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.

This weeks Waiting Family ~

It's that time again!!

This weeks waiting family is having an amazing giveaway!! You know you all want one, so go ahead and swing by Because we are Led and enter to win!!

So What's up ?

I know I haven't been posting lately, at least of the kiddos and updates and such. It's not that I haven't wanted to or that nothing is going on...believe me, lots' happening here in our neck of the woods.

We have been dealing with teasing at Hope's school. Not teasing in general but nasty, you are Chinese, not a US citizen and different kind of teasing. And this is in kindergarten folks.

Pretty sad, makes you wonder what happens behind closed doors in some of these kids houses...

I hope that it is handled. I spoke with the teacher via email and in person to both the teacher's assistant and the guidance counselor. Hope's seat has been changed and things have gotten a little better.

Kerry has been traveling a lot with his new job. I have to be honest here. I can't stand it. Most people he works with have no children and are not married so they have no clue what it's like to manage six kids by yourself for weeks at a time.

It isn't easy and that's an understatement.

We do manage to get out and do fun things when he is home. And that is important. The kids need this, I need this.

And to top it off, the kids have been passing around a nasty bug. Jake is the latest victim and it's turned into bronchitis. sigh...

Welcome to Monday.

Sunday Snapshot ~ Jake ~

Jake was the last of my babies born to me and with good reason. He weighed in at ten pounds. Surprising even the doctor who had guestimated 6-7 pounds. And while 10 pounds may not seem big now a days, to this petite 115 pound mom it was a lot. A whole lot, trust me.

Jake was the baby of the family for five long years. We did have a family meeting about adopting and he seemed on board, even excited about having a little sister.

And he was. He loves Hope...and Grace and most especially Rachel. Maybe because they are so much alike. Always a ready smile. Always happy. Never serious, unless he has to be.

After all his aspiration in life is to get to Hollywood and become an actor. Or a rock star. Or a director. An artist. You get the idea, something creative for our boy. And I totally approve, even encourage him to become more creative.






Me? I just feel blessed that I am the mom to such a sweet easy going fun loving boy who enjoys every second of life.

A Worthy Cause and a Giveaway~

What could be better than supporting another who is trying so hard to get their child home?

Each week I will feature one family trying to bring their child home.

This week it's for Kaleb. He is the sweetest little guy ever and I have to say I love his name. We have a Caleb ourselves.

So here it is, check out all the amazing prizes that have been donated for this Giveaway!!







You can even get entries simply for spreading the word on your blog or facebook. But, really it's the holiday season, can you simply forgoe one St*rbucks drink this week and donate to a worthy cause, because what is more important than having a forever family?

Blog Design ~

I am a woman of many talents!! ha ha

Bet you didn't know that?!?

So in addition to being a SAHM to 6 kids, sewing, taking care of the house and all things domestic I now do blogs!!

If you are in need of a new look check out my new site for blogs!!

Some "Christmasy" Fun ~

Now who doesn't love Christmas and a giveaway?!?! Get out of here, what more could we all ask for?? To get the nitty gritty details click on Stefanie's link below...

~ Still Waiting ~

Can you imagine, wanting a family, a mom, dad and siblings...dreaming of the day you have a family to call your own? Well, these kids are still waiting....it's been about three months since their files were released to Wasatch's focus list.

Three months of them waiting to hear the words "you have a family"

Most people are waiting for a child that is younger or with minor special needs. I have to tell you these kids have very minor special needs or none at all, they wait simply because they are older.

We love Wasatch and have used them twice. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

This is Elizabeth. She was born the day after Christmas 2000. She

is healthy and waiting in Guangdong.

This is Edward. He is in Beijing and has absolutely stolen my heart. I keep praying he finds his family. I would bring him home in a heartbeat if we could.

Just look at his sweet face and his cute little poses. He is healthy and born in 2004.

This is Renee, she was born in 1999 and has hep b. Isn't she sweet?

This is Rose, she is in Beijing and has repaired CHD. She is 9 years old.


This is sweet Bree. She has had a rough start in life. She was born in 2007, has a limb difference and is in Guangdong.

These girls are siblings. They are Alice and Angie. Born in 2000 and 2004. One is healthy and the other tested positive for hep b. They are Heilongjiang.



To obtain more info email me (hopeyfopey@yahoo.com) or Kathy Junk at Wasatch. (kathy@wiaa.org)

And please someone consider Edward. He is such a sweet little boy and really would love to have a Dad to play baseball with...

The adoption Community ~

I just read the article "Speaking to the Identity of Chinese children in the US"
from the Washington Post.

We live in the general area. We have three daughters adopted from China, but in our city which is pretty darn close the the area's mentioned there isn't a desire to have an active FCC group or even a small group of adopted parents and kids getting together. Believe me, I have tried.

My girls and I really miss what we had in both MI and AL. I think it is very important to keep the culture and language alive for them. However, driving an hour each way in crazy DC traffic with six kids isn't an option for me.

So what do you do? We crave the celebrations we had with our other FCC groups. Hope asks me daily when she can start Chinese classes. We have contemplated moving closer to DC but goodness have you checked housing prices there?? Outrageous. I have asked local Chinese businesses to help me out with local people willing to teach....so far nothing.


I can't begin to tell you how important it is to have the support and connections of other adoptive parents.
It just isn't something I can explain but something we as adoptive parents need.

So in the mean time we wait and as we wait the girls are getting older and forgetting the language. We try to keep the culture alive the best we can.

Have you seen.....

the new Wild Olive site yet?? If not, hop on over there, it's amazing and they are having a giveaway!!

Birthday Celebration ~

The adorable Rach with the very cute shirt by Kelly at Lollipop embroidery.

Our girl isn't much into presents....but cake and food, yes she loves that!!

So we had a feast on her big day. Along with a homemade chocolate cake and then trick or treating, followed by a party at the neighbors with you guessed it food galore.

And our girl Rach, she chose the asparagus over the candy, way to go girl. I have to admit it was pretty good. Especially dipped in butter sauce.