Happy 6 month wait to us...

The 3rd of January was our official date of 6 months of waiting. In February we will be in this a year from the start of all the paperwork. It takes a LONG TIME...trying to look further ahead to keep my sanity.

We are getting a lot of invites to Chinese New Year get-togethers...exciting!!! Some are local, one is from our adoption agency and there is a BIG celebration at one of the high schools in Syracuse...should be FUN!!!

We have kept all of Avery's gifts out, I don't want to put them away just yet. I like to go through them every once in awhile.

We have been doing some remodeling. Started with the kitchen, it has a new floor, and painting, and wainscoting on the walls, new lighting and we're going to put new doors in the kitchen also. Plus trimming out the beams and all of the rest of the trim...and eventually re-staining the cupboards. It looks like a totally different place. Gary & Ron did a fantastic job on the floor. Gary did all the wainscoting himself and it looks really good. The color of the wainscoting is called chianti, and the upper part of the walls is a cottage white. Next I think is Avery's room. We also have plans for the upstairs bathroom, flooring in our bedroom, flooring and painting in the downstairs bathroom, painting and tile in the breezeway, and painting in one the living rooms too. Big list!!

We have found our crib set, pottery barn kids jut came out with a set that has little lady bugs on it, and it is green and white and they have mixed pink in with it also-PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!

Just got a bunch of scrapbooking materials in the mail to start Avery's lifebook-really excited about that!!!!

I guess that's all for now, can't wait until our wait time gets in the double digits!!!

Love to you all!!!
~Alli

Merry Christmas Avery Lin!!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We certainly did. We have celebrated 3 Christmas's so far, our own(Gary & myself), The Scofield's and the Newton's. Boy!! did Avery make out really well, she's not even here yet but she was thought of.

Mommy & Daddy (Mama & Baba) got her books, clothes(12months and up) a Asian looking shirt and dress, a winter hat w/ a pom pom on top, a Christmas tee w/ little asian girls on it, a purple dress, a zip up pink sweatshirt, a pretty onesie, and a ladybug onesie, ladybug socks, ladybug pj's, and little cat pj's. All the sizes are bigger and the prices were cheap-had to do it!! She also got some learning toys from Mommy & Daddy ones that we can take with us to China, ones that pack well. She got her rocking panda, and an oversized soft stacking rings toy(I love this one), we'll put up a picture of this pile of presents.

I got Gary a book called Daddy hugs, and another book if you open it one way it says Mama, if you open it the other way it says Papa. Gary got me 2 willow tree angels, one with the mother holding the baby, and one with the couple holding their baby. I also got a cd of adoption songs, and a cd of Chinese lullabies. The guidebook to start her life book. Gary got buddhas, chinese fortune sticks, and Gary got me little panda finger puppets, the pandas have little asian shirts on-very cute.

At the Scofield family Christmas Grandma Margaret (Lao Lao) and Grandpa John (Lao Ye) got her a soft ladybug learning toy, it's really neat it's like a back pack that open up and has a story book and a mirror in it. Grandma & Grandpa Scofield also got her her first Teddy Bear. Cousins Jessica & Jodi got her a lady bug bank, and put some money in it for her, and an angel ornament. Aunt Liz made a reversible diaper tote, it has ladybugs in pink on one side, and ladybugs in green on the other, it's pretty cool. Aunt Liz, Uncle Tom, Jessica & Jodi made a tied fleece blanket for all of us to enjoy, it's really warm. We'll put up a picture of this pile too.

Then at the Newton Christmas Avery made herself known. Right before we started opening gifts a lady bug flew into the room and Beth put her on the Christmas tree. Weird how that keeps happening. Grandma Judy (Nai Nai) and Grandpa Ron (Ye Ye) gave her a beautiful pink blanket that Grandma Judy crocheted, she also got a neat ladybug board book, and the three of us got a Chinese Santa that Grandma Judy painted. Uncle Steve and Aunt Beth and cousins Noah & Owen got Avery her own stocking, with her name on it, and it was filled with things for her; books, a little cup, little pink and purple striped socks, chinese bracelets, and the 2007 coin collection from the Mint. They also got her a plate to match her cup, which also matches the stocking, it has a dancer on skates on it, and more books to read to her, a little chinese tea set, that I think Uncle Steve got when he went to China for work a couple years ago. Steve and Beth also got us some really nice luggage to take when we go to China, it's red and it's big and sturdy exactly what we need. We'll put a picture up of all of this too.

So for not being here yet she sure was thought of a lot. We appreciate everyone thinking of her at our 1st Christmas in the adoption process.

We think she may be 2 months conceived that's our guess anyway. We are hoping that China will speed up in January before they slow down for the Olympics. But then we hope they speed up after the Olympics. We hope by next Christmas we will be really close to holding her.

We've received some more quilt squares, Gary needs to take the pictures still.

Also, we are asking people to do a second square if they want to. We are still waiting on some and are going to actually send out the postcards in January as reminders.

Hope you all had a nice Christmas filled with family and love.

Love to you all,

Alli & Gary

China Christmas Tree

Here are a couple pictures of our China Tree.









You can see the lady bugs, and the mini take out boxes that have the chinese charcters for double happiness, Avery's name, and all of the other red and gold ornaments, and her rocking panda...waiting for her.

Tell us what you think!!!

Merry Christmas-Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan!!

~Alli & Gary

Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan or Merry Christmas!!

Wow, that's a mouthful-Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan!! Would be hard to fit that on a card. That's probably why the chinese characters are used instead.

Well, our China tree is done. I want Gary to take a picture...we're getting around to it. It's really neat. It has mini red chinese take out boxes on it that have gold chinese characters for double happiness on them, along with plain red mini take out boxes. There are lady bugs and a couple of ornaments that have chinese writing on them. There are 2 ornaments that say MaMa and BaBa written in chinese, and her name is on the tree. A lady bug just flew onto the computer screen as I said that-WEIRD!! There are red and gold stars and red and gold ornaments, red ribbons going down on the sides(red thread-get it), and a star on top that is red on one side and gold on the other. It's really neat...we like it a lot!! If you're around please stop by and see our tree!!

We also have bought Avery a few things for Christmas, the big thing is a rocking panda. Not a rocking horse...a panda!!! Fitting I thought. I was going to hide it and put it under the tree on Christmas morning to surprise Gary, but I I was so excited about it I couldn't hold it in any longer, and told him. Good thing I did because it had to be put together. He's better at that than I am. It looks cute next to the China tree. We'll put a picture of that up here too.

We have a few other things for her, we'll talk about those after Christmas. We still haven't started putting our Christmas cards together yet. We are way behind on that this year...this weekend hopefully.

We wish you all a Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan-Merry Christmas!!!

The pictures should be coming soon!!!

Love to all,
~Alli & Gary

We are now 5 months!!!!

So, today is December 3rd, so we are now 5 months into our wait. We've been extremely busy with the Christmas Show, but now that's over and went really well, so we are back on the normal schedule.

We put up our trees yesterday, one is going to be Chinese inspired, when it's done I'm sure Gary will put a picture up here to show everybody.

We have a new addition to the family, our new kitten Koko, short for Kokopelli. She is 8-9 weeks old, and a lot of fun!!! She's from Indiana. We brought her back with us from visiting my brother and his family over Thanksgiving.

I am planning on sending out the postcards this week, now that things have calmed down. If anyone would like to do another wish for Avery and another piece of fabric, please feel free. We've had a lot of people who have asked and want to do another one, so please do.

I guess that's all for now, we are buying Avery Christmas clothes, toys, and such, and my list had all things for her on it. I can't wait until we get into double digits on our wait time!!!!

Talk again soon!!!!
Love~
Alli & Gary