Look, Look, Look!!! updated, more pictures

Looks like she got our care package. She loves the Cheerioes and the doll.

Grace with her friend Alexander, aren't they both adorable!!

She also seems to love congee!!


No, it's not LOA but almost as good. We are still on vacaction but I am able to check email sometimes through out the day. This picture was taken last week and she is wearing the clothing I sent and eating the cheerioes!!! Our girl is a doll. I admit I may be partial but hey who cares, I got pictures!!!! I will post the rest when I get home from vacation.

She's walking!!! I am happy to see this but sad that I missed her first steps.

Getting ready to head out..

My wonderful DH took this picture of my favorite flower in our garden, it seems to only bloom for a few short days each year, but it is beautiful.

Hope modeling my latest creation, which is for sale on the sewing blog.

To visit the Grandparents and celebrate our niece Kylie's graduation form High School. Then we are heading to Cedar Point. We wanted to go to Orange Beach down in AL and spend time with friends in Montgomery but with Grace's adoption the funds just aren't there. But we love Grandpa and Grandma so we'll take the alternative. Hope is all fired up and can't wait to see her favorite person in the whole world. (yeah, it's Grandpa) She also is excited to see her Uncle Scott, Uncle Dave and Uncle Matt.

A Girl and her Ducks....

Hope loves ducks, they can be any size, color or whatever she just has to have them. Whenever we go somewhere and she sees a duck she always tells me "we need to bring them home to their family". And yes we usually end up buying it because I can't resist her little plea. Once home she will find all her ducks and line them all up and play with them for hours. She has named them all, usually after all of us and then she will add in mei mei or another jie jie and on and on. As of last count they numbered 27..... I think we need to avoid the duck aisle, is there such a thing? LOL

And then on to adoption news... our agency is expecting LOA's next week. Of course we will be out of town and not find out if ours is in for a couple days. Hopefully someone will call us....Please?!?!

No news....

Nothing much going on still.... I hear there is news coming though. I have heard this before and you can only believe them so many times before it falls on deaf ears. No big deal, it is all in God's time and I am ok with that.

We had some good times this weekend. The home owners association put on a magic show, juice and snacks for the kids and wine tasting for the adults. It would have been a bit more fun if some of our neighbors were not so closed minded and rude. Enough said.

Anyway, we rode our bikes to the pavilion but Hope wanted to get out and walk with Baba, so I let her and she started running and took a nose dive into the sidewalk. Ouch!! Her poor little nose, knees and chin are all scraped up. (sorry Grandpa, it looks worse than it is) She is super strong though and got right back up and played for hours.

I also finished my latest creation. I saw this on a web blog and thought I could recreate it without a pattern. I made a few changes but it turned out great and is my favorite outfit to date!!

My sewing business has had a major slow down, so I will start working on Grace's quilt.

If any of you need sewing done, I am always up for it. The airline prices are starting to scare me :)

Coming Clean...

Ok, going private was not an easy decision for me. I like to have people hear our adoption stories. I have always hoped that they would listen to our story and maybe it would influence them or others. Our faith has had a large impact on our choices and I think we've grown stronger as a family. These are all great things and I love talking to others about our experiences.

The two main reasons we decided to go private are that 1.) we didn't want to do anything that would affect our final adoption outcome. With all the changes the CCAA have made you never know what is ok to make public and what is not and 2.) probably the hardest thing I've ever dealt with is my health issues. No, it's not anything serious ie fatal but it is a huge inconvenience. I was in and out of the hospital for the months of March and April. We almost called off the adoption but I am so glad we didn't. My GI doc is still working out the details. Basically what that means is she is unsure about an exact diagnosis, for now I am allergic to wheat and may have chrohns or colitis. The jury is still out on that because when I don't eat wheat I feel better. Oh, btw I am also lactose intolerant. So, what do I eat? Well, not what I used to that's for sure. I was what you call a junk food junkie. I could eat a dozen donuts in one sitting and not gain a pound, but that has all changed. I am now conscious of what I eat and where I buy our food.

I found a wonderful grocery store called Whole Foods Market. It is quite a bit more expensive but worth it. The kids don't seem to notice that I've substituted gluten free foods for the other stuff and I think my husband is just glad I am feeling a little better and have supper on the table. I read a great blog today that made me feel better about my decision to go this route and she is a great inspiration. You can read it here.

Alright, no more of the heavy thoughts. We are now on day 51 of the LOA wait and I am getting antsy. I have surfed the rumor mills and heard that LOA's are expected next week. It may be to early for us but I am hopeful that we will be included. If so that would put us traveling right around Olympic time. I have looked up airline prices and they are not cheap, runs around $2200 a piece plus $1200 for Gracie. Please pray that we still have enough funds to get there. I would hate to have to tell our agency we have to wait because it's just not there.....

New pictures!!!

We asked Misty to see if she could get updated pictures for us and she came through!!! If any of you ever need updates or reports use China-Babies. They are wonderful!!!

Anyway, without further ado here is our Gracie. Photos taken just a few days ago. She is wearing the dress we sent her and also carrying the doll we sent. Hope picked it out. I tried to find an Asian one, but Hope liked this one. Her mosquito bites look a little better, hopefully the meds we sent helped. They need motrin and we are getting another care package ready. The clothes I sent her last time were 12-18 mths, she is a big girl for 17 mths. Hope was wearing 6-12 when we brought her home at 22 mths. Their situations were completely opposite though and I am so glad Grace is healthy!!




I just realized that you can't really see the pics that well in the scrapbooking format, so I will add the pics here by themsleves.

Last Day of School...

These should have been posted on Thursday, but we've been having a laid back relaxing time. So, here are the pictures from the last day of school and the ice cream that followed. I always take the kids to get ice cream after I pick them up, sort of a tradition.

CC*A....

please let my mama and baba come get me so these nasty mosquito's will stop biting me.

Does anyone else think that it's been to....

quiet out there.

I haven't heard any news on LOA's or TA's at all. I am hoping they will be coming later this week.

The kids have only three days left until school is out. I can't wait. The constant driving to and from and various activities are making me crazy. Hope doesn't get naps during the school year because I have to drive three kids to two different schools at four different times. This is not fun at all. We don't qualify for the bus but are to far to walk (for Hannah). Not that I would let my 12 year old walk home by herself anyway in this day and age. She would have to cross two main very busy streets.

The gas is about killing us, $55.00 every 10 days!!! I don't go anywhere other than school , grocery store or library. I crave the lazy days of summer and time out doors with the kids.

I am hoping an opportunity that came Kerry's way may work out for us. Can't say much now but it would mean more family time and school buses, plus a smaller town. We did visit this past weekend and I am really hoping we were in the wrong part of town, otherwise it is not even an option anymore.

My girl can't leave her noodles even for a minute. Most of them ended up in the pool. Then we had to refill it and of course change her suit because it was to wet. (according to Hope) Isn't that what swimming is all about??

These are my favorite pictures of my girls. Wishing Grace was here!!

More dresses

Hope is wearing a dress I made that both Kerry and I love!! I have a matching one for Grace. I can make these up to size 4 but they are a bit shorter and the material costs a little more.

I made these last night and have a size 4 and a 2 , if you would one or the other let me know. They are $30.00 with shipping. The fabric is more pastel with ladybugs and butterflies.

First Dress complete!!

I think other than being a little long for Hope it's really cute. (I did make it longer because I like them that way though)

Instead of taking orders I am going to make up a few and list them on a first come basis. We are coming down to the wire and need to raise the extra money to cover our ticket prices. The air fares are sky rocketing!! I don't want to be in a situation where we get our TA and can't go because of the prices.

Very special Thank you..

to Tammi over at Sea Glass & Jade. I appreciate the donation. I know you are waiting on your referral and you are right every penny counts!!

Still no news on the LOA front. If we are granted an early travel we are still probably looking at late July. The agency is saying there will still be travel during the Olympics. Not something I want to do but will if we have to. The ticket prices are so high now I can't imagine what they will be then. Anyway, hoping to hear something next week.

Where is my sister???

My top..

didn't turn out like I wanted it to but is still OK. Not to bad without a pattern. I would have liked it a bit longer but had to take it apart twice to get the pleats right. You have to ignore the jammy pants and tank top underneath and of course Hope had to try and be in the picture, but you get the idea.

The bottom picture is the dress I will be making next. I don't have the exact fabric, instead wanting to go with a pink for my girls. I will be making these to sell also if anyone is interested.