Mina feeding our dog, Maggie, out of the empty peanut butter jar.  Mina makes Maggie a bit nervous, but she is lured in by the promise of yummy peanut butter...

Mina waiting patiently for her Buddy, Mia, to come over to play. Definitely the highlight of her week.



Yeah, she is finally here! Mina is thrilled. ( Do you like my substantial empty planters on my doorstep, nice touch, huh? Empty planters are so much nicer than planters filled with dead dried flowers... Keep a look out for more gardening tips, I'm full of them)She even came bearing gifts of the finest sort, donuts (or is it spelled doughnuts?, what is wrong with me these days...)!!!

Today marks 60 long days of waiting for our LOA, Please oh Please put me out of my waiting misery!

SLAM DUNKS & STITCHES , RACE CARS & RIBBONS, that's what weekends 'round here are made of..

Jack had his last basketball game of the season (honestly not my favorite of the parental spectator sports, lining us all up on the sidelines doesn't go over so well.  Soccer starts next week & Mina and I can kick around a soccer ball during games and practices so it is much more fun)  But Jack got this trophy and I think we saw his head grow a little bit more.  He was so proud of this one.  His first substantial trophey.  He was jazzed!So I had to fade this photo to black & white so it is a little less gross.  Mina ate it today,  she is usually the most coordinated of our cast of characters.  She usually climbs into and out of her high chair before you know it.. not very safe.  So we let her sit up on the bar stools with the other kids after church today and she ended up busting her lip.. Big time... she busted it from the inside out..  Yeah, there was a "hole" all the way through... so she had to have it stitched up on the inside and the outside.  3 hours in the urgent care, and a box of popsicles later, she is running around here like nothing and scaring her Mama to death.  

Kobi & Papa had their annual Pinewood Derby race this weekend, they basically take a block of wood cut it down (then their special little trick, sink fishing weights into it) and race it with hundreds of other little ones.  Kobi's car kicked tail!!! She was proud toting around these ribbons this weekend. 

Because I feel horrible about my bad attitude- whining over waiting post yesterday,, here is all the cuteness I was talking 'bout. Although the waiting is tough, I have nothing to complain about. I am one blessed Mommy.

Kobi was nominated for Terrific Kid award at her school. Her teacher wrote the sweetest thing about her... She said "In my many years of working with children of all ages I have never seen a child so genuinely giving, caring and willing to help others" Her teacher has been teaching for 2o+ years, and I could cry like a baby with pride over my little girl. I wish I could take credit for this child, but she teaches me how to be a better person. She is truly a gift from God!

This is Mina's "Puppy" she has either been wearing it or clutching it in her little paws for the last few days.  She always loves to wear hats... I think this one is a riot.  

And lastly, my new favorite recipe... Kung Pao Chicken,  it almost rivals PF Changs... It is so worth making, and OH so Yummy!!! Click HERE for the link with the recipe and photos, or here are the instruction below ( I personally Love a photo of what I am cooking up) I tripled the sauce ingredients and used fresh ginger, ooohh I love fresh ginger! 

Ingredients:
1lb boneless-skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1” pieces)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons green onions (chopped)
3 garlic cloves (minced)
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon powdered ginger
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: combine chicken and cornstarch in a small bowl and toss to coat. Heat sesame oil in wok over medium heat, add chicken and stir fry 5-7 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Remove chicken from wok.
Step 2: Add green onions, garlic, red pepper flakes and powdered ginger to the wok and stir fry for 15 seconds.
Step 3: Combine vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl. Mix well and add the sauce to the wok.
Step 4: Return chicken to the wok and coat with sauce. Stir in roasted peanuts. Heat thoroughly. Top with additional green onions if desired and serve over white rice.

The most useless place... The Waiting Place

By far my FAVORITE book to read my kids, I get all sing-songy when I read it to them, I don't even have to look at the words anymore. Great book-great moral, (Beth, do you remember buying me this book FOREVER ago). 

I hate that I have caved and I find myself in a waiting slump. I am all consumed with waiting on word that we can travel to pick up our baby.

  I keep thinking of all these neat little happy family posts for the blog, cute pictures of the kids, Kobi getting her terrific kid award at school & her teacher writing the nicest letter ever, brought me to tears. Mina and her new Puppy hat, that she hasn't let go of for days. Jack just being his cute self. I also have thought about posting some of my very favorite Asian recipes that I have found recently... 

But I am in a slump, and in the words of the great philosopher, Dr. Seuss, Unslumping yourself is not easily done. I usually find myself fantasizing about holding Finn, wondering when will we meet her, how will she react, how will Mina react, when will she give us her first smiles. My heart aches for her.

 My heart also aches for the millions of children around the globe that await their families. I look at the photos that I posted last week, just 5 little kids, 5 of millions, I have no idea if these other little ones have families. They all need families, so many kids.

 For anyone who thinks we are nutty for wanting more kids, I was thinking about this the other day. Adoption, for OUR family, has little to do with our desire to "parent" more children, and has a LOT to do with the desire for more children to have Parents! 

Pretty deep huh. That is what a slump will do to you 'round here.

My face hurts from smiling!

Happy late birthday baby! (Finn is in the red)

My baby finally got her Birthday cake!  And I got new pictures.  She was in the hospital during her first birthday, and then Chinese NY was going on,  so this is the first chance they have had to deliver her cake albeit 6 weeks later, but I am so happy that she received some special attention, had a little treat with her friends and her Mommy got the biggest gift, new pictures to calm my heart during this tough wait.   We also received an update that says she has started to walk!  We were also told that she may be going back to the hospital.  She keeps getting an infection, and they give antibiotics by IV in China, so they have to send her to the hospital.  

Papa's little Helper.

I LOVE that the weather has been nice this week.  Come on spring!  

Hiking on a BEAUTIFUL day.

I underestimated this crew, I thought we would go for a easy to moderate trail,  not Papa.  He said if we were going to do it we were going to do it right.  So we all headed up the most difficult- almost 4 mile round trip hike up to the top of a mountain!   This kid is the energizer bunny!  I truly believe she would have hiked the full 4 miles if it weren't for the steep & rocky parts. 

This little guy melts my heart.  He is ALL boy, but also so cuddly and sensitive.  He loves to crawl in bed with me in the morning and snuggle for a few minutes before we both hit the ground running for the rest of the day.  It is one of my favorite parts of my day.   (This is his favorite shirt, I personally can't stand it and wish I never bought it off the after Halloween clearance rack at Targe*.  So of course he wants to wear it ALL the time, and even looks through the dirty laundry for it.)

My Kids ROCK!

My dad is ______________.

a)stronger than your dad

b)a softy

c) a sucker

d) all of the above

Our whole group after we made it to the top!

These guys are growing up so much. It is so fun to be able to take them to do stuff like this and they can hang like champions, and have a great time as well.  This is our favorite way to spend a beautiful day.  Outside and Together!

Taking in the sights and having some reward Brownies.

Waiting....

Today marks the 4oth day for us waiting for our Letter of Approval (LOA) from China.  Last year we received our LOA on day 63 when we were waiting for Mina.  This part of the adoption process is grueling,  It can literally make you looney.  There is another hitch, if we don't receive our LOA in record time our precious little girl will have to wait an extra month for us to come and get her.  There is a trade fair in Guangzhou, the city we will be staying in for 2 full weeks. We can not travel during this time.  So we are praying for a miracle time line. We are aching to hold our baby girl and to care for her. So if you are reading this and you are a praying person, can you send a few up for Finn!  We would appreciate it!    

We are hoping to post a record breaking time-line up here!    It would be very fitting for how this process has gone so far.

Care Packages

Mina and I went over to the post office and mailed a little care package to Finn. Mina wanted to carry it the whole time and kept saying it was for her "Baby Pin".

In the recent photos we received from the orphanage she was clutching a little white towel so we mailed her a super soft little white blankie baby(can you tell I tried to write her Chinese Name on it?) , I have a feeling she is already attached to the towel? We also sent a disposable camera, a photo album with pictures of the whole family, and some chocolate and tea for the nannies.

We sent this package to Finn a few months ago, through Ann at Red Thread China, we also tried to sent her a Birthday cake along with this package. That is how we found out she was in the hospital, because she couldn't receive the cake. Now that she is back, hopefully they will deliver it soon after Chinese New Year.

 This photo is just cause I think it is cute. The kids after church this morning. Can you tell this is Mina's favorite hat of the week?