Sunflowers and Ladybugs

Goodbye dear friend

2011-03-17T11:25:00.004-04:00

So this is it .. the very last post on Sunflowers and Ladybugs. For the past 6 years this has been a place of great comfort at times and of great joy. I have been able to chronicle our lives and the adoption of our two beautiful girls here. I will always treasure the memories that have been captured here. I will always be grateful to the people I have met and who have helped us along the way to being a family of four. I have made some life long dear friends from blogging and will always cherish them. I am going to stat a new blog but I am not going to post the link here for a number of reasons. I will however be very happy to share the address with you if you would like to continue to be part of our lives. Please just send me an email and I will send you the link. The new blog has a much different look it is fun and fresh very bright and cheerful and will hold a whole new group of memories. We have no idea where life will take us next but we are very excited to see and we hope that you all will join us along the way. I am going to send out an email to those of you who I have email addresses for and those of you who are on Facebook I will post the link there. Thanks for being part of our lives...

sophiajoy06@yahoo.com

The simple things

2011-03-14T19:26:00.005-04:00

Sometimes it is the simple pleasures in life that make you happiest

like strawberry shortcake in the living room.

or cooking a nice meal for your family

some uninterrupted Facebook time and a glass of wine

a new organized place for your cookbooks
a neatly organized Montessori shelf
your very own bulletin board to hang your art work and important papers

wearing daddy's shirt as a hat

or a pretty blue bowl found at Hospice thrift store for $2
or a table full of baskets also found at the thrift store for $2

Happiness comes in all forms... :)

"Booty" its a good thing

2011-03-13T09:44:00.004-04:00

No not that booty....

Pirates Booty that is.. this stuff is addicting my personal favorite is the Aged White Cheddar but it is all good. If you have never had it you MUST! and I mean MUST! go directly to the store and get yourself the biggest bag they have a small bag simply will not do.

Trust me you will love it...

morning dress-up

2011-03-11T08:04:00.002-05:00

it is so fun having two

Sunshine and pigtails

2011-03-10T07:32:00.004-05:00

REAL BEAUTY

A Happy Day

2011-03-08T21:17:00.004-05:00

We had such a wonderful day today celebrating Amelia's second Birthday. We started out with a very special breakfast prepared by daddy. Then we took Sophia to school and ran into one of her classmates (who is also a friend) it was her son Henry's Birthday as well. In Montessori school they celebrate the child's life from beginning until the current birthday. So they have the child bring in a poster of their life. A sort of "lifebook" if you will done in story board format (we are currently working on Sophia's). Henry and his mom Erin shared his with us and it brought me to tears. I was a wreck the rest of the morning. You see Henry was adopted from Ethiopia. He is a beautiful child tall and strong handsome like I have never seen. His "lifeboard" was amazing and captured so much of who he is now and where he came from. I hope I can do something half as good for my girls when the time comes. Later when we went to get Sophia from school all the moms waiting to pick up there children sang Happy Birthday to Amelia, it was very sweet. She was so excited she smiled and clapped the whole way through the song. Tonight for dinner we went Cajun style with Popeye's Fried Chicken and red beans and rice. Oh and for her birthday cake she had a King Cake. It was loads of fun and she really enjoyed herself,we all did..

In reflecting on today I can't let it pass without remembering my father. Today was his birthday as well. I felt him all day looking down on us smiling and knowing that he has a very special granddaughter who will forever share this day with him. We found it very fitting that Amelia's first birthday with us falls on Fat Tuesday . My father lived for many years in New Orleans when I was a child. I have very fond memories of The Big Easy. I would spend part of my summer there with him. I spent all summer there once with my best friend and we got into way to much trouble but we had so much fun. Riz and I even spent our honeymoon there 20 years ago. So, today for us was something extra special a celebration of life that has come and life that has gone but will never be forgotten.

One more thing I have been thinking a lot about my friend Tamera who lost her father just recently. It is never easy to lose a parent or anyone for that matter. I know what she is feeling right now. I remember it well from when we lost my father 5 1/2 years ago. Her father passing and today have brought a lot of those feelings back up for me. Strangely enough to add to this my very best friend in the world Lisa's father's birthday was also today and he too is gone. But with Amelia joining our family it has brought us all something to celebrate again. We all love you sweet baby Amelia Grace Cimei .. Happy Birthday.

She is a HAPPY girl

2011-03-07T21:47:00.004-05:00

tonight my sweet, happy, silly, strong beautiful youngest daughter is fast asleep in her comfy bed in her beautiful bedroom. I kissed her good night tonight for the last time as a one year old and tomorrow she will turn two. This is her first birthday with us, her forever family. I can't help but think of her last birthday, her first. We were very lucky to receive pictures of the celebration with all of those who loved her at the True Children's Home. We are so grateful to them for this beautiful girl and for capturing those moments and memories for Amelia. I also can't help but think of Amelia's birth mother tonight. I wonder if she is thinking of the child she chose life for two years ago. I wish I could somehow let her know that she is safe and loved beyond measure. I wish I could tell her that her cleft lip and palate have been repaired and that she is healthy and happy. I wish I could say thank you to her for the amazing gift she gave my daughter ...Life....

Thank You....

Amelia Grace Cimei Rizzo

Cooking with Mama

2011-03-02T20:40:00.003-05:00

I love to cook and cooking with my girls is one of my favorite things to do. I love that they love to help me in the kitchen .

Inspired

2011-02-27T07:21:00.006-05:00

I have been away to long... November, really? that was the last time I posted here? WOW time flies when you are having fun.

I have been spending so much time cooking,crafting and just enjoying my family that I have not had the time nor the energy to post updates here. I have however, been inspired to start blogging again. In addition to all of the above I have been reading some great blogs. A few of them are adoption blogs and they will always be my favorite blogs to read. I just love to hear others stories about becoming a family. I have also been following a few Montessori blogs and I LOVE those. Sophia has been attending a GREAT Montessori school for the last year and a half and she is LOVING it as much as I am. Amelia will be starting there in the fall as well. It is no secret that one of my great loves is cooking so, toss in a few cooking blogs, oh and recently I have found some great crafting/party blogs. I guess it goes without saying that late at night when I should be sleeping I am reading, learning and being inspired by these great blogs. I am SO less talented then all of them when it comes to blogging but I try. I take crappy pictures because I have a crappy camera, hopefully one day we will get a cool new SLR, who knows. With all that said there is the source of my inspiration, well not just that these two are also my main source of inspiration.

Since I DO NOT scrapbook this Blog has always been a place that I can document and chronicle the lives and goings on in our family. Stay tuned for more fun and adventures of the -

Rizzo's family of four

Sweet Sophia

Amazing Amelia

P.S. I have also decided to open the blog back up.. :)

The most wonderful time

2010-11-05T07:14:00.003-04:00

It has been a long time and so much has happened in a month. We had the most amazing trip to China to adopt Amelia and there is so much I want to share but it is going to have to wait until the jet lag has passed and the girls are sleeping on a "Normal" schedule again. They were wide awake this morning at 4am and after an hour of trying to get them to go back to sleep I gave in and brought them downstairs so daddy could sleep. One of us needs to be well rested,right. I feel pretty good right now but I know it is that first day home adrenaline that is fooling me into thinking I am fine. It will hit tomorrow I am sure...let me close this short post with a beautiful picture form our trip...more later

Just moments after they handed Amelia to us

Our last weekend

2010-10-16T07:26:00.002-04:00

Saturday October 16th 2010 our last weekend as a family of 3 here in the states. Next Saturday we will be touring Beijing, China with Sophia and the rest of our travel group. We are so looking forward to bringing Sophia back to China to experience the sights a smells of her birth country. We have been reading books and talking about the trip and what we will see while we are there. Sophia is SUPER excited about going to the Great Wall,so are we :). Some exciting things are happening before we leave for the airport in 4 days. Our house that has been on the market for 2 years is going to be shown today. Wish us luck it would be a real blessing if we could sell the house and with our luck it will sell now with 4 days to go before this trip of a lifetime ..

Our flights are booked

2010-10-04T20:38:00.002-04:00

This picture is one of my very favorite moments from our trip to China for Sophia's adoption. This was the moment we first saw Jiangxi,China the birth place of our first daughter. It was the most beautiful moment and one I will never forget. I took this picture on the approach to the Nanchang airport. The sun was setting and the sky was a beautiful shade of pink (something not accurately captured in this photo). The mountains were covered with misty clouds and the rivers and rice paddies below looked like a patchwork quilt. I remember feeling my heart flutter when I realized that we were about to land in province of our daughters birth. I was very emotional at that moment. Full of excitement and anticipation of what the next day would bring us.

fast forward 2 years and four months to today, 16 days from the day we leave for China to bring our second daughter home. I feel very emotional excited with anticipation about what is a head of us. I think about how we are about to change the life of two little girls. I think about how are lives are going to change. I wonder just how things will unfold for us in every way a parent expanding their family does. I pray that Amelia is strong and able to make the transition from a loving foster family to her loving forever family. I want peace and happiness for her. We love her beyond measure already and she has been part of our hearts for 4 months. In 20 days we will hold her for the first time. In 20 days we will have her in our arms forever. In 20 days the lives of four people will change in a big way. in 20short days the world changes in a good way.

...as I sit here tonight thinking about what is to come and reminiscing about our trip to Sophia I can't help but think of the families we traveled. Most of us started that rip as strangers but now have a bond that will be there forever. I wish each of them could be with us as we make this journey back to China for our second daughter, Amelia.....

We leave for China on October 20th
our family day will be October 25th
we return home to the USA on Nov. 4th

WE GOT!

2010-09-15T20:46:00.001-04:00

Moon Cakes for Mei Mei

2010-09-08T21:45:00.004-04:00

September 22,2010

is the Mid Autumn Moon Festival

I wanted to send Sophia and Amelia's foster families a box of traditional Moon cakes in celebration of the Festival. Moon cakes are a traditional Chinese pastries that is typically eaten during the time of the festival. We were lucky enough to have a contact in China that went and bought the boxes of Moon Cakes for us and delivered them to Amelia's foster family. She sent back these wonderful pictures of our girl and I guess you can see she like Moon Cakes :). Sophia's Foster family should be receiving their box of Moon Cakes any day now. I wish we could have pictures of them enjoying the gift, but I am sure that will not happen. The Mid Autumn Moon Festival is similar to our Thanksgiving and is a time of giving thanks for the bounty you have. We are so very thankful for all the blessings in our lives. Our two beautiful girls are at the top of that list and we can not be grateful for them with out counting the blessing of each other their foster families...

Our Sweet girl :)

2010-08-22T21:08:00.003-04:00

I never get tired of seeing this face. I opened my e-mail on Sat. afternoon and I got the True Children's house news letter for July and Aug. I began reading and look what I saw :) that is our girl with her foster care family. We are so in love with this little child already..

Sophia's US Passport

2010-08-18T21:12:00.002-04:00

Came in today..Wooosh I was really sweating it. We are down to the wire here and will be applying for our Visas to travel to China in just a few short weeks.

I know it is silly but I got all choked up when I saw her US passport for the first time. There is just something about seeing her little face in the passport book. That coupled with the words PLACE OF BIRTH; China, got me all emotional.

It is hard to believe Riz and i were in our 40's before we got our first passport and Sophia is a mere 3 years old and has had both a Chinese Passport and now her very first US passport. I hope for her that she has a lifetime of world travels that bring her joy and happiness..

Back to happiness

2010-08-17T22:20:00.010-04:00

Where we are now....

5/2/09 - decided to adopt a second daughter from China

5/3/09-4/4/10 - lots of paperwork

4/5/10 -DTC for Amelia Grace

4/19/10 - LID

5/22/10 - Amelia Grace's referral

5/23/10 - LOI

5/27/10 - PA

7/12/10 - LOA

8/3/10 - Provisional Approval

8/12/10 - NVC conformation letter

STILL WAITING for

Article 5 -

TA -

Travel date -

Family Day -

CA -

Flight Home -

We can't wait to become a family of 4....

We have been busy preparing for our little addition. Sorting clothes, moving furniture and registering at Target. I had almost forgotten how fun it was to be expecting :)

Our agency is saying we may be traveling as early as September 15th. We are currently waiting on the Article 5 from the US Consulate in Gunagzhou China. Once we have this all we will need is the Travel Approval (TA) from the CCAA (Chinese agency that over sees adoptions). They are expecting the Article 5 on Aug. 30 2010. We will be applying for our Visa's soon and then before you know it we will be on our way to China once again. We can hardly believe how blessed we are.

the pictures below are of Amelia Grace opening the care package we sent to her. The 2 ladies in the photos are part of the True Children's home staff. The younger of the 2 is the Foster Care coordinator from the True Children's Home. The older of the 2 ladies is Amelia Grace's foster mother. It warms our hearts to see how well she is bring cared for and how happy she appears to be.

Happy does not begin to capture our feelings...

A WONDERFULY BUSY time

2010-07-17T16:11:00.003-04:00

July 17

This month has been both busy and exciting...
We started out July waiting for our LOA and that came in on July 13th really about a month sooner then we thought it would. That started the mountain of paperwork that is the I-800 LOL.. After some computer glitches (I got a virus, ran out of Ink, lost a driver don't you just love computer stuff?) I finally got all of that done and it is in the hands of USCIS now. Now we wait for several approvals from them and finally Travel Approval (TA) from China. Our agency is expecting us to be able to travel some time Mid September.

Next weekend we are having dinner with a family from Orlando that we will be traveling with. Their daughter is also from Guangzhou so we will be together the whole trip. They live in Orlando and we have gotten to know them while we have been waiting for our referrals. They are bringing there 14 year old daughter to China with them, what a great experience for a child that age. We are taking Sophia with us too so I know all of the girls will have fun entertaining each other while we are there..

Work has been SUPER busy for me.. My counter part resigned and the company I work for decided not to replace her so I am now doing the work of two people for the price of one, nice right? In addition to that they implemented a new software system that has been a challenge for all of us. The silver lining is it is making time pace quickly...

We have been doing fundraising to get us to our goal for China. It is going well and we have had some good Ebay(seller name meimeiandtete) sales as well as some very kind and generous donations from friends. Thank you all who have bought Coffee from our Just Love Coffee site and for those of you who have made direct donations via our Pay Pal button on the blog. Every penny is getting us closer to where we need to be for the trip. We are still about $1000 away but we are getting there..The kindness and generosity we have experienced has been overwhelming to us and means so much. Our family and Amelia are very blessed to have such great friends in our corner..

This next month I am spending "NESTING" trying to get the house ready for 2 children under 4 years old. :) I can hardly believe I am a mother of two beautiful girls. I feel so lucky, so blessed.. I am getting the girls room ready and trying to sort through all of the tubs of clothes that I have been saving. The nice thing about having 2 girls is that I can relive all of those cute things we had for Sophia again with Amelia. We are also rearranging our living space to make more room in the play room and to make the house more functional for a family of four.

I need to start making a packing list and a last minute to do list as well.. First on that list we need a second car seat..

Sophia has been so sweet about her "Baby Sister" . whenever she is playing she always includes her in the game. Or when she is getting dressed she picks something out and says Mama Mei Mei can wear this one. We have been talking to her quite a bit about becoming a big sister and about the trip we are all taking to bring her "Baby Sister" home from China. Out of the blue the other night while Riz was putting her to bed she said to him " Daddy, I want to go to China to see uncle Zhou and bring Mei Mei Home" .. melts my heart really... She has been on summer vacation from school and has been missing her friends there. She asks me every day when she can go back to school. In the mean time she has been taking a combined Dance class it is Gymnastics,Tap and ballet. She likes the whole class but her favorite is the Gymnastics for sure. She has no fear and is amazing on the Beam and the uneven bars and looks adorable in her tutu. We have also been getting in some good beach time. She loves the beach playing in the sand and the water. She is a water girls for sure, again no fear...

OK, now we got some updated Photos of Amelia from the True Children's home so I thought I would share those with you. Oh one more thing.. I sent Amelia a care package full of goodies from us and her grandparents. Hopefully he will be able to enjoy some things from us before we can get to China..

Doesn’t she have the best smile.. The last 2 picture show Amelia with her Foster Mother and Father. The other women in the photo is from the True Children’s home. She is the Foster Care coordinator and was visiting Amelia (Mei Mei as they call her) In her Foster Families home..

Just Love

2010-06-23T09:35:00.010-04:00

We wanted to take this opportunity to share with all our readers a few things we are doing as fundraisers for Amelia's adoption expenses. A friend of mine stumbled across this great opportunity and passed it on to me (Thank you Tamera). It is an easy way for families who are working toward an adoption to raise money for the expenses. The family who owns this company is a fellow adoptive family of two beautiful girls from Ethiopia. You must read their story and I promise you it is inspiring.. Below is a link to a website that will allow you to purchase a great bag of coffee and in return $5 for each bag will be sent to Amelia's adoption fund.

Just Love Coffee

I have also (at the request of a great friend) added a Pay Pal "donate" button just under the tickers at the top of the blog . Please feel free to use that if you wish to donate to Amelia's Adoption fund..

Don't forget I sell on eBay too.. seller name meimeiandtete . I don't have much listed right now but I will be adding more soon.

We thank you for your generosity in advance...

More fund raisers to come... if you have any ideas you would like to pass on please feel free to comment or send me an email..

2 years ago

2010-06-16T00:34:00.002-04:00

we became a family of 3..for Riz and I it was the happiest day of our lives. For Sophia it was a day of the unknown and of one more change, of fear..

2 years later she is a happy little girl who is well adjusted and looking forward to being a big sister.

Dreams really do come true……

2010-06-09T15:47:00.002-04:00

The latest picture of our girl

2010-06-08T22:05:00.003-04:00

Happy 15 month Birthday
my sweet girl....

More Priceless photos of our beautiful girl

2010-06-07T22:32:00.004-04:00

Sent to us from The True Children's Home

Zhan Ci Mei

Dongguan, China

True Children's Home

15 months old

More from "True Children's Home"

2010-06-02T21:53:00.008-04:00

I have been digging for info on this organization and the more I find the more I am overwhelmed that our daughter is there being loved and cared for by such wonderful people. A "TRUE" blessing....

go here and read for yourself...

True Children's Home Story

2010-05-31T17:26:00.002-04:00

We heard from EAC today

China sent our PA on 5/27/10

An Update

2010-05-27T12:55:00.002-04:00

Our Precious Girl

So beautiful

She is 30.3 inches tall
Weights 19.8 pounds
Feet 4.7 inches
Chest is 18.1 inches
Head 17.5 inches
and

has

9 teeth

Not bad for 14 months old and strangely almost identical to Sophia's stats from when she was that age. Amelia is a tad taller then Sophia. We all think she is going to be a tall girl.

Thanks Uncle Zhou

The meaning behind her name

2010-05-26T13:01:00.005-04:00

Every child who comes from China and I suspect other countries as well come with a name that was theirs before they were ours. Our new daughter is no exception.. I wanted to take a moment and explain her name that she is coming to us with and the name that we have chosen for her....

Her Chinese Name

In China she was given the name Zhan Ci Mei, a beautiful name don't you think? The Chinese write their names differently then we do her in the states. Zhan is actually the last name and this is the last name of all of the children that spent time at the Zhanjiang city Social Welfare Institute (SWI). In Chinese the Pin Yin word can mean many different things based on the pronunciation of the word. When translating her name you really have to look at the Chinese Character of her name to get the real meaning. In Our daughters case Ci is her first name and it means admirable or kind... Mei means plum blossom. Mei can also mean little sister but that is not the Chinese Character that was on her paperwork, Plum Blossom is. We have been calling our daughter Mei Mei for some time when we talk to Sophia about her because she will in fact be Sophia's Mei Mei (Little Sister), and Sophia will be her Jie Jie (GeGe) or Big Sister. I think the meanings behind our daughters Chinese name is beautiful just like she is....

Her English Name

We have chosen an English name for her and it will be Amelia Grace. We have also decided to include part of her Chinese name with her English name in the same way we did for Sophia. There are many different feelings about including the chinese name in their english name. There is no right or wrong just personal choice and this is what we have chosen for both of our girls. We want them to have a piece of their Chinese name...Sophia is Sophia Joy Jinte Rizzo and Amelia will be Amelia Grace Cimei Rizzo both beautiful names for two beautiful girls..

When we picked the name Sophia it was a name that was not popular back in 2005, but a name we both loved. While we waited for Sophia visited my father on that trip we told him we would be adopting a little girl from China. Shortly after telling him about the adoption we began to talk about names for the baby when right out of the blue he suggested the name Sophia, without knowing we were seriously considering it. My father passed away shortly after that trip but a piece of him will always be with us in Sophia because of her name. In Amelia's Case we wanted to keep with a classic and find something that would go with Sophia and our last name Rizzo. So after many names and consideration we decided on Amelia (Riz's great grandmothers name) for her first name. Her middle name will be Grace (Riz's Grandmothers name was Grace on his fathers side).

So , Amelia Grace Cimei Rizzo is our new daughter's name....

Amelia Grace's current home...

2010-05-25T09:20:00.007-04:00

True Children's Home
True Children's Home (TCH) is an incredible American-run organization that provides care for medical special-needs orphans in China. The mission of True Children’s Home is to: save a child’s life, fund corrective surgery, provide post-surgical care, place children with foster families, and facilitate the adoption of TCH children. It is their goal that when a child leaves an orphanage and comes to TCH, they never return to the orphanage again. The most needy orphans are brought to one of their homes (Dongguan and Anji) where they are nurtured and given life-changing medical procedures. Children's needs include: cleft lip/palate, heart defects, low birth weight, club feet, hydrocephalus, anal atresia, etc. One hundred percent of donated funds are used to help the children as all administrative expenses are underwritten by founders Alan and Twila True.

True Children's Home is where Amelia Grace is and has been since before her surgery. We feel very blessed......

Please take the time to look at their website. I trust it will move you in the same way it has us....

Some days

2010-05-23T20:30:00.006-04:00

are better then you ever dreamed possible....

We had plans today to take Sophia to Little gym and then go to the beach and then home to grill out.Well we left Gym early never made it to the beach and have not eaten dinner yet..

and still today was better then I could have dreamed of..While at Gym Riz's phone rang he said who's area code is 440? I said that is EACI answer it and it was our Case Manager,Chris. She said Riz I think I have a match for you all. He lost all composer and could not gather himself to grasp what was happening. We scooped up Sophia and went outside to take the call. I took the phone and Chris told me all about the file she was looking at. Here are the details

baby Girl

Birthday 3/8/2009 (My fathers Birthday)

she is 14 months old same as Sophia when we got her referral..

She is from Guangdong and was brought to the Zhanjiang SWI on March 9th.

She stayed there until September 14th when she was placed in the Kensasai Children's Foster Home(also know by True Children's Home) (a home for SN kids run by Chinese in conjunction with Westerners I am still digging for info on it) She has been there ever since.

Her Special need is unilateral cleft lip (repaired) and Cleft Pallet We had them send her file to us and our doctor. We reviewed everything and all looks good.. We sent her file on to our friend Jean Wright who is a pediatrician in Charlotte NC. Dr. Jean said she has and is meeting all the important markers. I have been networking all day with local families who have kids with this same issue. She had her lip repaired in Nov. and did very well. It appears from her paperwork and from what Dr. Jean was able to find out that the repair was done at a Operation Smile Hospital.

OK OK I know you want to see pictures

Oh her Name is Zhan Ci Mei-

Zhan-she was in the Zhanjiang City SWI,
Ci -means admirable or kind,
Mei -means Plumb blossom...

and yes we are in love and knew immediately that she was our daughter....so happy so excited can't wait to go and get her....

Love you guys and wanted to share our fantastic Sat.with you all...Love Susan, Riz and Sophia

Photo Shoot of the Grandkids

2010-05-18T23:05:00.001-04:00

April 22nd is my in-laws wedding anniversary. We are always stumped about what to get them as a gift. This year I thought of the best idea and I knew they would love it. I called my sister in-law Tabby to ask if they would be interested in having professional pictures done of the grandkids. She and my Brother in law said yes and loved the idea. So a few weeks before either anniversary we took the kids to Portrait Innovations (would HIGHLY recommend them to any parent) and had a profession photo shoot done. This was the first photo shoot for both Sophia and for Christopher and I think they did great…This is just a sample of what they took…

Mother’s Day

2010-05-14T22:27:00.001-04:00

I have writers block LOL!!!

but had a nice Mother’s Day here are some pictures, enjoy..

View Full Album

April

2010-05-11T14:01:00.002-04:00

April was such a great month for us. We started out celabrating Sophia's and Riz birthday with a mini Vacation. We were sort of lie a traveling band of gypsies.. We had no real plans up until the very last min. when 2 opportunities presented themselves to us at the same time. The first was the opportunity to enjoy a few days of R&R at a great resort in Orlando. So we jumped at this and spent 3 days lounging around the pool sipping fruty adult beverages. It was pure heven if you ask me. Nothing to do or worry about other then enjoying each other. From there we went to spend a few days in our favorite city, Savannah, Ga. There is simply nothing like Savannah in the spring time. From there we headed back down to Florida. Riz decided he was not ready to come home yet and Pricelined a room for us for Easter night. We spent that night on the beach in North Florida again relaxing by the pool. I know I speak for Riz when I say there is just nothing we enjoy more then spending time together, the three of us as a family enjoying some rest and relaxation. We had a great Easter too, Sophia loved searching for her Easter basket in one of Savannah's beautiful squares. The Easter bunny was very good to her this year. On our way home we got some wonderful news about our second adoption. Our paperwork had been sent to China on the 5th So that meant that we were now waiting for our LID or LOG IN DATE. That is when our offical time of waiting begins. It was not long that we had to wait for the LID because on April 19th (our best friends wedding anniversary) we got word the we had our LID it is April 19th

The first time ever I saw your face

2010-05-02T09:17:00.000-04:00

I was breathless as your face appeared on the computer screen.The very fist picture of my daughter left me crying happy tears. I looked into those big dark brown eyes and wondered what you had seen in your short little life. Your eyes were so soulful and expressive. You were the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. It struck me at that moment that somehow my heart always knew who you were. You were my daughter.....

My thoughts were racing and my heart was pounding as I opened your next picture. I could see more of you in this picture. Meiling had you all bundled up in a pale yellow and red sweat suite. The picture had been taken when you were 8 months old, in November of 2007, I am sure the weather was cold. I could not stop looking at your legs and your arms I wanted to reach through that picture and hug you and never let go.

Daddy convinced me to look at the last picture of you that Kim sent us that day. I am so glad he did because when we opened that last photo we saw your smile for the first time. Your personality jumped right off the page and into our hearts. When could tell from that photo that someone was loving you and taking very good care of you.

All our prayers were answered that day ......We love you Sophia more then words can ever express...

Love Mommy

******April Update to come soon******

3 years ago

2010-03-30T23:35:00.003-04:00

you came into this world

as I sit here tonight i wonder about that night.

had you been born already by this time 3 years ago?

there are so many things i wonder about that night.

i have so many questions, i know one day you will too.

i wish i had the answers, but i have no answers for myself or for you.

tonight i know only this to be fact, from the depth of my soul.

i love you more then i ever thought humanly possible, so much it hurts

i want only the best for you

never ending happiness

little sorrow

much success

great adventure

self confidence

enduring patients

honor

grace

faith

love

and most of all

peace

I love you my sweet Sophia Happy 3rd Birthday....all my love Mommy

MARCH

2010-03-19T14:23:00.006-04:00

So March started out with a bang

March March March !!!! Sophia's favorite thing to do these days...Funny story..Sophia always says to us Hurry mommy hurry daddy a marching band is coming or Marching band is going to get us. We have no idea where this came from or how it started. She is pretend playing of course and thinks it is hilarious to drag us around the house running from the Marching band. Well earlier this month we went to Disney with our friends the Gonzales from our travel group. We had a great time with them at the Magic Kingdom. Sophia and Stephanie love to spend time together so we try to get together whenever we can. So that brings me to us trying to get down Main Street at the end of the night. We had to move to one side out of the way because Low and behold a Marching Band was coming! Sophia was right a Marching band did get us LOL any way just had to share that with you all..

on the 5th we signed Sophia up for school for next school term. She is totally loving school. She is learning so much. Sophia has learned left from right and now tells me what way to turn when I take her to school. She can now button and/or zip her sweater on and off herself. She can pour water from a pitcher into a smaller pitcher without spilling a drop. She is learning her letter sounds and shape as well as her numbers,colors and shapes. She can now count in Spanish to 10 easily and knows the parts of the body in Spanish as well. Every single day she comes home and either shares something new with us that she has learned or demonstrates something that she has mastered.She is amazing and I love watching her little mind unfold right before our eyes. She is making lots of new friends with the other kids in the class and in the other classes too. It is so cute to see and hear her talk about the other kids especially the younger ones. She is very motherly about them. She was happy to tell me that "Silas (one little boy in the class) does not cry anymore mommy, I helped him" . Next year Sophia will move up to the Primary room along with a few of the kids from her current class. The teacher had talked to us about possibly moving her before the end of the year but between the four of us (Me, Riz, Sophia and Ms. Helen) we decided to let her finish this year with the kids she has grown so close to and then let them all move to the primary class together.

On the 6th we went to Disney with the Gonzales family.. :)

On the 8th (my dads birthday) we went to Orlando to be fingerprinted for USCIS (Immigration) FINALLY! We had the chance to meet a couple who is also working with EACI and completing their paperwork for an adoption through China. Omi and I have talked on line and by phone several times but that was the first time we had met in person. It is nice to talk to someone else who is exact where you are in the process with the same agency.

of course we celebrated St. Patrick's Day on the 17th. The tricky Leprechaun came during the night and dies Sophia's milk and peanut butter green (Wink Wink). We had a corned beef cooking away while we were at work. I was so looking forward to a traditional meal of Corned beef, cabbage and potatoes. Well when we got home I knew right away it was not going to be good. It smelled awful for some reason. The Corned beef was super fatty. It just did not cut the mustard..I decided right then next year we are having Guinness Pie to celebrate St.Patrick's Day...We did have green apple juice and green ice cream for dessert.

Sophia and her cousin Christopher had shared their first Slurpee's together last Sunday at our brand new 7-11 on the cornorcorner just down from our house.

We have been planning for Sophia's Birthday and I think we have it all nailed down now. Her school party is going to be on March 23rd I am bringing into her class Fruit Kabobs, Party Hats, plates (with a jungle theme) and a take home treat for each kid in her class. For her regular Birthday Party that is going to be at The Little Gym. We have invited a bunch of her little friends to come. IT should be lots of fun and stress free for mom too. The nice thing about having a party at The Little gym is they do all the work and you enjoy the party with your child. The only thing we have to supply is the cake and goodie bags for the kids. I think everyone will be happy with the goodie bag I put together. I can hardly believe that Sophia is about to be 3 years old. I am so very proud of her and what she is becoming but sad to that my baby is growing up so fast.

We wanted to wish a few very special people Happy Birthday this month.

Wendy and Kate Happy Birthday to you both we miss you and love you guys very much.

I have been reading a book called Silent Tears: A Journey Of Hope In A Chinese Orphanage by Kay Bratt. It is a great book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is or has adopted from China. It is heart warming and heart wrenching at the same time. A true must read for any adoptive family who has adopted from China. Her encore addition is coming out on March 30th 2010.

UPDATE: Today we received the long awaited approval from USCIS (Immigration). This gives us approval to adopted a foreign born orphan and permission to move forward with the adoption of our second child... WoooHoooo!!!

We're going on a bear hunt

2010-02-19T10:11:00.006-05:00

We're gonna catch a big one. What a Beautiful Day....

While we were at our travel group reunion in Savannah last month our friends the Palumbos had this book. Sophia took right to it and I knew right away we had to have it for her ever growing library of children's books we have been amassing since before her arrival into our family. Sophia LOVES to read and we do it several times a day always ending the day with the same three books.

Brown Bear a true classic children's book, Good Night Gorilla, an other classic

and a little book I found in our favorite book store in Savannah, Ga~ E. Shaver books.

The book is simply called Good Night.

The main character in the book looks very similar to Sophia so we sort of have renamed the book to be Good night Sophie. We read these same three books every night before bed. I have been adding in one more book that rotates in relation to the holiday or season. We just finished reading a boat load of valentines books and Chinese New Year books. We have now moved on the books about St. Patrick's Day and the Lantern Festival. Any way I got off track there after reading We're going on a bear hunt I knew we had to add this to the collection. I Love it for the illustrations and for the content of the book. It is a very simple story about some children and there father going on a bear hunt and the obstacles that lie in their way. I like this book because the adult in the book is a father. Which has prompted Sophia to want to "Go on a bear hunt" every afternoon with her daddy. She is so cute when he gets home from work she grabs his hand and says come on daddy we have to go catch a bear..going on a bear hunt daddy... I captured these pictures yesterday as Sophia and her daddy headed out on there bear hunt.... I love them..:)

We're going on a bear hunt

Evan

2010-02-15T10:05:00.007-05:00

It was a sad day in The Little Gym this past Saturday. Sophia's favorite teacher Evan announced that he is leaving The Little Gym for a great opportunity in a local private school. She loves to go to his class and asks me all the time if we can go see Evan. I think she has a little Baby crush on him, she lights up when she sees him. Evan is such a great guy and a wonderful Gym teacher. He is always enthusiastic with the class. His voice is booming, just what you need when you teach a class full of toddlers under 3 years old. He makes Gym fun and changes things enough each time to keep in interesting for the kids. We are all sad to see him go but wish him well on the next chapter in his life. One bright spot is that Evan will be continuing to work at the The Little Gym on a limited basis doing the Birthday Parties and special activities. This make us very happy because we have scheduled Sophia's Birthday party to be at The Little Gym this year. Evan told me he would be there to do her Birthday Party for sure :)

Good Luck Evan you will be missed...

sorry some of the pictures are blurry it is hard to get pictures of kids and teachers in motion :)

Adoption

2010-02-11T10:00:00.001-05:00

The topic of how to talk to Sophia about adoption has been on our minds a lot lately for some reason. I guess because she is growing so fast and learning so much we don't want to miss the opportunity to make it part of her every day language. Obviously she will always know that she looks different from us but the details of that she will have many questions about. We are trying to prepare ourselves for the onslaught of questions that will inevitably come. We don't know the answers and maybe never will but we are searching for a way to express to her that she has always been loved by us, before we knew her and by her birth mother because she chose life for her and by her foster mother because she gave her so much love and care while she was in China before we became a family. Today I received an email from a Grandmother I befriended during "The Wait" . Her daughter was also in the process of waiting for her daughters referral from China. Grandma B sent a letter that I wanted to share. It gives a glimpse at what is in store for Sophia as she grows and a glimpse into the spirit of a child's mind.

The letter frmo Grandma B
"Thought you might like to hear R's story. She is a blond, blue eyed 5 yr old, very verbal and outgoing. She was adopted domestically as a new born. Her mother, M, is often amazed by her antics.The one thing R did not want to discuss was the being adopted...until after Lauren came. Family and friends had a party to welcome her and R was there and thoroughly enjoyed the celebration. A few days later R's teacher called."Mrs. M. it's about R...she is going around telling the other children that she is adopted." "She is"Silence...then an incredulous voice of the teacher asked, "From CHINA???" Seems that the party had convinced R that adoption was a wonderful thing. She also was confused about how China fit into the picture, but that if you were adopted you are from there.At Christmas, R's children's choir was waiting their turn to sing. M noticed that she was wearing an angry face and talking to the little girl next to her. After the children sang their director came to talk to M."Did you notice that R was upset?" "Yes, and I am sorry if she did something she shouldn't""No apology needed...I wanted to give her a big hug. The girl next to her said, "Nobody wanted you and that is why you are adopted." R glowered and replied, "You are wrong! EVERYBODY wants me!"May our little ones always have the confidence and assurance that they are from a special country, and that everybody in their family wants them."

A decision

2010-02-09T11:41:00.003-05:00

We have decide to continue this blog as you know from recent post. However, we have decide to take it private. There has not been any real issue, but for a number of reasons we decide that for now the best thing for us is to make the blog private. What this means is that you will have to be invited by us the blog authors through Blogger to be a reader. I have sent out invitations to most of the people I know still read the blog. If I missed you please send me an e-mail and I will be happy to send you an invitation. We so appreciate you sticking around to see Sophia grow and to witness our lives unfold as a family of three. We hope that you will continue to do so in the future....

Reunion time

2010-01-29T11:31:00.010-05:00

We had a GREAT month......

Jan 4th Sophia started school and loved it. We were so happy that she really seemed to enjoy going and the new environment. We of course have all had some adjusting to do to the new schedule but I think things are going pretty normally with the whole experience. You know moms always worry to much and i am no exception. School has been a lesson for me as well as for Sophia in letting go and letting grow.....

On Jan 16th we took vacation and meat with three of the other families we traveled to China with when we adopted Sophia. We spent a week with them enjoying each others company and of course enjoying the kids. There were five kids total and it was such a wonderful thing to see how they have all grown and changed so much since our time together in China. The girls all love each other and played together really well considering they are all pretty much the same age (2 1/5 to 3 years old). Savannah is such a great little southern city and provided the perfect backdrop for some really great pictures. We spent most of the week strolling around from one coffee shop to the next or from one Pub to the next. Lots of coffee, wine, and best of all laughter. We just love the families we traveled with and feel VERY fortunate to call them life long friends. We are already planning for next years reunion....LOL .. here are a few pictures from the trip..

LilyKate Love, Claire Palumbo, Sophia Rizzo, Eleanor Love and Stephanie Gonzalas

February promises to be a busy month for us with things planned for several weekends. We are going to do a Journey to Discovery program at Sophia's School on Feb. 6th. This program is designed to help parents fully understand the Montessori method of learning. We are really looking forward to this. I really want to get Sophia into an Art class so I am on the hunt for something age appropriate in our area. If you know of anything please drop me a line. We are excited that this year Chinese New Year falls on Valentines Day. The decoration possibilities have me giddy LOL...not sure what are plans are yet but it should be fun. The weather has been so wonderful this week that we are going to squeeze a trip into Disney World on Saturday.

We are still waiting for a fingerprinting appointment from USCIS so we can move forward with our second adoption. Riz and I are both anxious to complete this and bring a sister home for Sophia.

2010-01-04T22:21:00.002-05:00

Go check out the new blog and read all about Sophia's first day at school

Our Montessori Journey

A Brand New Year

2010-01-03T14:35:00.004-05:00

All Signs of Christmas are gone and the house is clean. It is January 3rd and a New Year is upon us. One of my many New Years resolutions was to blog more often so I am starting off on a good foot by writing down some of the things that are going on in our lives right now. We had a wonderful Christmas and a very quiet New Year Eve and New Years Day this holiday season. Riz and I don't like to be out on the road on New Years Eve so we usually stay home and watch the ball drop in NCY on TV. We did the same this year too. Sophia was fast asleep by the time that happened tho. We did let her stay up a bit later but by 9pm she said to us "time to sleep" So we took her up to bed and tucked our girl in for the last time in 2009. Riz and I stayed up watching TV and reflecting on the year we have had. It is amazing the changes in Sophia in the last year. She has gotten taller by nearly 4 inches and has gained 4.5 pound since last year this time. Her hair has grown and is now past her shoulders (not for long we get hair cuts on Wednesday). The thing that amazes us the most is how her mind has grown in the last year. Every single day she amazes us with a new word,phrase or action that we haven't seen before. Tomorrow starts a whole new world for Sophia and for her mommy and daddy as well. Sophia will be starting school at a great Montessori School not far from our house. We have been preparing her by talking about school, reading her books about going to school, taking her there several times just to look around and her favorite TV show right now is Little Bill. We love Little Bill too because it focuses on age appropriate things for preschoolers. We are all very excited about her first day of school even if mom and dad are going to be a bit choked up. See it seems when you adopt a 15 month old child everything is in fast forward and every little milestone is a HUGE milestone to be celebrated. My plan is to start a blog that follows our Montessori Journey. I have started working on it and hope to have a post ready for tomorrow night. I will post the link here tomorrow night if I get it ready in time. We are excited about what this next yer has in store for us.

Thanks for keeping up with us :)

Happy Holidays

2009-12-18T09:23:00.004-05:00

So much is going on with the hustle and bustle of the Holidays.

I wanted to take a moment out to update the blog.

I have been away to long and really miss putting my thoughts down here.

I was recently looking back at a few old post and realize just how much I have missed blogging. It was so wonderful to look back and relive some of what has happened to our lives in the past few years. A sort of trip down memory lane if you will. It got me thinking that this blog is much more then about "right now" or about us. It is more about Sophia and preserving memories for her. I always want her to know she was loved from the moment she was thought about. We want her to hold dear memories and traditions of our family. We feel like it is our job to create those memories and traditions for her and then preserve them for her in some way. We have begun to do that in many ways even before this year, the blog being one of them. We have added a few new things this year like attending the Candle Light Processional at EPCOT. We want her to know that the true spirit of the season is about giving to others. We want Sophia to understand that we have a responsibility to others and that giving is not only a responsibility but a pleasure as well. This year we picked an angle off of a Salvation Army tree and shopped for a 2 year old little girl. We have donated clothes,food and toys to a local a charity as well. We know she is still young and probably wont grasp what we are doing but we feel it is important to teach her these things early so they are just part of her normal routine. We believe that we have been blessed with so much and we want to share that where and when we are able.

Our Christmas looks like this so far. Every Christmas Eve we used to attend Midnight Mass at our church but with a small child that is just not possible so we are going to the Mass at 4:30 on Christmas Eve. Our Church does a Live Nativity with the Children's Choir. It is a spectacular Mass that depicts the Nativity Story with the Children in the Church playing the lead rolls, The Children's Choir does all the music and Live Animals come right down the middle of the church. It is truly a beautiful thing to witness. After that we will return home to start to prepare for Santa Clause to come. Riz and I have been having a very none traditional Christmas Eve Feast of Chinese Food Every year since we started waiting for Sophia to join our family. So we will again do that. Then Sophia will get her bath and then into her Pj's That the Elves left her while we were at Mass. Daddy will read "Twas the night before Christmas" and then Mommy and Sophia will leave out Milk and Cookies (Sophia wants to leave Fortune Cookies) for Santa . Sophia told me last night we can't forget the reindeer so I have to get some carrots for them too. Then it is off to bed for Sophia. Mommy and Daddy will have a long night of putting together toys that Grandparents bought her. Everything we got her is already put together :)(Smart mommy and Daddy). Last year was our first year as a family at Christmas, but this year Sophia is very aware of the whole experience and is very excited to experience anything and everything Christmas related. We are so really looking forward to Christmas morning seeing her face when she comes down the stairs and sees what Santa has left for her. We will have Cinnamon Rolls and Coffee (Sophia will have Coco) and just have a nice relaxing morning of watching her open gifts. Our families are coming in the afternoon for dinner and more festivities. It is a good thing we are off for two more days after Christmas so we can rest up after all the fun. This Saturday we are taking Sophia to Disney World to see all the beautiful Gingerbread displays at the resorts. Disney Hollywood Studios has a spectacular Christmas light display every year so we are going to try and catch that as well.There is just nothing like Disney World at Christmas time.

This all brings me right back to my initial thoughts when starting to right this update.

The New Year is coming!

It holds so much excitement for our family and what is yet to come for us. Sophia will be starting Montessori School on Jan. 4th and we are all excited about that.

I normally don't make New Years resolutions or should I say I don't normally stick to them but this year I am going to make one and try very hard to stick to it. I want to update the blog more often maybe once a week or once every other week might be easier to do.

I don't want to miss the details of Sophia's childhood......

Merry Christmas

Happy Hanukkah

Happy Kwanzaa

Happy New Year

a Very

Happy Holidays from our family to yours.

with love

The Rizzo Family

A busy life

2009-11-23T10:10:00.005-05:00

Lots going on will post picks later but I thought I would write while I had a chance to catch you all up on what we are doing..

So much is going on right now life is more busy then ever. Sophia is still attending Then Little gym twice a week and loving that. Each time we go she learns something new and comes out of her shell more and more. Friday we were talking about going to Gym on Sat. and she told me she really likes Even (the teacher). When I asked her why she likes him so much she told me because he is cute. LOL Oh no I think we are going to have our hands full in a few years.

Riz and I toured a few preschools in are area and after much consideration and research we have decided to start Sophia in a Montessori school. We just fell in love with the school and the Montessori philosophy. The school that she will be attending has been in business for 40 years and the teachers are all well educated and have been with the school long term. Sophia will start some time between now and just after the first of the year, we are still working out the details. She will go 5 days a week for a half day program. She loved the environment and wanted to stay when our tour was over. We are all super excited to see what happens next for her with school. I of course have been reading everything I can get my hands on about Montessori. I have discovered that there are tons of resources, blogs and groups all about Montessori. It is a subculture if you will.... stay tuned for more on Montessori. Sophia has been learning things at lightning speed and we feel like she is more then ready to be in a learning environment.

Adoption number two is coming along slowly but surely no new news there really. Progress is slow but we will get there. Kim, our wonderful agency rep. keeps us up to date on everything and we could not be more grateful to her. A name for baby number 2 is still forth coming.

Recently one of the families in our FCC group had a Halloween party for the kids. It was great fun to see them all dressed up playing together. We also had a Thanksgiving/ Adoption Awareness month Picnic and had a great turn out for that, over 50 people were there. It was lots of fun the food and the company were good as always. We are hosting a "Cookie Throw Down" on Dec. 5th for the FCC group. It promises to be a messy good time. We will have sugar cookies for the kids to decorate however they would like and for the parents there will be a cookie taste testing. Then we all plan to walk down to watch our Christmas parade (we live one block off the parade route).

I was very productive over the weekend and got the house cleaned and decorated for the Holidays. Thanksgiving we will have our usual morning as a family of 3. Cinnamon rolls and tea for breakfast watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in our Pj's. Then we will go to dinner at Riz's parents house. Then home to watch my all time favorite Christmas Movie Miracle on 34th Street (the old black and white one with Moreen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood and Edmund Gween. We normally get our Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving but this year we will be spending the weekend with great friends instead. I will need to hurry to have our tree ready before the Cookie Throw Down on the 5th. I have all of Sophia's Christmas shopping done but I still need to wrap them all. She is 100% into Christmas and Santa Clause this year. It is really neat to see Christmas through her eyes. We put away the Thanksgiving books last night and broke out the books about Christmas and Hanukkah. We want Sophia to know the true meaning of the Christmas Holiday as well as teaching her about other cultures and their celebrations. We have been doing lots of holiday art projects around the house too. Sophia is becoming quite the little artiest and has master the Happy Face. We laugh because everything male or female has to have earrings and a mustache. I'll post a picture of her Felt Turkey, poor thing is having an identity crisis..LOL

We are still trying to sell our house with no luck what so ever. The housing market is so bad here in Florida that we have not even shown our house in over a year. We are grateful that we are not upside down with our mortgage and that we are not in the position like so many others. We are still ready to sell and have a new start some place different. If you know of anyone who is interested in a 105 year old Historic House in a nice small Central Florida town not far from the Beach and Disney World(all of the attractions) please pass on my contact info.

We stay in close touch with several of the families we traveled to China with We have developed a close relationship with them all. It is hard not to when you are there for the most important part of a families life. We will all meet for a second reunion in Savanna Ga. this Jan. There will be four families and five little ones gathering this time. We are so excited to see them all again and to spend time together catching up on life.

OK I have board you enough I am sure. I will post pictures tonight..Hugs to all.

It has been far to long

2009-09-15T13:21:00.013-04:00

Since I was last here posting about what is going on in our lives. I can hardly believe it has been more then 2 months since I last posted here. Several people have asked me if I was going to stop blogging now that we are home with Sophia and I have always said no that I love doing it and I intend on keeping up with it. I still feel that way so I am going to try and get back to it on a more regular basis. The summer has been full of fun things for us. Day trips to Disney World, St. Augustine, The Beach, We had a Reunion of good friends, We had company for a few days when our travel mates the Love family came and stayed with us. We spent time with our other travel mates The Gonzales family and as always with our best and longest friends Matt and Lisa. On top of all of that we had a visitor from Hong Kong, our friend Bruce brought his daughter Anya her to spend the summer with his mom so we visited with them and got to see his lovely wife Elza when she came to retrieve Anya. I have more to share with you all about their visit later in the post.We went on Vacation with our good friends the Hylands to The Great Smoky Mountains and had lots of fun. Riz and I have been busy working and just living with a 2 1/2 year old in the house now. We are having tons of fun with her and love this 2 year old age. Something else that has been keeping us busy is that we have started the paperwork to return to China for a sister for Sophia. We are very close to being DTC and are going back with our good friends the Palumbos who we traveled with for Sophia and their daughter Claire. It has been busy and stressful getting all of the paperwork together for that but we know in the end it will be well worth all the stressful moments. Sophia has been busy too this summer. We attended several friends birthday parties. We got together with lots of families with kids her age and she has been having a really good time playing , learning to share and wait her turn. Sophia is also attending The Little Gym now twice a week and we are all loving that. It is so wonderful o see how much she enjoys it and how excited she is each time we drive up to The Little gym. She is learning so much form Gym (as she calls it) and we could not be more proud of her. She can walk on the balance beam (high and Low) by herself, She loves the rings and the uneven bars. Her favorite is the Ball time and she is learning that the balls are for everyone to SHARE...Sophia's vocabulary has taken off this summer and we now have a little chatterbox in the house. She is now talking in sentences and putting more and more words together everyday.She is talking a mile a minute, her memory blows us away and her comprehension is, well lets just say we are watching what we talk about around her now... LOL... We have started preparations for the Holidays already. The house is decorated for Halloween and Sophia will be attending a few Parties and of course we will be Trick or Treating. Her costumes this year for the first party she will be a Ballerina, the second she is going in a Toga (as a Greek Goddess) and for the big night she will be her FAVORITE Disney Character Mulan (Pictures to follow). We will be going to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend to pick a pumpkin to carve and to get some great Fall pictures, now if only the weather here in Florida would cool down. I picked out her Christmas dress yesterday it is really cute and we plan to have her pictures done soon so we can send out Christmas cards ASAP. Sophia has been talking a lot about Santa Clause (Gaga Clause) a LOT! and we can't wait to see Christmas through her eyes this year. Now on to the pictures from this summer. I promise to post the Pumpkin patch pictures and Halloween pictures as we get those done and I am going to make every effort to update more frequently...Thanks for sticking around and being interested in our life as a growing family.

These are pictures from our summer I hope you enjoy them

A Day at the beach with the girls. Sophia, Allyson, Ashley and Lisa (no pictures of me or Lisa it is forbidden to see pictures of us in a bathing suite LOL)

One of our many trips to Disney over the summer this time we stayed at Coronado Springs they have a great pool and Sophia loves to swim there.

We rode the Choo Choo Train at Downtown Disney. Sophia loves to ride any Choo Choo train ..

Sophia got her ears pierced over the summer courtesy of Uncle Mike and Cousin Travis

My Best Friend, Lisa and I took a road trip to get some of the Paperwork done for our second adoption. We had a great time and it was a fun day

State Certified Paperwork Done!

On an other trip to the Magic Kingdom over the summer . She loves the carousel too

Photo Shoot for the Dossier
and 1 year post placement visit.

Random cuteness

She is developing her own style and we love that.

We attended our good friend Mary Alice's Birthday party at a GREAT Splash Park.

I bet you guessed it was Barney Themed right?

On an other trip to Disney (EPCOT this time) Sophia met her IDOL Minnie Mouse. She was so cute and not sure what to do but she talked about her the rest of the day.She is fearless

We spend lots of time at the park letting Sophia play and once a month or sometimes more daddy takes Sophia there and they spend some quality Daddy and Daughter time.

Our FCC group had a Moon Festival celebration at the beginning of Oct. The girls are all so beautiful and are developing such great friendships.

Our first taste of Fall this year was on our vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains.

and Sophia discovered the electronic horse and loved it so much she road everyone we would come across..

We were with our good friends The Hylands.

Sophia and Hope are 3 days apart in age and life long friends.

I had a few more pictures I wanted to share with you all from The Love's visit this summer but after 4 times trying to get them to load I have given up. I will share them in a separate post in a few days....They are so adorable...

"Random acts of kindness"

2009-07-02T10:19:00.003-04:00

I Facebook Friend sent this to me and I Love it,I had to share....

a friend of mine told me about how she and her kids loved doing "random acts of kindness" in order to foster a love of giving. We thought her idea was so great that we have decided to promote it every quarter. The first week of July, we encourage you to do one random act of kindness in order to spread goodwill to others, and also to remind people that millions of children around the world live each day as orphans.

To take part, here is what you should do:

1) Print off the image on this blog, and cut it out as a small "coupon" or postcard. (if you double click on the image, it should load it on your computer in a larger size)

2) During the first week of July, pick a moment to do something kind for someone. Some suggestions include paying for the person behind you in the drive-thru line, buying a cup of coffee for the person in line behind you at a coffee shop, helping someone with lots of groceries load them into their car, etc. Be creative!

3) After doing your kind deed, give the person your "kindness card". If you are in a drive-thru line, simply give it to the cashier and ask them to give it to the next person in line while telling them that their meal is free. Then you can turn around and wave at the unsuspecting person behind you with a huge smile as you drive away.

So many people in this world are having a hard time and could really use a pick-me-up. You will never know how your random act might have given them just the encouragement they needed that day. It ALWAYS feels good to give, doesn't it? Invest just $5 into surprising someone with random kindness the first week of July, and help spread awareness about all of the children who go to bed every night without parents to love them. You will be adding a moment of giving to the world as well, and no act of kindness is ever wasted. Do a fun deed the first week if July and then come back here and tell us how it went!

(Warning: our friends who have done this with their children say their kids absolutely LOVE doing it, so be prepared to have some extra cards printed and in your glovebox! What a great way to teach our kids that giving to others is a blessing.) Have fun!

Friends for life

2009-06-25T22:19:00.002-04:00

During the 29 month wait for Sophia I was very lucky to bond with an amazing group of women. We met on the Jan2006yahoo group early on in the wait and forged a friendship that none of us ever expected. We come from different backgrounds, different walks of life and different areas of the country, but our common bond was the adoption. During the wait we met on several occasions to support each other. The bond we share has only grown deeper with the addition of our children. Our support for each other has moved on from supporting each other through the long unexpected wait to supporting each other through the adjustment of becoming a family. We all talk on a regular basis so meeting for a reunion was only natural. We have all been home now for some months. Riz and I being the longest at one year now and the Smith's being home just a few short months. We started planning this get together months ago and out of 14 families 10 were able to make the weekend in Amelia Island Florida. The weekend was more wonderful then we thought it was going to be. We spent time together at the beach, eating out, shopping in Amelia Island and "Hall Way cocktail parties" but I know I speak for the others when I say the best part was seeing all the girls play together. Each girl has their own individual personality and all are beautiful. We shared stories of our trips to China and of our parenting since becoming moms to these sweet girls. The weekend was over to quick but we ended with the promise that we would start planning the next reunion soon and for a much cooler place next year we are thinking New Hampshire. Erik and Kathy Crisman live there and offered to host next years event. Here are a few pictures from the most amazing weekend......We also celebrated our one year Family Anniversary while we were at the beach......

Friday's BBQ Me and my friend Karen

She had the best ride all weekend

My Friend Stephe and I at dinner Sat. night

My good friends Kathy and Stephe

The girls from

left to right top row Emma,Sophia,Qiao,Hannah

left to right bottom Mary Alice,Giorgia, Kaelie,Meili,Lily and Lexi

I may be partial but they are all so beautiful.

(Mom to Emma, Kathy made each of the girls a "Pillow Case" dress. Thanks Kathy)

Sophia wanting to take MORE pictures

Sophia trying to plant a kiss on GiorgiaMy beauty

A family pictureThe girls in their matching Green Lady Bug dresses (Thanks Stephe)

Sophia with her first Family Day anniversary gift. Two jade bracelets we bought for her while we were in China.Mommy and daughter on our first Family Day AnniversarySophia's buddies Kate (Key) and Claire (Care)
Family Portrait on Family Day
The Love of a Family....

The True measure of a man

2009-06-21T00:13:00.004-04:00

Dear Riz,
This is not your first Father's Day,but your second. Last year we were blessed with the most amazing gift of parenthood on Father's Day. I watched you go from being a man, a husband to a Father in the blink of an eye. Standing there in that hot Civil affairs office in Nanchang China I saw not only a child gain a family but I saw a father born before my eyes. Becoming a father was a long time coming for you, but I think that time has given you the gift of gratitude and appreciation. I always knew that Fatherhood would suite you and it has in more ways then I had ever imagined. I knew you would be an awesome dad and you are just that. I always knew that your heart would melt when you heard the words I love you Daddy or when she cried or even when she laughed and it in fact has melted many times in the past year. . Being a "Father" is so much more then biology, Fatherhood comes from the heart, it comes from the desire to nurture a little sole into a healthy, happy human. You have all of those things and so much more. The true measure of a man is shown when he becomes a parent. How will he handle parenthood? It is shown in all the little things that get over looked on a day to day basis. The bed time stories, and night time bathes, the snuggling on the couch and the being firm when it is called for, all of the kissed boo boos and the dried tears it is measured in the laughter that is heard in a home. It is measured in the TOTAL enjoyment of spending every possible moment with your child and exposing your child to everything life has to offer even those things that you don't like (ie. sand, seafood and children's music). It is all of these things and the wish to do them all over and over again just to see the happiness it brings to your child's face and to hear her laughter again and again. The true measure of a man is what kind of father they are.. you are an amazing Man and a GREAT father. I am so proud of you and so happy that Sophia has you as a father and that I have you as a husband,,,,,

Happy Fathers Day

We love you
Susan and Sophia

A year in her life

2009-06-12T22:17:00.001-04:00

It was one year ago today that Sophia was placed crying in our arms. It has been the most amazing year of firsts as we became a family. We knew from the moment she was brought to us that our lives were changed forever, and that they have, changed I mean. Changed for the better in so many ways we can't even begin to recount them here. People ask us all the time "So how is parenthood?, Is it every thing you thought it would be?" they say that to us with a snicker in their voice like "Ha HA not as great as you had dreamed right?" We find this so strange because Parenthood is better then we had ever dreamed, It suits us. We had always talked and dreamed about taking Sophia with us while we did all our normal stuff and we have done just that. This year we have traveled as much as we always did and Sophia was right there with us. We still go out to eat, shopping and to Disney World just like always. The difference now is we have someone to share all of that with. Parenthood has been challenging at times as we have adjusted to each other and learning to be firm yet loving and flexible. Things do take us longer and we have a shorter period of time in the evening then we used to but we make the best of it spending quality family time together. Parenthood is more then we ever dreamed it could be or would be. So when people ask us that question with the hint of sarcasm in their voice we always say that we would not trade it for anything and that it is the best thing we have ever done. We wanted to share pictures of Sophia from this past year with you in the form of a slide show put to music but I ran out of time so here are snap shots of our life this last year.

A Year in Her Life

Sophia in China before we became a family.
14 months old

May 2008

The day we became a family in Nanchang China

Sophia was not quite 15 months Old

June 16th 2008

Sophia's first 4th of July as an American citizen

July 4th 2008

Chilling with my friend Hope on our first trip to the mountains

August 2008

Sophia and Big Sam in Wendy's front yard on our first trip to Savannah, Ga

September 2008

Sophia's 1 and 1/2 year birthday Party

Playing with my little Buddie McKenzie.

Stephanie in the background

September 2008

Sophia in the Lake Helen Pumpkin Patch

October 2008

Sophia getting her first hair cut by Paul

October 2008

Thanksgiving Day

November 2008

Sophia and Allyson at the Christmas tree farm

Dec 2008

Hanging out by the fire with Kate (Key) and Claire (Care)

December 2008

Christmas Day

Dec 2008

Back together with my China buddies Claire (Care) and Stephanie (FiFi)

January 2009

Just one of my favorite pictures of our girl

January 2009

Valentines Day

February 2009

St. Patrick's Day

March 2009

Sophia's 2nd Birthday Party

Cousin Breanna

April 2009

Doing the Zoo with the Love twins

April 2009

Summer is here New Smyrna Beach

May 2009

our one year Family Day Anniversary

Amelia Island Florida

June 16th 2009

These pictures give you a small look into all the firsts this past year. There were so many more that we could not capture here. Things like Sophia's first words, her first ice cream, the first time she said I love you in English, her first bike and her first all nighter in her crib things that happen when the camera is not looking but will always be in our memories and in our hearts.

Stay tuned for pictures from our Panda Reunion at the beach......

EBAY!

2009-06-09T16:00:00.002-04:00

I am selling on e-bay now so please feel free to check out my listings and spread the word. I am trying to raise money for a very special project...hee hee hee...There is a link on the side bar that will take you right to my e-bay listings. If there is anything there you would like please feel free to bid and contact me. If you are from out of the USA please contact me directly and we can work something out. Thanks for supporting us and our very special project. :)

From Childless to toddler in 18 days

2009-05-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

Our walk down memory lane this month brings us to today May 19th. It was a year ago today that we received a second gift from our agency and from China. It came in the form of an "update". We were luck to receive an update about Sophia, her physical, medical and developmental state. We also received 7 beautiful pictures that we cherish still today. In a matter of 18 days we went from being a childless couple to being the parents of this little girl whom we only saw as a 6 month old baby until may 19th. These seven pictures fast forwarded things for us in a big way. We now were the parents of a toddler with quite a personality. We learned that she could stand and from studding the pictures gathered that she could walk (the dirty shoes. They are the shoes she was wearing on Family Day). We also got a glimpse of Sophia's foster mother and we learned that Sophia was inquisitive based on the fact that she was trying to see what was going on around the corner. We were able to see where it was she was living and a bit of the surroundings. We both studied these pictures for any kind of information that would help us to better know this child who would become our daughter in a few short days. We learned that she could drive a motorcycle and thought how perfect (we live in Daytona Beach, FL the home of Bike week and Biketober Fest). Most of all we were able to see that Sophia had the most amazing eyes and the sweetest smile. These updates are so valuable to anyone who is waiting to travel to meet their child. It is just a bit of added information that you can share with your child later in life.

A very Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-11T21:14:00.003-04:00

Me and my Daughter
it is so wonderful to say that.

For so many years Mother's Day was one of the hardest days of the year for me. For so long I dreamed of being a mother. Long before we decided to adopt I wanted to be a mother but it never happened for whatever reason. I always wondered why I had not been blessed with a child to love and to call my own. It was not until we decided to adopt that all began to change. Each year that we waited for Sophia we celebrated because in my heart we were already parents and I already a mother. This year was my first Mother's Day that there was no sadness or emptiness just pure love, joy and more happiness then I ever dreamed possible..

I hope that all of my family and friends had a very happy Mother's Day I thought of you all many times through out the day.

We also took time as we will every year to honor Sophia's first mothers both her birth mother and her foster mother. We feel if it were not for these two women we would not be so blessed today.

What a difference a year can make

2009-05-01T22:08:00.004-04:00

One year ago today (May 2, 2oo8). Our lives changed in the most remarkable way. We went from dreaming of our daughter. Wondering what she looked like, where she was and how old she was to knowing her and some of the details of her life. We have been reminiscing about that day for a week or so now and it has been amazing to look back on such a wonderful time in our lives. It is unbelievable to us how much our lives have changed for the better in the last year. Sophia added so much joy and excitement to our home and to our lives that day and every day since then. I was looking through documents on my computer yesterday and came across an e-mail from Uncle Zhou. Zhou is a true angel to us and all the EAC families that he has helped join together. One year ago today I opened my computer at lunch time and saw this and life from that moment on changed forever.....

"CONGRATULATIONS

Jan.10 LID group and all, Hi!Congratulations to your referrals. Kim in the Office is busy copying the referrals right now, she will call you pretty soon. Just let you know they are in the office. We got twins too. How exciting. Babies are young, about 10 months old, from Jiangxi Province. Again congratulations. Remember today is a great day for all of us.By the way, I am right now in Beijing with a family. We are going to Inner Mogolia to adopt a baby girl.

Zhou in Beijing"

These pictures were the first glimpses of our daughter. They were in this order and the most beautiful pictures we had ever seen. They still are very precious to us for so many reasons. Sophia was 6 months old in these pictures.

The Mug Shot

The High Chair

The laughing baby

Jiangxichildren : Jiangxi Province Children

2009-04-20T11:42:00.004-04:00

I belong to several yahoo groups all for different reasons. Shortly after receiving Sophia's referral I joined a yahoo group that is for the Jiangxi Province. Jiangxi is where Sophia is from, Wanzai city to be exact. The Jiangxi yahoo group much like other province groups are very helpful to information starved families that are waiting to travel to get their children. They help to educate families about what to expect when they travel. They connect families to others that have adopted from the same area. Once home they help to keep you connected to what is going on in that province and with the children that have come home from there.

Below I have included the link to the group

Jiangxichildren : Jiangxi Province Children

Today I clicked on the group to see if there was anything new going on. Much to my delighted surprise up popped Sophia's pretty little face. A few weeks back the moderator of the group asked all of us to send a referral photo along with a current photo of our children so that they could be shared on the home page of the group. I was so excited and proud to see her on the home page. Here is the photo they used..

I am so proud of her and I swear she just keeps getting prettier everyday

Sophia at 6 months old and Sophia at 22 months old

10 months and 1 day

2009-04-17T07:42:00.000-04:00

Today is 10 months and 1 day since we first held Sophia in our arms. I am sure you are wondering why I am writing today, instead of a few weeks from now when we celebrate the One year mark of our referral for Sophia or two months from now when we will be celebrating our 1 year mark as a "Forever Family". Well not to worry I will write then too, but I wanted to write today because today is the day that Sophia has Officially been with Riz and I longer then she was with her foster mother in China. I get emotional just thinking about it.I can't imagine caring for a Child for 10 months and then having to give that child away never knowing what happened to her or if she was OK. I have so much admiration for those who are able to foster children. I think about how much our lives have changed and been blessed because of Sophia. Her life is so different now then it would have been if she were still with her foster mother in China. I am not saying better just different then it was. I think of Sophia's Foster Mother every single day with a sense of overwhelming gratitude for this women I will never know. I have written about her before many times. I will never stop talking about her because she is the person that held my baby at night when she cried and feed her when she was hungry dried her tears witnessed her joy and nurtured her into the happy,smart,funny,intuitive,strong, beautiful girl she is today. We look at her pictures with Sophia frequently and she has learned to say "Cha N" (China). I want her to know about this women and the little bit of information we know about her. She is part of Sophia's story her beginning. So while I feel really happy about how far we have come in 10 months and 1 day I also feel a bit of sadness for this women. I wonder if she thinks about Sophia. I wonder if she knows that she was adopted internationally. I wonder has she seen our pictures. I wonder if she realizes how much we love this child. I wonder if she knows we will forever be grateful to her ............

2009-04-15T22:27:00.001-04:00

You Know You're An Adoptive Parent When...
1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child's 'real' parents.
7. You have ever been 'pregnant' with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You know what the word 'Dossier' means, and you can actually pronounce it!
13. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
14. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.

-Author unknown

Happy Spring

2009-04-13T10:56:00.001-04:00

We just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Spring. We have had beautiful weather here in Florida. This picture is from a photo shoot we did with Sophia on Saturday. I will post more of them in the next few days over on her blog Simply Sophia. We also have vacation pictures to post along with pictures from Easter. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Holiday. Ours was wonderful because we finally had Sophia with us. I will post more later about her first Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Baskets (yes that is plural... LOL). I have also not done Meal Plan Monday since we have been back from Vacation but I will get back to that next week. In the mean time I hope to catch up on all my blogging.

So much to post about

2009-04-05T00:52:00.002-04:00

I have so much to post about..

Sophia turned 2 on March 31at and we hada birthday bash for her (pictures to come)
Riz turned 41 (no pictures of that LOL)

The three of us have been on Vacation in Savannah Visiting Wendy and the girls.Then we drove to Atlanta to see our friends and China travel mates the Loves. We took in the Terracotta warrior exhibit at the high Museum and the Atlanta Zoo while we were there. (Pictures to come) and now we are in Amelia Island because we got stuck in 3 hours of GA traffic on the way home. (Pictures to come)

Tomorrow our good friends are coming for a visit with their 2 beautiful kids. (I am sure there will be pictures of that too)

I had Starbucks at 5 so I am still awake at 1am and just entered a blog giveaway over on Maisie Eats Bentos. This is one of my new favorite blogs and is becoming an obsession of mine. Wish me luck... Check out Maisie Eats Bentos here......

Life is to short

2009-03-27T10:30:00.003-04:00

I saw this on two of the blogs I follow and had to spread the message......get a tissue

Meal Plan Monday

2009-03-23T07:36:00.003-04:00

Check out "I'm an Organizing Junkie" for her and many other meal plans for this week. I get a lot of good ideas from her readers, I'm sure you will too...

This weeks meal plan will actually be for two weeks because we are leaving for vacation on Sunday the 29th for a week. I am going to be super busy this week preparing for our trip. I hate to come home to a dirty house so I have to do that among other things. So the meal plan this week is full of not so healthy food but I will be working on that in the near future. I decide rather then try and do a meal plan while we are away I would just post the two weeks today..So here it is..

Meal plan for week of March 23rd- April 5th

Monday - Cheeseburger Hamburger helper

Tuesday - Chicken Tacos and all the fixings

Wednesday - Ziti, meat balls, salad and garlic bread

Thursday - Left overs (which usually means grilled cheese or some sort of take out in our house) We rarely have left overs and if we do have them and they are enough for an other whole meal we freeze it for a future nights meal...

Friday- Hot dogs and Macaroni and cheese

Saturday- Sophia's second Birthday Party so party food :)

Vacation begins

Sunday - We leave for vacation and will be at Wendy's we always go to our favorite Mexican restaurant our first night in Savannah, Ga. Jalapenos is a great place for Mexican food if you are ever in the Savannah area.

Monday- Will be a toss up not sure yet where we will eat but it will be out I am sure.

Tuesday - Sophia's actual Birthday so we will celebrate at our favorite Japanese Restaurant Heiwa's and then have cupcakes from Bake in the day Bakery. Riz, Wendy's and Kate's Birthday's are also this week so we will be celebrating their birthday's as well.

Wednesday - We will be leaving Savannah and head towards Atlanta, Ga were we plan to take in the sights of Atlanta and see our friends and travel mates from Love Times Two. We are looking forward to seeing them. We will eat out this night but not sure were yet.

Thursday - Riz's birthday so his choice I'm guessing The Varsity for a Chili Dog and a frosted Orange...He has simple taster really LOL. We will be spending the day at the High Museum taking in the Terracotta Warrior Exhibit from China.

Friday - I think we will be having dinner with our travel mates

Saturday - We head for home so food on the highway...

Sunday- We have friends coming in from Ohio who used to live around the corner from us. We plan to have dinner with them so it will either be our favorite Chinese restaurant that I am sure they have been missing or Mexican (we have great Mexican restaurant's in our town.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T09:22:00.010-04:00

We are Floridians but I think we are misplaced. We were really meant to be Georgians...It is at this time of year that we feel it more then any other time. Is it because of the HUGE St. Patrick's Day celebration that takes place every year on March 17th in our favorite Georgian city.. Maybe but strangely enough we have never actually been in Savannah Ga. for the actual celebration. We have been there just before and just after the big day but have always tried to avoid the sleepy moss draped southern jewel during that time because the crowds swell to make the city bustle with activity. We say every year that next year we will go but have not made it yet, well maybe next year... I think at some point we will wind up living in Georgia maybe not Savannah but it will always be our favorite place to visit. We are going in a few weeks for a few days and are really looking forward to some time away from work were we can just spend some good quality family time. We love introducing Sophia to the things we love so much. She is growing so and blossoming into quite a little spit fire. She is so excited to see and learn new things these days that we are looking forward to this trip with excitement. We will be staying with our good friend Wendy and her two beautiful girls Kate and Claire. Sophia has been practicing saying their names, it is so cute.Then we are off to Atlanta for Daddy's Birthday and we plan to celebrate by taking in "The First Emperor China's Terracotta Army". They are on exhibit at the High Museum through April 19th 2009. We will also be spending some quality time with our good friends and travel mates Jonathan and Susan and of course their two beautiful girls LilyKate and Eleanore. We are really looking forward to seeing them again and seeing how much the girls have changed. Sophia kisses the picture of the girls that is on our fridge multiple times a day and attempts to say Eleanore and LilyKate but usually says Baby and points to each of them. I can't wait to see what she does when she sees them in person.

Sophia's Birthday is also coming up soon but I am saving that for an other blog post...

Tonight we will celebrate St. Patrick's Day in honor of my mothers side of our family. They are full blooded Irish, with the last name of Carr what else could they be right? We will be eating the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage, Potatoes and Irish Soda Bread. and maybe a few green beers too...:) Sophia is decked out in her "Kiss Me I'm Irish" t-shirt and a cute little skirt daddy's cousin Christine sent to her. Complete with"Kiss me I'm Irish" hair bow and green socks. I tried to take pictures before work to post here but she was not cooperating this morning. She was obsessed with her pink Dora purse and some blocks. I will take some tonight and post them to Simply Sophia later tonight, don't forget to check back later for some Green Cuteness...

Have a great day and I close with one of my favorite Irish blessings...

"May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you
In the palm of his hand."

Meal Plan Monday

2009-03-16T11:17:00.003-04:00

Don't forget to check out "I'm an Organizing Junkie" for lots of great meal plan ideas....

Our plan for this week is pretty simple really

The usual for Breakfast and Lunch See last weeks post for those..

Dinner will be as followers

Monday -Grilled Chicken Pasta with lemon butter sage sauce and broccoli. This is a tossed together kind of meal not separate items on a plate...

Tuesday - Corned Beef and Cabbage, potatoes and Irish Soda Bread (Really could it be anything else?)

Wednesday - French Bread Pizza made on garlic bread with fresh Mozzarella cheese and Rome tomatoes and a salad

Thursday - Left overs

Friday -Shake and bake pork chops ( not they did not get eaten last week again LOL), Crashed potato's (these are so yummy) and green beans.

Saturday - Sophia and I will have Flounder in a lemon butter sauce and Riz will have Grilled Chicken with the same sauce (he does not eat seafood), Rice and Fresh Cauliflower and Broccoli.

Sunday we will be having a picnic at the park with friends.. :) I hope if they are free :) Hint Hint are you free? LOL..

I promise to blog about something other then what we are eating in the near future...LOL

Meal Plan Monday

2009-03-08T08:54:00.004-04:00

Spring Cleaning update...Well my list was a bit ambitious for one day. That coupled with the fact that Riz's back was out and we now have a toddler in the house proved to make Spring Cleaning a bit more difficult then in years past. I was not completely disappointed with the progress I was able to make however. I did get our living room, Dinning room, Kitchen and downstairs bathroom done. So downstairs I have our Family room, Sophia's toy room and the Office (the worst room in the house) left to do. I am going to work on all of that next Sat. This of course does not even take into account the whole upstairs still needs to be done with the exception of Sophi's closet and drawers which started this whole project last weekend. My goal is to get it all done by the end of next weekend.

OK now on to this weeks Menu Plan.......There are some repeats from last week.. One night we no one was hungry so we had Pot Luck...So Italian Chicken is moved to this week. We did not make the Chopped steak because we had to make a run to the store for cleaning supplies after work one night so we got Chinese food (a favorite of all in our house)...

I am adding to the meal plan this week by adding in Breakfast and lunch ...

Breakfast: Riz and I both eat Toast or Cold Cereal and Coffee for breakfast..sometimes a piece of fruit will be added in...

Sophia: Drinks a yogurt and has a piece of fruit along with one of the following each morning..

Grits

Oatmeal

Cream of Wheat

Egg

Pancakes (no syrup)

French toast (no Syrup)

Waffle (no Syrup)

Lunch: for us is random.. We both work for the same health care company so we are frequently treated to lunch by pharmaceutical Reps. If that is not the case we generally bring Tuna or Egg Salad from home or maybe left overs. Once in a while when the need to get out of the office is high we go out for lunch. I usually have coupons for Arbys, or some other fast food joint (I know not health food but what can I say)...

Sophia: Has for lunch most days one of the following along with a Veg and a piece of fruit...

Fish Sticks

Tuna Salad

Egg Salad

Chicken Salad

PB&J

Chef Boyardee Spaghetti and Meatballs

Monday - Pasta, Garlic Bread

Tuesday - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Wednesday - Shake Bake Pork Chops, Brussell Sprouts, Rice

Thursday - Chicken Tacos and all the fixings

Friday - Chopped Steak, Crashed Potatoes, Green Beans

Saturday - Sloppy Joe's, Tater Tots

Sunday - We will eat out (going to Disney with my -in-laws)

Last but not least don't forget to click on over to "I'm and Organizing Junkie" for more great Meal Plan Monday Links...

Spring Cleaning

2009-03-03T16:00:00.005-05:00

Since it is now March and the warm weather of Spring is on its way and summer is not far behind I feel the need to clear out the clutter. Last weekend I spent part of Sunday cleaning out Sophia's closets and drawers of all the fall/winter clothes and the clothes that no longer fit her. It made me kind of sad because some of the first things we bought for her while we were waiting for her and things we bought for her in China no longer fit and have to be put away. The closet looks bare now but I guess that is a good reason to go shopping for some new things for her. She is growing so fast and getting so tall that a shopping trip is not far off, I think . We are going to be home bound this weekend so we are going to make good use of the time. Riz plans on sprucing up the yard and cleaning the Attic while I Spring Cleaning the house and start to make piles for a Yard Sale, E-Bay, and Good Will. I really hate to have a Yard sale because they are so much work but it is a must some times. There just comes a point when you have to get rid of things that are just taking up space. I am going to start selling on E-Bay but have not gotten around to doing that yet. I need to clear through things first get organized and decide what will go on E-Bay and what is really more Yard Sale worthy. There are some things that just really need to go to Good Will from the beginning and I have a pile for that too... I have a HUGE collection of Precious Moments that I am going to be parting with. I will list those here before I put them on e-Bay.I have to get a handle on what I have first. So if you are a collector or know a collector please feel free to contact me. I want to have all of this done so that I can have the Yard Sale by March 21st and begin E-baying (is that a verb?) soon after that. I am hoping to make a little extra vacation money but my real goal is to get rid of things, to simplify, to reduce....

I have been scouring the Internet for ideas to clean our house with out harsh chemicals. I am looking for those ideas that your "Grandma/Aunt/Mom used to clean things. I found a few good websites with ideas but I would love to hear from you all too. I am also looking for ways to organize our home and our life so send me your ideas on that too.

My favorite Magazine is Real Simple so you would think I would be a pro at this by now.. but Nope ... I tend to read the articles look at all the pretty pictures then it goes in my huge stack of magazines never to be seen again until i do this once a year de-clutter LOL I need help....

5 Minute managment

2009-03-03T08:02:00.000-05:00

My Kiwi friend Ruth over at Our Stories by the Sea had this cute post today and I had to share it here with my readers just in case you don't know or read Ruth's blog. I do however encourage you to become a follower of her blog she is funny, smart, a great story teller full of great stories and has a beautiful family....

Lesson 1: A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbour. Before she says a word, Bob says, 'I'll give you $800 to drop that towel.' After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, 'Who was that?' 'It was Bob the next door neighbour,' she replies. 'Great,' the husband says, 'did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?'

Moral of the story: If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2: A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?' The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?' The priest apologized 'Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.' Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, 'Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.'

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3: A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.' 'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.' Puff! She's gone. 'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.' Puff! He's gone. 'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch.'

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4: An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?' The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not.' So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5 A turkey was chatting with a bull. 'I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree' sighed the turkey, 'but I haven't got the energy.' 'Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?' replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients.' The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there..

Lesson 6: A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him. Morals of the story:

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut! THUS ENDS THE FIVE MINUTE MANAGEMENT

Meal Plan Monday

2009-03-02T08:10:00.001-05:00

Well, all the talking I have been doing about how great we have been about sticking to the meal plan was shot last week. First we were foiled by the Pork chops still in the freezer, Tuesday we were treated to Meatloaf that my in-laws brought over for us. Wednesday we did actually eat the Lasagna. Thursday we had no left overs to have and Riz had been dieing for Poppy's Fried Chicken so we had that. Friday we needed to go to Sam's for a few things so we bought a Rotisserie Chicken there for dinner... So we blew it last week..Oh well today is a new day and the start of a new week so here is this weeks menu plan. You may notice a few things that look familiar to you LOL ... Almost all of last weeks meal plan is being moved up to this week..

Monday - French Bread Pizza
Tuesday - Chicken and Rice Casserole, and Salad
Wednesday - Italian Chicken (Frozen from the last time we had it) with Broccoli and Egg Noodles
Thursday - Pasta, Salad and Garlic Bread
Friday - Chopped Steak and Crashed Potatoes with Broccoli
Saturday - Hamburgers on the grill and Tater tots
Sunday - Late lunch picnic with friends...

DON"T forget to check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for some great tips on meal planning along with some great meal plans and recipes.....

Check this out....

2009-02-26T21:39:00.002-05:00

Click on the heart to see the pictures in more detail

and check out this website to make your very own photo Collage

http://www.vincentcheung.ca/shapecollage/

My good friend from the other side of the world Ruth had it on her blog and I had to make one of my very own...I just did a random folder of pictures from a day at the park.

Meal Plan Monday

2009-02-23T09:54:00.007-05:00

Here we are again an other Monday and an other meal plan. Don't forget to check out I'm an Organizing Junkie . She has lots of great tips and links to some great menu plans. We have been doing really well sticking to the meal plan. The days sometimes get moved around but we have been eating out WAY less then we did before. In fact I can't tell you the last time we ate out, well when we were not asked out by someone that is.Last week we did have some juggling and adjusting of the menu Thursday was Daddy and Daughter night so Riz took Sophia to McD's for a fish sandwich and then to the park to play while Mommy had some girl bonding time with her befriend, Lisa. I did not eat dinner that night I just was not hungry after all the coffee :) (Hey that sounds like a diet i could live with). Friday night I made home made Pizza from this recipe it is yummy.....It will be on our meal plan again. The Steak was moved to Sunday because my mom treated us to dinner on Saturday night (Thanks Mom). So all that being said the Pork Chops are going to be dinner tonight..

*Monday - Shake and Bake pork chops (Riz favorite), Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes and of course Apple sauce.

*Tuesday - Chicken and Rice Casserole (Moved from last Thursday night). Grandpa watches Sophia for us on Tuesdays and sticks around for a visit when we get home from work so this is always an easy meal after he leaves.

Wednesday - Lasagna (It is Italian days at *Publix so everything Italian is BYGO free), Salad and Garlic bread. * there will be enough of this to freeze for an other meal. A true BYGO free meal LOL

Thursday - Left overs/Pot luck

Friday - Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper ( I know so bad for you but I love it and it is quick and easy)

Saturday - We will be eating out with friends from out of town

Sunday - Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Spicy Italian sausage (this is the 3rd week I have moved this up. I have everything we need to make this dish but time LOL. I want to cook this when we can really enjoy it so we will see if that will be this Sunday or not..

PUBLIX TIP: Kraft Parmesan Cheese 2 for $6 they are on a stand in the front of the store that has a tare pad of coupons for $1 off a can. Take 2 coupons and they will take each coupon off the $6 price so you get 2 cans for $4 a GREAT deal. Also there is a coupon in the Smart Source insert of the Sunday paper that give you a verity of $1 store coupons that you can use in conjunction with a manufactures coupon do give you more savings.

*UPDATE: We already have altered this weeks meal plan LOL. Monday night we did not have Pork Chops I though Riz took them out her thought I took them out they are still in the freezer.. A flaw in our plan LOL.. It was OK though neither of us felt like having them anyway so we had Pancakes, Bacon and OJ for dinner in celebration of Pancake Day today... And this morning my FIL came to watch Sophia and brought us a meatloaf with all the trimmings for dinner. So we don't have to cook anything just pop it in the oven. Thanks Mom and Dad for the meatloaf...So Pork Chops get moved to next week and the Chicken and Rice will be moved to next week as well...

what I have been up to

2009-02-20T10:15:00.041-05:00

almost immediately after receiving our referral for Sophia I began to scour the Internet to find out every detail about where my daughter was. I wanted to know all about the place (both the city and the Social Welfare institute) where she had spent 14 months of her life before us. I wanted to talk to families who had traveled there before us and who had children from there. I was looking for families who had recently adopted from there and found only one Jamie and Stephanie from Loving Life with Lily. Stephanie and Jamie had just adopted their daughter Lily in March and had walked in the places we were about to in a few short months.We began to talk with them and they shared lots of great information about their daughter Lily with us.We have since met them in person and Sophia and Lily hit is off so well. We call them "Wanzai Sisters" now. We also found the Wanzai Yahoo Group They were great in giving us details about Wanzai and a glimpse into our future. See most of the members have children that are a bit older. I loved talking with them and seeing pictures of their children. It let us see what we had to look forward to with Sophia. Somehow it is never enough information to ease your mind while you are waiting to travel tho. I was left wanting more details, more information. I am sure many who read my blog can relate to that feeling of not having enough information about the place your child was in before you. I decided then that I wanted to create a place that would gather information about Wanzai, The Wanzai County Social Welfare Institute and of course our family stories. I wanted to do this so that we could connect to other families who had children from Wanzai (a small rural city with a small international adoption program). So that our children could have a connection to each other and so that as they grow they could stay connected to people who have a common bond of not only their adoption experience but that are from the same city in China. I have been scouring the Internet again trying to find families who have children from Wanzai and have been somewhat successful. Stephanie and I have now contacted 8 other families who have adopted within the last 5 years. We are still looking for more and for families that may have older children as well. I am putting a request out there that if you know anyone who has adopted from Wanzai that you please pass along this info to them or ask them to e-mail me for more information. I am in the process of creating a blog for the Wanzai families with the hopes that we can share stories of our journey to our children. Share information about Wanzai and the Wanzai County Social Welfare Institute so that others who will be adopting from there may find comfort in our details. The goal is to stay connected to each other for the sake of our children and by the common bond we share, our children...

Simplify

2009-02-16T14:56:00.004-05:00

In an effort to make life easier and save some money we "Bundled" our Cable, Internet and Phone service. It was quick easy and will save us about $45 a month or a savings of $540 a year, WOW who knew. I love that we get to keep our same phone number and all the same services as we had before for less. I also went paperless with all of our bills to eliminate clutter from the house and save a bit of money on stamps (they are going up again just in case you have not heard from 42 cents to 44 cents) and envelopes. Our City water gives us a discount for being on automated payment each month and it is nice to not have to worry about that bill being mailed anymore. I also removed the camper we sold last month from our auto policy finally and that will save us a bit more each month on the auto policy. Now if I could get motivated to start selling stuff on EBay and have a garage sale I would be doing good. I HATE to have a garage sale but it needs to be done. Just how does so much stuff accumulate so quickly??

Meal Plan Monday

2009-02-16T09:30:00.004-05:00

Not that you all care but I am feeling 100% better then last week, Thank god. I am still not up to planning meals that require a recipe that I have not tried before so this weeks meals are simple and easy to do.

Enjoy

Monday - Rigatoni with Roasted Garlic tomato sauce and meatballs and Salad.

Tuesday - Sloppy Joes , Tater Tots and Salad

Wednesday - Leftovers (this is my coffee night with my best friend)

Thursday - Chicken and Rice casserole with veggies

Friday - Steak on the grill, Crashed potatoes, and roasted brussel sprouts

Saturday - Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Spicy Italian sausage

Sunday - Shake and Bake pork chops (Riz favorite), Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes and of course Apple sauce.

Don't forget to check out I'm and Organizing Junkie for a list of great meal plans and tips.

PUBLIX has some great BOGO free deals this week......
and a call out where is the cheapest place to buy Diapers?????

Meal Plan Monday

2009-02-09T08:43:00.005-05:00

Well our meal Plan for last week went pretty well until Sunday when it was quickly derailed by illness. I was suddenly hit with the stomach crud and was in bed all day. Riz and Sophia managed on their own just fine and both ate but me I have not even had an appetite since Sat. I am feeling somewhat better now but still not up to cooking so this weeks meal plan is going to be easy and simple..

Monday - Grilled cheese and tomato soup

Tuesday - Scrabbled eggs and toast

Wednesday - Italian Chicken, Potatoes, green beans (defrosted from previous meal )

Thursday - Pasta with tomato sauce--

Friday - Chicken and Rice casserole

Saturday - Pizza

Sunday - Dinner at my in-laws

After writing this I am not sure how much of this I will be able to eat or feel like eating but it is all stuff that Sophia and Riz can manage on their own if I am still down with the crud...

don't forget to check out I'm an Organizing Junkie

for all of her great tips and links to great meal plans...

IKEA

2009-02-02T10:28:00.004-05:00

Saturday we spent the morning at Disney Hollywood Studios. They have a Playhouse Disney show that we have been wanting to take Sophia to see. For those of you who don't know she LOVES Handy Manny and when I say love I mean like real swooning kind of love. She is to cute and wants to watch his show whenever she can. We just knew she would love the Playhouse Disney show and we were right. She LOVED it. IT was so exciting to see her face when Handy Manny came out on stage. She was standing up clapping and dancing her little heart out. So sweet...We did a few other things there like the Great movie Ride and the Little Mermaid show. We left early because Mommy has been wanting to go to IKEA . I had never been and Orlando was lucky enough to get one last year. Let me just say we spent 3 hours in there and I could have spent all day. What a great store....I love the fact that they do not have plastic bags and that they are 100% using reusable bags. I want to go back with a list and measurements..LOL... Really if our house ever sells we are going to start fresh with everything and a big shopping trip to IKEA. After looking at their 375 square foot home I almost convinced myself I could live in it LOL... NOT!!! but WOW! what a great use of space. We had a snack (lunch really) in the Cafe Swedish meatballs of course. LOL....

Meal Plan Monday #2

2009-02-02T09:00:00.006-05:00

Update on last week.... as I said in the post last week before we even got started we had a change of plans. We moved everything up one night and eliminated one meal (chicken curry) from the plan. We did not have our leftover night last week. I was lucky enough to have enough of each meal to freeze for a future meal. I was much less stressed about dinner and we had more family time each evening (my real goal here)..Over all I would say my first week was a success.

click on the words in green for the recipes

Monday - Homemade Beef Barley Soup-Crusty bread- Green Salad ( the soup has been in my freezer for some time)

Tuesday - Ham and Cheese Casserole (leftover from last Sunday.I did not feel like cooking the pasta meal on Sunday last week. This was already made for today so we had some for dinner on Sunday and the rest tonight)

Wednesday - Pork Chops- Green beans- Mashed Potatoes- apple sauce

Thursday - Left overs/pot luck

Friday -John's firehouse Tortellini soup - crusty bread - Green salad

Saturday - We will be attending a Chinese New Year event with dinner being served

Sunday - Sunday gravy and macaroni - garlic bread- salad

Baking: I also baked Chocolate Chip cookies and Walnut fudge brownies over the weekend.

and don't forget to check out all the great meal plans and recipes over at
I am an organizing junkie
Meal plan Monday

Call me Crazy

2009-01-29T16:19:00.007-05:00

if you want to but I am in love and now obsessed with this idea... Bento Box Lunches...
I love to cook and I am always looking for fun new ideas. I also love gadgets and little organizing kinds of things so this is right up my ally. I can hardly wait for Sophia to start school so I can make Bento Box lunches for her. Well I can wait for her to start school I don't want her to grow up to fast. I may make her these now for her lunches during the week. She will love them and her grandparents (her grand parents watch her for us during the week) will to I am sure. I came across this blog during the Meal Planning Monday and it just so happens we have a mutual friend (Donna) over at Loving Lauren. The adoption community and the blogging world never cease to amaze me with the wealth of creativity and talent that are out there.

Meal Planning week #1

2009-01-26T14:08:00.008-05:00

In keeping with the on going goal to save money and organize our home and life better we are striving to plan our weekly meals better. This is not only a cost saving tool but a time saving tool for those with busy schedules. It also has the added benefit of we are eating better and more healthy food. We definitely feel less rushed at dinner time and feel like we have accomplished something by not eating on the run. A few post ago i talked about the website I am an Organizing Junkie. Each week she does a post called Menu Plan Monday. She post her families menu for the week and asks her readers to post theirs as well. There are so many great meal and recipe ideas there that I just had to join in so starting this week every Monday I am going to post our families menu for the week. I am going to try and include recipes where it is appropriate. I have next weeks menu already done and everything we will be eating are things that we have had in the house either in the pantry or in the freezer. I needed to shop for minimal ancillary items to round out the meal. Most are pretty standard meals in our house with the exception of the Friday night meal that is a new one. I found it while looking for a way to use up the Christmas Ham I have frozen. We will be designating Thursday night as leftover night to give ourselves a brake from cooking and to clear out all the bits and pieces of the meals we have eaten all week. I think it looks pretty Yummy my self...

Menu for Week of Jan. 26th 2009

OK we live in the south so we drink Ice Tea a lot....

Monday - Chicken Tacos with all the fixings and cinnamon crisps. Ice tea with mint and lemon.
(crock pot meal)(prepare extra salad fixings for Tuesday's dinner)

Tuesday - Shepherd's pie, Salad, Brownies and Ice Tea and lemon
(freeze ahead meal)

Wednesday - Italian Chicken, Broccoli and Rice Oh yeah and Ice Tea with mint and lemon. Lemon cake.
(easy meal to prepare after work)(make extra Rice and freeze for Sat. Meal)

Thursday - Left over Smorgasbord and Salad (make extra for Fri. night dinner)
(all the yummies from the rest of the week)

Friday - Ham and Cheese casserole, Salad and Brownies. Ice tea with lemon
(new freeze ahead Recipe)

Saturday - Spicy Chicken Curry Casserole and salad, Coconut Rice pudding and ice tea with mint and lemon.
( also freezes well)

Sunday - Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Rabe with pasta garlic bread and salad. Ice tea with lemon, orange and mint. Lemon Cake.
(quick and easy Italian meal) we always have Italian on Sunday night...

I know this one by heart but there is a recipe I just have to find it. I will post it when I do..

UPDATE, We all ready have an adjustment to this weeks Meal Plan. Tonight my FIL offered to make Meatloaf while he and MIL are babysitting for us and Thursday we were invited to dinner. So Chili Chicken Tacos will be moved to next week and no leftover night for us this week...

Give Away Time

2009-01-26T10:24:00.002-05:00

Give Away Time at Kozy Pal Cart Covers
Be sure to check it out before Friday Jan. 30th 2009.

I have sang the praises of this product before and I truly cant say enough about it or the Company's costumer service. They are wonderful and very accommodating to work with. If you don't have one for your baby/toddler you must go check out the give away and even if you do help spread the word about this terrific Company..

Happy Chinese New Year !

2009-01-26T09:23:00.004-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

This year is the year of the OX (my brother in law Chris is an OX). Chinese New Year is the biggest and most important of all Holidays in China. The preparations for all the festivities begin well before the actual holiday. People plan travel back to see family in parts of China that are more remote from the urban city's that we see on the news as the "boom town" of China. Many people work in city's far from their homes and see family only once a year during Chinese New Year. This celebration is all about reconnecting with loved ones, family and friends. It is a 15 day celebration of visiting, food, parades, parties and fireworks. We celebrated with our local FCC group this weekend with a lovely outdoor picnic. The kids all had a nice time playing and eating some of the traditional Chinese dishes of Chinese New Year including Dumplings (for prosperity), long noodles (for good luck) and oranges to signify wealth. I reflect today on Sophia's Biological mother and her foster mother. I know that even though Sophia has no memory of these two women, they do have a memory of this child that one gave birth to and the other cared for, for 10 months. I hope that if they are thinking of Sophia they somehow know that Sophia is safe and loved by a family and friends that cherish her beyond words. I think about China and these two women everyday some days more then others, today is one of the more then other days...If I could I would thank both of them for giving Sophia life and a chance for a future and for giving Sophia the best possible care we could have prayed for during our wait..These women will always be an important part of our Chinese New Year Celebration....

Gung Hei Fat Choi!!!!

Come back later for "Meal Plan Monday"

and Check "Simply Sophia" tomorrow for new pictures....

Susan

The BIG shop

2009-01-25T19:57:00.004-05:00

Well today I sat down and made my meal plan for the week. I will post that tomorrow on Meal Plan Monday. I came up with a few good meals mostly all standard fair for our house and one new recipe found in the local newspaper. I was able to make the meal plan with little trouble and really only needed a few things from the grocery store for each meal. What we did need was EVERYTHING else. We were out of all the staples and almost all of the meat we had in the freezer. We had to do the BIG shop and replenish the pantry. I was happy to find that both the stores we normally shop at were having pretty good Buy one Get one free sales this week. So I made my list, gathered my coupons and off we went to the store. I took a pad and paper so I could comparison shop for the normal everyday items I buy that I can never find coupons for like butter, bread and eggs. I was really surprised to find the store I thought would be cheaper for these things was not cheaper at all. I spent way more then the $40 a week that some of "expert budget shoppers" spend but I did have to buy a lot more then just a regular weekly shopping trip. I bought everything I usually buy and only had a few coupons (Not a good coupon week in our paper). Over all I was happy with the amount I spent and what I was able to get for that price. I wont need to go to the store now for several weeks so really if I brake it down I guess I can say I spent close to that $40 a week. My goal is to be able to go to the store weekly and buy what we need for our weekly menu along with whatever staples we need and to spend less the $75. This week I spent a total of $145.52. $89.14 of that was at Publix for the majority of what we needed and the remaining $56.38 was at Winn Dixie. Looking at what we bought I know there are areas we can cut cost and a few connivance items we can do away with once we are better organized with our weekly meal plan. For our first time at this I think we did fairly well. Check back later for our Weekly Menu Plan for this week and for the link to the "Meal planning Monday"

The Prep Work

Winn Dixie

Publix

( I need to learn to take better pictures)

A call out to the Adoption Community

2009-01-24T07:28:00.002-05:00

A read a story this morning that touched my heart and moved us to action. The story is about two little girls who formed a bond while growing up in an orphanage in China. You can read the whole story on the family blog at Journey to Jordan and Jailynn.
The family also has a very talented and kind friend who is hosting a fundraiser for them. Check it out over at Jailynn's Prayer . I can't wait to see how this turns out and wish the family the very best in their journey to be a family.

HOLY MOLY!

2009-01-23T14:37:00.003-05:00

I WON AGAIN !

I won again on a blog give Away.... One of my favorite blogs that I have been following forever thanks to my good friend Amy (Lottie's Mom) My Mom Shops Just had her second annual Blogiversary week long give away. She had some great things over there, be sure to check out her blog. I signed up for a chance to win several of them but my favorite was this one and I can't believe I actually won it.. You just gotta love a give away....I know Sophia will look super cute in this little onesie, a pair of blue jeans,white sneakers and of course the ever present hair bow.

Where I have been lurking

2009-01-22T16:15:00.006-05:00

So many of you have commented and e-mailed me privately about my quest for financial freedom. I have been so touched by the interest and overwhelmed with the creativity of some of you. I am learning as I go about coupons and grocery budgeting (my biggest challenge really). I had to say thank you to all of you who sent me advice and ideas on how to accomplish a meal plan and a food budget. I wanted to pass along some great websites and blogs I have come across in my journey to freedom...

I found this site first and she gave me motivation and provided inspiration to take the first steps toward reducing our debit. Nice Pumpkins from her site I found this great resource for learning how to use coupons most effectively. I am no where near as accomplished at this then either of these two women and I am not sure I ever will be but i have practiced a few of their tips and it does help stretch that ever shrinking grocery dollar. Money Saving mom. This site is also a great site for Coupon education. Hence the name Couponing 101 and last but certainly not least is Stephanie over at The Coupon Game who has the most amazing blog. I almost forgot to mention this website and how awesome it is because you sign up and she e-mails you deals that are out there on everyday products that all of us use. Freebies 4 mom This is a great site for those of you like me who work full time and have a busy schedule and little time to find these deals yourself. I am also addicted to the I'm an Organizing Junkie for many reasons but her Weekly Meal Planning is such a good resource and i will be participating in that starting next Monday so stay tuned. There are many more sites and ways to save money out there so I am sure you will fins something to inspire you and help you in your own personal quest whatever that may be. Good luck and please continue to post comments and tips whenever you have something to share....

Still looking for those great Freeze ahead meals and Crock pot recipes.... I have a few from you all already but keep them coming...

eating what we have

2009-01-21T07:21:00.003-05:00

We have noticed that since we have been working on our financial health that we tend to shop and eat out for meals out of convenience. sometimes (most times) it is easier to stop by the store and pick up something "easy" or just go out to eat. I have been trying to be better at meal planning. Learning more and more crock pot recipes and making more servings of dishes when possible so that I can freeze them for future meals. I have always been bad about making a list before going to the store so I am also working on that. When I was making a list for the store last week I decided to pull everything out of the pantry to see what we already had but was hiding behind things we use everyday. What I found out was we had enough food in our pantry to eat for quite some time without going to the store at all. There was everything in there from Risotto to brownie mix. Doing this inspired me to clean out the fridge and the freezer. We have a side by side (I hate it) and I find that things get lost in the freezer very easily. cleaning it out made me realize 2 things I need to take things out of their packaging and 2. again we could eat for weeks on what was in there. For Christmas dinner we had Ham and I intentionally bought a big one. I had plans to cut it up into individual serving sizes for future meals. When I cleaned the freezer I realized we had 10 meals plus the ham bone for a good batch of Navy Bean soup. There were also a few other meals in there that have made eating at home more convenient in the last few weeks. We have had to go to the store for all the normal weekly things like Milk, bread and eggs but we have been eating out less and have been eating what we have instead of eating out of convenience. We have had some really good and nice meals at home as a family with less stress so I ask what is really easier eating out or planning and eating at home....

If you have any good Soup, crock pot or freezer meals please pass them on.

The Freezer all cleaned

The Christmas HamChili, Beef Stew and Spaghetti Sauce with Spicy SausageThe freezer cleaned and rearranged

Give away time again..

2009-01-14T08:01:00.003-05:00

It is give away time again. If you love give aways like I do go take a look at my friend Melissa's blog. She is the artiest I talked about before Christmas. She makes beautiful handmade items including some really nice hand crafted jewelry. I have several of her pieces and I am always looking to add to my collection. Melissa is doing a monthly give away again this month so go take a look. Be sure to check back next month as she has decided to do a monthly give away on her blog.

Jetty and Ella's Mama

Precious Panda babies everywhere

2009-01-12T19:54:00.002-05:00

Go check out our friends who go their babies yesterday. They are all beautiful and the parents all look so happy. We want to say CONGRATULATIONS to Donna and Joe, Karen and David, and Stephe. By a strange twist of fate an other friend that used our agency to adopt her first daughter is now using their agency to adopt her second daughter is traveling with these ladies you can see her beautiful daughter here. Riz and I want to also congratulate Julie and Chris, Sophia (their daughter) is just beautiful...

Finacial Goals for 2009

2009-01-08T21:54:00.004-05:00

Those of you who have been reading and following our story know that we adopted our daughter this year. She has been the biggest blessing of our lives. She has given us new purpose changed our lives and our priorities in ways we never realized would happen. We want to adopt again and bring home an brother or a sister for her. This year we are planning on focusing on enjoying life with just her and on preparing ourselves to jump back into the process of adoption. We can't wait....I have been following a few AWESOME blogs of women who are trying to get there financial life in order. They are inspiring in so many ways. Back before Christmas I pledge to myself and to Riz that we would set goals for ourselves in 2009 for our financial health. So here they are...

1. Start Grocery Shopping on a budget...I am learning how to do this from this group of blogs that I have been following . It has been a challenge to change our habits of just grabbing and going at the grocery store... We are slowly getting there. I am no where near as good or as disciplined as these women. I am more aware of what I am buying and more aware of where the deals are. This has been fun really...

2. Pay off the 3 credit cards we have. During the process to adopt our daughter these 3 cards were used for various adoption related things and a bit of retail therapy too. I have the first one almost paid off and the second one is about to get a huge payment do to the fact we sold our camper tonight. We are sad about that but we have not camped in almost 2 years and our camper was beginning to rot away so we thought lets sell it and pay off some debit with the money. We feel good about the fact that we got what we were asking for it and that after 15 years we got nearly what we paid for it. Later down the road when the debit is all gone and our quest for baby #2 is under way we may look into buying a new camper (well not new but new to us)..Cash of course...

3. Start an emergency fund....and add to it every pay period no matter the amount we are able to put in it. We are starting with $25 dollars a pay period and hope to increase it as we pay off the credit debit.

That is it we limited our goals to just three for now and if by chance we get those accomplished then we can always add more but for now that is where we are...I will post once a month to let you know the progress on these goals....

Tagged by Cheri

2009-01-05T22:19:00.003-05:00

So Cheri tagged me and the way this one works is I had to open the 4th picture folder on my computer and post the 4th picture in the folder and describe what is pictured so here is goes..

This is one of my favorite pictures from our trip to China. This was taken on June 18th only two days after we became a family. We were in Nanchang, China at the Tang Wang Pavilion. It was Hot as blazes that day, steamy really you can see the humidity in the air. Sophia was most comfortable in our arms at that time and we were happy to carry her everywhere even in the heat of that day. I look at his picture and realize just how much my little baby has changed in 7 months. She was still a scared little girl here I was a thrilled, happy, proud mama even in the heat with no makeup and looking a wreck but she was scared and still shell shocked. Thanks Cheri this was a nice way to look back at where we were and how far we have come since then..I love looking back at all of our pictures from our time in China they are such wonderful memories....

So you know I must tag 4 people I hope you all will play along...

Rhonda from Our Slow Boat to China
Melissa from Waiting For Lily
Sharon from Journey to Mary Alice

Susan from Love times two

and heck two more for good measure...

Gigi from Our China Doll
Stephanie from Loving Life with Lily

Our first Christmas

2008-12-28T19:36:00.007-05:00

What can I say other then we had the greatest Christmas of our lives because we were given the biggest gift we could have asked for, Our daughter Sophia Joy JinTe. We had so many traditions we wanted to continue with her and new ones we wanted to start. Our dreams came true and it was better then we ever thought it would be. Sophia enjoyed the Christmas Eve Mass and the Live Nativity at our Church. She loved the Chinese food we ate for our Christmas eve dinner (that has been our tradition for several years now, it was nice to share it with Sophia). We left cookies and milk for Santa and before she went off to bed we opened her China gift, a Luck drum and new Christmas Pj's That the elves left while we were gone to Christmas Mass...It was a great evening. Christmas morning we have always gotten up had coffee and Cinnamon rolls and we did this year too along with Sophia while she had yogurt and of course polished off the rest of Santa's cookies. She loved seeing all the packages wrapped under the tree. She was so cute going to the fireplace and looking up it as if she was looking for Santa...she had a great time opening all her gifts and played for hours with her new car, doll baby, and eventually the Rose Petal Cottage my mom got her and the play kitchen Riz's parents got for her. Our family had the most wonderful day......here are a few pictures from our holiday.....Enjoy....

Got Eggnog

one of my favorites from Christmas Eve
In the Beautiful dress Aunt Wendy gave her.

She looks fantastic in this green

our angel

Sophia's favorite Christmas Ornament Hand Manny

Riz putting the Kitchen together the kitchen that her grandparents got for her

Sophia finding the new Christmas Jammie's and the Luck drum from China that Santa's Elves left for her while we were at Christmas Mass...

Our Traditional Chinese food Christmas Eve Dinner.

The tree with all the gifts

Sophia seeing the tree and all the gifts Santa brought for her for the first time on Christmas morning.

WOW look at all of this

Look santa left half a cookie behind

Sophia finishing off the cookies that Santa left behind on Christmas morning

I love my new Mini Mouse hat

A Car and and Mini Mouse hat, Life is good

Let me at it...Oooo The Rose Petal Cottage

A new doll Baby

a Pretty new outfit

2008-12-23T11:12:00.002-05:00

Riz and I want to wish everyone a wonderful joyous Holiday Season.
This year for us was filled with more blessings then we can count. Sophia becoming our daughter was the highlight. I am not sure we will ever be able to top that. We are excited to share our first Christmas together as a family of three. People always said to me before I had kids that having children makes Christmas all that more special and now I know what they mean. Sophia Knows who Santa Clause is (although she is not to fond of the real guy, pictures are OK), she loves the tree and all the decorations. She has really enjoyed the cookies we have been baking and has enjoyed unwrapping the few gifts she has received from friends. The last few years we have started a tradition of having Chinese food for dinner on Christmas Eve. We plan to do that again this year and of course attend Mass. We usually go to Midnight Mass but this year we are going to the 6:30 Mass. Our plan for Christmas morning is to get up like we normally do on Christmas morning and get coffee (Sophia will have her morning yogurt) and I will make Cinnamon rolls. Then we will let her open all of the gifts that Santa brought her (and from what I hear it is a sled full). Then Riz and I will exchange our gifts to each other. Later around lunch time my Mom will come down and we will do our gift exchange with her and have some coffee. We are hosting Christmas dinner at our house,we do this most years. Riz's side of the family will come over for dinner and we will exchange gifts with them. We are looking forward to watching Sophia spend her fist Christmas with her family, Our first as parents.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Our changing life

2008-12-16T07:05:00.003-05:00

Two of my favorite pictures from Family Day..

Six months ago today our lives were changed in the most wonderful way...We can hardly believe that it has been 6 months since we became a family of three. Six months ago today we were standing in a hot room in China, it seemed like it was 400 degrees in that room that day. We were there with ten other families and Zhou. Uncle Zhou is the most wonderful caring man, those words are not nearly enough to describe just how much he means to us. In that room that morning we could all feel the nervous excitement. We all paced the floor waiting our turn, listening for our babies cry, any babies cry. We all had cameras and video cameras in hand taking pictures of each other and of the room. Several of us clung to the "lovies" we would give our children when they were handed to us for the first time. My friend Susan from Atlanta and I broke down in an embrace that still makes me tear up when I think about it. Everything that we had waited for dreamed of and longed for was about to happen in that hot steamy room in Nanchang, China. The emotion of the moment over came both of us. When the first baby arrived the excitement was palpable and everyone clambered to see who she was, which family was going to be united first with their child. It was a family from Ohio, their daughter Abby was there in the room with us all. The joy that they felt in that moment was shared by all of us, along with anticipation for who was next. Would it be us? or maybe our friends from Atlanta, Or the great couple from NYC, or our neighbors from Jacksonville or one of the others? We would have to wait about 30 minutes to find out. That 30 minutes seemed like an eternity, more like 30 hours then 30 minutes. When it all started to happen it was a blur, but from what I am able to piece together from our pictures and video, Chubby little Lucy and Chubby little Stephine were next to come in the room quickly followed by the twin girls, Eleanore and Lily Kate, then finally Sophia was there in the room with us. The moment we saw her we both started to cry. She was thin, hot and sweaty and scared to death. The room was loud and there were lots of people coming and going, cameras flashing and people crying. Sophia had just been driven 5 hours from the Wanzai County Social Welfare Institute on a bus with 4 caregivers. She had been car sick on the way to Nanchang that morning. She was wearing a clean lavender and white long sleeve sweat suit,(remember it was HOT that day at 10 Am it was nearly 100 degrees) white socks and pink sandals. Her hair and been neatly trimmed by her foster mother. Her nose was running and she clung to the orphanage director. They called our Name RIZZO!, Riz and I approached, Riz began to cry, I clung to the Mini Mouse doll we brought for her from Disney World. They checked our passports and our paperwork and then the orphanage director motioned for me to take Sophia. As I reached my arms out for her I could feel the breath leaving my body. I could feel all of the stress and nervousness coming to the surface, the blood rushed to my feet. I could feel PURE! joy and love for the first time in my life. I took her in my arms and embraced her for what seemed like an eternity. I held her close to me, kissed her head patted her on the back and dried her tears. She was scared, terrified was more like it. She had just been handed to two strangers who were crying and kissing her. We looked different, smelled different sounded different then anything she had been used to for the first 14 months of her life. I handed her to Riz who also kissed her head and embraced her close. We talked to the Orphanage director and caregivers about her bus ride that morning, her diet, her schedule. All I could say to them was thank you over and over again. Thank you for the greatest gift, Thank you for caring for this precious child thank you for making us parents. There are no words to express what it is like to stand there with your new child facing the people who cared for her and kept her safe through the harshest of winters, biggest earthquake and one of the hottest summers on record. There are no words to express what it is like to stand there in front of these people knowing you are being given the biggest gift anyone could ever give you. There are no words to express the emotion, gratitude or guilt that you feel in that moment to those people. We did not speak the same language our conversation was brief but our connection is ever lasting. We took pictures with these people and they took pictures of us with Sophia. In that moment our lives were changed, all of us our lives changed in that moment. Ours lives because we became Sophia's parents. There lives because they were giving her up and Sophia's because everything she had know was now gone. Some say that these girls have a "Better life" here with us but the child we were handed on the hot June morning in Nanchang, China did not think so. She was happy were she was, being cared for by a loving foster mother, with the other children in the home. That child was perfectly happy in rural China. Riz and I feel that it is very arrogant for us to say that our life is better than theirs. Maybe better by our American standers but to them their life is OK. They may not have as much, they may be poor but they are happy. Riz and I have enjoyed watching Sophia become comfortable with us and her new life, her new family, but we never want to forget the people from her life before us or that moment when all our lives changed forever in that Hot steamy room in Nanchang, China...... Two of my favorites from now

and a few more for good measure :)

Ivy Lane Give Away

2008-12-12T23:35:00.005-05:00

UPDATE!!!!!! I Won, I Won, I won!!!! Can you believe it I won the Ivy Lane Give Away! I am so excited that I will be getting one of these beautiful necklaces with Sophia's name on it. I can't wait to see it in person. Thank you so much Ivy Lane..

Go on over to check out the give away at Ivy Lane. She has a great a ETSY and EBay store with lots of pretty clothes for children. I love her Hair bowes for little girls hair. The give away is for a beautiful necklace called The cup of Love.. I would love to have that with Sophia's name on it....

Creative Deprivation

2008-12-11T09:30:00.006-05:00

As Christmas day approaches quickly. We are struggling to control the AMOUNT of toys in our house, as I am sure many of you are as well. Sophia has been home a mere 6 months and I have already thinned her toys twice. We are so fortunate to have the ability to give her so much. We have the desire of course to spoil her to bits, especially this year, our first as a family. But is that the best thing? IS that healthy for her? I don't know the answers to that, but we are striving to not raise a spoiled brat. We want Sophia to have what she needs and even what she wants so we are learning how to do that at a slower more controlled pace.. The following was sent to me by a friend who I know feels the way I do about raising appreciative, well behaved, giving children....I hope you enjoy it...

As a result of all this stuff and stimulation, kids regard overload as a normal
condition. Anything less--a walk in the woods, making cookies, or sitting in a
classroom listening to a teacher--is boring."

She used "creative deprivation" to raise her children saying that every event
should have space around it, so that the event can stand out and be appreciated.
A simple example is a frame around a picture, which provides a space to make it
stand out from the busy wallpaper.

Until this century, the space occurred naturally. Entertainment and material
goods were hard to come by, so they were appreciated when they came along. A
child cherished his few toys, and music was a special event, because it could
only be heard when musicians were assembled.

The challenge of modern life is that we have to actively create the space. With
mass production, toys are cheap enough to swamp even poorer families. With TV,
videotapes, and video games, flashy entertainment can come into every home 24
hours a day.

The best parents understand that their kids can have too much of a good thing.
They place limitations on the stuff and stimulation. They are tough enough to
slow down the flow of goodies.

Often, people think we refuse to a avalanche our kids with toys because we're
tightwads. But saving money is not the main reason. I just feel there's nothing
sadder than a jaded eight year old.

Conversely, it's delightful to see a kid thrilled by a simple pleasure.

During a rare trip to a mall a few years ago, each kid got a junior cone, which
they consumed in complete silence, savoring every drip. She was very proud of
their ability to enjoy these little treats.

Many parents, seeing their children appreciate junior cones, would buy them
cones during each trip to the mall. Soon, seeing the kids enthusiasm waning,
they would assume they must wow them with banana splits. When those no longer
produce the desired effect, they would move up to the jumbo deluxe sundae..and
so on, until the kids became impossible to please.

She feels that "diminished appreciation" is a barometer indicating when kids
have had too much. Instead of moving up to the banana split, she simply
decreased the frequency of the junior cones.

Saving is a natural by-product of creative deprivation. Not only did she save on
the constant expense of the ever-increasing amount of stuff and stimulation, but
when I do treat the kids, they get the same wow for far less money.

Creative deprivation does have a few rules. Limit the things kids don't need,
but don't limit the things they do need--such as good nutrition and parenting
attention. Second, provide them with alternatives. Our kids have their own
"office" in my office where they do artwork, a tree house they can build on with
scrap wood, a playhouse in an attic, and a selection of Legos and other toys
that demand creativity. If you limit passive entertainment, kids eventually get
beyond the boredom and begin to be creative.

Incidentally, this insight isn't new. About 2500 years ago, the Chinese
philosopher Lao-tzu wrote:

Guard the senses
And life is ever full...
Always be busy
And life is beyond hope."

Very cool

2008-12-11T07:20:00.003-05:00

Our friend Carolyn sent this to us and we wanted to share it is very cool and worth the time to view it...

there is nothing like HANDMADE!

2008-12-08T10:25:00.009-05:00

You all know that I have had a goal this year to buy Handmade for Christmas. I have been somewhat successful and have really enjoyed searching out the perfect gifts for people. I have found great things on ETSY and want to share my favorite sellers. I also wanted to mention that over on Imagine Alyzabeth An it's easy if you try Alyson has put together her top favorites as well. Our goal is to promote these Artisans and maybe spread the word how wonderful ETSY is. I have been shopping on ETSY for about a year now. My first purchase was a great gift box of Great hand made Burp cloths for my friend Cheri just before she left for China to bring Hope home (that will be a YEAR! WOW! tomorrow). If you shop ETSY or any other Handmade artisan please go over to Alyson's blog and leave a comment about your favorites...

so with no further ado here are my favorites you might see a running theme with mine...LOL

Ocean and Moon Studio ... Mel is a friend and fellow adoptive mom. Her store is small she has much more in her Studio. If you don't see anything you like contact her she can make whatever you come up with. I have seen her stuff and purchased several things from her as gifts. She does fantastic work and everything is very well made and has a uniqueness to it... She has really pretty jewelry made from clay with the characters for different family members in Chinese.

Tiny Tots Baby Boutique ... I bought the Panda onesie it is ADORABLE...

Tip Top Apple Sauce a saucy mix of fashion ..... GREAT hats! Take a guess which one I bought? LOL

Blue Bird Blessings hand made for your little blessing .... I love these for stocking stuffers

Dos Besitos culture and Language hand crafts ..... I love the "Forever Family Magnet set...

Purr Prints ... if you love cats than this is the place for you...

Evelyn and Kate handmade things for baby handmade thingamabobs for baby .... there just isn't a better bib out there... I got one as a gift from my friend Layla and I am hooked I bought a second and have bought several more as gifts for friends and family.

Cottontail a bit of fluff for baby & toddler .... this is the artiest I bought the burp cloths for Cheri from

Daisey Mae Designs little luxuries for everyday life ... I just think her stuff is pretty
These

Imogen's Garden fresh petals for your little flower ... I wish I could sew like this...

High on Craft ... a great site if you are looking for the perfect soft and cuddly gift or scrapbooking material.

These are just a few of my favorites and I am always on the look out for more. If you have favorites please share. If you are looking for unique well made hand crafted items check out some of my favorites as well as Alyson's over on her blog... and of course always look around on ETSY you are bound to find something you like...

Blog Give-Away

2008-12-06T08:33:00.003-05:00

Melissa's Studio

The first is a family that belongs to our FCC group. Melissa is a very talented artist. She has great things and last night she had a nice open house where I was able to get a few nice things as gifts for Christmas. I was able to fulfill part of my pledge to Shop handmade this year.

http://jettyandellasmama.blogspot.com/

Go check out these blogs for some cool Blog Give-Aways. This on is a family that we met online during "The Wait". If you are a baker you will love this Give-away

http://www.alyzabethan.blogspot.com/

"My Mom Shops" is a favorite of mine for great gifts and great Give-Aways....Keep checking back to this site.

http://mymomshops.blogspot.com/

and then there is the MAC Daddy of all Blog Give-aways...Just keep checking here there is some great stuff

http://www.etsygiveaways.blogspot.com/

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season..

A few more pictures of our tree....

2008-12-04T20:32:00.000-05:00

Our 1st Christmas tree as a family of 3

2008-12-03T23:09:00.000-05:00

We always get our tree either the day before or the day after Thanksgiving and then decorate it over the long weekend. This year we got ours the day before Thanksgiving, but since we went out of town over the weekend we just got it decorated today. I still have some things to add to it like a few Cloisonne ornaments we bought while we were in China. They are in the attic so I have to get those down tomorrow. We also need a new tree topper so we are on the hunt for a great new tree topper.

More pictures of it decorated coming soon........It started out looking like a Charlie Brown tree but I think it turned out pretty nice......

I think the tree skirt is to small, so I may have to get a new one of those too....

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T14:51:00.006-05:00

This year Riz and I have so much to be thankful for. We have a great circle of friends, a wonderful family and most of all we finally have our daughter here with us to celebrate the Holidays. Sophia has done so much for us, besides making us first time parents she has added to our life, our family, our marriage. I love watching Riz be a Baba (Daddy) to her. He is a great daddy, not only pitching in to do things around the house, but also in the fact that he loves her beyond measure, we have that in common. I always knew that I would love Sophia to the deepest part of my soul, but I never knew just how deep that would be,I still don't. Each passing day I feel more and more love for this little child. She has enriched me, us both, in ways we never dreamed of. We love being with her seeing her grow, laugh, learn, play,sleep, we love just watching her be...When we are away from her we think about her and wish we were there to see all the little things she does during the day. We never take for grated for one second that Sophia is our daughter that we have been blessed to be her parents. We are so thankful to China for allowing us to adopt one of their children. We are grateful to Sophia's foster family, I know that giving her up must not have been easy for them. Sophia is 19 months old and has been with us a mere 5 months. She had an other life before us, 14 months of an other life. We are thankful to her foster family for loving her and providing for her care and well being during that life. Our daughter is happy, healthy and adjusting very well, that is because of her foster family. I think about how much Sophia's life has changed in 5 months and I wonder what she must think. She is adjusting to her new life with us very well but, at night when her conscious mind is relaxed and she is asleep the anxiety of the change shows the most. We are grateful that things have started to improve in her sleep and that she is finding peace with us as her parents. She now runs to us when we come home, cries when we leave and gives the best kisses any parent could want. We are thankful for that...

So besides all the normal things to be Thankful for this year..

our health
our family
our friends
our jobs
our home
each other

we are most Thankful to God for watching over Sophia until we became a family.

An amazing family

2008-11-18T13:48:00.004-05:00

We are very lucky to have a supportive FCC family in our area. We may not see each other often enough, but when the time comes when we need each other we are always there. Please read below and contribute if you can.

Melissa is a very talented artiest and mother in our group. She has an open house every year at her Studio. This year it is extra special because of the Harris family and what they are going through. The Harris family also belong to our FCC group. We ask you all to keep the Harris family in your prayers this year...

Studio Open House and Sale

It is that time of year again....

Studio Open House and Sale

This years sale will help to benefit the Harris family. They are a local adoptive family whose daughter was diagnosed with cancer in August. They now have a new battle to fight because Lisa, Anna's Mom, was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Please keep them in your prayers and I know they will win this battle. If you are in Central Florida and would like to join us just let me know.

Ocean and Moon Studio
Friday Dec. 5th 4-8pm
Come enjoy good company, a glass of wine and do a little Christmas shopping.
Lots of unique handmade items all priced below retail for this once a year sale.
Items starting at $3.
20% of ALL sales to benefit the Harris family. Raffle with all proceeds
benefiting the Harris family.To learn more about the Harris family please visit...http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annaharris

Thanks and I hope to see you there:)
Mel
http://jettyandellasmama.blogspot.com/

SEMI-Handmade Christmas

2008-11-13T11:34:00.005-05:00

Our goal for this coming year is to pay off the adoption and save enough to start again. We both want to give Sophia a Mei Mei(little Sister) so we are going to work hard at this goal. Saving where we can and reducing coast wherever possible. I am working on a project that will help reduce our grocery budget. There are other things rattling around in my head but i have to work on one project at a time or I will become overwhelmed and thus unsuccessful.

I have decided that this year I want to spend enjoying Sophia and taking her to sit on Santa's lap and to the Christmas tree farm to pick out a tree. Maybe to the petting farm to see the animals. I want to let her draw (scribble really) Christmas Cards for her grandparents and play in the fake snow that falls on Main Street in Celebration.I want to start a tradition that every year we make a Christmas Ornament to give to friends and family.I want to bake Christmas cookies with her and share with our neighbors. I want to start teaching her that it is as much fun to give as it is to get. I want to sit on our couch cuddled under a blanket with her and watch all the Christmas specials and movies. Don't get me wrong I enjoy shopping especially Christmas shopping and I am sure we will do a bit of that too. I love to be in the mall and feel the excitement, hear the Christmas music and see the kids all lined up to sit on the jolly mans knee.This year I have decided that the majority of the gifts we give will be homemade..Not necessarily by me mind you although some of them will be. .My new favorite Shopping site is ESTY.... if you have not heard of them you must check them out. I do a lot of shopping there (that is going to have to stop until we meet our goal). Why homemade?, you ask.. Well, for a lot of reasons. One I love the look of things that someone took the time to make with their own hands. I love to support people who are trying to run a small business. I love to give unique or unexpected gifts. I love the adventure to search out the perfect handmade gift for that special person. Of course there are other reasons buying home made is a step in the right direction to being "Green". The quality is many times better then mass produced products we would buy in a big box store. I get to avoid the Big Box store :). I can stay home and be curative with my family rather then fight for that last parking spot. Our first Christmas as a family of 3 will be a Semi-Handmade Christmas, maybe this will be a Christmas tradition as well.....