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.

Yellow River Game Ranch

We had a great time on Sunday at the Game Ranch -- our camera's batteries died just before the little deer came up to us, one of which rubbed noses with Frannie, much to her surprise. She got to pet the bunnies, feed the donkeys, chickens, ducks, a black bear, peacocks, etc., etc. It's no San Diego Zoo, but it's a lot of fun and much cheaper too! Frannie fit right in with her favorite, sleek coat (thanks Cookie).

A little explanation

Just to follow-up on the comment: I have always felt/seen/heard clear direction in my life when I do pray about it -- should I move here or marry him or adopt her.... the signs are usually pretty strong about what direction I should take and although I ALMOST filed the initial paperwork to adopt from Vietnam a few months ago, something stopped me and I'm starting to wonder if that is the way God wants us to go or not (international). Kevin usually leaves things like this up to me, but he needs prayers too! He has clear ideas about what he doesn't want (I don't want to adopt from the US and have a birth mother change her mind in the delivery room....), but I want both of us to hear what God has to say about it. For some reason I was dead set against domestic adoption the first time and now I'm not so sure with this one. I would be very, very upset if something went awry, but I'm not so sure that isn't our destined direction this time. My neighbor is also trying to adopt again and she told me to just get the word out to start. Maybe someone reading this has heard of a teenager who is pregnant or a friend of a neighbor's cousin or....

Thanks for caring enough to read this and say a little prayer for us whenever you think about it.

Frannie on You Tube

Last month Frannie and I went downtown to visit Kevin, working at the SEC Fanfare. She just happened to be wearing a cute sign and just by coincidence, she was on tv (again, sigh). She now appears on You Tube, which can be seen by clicking here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcZQQSSywPg

Please let me know if my link works. I think her hair has grown an inch since this video!

Please pray for a few people: a friend from school who lost her husband on Christmas Eve, a student in the hospital, a friend who is homeless, a sister who is out of the country, a friend in PA who is leaving for China in TWO days for her baby, and my aunt who is about to turn 80! Oh yeah, and again, please pray for our direction (Frannie's brother or sister?). Have a great week.

Christmas pictures, Part 2

Such a good girl.

Sorry for the Delay

As you can imagine, we have been busy. I will post more pictures later when I can figure out why my cookies are disabled at home (huh?) I can't log on and post from home. Here is Frannie with my school's Santa who was so sweet to come and spend time with all the students at our school. We had a great, great Christmas and Frannie was the epitome of an innocent babe. She just wanted to rock in her rocker and we sang Happy Birthday Jesus quite a few times. Later in the evening we went to the Micheal's for the traditional Christmas gathering of friends and Frannie had a blast. She did manage to fall down some stairs (a small set of carpeted stairs), get trampled by a wild dog numerous times and stick her hand in a candle flame, but she kept on smiling. Our time in New York was great -- I'm grateful for good in-laws and fun times spent with cousins. Frannie loved them all. Happy New Year to everyone and I promise to post more pictures later!

Chinese Baby Day at the Mall

Frannie and I went to meet our Hope for Children friends today at the mall to have their pictures taken with Santa. We ran into into two other families with Chinese babies. One of the moms looked very, very familiar to me and when I mentioned it, she said I looked familiar too. Funny that her daughter did not look familiar to me, but we never did figure it out ("church? school? neighborhood?"). So we all squeezed into the Santa area and got a pretty good picture! I was surprised that Frannie was a little scared of him and would NOT sit on his lap so I had to help. I'm pretty sure Ally and Frannie are looking for a good station on the radio in the above photo. What a blessing to have these friends.

Hope for Children

Dear Friends and Family: If you haven't had a chance, please take 10 minutes and watch a beautiful video about adopting. Maybe I'm just at a hormonal stage of my month, or maybe it's because we were in Guanghzou with the Tanzillos, but I got so weepy watching this video. You just have to go to the Home page of our adoption agency's website, go to the bottom and click on the video and watch:

www.hopeforchildren.org.

Frannie and Ally are in it too as a perk.

Enjoy! God bless! Merry Christmas!

Partying too Hard

Frannie had a great time at the Harkness party -- she got some good munchies, saw an old friend (Lisa -- well, Frannie met her as a new friend, but...) petted a cat (a first) and got to play with Ally! She CAN'T stop talking about Ally! She even pointed to her reflection that night in the bathroom and said "Ally." Hmmm. She woke up on Saturday and went to the tree farm with her new friend Danielle to cut down a tree! I noticed a cough starting the night before, but after the tree/hayride/goat-petting, she crashed. Poor kid had a fever and sounded like she was barking. She just wanted soup and to lie on Mom's chest and she is recouperating well.

Yippee, thanks to Donna

We got our grant money yesterday from DFCS -- who was it that called it a rebate check for adopting Frannie? Can't remember, but thanks to our dear friend Donna who told us about this grant, we got our check for $2K yesterday and a loan has been paid off. God is so good. First a tax credit and now this. God bless, Donna.