Where in China is Ryleigh???????????????????????????? 

Crib Sized Quilt

Well, this afternoon I started working on the Crib Sized 100 Wishes Quilt for Ryleigh. I think I mentioned before that I was making two quilts, one with the leftover squares (some people sent me two squares). This quilt will be a little larger then crib sized when it is finished. Ryleigh will also be able to use it as she grows up as a throw blanket for her twin sized bed. I'm hoping that she will cherish both this sized quilt and the full/queen sized quilt that I'm making from all of the awesome squares that I received from all over the world.



Here is what it looks like with the top done. I still need to baste it to the back, then quilt it. It wasn't so bad to sew together considering I've only done this once before with my moms super duper help..... The easiest thing is the sashing (the lines in between the squares). They make the quilt top look very even and spaced correctly even if it is not.







The coolest thing is the label that I put for Ryleigh. In case you can't read it, it says "Ryleigh Gyll, Waiting for You, June, 2005"

Oh, and referrals came in this week for people that had their Dossiers logged in to China back in November/December of 2004. It is looking really good that we will get our referral in October.

Cousin Linda Comes for a Visit!

Cousin Linda Comes for a Visit!
Originally uploaded by Wavesprite.

My cousin, Linda and her friend, Vida came for a visit from Nashville, Tennessee this week! They came out to California to see Linda's step-daughter graduate from High School.

I was so glad to see Linda because we haven't seen eachother since I was 6 (you do the math). When I was around 10 we were pen pals!!!

100 Wishes Quilt Update!

Tonight I sat down and counted the wonderful squares that I've received. So far I have 90% of my quilt in hand...that would be 90 squares out of 100. I am so excited because I feel like Ryleigh's quilt is so full of love and good wishes, and so many people took time out of their day to send us a square and a wish. Getting the mail has never been so much fun (well, except when we were waiting for our I171, NOT).

Some of the squares I received were a little too small, or I got doubles of some fabrics, so I decided to make a crib sized quilt as well. I will use the doubles, the small sized squares and then some random fabrics that I have. Someone gave me about 15 different 7x7 squares, but not enough to make a wish. I will cut the baby quilt squares down to 5 1/2 inches, leaving some for the wish card. Then I can have friends write wishes as they stop by (or at my shower).

I never thought I'd be so friendly with a rotary cutter and ruler!

Oh, and if you want to send me one of my final 10 squares, please feel free to email me!

The Graduate

Well, this evening Austin graduated from his first year of Preschool. He will now attend his second year of preschool. All but two of his classmates are going onto Kindergarten. There were only 2 children from that were three year olds this year, the rest were four years old.

I think he looks very big, and I'm very proud of how he acted during graduation! I was thinking that next year when Austin does graduate to Kindergarten, Ryleigh will be there and that will be very exciting for our whole family.

Journey to Ryleigh

There are a few commercially ran websites out there for people that are travelling in China to post pictures and daily journals for all of their families to see. We were not planning on using one, but with China recently blocking access to any Blog sites, we have now signed up for one. Our new website (for the trip) is:

Journey to Ryleigh

The nice thing about this website is it is put together by a man, Larry, whom has adopted twice using CCAI, and isn't "making money" from the websites. He only charges $20 for the hosting and $15 for each additional year after the first. Some of the other sites charge a LOT more for that and limit the amount of photo's, etc. that you can post.

So, mark the website as one of your favorites. While there isn't going to be much journaling on there, mostly on here in the next few months....when we are in China it will be our sole communication with everyone!

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

hands
Originally uploaded by Wavesprite.

We drove up to about 8000 feet so that Austin could see snow for the first time in his life. He had a blast for about 15 minutes playing and throwing snow balls and sliding around....until....tingle....burn.....his hands started feeling the red frostbite....he screamed and cried. He decided he wanted gloves next time we went to the snow.

Columbia Cemetary

memorial
Originally uploaded by Wavesprite.

When we went to Columbia State Park we walked to the cemetary and right in front there was this memorial to the Chinese Pioneers "Coolies" that migrated to the United States and especially California during the gold rush....we found this interesting that in 1995 they sent the remains of the pioneers back to China.

The Miner 49'ers

miners
Originally uploaded by Wavesprite.

We drove to Sutter Creek and went on a "real" Gold Mine Tour. Austin loved it because you rode in these funky jeeps deep down into the mine then walked around...it was actually scary being down that far under the earth knowing that gold miners did that every day of their lives......

Ahhhh, the Suite Life

hotel
Originally uploaded by Wavesprite.

Here's our room at the Murphy's Suites. It was so warm (yes, even though it was raining outside) we had to sleep with the air conditioning on....the best thing about Murphy's Suites: It's Dry, Free Oreo's and Free Internet.....

Train Boy

austin
Originally uploaded by Wavesprite.

We had a wonderful day at the 1897 Railtown State Park in Jamestown. I LOVE this picture of my little guy....about an hour after this, we drove back to our campsite to see that it was still POURING rain, we packed up and headed to the hotel.

The Boardwalk

boardwalk
Originally uploaded by Wavesprite.

Here Mark and Austin are walking along the boardwalk that crisscrossed the meadow near our campsite. I would like to point out that this is about 2 hours before the rain started.....

Camping in the Rain is NOT fun!!!

Well, here we are in Murphy's California. We arrived to the campground yesterday around noon, and had a wonderful afternoon. Our campsite is right on a huge meadow that is kind of marshy with nice redwood tree's around it. There is a HUGE bearbox that is double locked on each site. For example of how big it is, it fits two coolers, many small items and a huge rubbermaid box with all of our "dry" goods in them. Austin met a few little friends and had a great afternoon of "hacking" at stumps and dirt with his hammer. He found a worm and quickly put it into his "bugmameter" (a gun type object that sucks up bugs with a vacuum and then has a magnifying glass on it. In the afternoon we walked across the meadow/marsh (they have these cool boardwalks crisscrossing the marsh). We went to the visitors center and then on a small walk around to see some of the big trees that are just in the park vicinity.

After a wonderful dinner of steak wrapped in bacon, we went to bed around 9:30 pm, it was FREEZING, so Austin slept inbetween us. Yikes, cramped quarters, but at least I didn't worry about the little guy freezing to death. During the night I woke up a couple times to the sound of light rain...at 6am Austin exclaimed "I hear rain". Well, after that it didn't quit. It was freezing AND raining. We are camping at 4000+ feet. We went back to sleep until 7:30 and then hung out in the tent, the boys (Mark and Austin) eating frosted flakes dry, and me, jonesing for a Mocha. Mark and I took turns driving to the shower and then it was around 9am. We drove south to Columbia (it wasn't raining at the lower elevations) then onto Sonora and then farther south to Jamestown and the 1897 Railtown State Park. We had a wonderful day with me thinking "When we get back, everything will be dry and I will be happy". WRONG THOUGHT! When we got back it was raining around 3500 feet. We tried to make the best of it with Austin slogging around with his hammer hacking away, and me moping about the rain, and how we had nothing to sit on that was dry, and Mark doing this best to keep me happy and start a fire......we finally gave up when the fine mist turned into heavy rain again......off to Murphys to the Murphy's Suites. I'm doing laundry now, and the boys are warm upstairs in our room watching TV!! I love camping, but not in the rain.... We've decided that if it doesn't dry up tomorrow, we are packing it in and either going home or going to Tahoe for a couple days!!!

The Teague's are on Vacation

We're leaving tomorrow morning for 5 nights of camping fun in Calavares Big Tree State Park. We're also going to visit Columbia State Park and Jamestown. Austin is excited for his first attempt at fishing, and Mark is thrilled to teach him.

We wish everyone a wonderful week, and I'll be back to blog first thing on Monday morning!

Is there Salsa in Carmel? YES, now there is!

Guess who came for a visit? Mary-Mia and Rod from the infamous Do They Have Salsa in China? Blog came for a visit this afternoon.

Unfortunately, Mark was at work, but my mom and I visited with Rod and Mary-Mia for a while, talking about the adoption and the paperchase and waiting for the I171.

I was so happy to meet them, and we had a nice visit! I can't wait to see them again, and better yet, for our children to meet!

Thanks for the Chips and Salsa, too. We are going to take it camping with us, and toast to you and your I171 which I know you will get this week.

Brown Envelope and a Thank You!

Today we received the "Brown Envelope" from the United States Consulate in Guangzhou, China. These are the forms that we need to take with us when we travel to get Ryleigh and will fill out when we are there. They are all for the immigration paperwork. It makes me feel so good to get this packet (some families don't). We are just one step closer to little Ryleigh!

Also, I have to add a HUGE thank you to Mary-Mia from "Do They Have Salsa in China" Blog. I somehow screwed up my sidebar on my blog, and it was driving me insane. One small email to Mary-Mia and she somehow (I don't know how) saw what was missing in my encoding and ta-da, I am back in business! Thank you so much Mary-Mia and I can't wait to try to meet up. After all we only live about an hour away from eachother!!!!

Austin INSIDE the crazy ball from our friend, Wendy! 

Austin holding the crazy ball from our friend, Wendy! 

Love Without Boundaries Auction

The 2nd annual Born In My Heart Auction will begin on June 1, 2005 (on eBay - chinalwb)There are over 100 items to choose from this year, thanks to some very generous artists. Please take a look below at some of the items you will be bidding on! All proceeds from this auction will go to fund surgeries for orphans with heart conditions.

Here is the link to go directly to Ebay to place your bids!

Make sure you scroll through the pages and check out the 100 Wishes Quilt, I'm part of the group that donated it, but did not (I repeat did not) participate in this beautiful quilt.

 

What it is like waiting....

You know, it's really hard waiting for our referral.

People ask me if it's like being pregnant. Well, no, when I was pregnant with Austin I was puking everyday, so in that respect it's not like being pregnant. Another thing that is different is that you can't feel the baby moving inside you. I can feel her moving my heart, and I think about Ryleigh often, but there is no tangible movement to connect me to her.

My friend Pam has a baby, Abby, and she is 5 1/2 months old right now. We went to the park today and Abby is doing that adorable first sitting up wobbly movement when they are just learning about upper body strength and balance and it is so endearing. I was wondering if someone is taking the time to help Ryleigh learn to sit up like Pam helps Abby, but I don't think so. I think that Ryleigh is probably spending a lot of time on her back. I think that no matter how old she is when she comes into our arms we will get to still teach her all of those baby things that she didn't get to learn in the orphanage, at least I hope so....

Waiting is really really hard......