Favorite Photo Friday

That's My Girl!!

(To all of our Pingjiang Families - Chloe is attached to her visor this summer!!)

Camp Survivors!!

Last week we sent two boys to our church camp - PAINTBALL CHURCH CAMP - mind you, and now this week we have one more boy at camp. They seemed to have a great time and enjoyed the paintballing, meeting new friends, and their chapel speaker!! Of course now you know what we are hearing - they are all saving their money for paintball guns! They came home covered head to toe with mosquito bites and this lovely "war wound" - just had to share with all of you - yes, he's proud of this wound - he'd do it all again!!! Ahhhh,boys!

The 4 Year Old Princess

Today was the day - our little lady turned 4!!! She woke up and did something she NEVER does - crawled in bed beside me. I had a half hour just to lay there and watch my sweet girl sleep - a rare and touching treat! I couldn't help but think that on the other side of the world another momma lay remembering 4 short years ago when she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I can not say enough how brave I think that mom was - and how grateful I am for her bravery. We are blessed because of that mom's goodness.

We had quite the day - Chloe had her hair curled and toenails and fingernails painted by daddy. We ate at her restaurant of choice - Chinese!! We opened gifts - she had a blast! AND yes, she got her coveted "spinny chair" - purple even! (Is this the only 4 year old that wanted a spinny computer chair for her birthday??) She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED her cake - a princess cake - and did NOT want candles on her OR to cut her! (But yes, we won that one!!) Then we ended our fun day with a bike ride. I am sure Chloe wishes everyday were her birthday!! We had a fun one!

Shopping Alert!!!!

Yes - I have to share some fun reasons to shop!!!

I ran across this wonderful lady when out hunting down some ladybug backgrounds for blog designs - but look at this great store!! The Monogrammed Ladybug ALL of her stuff is cute, but make sure and go HERE and see her Asian themed designs. Wish I would have known about this BEFORE Chloe's birthday!!

Then, visit Kari's Blog to see these adorable purses - Chloe's getting one for her birthday (see the pink cupcake fabric!?!?!?) and they are THE PERFECT size for those little bodies!!! Plus, you are helping support an adoptive family!

So there you go - always a good reason to shop!!!

WE MADE IT!!!!

WOW!! That is about all we can say at this moment - after a year plus some (1 yr., 4 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days to be exact) we are NOW OUT OF REVIEW!!!! In adoption lingo that means we have been checked over by China, we weren't asked any questions, so we made it through!!! This is a BIG step - one that took only MONTHS last time around. SO sad, but yes, SO true! But we found our yesterday that we are through. Now, China is only a year behind in referrals - how depressing is that - if they keep us the same pace they are doing now AND DON'T SLOW DOWN A BIT, we are scheduled to get our referral exactly a year from now. I pray things speed up - but I do know Who is ultimately in control and I hang onto that!

But praise God - another big hurdle reached!!!

The first picture is the CCAA building where our papers are right now.

The second is where they match up our paperwork/Dossier with our next little one. So this is where our papers are sitting IN A VERY BIG PILE right now!

Camping Out

If you asked Chloe what we did tonight - she'd say we camped out!!! But here's what we REALLY did:

Take - 1 bonfire, 24 hot dogs, 1 bottle of ketchup, 1 bottle of mustard, 1 jar of relish, 1 jar of Mayonnaise (I know, one of our neighbor boys requested it!), 1 pan of baked beans, 1 bag of potato chips, 10 kids in the neighborhood, 2 adults, 1 Bella running around begging for handouts or to be petted, 1 bag of marshmallows, 1 box of graham crackers, 1 package of chocolate bars, and LOTS of wood - and there you have it - what we did tonight!!! And all of our neighborhood parents went out on dates - I love it!!!

At the Park

Look who we found at the park!!!!!
It wasn't planned, but Caeleigh and Chloe loved playing together at the park - we need to do that more often!!