We took over the Zoo!!

Our major activity for Saturday was to get to the zoo and see the "real" Pandas (we have the red ones at our Zoo) and so we got up and ate our yummy breakfast buffet. It wasn't quite like the ones in China...no congee!! I will warn you now that this is a very picture heavy post and you may need to enlarge the collages to see better : )

Annslee absolutely loved hanging out with the big girls. Lianne is from Jiangxi and she is so good with the little ones! (Jenna is her little sister)

Of course Joe had to hold both girls for a minute. He was really trying to see who is the heaviest and we think it was a tie : ) Handsome Edward got in the shot too!

We walked in and I think we were quite a sight to see ~ imangine eleven 3 1/2 year olds and their siblings and parents arriving together....yeah, it was FUN!! Oh, and of course they weren't quiet either LOL

We were greeted by a giant Panda!! As Annslee says he was "dressed up" and she flares her hands out like a dress : ) She loved hugging the panda and we did it again on our way out.

Our attempt at a group shot...yeah, not good. There was someone dressed as a warthog nearby and some of the girls were not happy about it (A included) so we have some tears in this one

Annslee loved standing like a flamingo

We made our way to the Pandas!!!
A little background on this pic~ Annslee has this panda puppet that we bought in Guangzhou and she loves it. It "reads" her stories at night, plays with her, etc.... She wanted to bring it to meet a real Panda and she kept saying it would be scared and scream when it saw the big one. Oh, and she was right...the Panda (aka Annslee ) did scream and very loudly!!

The big Panda didn't seem to notice and kept eating his bamboo : )

It's ok baby Panda... I will take care of you!

The Chinese dancers were a hit with the girls as they stood by the stage and at times danced along

For some reason she loved these ladies more than the little girls so she got her picture with them


We had such a great time taking over the Zoo and enjoying being with each other again. I was going to post the rest of Saturday on this post but I already had too many pics so I guess I will just have to post again! LOL

Reunion~ Day 1

We arrived in Atlanta and were lovingly greeted by Patty and Liana. It was so cute because the girls acted like they saw each other all the time : ) Of course Annslee is known for giving big hugs and kisses and she gave plenty this weekend!

*1 Caeli, Annslee & Liana 2 Annslee & Liana 3 Jenise & Annslee 4 Lauren & Annslee

She got Ellen and Lauren in her famous chokehold

The girls were all standing around waiting to go into the pool and I wanted a picture...of course Annslee had to "pose"

*Liana, Caeli, Annslee, Lauren Ellen & Jenna

I had to laugh when I notice she had her hand on her hip and Liana, Lauren and Jenna were copying her LOL

We had fun in the pool that first night!

* 1 Sandy/Ellen & Debbie/Caeli 2 Grandma Ellen w/ baby Joey 3 Jenna 4 Mikayla & Connor


* 1 Ellen, A, & Lauren 2 Edward, Joseph, A, Lauren & Ellen 3 Daddy & A 4 Joe/JiaLi & A/Daddy

We had such a great time catching up with everyone....Zoo pics to come!!! If you want to check out one of their websites you can link up on my sidebar under travelmates : )

Guess who we saw??

We just got home from Atlanta where we spent the weekend with nine of the eleven families we were with the day we met our daughter. Some of them we have seen a few times in the last two and a half years and some of them we haven't seen since we said a teary goodbye in either Guangzhou or Hong Kong in November 2005.

We are exhausted but I promise many photos are coming but here are a couple of "red couch" photos : ) You need to click to enlarge them to see better & we have Lauren & Ellen switched but hey, it was a little crazy!


Our Hubei Honeys (April 2008)

Top~ JiaLi, Annslee, Caeli, Jenna, Molly

Bottom~ Liana, Lauren, Ellen, Mikayla

Top~ JiaLi, Annslee, Caeli, Jenna, Hannah (not at reunion), Molly

Bottom ~ Liana, Ellen,Lauren, Emily (not at reunion), Mikayla

Then of course we had them do a silly face one. It is amazing how much they have changed and how they are actually smiling now in their picture : )

We were sad that two of our Hubei families couldn't make it. We also were blessed that two Jiangxi families were able to make it who were in our "big" China travel group.It was so wonderful seeing everyone again and our next reunion is planned for St. Louis in 2010(we are doing it every other year and in a city a family lives in so they can "host" it) Anyone who has been through this process knows that we are now family with these people and love them and miss them already. Annslee keeps asking about her friends : )

Didn't think I would ever post this

One year ago today our dossier was officially logged in to Vietnam! We had already been waiting 5 months (our 171 came in Nov. 2006) but it was nice to know someone in Vietnam recognized our desire to bring another child home. I never dreamed that I would ever post this long of a wait time. We originally thought we would have our daughter home by Summer 2007 but obviously that hasn't happened. We have continued to wait and PRAY and try to hold out hope. As some of you may know the Vietnam program is continually in turmoil. Right now we are concerned about the MOU (Memo of Understanding) being resigned by Sept. 1 when it expires. Just yesterday someone posted on a group that Vietnam would "continue to issue referrals until June 1st" Now I don't think we will have ours by then but for some reason I am not panicked as this is only one agencies interpretation of what MAY happen. It is funny that the MOU big date being Sept. 1st is reassuring to me. I think it is because we received Annslee's referral on Sept. 1st and that day has been a happy day for our family since. I cannot imagine that it would ever be a day for panic, unhappiness or uncertainty : )

As you know, Annslee is obsessed with her baby sister. She says Malia's name all day long and "tend Malia" is always around. I find myself sometimes wondering if we shouldn't have talked so much about Malia because we are still not close to bringing her home and yeah, there are days I wonder if we ever will. She talks of how Malia is big and not little and therefore will not sleep in the crib but in the big bed with her. We did recently change our requested age to up to 24 months so she may be right! Another funny thing she does is look at the magnets we have on the fridge with their names on them. They are really cute with a stork carrying a baby wrapped in a flag ~ Annslee is quick to point out that Malia has one star and she has five ~ I see some sister competition in our future LOL

I wanted to post an update because so many people ask and I really have nothing to tell them. We are still hopeful that we will bring our daughter/sister home soon and I know that God has a plan for our family so I try to rest in that peace and just enjoy each day.


Who wants to be a big sister??

"I DO!"

"The time may be delayed, the manner may be unexpected, but the answer is sure to come. Not a tear of sacred sorrow, not a breath of holy desire poured out to God will ever be lost; but in God’s own time and way will be wafted back again in clouds of mercy,and fall in showers of blessings on you, and those for whom you pray."
~ Henry Coyle

*Of course we also want to remember the families of those at VT today who had such tragedy last year*

Thank you SB!!

Well Happy TAX Day everyone....thought I'd post something that really is nice : ) We got our sweet gift from our Secret Buddy and love it! The note talked about Annslee and Malia wearing matching PJs and just the thought of that makes me smile. She also sent a lovey for Malia and Annslee liked shaking it and saying "Hi Malia" over and over. Yes, the tornado shelter closet is a favorite place to play these days.

As you can see our SB sent a special surprise for Miss A besides the PJs. She LOVES her Di$ney Princesses!!

The two pics on the left crack me up!!


Thank you so much SB for all our goodies (sorry, we ate the candy before I took the picture)

When we were opening the package she kept saying "Annlee Big Siwa"* and it was sooo sweet. She talks about her sister all the time and "tend Malia"* is with us most of the time. I hope we do bring her home sometime in the near future. The thought of disappointing Annslee is too much to bear!

*translated~ Annslee big sister and pretend Malia

Weekend Wrap Up

We did it!! We had a game on a Saturday!! We have had three games rained out already so this was a pretty big deal! The promise of ice cream kept her on the field. I found out quickly that we aren't the only ones who have to bribe our children to play at nap/lunch time lol



Mama brag moment~ She is fast and good! Seriously, when she is actually playing she has skills and can outrun all of them (she is the youngest and a girl so pretty impressive) She did score the first goal of the game too : ) *enlarge to see more clearly


You must high five daddy after scoring!



Daddy heard the ice cream truck and we rushed to throw clothes on Annslee b/c you know she didn't have any on! The first thing grabbed was a sleeveless dress and so we went with it. She was shivering but I don't know if it was from cold or excitement! (this was about an hour before dinner but hey, who cares?)



She "sang" at church today and this is the only picture I got. About 2 seconds into the song she went and sat in Ms. Pat's lap : )



We also had time to draw and write on the sidewalk. It is kind of hard to see but in the first one I wrote Annslee then she wrote Mia (in blue)



Here she wrote Annslee : )

Tornado Alley

Yeah, we live in it ~ last year more people died from tornados in our state than in the rest of the US combined. Although I love Spring, I do dread it too because I know it means spending time in our hall closet. Last night was one of those nights when we were on high alert and now again today! Today was especially hard because Annslee was at school and so I felt like I didn't have any control over the situation. Luckily, we were never under a warning but just a watch. A local school system did go on lockdown but thankfully nothing happened.

Now as far as Annslee is concerned she loved discovering the "shelter" I had made last night. She had me move her crib mattress a little and she happily played in her cave : )







Annslee is doing Parent's Night Out at her gymnastics place tonight so while jumps, runs, tumbles, watches a movie and eats popcorn, Daddy and I will have a real DATE!! One of the best parts is the $$ we are paying for her PNO goes to one of her teachers for her mission trip to Africa in May.

Seriously, is she really our daughter?

There are days when I sit back and cannot believe SHE is OUR daughter. I mean, how in the heck did we get so lucky? I know every parent thinks their child is so amazing (well, at least every parent should think that) but Annslee truly is such a gift : ) Being around her is like standing in the sunshine after weeks of rain!

I was playing with the ISO on my camera as we were leaving for her Jump, Jazz and Roll class and I asked her to pose for me and this is what I got : )

Speaking of class ~ poor Miss Meigan was tackled by four really cute girls

After class we had to literally dash to soccer practice. I didn't even take off her Princess gymnastics outfit but threw on her shorts, socks, shin guards and cleats....well, it matched anyway since it too is pink and black : )

As you may remember she does NOT like the shark drill where someone tries to "steal" your ball...well, he did get it for a minute but she is a fast runner and she got it back. I think her face tells the story LOL

She and Hunter Nicole always have time for a "girl moment" during practice

Go Annslee Go!!

Miss A had her first Theatre experience today and she loved it! As you know she read this book (or part of it) to her class this week and she reads it to us every night so I was thrilled that it was in town! Unfortunately I waited until so late to get tickets that I literally got the last two available and so poor Daddy stayed home. He is taking her to see Horton so he will get his time too : )


I wasn't really surprised but she stayed in my lap to see better the entire time and was mesmerized. It reminded me of our Di$ney experience and it was great watching her. Her favorite dog was Hattie (yep, just like Josie) and she cackled when Hattie would continue to ask "do you like my hat?" She came down the aisle beside us once and Annslee really loved that!

After the show the 'dogs' came out for autographs and pictures! We had her book with her (thanks for the heads up Mary) and she loved finding the perfect spot for them to sign. The cast has been ill and Green Dog was still not up to do signings.

First we met Shaggy who was the Music Dog....she was a little unsure of him but he was so sweet : )

Next it was MC Dog who gives the famous line "I do not like that hat" and here he is making Annslee laugh b/c he said "Oh my, this is MY favorite book too!!"

Blue Dog's son (pup) sat right behind us!

Yellow Dog was really funny and Annslee kept chatting with him until I had to move her along

Here she is with Hattie!! She loved her hat : )

I don't know what she did or said but he thought she was pretty funny

A better view of Hattie's hat

I couldn't get a great pic but here is her book with the autographs. Red Dog is the one who wrote "Go Annslee Go" ; )

Her least favorite part of the show was the cars because it was loud. We have noticed that she is super sensitive to loud noises and had her hands over her ears. She also was concerned during the car part about the bird and kept asking about him. They came in with one of those ducks you push but she just said "not duck, green bird!!" She has a serious attention to detail and I think she may be a director some day : )

My poor baby has some bad allergies going on and so in the pics you may notice her red cheeks and watery eyes. None of that kept her from having a good time though.

Just the facts ma'am

I wanted to get this "on paper" so I wouldn't forget ~ She has had an explosion of vocabulary lately. I can notice that and appreciate it but sometimes she knows words that I didn't know she could say. For example, while watching Mu*lan she suddenly said "Mu*lan happy" and later "Mu*lan sad" Today we were working a puzzle and she held up a piece and announced "last piece" and then put it in. While playing with daddy she asked him to "pick Daddy" when holding up two objects. Today when we were headed to the pool I teased that I was going down the frog slide first and she yelled "Mama, too big!" Oh, and most importantly, she now uses "Why?" all the time : ) There are many more and I do need to write them all down sometime. She had a vocabulary of TEN words last October (and I was counting Hi and High as two) and now, I have no idea how many she has but I do know we are all LOVING it : )

She also took the book "Go Dog Go" to school for show and tell yesterday and read several pages to her class. I have her reading it on video and would love to show you if I could figure out how ??? I will have to find out b/c she also does the voices I use to read...too cute!

Her other BIG thing right now is gardening so here she is checking on her plants in the window. These were taken after church wearing the SUMMER cat dress she has begged to wear for weeks. I found a shirt to go under it and gave up the fight : )

Her other love is dance/gymnastics. She has such a great time in class. As always being "Pe*ter Pan" is a treat!

Oh and the new preschool?? Well, we had some rough drop offs but she is in a groove now so hopefully we are good to go there too!

The biggest fact of all of course is that we are crazy about our girl!