Rare visitors

Funny that this would happen after some of us Mom's have been "talking" about pets and/or insects. The girls came running into the house last night. ZoraLin was in the lead and was yelling "Mom, come quick!" "It's a praying stick!" Okay, she was half right. It was a Praying Mantis. We had one we saw occasionally at our old house, but this one is HUGH! The photo does not do it much justice, but I would guess it was almost four inches long. I am not queazy about insects, but I think that these will bite. So we checked it all out from a distance, I had it pose for a photo and then we left it alone. I explained to the girls that Praying Mantis are good bugs that eat bad bugs.



Each weekend we have another visitor that make the girls even more excited! The Ice Cream Man drives through our little neighborhood each Sunday afternoon, early evening. All the neighbor kids welcome this van! And the goodies he has, YUM!!



Here are the girls with their tasty treats. Yes, you counted right, there are five girls in the photo. The middle one is RaeAnne's BFF who spent a weekend with us a few weeks ago.

School starts!!

Today was the first day of the 2008-09 school year. This morning started off early with a lot of tired girls. Things went very well and they were ready much too early. Daddy and Mommy drove them to school so we could take photos of the girls....just as many other parents did! They rode the bus home this afternoon. They were so excited to get off the bus, I was only able to get one photo!

Boys don't make passes.........

at girls who wear glasses!! We now have TWO the boys can leave alone!! BTW, they each picked out their own frames. I'd say they did a pretty good job!

They sing......

We had company for the past couple of days. RaeAnne's BFF Hollie came to stay with us. It was scorching hot outside, so the girls had to entertain themselves inside. This is what they did. This is also my first experience with recording a video with my digital camera. You will have to scroll down on the blog to our play list and hit the pause button so you can hear them sing. Enjoy!!

Room Done!!

Finally! I finished the girls' room. Now it looks like a room fit for a princess, or two, or three, or four!! Finding the right bunkbeds has held up the progress on the room. We wanted something made of wood that is sturdy enough for the wear that our girls will put it through. At the same time, I wanted it to be more feminine looking. We have searched high and low looking for just the right bed. And that is just what we found, ONE bed. One bunkbed for four girls. Yes, this will not work! But until we find another bunkbed, this will have to do. So tonight we have two very excited kiddos who are sleeping in their bunkbed and two disappointed kiddos who are sleeping in their "OLD" beds. I have tried to explain that good things come to those who wait, but I think I have been wasting my time.

Here are some before and after photos!

Support a wonderful cause!!!

Our family supports "Love Without Boundaries" In fact, three of our girls' photos are in the "Love's Journey 2: The Red Thread" book. We are anxiously waiting for an announcement about the third such book. In the meantime, please check out the LWB blog here;
http://lwbchinablog.blogspot.com/ and enter their newest contest!!

First prize in this contest is an LWB prize pack, which includes:
A copy of our coffee table book, “Love’s Journey 2: The Red Thread”—a beautiful, hard cover book of over 250 pages with beautiful photos and stories about adoption.
PLUS a Red Thread Jewelry Set, valued at $125, which is SO BEAUTIFUL that you know you want it! Sterling silver, pearls, red silk cording…..did I mention BEAUTIFUL?!
PLUS one adult LWB t-shirt and one child’s LWB t-shirt.PLUS (drum roll please because this is a biggie these days!) you will also win a FIFTY DOLLAR gas card to 7-Eleven donated by a friend of LWB!!! WOOHOO!! Free gas!!! Gas card! Gas card! Gas card!!! Okay, we admit that doesn’t exactly go with an LWB prize pack, but hey….we told you we were shameless and we want you to enter!Total prize pack is worth over $250! Now that’s a fun contest, right?Second prize will receive a Love’s Journey book, and third prize gets their choice of an adult or child’s LWB logo t-shirt.
All you have to do to enter and receive one chance in the drawing is email info@lwbmail.com and say “I support helping rural children in need.” That will count as one entry!

Citizenship!!!

Today we traveled to Kansas City to pick up Jordis Li Meng's Certificate of Citizenship. The last trip to this office was to file the paperwork necessary to adopt her. This will be our final trip to the Office of Homeland Security as this is the last slip of paper we will need for her.

The process has changed over the years. We had to make an appointment on-line through Info Pass to pick up her C of C. Last time we picked up one of these, we waited in the office for a long time, then after someone reviewed paperwork with me, had me stand, hold up my right hand and "Swear that all the paperwork filed is true" they handed me the paper. This time we walked in, up to the window and in less than 10 minutes the man behind the window told Jordis "Congratulations!", handed her a American Flag and handed me her certificate!



We had hoped to go to the Zoo afterwards. However, since the temperature was 98 degrees today, the girls took their "critters" along and we stopped at Build a Bear to buy each one new clothes.