There is no need to adjust your monitor...we have a new look!

Thank you to my darling husband for spending all afternoon on my blog and adding all of the little bells and whistles that my heart desired. Love you!

1/5/07 We are (DTC) Dossier to China...Tell us it isn't all just a dream.

We met with our social worker for the first time in June of 06. She told us that the wait for our daughter under the China program would be 15-18 months. She didn't tell us that we had 6-8 months worth of paperwork to get through before the 15-18 months even started.



So, for quite a few months we believed that our clock was running and it wasn't. We were frozen in time. It was through access to the many adoption blogs that we became educated on how this process works and what the timelines really are.



Our paperchase has taken a LONG time to say the least. Not only did we require medical forms for ourselves, but for each of our four children. There were three states involved in the state seal process. We were told to get certain documents but not told that they had to be notarized so they had to be re-done.


For you fellow adopting families, I'm not telling you anything new.
But, WE'RE DONE NOW!! All of our papers are exactly as they should be. They are notarized, sealed and certified. They were sent to China on January 5th. We now wait to receive word on what our (LID) Log In Date is. This is what starts the clock running. We will have Sophia approximately 18 to 24 months from our LID.



We have done the best job we can handling this situation. We have no real answers to the question, when?
Our children don't even ask anymore. They know that it will be a long time.



I hold the hope of her in my heart. Some days I think about her all of the time, some days I'm afraid that something will go wrong and my daughter will never come. Every once in a while I allow myself to feel like the expecting Mom of a precious little girl and I buy a little something. Nothing much, just something small to let me know it isn't all just a dream.

Eli is our little star

A very good friend of our family is part owner of this company and she asked me while I was pregnant with Eli if she could use him as their company baby. Of course we said yes as she is a good friend. I think that she did a beautiful job.


For our friends and family who keep asking which magazine he is in, this is the one. I believe that he will be featured in here for the next year. I know that there are plans for other publications but I haven't heard anything firm.


This is the actual advertisement. There have been reports on the news and there is a
commercial but I don't believe the commercial is being aired yet.


Now to answer the questions of what this is. This is a kit that allows women to track their ovulation cycles and provides a type of at-home artificial insemenation kit. They have a website. www.conceptionkit.com. Eli is also featured there and more information is available. Evidently it has been quite successful.



Eli's photo is on all of the packaging. This is a sample of the main box that holds all of the components of the kit.



And here is the Tyler report: Still feverish. Home again for the 3rd day. He was pretty depressed this morning so I gave him a bell and named him Prince Tyler. I told him to ring the bell whenever he needed his Royal Mother to attend to him. Well, needless to say I have been a slave to the bell all day. He's having fun though.

Do you believe in Angels?

Zachary has been talking about this book for a couple of months now. It is called The Book of Angels by Ruth Thompson, L.A. Williams and Renae Taylor. He finally received the book as a Christmas gift and has had his nose buried in it ever since. I try to show an interest in the things that are capturing my children's attention so I picked up the book yesterday. It is really interesting.



I am a Christian woman and I guess that I have always assumed that there are angels but I haven't really given them a lot of thought. This book has made me think about them quite a bit over the past two days.



The authors have compiled information about recorded angel sitings starting with the ancient Egyptians. There is documented evidence of them interacting on earth centuries before the birth of Jesus. They have information from ancient Egyptian texts, Native American drawings, the Bible, the Koran and other sources.



It discusses the hierarchy of Angels, their appearances and their different responsibilities.




One thing that I found interesting is that it says that an Angel is assigned to each individual human from birth to death. Well, if a heavenly being has been hanging around with me for 38 years, I want to know their name. Should I try to talk with it? It's kind of comforting but also kind of intimidating to think that there is always an angel with you. I have heard of Guardian Angels, but I guess I thought that was just something you told children to comfort them. Maybe not....




There were also interesting accounts of famous individuals who claimed to have been visited by Angels. George Washington claimed to have had an encounter with an Angel who showed him three wars that were to take place involving the United States. He said that the Angel told him that as long as there were stars and the heavens sent down dew upon the earth, the United States would last.

My stand is that I do believe that Angels exist and I wish that I knew more about them. I would like to think that I have a 'Guardian Angel'.

I know that this is kind of a different blog for me, but it's what's on my mind today, so that's what you get.

I would love to hear some comments on the topic of Angels. Please leave your thoughts.

Winter has come...and it brought the flu with it.

This is a little snowman that my niece Suzi made for me. I think it's so cute!

Well, it is officially Winter now in Michigan. It's below freezing. The snow is falling. I don't think that the lake will freeze, but I hope it does. The children want to go skating.


I got the call from Tyler's school today to come and pick him up because he wasn't feeling well.
He has quite a fever that has been difficult to keep under control. I keep going back and forth between Tylenol and Motrin because neither can hold the fever back for four hours.


We have a travel television which I put in his bedroom so he can relax and watch movies. He's such a family person. He is miserable being isolated from everyone in his room. But, I can't risk him passing this bug to any of his siblings.

I think we're going to be laying low for a couple of days.

The 100 Wishes Quilt

We were a little nervous about what the reaction would be from our family and friends when we announced that we were going to adopt a daughter from China. We sent out invitations for our friends and loved ones to participate in the making of a 100 Wishes Quilt for Sophia Jane. Then we sat back and waited to see what type of response we would get. And we were completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support that we have received.

This is still a work in progress. Not everyone's pieces are in and some of the pages are not complete yet, but please take a look at what we have. We would love to share these pages with you.

This is from my dear friend who we call Grammy Char. Frogs of course....

From Zachary's Godfather Walter Collins and his family. Girl Power!!

From our wonderful neighbors the Padgett Family.

From our friends the Maschke Family

Look closely at this one from our friends the Tate Family. They are dressed as the actual characters from the Wizard of Oz.

This piece comes from my dearest friend Chris. She was one of my Mothers closest friends and her son David was like a brother to me. My Mother and David both have passed on. Chris sent me a pillowcase that my Mother made for David when he was a small boy. It will have a place of honor on Sophia's quilt.

These pieces come from Sophia's Aunt Sonya and her cousins Jeremy, Chris, Ben and Suzi.

A special piece from my husbands best friend's Mother Sharron.

Fun fabrics from cousin Jennifer and Tim and their boys Connor and Donovan. We love cars and dinosaurs!!

We love Aunt Trisha and Uncle Scott. Jesse and Brandon picked some great fabrics!

This is one of the most amazing pieces we have received. This is all embroidered onto the piece of cloth. Thank you Aunt Joann and Uncle Tom. This is just beautiful.



Cassie and her brother Billy sent these pieces. I'm still working on getting them put in the book just right.

These fabrics are in memory of Great-Grandma Bartlett who passed away from breast cancer and Great-Grandpa Bartlett who loved the outdoors and his John Deere Tractor.


This fabric is from a very special Aunt who has always supported and loved our family. Thank you for sharing your own adoption story Aunt Carol, we love you and Uncle Bob!



These fabrics were sent from Great Grandma and Grandpa Girvin. These are pieces of material from old aprons that she made.

This page was very difficult for me to make. The fabric is taken from a pair of my Mothers pajamas that were found on her bed the day after she passed away. The picture is one of my favorites of her and I together when I was a little girl.


These pieces come from Grandma Kathy and Papa Bill. Grandma Kathy will be making the quilt for Sophia. She said that it would be an honor to do this for her Grandaughter. Thank you!!

These pieces were chosen by Big Sister Katelyn.

These are from Big Brother Zach.

And last but certainly not least, Big Brother Tyler.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling SUV

Sisterhood is not always about being born to the same family. Sisterhood can also be a choice, a decision that you make to walk this life with another person who you have come to trust and love infinitely and to call her your sister.
My dearest friend Julie gave me this statuette. On the back it says: "We're always there for each other. We've shared sadness and triumphs, tears for joy and lost loved ones. There's been anger. There will be others in our lives who come and go, and times when we don't know where to turn. But we can always count on the Two of Us."



The Sisterhood are the women who you place around you in your life. The women who possess the attributes that you may be lacking, the women who are strong and levelheaded, the women who will always tell you the truth even when it's not what you want to hear. These are the women who you never have to watch your back with-there will never be betrayal.
The debts between you are too high to ever be re-paid.
The woman who got you your first real job that enabled you to support your children and buy the house of your dreams. The woman who knew that you may not be miscarrying despite what your OB said and held your new job for you while you laid on a couch for 3 weeks until the your baby was safe. How do you repay the life of your son?
These are the women who accept the responsibility of guardianship for your children in the event that you die, the women who held your hand through your divorce and told you that you were going to make it and stood beside you insuring that you did.
She will loan you any amount of money. She sends you a card on Valentine's Day so that you don't dwell on the fact that you are alone.


She has your children call her Grammy and promises to love them like her own because she is the same age your mother would be if she were still alive and she knows that they need her.
Their families becomes your family. Their parents hug and kiss you. Their mother makes your wedding flowers. Their father tells you everyday while you are pregnant that you are the most beautiful woman in the world.
You will fly anywhere, answer the phone at any hour of the night that they call. You sit behind her on a metal chair in the family section holding her coat while her mother is buried choking back your tears because you loved her too.


They stand beside you when you marry the man of your dreams. You raise your children together. They write the letters to your adoption agency telling them that you will be great parents to your new child-letters that bring tears to your eyes. There is no doubt in your mind that when you are 80 years old you will still be exactly the same as you are now-sisters.


Now, let me say that the sisterhood can also be comprised of women who are actually your sisters. My baby sister Andrea has been there for me my whole life. She has come to be with me after the birth of each of my children. She came over a thousand miles to stay with me during my divorce. She is ten years younger than me, so she was only 13 when she started to understand the importance of what sisterhood meant and she has never let me down.
And my sister-in-law Trisha who I have only known for 3.5 years is becoming someone who I go to in times of need. I wish that she were closer, I enjoy her company tremendously.


Why the Sisterhood of the Traveling SUV? My sisters are a distance from me, so in order to see them I have to load up my burgundy Yukon XL and hit the road.