Thanks for the wishes...

Instead of quilt squares, I've been collecting Good Wishes scrapbook pages. Thank you so much to everyone who has sent a page for Lauren!

I'm putting a book together and hope to collect 100 pages. I'm up to 25 so far, and here's a look at all the beautiful pages...


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If you would like me to send you a scrapbook packet to create an 8" x 8" page, please let me know and I'll get one out to you.

Fun birthday gifts...

This past Friday was my birthday and I had a really nice day. Even though I had to work, my day started off perfectly when I spotted a card sitting on my keyboard with a Starbucks gift certificate. To me, that's the perfect gift since I LOVE that place!

Just as I got back from my Starbucks run, Michele stopped in with the prettiest gift bag full of all kinds of really fun scrapbooking supplies, including a Xyron sticker maker!

I had a busy weekend and haven't tried it yet, but I can't wait to give it a try. I'm sure it's filled with possibilities for scrapbooking and card making.

Michele, thank you so much!! This gift was so thoughtful and just perfect for me!

I had just finished opening up the gift from Michele, when Kim stopped in with a big, heavy box wrapped in the cutest laydbug wrapping paper.

Check out this pretty dessert set with an asian flair! It comes with 4 mugs and plates of matching designs, spoons and forks....just perfect for having friends over for coffee and chocolate cake. Any takers?? ;)

Thanks Kim, I love this set and will use it often.

Today, Joe and I were hanging out by the pool at our friend, Linda Marie's house and she gave us the cutest set of his and hers beach towels. Check out the ladybug trim on my towel...too cute!

She also gave me the cutest doggie frame for Addy's & Lucy's photos and an Asian baby doll that's so soft and adorable for Lauren.



Thanks, Linda, for these great gifts and a nice, relaxing day by the pool.

Secret Pal strikes again...

Our July theme is Fun on the Long Trip to China. Thank you, Secret Pal, for the awesome box of goodies!

Check out how my Pal decorates the shipping box according to the theme...how cute is this!

My goodies include:

• Movie & TV Trivia Puzzle Book
  
• TV Guide Crossword Puzzle Book
  
• Travel Checker Game
  
• Chinese Stamps & Ink Pad
  
• Sleeping Mask (how did you know I have trouble sleeping on planes?)
  
• Two Mini Fans (and that I'm always hot on planes?)
  
• Special Socks (to help with circulation)
  
• Ty Panda Bear for Lauren to snuggle with on the trip home (I notice his name is Fortune, which is very fitting since we feel very fortunate to make the trip)
  

and last but not least, she made this wonderful CD of relaxing music called Just Relax - The Orient.

Thank you so much, my Pal, you totally spoil me...but I love it!

FCC Directory...

We got our Families with Children from China 2006 local membership directory in the mail today.

It was so cool to see our info listed among all the other Arizona adoptive families! We have 215 families listed in the directory, and it's so heart warming to flip through the pages and see all the beautiful children living right here in Arizona.

I'm hoping that our family photo with Lauren will be listed in the 2007 directory!

Waiting families get together...

Last night was our monthly FCC-Arizona Waiting Families meeting. It was hosted by Megan and Scott and their beautiful daughter, Maya, who has been home for four months now. It seems like we had record high attendance at the meeting and several babies, which is always fun. There was also a family there who just got their referral with the June batch and brought along their photos and info on Fiona to share.

After the meeting, a group of us got together at Rock Bottom Brewery to hang out for a while (click on the smaller photos to see a larger version).
Front left are Nancy & Brian (who were LID in late August '05), next to them are Heather & Damon (who are paperchasing and hoping to be DTC in September), then Kim & Scott (who were LID in late July '05). Joe and I are in the back row along with Michele (who was LID in late September '05).

Here's a shot of Joe and Damon (Heather and I didn't make it into this one)...

Kim & Scott...

and Nancy & Brian.


Here's all the very excited mommas to be:

Nancy, me, Michele, Heather, and Kim. It's been a great experience getting to know these wonderful ladies and sharing this journey with them. I hope we continue to be friends and get to know each other better throughout our adoption journey.

The hippo and the tortoise...

A friend of mine sent me these photos taken in Nairobi of a baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast and has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise, in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa.

www.flickr.com

The story that came along with the photos was as follows:

The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean, then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, 2004 before wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park, told AFP.

"After it was swept and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it follows its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained.

I thought this was such a heartwarming story and wanted to share it with my bloggy friends.

Slideshow...

I decided to try a slideshow like I've seen on some other blogs. This one covers our paperchase and a little beyond...

Five months and counting...

Our dossier will be logged in for five months tomorrow. Truth be known, the time since we've been logged in has gone pretty darn fast. Don't get me wrong, this waiting sucks, but we've been keeping petty busy and still have lots to do in the house before we're ready for Lauren.

Right now, our dossier is in a gigantic pile somewhere at the CCAA like the piles you see in this matching room photo. Unfortunately, it will be many months yet before our dossier sees the inside of this room. Hopefully, we'll make it there by next January or February and have our referral by March. Wow, another 8 months before we get a glimpse of our daughter...sounds like a LONG time, doesn't it?

Scrapbooking Swap...

I've really been enjoying our Ladybug Hunters Scrapbooking Club. It's fun to see what everyone comes up with for our exchange each month. I just finished my 8" x 8" layout to send to Christie and she is doing a layout for me. She had my name last month too and sent me an adorable Summer Fun layout.

Here's the layout I'm sending off to Christie and I sure hope she likes it! I had a lot of fun putting it together.

Expectant Cousin??

I was surfing the Cafe Press adoption shops and came across Julie's Invisible Red Thread Shop. I love her designs and asked if she would consider doing a shirt for my nieces who are very excited about meeting their cousin someday.

Well, Julie whipped up an adorable expectant cousin shirt with a design on the front and back. You have to check it out, because if you have nieces you may need to order one for them. She is also offering it in child sizes for younger kids too.

For me, I love her "Wait, Hope, Dream, Repeat" design.

Happy Shopping!

Fun stuff...

Check out this pretty box that came in the mail last week.

It's a thank you gift from Kim, of Our Journey to Grace, and it was filled with adorable little goodies for Lauren.
The sunglasses and little hair curlies are so cute and I totally love the ladybug hair clips. They are going to look absolutely adorable with her ladybug cardigan and onesie from Gymboree...






Thanks again, Kim, you're such a sweetie!

This and that...

Joe and I have been home on vacation this week. We had big plans of cleaning out our junk room and setting it up as an exercise room while we actually had some time, but I was sick for two days of our time off. I spent that time basically going between the sofa/bed and the bathroom...it wasn't a pretty picture at all!

I'm feeling better now and we actually did get some stuff done, just not exactly as planned. We bought a new 4-drawer filing cabinet and I went through all our files and purged and reorganized them into new folders...not a fun project, but when I was done it felt darn good.

We did salvage some of the week and had fun hanging out with a few friends on the 4th of July. Also, Joe and I saw the Disney movie, Cars...if you haven't seen this yet, it's TOTALLY adorable and well worth the time. We hit a local casino today and I won $80 on a slot machine (that money is now tucked away in my Coach purse fund). I'm saving up for either the new signature, reversible tote or the new mia satchel. I haven't decided yet which one, but between the cash I've been socking away and my birthday coming up at the end of the month I'm pretty sure one of these is in my future. ;)

We took Lucy to the groomers on Thursday morning since she was long overdue for a haircut. Here she is looking pretty shaggy before we left...

and here she is all washed up, trimmed, fluffed, and hot oiled. The hot oil is a little extra, but she smells so good afterwards.