Just Haven't Met You Yet

Famous!

2012-02-03T10:21:00.002-06:00

OK, not quite yet, but pretty cool all the same. Steve was contacted by an online diabetes magazine called Diabetes Care wanting to do a feature about him and Katie.

The story was published today and it is a REALLY good story! Click here to read!

Nothing New Under the Sun

2012-02-02T21:37:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the late post today. I usually blog about stuff the night before and future date the post to post the next morning.

Unfortunately, I'm somewhat out of things to say. It's been an interesting week at work. Quiet for me without Katelyn around, but it's good. I have found some sort of crazy motivation and knocked out just about everything on my to-do list. I guess that's what knowing you could be traveling in a month does for you.

I have seen on Target.com there is a baby sale going on. So I think I'm going to go tomorrow at lunch and use the rest of my Target gift cards. The other car seat we need is on sale as is the baby monitor we picked out.

There's been no movement on the adoption this week. Our Article 5 should be picked up on Tuesday and then we'll be waiting on Travel Approval! People keep asking me if I'm excited and yes, of course, I am but it is still far enough away and enough of it is still up in the air that I really can't get too excited yet.

I guess that's it for tonight. Sorry there's nothing more exciting going on...hoping to get some birthday pics of Kylie soon...keeping you posted...

BTW-I just learned how to use the spellcheck on blogger. Dang. I wonder how many of my prior posts have had spelling errors in them? I hate this laptop keyboard....

Baby Be Blessed!

2012-02-01T07:24:00.000-06:00

Oh my word. Have you guys seen these? When I first saw them, I was intrigued. But I saw they were taking pre-orders in December and I jumped on it. Early last week, she came...and I am IN LOVE.

This is the Hope doll inspired by Show Hope. These dolls can have whatever you want written on their bellies below their sweet dress. Steve and I thought and thought about what scripture we would want on her tummy for Kylie. Finally, we found what we thought would be perfect...

In case you can't quite see it... "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made! Your works are wonderful and I know this full well" Psalm 139:14. August 3, 2011 The day we fell in love with you.

I figure for a girl with a visible facial scar, she might need to be reminded that God made her perfectly and wonderfully.

I love this doll. She'll be traveling to China with us in a few weeks. (OMG, did I just type WEEKS?!)

Showers of Blessings!

2012-01-31T07:07:00.000-06:00

This past weekend my friends at church threw me an adoption shower for Kylie! I wasn't sure what to expect because it's been a while since I have had a shower. Jenna was the most excited because obviously, she wasn't physically present for the first one!

My hostesses were on their game...the decorations were super cute! I loved it and the food...well, it was a chocolate fountain, so really, what else is there to say??

There were so many wonderful women there! I tried to get as many pictures of them as them as I could, but there were just too many. Here's one of my wonderful hostesses...

L-R Elizabeth Y., Rachel VG, me, Jill P, Leigh Ann M.

I got so many gifts for Kylie. So many cute clothes!!! All the 12 month ones are packed in Kylie's suitcase. Take a look at this super cute dress my former WBFF Katelyn had made...

You can't really appreciate it from this shot, so let me show you closer up...

I. MEAN. So cute And no, Katelyn was quick to admit, she did not make this, but some wonderful person from etsy. I absolutely cannot wait to get Kylie in this cute thing.

Here's another very interesting gift...I'm sure my fellow 80s folks will remember these dolls...

The old Cabbage Patch dolls! Now I don't know if it's me, but doesn't this doll look Asian to you? I think so. But even wilder...take a look at her given name...

Can you believe that??? Crazy! I can't believe they found it! And I can't wait for Kylie to see it! Even weirder is that this doll's birthday is one day away from Steve's!

After I finished opening all the the gifts, Leigh Ann announced she had given everyone a bead when they arrived. Then they all went around the room giving the bead back to Leigh Ann and saying what they would be praying for as we traveled to China. The beads will all go to make a bracelet I can wear in China and in looking at it, know I am literally covered in prayer. Y'all. I have never been so humbled and touched. It was amazing and I can't wait to get the bracelet. It was a fabulous idea!

I'm so thankful for these friends and family of mine. There are no words.

My sis, Teresa!

There she is! My WBFF Katelyn and cute dress picker-outer extraordinaire!

The star of this post on my blog, Darlene! She was just a little past 1 week from surgery but showed up! Bless her!

So many wonderful friends and family. Here's a neat picture of 3 generations (not counting me) and you get to see my SIL Deanne who is traveling with me to China!

L-R Deanne, me, Beth, Hannah

Oh, and last but not least, my niece whose son is Jenna's age. Those kids act cah-razy when they get together!

A good time was had by all and there were some really nice gifts! I wish I could post ALL the pics here but I just can't.

But to all of my hostesses, attendees, and those who couldn't attend but sent their well wishes, THANK YOU! Kylie is SO loved before she even gets here!

My Baby Girl is ONE!

2012-01-30T06:19:00.001-06:00

Today my precious baby girl turned ONE!

source

I had so hoped I would have her home with us to celebrate, but that was not God's plan. Instead, we sent her a birthday care package through the wonderful and awesome Ladybugs n Love. We sent a little gift of candy and nuts for the caregivers and then we sent her a little toy for her birthday.

We know from her caregivers that she likes toys that move, make noise and light up, so sweet Angela from LNL picked this out. And guess what? It moves, plays music and lights up!! Perfect! I wish I could see her face when she gets it.

We also ordered a cake. The money will go to the orphanage who will provide the cake. Hopefully they will send pictures soon after her birthday so we'll see the cake and her celebration! We were able to send another letter, which we did and asked only a few final questions about her development.

While we are sad about missing her first birthday, this is her first...and last...birthday without her family!

We are coming baby girl!

Thirty One Party

2012-01-27T06:41:00.000-06:00

My friend Page is closing her Thirty One party today! Remember, she is donating all the proceeds to our adoption fund! Click here if you want to order!!!

A Farewell...

2012-01-26T06:59:00.003-06:00

I have waited a while to post this. Mostly because it was an emotional subject for me, so I wanted to wait until I could work through the emotion of it. While I am still sad, I feel like I am on the other side of it (which is funny because by the time I finished writing this, I was crying again!).

Remember this girl?

That is my friend Katelyn. You can find her over on her blog, On Repeat. I met Katelyn about 3 years ago when she started in my department fresh out of college. I'd like to say we were immediate friends, but that's not the way the story goes. I was also entering a new position at work and we were both focused on finding our way around our new jobs.

But somewhere along the way, we hit it off. A lunch here and a text there and before I knew it, we were eating lunch together nearly every day. I've said to her before how it amazes me how we became friends because let's be honest, what does a young, single (but spoken for), non-mom college graduate have in common with a not-so-young, married, mom-with-kids? Yeah, I'm not sure either. But the friendship which has developed over the past 3 years proves that opposites definitely attract.

About a month ago, Katelyn stepped into my office and actually made me GUESS the news she had to tell me. The news that she was leaving the company, packing her bags and moving across the country to Denver, CO. I am pretty sure she thought I was going to lose my mind and I think she was closer to being right than she realized. Lucky for her, the shock created an entirely different response. Normally, I would have been the voice of reason in the situation (which came later, for those of you who worried I lost my edge!), but all I could summon up that day was support.

Katelyn and I have always called each other "WBFF", work best friends forever. And for a week or so after the news, I would think, "Oh well, life goes on." Or so I thought. But then I found myself crying at night when I'd think about life at work without my "WBFF". Finally, one day, standing at the copier I realized somewhere along the way, Katelyn had become more than my tongue-in-cheek WBFF. She was my FRIEND. My in-real-life FRIEND.

And she was leaving.

Looking back, I wondered how it was this deep friendship happened without me realizing it. But in thinking about it, it was there all along. Katelyn was the first person I told about us adopting. She came to Jenna's baptism all the way across town early on a Sunday morning. She attended church with me when we were at the main campus of our church. She has attended a number of funerals and visitations since she's known me. Katelyn knows just about as much about special needs adoption in China as I do. She was the first person (besides Steve) I told when we got our LOA.

She is more than just a work best friend.

She is a true friend to me.

One of the closest I have.

And now she's leaving to pursue a dream which just happens to be clear across the country. I won't have her to eat lunch with anymore. When I receive travel approval, she won't be here for me to tell. When I step off that airplane, in Nashville, with Kylie as a new family of 4...she won't be there.

Don't misunderstand, I am supportive of this leap of faith she is taking. But in a purely selfish way, I sure wish she'd stay. There's so much more life for us to "do" together.

But she's leaving.

Tomorrow is her last day at work and then she is off to Denver. And I'll be here. I'm pretty sure I've said to her all that I need to say. But just in case she needs to hear it again and because I KNOW there is no way I will be able to say it on Friday...

My friend, Katelyn-

My, how I'm going to miss you! I don't think I text anyone more than you and I know my Instant Messenger will never be the same! I wish you all the best in Denver and I hope your dreams come true wherever you end up!

I can't believe you are really going and I just can't imagine work without you here. You are truly one of my best friends so let's not call this "goodbye"... just "see you later".

If there is one thing you need to know is that my life is better because you were a part of it.

Good luck friend! You will forever be in my prayers.

Friends Always,

Sandra

Something to Look Forward To!

2012-01-25T06:16:00.002-06:00

I am so excited to tell you that 4 of the best friends a girl could have are throwing me a shower on Saturday! I actually went and registered at ToysRUs and Target, although it was not nearly the same as when I did it 10 years ago when I was pregnant and walking around with that little price gun!

Now, you can add and delete stuff online and it is great fun. I'm just so excited. There is so much we need desperately. And I have been reading lately about how hard it is to do showers after she gets home, so I'm thrilled they had the foresight to do it before we left! It will be such a blessing to us, I'm sure! Pictures to come, for sure!

Thank you Rachel VG, Leigh Ann M, Elizabeth Y. and Jill P.!!!! Can't wait for Saturday!!

My friend Darlene

2012-01-24T07:59:00.000-06:00

Several months ago, I introduced you to my friend Darlene. This summer, at the young age of 40, she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. Since this, she has fought valiantly against this awful disease. Late this fall, I was honored to do the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and participate on Team Darlene.

I have had several of you ask me how Darlene is doing. So I wanted to give you an update. Several weeks ago, she rang the bell signaling her last chemo treatment! This past week, she had the surgery that generally follows breast cancer. She is now at home recovering.

I am pleased to report the tumor and surrounding infected tissue was completely removed! Praise God! And Darlene is doing very well in her recovery at this stage in the game. However, they did find one tiny spot of cancer in the first lymph node they removed. This news was pretty difficult to swallow because we know this means there is the potential for more chemo treatments ahead.

However, we are thrilled that the cancer is now no longer in her body. And her friends are ready to walk with her for the remainder of this journey no matter how long that is. So, please continue your prayers for my sweet Darlene. She has remained so joyful during this awful journey. Pray for her family as they help her recover.

If you are interested, you can go to her Caringbridge site here to read more.

Thirty One Does It Again!!

2012-01-23T07:16:00.000-06:00

Remember when I received an offer to do a Thirty-One fundraiser party to help with our adoption? When my online friend, Anne, donated all the profits of my e-party to help us bring Kylie home by donating all of her profits to our adoption fund?

I got some super cute stuff from Thirty One just for having the party, plus I raised over $100 for our adoption! It was so easy and I'm super thankful for Anne for doing this for adoptive families.

During the time my e-party was going on, a dear friend of mine wanted to do something more. So instead of just buying some stuff for herself, she contacted Anne and decided to do a party of her own in January and donate the proceeds to us! How's that for a creative and generous way to give?!

So, for those of you who missed the opportunity last time, the email Page sent out is below. All the details are there. Buy a little something for you, for your family (these make fabulous gifts) and help us in the process!

For those who are wondering, we need about $8000 to travel. We have about $1000 of that saved and have several grant applications we are waiting to hear back on. We are likely about 6 weeks away from travel. That's a tall order in that amount of time, but in the end, we know God is up for it and we are waiting for Him to blow us away! Read on...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good afternoon. I just want to let you know I am having a Thirty-One catalog party from now through January 27^th. This is not ONLY a party, but It’s A CELEBRATION… as the consultant is donating 100% of her commission to Sandra Taylor to go towards their adoption! Sandra works in HR and she and her husband are looking to bring their baby girl home soon to make their family of four complete. Please know that Sandra and their family truly appreciate all everyone is doing in support of their adoption.

Please take a moment to see pictures of their precious baby girl, Kylie Liann Yingbei Taylor.

You can go online to order. To order online, click http://www.mythirtyone.com/AnneLittle/ , scroll down and click “My Events” (found on the right side in pink) and click “Shop Now” (found to the right side of my name). There you will find an online catalog. If you are local (Nashville, TN and surrounding areas) and would like to save $4, please click to have your order shipped to hostess (me) and I will be more than happy to deliver it to you. It’s a great deal!

CUSTOMER SPECIAL FOR JANUARY

The amazing Thermal Tote sale is on for January!! Traditional Thermal Totes are on sale for only $10. The new Cinch Top Thermals are on sale for only $15. There is no minimum purchase required and no limit on the number of totes you can purchase. The Traditional Thermals can be personalized for $7. Personalization is not available on the Cinch Top Thermals.

Also, please feel free to forward this on to anyone who might be interested in ordering. If they aren’t local, they can click on the link above for online ordering.

Please keep in mind that Thirty-One has wonderful items to treat oneself, they make great Valentine and Mother’s Day gifts and they make a sweet gift for that special loved one who is away at college!! There is something for everyone! Plus, the customer special is AWESOME!

I can’t Thank You enough for your support. HAPPY SHOPPING!

Page Durham

Happy New Year!!! Well, in China at least!

2012-01-22T15:15:00.000-06:00

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Tomorrow is Chinese New Year! This year, is the Year of the Dragon and I so wish I could be in China to see the festivities! I just think it would be so much fun to go to a Chinese New Year parade. I've always wanted to see one in real life. But seems we'll miss it by a few weeks.

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Chinese New Year is a pretty huge holiday in China. Nearly the entire country shuts down for the celebration. And not just for the day... for the entire WEEK! That delays our paperwork for a week even though right now it's with the US consulate.

And at the time of this posting, it is already new year's in China since it's in the wee hours of the morning on Monday already. This week will be a great celebration in China. I hope Kylie's caregivers have a wonderful week!!

Welcome Kelly's Korner and Stuff Christians Like Readers!

2012-01-20T18:57:00.001-06:00

If you have popped over from Kelly's Korner or Stuff Christians Like, WELCOME! I'm so glad you stopped in. You can read a little about our adoption story here.

In short, we are about 6 weeks from bringing our special needs daughter from China home! We are so excited, but still need to raise about $5-6000 for our travel expenses! Please consider helping us!

5 reasons you need one of our adoption t-shirts:

5. Because let's be honest, you can NEVER have enough t-shirts.
4. It's a great conversations starter when someone asks you about it.
3. They are going to make GREAT gifts for teachers, family and friends.
2. They are a great color which goes with anything and both guys and girls look good in them.

And the top reason you should buy one of our adoption t-shirts?

1. Because you can say you had a part in bringing a beautiful baby girl home to her family. You can be part of OUR blessing.

Back of shirt

My PayPal button is back! If you are local, shirts are $20 and you can pay me by cash or check. I'll of course deliver your shirt to you. If you are not local, shirts are still $20, but $2.50 will be added for shipping. I can expedite ship your shirt to you for $5, so $2.50 will offset part of the shipping. And you too can pay in cash or check. (If you've recently purchased a shirt online and have not yet received it, you will NOT owe shipping!) Shirts are available in S, M, L,XL and a few 2XL and 3XL (if you are interested in a size over the XL, email me first...they aren't on PayPal due to limited quantities).

If you are interested in a t-shirt, email me at sandysignr(AT)charter(DOT)net (removing the words and inserting the proper punctuation), order through PayPal or you can leave a comment below.

For those of you who already have plenty of t-shirts and have no desire to have more, or for those that have already bought (THANKS!), you can still help. Please send this to everyone you know and ask them to help us bring Kylie home!

For us.

For Kylie.

Front of t-shirt

Article 5...Another Wait Begins

2012-01-19T21:59:00.000-06:00

I found out today our Article 5 paperwork was dropped off at the Consulate in China on Tuesday, January 17. The thing about the Article 5 is that is always takes 2 weeks exactly to get processed. So, normally that would mean, our completed Article 5 would be picked up January 31. However, Monday is Chinese New Year and those lucky Chinese...they get the WHOLE WEEK off to celebrate!!

With that, our Article 5 will be picked up on Febuary 7. That is when the real fun begins...we begin the wait for Travel Approval! We are on the next to the last step in traveling to bring our Kylie home! To be honest, I alternate between hyperventilating because it's another 6-8 weeks to travel and hyperventilating because OMG IT'S 6-8 WEEKS TO TRAVEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have more to say, but not tonight. There's more exciting stuff coming though...so come on back.

2011 Year In Review

2012-01-18T10:12:00.000-06:00

I know we are more than 2 weeks into 2012, but saw this 2011 recap survey on another blog and thought it might be fun, so...here we go!

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
We sent a dossier to China and got a referral!!!

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?I didn't make resolutions this year. I did decide to just be nicer and love people more.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Well, my friend Lindsey had a baby right before Christmas. And my friend Maribeth also had the sweetest baby boy several months ago

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thank goodness, NO. We've had enough death in the past few years to last us a lifetime.

5. What countries did you visit?
No new countries in 2011, but South Africa in 2010 and CHINA in 2012!!!

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?My baby girl from China? OK, so probably more patience. I know better than to ask for it, but I know I'm going to need it with a new baby in the house and still waiting on an answer to Steve's job search.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
August 3, the day we saw Kylie's face for the first time.

8. What was your biggest achievement for the year?
Finishing our dossier and getting it to China in March

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not keeping up with my quiet time with God or with my personal relationship with Christ.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had a really bad bout of laryngitis in the fall. I guess that is about it, thankfully.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Hands down, my iPhone!!!!

12. Where did most of your money go?
Ha! The adoption!

13. What did you get really excited about?Getting the referral for Kylie. It was so unexpected. A close runner up was getting our LOA after 144 days

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?How He Loves by the David Crowder Band

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
-Happier or sadder? Happier!
-Thinner or fatter? I'd love to say thinner, but no...I'm heavier.
-Richer or poorer? Poorer

16. What do you wish you'd done more of?Enjoyed time with Jenna. It was her last year of being an only child.

17. What do you wish you'd done less of?Worrying.

18. How did you spend Christmas?Christmas Day morning was the three of us and Christmas Day afternoon with the Taylors. The evening was spent with Chase.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
Bones

20. What were your favorite books of the year?I guess the latest installment of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Series. Or the Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood.

21. What was your favorite music this year?
Praise and worship mainly. You can't beat the live music at the Church at Station Hill!

22. What were your favorite films of the year?
I don't EVER get to watch movies in the theatre.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 37 in June. I went to Memphis for Steve's bowling tournament. So literally we were driving back from there on my birthday.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?Having our LOA soon enough to have Kylie home by her first birthday.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?Wha? I don't have a personal fashion concept. I never buy new clothes, mainly because I don't have the money. I'm not a clothes girl. Sad, I know.

26. What kept you sane?
A great agency. A supportive husband. The best friends a girl could ask for. But above all...a Faithful Father.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.God's timing IS perfect even when I don't understand it. And He loves me and pursues me no matter what.

Agape Love Boutique!

2012-01-16T07:39:00.001-06:00

Oh ya'll...I have been waiting FOREVER to get this little gem in the mail so I could blog about it! About a month ago, I was over at a blog I frequent daily called "My Overthinking" and the author, Kelly, was doing giveaways. There were several things I would have loved to have, but there was one that I really had my eye on.

Imagine my surprise and excitement when I read that I had WON the very giveaway that I wanted! 123 entries and I won! It took some time to figure out what I wanted. But I finally figured it out and just look...

Maria-Isabel at Agape Love Boutique designs and makes these necklaces (and others) for mom's to recognize not only the children you are currently parenting but also the ones that a mom might have lost to miscarriage, death or placed for adoption.

The nest represents your own nest and you choose your "eggs" for the nest. For those lost, she places an "egg" outside the nest but still on the chain in order to always remember. Then hanging off the nest is the wing of the ever present Mama bird. There are a number of different colors you can choose for your eggs.

I chose purple for Jenna and pink for Kylie. While I am no longer actively parenting Micah and Chase (because they are grown), I did not feel like they belonged outside my nest. So, the teal color is for Chase and the cream for Micah. I am fortunate there are no eggs outside my nest.

I loved wearing my necklace and carrying ALL my children close to my heart. If you are interested in purchasing this necklace or any of the other very cool jewelry that Maria-Isabel offers, just click here and tell her you found her through my blog!

Ahem. More Hair Things.

2012-01-15T07:30:00.000-06:00

In my defense...

There is an awesome group on Facebook that my friend Jill turned me on to. It's a group just for our little town to buy, sell, or trade. It's very much like an online yard sale or city specific Craigslist! As soon as I was accepted to join this group, I found these headbands for even CHEAPER! Only $.50 each! I got one for each color she had available!

Willing

2012-01-14T06:59:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday, Jenna came into church with her little craft from Sunday School class. It was a little different than what I usually see her bring in...a handmade mobile.

If you can't read it, the top says, "I can be willing to do what God tells me to do". That was nice and all, but check out the cards hanging from the mobile...

Can you read them? They say, "I will trust that God will give Kylie a good life". "I will be patient with Kylie" and "I will be careful about what I say around my sister."

I thought that was so sweet! But they get better...

"I accept the things that Kylie needs even if it might take up my space." Whoa. That's deep right? She is already realizing that things are going to change. Except when I actually asked her about it she confessed she was thinking more about sharing her suitcase when we travel to China. Ah....Ok...I'm good with that! The next one says, "I will respect my sister" and "I will be nice to Kylie."

Then there was a couple more...

"I will take care of my sister if Mom and Dad are gone" and "I will love my sister". Welp. I think that about covers it. What a sweet heart Jenna has already towards her soon-to-be-little-sister. I know she is going to be the best sister ever! I hope what she experiences with us throughout this journey impacts the rest of her life. It is my heart's desire to see her grow up and eventually adopt children of her own.

Another Step Closer!!

2012-01-13T21:47:00.000-06:00

We are one step closer! This morning I called the National Visa Center (NVC) to check on our progress. I was THRILLED to find out that this morning we were cabled! That means, the NVC has sent a letter to the Consulate in Guangzhou, China. This evening after multiple calls back to the NVC, I received a PDF of the letter in my email which means my agency can forward it to China much quicker than waiting on the actual original!

Next up? We'll wait for our China contact to drop off the letter and then begins the wait for our Article 5! That usually takes 2 weeks exactly but we have a full week of Chinese New Year that we will have a delay. So, probably in 3 weeks the Article 5 is picked up and then it's on to the wait for Travel Approval!!!

More to come!

Adoption Update-National Visa Center

2012-01-13T06:44:00.002-06:00

Happy Friday 13th!!!

We have now confirmed that our I-800 approval has arrived at the National Visa Center (NVC) and has been entered into their system. They will now send a letter to the US Embassy. I need a PDF copy of this letter emailed to me so that my agency can use it to start the process of getting our Article 5. We should be getting that PDF any day now.

From that point, there is a 2 week wait exactly for the Article 5 to be picked up. Once the Article 5 is ready, we begin our Travel Approval wait which is averaging now about 16 days.

I will update again when I know that our PDF approval has been cabled to the Embassy!!!

Let the Fun Begin...

2012-01-12T06:53:00.000-06:00

So this past weekend, I asked Steve to go ahead and get down the suitcases. Because I work all week, it's hard to get any attention to anything except on the weekend. I figured if we got the suitcases down now, I can get the non-clothing stuff packed as time allows. Because, y'all...there is a LOT of non-clothing stuff!

My mom was definitely the planner. And I got it honest. I am my mother's daughter. Weeks before vacation, clothes and shoes would go missing and turns out they would already packed away. A fond memory of my mother. :)

I have a bag of toiletries that stays packed. It has travel size shampoos, soaps, conditioners etc. Along with a whole set of makeup, brushes, combs, bandaids, cleansers, deoderant etc. Then when I get ready to go somewhere, I don't have to wait until the last minute to pack those very important to remember items!

When I hit hotels, I snag the travel size things there and bring them home to backfill my stash. I even have separate travel toothbrushes. So when I went to start packing, I was surprised to find how much stuff I actually already had.

That's my suitcase. It doesn't look that big in this picture, but it's one of our largest. You can see ponchos and plastic bags and over above the yellow poncho, you can see my plastic toiletries case. The brush, deoderant, toothbrushes outside the suitcase are for the carry on.

Ok, that black suitcase is Kylie's. Its full. And there are no clothes in there. Actually, that box is the Ergo carrier I bought. It will eventually trave without the box. Then that plastic bag is the Moby backpack. I think I have a pink jacket I got at the local consignent shop. Oh, and there's a bottle or two that my friend Jill gave me. That maroon rolling bag is Jenna's carry on. It's full. She doesn't quite grasp the concept of not taking everything she would normally have at her fingertips at home. She's about to have a crash course though. Not sure who is going to give it to her though since clearly I have a similar problem.

You can see the corner of Jenna's suitcase in the left side of the photo. There's nothing in it yet except some critical items I have split up in case one of our suitcases gets lost. I think I'm going to have to get another big suitcase down, give that to Jenna and use Jenna's bigger bag (which is smaller than mine) for Kylie. I am pretty sure between the two of us we can check 4 total bags. Can any of you BTDT (been there done that) confirm? It's going to be a challenge for sure

But you know what??? I'm totally up for it!!!!

Other Fun Things

2012-01-11T08:16:00.000-06:00

I was turned on to Baby Steals a few months ago when I was on the search for an Ergo for less than the $100+ it typically goes for. Unfortunately, I never found an Ergo on Baby Steals, but I have found a number of other items! One thing I recently found was a diaper bag back pack.

It's a Moby and it's really no frills. But the draw for me is my concern about how me, Jenna and Deanne are going to carry everything in China. Once we have Kylie, I'll most likely carry her around in my Ergo carrier (ended up finding it on Ebay thanks to my friend Jennifer!) and then of course, I will have my camera bag which will double as my "purse" and then her diaper bag. I know we can split it up and each carry something, but the thought of carrying all that was definitely giving me pause. When I saw this, I thought it would be perfect!

It's no nonsense, but roomy and super lightweight. The outside feels a bit water resistant as well (though it might not be). I thought it would be perfect. It lays flat, so I can pack it going over and then we'll have it loaded up coming back but it will double perfectly as a carry on!

I was very pleased with the purchase which was just a little over $20.

More Hair Goodies!

2012-01-10T08:08:00.000-06:00

I might have mentioned that I went a little overboard with the hair accessories when we realized Kylie was sporting a Mohawk. I got the last of my orders this past Friday and I am so excited to show these to you!

These are from Polka Dot Posies and the little clips are sold separately and are interchangeable! Not just that, but they can be put on other things like these cute little headbands to dress them up!

I have no idea whether Kylie will go for the headbands, but I can't wait to find out! And the best part? These items are like $1-$3 each so they are super economical and if one goes missing...well, no big deal!

I just love these sweet things and I hope to get many, many more!!

Hats, Headbands and Bows Oh My!!!

2012-01-09T07:34:00.000-06:00

I received some other hair goodies late last week for Kylie to help make her mohawk a bit less obvious! I did have a thought though...I can't remember if I blogged about this (and yes, I'm too lazy to look), but when we got the most recent pictures of Kylie, she looked so different, I didn't even recognize her at first. It was pretty devastating to realize I hadn't recognized my own child, but I've gotten over it. I see her all in the pictures now. But you know how much babies change and the question crossed my mind as to whether I will recognize her when they bring her to me on Gotcha Day? I sure hope so!!!

Anyway, I've started accumulating some cute hair accessories that I hope she will wear.

These are from the Girly Girl Boutique and oh my word! They have the cutest adoption bows! If you are adopting, check them out. I saw Ethiopia bows there too, so it's more than just China! And the cool thing is proceeds from the adoption line goes to support New Day Foster Home. These bows are very affordable, so let me give you a closer look...

It's kind of hard to tell, but this is a light pink bow with a darker pink embroidered heart and letter "K" on it.

"Worth the Wait", dark purple on light purple. Right? So cute! I can't wait to put these bows in her hair!

This is probably my favorite and is definitely going to China with me! It's dark pink with neon green embroidery. That is the Chinese character for Love and it's super cute. I need to learn about how to create better lighting for these shots, but just haven't had time.

This little bow was a sweet "extra". And it too is definitely going with me to China! I just can't wait to put these bows on her sweet head! They are alligator clips with some anti-slip stuff on them (which I had no idea even existed!)

There's more to come, so stay tuned...

Is It Already That Time Again????

2012-01-08T09:50:00.000-06:00

I can hardly believe it, but it is already a new 9-weeks at school and Jenna got her report card last week. She has been very consistent in her report cards...this 9 weeks she got all As and 2 Bs. The funny thing is that her 2 Bs are in Math and Social Studies and Math is her favorite subject.

But we are so proud of our girl! 5th grade, watch out!!!

Found on my iPhone

2012-01-07T08:40:00.000-06:00

These kinds of posts are some of my favorites to read, so I thought I'd join in the fun. Hopefully you'll enjoy it too!

Basically, this is just a sampling of the photos on my iPhone at the moment...

Jenna and I using the Mac at Best Buy the day I was buying the iPad for our raffle. Jenna discovered this photobooth app and was having a blast. This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.

If I ever wanted to know what Jenna would look like if she'd been born an alien, now I know. :) Another funny one. Funny enough that I would buy a Mac just to play with this!

One of my fave Christmas presents, my new camera bag! I asked for a new one to take to China. this one has PLENTY of room for my camera, lenses and my personal items like money etc. while in China. More to come on that...

Jenna modeling one of her outfits from her Nana. Think I'm going to have a heartbreaker on my hands in a few years? Yeah, me too!

Can't remember where I was when we took this one, but thought it was cute. I don't do a lot of the self-portrait photos, but need to do more.

My favorite photo for today...took this using Instagram. Amazing at what that app can do! We were at a new Mexican restaurant in our city and YUM! While waiting on our queso, we took a few snaps...and yes, it was DELISH.

One Step Closer!

2012-01-06T13:51:00.000-06:00

I just found out that our I-800 was approved today by the USCIS!!! What that means is that we are one step closer to bringing Kylie home!

There are more steps to go, but I keep hearing the rest of it goes fast and I'm starting to believe! The USCIS will now forward our 800 approval to the National Visa Center via 2 day air. Once the NVC gets the approval, they will enter it into their system and send the request to the US Embassy in China who will be issuing Kylie's visa. Once it has been sent to the Embassy, we will receive a PDF letter stating as much. When I receive that email letter, I send it to my agency who forwards it to the China contact who will take the paperwork to the Embassy. 2 weeks later, my Article 5 is picked up and then taken to the CCCWA who will then begin work on issuing our travel approval!

We have Chinese New Year in the middle of all this, so not sure how that will slow us down, but that is a week off for everyone in China including the US Embassy! So just pray we can travel in March during the week of Spring Break!

It's Official!

2012-01-06T08:21:00.001-06:00

Tuesday our official LOA came in the mail for us to sign. It was a little nerve-wracking signing such an important document and one that we'd waited for so long...

I think the original looks really cool...

basically the document is just confirming we want to adopted Kylie.

And of course we marked yes! It was a pretty exciting moment to finally have this part officially behind us!!

The First of Many...

2012-01-05T08:06:00.000-06:00

So I might have gotten carried away and ordered a few hair accessories for Kylie after seeing the crazy mohawk she is now sporting.

The first of those accessories showed up Tuesday night. Check these out...they look SO tiny. I hope they are big enough for head...they look so small!

They were SO economical! Because if they hadn't been, I would never have bought them. I didn't have the slightest idea where to look for something like this because they weren't around when Jenna was born. So I went out to my favorite online site where all my adoptive friends are, Rumor Queen, and asked the question. I got tons of responses and this site came up as a favorite.

I think everyone but me have heard of briar claire except for me. But in case you haven't and you want to get some of these ultra cute hair accessories, you can find her here. I can't wait to get all the others in. They should be arriving soon, so stay tuned!

Finishing up Christmas...Finally!

2012-01-04T08:50:00.000-06:00

Sorry the Christmas stuff has drug out so long. The last bit of our Christmas came Christmas Day afternoon spent with the Taylors. It's one of my favorite times. This year it seemed to go pretty quickly and I'm not sure why. But nevertheless, it was fun. I got to see my grandson Gage, who is about to turn 5 years old. I love him so much. It was so good to see him and Micah (his mom).

Jenna got a little more Beibs...

And more cute clothes...

Then we exchanged a few gifts with Chase who got Jenna a practical art studio! She was very happy and we were glad to spend a while with Chase...I think Jenna likes him...

New Year's Resolution?

2012-01-03T07:54:00.001-06:00

Hmmm...every year, I make resolutions...some for work, some for life in general. This year, I'm just making decisions to try a little harder at life. Resolutions are made for breaking so this year, I'm going to try harder to:

1. Be nice to others. I sometimes get so busy and in a hurry that I am just not as nice as I should be.
2. Spend time with God. If you only knew how far I've slidden in my private time with the Lord, you would understand how badly I need this one.
3. Live in the moment. Sometimes I catch myself looking at Jenna and seeing her as the young lady she is becoming and it nearly takes my breath away. I have already promised myself not to take my frustration and jet-lagged attitude out on her while we are in China.
4. Be nice to my husband. He loves me unlike any other. And I feel the same about him. Unfortunately I don't always show him. 2 1/2 weeks apart is going to be hard.
5. Love my family more. And I mean by calling, emailing or texting them more often. My sister in law is leaving her family for 2 1/2 weeks to travel across the globe to pick up a child which isn't even hers. I need to love all my family better. Because they love me.

Basically, to sum up my non-New Year's Resolution in a word... LOVE. Because at the root of each of these things is LOVE.

Welcome 2012!!

2012-01-02T19:54:00.000-06:00

Wow...2012...where did 2011 go? I can hardly believe we have now started another year. So far, I haven't done much of anything. Today was my last day of freedom before going back to work tomorrow but I would not call today overly productive, although the long weekend was overall.

We spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home. I started out being a little depressed about that, but as the day wore on, I started to think how much I didn't want to have to get out and stay up late. Plus, this is most definitely the last NYE as a family of 3. We were all in bed when the new year rang in. Steve was awake and watching it on TV. Jenna had fallen out about 11pm and I had gone to sleep about that time because my head was hurting and I just needed to shut my eyes. Steve woke me up to tell me happy new year and I stayed up for a few minutes watching the celebration in NY Times Square.

Sunday we attended church at 11:00 and then the rest of the weekend has been moderately busy. I cleaned out my closet (who didn't?), got groceries and pulled the suitcases down from the attic. Yes, I did. Make fun of me if you want, but I am my mother's daughter. I realize we aren't traveling until probably late March, but when you work full time and your weekends are full doing things you don't have time for during the week, you need to plan early. I remember as a child, my mother would pack for our vacations weeks in advance. So much so that you'd be wondering where this outfit or that outfit was, only to discover she'd washed it and put it into the suitcases! But rarely did my mom forget anything and I have learned from the pro.

I haven't actually put anything IN the suitcases, but I have started the packing list. And as soon as I can, I'll start adding some non-clothing items.

Tonight, I tried a new recipe I found on Pinterest. It was 3 cheese Chicken Alfredo. It was good but I need to season it up a little next time. Doesn't it look good?

All in all, the long weekend was a good one and I'm looking forward to the short week at work to ease back in. Next week will be long, but then there's another long weekend due to MLK day. And I gotta be honest, I've never wanted time to pass so quickly!

Happy New Year!!! Welcome 2012!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!!! I am excited that 2012 will be the best year in many for our little, growing family!

Adoption Update-What's Next?

2011-12-31T09:11:00.000-06:00

I have to tell you, my head is still spinning with the news that our LOA is here. We aren't leaving anytime soon, but I've heard the process picks up speed from here on out. After 144 days, anything would be faster than that.

I'm getting quite a few questions on what's next and to be honest, I had been waiting SO long on LOA, that I had to go back and refresh my memory on what IS next! So here we go...

Now that we have our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) or LSC (Letter Seeking Confirmation) as some call it, we will ask US Immigration for their approval to bring Kylie home. Back when we were doing our dossier, we asked them for permission to bring "A" child home from China. They approved that, but now that we have a specific child, we need approval to bring her home.

This is called the I-800 application. You can't send in your I-800 until you have your LOA because a signed copy of it has to be attached. However, in an effort to expedite things, we had already completed our I-800. Our agency scanned the LOA to us, we signed it and emailed it back. They then emailed it directly to our agent at the USCIS in hopes that would cut off a few weeks of our wait.

Once our USCIS officer approves the I-800 application, he/she will forward the approval to the NVC (National Visa Center) and they put it in their system and send it to the US Consulate in China. We then have to forward that letter to our agency who forwards it to the US Consulate. Once they have that, they issue what is called an Article 5 which is basically them approving Kylie's visa to be issued. That Article 5 has to be picked up in China and delivered to the China adoption authority called the CCCWA. Once the CCCWA knows the US has authorized Kylie for a visa, they will issue Travel Approval (TA)! That right there is the golden ticket to China! Once we have TA, we can request a date for our consulate appointment and make travel arrangements!

The question is how long does all this take? Well, 2-3 months. But as we know, it can take longer. Once you receive TA, it takes about 24 hours to approve your consulate appointment and you can leave as quickly as you can get plane tickets bought. However, I would like to have a few weeks to prepare. I need to wrap stuff up at work, Jenna needs to wrap stuff up at school, we have to pack for 2 1/2 weeks in country...

I am praying we can travel the week of March 19-23 which is Jenna's spring break. It would be so much better if we could use that week so she doesn't have to miss a week of school. Ideally, we'd leave on Thursday, March 8, spend our first week in Jiangsu the week of March 12-16 and the second and final week in Guangzhou the week of the 19-23. But if we had to have the first week the 19-23, that would work too. If all the steps above happen in their average time frames, we could do it. But I've learned the hard way, things in this process don't always go as it's supposed to. So we'll just pray the Lord does what He wills and I'll just be along for the ride!

In summary, our very next step is waiting for the I-800 approval. I'll add that over there to the right in our timeline so you can easily remember.

As for today, it's clean your closet day for me and I'm going to get the suitcases down and start putting in non-clothing items slowly...I had planned to do this after Christmas anyway. Now I have more reason to!

More Christmas Fun!

2011-12-31T08:26:00.001-06:00

So, Christmas morning came early for this family. Normally, Jenna sleeps so late that I have time to get up, get my teeth and hair brushed and make myself look presentable. But this year, it was not so. At 6:10 she showed up at my bedside. I made her wait until 6:30, but even that was a struggle.

I finally drug myself out of bed and downstairs. Jenna was so excited to give Steve and I our gifts. We had each let her spend about $10-20 to buy the other items, mostly from the dollar bin at Target. This is the first year that Jenna was really aware and took the initiative in doing this. I was pretty surprised because usually she just picks up this or that. But this year, she really took her time in choosing our gifts. I could tell they were chosen carefully and thought through.

Those were all my gifts. Smarties candy, a pink lighter (to light our candles with!), a pack of recipe note cards, a pack of kleenex,a journal, a cat calendar, an eye mask (yes, I do use these at night when Steve has the TV on and it's too bright) and my favorite, pony tail holders. She got those because she's always taking mine and then they disappear. More ironically, I also got her some to go in her stocking!

Steve's gifts were likewise as appropriate, but I didn't get a photo of his. But he did get many other nice gifts...several things for his gun...

I got one of my favorite books from a series...Explosive Eighteen. And several sweaters that Steve picked out himself, which was impressive!

And of course, Jenna got lots of Justice clothes and that made her super happy.

So let me tell you about this picture above...you can't really tell unless you know what you are looking at, but Jenna is holding some Chinese money (Yuan). My friend Jennifer traveled to China in October to pick up her daughter. She had money left over and sent it to me along with some cleft bottles (which are used for cleft kiddos). I knew Jenna would think the money was cool so I decided to save it for Christmas. I just stuck it in her stocking and boy was it a hit. It was 400 yuan which is about $63. But to Jenna, it is a lot and she was totally excited. And of course, there was some Beibs to be had...

After everything was opened, we went to the 11:00 service at church. But just look at the chaos I left behind!

Can you spot our cat Mittens? He's there...he loves Christmas too...the wrapping paper and the bows..he just loves them. Even he was tuckered out after all the excitement!

Hope you all had just as merry a Christmas as we did! More to come...stay tuned!

IT'S HERE!!!!

2011-12-30T11:30:00.000-06:00

LOA ARRIVED TODAY!!! Praise the Lord! Let me tell you just how awesome this news is...even moreso today...

Last fall, right before I was ready to leave on the mission journey to South Africa, I experienced an attack from Satan. Those of you who have traveled on mission journeys before have most likely experienced this. It was hard and I did NOT want to go on the trip. I didn't want to go and leave my family. I didn't know hardly anyone else going and two weeks was a long time. Then a week before we departed, my brother passed away unexpectedly. I was devastated and then not only did I not want to go, but neither did my family want me to go. It was a hard ugly time.

When I got back to work after my bereavement leave, the sweet cleaning lady, Brenda, who cleans our building during the day passed by. We often speak and she knew I was going on a mission journey soon, but obviously knew nothing of my internal struggle. That particular day, she stopped her cart outside my office door and said, "The Lord spoke to me and I have a Word from Him for you." Internally I was rolling my eyes because how hokey does that sound right??! But then, she said to me, "He wanted me to encourage you as you go on this trip. HE is sending you and HE has gone before you and everything is gonna be OK". HOLY. COW.

Needless to say, it was all I could do to keep it together. God may not speak audibly but I heard Him loud and clear through Brenda that day. It was a little freakish. But, while I still didn't look forward to leaving my family, the fear was gone. It was an amazing time.

As I had my emotional breakdown earlier this week while waiting on my LOA, I jokingly said to my work BFF, Katelyn, "Maybe I need to have Brenda pray for my LOA!" Katelyn, more seriously said she thought I should. I saw Brenda a few times throughout the week, but it was never a convenient time to tell her the story and ask her to pray.

Until this morning. Normally, another co-worker and I go down to get water or breakfast. She is off today, so I went down alone...an unusual occurrance in and of itself. When I walked into the cafeteria, who did I see, sitting there alone, eating breakfast? Brenda. And I knew, it was now or never. To say I felt a little silly is an understatement, but I just plunged ahead telling her about the paper I needed from China and how long we had waited. She knew I was adopting, but I showed her new pictures of Kylie etc. She grabbed my hands and right there in the cafeteria prayed for my LOA to come. And then she said, "It's on its way. Mark my words. That paper is coming." The end. Brenda had spoken.

2 1/2 hours later, I recevied the news that the LOA, indeed, had shown up at my agency. If that isn't another direct word from God, I don't know what is. And if you don't believe there is a God in heaven who hears us when we pray, you should think again.

Next up, Brenda is praying for Steve a job!!! :) :) :)

More to come...

A Family Christmas

2011-12-30T10:12:00.000-06:00

The Friday before Christmas we got together with my side of the family to celebrate Christmas. The afternoon started out with our celebration with Bertie (better know as Nana to Jenna).

It was a good time and we all exchanged nice gifts. We bot Nana a picture frame with a picture of Jenna in it holding Kylie's picture. I thought it was pretty neat myself.

Jenna got the cutest little outfit from Nana and she loved it so much she decided to switch clothes right then. Isn't it cute?

After we finished there, we all loaded up and went to my sister, Teresa's house. I don't know why we don't get together more often because we always enjoy each others' company. Jenna especially enjoys hanging out with her cousin Garrett who is about 2 weeks older than her!

We had a really nice spread but somehow I didn't get a picture of it. The kids only exchanged gifts, but they were pretty excited about it.

Jenna realy enjoyed her fashion gifts. She told a friend she was having a "fashion frenzy!"...here are a few of the cute outfits...

Now the next photo is probably my favorite one from the entire season because it captures the pure, raw emotion of the moment. A little background is that Jenna loves clothes from Justice. We got several catalogs in the mail of which she would patiently go through and circle things she wanted. One day I got a text on the road with pictures of hats from Justice from my sister and niece to see if Jenna would like either. I picked the one I thought she would like best. When I got home, I took a quick glance in the most recently marked catalog and found she had circled that EXACT hat! So, imagine her surprise when she opened it up this weekend...well, nevermind...you don't have to imagine because I captured it here...

It was a great time for sure. The two kids ran around like crazy and had such a good time. Because, let's be honest, there's nothing quite like family!

Happy Birthday Teresa!

2011-12-30T07:52:00.000-06:00

Today is my sister Teresa's birthday! I can't tell you how old she is but I can tell you she is the best sister a girl could want. She is a great aunt to Jenna and we love her.

Happy birthday Teresa!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T08:07:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve had traditionally been a time for our family and the Millsaps to get together. However, this year, we learned there are more than just our families who have nothing to do on Christmas Eve. So, we decided to open it up to whoever. Both of us spent a grand majority of our Saturday in the kitchen. In the end, I don't think either of us took pictures, but I did hijack one of the dessert table from my friend Katie's Facebook (thanks Katie!)

But before the fun, we had the most wonderful Christmas Eve service at Station Hill. I love these people. They have truly become like family to me.

Our pastor, Jay, gave a great message and it was a nice time of rest and reflection which was needed after the craziness of my day.

My favorite part of the Christmas Eve service is always the candlelight part. Love it!

There is nothing better than a candlelight service to make you slow down and remember what the season is REALLY all about.

Kylie's Post-Surgery Pics!

2011-12-28T16:02:00.000-06:00

Yes! We finally have some and we are very excited to show them to the world. But before I do, I need to do some explaining...today is day 142 of the wait for our LOA which is the next step before moving forward. This is over double the amount of time we should have had to wait.

I find myself desperate for information, ANY information, about our LOA or about our sweet Kylie, only to spin into a downward spiral when I get it. We have been anxiously awaiting post-surgery pictures and last night I received them. However, when I opened them up, I thought they'd sent pictures of a different child. I immediately took the computer to Steve and asked if he thought this was Kylie and he said it really didn't look like her (so in my defense, it was a little shock to see). I even went as far as to email my agency back and ask them to double-check. However, as we pulled up picture after picture of her from before and began to compare, we began to recognize her familiar features, finally determinting this indeed was our Kylie.

And that's when I started to cry. I wish I could say I was crying for sheer joy that we'd finally be able to see her face, but in reality, I was devastated. Devastated that I had not even recognized my own child's photo. It has been SO long since we've seen her and she has changed so much. I cried myself to sleep and dreamed about my LOA and in my dream I was crying. I woke up depressed and proceeded to cry most of the morning off and on. My friends and blog readers, I have found my breaking point. YOU ARE HERE. Welcome to my insanity. I do not know how much longer I can wait. We still have many weeks and months to go AFTER we get LOA in order to travel, so that is just the next step.

I honestly do not know how I'm going to make it much longer. I have had numerous people to say "hang in there" or "it'll all make sense later" or "it will be worth it when you have her in your arms" or "God has the master plan"...I KNOW. I've been a Christian since I was 10 years old. I am pretty sure that I have learned all this. IT DOESN'T HELP! Right now, I'm not there. I'm here. Waiting. FOREVER. I know these words are said in an effort to comfort me, but right now, they are not. I feel like perhaps the only thing that will help is prayers. If you aren't "religious", I'll take whatever you've got. Well wishes, thoughts, etc. But I feel like I am sincerely at the end of my rope with this wait. I have seen people say that before and I always thought, "Whoa, drama!!!" but now that I'm here, there's no drama to it. Only reality.

You see, until now, I've held this child of mine at arm's length. She was "a photo of my child" and nothing more. I loved her, kinda. I mean, I loved her as much as you can love someone thousands of miles away who you've only seen about 6 photos of. Some people see the picture of their referral child and immediately fall in love. It wasn't that way with me. My love has definitely grown over the past few months, but last night it took a huge turn. This little girl is no longer just a photo. She is MY CHILD. And I need to be with her.

And yes, my agency is doing everything they can, but there is only so far they can go with China. They are only as good as the information they are given. I was told weeks ago my LOA was on the way only to be told later there was some type of miscommunication or misinformation and it was still in process. Late last week I was told my LOA was in the last, short stage of the process and should be here before end of the year. Well, by my calculations, the end of the year is nearly here and my LOA isn't. So you see, there's really not much more I can do except continue t put one foot in front of the other and ask for your prayers and thoughts as I try to make it through to the next step.

So for those of you who made it through that whole horrid post, here are the sweet pictures of our baby girl...

Yes, it appears they shaved her head again, but I've since learned that sometime they do so before surgery so they are able to insert the IV. We also know she is 15lbs, 26.7 inches long, 17.7inches around in the chest and has a head circumference of 16.9inches. We believe except for the weight, these are all going in the right direction. We're having a international adoption pediatrician review them and hopefully will get the green light on what we know. She also has a 10cm foot which is about 4 inches...if you happen to know what size shoe that equates to, let me know!

Christmas!

2011-12-28T06:28:00.000-06:00

OK, so the next few days are going to be posts about our Christmas activities...there will be a few, so bear with me....we'll start with the earliest which was on December 15. They had what they called Grandparents Day which is really the equivalent to a Christmas program.

Jenna actually played the recorder in the program which is a fourth grade privilege! They did very well though.

It was our last Christmas program at the elementary school. Next year, I don't know what they will do so it's a bit bittersweet.

Both of Jenna's grandparents came and Nana even surprised us! Jenna was so excited to have them there and so were we. It was the perfect last Grandparent's Day program!

The Day After...

2011-12-26T09:36:00.000-06:00

The Taylor Family Blog is taking off a day today. Not really since there is a blog here, but relatively speaking, this blog is going to be about nothing.

I'm sitting here, the only one up in my family, at 9:30am, looking at the aftermath of Christmas. The kitchen table is full of the stuff that just gets dropped there when we come in the door. The sink is full of dirty dishes because the dishwasher is full of clean dishes. They are both full because of the cooking/baking frenzy that has been me the past three days.

The living room is a virtual minefield of toys, clothes, boxes, stocking stuffers and the like. I managed to get up most of the wrapping paper and empty boxes, but the gifts are all down here and Jenna's are strewn from here to yon.

When I put Jenna to bed last night, I had to dance around to avoid the random items in her floor. More on this later, but Chase got her an entire art studio for Christmas. Like, acrylic paints, glow in the dark paint, brushes in every size and shape and even a professional looking easel. All very nice and Jenna loves them, but she has nothing but paper to paint on. She also has $50 in cash she racked up this Christmas among a large variety of gift cards. So she is really wanting to go out to buy some canvases and paper to paint on. I think I'm going to have to bribe her into cleaning her room if she wants to go out. I have to work the rest of this week, so if the house is going to get clean, it needs to be done today.

I love Christmas. Some years it takes me forever to get into the Christmas mood, but this year I was ready and I attribute it to doing most of my Christmas shopping the weekend before Thanksgiving. We (OK, Steve) even got Christmas lights up outside this year. That hasn't happened in years. But every Christmas, no matter my level of Christmas spirit, by the day after Christmas, I'm ready for it all to be gone. I am a creature of order (though many times I am far from orderly) and schedule. So by the time it's all over, I'm ready for my house to be back to normal. Somehow, the dark Christmas tree with no gifts underneath is depressing so I'd rather it be gone all together. I am sad to see Christmas go this year...seems like there wasn't much time to enjoy it before it was here. But gone it is and now we look forward to 2012! YIKES!

So, for a post about nothing, that was quite a long one. Thanks for lasting this long. I promise, there will be posts to follow with picture of our various Christmas celebrations. But for now, this is what you get.

Also, if you think about it, pray for my friend Jennifer. She and her husband just traveled to China in October to bring home her daughter home. Last night she had to take her husband to the ER where they found him to be in congestive heart failure due to a serious problem with his kidneys. They were doing a biopsy on his kidneys this morning to see what the problem is. Hopefully, they can figure out what the problem with his kidneys are, fix that and reverse the congestive heart failure. However, he is in very serious shape. Jennifer and Jeff have 3 boys in addition to their new daughter from China. Please pray for the doctors to have wisdom in fixing what is wrong. I'll keep you posted as I know more.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T06:00:00.001-06:00

The Birth of Jesus

¹ At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. ² (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. ⁴ And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. ⁵ He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant.
⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. ⁷ She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

The Shepherds and Angels

⁸ That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. ⁹ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, ¹⁰ but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. ¹¹ The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! ¹² And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
¹³ Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
¹⁵ When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
¹⁶ They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. ¹⁷ After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. ¹⁸ All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, ¹⁹ but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. ²⁰ The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

From our family to yours...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Away In A Manger

2011-12-24T10:01:00.000-06:00

This past Sunday at church, we had a living nativity. I was loving on my babies in the nursery so I didn't get to see, but Steve went over and took pictures.

Yes, those are live camels. They were the only animals the kids couldn't pet.

That would be the shepherds over there by the donkeys!

This is the coolest. Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus...also known as the Dunbar family. And yes, baby Jesus is being played by their newest addition, baby Isaac who I was missing in the nursery! Such a cool, live reminder of what this season is really all about.

On this Christmas Eve, let's praise God for sending His Son for us.

It's a PAR-TAY!

2011-12-23T09:49:00.000-06:00

Last Friday was Jenna's school Christmas party. The kids had snacks...the cutest donuts ever! And they were Krispy Kreme!

One of the other room moms got the games together and she did a great job! The first game was to take a gumball in a spoon and put it in a stocking.

Jenna's group won that one! They were so excited, but it was harder than it looked so they weren't really anxious to play it again!

The next game was a snowball toss. The "snowball" was really a marshmallow wrapped in saran wrap. The kids really liked this one but Jenna's team didn't do so well but they all had a good time anyway.

The kids all had a good time and after they got to leave for Christmas break! What could be better????

Lighting of the Green

2011-12-22T09:27:00.000-06:00

Back after Thanksgiving (11/29 to be exact), Jenna was able to sing in the 4th grade chorus in the Lipscomb University annual Lighting of the Green.

The famous Amy Grant always MCs and sings. Honestly, we have never been before, but it was an awesome night. We sat pretty far away, but I was able to clearly see Jenna when it was her turn to sing.

Do you see her? Right there on the front row in her Christmas dress! Unfortunately, she didn't get to meet Amy Grant and tell her she sang her song in the talent show, but the whole thing was still pretty cool!

There were other special singing guests too...Point of Grace was there and they were amazing!

And then there was Melinda Doolittle from American Idol. She was amazing too! I just loved listening to all these talented artists!

It was bitterly cold outside and rainy, so the festivities were inside, thank goodness. But they did go ahead and light the tree. It was an amazing experience!

Happy Birthday Rachel!!

2011-12-21T09:22:00.000-06:00

I talk about her alot on my blog and she's been my closest friend since childhood. Today, I'm taking a break from adoption talk and memory making to give a big happy birthday to my friend Rachel!

I'm not going to share with you how old she is (honestly, I'm not sure myself because well...honestly, it doesn't matter), but know she's not as old as me!

Happy birthday dear friend. I wouldn't want to do life with anyone else!

Adoption Rally at Lipscomb University

2011-12-20T09:48:00.000-06:00

It's been a long time coming, but I wanted to update everyone on the Adoption Rally that Lipscomb University partnered with us on.

First of all, if you are a local family who is adopting, click here and find out more about this wonderful opportunity.

There were a lot of strangers who showed up, some DL families and some pretty dedicated Daddy friends coming out with their little ones...

At 8 minutes left in the game, we went out onto the floor and they introduced us and announced our total...

$500! It was so much fun and easy fundraising! There was also fun stuff for Jenna. She especially loved the cheerleaders and there were super cool tattoos!!!

And to boot, Lipscomb won the game! It was a great idea for a family night and I hope to pay it forward to other adoptive families in the future!

An Update on Our Kylie!!

2011-12-19T09:47:00.000-06:00

While we have been anxiously waiting on our LOA to show up, we were also hoping to get some updated information on Kylie. Finally, we came upon an organization called Ladybugs n Love. They specialize in care packages and such to children in China. They are not who I used for Kylie's original care package but I had another adoptive friend, Amy, who used them and liked them. I was researching places who will send Kylie a birthday package in January for her 1st birthday. While researching, I found LNL's American counterpart is a client of Lifeline! So, it was decided! We'll use them to send the care package.

While I was looking over their website, I discovered that for a very small fee, they would call the orphanage for an update! You get updated height/weight measurements along with foot size and number of teeth etc. In addition, you get to ask 10 questions. I inquired of them and they had just spoken to our orphanage for another family so they felt like they would get a response. One week ago, I sent in my 10 questions and Saturday, I received answers!!! Here is what we now know about Kylie. My questions are in black, answers in blue and my comments in red.:

1. Is Yingbei crawling or sitting up on her own?

Yes. (I assume this to mean yes to both crawling and sitting)

2. What are Yingbei's favorite toys to play with or favorite activity?
Something makes noise or rolling. Favorite activity: something play with her. (I'm taking this to mean that she likes noisy and moving toys but her favorite is when someone is playing with her.)

3. What is Yingbei's general demeanor? Happy? Sad? Shy? Fearful?
She is happy and has a ready smile. (This makes me happier than you know.)

4.What comforts Yingbei most when she is sad?

Hold her. (Um, yes. I think we can TOTALLY accomodate that!)

5.What do you call her by most? Yingbei or a nickname?

Bei Bei. (Bei Bei. As my friend Katelyn says... "I die.")

6.Why did you name her YingBei?

Lian means Lian Yun Gang. Ying sounds similar with Yi which means “a” or “one”. Bei means baby, treasure, the apple of one’s eye. (Not sure what to think about this. We have received several different meanings...from welcome baby, to welcoming the precious one to this. Guess we'll go with welcoming the precious (or treasured) one. We like that best!)

7.Has her cleft surgery been scheduled yet or do you know approximately when that will be?

She was sent to Xu Zhou No. 1 Hospital for cleft lip surgery on Dec 5. (OK. I know. This was a definite surprise to us. We did NOT know this was occurring. We have no other details other than what you read here. Yes, it is common for this to happen without adoptive parents' knowledge. I assume from the answer and from what is common that only her lip, not palate, has been repaired. I am very sad to think she is going through this without her Mommy and Daddy there. However, I feel very confident in the surgeons in China. They usually do a great job with the plastic surgery. I'll be anxious to see pictures from after her surgery.)

8. Who is Yingbei's favorite caregiver/nanny?

Bai Yu. (You might wonder why I asked this question? First if we have the opportunity to visit the orphanage, I'd like to meet this nanny and get a photo of her in order to provide more history of her early life before us.)

9. Does Yingbei have a favorite playmate/s?
Lian Ruo Hang, Lian Tian Ge, and Lian Meng Chen. (I don't know these children, but also hope to find their forever families so we can keep in touch.)

10. Can we have the items Yingbei was found with on Gotcha Day and if not, can you share photos of these items?

Sorry, we can't. (This was probably the most disappointing answer for me. I would really love to have what little she was found with. I believe from the way the referral papers read that there was a note. It's just not going to be something I can provide her.)

They will answer rest of the questions when she’s back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK, it's important to note that last underlined sentence..."when she's back". When I first read that, I assumed it meant the orphanage staff person who was answering the email. And I had seen all the questions were answered so I didn't know what was left. However, once I was able to sit down at my laptop (as opposed to reading the email on my iPhone), I realized I had gotten no measurements, no physical updates and no pictures or videos. That's when it dawned on me that "she's" is Kylie. She is still in the hospital recovering from surgery. Yes, that is a long time, but remember, she lives in an orphanage with lots and lots of children and fewer caregivers. Think of it like a huge daycare but with many more chilren and it being a 24 hour a day daycare center. You can't possibly have a child recovering from surgery who needs special care keeping her hands away from her newly repaired lip and special diet in an environment with many kids. So we aren't worried. We are anxious to get updated measurements, but we already know she had to be 17lbs before she could have the lip repair, so we assume she's at least that heavy.

We are so thankful to Angela and Kelly at LNL for getting us this update. But, it is bittersweet because it makes it that much harder to be waiting and not be with her. I have begun dreaming about her almost every night. I have 3 friends traveling to China over the Christmas holidays so it's very in my face.

Will you pray with me this week that a Christmas miracle will occur and we'll get LOA? I'm not alone...there are many still waiting on that beloved piece of paper. Pray or all my friends who are waiting. It's a hard place to be in especially around the holidays when all you want for Christmas is your baby to be in your arms.

More to come...

2011-12-18T09:27:00.000-06:00

Back on Sunday, December 10, Jenna danced with the girls from church at the local assisted living center. We know someone who is living there so we have been there quite often this holiday season and have started getting to know some of the residents.

But I thought you might enjoy Jenna dancing again this season. I just love watching the girls dance...ballet is so elegant and graceful.

And The Winner of the iPad Is....

2011-12-17T12:00:00.036-06:00

Well, the day you have been waiting for is here! I could not wait to draw the lucky winner of our new Apple iPad.

Before we get to that, let me share with you that after the absolute RUN of crazy procrastinators out there and after deducting the cost of the iPad, we raised a grand total of about $650 towards our adoption! When I drafted this post at 10pm last night, the total amount was more than $200 less!!! You night owls totally surprised us!! Every dollar counts and each of YOU made it happen.

I will tell you that as of yesterday afternoon when I purchased the iPad, we had only made about $90. The rest came in last evening. We are blown away. BLOWN. AWAY.

I truly wish I could draw every one of your names out today. So many of you entered both drawings and multiple times...it seems unfair that ALL of you can't win. If I could have given away 5 of these, I totally would. I was humbled at the number of folks that donated to help bring Kylie home to us. Let me make sure you understand...YOU have a personal hand in bringing this...

TO US.

We are just so blessed! So without further ado...CONGRATULATIONS to:

JILL PULFREY!

Congratulations to Jill again and to my sweetie Jenna for taking part in the drawing. She was clearly thrilled to do it!

And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to every single one of you who bought tickets, blogged, tweeted or Facebooked it! May God bless you for your generosity this Christmas season!

Happy Birthday Chase!

2011-12-17T06:14:00.000-06:00

Today the little boy I met at 7 years old, turns a whopping 24 years old today. We are SO very proud of him. He has grow into just a wonderful man.

Happy birthday! We love you!!

Your Last Chance at an iPad!

2011-12-16T08:46:00.000-06:00

I'm serious this time...today is it. I'm drawing about 8:30 in the morning. But I won't post the winner until closer to noon. I'll also post the winner on Twitter and Facebook.

If you want a last minute entry or to simply increase your chances of winning, better enter now...

Adoption Update-A Long Time Coming

2011-12-15T08:50:00.000-06:00

Well, I wish there was more exciting news to share, but basically, we are still waiting on paperwork to arrive from China.

We are currently waiting on what is called the LOA or LSC. Here's the definition I pulled from Courtney's wonderful website: Official approval from the CCCWA to adopt your specific child. You must sign this letter in order to accept the referral. It takes anywhere from 2-4 months to receive LOA. After your dossier has been sent to China and you have accepted your referral, you will wait for your Letter Seeking Confirmation (LSC), or Letter of Acceptance (LOA). Most people call it the LOA. You cannot proceed with your adoption until China sends the LOA, which is your official approval from the CCAA to adopt your child.

So 2-4 months. When we first submitted our request for LOA, our agency said 70-90 days. At or around day 100, our agency decided to check and see what was going on. And it was shortly after that we found out our LOA was essentially... stuck in translation. I kid you not. We also found out that it didn't even get put in the review process until late due to our transfer of agencies.

From what I understand, there are 3 steps to the LOA process...translation, in process and matching. Each step takes several weeks. We have now waited more than 4 months. A couple weeks ago, our agency called and said we were out of translation and processed and was on it's way! I was so excited! And then one day passed. Two days...three...finally, the word came back that apparently the information my agency got was bad and so it really WASN'T on its way. In fact, it was just now out of translation and into the next room...so looking like another 4-6 weeks of waiting.

My agency is really doing all it can to check up on the status and move us along in the process. But there's just not much they can do.

So we wait. It's all we can do. It stinks. But God has the Master Plan and I have to trust. I also stink at that. But I'm working on it. God's giving me plenty of time to perfect it.

That's the update. Which is to say, there isn't much of one. But you'll be the first (well, maybe 2nd...) to know when there is!!

Information about the iPad Drawing

2011-12-14T08:05:00.001-06:00

So I'm getting quite a few questions about how we are doing the iPad drawing. I guess I could just link you to the original blog, but I figured if you popped in this way, then you'd probably just as soon read it here. You've come to the right place...thought a Q&A might be the quickest way for you to find the answer you might be looking for...

Q1. Is the drawing going to happen?
A1. YES! We have enough entries. No refunds this time!!! Stick around on Saturday...it'll be fun and worth it! I'll video me and a special guest drawing the winner!

Q2. Why are you doing this?
A2. We are doing this as a fundraiser for our adoption. We have about $8000 of travel expenses yet to raise. If I don't have the money ready to go when our final travel approval comes in from China, then we won't be able to go until we have the money. I cannot fathom knowing we could leave any day, but can't because the money just isn't there.

Q3. Is the iPad donated? Is it new? Where did you get it?
A3. No, the iPad most definitely is NOT donated. I am buying it. It will be BRAND new. I'm most likely going to purchase it from my favorite store in the world...Target. It'll be new, in the package, never opened. If you'd like to donate the money just for the ipad, then feel free. I'll give you a special mention in my winner blog post! :)

Q4. How do I enter to win? What is the deadline?
A4. Entries are 1 for $10 or 3 for $25*. You can write me a personal check, send me cash or the easiest is to use Paypal which can be reached by clicking over there ------> on the picture of the iPad. You can get free entries by blogging about it, posting it on your Facebook or Tweeting about it. And if someone enters to win and tells me you sent them, well, that's ANOTHER free entry for you. So it pays to tell your friends. But time is running out...the drawing will be Saturday morning the 17th. I plan to draw about 8:30am and will have the winner posted by noon the same day. So you can enter as late as the wee hours of the morning on the 17th, but I wouldn't recommend waiting. :)

Q5. If I don't live in town, can I still enter?
A5. Of course! If you win and don't live in town, I will ship it to you insured. My cost.

Q6. What are the odds of winning?
A6. Ooooh, good question! I can't tell you exactly what the odds are because technically (I didn't do well in stats BTW), it depends on how many times you are entered. But right now, I'll tell you, we have less than 200 entries. So as my friend Stacey said on her blog, those are pretty darn good odds. Probably better than anywhere else. But, there can only be 1 winner. And it could be the person who bought $100 worth of entries, blogged, tweeted and FB'd about it, or it could be the person who bought ONE entry and that's it. That's the gamble.

Q7. Why can't I just wait until next year to enter the next drawing you have?
A7. Because there's not going to be another. After I close this fundraiser, I'm done with fundraising and trusting God is going to show up. So do it now. Don't miss out.

Q8. I've already got an iPad and really don't need another. Is there another way to support you?
A8. Yes! I still have a bunch of t-shirts left (see the picture in the right sidebar). Or you can make a cash/check donation if you prefer. :)

So let's do this...you have just a few more days...spread the word!!!

**Note: Purchase is not required for entry. Tickets are by donation only. If you wish to enter and do not want to purchase a ticket, put your request in writing to the email address above. Limit 1.

The End is Near...iPad Drawing

2011-12-12T21:25:00.000-06:00

It's almost time...less than a week to go. If you want a shot at that iPad, then you better get entered!

Tick tock tick tock.....

It Got Us...But Just A Little...

2011-12-10T08:34:00.000-06:00

The stomach bug, that is. Thursday when I dropped Jenna off at school, she said she had a stomach ache. She'd eaten breakfast, so I thought maybe it was just that she'd eaten too fast and of course, we were on the road and I didn't have anything with me. I told her when she got in, if it didn't stop, then go to the clinic and ask for Tums.

Well, she made it to 9:15 and had to ask for Tums. Then about 11:00 she had to go back because her stomach was still hurting. While in the clinic, she went to the bathroom and got sick. The nurse took her temp and it was normal, so I thought it was just something she ate. But because she'd been sick, Steve had to go get her.

He stopped at the pharmacy on the way home to get her some Sprite and she went to the bathroom thinking she'd be sick, but never was. By the time she got home, she was tired and her stomach was hurting, so she went straight up to bed and slept for like 4 hours. That is how I knew it wasn't just something she ate.

After she woke up, she was running low grade fever and said her stomach was hurting, but thought it was because she was hungry. So, she ate a cracker or two and got just a little sick. She ate a few bites of chicken noodle soup and laid back down on the couch. I had a business dinner so I got home late and gave her some Junior Advil. You can give 3, but I gave two. She looked flush and I could tell she had a fever. As soon as I gave her the meds, she went back to sleep. About 30 minutes later, she woke up happy as a lark and talking 90 miles a minute. Her stomach didn't hurt and her fever was gone, so she ate a juice bar and went to bed.

She made it to 1am and then came to our room saying her stomach was hurting a bit, so I gave her 1 Advil and put her in bed with me. It took about 30 minutes to kick in but when I got up at 5:30 to go to work she said she felt "perfect".

She was a little tired yesterday but fever free and pain free almost all day. She ate breakfast and some lunch and a fairly good dinner. She did nap for an hour or so and took a few Advil in the late afternoon.

I think the stomach bug just got her a smidge, but she is up this morning and besides being tired, seems fine. She has a Christmas dance program at church today so hopefully she'll feel like going. I'll keep you posted!

Thirty-One Closes Today!

2011-12-09T10:10:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder that my Thirty One party closes today! If you are still lacking that perfect gift for a hard-to-buy-for family member, then you need to buy from Thirty One! It has something for everyone on your list!

Click here and order right online. I'll get one step closer to bringing Kylie home and you can finish up your Christmas shopping!

And I promise, I'm almost done with fundraising...just hang in there with me!

Thirty-One Party

2011-12-07T10:08:00.000-06:00

Don't forget, my Thirty One fundraiser is closing in a few days! I'm totally falling in love with this stuff and can't wait to get some of it for myself!

For more information, go here...all the links are there and you can order right online!

PLAY BALL!

2011-12-06T10:05:00.000-06:00

OK, I know that's for baseball and our fundraiser adoption rally is a basketball game, but you get the point!

Please come out tonight to see Lipscomb University v. UT-Martin! It's a fun family night and will bring us another step closer to bringing our Kylie home!

See you there!

Game On!

2011-12-05T09:59:00.000-06:00

Well, tomorrow night is our Adoption Rally at Lipscomb University. I'll admit I'm nervous about the turnout. Not so much about the benefit we'll get from it, but just that we'll have a good showing of friends.

I sent out an Evite to many of you that I have an email address for. For those who are on Facebook, I sent an Event on Facebook. But this is an open invitation. If you are reading this blog right now, YOU are invited! Please come on out!

For those of you who have RSVP'd (even if it was no), thank you! If you can't come, can I be so bold as to ask you to please pray for us tomorrow night? Thank you...

If you need a reminder of the details, they are posted below.

Date: Tuesday, December 6*
Game Time: 6:30pm
Opponent: UT Martin
Location: Allen Arena on the Lipscomb University Campus
Tickets: $7 for adults (general admission), $5 for kids (general admission). $12 and $5 respectively for reserved seats...the better seats you buy, the more money we raise to bring Kylie home. I am confirming you can buy tickets online or at the box office that evening.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...

2011-12-04T21:59:00.001-06:00

The decorating has begun at the Taylor household! Jenna has her own Christmas tree that we bought last year. She didn't put as many ornaments on it this year as she did last year.

After Christmas last year, my friend Katelyn found these on Dayspring. They were $60 regularly. We watched them for weeks after to see if they would go on sale.

Finally, they went on sale for like 50-60% and both Katelyn and I snapped up a set. I never even opened the box when they arrived...just stowed them away for next year. I got them out this year and they looked so great. Except I had no candles to go in them. So they really didn't look right. One day last week I came home and found this:

Steve was out and found these lights which change colors! They look so good and I love them!!!

So, tonight...we had a Lifegroup social. As part of our social, we all watched The Nativity. First, let me say, if you have not ever seen The Nativity, you need to see it. It's a fairly accurate Biblical portrayal of the birth story of the Jesus child.

In the middle of the movie, we were interrupted with this:

There were carolers in the house!!! They weren't strangers of course. Most of them are dear, dear friends. You'll notice my friend Elizabeth and her daughter Wylie and husband brother. They've been featured here on my blog before. Most all of the others are close friends as well. And they all are really good singers! It seriously sounded SO good. It was probably about the coolest thing that I've ever had the pleasure of being part of. They have their own Lifegroup and they knew we'd be upstairs watching the movie, so we never heard them come in the front door or gather in the lawn. It was just SUPER COOL. Thank you guys...seriously, that was the neatest thing...you just had to be there to hear it.

So, yeah, it's beginning to look a LOT like Christmas around these parts!!!

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

2011-12-03T07:03:00.001-06:00

Don't mess with this girl, I tell ya. She's packin'!

Not really. It's just a little plastic BB gun. I never, EVER thought I'd approve of my child shooting a gun, but I've learned it's better to teach her safely now how to handle a weapon than wait until an accident happens or her friends teach her. She likes shooting...but it's gonna be a while before I get her anything made of metal.

Her Poppop would be proud. (or totally freaked out).

I'm Not Too Old...

2011-12-02T06:22:00.002-06:00

A couple weeks ago, I got an invitation...one that I hadn't gotten since I was a teenager. So, when the invitation came, I jumped at it.

My friend Elizabeth had an entire weekend with her hubs gone, so she was alone with her two kiddos. So she invited me and Jenna and our friend Jill and her little girl Mary Brooks to spend the night!

I haven't had a sleepover in years and I thought it would be great fun. So, it was me, Jill and Elizabeth. I had Jenna and her friend RG, Jill had Mary Brooks (1 year) and Elizabeth had Nonie (2 years) and Wylie (1 year). The two big girls were great babysitters!

Wylie went to bed really early...before Jill even got there. There was lots of laughing...

And remember how when you were in high school and you'd stay up all night? And you'd be so tired in the morning? Because you laid in bed and talked all night? Yeah, well, that is ind of how it went, but different. Every few hours, one of the kids were up for some reason...one was sick, one was coughing, one was crying, one was snoring, one couldn't sleep...it was quite humorous. Jenna and Nonie were the first out of bed with Elizabeth...

After everyone was up, Elizabeth went out to do her thing with her girls and Jill and I took our girls out to do a little shopping. I made a great dent in my Christmas shopping, so that was good. It was a great night even though a nap was needed later in the day. :)

I can't wait to do it again! These are my Friday night girls!!!

iPad Drawing

2011-12-01T08:49:00.001-06:00

The iPad drawing is due to happen December 17. Unfortunately, I have not sold enough raffle tickets to cover the cost of the iPad. If I haven't received enough sales by the 17th, the drawing will be canceled and I'll refund money to those of you who did purchase tickets.

There's just a little over 2 weeks left to purchase tickets, so if you want to get in on the drawing, please don't wait. I know it's the holidays and money is tight for everyone and I've badgered everyone for donations for our Kylie all season long. The last thing I want to do is cancel the drawing, but I cannot afford to purchase the iPad myself.

If you don't want to, or can't, participate, at least tell a friend. Remember, you get extra entries FOR FREE if they enter and tell me you sent them!

To order, just click that link right over there... to the right side bar.

More for Kylie!

2011-11-30T06:02:00.000-06:00

My friend at work Paul brought me this for Kylie a few weeks ago....

That, my friends, is a trash bag full of clothing. Much of it is 3t, but I went through it all and matched it up. Then I went and bought two empty plastic tubs and filled them up with the bigger sized clothes that Kylie will be able to wear later. Check out this cute outfit I found in the bag...

She is going to be the best dressed little girl EVER! I can't wait to put some of her in some of this stuff! I could not do this without friends like this. Love it!

Sips N Strokes

2011-11-29T06:48:00.001-06:00

Last Tuesday, I went with a couple friends, Jill and Elizabeth to a place called Sips n Strokes. It's a place where you can create a painting step by step with an instructor. This class was super full, but I truly had a blast. So, here's the beginning...

Any ideas about what this is or is gonna be? Yeah, you might can tell with the pencil drawing, but I promise, it doesn't look anything like it does in the end.

Ah yes. It looks a little more like a tree now. At some point, you have to stop going over and over it and just let it be. Perfectionists need not apply.

There we go...a little color to the tree....and here is Jill working hard on her masterpiece...

And here's my final painting. I will tell you, it looks way better in this picture than it does in real life.

And then, here we all are...with our tree pictures. I really had a great time and it was nice to be out with girlfriends. I have really grown to know and love these girls and their families over the last few months. You are going to be seeing more of them in future posts. :)

A Surprise from Japan!

2011-11-28T06:28:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, I went out to see my long-time friend Stacey who was visiting from Texas. It was a good time and my friend Carrie and I got to have lunch after. I was gone quite a while and when I got home, I had a package from Japan!

I have a friend, Amy, who I met online through the Adoption website I frequent. Amy is in the military and currently stationed in Japan. We have really hit it off and talk via email about every day. Amy has a sweet little girl, Abigail, waiting for her in China. She is hoping to travel in December to bring her home.

She sent me these super cute outfits for Kylie!

OMG, look at the bracelet! It's a jade colored bracelet and I love it so much that I would wear it myself if I could get it on my wrist! I can't wait to dress Kylie in these. Especially the red one! I just think it looks SO Chinese!

I was so excited and thought it was so nice of her to send them. I can't wait for her to travel because I plan to live vicariously through her!

Thank you Amy!!

Black Friday

2011-11-27T08:54:00.000-06:00

I have always wanted to go out on Black Friday to see what it was like. But then I never do because I know myself and know better than to do something crazy like that. So Friday morning I woke up about 7:30am and came downstairs and shopped online instead! I finished Steve's shopping. And I finished Jenna's shopping. I found my nephew something and even bought Kylie a book!

I even uploaded a bunch of pictures I needed developed and got a calendar as a gift for a family member. I ended up with 333 photos to be developed, which I got 15% off of. I had a code for free shipping which saved me $20. Then I had a code which allowed me to get the calendar free! I spent about $38 for $100 worth of stuff. Good times.

Friday night, we left the house to get some dinner since we'd had enough of our Thanksgiving leftovers! We headed into downtown Franklin for some Mellow Mushroom. Then we went to Kohls to pick up some remaining gifts. I got $30 in Kohls cash which Steve can use for my Christmas presents! I also got $20 in coupons for signing up two different emails. And then I got 15% off the entire order. Look what I got Kylie...her first two NEW outfits!

Sorry for the bad quality, but I took these with my iPhone. Finally, I bought a Groupon from Old Navy $20 for $10. I'll take that out later to pick up some last minute gifts...

So all in all, the day was productive. And I barely left my couch!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-26T10:22:00.000-06:00

Every Thanksgiving, I go back and forth on whether I want to cook for just the 3 of us knowing we'll be eating at Deanne's at some point. This year, I decided not to cook since I knew I would regardless next year since it will be Kylie's first Thanksgiving with us. But a week ago, I changed my mind. But I decided not to do a full on lunch since we'd be eating just a few hours later.

Wednesday night, Jenna spent the night with some friends and I went ahead and made the pecan pies.

This is my mom's recipe. That's her handwriting. I love having all her recipes. Many of them I don't use, but just seeing her handwriting makes me feel like she is teaching me.

Yum! I love pecan pie. It was delish! I also made my mom's fruit salad recipe which is very easy and both Jenna and Steve like it. It was the Taylor special request, which makes me feel good!

And then here is the full mini-spread...

This consisted of ham, cornbread, cornbread dressing, fruit salad, sweet potato casserole and macaroni and cheese. And of course pecan pie for dessert and I tried a new dessert called Penuche. My boss suggested it. It's more like a butterscotch fudge. Oh, so rich, but yummy. I think Jenna was pleased with the selection.

Even Fred got a little Thanksgiving lunch of his own (the ham bone). :)

We had dinner with the Taylors and while I took my camera, somehow I didn't get any pictures! I love spending time with them. I don't remember life without them now. It makes me really look forward to Christmas with them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:38:00.001-06:00

I didn't participate in the daily "what I'm thankful for" on Facebook or blog. So, given what today is, I thought I'd list what I'm thankful for throught this year (this is obviously not an exclusive or all inclusive list):

1. A God who PURSUES me.
2. A husband who loves me unconditionally despite my many flaws.
3. The financial blessings God has given us. From 99 weeks of unemployment, to cars that haven't needed to be replaced while we are on one income, to anonymous gift cards for groceries and gas that show up just when you need them.
4. A job, coworkers and bosses who I really do love, respect and enjoy spending all day with.
5. Family who love me and want to be part of my life. And the life of my husband and child.
6. New friends I've met through this wonderful journey of adoption (shout out to my RQ friends!)
7. Friends who have been there to hold me up when I needed it. Many of them have gone above and beyond listening to me complain, worry and vent.
8. Lifeline Children's Services.
9. My little 10 year old miracle child. She is the light of my life.
10. My sweet baby girl who is a world away waiting on me.

I hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving and take time to remember all the good gifts and blessings God has given you this year.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Blessings from Thirty-One

2011-11-23T08:16:00.003-06:00

As many of you know, I have made many new friends via online venues who are going through, or have already gone through, adoption.

Recently I met a friend named Anne Little. When Anne was fundraising in order to bring home her sweet daughter from China, a friend of hers had a Thirty-One party as a fundraiser and it was one of the most successful things she did.

When Anne came home, she wanted to find some way to help adoptive families fundraise. Quickly enough, she decided selling Thirty One was the way to go. After meeting Anne online, she offered to throw me a Thirty-One fundraiser party in which she would donate 100% of her profits to me. She does this for any adoptive family who is interested! I am stoked that what once was a complete stranger would offer to give up her profits to help us bring Kylie home!

This is absolutely no pressure. But just a reminder, Christmas is coming VERY soon and there are some SUPER CUTE things that would make great gifts for family members (especially those hard-to-buy-for mother in laws!).

My show starts TODAY. And it ends on December 9th. What this means is if you order now, you'll have it in time for Christmas. Just take a look at this:

I would LOVE to have these to put Jenna's and Kylie's toys in! Are these not the cutest? And look at what else I have my eye on...

Oh yes! I could totally see this in a cutesy pattern in Kylie's room! They have a bag which can be used as a diaper bag as well.

So, if you are in love with this stuff like I am, then take a look at the PDF of the catalog which you can find here. For the locals, I have catalogs that I can bring you if you like to flip through catalogs like I do. When you are ready to order, click here and click on "My Events" where you'll see my party. When you click on "shop now", you can go and add whatever you want to your cart. You can pay online with your credit card. If you are local and want to save $4 shipping, you can select the option to have your order shipped to me - the hostess - and I'll deliver it to you. If you prefer not to use your credit card online, you can send me your order (via email or phone) and a check (made payable to me) and I'll place the order for you.

Oh, and before you order, check out these specials:

Yes, that's right...if ou buy $31 in products (shipping and tax excluded), then you can get one of these items for JUST $5: All In One Organizer, Soft Wallet, Cinch Sac, Zip Up Pencil Pouch or the Flat Iron Case.

$5!

If you buy $62 worth of products, guess what you get? TWO of the above for $5 each! So, buy something as a gift, then get yourself a little something!

This is the perfect way for you to avoid the rush on Black Friday, get a super cute gift for someone (maybe yourself) and you help bring Kylie home.

If you have questions, please ask! Now, go shop!!!

Exciting News!

2011-11-21T09:11:00.000-06:00

I wish our exciting news was that we'd received LOA, but it's not. But it is great news in terms of our adoption.

A few weeks ago, I received an email from my friend Susie about a new program at our local Lipscomb University. They have recently launched a wonderful new program to try and help adoptive families. Susie sent me the link as soon as she received it and then I applied that night.

Late last night we received notification that we have been selected as one of the first families to take part in this awesome program!

How it works is that we are assigned a Lipscomb basketball game. In the days leading up to the game, we work hard to invite as many friends and family as we can to show up and support Lipscomb. And then we get ALL TICKET PROCEEDS for our adoption! I know! How cool is that??? ALL TICKET PROCEEDS! (it's worth saying again).

And so for all you locals, I'm about to be the most annoying fundraising friend you have (and may not have after this is all said and done), but rest assured, as soon as we get Kylie home, I will spend the rest of my life buying wrapping paper, popcorn, girl scout cookies, cookie dough, magazines etc. trying to pay it forward. In the next few days, you'll be invited to a Facebook Event, receive an Evite or get an email from me. I know money is tight, it is for us too, but what better way to support an adoptive friend and have fun family night out?

And let me be honest, it's crunch time for us. We are coming down to the last few months and we still have a long way to go. I need more iPad sales just to be able to purchase the iPad. I have over 100 t-shirts left to sell. We have this exciting night and one more exciting thing coming up (more on that later this week!). I try not to think too much about it, but we really have a long way to go and not a long time to get there, so let's DO this! Here are the deets...please read all the way through and email me if you have questions (email, FB event and Evite to follow):

Date: Tuesday, December 6*
Game Time: 6:30pm
Opponent: UT Martin
Location: Allen Arena on the Lipscomb University Campus
Tickets: $7 for adults (general admission), $5 for kids (general admission). $12 and $5 respectively for reserved seats...the better seats you buy, the more money we raise to bring Kylie home. I am confirming you can buy tickets online or at the box office that evening.

They'll be some publications from Lipscomb as well promoting this and I'll link those as soon as they are available. But if there is any way you can attend this game and support us, we would appreciate it. I'm especially counting on my Nashville friends for this one.

*Especially for my Station Hill friends: I am aware there is a baby shower planned on this exact date for another adoptive family in our church. Steve and I would NEVER wish to take away from this precious family. I have spoken with this family to let them know of the conflict. If you are attending the shower, that means your husband and children are going to be sitting at home with nothing to do. So, send them on to Nashville and you can support two adoptive families, both bringing home children from China!

Thanksgiving Lunch

2011-11-18T08:38:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we had Thanksgiving lunch with Jenna at her school. I have to admit, for cafeteria food, the lunch was good and got me prepared for the upcoming week.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the dessert because what is Thanksgiving without pumpkin or pecan pie!?

Jenna also loves the fact that we come and eat with her. Except after a few minutes, the novelty wears off and she runs around with her friends. However, there will be a day soon where she won't want us there, so we are taking advantage when we can!

Finally, before we left, we walked her to her classroom. The neatest art was hanging outside the door. I thought hers was the best there. I could see us framing this and hanging it in her room it's got such bright colors!

Girls Who Nurture

2011-11-17T08:55:00.000-06:00

At my church, there is a women's group called the Nurture Team. These women truly are the hands and feet of the church. They make baskets for new moms as well as those who have lost a loved one. They also make meals for those in need. They write cards and notes like CAH-RAZY. Seriously. I have been the recipient of many-a-basket a couple years ago when we experienced so many deaths in our family. They are what I aspire to be one day when I grow up.

Well, a few months ago, they, at the suggestion of a young lady in the church, decided to start a Girl's Nurture Team. The idea is they will mentor the younger girls in learning how to serve others. If learned at a young age, our girls will then grow up with the natural inclination to serve others. They meet once a month and they have done all manner of things such as making cards, baskets etc.

This past Saturday, the girls met up at the church and decorated cookies...

After decoration, the girls put several of their creations into little goodie bags.

And once everything was put together, we all rode down the street to the local assisted living facility. Some of the girls (including Jenna) had been there before to dance ballet. They practiced the song Children of God and then lined up for all the residents and sang.

Then then handed out their cookies (they even had diabetic cookies for those that needed them). Some of the residents immediately gobbled them up. It was so touching to hear these girls singing and the residents just loved them.

It was a good experience for Jenna, but especially for me. The next night, our Lifegroup went there to sing the old hymns and Christmas carols and just spend time with the residents. I'll be honest and say I didn't want to go. Hanging out with the elderly just isn't my thing. I've never felt comfortable doing it although I'm not sure why.

But I saw my Daddy in many of those faces. And though there weren't many residents out there when we began, once we started singing the old hymns, they started emerging from their rooms. One gentleman rolled up in his wheelchair beside us. After we finished singing, he thanked me for coming and we struck up a conversation. He and his wife both live at the center. They moved here from Florida and this was just a temporary stop until they were able to find a permanent home. We talked for a while and he told me how they'd lived in a house in Florida and then came here and how he loved the staff because they were so nice. It was a great chat and I told him we'd be back next month with the girls to do their ballet. When we left, a friend of mine whose dad also resides there shared with me that he has Alzheimers. His wife has Parkinsons. And this is NOT just a temporary stop, but his permanent home.

Another gentleman who was very friendly and outspoken walks with a walker and has a disease which renders him almost unable to walk some days. He is only 67. Many of these residents have family. Many of them do not. And my heart breaks for them. I've thought of them all, often, since we went on Saturday.

If you have a minute, whisper a prayer from these wonderful men and women.

I Fell In Love...

2011-11-16T07:14:00.000-06:00

It was a rainy, commute this evening coming home from work. Rainy commutes = LONG commutes. I was kinda crank already because of this whole LOA situation. I'm tired of waiting and unfortunately that is what this entire process consists of.

I have been fairly successful, since August 3, in keeping this whole adoption at arms' length. What I mean is that I look at Kylie's picture and think, one day that will be my daughter. It's been such an abstract idea that I have managed to not really become emotionally attached. When you are so many months away from everything you've waited for coming to fruition, it's really not that hard. I know that might sound cold but I believe it's a necessary evil of survival in this crazy adoption world.

Today, while I was sitting in mile long traffic in the rain, I was contemplating my bad mood. I could acknowledge it was because I simply didn't want to wait anymore. And it was then that I realized...I had not really kept this sweet little girl at arms' length like I thought. Somewhere along the way, she BECAME my daughter. Not "will become" or "would become", but she HAS BECOME my little girl.

Somewhere along the way, I fell in love and didn't even realize it.

And that's what makes this wait so hard.

No update today

2011-11-15T10:36:00.000-06:00

I didn't want to leave everyone hanging, but there is no update today. Apparently our agency's email system was down in the night, so we aren't even sure whether the China contact received the agency's emails for clarification.

Of course it was down. Because that's how things are going for us.

I am working on our visa applications to pass the time. The paperwork is not easy but it keeps me feeling like I'm doing something.

I know God's timing is perfect. But right now, I want Him to go with MY timing. I want my child.

And so I'm angry all over again. But I'm working on that. Prayers are appreciated. I'll update when (if) I know more. Looks like we are in it for the long haul.

LOA Update

2011-11-14T21:39:00.000-06:00

Sorry it took me until now to update everyone on what's going on with our LOA. My day was full of meetings today, so it was afternoon before I got a chance to talk to my agency and then it wasn't really the news we wanted to hear

The good news is that China didn't say, "What dossier???" :) Basically, the way I understand it is that when we transferred agencies, China was just starting to figure out how to handle transfers between agencies. The email our agency got today said something like they held my dossier for "a while" but they "let it go with no problem". What does that mean? Question of the year for sure! My agency is asking for clarification. However, we are guessing it means, they received our dossier logged in under Lifeline in August and was still still trying to decide how the transfer process was going to work.

So, they held onto it until they decided and then they put it into process. So instead of it starting in the process 3 months ago, it probably only started a month ago. The process the dossier goes through is "in translation", then "in review", then to the "matching room" and then the LOA is issued.

Our agency is hoping to have some clarifiction around how long they held it, how long it's been in translation and how long they expect it to be until they can issue LOA. Our agency is asking that they push it along, but China only expdites when there is a medical issue or when the child is aging out, which neither apply here.

So, how much longer? We really have no idea. When will we travel? Well, originally we were hoping February. But at this point, it would take a miracle for that to happen. Although, I've been witness to enough miracles to know if God wants it, He'll do it and all the glory will point right back to Him. For sure.

Pull up a chair and stay a while. We'll watch and see how God decides to show off this time.

Oh, and I'm better now. Well...kinda. I'm still pretty angry this happened. But I'm getting over it.

LOA Update

2011-11-11T16:08:00.000-06:00

I wish I had better news to report. First, let me explain briefly about the process of getting LOA as best as I understand it. First, your dossier goes to a department in China where it is translated into Chinese. It stays there for a while, then it goes to "processing" and then it's processed.

Today, my agency checked on the status and it appears my dossier is still IN TRANSLATION. Because of my agency transfer, I had an original log in date of 3/31/2011 therefore my dossier should already have been translated when it reached LOA stage. So why it shows as still in translation I don't know.

My agency contact was VERY sorry, understanding and concerned and they are doing everything they can to find out whether it's just a status error and it's really in processing or if it really is "lost in translation". They will request it to be expedited if possible, but honestly, they can only do so much and I recognize that. Not to mention that it's already the weekend in China, so there will be no quick answers for me until next week.

So. 95 days and counting with absolutely no end in sight. I appreciate your prayers and concern and all that and you all will be the first to know when I find something out. Until then, I don't really want to discuss it. I know it's all in God's timing. I just really need to NOT talk about it.

I covet your prayers though. I couldn't do this without you.

A to Z

2011-11-10T16:11:00.000-06:00

I'm still feeling a little down from yesterday and had nothing much to say today, so there was going to be no blog. But my friend Katelyn (that's her over there in my adoption t-shirt...which SHE designed!) did this on her blog today and I thought I'd join in.

A. Age – 37. Ugh. I'm on the downhill slide to 40. Or maybe I'm on the upswing? Perspective.
B. Bed size – King. We had a queen up until Katie came. Then it was either an upgrade or me sleeping in the guest room. Good thing we chose the upgrade since the guestroom is now a nursery!!
C. Chore that you hate – Cleaning the litterbox. Yes, the cats are mine, but Steve does it for me (God love him)...the dust from the litter makes me sneeze and wheeze.
D. Dogs – Katie.  Enough said.
E. Essential start to your day – Breakfast. Doesn't have to be major, but something and DIET COKE. That's my coffee.
F. Favorite color – Red
G. Gold or silver – Depends on what. If jewelry, I like both.
H. Height – 5’2
I. Instruments you play – Piano. I took lessons for 10 years. But do not ask me to play at your party or get together because I won't.
J. Job title – Benefits Compliance Coordinator.
K. Kids – One who is the light of my life and another on the way.
L. Live – A little town south of Nashville.
M. Mother’s name – Virginia or Ginger and Bertie (stepmom)
N. Nicknames – Sandy, but only for people who don't know I don't go by that.
O. Overnight hospital stays – Having a baby!!!!
P. Pet peeves – How much room do I have here? Seriously? Women who make up and drive. And who have their rearview mirrors pointed towards them.  Are you kidding? Get up at 5am like I do and put your stinkin' makeup on!
Q. Quote from a movie – Too many to write here. There are some movies I could basically quote the whole thing...
R. Right or left handed – right.
S. Siblings – biologically...2 half brothers and 3 half sisters.
T. Time it takes you to get ready – I shower at night. So, I guess about 25 minutes from final alarm to downstairs for breakfast.
U. Underwear – Yes, please.
V. Vegetable you hate – Tomatoes. I know, but I just don't like them.
W. What makes you run late – TRAFFIC.
X-rays you’ve had – On my knee.
Y. Yummy food you make – Hmmm...I make some good oreo balls and cake balls. Steve makes really delish sausage balls. Balls.  I am starting to see a pattern.
Z. Zoo animal – Zebras, elephants and giraffes. Saw them all on a safari in South Africa. Seeing them in their natural habitat and not behind cages, bars or fences...amazing.
That was fun. I got some of my snarky attitude out. So go ahead and jump in. Copy and paste and then insert your own answers.

Exhausted

2011-11-09T06:41:00.000-06:00

I am exhausted.

I'm tired of waiting for our LOA to arrive with no sign that it's coming anytime soon. Adoption is an entire game of waiting. First you wait on your agency to accept you into the program. Then you wait on a number of other people during your paperchase. Doctors, police departments, social workers, nurses, CPAs...you are waiting on THEM. Then you are waiting on the US Immigration Department. Then China. Then...then...then...and so I'm tired of waiting.

I'm tired of being financially strapped. I've not made it public on here mostly because I didn't want to answer any questions about it. Steve's no longer employed. It's a very long story but the company lost the contract he was working under and in the end, it just didn't work out. The whole process of going from him staying home all the time to him working full time, going through the training, knowing the contract was ending, etc. It was exhausting not only to my emotions but to our marriage.

I'm tired of fundraising. Yes, I said it. I'm tired of asking the people I love and respect the most to give me money. I hate that I have to do it. I hate that I can't just do it all on my own. I don't know why I can't be one of those people who get an anonymous donation that covers all our expenses. After we get this done, I will never fundraise again! It's exhausting.

I'm tired of filling out adoption grants. They aren't easy. You are constantly reminded of your financial situation. And then come the rejection letters. I'm tired of hearing "Sorry, we just can't help everyone." * I'm tired.

I'm tired of hearing "It's all in God's timing". I know thats not comfortable for you to read. It's not comfortable for me to write. Some of my best friends have said this to me. Some acquaintances have said this. And yes. I KNOW it's all in God's timing. And yes. I KNOW it will happen when HE ordains. But in this moment, right now...I'm tired.

I don't want to hear it. But I also know the things we need to hear most are quite honestly the ones we'd probably rather not hear at all. Even though I don't WANT to hear it, I NEED to hear it. It reminds me that everything is filtered through God's hands.

So I'm tired. Exhausted. I want to have enough money to pay my bills, to pay off our adoption, our LOA, Steve a job.

But until then, I have to rest physically and emotionaly when I can. And thank God for friends that encourage me even when I'd rather wallow in my self pity. And be glad they tell me things even when it's hard to hear.

*Please know I'm exceedingly grateful for the two grants we did get!

Fire!

2011-11-08T09:05:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, I, along with 1/2 of my little town, sat in horrible traffic for more than an hour trying to get home.

I had Jenna with me because I had to pick her up because Steve was not able to get to her. When we pulled into the subdivision, we could see thick black smoke billowing from the vicinity of the area behind our house.

I figured if our house was actually on fire someone would have told me. But when we pulled in front of the house, I could see the fire in the wooded common area behind our house. Since we have a privacy fence in the back yard, I honestly never have had the opportunity (or desire) to go back into that area. At first, I thought it was just a bonfire or someone burning leaves, but then it looked a little too high for that.

I parked the car in the garage and then Jenna and I walked around towards the smoke. Once at the edge of our backyard, our neighbor, Tim, came out and ushered us to the area. The fire was probably about my height at that time, but the firefighters had just arrived.

That's the fire nearly put out. Tim had been the one to call the fire fighters because when he first got there, the fire was probably 3x higher than it was when I got there. A couple kids ran out and tried to put it out with an extinguisher, but it barely touched it. Tim rightly thought he'd better get the professionals involved.

They think kids started it because there was piles of wood and sticks. It's the fall....leaves are on the ground and that's a dangerous combination. Luckily, outside the trees and wood, nothing else was damaged. I hope some kids learned their lesson.

19 years.

2011-11-07T09:39:00.000-06:00

Today marks the day I have lived longer WITHOUT my mom than with her.

19 years ago, I sat outside my home in the crisp fall November air wondering how my life would change.

There are a few friends who may remember those days as clearly as I do.

It's a day I will never forget.

I think of her often.

Many times when I wish I could ask her opinion on parenting.

I miss her.

So, for those of you who still have your moms here on this earth...tell them you love them. You never know how much longer you have with them.

I'd give just about anything for one more day....

I miss you Mama. Every. Day.

Pictures! Orphan Sunday! Update!

2011-11-06T07:35:00.000-06:00

I am THRILLED to report, we received 2 updated pictures of Kylie. But first, I have some stuff I was to say...

Remember, if you want a chance to win an iPad, just click on the donate link over there -------> or click here for more information. Your help will get us closer to bringing our girl home. Plus, would you not be the BOMB if you won the iPad and was able to give it to someone for Christmas (even yourself?) So, enter. And tell your friends for more FREE entries! The more people you tell, the more entries YOU get. So, let's do this!

Today is Orphan Sunday! I'm wearing my adoption t-shirt to church. What? You don't have an adoption t-shirt? Well I can certainly remedy that. See over there -------> ? Right underneath that iPad giveaway, you can see our shirts. Click here to learn how to get one. Never be caught without an adoptin shirt for Adoption Sunday!

Today represents day 90 of the wait for LOA. When our wait for LOA first started, we were told the average was 70-90 days.

Well.

Here we are.

And it's no fun. It's hard. But I'm on a FB page for families with children in the same orphanage as Kylie. One of these families is now in China picking up their daughter and offered to take pictures of her when they toured the orphanage. I didn't think we'd be able to get the pics until after they returned home, but the older daughter contacted me on FB today and was able to forward these pictures!

WARNING....TOTAL CUTENESS AHEAD....

God bless her....she looks like she's burning up. But they really like to keep the kids bundled up well. Obviously, we confirmed her lip surgery hasn't taken place. But I really think she looks happy in this picture. Don't you? And wow, she sure does look CHUBS. But again...the clothing is layered and thick...so you never can tell.

I think here she looks so little. Sometimes when I think of her, I think of her as a 2 year old. I keep babies in the nursery and many of them are about Kylie's age now. They are still LITTLE. These pics make my heart ache to get my arms around her. And what about that HAIR! Oh my WORD! It made me laugh out loud when I saw it. Sticking STRAIGHT UP. But what that tells me is that they are letting her hair grow just like we asked them too. I'm now stocking up on bows and hair barretts for her hair. It appears that will be the only way to tell she's a girl. :) Well, that and the cute pink clothes I'm going to dress her in!

This is the room she's in. The lady on the left in the white/light blue helped get her out of the crib and is in the picture above (I think). They got pictures of a little boy about the same age for a friend of mine (yes, we met online too) whose son is in the same orphanage. Apparently, they sleep next to each other. Look at all those beds. Each of those beds represent a baby boy or girl without a family. Could one of those children be YOURS???

And this is the playroom in the orphanage. This is most likely where Kylie spends a good portion of her day.

And that's it. I wish there were more, but we are thrilled to bits to get these, even the ones of her rooms. This is where she's spent her ENTIRE life. So it's important to us and will be for her as well when she's old enough to learn her story.

Happy Orphan Sunday. Enter to win an iPad. Email me to by a t-shirt. And then pray for our baby girl who is on the other side of the world waiting for us to come get her.

Halloween!

2011-11-05T09:34:00.001-05:00

I know it's overdue, but just had time to post some pics of our Halloween festivities.

The Sunday before Halloween, we had a church LifeGroup party. There were tons of people there. This is the coolest family ever! And we have grown to love them like our own.

Is that not the best Mad Hatter costume you've ever seen?! The only thing original was the hat. The rest of the costume (and the makeup) were bought consignment or put together from home. Wow.

I unfortunately didn't get a picture of the other adults in their costume but I hijacked this one off my friend Leigh Ann's Facebook

That's just a piece of our group, but just look at this group of kids.

It was a great time. You just can't beat hanging out with 30-40 good peeps and all their kids (including ours) running crazy. Love them.

Monday Jenna came home from her school Harvest party with this loot...

And here's our bowl of candy to give out...BEFORE the trick or treating started..

Yes, we have the GOOD candy. :) And what you've all been waiting for...well, OK probably not, but this is what this whole post is about...my Jenna. I think her costume is quite fitting for what our family is going through right now...

Oh, she's so pretty! You can't see it in these pictures, but she has fake eyelashes with silver glitter. She looked like such the little beauty.

And everyone else must have thought so too because check out the loot she brought home...

Has anyone else noticed how preoccupied with candy I am in this post. OK, yeah, me neither.

And the last thing is our new pumpkin. We carved the original two a week before Halloween and they had nearly rotted by Halloween. So we bought another and Steve carved it.

Can you tell what it is? Oh, and see the mini pumpkin next to it? Take a closer look...

That is a little mini pumpkin Jenna got from church and today while I was busy, she actually carved the dang thing herself. Not only that, but when she realized she couldn't put a candle in it, she rigged up a mini keychain flashlight in the back. I'm telling you, she's nothing if not creative.

Hope you all enjoyed your Halloween as much as we did!

Flashback Friday!

2011-11-04T09:21:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the second installment of Flashback Friday!

This is the yearbook from my senior year. Yes, in my beautiful new bookshelves reside my EHCS yearbooks (we called them "annuals") from Kindergarten through my senior year. And yes, from time to time, I pull one or more out, look at the pictures and read the signatures.

You see, I LOVED high school. I know most people think I'm crazy. Most HATED high school and would never go back there again. However, for me, it was the last time my life resembled anything normal. My family was happy. My mom was ALIVE. Cancer meant nothing to me. I was going to the college I'd wanted to. I was the senior editor of the yearbook staff. My worries were along the lines of where to eat lunch and what to do Friday night.

Now that I'm an adult, my worries are, how do I pay the bills, when will we have Kylie in our arms and how am I going to raise the remaining funds to get to her.

Yeah, I miss high school sometimes.

First 9 Weeks

2011-11-03T09:17:00.000-05:00

I can't believe the first 9 weeks of school is already over! 4th grade is proving to be harder than any other grade before.

But as usual, my girl shines. She made all As and 2 Bs. Ironically enough, her best subject is Math and also one of the ones she got a B in. She's following her Mama's footsteps and has a nearly perfect score in Spelling and Bible.

I think her other B was in Social Studies. She almost got a B in Science but managed to pull it out in the end. Where she gets her math skills I have no idea. Let's hope she keeps it up!

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

2011-11-02T09:51:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, Jenna and I, along with about 60 of our close friends and THOUSANDS of others walked in support of those who are fighting or have fought breast cancer.

This isn't all of us. Just the ones that were there early. There was an "official" group picture and I can't wait to see it.

We walked as part of Team Darlene in honor of my friend Darlene who is battling breast cancer herself. You can follow Dar's journey at her CaringBridge site. She has 2 more chemo treatments left before her surgery. She is doing very well although there are days I'm sure she feels like she isn't.

Jenna and I at the start!

It was in the 30s at 7am when we got there. Jenna and I really bundled up, but by the time the race actually started, I was quite warm and took off all my outer layers.

Jenna and I ran about 1/4 of the race. It was so crowded...we would run a few minutes and then we'd get stuck behind some people walking and so we'd have to stop. We finished in about 50-55 minutes which is less time than I finished my last 5k in last December.

Darlene was able to be there and even completed the 1 mile run. I was so proud of her. I love this girl and all the friends who walked to support finding a cure for this awful disease.

Win an iPad!!! Enter Here!!!!

2011-11-01T08:21:00.001-05:00

Yes dear readers, you told us you wanted it and now you have it. The iPad giveaway is back! We are SO close to being able to bring our sweet Kylie home! And now, you can help us...

You can enter to win an Apple iPad with Wi-Fi right here on my blog!!

We did this last year and it was a big hit. A few weeks ago, I polled my readers to see what kind of fundraiser they prefer and hands down, the iPad won!

This time it's going to be a little different...there will be more chances to win. These giveaways are the best because your chances to win are way higher than anywhere else. I'm really excited about this so let's get right to the details.

I have a brand new, never-been-opened Apple iPad for one lucky person. You may purchase a ticket (or 2 or 10!) to be entered into the drawing to win this fabulous prize.

How Much are Tickets? Tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25. You get one entry for every ticket you purchase. If you purchase 10 tickets ($100), you will get 10 entries and there's no limit on how many tickets each person may purchase. Ticket purchases are not tax-deductible.

How do I Purchase? To purchase, you can click on the Paypal "donate" button to the right under the heading "Bring Our Little Girl Home". Even if you don't have a Paypal account, you can use any of the major credit cards to pay. Once your payment is made, you will get a confirmation from Paypal and your name will go into the drawing. If you are local, I am accepting cash or check. If for some reason you are unable to use Paypal and don't live in my area, but want to enter, email me and we'll make alternative arrangements.

Who can Enter? Anyone! You do not have to know us to enter. You also do not have to live in the state of Tennessee. If you enter from another state and win, I will ship the iPad (insured) to you.

When is the Drawing? The drawing will be the morning of Saturday, December 17, 2011. What a nice Christmas present this will be for someone! I will video the drawing and have a friend or two there to help me. I'll have the winner posted on my blog by 12 noon on the 17th. This is a very exciting day and I can't wait to draw the winner!!!!

What's the Catch? There is really no catch. This is simply a quick, easy and hopefully fun way to raise money for our adoption. The only rule to this contest is that I won't draw for a winner until I sell at least 100 tickets. To make sure the drawing happens, you need to a) buy MULTIPLE tickets :) and b) tell EVERYONE you know about this. There will be frequent updates on my Facebook so be sure and repost. Send the link to my blog to everyone you know.

More Ways To Enter! This time, there are more ways to enter! You will get 1 additional FREE entry into the drawing for each of the following:

Post a link to this giveaway on your blog. Leave your blog link in the comments or email me at the email address below.
Tweet about the giveaway. Remember, include @sandysignr in your tweet so I can ensure you receive your additionl entry.
Paste my blog link in your Facebook status. Leave a comment on this post or email me to let me know you've done so.
TELL YOUR FRIENDS! This one can really add up...for every friend you refer to my giveaway who buys a ticket, I will enter your name in the drawing again. For example, if my friend Elizabeth tells her friend Jill about the giveaway and Jill buys a ticket, then Elizabeth will get an additional entry. So if Elizabeth tells 5 friends and they all buy a ticket, that's 5 additional entries!!!! Your friend MUST tell me when they purchase a ticket that you sent them or else I won't know who to give credit to. Also, you must have bought at least one ticket yourself to get the friend referral bonus entry!

What Do I Do Now? ENTER! TELL YOUR FRIENDS! POST ON YOUR BLOG! FACEBOOK! TWEET! And then ENTER AGAIN! And of course, leave a comment or email me if you have any questions. My email is sandysignr(AT)charter(DOT)net (replace parens with appropriate punctuation). This is exciting! I can't wait to make someone's Christmas special with a new iPad!

And thank you in advance for your help in bringing our little girl home!

**Note: Purchase is not required for entry. Tickets are by donation only. If you wish to enter and do not want to purchase a ticket, put your request in writing to the email address above. Limit 1.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2011-10-31T09:47:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to say Happy Halloween to all my readers! (all 3 of you!) I'll be back later with pictures of Jenna in her costume and our Halloween night adventures!

I can't help but think this will be our last Halloween as a family of 3. :)

Carving Pumpkins

2011-10-30T08:49:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we set aside for carving pumpkins. We used to carve them earlier, but then they'd rot before Halloween, so we've gotten smarter over the years.

Steve is always the one who has to start the fun cutting out the top and then Jenna gets to clean out the "guts".

A few years ago, before it was all the rage, we did the special carvings and they turned out fine. Then for a few years, I got lazy and just did the standard pumpkin face. This year, we met in the middle and did a carving, but we did a couple that were relatively easy.

This is me doing MINE...

Jenna took a few pictures of us. It's nice that she is getting to the age where she's interested because Steve and I rarely are in pictures together.

And here's my final product. Can you tell what it is? Lie to me and say yes even if you can't!!!

And then Jenna picked one and Steve helped carve it while I cleaned pumpkin seeds from pumpkin guts.

The last few years I have started using the pumpkin seeds. I wash them, the salt and roast them. I never really loved roasted pumpkin seeds before, but both Jenna and I have taken to them every Halloween.

I ended up taking them to LifeGroup after they were done and they were gobbled up like hotcakes! Who knew so many people loved roasted pumpkin seeds!!!???

Fundraising...Poll Results

2011-10-29T09:44:00.001-05:00

The results are in...

Most of you would like to see me do another iPad raffle. Whether we can take that leap (does anyone want to DONATE the iPad???), is yet to be decided, but I really wanted to take a moment to tell you,

THANKS!!!! for voting! Whatever we decide, I'm grateful for friends who will support our efforts. I'm excited to see what God will do and how He will show up.

Welcome to Flashback Friday!

2011-10-28T09:35:00.000-05:00

Over at my friend Katelyn's blog, she's started Flashback Friday. I thought I'd give it a try...not sure how many Fridays I can come up with something to flash back to, but we'll see. Hers are a little different than mine, but you'll get the idea...

Katelyn is young so she probably has no idea what these are. But I bet many of my readers do. Remember them? Before the days of the CD and iTunes?

CASSINGLES (or AKA cassette singles)!!!! And look at those titles...some of my favorites:

"Do me"-OH. MY. WORD. Just goes to show you I never actually listened to the words of most of what I listened to. I would have a COW if I heard a song like this on Jenna's iPod.

"All This Time"- Tiffany. Ah, Tiffany. I did love this song!

"Just a Friend" - Biz Markie. This one brings back memories. My family didn't have cable. I got cable when Steve and I married. But I could find one channel in between the others...fuzzy, lots of snow but I could make out this video on some video knockoff channel. Good times.

"I've Been Waiting For You" by the Guys Next Door. Does ANYONE remember them? I know my friend Staci does. :)

Oh yes, I can tell I'm gonna like Flashback Fridays!!!

Halloween Decor

2011-10-27T09:25:00.000-05:00

It's beginning to look a lot like...HALLOWEEN!

Jenna came home from the grocery store with these window clings...

Right now, it's slim pickins at our house where it concerns Halloween decor, but we sure have had fun making edible decorations!

What can you make with the following:

Isn't it obvious? You make a graveyard cake!

Mine doesn't look quite like the original which can be found here, because I ran out of whip cream before I could make the ghost. I took this to our Lifegroup on Sunday night and brought home a clean dish. Must've been good!!! :)

Also, it's time to start seeing this round our house...

Let's hope it lasts until Monday night!!!

Mansker's Station

2011-10-26T09:17:00.000-05:00

Right before fall break, Jenna's class went on another field trip. This one was to Mansker's Station. It was a great thing to do before the start to fall break! I was not able to go on this trip, but Jenna has proved responsible with my point and shoot, so I let her take it to document her trip.

When I say responsible, I mean she didn't lose the camera, not necessarily that she took pictures appropriate for the trip! Oh I jest...here are some...

In Jenna's words, this is the fireplace in the fort at Mansker's Station.

This is the blacksmith station...where they'd put the iron in and get it really hot.

Toting water...all the kids got to try this. Jenna claims it wasn't heavy, but I bet after a few times, it would start gettin realllllly old.

Jenna is really starting to turn into a budding photographer. She's proving she can get some decent shots even when I'm not around. I'm very proud of her!

Local Fall Festival

2011-10-25T08:41:00.000-05:00

A friend of ours from church owned a wholesale tree nursery in our little town. Several years ago, he opened the retail area and it's where we got most of our leaves for Jenna's leaf project as well as our pumpkins. This past weekend, Riverbend Nurseries had it's fall festival. It's the first year we've been to it and we went with our neighbors Sean and Bridget. Their son was also adopted from China.

A little aside was when the house across the street from ours went up for sale, I joked to some friends that I was praying for a family to move in that had an adopted daughter from China. The family who moved in has two daughters, but they aren't adopted from China! However, through the wonderful internet world, I found Bridget who lived literally a house down from us on the opposite side of the street. We love spending time with them and they are waiting to travel to China for their second son. She's just a tiny bit behind us in paperwork and the way this crazy journey goes, it could be that we travel together. We had dinner together Friday night and decided to go to Riverbend together.

Riverbend was fun. There was lots to do and the weather was perfect.

Petting Zoo

Corn Maze

There was pumpkin painting, games, a hayride, a bounce house...lots of fun things. And the company was great too! It was a wonderful day topped off with a first birthday party of a sweet baby girl I have had the pleasure of keeping in my nursery on Sunday mornings since she was first born. Not only that, but I had her sister since she was little as well. I've spoken of their mom, Elizabeth, on my blog before, but here they whole family is...

I love this family. They are the most wonderful Christian family and I admire their parenting skills. A little trivia about my friend Elizabeth...she was the iPad winner last year! A lot of families were at the birthday party and someone snapped this photograph of the moms...

Oh my, how I love these girls. And not just one of them. ALL OF THEM. ALOT! From left to right, that's Jill (the mom of my smiley girl, MB), Lindsay (the most patient mom of 2 precious girls, soon to welcome a SON!), Elizabeth #1 (whose youngest was the catalyst for Jenna to start wanting a brother, he's SO sweet!), me, and then Elizabeth #2 (mom of the birthday girl). I absolutely love these women of God AND their kids. I'm so blessed.

It was the end to a perfect, beautiful day!

(Pictures used by permission)

The Coolest T-shirt Ever!

2011-10-24T07:41:00.004-05:00

5 reasons you need one of our adoption t-shirts:

5. Because let's be honest, you can NEVER have enough t-shirts.
4. It's a great conversations starter when someone asks you about it.
3. They are going to make GREAT Christmas gifts for teachers, family and friends.
2. They are a great color which goes with anything and both guys and girls look good in them.

And the top reason you should buy one of our adoption t-shirts?

1. Because you can say you had a part in bringing a beautiful baby girl home to her family. You can be part of OUR blessing.

Back of shirt

I've disabled my Paypal as a way of paying because by the time Paypal takes their portion and I pay to ship shirts out, I've lost nearly all of my profit. If you are local, shirts are $20 and you can pay me by cash or check. I'll of course deliver your shirt to you. If you are not local, shirts are still $20, but please include $2.50 for shipping. I can expedite ship your shirt to you for $5, so $2.50 will offset part of the shipping. And you too can pay in cash or check. (If you've recently purchased a shirt online and have not yet received it, you will NOT owe shipping!) Shirts are available in S, M, L,XL and a few 2XL and 3XL.

If you are interested in a t-shirt, email me at sandysignr(AT)charter(DOT)net (removing the words and inserting the proper punctuation) or you can leave a comment below.

For those of you who already have plenty of t-shirts and have no desire to have more, or for those that have already bought (THANKS!), you can still help. Consider this your warning...I'm going to be contacting you soon. I want you to simply sell 5 shirts to your friends or family. I have 116 shirts left. If 23 of you sold 5 shirts for me, that would take care of them all and put us $2300 closer to our goal. Please consider doing this for me.

For us.

For Kylie.

Front of t-shirt

Receiving Gifts

2011-10-23T07:24:00.000-05:00

Part of learning humility is learning to accept gifts from people. A friend of mine recently gave me a very generous gift.

She has a Nook and didn't really need the Kindle. After several weeks, she said God laid it on her heart to give it to me since I'd have a super long plane ride to China and she knows I love to read as much as I do. I was amazed. It will come in handy for both Jenna and I on the plane. I can't wait to use it!

Also, another friend from work brought a whole trunk load of stuff for Kylie. Just look...

I am so excited for Kylie to get here and meet all the friends who have contributed to her new home or her trip home.

I love my friends.

What Do You Think??? Poll -------->

2011-10-22T07:23:00.001-05:00

I am pleased to announce, thanks to some very generous donations lately, we now have enough money to complete our adoption!!! Praise the Lord!

Now comes the hard part. We have to actually GET to China! It's going to take about $7,000 to get the three (and then four) of us airline tickets, hotel rooms, food etc. We have about $2,000 of that saved. We have t-shirts that if we sell all of (more to come on that), we'd net about $2,300. That leaves us a mere $4,300 from our goal.

So we are trying to think of ways we could fundraise the remainder of the money. We have several ideas that I'd love your input on.

Which fundraiser activity would you rather participate in? Would you rather pay $5 per chance to win a Kindle or Nook? What about $10 per chance to win an iPad? Would you take advantage of a Christmas present wrapping service one day in December? You'd bring your gift to a location where I'd wrap them and you could pick them up later? The fee could be a donation, flat fee or per box. O would you rather just send finanial support and not participate in any of the above?

If you have additional thoughts or comments or ideas, feel free to leave those in the comments. If by chance you would not participate in anything or don't support the fundraising idea, that's great. But your snarky comments aren't helpful and won't be published, so don't bother.

Would you please take a minute to answer my poll over there to the right? I'd really appreciate your help.

Nothin' But Fun!

2011-10-21T07:24:00.000-05:00

This was Jenna's last official Nothin' But Fun Day at her school. Next year, she'll be in the middle school. Of course, once Kylie is in school, she'll be able to come back down, but just for a visit, not really a participant!

This was on the Friday we were leaving for Birmingham, so there aren't many pictures and we weren't there long. She was ready to get on the road and so were we.

That's What Friends Are For

2011-10-20T07:25:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I hung out with my friend Elizabeth and she shared with me some of her girls' outfits. I feel like I have blogged this before, but I can't seem to find it, so if this is a repeat, just excuse me. Interesting blog posts are hard to come by these days!!

Her little closet is getting more full! Just look at some of these outfits....

Really? SO CUTE.

These pictures are not great since I took them with my phone, but I'm a huge sucker for Christmas outfits. Of course, we won't have Kylie home by this Christmas, but these are bigger sized so I hope she'll be able to fit into them next year!

A special thanks to my friend Elizabeth. I love hanging out with her and have done so several Friday nights. I love watching her with her girls. She's such a good mom.