12 Months-1 Full Year Since LID

It's official....1 Year today since I "officially" started waiting. I started this whole process in August of 2005, thinking by Christmas of 2006 my daughter would be home. I had no idea at the time that my life would change so much in just a year while I waited!
I have met some amazing friends, my house has been absolutely transformed, and I'm learning nearly daily about adoption, adopted children, and children in general as I read & prepare for the my daughter to come home. Now I realize that it was not Christmas of 2006, but Christmas of 2007 that is the likely "arrival time" for my daughter to come home.

To celebrate my LID-Versary today- I met up with the other single Mamas & had a great breakfast & morning of conversation, then Cindy, Heidi, Mary & I went to Seagals to register Cindy. Unfortunately we missed Sharon as she had another committment! :( We had a fun time registering, but one of my favorite finds was this book:
Now anyone who knows me knows that if it's about food, I'm all for it. I truly believe the GYM exists solely so that I can bake, enjoy what I've baked, then go get rid of it at the gym. No I'll never be svelte, but I figure as long as I break even, it keeps my heart healthy and my soul happy! (Heart: GYM. Soul:COOKIES!)

So the purpose of this book is to explain to kids what all of the different virtues mean- both the good and the bad. I loved the 2nd one:

PATIENT means waiting and waiting for the cookies to be done. A few more minutes. Aren't I waiting so nicely? Still waiting.

And another good one I liked:

OPEN-MINDED means, I've never seen cookies like that before, but, uh, sure, I'll try one.

Happy LID-Versary to a couple of my LID-sharing Blogger Pals- Holly & Connie! Here's hoping for Christmas in China!!!

A few pictures...

To keep my blog from getting completely boring...here are a few pics until I have time to write again...

This is a pic from my New Years Brunch. No...not the Lunar New Year...Yes...I really am that far behind...This is my classmate's wife Junxi & former classmates boyfriend's sister-Salli. (did you follow that?) This will make it easier- these are my friends Junxi & Salli.

And here are a couple of cutie little girl pics from our Christmas Secret Mei Mei party. Alana knows how effective her smiles are!

Ruby was the big girl at the Secret Mei Mei party- very patient with all the little ones and a total cutie to boot!

Miss M. also has quite the little smile going! She is a *bundle* of energy and nearly all smiles everytime I've seen her!!!

Why the sudden catch-up on pics? I received photoshop elements for my birthday! That combined with the photography class I'm taking at the community college this term is spurring on the interest. And...I ended up with 1000 photos that I had not had developed in the year and a half since I bought a digital camera. I will *not* be doing that again and I promise to be much better about organizing & printing my photos and not just storing them away on the computer where I never look at them.....really!

A few more quilt blocks...

Just a quick post of a few more quilt blocks. I'm up to 19, but not sure how many more I need to make! I have more pics to post, just no time now though! The pattern I have is for a twin size quilt, and it calls for 20 blocks, but I think I'll be making a queen size quilt...seems more appropriate for long term use! Thanks Z girl for the lovely new fabrics...you can see one of them in the last block below!!!

Happy Birthday Paul!!!

This is a special Birthday wish for my old chinese classmate Paul, who is living in Amsterdam for a few years...

祝你生日快乐,
祝你生日快乐,
祝你生日快快乐,
祝你生日快乐!!!

Best Wishes Paul! Hope you have a GREAT birthday!!!

bi-bu-bi比

This is a short & sweet story.



Tonight in Chinese class we were reviewing our homework on comparisons- using gen...yiyang to show this is the same as that, and Bi to show "this compared to that". Now in Chinese the negative of something is Bu. (sounds like "Boo") So we were making sentances using these structures. And mine came out something like this:



shang xingqi de zuoye bu bi zhe ge zhuoye rongyi.



which simply means, last week's homework compared to this week's homework is not easier.

and then it hit the class.



bu bi.



boobie.



I must be hopped up on sugar today or something because this suddenly struck me as downright silly. And the laughs came out. As did the rest of my classmates...except for one woman who just sat there and said "oh I guess I missed something" even though 2 of the classmates kept repeating "Boobie, Boobie, Boobie...." One of my (male) classmates said "I only have one bu bi" (as in, he only had one sentance using that structure), then he got it....and said it again probably for pure entertainment value.



Now would be the time to clarify that we are all adults. In my class there is one 25 yr old college student, a 50 something Dr, a 50 something accountant, a 40 something engineer, the 50 or 60 something woman who didn't get it, and me, the 30 something engineer. So we're all pretty well educated and normally above such silliness. But this was too much.



boobie boobie boobie. yup....still making me giggle a little. I'm sure it will pass by the morning.

Out of Review & our first Biao Jie!

It's Finally happened! I am officially OUT of Review!

Today was an amazing day! First....I woke up knowing that *today* is the day that Cindy will get to see her daughters face for the first time! Then, I checked email to see that THIS magic little box had finally been updated!

And Finally, probably....definitely...the most exciting of all- "The Call" from Cindy saying her referral had arrived, and the first of 4, "Referral Day Lunches!" It was fantastic!

I know you won't be able to see the Lovely Miss Fu Chuan Jin, but I do so love the idea that Cindy is "holding" her daughter the first day she sees her...in a matter of speaking...Have you ever seen such joy?

The first of the 4 "referral day group" pics...Heidi (left) is next, then me, then Sharon (betwen Cindy & I).

And now back to the Beautiful Chuan Jin...she is 2! A Big Girl! She is shy...she is adorable! Did I mention she is perfect? We are so happy to finally be Aunties! Biao Jie means older cousin....so she will be the first cousin in our "village"- and will have several Biao Mei's (Younger cousin) in the next year or so! Congratulations Cindy! She has been waiting for you as long as you've been waiting for her!!