We are official

We received the official word today that as Wanda would put it, DTC (in adoption lingo that is Dossier To China). That means in regular person speak that we are about halfway there, according to the steps on our timeline. It didn't seem like the paperwork was going to be that much of a time consuming process, but at last we are finally done. Now believe it or not the next step is waiting some more.

Please Note: The following is my version of today's news. Read it and guess who runs around the house showing excitement and who expresses their excitement with a big quiet smile.

Today was one of the days that we have been waiting on since July 17th, 2005 (approximately 6 1/2 months). Our dossier was mailed to China today via UPS!! Now we can join many others in the adoption process who are DTC !! The picture above doesn't even begin to summarize the paper chase we have endured but there it is . . . 13 official documents. Everyone keeps asking when we will go get her. Our best estimate is that she will be a nice Christmas vacation trip and the best Christmas present we've ever gotten. I'm so excited and can't wait to hear from our adoption agency when our official log in date (LID) will be. The sooner we get logged in to adopt, the sooner we will get our sweet Lexi home.

After work today, I ran to Classic Country to get Geoff some Yankee Candle air freshener refills for his office to keep it from having that old building smell and found a little ceramic wall hanging that said, "May this child grow with grace, and may the light of the Lord shine upon her path". I thought this was the most amazingly appropriate thing to buy for her room, especially today. I do pray that the Lord will shine upon her path will keep her safe and sound not only until we bring her home but for the rest of her precious life. This just may have to be part of my wish for her that will go into her 100 Wishes Book.

And speaking of the 100 Good Wishes Quilt. I went to the post office today and bought every Chinese New Year stamp they had (along with just as many 2 cent stamps so I could use them). I'm working on sending out instructions for friends and family to help us with the quilt. I'm probably going to wear out this old printer but so far so good. I'll have them out as soon as I can. I will mail a few tomorrow. Mom is ready to get started and so am I!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Belated Birthday Mom! Maybe one year I'll get it right. Wanda gave me a heads up but I still missed it, even though I did talk to you twice on your birthday. I guess it only counts if you say Happy Birthday. Regardless if we messed up or not, we both love you very much. Our present to you is a baby girl... she'll just be a bit late for your birthday but hopefully will be with us by the end of the year. Happy Birthday!!!

I've already mentioned how busy I've been the past few weeks. My job responsibilities have been in high gear to the point that this week, I ran on pure adrenaline. So much so that I took a nap when I came home yesterday and then slept in until 11:30 today! I've taught classes for entire days, ran around observing teachers, and put on a grand production for our Superintendent, all the principals and other big-wigs in our county (that's the one that really had me going). Everything has went well and I still love my job! It's this kind of busy-ness that will help pass the time as we wait for Lexi. So I'm catching up on my blogging. I do this to help me remember the ups and downs of this adoption process so that I can share it with Lexi someday.

Last weekend was possibly one of the best weekends I've had in a very long time. I began with going to my scrapbooking group on Saturday morning to begin our adoption journey scrapbook (again, this blog will help me as I build pages and try to remember everything we've done). I made our very first page for our book. I still have some finishing touches to put on it like our picture, but the hardest part is over... GETTING STARTED! I'm a pretty creative person, but for some reason, I had a hard time getting going. Once I finish the first page, I will be sharing it on the blog.

After scrapbooking, Geoff and I headed to Jacksonville to see "Movin' Out". He surprised me with this little over night trip idea back in December. And boy did he do a great planning job! We stayed at the Omni Hotel which as conveniently located across the street from the theater. Dinner was easy also because diagonally across from the hotel was the Landings, which is a restaurant and shop area on the Jacksonville River. It was beautiful and had plenty of places to choose from. We enjoyed the show. Although, Geoff didn't quite understand the first act because he didn't read about it in the guide. He expected it to be like the shows we saw in Vegas where they people talked and sang the music. In "Movin' out", they have a man who sings all the music and the dancers do ballet to the music. After I told him this, he liked it a lot better. We had such a great time. We slept in on Sunday and then went to shop a bit, ate lunch at Dave and Busters, played some games after eating and then went home. It wasn't really a vacation but it certainly felt like one. When I went back to work on Monday, I felt as if I had been totally recharged! I love my husband so much! Thanks honey for such a great weekend. (maybe I can let the song go now! )

Happy Birthday to my sister, Carolyn! Her birthday was this past Thursday. We love you Carolyn!!

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been extremely busy with work but mostly, I just needed some time to get my feelings in check. I'll explain. Last week when all the frenzied emails between Pam and us were going on, we realized that if we didn't expedite our documents in Houston we wouldn't have our dossier ready to be mailed out on the 30th. So the night before the courier in Houston was going to deliver our documents to the Chinese Consulate, I called Pam and asked her to expedite them. This would essentially get our paperwork to CWA several days sooner which would allow time to get them translated into Chinese and mailed out to China. Of course, you don't get expedited documents for nothing. In fact, it cost us $240 more. But with all things considered, we were willing to do it. I emailed our adoption counselor and told her the documents should arrive by January 26th. Well, when I got home the next day, I went to check email and received one from her telling me that it was very likely that our dossier would not be mailed until February 10th because of Chinese New Year. Apparently, they close down offices in China for 5 - 7 days during this time. I WAS FLOORED!! I had been telling this woman all month that we were shooting for the 30th and now only when I had a date did I ever hear that Chinese New Year could interfere with the mailing of our dossier. The tricky part was that in the email, the last thing she said was that if they had enough dossiers they might mail them anyhow. This to me was a big clue that maybe they just didn't have very many to mail and Chinese New Year was just an excuse.
So I typed an email very nicely telling her that perhaps that news could have been given to me sooner since we HAD been talking about getting it in all month and knowing would have saved us $240. Then I launched into how if they would be more forth coming with details, it would be easier to deal with the wait and the entire adoption process. I carefully selected my words so as not to make them mad. A little while later, I received a reply. Apparently, I didn't select my words carefully enough or just shouldn't have expressed my feeling on the matter at all. The email actually said, "Oh Wanda I get the feeling that you are difficult to work with." You know, she couldn't have said anything worse to me. No one has EVER told me I'm difficult. Instead I've been referred to as a nurturer, peace maker, easy going… anything BUT difficult. I cried… and cried. I couldn't talk… was just cut down to core. I wanted to email her back and be mean. I even typed a message, consulted with my sister who is more vocal than I am and then decided to wait until I could get my thoughts together. I sat there and whittled away my email message until I got it down to "I'm not trying to be difficult. I’m sorry if it appears that way. Please do what you feel is best with our dossier." End of story. Everyone I've talked to has gasped when I told her what she wrote. They know I’m not difficult. I moved on and have been so busy that I've not dwelled on it.
So long story… the dossier IS in Charleston and according to an email we got last night, it may be mailed on Friday or Monday. Our adoption counselor has not emailed a response to me and I've not asked. I did find out in our correspondence that they didn't expect to have many dossiers at all. In fact, they only had 2 including ours. That was probably the main reason for not sending it out. The Chinese New Year was probably just an excuse. I’m sure it takes about a week for the dossiers to reach China anyhow. It takes us 3 or 4 days to just get mail from Georgia to Virginia. In the meantime, Geoff has taken on the role as peacemaker and HE has been handling any correspondence between CWA and us. It's like my mom always told us, better to say nothing at all if you can't be nice. With me not talking to them, there's no chance of me offending them again with the truth.

My wife gives me many things to talk about...

I know it has been a while since I posted last, but I have been busy with work and all. However, I have spent much of the past week working on how to express my feelings over our garage ceiling. I think I have finally got the words together. For those who are familiar with Lionel Richie, the following can be sung to Dancing on the Ceiling.

Man, what happened here
There is dust in a pile over here
Somebody get a light
We need a repairman
Over here tonight

Oh, What a feeling
Wanda fell through the ceiling
Oh, What a feeling
Wanda fell on her rear end

The garage is full and that's not good
Sara and Chris dropped by our neighborhood
Our garage is packed to the walls
Ooh, it looks like Wanda is going to fall

Oh, What a feeling
Wanda fell through the ceiling
Oh, What a feeling
Wanda fell on her rear end


Wanda is about to lose control
When she steps to the right
If you see a leg hanging down
It will be alright
Hurry up and get her down
In the car and don't slow down
Come on, get to town

Get up off your caboose
Up off your back
Don't make an excuse
Hard to keep your feet on the attic ground
Cause when people go up there
They end up falling down

Oh, What a feeling
Wanda fell through the ceiling
Oh, What a feeling
Wanda fell on her rear end
Her leg lost its feeling
It's dangling in the ceiling
Oh, What a feeling
Wanda fell through the ceiling

(repeat as music fades out)


How could I not love this woman? She always makes sure there is a reason for my dad to come down. I think she just wants to hear some more of those great jokes.

Getting Warmer!

When I was little girl, we used to play a hiding go seek game where when we got closer to finding the target, the person who had hid it would say "warmer".. "warmer"... "hotter"... your "on fire!!"... and then you found it! If you were off, we did the "cooler"... "cold"... "freezing" thing. Today we got an email that reminded me of that game. I feel like we are not only getting warmer.... we are getting HOT! We got this message from Pam today.


Hi Wanda and Geoff,
FINALLY got the homestudy back from GA SOS this morning!!!!!! So....all your GA docs are on their way to the Houston courier. She will receive the docs tomorrow....walk them in on Friday and pick them up on Wed, 1/25. I will have them on Thur, 1/26. Your completed dossier will be at your agency on Friday, Jan 27. This is the plan....pray that all goes as expected.
Your Washington DC docs are due back tomorrow.
How are you handling the final payment to your agency???
Also, please email me the address and name of the person that is to receive your completed dossier.
Looks like you'll make the Jan 30 mailing to China....keep your fingers crossed!!!!!!
Pam E.


This was great news! It's not going to be a bid deal if we have to wait until Feb. 10th but I can say I would really LOVE to have it mailed off on the 30th!

Miscellaneous Update

Today was week one on Weight Watchers. I truly have not been starving myself and have even eaten out several times. The good news is I weighed in this morning and was down by 4.8 pounds. I know it won't be this much every week but as long as it goes down and not up I'll be happy. I began walking today to help with the process. I walked 3 miles and it didn't even kill me! Posting on the blog is making me feel more accountable... afterall everyone can read it and cheer me on. As I was walking today, I kept thinking that one day this year, Geoff and I will be walking up the Great Wall of China and then a few days later carrying a baby all over China. That's pretty good incentive too!

I've also begun working on letters to send out to friends and family. As soon as the dossier is headed to China, I want to send out some letters about the 100 Good Wishes quilt. Those of you who scrapbook, will be able to make your own page for the book. Those of you who just want to send a scrap of fabric and a wish can do just that. This is the project that will help us pass the time as we wait for our little angel.

Finally, HEAR this... and hold me to it if I ever regress!!! I, Wanda, promise to NEVER, EVER... EVER... EVER buy anything else from an infomercial. Over the break, I got sucked into watching those things and totally must have been hypnotized because I ordered the Nicer Dicer and a starter kit for Bare Minerals makeup. Well, the make up came quickly and tried it. When I finished making up my face, I literally looked like my skin was melting off my face. Back to the company it went. Well, today I have used my Nicer Dicer for the 2nd time. I was making the Weight Watchers Taco Soup that I absolutely love, and went to use my Nicer Dicer to chop the onion. I tell you THAT was more of a work out than my 3 mile walk. I pushed and pushed and pressed my entire body weight against that stupid thing to chop my onion. I could have done it more quickly myself! In the infomercial they did NOT show anyone struggling to make the thing work. They so easily chopped anything they wanted. No elbow grease, no body slams, just plain ease. I had to slice up my onion in several pieces to chop it and when you do all of that, you may as well have chopped up the stupid thing. So... now hear this... NO MORE BEING SUCKED INTO INFOMERCIAL FOR ME!!

Oops!

I kind of made a mess last weekend in the garage. I had asked Geoff at the beginning of the week to put the Christmas decorations in the attic by the weekend. Well, Friday rolls around and I got impatient. Sara was having a garage sale at our house and I needed some floor space to make room for her stuff. So I decided I could go ahead and get a jump on it. Well, I was doing good waiting on the big stuff but once I got up there I saw a bunch of junk that Sara could sale so I piled it all by the entrance and then stepped over it to go down the ladder. Next thing I knew I was hung up in the boards and realized I had fallen through the sheetrock. Anything I had for sale was going to go into Sara's stash so now after paying for the newspaper advertisement and making a mess of the ceiling, this garage sale cost me! I told Sara that next time, I'll GIVE her a $100 bucks NOT to have one. Of course, Mom says at least now if I need something put in the attic, I can just toss it up in the hole. :)

Too Funny!

Think we will get to meet these guys in China??

More Progress!

We got this last night. (SOS is the Secretary of State)

I just tracked the homestudy and it arrived at the GA SOS this morning. I'll probably get it back on Monday and can then send all the GA docs to the Houston Chinese Consulate.
Pam E.

This today.


Great news!!!! The SC doc just arrived. It will go out this afternoon with the VA doc to the Washington DC courier who will walk both of them thru the US State Dept and then over to the Washington DC Consulate. This is going so much more quickly than I had anticipated!!!!!!!
Pam E.


and also this.

Hi Wanda,

I just remembered that Monday is a holiday so all state offices and the China Embassies will be closed for business. This means your DC docs won't get walked in until Tues.
Pam E.



Yea!! This is great news! Time just seems to be flying. That completed dossier is getting closer and closer!!

Progress Update!

We received this email from Pam today.

Hi Wanda & Geoff,
All your Liberty County docs arrived today from the GA Sec of State....that was really fast!!!!! Also, the VA doc just came in. We're making great progress!!!!!! Hope to have the Fulton County doc in here by tomorrow and keep your fingers crossed that the SC doc gets here SOON!!!!
I'll keep you posted.
Pam E.

kudos to the state of Virginia... they seem to turn around paperwork much faster than South Carolina. The same thing happened when we sent off for birth certificates. Hopefully, mine will follow pretty quick. Keep praying!


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A Busy Morning Part 3: I'm Tired!

So after dropping off the FedEx package, I rush to work and clock in at 12:29. One minute to spare!! As soon as I get there, I'm asked to attend a meeting that begins at 12:30. Needless to say, I'm tired, I'm hungry and I feel as if I've been run over by a truck. After all of that , I just wanted to go back to bed and the joy of getting some more things accomplished was totally taken away from feeling so frazzled. When I came home tonight, I am faced with picking up the house and doing laundry and I find some comfort in blogging this whole experience. One day, when Lexi tries to give me grief I will show her the blog and she will see all we went through to get her here. And of course, I put the $20 I saved in her jar.

A Busy Morning Part 2: More Blessings

After the successful dr. visit today and finding the documents that needed to be certified waiting on the porch, I decided to go to Geoff's office and get a jump on finishing the notarizing of the corrected personal statement and the statement that we were turning in an authentic copy of the CIS approval (the original goes with us to China... which I think needs to go into the firesafe along with our passports tonight). I didn't want to have to go to the court house but once and I needed his signature on those forms so decided to go get the money needed to certify the documents from the bank while I waited for Geoff to get in from a client's office. I hadn't even turned into our bank and he called. I must have just missed him. So I get this and drive to the court house. I was sent to 3 offices before they got it right (explaining why I was there 3 times). Then the woman I needed to talk to wasn't sure what I needed. We finally figured it out and she completed a certification of the notary (Geoff's secretary) for the dossier to assure that we indeed did use a notary that was licensed in Ga., was in good standing, and her license did not expire within a year. After going through all of that, I was worried that something may be wrong, so I called Pam on my way home. YES... there was something WRONG. I only had one of these documents and I needed 9 of them! One for each piece of paper... stapled to the document. By this time, it's time for me to be at work. I called in and was told I could stretch it to 12:30 and still have to only take 1/2 a day off. So I rush back to court house and go back to the woman and explain what I need. Not a problem. We got it and I left with papers stapled and a package ready for FedEx. Here's a blessing in the whole process. . . Pam told me that our county would charge me $2 per document ($18 total). They didn't charge me anything, even though I asked and told them they were supposed to charge me (you know this is an example of my conscious telling me not to lie, cheat, or knowingly do anything wrong that would cause me to be punished for it later on in such a way that would delay or keep me from getting Lexi... and yes, I know our God is a kind God and not a god of vengeance but yet, I still worry just ask Geoff about having to return a 49cent package of ornaments hangers to Lowe's that I forgot to pay for)! After I left the court house, I was beginning to feel a bit "fried". I didn't want to go to work before mailing the FedEx package of our documents, which will now be mailed to the Secretary of State to be certified that the superior Clerk of Court, that today certified that the notary is really a notary, is really a Superior Clerk of Court. Got that ??? Big mouthful which means basically that everyone is being certified that they are who they say they are.

I drove drop off the FedEx package at where I thought Geoff told me to, fought noontime military traffic, only to find myself at the UPS store. When I walked in I told the lady that I was losing my mind. She told me where to go and only then did I remember where Geoff had really told me to go. You know, when I finally dropped that package off... it was a huge relief but somehow I thought I should hear a band playing some kind of congratulatory music.

A Busy Morning Part 1: Blessings Around Me

What a day! I feel as if I have done 3 weeks worth of work in one day. When I left for the doctor's office this morning, I left a note to the FedEx man that if he couldn't leave our package on the front porch to please take it to Geoff's office. So when I came back, lo and behold it was HERE! Then it dawned on me 'what if something would have happened to all of our documents!!" Thank the Lord, he watches out for us! You know I went to the doctor to get him to write a letter about my blood pressure. So I get there and explain it to the nurse... the whole we tried IVF, I gained weight, now we're adopting, the previous doctor wrote high blood pressure on the form and now I need reassurance for the Chinese gov't. So here she goes taking my blood pressure. Then she says, let me get a different instrument (or what ever they call those blood pressure taking things). So I immediately begin to worry. I feel my heart begin to race a bit so I sit back and try to relax. Then she returns and tells me that the first reading was like 180 over something. So then I REALLY begin to stress out. I sit back and begin talking to myself about relaxing and try to put myself in a relaxing state of mind. I think of our trip to Mexico last March and remember how wonderful it felt to lay out on the beach in the chair under the umbrella... half my body in the sun being all warm and toasty and the other half being cool and crisp... the sound of the ocean and the music from the resort. Then in bursts another nurse (trying to rush the other nurse) and she pulls the bp thingy off the wall and takes my bp again. She gets 140 over 90. After she leaves the other nurse closes the door, tells me that she will not rush a reading because this is too important. (bless her caring heart) The third try reveals 128 over 84. Yea... anyone can deal with that. The doctor comes in and we talk and I explain the past 3 years to him ending with the adoption and the bp problem in the paperwork. No big deal!! He even suggests a few things to add to the letter about my bp being normal until the infertility treatment blah... blah... blah: good luck! So they are getting the letter ready for me and I should be able to pick it up tomorrow and mail it to Pam. That's when I go back home and find the FedEx package and begin part two a rather busy morning!

Do'in a Happy Dance!!

I’ll just jump right in! WE GOT THE CIS FORM TODAY!! I was at school and walked out of my room to go discuss some things about the technology grant with the principal and when I came back I noticed that my phone had been doing a happy dance all over my desk (it was set to vibrate). Geoff had called 4 times. I called him right back and asked him if the form was here. I knew he wouldn’t call that many times unless it was important. So yes.. it is here and yes, my eyes teared up with joy.

However, just as it always is in this process, my up became a down not long after (but that’s okay, this is still good) I called Pam in Jacksonville to tell her the news and make some more plans. The bad news is while we can fairly quickly get our documents certified and authenticated by everyone else, we may end up WAITING for our birth certificates to come back in. This is the frustrating part and this is the part that brought tears of frustration to my eyes. (Poor Susan at school, she is the one who always picks me back up at work and brushes me off and tells me that Lexi will get here. Friends are truly priceless). Our officially stamped birth certificates that we got way back in August or September have to be certified and/or authenticated at the state of our birth. Then mailed to the US State Department for certification and then mailed to the Chinese Embassy in DC. Then from there they will go to the Chinese Consulate in Houston along with all of our other dossier docs. This is WHY anyone adopting from a foreign country for the first time should hire a dossier preparer. We’ve read our agency’s instructions so many times but things still get by us. I truly believe they want it to look more simplified than it ever will be. Had we known, we could have sent our birth certificates on their little journey all over the place many months ago. But the ups and downs that are our adoption cycle still leave me feeling somewhat UP tonight. As Pam said, there IS light at the end of the tunnel. I am praying that everything will go smoothly and that our completed dossier will go out to CWA and be in the group that gets sent to China on the 30th. Worst case, it’ll be Feb. 10th. In the meantime, we have all of this to occur:
1. I get a doctor’s note and get it notarized and send to Pam.
2. We receive some docs tomorrow from Pam that I will hand carry to the Superior Clerk of Court to get them certified.
3. I mail the certified docs to Atlanta to the Sec. of State (overnight)
4. The docs from the Sec. of State go back to Pam.
5. Pam has a courier deliver the docs to the Houston Chinese Consulate
6. The docs go back to Pam hopefully by the 24th.
7. The Homestudy, which is being certified in Fulton County, also has to go to the Sec. of State and needs to arrive back to Pam.
8. The completed dossier goes to CWA which I think then has to be translated into Chinese which add on I think another 4 days or more.
9. Then probably on Feb. 10th, CWA will mail the translated dossier to China.
10. Then we receive a logged in date several weeks later.
11. Then we wait…
12. And pray and pray.

Now see what I mean about hiring a dossier preparer. It’s worth every penny and MORE. The 10 easy steps given to us at the beginning are not easy steps, they are GIANT steps.

Picky... Picky... PICKY!!

Parts of this week end have been maddening! Pam from the dossier service called me Friday evening because she had been working on our dossier. Well, three things needed work. (1) Our pictures didn't have enough close-ups, (2) our letter to the Chinese gov't was missing the statement that we would never ever abuse, neglect, or abandon our daughter and that we would respect her cultural heritage, and (3) our medical information identified some areas of concerns. Geoff's form indicated that he had a benign tumor removed from his foot when he was 10 years old, and mine stated that I was taking medicine for high blood pressure. Basically, she wanted us to redo those forms and leave that info off. I didn't think much of it until Saturday. Then I realized that our homestudy has all of that information in it. So of course, my mind went wild with thoughts of having to redo the homestudy and resubmit to USCIS. I got busy emailing Pam and Mei with all of my worries. Mei is our adoption counselor. We went to Savannah to run some errands and by the time I came home, I had email from her and even got another call from Pam. Mei thought the pictures were fine and that the medical stuff will be no problem. She said she would write a letter in Chinese to put with our dossier. Pam suggested that we get a letter from a new doctor (because our doctor that did the initial paperwork has moved) and have him write that my blood pressure is under control (which it is). It's totally amazing the hurdles we must overcome and the stress it causes.

Other news . . . I'm going back on Weight Watchers! I figured if I posted it here, I'd feel more accountable. It's time to get off the pounds I've piled on since we began the IVF cycles. Plus I've got to be in shape to climb the Great Wall of China and haul Lexi all over the place. I never had any blood pressure problems until IVF. I think that maybe the hormones and other drugs they gave me combined with the stress of the entire process helped me pack on the pounds which then caused the blood pressure to go up. We shall see. I'm starting NOW!

Such a long wait to get to China

Geoff walked in his office today to find a FedEx package on his desk. He thought immediately that it was the I700 from from Atlanta. This is the form that allows us to adopt an orphaned child from China... the LAST piece of our paperwork puzzle. Well, no such luck. Any day now. At least the other paperwork is on its way to the dossier preparation service. She should have our documents by 9:30 am tomorrow. Time is ticking away.

One step closer

Today Geoff mailed the notarized documents to the dossier consultant along with a check for her services but more still all of the charges from the different organizations who get their two cents worth. It's totally amazing to me how we can get an authentic document from a state but yet it still has to be authenticated. It's almost as if they want you to jump through as many hoops as possible to prove you are fit. It's too bad that so many young women in the U.S. do not have to go such extreme circumstances to have their children.

Amazingly, as you grow older you tend to learn more things (In fact, suddenly you parents seem so much smarter). Today, as I talked to some good friends about Sara, I realized that you never outgrow the proud feelings you have of your child and that as they outgrow one stage you eagerly await the next stage. I can remember thinking that when Sara was ready to go to school I thought the hardest point was over. No such luck. As she grew older I didn't so much care about the little things. . . like the time my Daddy let her dress herself for school after I went to college classes to find out later that my child had chosen stocking WITH socks for school that day. But as she grew older, I wanted her to learn from my mistakes only to learn that no amount of talking to her of my mistakes would help her from making HER mistakes. I still thought that once she was out of school, I could easily focus on my life and do whatever I wanted. This didn't happen because once again, I was consumed with her life and wanted to be there to enjoy it with her. And here this week as she went through the ordeal of losing her first child, there is nothing in the world that could have stopped me from taking that burden from her if I could have done so. I eagerly await the time in the future that I will become a grandmother and that Sara's sister... mine and Geoff's child will be here to share the world with her niece. Life sometimes throws us curve balls and we can either catch it and run with it or we can hit the ground and eat dust. I know that we are in for some really great times together... all of us. And the journey to Lexi and Sara and Chris' little one will only make us stronger and more appreciative of the blessings that we all share.



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My turn to be bad...

Okay, it's my turn to be bad and buy something for Lexi that she probably won't wear for quite a while. Sara and I went shopping last week, and came upon this outfit. I just couldn't resist. I sure hope Lexi will wear a hat. When Sara was a baby, she didn't want anything to do with one. I just loved the little frogs and the bows!

Today is the last day of my "winter break". I go back tomorrow full speed ahead teaching a technology class at 7:15 AM. I'd rather be easing into it with just having to do paperwork but alas... no such luck! I went over to check on Sara today. She is doing well. Chris is doing an excellent job as doting husband. It's very obvious how much they love each other and that they will get through this rough time coming out stronger on the other end. While I was there, Carolyn and Jenna came over bearing homecooked dinner of barbecue chicken, string beans, corn on the cob, baked sweet potatoes and banana pudding for desert. That's what family is all about - supporting each other during the good and the bad times. I love my family. When I woke up this morning (after 13 hours of a much needed sleep) I called Sara to check on her only to get her voice mail. So then I called my Mom and got HER voice mail. I put two and two together and correctly guessed that Mom was checking up on Sara. This is how they are and Geoff and I are blessed to have them.

sad news...

I don't even know how to begin this post. I've just spent most of the last 24 hours with Sara and Chris. She had a miscarriage and was admitted to the hospital last night. She's home now resting and doing pretty good all things considered. My heart aches for Sara and Chris. Please keep them in your prayers.