Fast-forward two months...

I can't believe two months have passed since my last post in February.  So much has happened!  Our fingerprints were approved.  We have been cleared to bring a child into America.  We sent our dossier to China in March and received our log-in date in April.  Our agency believes we should be matched with our child this month when the next shared list is released.  Both of us are excited for this next step, as we are looking forward to finding out just who our little Panda might be!

So on the adoption front things are going well.  In the meantime, I have been working on some other things in preparation for becoming a mommy.  I think it's no secret that I have struggled with my weight for the past decade or so.  Two years ago, I decided to do something about it for once and for all.  I talked Caolon into joining Weight Watchers with me and we started eating better and exercising.  After about 4 months, we'd each lost 30 lbs.  That was great!  Then last year, when my mom got sick, we (well, mostly I) got lazy (well mostly depressed), stopped following the program, and started eating Dairy Queen Blizzards daily as a means of satiating the depression.  We still went to the WW meetings.  They still collected our money.  But otherwise we were back to our old habits.  And I gained 10 lbs.

Now that I'm starting to feel a little distance from losing my mom (which is actually just a new kind of sad), and now that we are starting to think as parents and realizing we can't just live for ourselves anymore (which is actually an awesome anticipation), we decided to get back in gear and lose the rest of our weight.  In February, we got serious about WW again, started eating better, stopped eating ice cream (as much), started working out (a lot), and I'm down 15 lbs!  That means I've lost a total of 35 lbs from when I originally started and I feel fantastic about that!  I've only got 25 to go before I am at my goal.  Here are some before/after pics to give you an idea (the first one is a little dark, but it's the best I had - I hid from cameras a lot in 2010.)


Me in 2010 when my niece was born.

Me on our trip to WDW last month.

In addition, I started the couch to 5K running plan and am almost finished.  I'm running 25 minutes now with no problem.  It's amazing!  I feel like beating this weight issue is going to make me a better mother.  I will be able to raise Panda to eat healthier by setting the example, and I will have more energy and ability to play with him/her now that I'm more active and in shape. 

I've also been working on other things.  Working on growing closer to God so that my heart is more ready to serve as parent.  Working on getting our home ready so that it is more prepared to house a toddler.  Working on planning our upcoming summer so that our minds and bodies can be rested and ready for the little one.  And just plain...well...working.

So if I've been gone from my blog a little too long, just know that things are moving.  Good stuff is happening.  Let's keep moving forward!

    

Being a McNamee

We got our fingerprint appointment cards in the mail today!  This is just a notification that the US Dept of Homeland Security is ready to have us come down and get our prints so they can finish approving us to bring a child into the country.  I am stoked as I didn't expect to hear from them about this for another week or so.  Excited as I am, though, I am kind of freaking out a little, too!  Lately life has been busy (more like insanely busy) and we have had to put our dossier paperwork on hold while we did other things (work, church, family, etc).  But now that Homeland Security is ready for us, I realize we have got to get our acts together and finish our dossier stuff!  Yikes!  So it's back to work on that!

One of the items we have to send to China with our dossier paperwork is a series of six photos depicting our family life and what it's like to be a McNamee. I have been having a hard time selecting just the right photos...most of the photos of our family involve opening presents, eating, and napping. Haha! I guess that would be an accurate depiction...but I would kind of like to show a little more than just that. After a lot of agonizing, I think I have found five that represent us fairly well. Here they are:

Caolon napping with Kisa in our living room.
I like this one because it shows a little bit of our house and the dog.

Me working on the Halloween costume I made for Belle.

(when I say "I made" what I mean is "my mom-in-law made and let me take credit for,"

but I think this pic shows that I'm crafty)

Caolon kayaking, which is probably our biggest summertime hobby.

Us at Disney.  Vacations to WDW are, of course, a critical component of our family life.

Us on our friend's sail boat.  Caolon loves any/all water activities, but we can't send images of us in swimsuits. 

I guess the Chinese officials don't really want to see too much of us!

I'm debating on replacing this last picture with something else - maybe a wintertime photo - like us skiing maybe? 

Then we still need one more picture.  I was thinking us outside of our house.  We are supposed to show our house and home life, so I think we need to just stage a picture of us out there to get that in.  Maybe we can get a friend to come out in this wind and snap a quick photo. :)

Well, that's the update for now.  Wish I had more frequent updates, but I'm quickly finding out that adoption is lot of hurry up and wait.  And wait.  And wait... 

Happy Lunar New Year! :)

We've been informed that our home study was approved by the Wyoming Children's Society - now we are waiting for our placement agency, WACAP, to review it and give us the official approval.  I anticipate that we will hear any time now.  It's exciting to have that step finished and to be moving onto the next one!

Caolon and I are celebrating the Lunar New Year tonight and thinking of all the promise this year holds for us.  As we hung our lanterns this evening, I couldn't help but think that maybe somewhere in China, our little one is celebrating, too!

Last of the Home Study Visits!

We met with Liz tonight to finish up our home study!  She just has to type it up and send it off to our placement agency and then we should be set! :)

I really can't say enough good things about Wyoming Children's Society.  They have been so open and willing to help us with all of our questions (and my craziness/anxiety) and they are so friendly.  When we first started looking into China adoption, I was a little intimidated with the requirement of having so many post-adoption visits with our social worker.  But our gal is so nice, and the whole organization has been so wonderful, that I actually really look forward to our visits. 

Anyway, the next step is to request permission to bring a foreign child into America - more forms and paperwork.  Really, it hasn't been all that overwhelming so far.  We are just taking things one step at a time.  Looking forward to the step that involves meeting our little Panda!

Airing our laundry...

We have a new bestie named Liz.  She is our social worker and she might as well be a bestie as she now knows more about us than any of our other friends and most of our family!  There is nothing you can keep a secret in these visits - everything is on the table.

Actually it's been good though.  In addition to interviewing us about every little detail of our lives, she has also been very informative about the adoption process and post-adoption things to consider.  She let us know about some of the various events Wyoming Children's Society does for culture and community building and she talked to us about health issues we might want to be aware of when we adopt a child from the waiting child program.  I think she will be an excellent resource for us as we move through this process.

We have one more visit with her next week and then we can move into the next step!

Merry Christmas, Panda!

Yes, we know it is stereotypical and cliche, but we needed a name for Baby McNamee since we don't know whether we are getting a Livingston or a Lillian (not to mention if he/she will be a baby or a toddler).  Thus we are now referring to the little one as "Panda" (sorry to my mom-in-law who was rallying for Tater Tot or MicMac or French Fry)

Turns out we aren't the only ones excited for Panda.  Grandparents and aunties have started the spoiling with numerous Christmas presents for him/her.  Now we have a whole closet filled with goodies!  (Good thing we had previously cleaned all of our other junk from that closet!)

Take a look at what little Panda got for Christmas 2011:

• an animatronic teddy bear who reads the entire poem, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" from Grammy Susan and Grumpy Vince
• a set of rice bowls decorated with pandas and bamboo from Nana and Pops
• a set of chopsticks and chopstick holders from Nana and Pops
• a panda pillow/blanket for travel from Nana and Pops
• a stuffed Pooh Bear from Aunt Heather and Uncle Josh
• a stuffed Stitch from Aunt Heather and Uncle Josh
• a jingle bell Christmas ornament with a verse from "Twas the Night Before Christmas" from Poppa (my nieces, Belle and Arianna, also got these ornaments only with different verses...this way whenever they see their ornaments in future Christmases, they will think of each other)  
• A Peter Pan book from Auntie Jenna
• Diapers and wipes from Uncle Shawn and Aunt Dani (these are actually for Belle when we have her, but I'm pretty sure we'll have plenty left over as Belle's potty training already!)

Not a bad haul for a baby we haven't met yet!  Wherever little Panda spent Christmas this year, there sure were a lot of people thinking of him/her in Wyoming!

An early Christmas present...

After finishing a few little details for our homestudy paperwork, we finally got a call from our agency today to set up our first home study visit.  We will be meeting with our social worker on January 3rd to go over the adoption process with her and then we'll meet with her again on the 6th in our home.  I'm so excited to be moving into this next step!

This holiday season has been a sad one without my mama - I've been revisiting old memories and traditions and feeling a little empty without her.  But the promise that maybe next year I can be sharing these traditions and memories with my own child is keeping me encouraged. 

Pray that our home study visits are successful and quick!  :)