It's all about the girl!

This weekend was nothing but about baby! With the holidays upon us, we wanted to get some stuff done and out of the way before the hecticness of the season started so we went and registered. I'm glad we did though because this only being the first weekend of November, the malls were PACKED and there is nothing but holiday decor EVERYWHERE! Now we'd registered before but that was 4 years ago and we needed a fresh start, this time while it was a bit weird doing it before referral, it was still fun and a much needed distraction to these final days of waiting.

After a long day of crowds and pregnant women we came home to the sweetest package in the mail! Leme back up a bit though....About a year ago I pretty much went on a spending freeze for anything baby. I just didn't have it in me anymore and every time I went to buy something I just couldn't and when I could I bought for others instead. Well these last few weeks of anticipation for referral I'm feeling like I need to catch up on my lack of shopping for baby girl and I started looking for her first doll. I unfortunately missed out on another amazing adoptive moms talents of making beautiful dolls before they sold out and so I set out on finding another doll maker. After scouring Etsy for days I found her shop! Becky is also adopting and all of the proceeds of her sales go towards their adoption and she is WONDERFUL to work with! I was able to pick out exactly what I wanted our baby girls doll to look like right down to the red bows on her braids. So when we came home from our excursion on Saturday and opened the mail this is what was there to say hello to us.


Thank you Becky!! She will be forever loved I'm sure!!!


Besides spending a day wondering around a store feeling all dreamy and excited and finding sweet packages in our mailbox, this weekend was our friends sample sale for Keen products. OOOOO BOY!! All year long I've been dreaming of this sale and saving my money to buy the perfect pair of Keen shoes for traveling and maybe a pair or two for baby girl. Instead of finding the perfect shoes for me or her, I ended up walking out of there with the perfect diaper bag! Let me tell you the whole finding the perfect diaper bag thing has been painful. I'm not a big baby frilly diaper bag kinda mom. I like them simple yet functional and not covered with ducks and bows. I have found a few over the years that have tickled my fancy but hello I honestly can't spend that kind of money on a diaper bag. So when I saw this I melted.





It's perfect. It has what I need and hello it even has a light in it. HA! To add a cherry to the top, it was only 30 bucks! Sweet!

With diaper bag in hand, a sweet faced dolly ready and waiting and registry complete, we're ready for referral.
Leme say that again...we're ready for referral China!

FINALLY!!!!!

After 12 VERY. LONG. weeks, we are holding our updated I-171h. Officially this update took a week longer than when we filled our original paperwork in November of 2005. Our original paperwork took them 11 weeks to process, those 11 weeks have cost us so much! Wow! Thank you to the turtle who was moving our paperwork and finally getting it to us!!

Now here's the kicker....Both Mike and I did our fingerprints on the same exact day, Monday, and guess what?? our fingerprints expire 2 months apart. Gotta love our bureaucratic system! All I know is this is it, no more refilling, no more sitting at the mailbox begging for a simple piece of paper to arrive. No more tears stressing over it. No more.

Okay....let's bring on referrals! And TA's for this last batch!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Friday!

Favorite quotes of the week

(These are my brother-in-laws bedroom walls...he is a poet and screen writer and his walls are covered from floor to ceiling in his writings, you could spend hours reading them!)


This week we have been blessed with some pretty awesome quotes or scripture and these are just a few of my favorites....


* Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ~ Romans 12:12

This is our Hope verse from our churches 50 Days of Hope program called the Hope Experience. I am LOVING this program and can not wait to read the next installment every morning! This weeks verse just spoke volumes to me.

* Happiness is every human beings birthright. ~Yogi Teas

* I am beautiful. I am bountiful. I am blissful. ~Yogi Teas

I LOVE my Yogi Teas!!! I have a few cups a day and each and every cup comes with the most incredible verse! These were too of my favorite from this week so far.

* Wait and you shall realize the Joy of the one who can be calm and wait, knowing that all is well. The last, and hardest lesson, is that of waiting. So wait. ~The Hardest Lesson from my daily devotional "God Calling"

There is never a day that this book does not give me chills. This is not the first time my devotional has said something that effects me so deeply at that moment.

* Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~ Dr. Suess

With a lot of peer pressure happening in Big J's life right now, this quote on my calendar this week was just what we needed to remind us all of what really matters...love those who love us and accept us for us.

* Where there is love there is life. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

That is best thing I've read this week! If this quote is not me I don't know what is!!!!

* And finally....The CCAA is preparing to match. ~ RQ

While is actually only a rumor and not really a quote, I'm still liking it! :0


Goodness and it's only Wednesday...what wonderful words lie ahead in my week!

Have you come across a verse or scripture this week that has had an impact on what is happening in your life right now??

Yes, now it's November

What will the month hold?? Or the better question...what do we want the month to hold?

A picture.
A dream come true.
The wait washed away.

In the mean time we will be wrapping up football this week, preparing for a Thanksgiving feast at our home this year, maybe get a camping trip in somewhere, redo our fingerprints for the 4th time, and continuing to wait for our updated I-171 (yeah, we're still waiting but they say it's all good, now they're just waiting for the fingerprints), and checking RQ every. single. minute. of. the. day. Good grief I thought I was over that site!!!! Now I'm addicted to it!

But the best part of the next few weeks is following along on several journey's of love including Catherine who is in China now. These are the things that get us through these last few weeks of waiting.

Hannah and Catherine seeing each other for the first time, November 2, 2009 Dreams do come true....

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12

Happy Halloween!

Last night we went to a friends 40th birthday and of course it was a costume (your favorite rock star) party! Of course!! Well here we are dressed up complete with vintage circa 1960's attire as guess who??? Sonny and Cher!



There were so many great rock stars there....Pink, Ted Nugent, Janis Joplin, Fergie, Brett Michaels, Roller Girl complete with skates, even Milkquarious and the list goes on. Good times good times!






Happy Halloween!!!