Thanks be to God

Yahoo! We found out today that we got the DFCS grant for Frannie. For adopting a special needs child, we applied to receive a $2,000 grant and we were approved. We just had to prove we spent $2,000 or more (ha ha) in travel and adoption fees (ha ha). This will help with my "time off" pay deduction from school. Thank you God for these favors.

Frannie, the writer

Thank goodness Frannie likes books and writing, like her parents. I pray it's a sign of things to come. I am also grateful that she is left-handed (by default, who knows?). Say a prayer that we gain some insight into whether to apply for another adopted child or not. Am I just being lazy or is it a message from God?

I am going to try this

I have so many good friends and family with blogs and until now, I have not tried to link them, but here are a few "must see" blogs for everyone!

Jim -- my nephew who has been in Madagascar now since August, working as a pseudo tour guide and animal researcher -- the photos are almost fake-like -- how could little tiny Jimmy have taken those pictures? http://onelifeexpeditions.blogspot.com

Donna -- leaving Atlanta in 3 days for China for Shelby -- if you want ANY information about adoption from China, ask Donna! She has some great posts and it will be so exciting to read her blog in the next 2 weeks! http://myshelbybaby.blogspot.com

Shelley -- a friend from work who started keeping a journal/blog about life and her family -- she is an amazing writer/poet/philosopher http://shelleyib.blogspot.com

Lucy -- Frannie's oldest friend from China is Lucy's daughter, Ally, who has the most beautiful family ever. The Fays look even more like the Griswolds/Clampetts around the beautiful people like the Harknesses http://allyinchina.blogspot.com

Darcy -- My next door neighbor (almost -- we are .3 miles from each other) who is leaving on November 14 for China -- read her story about how she is travelling with her dear friend Amy. http://daniellecomeshome.blogspot.com

Frannie's Baptism

It's official now, Frannie is part of her Catholic family and MAN did she look great or what? Thank you Nancy for all your hard work and sharing your incredible talent with her. The dress is now safely tucked away for Frannie's sister or for framing later. She even made a fancy bib to drool on -- as my sister put it "She needed a bib for the bib" because it was so ornate and beautiful. Thank you to my whole family for travelling so far to meet Frannie, participate, assist in the cooking, cleaning and merry-making. Next time I will take Kevin's advice and buy all the food so I don't have to be in the kitchen so much during the party and bite everyone's head off when they step one foot into the area. Sorry about that folks. Hope everyone had a great time!

Beautiful Amanda, an usher-dog and the rally cap

First I must say that Frannie and I attended the most beautiful wedding of our friend Amanda. Frannie's first impression was "Hmmm, Americans have dogs in their weddings." It was truly a gorgeous evening with lots of emotion and good times. God bless you both Amanda and Chris. Even when Frannie is not "in daycare" over at Cheryl's house, she cannot stay away for too long because she has such a great time. Yesterday Frannie was getting everyone pumped up for tonight's Red Sox game, wearing her jersey and rally cap (thanks Deb) and yelling "Go Sox! Go Sox!" when her silly friend Owen, shown here, starts yelling (I'm not making this part up) "Go underpants! Go underpants!" He is known for being a funny guy. Frannie has vowed to not change her clothes until the Red Sox are confirmed American League champions.

Frannie's cannot WAIT for her gramma, grandpa, aunties and cousins to get here! She's been practicing everyone's names. She and Elena will have a blast, I'm sure. She has her final fitting for the beautiful baptismal gown tomorrow. It is truly a work of art. Found her some cute shoes at a consignment shop for $4.99. Yippee!

So Much Fun at Cheryl's

Frannie really has a great time at Cheryl's house -- with or without Mom. She's learning so fast and I'm sure it's the time over there. She loves her Jacob too!

Frannie's Oldest Friend

We had lunch the other day with Donna (soon to go to China for Shelby, October 31), Darcy (soon to go to China for Danielle, November 15), Lucy and Ally. It's such a blessing to have all these friends, but I marvel every time I see Frannie and Ally together. They look like they are heading for Rodeo Drive in this picture, driving around in a convertible, doesn't it? They share so many habits, but are different little girls. I don't have a picture of Danielle, but she is just cute as a button. I kept staring at her picture when she was on the list, wondering if she was our girl, but Frannie, of course, was our girl, without a doubt. The Hope for Children Waiting Child List had our girls listed as numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9!

Sometimes its Like Looking in a Mirror

I believe Frannie and I (Ellen) have so much in common, that it's eerie:

• Neither one of us likes fruit
• We don't mind watching them take blood out of our arm
• We have a sensitivity to the sun being in our eyes
• We are hot-natured
• We like to watch medical shows (no lie, Frannie would rather watch that than any cartoon on the air)
• We got really bad boy hair-cuts when we were little
• We both hate footy pajamas
• We like shoes
• We like practically anything with cheese
• And the list continues

Can't wait to see everyone at her party next Sunday. Frannie is going to be stunning in her fancy dress. I'm looking for shoes if anyone has any recommendations. Target is out and the consignment store on 29 is out too. She will wear them once so I'm not willing to spend more than about $10.

Frannie's Friends

Frannie has had such an action-packed week with friends -- going for ice cream with Tristian, going to the Carnival with the Brennan girls and for half-caf double mocha lattechinos with Shelley and Sophia! She has just been trying to keep busy while missing Dad. But he's home now, thanks to the Rockies sweeping Philadelphia. Can't wait to see all the HFC women tomorrow at lunch -- looking forward to hearing about Donna's and Darcy's upcoming trips to China (October 31 and November...14?, respectively?). We miss Ally and Lucy too!

Boo Hoo

Well Kevin's job takes him out of town AGAIN (I think Frannie's English vocabulary will have TRIPLED by the time he gets home). He's working the National League baseball playoff games (Colorado, Philadelphia, back to Colorado, who knows where). Frannie misses him -- every morning I put her in bed with me for 20 or so minutes and she always looks over at his side of the bed and says where the heck is he NOW? Actually, she just says DaDa, but I get her point. She had her first American doctor's appointment yesterday and did great. She had to have blood drawn from her arm and didn't even cry when they put that needle in, but let me tell you, when she got 3 shots in her legs, she let us know she does indeed have feeling in that part of her body. She's a trooper, though. She doesn't cry much when she gets hurt so when she does cry, you know she must be feeling pain.

She's being measured for her tailor-made baptismal dress on Friday -- thanks to Nancy Rucci and my Mom for offering up her wedding dress for Frannie's sake. That dress is 55 years old! The satin still looks great so Nancy will have plenty of fabric to choose from.

Please pray for patience for me, better sleep for Frannie and safe travels for Kevin. We also want to keep our friends in our prayers -- lots of friends still to get to China for their beautiful babies and for other friends who are having family issues. Can't wait to see my family in 2 weeks for the baptism! xo Ellen