Mommy's Little Helper

We woke this morning to a beautiful blanket of white covering everything!! What a beautiful sight as we prepare for the Christmas season! Here's Hannah checking out the snow that was covering the window of her nursery.

After breakfast I mentioned to my little girl that today was a day when mommy needed to get some things done and I could really use her help. Well I tell you, she's been wonderful! Playing with her toys on the floor and also in her Teapot Exersaucer that was a gift from Grandma Perkins. Tissue paper is also a new treat that entertains her for ages and she doesn't even try to eat it!

Hannah and I were amazingly blessed to have 2 more showers thrown in her honour this past week and today I wanted to get at least 1 of those shower gifts recorded and the gifts put away. So far the gifts are recorded so hopefully later I'll have an opportunity to put them away. For now, it's lunch and my little miss is getting hungry so I'm going to run.

This afternoon's challenge: Learn how to shovel the driveway with a 9 month old. I think I'll dress her in her snowsuit, put her in the stroller in the garage door and let her enjoy mommy's afternoon exercise. I'm guessing after 5+ weeks of carrying Hannah around my arms are going to be in pretty good shape so even though this is heavy snow, hopefully it won't be too bad. Once again thankful for a tiny driveway!

A Gift From the Heart!!

This beautiful gift of a baby pram for Hannah is truly a gift from the heart!! More than 10 years ago Grandma Dale found these prams and purchased one for her great granddaughter Victoria, one for a special friend's granddaughter and, one for herself. This beautiful pram has been one of Grandma's secret treasures and something she has enjoyed for many years.

Last month she chose to give this very special pram to Hannah!! When it was brought into the room I cried for SO many reasons! To see Grandpa pushing the pram, when he had had such a rough year and there were times that we didn't know what God had planned, was AMAZING!! God has done so much in Grandpa's life and at the end of the post you'll see just how big a miracle HE has performed!!

Grandma wrote in their card that people tease her about 'Grandma's Version' of the Bible and her verse (slightly altered :o) for that day was, 'Hope deferred maketh the heart sick - but when the desire cometh we all rejoice and praise the Lord with Cathy!' I like that translation!

Grandma and Grandpa, thank you so much for this beautiful pram! It will be such fun to watch Hannah play with it with her dollies and also take it for walks outside. For now, it holds a place of honour in her nursery and is a wonderful addition to her room.

Now, I promised to share with you God's answer to many, many prayers!! After almost 8 months of being hospitalized due to medical mistakes made; Lord willing, Grandpa is coming HOME for good this week!!! Sharon has been bringing him home for weekends since early in the summer but this week, Grandpa should be coming home for good!!! Truly, this is a miracle!! God is so good and we PRAISE HIM for answered prayers!!

I love you so much Grandma and Grandpa! It's homecoming time! First Grandpa and then soon after that your Great Granddaughter, our precious Hannah!!

Showers of Blessings!

Life has been amazingly busy since receiving Hannah's referral August 21st and I am far behind in posting. There are some important events that I didn't want to miss in the excitement of preparing to leave for China in just 3 weeks!!!

August 19th; which we now know was just 2 days before receiving Hannah's referral, my amazing friend Norma (who will be travelling to China with my parents and I to meet Hannah) hosted a baby shower for Hannah, inviting her family as well as coworkers I have had the pleasure of working with in the past. Norma hosted a great dinner with a Chinese theme and her wonderful hubby John helped out too by BBQing for us. Thanks John!

Once again I was overwhelmed in a wonderful way by sharing an evening of love with so many dear friends and Hannah was blessed with many generous gifts!

Everyone knows I'm a huge Disney fan and that Hannah's first trip won't be too far off so Kristy and Alyssa bought her her first Minnie dress! So cute!!

Hannah's first doll house!

A gorgeous quilt from Norma and her sister Shirley. It was made by Shirley's SIL. Thanks Marie!

Norma's beautiful grand- daughter Alyssa was a great help with opening Hannah's gifts!

Celebrating with precious friends!




Just when I thought I had finished opening all the gifts Norma said there was one more. I couldn't believe it (you can see the surprise in my eyes here) as everyone had already been more than generous. She walked in with this box....Hannah's crib mattress!! When she first gave it to me I hid behind it...doing the ugly cry! Overwhelmed by the love and generosity of friends and also the realization that I was holding the mattress where my sweet baby girl would lay her head. Wow!!!

This picture still makes me cry each time I see it. As I was thanking people for sharing Hannah's journey with me and for their love and support over the past 4 1/2 years, I was overcome with emotion knowing that she was so very close! Little did I know at the time that less than 48 hours after this picture was taken I would know who my Hannah is and my life would be FOREVER changed!!! I get goosebumps just thinking about this again as my sweet daughter is so much a part of me already that it's almost hard to remember what it was like not knowing who she was!

Norma.... THANK YOU!!! Thank you for the amazing shower you hosted for Hannah and I and more than anything...THANK YOU for joining me in China and sharing this most amazing time with my parents and I!! Auntie Norma will be a special part of Hannah's family from the moment we meet and I can't thank you enough! Love you friend!!

* * * * * * *

The following month, wonderful friends Carol and Neena also hosted a shower for Hannah! We shared a wonderful afternoon of together filled with laughter, love and time with special friends!

(L to R) Japhia, me, Katie, Joy, Carol and Neena

Adorable little outfits for my sweetie.

A warm Disney outfit that I tease will be great when Mommy keeps Hannah in the Magic Kingdom after her bedtime. :o)

A beautiful dress that I can see her wearing to church in a few years.

Mmmm...a cute cupcake cake that was super yummy and a great finishing touch to a delicious lunch.

Thank you Carol and Neena! It was a treasure spending this time together, celebrating Hannah! Love you friends!

Showered with Family Love!! Part I

This weekend my parents and I travelled about 4 1/2 hours from home and spent a wonderful weekend surrounded by the love of family! The majority of our family lives in the Windsor area which is just across the border from Detroit, MI. My mom, cousin Bridget and Aunt Marg arranged to host a baby shower for Hannah there and it was absolutely wonderful! I love that my mom and dad's families know each other after spending much time together over the years so it was an added blessing to share Hannah's shower with all of them together.

Bridget had asked if I had any ideas of what theme I would like for the shower. She had thought about pink or ladybugs and I thought they were both wonderful ideas so she took it from there. The decorations were great and the cake...oh my, the cake!!! It was nothing short of gorgeous and looked like something I've only seen on TV. Thank you Bridget and Molly for choosing the cake and helping design it. It was GORGEOUS and oh so yummy too!! The top layer was white cake with a custard and fresh strawberries as a filling. The bottom layer was chocolate with chocolate mousse filling. Mmmmm! Bridget told me that when she ordered the cake she shared my story with them. When she went to pick it up she was told that all the ladies in the back who were working on the cake were told the story of Hannah's adoption and the longer than anticipated wait and they were all crying as they baked and decorated it. Heee...it was made with love for sure!! (After lifting this cake, I also have a whole new appreciation for those on Ace of Cakes and how heavy the large cakes must be!

Bridget designed a neat game where she found a number of famous people who have been adopted, figured out their Chinese zodiac signs and then had us guess what each person's sign was. It was fun. Hannah will most likely be either a Rat or an Ox. We'll know soon!! Aunt Marg and Mom bought wonderful door prizes and each person left with a gift to remember Hannah's shower. I'm so glad that they will have these memories. 4 people were able to take home the beautiful roses that decorated the tables. They know my love of flowers and how I've celebrated each log in date with flowers so it was neat how she incorporated these into the day too!

With the shower being in the summer, understandably some of my family were not able to attend but many were there and I'm so thankful for the time we spent together celebrating Hannah's upcoming arrival! You have all been so loving, caring and supporting during the wait and I am excited to share her referral with each of you!!

Here are some of my precious family who celebrated Hannah yesterday!!

Molly

Molly and Bridget

Aunt Sharon, Aunt Marg and Aunt Elaine

Joann and Erica

Michele and Aunt Elaine

Kadie and Jessie

Rachel, Aunt Elaine and Erica

Aunt Cheri

Me, Aunt Chris, Aunt Louise, Mom and Aunt Marg

Mom, Aunt Marg and Bridget THANK YOU so much for creating such a special day!!! It was absolutely perfect!!

It's now almost 1:45am Monday morning and I'm going to try and get a little sleep before checking to see if referral calls are being made in Europe! Oh wow...these next few days are going to be
E-X-C-I-T-I-N-G!!!!!

Showered with Family Love!! Part II

Once again, Hannah I were blessed beyond measure!! Not only was I able to share precious time with family that I don't see nearly as often as I wish, they shared many gifts with me to help me prepare for Hannah's arrival.

Here are some of the wonderful gifts that will be helpful to have when caring for Hannah and also games and books for her during our time together.

Hannah and I were also blessed to receive many gift cards and monetary gifts. Wow!! I'm going to purchase some special pearls for her at the pearl market when we're in China as a special gift from her Aunt. Also, some will be added to her Disney fund! You know my gal will be making her first trip to Disney early on and I already have more than half the funds saved for our first trip. Mickey...here we come!!

Thank you Michelle and K1!

Thank you, thank you Michelle and K1 for all you did to create such a wonderful day yesterday! I couldn't believe how excited I was for yesterday to arrive and looked forward to it from the moment you shared the invitation with me. Numerous times each day last week I'd find myself figuring out how long it was until Sunday afternoon. After years and years of dreaming of becoming a Mom (and many of those fully believing that that dream would never come true due to being single) I couldn't believe that yesterday was a day celebrating my daughter coming home soon!! I had to stop putting on my make-up a couple of times to wipe away tears of happiness and then reapply the makeup once again. :o)

It was a treat to drive to the shower with K1! Given her current state of having 2 precious little lives so close to joining the world I felt it was only appropriate that I be fully prepared. When we met up I had a towel, scissors, string, a baggie of water (that I said were ice chips that hadn't lasted the trip), a kettle (not sure where I thought I'd get electricity but I know in the movies they always say to boil water!) and 2 diapers. I only have size 3 diapers in my house so I guess I was planning on K1 giving birth to 2 15 lb babies! :o) Shhhh....we won't share that part with her! We laughed together and the fun of the day was just beginning!

I started to giggle though as K1 and I walked to the front door of Michelle and Mark's home and saw a 'Baby Shower' sign in the door. I'm sure anybody looking at us would have thought the shower was for the beautifully pregnant woman rather than her friend walking beside her, showing ner ye a sign of pregnancy! :o) It really was quite humerous!

From the moment we walked into the house Michelle was the hostess with the mostess! There were yummy nibblies on any flat surface that could be found and decorations abounded. It was so neat to look around and see all the fun things that Michelle had used to decorate for this special day! K1 and I arrived early and enjoyed spending time with Michelle and Mark before he made himself scarce for much of the shower. He's a great guy but an afternoon of 'girl talk' would be a lot for any guy to handle.

Friends began to arrive around 1:00 and we were off! Laughing, joking, sharing stories of our waits, learning massive amounts about attachment from Liz and listening in awe and amazement to the story of Karen's recent whirlwind trip to Ethiopia to bring home her adorable son Denver.

Michelle had also prepared a beautiful lunch of sandwiches and salads. What a treat! For dessert she had made a delicious chocolate cake with straberry filling. I still find seeing Hannah's name in print takes my breath away!!

After lunch I opened their most generous gifts and was humbled by their generosity! Thank you for arranging for the group gift K1! It's perfect!!!

Once again we chatted and chatted and I couldn't believe it when it was 6:00 before the first people needed to leave! I had no idea it was that late as time with these precious friends just flies by!!

Michelle and K1...THANK YOU! The day was perfect and I appreciate more than you know all that you did to make is such a great day!!

Blessed by Bloggy Friends...and, Rumour Update!

WOW!!! I was humbled and overwhelmed when precious bloggy friends hosted a shower for Hannah (and her mommy) earlier today!! Thanks so much Michelle and K1! The gift the group gave me made me cry (ok...their card made me cry long before I opened their gift!) and I am still in shock!! Can you believe I was speechless?!! They bought Hannah's car seat and I am SO thankful for their generosity! When driving home from the shower I found myself glancing into the back seat and having to remind myself to breathe as I saw her seat there. I have a car seat in my house tonight!! Wow!!! Thank you everyone!!

Liz and Ava also purchased some cozy and fun gifts for Hannah and also a few things for me to take to China to give away to the people we meet there. Thanks Liz and Ava!

This adorable bathing suit was sent by a special little friend. Isn't it cute?! Thanks friend!

















Here are the wonderful friends who made today so very, very special and blessed Hannah and I with such an amazing gift!! Front row (l to r): K1, me, Karen. Back row (l to r): Rhonda, Cari, Liz and Michelle. Those there in spirit: Dolores, Doris and M3. Thank you so much for your emails friends! As much as I would have loved for each of you to be there I understand it wasn't possible and it was so neat to read your notes and kind words!
Thank you, thank you friends!! I am so very thankful for the friendships we have formed and that we continue to share. Love you!!

PS - The latest news on RQ (Sunday evening) is that there was possibly a 2nd agency (this one in the US) that received referrals Friday. If this is the case then I could truly be in labour!!! Don't know for sure and will try to get some sleep tonight but I'm afraid that the contractions (otherwise known as feversihly refreshing Rumor Queen) could mean very little sleep will be had. As always, I'll keep you posted as I learn more!!

Sweet dreams! Mine will be of a baby riding safe and snuggly in her beautiful new car seat!!

Monday Morning Update: I slept surprisingly well and only woke twice to go to the bathroom check Rumor Queen! So far, no new news this morning. No further referrals have been announced nor has anyone posted that their agency is expecting referrals today. So far, it looks like it will still be another week to two weeks before I see my sweet Hannah's face but we all know that this could change at a moments notice. I'll keep you posted should anything change.

Until then....still in awe that there is a car seat in my house!!!