MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

30 months today.......

Hi all,

Well today we have officially been logged in for our daughter from China for 30 months. I can say we have had many ups and downs over the past 30 months. It's been an experience of will, faith, and patience. All have been tested -- many times over. I guess that God has a lesson to teach us on this journey -- we just don't know what it is -- and maybe never will. All we can be sure of is that out daughters are in China. And we know in our hearts and deep in our souls that this is true.

Last week we had the highest and lowest point of this 30 month journey happen within 4 days of each other. We are still trying to understand it all. And just like God's other life lessons we might not ever understand the reasons or why it all happened. I can say that our faith in this adoption is as strong as ever. We know in our hearts that in the end everything will work out just how God planned it.

We know that 2009 will bring much joy and peace to us. We only wish this and everything else good for you and your families this holiday season.

Much love,
Sherry

29 months and counting.......

Today our dossier has been logged in with the CCAA for 29 months. Wow. I can't believe we have been waiting for our referral for that long. Some days it doesn't seem like it can possible be that long -- then I count the months in my head -- ok, so I might also use my fingers too. Then it hits me -- and it's real again. That's a long time.

29 months -- 2 years and 5 months -- approximately 880 days -- 10,000+ tears -- countless hopes for a speed up.

1 baby crib -- 1 dresser full of clothes -- 1 shelf full of blankets -- 2 closets full of clothes -- 3 stacks of cubes full of toys -- 12 storage boxes full of clothes -- 1 large tote of little girl shoes -- countless boxes of misc. baby stuff -- still holding on to our dream that someday we'll have 2 baby girls to call our own.

So today is another milestone on our journey to becoming parents. We still have all our hope, all our dreams, and all our wishes for becoming a family.

Today there will be no tears -- today I will be strong -- today I have hope -- hope that we'll soon see our daughter's face.

We are at peace with the decisions we have made to bring our girls home -- now we just have to trust in those decisions and in China and in our agency --- but most of all we trust in God and that he will bring our girls home to us -- in His time not ours.

Bittersweet

I had a few friends get some very wonderful news this past week about their adoptions. I'm so very happy for them -- they get to bring their babies home in early 2009 and one even in 2008. It is just so wonderful since they have all been waiting as long as we have.

So if they are reading this -- and they know who they are -- I'm over the moon for all of you!!!! And can't wait to follow your journeys to bring your boys and girls home. And I'm so blessed that I get to be a part of it. It makes my heart swell with love for all of you.

Friday I went out to mailbox around 1pm and on the front door and the brick around the door there were 11 LADYBUGS!!! It had been in the 30s the 5 days before Friday - but on Friday it was in the high 50s and the sun was shining and the good news was flooding in at the same time. It was another sign. Maybe it's a sign that 11 people will get good adoption news that I know. Or maybe the sun was just shining the brightest on my front door. I'll never know -- but my hope is more good news for all my friends adopting.

Love you all!

Another month closer.......

Today's the 19th again. The 19th is always bittersweet. A reminder that we are another month closer to our daughter and a reminder of how long we have been waiting ----- 28 months today. Or 2 years and 4 months. In reality it doesn't mean much -- since I'll wait 36 or 42 or even 60 months to bring my baby home. It does make for a long winter and holiday season with just counting down the days and months instead of counting the days we have been a family or how many teeth she now has or how many nights it's been since I've had more than 3 hours of continuous sleep. But, I know in my heart that those things to count will be here soon.

To all my June buddies waiting with me --here's a toast to our health, our friends, our spouses and family who listen to us whine about the wait, and to another month closer to sleepless nights.

Right now the CCAA is up to and including February 15th, 2006 with sending out referrals. We are June 19th, 2006 -- so we have 4 months and 4 days ahead of us. Please pray that 2009 will be our year.

I got our 2 year LID anniversary garden all completed two weeks ago. Sonny got all the dirt in, and put the mulch down the week the plants and bulbs all came in the mail. I waited a couple of days to do the planting because it was going warm up a bit in a few days. I got everything planted after spending way too much time deciding where everything should go. I got it all done and was so proud that I got it done and had thoughts of how great it would look in the spring. Then it happened. I'm sure it happened as soon as I went in the house or maybe it was the next day while I was at work. Those pesky little squirrels came and started to dig up my bulbs and steal them. I'd check out the garden area every couple of days and there would be more holes dug. Then on Thursday they left the evidence -- bold thefts that they are -- they left a bulb on top of the mulch --- just sitting there to mock me. I stuffed in into one of the holes they left and threw some dirt on it. Then I came in the house to stew some more about it. But, there is no way those bratty little squirrels are going to win this one. I did some searching on the internet and found these metal bulbs cages. But, they were $19 a piece. Are they crazy!!!! I did some more searching and decided that Sonny can make me something close enough to the cages for $19 to keep my bulbs safe from the snacks they have become. So I ordered new bulbs yesterday -- assuming that all of mine are now gone. And they we went to Home Depot and bought some metal landscape cloth. We got a small roll of it for $9. Once the new bulbs arrive I can replant everything --- again --- and then I can take some pictures of it -- since I forgot last time. That will also be my evidence against the squirrels that the garden did look nice for the second time.

Wish me luck on trying to keep my bulbs safe from becoming squirrel snacks.....again.
:)

Sherry

Another Anniversary

We are 27 months closer to bring our baby girl home. It can't be too much longer.....can it? I know --- I know -- in due time. Someday I'll know what that really means.

At least I can smile today about it.
And be thankful for what I have and what's to come.
That's always helpful and a good thing to remember before going to bed.

Nite.

~ Until next time.

Passing on some good news!

Drea -- my friend - from Canada -- left this morning for China to pick up her daughter!!! She gets Mia on Monday.

Here's her blog link: http://andmiamakes3.blogspot.com/

I'm so excited for them and can't wait to see the pictures of her.


I've been absent for a few weeks. Lots going on -- but nothing exciting. I wanted to post on 9/11 but didn't really know how to put my thoughts into words. As I was driving to work the radio station I was listening to where playing 9/11 related songs -- then about 1 mile from my house I saw the first flag at half-staff --- I lost it driving to work. I should have turned the radio off but I thought it was good to remember and turning the radio off would have made it too easy to forget.

I was going to blog about my baby boy -- Thunder -- but couldn't bring myself to talk about it. He's been very sick since the beginning of summer. We have spend more money on tests than I care to admit. But, he's our baby boy so the money doesn't really matter -- well it does but..... He had a cancerous tumor removed last Tuesday from under his arm. The vet called this week with the biopsy results -- it was some kind of a contained cancerous tumor so hopefully he'll bounce back to his old self soon. He also had 5 fat tumors removed. So he looks like a patchwork puppy with all the shaved patches.

Sonny has the new flower box built -- sorry no pictures yet. He was going to get the dirt this past weekend but since Ike's rain decided to visit -- the dirt didn't happen yet. It rained during the night on Friday, all day on Saturday and part of the day on Sunday. We had over 5 inches of rain last weekend - with most of it coming on Saturday morning.

Not much else going on. Looking forward to following Drea's 2 weeks in China. It renews my spirit that I'll get there someday.......soon.

Have a great week!

Sunrise Challenge

So over at Pioneer Women's blog under her Photography section she posted some wonderful pictures of some grass. Yes just grass. But taken during the sunrise -- with the sunrise behind the grass it looks like it was dipped in gold. It's very pretty. So her challenge was for everyone to take some pictures at sunrise. There were lots of whiners that didn't want to get up that early but I thought it sounded like fun. Crazy girl that I am. So I checked and the sunrise here this morning was at 6:40am. No problem -- that actually sounded late to me. I set the alarm for 6:15am -- only 15 minutes earlier than it's set for work. Wore pjs to bed that I could wear outside and was ready.

Funny thing is -- we don't get sunrises in the city. Between the fences, trees, houses, etc I couldn't see the sunrise. I stood there with the dogs and waited. They thought I was nuts and thought going in the house and feeding them was a much better idea. I waited until 6:50am and still couldn't see the sun. The dogs convinced me it wasn't going to happen. So I went in and feed them. After that I ran back outside -- just in case -- and there was the sun poking through the trees.

So I guess I'll never get the cool dripping in gold sunrise pictures but I did get some cool shoots with just playing with the setting on the camera. The backlight setting made a beautiful colored sky. And no -- it didn't really look like that outside. And no -- no photo shopping was involved there either. I just bought a copy of photo shop but I'm still clueless as to how to use it. I guess that will be my winter project.
So here's a sample of what I got:

Here's looking east -- where the sun should be -- using the landscape setting.

Here's the same shoot - 1 minute later using the backlight setting.










And here's the sun -- finally was able to see it around 7am.

Olympics and more signs

The opening ceremonies were GREAT and very moving for me. I just love all the kids that got to be a part of the celebration. Of course, I wanted to hug them all. They are just so cute. What a great night for China. I'm very proud that my daughter will be from China. I'm going to be one lucky mommy.

Speaking of adopting, I decided last night that I'm going to adopt one of those guys -- I'm not picky I'll take any of them -- from the gymnastic team. Did you see their arms?!?!?! And the crazy stuff they can do on the rings with them? If I adopted one of them I'd never have to lift another heavy thing --- ever --- or never have to move furniture again -- that would be nice. I asked Sonny if he'd agree and he said no --- he didn't want a son who could kick his butt with both arms tied behind his back. So I guess we'll stay in line for our baby girl. But did you see their arms and how they flip and twist and their elbows look like they are on backwards --- just crazy! My arms ached just laying in bed propped up on my pillows watching them. I really needed to rest while I watched them all work so hard.

On to more signs and this time Sonny even made the 'signs' comment --- not me. I have him trained so well. Behind our property and fence is the church property that is basically just overgrow weeds, brush, trees and tons of mosquitoes. About once a year we spray/kill the weeds behind our fence. If we don't they start to creep in to our yard. In the past couple of weeks I have noticed a thistle bush that is about 5 feet behind our fence and about 3 feet taller than our fence. Our fence is 6 foot tall. Sunday after Sonny cut the grass he sprayed the jungle -- at least what he could get too - since we'll have to wait for some of it to die down and spray again -- it's that bad this year. After he filled the sprayer and was getting ready to go spray I went out there with him. I however stayed about 1 foot from the gate so I didn't get lost in the jungle. After being out there for about 3 minutes guess what I spotted???? A million -- ok maybe not a million -- maybe 100 or so CHINESE LANTERN plants/bushes. They are everywhere. Once I pointed them out to Sonny and he walked around and saw them everywhere. He said -- so if that's not another sign I don't know what is then. Of course I was very happy to get another sign. I told Sonny not to spray them -- however some of them got sprayed just because they where so many of them and they where so mixed in with the weeds. I can't believe how many are back there. And to think that before June I had never seem or heard of these plants. I'm just amazed at the journey and renewal of faith that this adoption has led me to.

Plus, the CCAA sent out referrals through 01/31/06. Only 6 days worth but at least another month is completed. With a 06/19/06 LID there is only 4 months and 19 days ahead of us. So lets pray that things speed up really quick or else I might just have to adopt me a gymnast instead.

;)

I got nothing

I really have nothing to talk about but since I promised myself to keep up my blogging -- I'm going to write something.

The Olympics start on Friday -- I'm looking forward to the opening and closing ceremonies. I bet they will be really entertaining. Then I'm hoping after the Olympics that referrals speed up a tiny bit. Ok -- who am I kidding -- I want them to speed up more than a tiny little bit -- I want the to get back to referring a month at a time. That would be a dream come true.

Speaking of dreams -- I went to bed really early last Friday -- like at 8pm. I woke up at 11:35pm when Sonny came to bed and smiled because I remembered that I just had another dream that we were going to pick up our daughter from China -- and it was APRIL. I love those dreams. So I'm holding on really tight to the dream that we'll be in China in 8 months. I can wait that long to hold my daughter -- in fact I can wait even longer if I have too. But I really don't think it will be longer than 8 more months.

Please, please let me dreams be true.
That's all I got for now.

~Until I have something else to talk about.
Or another dream.

Could apt # 419 be April 19th, 2009?????

First date sign yesterday.

So by now everyone knows about my crazy 'signs' I see every where. Well, I have be asking -- YOU KNOW WHO -- for signs on when. When will I be a mom. Well, I haven't got those answers yet but I keep asking and asking and asking. Then I think maybe the signs are there - I just keep missing them or maybe I keep dreaming about them but then I can't remember the dreams. So I keep asking, watching and wondering.

Well yesterday I needed to go weed and plant some new flowers I bought on the way to the grocery store. But, it was like 9 million degrees outside and 10,000% humidity. So I decided that I'd take a little nap on the couch until it cooled off to about 5 million degrees. During my quick 2 hour nap I had a dream. Yes, a dream. A weird dream but a dream I remembered.

So in the dream I was in some apt and knew I needed to get out....quick. I tricked the person that was making me stay there and ran to the door, unlocked both locks and got out. I didn't know which way to go -- then the elevator across the hall from where I was standing opened up. There was a women in the elevator -- she looked friendly -- so I got in. I told her what had just happened and told her I was in apt 419. She decided to go talk to the mean person in apt 419. And when the elevator door opened again all I could see was the door and the numbers -- 419 -- they really stood out. I think the women got out -- don't really remember that. I don't remember much else -- just that I was standing there looking at the 419. I do remember that the door next to the apt 419 door said 'Stairwell' on it -- but I didn't go running towards that door to get out of the weird situation I was in -- I just keep staring at the 419. Then Thunder barked because it was 30 minutes past his dinner time -- but the whole dream stuck with me -- I can still remember everything about it.

Then I got thinking --- maybe this was the sign I have been asking for. Maybe this has something to do with the adoption. So I think that if this was my sign -- then 04/19/09 will be our Gotcha Day. Since referrals usually come out at the beginning of the month. If this is true then our wait will be exactly 34 months. From LID to Gotcha Day.

So I did some calculations and if our Gotcha Day is 04/19/09 then here are the birthdays and ages our daughter might be then:

Born on 01/19/08 -- age on 04/19/09 -- 15 months
Born on 02/19/08 -- age on 04/19/09 -- 14 months
Born on 03/19/08 -- age on 04/19/09 -- 13 months
Born on 04/19/08 -- age on 04/19/09 -- 12 months
Born on 05/19/08 -- age on 04/19/09 -- 11 months
Born on 06/19/08 -- age on 04/19/09 -- 10 months
Born on 07/19/08 -- age on 04/19/09 -- 9 months
Born on 08/19/08 -- age on 04/19/09 -- 8 months
Born on 09/19/08 -- age on 04/19/09 -- 7 months
Born on 10/19/08 -- age on 04/19/09 -- 6 months

Very interesting.
I guess time will either prove my dream right or just that.......a dream.
But it's good to have dreams.

Happy Monday.

More signs & anniversary garden areas

Last year on our 1 year LID anniversary I decided to plant a tree for the girls. So we found a tiny little dwarf apple tree and planted it next to the shed behind the garage. Before planting it Sonny made a little area for it with landscape timbers and fresh dirt. We planted the tree and I added some Dragon's Blood ground cover around it. You know -- dragons....Chinese....good luck.... I was going for the whole Chinese theme there. Here's the tree today.











As we approached our 2 year LID anniversary -- I told Sonny that we had to plant something again for the girls. I got 'the look' -- the look that says 'you are a nut but you are my nut'. All he said was 'we better get our referral soon or we won't have any grass left'. So this time I decided we needed to do the other side of the shed because -- it looks -- well -- like crap -- on the other side. So I needed another Chinese theme -- hello -- the girls are from China so this made perfect sense to me in my little world I pretend to control.

So I decided on these plants -- Chinese Lanterns, Fritillain, Hardy Pansies, and branching tulips.
Do you see a theme on my new favorite colors?

This is where the new garden area is going:


We have until fall to get the area ready since that's when the plants will be shipped. We are going to do landscape timbers from the corner of the ramp in front of the shed to the fence post to the right of the shed. Making a little triangle garden area. I read that the Chinese Lateran plants are kind of invasive so this should keep them somewhat contained. And if they choose to grow behind the fence -- all the better. It's just weeds and mosquitoes now. (not our property -- our lot ends at the fence) And the Chinese Lanterns get orange in the fall and can be cut for dry flowers. I think vases of them for Halloween and Thanksgiving would be a nice touch.

Ok -- ok -- on to the 'signs'. I only saw these plants - Chinese Lanterns - for the first time in June online -- while checking out Chinese Poppies. I thought it was a 'sign' that I found them. So it just made sense to buy them. Right? So I ordered the plants for the new garden area on June 15th.

Last week I was checking out my flower box along the deck and what did I find? A Chinese Lantern plant!!!! So some background info is needed here -- I have planted so many things in there the last 3 years that I can't keep track of what's what now. The bunnies eat the flowers and I plant more. It's this game I play with the cute little furry buggers. Some also get pulled as weeds -- oops -- and some come back a couple of years after I plant them -- I think the bunnies leave some roots behind. So now unless I'm sure it's a weed I leave it until I can figure out what it really is -- or how pretty the flowers are.

But, I KNOW I did NOT ever plant a Chinese Lantern plant -- I would have remembered that.

So I'm sure some bird 'pooped' out a seed and it planted itself -- maybe GOD directed that bird to take a dump on my flowers -- who knows. All I know is it's a 'sign' in my book. So here is my 'sign' plant:


I say good things are going to happen soon with the adoption.....my plant proves it.

I trust GOD to keep me positive -- because I beg him everyday for signs -- so I'll continue to look for HIS signs about when I'll become a mommy.

Today just happens to be our 25th month anniversary.

Home Improvement projects

So we moved into this house 5 years
ago in September. We couldn't paint
for at least 18 months -- or so the builder said. So we lived with just primer on the walls. We got busy with lots of other things -- so the painting has been getting done little by little. My goal is to have the whole house finished (except painting all the insides of the closets -- only a couple -- well one -- is painted) before our 5 year mark. (we still have to do the stair way and hall upstairs) We bought the new vanity, counter/sinks, and medicine cabinets in January -- our old vanity had no drawers -- it was driving me nuts to have to put everything on the counter, in the old medicine cabinet or in baskets under the sink. Almost every time I opened the medicine cabinet my brushes would fall out.
Plus, we redid the floor with ceramic tile and put some tile around the tub and shower.
We finished our bedroom a few months ago -- pictures to come later -- but I couldn't decide what to do in our bathroom. It originally had a mauve colored counter -- which I no longer liked. I was going to have it match the bedroom with blues and browns but then decided that it was going to be too much of the same colors. So we waited.

When Susan came to visit a couple of
months ago we made a trip to Ikea. While there I fell in love with a painting/print -- the one over the tub -- and decided that would be the theme/colors for the bathroom. Problem solved. We finished it over July 4th weekend.

Now I just love it!!!!

What do you think?

Pictures were taken without the flash on -- with the flash on the purple looked blue-ish.

Happy Day -- part 2

A couple of weeks ago I posted this post:

http://springbabies.blogspot.com/2008/06/happy-day.html

So here's an update.

My bestest Canadian friend in all of Canada became a mother again -- for the third time -- this time to a daughter named Mia -- from China -- of course. Mia is from Henan and was born on April 7th, 2006.

Here's a little picture of Mia's adorable little nose and lips.

Isn't she adorable?!?!?!?!?!

Congratulations -- Drea!!!

Love you!!!!

The girls' room -- completed

Here it is -- it's finally all done!!!

Now I just have to keep dusting it until the babies come home. Thunder has decided he really likes the new bedroom and spends lots of time in there napping and looking out the window. He's so big and the windows are so low that he can lay down and just have his head up to see out. Plus, I put his favorite dog bed in there too. I'm hoping he'll keep doing that once our daughter comes home. He can be her little guard dog -- well I guess he'll be the big guard dog -- like Clifford was.

August 2007 -- May 2008

So where was I hiding during this time? Besides trying to climb out of the tornado circling the drain that I seemed to be in over the long a$$ wait to get my baby -- I did some traveling with the hubby and some without him. Here's a recap and some pictures -- when I remembered to take them of our travels.

September 2007: We went to Chicago for about 4 or 5 days for our anniversary. The deal was Sonny would go see Wicked with me if I went to the all you can horf down Brazilian BBQ place with him. Well, Wicked was FABULOUS -- the all you can eat place -- ok. In fact, Wicked was so FABULOUS that we ended up seeing it twice. Friday night - our last night there -- it was pouring sideways rain. After going and buying a second umbrella and trying to make the best of it we gave in and decided to go back to see Wicked again -- this time in the cheap seats -- the very last row -- but still really good seats since the theatre was so small. So worth seeing -- I would see it again if I ever had the change.

October 2007: Sonny was in Germany for work in July and had to go back in October. This time I went too. Hey, who can pass up a free ticket -- with frequent flier miles and a free hotel. However, I've learned the hard way that flying isn't all that glamorous -- having the hubby fly business class while you have to depart 5 hours before him, take three different flights, fly coach, and arrive 2 hours before him in a foreign country isn't really that great. However, I am becoming quite the world traveler -- along.

So I was in Cologne, Germany from the 1st to the 5th. I shopped all day while Sonny was at work and then at night we hung out together. The best thing to do in Cologne is drink Kolsch beer and eat fried greasy German food....yum. Kolsch is the best beer I've ever had. And there are like 5 or 6 different kinds made there. And it's only made in Cologne -- or as the they spell it in Germany - Koln. One night we had dinner outside at this Italian place and their Kolsch beer tastes like Frito's -- really. It was even a little orange in color. Like Frito's the corn chips -- I really liked it. We had soup and a calzone there along with a few beers and it was great. (It really wasn't a few beers like at home - their beer glasses are .2 liters each -- so each beer is only a couple of sips...really... would I lie?) It was also raining that night -- why we decided to stop and eat there -- it was cold and dark out and we where wet and hungry and needed another beer. So sometimes now when I'm hungry and it's raining out I can taste that yummy corn chip beer. Makes me want to go back. Maybe some day. Since I dropped and broke the cuckoo clock I bought there -- well it's not broke -- the bird just pops out at quarter to the hour instead of on the hour -- I need to go back and buy another one. I tried to fix it about 18 times and can't figure it out. Of course, I did lots more shopping there too -- I carried many, many bags over that bridge. The hotel doorman must have thought I was nuts with all the bags every day. Getting everything home on the plane was fun.

Pictures -- 1) the view from our hotels side of the Rhine River -- that's the Dome in the background, 2) the bridge I had to walk across to get to the 'city' - it's a foot and train bridge -- by the way I HATE bridges I can't look down -- I'm afraid -- this bridge moves and vibrates whenever a train goes by -- at least 2 times by the time I could get from one side to the other, 3) the Dome up close, 4) window from inside the Dome -- it's very Goth and dark inside.

On Wednesday that week everything was closed in Germany for some holiday -- Sonny also have the day off from work -- besides a conference call he had to attend back at home. The guy Sonny was working with picked up us at the hotel in the morning and drove us to Bruges, Belgium for the day. I have no idea how long it really took to get there since I was sick -- got a terrible cold my second day in Germany -- plus is was really damp there -- so I slept part of the way there and most of the way home. I think it was about a 2 hour drive there and back. We spend about 8 hours in Bruges. A very nice little town. It reminded my of a spy movie -- like one of the Jason Bourne movies -- I think it was mainly because of the roads and how close the cars really get to you when they go racing by and you have no where to go but flat up against a building and pray. All the roads were bricks or some kind of stone so they also made lots of noise when the cars raced by too. Also a killer on the feet for 8 hours in 4 inch clogs -- but they looked really good. And that's all that matters -- right? We walked around, bought french fries, lots of chocolate and lace. Took a horse and buggy city tour and then a boat ride on the canal. Both tours were really cool -- got to hear a lot about the history of the town from people that lived there their whole life. The houses on the canal are very cool and kind of weird -- they are actually sitting in the canal. Just weird. Everything in Belgium was very green -- and this little stream or maybe the beginning or end of the canal was like a lime green color. Maybe that's where that Nickelodeon slim comes from. It was that color green.

Pictures: 1) the weird lime green water, 2) one of the streets we walked down, 3) Sonny and I - sitting on a bridge, 4) Canal houses, 5) I think this was an old church.

So I was home for a few days and then was off for a girls weekend the 11th - 15th to New Jersey/New York City with some us my China sisters (some of the chicks in one of my adoption groups). Other than still being sick from Germany -- we all had a blast. We always have a great time together. Susan wrote up a great post about our trip here:

http://slowboat-to.blogspot.com/2007/10/junesbugs-in-new-york.html so I'm not going to try and out do her writing -- besides I'm lazy. Go read her post and then come back.

November 2007: On the 3rd we drive and met Susan & Roger for dinner -- about half way between our houses. (the same Susan from above). The restaurant was wonderful!!!! But the company was even better -- I finally got to meet Roger, even thou I felt that I already knew him. It was a great evening and the guys finally got to meet. We really need to go back there -- it was really yummy.

January 2008: I spend the weekend of the 18th - 20th at Susan's house. In the middle of a snow storm I drove to her house. Now, I have lived in Michigan my whole life and I never, ever leave the house in the winter without my mittens and a scarf -- because I'm a wuss when I get cold. So I packed my clothes and jumped in the car for my drive into the snow. The trip was pretty uneventful and I didn't get lost and there was a nice toasty fire waiting for me when I got there. Then I realized that I forgot my boots, my mittens, and my scarf at home. I have no idea how this happened when they are all sitting by the same back door I left from. I think it must have been the excitement of seeing Susan or the visions of mall dancing in my head. Susan made me these great purple beer drinks and homemade pizza -- both were yummy. The next morning there was another 4 inches of fresh snow on the ground and a had the same cute 4 inch heeled clogs to wear. But that didn't stop the shopping trip. It was a great, fun and relaxing trip. A much needed break and a chance to do some more bonding over baby clothes. After all -- I was there for our 19th month LID anniversary. So we had to buy the girls something.

May 2008 -- The 16th - 19th Susan drove here for the weekend. We ate, talked, shopped, drank, ate, talked, shopped and drank some more. It was a great weekend.

So that's the travels that I didn't post about. No travel plans for this summer -- just working on the house.

I'll post on that later.

Until next time.

Blog Words

Happy day!!

So the new blog is up and I LOVE it. So fun and colorful!! So me! Thanks Danielle -- you are wonderful!!

Tonight I got a very exciting phone call from a friend -- she was very happy -- so happy she was crying and so was I. That's all I can say for now. I just want this friend to know if she reads my blog -- that I'm so VERY, VERY happy and excited for her!!!!!

Miracles do happen!

Until next time.

Signs

So back on my post from June 19, 2007 (our 1 year anniversary) I mentioned that I was going to watch for 'signs'. Well, I'm not so sure how that worked out for me last year -- but that was last year. But, I can tell you in the past 2 or 3 months I can see adoption 'signs' everywhere. And sometimes people might even think I'm a little nuts and really reaching -- but I choose to see these 'signs' as messages from GOD telling me to be strong, we make the right country choice, we're getting twins, etc, etc. Basically I think GOD it just telling me to be strong. I can find at least 2 or 3 signs a week. I guess it's all in how you look at things.

So last night we were laying in bed watching tv and a commercial for The Simpson's came on. And it was the one about the China adoption episode. We watched this episode right when we first started the adoption -- a sign as far as I was concerned. Especially since I have actually watched The Simpson's about 10 times in my life. So last night I looked at Sonny -- after having to grab his arm to get his attention -- and said "LOOK -- another sign that good things are going to happen soon with the adoption'. He looked at me and say -- 'ok'. It wasn't an ok - you must be right honey -- it was the ok - you're a loon. I politely told him he can either get on board with my new attitude and my 'signs' or I can be depressed about the wait again -- your choice. He then smiled and said "Yes, you are right -- that commercial was definitely a sign".

I just love my husband.

Nite.

I'm back -- really!

Hi all, well it's been about 11 months since I last posted here. I guess I just hit a wall emotionally about the waiting...and waiting...and waiting...and needed a break...I just didn't plan on it being this long. Nor did I plan on the adoption taking this long either. I really need to stop making plans.

So today is our 2 year anniversary of having our paperwork logged in for the adoption with China. And I'm ok with that. Don't like it -- but I'm ok with it. I've found some inter peace with the whole process of waiting. In the past couple of months I've had an attitude adjustment about everything -- and no I didn't get hit in the head. There's just this calmness inside me now -- I think it's a turning point for me and the adoption wait. So that means I'm back and here to stay.

I'll post some update in the next couple of weeks about what has gone on in the past 11 months -- nothing too exciting -- but I think I can come up with a few fun and somewhat interesting things we did.

Also to go with my new renewed spirit (haha) and to mark our 2 year anniversary I've decided that the blog needs a makeover. Yesterday I hired someone to do it for me. I'm excited -- it will be a new fresh start.

Until the next update ~

Sherry