The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls

I know that this special came out a couple of weeks ago, but I missed it the first time around. I watched on Monday night. I was in tears, literally sobbing through the majority of the show. I have always been a huge Oprah fan, but now I see her in a bigger light. What she is doing is incredibly inspiring to me. She personally chose every detail of this school. She invested so much more than just money, she invested herself.

The accounts that these girls gave of their lives would have devastated me as a human being. They are so strong and capable. If you have the opportunity to watch this, it will change you.

Oprah said that she now understood why she never had children, because these girls were now her daughters.

Mail from my Circle of Friends and Family

I want to say thank you to all of our family and friends who constantly support our adoption efforts and are walking beside us on this journey. Your love and kindness means more to us than you could ever know.

I am behind in posting my fun mail, so this is a large post!

When we got back from Kansas City and checked the mail, we found this beautiful Chinese New Year card from Aunt Carol. Thank you! It is very special to us!!

Amy at Catching Butterflies sent us this wonderful postcard from Germany!

Our wonderful neighbor Nancy gave us this fabric for Sophia's quilt.

These fabrics are from cousin McKenzie.

This fabric is from Aunt Pam.

This piece is from Kelly at Wanton Wishes..

This piece is from Connie at Somewhere in China!

This beautiful square is from our neighbor Helen.

These ballet shoes are from The Neptune Family at Our Unforgotten Daughter. I know that I still owe you my square and will get it out asap!

This square is from the Phillips family at Phillips Path to China.

I am still short on squares, so if anyone wants to swap just let me know!!

You are with Kindred Spirits...Make your presence known

I started this blog because I felt an overwhelming need to communicate with other women who were mothers. Mothers adopting like me, mothers of babies like me, mothers of toddlers, grade schoolers, high schoolers, like me.

Well, I have achieved that goal. I have met wonderful women who are all on a journey to or through motherhood.

I look at my neocounter every day and am thrilled over the scrolling lists of visitors from places far and near. I wonder who you are, coming by to see what's happening in my life and in my head. You are very welcome here, but I wish you would share who you are with me.

Are you adopting? Are you a mother? Do you have questions that I could help with? You don't have to be a blogger to talk with me, I accept anonymous comments. Just click on the comments and say something-give me a little picture of you since I have shared so many of me and my life. If you leave an e-mail address, I will mail you.

If my blog isn't exactly your cup of tea, I can personally vouch that each of the women on my favorite blog list is an excellent person. She is loving, kind and has helped or supported me personally in some way. Reach out to them. They have excellent answers.

Right here is the best adoption support group and motherhood support group you could ever hope for. Come and meet us.

We're Back From the Land of Oz

We are home!! Finally! I miss my family terribly already, but it's so good to be home.

Caught up in a Snow Storm

Well, we made it to the outskirts of Chicago. We decided the snow storm was too much for us, so we're having a great time at a hotel!

Saturday Morning We're Heading for Home!

Say a little prayer for us. We're going home!

News from New Orleans

It didn't cross my mind that it was Mardi Gras down in New Orleans. Evidently Zachary and his Dad decided to go for a day thinking that things would be tamer before dark. Well, let's just say that Zach has now had his first exposure to the female anatomy. I could tell that he was completely embarrassed to tell me. He couldn't believe that women would flash themselves to get beads.

This isn't exactly what I was expecting on a mission trip. But, he said that they are helping a family move into their new home. Hopefully that balances out the booby show??????

Things in Common

My Aunt and I are very close at heart but live hundreds of miles apart. One thing that we do to tie our lives together is have the same things in our homes. These are some of the things in my Aunt's house that are also in mine.
We love the egg kitchen collection.

Ok, I don't have this exact set-up but: the heart in the cage is also in my kitchen and in my Grandmother's kitchen.

The matching frog in my house was given to me by my Aunt when Tim and I were engaged. The frog's mouth opens and inside it is a piece of paper where she wrote, "it looks like you found your prince".

My Aunt is an artist, she paints and does stained glass.

We read a lot of the same books. I bring my favorites to her and vice versa.

Alex the Jayhawker

My cousin Alex is a senior at KU. Go Jayhawks!We went to Lawrence to have dinner at the restaurant where he is a cook.
Alex and Tyler
The food was fantastic!

Oh what a night!

Today we went to the new Legends shopping district. It was amazing! We actually walked down the yellow brick road (I thought about you Glinda and Wicked Witch!). We ate dinner and spent the evening at a place called T-Rex. It was a mixture between a restaurant and a small amusement park. The kids loved it. This is me and Tyler with my Dad.
Tyler and Aunt Andrea.

The lights are jellyfish.

T-Rex himself. Eli was afraid of him.
Me, the sis and the babe.
Tyler running with the marathon man.
Dinosaur!
Eli loved the fountain outside of the restaurant.

Zachary is safely in New Orleans

Thank you to all of you who said a little prayer for Zach. He is safely in New Orleans.

This is a picture of him with my Aunt last Thanksgiving.

Today was about SHOPPING...and Girlfriends...I need to move to a bigger city!

Today I went shopping with my Aunt and let me tell you...things are so much cheaper here!! I cannot even believe it! Of course, my Aunt knows all of the bargain places to go , but this is crazy!Very nice ladies items for under $10.00. I consider that a steal. Beat Vicky's semi-annual sale!

I bought 4 new bath towels. Do I need them? Not really, but for $2.60 cents for a luxury towel, I couldn't resist. My Aunt owns some or the exact towels and they are fabulous!

I bought Tyler 5 pairs of adjustable waist jeans-very nice. $5.00 each! He really needed them desperately, so that's why I bought 5.I got Zachary two pairs of Levi's Cargo Jeans for $10.oo each. That blows my favorite place to buy jeans -Kohl's out of the water. They were on sale for 50% off of $19.99. That is a smoking deal considering he wears mens 30/34's.

I also got some t-shirts and some scrapbooking stuff.

I'm having a great time!!!

Eli and Aunt Andrea at the Playland....

Today Eli spent the afternoon at the Playland with my baby sister Aunt Andrea.