Going North....

We are evacuating to my In-law's farm in Lumberton. Please keep us in your prayers. For Katrina we had water in our house. I really hope that is not the case again. I will take that over Pine trees crashing through my house any day though.

Evacuating with a toddler has not been easy. It's taken two days to prepare the house and Izzy woke up with The Croup yesterday. She's on antibiotics and breathing treatments and we are evacuating. Such fun..... She is in such good spirits despite seeing her whole bedroom and her play room packed up; she said this morning "Go away Hurricane Goose, we no like big winds"....

Be safe everyone. We love all of you. Please text me and let me know that you are ok after the storm. (504) 813-7969.

First Day of Preschool Blues......

No, not Izzy. She loves her new preschool. I on the other hand went home after dropping her off to school all sappy and sad wondering if she was missing me. I hoped she wasn't crying. I've been so torn about putting her in preschool so soon after coming home. A few weeks ago though, she said something to Rob and I and she used English, Mandarin, Spanish and sign language all in the same sentence. We knew then that she really needed preschool. I know she has been missing that interaction with other children and she was definitely getting a little bored with Mom. Then I found my FCC group and they connected me to Life Academy and it just all fell into place. Felt right. So, today my daughter of just three and half months went to preschool. And I was sad !!!! As I sat in the drive up line to pick her up, I just prayed that she had a good day, that she liked her teacher, that she was in the same clothes (which would mean that there were no accidents), you know the usual first day of preschool stuff. And then we get to the front of the line and "No Izzy", they had to go in and make her come out to the car, because she didn't want to leave school. Can you believe that? And then she starts crying and doesn't want to get into the car. Screams all the way into the car and in the car seat. And my friend Jill says" Not the kind of crying you were expecting, huh?". Nope, definitely not. I was beginning to feel bad because as we drove away she began to cry louder and louder. And then I thought "Well, God just answered all of my prayers". She likes her teacher, she had a good day and she's in the same clothes that she went to school in. So, I had to get over it and be grateful. Izzy on the other hand; Well, it took a McDonalds Happy Meal and ten minutes of me promising her that all of the other children did in fact go home too, and the teachers went home and the school closes every day at 12 and that she could go back in the morning just to get her to stop crying and tell me about her day. Then she chatted for the next hour about how much she loves her school. All about her teacher and what she did today. She went down for her nap talking about her school and woke up from her nap talking about her school. And that is pretty cool.... so, I'm not blue anymore ~ just really grateful for my answered prayers.

I'm such a cry baby these days !!!

Yes, of course I cried. The Olympics this year has meant so much to me.... I'm sure to many of you too. I'm always sad when the Olympics ends, but this year it was really bad. I Tivoed the closing ceremonies so that I wouldn't miss anything. And then proceeded to cry so much that I got a sinus headache and couldn't go to sleep till 2 a.m. Having the Olympics in China the same year that we brought Izzy home has been really cool. I'm going to save it for her to watch one day when she's older and really can appreciate how the world saw her country. Even if it was just for 17 days. This world has seen a different China. I could not be more proud of my daughter's birth country. Yes, China has issues.... Well, obviously so does the US. It's funny, but before Izzy, China was about at the bottom of my list of places in this world that I wanted to see. So, you can imagine how surprised I was when I fell in love with it. It's the country that gave me the daughter of my heart. Hopefully it's the country I'll go back to one day to bring Izzy's sister home ~ God willing.

Only Before A Tropical Storm.....

The only time you can enjoy being outside in August in South Louisiana is before a storm comes. The nice breeze blows the mosquitos away and it's actually pleasant. And after 6 days of rain.... we all got out of the house for a little while. And now, it's raining again, but at least it's not 95 degrees.

Before the Mandarin dress doesn't fit any longer...

My mom has been after me since we got home from China to let her take pictures of Izzy in her Mandarin dress that we had made for her in Fuzhou. So, finally after being home three months my mom took some really sweet pictures of Izzy last weekend.... I had to share a few. Thank God the dress still fit or I would've never heard the end of it. Thanks Mom.

A Life Made Beautiful

http://www.women.churchoftheking.com/

A friend of mine invited me to go with her to a Women's conference at Church of The King in Mandeville. I went online and checked it out. It looked so good, I had to share the info. It's September 12th (5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.) and 13th (8:30 a.m. to noon). Lisa Bevere is the guest speaker. She wrote Fight Like a Girl and Out of Control and Loving It. I'm really looking forward to it. My friend Eliz is actually having a sleepover on Friday night. Doesn't that sound like a blast? A grown up sleepover !! I'm guessing we'll be drinking Margaritas instead of Coke floats. Sounds good to me.

Kindred Spirits

Today I had the pleasure of meeting some really neat ladies. We all share something very special in that we all are either in the process of or have already adopted from China. Wow !!! What a thought.... to surround yourself with other people going through what you are!!! I sure wish I would've thought of that sooner. Apparently they are a great support to one another. They even have a name. "The Chopstick Chicks". Love it !!! And they are hilarious. And when one family is about to go bring their little one home, they get together and celebrate. Today we celebrated Margie and her family heading off to China to bring sweet Raegan home. They leave on September 1 st. I'm so excited for them. Margie has that glow of a mom to be.... I was really blessed today to be part of that.

Thank you ladies for making me feel welcome. I really enjoyed meeting all of you and look forward to spending time with you in the future.