Happy dance

When Lou and I decided to create this blog, it was with the intention that our friends and family could follow along on our journey to China to bring home our daughter. When we received our referral, I decided to include our good news on some very popular websites dedicated to China Adoption and waiting families. Much to our surprise and delight, we have since received over 18,000 hits from hundreds of cities in over 40 countries!

So, hello everyone, and welcome to Sgroi-land! Thanks for sharing our joy. This is for you....

If it won't play on this site, click twice, and it should take you to YouTube. Thanks to www.wherethehellismatt.com.

Travel Approval and other fun facts

Hooray! Our agency reports that Travel Approvals were signed on the 25th, and should be arriving very soon. Our tentative travel dates will be July 25-August 7. We're so excited!

Coincidentally, our good friends Kate and Doug from Hong Kong will be arriving at our home with their two children this weekend, and spending a week with us. Kate's first language is Cantonese, as is Marlee's (what there is of it at this time), so she'll be teaching us some basic phrases to help ease Marlee's transition with us. We haven't had an opportunity to spend much time with Kate and Doug over the last few years, and now we'll be seeing them twice within a few weeks, as they are planning to come to Guangzhou and visit with us while we are there, too! We feel lucky to have them in our lives.

For your viewing enjoyment, here's a funny photo of Lou and I on June 9, just moments after receiving our referral! Yes, I'm looking a little bug-eyed, but we couldn't have been happier.

Updated photos!

We just received updated photos from Marlee's orphanage that were taken yesterday! Our baby's growing. She's now 23.4 lbs and almost 32 inches tall. Also, in other good news, we received our Travel Visa's from the Chinese Consulate. We're getting closer to traveling!

Waiting to Travel

So, now we have our applications in for our Visa and we wait to hear if we can travel to China in July. We are hopeful that we will make the trip prior to the start of the Olympics. As soon as we know the details we will let you all know. Marlee's orphange is located in the southern most city in China. We expect some warm temperatures in mid July. I wonder if any of you parents who have traveled to southern China have any advice to share regarding preparations we should make for the trip?

Marlee on my Mind

We went to our agency(http://www.ftia.org/) on Monday and met with our wonderful coordinator Betty who reviewed with us the package that had just arrived. After being patient for nearly 3 years (whether we wanted to be or not) and wondering periodically what our daughter might look like, suddenly this little picture slips out onto the table in front of us. Through the tears forming in my eyes I began the process of etching this beautiful face into my memory. I swear I saw a little halo above her head. It turned out to be a little staple mark in the photo but in my mind it remains a halo. And now, that I have seen her face it is hard to think of anything else.

Inquiring minds want to know....

OK...now that I've had a moment to catch my breath, I'll answer some of the questions everyone's been asking. First of all, thanks for all the sweet comments. We are overjoyed! Our gorgeous girl is living at the Zhanjiang Children's Welfare Institute in Zhanjiang China (Guangdong province). Her DOB is 12/19/06, so she is almost 18 months old. It is reported that she is a "deep sleeper" (yeah!), who can stand and walk with one hand being held. It's also reported that she can climb over the rails of her crib! We may have a little acrobat on our hands! We also know that she's "shy, quiet, yet fairly extroverted" (hmmm...), and that she's fond of listening to music and playing with colorful toys. We're hoping to travel in July (please pray for that to happen!), in order to avoid the Olympics. We want to get our baby home as soon as possible.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is with great excitement and joy that we introduce OUR DAUGHTER, the much-anticipated, Marlee Sgroi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

STORK ALERT!!!!!

Rumor has it that "the stork is in flight" and will be landing in the USA on Monday! I can hardly believe we'll FINALLY be seeing our little girl's face. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to get through this weekend, though. It's going to be a long one!

All our children

While we're waiting for information on the latest light of our lives, I thought I'd take the time to celebrate the ones we already have. The first two pictures are Erika and Alex. They are our adult children from Lou's previous marriage. Erika just graduated with a Master's degree! This photo was taken at the Opryland hotel in Nashville, and I think it's just lovely. Alex is continuing to study for his undergraduate degree while gaining career experience. This photo of Alex was taken at our home over the Thanksgiving weekend. Notice that he's practicing his architectural skills on our computer by rendering the layout of our kitchen. We are very proud of both of them! The third picture I'm including is our former exchange student, Claire. Claire is from Belgium. She spent half a school year with us, and the second half in a volunteer program in Thailand. Also, Claire was with us when we began the adoption process over two years ago, so she was part of our homestudy and included in the photos that were sent to China! She's a very special girl, and I'll always continue to think of her as "ours". The picture was taken during her time in Thailand!

Home Again

Hi everyone! I'm back from a delightful trip to NM. I had a great time exploring a new land and visiting with my friend while waiting for our referral. I'm attaching a few pictures for everyone to enjoy. The first is the Native American market in Albuquerque's charming "old town" area. The second is my friend Maureen in "old town". The third was taken at the beautiful Albuquerque botanical gardens. The forth is me "on top of the world", having just taken the tram to the top of the Sandia mountains, and the last picture is said tram that we rode. All in all, a great trip.

Regarding our referral, rumor has it that the stork should be taking flight any day now and we should be in the next batch...yahoo!!!!