We wish you a Very Happy Year of the Ox!

Hello again to the readers of this blog.

We wish everyone a Very Happy New Year and may the year of the Ox bring much joy and happiness to all. The Waite family gets a little more festive with each passing Chinese New Year. We have more decorations now (which the girls love) and we are trying to incorporate more of the traditions and customs into this new holiday! The more we learn about Chinese New Year the more we enjoy it! Even John buys bags of oranges or tangerines and hands them out to fellow co-workers to ensure good relationships & well wishes to all. Tonight I made sure to sweep out of the house any bad luck from the last year. I also bought oranges and a new pot of blooming tulips to set on our cupboard to bring well being, health and happiness to our house. We will be having our own little Chinese New year feast again and then giving the girls their lei-see (lucky red money envelopes).

We are now over 1 year waiting for our little baby from China. Our 1st anniversary was on November 23 2008. Judging by how many referrals China got through last year, we are positive that we will not be receiving a referral in 2009. Nonetheless, we are keeping optimistic that a speed up is still in the works. We have heard that many Orphanage directors in China are now taking training and learning how to properly prepare documents to make more babies eligible for adoption. China's Center for Adoption Affairs is also trying hard to get more orphanages to participate in both the domestic and international adoption programs. We keep our fingers crossed and pray hard every day that our little baby will be in our arms one day soon.

Cadence and Avery are doing so well. They are both in a dance class together and it is so cute to watch them...they truly are sisters who watch out for each other! They will make the best big sisters EVER! They are so excited to get their little baby. Every doll in our house now goes by the name "China baby". We just can't wait for the day that we can finally introduce them to her!

We are looking forward to a wonderful year ahead. My sister Jackie is getting married in Costa Rica, which means we get to take a little vacation! It couldn't come at a better time. Both John and I are feeling a little burnt out lately. A little R&R is exactly what the doctor ordered and we can't wait! We are all looking forward to another great camping season too. Just today Avery asked "when we are going to go campin'". I told her "mommy doesn't do winter camping." "We'll have to wait until spring!."

Cadence will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. What a milestone! It makes me sad to think of my first baby going to school already. Thank goodness I still have my "baby Avery" to spoil!

I will try to post more this year than I did last as new things pop up in the adoption world!

We also have a little activity planned for all of you who read this blog. I'll post more about it when we get a bit more organized!!

Happy New Year!! Gung Hei Fat Choy!!!!