Mongolian Spots

I thought that most people knew what Mongolian spots are, but just in case not, here is a definition.

WHAT ARE THEY?
Mongolian Blue Spots are flat birthmarks with wavy borders and irregular shapes, common among people of Asian, East Indian, African, and Latino heritage. They may be seen in about 10% of Caucasians to over 90% of African Americans. Bluish gray to deep brown to black skin markings, they often appear on the base of the spine, on the buttocks and back and even sometimes on the ankles or wrists. Mongolian spots may cover a large area of the back. The pigmented area has large concentrations of skin cells called melanocytes, with normal skin texture. They commonly appear at birth or shortly after birth and may look like bruises. They do fade once the child gets older.

I just finished reading a blog where a Mother of an Asian child was shopping at the mall and another shopper called 911, because she noticed the Mongolain spots on the little girls thighs and thought she was being abused. Holy Moly! Luckily the police officer who responded to the call was of Asian descent and knew exactly what they were. I have an aquaintance here in our little city who was questioned by her child's day care workers about her child's spots. So, if Lily has any you can bet they are going to be well documented and all child care workers will be aware of them and what they are...N

Happy Easter.

For about 20 years now my Mom and I have been making Easter cup cakes like the ones in this photo. Hopefully next Easter Lily will be here to "help". N

".....It seems that China has now completed matching up to and including March 6, 2006 and is still maintaining a very slow process. Based on current timelines (4 days of matching), we anticipate that you will receive your referral in July or August. If timelines increase to 5 days, you could receive your referral as early as June...."

OK, that is a direct quote from an email from our adoption agency, I consider it good news and still believe we will receive our referral late June.

Some lovely people we have met through the adoption world are celebrating their 3rd year of "waiting" anniversary, it is exciting that they are very close to receiving their referral. A big shout out to all those oh so patiently waiting who have a long road ahead of them, you are also definitely in our thoughts.

If you would please say a quick prayer for my parents, Dad has day surgery on Tuesday and Mom is suppose to begin her second round of chemo soon. Thank you. N

Quilt

So check out this beautiful quilt my good friend CAM made...isn't it just amazing. Thank you so much, I just love it, you are so talented.

It is as soft as it looks, made a very soft flannel/cotton. I should have taken a close-up so you could see the detail.

Not much new to report on the adoption front, in a few days we will have been officially waiting 3 years.

We are a little bit closer!

There is a website called Rumour Queen, she gets all kinds of rumours from the international adoption community in general. People are posting on her site that the Chinese Centre of Adoptions Affairs (CCAA) have finished match children to families with files dated up to and including March 6, 2006. So that is why I say we are close. I still firmly believe we will receive a referral (photos and information) by June.

So I went to bed early last night to wake up to a strange noise around 11:30p.m. I went to the kitchen to investigate and there was D standing on a chair using the electric drill to make a hole in the kitchen ceiling! We have some kind of leak near the window and the ceiling was dripping water and you could see it was holding up a great weight of melting snow and water. Nice - not! He drilled a hole to relieve the pressure/weight building up. We got that spot repaired last fall after the tail end of Hurricane Hannah struck and we think the repair person did not seal the spot properly. It seems to have stopped dripping this morning. Enough winter already pls.

Lily's Room

We are not quite finished decorating her room. I will post more photos once it is completed.

1st Post

Hi,

It is a crisp sunny winter morning (-20 degrees)...brrr...thought I would create this blog for friends and family to follow us on our journey to Lily.

Travelling later today for K's birthday celebration.