Ryleigh's Name in Chinese Characters

My mom found a great website that translates what you write into Chinese Writing...here is what Ryleigh's name would look like.

Ryleigh 

Co-Op Preschools and Silent Auctions....

Austin goes to a Co-op pre-school. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a preschool, that is usually run through a school district and is for very very involved parents. You have a commitment of working one morning a week as a "teacher", and attending two parenting classes each month. The cost is less for a co-op, and it's great because you are really involved and know everyone, it is like a great big family.

Well......that is, until the yearly fundraiser!!!

Bay Day is a carnival at Austin's school always held the first Saturday in May. In January we had signups for committees, and I signed up for the "Silent Auction / Raffle Committee". What was I thinking? Running a Silent Auction is grueling. There are so many little things. I'm doing most of the computer work. We mailed out over 500 letters asking for donations, and our local stores and restaurants have been really generous. Most of the parents aren't happy about the Raffle Tickets, gripe gripe gripe....

Did I happen to mention that I've been doing all this right as we were paperchasing? Like I needed any extra stress right then?

My suggestion to anyone out there, don't EVER! EVER! EVER! get suckered into being on a "Silent Auction Committee". Sign up for "Bake Sale" or "tickets". Those lucky parents aren't having to do hardly anything!

We have a name, finally!

Our daughter will be Ryleigh! I'm so glad that we are done thinking about names and found one we love!!!

Miranda, Darlene's adorable daughter! 

Darlene, and her baby Miranda

I haven't posted this week and thought I would post about a friend of mine, Darlene. Darlene and I met on the internet. I should say we "re-met". Darlene and I went to school together from elementary school all the way through High School. Well, about 2 months ago, Darlene emailed me just commenting that we lived near eachother and were both adopting from China, so we ended up putting 2 and 2 together and realized that we knew eachother.

Since that time we've gotten together a couple of times with the local Families with Children from China playgroup. Even though we don't have our babies, we go and chat and stare and gawk at the beautiful children, knowing that someday soon that will be us....

Darlene is adopting a beautiful little girl that she is naming Miranda. Miranda was born with a Cleft Lip and palette, and Darlene chose to become her mommy. Miranda is going to be 2 1/2 soon, and Darlene will be traveling probably in July to bring her home forever. Miranda is such a beautiful little girl, and I can't wait for our daughters to be buddies!

Last weekend was Darlene's baby shower. My mom went with me, and we had a great time! Darlene's family is Portuguese and so friendly and they all were speaking Portuguese and you can just see the love that her family has for Darlene and Darlene's daughter, Miranda.

Miranda is one lucky little girl, or is Darlene one lucky Mama???? Hmmmm.....

I can't wait to meet you, Miranda!

Wow, What a Big Boy!

We received Austin's school pictures back from his Pre-School, Bay School. He seems so grown up to me. I should upload a picture from his first day, he was just a little squirt and that was only 6 months ago.....

Anyways, the wait for our daughter continues, and the quest for a name continues as well....

Austin's 2004-2005 School Picture 

Bai Jia Bei or "100 Wishes Quilt".

To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt. It is a custom to invite friends and family to contribute a patch of cloth with a wish for the baby. Part of the patch of cloth goes into the quilt for the baby, and the other part of the cloth can go into a scrapbook with the wish for the child. The quilt contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation.

On the "April DTC" Yahoo Group for Chinese adoptions a 100 Wishes Quilt project has been started. Basically, you have a list of people, each person sends each of the other participants a 7"x7" square of fabric. When you receive all of your squares, you can make a quilt with all of the different fabrics. You then take the index cards and either put them in a scrapbook, or a nice index card box so that when the baby is older it can see all the good wishes that were made for them....

If anyone out there reading this would like to send me a square and a wish for the baby, please email me. I would love to put your square in my quilt.

Ahhhhhhh the ways to keep busy while waiting for our daughter......

Somewhere, in some pile....

our Dossier sits in China. We received an email this morning from our agency, CCAI, that our Dossier has been taken to the CCAA (confusing, huh?). We now start the 6 month wait for what our agency calls the "match", we like to refer to her as our daughter.

At that time, they will send us a picture of our daughter and a health history and description. The descriptions are pretty funny when reading about a baby, like "very happy or likes music". What else are they going to say?

I just hope that somewhere in China, someone is holding my baby when she is upset, and giving her a little personal attention that she needs. I think she's probably about 3 months old right now...just starting to smile and look for a friendly face.....oh how I wish she was here with me......

Our Paperwork is on its way to CHINA!

Today at 4:30pm, I received an email that our Dossier (packet of paperwork, and a lot of hard work) has been sent to China. This is a very exciting time because as soon as the Dossier gets logged in we can start counting approximately 5 1/2 to 6 months until we will get a picture of our daughter!