Please bring my brother home soon....

I think Pierce is really beginning to like the tutus and shoes. If you ask him what his favorite color is he now says pink....I am so glad that in a few more months he will have a brother to play with!

Holly

Dripping Springs...drips...

We spent part of Memorial Day weekend visiting my parents at their new house in Dripping Springs. Its a beautiful home perched on the top of a hill with magnificent views of the hill country and inside it has great cabinetry and precise tiling. Richard really liked the built in gas grill on the back porch except for the east wind which did nothing but blow right back in his face!

Little did we know that our outing at the new home would include a mop, a few towels, a shop vac and a carpet steamer! It seems that the new septic system had a bit of a clog in it. At first we thought that one of the toilets was just backed up but when we sent Quinn to get a brush from the master bathroom she came back to report that it was really wet back there. That was a bit of an understatement as nobody had not realized that the septic system had backed up into the closest place which happened to be the master toilet. There was easily an inch of standing water in the bathroom which had spread into the master bedroom covering 1/3 of the carpet and spilled over into the hall closets and into the entryway.

Luckily my Aunt and Uncle live next door and had a shop vac so Richard could suck up 15 gallons of water. There is no telling how long it might have taken with only a mop and two towels! I guess the silver lining is it was at least clean water (wink) and now I know what Richard wants for Father's Day... a shop vac.

Never a dull moment!

Holly

Love of China Dance

Every few years the Love of China School of Dance puts on a large recital that is partially funded by grants from the Austin Arts commission. This was Riley's first chance to participate in the youngest of Ms. Emily's classes, Class of Faith. They are all age 5-6 and the this was a huge deal for most of them and they took all the many rehearsals like champs. The culmination was the big event on Friday night at the Round Rock Performing Arts center. The event was truly amazing to finally watch end to end. The costumes, dancers, tai chi and yoyos were all amazing I only wish we had some videotape to share (we were not allowed to takes photos or videos). I only have a few backstage photos to share unfortunately which don't do them justice but I was so proud of my daughter for her patience (this was the hardest part for her) , her stage presence and for getting out there and giving it 100%. All the dancers were of course fun to watch but its especially fulfilling to see your own daughter who has practiced for over a year for this moment who finally got her few minutes on stage.

Holly

PA PA PA (Prior Approval from China!)

On Wednesday May 23rd I pulled a phone message off my cellphone from the agency that our Prior Approval (PA) was in from China. What that basically means is that China has reviewed our Letter of Intent and is approving us to adopt Brogan and submit our dossier. Of course the dossier still goes through a review process in China which could prompt further questions but at least we have the green light to submit the dossier!

We did finally get the marriage certificate back from the LA Consulate so the stamps did make it there but the funny thing is that the stamps that were on the express envelope were not even the ones that I had sent them. Maybe they just didn't like the hot pepper stamps they had that they used on the envelope? I don't care as long as we got it back!

We also got the revised, new and improved version of the China homestudy which has been approved by the agency and is ready for the certification process.

We are now officially only waiting on the I-171H from the USCIS. Once we get that back it will be a mad dash to the Secretary of State and the Houston consulate.

I am seeing a glimmer of light at the end......

Holly

The un-Mary Poppins and the flying Happy Meal

Riley had rehearsal this week for her big dance recital. This was a full blown dress rehearsal with lighting etc.. so we were at the performing arts center from the 5:45pm until 10:15 that night! That's a hard evening on a five year old! While we had packed some snacks in a bag we thought that there would be more snack stuff there. She was whizzing through the snacks so quick I felt so guilty for not getting her any dinner before hand. So since we had about an hour between dances I decided to go down the street to McDonalds and get her a nugget happy meal.

I knew rain had been in the forecast and it have been raining off an on for a few days but not a big deal, or so I thought. I got out of the car with umbrella and drink in one hand and happy meal carton in the other (had it been a bag future disaster might have been avoided). What I didn't realize as a rounded the back of the car was that the wind was now blowing about 40 miles per hour and the rain was coming down sideways in sheets. I've never been one that has been scared of a little rain or getting a bit wet so I just started pushing towards my destination of the closest door to the building. Next thing I knew the umbrella was thrust upwards and inverted affording me absolutely no protection from the rain. I was now distracted by still trying to control the wild umbrella, getting hammered by the rain and clutching the drink that the next thing I knew the rain had soaked the happy meal box and tore the handle in two and the wind carried off the not so happy meal leaving in its wake a swirling flurry of french fries, nuggies and plastic toys! I was mortified. Not that I was soaking wet, or that the umbrella was broken, or that my drink by now was crushed but more by the fact that my daughter no longer had any dinner. I checked to see if there was anything to salvage and found the nugget box about ten feet away with two nuggets that were still viable and the plastic bottle of milk. I grabbed what I could and ran as fast as I could still fighting the upside down umbrella to the door.

When I arrived in the lobby several of my mom friends were there with their kids and they all got a good laugh at the incident and the sheer sight of me wet from head to toe still clutching the nuggie box. Janet McCormick was able to snap the photo to remember the occasion. Needless to say Riley's face took the soaked box with two nuggies and a bottle of milk, not even commenting on my wet dog look, and just asked where the french fries were. I told her I would show her later.

When we finally left the arts center a few hours later on the path back to the car we passed by the wet french fry, nuggie carnage in the street and Riley finally realized where the rest of her dinner had gone. Then all she asked me was "well where's the toy?"

Notes to self:
When being stuck in a dress rehearsal for many hours stop at McDonald's first!
Always use two hands on an umbrella when the wind is blowing 40 miles per hour.
Don't wear suede sandals in the rain.

Holly

Quinn turns 4 and celebrates 3 years!

Our camera is still MIA in Plano, perhaps finding its way back about now but we are still punting in the photo department. We have another cheap Fuji we bought as a backup but while the resolution is higher until we bought a new card for it it only held about 4 pictures! So we don't have much in the way of photos for Quinn's birthday and what we have...well not our best action shots lets say.

It feels like such a short time ago that we were holding Quinn for that first time. She never did cry that day (she's certainly more than made up for it now!). This kid has the best smile , if you are lucky to get one out of her on her grumpy days but she has grown up in so many ways these past three years. She is no longer a rash ridden, bad haircut, noodle girl. She is smart, funny, precocious, and of course stubborn. She is such a hard worker at speech therapy and has gained so much ground that she will hopefully be discharged later this summer. Removing her tonsils and adenoids in January has also done wonders for her sleep, eating habits and disposition. She is a sweet loving child and very organized and nuturing to her siblings and stuffed animals.

A funny story just the other day she was playing upstairs with Pierce when she came down to to tell me that she needed help becuase Pierce was "stinky" (she is the resident poopy patrol). I thought that she was just asking me to come change him and she was, in a way. When I got up there she had one of his blankets spread on the bed (to catch any messes) and there was Pierce legs up in the air waiting for me to finish off the diaper change. She had the diaper off and had wiped him down for the most part, and I was totally amazed that Pierce 1) let her change him at all and 2) was sitting still through the whole ordeal. Even with the stinky mess it was a sweet moment (guess you had to be there).

Anyway to our Quinnie who turned 4 on May 17th and who celebrates her 3rd family day with us on the 31st, hugs and kisses xxooxx from mommy and daddy! You can change Pierce's diaper anytime!

Holly

Build a Bear Stuffed with Hugs!

On Thursday morning we had the honor of going to Build A Bear to help do the media Kick off for their Stuffed with Hugs event where on May 19th 200 bears from every store ( a total of 50,000) will be donated to orphans worldwide through Joint Council on International Children's Services. The Austin FCC will be getting 400 of those bears (to Tyla's and my garages no less) to distribute to local orphanages and to China.

Riley's Kindergarten class got to be the first group in Austin to make them. Tyla first read all the kids A Mother for Choco and then they all got to make their bears. They were so cute and so excited about this field trip. I think the highlight for some of them was the van ride to the mall!

There was one TV station there filming, so needless to say we were a tad disappointed at the turnout and by the fact that Tyla never actually got interviewed, but the Build a Bear staff was great and the kids learned a great lesson in giving back. (We also learned a lesson in giving back money to Build a Bear after Quinn made herself a birthday bear)

Turns out that Riley did get her 10 seconds of fame as they did feature her at the end of the story that went on the news. You can see the footage at the following link:

http://www.kvue.com/video/index.html?nvid=145085

Stay tuned to see how we end up distributing all those bears!

Holly

Postage Pitfalls

OK so when I sent our marriage certificate to the LA consulate over two weeks ago the postage rate was $14.40 for an overnight express envelope. Had the consulate processed our document in a timely manner I would not be writing this post. I get two hang up messages from the consulate on Thursday so I know that there is something wrong in authentication land. I try calling the number back but the phone just rings.....sigh....

Finally after accidentally hanging up on them (I have not quite figured out my new two line phone and switching from the business line to the personal) he calls me back to inform me that my document has been processed and is ready but he cannot send it back to me since the postage rate changed on May 15th and we are now short $1.85 on the return envelope. Bless his heart he was very kind but only spoke broken English and I was trying every which way to think of alternatives...send via my UPS account number (NO they don't deal with Brown), charge my credit card a $1.85 (NO not unless I can come to their offices LOL), send me the package and mark it recipient to pay postage due (NO he was told that it would just be returned to them) soo....finally we come to the conclusion that in order to get my document back I must send him some postage stamps in an envelope with my case number on it and they will affix the additional postage and send it to me.

Wow a lot of work and energy for a $1.85. You would think after paying them $25 for their seal that they just might once help out an adoptive parent and cover the extra postage. Of course my real thanks goes to our USPS for raising the postage rates yet again!

Notice in photo that the post office is still selling the old $14.40 rate stamp on their very own website. You cannot even buy a new rate stamp for express mail!

Holly

Kindergarten Graduation!

Amongst other various celebrations this week was Riley's graduation from Kindergarten from the Bluebonnet School of Cedar Park. This is their first Kindergarten class ever so it was exciting! The school also won National Daycare Center of the Year from the NCCPA (or some similar acronym). Due to age requirements in Texas she will actually have to go to Kindergarten again this year in Public school but they sometimes get placed out after the first six weeks. Her teacher thought that she was ready for 1st grade but I have some concerns about her reading ability which just isn't quite there yet.

Riley has been at the same school since she was about 15 mths old with one of her buddies Tyler, the blonde boy in the photo who is much taller! She tells me that they plan to marry one day because he is a nice boy. It will be a different world for her next year without her best friend of the last 3-4 years but she is so outgoing and easily adjusts to new situations that I am sure she will find a new boyfriend at Deer Creek. But we will save the photos of the two of them just in case one day they should hook back up again in high school!

Holly

Happy Mother's Day

I guess I didn't realize how much time had gotten away from me since I posted last. We have been crazy busy and to boot we left our camera in Plano when we visited a week ago for our nephew's first communion so I have no pictures.

We had a great time visiting with Richard's family even if it was a brief trip. Pierce and his cousin Zachary who is 6 mths older are two souls that are bounded by some invisible thread. You have never seen two 2 year old boys that love playing together more. They share their trains and their food and console each other when one of them is sad. Its the sweetest thing and I wish we lived closer since most of Pierce's companions around here are of course little girls!

We also had a fun filled Sunday last week with the yearly Ranch Day at the McCormicks where the men vaccinate the cattle, the kids get to swim and ride horses, and the moms get to cook and hang out and chat! As usual everyone had a blast. Riley still asks when we get to live on a Ranch like the McCormicks. For some reason she just loves riding horses. For a prissy little girl she would not make a bad farm girl. She has even asked her Dad to take her fishing and camping. I am just picturing camping with our brood..humm maybe not so much right now unless of course there is a cabin with indoor plumbing!

The paperwork is moving along. We are waiting on two documents from the LA and NY consulates and we sent our Homestudy into the USCIS to start the long wait with them. The homestudy is also being reviewed by the agency for China's requirements and will likely need some edits before it is ready for the certification process. While we wait on these items there should be somewhat of a lull which comes at a good time.

Saturday night we hosted the Gilchrists and Bonfils-Rasmussen for a signing party/board meeting for the new non-profit we formed called Grant Me A Chance. While the ladies signed the official IRS filings for the 501 C 3 status the men were watching the children. I am not sure how long it took them to notice that there were six nearly naked children in the backyard covered in sand. We got a new sand/water box this week and it doesn't matter how many times you tell the 2-5 year old crowd that the sand does not go in the water side its an inevitable messy result. I guess they got so wet and dirty with sand that they just decided to remove their clothes to make the flinging easier. I think Ying Li, the 12 mth old newest addition to the Bonfils-Rasmussens was the only innocent one, and that's probably only because she can't walk yet!

Mother's Day was wonderful and the kids are almost as excited as their own birthdays. They picked out some purple tulips for me and gave me a sweet little Demdaco figurine of a mother and child called "Child of My Heart" with a little card that read:

Child of the World
Into my heart you came-
Bringing sun into my life,
Making family our name.

Richard found me a coffee mug that had you guessed it Four leaf clovers and Anchee Mins's new novel "The Last Empress". I got pampered with a Frappicino from Starbucks, brunch at Village Inn and a trip to DSW Shoe Warehouse for some new sandals and tennis shoes. Riley made the keen observation while we were there that there were lots of girls shopping in DSW but not too many boys. LOL! We rounded out the day with dinner at my Mom's house with most of my immediate family there to help all the moms celebrate.

We have a busy week ahead with a media event for Build A Bear, Riley's graduation from Kindergarten and the biggie Quinn's 4th birthday. Seems like not too long ago we met this rash covered little baby in Hefei, Anhui with the cutest mischievous smile and here we are almost three years later already. Where does the time go?

Holly