After receiving over 100 fabric squares from numerous friends and family, the thought that I was going to create a quilt for Liliana started to make me nervous.  Although I have done some sewing throughout my life (my ski racing pants, graduation sashes, ski jacket, wedding dress), I have never made a quilt.  What was I getting myself into?  So, to help with this dilemma, I decided to create a smaller “practice” quilt.  If this one worked, then great, I would do fine with the Bai Jia Bei.  If it didn’t work, then I knew that I would that I would have to send it out to a professional to be made.  Well, June 12 was my niece’s 5th birthday.  Her birthday gave me the perfect reason to create a quilt.  I found a great pattern, some adorable fabric, and started sewing.  I presented the quilt to her when we travelled to Florida in June.  Below is a picture of my niece with the quilt.  So, after completing this quilt, I have decided to tackle the daunting task of the Bai Jia Bei.  Keep your fingers crossed that all will turn out OK.

 Bailey  :0)

  Cute Sara with the front of the quilt.

  Sara and the back of the quilt.

Well, after not posting for a couple months, I knew that it was time to finally get my butt in gear and update the Ladybug site.  So much has happened since May (when I last found time to write) that I could write a book with all the ups and downs…but I will spare you from the tedium of my life.  Instead, I will give you the Cliff’s Notes version of the last two months.

• Waiting for a referral for our little one. 
• School ended for the year.  One hundred 14 year-old students said goodbye for good.
• I took a wonderful 1-week calculator class for the TI-84.  Received lots of goodies!
• Still waiting for a referral.
• I took the High School Praxis test (for teachers) to allow me to teach high school Algebra to my eighth graders (this is after studying like a fiend with my personal tutor…Thanks Trav!)
• We flew out to Florida to surprise my dad for Father’s Day (he was surprised).
• Travis left Florida after one week, while I stayed an extra week in for some good quality bonding.
• Still waiting for a referral.
• Changed my plans and ended up staying a total of three weeks.  Still not enough time.
• Returned home, began painting the downstairs bathroom.  Upon its completion, I decided to continue.
• Have started painting the interior of our house, including moldings and doors.  The house is in a bit of chaos, but starting to look good.
• Still waiting for a referral.

So, as you can tell, I have been a very busy lady, and am just now taking the time to work on our site.  I will soon post before and after pics of the house…after I get more done.  Keep in mind, we still have to get the baby’s room together (clean, paint, organize). 

Speaking of the baby, we are still very impatiently waiting for a referral.  But, we are getting much, much closer.  Our LID (Log-in-date, the date that China officially logged-in our dossier) is July 26, 2005.  So, as you can see, our dossier has been over in China for just over a year.  Yes, we have been waiting for well-over a year now for our little one.  We are hoping to receive a referral in either August or September (of course, the sooner the better).  Once we receive the referral, we will travel about two months later.  Here you will see a chart (originally made by a fellow July adoptive parent) that shows the referral process, the number of days referred each month, and the referral trends.  A new referral batch came just came out with the supposed date of July 13, 2005.  As soon as I know the exact day, I will update this Ladybug site.  So, I hope all is well with everyone.  Sorry I have not been updating the site, but I am back on board.  Keep checking back often because hopefully soon we will have some referral news!

Bailey  :0)

Referral Tracking Information, click on picture to enlarge

We’re renovating ladybug right now, to make it a little easier to enter posts and to allow for comments.  These site will act a little funny until Travis gets all the style packages figured out.

See you soon!

–Bailey