Our Matching Announcement

Zachary Clark Miller

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, now we know who you are!
We happily announce our recent matching & soon to be adoption
Born in late summer 2009
23 pounds 1 ounce, 31 1/2 inches long
Proud parents Matt & Julia Miller

I finally got some spare time to make a few scrapbook Layouts for Zachary's Baby Album. We printed quite a few copies of his referral pictures and I seem to be scrap booking several different Layouts of the same pictures! LOL, guess I am just excited (surprise, surprise)!
You may recognize these pictures. They are from his referral paperwork. And, our pediatrician estimates he is 9-10 months old.


And, this picture was taken the same day we sent in our acceptance letter of his referral. Therefore, he is 17 months old. And, this is the only picture with his mouth closed. He looks focused on something/someone. Such a handsome son we have!

Of course I have a few more layouts in the works! And, a lot of ideas for pages that help express how excited our friends and family are for his arrival into our family! We greatly appreciate everyone's messages of congratulations! We are compiling them all and will be including them in his baby album.

Also, we finally chose the baby album for his first scrapbook. There were not a lot of options on the market. Because the albums for young children are for infants/newborns. We wanted an album cover that fit his age. We are very pleased with the one we ended up purchasing! It is a top loading page style- which I have learned I prefer to use- that just makes it easier to add the layouts into the album.The front of the cover is fabric and leather. Very elegant and we hope it will hold up to a lot of use and the passing of time.

For quite sometime we have been on the look out for a "Baby Book" for adopted children. And, we found one online that can be customized for China. The Baby Book is different from the album in that it helps answer questions about where, what, how. Adoption Families lovingly call this a "Life Book". We are excited to document every detail!

Interested in learning a little more about The Chinese Zodiac and our individual "signs" I did a little research on the subject.

The Sheng Xiao: The Chinese Zodiac
"...is a scheme that relates each year to an animal and its reputed attributes, according to a 12-year cycle... It is a common misconception that the animals assigned by year are the only signs, and many western descriptions of Chinese astrology draw solely on this system. In fact, there are also animal signs assigned by month (called inner animals) and hours of the day (called secret animals). To sum it up, while a person might appear to be a Dragon because they were born in the year of the Dragon, they might also be a Snake internally and an Ox secretively. In total, this makes for 8,640 possible combinations (60 year cycle (5 elements × 12 animals) × 12 months × 12 times of the day) that a person might be. These are all considered critical for the proper use of Chinese astrology"

Chinese Zodiac Signs (based on important events in a specific year) that are important to us:
The Chinese New Year begins in February of each year. Therefore, we were matched in one year and we will travel to China in another year even though both occur in 2011!

2011 January, The Year of the Tiger- The year we were matched with our son & became parents. (Fixed Element Wood): Unpredictable, rebellious, colorful, powerful, passionate, daring, impulsive, vigorous, stimulating, sincere, affectionate, humanitarian, generous. Can be restless, reckless, impatient, quick-tempered, obstinate, selfish, aggressive, moody.

2011 The Year of the Rabbit- The year we travel to China & became a family.
(Fixed Element Wood): Gracious, good friend, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, shy, astute, compassionate, lucky, flexible. Can be moody, detached, superficial, self-indulgent, opportunistic, stubborn.

2009 The Year of the OX- Zachary's Birth Year
(Fixed Element Water): Dependable, ambitious, calm, methodical, born leader, patient, hardworking, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious. Can be stubborn, dogmatic, hot-tempered, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid, demanding.

1969 The Year of the Rooster- Matt's Birth Year
(Fixed Element Metal): Acute, neat, meticulous, organized, self-assured, decisive, conservative, critical, perfectionist, alert, zealous, practical, scientific, responsible. Can be over zealous and critical, puritanical, egotistical, abrasive, proud, opinionated, given to empty bravado.

1971 The Year of the Pig- Julia's Birth Year
(Fixed Element Water): Honest, gallant, sturdy, sociable, peace-loving, patient, loyal, hard-working, trusting, sincere, calm, understanding, thoughtful, scrupulous, passionate, intelligent. Can be naïve, over-reliant, self-indulgent, gullible, fatalistic, materialistic.

Adoption Update
Late this afternoon we received a phone call from our agency telling us that they received our "Letter seeking confirmation" from China! We were told to expect 5-12 weeks to receive the letter from China but it barely took 2 weeks!

Also, Earlier today we were told our home study agency has completed our update paperwork & it has been approved by our agency. Things certainly seem to be moving along very quickly!

Our next step is to get a fingerprint appointment with homeland security. Once that is processed by our government we will receive the final immigration documents needed to begin travel planning!

We are both so excited & we feel our heads our spinning!
Thank you for your continued prayers!

Z
Zach-attack
Zach
Zachary
:))

We are having a blast beginning to decorate the nursery! We picked out the bedding four years ago & had the walls painted. However, we did not want to have an empty nursery so we held off on taking anything out of its packaging.

Last weekend I was at our local Hobby Lobby and was browsing through the clearance isle and came across this adorable letter "Z" printed on a glass window and in a distressed frame. It was less than $5 so I (obviously) snatched it up! I think I will replace the ribbon before it goes up on the wall but I am just tickled to find the special little wall decor!

While searching through the clearance section I quickly came to realize that along with "X & Y", "Z" is an uncommon letter & we likely will never have to worry about finding it for sale! The clearance isle was stocked full of "x,y,z"!

This past weekend our good friend Deanna (of www.thebabygardner.com)gave us the sweetest wall plaque for Zachary's room! She did a little reasearch and found out that this year is the year of the "Rabbit" on the Chinese Zodiac Calendar! We had been so busy with all the details surrounding the matching that we had not even had a chance to look it up yet!


On the back of the rabbit plaque Deanna wrote: "2011: The Chinese year of the Rabbit. The year the Miller Family was born..."

Needless to say, as soon as I read that I cried!

We would like to announce that our dossier has been officially approved by China!!

Red Egg & Ginger

This is a traditional party where the baby's name is officially announced. In Chinese culture, a baby's first month birthday calls for a celebration! Proud parents introduce their latest addition to friends and relatives by holding a red egg and ginger party. Traditionally, the baby's name is also announced at this time.

The guests don't leave empty handed. The parents hand out red-dyed eggs, symbolizing happiness and the renewal of life. Red egg and ginger parties have their origins in ancient Chinese culture. As in other countries, infant mortality rates in China were quite high prior to the medical advances of the twentieth century. A baby who reached one month of age was likely to survive, and so the event was celebrated.

In the past, due to the traditional importance of male children in Chinese culture, red egg and ginger parties were sometimes given for boys only, or the celebration for boys was more elaborate. Today, parties are given for babies of both sexes.

In recent years, some of the traditions surrounding red egg and ginger parties have been modified. Parents may choose to hold the celebration at a fancy restaurant, complete with costumed Chinese performers or even a children's magician. Also, the baby may be anywhere from one to three months old by the time the party is held. But the custom of passing out red-dyed eggs continues. Parents may also use the brightly colored eggs to announce the birth; an odd number of eggs are sent out for a boy, and an even number to announce a baby girl.
In the spirit of this ancient Chinese tradition, My sister took our picture with a paper mache' egg, which we painted red. And, Aunt Camille put her bow making skills to work and created a beautiful gold bow for our red egg! * As in weddings or festivals, the color red represents happiness and good luck.
* Eggs are significant because they symbolize fertility & the renewal of life.
Also, their shape is traditionally associated with harmony and unity. According to some sources, an even number of eggs means a daughter has been born, while an odd number represents a son.
* Ginger is important because in the yin (cold) and yang (warm) balance of
Chinese food, ginger adds a touch of 'hotness' to the nutritional needs of the new mother, who is tired and weak (or too yin) after giving birth.

The Great Reveal
After years of thought consideration (& bickering) we have chosen the following name for our son

Zachary Clark Miller

Birthday: August 2, 2009

Weight: 23.1 pounds
Height: 31.52 inches (2 foot, 7 inches)

To say that we are excited doesn't even to begin to express how we are feeling. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers over the last 6 years. We ask for your continued prayers for God's hand to make the remainder of this part of our journey as smooth as possible. This has been a long road but our journey is only beginning!!

2010 Miller Baby Ornament

We are well into the new year and I'm just getting around to blogging this post! I like to share with our blog friends the ornament we ended up choosing. And, this ornament has been sitting on my desk as a reminder to myself to write this blog post!

Since 2006 Matt and I have been purchasing one Hallmark ornament a year for our soon to be child. Inside the ornament box we put a typed explanation as to why we chose the particular ornament. This last Christmas 2010 we picked the "Checking it Twice" ornament. As soon as we saw it we KNEW it was the ornament for our child because, on Santa's long list were both the male & female names that we've been considering for naming our child. We purchased this ornament 3 days before we were matched with our son!

We took some more snow pictures yesterday. We intended to make a snow man but we were unable to get the snow to pack properly. So, we grabbed the dogs and forced them outside for pictures! Sierra was the only one who attempted to willingly walk off the deck. However, we forced Bingo and Penny to give it a try. And, we made sure our camera was ready to capture their responses...both preferred to be held rather than sink into the 6 inches of snow.
Matt & Bingo

Julia & Penny

The mass Chihuahua huddle

Snow Day!

We haven't seen snow accumulation like this since the Blizzard of 1993! And, to be old enough to make a statement like that is kinda scary! Regardless, we have been looking forward to an event like this for quite some time! It is truly a winter wonderland out there. Some of the stories that have come out of this so far have been interesting. The local NBC affiliate had a crew out alongside a road and, while they are reporting, a BMW that was stuck in snow/ice started spinning its tires so fast that they caught fire. The car then was rapidly engulfed in flames too. The driver got out, but, wow. All of the metro Atlanta schools are closed. Most businesses are closed as well. Matt is working from home today. The Gwinnett County Fire Department has at least one fire engine and one ambulance stranded. We have power, heat, plenty of food and have capability to work from home so we are good to go. We hope to get out in it later today and maybe even make a snowman.

It's a Boy!

Matt and I are over the moon to share with our family and friends the exciting news that we have accepted the referral of our soon to be son! We are not able to share too many details just yet. However, once we receive formal approval from China we will certainly post a picture and more information.

Today, our agency officially submitted our Letter of Intent to China for adopting our soon to be son! The next step of the waiting process is receiving the Pre-Approval from China. This is the notification that they pre-approve our application and agree to formally review our dossier. This process generally takes 2-4 weeks. And, we will be notified as soon as it is received.

Praise The Lord! To say we are excited doesn't even begin to express what we are feeling. Thank you for your prayers over the years! God has directed our paths so that they intersect with the path of our son. We will be forever grateful!

Matt & Julia