My 300th post!

In honor of my 300th post I'm doing another give away. First of all, I can't believe I got to 300 posts. I remember setting up the blog and sitting down to write that first post in August 2007 and not really knowing what I wanted to say. Blogging truly has been therapy in a way for me, and the people I've met through it are a blessing. The give away is the above necklace that I've worn for almost as long as I've been blogging. The winner will get a brand new one(not mine). It's made by this designer and is sterling silver and has 2 small round charms and a cultured pearl hanging from it. It's 17 inches in length and the words say "I Am Blessed." I am fortunate for the blessings in my life of God, my husband, my children, my parents who are healthy and happy, wonderful family and friends and I could go on and on . During the wait for William those 3 words helped me through some of those long days and difficult times because they reminded me of the those blessings. If you'd like to enter to win this please leave a comment and Grace will draw 1 name next Thursday, Feb. 5. And you don't have to be adopting or an adoptive parent to put your name in.

Favorite Foto Friday

William Michael-- Christmas 2007, in his foster home in China. It was his 2nd birthday. I'm very fortunate to have quite a few pictures of him as a young baby up to the day we adopted him. This is one of my favorites. :)

Friendship Award

My dear friend Lea of Oh My #6 gave me this award a couple of days ago. Thank you Lea, I'm quite honored. Lea is the definition of a true friend to me. I started blogging 18 mos, ago as a way to help myself with the wait to my 3rd child, which I thought at the time was a daughter and turned out to be a son. I never in a million years dreamed where blogging would take me as far as friendships and getting to know such selfless and compassionate people. I can only give the award to 8 people and could have chosen many more.

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find friends and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement.Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships will be propagated.Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly- written text into the body of their award."

I chose some new friends and ones I've known for a while:

1. Deb-Sophie's World.

2. Janet-A Joyful Life.

3. Angie-A Mother's Place.

4. Sharon-And Bai Li Makes 3.

5. Michelle-Born in Our Hearts.

6. Jennifer-Keeping Up With Landree.

7. Kerry-No Matter What.

8. Jill-All for Lucy.

Wordless Wednesday(2)

{Shoes are Jie Jie's}

Happy Chinese New Year!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

translated from Mandarin is 'Happy New Year!'

Me with Grace(18 mos.) celebrating her first Chinese New Year with us 5 years ago.


Miss Grace(age 3 & 1/2) and her big brother Nick(yes, he is a real person).

Grace last year right before we left to celebrate with local families for CNY.








Happy New Year! We started celebrating Chinese New Year 7 years ago with our local FCC group and since Grace's arrival to our family we continue the tradition with getting together every year with her travel group in some capacity. Sometimes at a restaurant or at one of our homes. This year we'll be celebrating as a family tomorrow night at our favorite restaurant. It happens to be owned by a Chinese family from Will's city of Fuzhou in Fujian Province. This family dearly loves William and Grace. For the next 2 weekends we'll be at a local celebration of families with children from China and also Grace's travel group will get together for 2 days. Since I didn't have pics yet to post of those events I thought I'd post a few from years past of Grace. This year I'm hoping to wrangle William into his traditional Chinese outfit...we'll see how that goes. Some bribing with chocolate may help. Wishing you a healthy, prosperous and happy year of the Ox!

Favorite Foto(s) Friday

These are 5 photos taken earlier in the week of my most favorite little girl in the whole wide world, my 6 year old daughter Grace. I speak a lot about Grace and what she's like and how much she means to me. There are times I think that maybe I post too many pics of my 2 young children on my blog and I shouldn't so much. With the wait to adopt from China, sometimes I think it might make people feel bad or worse if that makes any sense. I asked Lea this question in an email and she told me no, she felt that seeing Grace and William gives people hope that someday their children will be home too. May you continue to have hope during this agonizing wait. It will happen. My heart is with you all.

Fabulous Blog Award

My dear friend Lea, of Oh My #6 has given me an award. Lea is possibly one of the kindest and most supportive women I've met. And she has a wicked sense of humor! She is always making me laugh in her emails. Thanks for the award Lea, I am honored.

The Rules are:

Pass it on to 5 fabulous blogs, including the one that gave it to you and link them.

1. Cyndi of Waiting for Lilly Rae. Cyndi has a great sense of style and is a wonderful mom to her son, is waiting for a daughter and I always enjoy her posts.

2. Lisa of The Long Road to China. I'm fairly new to reading Lisa's blog. She's a talented photographer, a devoted mom to 2 and waiting for a daughter from China. Lisa is an ovarian cancer survivor. And I almost forgot to add that she's an awesome cook and I love her posts about her very large extended family.

3. Tonggu Momma at Our Little Tongginator. Another blog that I'm fairly new to reading. What I love about her blog is that she keeps it real. And she's very funny. She speaks about adoption issues, her family and of course her daughter the Tongginator. TM has a true gift of writing. :)

4. Lori of Stress in the New Black. Lori and I have bonded because we are about the same age and we both have grown sons and 2 young children. She has a social life that I envy and stays very busy with her 'twins' from China. There's always something going on in her house. I have laughed until I cry with many of her posts.

5. Missy of Live Big Laugh Often. Been following Missy's blog for a while, I adore Missy and her younger sister Paige. Missy is another talented photographer and the love she has for her sister shows through in every post.

List 5 of your fabulous addictions.

1. My new camera. I'm addicted and have been trying to learn more about it and take pictures everyday. Eventually I'll get off the auto setting. I'm taking 2 classes locally in February and another class in May in Michigan with this talented photographer.

2. Decorating my home. My mom says I decorated my room as a young girl, so it's no surprise that this has continued all my life. I'm always on the quest for something different to add to a room, whether it's a piece of furniture, a small accessory or different curtains. This year we are painting the interior and I'm picking out tile and a design for our kitchen back splash. I also love to rearrange furniture and art for a change. Sometimes fairly frequently to Dan's dismay. I've helped several friends with design choices and have even staged a few for moving.

3. Shopping at flea markets, antique shops and 2nd hand stores. Always one for a great buy or finding a diamond in the rough, I've been a flea market shopper since WAY before it was in style. This Spring I'll be traveling to one of the best of the best flea markets in not just the Midwest, but the U.S. that's in Sandwich, Illinois and I'll do a post and pics about it.

4. Gardening. January in Wisconsin gets my brain working and thinking about what I'll be doing in my yard when Springtime arrives. I designed the landscaping and perennial beds for both the front and backyard of our home 2 years ago. I'm thinking about what I want to do for this year.

5. Blogging. That's obvious.

And I have more than 5, but that's my top 5 right now.

6 months together as a family

William's adoption announcement.

6 months ago, we met William for the first time in a conference room in the Lakeside Hotel in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China. I've thought for a while about what I wanted to say about William's first 6 mos. with us. I guess I could sum it up as...he's come a looong way. Those challenging times have passed for the most part. 'Challenging' is one of those words that you use when you're trying to be nice and really mean it was horrible and chaotic and Will was terribly, terribly sad, angry and grieving. Adopting a toddler is very different than an infant. Somethings are harder but many things are easier. It's not better or worse, just different. I find it ironic in a way that we originally requested a NSN girl, as young as possible. I was afraid of adopting a SN child. With my nursing background I'd seen so much. Through some dear friends from Grace's travel group who adopted their second daughter from China who had the SN of a cleft lip and palate, we saw the miracle of this little girl. So a year ago exactly (Jan. 2008) we changed our request with CCAA to a SN boy OR girl with a cleft. 3 months later William Michael appeared on our agency's list. I fell in love with his picture and his story. We asked to adopt him and were approved. Will's repaired cleft lip and palate is not an issue, the bigger issue was a 2 and 1/2 year old going from a foster home who gave him outstanding care and endless love to our home. He has learned to love us. Those first few challenging months are what they are and you can't wish them away. They are part of the process. After the initial grief, a little boy who is charming, funny, bright, kind and very loving has emerged. And it has been worth every single second with him...getting through the hard stuff to see the real child that he is. A joy.