No matter how you spell it......

it is H~O~T!   Though it can also be spelled H~A~U~T~E.   It all means the same....torture!!

And this 7 day forecast is just making me tired!   Good thing the girls love to swim!

Oh Joy!!

I was looking at a waiting child advocacy site the other night and I ran across photos of our sweetie pie.   I noticed that the dates were June 2011 and at that time our girl was on another agency's waiting child list.    Their name for her was Avery and she was 4 years and 8 months old.  

I emailed one of the people from the agency to ask if they still had any of the video of her.   What a wonderful surprise to open my email today and find several videos of her and more photos!!   She is such a sweetie pie!!   And what a dancer!   The dance video is sideways and for the life of me, I do not know how to turn it right side up.     But here are the photos and a couple of the videos.

We just can't wait to get this beautiful girl home!!!

We Love you Linzi Rose MingShan!!!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

We have.....

Three great letters!!

Not as good as our TA, but we will take it!!   Another step closer to our caboose!!

Random photos

While most are celebrating the 4th with fireworks, we are staying inside where it is cool.     Pugston is scared to death of fireworks and is trying to hide under my feet!

Jordis with Bell's palsy.   Fortunately she is now able to blink BOTH her eyes and her smile is much more symmetrical!!

RaeAnne with her bestie, Hollie.   These two have been BFF's since Kindergarten even though they live over two hours apart.    Going to be in 7th grade this fall.  

Tessa, Lily and Haven.   For Haven's birthday the girls went to the hairsalon and received the works!  Of course, they are all cuties even without all the pretty hair!

Mom gets to pose with Jordis, Piper and Tessa at Joe's Crab Shack where we ate for Tessa's Birthday!
Yes....Tessa's doll is now known as Piper!

Jordis gets ready to put some muscle into eating crab legs!

Tessa dressed up as a cowgirl and rode her horse through Joe's Crab Shack to celebrate her birthday!!
YeeHaw!!

Fund Raising

There...I have gone and said it.    We will be doing some fund raising to bring Linzi Rose MingShan home.   I will be having one if not two large garage sales once the weather cools off a little.   I have things that I will be selling on Ebay.   I will be rounding up all the gold in our house that is not stuck on someone's finger and be melting it down.   I also hope to do a Scentsy on line party, maybe a Thirty-one party.   Anything we have to to get our girly home.    This along with my working as many extra shifts and hours that I can without running myself into the ground.

The hardest thing about doing all this.   I will have to learn how to ask for and accept help!   I was always taught that you should never ask anyone for help.   If someone asks you to help then you apply yourself and do the best you can.

We also want to be able to Pay-it-forward to another family after we get our girl home.   If anyone has
any ideas...please jump in!   Our daughter is waiting for us and we are very anxious to get her home!!

~~Happy Birthday Tessa~~

A couple of weeks ago a friend of ours posted on FB that they were having a silent auction to help a family bring home a little girl from China who needs heart surgery.    Amy posted photos of all the items they were auctioning.   A big fluffy duck caught my eye.    Tessa LOVES ducks!   And it had a quilt with it.  Jackpot!   All the girls have a cuddle quilt for their beds.   These quilts are part of their 100 Good Wishes Quilts.    I have not yet started on Tessa's.   Come to think of it...I don't think that I have started Jordis'.   I need someone to mail me some squares and wishes!!   Tessa now has a quilt with duckies on it and a stuffed duck to go with it.    She loves her duckie!!

  

Today Tessa turned 8!   I had asked her a few weeks ago what she wanted for her birthday and she didn't know.    Then about a week ago she told me she wanted an American Girl Doll.    She didn't want just any old doll, she wanted the McKenna doll.    Well, I knew that her sister wanted a McKenna doll?   So her Dad and I decided that we would make sure that Tessa had the chance to pick the doll SHE wanted.

So we told the girls that we were going to the mall to Build-A-Bear.    Once we arrived I told the girls

to wait with their Dad because Tessa and I had to go somewhere first.   Tessa and I headed to the AG store.  I explained to Tessa that she could pick out the doll that she wanted.   It didn't take long for her to pick a doll, and it kind of looks like her!   Let me tell you that we have one very happy little girl who is very proud of her new doll!   There is not a name for the doll yet, but she is thinking about a few.

Happy Birthday Tessa JiXing!   We love you all the way to the moon and back!!