Prayers Please

Prayers needed please. Murphy bent/broke one of the stakes on the chainlink fence (Chris put these all the way down the fence when Murphy and Daisy got out in November) and he and Jazzie have been gone since 4:30. Worse yet the kids had been playing with their collars (switching them) and neither one has their ID. Please pray. I can't lose another pet. I have posters all around our neighborhood and up the street at the lights. I am not going to work so I can go to the vets, pet stores, and hit parking lots with fliers. I have placed an ad in our local paper but it won't be printed until Thursday.

Please pray.

**UPDATE**

We found Murphy. Still no Jazzie. We have posted 100 fliers. The newspaper ad will run tomorrow.

KEEP PRAYING!

Busy Weekend!

Ben #6

Whew! We have been busy this weekend! Hannah and I were saying that we wished Krista was here this weekend! Saturday morning we woke up and headed out to a street festival in the small town where I teach. Hannah and the clogging team performed their last show. As soon as Hannah finished performing we jumped in the car to head back to Burliwood for her 12:00 soccer game. In the meantime Ben had a lacrosse game at the same sports complex where Hannah was having her game. We all met up and watched Hannah's game before heading home. It might have been a good idea if I had brought some sunscreen....ouch. My little brown kids were fine but Chris cooked the back of his legs!

Saturday night we headed to the park to ride the kiddie rides. Although I tend to make fun of the"burbs" where we live it really is a great place to raise a family. The park has one of the oldest carousels in the country, there are also a park train and a few kiddie rides. Sophie loved all of them....except the carousel. She rode it but she wasn't lovin' it. It could have been the music, it was pretty loud. Sorry no pics of our rockin' Saturday night at the park.

Carolina Girls!

Bill C and Middle School Talk

What can I say about Bill that hasn't already been said....the man is an amazing speaker! He is funny and easily connected with the mostly college "republican" crowd. I know college and republican kind of don't go together, but this is a pretty small, well- to-do university. Bill's ( I call him Bill now:) bottom line message was that if you liked how things were going when he was in office vote for Hillary. As you can tell from Hannah's photo's we were pretty close. Glad we were able to make it in time to hear him speak.

My chat with the 7th graders at planet middle school went well. The kids all asked great questions and each class was so different from the last! I had one class that really was just interested in the emotional part of our adoption. They asked things like, how did I think Sophie felt about being adopted,how we going to be sure that she knew about Chinese culture, how would we explain how she came to be part of our family. They wanted to know where she slept ( with us) and why we chose to have her sleep with us. I told Mr.social studies teacher that this was the group of future social workers and counselors! Ben's class asked some really good questions. This was the only class that asked why we did not adopt domestically and one student towards the end of the talk shared that he didn't think that he could love a child the same if he or she were not blood related. I told him that it was ok to feel that way and then I hit him with one of my favorites from Melissa " Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother". Love that.
Every class asked "how much" and at the end of each class at least one student came up to me to tell me that they wished that their family would chose to adopt from China or that when they got older that they hoped to be able to adopt.

My work there was done:)

Wednesday is Going to be Big....

Two big things happening this week in TBG land. First I have been asked to come and talk to Ben's social studies class about our trip to China and Sophie's adoption. (They are studying China) The kids are going to watch N.G. China's Lost Girls on Tuesday and hopefully come up with some good questions to help move the discussion along Wednesday when I visit. I was going to try to come up with some fanch shmancy little power point....but I am hoping that it is more of a discussion than a lecture. I hope to cover China's family policy, our adoption journey (preparations etc.) ,our trip to China, and Chinese culture. I'll let you know how it goes.

In other big happenings Bill Cl*nton will be speaking at an area college! Stop rolling your eyes...I know he was a dog. But I will be able to bring my two big kids to go hear a former president speak! I am very excited about this and can't wait to bring Ben and Hannah with me! It is going to be close since I will be speaking with Ben's class, but I hope to be able to make it in time. He is only scheduled to speak for 30 minutes. Getting there might be tricky but we can walk from a few different friends homes that live near campus. Wish us luck!

Hannah Clogging

Hannah is a member of her school clogging team. Clogging is the official NC state dance...who knew?!? She really enjoys it, all the girls are smiling because their teacher told them that if they smiled and didn't look at their feet she would buy them ice cream:)

I tried uploading the video but it didn't work so I had to upload it on to you*tube...not sure what I am doing wrong. I didn't get the entire dance my battery died!

3 Words...

MAGIC....

I love this little cartoon...love that Blind Melon is singing it! Maia and Mike are the proud parents of baby Flynn. A little baby girl waiting for them in China who will share with them the magic of "three". I love referrals....its like being in the delivery room! Congrats Maia and Mike!

Just Taking a Moment.....

xo
Maryellen

The Real Krista Revealed.......

Krista is on her way home after being stuck in the burbs for a rainy weekend of chatting and chocolate! Of course being stuck in the house for the weekend with Krista has given me some insight to the mysteries of Krista......

* She claims to be low maintenance....but her hair HAS to take a hour to look so fab!

* She really is happy just to hang out on the couch. (good thing because everything that I had loosely planned was rained out)

* She is Hannah's long lost chocolate lovin' sister!

* She flips around a lot in her sleep.

* She can hang and talk with anyone...including my father-inlaw.

* She is way over "March Madness"

* She will happily hang out and wait while I take care of "Sophie business"

* She likes to stay up late and sleep in....the staying up late works in our house....but the sleeping in....forgetaboutit!

* She enjoyed the scenery at Wal*mart and La Fiesta.

* She really needed a Margarita Friday night!

* She "rolls with the punches"....airline goes out of business, not a big deal... just find another ticket home.

* Stressful movies like "I am Legend" will cause her to ask lots of questions....during the movie.

* Believe me when I tell you she has been to your blog....I have seen her bloglines!

* If she has just found your blog,she has read through most of your archived posts!

* She only has nice things to say about you and your blogs.

* For a tough cop she is an emotional girl.

* The person you "think" Krista is from her blog...is pretty much who she is in "real life"

* She thought I "was" a dorky soccer mom. ( she is right about the dork part though...)

* She is a good friend and values all of her friendships... especially those made along the way to Mia.

* She is well rested for her next weekend of fun as she travels her way through the wait!

3 Words...

Krista brought these yummy chocolate covered chips with her from Ohio. I have to confess that the above picture is a picture of an empty box. The TBG gang has never eaten so much chocolate in one weekend ever! Hannah is in chocolate heaven! Krista and Hannah had the chocolate fountain going last night, we were all dipping marshmallows, strawberries, pound cake, chips and bananas. We may need to mix in a salad tonight:)

Permanent House Guest???

NEWS FLASH!

Yup, Krista is a proud owner of a SKYBUS ticket......which according to tonights news is worth nothing! WTF??? Her bargain flight to NC has turned in to a mad rush to purchase a return ticket home before her fellow Skybus passengers find out that their tickets are worthless!! Her cheap weekend in the burbs is going to end up costing more than a trip to Disney.....I guess going to the mall is no longer an option.

I Think She Has Adjusted Pretty Well...

Sophie just cracks me up...all of us up! Today she had a post surgery MRI. Everything looks great. She is a strong girl, she fought those nurses trying to put an IV in with all her might. I think she even surprised them a little. Her MRI went faster than we expected because she was so good, of course:) While we were talking to the doctor I noticed that Sophie was mimicking the doctors hand motions, it was pretty funny. Monkey see Monkey do! We all had a good laugh with that one! Other than that I really should be getting ready for my visitor.

A Visitor....

A beautiful, smart blogger babe is headed to the burbs this weekend for a little rest and relaxtion. Can you guess who this fab girl is???

* She is a waiting mom...duh

* She is currently single ( well I think so unless she "hooked up" with someone last weekend)

* She is devoted friend. The kind of friend that one hopes to have at least once in a life time!

* Well, there is a man in her life....he is a little on the small side and a little hairy.

* She is passing the last months of her wait traveling here and there.

* If you are in the hospital or really under the weather she will come visit you.

I have 2 other clues but they will totally give it away....