Nothin' much...

Don't have much to update anyone on. We are in total Recital mode right now. Taking pictures of the dancers in their costumes, and Gary is busy doing the dvd's from the May show, and the music for the Recital. Gary is busy uploading and taking the pictures for the Recital and all in all we are just getting ready for the show. Looking forward for it to be over. I have 153 dancers and 29 dances in the Recital and I finally have them all organized and still working out the kinks with a couple of the dances to make sure they are ready. Same stuff different year.

We took a group of our senior dancers to a Broadway show last night. The musical "Movin' Out" was in Syracuse and we took them to see it. It was GIt was the 6th time Gary & I have seen the show and it was still amazing and inspiring.

We are wanting to start the nursery but are going to have to wait until after the Recital. That's only 11 days away. I have scrapbook pages and announcements I want to get done and send out but everything is wrapped up right now with the business.

I feel as if I'm learning more this year than any other year that I've had my business and been a dancer/choreographer. I feel more centered in a way with my dancing. But also not because our personal life is so up in the air, with the wait for Avery, it's definite but it's not, and it's frustrating as usual. But as a dancer I feel like I know what is important to me. All of the emotions from the adoption stirred up all of these ideas and movements and really made me realize what's important. I am knowing what I can change and what I can't and where to place all of that energy now. My choreography stemmed from a different place this year, it was hard for me some days to come up with the choreography because of all the frustration, but then when I could break through that, the choreography that did come out I am truly happy with. In my 29 years of dancing I have never been truly happy with much of my work but this year I am truly happy with a lot of it and the journey that went along with it. I know the process of the adoption and the frustrations, and happy thoughts and days where I was really depressed and everything contributed to the work I put out this year. They say it's all about the journey and the journey in my work this year has been really fulfilling. Just waiting for that ultimate journey to China.

We are looking forward to a relaxed Summer full of bike rides, barbecuing, kayaking, and "us" time. There is a ton of stuff we want to do around the house and in the gardens and we really just want some down time. We will be 11 months into the adoption in 4 days-exciting!!!

We are also looking forward to the Kung Fu Panda movie that's coming out. Grandma Scofield (Margaret) bought Avery the Kung Fu Panda stuffed animal and I got her the book the other day. I got pink polka dotted canvas baskets for her nursery from Pottery Barn kids the other day also. I think I have found her mobile-took some time to search for one but it has ladybugs of all different colors and looks different than your normal mobile.

So I guess for "Nothin' much"...I did have a lot to say. Who knew?

Love to all~
Alli

A shopping day for Avery...

So yesterday was our 12th Wedding Anniversary. We actually went out to dinner on Friday for our Anniversary. We had a really great meal, stuffed ourselves, but had really great conversations about Avery and other things. About how we can't wait for our lives to change and have a daughter finally, and what that trip to China will really be like-surreal we think!!

For our Anniversary we went to Syracuse and looked for things for Avery's room. We are both getting excited to start her room and I'm ready to concentrate on other things besides dance for awhile. So, we went and looked at the wainscoting for her room, and brought home paint swatches to match her crib bedding. We got pillows and books for her room. We actually found the crib and changing table we want. We almost bought it yesterday but decided to wait until we got a little further on her room. The crib and changing table aren't real big and should fit in the room well, we wrote down the dimensions so we could see how they would fit.

We actually found these baskets yesterday that were made out of chinese newspaper. Really neat. I thought they just looked interesting but then when we looked closer you could see the chinese writing on them. So we bought a set of them. We didn't buy a lot but we bought a few things for her and her room. We're coming up on 11 months and by 12 months we should be starting her room. We've got to get past the Recital first. Can't wait until she's here, that first Summer she's here I'm not working at all that Summer, it will just be our time-can't wait!! All in all a great Anniversary!!

Have had a lot of updates from a foundation called Half The Sky who deals with the orphanages and welfare houses in China. It's just email updates. But when a tragedy like the earthquake happens they give you daily updates on the children and the different provinces of China and how everything is. It seems that most of the welfare houses and orphanages faired pretty well, and the children for the most part are fine. They are daily putting more children in the orphanages due to them losing their parents to the earthquake. They are expecting the death toll to rise to another 20,000 people at least. What a tragedy this is... and you never wish such a thing on anybody no matter who they are or where they come from. We are extra sensitive to this because we are going to have an Asian daughter and are always wanting to know what's going on in her country. I am thankful for the daily updates from this organization.

I can't wait to be done with the studio for a few weeks. I am still going to teach this Summer, have to!! But I think I'm going to give myself a little time off to do things for me, and so Gary and I can spend some time together. Gary and I like to kayak, and bike ride, and we need time to do that with eachother. Hopefully we are going to go on a big vacation in the Fall, I'm thinking Atlantis in the Bahamas, would be nice!!! I'm happy with NYC anytime!! Just need to be away and out of the studio for awhile. Time to just breath and not worry about the small stuff.

Have a Great Day!!!

Love to all,
~Alli

Zhou Nian Kuan Le to us...

Happy Anniversary to Gary & I today!!!

Today we have been married 12 years. Time has flown by. We've been together for 19 years though.

Hopefully next year we will either have Avery or be really close to going and getting her. Fingers crossed!!!

So...

Zhou Nian Kuan Le to us!!!

The character in the corner means-Double Happiness.

Love to all~
Alli

Guess-timating our time to Avery

We don't really know how long the wait will be but all the research holds us to about another year. Remember it could speed up or slow down and this is just an estimate(guess-timate)!!

I may be way off but I'm hoping things speed up and we only have a year left to wait.

Cross your fingers for us!!

Keep us in your prayers!!

Love,
~Alli

I feel like a Mom this week...

Tonight is the first night of our Spring dance show. The show is entitled "Rock Your Soul". The show if I do say so, and I never brag is the best show we've had!!! The music, the dances, the dancers, the feeling...is indescribable!!! I have 36 girls and 2 boys between my 3 companies and they are absolutely fabulous kids. They make me feel like their Mom and I get hugs out of the blue and are called their "second" Mom, and MamaBear, and with this weekend being Mother's Day that really hits home.

Being able to dance the song Swept Away for Avery at this show and incorporating the red thread with my senior company at the end of the piece really means a lot to me. I am such a proud "Mom" this week I can't wait to have this feeling all the time for my own child. Gary and I have such a connection with all of our kids, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Love to all & I hope you can make it to the show.

~Alli

PS~
The character in the upper left hand corner means dancing in chinese!!!

Thank you Heather & Don

A BIG thank you to Heather & Don!!!

They dropped off an outfit and a little lady bug wind up toy for Avery celebrating our "double digits"!!

Thank you and it means the world to us-love the raggedy ann outfit and little purse!!

Also, thank you to the Remington boys who put in a quilt square & wish-much appreciated!!

Thank you again!!
~Alli & Gary

Why we have named her...

I know that some people don't understand the process that we are going through. International adoptions are different in many ways than domestic adoptions. Especially right now, China adoptions. The wait is excruciatingly long and sometimes gets longer by the minute. We have had a lot of questions about the wait time and if we've heard anything. The answer is no, we are in a pile of dossiers in China and when they get to us they get to us. There is no updates until we get the referral. Our updates consist of being notified of other families at our adoption agency that have received their referrals, and of families that have gone and come back from China or are getting ready to go to China. But other than that there are no updates on our particular adoption case. It's a big waiting game. We do get the special needs list when one comes out of children that need parents and we always go through the list. We have had some people ask why we have already named her lately and they don't understand that because she is not even born yet.

Well, I will assimilate that to when you carry a baby in your tummy and you throw around names and eventually pick one. The baby is not born yet either, it's different because you can feel her/him move and you see the ultrasounds and etc. But some people have the name picked out before you actually give birth. My answer to everyone is... we are excited!!! Plain and simple, we don't get to feel her move in my tummy, or see the ultrasounds, or any of that. We have named her Avery Lin, a name we feel is perfect and we don't need to see her to make sure it will fit...our daughters name is Avery. We went through a lot of names and finally decided on this one. Lin in Chinese means "beautiful jade" I did my research of Chinese names and Lin seemed to go perfectly with Avery. People assume that when you are in adoption game it happens soon-NO!!!!! Each and every adoption is different we know we probably have at least another year to wait, and so sometime 6 months from now she might, probably be born. She will probably be 8-10 months old when we get her.

The process will probably be as follows:

We get the referral-We cry and weep-We accept-We have a travel meeting & meet the other parents we are going with-We shop-We get all of our stuff ready to go to China-We leave for China-We get there, jet lagged and tired- Avery could arrive to the hotel as soon as 30 minutes after we arrive at the hotel and then we are there for approximately 2 weeks finalizing all of her paperwork and doctor's appointments and getting to know our daughter just Gary & myself for 2 weeks in China with Avery Lin-HEAVEN!!!(hectic-but complete HEAVEN!!)

So we have named our little girl, it is all we have at this point, and we deserve to have something. The wait is so long, and agonizing on a good day. We wait and we call her room, Avery's room, and she is Avery to us. To us it doesn't matter that she is not born yet...she is with us in some way. I see and feel her in "signs" every day and no one can question that.

Love to all
~Alli

DOUBLE DIGITS!!!

I am so busy right now with all the show stuff that I am putting up about 3 blogs today about various things. We FINALLY hit our first goal for the adoption wait time-DOUBLE DIGITS!!!!

We were 10 months into our wait on Saturday May 3rd-YAY!!!!!!!!
We have been waiting for that for so long and we are here!!

Our next wait goal is 1 year-only 2 months away!!

On May 3rd, we were in rehearsals for 6 hours getting ready for the show-typical.

Now we can say we are waiting for the year mark-12 months!!! Not too far away!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!!!

Love to all~
~Alli & Gary

muqin jie kuai le...Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day in chinese is- muqin jie kuai le
To pronounce it goeslike this- Moo chin-gee-yeah-kwai luh
The chinese characters on here also say Happy Mother's Day.

Mother's Day is the one holiday each year for at least the past 4-5 years that I do not look forward to. It has nothing to do with my Mom, she is the greatest Mom ever and we get along great and always have and I wouldn't be the person I am today without her guidance or support-"Love ya Mom!!" It has nothing to do with Gary's Mom either whom of which I love too and she is always there to support me and listen also. It has to do with me and being a woman.

I am 34 and have no children...of my own. Now that's nobody's fault, I truly believe things happen for a reason and that Gary & I are on a path that we were destined to be on since we met. We are constantly helping kids at the studio through their lives, and constantly teaching kids and around them and we are called Mama & Papa Bear all the time. But as a woman and I've said this before I feel incompetent. And, on Mother's Day I feel especially incompetent. I dread this day every year and can't wait for it to be over. I am so lucky though to have a great Mom, and a great Mom in law, and great Grandmothers, and love to celebrate them on this day, but I would love to be Mom, and the waiting is hard, it's like it's right there but you can't get to it. Every time you reach for it, it moves away again. I am extremely emotional on Mother's Day, any little comment or the words, "Your day is coming..." does not help and sends me reeling. So, it's just me and my take on the day. I can't help it and it won't change until I can hold Avery in my arms on Mother's Day, and truly feel like a Mom.

I am the same with baby showers, I haven't been able to go to one of those in the last 5 years. Too many questions I have to answer and I just can't go to them either. It's my way of dealing...healthy or not, you feel the way you feel. And contrary to what people think you are happy for everyone, and wish everyone well but until you are put into this position you can't understand it and cannot judge it.

So, muqin jie kuai le to everyone!!!
Love to all~
Alli