Thank You!

I have already received almost 30 pieces of fabric. Thank you very much!

All of the pieces are so different, just like the people who have contributed. And some of the notes are so sweet. I really appreciate you guys so much. I am excited to start putting it all together. If you haven't sent a piece yet, don't worry, you still have two weeks before my Mom and I get started.

When I finish, I mean when my Mom and I are finished I will post the finished project.

Thank you again.

Here is a photo of the fabric Jake picked out to represent himself. Yes, it is pink and purple Superman fabric.

A Project

I went forever with no adoption updates and now I have projects and things to share. How exciting.

First off though, there is a non-profit organization that assists Social Welfare Institutes (orphanages) in China and they are asking for help. This has been a very hard winter in China and many SWIs have lost electricity. If you would like to help, here is their website http://www.halfthesky.org/.

Now for my project. It is tradition in nothern China to make a Bai Jia Bei or 100 Good Wishes Quilt to celebrate a new life. The concept of Bai Jia Bei is that 100 friends and family members of the child and their parents contribute one square of fabric which will be sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy and good wishes from everyone who contributes.

A book is also made from the good wishes and prayers each person sends with their square of fabric. I am in the process of sending out invitation cards to friends and family with instructions on how to participate. If for some reason you do not receive a card and you would like to participate please let me know. I would really like to get 100 participants.

Thank you very much!

Here is what the invitation cards look like. Keep an eye out for it in you mail box.

Good Things

There wasn't much to report on for awhile, now there is a lot.

#1 The most important!

Jake and I switched from trying to adopt from Viet Nam to China. More accurately, we have switched back to China.

We had originally looked at China, but since Jake wasn't 30 yet and I know the Viet Namese culture more we decided on Viet Nam. But then stories of corruption surfaced and the future of adoption in Viet Nam is shakey so we were uncomfortable with the situation. Since Jake was so close to turning 30 we talked to our agency which also works with China and we ended up looking at their Waiting Child list, which means that the children have special needs and we fell in love. Jake is completely and totally smitten.

We sent a letter of intent to adopt to China at the beginning of December saying that we wanted to adopt this specific child and today we got the authorization letter from China saying that she is ours!!!

We should be traveling in 4 to 6 months. Which is great because Jake is leaving for Alabama in 6 months, so he should be able to travel to China with me. Which brings me to #2.

#2 Jake is going to Alabama

Jake is changing his MOS or job in the Army. He has been a medic since he joined and now he will be going to EOD school in Alabama for 2 1/2 months then on to Florida for 6 months. Which means that as soon as we get home from China with our daughter Jake will be leaving for school for 9 months.

#3 Leah is going to school also

I have been accepted into a program that is sponsored or funded (I'm not exactly sure) by the state for leaders in early childhood education. It is a six month program that is mostly on-line, but I have to attend three three day trainings around the state during that time.

#4 And if that wasn't enough

I will be sending out invitations to participate in a project that I will be starting soon. It is a Chinese tradition to put together a 100 wish quilt before a baby arrives. I will be starting this in about a month or so.

I cannot post a full picture of our daughter yet, since she is not officially our daughter until we sign the paperwork in China, but here is a glimpse. If you email me privately, I will be able to send a full photo to you.

Vancouver BC

Jake and I went to Vancouver over Veteran's Day weekend. We took the train, which was beautiful going up. Coming home was a completely different story though. Vacouver is very walkable and we walked everywhere. There was a little taxi boat service that got us over to Granville Island and that part of town, but we walked the rest. The weather was pretty cold, but I hear it was worse here at home so I can't complain.

Here are some of the photos I took from the train.

We went to China Town on Sunday and most of the stores and restaurants were closed, but we went to the Asian Garden and walked around there for awhile. When we walked in it was kind of disappointing because all of the photos that I saw online were obviously taken during the Spring and Summer when everything is in bloom. A couple was getting married there when we got there. We also saw the skinniest building in Canada or the world, I don't remember. It is one room wide.

A Beautiful Fall Day

It was so nice today, I finished up some yard work that I had been putting off. This is the first year that all of my plants have flowered. Yea! And with the weather so up and down they are very confused and still flowering.

Yea!

Jake is coming home late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning. He has been in California for the past month training in the desert.

It seems that his schedule is one month away, one month at home, one month away, one month at home. Hopefully this pattern stops. He should be home all of November and all of December at least. I say, as long as he is in the country I'm happy. Well, not really happy, but happier than if he was in Iraq.

I problem with Jake being gone so long is that I go shopping when I'm bored. I have officially cut myself off from buying anymore fabric for the nursery. I have more than enough now. But in my defense, Jo-Ann Fabric keeps sending my 50% off coupons. I can't let them go to waste.

Weddings and more weddings

On Thursday I'm going down to California to attend two weddings on Saturday. That's right, two weddings on the same day. These are two totally unrelated people who are just happen to plan their weddings on the same day in the same area. And lucky for us, one is in the afternoon and one is in the evening.

Jake is not going down with me. I'm traveling with my sister, her husband and my dad. Jake is trying to save up all of his vacation days for when we travel to adtopt and after we get back.

Nothing new on the adoption front. We are just waiting. I got my first baby present though the other day. A very nice woman in my aerobics class made a blanket for me, well for the baby.