I got my baby back..baby back.. baby back (from the Chili's jingle :)in

He's back! It feels so great to finally have Collin home. All is right with my little world. Plus my computer is back up and running so I will be back to blogging here soon. Summer Kamp Kiddo is in full swing 'round here and we are keeping sufficiently messy and busy and lazy all at the same time. I love that a large bulk of our China adoption wait is wrapped up in the summer craze. Hopefully it will make the waiting for Hai Hai (his Chinese name, pronounced Hi Hi) seem shorter than usual, we shall see. I'll be back soon, I've missed the 'ol blog.

My poor computer bit the dust so I will be taking a short break from blogging. We will be trying to resuscitate my dear friend but I fear that she is mighty sick. My apologies to anyone who has an email waiting in my inbox, I will eventually get to responding, I promise. I am actually looking forward to not being "plugged in" over the next week or so... Hope you all are enjoying the long summer days. Today is our first full day of all the kiddos home from school... chaos I tell you,, but the good lazy kind... I'm looking forward to soaking them up for the next few months. I just love summer. Oh and Collin gets home in less than 2 weeks!!!! I am so stinkin excited! How cool is it that I typed up a letter to put in a care package for our new little man (who really needs a name) and asked him if he could find someone to translate it for me... and within 10 minutes he emailed me back...he had translated it himself .... So awesome! I am a combination of jealous and crazy proud. Can't wait until he gets home.. I'm missing him, he's my best bud.

A must read for adoptive parents...

When I was at the Orphan Conference last month, I had the honor to meet Dr. Karyn Purvis, and to sit in on a few of her lectures. What a truly amazing woman. I was glued to her every word. I have read my share of attachment and adoption parenting books but truly this one is a must read. I really wish I could have heard her speak or read her book before we brought Mina home. She explains so simply the attitudes and behaviors that our children use to cope. I spent a year struggling with some of Mina's behavior, feeling like she was being manipulative, controlling and just plain difficult. I can read this book and see every single one of Mina's behaviors spelled out as fear. Oh how I wish I would have handled so many things differently :( Good thing that she is doing a million times better than she was a year ago, but I am reading this book again this week and can still gain so much wisdom from it. It is such a wonderful book. Here is a link to read chapter 4 for free. http://empoweredtoconnect.org/pdf_files/Connected-Child-Chapter-4-Excerpt.pdf

AND Here's the link to purchase on Amazon

We had some tears at our house last night...

we have had big rain storms around us the last few days, and the kids very favorite tree bit the dust, and crashed into their playground. Grandpa ran outside with Kobi's pink Lil'pet shop umbrella to survey the damage...This was the best tree, it had a rope swing tied up about 75 feet high and the kids would run and jump on it and fly through the air.It was beautiful. I am shocked that a few rainstorms toppled our tree, but so thankful that no one was hurt. Any-whoo on the adoption front,,, I am knee deep in paperwork and have barely left my little mess of a spot. I have a love/hate relationship with the paperwork...It is the only certainty in the adoption process, like a major to-do list where you can cross off your accomplishments and see some progress. We are still hashing out names, and open to suggestions, if you have any...