Two beautiful Waiting children ~ Update ~

Sweet Christopher, where do I begin with him???? He is a cute little guy with a sweet smile. Christopher is also from Hope's orphanage in Baoji Shaanxi. So he is extra special in my book!!

His DOB is 9/2009. He has limb differences. Looks pretty mild and again, did you see that smile??





Mya is breath taking and her needs, well a little out of the ordinary but still pretty mild and may require no surgery. She has the eyes, you know the ones that draw you in and don't let go....

Makes you just want to give her a hug and put a smile on her face. Her DOB is 7/3/2008. She is in Guanxi.
Virtually a July 4th baby!! Her special needs are Limb Differences.







Take it from me, limb differences aren't such a hard special need to deal with. Our girl Rachel, she is amazing and can do what ever she pleases. She is very determined and you can hardly tell her leg is 3-4 inches shorter than the other.







Here is something from an orthopedist in regards to Mya's special needs:







"I would definitely cast her, She has bilateral significant club foot, so it will take a while longer but I would expect a good result. Her knees appear smooth and dimpled, she may have a systematic condition, perhaps arthrogryposis as it can affect just the lower limbs."




















For more information or to request her file contact Kathy at Wasatch. (kathy@wiaa.org) or email me at hopeyfopey@yahoo.com





Let's all pray this sweet girl finds her forever family!!

Ok, all, sweet Christopher has a family!!! What a wonderful New Year they will have to be blessed with such a sweet little guy!!!

Just the girls, having some fun.

Christmas 2010

There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day anymore to edit and post to the blog. I am trying but....

These are in no particular order and haven't been edited. We have our former exchange student staying with us since school got out so I have been busy keeping up with 7 (yes 7!!) kids.




Maggie our very old but sweet pug even got in on the Christmas day fun.

The girls' big present, something they have been wanting forever.

And of course what is Christmas 2010 without Pillow pets?!?!

Not awake yet.

Christmas Eve shot before church.

A Quick Update ~

Just because I know you are all dying to know whether or not I fell off the face of the earth, right??

We have just been super busy. The grandparents were here and we picked Sunny (our previous exchange daughter) up from the airport on Sunday. She will be with us through December.

We celebrated Kerry's big 40th birthday and we actually had a date night!! Can you believe it!?!

We haven't been out on a date since, well, I can't remember when...Lets just say it's been a few years .

'One Less'

An eventful day ~

Thursday started out great for us. We went to the local mall to meet one of Gracie J's care takers while she was in China. We had corresponded back and forth for some times and she was finally in the area to meet up with another family who is also blessed to have a Hanzhong honey!!

We didn't get to spend much time together but what we did have was precious. Just hearing stories about Gracie as an infant brought me to tears. We are truly blessed to have this connection and for Grace to have felt the love of someone special while waiting for us to come get her.



The last part of the day was very eventful. We have all had the flu the past two weeks or so and Rachel had the flu shot, so I thought we were safe, it would pass right over her.

However when we came home from the mall, she was running a fever. Not a little fever a whopping 104!! I immediately gave her some tylen*l and thought she was doing better. Once Kerry came home she seemed ok. He took the big kids to church and I managed getting the Little's settled for the night. Rachel then took a turn for the worse. She started wheezing, the fever returned and her face was all swollen. I ran to the med center, they saw us and sent us to the ER. They wanted to call an ambulance, however I talked them out of that and drove.

They couldn't find any veins for the IV. It was not fun. She just cried and cried. Still no IV, so we were set up with bottles of juice, Popsicles and water, a nice smallish bed, a TV and hours to spend in the ER trying to get a very tired grumpy baby to drink.

She did manage to gulp down one full bottle of Gatorade and a small Popsicle before 2 am, then with the sugar started bouncing off the walls. I promptly, dumped the other water down the drain, ate a Popsicle and said we were ready to go. I assume they thought she drank/ate it all and said we were free to go.

Rachel was a sweety and went right to bed once home. I however was not so lucky, Gracie woke up and decided it was morning. When I got her settled I manged to grab about four hours of sleep before the schools decided to call it an early day and send the kids home.

Sigh~ I guess I can sleep later, knowing that Rachel is better is worth more than my sleep.

Oh and the diagnosis? Bilateral ear infections with dehydration. Something so simple .....

New Digs...

So I changed the blog....just a little. I was toying with the idea of moving to a new place, but most of you know me here and I thought I would just change the name.

That won't be the only change....I have been reading some things lately that frankly are pretty scary. Things about privacy and such. I am not going private, but I may change the way I post photos and names. You never canbe to careful.

Plus, the older kids, they are not hip on being here, in a public place, where their friends can see. I also want to procect the Little's.

But, I don't want to stop posting, or stop advocating for those left behind, because there are litterally millions left behind. As for adoption, I don't know what the Lord has in mind for us. Right now, I know we need to play catch up with medical stuff. As for the rest, we'l take it one day at a time.

So what do y'all think of the new design? Keep it or change it back?

It's snowing!!

And according to Hope Santa can come any day now, because it's snowing!!

I know it's not much but we are in VA. The kids really miss MI this time of year and all the snow we used to get.

This is the first time Rachel has seen snow. She was mesmerized. Just look at her face, isn't it sweet!!


And ignore the fact that my sick, flu infested kids are standing outside without coats checking out the snow...

Something you have to watch ~

Happy Birthday to me....

Yep, it's that time of year, the time to reflect and well, I was kind of hoping to be forgotten on this particular birthday...you see I turned 40. The big 4 0.

Ugh. It's really just a number, something I don't think to much about. But, I really expected something big to happen, some revelation or something. You know?

We didn't really celebrate. Kerry is working A L O T lately and hardly ever home. Plus, there is the fact that we just came home from China with our sixth blessing. And really that is a gift enough for me.

I am hoping to get some pictures this weekend. Maybe a couple good ones. You see, I did something really stupid, something I vowed I would never do again...

No, sillies, it's not adopting...at least not this year LOL!!

I chopped all my hair off. Well, the salon guy did anyway. And it ain't pretty. It was the day after Thanksgiving, you know the day I spent awake for 24 hours straight. So that's my excuse.

Anyway, he cut about 6 inches off the length and layered it. And I just can't do layers, don't have the time and I am all about neat clean lines and layers, they are not neat clean lines.

So what do I do? Well, I waited one day and cut all the layers out myself.

Yikes, yes, I did. And like I said it isn't pretty. And to fix it, well I will have to go short, as in pixie cut short...or wear a hat for months...(guess it's a good thing it's winter, right)

So, a poll, should I cut it all off or just throw on a hat? Oh and because I am very brave (or not very smart) I am also going red....

One last plea~

For this little guy that has completely captured my heart.

He is in Beijing and healthy. Completely healthy. I simply can not understand why he has not been spoken for. He is all boy and simply adorable.

Please say you have room in your heart for this sweet little guy....please?



For more information contact Kathy@wiaa.org or me at hopeyfopey@yahoo.com

Wasatch is offering a grant in the amount of $2500 if you qualify.

Please, please...

Follow this link and leave a comment on my article so my dear freind Robin can the full $2000 towards her adoption of Liliana!!

Today is the last day!!

Sunday Snapshot~ Hello

It's been awhile. We have been busy. Lots going on, so many doctor's appointments.


We tried to get family pictures, but gave up.

To many kids and not enough seriousness, but that's OK. I like funny.

And we also have the "fun with patching" series going on here. You have to make it fun for our girl Rach otherwise she gets bored.

Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving!!

Urgent Situation ~

This is Bella. She is 13 and in an orphanage in Shanghai. She will turn 14 in february. Once that happens her chances of having a family are gone. She needs someone paper ready or someone who has LOA already or even someone who hasn't started who is willing to get their senators involved to get this done!!

The agency that has her file has a grant program you can apply for that totals $2500. I also know of several people that are willing to donate to the agency for her adoption fee's. (myself included)

I am also willing to set up and online raffle, giveaway, donation site. Whatever it takes.

We have been told that after she ages out she will eventually end up in a massage parlor possibly doing "adult services".

Can you even imagine?? Lets not let that happen. Someone out there has to know someone willing to take a chance on a beautiful 13 year old girl.

Her file is with Kathy at Wasatch. She is willing to transfer the file to your agency if you are already with one.

Contact me (hopeyfopey@yahoo.com) or Kathy at Wasatch (kathy@wiaa.org)

for more information.

Need some help ~

for a very good friend. I wrote an article for an adoption publication. Not knowing it would be read everywhere and it wasn't that great, but I digress.

The point is for every comment you leave on my article, my friend Robin will get $2.00 towards the cost of her adoption expenses to bring home sweet Liliana.

Right now Robin is sewing like crazy to help raise money for her sweet daughter to come home and believe me every penny counts, so please go here and leave a comment, if you have more than one email, leave multiple comments under those emails.

Click here to leave a comment.

She has limited time, they are waiting on Travel Approval, which could come any day and are about $10,000 short of their needs.

Thank you so much!!

My heart is happy ~

And this is the reason....

Hope had a play at school today. I was anxious to go, to see and observe the class. Jut because I was worried about everything that has happened.

She is such a happy outgoing girl. Nothing much gets her down.

And in case you didn't notice the picture. This is Hope's BFF. According to her.

She is all she talks about. And just in case you didn't notice in the picture, I cropped it.

Best buddies. My heart is happy.

The downside of teasing ~

Our struggles with Hope and the teasing she was subjected to have had numerous repercussions. Some I expected, one I didn't even think about...

And it makes my heart sad...very sad.

Our girl has always been strong. She had to be. Left to her own devices in a crib 24/7 was rough. But Hope, she was very stubborn. She wouldn't put up with much and when the nannies didn't pay attention to her, she did the only thing she could think of, she climbed out of her crib and forced them to pay attention.

I am not just guessing at this, I was told this by the director.

That's just how our girl is, you either pay attention to her or watch out.

I love that about her. She is a go getter.

Seriously, check out her finding ad. Most are mug shots, not our girl, she is smiling, giggling even.

I worried when school started. Just your typical, "she 's not with me at home" stuff. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine teasing and name calling, especially in kindergarten.

I just didn't think it would start this soon.Don't get me wrong, I knew it would happen sooner or later. (emphasis on later) This is just something we trans- racial adoptive moms will have to deal with.

Me, I thought I was prepared. I had all the right things in my mind that I would say. I knew what I would do and how it would be handled.

And then it happened, she came off the bus and her face was down and I just knew, deep down I knew something was wrong and it wasn't just the typical school stuff.

My girl held it together until we reached home and then just lost it. And if you know Hope, she doesn't cry. Never has been much of a cryer. But this time she let loose, it was a loud sobbing, huge tears cry that lasted two long hours.

And the things that she told me, they were not pretty. And everything that I had in my head that I should have said just didn't happen, because right then she just needed me to hold her and tell her it was ok.

And I did. I told her how much I loved her and how we had waited so long for her and that China is a beautiful place and full of beautiful people.

Which led to more questions, some I didn't have the answers to and some that were hard to answer.

Which eventually led to emails to the school, to the teacher and finally in person talks to all involved. Which hopefully will take care of the problem....this time.

But, I know in my heart this won't be the last time we have this conversation or that she comes to me crying. And it really breaks my heart. I just don't understand how some people can act the way they do.

The worst part is she was proud of being Chinese. Yes, I said "was". She enjoyed telling everyone she was born in China and that her mommy and daddy flew all the way their to bring her home.

Now, well, she isn't so proud and she is more quiet about it. And that truly breaks my heart the most.