One Week To Go!

Well, just a week to go! We got our addendum to our homestudy yesterday - all our paperwork is done and waiting by the door. I started packing tonight & should have my carryon bag all put together tomorrow. Now we are just waiting for a couple of boxes of blankets that we are taking for Love Without Boundaries and Angel Covers - the 2 cases of cleft bottles arrived earlier this week. It seems odd - everything actually seems to be falling together fairly well. I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something vital! Or maybe after doing this 3 times it is getting easier!
I am posting this picture because it has always been something that I have tried to avoid at all costs. Through 3 trips to China, my 12 hour bladder has been good to me and I haven't had to use a squatty potty yet. These will probably prove to be famous last words for this trip. Oh well, what is life without adventure!!!!
Instructions for a squatty - there are places for your feet on each side, you squat facing the raised portion and the wire basket is for the paper - Chinese plumbing can't handle tp - also notice that there is no tp - you have to bring your own!

Through the Years!

Ok, I admit it - I am addicted to slide.com! These are just too much fun to put together! The kids are getting a kick out of seeing themselves too.

Our Family

I thought it might be fun to give everyone a before and after look at our family.

Two More Weeks!

Well, only two more weeks to go! I've been going through our list and checking things off - we have passports & visas, new money, copies of dossier, copies of taxes, new power of attorney, tickets and itinerary for inside and outside China travel, medicine, I signed up for Skype and hooked up our microphone - so now we are just waiting for an addendum to our homestudy to take with us and a couple cases of cleft bottles that we are taking for Love Without Boundaries. I have started packing. I think I will pack up my carry on backpack first - I can put a couple changes of clothes for both Bailey & me in packmates and have them with us in case anything happens to our luggage. We have always had good luck and I am sure we will this time too - especially since we are going direct from LA to Beijing. Not alot of places to lose our luggage!
Bailey is starting to get excited about traveling to China. I will go see her teacher next week and get her a file of homework to take with us. I think I will go to Walmart this weekend and see about getting Bailey & Emma a couple of cheap digital cameras. That way they can take their own pictures and we won't have to develop a bunch of bad pictures - can just download them onto the laptop and pick out which ones they like best to send for copies.

Darla's Challenge

Ok - here are my answers to Darla's three thing challenge!

I LOVE:
My family, my friends, living in the country

I MISS:
My Mom -the way she used to be, my friends who are far away, dancing at the Cap!

I HATE:
Mean small minded people, Losing things, Shoes that hurt my feet

PEOPLE WHO MAKE ME LAUGH:
Rod, my kids, Stuart McLean

SCARE ME:
Something happening to my kids or to Rod, phone calls in the middle of the night, little voices in the middle of the night saying they have poopie on their pjs

ON MY DESK:
Papers, Itinerary for China Trip, crayons

I WANT TO DO THIS IN MY LIFE:
Make a difference, grow old with my husband and family, advocate for orphans around the world

THINGS I CAN DO:
Spin, knit, remember odd bits of trivia

THINGS I CAN’T DO:
Follow a recipe, spend $50 for any piece of children's clothing, change the time on my cell phone!

THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN:
Chinese, Mah Jong, how to be a calmer parent!

I REGRET:
Losing touch with friends, My misspent youth!, Not starting adoption 20 years ago!


FAVORITE FOODS:
Mexican
Italian
Anything from Rod's smoker


FAVORITE TV SHOWS AS A KID:
Little House on the Prairie, Wild Kingdom & Disney on Sunday Nights

Check out my Slide Show!

Parenthood

Great quote from the movie Parenthood: [Gil has been complaining about his complicated life; Grandma wanders into the room]
Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.
This just kind of sums up how we are feeling right now - frightened, scared, sick, excited and totally thrilled!! Oh what a ride this whole parenthood thing is and here we go again!!!