Help us name our daughter

Well, as many of you are aware, Christopher was married last October, and along with the marriage came a new granddaughter named Lexi. It's okay, though, because she's a great little girl, and to be honest I was getting a little bit burned out on the name anyhow (It's been our girl name since we were married 12 years ago). At any rate, we need to find a name we both love and can agree on, as we have very different tast. At this point in the game, I really like the name Claire, and so do the boys. Don, however, doesn't like it at all. We both like the name Sammi, but not Samantha. He likes Kathryn, but I don't. So, there you have it...we need suggestions.

The middle name(s) will most likely remain the same. Louise is going to be there for sure, as this honors both my Mom and Stepmom. MaLi is Chinese for Mary, and it's not that I really love the name Mary; it's more a good omen. All the Marys (how do you spell that without turning it into Marie?) I know are fabulous women, so I just think our daughter could only be blessed by having it as one of her names as well. There is always the slightest possiblity we could end up using her real Chinese name in lieu of that, though.

What do you think?

Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage

I want to win this book in the worst way. It has fantastic reviews on Amazon written by those who have already had the opportunity to read it. I believe it will give us some insight into what our baby girl's life might be like inside an orphanage in China. Thank you, Kay Bratt, for pouring your heart and sole into this informative read for us. Check out the book here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNKES2RCQLKM67G

WE ARE STILL WAITING!!

For those of you who have checked our blog and have seen nothing for the last couple of years, I thought it would be a good idea to give you some information. Since we began our adoption process, the wait has greatly increased. As of April 4, 2010, we have waited three long years, and we are likely to wait that long again before we get our referral. There is a lot of speculation in regard to reason for the increasing wait times, but we are assured that we will have a baby in the end if we just stick it out. So, we are keeping busy and living life in the meantime. As of early last week, the China Child Welfare Center (There is a new director and a new name in place since we began) has made child/parent matches through April 17, 2006. Just to give you an idea of how much longer it is likely to be, those referrals were for adoptive parents logged in between April 12 and April 17, 2006. This means there were five days covered, and since referrals are only issued once a month, it is taking a minimum of six months or so to get through one month's worth of waiting parent files. So, those are the current wait times, four years and growing. Now, that can change a bit as parents turn to other programs and/or drop out of the program completely. Truthfully, I believe that the attrition rate over the next couple of years will get much greater, thus moving us closer to the front of the line. Anhyow, it doesn't really matter what I believe. We'll get our baby girl when it's our turn and in God's time.