Looking for a Diet Coke...

I have had to settle for regular Pepsi and Coke today in my vain attempts at ordering a diet cola of some sort. I can ask for a coke and people understand Pepsi and Coke but when I say diet coke I get blank stares. The first was on the plane from Guangzhou to Hefei (Anna Lin's province). I asked a male airline person for diet Pepsi, since I saw he had Pepsi. Oh, that was a mistake on my part. After several attempts at trying to explain I wanted diet not regular (...and I'm doing this in English to someone who just doesn't really understand me beyond Pepsi and thank you. :-) I finally said I would have a water. I knew he understood water, but I guess I had him so frazzled he just couldn't get passed the Pepsi. So, I took the Pepsi with a smile and a 'xie xie' (thank you).

Jane our absolutely wonderful guide picked us up at the airport, took us to the hotel, checked us in, even haggled over where the room would be due to construction, and had our room switched after feeling it smelled too much like new paint, and then took us across the street to SongYun's minimart to get us some bottled water and diet coke. Yeah Diet Coke! It's the little things that make me happy.

We got in around 10 am and were completely turned around since it was 10 pm by our bodies. We relaxed, unpacked, and got to know our hotel a bit. I did manage to sleep on the night flight to Guangzhou, about 6 hours give or take. I decided to explore the gym and go for a run. Even if it was a small one, I needed to get some nervous energy out and ensure some sleep tonight. I ran for 30 minutes, which ended up being a little over 3 km and about a third of what I normally do. 1 miles equals 1.4 or 1.6 km, I can't remember exactly but I know you will forgive me. :-) I had to ask the young man working to start the machine. It was in English and I knew how to run it, but they apparently turn everything completely off when not in use and I could not find the power button. I'm sure he got a kick out of me, but he was quite helpful especially not being able to verbally communicate with me. I got a hello from him, and that was the last word I heard, but I did get lots of smiles and occasional blank stares. I really could have run longer, but the machine started to get very warm and I was afraid I was pushing it farther than it was used to going. There was only another gentleman in the room with me, so it didn't look like the facility was greatly used. But hey, I achieved my goal, found the pool and play area for kids, then headed back to the room.

After cleaning up, it was around 2 or 3pm and we decided we needed to get something to eat. We had eaten on the plane (or I had). The last plane flight was only 1.5 hours but had the best service and food. Beef and noodles, along with some fruit that I'll have to find the name out and post later. It was big like a muscadine grape with a harder skin and bigger seed. But it was good, not overly sweet. I asked the man next to me on the plane how to eat it and he told me. He spoke a little English and we chatted for a bit. He was a fireman in Guangzhou heading to Hefei for classes in Technology for a graduate degree. Nice guy and very nice to talk to the chatty American who can only speak three or four words in Mandarin. Anyway, I've digressed. We decided we wanted to eat noodles for our dinner. The hotel has a restaurant called Noodles and Chopsticks. So we being adventurous went and tried it. The girl who was our server was very helpful but didn't speak much English. I tried again to order a diet coke but received coke instead. ;-) Oh, well I'll keep trying. The noodles were great. It was served in a big bowl with broth. Zak, Spencer, and Noah imagine Goku on Dragon BallZ eating noodles. That is how it's to be done. We did use chopsticks and I tried to ask the girl to show us how to use them. She acted like she understood and left. I thought she went to get another pair of sticks. However, she came back with two forks instead. I smiled and said thanks, then went back to manuvering the chopsticks as best as I could. Ric had a better grip on getting the small items, passing his mushrooms to me. (Which were quite good, along with all of the food.) The meat I received, chicken, was clear your sinuses out spicy. It also had bones in it and I wasn't sure what to think about that, so I used my fork with the meat. Ric had noodles and pork meatballs. We have yet to finish a whole meal because the noodles are so filling. Then we waited for our bill, and waited, and waited. We never saw our girl again, and wondered if we had scared her off. Ric finally went to the desk and asked. They got the idea and brought the check.

Now I started on this post the day we came into Hefei and have tried three times to finish it. However, sleep would take me over as my eyes begged to shut instead of typing. We went to bed around 8pm. Just couldn't stay awake any longer, slept until midnight, then finally went back to sleep until 5:55 am. Then decided hey it's 5:55pm at home lets call the boys. Plus we knew we had to brave the buffet for breakfast, get ready, then meet Jane at 9:15am to go to Civil Affairs to be united with Anna Lin and do paperwork. I will post on that in a minute. It was quite eventful.

-Angi

We're Here!

Hello All!


We finally arrived in Hefei, Anhui around 10:00 AM China time. We are excited to be here especially because we are not on a plane anymore! After the flight from Los Angeles to Guangzhou it was all I could do to get on the plane for the flight to Hefei. We are going to relax at the hotel and we pick up Anna Lin tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM. We are wiped out. Photos will follow... (Noah, your Mother was thinking of you when she took this picture from the airplane window.)

- Ric

Last post until China!!!

Words to describe what we are feeling: exhilarated, exhausted, excited, and melancholy.
:-) ...Next stop China!

I'm putting a picture of Spencer up today, since he felt he had not been represented well. And here he is in all his glory, doing his most favorite things in the world: Talking on the phone and playing the guitar. And yes, he does this simultaneously to the point where he serenades girls on the phone. Thank the Lord there is only one Spencer!

-Angi
Carpe Diem!

New picture of Anna Lin...

Yesterday we received Anna Lin's original paperwork (specifically what the agency had for her), along with the real pictures. With this packet was a picture that we hadn't seen. It's not really 'new,' but we loved the surprise of seeing another picture of her. We think it's adorable! (But we are a little partial to begin with... ;-) So, we wanted to share it.

Two more days!!! I can't believe it. I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off! (My dad actually told me this really happens with chickens. He had told me he saw this when he visited Grandpa Jasper's house as a kid, as they would be preparing for supper later. Guess what they ate???? ...That's your bizarre tidbit for the day, at least from me.) The ****** Cleaning Crew is almost done. They are amazing! Noah did windows and kitchen floor, Spencer vacuumed the whole house, and Zak dusted plus worked on Mr. Prickles & Godzilla's cage then Chicas. (These are our bearded dragons.) I was the crew's director and random cleaner and laundry person. When we finished I shared my Ghirardelli Espresso Escape with them. This was dark chocolate with ground espresso beans. :-) I picked that up today when buying little gifts for the officials in China. I found Hershey's dark chocolate sticks that are individually wrapped with several sticks in a box. ...at Walmart of course! I hope they will like it. I know we do!

-Angi
Two more sleeps...

Balloons & Boxes...

Balloons and boxes... These are two things that kids, young and old apparently, love to play with. Up until a few days ago, I would have thought they were great for little kids only. However, according to the above picture it seems to transcend the boundaries of age. :-)

We bought a bag of balloons to take to China. We were advised by other families that have BTDT (been there done that) that balloons are great for bonding, hitting the lite bouncing ball of air back and forth with your new child. Plus they are small and quite portable. Just inflate using none other than your mouth and 'ta da' instant fun! What a great idea! So as I said we bought a bag. Soon, someone finds the balloons and opens them, without asking of course. Next thing I know this afternoon there are two balloons being bopped around the house by two boys. Both the same color too. What were they thinking! Sure enough... one knows the specific shape of his and the other now evil brother surely planned on destroying his younger innocent brothers fun. Kids! Several hours later after dinner the balloon fun continues. One very big boy (Ric, my husband) is being chased around by Noah either with the balloon or hoping to get the balloon back. I couldn't figure it out.

Needless to say I had to go to the store to get more balloons.

I mentioned boxes too. My kids loved boxes when they were little. It all began when they were young toddlers. Ric would put them in a box, pulling them around the house while making car sounds. Vrooom! Vrooom! Oh, how they would laugh. I can see Zak now, hanging on for dear life with eyes and smile as wide as the Grand Canyon. Today for what may have been the 100th time over the years, I gave a box to Noah. This time for target practice with his new bow and arrow set. I stapled the target to the box and said, "Good luck! Please don't aim for the cat or anyone else for that matter." (John, I looked around the house first to make sure his brothers were not outside with him. :-) He did good. Came back unharmed, no creature injured, and hit the box at least 10 times.

Needless to say I am going to have to find another box.

-Angi
Four sleeps left...

Stay off the road!!!!

Just a warning to those living close to us... the Zakman has his permit! Took him a week or so ago. After looking at this picture I'm not sure if I did the right thing by taking him to get it. I think he's being a leadfoot here and enjoying it too. What have I gotten myself into!!! Maybe Grandpa Ray will let him do some driving while we are gone so he'll be a little prepared for Drivers Ed. this fall.
(Hint, hint, hint. ;-)

Four 1/2 more days until we leave, or as many China adoptive families say five more sleeps. (Sleep? What's that?) Today we received our plane tickets and the offical travel approval letter that we have to take with us to China. (Sorry Christina, that was what FedEx was bringing when I had to hang up. I knew you would forgive me.) The TA letter has her picture on it. By the looks of it, she was just a toddler baby when it was taken. I was sooooo hoping one of the packages would also have her original paperwork and referral pictures, but I did find out that it was mailed today. I sure hope it gets here by Friday. It is amazing how fast the sands of time seem to be sifting away from us. We were trying to decide if we should take the boys to Mom's on Friday. I don't want to take them any sooner than I have to. (Isn't that crazy, especially since I'm talking about teenagers! And teenage boys for that matter!!!) I think we'll just have them all packed up on Friday and Grandma & Grandpa can get them at the airport Saturday. Oh, that's going to be a hard day. ...leaving my babies, even if one has his drivers permit now.

-Angi

Happy Birthday to Noah!!!!

Noah turned 12 yesterday. We had a fun time at Frankie's Fun Park with family and a friends. What's better than getting together with friends, getting presents, eating a giant chocolate-chip cookie with Darth Vadar on it, playing laser tag, go carts, and lots of video games??? Well not much if you are Noah. I think he about fell over when he opened a bow and arrow set that he'll get to use at Grandma's while we are in China. I'll be praying he'll hit the target each time, and that the target will be the paper one not his brothers. :-)

I'll post more later, but wanted to get something done before the days start flying by. ...And Noah is waiting by to go shopping with birthday money of course! Maybe he'll by me a mocha frappe since I'm driving.

-Angi

The 29th it is...

The 29th it is! That is the day we will leave for China. We are so happy to have gotten flights out of town so we don't have to drive to another airport. Hurray! Or Huzzah! as a friend's little girl puts it. (Miss Mary Clare ;-) I feel like I've had the phone pasted to my ear since 12pm, but we got it all worked out, flights and hotels in and out of China. Amazing. Lynn at All American Travel is wonderful. I found the flight schedule I wanted on an online travel place and she matched it. In fact she beat the price by $8. What a relief and everything is confirmed. Now we wait for our official travel approval letter from CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) to come Monday to put with all our other wonderfully important documents to take to China and our tickets should arrive on Monday as well.

...Now I feel the need to collapse. I've asked Ric to take me out to eat, but no response. ...And I still need to wrap Noah's presents. His birthday is tomorrow. 12 years old! We are doing the party at Frankie's Fun Park with a few of his friends and family. (Yeah! for me and him!) I can't believe the weekend is already here. A mocha frappe from BooksAMillion would work wonders for me right now. :-)

Angi

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane... (Sing it with me!)

Patricia from Harrah's called this morning with the news. She said we need to be in Anhui (Anna Lin's home) no later than Tuesday morning, Aug. 1st. We have a consulate appointment for August 10th. Now from this date we work backwards. We need to be in Anna Lin's province, meet her, she will stay at the hotel with us from then on, finish all her paperwork, get her passport, and a physical done for her by the 10th. We want to arrive in Anhui on Monday, the 31st of July in order to 'try' to get over jetlag, etc., before we meet her. We are planning on leaving next Saturday the 29th. We have the wonderful US flights to Los Angeles (about 5 hours total not including layovers.) then a straight shot to Guangzhou (12-15 hour flight??). Plus the time difference is 12 ahead of us in China. OK, I'm confused! Are you? But hey we'll get there and that is what counts. In a little over a week Miss Anna Lin will be our daughter. Wow!

I have done some shopping around online and found a great flight schedule from Orbitz.com for our US to China flights (called international flights). I then called Lynn at All American Travel, that works with Harrah's, to see if she can get us the same deal. She called a minute ago to check on a couple of details and said she will have some flights for me to look at in 30 minutes. Yeah! Lynn and Betty, another travel person connected with our agency, will handle our in-country flights and hotels (in China). Whew! This is a workout, just for my brain!

-Angi

Good Timing! The quilt is done...

What great timing! Marianne from Quiltabilities called me today to bring the finished quilt by. Yeah! And it looks beautiful. I just love the fun, girly colors, and flowers everywhere. I cannot show you the details here (wish I could they are excellent!), but she did stippling (squiggly lines) and occasional daisies as the stitching. I'm so glad I had them do the final part of stitching the top, batting, and bottom together. They have a long arm machine and that really makes the difference. (Ladies, if I win the Lottery tonight, I'll buy you the big computerized machine and we'll go into business! :-) Beautiful work!

Here she is!

Finally we can post her picture! Here is our little sweetie. I can't believe that maybe in a just as little as a couple of weeks we will meet her and she will be our daughter. It's an amazing feeling! I just wanted to bawl, bawl, bawl when Patricia called me with the news today. Tears of joy, mind you. :-)

-Angi

We got "The Call!"

Just when I thought I was going to have to post another "No TA. We haven't heard a thing" type entry, I get a call from Patricia at Harrah's Family Services on my cell phone. Now, I was at home. Why would I receive a call from her on my cell phone. One word: Spencer. Spencer was busy playing the guitar for some girls on the phone. Picture this: the phone is on the floor, positioned just right, away from the guitar so they could hear him play. Well, I was thankful for the cell phone since if the call beeped in he definately couldn't hear it!

So now we wait while Harrah's sets up our US consulate appointment in Guanzhou, which we will do right before we leave China. The week prior we will spend in Anna Lin's province, Anhui. Hopefully we will hear something tomorrow or Thursday. I can't wait!!!! I posted a family picture taken tonight as we wait to celebrate at one of our favorite eats, Outback! We had a good time. I had the cheese fries for appetizer (was nice enough to share with the family, too) and then the blue cheese chopped salad, along with their wonderful bread. I was in heaven!

-Angi

No travel approval this week...

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we did not receive any information what so ever that pertains to the traveling of the Thoele family to China for Miss Anna Lin. Our agency did find out that TA's (travel approvals) have been mailed and should be here Monday. Yeah! However, that does not mean our TA will be with it. They do not know how many there are or who they are for. I am taking a different stance now. Our agency says to expect our TA July 31st or into August, so that is what I'm expecting. The day to day stress of anticipation is draining me so it goes better if I don't look for it to happen for a while.

One of the other families waiting said her 40th birthday is this Sunday. She said it would be a great present for the 6-pack to get their TAs Monday. The 6-pack is our family and 5 others that already had paperwork in China before finding our sweeties on the waiting child list this April. I told her that a 40th birthday is cause for a 12-pack, which would include us 6 and 6 other families that sent in their paperwork right before we sent our letters. It would be nice if it happened.

Thankfully I have a busy day with appointments for the boys. The last of many it seems this summer. One at the dermatologist for Zak and one at the dentist for Noah. All and all we have seen dentists, orthodontists, ophthamologists, and pediatrician. If the wait keeps up, I'm going to have to see a psychiatrist!

Angi

Well, it's Monday...

Well, it's Monday or rather the end of Monday since it is past 10pm now. It came and is going down the weekly road. No TA today. One of my friends, Elaine, said her husband is feeling confident about tomorrow. They are also waiting for their sweet Sarah. So, I'm trying to remain positive. (It's getting a lot harder to do as the days go by.) We are now on day 59 of the wait since our paperwork for Anna Lin was sent to China. Tomorrow is day 60, so maybe Tim is right and tomorrow it will be.

If not then there's always Wednesday...

Angi

Important blog lesson...

Here's an important blog lesson (and can be applied to technology in general)... When one has a lot to say, and then one writes a lot, it is best to save what one has written 'a lot.' I didn't do this the other night. (Obviously, or I wouldn't be talking about it now. Would I?) At the point where I had read over my entry at least two times, then decided to use spell check, there was a Internet glitch resulting in losing the whole entry. Yep! I did that. I should have saved it as a draft, but nooooooo. I was in the heat of the writing moment, journaling my thoughts and bam! they were gone. Oh well, I won't do that again.

-Angi

No TA Today...

Well, no TA today. TA is travel approval. This is day 52 of the wait for TA. That is 52 days from the day we sent our Letter of Intent for little Miss Anna Lin. Travel approval seems to come most often on Mondays, but not always. So, there is still hope for this week. (I'm a hopeful, cup is half full kind of person.)

In the international adoption community, the whole process is centered around waiting. First you wait to get all your paperwork done, then notarized, certified at the state and then federal levels, then authenticated at your nearest Chinese embasy. Then once your paperwork is in China you wait to be matched with a child. Or sometimes you find the child on a waiting child list and you are matched that way first, then do your paperwork. Once matched with your future son or daughter, you wait to travel. Here's where we are in the whole scheme of things. So, we've come along way. I'm sure it won't be much longer. I just can't wait to bring her home and hope we can do it before school starts.

A little off topic side note here... Noah, number 3 son, had his first drum lesson today and loved it. It was nice to see him so excited about it. Ric picked him up a drum pad and drum sticks so he can practice. I have to savor this because if he stays with it the real drums we'll need to buy in the future won't be as quiet. :-)
-Angi

About our little princess...

Anna Lin turned four years old April 12th. She lives in ******** Social Welfare Institute, ********, Anhui Province. (Technically we have not received pre-approval yet. For that reason we cannot show pictures of her or give the details that I have ***, ###, or @@@. Since our paper was already over there, waiting and ready, we are skipping PA, pre-approval, and going straight to TA, travel approval. While it seems nice, there are a few disadvantages such as not having a piece of paper in our hands at this moment that says, "You're OK with us." Now back to our journey...) "She has a thick black head of hair and fair skin with a lovely, rosy glow." (From this info. I wanted to name her Rose, not to mention she has cute little rose petal lips and is as beautiful as a rose, but Ric didn't agree...with the name that is. He does think she is quite a cutie.) "She has a well-rounded character. ...follows instructions... ...especially likes to imitate. When she sees visitors, she's a little timid but soon starts to warm up... She enjoys leading younger children to play." This last statement was hard for me to understand. In the report she was three years old. I kept thinking maybe the age is a typo, maybe she is older? When I found out more about her orphanage, then it all made sense.

Through the wonderful world of Yahoo Groups, I found a group for children adopted from ******** SWI, ******** Kids. This was amazing for us. There was a little glitch in Anna Lin's medical report translation and we originally could not find anything on her orphanage which was listed as Quanshu. (I can list that since it does not exist. :-) As I asked around more and more within the online adoption community of yahoo groups, I began to hear one town's name repeatedly: ********. I emailed the moderator of ******** Kids and the pieces of the puzzle all fell into place after that. It was a relief to know where she is living. We seemed to take another step closer to her.

Holly explained the naming of the children. I found out all of the children have the last name @@@@@, after the director who runs her SWI and another nearby. All of the girls born in 2004 have the first name Hua: meaning magnificent, splendid, prosperous, best part, and finally China. Her middle name is Lin. This is her personal name: meaning forest, woods, grove. Already I was getting a wealth of information, but there's more...

The group has pictures of the SWI, caregivers, kids, etc. A Chinese friend of the group, who lived close to ********, went to the SWI last summer. She has been the only person the families have known to visit there. One had Anna Lin in it. It isn't the greatest picture but Ric & I are 99% sure it's her. In it we see our little princess standing beside a crib with a 1 year old in it, shyly looking at the camera. A female care-giver was also in the picture. (Here is our little girl who likes to help with her peers.) I have been told this care-giver is the person that comes with the girls when they meet their families. According to the other families, she seems to care deeply for the kids. I'm wondering how this will go with Anna Lin. Through the ******** Kids group, I have learned that she is special indeed: the first special needs child to be adopted and the first 'older' child adopted. Most of the kids have been adopted as 1 and 2-year olds. -Angi

The SWI is small in a small town. Not a lot of kids there compared to other, bigger SWI's. Last I heard there were about 20 kids there. Over half of them are one-year olds and younger. The rest are at various ages, say 4 to 12 years old. One person from the Our Chinese Daughters Foundation in Beijing told us all of the older kids were in elementary, middle and secondary schools. I'm wondering where Anna Lin fits in. Does she go to pre-school, so they consider her elementary? Or does she stay at the SWI and help the nannies. I'm hoping she is absolutely spoiled by them! With love and attention that is.

How we found Anna Lin...

We knew we wanted a daughter. After having three boys, we knew our chances were slim and hey, we had made our contribution to the world population. We were a family wanting a daugher and I knew out there somewhere was a daughter wanting a family. So, where to adopt? Oh, the possibilities are limitless between domestic and international options: here in the US, Latin American countries, Eastern European countries, India, or Asian countries.

We were drawn to China mainly because so many girls are given up just because they are girls, a result of the one-child policy China put in place years ago. Most families feel they have to have a son. In the Chinese culture it is the son who takes care of the parents in old age. For this reason many abandon baby girls. Or it may be they have one child already, and cannot keep another baby. Some families do pay fines to keep a second child, a girl. I have to tell you that when babies are abandoned, they are always left in a place where they are safe and will be found. Anna Lin was left outside the local hospital in the city where her orphanage is located.

Last summer we began the process by applying to Harrah's AIM. An agency that specializes in China adoption. The owners of the agency had adopted three daughters from China and many adoptive families recommended them. A friend and fellow librarian After researching many agencies we chose Harrahs. We originally applied and did our paperwork, dossier, for a non-special needs girl 3-5 years old. This is considered to be a healthy normal child. However, our agency receives a waiting child list about every four months. The waiting child list is comprised of several children who have some type of special need, even as minor as a birth mark or a missing digit. On the last list we found Anna Lin. She is four years old and her need is a crossed eye, called strabismus. We fell in love with her and were blessed to be matched with her by our agency. We sent our Letter of Intent accepting Anna Lin as our referral and future daughter May 12th and now wait for travel approval.

Anna Lin's Bedspread

Now, Anna Lin can't have just any bedspread... Of course her mother falls in love with one in a Pottery Barn Kids' catalog! However frugality flows through my financial veins, so what do I do? I decide to make one myself. Well it's getting there. I have the top almost finished. I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with the size. I may keep it as it is or add a border to make it larger. In order to become a quilt, it still needs to be sandwiched and quilted. That will happen eventually.

Unfortunately just as I'm getting somewhere with the quilt a stomach bug hits me. Yuk! Well, it has given me time to sit on the couch and work on the blog. If you read the first entry I talked about Noah, my creative worker-bee. Yeah, well he gets it honestly. :-) I just have to keep busy doing something even when sick. Thank goodness for laptops!


Here is the quilt I'm modeling Anna Lin's after.

-Angi

Welcome to our journey...

Welcome to "Bringing Home Anna Lin," our journal, our blog of our journey to bring a daughter into our family. By the way, blog is short for weblog, just a little info. for any who may not be familiar with a blog.

First a brief intro: Ric and I have three bio-boys: Zak, Spencer, and Noah. All of whom are in some stage of teenhood. You name it; we have it covered: just beginning (Tween - Attitude blossoms), in the thick of it (Best stage of it... Rrrright, if you like hormonal chaos that is), and return of some reasoning (still has some kick but mature reasoning emerges in spurts). Oh they can be a handful at times, but good guys in the end.

Zak likes playing the guitar, listening to music, playing video and online games (preferably strategy/quest-related) and Social Studies is his favorite subject. In fact I think he is signed up for at least three history classes next year. Zak enjoys learning about different cultures and never passes up the opportunity to try different types of food. Most recently was a buffalo burger at Smokey Bones. He is my quiet one. (God blessed me with a quiet first son, because he knew what was coming after Zak. ;-)

Spencer plays the guitar also, skateboards (can do some great tricks!), has a phone growing out of his ear, and works his best to be King of cool. (Yes, that is very important to him. We would like to see him put that much effort into his studies though.) He's a reading wiz, but don't tell anyone. It might effect his coolness. I would like to say that Spencer is also the King of cliches, but I think he & Zak are tied for that.

Noah is a ball of energy. When he was little we called Tigger because he was 'bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun...) Noah walked at 9 months and went to a run at 9 1/2 months. He radiates energy in everything he does. He is a creator, inventor, a worker. He must do and then do some more. He loves to create comic books, forts in his bedroom and outside, and many other things such as bows & arrows in mass production. (Yes, he could put Henry Ford to shame.) His artwork is always in vibrant colors. All the guys are artists in some form, visual and musical. They have all had artwork displayed with the school district. We are very proud of our guys.

But now it is time to add some girl-power to the family. Yes, our home is in testosterone overload and we are going to fix that hopefully this month or August at the latest! After we had number two son Spencer, we talked of adopting a little girl. Then Noah surprised us and the dream of a daughter was put on hold. I stayed home with them while I went to school at night to become a school librarian. Money was tight for years and none to spare for adoption expenses. We lived in a 1200 square foot house and we did fine. But then I graduated, the kids went off to school, I went off to work, and the dream was reborn.

Ric said, "We'll need a bigger house." I said, "That works for me." So, we found a bigger house. One with a room all ready for a little girl with flowers and lady bugs on the walls. (Lady bugs are a special lucky sign in the China adoption community.) Ric said, "We need to have money saved." I said, "No problem. We'll save it." And we did, but soon realized more was needed. We thought the dream was going to fade. However, a very sad event gave our dream wings. My father passed away last May from a long battle with cancer. (Will I ever be able to say that without tears welling up? Probably not...) He left us the exact amount we needed to bring home a daughter. I had no idea whatsoever about this blessing until after he passed. I knew what it was meant for and Ric agreed. By the end of June our application was mailed and received by Harrah's July 1st, I believe.

-Angi