BACK TO THE WORLD OF THE LIVING!

I'm back!
Man, we've been sick here. Ear infections, sinus infections, strep throats, bronchitis, you name it, we had it! Oh to get out of the house would be wonderful. It's been 2 weeks of pure H*ll here. Sick kids are no fun, and neither are sick mommies and daddies. We have a few lingering coughs and tears, but I think we are on the road to recovery, finally!
Now to get some important work done on the adoption front!

WHAT DAY IS TODAY????????

Oh ya, it's Tuesday.

We have all been sick for so long :( Ryan started last Tuesday night with an ear infection, then was out of school the rest of the week. That weekend he started coughing. Well, the "A" team wasn't going to be outdone by Ryan, so they decided to get it too. Then poor Meg, who REFUSES to miss any school, got it Sunday night. Paisley waited till Monday .
I am up to my ears in runny noses, coughing, and fevers! Not to mention crying, clingy babies.
Oh, but Mr. Ryan had another trick up his sleeve. He slept with us all week and coughed in our faces :( Yep, mommmy and daddy are sicker than the kids :(
To make matters worse, the smoke is awful from the fires in the Everglades. When you're awake at 5 AM wondering thru your house smelling smoke, you know it's time for your hubby to seal the windows and doors better. HOME DEPOT this weekend! ( If we have the strength).

And if I could just get up the strength to get to the garage, I could find my duct tape!!! Paisley and Austin are ready for potty training! I keep finding dry diapers and puddles of PEE all over the floors!
And why won't anyone take any naps? I would LOVE a nap. These little "darlings" get into more stuff sick than when they are well.

I hear someone in my china cabinet...

SOFTBALL

Softball is over until fall :)
That's all I have to say about that!

THE POLL WORKED !!

I don't like ANY of those names now :(

Back to the baby names online.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Check out my Slide Show!

From this NON-MOMMY

I'm sure many of you adoptive moms have seen all the posts about the TODAY show and labeling us adoptive moms NON-MOMS. Well, THIS "NON-MOM" walked into her son's Pre-K class for the Mother's Day Tea, and saw my little guy just light up when he saw me walk thru that door. "THAT'S MY MOMMY!! THAT'S MY MOMMY!!" he said over and over. He couldn't stop grinning and waving and announcing to the room that HIS mom was here. Oh, I had tears in my eyes, he is just the sweetest little boy. I am so thankful Mike could take off some time today to watch the "little monkeys" so Ryan and I could share today.
Now we're off to the fields for Softball awards.

Mother's Day Tea

I'm leaving in a few minutes to meet Ryan in his Pre-K classroom. They are hosting a Mother's Day Tea for all the moms. NO siblings! Mike is taking a long lunch to babysit the "little darlings".
It's been no small feat getting ready to go. Paisley is laying in the hall screaming, Austin is carrying around the mac and chees box, and Amy, well, if you know Amy, you know she is up to something.
I thought I would take a quick shower this AM. Apparently NOT quick enough! Darling little Amy decided to search and FIND the permanent markers. You know the ones, the Sharpies we all bought before we had little ones in our homes. Ya, those! So, I'm in the shower, Miss P is knocking on the door "OPEN THE DOOR...OPEN THE DOOR" She's 18 months and talks almost as well as Amy. So, here I come, out of the shower and what do I see? A BLACK & GREEN baby! Nice work Amy. Amy is hiding in her room. Paisley left her artwork ALL OVER MY BATHROOM, and herself. At least there's KILLS primer in the garage. It hides everything!!
Gotta run...

TAX STIMULUS PKG. & ADOPTION TAX CREDIT

For all my adoption friends who used their Adoption Tax Credit.. Did you realize we are being gyped out of $$$? Yep, that's right. Our stimulus checks will be $300 EACH, LESS!! NOT FAIR!!! I'm loosing $600 :(
So, actually, we are being penalized for using the benefit given to us by our gov. for adopting! THAT FIGURES!!

OK ...We got a CRAZY POLL

Well, I went to look at the POLL after I posted it wasn't working...and it wasn't working. But, then I read the results ( Madeline is catching up fast) and then went back to VOTE ( no, I didn't vote) and it's WORKING! Go Figure! Maybe that's the secret, check out the results, THEN go vote??

The POLL isn't working :(

Well friends, my POLL isn't working right now. I guess it has something to do with BLOGGER. Please come back and try again later. Your votes are IMPORTANT to me :)
Thank-you

ETHIOPIA and RUSSIA

2 Of my friends are adopting again!

K. just received a referral for 2 beautiful girls from Ethiopia! They are 6 & 8 and such happy girls. That will make 6 children for them, and still counting :) What a beautiful bouquet of smiles she will wake up to each morning :)

C. has decided to adopt from Russia! She will be adopting an older girl sometime next year.

ooohhh.. Mike's family is from Russia. What a trip that would be! Sadly, we won't be traveling to Russia, or Ethiopia for that matter. But how exciting for them!!!

Now that I'm calmed down

Now that I've stopped screaming wth joy, and have calmed down, I can post. Yes, even a grandma and mom to 10 gets super excited over being logged in. We beat the July 1 deadline!! WOW, GOD's timing is just perfect, isn't it? What a great Mother's Day gift.

YIPPEE KI YAA !!!

WE ARE LOGGED IN BABY!!!!!!!

SWEET DREAMS

While we are sleeping, our dossier will be logged in at the DIA in Hanoi. One step closer to our little Love.
Goodnight...........

NEW POLL

Help us choose her name!

Mike and I can't agree on a name for our last daughter. Come help us decide. Vote for your top 3 choices in our poll. I love traditional names, but I also like a little "crazy" names too. That's how Paisley Jane got her name :) I think it's so cute!
Anyhow, we need this little girl to have a name. This is what we were told about her.... She's very pretty, is PRISSY , GIRLY, and BOSSY. Sounds like she'll fit right in :)
OH, and if you have a cute name I haven't thought of, tell me!
Thanks.

Her Package is Sent!

"Maizie's" package is on it's way! Ouch! Postage is expensive! Mike just left the post office and all her goodies will be there soon. We sent her ... a photo album of course, and a pink sparkly T -shirt, Princess phone ( every girl needs at least one), sidewalk chalk, crayons and coloring books with stickers, bracelets, hair bows ( gotta start making mine), magnadoodle, ball, big plastic jax, a talking pink baby My Little Pony with a pacifier and a big bag of lollipops to share. I think there were some other things in there too, but I can't remember what they were.
Next up.....need to decide on her NAME.

SOFTBALL is OVER

They LOST the game last night. It was UGLY...ALOT to NUTHIN', UGH, what a way to end the season. Of course Meg doesn't have a clue as to why the girls on her team are all so upset. She just had FUN. She's been home from China 3 years now and this is her second season of softball. She has a great time. I think she might have hit the ball 3 times :) Although she got to first base many more times, she seems to always get in the way of the pitch! Awards are Friday night.. She asked if it was going to be the same trophy as last season. We'll see. And I'll post a pic :)

WOO-HOO

Doin'the HAPPY DANCE here!!!
Our I-171 came today!!!
It's already Faxed to our agency and hopefully we will be logged in by the end of the week. Then it's "Official Referral" time and PICTURES and NAME and BIRTHDATE!
PRAISE GOD!!!!!

TUESDAY

Good Morning!

Something's burning :( I guess it's the Everglades. It was supposed to be a glorious sunny day, but we are smoke filled this morning.

The "A" team's Boo-Boos are all healed and they are off and running this morning. Scaring each other with rubber gloves.

Poor Ryan, we got up late this morning and he was still chewing breakfast as he ran to the bus.

Woke up to an email about the rained out game. We play tonight at 6PM and if we win, we play again at 7:30. So much for watching the Indiana Primary results. I was looking forward to sitting down and watching tonight. OH, Did I tell you I'm a FOX NEWS Junkie? Although I do like MORNING JOE now.

It's too quiet, I gotta run............

My Little MONKEY'S Strike Again!

Well, They just can't be good for 5 minutes!
Meg had her last softball game of the season tonight ( got rained out so we will have one more) It's the play-offs, her team lost their first game so they have one more try. Anyhow, I was getting sippy cups ready to go and doing the dinner dishes before leaving (never got them finished) and all of a sudden I hear tremendous SCREAMING coming from Ryan and Austin's room. ALL 4 Monkey's are in there and the door is closed. Now, I'm a multi-tasker, I was also on the phone with my sister Jan. So, I go to their room planning on telling them to "calm down" and was shocked with what I saw when I opened their door! There were the 4 of them screaming and crying in the middle of the room and the HEAVY triple dresser knocked over, tipped and laying against the bunk bed ( thank GOD the bed was in the way) all the drawers hanging open touching the floor with the clothes still neatly folded in them. Well, my heart stopped as I scanned the room for 4 intact children, I screamed "gotta go" to Jan and threw the phone on the bed. It took forever to push the dresser back upright and of course some of the drawers are broken. Mr. Austin has "boo-boo's" on his leg and Amy has one on her face. The 2 climbers!! I can't even trust them in the bedroom now. They were supposed to be watching Peter Pan. I guess I'll have to tie them to me from now on and they can help me clean.

JOY Comes in the Morning

Good Morning! No, I should say GREAT morning!!!!!

I woke up to the BEST news I could hear!!! I woke up to an email from my agency's facilitator in Vietnam. Oh what wonderful news she sent. As you know we are playing "Beat the Clock" with BCIS and the DIA in Vietnam. We need our dossier logged in BEFORE July 1 in order to bring our sweet girl home. We are waiting for ONE piece of paper, and once we get it, we have to send it "here and there" to get checked and rechecked :) you know how paperwork goes...well, she said Vietnam will accept a FAXED copy until the original gets there. WHEW! We are going to make the deadline!!! PRAISE GOD!!!! It's all working out in HIS timing :)

I think I'll go shopping! She also said our sweetie likes things that make her look pretty, and another girl in her orphanage got a really cute shirt from her mommy and she would like to have one too. I don't know what that shirt looks like, but the "little darlings" and I will be going to Target to get the most "glitzy" T-shirt we can find, and some hair bows, and oh, I think I can think of a hundred girly things to send :)

Have a GREAT day today, I know I will!

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING :)

Good morning friends.


I just realized, after seeing how many visitors I have on my BLOG, most people don't know anything about us. So..... Let me give you a little view into our world.


First, and MOST important, Jesus is my Lord and Savior. I love my Lord and try to follow His lead. Although sometimes I get impatient and try to do things MY way...never works out.


I love children, I love crafts, I LOVE Disney World, I HATE housework, but I love doing laundry, go figure! I hate cooking too. I like to order in :)


I absolutley love, love, love, living in South Florida. The weather is gorgeous, shopping and health care are minutes away, schools are great and we are so multicultural here. All my children fit so well into the area. They have friends they can relate to and don't feel they stand out and are different.


Mike and I met in college in 1969. He had just returned from serving 4 years in Vietnam. Mike was in the NAVY on the Naval Carrier USS INTREPID. We were married in 1970. Yep! 38 years this Sept.


We raised 5 daughters and have 16 grandchildren. Our married children are scattered throughout the US., Florida, North Carolina, and Colorado.


After an empty nest for about 10 years, in 2004 I felt GOD leading me to adoption. God has placed orphans on my heart and I will comtinue to help them until my last breath. We may be done adopting since there are no more empty beds and no more seats in our SUV, but we will find another way to help. We now have 2 children from China, one from Guatemala and 3 from Vietnam, well # 3 is patiently waiting for us in Vietnam and we are hoping to travel to Vietnam sometime this summer to bring her home. Vietnam is closing to all US adoptions so we are playing "Beat The Clock" right now.


So, 11 children. Who would have ever thought? Hmmm.... I think an even dozen would be perfect! GOD? What do you think? Want to send someone else our way? We're always open to children needing a home and have more than enough love. Of course $$ better come along with #12 if you should decide to send him or her our way :)


OK, I guess that's enough info for installment #1. I hear some "little darlings" are into the popcicles AGAIN.... gotta run ..............

I THINK WE ALL NEED THIS TODAY

Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you know they are always there
Remember yesterday, dream about tomorrow, but live for today.
How quickly the years pass

Tips for the ladies in year 2008

1. Aspire to be Barbie - the bitch has everything.
2. If the shoe fits - buy one in every colour.
3. Take life with a pinch of salt... A wedge of lime, and a shot of tequila.
4. In need of a support group? - Cocktail hour with the girls!
5. Go on the 30 day diet. (I'm on it and so far I've lost 15 days).
6. When life gets you down - just put on your big girl panties and deal with it.
7. Let your greatest fear be that there is no menopause and this is just your personality.
8. I know I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here.....
9. Lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.
10. Don't get your knickers in a knot, it solves nothing; and makes you walk funny.
11. When life gives you lemons in 2008 - turn it into lemonade then mix it with vodka.
12. Remember every good looking; sweet, single male is someone-else's ex-boyfriend!
Now smile and send to any girl who might need a reason to smile!