Those rose-colored glasses again!

..and After!

After the cut, Natalie shyly told Holly she really wished she had curly hair... Holly was so sweet to take alot of time and curl Natalie's hair in ringlets! It was something to behold and amazingly enough the curls lasted pretty well throughout the day.....

This morning I took some photos of her with her new hairstyle as she was on her way to church.

She is still very happy with her new look and for that I'm very happy too!

Before.....

Natalie's long and lovely hair......

Big News!

No....it is not TA news. But the big news around here is that Natalie agreed (yes, of her own free will) to cut her long tresses and generously donate her hair to "Locks of Love".

We are incredibly proud of her and we think she looks absolutely adorable with her new "do".

Here are her "before" and "after" pictures!

Her hair was especially pretty yesterday when we went to the hair salon for the cut....isn't that always the case? I was worried that her "good hair day" would cause her to change her mind but she was resolute and didn't have a moment's hesitation before or during the cut. Whew!

Deb

Natalie was practicing her photography skills and insisted on taking a few photos of me. Sorry, but she insisted on posting the picture. Everyone who knows me understands how I do not like to have my picture taken. :-)

Wrapping up July

Glad we're finally moving into August in a couple of days & closer to Anna. We're still hoping for TA towards the end of August. I thought I'd post a few pictures from July around our house.

Roger's parents came for a visit mid-July. We really enjoyed seeing them & Natalie had fun. Hope to get back to Florida for a visit before too long.

And here is a picture of Natalie and Simon snuggling (this must have been before Simon started slobbering like he does when he's happy :-) Natalie does not tolerate cat slobber!

Happy Birthday Anna!

Today is Anna's 2nd birthday! It is so hard not to be able to celebrate it with her. I wonder if her foster family or the orphanage celebrates the childrens birthdays?? I have met another family online whose daughter was fostered by the same family a few years ago. She has assured me that the family takes very good care of the children, so that is a huge relief. I bet I'll get birthday pictures when we get our baby. :-) Happy birthday, sweetie!!

A sad day...

Today is a sad day. Our dear friends Florence, Grace and Caroline have moved to Maryland. We'll miss them so very much. Here are a couple of pics of Natalie and Grace playing recently.

Settling in for our long wait...

For those of you who are interested in such things, here is our info about our wait for Anna. As of today, we're are 21 days into our wait for TA (travel approval). I'm guessing we'll get TA around day 60 (if we're lucky).

DH Roger
DD Natalie (almost 7) (a. Jiujiang, Jiangxi 3/00)
DD to be Anna (almost 2) (Jin Yan Chang, waiting for us at A Mothers Love, Nanning, Guangxi)
Agency: Hope for Children
LOI-3/17/06
PA-4/17/06
DTC-6/14/06
LID-6/22/06
TA-??

Anna's Mystery Friend

This little girl is shown in lots of pictures with Anna. She must be a friend. Possibly she is also in foster care awaiting her forever family? Let me know if she looks familiar to you.

Anna's Foster Family

Here are some photos of her foster family (and their 26 year old son).

Anna in her "natural habitat"

Better late than never....I'm finally posting some of the photos that we received from Anna's foster family last month. We are so fortunate to have sent 2 packages to her via friends who were travelling to China for their girls....and the last family who traveled was kind enough to bring back the camera we had sent earlier. These photos are absolute priceless treasures. This first one is of Anna in her apartment. She's holding the tiger that Natalie sent to her. They have matching white tigers. The foster family says Anna hugs and kisses her tiger :-)

The Jie Jie

And this is a picture of the big sister, Natalie....and her famous rose-colored glasses...

The Mei Mei

Here is another picture of Anna. This was taken by her foster family in May 2006.

In the beginning...

This blog is about our journey to our mei-mei (little sister) - Anna. Anna is currently waiting for us in Nanning, Guangxi, China. We hope to be able to travel to China In August or September to bring her home. She will then join her big sister (jie-jie) Natalie.