are we doing this again? Are we crazy or something?"

Yup...we're crazy. We ran a 5K in 25 degree weather! I swear, I blew my nose 900 billion times during the run. 25 degrees is the type of cold that makes your nose just run and run and run. If I could have run as fast and as hard as my nose, I think I would have won the race!

In the end, Pauly came in 33rd out of 338 runners (woohoo), and I came in 291 out or 338 runners (not totally last!). FABULOUS for Pauly and not bad for me.

Even though I brought up the rear in this race AND the last 5K we ran...Pauly thought I deserved a trophy for effort...so he had one made for me.

My trophy! How important does it look? Looks like I REALLY won something, huh? It says my name and "First 5K" and the date of my first 5K race. How flippin' sweet is my husband?

Pauly and me all bundled up at the Turkey Trot. This picture was taken post-race, about 5 minutes after I crossed the finish line...so hence the reason I look like I am about to keel over!

After Church today, Pauly spent the day like he usually spends his Sundays...doing laundry and watching football. I spent the day putting together a piece of furniture we bought for the kitchen about 9 months ago and never took out of the box. It is a really big cabinet/buffet/bookshelf thingy...so it took me from 12:30pm to about 4:30pm to finish it! Whew! It feels so good to have that box out of the playroom, and all my things put away where they belong. It even has glass doors so I can display my collection of teapots!

Well, I am off to watch Iron Chef Thanksgiving Challenge! Goodnight all!

UPDATE AND OUR HEARING DATE!!!

Oh my gosh...I can hardly contain my excitement!!!

First we found out that our hearing date is scheduled for 12-18-2008...the first step in bringing our beautiful baby girl home.

Then...as if that wasn't fabulous enough...we got updated pictures and video of our little peanut. She is a whopping 11 lbs as of Halloween and is now 22 inches long!

Is she not the cutest thing ever?
Well we think so!

What a great day!

National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month. I know it is already most of the way through the month...but hey...I have been a little busy being excited about OUR adoption to get around to posting about it.

So what does adoption mean to me?

Well, having grown up with two of my three sisters being adopted has made adoption just a natural thing to me. Stephanie and Kira have always been just my sisters, just like Meridith is just my sister. It never mattered that Meridith and I shared DNA...it just mattered that we were all family.

When Stephanie came to visit me earlier this year we went to get manicures and pedicures at a local nail salon. As were were sitting in the chairs relaxing the woman doing Steph's pedicure said "Are you two sisters?". We answered with a simple "yup". The woman then said "I could tell, you look alike".

So I know what you are thinking, anyone who doesn't know me and/or Stephanie...but we DO NOT LOOK ALIKE AT ALL. In fact, Steph is short, and I am tall, Steph as blond hair, I have brown hair, and so on and so forth. But I know why the woman thought we looked like sisters...because we are. Sisters have that "thing", that closeness that other people can just see..."yup...those people HAVE to be related".

That is how it should be.

Adoption has also added wonderful family members to Paul's side of the family. Cousin Danny, Cousin Lily, and Cousin Ben. None of their families would be complete without each and every one of them.

And of course...our Olivia Hsin-Hua.
It is amazing that after looking at three little pictures, and one 45 second video...you can just KNOW that someone is a complete and perfect fit for your family. We haven't met Olivia Hsin-Hua yet, but that doesn't matter. She is family. She is our daughter, and we are her parents. From the minute we got that phone call on October 13, 2008 and for the rest of our lives, that little girl will be OUR little girl!

And I know that I have done my share of bitching about how long and miserable this wait has been. We went through the trials of starting with one country and having to switch to another...but MY GOODNESS am I happy that we chose this way to complete our family! I just can't wait to finish the last leg of this crazy trip and get that kid home :-)

So in summary...ADOPTION ROCKS!!!

Busy Bee and A New Baby

Who ? Uh, ME!

Yup...I have those nesting ants in my pants again.

The good news this time is that my daughter ACTUALLY exists now, and she will actually be here soon.

So I really do have some preparing to do.

So first, on Thursday night, I had this overwhelming desire to reorganize my sewing room. It has kind of become the catch all place for what needs to get "taken care of". So in addition to all my unfinished craft projects, it also holds the bags of clothes for goodwill, bags of clothes for consignment (I will likely give up and donate them...but some are really nice, and others are brand new, and I want to at least pretend I will make some money from them), and a million other messes.

Well, now it is organized and fantastic. Everything is where it belongs, and I even have room to start the piles of Christmas presents as they are purchased!!!

Saturday morning we started the Christmas shopping and got about 3/4 done by the end of the day. PHEW that feels good. I was starting to stress a bit.

I also got 4 more pairs of jeans hemmed so they can be worn. (BTW...who the heck are they making jeans for these days anyway...I am 5 foot 7, so on the tall side and these jeans I had were like 6 inches too long. Who knows!)

This morning I scrubbed the shower grout, dismantled the shower faucets to clean them, and washed the bathroom curtains, shower curtain and bathmat.

Then, I cleaned out and organized the laundry room and finally reorganized and rearranged the entire playroom since it had been arranged to cater to Maudee, since she was the kid that was here the most. The play table (mine from when I was a kid) is going back in the attic for a few years, the bookshelf with TV was arranged in the corner where the cable hookup is and the baskets for toys are all set up and ready to go.

Let me tell you, on a side note, we need NO more stuffed animals. It's funny because I am really not a stuffed animal person anyway...but we have like a million. We have some of our favorites from when we were kids, some that have been gifts, and a trillion beanie baby type animals from all over the country. Two trunk type baskets full is a little excessive as far as I am concerned. I think I will need to pack away at least half for right now. Then when the ones that are out are worn out, we will get rid of them, and switch them out for the ones previously packed away. Otherwise, there will be no room for any other toys than stuffed animals, and that doesn't seem right :-)

It feels AWESOME that I have accomplished so much, but let me tell you, I AM TIRED!

I'm sitting here waiting for Pauly to come home so we can go get dinner!!! We heard about this tavern in Chestnut Hill on the food network that serves a sandwich of Thanksgiving leftovers all year. YUP, we need to go have that TONIGHT...so that is where we are going.

After dinner, my plan is to take a long, hot bubble bath...and pass out for the night.

Keep your fingers crossed that we hear word of our hearing this week and that we get updates on Olivia Hsin-Hua. I don't know about you, but I am DYING to know if that child has some more hair and some eyebrows!!!

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Also, in belated news...exactly one month to the day after we recieved our referral, Rachel and Patrick had their second child Ryan...a beautiful and healthy baby boy, and little brother for Jack!!! Congratulations guys!!!

Me holding Ryan.

Jack and his new little brother...doesn't he look excited!

Heather Brings Up The Rear!

This past Friday night we had the pleasure of getting dinner at the Fireside Bar and Grille with Rosie, Ray and their ADORABLE daughter Hannah!!! Oh my goodness is she the happiest and cutest baby!

Saturday morning, Ray met us at our house at about 8am so we could leave for my very first race ever. A 5k that benefited Autism research. I haven't run in a month, so I was woefully out of shape. I figured this was a good way to jump start myself back into the swing of things. OUCH is all I have to say. My legs are still in agony! I finished the race, but with only a handful of people behind me :-( I need to get back into shape so we are ready for the Turkey Trot with Craig and Judy in two weeks!!!

Pauly on the other hand finished 5th overall in the race and was 1st in his age group!!! Wow! He makes me so proud! He has been so dedicated to this "new us" with eating healthy and working out. I let the excitment of our referral totally derail me...but not my Pauly! He hasn't missed a day of running and weight lifting!!! He likes to ask me "how do I get up everyday and look THIS good"? I don't know honey! You really do look good :-) Here Pauly is with his medal!

Saturday afternoon we went and bought our video camera! I am so excited! First of all, it is super simple and I have already shot video of the furry people. Maybe I will film a "wild kingdom" like documentary of the life of the two FREAKS in fur that live in my house to practice with my new toy. The SUPER awesome part about it is that we only paid about $150 for the camera, extra battery AND case because I plan ahead, and we have been asking for Best Buy gift cards for every holiday for the last 2 years!!! WOOHOO!!! Now all we need to do is get to Taiwan to have a little peanut to video tape!

We also finished purchasing the items for Olivia Hsin-Hua's first care package. This month (tomorrow actually) we will be sending a one-time use video camera, 2 disposable cameras, and 3 pairs of PJ's...one that says I love my Daddy, one with cats on them, and the last with bears on the feet.

We also got a sweet surprise in the mail from my sister Meridith...a pink Teddy Bear for Olivia. When Meridith was little she had a white bear named Ted. She loved him like I love my Sugar Bunny. What is really special is that this pink bear looks an awful lot like Ted! Thanks Meridith...Olivia Hsin-Hua will LOVE it!

In final news...we are all sitting on pins and needles waiting for baby McG #2 to be born sometime this week!!! We can't wait to see if it will be a new BFF for Olivia Hsin-Hua or a new boyfriend!!!

Checking In

Well, our paperwork was sent off to Taiwan last week, and now all we have to do is wait to see when our hearing will be scheduled. From this point on, we have one milestone at a time to reach...and the finish line could be just about anywhere depending on when and how fast we reach every milestone before it.

We are hoping to have an update on Olivia Hsin-Hua sometime in the next week or two. So stay tuned for new pics and video!!!

We have also collected a few things to send in our first care package to Olivia Hsin-Hua. Once it is all together and ready to go...I will take pics and post them.

IN VERY BIG NEWS...I would like to send a big fat shout out to my peep, my homey, my girl, and my BFF (mentioned in the previous post for the awesome goodies she sent for our baby girl)...JULES GOT HER REFERRAL!!!!! Her daughter Hayden is just perfect! Big beautiful eyes, long legs (maybe she will be a runner) and the cutest little grin on her face!!! The best thing is...Hayden was also born in Chiayi City...just like Olivia Hsin-Hua. Maybe, just maybe they will be in foster care together, and Jules and I could travel together (Lisa R needs a referral lickety split JOH and TWCA...because we need her in on this trip too!!!).

So a BIG congrats to Jules and David!!! Your daughter is beautiful!!!
(And please cross your fingers, and send good vibes to Lisa R that her big day is soon...maybe today).