I'm back

Camping was good! The post is coming shortly, just have to download some pics...

In the meantime, in preparation for the next round of referrals coming out...I'm sending a shout out to my girl...

No matter how long it takes.

Gone Fishin'

Tis' the season...

I can hardly contain myself…the first camping trip of the season is scheduled for this weekend. I’ve been busy planning, organizing, and gearing up for season 2 of Dutch oven cooking!

In addition to my beginner recipes, I am planning to step it up a notch and attempt an intermediate recipes as well.…oooooh! watch out, she’s busting out the intermediate recipes! I also splurged and bought some new accessories, I can’t wait to try them out!

Recipes I am going to attempt (keyword attempt…you never know what might happen, there seems to be quite a bit of adult beverages in the cooler):

Enchiladas – beginner
Pineapple Upside Down cake – beginner
Coffee Cake – intermediate
Pillsbury Biscuits – no recipe, I’m going to try and regulate an oven temp of 375 for 30 min.

Not the most figure friendly I know, but whatever…we’ll be camping! Plus, I'm planning on hiking up to some falls nearby, that'll burn some serious calories.

Oh, and someone special and I will be the ONLY ones in our group childless and by golly gee, I’m planning to whoop it up because I know it won’t be that way forever. :-)

Wish me luck! I’ll let you know how it all turns out. Happy Memorial Day!

Elton?

Jack, sporting some new flashy glasses while celebrating his 3rd birthday over the weekend.

2007 Ladybug Tea

My mom and I, along with my friend Shelby and her daughter Breanna, headed off to Spokane on Saturday to attend the 4th annual Ladybug Tea. The tea is a fundraiser, started by one of my agency’s families, with all proceeds assisting families with their adoption expenses (awarded in the form of Ladybug grants).

This was my first time attending anything China adoption related, that is an organized function for our area families with children from China. I had no idea what to expect and I am thrilled to report that my expectations were greatly exceeded! We had a fantastic time. Of the 250 attendees, 72 were children! Cute cute cute little girls everywhere!

Highlights included…

a professional photo (my mom and I had one done)

silent auction (talk about ladybug madness)

running into my friend Sandy, her daughter Ellen, and her mom Barb (note to self, call them the next time I decide to attend a function…chances are, they are planning on attending too!)

music entertainment

the Dads and sons serving all the moms and daughters

rolling through not one, but two tissue packs while watching the video/slide show (my brother is in for a REAL TREAT dealing with my Mom and I while we are in China…have I mentioned that it takes practically nothing to make me cry? Guess where I get it from? We were in the door a total of 2 minutes and we were both crying…rolling my eyes at myself..but I can’t help it!!)

standing up proudly when asked if there were any “waiting moms” in the crowd

the decorations, the menu, the tea

mostly, it was just fun to be there, soaking it all in, seeing all of the beautiful families and knowing that someday….she’ll be home.

Now, onto the pics…fun stuff I tell ya! Captions are below the photos...

My mom, Shelby, and Breanna

Shelby, Breanna, and I

Our table

Breanna, sporting her ladybug face paint

Breanna munchin' on dessert

Group shot! From left, my mom, Barb, me, little Ellen, Sandy, Breanna, and Shelby

All the little girls were called up on stage and performed I'm a little teapot...

Breanna, pondering on the way home...

Good times...

Friday, after a bear of a day, I came home to find major surprises in my mailbox. First, I pulled out a Mother’s Day card from Heather. It was so thoughtful of her to send a card on my first Mother’s Day as a mom-to-be. Thank you Heather!! How very very sweet of you!

Then, I grabbed the rest of the mail…only to see a BIG BROWN ENVELOPE! Sure enough, it’s from the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China and contains important visa paperwork for the baby. I’ve been waiting for it, knowing that it would eventually come…so yay! it’s here and now I continue to wait.




Saturday, I worked at our college info booth at the Spokane Shock arena football game. I didn’t want to go alone and my volunteer had canceled on me, so I brought along my sister and my nephew Jackson. Thank god I did, watching Jackson experience his first large sporting event was a kick. He was totally in awe of everything, the people, the music, the players, the cotton candy, and of course, the mascot, Shock the Fox. My sister had done up his hair Mohawk style, so he fit in quite well with all the crazy football fans. It was a hoot and I’m glad I brought them along because I absolutely loathe watching football.

Jackson w/ Shock the Fox

I can't take my eyes off all the action!
Crashed on the way home...

Sunday, after church, my family came over to my house for Mother’s Day brunch. It was nice…

A present from my nephews...at 4 months and 3, they really do have wonderful painting skills..wink..

My mom, Jackson, and Thomas

My mom and her girls...and Jackson "helping" hold the hat cake I made for brunch :-)

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

AND......5 months down!

Did you know...

Did you know it's rude to show the bottoms of your feet in China? Which means, one shouldn't sit with their leg crossed over the other like this:

On the other hand, it's perfectly acceptable to stare in China...and we all know it happens. From what I understand (mostly from following other adoptive parents blogs while they are in China) Americans + Chinese babies in front pack baby carriers = curiosity, crowds, and stares.

It's all good, and now I know that it's perfectly fine to stare back ;-)

I learned this little bit of information today while reading one of my new fav blogs Xiaman Adventure. You should check it out, a single mother and her two daughters are currently living in China. Malinda is teaching law classes at a University and her two daughters are attending school. So informative and really interesting!! Her experience is planting a little seed in my head....

Out with the old, in with the new....

Disclaimer: I drafted this post last week, but blogger was giving me hell and I was unable to line my pictures up all nice and neat....which drove me nuts (and still is!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clearly, there are major changes headed my way…as in becoming a parent. Take one look at my mailbox for example. I used to look forward to finding the following in my mailbox each week/month…

I know, I like the trash. Don't judge me.

Nowadays, the above have been phased out and I look forward to….

My sister gave this subscription to me for Christmas! Thanks sis.

Adoptive Families is my FAV!

The latest...

This post just made me realize I am a magazine whore. :-)

Those around me near and far....

I love that my brother emailed me today asking where's the website that tells you the referral numbers?. The fact that he remembers/knows what a referral is - - is enough to make me want to cry or maybe it's my pms, but more importantly I know he cares and is trying to follow along and understand this process as best he can to support me. :-)

I also ran into the ladies from admissions today at our yearly benefits fair...I was asked the usual "When are you getting your baby Sara?" "What's going on with the adoption?" questions. I explained, they all nodded and agreed that it is a long process and then they all said, "you're going to tell us when you find out who she is right?" Damn straight I am! I've already started the email blast list....my thinking is that I better start it now because I'm sure things are going to get pretty nutty later. Which got me to thinking, what else can I do now to help prepare for baby besides buying things? Hmmmm, maybe I'll start working on her lifebook over the summer.

And.....while cruising the Single Adopt China yahoo board, I came across a posting mentioning an article in Working Mother magazine. Wait. What? A working mother magazine.? I will be a working mother. I want the working mother magazine subscription n.o.w.

So, I ordered it. :-)

Have a good night all. I'll be watching the Grey's Anatomy TWO hours special! Man, I love sweeps!

Scenes from a lunch room

Today I ate lunch with my Big Brother Big Sister’s “little”. As we were visiting another little girl joined in on the conversation. I recognized the other little girl as I’ve watched her do many “tricks” on the bars with my little during recess. We were discussing their daily school routine and I asked what they were working on in their computer lab. My little said she was working on her penguin power point presentation. Wait, what? Power point in the third grade! I was teaching my adult students power point last night. I had no idea.

Anyway, here’s what went down over chili dogs (for them) and a chef salad (for me)…

Little: "I can’t believe you were teaching old people power point."

Me: "I can’t believe you already know power point."

Little: "uuuuuhhh yeah, we’ve been doing power point since the second grade."

Me: "Well, do you know why I teach old people how to use power point?"

Little: "No"

Me: "We didn’t have computers in school when I was your age. Many people were only exposed to computers in the last 10 or 15 years."

Little: "What! You didn’t have computers in elementary school?"

Me: "Nope, so now we have classes at the college to teach older people how to use computers."

Other little girl: "I can’t imagine not having computers in school. I wouldn’t be able to go to school without computers. Wow! You must be really old."

Little: "Are you finished eating yet, I’m ready to go play on the bars…"

Me: silence...I was still too stunned from the you must be really old statement

Whoa.

May

Isn't today when the new China adoption "rules" go in to effect? May 2007 right? I wonder if this will have an impact on the wait. Probably not, but to tell you the truth I am having a really hard time wrapping my brain around the possible 3 year wait that seems to be screaming around the adoption internet community. 3 years to have my life in a holding pattern is a really long time. I want a family, I want to get married, I want to have a baby, and I don't want to wait until I'm 36 or 37 to begin. When I started this process 1 year ago, 15 months was doable. 3 years, 3 years! To tell you the truth, I probably wouldn't have pursued adoption from China. Perhaps another country, but jeez...3 years!

And now I feel bad for complaining. I think I'm grumpy today. oh well.

I'm emailing my agency and asking what the wait is now. I wonder if they will have a response? Probably not, we'll see.

Just another manic Monday....

Except it's Tuesday now and back to the grind. :-(

I bought major purchase #1 over the weekend. I am now the proud owner of a KING size bed!! Whoooeeeeee!!

It's a Serta perfect sleeper and it's just wooooonnnnderfullll!