Ho Ho Ho all the way home!!!!

Who was that fluffy man? Why it must have been Santa Claus!! We are in our new home and Santa managed to squeeze down the chimney to deliver presents to all the good girls and boys. It was a pretty marvelous feat for the guy, especially as our furniture had only been unloaded at the same house Christmas Eve morning!

The movers were set to arrive at 10AM on Saturday morning. Saturday morning, Mark and I woke to the sound of wind whipping around our house. After catching a quick report of the weather we called the movers and asked them if they could delay our move by one day. Fortunately, it was not a problem for them to come down Sunday morning to load. It worked out great! The girls were at church and by the time they came home, most of the furniture had been loaded. The girls had a picnic in the dining room as the table was packed away.



Monday, Christmas Eve day, the movers were at our new home bright and early. The girls worried many times to themselves and us while the movers were unloading our things, "Will Santa know that we have moved?" "Will Santa bring our presents to the new house?"

After the girls FINALLY went to bed, the jolly fat man came along and put a tree up and many presents under the tree. ZoraLin and Kendalan came up the stairs very soon after and saw the tree and presents. They were both excited, but were very willing to go back to bed when Mommy told them that Santa may "Come back and get the presents if he knows that there are little girls who are up!"



Christmas morning the girls came jumping into our bed yelling "Mommy, Daddy Santa has been here!" Santa saved the day! Now if he would just come back and help Mommy and Daddy put everything away in our new house!!

Merry Christmas!!

We were supposed to move today. Mother Nature had other plans and she brought blizzard conditions to our neck of the woods. We woke to the sound of the wind whistling around the house carrying snow and bitter cold. We called the movers at 6:30am and asked them if we could delay our move for a day. We did not want to be responsible for any injury that may occur to them if they would have an accident on the way here and I wasn't too happy with the thought that our furniture could land in the ditch if their truck slid off the road after they loaded it. They phoned tonight and said that they were glad we had called them off this morning! We are hoping that they will be able to make it here tomorrow morning now. The snow has stopped and the sun came out late this afternoon, but the wind has continued to blow.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Words of wisdom

AMAZINGLY SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES

1. If you are choking on an ice cube simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat. Presto! The blockage will instantly remove itself.

2. Avoid cutting yourself slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold while you chop.

3. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.

4. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer.

5. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.

6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you will be afraid to cough.

7. You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

8. Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

PS

For anyone who is interested....you can read it here;
http://www.journeytome.com/
Username: morning
Password: glory

Don't have time right now, but will figure out later how to post the link. I have done it before I just don't remember how right now. I guess it is my Halftimers kicking in!

Okay....I figured it out! :) Enjoy!

Bad blogger!!

I gave up making New Year's resolutions many years ago. That is because I usually broke them very quickly after January 1st! I will make one this year to post more frequently to our blog.



Life is very busy with four! Throw in a couple of holidays, school, work, prior commitments and MOVING to the mix and BAM! Life goes on! I started a new job in September, traveled to China in October, we took possession of our new house in late October and we have been busy slowly moving. We hope to have everything moved by the end of December. The girls will start January 3rd at their new school. We know it will not be easy for them, but we have weighed the cons and pros carefully and feel that this is the best for our family. I hope that the girls will learn to understand because right now we are ripping them from their friends! We are sad to leave all the friends that we have made in the three years here too, but we are really looking forward to all the things that our new home and area have available.

We are hoping to put the girls in dance, gymnastics and/or karate. That is something that I wished for as a little girl. In the *remote* area where I grew up, there wasn't much available, so I rode my bike, my horses and grew up the old fashioned way. Maybe I am reliving my childhood through the girls?!

Home from China!

ZoraLin and I flew to China on October 5th and returned October 17th with Jordis Li Meng in tow! I had heard that blogspot was not easily accessed in China, so I created a site to post daily updates to. I was glad I did because I COULD not access blogspot at all. I was disappointed because I wanted to read the post of others who were in China at the same time we were.

I will add photos and more later!

A little birdie whispered in my ear!

That our TA has been printed and is on it's way to our agency! IF it does arrive at our agency tomorrow we MAY have a chance to travel in September. IF it doesn't then our odds of traveling in September are GONE! Please say a prayer for us today!

Update!

Yesterday brought us an update that we had been hoping for! Three new photos of Jordis and new measurements! They say she is healthy and happy and she definitely looks it! If the measurements are correct, she is a lightweight! 28.2 pounds! While it is GREAT to see new photos, it just makes us all the more ready to bring her home!!

Once upon a time.......

In a beautiful country called China there were four babies who joined their forever families. (Okay, there were actually five, but one didn't make the photo each time!) These babies have grown and each year become more and more precious. Here is a then and now photo of the group.

Home again

We arrived home Monday evening from our week trip to Chicago for our every other year reunion with RaeAnne's travel group. We had a wonderful time, great weather, good conversation and the girls really enjoyed spending time together. I don't know if the girls truly understand why we get together with this group of people every two years. I think they may have the general concept of their being adopted in China, but I don't know just what part of our reunion they really get. I think they will after a couple more reunions.

Our family chose to drive there. Mapquest says that it is about an 11+ hour drive, so we took two days each way. Of course, with three little girls in the car and a husband who takes a diuretic each morning....we stop pretty frequently. It is kind of nice not to be in a real rush to get there and really take the time to stop and smell the flowers along the way.

Happy Friday the 13th

I have never before been superstitious about Friday the 13th. I have always felt that black cats bring me luck. Walking under a ladder, piece of cake! I was really excited about living on 07/07/07. However, the past few days have made me wonder if I should start looking over my shoulder more often.

I received some bad news yesterday that shocked me to the core at first, then made me physically sick, then my shock turned to hurt and anger. Ever since 07/07/07 things have just not been right in our world. Cars have broken down, we can not get any updated info on our girl, a death in the family and now I have been turned down for a job that I was very excited about getting. I have been in the dumps most of the afternoon and probably not a very pleasant person to be with. Then after visiting with a very good friend who lifted my spirits, watching Big Brother 8 and then pursing the net for a while, I stumbled across this quotation.



I am thinking that He has pointed me in this direction and I need to take this to heart and believe that this is my reason for being. I will do my best to make this statement come true for my girls.

Bummed!!!

We were very hopeful and excited this past week. A family who adopted a few years ago from Jordis Li's orphanage traveled back to China for a visit. They were going to ask for updated measurements for us and most importantly, they were going to try to get updated photos for us. Well, things did not work out. I then contacted Ann at Red Thread China She not only has a store very close to the White Swan in Guangzhou and sells items on the internet, but she also does a "Care package" service. Folks that have received their referrals can contact her via email and she will send a care package to your child. You can also send a translated letter and she will call the orphanage and check on your child for you. So I asked her to call Jordis' orphanage.

The CCAA recently enforced a bunch of new rules about adopting from China. They also said that they did not want the adoptive parents to contact the orphanges asking for info. They say it takes the staff away from the children. I can understand this, but they also need to understand that some of us parents are VERY anxious to know how our children are! The info we have on Jordis Li is from October 2006. Because the info is not yet a year old, we are not to ask for any updated info. Many agencies just look the other way or interpet the rules differently. Many orphanages do not take this rule seriously either. Well, Jordis' orphanage is following the letter to the T! They would not give Ann any info for us. They said that we would have to have the CCAA fax them the questions we wanted answered before they could answer them :( We did find out that she has received our first package. Thank you USPS! So the wait grows more tedious as we go.




We just sent her this package a week ago. At least we know that the address we have is good.

A very short video

Happy triple sevens day!

What a great day! I heard on the news last night that this date will not occur again for 1000 years! I don't think I will be here for that date! So we will enjoy today!



- Get Your Own

If I had a couple extra dollars laying around I would have to go gambling! Nothing like hitting four 7's on a video poker machine for a jackpot! We know of one couple who is getting married today. At 7:07pm on 07/07/07 on the 7th hole of the golf course! Hmmmm....there seems to be a theme here!!

Belated 4th musings

Oohhh......Aahhh.....Wow! That was the chorus of sounds at our house last night. After a very long day of hearing "When is the fireworks?" it started raining at supper time! Daddy and I were thinking that the girls were going to bed without the much anticipated show. Thankfully, the rain stopped and the fireworks began! There are a few families in our neighborhood who either really love the 4th of July or just have lots of money to spend on fireworks....or maybe both! Whatever the reason, we get to enjoy lots of sights and sounds as they go off all around us. There were a few times we gave our west neighbors a standing ovation as they really had some pretty ones! RaeAnne announced that "This is the bestest day in the universe!"

Bedtime was very late and all the excitement had taken it's toll on the girls. I think that they were asleep before their heads hit the pillow. The first thing RaeAnne wanted to know this morning was "When do the fireworks start tonight?"

Why China?

We have heard this question many times in the past seven years. Not so much anymore, guess when you look at our family, the question is already answered. In all honesty, we did not start out with China on our minds.

It was medically impossible for us to become parents physically. Besides, with each of us having not so desirable genes, we didn't think it would be right to pass that on to a child.

We initially looked into doing foster care with the possibility of adopting. However after visiting with someone at at the state foster care system, we quickly changed our minds. Maybe that was the woman's intention. She was very frank with us and told us that we could become a foster family and have infants/babies placed in our home. But she wanted us to know that 9 out of 10 placements are returned to their biological families.....sometimes many times. Maybe it was because we were "older" parents to start, she could tell that we would not be able to do this time after time after time. My thanks go out to this woman for telling us up front about this. It takes very special families to be foster parents. My hats are off to them and my heart goes out to the families and the kids who get caught up in the system. Praises to the judges and social workers who don't drag out the process over years and years and get the children placed in a stable home, whether that be with the birth or adoptive parents.

We then started looking into international adoption. We researched Romania, Russia, Korea and after spending a considerable amount of time on the Internet, China was our choice! We then narrowed our agency selections down to two and spent one afternoon calling references from each agency.

Our first adoption touched my heart, but I don't think that I truly realized just how much it had for several years. I now know that each trip to China I have left a little bit of my heart there each time. Of course, each time I have come home with a heart and arms even fuller!

If someone were to ask me today, "Why China?" it is very easy to say, "Because that is where my daughters' were!"

Here we grow again!

They say everything happens for a reason. On February 20, 2007 I was looking at a list of waiting children on our agency's website. I clicked on one little girl's name and the cutest face appeared on the screen. I called Mark over to the computer to take a look at her. This is usually no easy task as he just really isn't interested in looking. He agreed with me that she was a "dolly" and asked me what her need was. After much discussion, we emailed the agency telling them that we were very interested in this little girl as we felt she was our daughter. I also called the agency and left them a message that evening. The agency's policy is a first come, first served one. We did not want to find out that we were too late!! The next morning I tried getting through to the agency many times without luck. Finally in the early afternoon we got through, visited with the director of the agency and very soon after that "I have a family!!!" was placed beside our daughters' name.

The girls are very excited to be adding another sibling to our home. With each milestone reached during our paperchase, RaeAnne and ZoraLin were ready to pack their bags and go to China to bring Jordis Li home. Our dossier was logged in at the CCAA on May 29, 2007. We are now waiting for the next step in the process which is when we are sent a Letter of Acceptance (LOA)