Chinese New Year pictures

Cameron, Anna and Julia in their newest Chinese outfits

Julia enjoying her Egg Drop soup

Cam was being a little crabby here.

Anna loves going to China Buffet!

Here are my goofball kids at China Buffet.

Oops, We did it again!

So, you’re wondering what the oops is? Umm, well, we decided that 3 kids weren’t nearly enough chaos and we are headed back to China for a son. Yep, you read that right. We started paperwork on February 14th (my Valentine’s Day present!) to pursue adopting a little boy. Don’t look so surprised! All it takes is a few drinks and a little unprotected paperwork. Here’s a little poem that I like:

An Accidental Adoption

Have you ever noticed that you hear all the time about "accidental" pregnancies,
but never about couples who experience "accidental" adoptions?

Can you imagine:

Honey, sit down. I have some news for you.

What is it?

Well, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come out with it.

I went out to the mailbox today and ... well, we got an I-171H.

A what?!?

An I171H? As in, we're going to have another baby?!?

It looks that way.

But how? We've been so careful! I put away all the blank I600A forms.
Didn't you hide our home study update?

Of course I did. But don't forget, there was that one night...

What night?

(pauses)

Ohhh, that night. But it was only once. We were just messing around.
I didn't print clearly. I didn't even use ink!

(pauses again)

But it was kind of fun.
(giggles)
It was, wasn't it? I'll never forget how cute you looked

getting your fingerprints.
So now we've got our I-171H, eh?

But that doesn't always mean you'll adopt, does it?
I mean, shouldn't you see the agency or something, make sure everything's okay?

I already did.

And?

I'm five documents along.

Five documents! And they're all notarized, certified and authenticated… okay?

There was one small scare when the agency couldn't see the notary's middle initial,
but it showed up just fine under the magnifying glass.

Thank God.

And you honey? Are you feeling okay?

I'm feeling fine. As long as I know you're happy about this.

Happy?

I'm thrilled! It's always a shock at first when something

like this happens, but of course I'm happy!

Ok, so our story is a little different that than, but, you get the picture. We’ve been talking about it since we got home with Julia. Cameron’s desire to have a brother is so strong and Wayne’s experience of growing up in a large family with 8 boys just really seems to help us decide; that and our faith. For those that believe, you know what I mean. I have so many friends in my late August adoption group that know the feeling. God plays such big part in adding children to our families. He knew what he was doing back in 2000 by giving us Anna and her hearing loss. At the time I didn’t understand why we had been chosen to parent a child with special needs and now I can’t imagine my life any other way. God planted Anna in our lives to give us direction to Julia and to our son waiting in China.

Well, to wrap up this long post, I’m going to give you the link to our new blog. It’s called Chopsticks for 6. (http://www.chopsticksfor6.blogspot.com) I wanted to start a new blog for the journey to our son. Who shall remain nameless for now! We are are still debating names. If anyone has any suggestions, send on over our way!

Sit back and get ready for another roller coaster ride of paperwork, paperchasing, dossiers, visas and finally a life changing trip to the most beautiful country, China.

Melissa & Wayne
Big Brother Cameron (Ge Ge), Big Sister Anna (Jie Jie) and Little Sister Julia (Mei Mei)

and our soon to be Middle Brother (Di Di)

Lost in translation

Oh good god!! I posted the wrong link!! ACK! I meant to post this one!!!

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/world/2007/02/19/vause.china.lost.in.translation.cnn

Happy President's Day!!

Allo!

Just thought you'd like to celebrate with a little quiz! :-) Oh yeah, we are not neglecting Chinese New Year!!! We are celebrating Tuesday night and I will post pictures of our dinner and celebration!!

http://reference.aol.com/quizzes/presidents_day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

My Stuff a Friend site

Hey everyone! After talking with my friend Sharon about her Stuff to Love site, she convinced me that I could set one up too. So I did! I had purchased 3 animals from Sharon and loved them so I decided it was worth a shot. I'm not trying to get anyone to buy anything. But...hey, if I can make a little extra money by doing this, then it's worth a try. :-) Here's the direct link or you can click on my tab on the right that says, "Melissa's Stuff a Friend"

http://www.stuffafriend.biz/members/chopsticks_n_eggrolls/

Cheers!

The Goo Goo Dolls singing "Give a Little Bit"

Music Video:GIVE A LITTLE BIT (LIVE) (by Goo Goo Dolls)

Music Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

Wagner in Chinese?

I found this really cool website that changes English names into Chinese. I thought it was pretty cool so I translated our family. Here's the link if you want to try! http://www.chinesenames.org/

WAGNER

WAYNE

MELISSA

CAMERON
ANNA (Annie)

JULIA

Give a little bit...

I've been hearing the Goo Goo Dolls version of this song so I decided to download it, not knowing there was an ORIGINAL version by Supertramp. Soooo...I downloaded that one too!

GIVE A LITTLE BIT

Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
Give a little bit
I'll give a little bit of my love to you
There's so much that we need to share
Send a smile and show you care

I'll give a little bit
I'll give a little bit of my life for you
So give a little bit
Give a little bit of your time to me
See the man with the lonely eyes
Take his hand, you'll be surprised

Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
I'll give a little bit of my life for you
Now's the time that we need to share
So find yourself, we're on our way back home

...going home...
...don't you need to feel at home...
...oh yeah, we gotta sing