Go Sun Devils!!!!!

This Thursday the Arizona State Football season begins!! I am an Alumni of ASU and Dan has been a fan of ASU all of his life. We are season ticket holders, so needless to say, we are really excited to see a new year begin!

Above is Lauren's cheerleading outfit her Grandma Connie bought for her last Christmas! Thank You Grandma Connie!! :) We all thought Lauren would be accompanying us to the games this year, but is seems we will have to wait yet another year. Grandma Connie and Grandpa Don also have season passes, so we will have lots of fun in the future!

Since becoming ticket holders, Dan has taught me lots about football. Our typical "football class" is held at our favorite breakfast place, Mimi's Cafe. Dan takes the napkins, tears them into little pieces, rolls each piece into a tiny ball and then places them on the table in "formation". He points to a "player" and I recite what position he plays. :) The waitresses think we are crazy, I'm sure! :)
It's lots of fun, though.

I will say, even though I know a lot more about football now, I still am apt to be people watching and searching for the Team Mascot "Sparky" during the game. :)

Go Sun Devils!!

Thank You Leif and J.D.!

Last night we had our friends, Leif and J.D., over for dinner. We had such a nice time! Pictured above is the beautiful gift they brought for Lauren! They have a friend who lives in China and they were able to get this through her. The scripture words of John 3:16 are written in the form of a cross! We will treasure this forever. Thank You Leif and J.D.!!

Leif and J.D. are just starting the paperwork towards their adoption of a baby girl from Guatemala!

News From CHI !!

Our Case Worker, Marianne Adams recently sent the following message:
Friday, August 25, 2006 Subject: China Referrals


37 CHI July 15 and July 21, 2005 log in date families received their
referrals on 8/25/06. All the referrals are for little girls. Most of
the referrals are between 10 to12 months old. Three families received
toddler referrals with two of them being 2 year and 4 months old. The other
one was one 2 years old. Two of these above families requested 0 to 18
months and the other family requested a 2 to 3 year old. One family, who
requested a 3 to 5 year
old, received a referral for a 4 year 3 month old. The girls are from the
Guangdong, Hubei and Anhui provinces. We expect these families will travel
in about 8 weeks. This batch of referrals were from 7/14 through 7/22,
2005 log in dates. The wait time from log in date to referral is now 13-14
months. There were no Chinese expedited referrals in this batch.

p.s. These are the referrals that we should have received Sept 1st and they
came early.
So these are considered Sept. referral group. BUT, the LID is July 15th-July
21st.

So...the wait continues to grow slightly. If the 14 month wait could hold steady, it would not be so bad for Dan and I. It would put us at getting Lauren's referral in May and traveling in the summer. Since Dan has the summers off, this would be ideal! It is all in God's timing!

August Secret Pal Gift! Thank You!

The gifts were so pretty! I almost didn't want to open them!



Lauren will look so cute all wrapped up in the hooded towels with ladybugs on them! The rubber ducky tells whether the water is the too warm or just right. The travel bath items will be very helpful on our trip to China! The sweet card says:

"Home is a place we all have to find, child.
It's not just a place where you eat or sleep.
Home is knowing.
Knowing your mind, knowing your heart, knowing your courage.
Ift we know ourselves
we're always home
anywhere."
The Wiz (1978)

So true. I will keep this card for Lauren's scrapbook.

Thank You again! Secret Pal!

Check It Out!

I've added Scott Robert's blog as a link. Go to his blog to see amazing pictures of China and his tips for traveling in China. When you go to his site, go to July 26,2006 on his "posting calendar" and you can see his trip from the beginning. He and his family are in China now and are adopting their second daughter from China.

Our Nursery is Coming Along!

I was trying to show the detail of the Toile border, but the picture is not as clear as I was hoping.



As you can see Lauren already has her own collection of stuffed animals! She's spoiled already! :)



Here is the quilt rack my awesome mom bought us. It's cherry wood and will match our crib set we have picked out beautifully! The sweet quilt was made by my grandma. It was only her second time making a quilt. She did a great job!