Even better than a mega-mail Monday...

... is a post-holiday, post-mail-hold Monday! We stopped by the post office on our way back into town with a cute little tote bag to carry our mail from the past week and left instead with a huge corrugated postal tote. I'm still sorting through all the catalogs and magazines, but I did quickly find the three really important pieces of mail:

(1) letters from our doctor stating that we are of good health (the last pieces of documentation needed for our home study update)

(2) November gift from our Dec DTC Secret Pal. This month's theme is mealtime accessories and our secret pal covered ALL the necessities -- sippy cups, a bib, utensils and two kinds of lidded bowls! All of it very much appreciated by us newbie parents!


(3) November gift from our Jan DTC Secret Pal. This month's theme is favorite children's music. Our pal sent a terrific cd with all the classics like B-I-N-G-O, The Bear Went Over the Mountain and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, a darling ladybug jewelry case (thank goodness -- a place to keep the little doo dads that have been accumulating on Nora's shelf!) and two Suzy's Zoo board books.


Thank you very much to our two fantastic secret pals and also to our doctor for getting those letters out so quickly!

Good Morning China!

I've written before about an amazing organization called Half the Sky Foundation, which is dedicated to improving orphanage care in China. Please take a minute to visit their site, read their story and donate if you are able. They also have a small online store that sells, among other things, this terrific limited edition picture book by the artist Hu Yong Yi. The illustrations are gorgeous. It is - I'm sure you've guessed - the latest addition to Nora's library.

Keeping Count

My Chinese is not good, but I can count to ten and today is our ten month LID anniversary!! This time last year I really thought we'd be in China for Thanksgiving this year. Now it looks like we'll be lucky to be there next summer. Things don't always go as planned, do they? The good news, I guess, is that perhaps Nora can wear that cute little Christmas dress next year.

While I'm practicing numbers, here's another one for you:It is yi1 bai3 - one hundred - and this is my 100th post to this blog!

Now that I'm thinking about it, I really should pack the Chinese CDs for our Thanksgiving car trip. That would be a good opportunity to get in a little practice.

Worth a read

I was just on the Rumor Queen's site for my daily visit and found a really helpful post about transitions and attachment. Please check it out -- click here.

A little reading material

I've set aside Barack Obama's book (fully intending to go back and finish!) to read the latest addition to our parenting bookshelf, Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew. I've just started, so if anyone else out there is thinking of reading it and wants to play book club, let me know!

While we were at Border's, I also picked up a couple of new additions for Nora's library. I'm putting a greater emphasis on board books now, since those are the ones that she'll get to "read" first. I always liked dog books when I was little, so I'm hoping that Nora will like them too!

WOO HOO!!!!!

According to the CCAA's (China Center of Adoption Affairs) website, documents logged in during the month of January 2006 are now out of review --- this means that we have PASSED CHINA'S REVIEW and are one step closer to Nora! Hang on, baby, we'll be there as soon as we can!