The sweetest boys......

My boys are so excited about their sister! When they wake up in the morning they know it is nighttime in China so yell.....and I mean yell "Goodnight E- sweet dreams". When they go to sleep they yell "We hope you have a great day E....we love you". How sweet is that?

Everything that can be done while my husband is gone is done- I just wait on him to get home so we can press play on the paperchase......I'm having trouble with the pause button being pushed.....so what is a girl to do?.....shop for E of course! She is the proud new owner of 9 new outfits- all cute pink and purple........I had no idea they made such cute tights for little girls.......adorable......I am having trouble with the nursery- I want it girly but not babyish......pretty but fun and something that will grow a bit with her......I'm looking forward to hearing more from her orphanage....I joined a yahoo group and there are a few people traveling around the end of the year so they've offered to take pictures of Cai Wei while they are there....so generous!

These must be yours!

While at the library for storytime I took the opportunity to print off some adoption paperwork since our printer is broken........a few of the pages where chinese characters for Cai Wei's photo album (thanks Mary-Mia for offering them on your site!). When I went to the counter to collect and pay for my prints another women (Chinese) got there the same time as I did. The librarian behind the counter looked at the pages in the printer and handed me the ones in english and the other women the pages with chinese characters on them. We both looked at the pages given to us and at the same time said "these are not mine".......we then took the opportunity to exchange papers and smile to each other knowing the mistake was not intentional but a common misperception. The librarian apologized- and looked for an explanation as did the chinese women (I can hear it in her head now....what is this white women doing with those?!) I explained that my husband and I were adopting and she was so excited for us. She thanked me and offered me her name and number if I should need any help with translation/culture/etc. What an interesting trip to the library!

Congratulations!

I was hoping CCAA would get farther into August- but the 9th isn't the "worst" they could have done......congrats to everyone who will be seeing their child's face for the first time- what a precious moment that will be. I can not wait to see referral pictures!

We are on our way......

no- not to China.....yet! but on our way in the process! Our LOI was sent off to translation today and hopefully my husband got my message and he'll print it off and sign it and then overnight it to me....then I can sign it and overnight it to the agency- phew......I hope this is his last work trip until the paperchase is over...........

Notice anything new?

I remember......

On Septmeber 11, 2001 my husband and my 9 month old son and I were in our empty living room looking at a bunch of boxes. Most of our wordly possessions had been shipped back to American and the only things left were those that I would need while my son and I were temporarily living in New York. My husband would be in training for 4 months in Alabama. Everyone I love lives in New York. I was so very excited to be going back home for a few months to reconnect with family and friends and to show my son where his parents grew up. My neighbor at the time knocked on our door and told us to turn our (borrowed) TV on. She told me that the World Trade Towers had been hit by airplanes. She hysterically left my house and went back to her own. My husband and I thought it a far fetched story and assumed she was wrong and being very dramatic.........I turned the TV on just in time to have my whole world change. We watched as the first Tower crumbled. I had no phone. I had no way to contact my family and find out what was going on. I was living a half a world away and had no idea what to do. The base immediately locked down- I have NEVER seen anything like it in my life. I am used to M-16's greeting me and ID's being checked but I've never had my car searched, my person searched and my son searched upon entering a military installation before.....but this would be our way of life for the next week.

We were 2 days away from moving from England back to the United States.....now not only did we not have any of our belongings- not have any of our utilities- and no way to contact our families.....we had no idea when or if we could get home. I've never been so scared in my life. I have friends who work on Wallstreet. My sister lived in Manhattan. I would later find out the planes that hit the towers circled over the small town I grew up in......

Eventually we got ahold of our families- they were fine. They now knew that we were fine. We were moved into base lodging so we had a roof over our head and running water- we would be okay.

My most memorable moment during this most tragic time was grocery shopping in a British grocery store the day after and the manager came over the loud speaker and asked for a 2 minute moment of silence for America and her lost souls.....I cried. and for that I will always love England. Every store front had a sign blessing our country-showing sympathy- all of England's flags were at half mast.......they lost beloved citizens too, I know.....but the outpouring of love for America- it was amazing and heartwarming. At first my husband and I (and I imagine most of the families living overseas) felt very alone- very isolated- wanting to be home, helping.......but we were embraced by a foreign country who lifted us up on her shoulders during a very dark time......it had its own feeling of home.


we flew home less than a week after the tragedy. I was so scared. I felt bad for a few men on our plane that were being "profiled".....they certainly looked like middle eastern men- were traveling alone and we obviously being treated differently because of their appearance. We went through a very very thorough search- and boarded the plane......we began to taxi and a man on our plane "had a nervous breakdown". He began screaming things at the middle eastern men- screaming to get off of the plane and the plane turned around. We were all ordered off of the plane to be researched- the plane researched and our luggage researched.....he was taken into custody and hopefully found peace- I don't think anyone blamed him for his reaction- we were all probably 2 minutes from insanity ourselves.......in the end we landed safely in New York- we were home........I remember- I will never forget.

B*U*F*F*A*L*O

are you ready for some football?

Single mom.....again!

overheard at my house a few nights ago.....
Spaceman: "do you want the good news or the bad news"?
Me: "ummmmm- good news"!
Spaceman: "I got picked up for SOS"! (squadron officer school)
Me: "that is fantastic! good for you. Congratulations" (totally forgetting what is to follow!)
Spaceman: "thanks"
Me: .....I go about my business.....no words.
Spaceman: "well, do you want the bad news"?
Me: "oh yeah, I forgot....what"?
Spaceman: "I leave Sunday"
Me: "oh, wow- that is bad news"..... (banging my head against the counter.....)


so I'm a single mom again- I do not know how both of our moms did it- three kids each- but I hate the periods of time that I'm on my own.....our family works better when we are all under one roof. We'll get through it- we always do.......there are lots of advantages of being a military family but this sure is one of the disadvantages........

My boys!

What the....?

This is not the story I wanted to wake up to this morning. Steve Irwin has been a staple around our house since Jr. Spaceman was 2. We all loved this show and had hoped to one day visit his zoo together as a family.....shoot, we even named our dog Steve Irwin. (no....sadly not joking.) What a sad day. Not only did he make "crikey" a household word but he made learning about animals fun........and made the wiggles tolerable. His poor family.

Heart.....

Retired. But the man played with heart- that is for sure. The scoreboard did not even begin to show what he left out on the court today.........his fans were given a true finale and I'm glad I got to see it- time for someone to step up and try to fill a very very large pair of shoes........