Referral Day Recap

Here she is in one of my favorite photos! (Ok, so all three are favorites!)

My mom emailed my agency to find out if I was receiving a call or a fedex. Fed ex it was so mom rushed up to my house to sit with Bernie & Gracie and wait for "the stork." This gentleman was nice enough to pose for a picture as my mom informed him to tell his wife he delivered a baby today. =)
Mom phoned me (at school)and said she was driving over with the package as I still had 2 hours of school to go. Shane (my brother) surprised me by speeding over to my school so he could be a part of and film the delivery. My aunt Jude texted me "Doctor and midwife enroute." Didn't get it til their arrival, but hey, I was out of sorts, ya know! Luckily I have a testing/planning period at the end of the day and we got to focus on the contents of the package.











It's a girl! Totally overwhelmed with so many emotions.












She's adorable!
Calling my Dad.






Signed acceptance letter. "Can we go and get her now?"
Finished up school and my mom and I drove straight over to the local fedex to ship the letter right back. I didn't know if my agency was open on Saturday and this guy used his fancy phone to call and check. So nice. The letter should have gotten there yesterday. Now we wait for the pretravel meeting (on a Saturday). Looks less and less like this week though.
We all went out for a celebratory dinner at our favorite Chinese Buffet. This is our favorite waitress. She read a bit of my referral to me regarding where my baby was found and what she was eating at 7 1/2 months! Fish soup. Not sure Lean Cui.sine makes that one...



It was an amazing day and I was so exhausted after coming home. Such a rush. You can't really see it, but I was wearing my special "Mother and Daughter joined by the Heart" necklace given to me by Cari, my secret pal. =)
Since my referral came unexpectedly three weeks early my shower date had to be changed. My SIL D. is making gorgeous invitations and so on Sunday I registered. Oh. My. Goodness. That place is crazy. Especially when you have no idea what you want or if it's going to fit/work/be needed and are not a shopper at heart! Thankfully my mom helped me out and we got a few things scanned. This is in the second aisle before the ponytail, sweat and achy feet set in. =)

So as I mentioned, I am waiting...once again. But now I actually know I have a beautiful girl with the name Xing Fu Li waiting for me in China. Makes it both harder and easier. I am sooooo hoping the travel meeting will happen soon and that the agency can get us traveling in December. I would love to be with her for her first birthday.
I did get some interesting info about her name (thank you Nji13) and will probably end of using Xing Fu as (one of!) her middle names. Xing Fu means Happiness (as in an active expression of happiness). I love it!
Thankfully I've had Kay (a second time mom from my agency who was referred a real sweetie!) to fill me in on her previous travel experience. Sadly she is in the other travel group, but we'll meet up at the pre-travel meeting and maybe at the White Swan.
Thank you to everyone who posted their congrats and comments. They will be such a treasure to share with Ellie over the years.
I am also counting down the days til the next referral batch as I have so many bloggy friends waiting from this point on! Bring on the babies!
Just another version of her referral pic 'cause she's so cute! Oh, and Ellie is the "cover girl" on the Singles Adopt China yahoo group page. Thanks, Kris! I'm a proud mama! =)

By the way, I am so happy for the families in the process of adopting who will be grandfathered in with this I600 ruling. Ok, that's it for now.