THANK YOU! You Guys are the BEST!!

Wow what a day!! I have SO MANY amazing bloggy friends and today was a day when I was reminded of how many great friendshops ahve been formed through this amazing bloggy world! A few friends shared on their blogs that today was my birthday and the well wishes began to pour in. I tell ya! Talk about being humbled by friends.

I love birthdays! They are days to be celebrated! Last year was the big 4-0 so this year we just added one more candle to the cake. Praying that I'll still be 41 when I see sweet Hannah's face for the first time but if I'm 42...no problem! I may need glasses to see her picture but I won't mind a bit. Still trusting in God's perfect timing! And, thanking Him today for each of you! YOU are very special friends and I am thankful for each of you!! Your friendship is not taken for granted. Love ya!

PS - Had a great b'day! Phone calls from family and friends, emails, lunch with Norma and John at a beautiful restaurant, piano recital (where my friend Carol announced my b'day and the whole group sang) and then the day was topped off when I went for a late night birthday snack with Mom, Dad and Rebecca. Yup...perfect!

Looking Forward to a Wonderful Weekend!

I'll be heading north again tomorrow to Muskoka Baptist Conference Centre (MBC)to help out with our 2nd Women of Grace spring ladies conference. MBC is located near Huntsville, Ontario on beautiful Mary Lake. I was there last weekend for the first conference and the scenery was beautiful! I love it there!

This weekend promises to be an amazing one as our speaker for the weekend is Elizabeth George! She has written many, many books and I look forward to learning from this wonderful teacher. She has a number of children's books too so I just may need to pick up one or two to add to Hannah's growning library.

I'll share some of the wonderful teachings I learned after the weekend! Have a wonderful weekend friends!

Here Storky, storky!

Well, it's that time again! Rumor has it that either the stork is on the tarmack in China, stretching his wings and preparing to take flight or, somewhere over the ocean. Cut-off dates have once again been all over the map this month. A couple of weeks ago I let myself get caught up in the rumour that referrals might reach November 20th, 2005! Wahoo!! Then...reality set in. We might reach the teens. Uh oh, the 9th was not included. Then...the 8th was not included either. I find myself dizzy and ill with the ups and downs of this part. The latest rumour (and yes, until proven true they are only rumours) is that November 7th is the cutoff date. As much as I wish it went deeper into November - much deeper - the 7th is wonderful because it would mean my new friends Julie and Elisa would be in!

Hitting the refresh button on Rumor Queen with a frequency that threatens carpel tunnel but alas, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

Can't believe I'll be in the north country without easy (read: I can weasel some internet time from friends ;o) computer access during referral time. Oh no!!!!!

Wow! A Stadium Full!

It was fun today to check my stats and realize that sometime over the weekend my blog passed 50,000 views! Phew! Who would have thought some 20 months ago when I began this 'living journal' for Hannah that so many people would find my little 'ol life interesting enough to come back more than once.

I have said over and over and will again now how amazed and thankful I am for the wonderful bloggy friendships that have formed through this great avenue. We have had a long wait together and some of us still have a good amount of time in front of us. While we wait....friendships form!

I think this would also be a fun time to find out who some of my 'behind the scenes' readers are too. If you like to visit but haven't commented I'd love to know who you are! I have a feeling many local family and friends check in occasionally but don't leave comments. Today's the day! If you want to, I'd like to know who you are! Please click the word 'comment' below this post and leave me a message including signing your name. Just click the 'anonymous' button and your comment will post.

No pressure...but it will be fun to find out who some of my quiet prayer warriors, readers and supporters are! Come one...come all!

Celebrating 14 month LIDiversary!

Yeah!!! 14 months closer to Hannah! I can't help but wonder (numerous times) each day if I will hold my precious daughter in my arms within the next year? Part of me really believes so and yet part that is protective of my heart and says to prepare myself for a longer than anticipated wait. The Beijing Olympics (which begin 8/8/08) are an ever present concern. With our embassy being in Beijing I wonder how it might affect Canadian adoptions? Praying and trusting and reminding myself that God's timing is always perfect so the moment Hannah is placed in my arms is the exact moment God planned long, long ago! Yes, reminding myself of that makes me feel much better.

I love you Hannah! You're already loved and in my heart every moment of every day! I cannot wait for the day when you're in my arms too!

Love, Mommy xoxoxo

Home again with flowers purchased while away. What a nice treat it was to walk into my room each day and see these little flowers and be reminded (as if I needed reminding!) of Hannah!

I was up north at a ladies conference this past weekend and many asked how the adoption was going as they had learned last year that my file was in China. It was fun to have them ask and to tell them, 'Lord willing I'll be in China this time next year!' :o) Even better would be having Hannah with me and introducing her to some of the many, many....many people who have been praying for her! That will be wonderful!!

Two Adorable Little Boys Waiting for their Mei-Mei's!

These 2 little guys are the cutest and they were as good as gold the entire weekend! It was fun playing with them and listening to their infectious giggles! Without further adieu I give you:

Thomas who is waiting for his mei-mei Zoe. Thomas is a giggler and had all of us smiling and laughing too!







Francis is waiting for his mei-mei Naomi. He's an adorable little guy who entertained us with some pretty awesome magic tricks. He's going to make a great ge-ge!




And last but not least, we can't forget about little Daisy. What fun will she have when her mei-mei arrives!

MBS - On the Road and Ready to Go!

Bright and early (well...8:30 which is early for a Saturday) Kathy and I hit to road. First stop...Tims!! A girls gotta do what girls gotta do!

We attempted our first Tim's stop just a mere 10 mins. from Kathy's house but the place was a zoo! Lineups 30 people deep at each cashier so we headed up the road about 20 mins. further and stopped at a Tim's in a small town. No line ups; hot coffee and munchies and we were ready to roll.

Our next stop was about 3 hours down the highway to pick Joel up from his parent's place. We did so and then were back on our way, destination Montreal! It had been a number of years since I'd been in Quebec and I was surprised to see some of the old familiar signs in French. It had just never crossed my mind. This is an important sign in French just as it is in English!

We arrived around 2:00, just in time for Mark to get up....and then to go back to bed. He had, ahem, indulged just a wee bit too much the night before and sadly was paying for it on Saturday. He just kept saying 'I'm so sorry' and we just felt bad that he had to sleep through some of the fun.

After unpacking the car we hit a huge mall near Doris and Dan's. The very first store we saw was Joel's Jewelery store. Sadly no discounts or freebies were being offered that day.

If you know our friend Kathy you know she loves her candy! What fun we had when we saw these treats. We tried to sneak one out but sadly it didn't quite fit in her pocket! Funny thing - when we were taking this pic a guy ran out of the store and yelled something at us in French. I didn't have a clue but was sure what ever he was asking I'd never do again...at least while we were close to his store. It ends up that Montreal has a law that you cannot take pictures in public places (or something like that) due to privacy. Because of this many stars have chosen to purchase property in this beautiful city as the paparazzi are not allowed. Neat factoid du jour!

The one place we were allowed to take pics was in the garden so we took full advantage of it. It's a pretty little place right in the middle of the mall.

After shopping it was time to head back to D&D's and prepare to meet Julie, Stephan and Francis, and Elisa, Jarrod and Thomas. New friends that we would spend much of the weekend with. Yeah!

A Sensitive Subject

Before proceeding with the Montreal Bloggy Summit (MBS) posts I just want to take a moment to express something that has been on my heart today.

My hope is that you do not consider the posts I (and those of my fellow MBS bloggers post) as bragging. That is never, ever our intent. We too wish that many of you had joined us. It would have been fun but it was not to be for this trip.

I want to post of the fun times we shared but don't want to be perceived as anything other than celebration of a good time. (I'm not saying that anyone has said this but I just want to mention it as it's been heavy on my heart.)

First and foremost, my blog is a living journal of my wait for Hannah. The reason I started it in the first place was so that I could record all the day to day events that happened while I waited for her. Because of this, I want to be able to post about the summit and enjoy posting.

I've said over, and over...and over again to anyone who listens, that one of the most wonderful surprises during this journey has been the AMAZING friends I have met in the bloggy world. You are such an important part of this journey and I'm so happy to be riding this stroller coaster with each of you! I love to read and comment on your posts as well as write of my journey and read all the great comments that are left here for Hannah and I too.

This past weekend was one more example of friendships born that I could never have dreamed of! The time we spent together was beyond all I could have hoped or imagined and I am thankful that God has brought each of these precious people into my life. Someday, Hannah will be introduced to these amazing friends too and also to their precious daughters! I can't wait for that day!!!

And so...I write. I write of the good times, the rough times, the happy and sad. And today I write of Montreal Bloggy Summit 2007! Oh baby! What a weekend it was!!

Montreal Bloggy Summit (MBS) - Where Do I Begin? *updated with names*

Wow...I'm speechless! I just had the awesome privilege of sharing a weekend with the greatest of people! We laughed, we cried, we loved, we shared from our hearts and more than anything we grew closer together and some precious, precious friendships became even more special than they were just 3 short days ago! (l to r in photo above, Mark and Michelle, Catherine, Joel and Kathy, Doris and Dan)

Doris and Dan were the hostesses with the mostesses and them some! So giving, loving and welcoming. Their home was our home for the weekend and I know any of us could show up on their doorstep unannounced and the welcome mat would be put out for us! Thank you so much Doris and Dan! You're THE BEST!!

Kathy and Joel live just one town over and this weekend deepened the precious friendship that we already share. We've really only known one another for 6 months yet already are very important people in one another's lives. I'm so thankful to have you as neighbours and look forward to many, many more wonderful and memorable times together.

Michelle and Mark and I didn't know one another too well before the weekend began but now...wow! It's amazing how a weekend together can cause us to grow closer than we ever thought possible in a short period for time. I am so very thankful for your friendship M&M and look forward to many great times together in the future!

Over and over on the way home, Kathy, Joel and I commented to one another how perfect the weekend was and how well we all got along. Looking forward to the next one already!

(Pic below...(back row l to r: Joel, Kathy, Francis, Stephan; middle row l to r: Mark, Michelle, Elisa with Thomas on her lap, Julie, Jarrod; front row l to r: Dan, Doris holding Daisy, Catherine)


Another bonus this weekend was meeting new friends too! Elisa and Jarrod and their adorable son Thomas are waiting for precious Zoe's referral. They share a log in date of November 7, 2005 with Julie and Stephan and their great son Francis who are waiting for Naomi's referral. We're all hoping they will be announcing their referrals within the next few weeks! It was so nice to meet all of you and I look forward to the next time we're in Montreal and are able to get together with your families including your precious daughters!

We enjoyed one another's company and many of you, our bloggy friends, were part of our conversations and we often said how we wished there was a way for all of us to get together. Since it's not possible we talked about you (in a good way!) as old friends do and chatted as if we'd known one another for years. The IA bloggy community is the best and you were part of our weekend in our hearts.

There is so much to share that I think I'll do it in a bunch of small posts. One of the neat things that happened before we left was that Dan took all of our memory cards, downloaded them to his computer and cut a CD of pics for each of us. It will be fun to see which ones each of us choose.

Thanks again D&D, K&J, M&M...Love you all and miss you already!!!

Montreal Bloggy Summit - Update #2

OK - It's 2:30am and we're still up....well most of us. Mark and Dan have crashed. Joel would like to but 4 chatty women in his room checking blogs, email and talking up a storm are somehow preventing him from catching any shuteye. He's putting in time doing Soduku puzzles while we talk and talk and....talk!

We've had the very best time and none of us want the weekend to end...thus awake at 2:30 and not really sounding very tired yet.

Today was a great day spent visiting China Town, out for Montreal Smoked Meat and Poutine for lunch, a visit to the Old Port, Notre Dame Basilica and then back to Doris and Dan's where the party was just getting started. Elisa and Jarrod, Julie and Stephan joined us for the day once again. Supper was a smorgesboard (sp?) of Chinese delicasies (sp...again....it's 2:30am!!!)

Will blog more and post some of the many great pics we've taken over the next few days. For all my Canadian friends I hope you have a great Victoria Day holiday tomorrow...errr....today!

Montreal Bloggy Summit - Update #1

Guess where we are? In an Apple Store in Montreal! What do we do? Why check blogs and update our blogs! What fun!

Michelle and Mark arrived safe and sound last night and Kathy, Dan and `I a few hours ago.


Getting a taste of what it's going to be like in China as all the instructions here are in French. Gotta run and do some shoppy!

Have a great weekend!

Montreal...Here We Come!

Yeah! Only 1 more sleep until Kathy, Joel and I head down the highway to the beautiful city of Montreal! Destination...Doris & Dan's! Mark & Michelle left earlier today so should be there by now, enjoying the wonderful company of our hosts! This Victoria Day long weekend promises to be a weekend of fun, friendship, laughter, shopping, adoption talk and seeing the beautiful city of Montreal! I haven't been there in over 20 years so I'm really excited to be going again!

Another treat this weekend will be to meet Doris' friends Elissa & Jarod plus Julie & Stephan! Julie and Stephan have a LID of November 7, 2005 so their referral will be included in the batch that will arrive in the next couple of weeks! Oh how exciting! I'm sure we'll be doing a little early celebrating with them!

Ayez un week-end merveilleux chacun ! (Which translates to: 'Have a great weekend everyone!' - I hope!) I promise to take lots of pics and share them with you next week. Wish you all could be here...bloggy summits are the best!

Happy Birthday Jacob!

My friend Carol's son turned 10 yesterday! Happy Birthday Jacob! I was invited over to their place last night to celebrate with birthday cake and then today Carol and I took a party of 6 very excited young men to the show to see 'Shrek 3'. (It was ok - wait for the video.) We had a great time with the boys at the show and then headed to Boston Pizza for supper. Yumm! (I thought it was neat to be there tonight as Boston Pizza was the place where Doris & Dan and I met for the first time last summer! Tomorrow I'll be hitting the highway with Kathy and Joel heading off to visit Doris and Dan! Love it when stuff like that happens.)

At first I tried to think of a gift to buy a 10yo boy that he wold like and was pretty stumped until I thought about the gift cards available at one of my favourite stores - Bulk Barn! We tried to convince him he needed to purchase pasta or dried fruit with the gift card but somehow candy was the only thing on his mind. Happy shopping Jacob....and sorry for the sugar infused little boy you're going to have mom!

PS - Who would have thought I'd ever spend a Friday night with 6 men? Ah yes...but none of them could drive and not one of them brought their wallet either. Sounds a little like some of the blind dates I've been on but that's a story for another time...

The English Language

A friend at work was trying to teach me a little Mandarin yesterday. Oh man! It's tough to learn a new language at %^&*@ years old! My mouth isn't used to making those kinds of sounds. Let's just say we had a lot of laughs and I hope I didn't offend him with some of my awful pronumciations.

It did get me thinking though of this great poem that I heard on the radio over 10 years ago. Still love it! Give it a try and see how you do. :o)

The English Language

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough;
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, thought and through!
(Well done!)

And now you wish perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird!
And dead, it's said like bed, not bead
To say it right is quite a deed!

Watch out for meat and great and threat
They rhyme with suite and stright and debt
A moth is not a moth in mother
Nor both in bother, nor broth in brother.

And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear
And then there's dose and rose and lose
Then look these up - goose and choose.

And cork and work, and cord and word
And font and front, and word and sword
And do and go, and wart and cart,
Come, come we've hardly made a start!

A dreadful language? Man Alive!
You mastered it when you were five!

A. Nonimous

Only 5 more sleeps!

Looking forward to a fun weekend with friends! Saturday I'll be heading to Montreal with Kathy & Joel, Michelle & Mark to spend the weekend at Doris & Dan's! What a great weekend this will be!

Way back in February Doris invited us to travel up the 401 to visit she and Dan for the long weekend. We were quick to accept her invitation and the excitement began to build. It will also be neat to meet a couple of her Montreal friends who we've heard and read much about on Doris' blog.

Only 5 more sleeps! Yeah!

Hmmmm...now I'm wishing I hadn't slept/talked through so many high school French classes. I can remember 'Ou est la toilette?' (even if I can't spell it) so am hoping that will cover the necessities of life. Now...if I could just remember chocolate in French I'd be all set! Oh yah....chocolate (said with a French accent of course.) Yup...gonna be a fantastic weekend!

Thanks for the invite Doris and Dan! Looking forward to seeing you again.

Waiting Mommies Dinner #4 - A Huge Success!!

Wow!! What an amazinf evening with a great turnout! In the end we had 23 mommies/mommies in waiting and 3 little ones present. I'll do my best to introduce you to everyone and attempt to link to those who have blogs. Here we go....


Back row l to r: Kathy, Jill, Leslie, Paula, Deb (formerly known as Mystery Mom! See post below for a pic of her precious Mercy), Rebekah, Julia, Bev, Beth and Julie.
Middle row l to r: Dayna, Laurie, Andrea, Michelle, Karen and Samara, Nicole, Suzanne
Front row l to r: me, Cari, Dolores, Liz and Ava, Debbie and Olivia

What a great night we had! Lot of laughter, fun and chatting! Our group took up the majority of the back room at the Pickle Barrel. It became quite funny to watch the hostess bring in people to sit at the tables around us only for them to see the comotion (and hear the deafening noise) come from our tables and see them ask to sit elsewhere. A few brave couples and families joined in the fun and the babies kept them well entertained!

Thanks for another GREAT night everyone! Hope you're able to make it to the next dinner on July 6th!

Here are a few fun pics from last night...

Dessert anyone?











Gifts for Hannah! Thanks for the fun umbrella and beautiful scrapbooked layout Paula! Also to Liz for the fun lunchbox kit and Jill for the tea and fortune cookie (which didn't last long enough to be included in the picture!)

Such great memories! Thanks ladies...you're the best! So very thankful for this wonderful group that live close enough one another to become friends now and share happy times with our children later! Looking forward to planning playgroups rather than (errr...in addition to) dinners!

Happy Mother's Day to all!!!

Our first Babies!!

Last night was even more exciting as we welcomed home 3 babies from China! Aren't they adorable?!!!

Here is Karen and her sweet Samara. She was the quietest of the 3 little ones last night and loved to take in all the excitement from the safety of mommy's lap. She's absolutely precious! Welcome home Samara!

This is little Olivia and her mom Deb! This littly dynamo just learned how to walk on Friday and was only too pleased to show all of us her new skill! She's a busy little one with a ready smile and loves to keep her mommy hopping. Welcome home Olivia!

Our most recent addition is beautiful Ava and her mommy Liz. Ava has been home less than 2 weeks and was ready to join in the fun of chasing bubbles and playing! Ava had a smile that lights up the room! Welcome home Ava!

Playtime for Ava and Olivia!







This last picture made me smile! As I was down on the floor taking pics of the little ones playing I turned to my left and saw this. Oh yes! Can you imagine? The babies were here! Can you imagine what kind of damage we'll do when more and more babies join our group? We'll have to pay extra for a cleaning staff to tidy when we leave. :o)

It was wonderful to meet you Samara, Olivia and Ava! Welcome to the GTA Waiting Mommies Group!

Another addition to our group is precious Mercy. Here's a picture of her proud Mommy Deb (formerly known as 'Mystery Mom 1') with her sweet baby's picture. Congratulations Deb! Looking forward to following your journey to China this summer.

My How We've Grown!

Wow!!! You may remember last November that a small group of waiting mommies got together for dinner. I think there were 7 or 8 of us. I'm just on my way out the door to have dinner with the same group and we've exploded to be 23 waiting mommies and 3 newly home babies!!! Too cool!! Can't wait to meet all the new waiting mommies, catch up with old friends and ooooo....adore the newly home babies too!

If you hear noise coming from the Toronto area tonigh that's just our group getting to know one another! You're sure to see pictures either later today or tomorrow.

And....

Happy Mother's Day to all my bloggy friends! Those who have children in thier arms and those who hold them only in their hearts today!

China Travel Group Dinner #2

Last Saturday night our travel group got together for their 2nd dinner. With travel still being only a dim light at the end of a very long tunnel, we're using these opportunities to get to know one another better. It's amazing how people that you've met only a couple of times can become such a wonderful part of your life. We're sharing something AMAZING together. In the matter of mere minutes each of our families will change...forever. Some will move from a family of 2 to a family of 3. Others from a family of 3 to a family of 4. And in the case of myself and one other gal we'll move from a life of 1 to 2....two new families will be born!!! Wow!...just WOW!!!

This dinner was a special one too as our group was able to meet the beautiful Miss Madison! Ming and Lorraine are part of our group and were expedited. They traveled to China last month and when Miss Madison was placed in their arms then changed from a family of 2 into a family of 3! Isn't she just the cutest?!! She entertained all as we gazed and oooed and ahhhhed over her all evening.

She also had 2 little playmates who were happy to spend time with this adorable little one. Kayla was practicing her big sister skills by entertaining and playing with Madison. Adam also spent time talking to, smiling at and loving the newest member of our travel group. Kayla and Adam, I know you're going to be a great big sister and big brother when your little sisters join each of your families!

I'm so happy that Ming and Lorraine still want to be part of our group because in our eyes they always will be. We peppered them with questions all night about their recent travel experience to China and they were a wealth of knowledge! We're even trying to talk them into coming back with us next year when our group travels to meet our children! Ming is an amazing photographer and it would be so neat if he could take pics on 'Gotcha Day' but he's thinking he might like to sit back with popcorn and pop and watch the show happen! :o) He says it happens so quickly that he'd love to be there as an observer. I think that's great...but you know I'll be sneaking that popcorn out of his hand and replacing it with a camera. :o) Sure hope it works out for you to join us Ming, Lorraine and Madison! Our travel group would be together on this all important day...just as it should be!

Congratulations Ming and Lorraine! Madison is absolutely adorable and you are truly blessed!

For the rest of us...it will happen. Not sure when but when it does, whoeee will we be ready! So very happy to be sharing this journey with all of you!

Thank you Mystery Mom #2!

As I was going through my picture file yesterday I realized that I'm missed out on posting a picture of this beautiful gift that was given to me by 'R'at the Babe Care Seminar last month.

Isn't this the neatest thing?!! It's the word 'child' made out of a pice of flattened iron. What a unique and wonderful gift! When I put Hannah's room together I'm going to find a special place to put this.

Thank you R! I love it!

Thank You Secret Pal!

What a treat it is each month to participate in the March DTC Secret Pal gift exchange!! It's fun to go shopping for someone else and then the excitement of receiving gifts for Hannah and I!

April's gift was a bundle of photo and memory treats as well as some Easter treats too! 4 picture frames to place pictures of my precious Hannah and a Mom's Brag Book...oh yah! Gonna wear that one out! There was also a sweet little Disney photo album with the Disney princesses on the front. My SP knows how much I love Disney!


There was also a bundle of fun Easter treats. A yummy chocolate bunny that didn't last long, cute litte carrots stickers and an Easter boarder for scrapbooking, a bunny puzzle and magnetic picture frames. She also made a beautiful page with spring pics and stickers on it.

What a nice surprise it was that Mom and Dad received a treat too! Here they are posing with the pictureframe that was included for them.

Thank you Secret Pal! Your thoughtful gifts are much appreciated each month!

Thanks Kathy and Joel!!

Hey...that looks familiar! :o)

You may remember that last week Kathy and Joel did a bedroom makeover and the results are gorgeous! When Kathy posted the before and after pics I noticed that the bed they'd taken down was a white sleigh bed. I have always loved a sleigh bed and wondered if they might be looking for a buyer of the old one if they weren't saving it for their little one.

Kathy emailed me early this week and said they would love for me to have the bed if I wanted it! Wow! I wanted to purchase it but they insisted it was a gift! You are so very, very kind Kathy and Joel! It was so nice to visit with you on Thursday night but my heart went out to Joel who is still battling the repercussions of the 'shellfish that fought back' from last Saturday. You could tell he was in real pain as he visited with Kathy and I but still he stayed and we talked about some of the things they'd learned at their seminar a couple of weeks back. (I smiled as I thought most guys would fain sickness to get away from 2 women talking everything baby but not Joel. Even in his uncomfortable state he stayed and chatted with us. A great guy!)

I had borrowed my parent's van to bring the bed home so on Friday morning it was still in the van. When I got home from the gym a neighbour was out so she helped me unload the pieces into the garage. Well, having a C.J. moment I began to slowly move the pieces first into the house and then before I knew it all the pieces were upstairs ready for assembly. Yesterday was a day of cleaning the entire room, taking down the frame that the I had been using and putting up the new bed. I love it! It's a perfect addition to the rest of my bedroom furniture. I'm still using my childhood dresser and end table which I gave a fresh coat of paint a few years back and now I have a bed too. Yeah! I haven't had a headboard and footboard in over 15 years. What a treat!

Thanks again Kathy and Joel!! Slept wonderfully last night and it was so nice to wake up in my new bed.

Oh yah and Kathy, the tradition continues. I have a nice little bruise coming up on my theigh where I ran into the post yesterday. heehee! Even after your warning I still managed to run into it within the first couple of hours.

If it wasn't such a beautiful day I might even take and afternoon nap just to enjoy this extra special gift! Sweet dreams everyone...

My Latest Vice...

I enjoy jigsaw puzzles. How about you?

A couple of months ago Cari posted about her latest obsession...online jigsaw puzzles! I followed the link and found myself at a site I had visited often in the past but lost track of. (When they blocked the site at work. :o)

Once I found the site I was quickly hooked again! One of the puzzles I did yesterday made me think of China so I decided to do what every good blogger does...blog about it and invite everyone else to join in the fun!

So how 'bout it friends? Wanna have some Jigsaw Fun? This link will take you to today's daily puzzle. Have fun!

And...here's a link to the Chinga Bridge puzzle shown above.

Referrals are Arriving!

Once again it's referral time!! This is a happy occasion for so many reasons!

1) It's only been 24 days since the last batch of referrals!

2) After last month's 2 day referral batch I was fully preparing my heart that this month might cover only 1 more day. Not so!! This month's batch is 6 days worth of referrals! Yeah!!! We're finally through October '05 as the cutoff date for this batch is November 1 '05. Great news!!!

3) 'Mystery Mom' (MM) has a LID of October 31 '05!! She and 'Mystery Dad' should receive their referral later this week or early next week!! (It seems to take the stork a little longer to fly to Canada.) MM and I are friends and without knowing it, both began our adoption journey within a couple of months of one another. Very few people (including at least one mutual friend of ours) even know she is adopting. I've been on my best behaviour and have kept her confidence. Looking forward to seeing pictures of her baby very, very soon! She and I are getting together next Monday night and oh what a night that will be! Congrats MM and MD! It won't be long now. Yeah!!!

I've updated the Referral Stats spreadsheet in the sidebar. I've decided that last month was just a really bad month so have decided not to count it in my next guesstimation of referral. My latest guesstimation: April '08 referral with travel to China in June '08. (For those keeping track this is referral guesstimation revision #3,922! :o)

Have a great day everyone! The babies are coming and I'm 6 days closer to Hannah! Praising God for so many blessings!!