Happy New Year!

We had our annual Pajama Party for New Years Eve, last night. We thought since New Years was on the weekend, we would take advantage of the extra night, and host a New Years Eve Eve party. We had a great time, though I failed to take pictures. But after everyone left, I did manage to remember the camera, and snapped a shot of my favorite Christmas Present. The chocolate fountain. if I thought I could get away w/ running this beautiful centerpiece 24 hours each day, I would. As you can tell from the table, this is the leftover mess. Didn't stop us from eating away at it at almost 3am!! (and I question why I can't stay on a diet!) Very Yummy!
We had a great time playing Cranium and Apples to Apples w/ our friends. Apples is our new favorite game. Easy and does not require a whole lot of thinking, but lots of laughs. Hope Everyone has a VERY Happy New Year! We look forward to what 2006 holds for us!

The Sage Stash...

These are some of the gifts that were for Sage for Christmas! (I stress the some) How fun is that? The tea set is from "Aunt Bubby" and it is adorable. It has ladybugs on it. Aunt Judy gave her the baby panda bear which we love. Everyone was so good to us. Mark asked what we are going to do if she is he?!! Guess I will be stocked up on presents for all the girls in our family for the next year. We pulled out a big box to keep everything Sage in. Today we bought a blanket and a little picture album/teether. We are going to fill it w/ pictures of us, and once we get our referral we will mail a package to the orphange in hopes that they will give it to Sage. It has been suggested to sleep w/ the blanket so it will have my scent on it. Guess I will be willing to try anything! We will also send a disposable camera in the package in hope that the nannies will take pictures of her till we get there. Anyways, back to her stash. She already has a big pile of things just waiting for her to get home to. I can't wait till next Christmas, when she is really here and can open the gifts herself!

Lady Bug Diaper Bag...

Another Grammy Gift for Sage...

A Cabbage Patch for Sage

i have been looking for the perfect cabbage patch to get Sage and my mom found it! Isn't she cute? Her name is Lyric London, which I guess is different! Her birthday is October 10th, which is when we joke around that Sage' birthday will probably be. (Makenna and Malaine have October birthdays!) Ths was one of the many Christmas presents Sage received.

Christmas Angels

My Secret Pal

I am involved in a secret pal program on an adoption yahoo board I am part of. You can check out our group at www.junejitterbugs2005.homestead.com This month we revealed our secret pals, because of some confusion on who had who. I have the most wonderful secret pal who spoils my family so much. She and her husband are from Texas. Yesterday as part of our gifts for this month, she gave each of the kids, along w/ Mark and I something. Well this was wrapped up and had To Sage, which that alone was enough to make me teary, I love to see others acknowledge her name! Anyways, this snowglobe was what Sage received. Don't you love it! Malaine helped open it and said, Look it is a China Bear!! Sweet, Very sweet!

Playday at McDonalds!

We had a MOPS playdate at McDonalds last week. The first picture is of some of the moms in my small group at MOPS. My cousin Dawn, Anita, my cousin Lisa, and Sarah. The second picture is Dawn climbing out of the play tunnels w/ her daughter Dalayna, who came home from China in April. It was her first time in the tunnels! Dalaynas, I mean, although maybe Dawn's first time in them also! That is Malaine trying to "help".

Sawyer, the Christmas Grump

These were taken at Sawyers pre-school play last Thursday. He was Bob Humbug, the Christmas grump! He turned nice at the end!

Who Stole the Cookies from the Christmas Tree??

Who She? Couldn't be! Yes , that would be Malaine Shaye, guilty!! The gross part is, the cookie she ate, is an ornament I made at a MOPS craft night, probably 3 years ago! How she was able to bite it w/ out breaking her teeth is a miracle. And she literally ate the entire thing. this is the same child who came out of our bathroom last month wearing my lipstick around her entire face. Always keeps us on our toes that is for sure!

When might we actually go to China...

Most of you probably know that we expected to be getting our referral this month or next month. Now we are telling ourselves it might be May before that happens. Referral is when we find out who our child is. We will get a picture, her chinese name, birthdate, some general information on her schedule, weight, where & when she was "found". China sends this packet to our agency and they will call us to come out and get it. Our guesstimate for the May referral is based on the groups ahead of us. Referrals run w/ the month. So the first week of December people who had their paperwork into China the first half of April, received their referrals. China seems to be sending out half months at a time all of a sudden. So we have the second half of April, the first part of May, second half of may, first half of June, then us. Our paperwork was to china on June 20th. You never know, things could speed up and they could send a whole month. That is our prayer. If we do get a May referral this would mean travel about 8 weeks later. The hottest time in China of course! But we don't care what the weather is, we just want to go! Prayerfully we will get our referral before May, but we are telling ourselves May instead of getting our hopes up. As for the reason that referrals have slowed down? Now that is the million dollar question that we all would like to know. I just have to remind myself, our baby is not ready yet. Maybe she has just been born. Maybe God is trying to teach me an extra dose of patience. Maybe he is waiting till I finally lose that 20 pounds I wanted to lose before China!! As if the stress of waiting helps in that area. Miss your baby? Have some chocolate, right? Whatever the reason, we continue to wait. I think I hear a snickers bar calling my name....

All I Really Want for Christmas...

Makenna & Sawyer were in the Childrens Choir Muscial on Sunday night at church. The choir is led by 2 amazing ladies who are able to handle lots of hyper children each week and actually teach them a full musical! Big thanks to Francine & Amy for all their hard work! This is a picture after it was over. This is a normal "Sawyer face".
Today in the car we were listening to music and the song by Steven Curtis Chapman came on "all i really want for christmas". This is Sawyer's favorite song and he sings it LOUD! He is such a tenderheart and he tells me every time it is on, if that little boy just had a brother and a dad he would be ok. Can we get him as a brother? Hmmmm. So then we have the talk about how God chooses our child, we don't get to pick a brother or a sister. today after the song was over Sawyer says, "I know all I really want for Christmas." And I wait to hear about which video game he is going to pick today. Instead he says, "I want Jesus for Christmas". Then Malaine pipes in w/ she wants baby Jesus for Christmas. And before I can speak and say anything profound, they begin to argue over who is going to get baby Jesus for Christmas. Then Sawyer goes on to change his mind and says, "well what i really want for Christmas is a heart of Gold". This was one of the songs from their musical. So we got to have a good lesson on Jesus gift being ready for us all the time, and what it means to have a heart of gold. Sawyer even went so far as to say, "maybe next year I can get that crash bandicoot video game, and this year a heart of gold". How sweet is that? Of course 2 minutes later they were in the backseat fighting over something silly, but hey, they impressed me for a minute!
Something that stuck w/ me in the musical was one line that said, "I am not here to please myself, I am here to please Jesus". And as I heard that, I thought, I need to remember that every time I get anxious over our baby. When I get upset and frusterated, it is because this adoption is not following MY time. God has a plan and He is in control of our baby right now. I need to trust Him to please Him. Of course the mother in me wants to please me by holding my baby NOW!! But I am trying to lay it down at His feet and just hold on for the ride. Thanks for riding along w/ me!!

Sage's First Christmas

I have been looking for an ornament for the baby to hang on our tree this year. Someone posted this on my yahoo group and I ordered one. Now if Sage is not Sage and turns out to be a boy, then we might have a problem! Besides that, isn't it adorable!! I just love it. I think is is so perfect. It has been hard this month. We thought we would possibly have our referral by Christmas. Now it is looking like it might be May before we get our referral. It goes through my mind about a zillion times a day, "We are not going to be w/ our baby for her first Christmas" Wow! How sad is that? She will be sitting alone in an orphange, while her brother & sisters open a bunch of toys, spend time w/ families, and have fun. Please pray for her. That she is healthy and that she is loved. And pray for me! I am a mother, and one of my children is not with me. Thankfully we have a Big Father, who is taking care of me, and my daughter, even though we are so far apart from each other. I am praying, though I miss her first Christmas, I will have her long before her first birthday!

Let's Blog!

We have a web-site, but as I get more and more into "adoption world", I have decided you are just not cool unless you blog. No one leaves comments on your website, they might lurk, but really, they won't make their presence known. So to try and get some more support around here, I have decided it would be much more fun to blog. So here we go friends! I hope you will join us, and be patient w/ me. Maybe I will update here more than I do in the website journal. We do plan to keep that site up and running for you to read our full adoption story, the kids information etc. The link is on the side.