Christmas (has) Past

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! I have been without a functioning computer in Alabama for 28 days...but who is counting??? Me! It seems I'm always counting. Counting and speculating on how long until we get our LID!!!(Our DTC was 10-19-06! Yikes! Are we lost in the mass of dossiers?!) How long til the next batch of referrals? How long til we get our referral? How many days between referrals? How far will the CCAA(Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs)get with the next batch of referrals? Counting and speculating.
So during my 28 days in Alabama(minus the 3 days each way to drive there and back with our 2 dogs), I spent them working on my parents' remodel and addition project and preparing for a big family Christmas...but mostly working/ fussing/ pleading/ problem solving and some not-so-nice yelling...oops. Oh, and let's not forget to mention falling in an unmarked trench in the dark of night. That's when I did my not-so-nice yelling. The falling in the trench was not just me. It was both dogs and me. Oh, what a ruckus I made. It was a chaotic trip to say the least.
While I was there I did do some fun things like decorate a pink Christmas tree that my mom bought in honor of "baby-2B." And my mom and Joy hosted their 30 something annual cookie swap. That is always fun. Next year I'm hoping to take along our little bundle of joy to her first cookie swap. We did get to spend a lot of quality time "bonding"(as Steven, my BIL) would say with my 4 nephews. Remember...I said it was chaotic. There were tons of toys, 3 turkeys, 2 honey baked hams, 5 cakes, at least 12 dozen cookies, 5 xmas trees, 12 people, lots of noise, 5 dogs, 2 tricycles, 5 cars, 1 new truck, and red mud everywhere....as well as a construction crew working on my parents' project next door and in the yard. It was a tornado of constant chaos and eating. Ahhhh, the holidays. I will do the postgame gift review this afternoon. : ) As of right now.... I hear some west coast agencies are making their referral calls and at least one expedited couple has received their referral. Congrats to Allison and Adam!!! (Expedited couples are those couples with Chinese ancestry...which we are because Mok was born in Hong Kong as well as his mom. His dad("Daddy-Mok") and grandfather were born in the Guangdong province of mainland China.)