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.

Integrity......we passed it on. You know when your kid does something noble and you are a little surprised but very proud?

Today I went to one of Zachary's hockey games and it was the most brutal game I have been to in my 9 years as a hockey Mom.
Let me state for the record that I'm the Mom who knows how the game is played. I love to see a great shot and a strong check. I yell and chear and jump in the stands.
What I saw today was shocking. My son alone was punched in the face 3 times. I saw a player on his team hit in the head with a stick. I saw tripping and charging. Our goalie was checked twice (this is not done). I saw beligerance to the official.
It reached a level where our players were being hurt and as parents we were concerned for the safety of our children.
Let me add that the two officials called only 3 out of the unbelievable amount of penalties.

Now back to my son getting punched in the face. After the first incident, I of course yelled for a penalty which did not happen. Zachary did not retaliate which caused me to breath a sigh of relief. Then the second time I didn't see, Zachary told me after the game. But I saw the third hit, it was the same player each time. My son was down on the ice and the boy was on top of him and hit him while he was down. I also saw my son come up and draw back his fist and then after a second or two take it down, get up and move away. Zach is 6'1", the other boy was smaller, he could have hit him and he didn't. This is the first game in a while where he received no penalties whatsoever.

He continued to play a clean game as did his entire team. Now keep in mind that this is a team of 13 and 14 year old boys who kept their composure through an hour of being pumelled. They threw no punches, they did not stick or trip. AND THEY WON 2-0.

I am very proud of them all.

As a woman I do not completely understand the ways of men. I know that they fight sometimes. And I know that there are unspoken rules as to how they interact aggressively. It seems stupid to me-this need for aggression, but Iacknowledge it. I have to as a mother of 3 sons.

I have raised my children to use their words in a conflict. I have told them that you will never change someone's thinking with your fists. You must share your thoughts and ideas with them.

They don't always listen to me. Tyler has been in trouble before at school for fighting, so I have had to take a stand and make some rules for engagement.

Rule 1: You never hit a girl. This started a series of questions...what if she hits me first?...what if she is bigger than me? The answer: YOU NEVER HIT A GIRL.

Rule 2: You never fight at school...period. You get a teacher involved if you have a conflict.

Rule 3: You never throw the first punch.

Rule 4: You only react to the extent that stops the violence. Fighting is only acceptable to defend yourself, it is not something to take pleasure in.

There is so much that children are exposed to in this day and age. It's sometimes hard to know what the right things to say and do are. Today I felt like I just might be doing a good job at this Mother Gig.

Motherhood...How did I get here?

I've been thinking about my life a lot this year. I am feeling very blessed as a woman. My soul is at peace and I am really content with all things in my life.

I'm big on the soul, so if you read my blog you'll have to get used to 'soul' references, kharma and other funky things that find a perfect place in my life. My home is a collection of antiques, modern pieces and art, I love my tiffany lamp and my Matisse charcoal drawing, and yet there is a dogfish hanging from the rafter in my kitchen, and many other bizarre treasures that I could never part with. Mix in a dog, a cat, a 2 year old with all of his Little Tikes toys, a 14 year old girl and boy, an 11 year old son and a handsome husband and you can get a mental picture of the homestead.
Oh, and I also believe that it is bad not to find a special place in your home for gifts from people who love you, so I have quite a meaningful collection of eclectic chachki.

Sometimes I see something and I just know that it belongs with us in this house. Sometimes I meet people and I just know that they should be a part of my life.

The inspiration for this blog is my desire to bring another child into my life. So, I've been reflecting on all of the motherhood roles that I hold and my successes and blunders.


I was very young when I married for the first time. Zachary was born 2 years later while I was still very young. The pregnancy went well. But, my mother had passed away while I was in high school and I was a thousand miles away from my family, so I felt lost. I really needed my Mom and she was gone. I thought about her a lot throughout the months. I was so sad that she wouldn't see him and he would never know her except through pictures and stories.
More than anything I just wanted to see his little face. And when the day finally came (2.5 weeks overdue and induced may I add). He was born, and when I looked into his face I saw my mothers eyes. My first son has her eyes. It was overwhelming and assured me that she is with me and she sees my babies. My first child brought out a love in me that I had never experienced before. He changed my life forever and I am so honored to be his Mother. He is the sweetest gift to me.

Strange fact about me: Whenever I have had a child, I take them alone to my Mothers grave when I go home to Kansas City to introduce them to her.

Tyler, my 11 year old is my 'soul' child. And what I mean by that is that his personality is exactly like mine. Personalities are definitely passed from one generation to the next. I completely understand how he works. I know how he is feeling and can anticipate his reaction to almost any situation. He even resembles me the most out of my children. We are both emotional people, we see the world through our hearts first. He is a rough and tumble boy though and gets into the most trouble. But I cannot resist his smile. He is my boy.


Katelyn is my child of choice. She is my step-daughter who came into my life when she was 10 years old. The role of stepmother has been the toughest I have ever taken on. There have been so many outside influences and factors that have made it difficult for her and I to establish our own relationship. But, just recently we have chosen together that we want to have a close relationship and be family to each other. So, she is my child of choice. I choose her to be a part of me and my life.

Elijah is the wish come true that I didn't know I should have been wishing for. When I re-married 3.5 years ago, my new husband had declared his desire for us to have a child. I told him that I was content with our new family of three but that I would not take any preventative measures and he had two years to take his best shot, after that I would be too old. Well, I was almost there, 1.5 years when I started feeling very tired. Sure enough, I was pregnant and a little in shock. But my little man is such a joy to us all. He is the center of everything. Once again, my heart has grown immeasurably with love for my baby son.


Sophia Jane is the child who whispers to my soul. A little over a year ago, I started feeling a need for another child. If you are a woman who has ever wanted a child, you understand this feeling-it is instinctional and cannot be described. When you feel the need, you just do and it can't be controlled. If you want to be pregnant, you notice every pregnant woman withing a 10 mile radius. Well, I notice every Asian little girl within a 10 mile radius. I know that I have a daughter who belongs to our family who will come from China. She is ours and we are hers. That's it. I feel her every day.

That's my story so far.....

Here we go.....

My first official post!!
Many thanks to my girl Katelyn who figured out how to put my counter in.

Today was quite eventful:
Our adoption agency called to inform us that our dossier was complete and being authenticated. We should have a LID soon. It took us 8 months to get all of our paperwork completed correctly. It is such a relief to have that past us but we have such a long journey ahead.

I work in Grand Rapids, MI and Gerald Ford was buried here today. He will be missed.

My oldest son Zachary decided to go on a mission trip over Winter Break. I am very proud of him. Our relationship is in a stage of transition. He is in high school this year and a young man. I am enjoying watching him ease into manhood, but I miss the little boy he used to be.

I heard today that my middle son Tyler wished that he had a million dollars to give me so that I could have everything I ever wanted. He doesn't know I already do.

My baby boy Eli got his hair cut tonite and I watched him draw the beautiful pictures only a 2 year old can make on the sides of the bathtub with his water crayons.

Life is good....