What a difference a year makes...

One year ago today we were introduced to our adorable youngest daughter, Anna, who was known at the time as ChangChang. She came into our family at the perfect time and has been an incredible joy to us.

The picture above shows our Anna after only being with us for an hour. She looks so sad, with her teary eyes and quivering lip.....although she was prepared for her new family, she still was terrified at first.



Fast forward to a couple of hours later and our first dinner.....see that impish smile and sparkle in her eyes? That's the Anna we know. It still amazes us that she was comfortable enough within a few hours to be her naturally goofy self.

I've always loved this picture of Roger giving Anna a smooch a few days later....remember, she would not have anything to do with him for the first several days.....it was so hard for him not to be able to hold her. Now, she adores her daddy & cannot get enough of him.

Before (above)

Same bubbly, sweet smile (and SLIGHTLY more hair has been cultivated :-)

After (below)



HAPPY FIRST GOTCHA DAY, ANNA!!

We love you and we're so happy and fortunate that you are our daughter!

Autumn Moon Festival

Last year we were in China for the Autumn Moon Festival, and here we are in the US this year. I can't believe it has been one year soon since we brought Anna into our family. Today we were getting ready to celebrate the Autumn Moon Festival with the local FCC group. As I was helping Anna get dressed, I pulled out the two pair of shoes that her foster mother gave her (one pair she was wearing when we received her). The outfit I chose for her to wear was very similar to the one she came to us wearing. Apparently this brought a flood of memories of her foster mother because she began asking where her foster mother was. For some reason, Anna was thinking that the party we were going to was in China and her foster family would also be there. :-) She brought it up several times over the course of the evening & on the way home asked if we were going to China. She was always upbeat about it & not asking in a stressed way, just excited to be "going to China". Wow.

Anyway, here are a few pics of Natalie and Anna in their Moon Festival finery.

I decided to make an attempt at creativity......(not my strong suite). So here is my American version on moon cakes (since no one I know actually likes authentic chinese mooncakes!)

In case you can't tell, this is a lantern cake, and the chinese symbols represent the mid-autumn festival. The white one is like the bright, full moon. What do you think?

Anna is always (well almost!) in awe of her jie jie!

Grammy and her girls

A small gathering of our FCC group

Pass the catch-up

Time to catch up on what's been going on for us lately.....


First and foremost, we want to let Natalie know how proud we are of her that she is now officially a sponsor of a "Baby Sister" in China. For Natalie's 8th birthday, she requested donations for Half the Sky Foundation in lieu of gifts. We send in her donation money along with a request that Natalie be able to sponsor a child for one year, with a special request that the child be from Natalie's orphanage in Jiujiang, Jiangxi. We are honored that a baby has been chosen for Natalie. The baby is currently 9 months old and she is in the Baby Sisters Infant Nurture program sponsored by Half the Sky. They have done so many good things in the past 10 years for these children, it is amazing and we're very proud to be associated with them and even more proud of Natalie for wanting to make a direct difference in a baby's life. We'll get quarterly updates and our greatest wish is that we'll hear that she was adopted into a loving family.

Mandarin Class

The girls are now attending Chinese language classes one afternoon each week. There are two age groups.....the bigger girls are learning to write and the little girls are working on numbers, colors, and fruits. These children are SO smart and language is so much easier for them to learn at this age. My brain is like concrete....

Pimped my ride....

In other breaking news......I got a new car.....I dearly LOVE my new Santa Fe!!!!! Woohoo!

The following pictures are just simple sweetness.....

Thanks for checking in.....I'll make my typical pronouncement of "I'll do better".....and I will try!

One Year Ago

It was exactly one year ago that we finally got the long-awaited call that we had received travel approval (TA) to go to China for Anna.

I'll never forget that call and the excitement of rushing to make all the travel arrangements. I felt so "alive" that day. Whew! What an adrenaline rush! It is so hard to believe that we have had Anna in person for 11 months now. And we feel so fortunate that we somehow managed to have her in our arms within 7 months of first "seeing" her. Sadly the wait times have increased so much for China adoptions.....hopefully they will speed up soon and these families can be created much sooner.

I'll have the Pip n Pop song in my head again all day today, just like I did one year ago....

"L-O-V-E....Loooooooove....just can't get enouuuuuuugh." Have a great day!

Natalie's 8th birthday!

My 3rd Grader!

I can't believe my baby had her first day of school today as a 3rd grader! Where does the time go? I could lie & say this picture was taken on the way to school this morning, but truthfully, it was so humid that my camera lens fogged completely!! So I took this one when we got home after Natalie suffered in the 111 degree heat index for 40 minutes waiting for me to get thru the carline to pick her up. Oy...I'll be glad when all the "new moms" figure out how to do the carline! It is always awful the first week until everyone gets the hang of it. Anyway, I think she still looks pretty perky after the long hot day. Too bad you can't see the fab leopard print backpack she has......pure Natalie!

Friends and sisters

I want to be a cowgirl

And I have the perfect pink boots to prove it!

Anna was upset recently when Natalie started wearing her pink boots (lovely with shorts :-) everywhere.....she asked where HER boots were. So off to the store & found this ultra cute pair....she cried giant crocodile tears this morning when meanie daddy told her she couldn't wear them to school. I took pity on her and saved the day by letting her wear them. Could her smile get any bigger? I've never seen anyone so proud of the pink cowgirl boots! Yee-haw!

By popular request...

Here he is.....the short-lived saga of "Joey" the truck-undercarriage-riding kitten... cute, huh?
A little scrawny....I think he needs to eat some of the squirrels in our back yard for sustainance.
He's very playful & loves to get into trouble.
And here is trouble. AKA Simon....who is our one and only cat.

He was NOT too thrilled that I was outside taking pictures

of the scrawny kitten when I could be inside, opening a can of cat food or scratching his back.

Happily, our worry over what to do about the kitten was solved the next morning when our neighbor's wife and son saw him. They called us at work and asked if they could have him. Duh...yep! And I said I'd even throw in a bag of cat food too.

They have named him "Joey". He spends alot of time hanging around our house, but that's OK. I just hope they take good care of him.

He is pretty dang cute!

But then again, so is Simon.

44 Ounces of Glorious Crack...

...also known by the street name Yuban coffee.

This is what my Montana sister sent me for my birthday.

An attempt I'm sure to get me completely hooked on a coffee that is very difficult to find here in L.A. Hmmmmm....I wonder what her ulterior motive is?

Roger's Bad Day...

Poor Roger. Yesterday was just one bad thing after another.

It started off with a stressful exit...we all hate rushing out the door to work. But it happens sometimes & we just move on.

Fast forward to yesterday evening. He comes in the door looking exhausted and with his usual workday dirt (it happens when you work in restoring old homes ;-)....but he had a new addition to his wardrobe....he had "accesorized" his forehead with a couple of poorly placed bandaids! What happened to you?!?! He said he smacked himself between the eyes with the prybar when it slipped. Ouch! So he has a 1"+ vertical split right between the eyebrows....We got it cleaned up & put some butterfly closures on it so hopefully it will be OK, and the imminent scar will just add to his craggy good looks :-)

In the course of the day, he also slipped with the hammer & knocked a hole in some siding or something. Geesh.

Just when you think things can't get worse, he was filling up his truck (yeah, I guess that could be considered "worse" too....hehe), he looked down and there was a KITTEN sitting on top of his rear wheel! What the ---- he mutters. He reached for it, but it scurried back up under the truck and settled into the spare tire. He spent alot of time trying unsuccessfully to retrieve said kitten, and finally gave up. He drove home & looks....and there is that blasted kitten! Still hanging out in the tire compartment.

He finally manages to get it out....a cute little kitty.....not sure how old, but a playful little orange and white tabby. Now what? First of all, we are not.....repeat NOT....equipped for another cat. Simon the cat is now a housecat & we're fine with just the family we have. But then again, we don't want the kitten harmed either. We know that it would be iffy for the kitty's future if we took it to the animal shelter. And the animal rescue foundation was full. So we ended up putting some canned food and water out on the porch & letting it out of the cat cage. It was so sweet and playful....after it ate a good bit of cat food from a spoon.

Needless to say, kitty was still on the porch this morning and was incredibly adorable...playing with each of our shoes as we walked out. Anna thought the kitty was so cute...that is until it started playing with the hem of her dress! She freaked with that and I had to pick her up to save her from the vicious kitten who tried to eat her dress! :-)

Anyone want a cute little kitty?

Anna's 3rd Birthday Party

More from Montana

Here are a few more photos from our wonderful trip to Montana.

For Natalie, one of the highlights of every trip is going to visit Dragon Hollow and A Carousel for Missoula http://www.carrousel.com/about.php . This carousel is amazing with all the hand-carved ponies. One of the few remaining in the country. Her favorite pony has always been "Paint". As the caroulsel spins, riders reach out to grab colorful rings from the dragon's mouth. There is always one brass ring inside....the lucky person to grab a brass ring wins a free ride! Natalie did not get the brass ring - this time - but she did grab 9 rings on one ride! This was her first time riding that she was tall enough to reach on her own! Way to go Natalie!!

Some of the other photos are of the kids at Splash Montana. This is one of the many parks in Missoula and we are amazed at how clean and fun it is. And SO reasonably priced too! Aunt Laura took the kids without us....I was watching her pack some things to take to the waterpark....You know, the usual sunscreen, snacks, hats, magazines...Wait! Magazines?? I laughed!!! "You REALLY think you're going to have a chance to read those?" I asked. "Sure!" sayeth Laura. Well alrighty then, if you can, you're a better woman than I!! Needless to say, the magazines never made it out of the bag with water-crazed Anna around! I guess it has been awhile since she's taken a tot to a water-park :-) But I give her points for giving it a whirl.

3 Days at Seeley Lake, Montana

I've been working on getting some pictures ready, but between working, trying to catch up on sleep (ha!), laundry, and everything else associated with returning from vacation, it has been laborious. Here is one group of photos I took when we were at Seeley Lake, MT for 3 days, including 4th of July. We had a wonderful time and the lake was perfectly gorgeous while we were there! It was warm during the day, but when the sun finally set (after 10:30!) it was so incredibly cool. And downright chilly each morning when we got up to drink our coffee on the beach. All 9 of us shared a wonderful cabin just off the swimming beach. We were joined by our friends Reese, Eamon & their 2 children (they brought their RV). It was alot of fun having a campfire each evening & making s'mores & just relaxing and being mesmerized by the flames. This was a particularly memorable Montana vacation for us.

What a beautiful place.

105

That's what the temperature is here in Montana right now.
Leave it to us to leave the miserable, sweltering south to come to "cool" Montana for a record-breaking heatwave!!! It is 105 degrees at this writing....but I must admit, I have not broken a sweat once since we've been here! Not even on a 2-hour hike to a beautiful waterfall a few days ago. I feel like I should take a batch of cookie dough outside & let them bake! The hot breeze makes it feel like a convection oven, but only 11% humidity (compared to the current 79% in Mobile!)

I haven't had time to blog, but have just a moment, so I'll hit the highlights & hope to get pics on later or tomorrow. I spent the first 2 days dealing with doctor visits for Anna. She managed to get a respiratory infection just as we were leaving town. And she gets hives all over when she gets a fever, to further complicate matters. So the first doc says, oh, it's viral.....just give her benedryl & motrin. Humph I say, so I take his advice & move along. That night, she was coughing most of the night & crying with the pain of the miserable nose & throat. So the next day, & call & as mama bear who knows her child says "give me antibiotics NOW!" (Montana is one of those places that is all peace, love, happiness, and no antibiotics :-) I had to go back to see yet another doctor, who after a very thorough examination "concurred" with me that an antibiotic was in order. duh. Yesterday was the first day she was in great shape & she's been doing fine & loves taking her meds.

Also, within one hour of our arrival, Natalie was stung 2 times by a hornet. One below her lower lip and once on her back.....geez....her first stings & me not knowing if she was allergic or not....lucky for me (and her?) I had a handy dandy benadryl melt-in-your-mouth strip, so I popped that in while she was screaming her lungs out. Her lip swelled up much larger two days later, prompting me to thing another doctor visit was in order, but it finally subsided.

Let's see.....I'm in pretty good shape, Roger is allergic to some weed out here & mom is dying with am infected tooth or something that requires a root canal, so a dentist here kindly prescribed an antibiotic for her to get started on, but she'll be suffering the next few days.

Other than all the medical issues, we've had a wonderful time & just love it here in big sky country. We're out the door in a minute to go to some friends home for dinner. They live about 20 miles from here in the country....which reminds me, I must take pictures! I have not taken nearly as many as I wanted, but oh well...

Cheerio from the land of buffalo and pie!

Big Sky Country here we come!

The time is finally here for our long-awaited vacation to Big Sky Country (aka Montana)! We will fly out of New Orleans early tomorrow morning and fly into Spokane. From there we will make the very scenic drive (a few hours) from Eastern Washington, through the mountains of Idaho and into Missoula in the far western section of Montana.

The photo above is beautiful Seeley Lake, where we will have a cabin for our entire family of 10 for 3 nights next week. Another adventure we have planned is biking on the Hiawatha Trail. http://www.skilookout.com/hiaw/index.html We did that 2 years ago and it was amazing!

I'm looking forward to sharing lots of pictures and maybe even some fun stories :-) But for now...it is off to bed for a couple of hours of rest before the adventure begins!

Natalie's Dance Recital

Last weekend Natalie had her first jazz and tap dance recital. She has taken classical ballet classes for several years, but this year she wanted to try something different. She had a great time being able to put more of her personality into her dance routines and I hope she continues with it for the next several years. It is startling to us when I apply a tiny bit of makeup for the theater....a bit of lipstick, a dab of eyeshadow & one flick of mascara.....she changes from s little girl into an amazing beauty giving us a preview of how she might look years from now as a young adult. Wow.

Here are a few pictures from the recital day. We couldn't take pictures in the theater, but I do want to buy the professional video. Also threw in a few other pics just for fun.

We're getting ready for our long-awaited vacation to Montana....it has been too long since we've been there. Hoping it stays cool there so we can get a break from this horrendous heat.

To all the daddys out there - HAPPY FATHERS DAY! Roger has taken his girls to the pool this afternoon. Obviously, he is MUCH more fun at the pool than I am :-)

Cwock-A-Licious!!!

You've never seen anyone be so proud of UGLY shoes as Anna is of new Florida Gator "CWOCKS" Last summer I bought her some greens ones just like her sissy, but she has the tinest feet I have ever seen and although she LOVES Crocs, they are just huge...so since her feet are still the teensy size 6 that they were in October, I finally acquiessed and bought some smaller ones that fit better. I must do a video of her explaining how they are "MY cwocks" with her ever-expressive facial expressions
EVEN SIZE 6 IS TOO BIG FOR THESE DAINTY FEET!!!!!So Proud of these BEAUTIFUL and GLAM shoes :-)

A perfect day at the beach

Last weekend the Layden family came down from Atlanta for a weekend visit and beach trip. (Here's the link to their blog http://ianandlili.blogspot.com/ which has MUCH better photographs than mine, and Debbie L. writes much better prose than I :-) (Just scroll down to "Beach Weekend") Bottom line is we really had a wonderful time and it was nice to take ourselves away from all the work that faces us 24 hours a day. So a BIG thank you to the Laydens for helping us get away from it all for a little while. Hope they can come again SOON!!!