Frannie Shakin Her Booty

Please ignore all peripheral singing.

Frannie's New Doll House

My parents sent Frannie a hand-me-down dollhouse which she really loves. We really need to get those dogs some more furniture!

Frazzled

I'm just feeling frazzled this week. School is winding down, lots to do, evaluations, saying goodbye to students, fellow teachers who are moving on; my Mom being admitted into the hospital because of a leg infection which could have resulted in LEG REMOVAL (ugh) but thankfully it's looking better; constant feelings of wanting to be home with Frannie; going to TN for my nephew's graduation which brings a whole new set of .... different stresses.....

Summer is on the way, however, and I'm excited to have that benefit, to be able to spend the time at the local pool with Frannie, sign her up for Mommy and me gymnastics and hopefully have a few nice trips. Please keep my family in your prayers.

Remember One Year Ago?

I can't help but think about that day, one year ago, when we first saw Frannie's picture and "picked her" out of a line-up! What a crazy, emotional day. My buddies at work saw me at my worst. Kevin and I decided at about 6:30 am to give it a go with the Waiting Child list. I can't believe that! "Which one do you want?" "I don't know!^@# How about the 9-fingered one, she looks happy" Jennifer, Lisa, Deb and Senada saw me crying and sobbing and poor Aisha and Chrissy got my call, bawling about how we want #9 on the list (was it 9?), yelling at Kevin, Kevin yelling at me, crying about Mother's Day signs on the side of the road, my poor student's Mom telling me to take the day off because I was such a basket case --- and finally, after about 24 hours, looking at her picture and totally falling in love with her. I just knew she was our baby. Lisa was right, I loved her even before I knew her.

Proud Parents

Could we be any more proud of our fashion diva?

Do You Think Frannie and Jacob Like Each Other?

They crack me up. Jacob is the only one at daycare that Frannie will truly "play" with, chasing and she talks about him all the time. Jacob's Mom swears they are getting married some day.

Thanks so Much to Everyone

Kevin and I have had a very emotional week, wrestling with our own desires vs. God's Will and what is best for our family at this time. I believe firmly that when you get enough people together, praying for a common purpose, the answer comes through pretty load and clear (yes, sometimes God DOES send a butterfly to land on you!) After much discussion, Kevin and I have decided to withdraw our application for the baby. There are many reasons, but most importantly, it's not His will. Period. At this time. Maybe later.

Initially I was nervous about how this would mess up the baby's chances for her forever family, but she will be snatched up so quickly once the word gets out. Then I thought "how can I tell Donna"? which is a little funny since it's not my Mom or Frannie or ....

Kevin and I are both on the same page with this and we are both so happy at this time with Frannie. We "hit the lottery" as Cheryl put it with our daughter and we couldn't be happier about our family at this time.

Trip to Charleston

We had a great few days in Charleston. I had never been and Kevin has never been there sober so, it was a new experience for all of us. Frannie did remarkably well on the drive to and fro. We saw most of what we wanted to see, ate great seafood and walked it all off over the course of 2 and a half days. What in the world does "lowcountry" mean anyway? We decided that we could definitely live there (if we won the lottery or, alternatively, if the state gives teachers a 250% payraise this year). It made me ache to remodel. I discovered pralines -- ohmygosh they are evil. CRAP, now I know they exist and it will haunt me! Going anywhere near there? Pick me up a few dozen. We are on spring break, of course, and I started thinking about going back to work next week and we only have 6 weeks left until summer break. I was also thinking a lot about my friends Shelby and Maddie recovering from surgeries -- please pray for 2 little girls whose wonderful parents have been through the ringer the past few weeks, having to watch their little girls endure a LOT of pain. (see my "Favorites")

I started work on Frannie's built-in bookshelves and toychest/bench, yikes. I'll post some photos later, but not too close-up :) No word on the baby yet, still waiting for pre-approval from China.

Zoo

Here are some pictures from our trip to the zoo. Fun, fun fun with Pitty Pat again! I would love to hear your theories about why Frannie does this: About 2 months ago she started taking one arm out of her shirt (when her shirt is on, she will slide one arm up through the neck hole and leave the neck hole "off the shoulder"). I noticed she only does it with her right arm. She doesn't do it for attention because I will go in to check on her in the middle of the night and she is asleep in this uncomfortable state! Well, last night I went in to check on her and she had slid BOTH arms up through the neck hole and slid the shirt around her midsection (ew!) It ranges from turtlenecks to long-sleeved pjs. She is such an enigma :)

Interesting Story

A number of years ago I was told to see the movie "The Lost Daughters of China" which was a National Geographic show following an Atlanta family who went to China for their second daughter. It is such a tear-jerker and I have always wanted to meet the family and ask them about their journey. My friend Lucy told me she knew them somehow (through a friend?) and my thoughts about the family again resurfaced about how much I would love to meet them. This weekend, Kevin brought an article to my attention in our local Catholic newspaper:

http://www.georgiabulletin.org/local/2008/03/27/daughter/

How wonderful that their daughter brought them to the Catholic Church! It's nice to hear about people willing to open their minds about the TRUTH, caring more about what our Church actually teaches and the gifts it has, rather than continuing to believe the misconceptions and lies about the Church. Maybe I will meet them one day.

Easter Week

This Time May be Different

I have such trepidation to spread the word because it's hard to believe it could be happening! We found a baby by way of my ubiquitously God-sent friend Donna and we are awaiting approval! She is now a year and a half old, she has a minor heart defect (two pediatric cardiologists here in Atlanta have said it is "pretty minor"), she lives in the Jiangxi Province (right above Guanghzou), she's as cute as a button, she's in foster care and boy is Frannie going to be surprised. Please pray for us and her! I will post a photo when I feel more confident that we will get her. The agency could not be much farther away -- on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. Prayers are the most important gifts you could give us.

Frannie's Second Mom

Just so you can picture Frannie's best friend, Cheryl (our neighbor/friend/daycare provider), here she is with Chloe. She's so good with the kids, Kevin and I are very grateful to have her!

Frannie Has Way Too Much to Drink

How embarassing. You go to the Brennans, you drink WAY too much green punch and you get stuck in a miniature wagon. She is in BIG trouble for the shenannigans she pulled that night. Just kidding folks.

Thanks to our dear friends John and Karoline, we got some wonderful corned beef, cabbage and Frannie got to wear her new St. Patrick's Day dress!

Can't Help It

A drunk Irishman staggers into a Catholic Church, enters a confessional booth, sits down, but says nothing. The Priest coughs a few times to get his attention but the drunk continues to sit there. Finally, the Priest pounds three times on the wall. The drunk mumbles, "Ain't no use knockin', there's no paper on this side either"

Happy St. Pat's

And I mean that in a NON-green beer, parade-brawling, red-headed, whiskey-drinking, big red nose, sheleighleigh (sp?)-toting, leprechauns-in-my-garden stereotypical sort of way. I have a friend who is all-out Irish/American who hates this holiday because of the American stereotype of St. Patrick's Day. I agree with her IN A WAY. Green beer, yuck! Drink a Guinness for goodness sake. If you can't handle it, have a Harp. People in Savannah think they have the greatest party ever, but it's generally (so I hear) a drunken brawl that has nothing to do with Ireland or St. Patrick himself (born in England people). HOWEVER, I like how this day celebrates the traditions of Ireland and we should be grateful to have it. How many other immigrants or saints have a whole day of celebrating?

Kevin's exciting night

Kevin just HAPPENED to be working downtown at the SEC tournament where a tornado hit last night. Thanks be to God he is fine. The poor guy not only had to work a 15 hour day, but he had to wake up 2 hours after he got home and head right back in to set up the game, which had been moved from Phillips Arena to Georgia Tech due to the damage. He'll probably end up working a 16 or 17 hour day today too and get up to work early in the morning .....

Cheryl Pics

We finished our State paperwork this week (school caca), yahoo! We have gotten our "Subsequent Home Study" ball rolling, we've received lots of our required home study paperwork and dossier paperwork, we are now officially on the waiting list of families for the adoption agency CCAI, I am hoping to have a GIRLS WEEKEND this summer with all female relatives from far and wide (cousins, nieces, sisters and second cousins?) here in Atlanta, Frannie is funny as ever and my Uncle Roger is doing well in Connecticut! Thanks be to God. I wanted to make a slideshow with all of Frannie's great photos from Cheryl's house. Happy Friday!

Our Prayers Have Been Answered!

And the answer is No! We asked everyone to pray for guidance and acceptance and we got both. The little girl was not feeling right to me and we both felt okay about it. We have lots of options and for now, we are going to pray our daughter is on a SN list coming out this week and if not, we will pray and look until we find her. Thanks everyone for your comments and prayers.

Frannie Has Been Ours for 6 Months!

Today is the anniversary of Gotcha Day. How far this little kid has come. She looks so sad in all her pictures and movies for the first 2 or 3 days!

Once Again, please pray!!!

Okay, so I hope I am not getting carried away, but we found a little girl on one of the Waiting Child lists that we are hoping will be ours. I'm not going to give too much info because I don't want something to go wrong, but please pray that we find the little Fay-ette (please let it be this one!) and that we are both willing to accept the outcome. I will only tell you this, she is young and VERY cute! If you guessed that our next child's name will be Tammy, you are wrong!

Tough Job

The worst part of my job is losing my students. I am not sure why this hit me SO hard, but I found out the day before yesterday that I lost two beloved former students, one of whom was not even in my class, but in my former school. Although both Diamond and Shawanis are in the greatest place for all eternity, it hit me right in the gut. I thought of Shawanis at our Valentine's Day pagent, driving her scooter with such pride and how we all cried for her because for the first time in her life, she was able to move herself with Dillon's borrowed scooter. She had the most beautiful smile I've ever seen. Diamond was a miracle -- she had one of the worst cases of scoliosis I've ever seen, but she smiled ALL the time. I know she lived as long as she did because of the love she got at home. She was always surrounded by a house full of foster siblings and her foster Mom who loved her since infancy. Pray for those families for their losses.

Let's all count our blessings today. We can all come up with a minimum of 10 things to be REALLY grateful for. Thank you Lord for the ability to get out of bed, thank you for having too much to eat, thank you for having a family that loves me even when I'm not very nice, thank you for the love these students have given ME, thank you for the way Frannie says "moop" instead of moose, thank you for my husband who gets me Sprite when I don't feel well, thank you for my faith.

I'm going to try to treat every person today like they might be Jesus in disguise, want to join me?

A Fun Day With Godmother Pitty Pat

Frannie, Mary Pat and I went to Stone Mountain Park for a fun time! Coincidentally, we found Aunt Pitty Pat's store! We met a family from China, all of whom were very interested in Frannie and where she is from, her diet and language :) Since Mary Pat is the resident expert on Stone Mountain Park, we were lucky enough to get a tour of her favorite places.

Frannie and I have missed Kevin a lot since he has been away since Wednesday. He's been in Phoenix and then to New Orleans for basketball. He will be home tomorrow afternoon, yeah! I already have a to-do list of adoption chores for him -- I truly can't wait to get the ball rolling. We will need to discuss how we are going to approach the adoption this time. Since we know we are going to be applying for a child from the Waiting Child list, we can actually get a referral first and then get our paperwork filed -- hard to explain if you've never adopted from China before, but we need to decide whether to choose an agency first or later -- there are benefits to both options. We need prayers! We would love to adopt from the same orphanage, but we are not sure that is likely. Hope Haven took such wonderful care of Frannie that I can only hope to get another beloved girl from there again. Since we know Xi'an now, why not. My only regret from the last trip was that I didn't get one of those menus from the restaurant in Guanghzou -- the restaurant that serves dishes like pig liver bile noodles and chicken rectum soup, you know, those recipes that just never made it over to my local Mandarin Chinese place. I will be sure to get one of those menus this time. To heck with pearls and silk, I want that menu! Please pray for Frannie's sister as much as you prayed for her. We know she is the gorgeous, smart and loving girl that she is due to all those prayers! Her sister's name will be......

Once Again, Donna Saves the Day :)

I have been researching domestic and international adoption for a few days, feeling discouraged, mostly because we are either prohibited from adopting from certain countries due to our age or we are given the option of only adopting special needs/older children. Donna has always been my friend and adoption Wikipedia, but yesterday changed everything. She talked me through it and encouraged me to try China again, despite my beliefs that we are prohibited from adopting from China again, due to their strict changes made in May. Well...... I was wrong. After going over the changes with her, making a few phone calls and taking her advice, we are on the road to China again! I began paperchasing before we even got Frannie and we are going to persue children with minor special needs, like Frannie from various agencies. I am so excited that this could actually happen for us in 2008 -- it's a long and complicated process, but by taking Donna's advice, we may be able to have a baby referral within a few months, but we still need prayers! Kevin was flying to Phoenix in the midst of all these conversations and I had to call him "please call me please call me please call me" and when he did, he was also excited and happy at the prospect of Frannie having a sister!

Chinese New Year Party!

Hope for Children Chinese New Year Party

We had such a great time at the Hope for Children Chinese New Year party -- Frannie and Ally ran around and tossed around a treasured packet of duck sauce. I will have to post more photos (and video) later. Lucy took this great picture of our two Xianyang girls.

Happy Chinese New Year!

We are celebrating this year with our other friends from China on Saturday. Our adoption agency is having a party in Roswell and Frannie is very excited to put on her pretty dress again. The Year of the Rat, hmmmm

Gifts from Auntie Peg

Frannie got some cool gifts from her Aunt Peggy and cousin Jim the other day and her FAVORITE thing was this tutu leotard. She was doing her excited Flashdance moves as we were opening the package (she's a maniac, maniac) and she must have said "pretty" about a dozen times when I held up the leotard. I thought she would have a fit when I took it off her, but she has been drooling lately with 2 upper molars coming in and she didn't want to get it all wet! She is growing, but not by leaps and bounds. She can still wear some 12-month sizes, but mostly 18 months now. Thank you Peg and Jim for the goodies (I wasn't sure what was in the bag, something I should smoke or cook with, ha ha -- it was vanilla beans from Madagascar, thanks!)

We got tickets for the Big Apple Circus in a few weeks, which should be exciting. Frannie's favorites are animals, music and ..... (shoes) good times so I guess it should be a hit!

Our friend Pete had brain surgery yesterday on an AVM, say a prayer for him and his family.

Another Reason Why Frannie and I are Related

My friend Carol sent me this picture this morning -- she obviously took it at the orphanage before we got Frannie. It really cracked me up because she looks like a BEFORE photo, much like her mother usually looks. Squinting, as usual. Ally is wearing her favorite "Naturally JoJo" shirt, naturally. As Lucy pointed out, Man, have these girls come a long way or what.

Happy Birthday Laura! (PPP)

I got so excited a few weeks ago when Kevin told me Gwinnett County is getting a minor league baseball team! I can't tell you the joy that filled my heart. I want season tickets! Well, I went to work that day and asked a few people if they want to SPLIT season tickets and it seems to all be working out. We have 3 tentative couples who have expressed an interest in splitting 4 seats for the season. Okay, okay, so the stadium barely has blueprints, let alone an actual team/field/beer dispensery, but I want to be one of the first in line! I heard on the Fish that very morning that if you want to hold a place in line to get season tickets, you can send in $100 now to get in the queue. Done. Can't wait, can't wait! Memories from the Spokane Indians came back to me, oh what fun. Kevin and I went to a Cape Cod league game on our honeymoon and it was the BEST. Frannie, I truly pray you are a 2-year-old who can appreciate the greatest game because in the spring of 2009, Baby, we are there!

Snow Day

It's pretty unusual for us to get snow, and for it to accumulate at all is very rare. I have a feeling Frannie has seen plenty of snow in China (my friend who is there now visited Frannie's orphanage which was blanketed in snow upon arrival). However, like every kid, she had a blast. We went out for a walk with Godmother Pitty Pat (Mary Pat), but I think her favorite snow activity is just leaning back and watching it fall or feeling it hit her face. She tried hard to not fall over while doing this. Dad was in Alabama, but Frannie continually talks about him while he is gone.