Anna's Christmas program and misc pics

Is it wrong to have your Chinese daughter to make Chinese eyes at you? She was doing this all night long. (Um to clarify, we've NEVER done the "eye thing" to her....)

Julia and a VERY tired mommy...

Julia and Samantha's boyfriend Jonathan




Anna and some friends from school

Anna and her friends Rikesha and Elexus

This is a heart focal bead that I'm going to make a necklace out of. It's called Chinese Bloodstone and I think it's super cool. :-)

Another surpise!

I got an email today from Lois...she's one of the ladies I went to Tampa with (she works for the ISD). Anyways, she wrote to tell me that the Mason-Lake ISD was nominating ME for the Michigan Council for Exceptional Children’s Exceptional Parent Award for 2008! ME. They want to nominate ME. I'm still stunned. Here's the link to the MCEC website.

I'm going to be humble for a moment and say that I don't think that I do anything that any other parent wouldn't do. For my kids, I do anything. But, I've always believed that if I don't advocate for them, WHO WILL? Yeah, I feel blessed that my kiddos are healthy, bright and good all around kids. They've all had their stuggles and I know that Anna will have more than the average kid, but I encourage them all the same.

I don't know if I will win, but I'm still in shock to be nominated and that the ISD thinks that highly of me! Wish me luck!!

Almost forgot!!

I wanted to mention that I got accepted to present at the National EHDI (Early Hearing Detection and Intervention) conference in New Orleans!! It's Feb 25th-26th and I couldn't be more excited! There's a amazing woman named Janet DesGeorges who has a daughter who is hard of hearing, like Anna. Janet is Hands & Voices Outreach Director Executive Director, Colorado Families for Hands & Voices. Here's her bio. We've known each other since I think 2002 when I first presented for EHDI in Washington, D.C. and have always talked of getting together to present. Well, we're now getting our chance. We will be talking about our kids with mild/moderate hearing loss and what they need or how their challenges are different. Janet is really my idol and I hope to accomplish what she has with her daughter and what she's managed to do from "just being a parent"!! Just a shame we're going to miss Mardi Gras!!

I found the coolest charms. The are EARS! Yep. An ear shaped charm! I made a bracelet tonight with one of them, what do you think?

2 years ago today....

We arrived home with Julia. We were also faced with the terrible news that Wayne's dad had passed away due to complications due to surgery. He never got to meet Julia. Grandpa George was an incredible man and I know how proud he was of Wayne for stepping outside the normal ways of adding to our family by choosing to adopt. Peach (our nickname for him) was always telling his friends about our upcoming trip to China. We had thought about postponing the the trip til after his surgery, but he insisted that we go as soon as we could. I have an email that Cindy sent me saying that Dad had seen our blog and that he thought Julia was too cute. In 2 years, I haven't been able to delete that email.

So today is a what I call a rollercoaster day. Extreme highs with the thought of Julia coming home and extreme lows when I think of losing Wayne's dad.

CHINESE SYMBOL FOR PEACE

What I did today

Instead of doing something constructive like cleaning or doing laundry...I made 2 necklaces (and about 6 bracelets). I really like both of necklaces...adds another dimention to my jewelry business. My friend Tonni has some of my bracelets listed at her 4Princess site. My new company is called Through being Cool. Eventually, I've got to get my own site, but for now Tonni is helping me out. THANKS TONNI!! Sooo...now I've really got to get some stuff done!

Introducing.....OLIVER!!

This is Oliver! I've been after Wayne for a long time for a new dog (since we had to put Sherman down over a year ago) and finally I got my wish. I won't do a long rant about how fruitless my search had been with Petfinder.com because I think it's a wonderful site. It's just the rescues that use it have become a bit overzealous with their requirements for adoption. Like needing 5!! references (which we only needed 3 for our homestudy to adopt Julia from China), a fenced yard (yeah, I understand that one, but we have an acre plus and there's no way we could fence the the damned thing in!), and adoption fees well over $300 dollars. This is for dogs that were STRAYS! I decided that we could just find a puppy/dog that matched our needs without being put under the microscope. :-) Hey, if we can adopt from China...we should get approved for a dog, right? LOL! Well, I found Oliver in Nunica from a great lady named Pat. Yes, she's a breeder. But, she's super sweet and really loves her pups. By no means is she getting rich off it. Just enjoys raising good dogs. Oliver is 11 weeks old and a purebred English Springer Spaniel. He's been wonderful so far. No accidents, just doesn't like the crate so far. :-)

An update on the most precious little boy

I'm sure a few of you remember a little boy we were interested in adopting earlier this year. Well, if you recall, we choose not to pursue his adoption because the previous agency that had his file was very unethical and we couldn't work with them. I had been hoping and praying that he would get placed with a family or with another agency. On Saturday, December 1st, the 2nd anniversary of the day we officially adopted Julia....I found him. He is listed with a much better agency. My heart did flip-flops and I called Wayne from Tampa. I was so excited. I feel as though he has a much better chance of being adopted now that he is with agency who is of much better ethical standing. So for those of you that pray, please say a prayer for little Y.P. for the hopes that he can find his family. It's all about Hope...

New blogs

Hey everyone!

I added 2 new blogs to my links. Fellow adoptive moms Dawn and Tonni each write so beautifully and have the greatest kids. If you want, go check out their blogs too!

Oh, you didn't know I was in Tampa?

So...you really didn't know I was going to Tampa? Well, the ISD wanted us to present at a conference here and so they sent us! Here are a few pics of my trip. I will write more about tomorrow when I get home. :-) Lora, Lois and I had a great time shopping and hanging out in the 80 degree weather.

I got elf'ed

This is a cute little thing that Office Max is doing. Go check it out!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9634824768

GET ELF'ED

Bears and Snow

Here is Anna and her collection of Snowflake bears. I started out with just getting one a year for her and it's grown into this! She now has 1997-2006.

Here is Julia and her little collection. :-) She's only got 2005 and 2005 (along with a smaller set from 2003).

Last year, Cam decided that he wanted bears too! Sooo...I took to Ebay and he's now got 1997-2001 along with 2006.

For my friend Tim in NC, here are some pictures of the snow that is happening RIGHT NOW! This is looking NE from the front yard.

This is looking across Morton Rd to the NW. That is St. Paul's church.

Here is our driveway and part of the camper. BLEH!

New Pictures

This is Riley wearing the wig that I had got for Anna for Halloween. It was too funny to see here just sit with this wig on.

Here are the infamous 3 sisters again. I had to take a picture of us because we were all wearing sweaters. Samantha never wears sweaters, so this was a major event!

This is me and my cousin Tom. We grew up together doing tons of stuff and we still have a great time hanging out. Sorry ladies...he's married! ;-)

Here is Riley again...I was trying to get her picture and she kept looking away.

Here is where I keep Wayne when he is bad. Muhahahaa!! I joked with the kids about putting them down there and you should have seen the shear fear in their eyes. Yeah, I'm a meanie mom!

Another goofy Mom and Julia picture.

Julia took this of me while we were putting out Christmas lights. I've taken Dan-o-crat's role of Polaris poster child over. It was soooooo cold that night!

Julia outside in the chilly air. She loved it!

Here's Anna in her new snowmobile coat. She has taken to wearing it all the time. She's thrilled that it has an iPod pocket. Sure hope that Santa gets her letter about wanting a new iPod. ;-)

Here are the kids outside with part of the reindeer display. There's a little sleigh that goes with these flying guys, but each kiddo wanted to stand by their reindeer.

Stroll down memory lane

Yeah...I know. Julia isn't in this picture. But, I found it while going through old pictures tonight. It's one of my favorites for many reasons. Cam reminds me so much of Grandpa George, that it's spooky. I remember Anna loving to ride on this little glider with her big brother. If I recall, this was taken in the fall of 2001. It was breezy fall afternoon and me and the kids were having a great time outside playing together. (I look pretty skinny too!) :-)