Monday, June 28, 2010

DRUM ROLL PLEASE~~~~~

We have TWO new China girls!
Meet
Mary-Katherine Yang Li
originally from
CWI Xining City, Qinghai, China
age 14
Finally, all our children are home!
Mary-Katherine & Hannah

and
Not to drag this out...
as of
6/23/2010
Mike is officially
RETIRED
Let the projects begin
and the
FOR SALE
sign go up!
As much as we love South Florida,
living on the sun has seen better days!
It's time to go.
After 33 years here
it might be nice to experience seasons again!
Oh! the thought of
PUMPKINS
not rotting on the front porch within 2 days!
CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
wearing hats and gloves
OPENING WINDOWS!!!!
Wearing jeans and Sweatshirts!
I'm not asking for much.
But what about the real estate market?
Will I be able to unload this house?
I doubt it :(
I live in
SOUTH FLORIDA
the
FORECLOSURE CAPITAL
we've lost 50% of our home value
and it keeps dropping by THOUSANDS
each month :(
Oh well, what can you do?
We'll sit back and watch GOD'S plans unfold
and see what HE has in store for this next chapter of our lives.
This is going to be
EXCITING!!

Stay tuned

Sunday, June 27, 2010

{{SHOCK~N~AWE}}

Do you want it all in one piece?
or
little by little?

Thursday, June 24, 2010

LOCKS OF LOVE


What a sweet girl we have.
Meg has always wanted LONG hair. In her orphanage in China she wasn't permitted to have long hair. It was always cut short like a boys. She has been growing her hair for 5 long years now, and it's beautiful. At Christmas she decided she would donate it to LOCKS OF LOVE, but she wanted to keep her hair long for her trip back to China. She had so many compliments about her beautiful hair that I thought she may want to keep it, but being the girl she is, 42 hours after arriving home, she was sitting in a chair at Sweet & Sassy having her hair cut. And she's just as beautiful with her new shorter hair. Next year she's planning on donating again.


































HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY
WONG CHEEN CHEEN
we'll love you forever
mommy & daddy



Monday, June 21, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WENDY
xoxo
MOM & DAD

Saturday, June 12, 2010

I'M BACK!!!

To Kill an American!


Written by an Australian Dentist...


To Kill an American.
You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)

An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish , Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan. An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.An American is Christian , or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan . The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An American is also free to believe in no religion.. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.
An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.
The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence , which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness..An American is generous.. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country! As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan .
The national symbol of America , The Statue of Liberty , welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11 , 2001 earning a better life for their families... It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.
So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo , and Stalin , and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world.. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself . Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

Friday, May 21, 2010

IT'S TIME TO GO!
Meg and I are waiting for the airport shuttle now. I think we're all packed. If we forgot something, OH WELL. You know me, I'm NOT a light packer :(
I just hope I have all my paperwork.
I'm going to try and BLOG everyday. I hope I don't run into any problems, but if I do, Lisa will help out and Tina from "The Story of You" is watching out for me too!
Watch for posts on our Travel Journal.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

ONE MORE SLEEP

And we are on our way to China! I'm almost packed, except for last minute things. Tomorrow I need to make a run to Walmart and Kohl's, get the kids school clothes ready for the next 2 weeks, and grocery shop. Right now I'm still doing laundry for the kids and triple checking my paperwork. I know, I know, what did I do all week, right? I don't know. Shopped a lot. and walked around in disbelief that this was actually going to finally happen after 2+ LONG years!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Almost packed!  My airport shuttle has been reserved, they'll pick us up at 3:45 AM Thursday night..what an AWFUL time.  Am I supposed to go to sleep? Get up at 2:30 and take a shower and do my hair?  Who's gonna do that?  What if I go to sleep and sleep in?  Remember HOME ALONE?  That's my nightmare.  At the prices flights are now (mine went from $1200 to $4300) I can't afford to miss any!
OK, break time over, back to packing, I've only put it off a week, my piles of clothes were getting dusty so I thought I better put them in a suitcase.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

need a GEEK SQUAD!

If anyone can help, please email me.  My playlist will NOT load on my computer. It's been at least a week now. NO MUSIC!!  It's driving me nutz!  It plays on all the other computers in the house and yours too.  We've cleaned out the cache, and reloaded all the "players" and still nothing works.  Anyone know what's wrong?

OK friends, 
 Help us choose a name for our Little Dumpling.  It's coming to the end of the road here and I still can't decide which name to choose for her.  I keep changing her name and my family just rolls their eyes. Mike said whatever name I decide is OK with him.. I think he's sick of the indecision :)
Maybe with your help we can figure this out.  So many cute names, only one little girl.  I'm leaving in 5 days ( Thursday night) and need to make a decision quickly.
If you have any other suggestions, leave a comment or shoot me an email. 
Thanks for your help :) 

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Little Dumpling on her Birthday!
Isn't she ADORABLE???




















Saturday, May 8, 2010



HAPPY 5 th BIRTHDAY


"LITTLE DUMPLING"


XOXO


Mommy & Daddy






We used Ann of RED THREADS

to send a

Birthday Cake & Gifts

To our "Little Dumpling"

since our travel

was delayed :(

This Monday
Should have been

GOTCHA DAY!

12 more days and

I will be on my way

to CHINA!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

SHOCK~N~AWE #2

This is my personal Shock~n~ Awe....
We knew it was coming, but really, did it all have to come at the same time??
BRACES! On No!! I need a stimulus package, NOW! The girls were at Dr. Singer's office in Coral Springs this morning and everyone will be getting braces this summer. Ryan is getting his in 2 weeks. We LOVE Dr. Singer. He was Wendy's orthodontist 30 years ago and she has the most beautiful teeth I have ever seen. He is also the cleft orthodontist and an amazing painter!
Mickey Mouse, we may not see you until next year sometime. Actually, I can guarantee we won't be visiting The Mouse for a very long time :(
I'm off to Publix, grocery shopping for this crew is another financial adventure!
This might be a good time to start buying lottery tickets!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY~~~~


HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY

MOLLY GRACE

You're a Teenager!

xoxo

Mom and Dad


Friday, April 23, 2010

{{SHOCK~N~AWE}} # 1

I'M LEAVING FOR CHINA IN 4 WEEKS!!
"LITTLE DUMPLING"
WILL BE ALL OURS
MAY 24TH!