There is NOTHING better in life than a HUG from your child!

I was the receiver of quite a few happy hugs from Miss Kelsey tonight. Mommy needed them too!
This is a photo of Kelsey and our dear friend Lily at Church. Note their happy beaming faces!

Just had to post something happy, because I am crying sad tears tonight for Jim and Colleen at http://www.hannahinchina.blogspot.com/for the loss of their beautiful fur-baby Copper.

I've never met them in person, but have been following their blog for a while and they are using the same agency we did.

Please accept our deepest sorrow for your loss, I know how it feels to love an animal and feel the pain of his or her loss deeply.

Jazzy my baby, tonight I am thinking of you. Will you see that Copper is welcomed with loving open arms in heaven tonight? I miss you often and still call your name...October will be three years you've been gone. You would have been the best big brother to Kelsey and would have loved her very much. She would have loved your big furry mane and swishy tail. Cheyenne misses you too.

We are all better humans for the love and care we give to the animals that share our lives. I hate calling them pets...it trivializes the relationship.

I always said that of course I could adopt a baby because I loved my cats as if they were my children...and all of my cats have been adopted.

JoAnn

A fun and peaceful weekend

Hi All!
The weather all weekend was FABULOUS! Perfect gardening weather, so I indulged on Sat, and spent about 4 hours planting some new flowers, pulling weeds and cleaning up our gardens. I need to recharge our camera battery, but once I do, I'm putting some gardening photos up!

Sat was Kelsey's last Gymboree class until the fall. She loves them, but we really need a break -come Sept we'll be in the later class, which begins at 10:15 (another hour of sleep!)

Sunday was our good friend Rachel's birthday party. We went to her friend Karyn's home in Washington Twnshp and it was great. There were lots of young children for Kelsey to play with and she had a great time. She kept yelling "happy!" all the way home.

We spent a lot of time on our screen porch..it's easily my favorite room in our house in the spring and summer. When we finally do get a chance to move, we'll have to have another porch. Kelsey and the kitties won't forgive us if we don't.

One of my favorite bloggers, Mrs. U. is having a neat contest with lots of cool things to win as her gift to us for her one year anniversary. Her blog is at: http://www.makingahouseahome.blogspot.com/ She promised if we posted her blog on our websites we'd get 2 entries into her contest!

Keep your fingers crossed!
JoAnn

Happy Father's Day!

Yesterday was Kurt's 2nd Father's Day. We had some fun, some tears and enjoyed some food as a family.



The sad part of the weekend was that Kurt's Mom had a heart attack on Wed. She's had her tests and they all came back normal --so they discharged her from the hospital on Sat. She's currently resting and will go back to the Dr. this week for evaluation.



We had a fun time on Sat and Sunday we went to Church for a Strawberry Social...it was fun, but hectic.

The photos above were part of Kurt's gift was that I created a family logo and had it put on 3 t-shirts. One for each of us. We wore them on Sunday and everyone loved them. The tagline of living life to the 9's is because each of us has a 9 in their birthday (4/29 for Kurt, 7/9 for Kelsey and 9/1 for me!) The back of the shirt has the Chinese characters for Joy because Kelsey has brought such joy to our lives.

The photos above were taken at Outback. Kelsey is pleased with herself because she's finagled my raspberry iced tea. Kurt and I were just plain tuckered out.



Open note to my dear husband...


Honey---I know sometimes your girls can be challenging to live with, but there's no one on this planet that really knows my heart and mind better than you do. You are an amazing Daddy to Kelsey and she is thriving in your loving attention. All this girl stuff can't be easy to live with (even our cats are girls) the shoes alone must kill you! You are also a great husband...you are supportive and a lot of fun to hang out with. You always find a way to make our dreams come true and you are steadfast in your belief that there is good in the world. I respect and admire you more than I can say.



I always tell Kelsey that I looked long and hard to find her the best Daddy in the world and we were lucky to find you!


Love always,
Your Girls!

How Much Fun Can One Baby Have?

Answer: So much, yet not enough!
So much that I will bullet point them...

• Daddy came home late Thursday evening to a delighted Wife and Daughter


• When Kelsey woke up Friday am, she was beyond thrilled to see Daddy sleeping in bed


• Daddy and Daughter had a play at the park afternoon and had a great time!


• Giggles over dinner and an early bedtime


• Breakfast this am and Gymboree for Daddy and Daughter (Mommy has a little cold and stayed home)


• We took Kelsey to the town street fair where she:


• ate chilli


• petted goats, lambs and ducks


• rode a real horse like she was born in the saddle, completely unafraid! (silly Mommy forgot to bring the camera)


• ate a smoothie, a funnel cake and an ice cream cone


• got a Chihuahua purse (she picked it herself!)


• got an adorable name bracelet/anklet


• Then we came home and she took a 2 hour nap with Daddy


• went to Dave's BBQ restaurant - our first time. YUM!


• then we went to a local amusement park, Bowcraft. She loved it! All except for the carousel ride, which she loved until it began, then she was frightened. Kelsey and Daddy rode trains, helicopters and monster cars with joy. Mommy remembered the camera, so here are a few shots.

So much fun...what will Sunday bring?

Congratulations to the New Mommies and Daddies!

It's referral time in China adoption-land. All over the world, agencies have received referrals of beautiful baby girls and boys and have given the good news to their thrilled Mommies and Daddies!

I will never ever forget the excitment of the day we received our referral for Huai Shuang, now Kelsey Frances Shuang. (See Jan 25th posting for the blow-by-blow)

Sweet days like this make me long to be in the adoption mix again...And Kelsey has been really great the last two nights and sleeping like a champ!

Days like Monday when our adorable girl threw all her dinner on the floor in a tantrum and was pissy all evening made me doubt I have any patience left to be a Mommy and I was SO happy to only have one child. That was one sticky icky mess!

Even the weather is perfect today...the sky is blue and it's sunny, but cool in the low '70's. I wish I was gardening today!

Kurt will be home this evening after almost 2 weeks on the road (he came home on the weekend). We miss him dreadfully and honestly, I need a parenting break! Kelsey wanted him last night and was calling Dada up the stairs, so I made her climb them to see if he was there. She was disappointed that he wasn't, but we changed into PJ's and snuggled and she went down to sleep at 8pm. Mommy fell asleep at 8:30 (told you I need a break!)

Take care and congratulations again to the new families!
JoAnn