Moving to a New Location...

We have some family news that you can read at our NEW BLOG (Click here) to go to "Cupcakes and Hairbows"... If you want to continue following our family, bookmark this new blog!

"A" is for Ally

I mentioned in a previous post that ANY words or letters that Ally sees, she thinks they spell ALLY. She will say "A L L L L L Y ... Ally!" to ANY words! She has learned to spot a capital A and pick it out when she sees it. Well, just last week, she was out in our garage "helping" me do some work. She had a marker and I was letting her draw on a cardboard box. She, predictably, started saying "ALLY" and pointing. I looked, expecting to see her pointing to an A on the box. She was pointing to an A, but it was one that she drew herself! Since then, she has been an "A fanatic" and writes A's on EVERYTHING! This past Sunday, when we went to pick her up from SS, we noticed all of the kids' art work lined up outside the classroom. We looked down the line to see some scribbles and lines and "drawing", and there was Ally's paper - covered in A's! We just cracked up! She even "A'd" her tummy -- it's upside down, so she can read it!

Strawberries!

Can I just say how happy we are that Ally "visits" Miss Sheryl ("Mi Garal", as Ally says) each week. Today, she picked strawberries with Linzi! How fun is that? Sheryl got some great pics too. Ally has not been fond of eating much fruit, except the occasional bananna, since we got home from China. Today was not much different, but Miss Sheryl said she did take a few bites. She, of course, did eat all of the cool whip that was on the strawberries when they got back to the house!

Wrapping up 8th Grade

Sara was so excited on Saturday night. Her friend, Brittani, hosted a "formal dinner" party to celebrate finishing 8th grade (well, almost). All of the girls got dressed up, ate dinner, did a photo shoot, and ended the night with sweets and a movie. They were all so cute and dressed up! Sara had so much fun and had looked forward to the party for weeks!

That Sweet Little Face

It's been one year since we first saw the picture of the little girl that would become our Ally. On April 30 of last year, Hope posted a new waiting child list. We were hesitant to even look, but we did! When we got to #8 (little Rui Yun with a heart condition) on the list, there she was! With such tiny lips, porcelain skin, black hair, and big, serious eyes, there was our Ally! We had to wait another 2 L*O*N*G weeks to get the official call that we had been selected to be her family. Here is the little face we saw! Our prayers that night became very specific.




It was the first time we (and their parents) saw Frannie and Shelby and Danielle, too!

Enjoying Life!

This morning as we were getting ready, I told Ally, "I love you, Ally" and she replied "I wub you, Mamma". That is the first time she has tried to say that. Isn't that what this is all about? How fun!

Officially Official

We had our court day to re-adopt Ally here in the US. Don't worry, the adoption was not in jeopardy or unofficial. Sara and Lauren were daring each other to say, "I have the right to remain silent," if the judge asked them anything! It really seemed to be a technicality; and insurance policy, as our attorney put it. This will allow Ally to have a US birth certificate with our names on it; as opposed to the one written in Chinese. I can only imagine taking that to the school when she registers for Kindergarten in a few years! I should take it just for a laugh!

I'm bummed that "Biggest Loser" is over - Tuesday night was our only night of "planned" TV watching. We still have "Boston Legal", though!

Looking forward to a fun time tomorrow at 3rd Friday! I'm so glad to be affiliated with these groups - we have made so many friends that have adoption as a part of their lives. I'm glad to have these new friends that "get" what we are doing and will "lend an ear" when I need to talk!

More Catching Up

Linzi sharing her drink with Ally - they really do adore each other!

Ella Kate and Ally get ready to "bathe" their bears at Build-a-Bear.

Our girls romping in the rain.


Ally has just cracked us up lately - in addition to her shouting "unknown" everytime the phone rings, she has recently learned the phrase, "I don't know!" It comes out more like, "ah doe noh"! It is so funny. Anyway, here are a few more pics...

BYW, 9 months ago, we first met our little girl!

OK - I know!

Yes, it's been forever.

We thoroughly enjoyed our spring break and did our own little "tour de Georgia", starting in Savannah and finishing in Hiawassee. We went by Mema's house and then down to Savannah. We enjoyed walking on River Street, eating pralines, beingets, and shrimp, going to the beach, swimming in the pool, and a little shopping! Ally really enjoyed playing in the sand and tide pools. She was a little leary of the waves, and held tight to daddy's fingers when they washed onto her feet. Savannah was almost in full bloom, but beautiful as always. I could live there!

We returned home via Augusta, stopping in to spend a night with my sister and brother in law. Doug was thrilled that Richard invited him to go to the Masters Practice Round on Tuesday! He said it was beautiful and he got to see Tiger play!

On Wed, I had a meeting all day, so Doug took the girls to the World of Coke Museum. They all enjoyed it and came home with tales of awful tasting Coke products that they sampled. That evening, Doug and I went "out" for a quick dinner and a little shopping by ourselves. We came home with a puppy! Yes, crazy I know. Sara and Lauren have been wanting a mini-dachshund for quite some time, and we finally gave in. I made them "research" the breed and do a power point. It was cute. Anyway, his name is DASH and he's 3 months old. So far, he has been really good. He is pretty good with Ally, but he does try to jump on her if she is squatting (how she normally sits).

Work took us up to Hiawassee, as I have an account at a college up there. So, we all went and stayed a couple of nights in a cabin. We enjoyed lots of trips to the playground. We did smores and grilled out, so we only ate lunch out. Mostly, we watched movies and played ping pong and played with Dash on the porch.

Before spring break, Ally attended her first B'day Party! Ella Kate turned 3 and invited Ally to her Build a Bear party! Ally had fun and really likes her bear. It was so cute and amazing to see all of those little Chinese beautiful faces. It's just a miracle!

A couple of Ally's "friends" are recovering from or having surgery this month. Shelby had her surgery last week and Sarah Beth has hers this Thursday. We are praying for both of them and their families!

Ally's World, cont...

- Yesterday AM when the phone rang, she shouted, "Unknown"! We do this most everyday when we get a call that we don't recognize on caller ID, so I guess that is what she thinks you say when the phone rings.

- Ally is very polite when it comes to telling us "thank you", especially with food. So, when I give her anything, she will say "tank you, Mama" and if I don't quickly reply with "You're welcome, Ally", she will say it again, louder until I reply!

- She dances along with Tickle Me Elmo and Hokie Pokie Ernie - doing all the moves with them!

I'm sure there is more, but that's all for now!

Tonight we are celebrating L's b'day with a couple of friends - swimming (but not at home quite yet!)

Ally's World

Ally is really starting to talk a lot more. Here are a few snippets and thoughts and observations.

- Any words say "A L L Y -- Ally"! She will "spell" her name and touch any letters she sees. She will say the A and the L over and over (sometimes 20 times) and follow it with saying "Ally" and throwing her hands up.

- Every night and morning she will collect her bedtime necessities - my goggie (doggie), my bankee (blanket), my pih-yo (pillow).

- She loves to brush her teeth and will point to her teeth and go into the bathroom. She uses a little stool for everything - brushing teeth, climbing onto the potty, getting in the tub, turning off the light so she can look at the glowing stars on the ceiling.

- She loves to wear her "new" gymnastics leotard. One is RWB stars, so we called her "Mary Lou" (for Retton) and now we just call the leotard her "Mary Lou".

- When we were in Savannah, Ally took her little Chinese baby doll. On the trip, Sara asked Ally what her baby's name was. Ally's reply, "Eg-roh". So, now we call her "Baby Eggroll"!

- She will say "more book" and any of us will be spending the next few minutes reading her Sesame Street "find it" book. I think Sara gets asked the most. Ally will say "my Gara" when Sara comes into the room each morning.

- She will say "Ally will do it" for most everything. She also is very insistent on "helping"; however, asking for us to help her is a last resort.

- She says her name "Aah-yee".

- If we hear/see a dog, she says "more goggie".

- In the car, she requests her "bus" CD by doing the hand motions to "Wheels on the Bus" and saying "buh, mama"

- If she sees Daddy leave the house or go outside, she will say "where daddy go?"

- She loves lotion, and when the lotion smells good, I'll tell her to smell it. Instead of smelling the lotion, she will blow on it (like it's hot food) and say "Mmmmmm".

- When she put on some new white tennis shoes last week, I said, "Those are nice new shoes, Ally". She replied, "Nice"! Now she will point to her "nice" shoes everytime she puts them on and will say "Nice".

- Racing with Lauren is her new thing to do. They will line up in our family room - Ally on a riding toy and Lauren on a tiny wagon - and roll across and back behind the sofa.


Obviously, we understand a lot of what she "says", although it is still often very muttled. It's so cute and amazing to see her learn! I know there are many more little funny things she says; I'll try to remember them!

All 3 Girls

I love to see pics of all 3 of our girls together! Here is one from Easter - the slide show was so small, so I thought I'd post this one by itself!

Doing Lunch with Friends

Ally and I enjoyed lunch with a few friends! Thanks Sharon - I stole your picture! Sharon said, as we enjoyed our meal, that it never ceases to amaze her how all of these families have come together! It is nothing short of amazing. From front left center in a clock wise direction ... Ellie (back to us) and Joan; Sharon, Ella Kate, and Savannah; Sheryl and Linzi; Lucy and Ally. It is amazing, isn't it?

I forgot to take my camera to 3rd Friday. The meeting featured a speaker that is a therapist and expert on adoption (I guess that is what she is -- I missed her intro - imagine that!). It was quite enlightening. She said that the child (no matter what age he/she is adopted) should just grow knowing he/she is adopted. There should never be that "moment" when you have to / need to tell her. It just needs to be known by the child and talked about by the parent. I felt pretty good about how we are handling this with Ally. Although we do not talk about her China mommy, I tell her the story of her adoption at least 2 times a week. I have no idea how much she can take in, but I figure that if she hears it over and over there will be no surprises. We do talk about China a lot. Who knows!

Happy Easter!

Let's see -- the big girls didn't have school on Friday, so we had a fun day! We "practiced" hunting eggs with Ally in our front yard, got haircuts (as Ally says, "hah-cuh"), ate Chinese at Lin's Bistro with the Randalls, and saw Frannie and Shelby at 3rd Friday! We had a great day. Where was Daddy in all of this fun? At the golf course with his buddy, Bill.

Lauren spent most of Saturday at the soccer fields, reffing 2 games and playing 3 mini-games. She was pretty tired at the end of the day. Daddy spent the day at the fields too, making sure Lauren was doing OK with her reffing (keeping up with the time). Sara, Ally and Mommy went to the store and made it to the soccer field for Lauren's last mini-game. Ally had a ton of fun running around with a little boy who had a really fun ball. They were so cute - laughing, running and falling!

After soccer, we drove down to Mema's house, stopping for pizza along the way. YUM. We were pretty late getting to Mema's, but Ally managed to play once we got there. She was pretty comfortable with my mom and remembered being at her house. She slept in the pack and play most of the night, and woke up to eggs hidden all over Mema's family room and baskets of goodies! The first thing she did when she found an egg was to open it and check out the candy!

We went to Mema's church and Ally sat through the service until it was time for the preacher to talk. I didn't want to push our luck, so she and I made a quick exit and played in the nursery and rode the elevators until church was over! I think Mema was proud to show off another pretty grand-daughter! All of our girls looked beautiful, as you can see in the pics!

I almost forgot -- I made Ally a batch of congee. She ate 3 bowls so I must have done OK. If you don't know, congee is a rice "soup/mush" made with lots of water (4.5 cups) and a little rice (3/4 cups) and a little salt. I tossed in an egg and let it cook in too. Just keep stirring every now and then and let it cook for about an hour. She ate it at most every b'fast when we were in China, and occasionally gets it from our favorite waitress at Lin's Bistro (they like to spoil her).

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Lauren turned 11 today at 2:37. Yep, I told her this morning that I remember 11 years ago this morning -- I woke up at 4 AM and immediately woke Daddy-to-be-again. We took Sara to her little friend's house and headed to Northside Hospital! Our little baby Lauren was born that afternoon!

So, what do you do when you turn 11? Go to school, have Krispy Kreme donuts with the class, an ice cream cake and a couple of presents. She actually opened her "Guitar Hero" for the Wii this past Saturday. We were under tornado warnings all day (Atlanta got hit pretty hard downtown), so we gave it to her early! We ALL had a blast playing (well, trying to play)!

One of the presents that I got Lauren was another Gymboree strawberry blanket. She has had one since she was a baby and hers was/is worn out! It has had a few "surgeries" throughout the years, but continues to be her very favorite! Every night she sleeps with strawberry (blanket) and Joey (polar bear). So, I found one on ebay after years of looking, literally! I have had it for quite a few months. I didn't expect Lauren to really appreciate it, but she was really excited and surprised! She did say that she still loves the original since it is softer. I told her that was fine. Just thought it was funny!

She is now an employed soccer referee along with her buddy Amelia! They did their first games this past Sunday afternoon and loved it! I'm sure once she gets a check, she will love it even more.

From Shaanxi Yahoo Group

FYI -- Shaanxi is the province (like a state) that Ally and Frannie are from... this was on the Shaanxi Yahoo Group this AM...

You Know You're An Adoptive Parent When . . .

1. The fact that there are 143 million children in the world without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child's 'real' parents.
7. You have ever been 'pregnant' with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 + years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You know what the word 'Dossier' means, and you can actually pronounce it!
13. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
14. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.

The number of 143,000,000 is staggering and I can't even wrap my mind around that. I wrote it with the zeros, because, to me it's more effective. That combined with #4 on the list makes it even more mind-boggling. Anyway...

BTW - Don't you LOVE my new music (I guess it was time to change from Christmas) -- thanks Jennifer for your quick assistance! We heard SCC sing "Cinderella" a few weeks ago and it is so sweet - reminds me of "Butterfly Kisses" from a few years ago!

It's the Ally Show!

Her favorite game (currently) is "Don't Break the Ice" - she says, "Pay ice, mommy".

We enjoyed our First Friday get-together. Got to meet little Ellie, just home 1 week from China. Try saying "Ella, Ellie, Ally" 3 times in a row!

Ally has enjoyed playing a lot outside this week - sand table, swing, trampoline, parachute (no jumping out of planes though).

Her dry skin has been a bit of a problem, so we have been coating her with thick cream. She loves it and enjoys putting it on herself - her "dots" both get a blob of cream everytime!

So much to blog, not enough time!

A Sad Situation in China

I got this from the Rumor Queen site...

One of the things that came out in last years’ discussion about this is that some SWI (Orphanage) Directors seem to be telling Beijing that $3,000 is no longer enough incentive for them to prepare children for adoption. Apparently some of the SWI’s get paid by the government for the number of children in the SWI. I’ve been told that this per child stipend brings in more money for the SWI over time than the orphanage donation brings in.

I understand that a huge part of adoption is the "business" of adoption. Whether it's "non-profit" or "Christian", it's a business. The above statement has nothing to do with an adoption agency, but it does remind us that somethimes the welfare of the children is not the priority. Yes, we made our "donation" to Ally's orphanage and were happy to do so. But, for this donation to not be enough reason to "bother" to get a child "paper-ready" for adoption is so sad. For the SWI directors to intentionally NOT get a child's papers ready just because it isn't "worth" it to him or her is simply heartbreaking. This is probably a contributor to the slow down.

There are lots of things about which I need to blog, but I'll wait - I want this to sink in....

2005 is Done!

What am I talking about? The CCAA FINALLY finished sending referrals for people logged in during 2005. It only took 32 months to get through the entire year! Isn't that ridiculous? We would STILL be waiting (our date was late January). In my January Yahoo group there are finally a few families celebrating their referrals. That is exciting. When we started the time it was taking to get a referral was about 8 months. Just last week, we would have passed the 25th month!

5 Families

Our agency, Hope for Children, posted their newest Waiting Child list last Thursday. 8 children (5 girls and 3 boys, I think) and 5 of them already have 2 families reviewing them.

Since the agency now gives only 4 days (we had 7 days) for a family to review a file, there are 5 families that will get "the call" tomorrow or Wed that their lives will change forever - their call will be a happy one; that their family was chosen to "get" the child!

There are also 5 other families that will get a call, too; theirs will not be so happy - they were not chosen.

We have been on both sides of those phone calls, and they are both very emotional!

Our Ocean Visit

We took a quick weekend trip to Savannah for All-State Band. Ally and Sara went along for the drive, while Lauren stayed with Aunt Amy. She had several things going on and wanted to stay here! Anyway, we took the convertible and the weather was great! So great, that we ventured out to Tybee Island to show Ally the beach and ocean for the first time. We had not come prepared with bikinis, but that didn't stop Sara from showing Ally what it was all about! The water was C*O*L*D!!! Sara rolled up her shorts and Ally shed everything but her diaper. She laughed and laughed and even dipped her head in the water! Not much this little girl is afraid of.

We had fun - mainly eating and sampling candy on River Street! We had some good pizza, shrimp, beignets (we were both covered in powdered sugar), pralines, and even ate at Paula Deen's restaurant! It was good, but nothing my mom or grandma couldn't cook! Good ole Southern Cookin' -- butter, salt and fried. It doesn't get much better than that. Oh, did I mention sugar? Ha!

I think that Ally's favorite thing was riding the elevators. Sara would pretend to race her to the elevator to get to the button first. Ally would run as fast as her little legs could move, laughing histerically every time! One time, she was running full force to get the button and the door opened right as she got there, so she did not slow down one bit and ran right into a young (mid 20's) guy. He was blind-sided and probably took a few seconds to realize what the little THUD was that hit his legs! Ally just looked up and laughed and ran around behind him to get to the buttons! Didn't phase her one bit.

We went thru the lobby of the Hyatt several times to get to River Street, although we were not staying there. If you have been to Savannah, you know that the downtown area isn't exactly stroller (or wheelchair) friendly. I guess it being some historic district makes it "immune" to the seemingly necessary upgrades/modifications. Anyway, we cut thru the Hyatt - well, the Haytt has a wonderful GLASS elevator that looks into the lobby and it goes up 7 stories! And there is even an escalator up to the 2nd floor! Talk about fun! Ally would stand right at the edge and wave to us (Sara went with her) all the way up. She would even hold the rails in the elevator and pick up her legs (yes, 7 stories up in a glass elevator). Aargh. She even got to pet a pig - in the Hyatt - not sure what that was about, but the pig was there for some convention. Crazy!

We saw lots of doggies - which is always a good thing, in Ally's opinion.

Dancing with Daddy

Lauren and Daddy went to the last (for Lauren) Father/Daughter dance at her elementary school. She was SO excited about her new dress and looked great! She had so much fun dancing with her friends and even her daddy occasionally! They played all of the favorites - Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, HS Musical, etc... After the dance several of them went to Steak-n-Shake for a snack!

I'm Ally...

and I like ...

bath time
choc-O milk
reading books
magnet ABC's
rice
drums
singing "wheels on the bus"
drawing on my hands with markers
cupcake clothes
roaring like a tiger
blue doggie
vitamins
jumping on the trampoline
jumping into the big "foof" chairs
being carried around by mommy
lotion and lip gloss
stickers
Elmo
dancing to Hannah Montana (with big sisters)
being tickled

Our Girl

Doug and I braved the weather (yes, it actually rained in Atlanta) last night and drove up to the Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Alpharetta. It was at a church not quite as big as ours - this was our Valentine for each other (actually, Doug got the tickets!). I was prepared this time, having a wad of Kleenex in my pocket. If you have read our entire blog or know our story from the beginning, you know that his (SCC) story was a catalyst in our decision to adopt from China. As usual, he had many references to the miracle of adoption and was encouraging people to open their hearts and minds to adoption. I remember the last 3 times we saw him -- wishing and waiting for Ally, but not having her yet. But this time was different! Yes, of course, I cried, but this time for a different reason. Mostly happy tears that we have our little miracle girl; some sad, very sad, tears for the children that we saw that we left in China. It's truly heartbreaking, but hopefully, through avenues like his concerts, some of them will find homes like our girl.

Speaking of our girl, these pics were taken at Shelbi Grace's b'day party in late January. Ally, wearing her favorite cupcake ensemble, enjoyed one of her favorite desserts - cupcakes with pink icing! How fun is that?

I went for parent night at the high school that Sara will attend - they are expecting 4200 kids in the fall -- isn't that ridiculous? I can't even believe it, but I know she will be as ready as she can possibly be! I just hope she doesn't get lost too much!

Lauren has started soccer again and hopes to add ref-ing to her plans this spring. She can make a lot of money (for a 10 year old)! That is her motivation!

The girls saved their money and pooled it to buy a Wii. It is about the coolest thing I have ever seen. We have never been much into video games, but this is so fun! I only tried a few things, but they love it! Not the easiest thing to find, I must say, but we had a little bird give us a heads-up about a shipment to a local store!

Welcome Baby Ellie!

Our friends Joan and Scott got their new daughter Ellie today! This is their second adoption from China, so now Katie is a big sister! She is just so cute! They are one of the few families that we have known since the "beginning" to finally finally get their referral the traditional route. Their wait was 26 months -- way too long, but now that they have Ellie, worth every minute! Congrats!

Happy New Year - China Style!

The "Year of the Rat" began this past week in China. Year 4076, I believe I saw somewhere. We dressed up last night and joined friends at the HOPE celebration! It was so much fun to see so many little girls (and a few little boys)! I think the pics say it all. Daddy had to miss out, but the girls had fun. My two favorite pics are both of Ally and Frannie -- one of them hugging and the other of them running (Ally in the background). The girls enjoyed seeing Zi, Shelby and Danielle too. I think that they played the most last night. Ally swiped Frannie's packet of Duck Sauce and kept throwing it in the air - not sure what that was about, but they both smiled and laughed all night! It was fun to see the Burkes.

More Books, Mamma!

That is Ally's favorite phrase now! She is so into having us read her little books to her. The best ones are the ones with flaps to open.

I was OOT last weekend in Dallas for my company's national meeting. I had fun, but did miss the family! I was so busy, and didn't have much down time, so it seemed to go pretty quickly. We had a Super Bowl party! I'm swamped with work right now - thus the lack of blogging!

Sara, Lauren and I went to see the 3-D Hannah Montana movie this week. It was really cute and it seemed like we were really at the real concert!

It happens to be Chinese New Year - the year of the rat - how delightful!

Another Little Glimpse

Thank you Carol (my blog buddy) who sent this to Ellen (Frannie's mommy). I "met" all of these little children when we got Ally. Frannie is second from Left and Ally is on the far right. No idea of who took it or when it was taken (obviously last summer). We laugh at Ally's little "NaturALLY JoJO" shirt, which she was wearing in several other pics. Maybe she loved that shirt like she loves her cupcakes now!

Who are you?

I am going to ask those of you who read my blog (whether you like it or not) to leave a comment and let me know who you are! Normally, I do not allow "anonymous" comments because of some "not-so-nice" occasional comments I got early on. I have temporarily disabled that, so that ANYONE (blogger or not) can comment.

SO, if you are visiting PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave a comment! Also, if I don't know you personally, let me know where you are and how you came across our blog - or how adoption has affected your lives! I can't wait to see -- even if you leave comments regularly, please say HI! These comments were so meaningful during our trip to get Ally - we looked forward to reading them everyday! Thanks again for sharing part of our little world...

Cupcakes!

I mentioned in a previous post that Ally loves cupcakes and coke. Well, she does love to occasionally have a drink of Coke (usually Diet Coke), but the cupcakes are not necessarily the kind you eat (although, she does like the cupcakes she has eaten - at least the icing). She has several outfits that have cupcakes on them. She calls them "clup-clup". She knows what drawer they are in in her dresser. She has even been known to pull her clup-clup pants and shirt out of the dirty clothes. Last night she even wore her clup-clup leggings OVER her zip up jammies! She has worn them to SS/Church the last 2 weeks. Luckily, the outfits (several coordinating pieces) are adorable and PINK, so I'm fine with it!

Today is our 2 year LID'verasry --- 2 years ago, our "wait" for Ally began (that was 5 months after our paperwork started). Just to put this into perspective, if we had not "found" our little Ally on our agency's WC list last May, we would STILL be waiting. So, to the families that shared our LID, or were close, our prayers and sympathies are with you. I would have never imagined that the wait would extend beyond one year, much less two years!

Even MORE Snow!

We had a beautiful afternoon of snow on Saturday! Big flakes, and lots of them. I took some pics/video early, so there wasn't much on the ground, but in the end, we had about 1.5 inches! Enough to cover the grass, tramp and pool cover! We had so much fun. Here is one pic of Ally bundled up in her snow suit - she kept her gloves on this time. Now it's Sunday night and most of it is gone, although it's still cold (20's). Of course, the big girls ran off to friends' houses for more fun in the snow!

Ally LOVES her bath (probably her very favorite thing in the world - next to Coke and cupcakes - another story), so Daddy the "hair stylist" struck again after she came in from the cold!

Snow FUN!!!

As we finished dinner tonight, we looked out into the back yard and what did we see? SNOW! Yes, really! Once a little accumulated on the ground, the girls grabbed their jackets and boots and ran outside! Here are a few pics. Ally had fun, but got frustrated with her mittens! Yes, Georgia got some snow -- no rain, but a little snow (that will most likely melt tomorrow)

Hard to Believe!

But it's true! What you ask? 6 months ago, we met our little Ally for the first time. We were nervous, excited and thrilled; she was scared, heartbroken and confused. We are no longer nervous, but are still excited and thrilled. She is now such a happy little girl that has brought so much joy to our lives.

We do occasionally see an issue or two, but not very often. Sleep is improving, slowly. She has, electively, spent some alone time in her room playing with her toys without panicing about being alone. She might just call for me or come looking for me - but not the panic and fear that I was not in the room with her. It's nice to see. It makes me know her comfort levels are getting there. It is hard to put it into words. Sometimes she pushes me away and kicks and hits; she is inconsolable for no reason that we see. Is this just a 2 year old thing or is this an attachment thing? I don't know. I really don't. Wish I could tap into her little brain and see what she thinks. Please feel free to share, if you know anything about such things! Or even if you just want to throw in your 2 cents worth.

We went swimming this past weekend (well, Doug and the girls - I was a chicken - cold water, you know). Ally had so much fun that she didn't want to leave. I do have pics that I will post.

We love you, Ally. It's hard to believe that 6 months have passed. I will never forget the details of that day!

Driving in China

Here is a link to a video a friend of mine found in U-Tube. It was made about 3 years ago. It's hilarious! About half way through is when it gets really good! The crazy thing is that the intersections that we saw were even more congested than the one here (we did not travel to Nanchang). It will make us appreciate the "order" of our roadways here in USA! Notice that there are NO traffic lights at this BIG intersection -- but also, no wrecks! It works, even though it's crazy!

Baby Gabe!

My friends, Jennifer and Greg, arrived in Guatemala today, along with daughter Tori. They are meeting their new son today! The process is quite different than China, but today is their "Gotcha Day"! He is about 7 months old and adorable! I can't wait to see pics once they post.

Jennifer was nervous about her 4 hour plane trip - of course, she got NO sympathy from me! Sara and Lauren laughed at a 4 hour plane trip - 2 movies and you are there! Not big deal compared to our flight. Also, they only have to deal with a 1 hour time difference - that will hopefully help their transition with getting him and with returning home!

More Christmas Celebrations!

Christmas at Home

These are a few pics that we took over the holidays at our house. One afternoon Ally decided it would be a great idea to wrap her little pink soccer ball. Afterall, we were all wrapping presents and putting them under the tree! Apparently, that is all you do with presents (she didn't know we would unwrap them later)! She (with a little help) wrapped the ball and put it under the tree. Every so often she would pick it up, put it in her doll stroller and take the ball for a ride! She never unwrapped it, but the paper eventually tore! It was so cute.

Big presents were: Sara - futon sofa; Lauren - Bike and VB purses; Ally - pink kitchen.

The last few pics are of our friends, the Millers, who stopped by on New Year's Day for a visit! It was so fun to see them and meet Sarah Beth! I just looked at those 2 little miracles - together after such a long time. The girls enjoyed seeing Josh, Abby and Noah. Hoping to plan a weekend get-away with them soon.