This Monday we received our final piece of paperwork necessary to schedule our appointment at the US Embassy in China! We quickly scanned the document and sent it off to our agency. The appointment will determine our travel dates. Thus we are all anxiously awaiting news from our agency!

Scrapbooking the monthly calendars has helped me keep up with all our activities! Looking at the month at a glance is awe inspiring for how much we have accomplished.



Also, I have finally put all our family pictures in the photo books that we are bringing to China with us for Zachary. Take a lookey...

Adoption Update

We have had a VERY busy week preparing for our trip to China. Monday we went to our County Health Department to get our CDC recommended vaccines. We ended up having to get Typhoid, Hep A, Hep B & the Flu Shot. Four days later and we both are experiencing a little redness/swelling/tenderness where we received our flu shots. Other wise we are doing just fine!

Wednesday we were fingerprinted for our I-797 update. And, this is the final piece of the puzzle that will get us to set our travel date stage! We are so excited and every day that passes gets us a little closer to our son!

Monday we are expecting our passports & visas to arrive. We will anxiously be waiting FedEX to ring our doorbell!

As stated above, we are very close to being able to schedule our travel dates. We are still unsure of the time line. However, we both are making uneducated guesses that March 24 or April 2 could very possibly be our travel dates. But, that is yet to be known and we will continue to keep everyone updated!

Today was a fun day for us both! We got up early in hopes of beating the inevitable crowds at Target. Our goal was to get an early start roaming the store. No I did not leave Matt at home. He got his first experience roaming the aisles holding a scanner gun to create our baby registry. And, we picked up a few items along the way. We couldn't resist this "Yeti" t.shirt. We thought it was quite appropriate!And, we picked up this cute little "Ready to Rumble" sweat suit set.
Later in the day we went to visit Zachary's Papi (Ed, Matt's Dad). We had a great time visiting with him. Ed gave us Matt's childhood toy chest to pass along to Zachary. Isn't that so sweet?! We are both excited to share it with our "Z-man". Thank you Papi!! Once we get it set up in Zach's room we will post a picture and share it with everyone. We have no doubt Zach will use it to hold his treasures!

When we arrived home we were pleased to find our fingerprint appointment letter arrived in the mail! Our appointment is set for a week from Wednesday. Also, much earlier today we mailed off our VISA applications. It is all falling together quite smoothly! PTL (Praise The Lord!)

I have been enjoying some relaxing moments in my "craft Lair" :)) scrap booking layouts for Zachary's baby album. My most recent layout highlights our Red Egg photo. Inside the pocket (on the second page) is a journal tag which explains the meaning behind the red egg and describes the making of the picture.

Also, today Matt created a baby registry on Amazon.com for Zachary. It can be found anytime by searching for our names at http://www.amazon.com/babyregistry we have been having fun browsing children books! It's amazing how many are out there! Guess we have been oblivious for a long time and now we are getting thrown right into the exciting world of nursery rhymes, potty training books, cookie monsters, etc.! We have quite a small collection of books for Zachary already. A few years ago Matt joined Zachary into a Dr. Seuss book club. Dr. Seuss is among Matt's all time favorite childhood book series.

Yesterday my parents visited to help assemble Zachary's room. Nonnie & Bop-bop worked hard & we very much appreciated everything they did for us! We certainly could not have accomplished everything as easily and with out arguments, lol. On with the room tour...

Step one. Assemble the crib. My sister has been saving her crib for us. Way back when my Father & brother in law assembled this crib for my parents first grand child Caroline & my Father said it was not nearly as difficult this time around.


Step two. Iron the curtains, Thanks Mom!

Step three. Hang the curtains.


Lots of hard work, a little perspiration & 3 hours later...

The fully assembled crib.

The dressed window & book shelf.

The Dresser in it's place. Hang picture.The dresser was mine as a child. And, the picture above it is of me and my Mother (taken by my Father). On top of the dresser are a few pictures of Matt & his Mother & a Miller Family portrait circa 1972

picture reenactment

We are very pleased with the finished room! It is a happy, sunny room! Four years ago we purchased the bedding accessories and had the room painted. In fact, my Mother-in-law Nancy, helped us pick out the yellow that we ultimately chose for the walls. It is a reminder that even though she is no longer with us, her spirit remains in the little details and her love surrounds us.

There are a few more things to hang up on the walls & a few organizational bins to buy but for the most part it is finished. And, it will be complete once our son Zachary is finally home!

We had a productive weekend! Saturday we went to my parents house & while I registered at Baby's-R-Us Matt went off with John and Dad to a range. I hope Matt released some tension which has begun to settle on top of his shoulders. ;)

Baby's-R-Us was a bit overwhelming for me. However, my Mother, Sister and two nieces helped me navigate through the isles. I could not have done it with out their help. I am amazed at all the options! There's nothing simple about a store that has hundreds of options for something as trite as a sippy cup!

As you have likely already surmised from the picture above, I've added one more page to Zachary's baby album. I've been enjoying a few spare minutes here and there to accomplish my ever growing pile of pictures (all waiting to be scrap booked). I'm not expecting that pile to do anything less than grow faster than my ability to scrapbook them.

Earlier today, Matt came up with an apt metaphor for the situation we find ourselves in. We are making the slow climb up the first hill on a giant roller coaster (with the accompanying click, click, click) Feeling all of the fear of the unknown as we approach the top waiting for the moment that gravity takes over, we throw our hands into the air and scream for mercy!

We do have an adoption update to share. We spoke with our agency today to get much needed help answering our visa application questions and we got a guestimate of travel to China! It is possible we could travel late March however it is more likely we will be traveling in April and home by May. And, we will be gone for 21 days.

In a few days my parents are coming over to help set up the crib and hang the curtain rods. We have brought the crib up from the basement in anticipation of their arrival. And, the nursery is beginning to get some much needed attention!

I've got some more scrapbook Layouts to share! In an attempt to stay on top of Zach's baby album I created a few more layouts.

Matt and I have been so touched by everyone's response to our joyous news! We have been compiling all the emails, posts, etc. and here is the layout where we put them all together!

Opposite the above layout is this one highlighting our matching announcement.


Adoption update:
This Monday we received pages and pages of information, applications & an enormous amount of details explaining our next phase- travel. We had thought we would get a little bit of a break- to allow everything to sink in. But, that was just not the case! After all these years of waiting we are now being pushed and pulled in all kinds of directions.

So, this week we have been busy putting together our Visa Application necessary for travel to China. There are still pages of things left for us to accomplish but at least these preparations are in process & China is likely just a few months ahead of us! How excited we are!

Happy Chinese New Year!
It's the Year of the Rabbit

February 3rd it's New Years Even in China! Tonight begins the Chinese New Years celebrations! Among the various celebrations and festivities for the Chinese, Chinese New Year is always deem the most important of all. Chinese families living in different part of the country or the world will make it a point to gather together for Chinese New Year (CNY). This is very similar to the Western concept of getting together during Christmas.

Chinese New Year is also known as Lunar New Year as well as The Spring Festival. The Chinese Year is also symbolized by an animal, very much like the Western Zodiac.

Myths of Chinese New Year
There are many myths as to how Chinese New year came about. The most common one is that in ancient China, every year, a big monster would come out during the beginning of the year and start devouring people and crops. One day, a villager suggested firing off fire crackers, bang loud gongs and fly red banner to try to frighten off the monster.

More About the Chinese New Year -http://www.birthday-horoscopes.net/chinese-new-year.htm

It is hard to believe January is already over! Time sure does fly by. At the beginning of the month my sister gave us blank calendar pages to document the next few months for Zachary's scrapbook. Looking back at the month at a glance I am in awe of all we have accomplished. And, even though we have been in the process for 6 long years this last month has been a rush to the finish!



Just last Friday our adoption agency mailed our final signatures on the approval document called a "Letter Seeking Confirmation" to China! Once received China will begin our travel approval documents. We were told that could take 2-5 weeks.

Last Thursday, we mailed in our complete update package to USA immigration officers. We now wait to receive fingerprint appointments. Then, we wait for an updated valid I-797 necessary for bringing Zachary home. When we receive this document & the travel approval from China we will be able to begin travel plans. We are not sure how long it will take our government to finalize our I-797 but we anticipate we should have it by the end of February.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers! As you can tell there are a few vital details necessary before we are on the literal road to China!

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

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,
which is Christ The Lord.
Luke 2:11 (KJV)

May your season be touched with the simple grace of Christ's love.

Merry Christmas and Many Blessings to you and yours!

Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine
Only a few days away until Christmas! It's hard to believe that 2010 is almost over. As the new year approaches I am reminded by all the Blessings that have been bestowed upon us. The major Blessing is that my Father-in-law has finished his cancer treatments and has been declared by his Doctors to be cancer free! I can't think of a better way to end this year!

I have some exciting news to share with you all! One of my Little Golden Book banners is pictured and mentioned in the "Cravings, Stuff we Love" article in the December issue of Pregnancy & newborn Magazine! It's on the top of page 20. Of course I scanned it and here it is:

I recently received this message in an email & I thought it was so eloquently stated that I wanted to share it here on my blog. I will even be writing it down in the journal I have been writing to Baby Miller. I hope you enjoy this too:

"Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer,
Cleveland , Ohio .

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life
taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick.
Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what
their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.
But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life,
don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words
'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because
of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come...
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Happy Halloween 2010

Trick-or-Treat & Happy Haunting!!

Officer Bingo

Soon after I purchased our Chihuahua's their new bandannas, Matt was walking with Bingo at a local park. A lady noticed Bingo's "Police Car" bandanna and said "Is he a Police K-9 Officer?" Not skipping a beat or missing a step, Matt said "Yes, he is off duty!". Before whizzing by, The puzzled lady said "I didn't know they emplyed such small dogs as K-9 officers!!"

OMG, ROFLOL! Matt did not correct her so we suspect there is a small group of individuals near by that have been ill informed that Chihuahua's are on Patrol in Gwinnett County, GA!! BLESS IT!!