Home and Complete

Well it sure has been a long time since Blog updates.  We enjoyed blogging while in China this summer/fall and now we will have our China travel blog made into a book and CD.  As far as what else to say...........................2 words come to mind.....HOME & COMPLETE!  OK 2 more words..............THANK YOU!  Yes we are home and yes our family is complete but most of all Thank you to so many who helped us, who supported us, who were there for us through it all.  7 days till Christmas so no more updating blogs gotta go get things done but again thank you and HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

LOA

Our LOA IS HERE 5/28/13!!!!!!!
Ella we are coming soon sweet love! And thanks to a long productive day so is your care package (thank you TK)!

updated growth chart on left ;)

Mother's Day 2013

Mother's Day had it's years of being tough for this Mama who longed to be just that..............a Mama! This year I am over the moon to say I am a mother of two.........Yup two precious girls. We shared the news with our Mothers on Mother's Day! The 3 of us are beyond excited to finally say............... Dreaming of a sister is no longer a dream!! So many have helped us, so many have supported us. Thank you for it all, you know who you are!! Now we know you just wanna see pictures huh? Unfortunately we can't yet. China is strict about sharing on ALL social media etc. The wording we have is....It makes China nervous at best and angry at worst and could jeopardize the delicate sensitive adoption situation........so for now we share our news with this - Thank you and OMG YAHOO we have TWO daughters!!! p.s. Thank you - Many are asking about another benefit tag sale and yes we are considering another benefit tag sale this summer to help bring little sister home! Little sister is coming home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April and 5 - wooooo

Well our baby is growing up - yes it is true she is turning FIVE!  OH MY! But I am hear to say what is reality....................."Once you stop blogging you never go back".  I love journalling with pen and paper thinking about how someday as a young mother herself she may cuddle up with the chinese silk journal and read all my thoughts, feelings, fears and joys.  I love working on memory books without having to worrying about the world wide web and all those Internet fears.  I love all the new found things we do and less computer time................sorry blogging is not coming back and we are just not a facebook etc family soooooooooooooooooooo mini updates is all I got for now.  So now I must go pour my heart and soul into a sweet loving happy birthday letter to a precious (almost) 5 year old who changed my life and gave me the best job on the planet earth..............MAMA!
p.s. Yes we still await baby sister - progress has been made but no new news to share as of yet.

April

April 3, 2009 a day we will never forget.  DOR (date of referral) The day we heard the words we had longed to hear...............It's a GIRL!  I know I know I don't really blog anymore and I have to say I don't think that will change anytime soon. But as April 3rd nears I thought I would stop by and say hello.  It has been a pretty emotional time around here with the loss of our Tiki Love but today reminds me of joy and miracles.  The loss is bringing us closer than ever and for that we are grateful.  Blessed Easter to all.

With broken hearts

With broken hearts Tiki lost her 3 month battle with cancer. Best Dog EVER Tiki 07/11/2005 - 03/18/2013 Rest in peace to our sweet best friend!

February 10, 2013
We have already had a week of great celebrations and we have many more great things planned in the weeks to come.  We have been journaling a lot about our fun and truly feel blessed in all we got to experience this year.  To all our China friends near and far ......
Gung Hay Fat Choy! (may prosperity be with you)  - Cantonese
Xin Nian Kuai Le! (Happy New Year) - Mandarin

books

Books are a love around here.  Lately there has been a theme well OK maybe it is more like a tiny obsession with bones and all that goes along with bones like.... doctors, dentists etc.  These were her recent library picks....

 

wonder what her future holds?  That's OK I can wait to see ;)

2013

2013 - Looking forward to it ;)

Obsolete?

Well if you have ever blogged you know first hand that once you get behind in blogging you realize you will never check up.  We have done so many great things I just have not gotten to blogging about. Christmas fun, Santa visits, baking, crafts, school parties, elf fun, Reindeer performance, train ride, swim lessons, surgery, Thanksgiving, sleep over, operating room tour, visit from friends, hair cut, nutcracker, Dr Seuss performance and just the daily cuteness and fun of our life.

ARE BLOGS BECOMING OBSOLETE ?   I definitely don't write on mine as much anymore nor do I see others doing so on theirs? So many facebook, twitter, instagram etc .  Which sorry we are just so not into.

On one hand I guess it is about learning to say no when your to do list is over flowing?  I guess it is about focusing on family.  I guess it is about to much time on the computer (between work, research, keeping in touch and blogging)?
On the other hand I guess it is about wanting to keep a scrapbook of sorts of our days? I guess it is about wanting to keep those who love and care in the loop no matter how far apart we are?

The verdict is still out but for now SIGNING OFF FOR 2012 ... may 2013 bring health, happiness and pure joy. Thanks for always checking in. Blessings to you and yours !!!
**maybe a monthly update???**

Merry Christmas

OHHHHH wow I am not blogging  much anymore huh :(
No way to even catch up now but wanted to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!

p.s. Tiki is home healing as we wait for more news ;)

Tiki Love

Dumpling sending Tiki some love on her surgery day - 2012

Tiki in 2005

dumpling fun

Dunkling/Dumpling has really been having some fun (it is so cool other great mom's share ideas - Thanks Barbara and many other cool mom's)

Zip line

tea party

toilet paper

busy busy but hi

Yes it is busy busy here and blogging is much less. I don't see that changing anytime soon but wanted to say hi ;)

If you can please take a moment to help. Thank you!

we petition the obama administration to:

Support HR 4373 and S 3616: Help make adoption affordable; keep the tax credit and make it refundable

Help make Adoption Affordable

The average cost to adopt a child is any where from $25k- $35k or more. Currently, The 2012 Tax Credit is not refundable for adoptions initiated after 2011, which means a large number of families are/were not able to get any of the $25k- $35k back and possibly prevent people from adopting a child at all.

In 2013 it will revert back to a maximum tax credit of $6,000 for parents adopting children with special needs only and there will be no adoption tax credit available in tax year 2013.
We are petitioning to make the adoption tax credit permanent and refundable, so that more money is available to families allowing them provide a financially stable home to the adopted child.

Currently, there are two bills HR 4373 and S3616 that support this petition.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/support-hr-4373-and-s-3616-help-make-adoption-affordable-keep-tax-credit-and-make-it-refundable/GknZZR2H

rookie mistake

Yup I made a rookie mistake and I am sharing my embarrassment to help other Mamas :)
Dunkling (aka Dumpling) wanted to do a snow angel.  Lesson learned he should have used flour and not confectionery sugar OMG!  If you have a mischievous dog and a sugar loving child this is a bad rookie mistake. 
This is how the morning went:
Squeals of excitement Mama mama Dunkling made a mess!  Mama mama Tiki is eating Dunklings mess! Than silence.........................................yes her mouth was full that is why there was silence as I walked into the kitchen (without my camera in hand) there she was with one of her plastic toy play spoons eating some of the sugar.  Since our dog Tiki had also been loving this it no longer looked like a snow angel.  What followed was washing the table, chairs, the floor and the darn Elf. Oh and one wild child and one thirsty dog. OH MY what a rookie mistake! Don't make it!

November ending

ooopps I never got to post about Thanksgiving and we are already putting up our Christmas tree.  Blogging sure has changed ;(

 

Dumpling got into the crayons

 

A thanksgiving craft ;) OK atleast I posted 1 picture ;(

Looks who is back

We expect to be woken up by squeals of excitement when little miss sees Dumpling is BACK ;)

Cinderella Moon

 

 

OMG I am so excited to see this!!! Half the sky blessed us and cared for our daughter until we could. I am so thankful to them! I loved when I read the below from the actress:

Click here to buy now:

One half of all proceeds from Cinderella Moon sales made through Half the Sky will be spent by the foundation to create as many real-life Cinderella stories as possible inside Chinese orphanages.

 

 

Some time ago, I told you about a new movie made by my husband, Richard Bowen. Cinderella Moon was inspired by our Chinese daughters and is dedicated to Half the Sky. This gorgeous film – a fairytale for the whole family – brings to life the world's first telling of the Cinderella story. The movie has played to sold-out film festival audiences and received ecstatic reviews..."Magical. Sheer entertainment. A richly told girl-power fantasy guaranteed to enchant tots and parents alike." – Variety

Well, we want to get the word out about this wonderful and little-known part of our children's heritage. And we just don't want to wait anymore to share it with our Half the Sky family.

So here comes Half the Sky's holiday gift to you:
For a limited time only, you can buy Cinderella Moon only in our Half the Sky store at a ridiculously low price.

Watch the opening scene (in Chinese with subtitles) here:

Watch the English (dubbed) version here.

PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON!  With love,

Jenny

Half the Sky Foundation
715 Hearst Avenue, Ste. 200, Berkeley, CA 94710
+1 (510)525-3377 www.halfthesky.org


 

Sept - Nov

this is a picture from September 2012 but cute so thought I would share as a November photo.

Halloween 2012

woooooooooooo way to many pictures for our 2 nights of Halloween fun (yes 2 separate events going on) so let me try to pick just 6 pictures out????????????


This was who was in her baby stroller she pushed around.  Doc Mc Stuffings in her lab coat who she adores and this is her only Doc Mc Stuffings item so it gets lots of love.  And her baby who she tells everyone was born in China same as her.  She wrapped her legs up in bandages and put a diaper on her.  She told me she could not walk to the potty with her wrapped legs.  When I asked how she hurt her legs she said .........................."she was born like this but that OK Momma everyone is different.  I am her doctor and I will fix her up in surgery"

Hi Doctor

yes she says she wants to be a doctor when she grows up.  It changes often as to what kind.  Often for babies, often for China babies, often for Grandmas, often for astronauts and often for animals ;)

Halloween #2 is her favorite and it shows - amazing night for us all - LOVE IT!

OMG she met a DR. that night who she adored (no idea who he is) but she kinda was like OK I will just hang with this real Dr.  now I'm done tricking treating - LOL

 

 

way to much candy gonna have to talk about donating and trading some of this sugar for other better for you things ;)

getting ready for Halloween

4 1/2 and college

Mama "Laney wow you are not 4 any more your 4 1/2"
Laney "Really"
Mama "yes really"
Laney "woooo 4 1/2 woooooo"
Laney "Mama can I go to college now since I 4 1/2"
Mama now on the floor laughing ;)

FALL and 4 1/2

Yes it has been awhile since I posted (wow once u slow down on blogging you really slow down on blogging - lol).  Well here is a quick update.  It is Fall and our love has turned 4 1/2!  WOW!

lucky, silly doctor and socks

I know how rare it is, I know how lucky I am...............She sleeps late in the morning and than reads books and plays with her animals in her room for a while after waking up.  She loves to be a doctor and this is what I found this morning:

She said MAMA look at all Tiggers castasses (yes that is how she says it .....cast asses - LOL).  He is my son I adopted him and I am his doctor too and he needed bandages so I gave him lots of castasses.
She found an interesting use for those lonely mismatched socks ;)

fish

fish is well..............still a fish.

She likes me to sit at the tippy top of the stands and she is rarely above water so the shots are not that great but you can feel the love of swim this fish has ;)

October 2012

continued ....

Rare photo (as she almost never falls asleep in the car)

Car Lovie Monkey and Bed Lovie Monkey got to join our family for some annual fall fun.  I took 92 pictures of our special day but wooo cannot post all those so here are just 4 to highlight our day/night.  We had a blast!  Daddy and I both were not on board with bringing both Lovie Monkeys with the fear of losing our only 2 we have but we did good checking 80 times a day/night to be sure we had them both.  I would say both Lovie Monkey and our sweet precious girl and her blessed Mommy and Daddy had a great time celebrating Monkeys birthday.  Until next year ;)