2006--Year in Review

Gemma home in the USA, 2005

I want my baby!

I want that phone to ring so badly it is driving me crazy! It feels like it will never happen. Truly. The waiting has become our reality. The idea of actually adding another child to our family no longer feels real at all. :(

First days with Gemma in China, July 2005

Swingtown

Today, Gemma FINALLY mastered the swing on the playground! I have made myself crazy trying to teach her how to pump her legs and shift her body forward and back to keep the swing going and build momentum, to no avail. She just needed to get the hang of moving the right way and get the feel of doing it by herself. She seemed very proud of this new skill, and I feel liberated! No more, "push me, Mommy! Higher, Mommy! Keep pushing!" She can now play about 95% independently at the playground. Of course, she will still command, "watch me, Mommy!" which I am more than happy to do.

It's Jurass, not mine

The knowledge that we will probably be matched with a boy instead of a girl has breathed new life into this long, frustrating adoption process. I now have new, FUN, tasks to keep me busy! Among them is choosing a name. Jon suggested, "Beau Hunter Gibbs." I didn't think that warranted a serious response, so I dusted off the old baby name book and started perusing the boy section. I expected to weed through a lot of names we don't like or can't agree on. But I did not expect to sift through so many names like this:
Alps, Bazooka, Bean, Beige, Blame, Boat, Bobbydee, Bobbymack, Boggle, Bongo, Brain, Bronto ("short for Brontosaurus"--it really said this), Bumpus, Bucko, Cack, Cactus, Candle, Chat, Choicey, Chubby, Chunky, Cuke (alt. sp. "Kook"), Curb, Danger, Dingo, Dog, Don Quixote, Delete, Dude, Dovey, Dusty-Joe, Excell, ESPN (for the sports enthusiast!), Faddy, Fabulous, Famous, Fargo, Festive, Flag, Foreign, Gaudy, General, Glad, Gorky, Harpo, JoeMac, Jurass ("short for Jurassic", in case it didn't make sense), Leather, Limo, Minnow, Mohawk, Moose, Newbie, Ogle, Ox, Patriot, Perk, Piney, Pinky, Plan, Plash, Pluck, Playtoh, Poogie, Powder, Prop, Primerica, Quick, Rio Grande, Rooster, Rabbit, Salt, Scant, Shorty, Several, Skeetz, Slam, Snake, Spider, Spidey, Stud, Sultan, Telvis, Tinks, Thaw, Teddy-Blue, Utah, Utz, Weebie, Witty, Word, Wrangle, Zero.
It's not as if people couldn't have come up with these ideas for names on their own. But to legitimize and encourage this by publishing them in a book? Reminds me of some of the kids' names from my GAL days: Money (pronounced mo-NAY), Militia, Nothing (spelled into the record by the county attorney, "N-O-T-H-I-N-G" with a straight face) to name just a few. I think I need to find an abridged baby name book. I don't need "50,001 BABY NAMES!" to choose from. About 50-60 will do just fine.

Here comes the son?

I am feeling positive and excited about the adoption for the first time in a VERY long time. Ever since we submitted our application in Feb. 2006, at every turn the predicted length of time this process would take has only gotten longer. At first we thought it might take one year from LID (7-22-06) at the MOST, then a year and half, then two years, then three. The pace of matches for NSN adoptions has slowed continually throughout, moving the finish line farther and farther away. In January 2008, we decided to become part of the waiting child program. That was a good move for several reasons. First, at present, the wait for a NSN (non-special needs) child from China for us would reach a total of seven years at the current pace of matches. More importantly, though, the need is greater for children in China's waiting child program. We have researched several medical diagnoses with which we feel comfortable and put them on our medical conditions checklist (MCC) which is on file with CCAI. After we filed our original MCC 14 months ago, I felt elated. I found something proactive to do to start moving our adoption forward. Eventually, that excitement died down as our wait for a "waiting" child approached, then exceeded, a year with no end in sight.
This week, however, we made another move--we finally let our agency, CCAI, know that we would happily accept the referral of either a boy or a girl from China. We had originally applied for a girl since the situation regarding abandoned girls in China is well known. Interestingly, in the waiting child program, little boys are harder to place than girls even though there are nearly as many waiting boys with special medical needs as girls. It took us awhile to let go of our phantom second daughter (it took Jon about an extra six months), but this week he decided he was ready. Considering how long we have been waiting, it is ALMOST a sure thing that we will be matched with a boy (though a girl is still possible). Hopefully, this also means that we will receive "the call" much, much sooner. In my mind, I have already redecorated Gemma's room, which she will have to share, to make it more gender-neutral. It won't take a lot of work since Gemma's favorite color is dark blue and there are very few feminine touches in her room.
I hope I am not sitting here six months from now, more depressed than ever, still without my child.

Green Eggs and Ham

After nearly three years since I made the last entry in Gemma's baby book, I am finally going to start recording funny anecdotes about Gemma as well as her achievements and special experiences. Today, Gemma read "Green Eggs and Ham" to me with only minimal help on a few words. I am so proud of her! Her daddy is thrilled to have a tomboy daughter who shares all his interests in sports and the outdoors, and I am thrilled to have a reader!