6 months ago today

Knock, knock (that’s me, knocking on my computer monitor). Is there anybody out there? I can imagine that I have probably dropped off a lot of Bloglines list, since I have this really bad habit of never posting.

Today though is a special anniversary. Just six short months ago we met Maya in a conference room in Nanning, China. Really, where does the time go?

I love this picture taken of Maya in our hotel room right after we got her. I remember that she was very quiet, looking at the three of us with those pretty eyes. Her hair stuck up straight in such a comical way, but her personality was reserved. 

Six months later, Maya is a walking, babbling toddler who gets into everything! I tried my darndest to get a good picture of her today, but mostly ended up with blurred action shots. She has adjusted incredibly well with life on this side of the globe and I feel blessed to call her my daughter.

 
href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/57942398@N00/2215707736/” mce_href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/57942398@N00/2215707736/” title=”Maya, Serena & Spiderwick 035 by mesocrafty, on Flickr”> 

<a
</a
<a
</a

Sorry about the crazy coding and terrible layout of the photos – I’m just too tired to figure it all out!

What else is going on around here you might ask? After taking last semester off (you know, I needed a little time to get used to a two child household) I started back at school last night. Currently I am taking Digital Photography 1, which is a requirement for my Graphic Design degree. I have always had an interest in photography and so am pretty excited to fool around with an SLR camera. If I come up with any good shots, I’ll try to post them here.

Leah is still busy with kindergarten, Chinese school and will soon to be a Girl Scout Daisy (of which I have volunteered to be a leader – yikes). Hope all is well with you guys and I am eagerly anticipating hearing some good news from Georgia and Jeff soon! Gotta run – please excuse me while I salivate over this lovely home. When can I move in?

Over the weekend

We just spent a weekend at an indoor water park, where we rented a suite with two other families. In total there were six adults, three five year olds, two three year olds and two one year olds (got it)? That’s thirteen people all in one suite! This is the first time our families have ever gone away together even though we have been friends since our five year olds were just babies. It turned out to be wicked fun, all of us got along great and the kids were exhausted by the time we got out of there yesterday.

Maya wasn’t really into the water park experience and would rather have her Dad hold her than get too wet!

Leah on the other hand cried when we had to leave and can’t wait to go back.

I have to say that Joe and I are very blessed- we have found many “couple” friends that have children the same ages as ours that we enjoy spending time. It made the experience extra nice for all of us that we were able to share it with our friends.

Christmas day

Wow, I took a month long bloggy break and didn’t even realize it! December has truly been a crazy month in preparation for the big day. It’s now Christmas evening and the kiddos are snuggled in their beds. It really was a low key day for us and that’s exactly how I like it. Leah was thrilled to receive a huge sled and her first American Girl doll from Santa. Maya on the other hand couldn’t care less about opening presents – she was much more interested in the wrapping paper.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday too! See you in 2008! 

P.S. I can’t take credit for these digital layouts – they were pre-made and came with my recent order of this holiday kit from Shabby Princess. For another really cute digital scrapbooking hybrid project, check out my craft blog.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Guilty pleasure

 

Take a peek at Johnny’s Rolling MeMe of Doom below. Question number 25 is “what’s your guilty pleasure?” When I filled out the MeMe the other day, I couldn’t think for the life of me one thing that I did, just for myself. Then I remembered – tonight is Wednesday night. At exactly 8 o’clock this evening I will be locking my bedroom door, getting under the covers and watching my most favorite TV show, Pushing Daisies. The last time I was so enthusiastic about a TV program was when Buffy the Vampire Slayer was on. 

As described by Wikipedia: 

Pushing Daisies centers on the life of Ned, a man gifted with the mysterious ability to bring the dead back to life just by touching them. However, there are a couple of conditions: if he touches the revived person a second time, they die permanently; and if a person is revived for more than one minute, someone nearby dies.

In the pilot episode, we learn that Ned discovered his gift as a child by resurrecting his Golden Retriever, Digby, after the dog was hit by a car. He later brought his mother back to life when she died of an aneurysm. However, by leaving her alive, he accidentally caused the death of the father of his childhood sweetheart, Charlotte “Chuck” Charles. Even worse, Ned’s mother then fell dead permanently when she gave him his good-night kiss. Ned and Chuck were separated, she to live with her eccentric aunts Vivian and Lily, and he to a lonely boarding school. In consequence, both of them grew to be shy, repressed, and introverted adults.

Inheriting his mother’s baking talents, Ned becomes a pie maker who owns a restaurant called “The Pie Hole,” which he runs with the help of waitress Olive Snook. The restaurant is failing financially when private investigator Emerson Cod accidentally discovers Ned’s gift and offers him a proposal: Ned will bring murder victims back to life for one minute and ask who killed them; Cod will solve the case and split the reward money.

The scheme succeeds until they learn that Chuck, whom Ned hasn’t seen since childhood, has been murdered on a cruise. When her body is shipped back home, Ned revives her, but can’t bear to touch her a second time; the larcenous funeral home director falls dead in her place. Ned and Chuck fall in love again and he brings her home to live with him, but they can never touch each other. However, Chuck’s joy at getting a second chance at life turns her from a shy recluse into a vivacious beauty, and Ned’s joy at recovering his childhood sweetheart begins to break him out of his shell.

The series continues as Ned, Chuck, Emerson, and Olive solve murder cases, negotiate relationships, and explore what it means to be truly alive. Their stories combine mystery, magic, dark humor, giddy romanticism, animals, technicolor landscapes, musical numbers, and, of course, pies.

It is a clever, witty and oh so funny show. If you haven’t yet done so, check it out. You won’t regret it.

MeMe of DOOM…

 Johnny’s Rolling MeMe of Doom

1) Read the meme that was dumped assigned to you. Answer the questions.
2) Add TWO new questions to the list. Answer those questions.
3) Forward Dump this onto the next bloggervictim (and list their name and link to their blog).
4) This series will conclude when we get 50 questions – so yes, it’s 25 bloggers in the chain.
5) Please make sure that the next victim in the “link” doesn’t have a password protected blog.
[Optional 6] Update the links so people can follow along (this is similar to the method I used in the Why China series).
[Optional 7] When you see an update, down the chain, update your own page with the new questions and answers.
[Optional 8] Copy these micromanaging instructions into the top of your meme post.

1. What secret/surprising/personal goal (that is realistically achievable within the next 15 years) would you like to fulfill?
 I would like to be working as a graphic designer. Right now I am a part-time graphic design student, which I started a few years ago since I have no intention of going back into corporate America and working as a secretary again.

2. Can you list an event in which you made a last minute decision or guess that significantly changed the path of your life?
The only really last minute decision was dropping out of college. I did it and regret it to this day.

3. What is one unrealistic goal (but your total secret dream) that you would love to come true, but are pretty sure it won’t ever happe
To buy a big piece of land in Vermont and build my dream home.

4. Who has had the most influence on your life and what did they teach you?
My husband. He is ALWAYS so supportive of me and has taught me that I can do whatever I want to do.

5. You are on a deserted island. You are stranded with someone from any point in time for 2 months (they are coming to rescue you but are busy right now). Other then family/friends/naval engineers, who is it?
I would say Maya Angelou. I am sure I could learn so much from that woman.

6. Name and describe 3 things on your mind lately. Is there any particular reason why you’re thinking about a particular thing?
First, what am I going to make for dinner tomorrow night? Next, will my parent/teacher conference at Leah’s kindergarten go ok and finally, I really need to schedule a dental appointment. Exciting, isn’t it?

7. If you could go back to one moment in time and change it, what would the moment be and what would you change it from and to?
I would not have dropped out of college. Gosh, that was like the dumbest thing I ever did!

8. What is your biggest pet peeve and is there anything that you can do or not do to stop other people from doing it?
I hate it when people don’t recycle. I mean, how hard is it really to throw your plastic bottle in the recycling can? It is the one think that all of us can easily do to help the environment, but there are still people who don’t care. That really irks me!

9. Who has been the most influential teacher in your life and why did he or she have such an impact on you? Have you sent them a note?
How sad that I can’t recall one particular teacher who had a major impact on me. I did have a good relationship with my high school biology teacher, but he was more like a buddy. I still keep in touch with him.

10. What three things do you regret not learning to do?
I can only really think of one thing, and that was not learning to speak a foreign language. Oh, and I sure wish I could spell better. Thank god for spell check.

11. What is your biggest fear?
That something terrible will happen to my loved ones. Also, that I have a awful relationship with my girls when they are adults. I don’t want to end up on Dr. Phil.

12. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wish I had a beautiful singing voice.

13. What is the answer to life, the universe, everything?
If I knew that, I would be one rich person.  

14. If you knew, beforehand, that the wait for your child from China would take this long and drastic a time frame, would you still go through with it or would you choose another country?
To be quite honest, if we hadn’t been expedited we probably would have re-evaluated the whole situation. My oldest was already five, and I was getting worried that there would be too much of an age difference between the kids if we waited longer. Luckily, it didn’t come to that.  

15. What is one food that most people like that you do not like at all?
Do most people like cilantro? I think it’s gross. 

16. Name one place in the world you would love to spend at least one month visiting?
Paris, France

17. What book have you just finished reading and why did you pick it up? Would you recommend it to others?
I am reading Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides for my book club. It’s a story of Cal, a 50 something hermaphrodite, who is writing his family history, his being raised as a girl and the family secret that probably caused his status as a hermaphrodite in the first place. The subject matter would probably turn some people off, but it is so well written that I am really enjoying it.

18. Share a relatively quick and easy recipe for Fall. One pot/dish recipes given extra credit.
This one is a good recipe – I just made it last night!

19. Would you rather be financially well off, but unhappy, or a happy person who is always in need of money?
Happy, for sure.

20. What is the most comforting sound in the world to you and why?
Tiny footsteps running around the house.

21. What is your all time favorite book? If you aren’t a reader, what is your favorite movie? And why?Favorite book?
I loved both Little Women and The Kite Runner. The Hunt for Red October is one hell of a movie.

22. Share one of your most cherished childhood memories.
Waking up early and watching Davey Crocket on TV with my dad, while he dressed for work.  

23. What are you paranoid about?
That I won’t be able to provide for my children.

24. What trait of yours do you MOST hope your children will carry on?
I hope they have a love of reading.

25. What’s your guilty pleasure?
I can’t say that I actually have one – hmm, maybe I need to get my nails done.

26. What would you buy if you had a thousand dollars to spend on yourself?
I would send myself and my husband to a remote B&B for a long weekend away.

27. Help me update my iPod…name your favorite artists, and then your favorite song that they perform.
I can sing along to lots of music on the radio, but truly have no idea what artist sings them – I am terribly out of touch.

28. What is your favorite charity?
I think Habitat for Humanity is a really great organization.

29. In The Shadow of the Wind, there is a beautiful passage that says “few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart.” Do you think this is true, and if so what is your “first” book and why.
Absolutely. I have been reading since early adulthood, so don’t exactly remember which “first” book had an impact on me, but I do remember that Beach Music by Pat Conroy was one that must have made an impression, since I still recommend it to friends.  

30. What is your favorite wilderness hike and why? (You knew I was going to ask this-if you aren’t a hiker, you can modify it to drive by landscapes or whatever speaks to you.)
My husband and I got to hike up to Diamond Head while visiting Hawaii last year. We had left Leah back at the hotel with my parents. It was so nice to spend some alone time with my husband and also take in the incredible view.

31. What were/are your nicknames? Do you like them?
Steph, and unless I’ve known you more than a day, DON’T call me Steph.

32. What was your first concert? Your most recent?
I saw David Lee Roth when I was just 13. Unfortunatelly, I can’t even remember the last time I saw a live concert. 

33. Have you ever done someone the dirty? I mean really, foully, badly wrong. And would you do it again, and why?
Even if I did, do you think I would tell you?

34. If you found out that the universe HAD been created, and you could ask the Creator one question, what would it be?
Boy, that’s deep. Maybe just a simple WHY?

35. What were your dreams as a child?
I wanted to be a police officer like my dad.

36. What can you do better than most people?
I think I am a pretty good cook, if I do say so myself.

37. What’s your favorite bird and why?
I love hummingbirds, but no matter how many hummingbird feeders I put up, they never come by.

38. When/where did you last go camping?
When I was a girl scout many, many years ago. Would like to give it a try, but I don’t have any of the equipment.

39. Is there something that you feel you should love doing with your kids but you really don’t enjoy at all?
I think Perrin hit the nail on the head when she said “I don’t really enjoy playing imaginary stuff with the girls. I like board games and reading but I dread when they want to play house or Dr. I avoid it like the plague.” I agree entirely.

40. What home improvement project is next on your list? Something as small as changing a light bulb counts.
We really need to replace two of our bathrooms. I don’t know if it will be the next project, but it should be.

41. Which season is your favorite?
Call me crazy, but I love winter. Snow, sweaters, fireplaces, mittens, red noses, baked goodies… I love it all. 42. MAC of PC?
I love using all the fancy Macs at school, but since A) I sleep next to a PC expert and B) I don’t want to pay for new versions of Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark, we recently ordered a pretty green Dell Inspiron laptop. It should be here any day. Yeah for me!

Red Hot n’ Rollin’: Johnny(1,2) -> Our Journey to China (3,4)-> 3D’s Adoption Journey (5,6)->Waiting for Pumpkin (7,8)->Two Kayaks (9,10)->Watch Our Family Grow (11,12)-> Our Journey to Little Maple and Back (13,14)-> American Family (15,16)-> Chicago Mama (17,18)-> The Further Adventures of Spacemom (19,20)-> Mrs. Figby (21,22)-> Mortimer’s Mom (23,24)-> Mimiboo (25, 26) -> Sopapilla (27, 28)->Jiangli (29, 30)->Beeb (31,32)-> FD Chief (33,34) -> The Daily Grind (35, 36); Different Dirt (37, 38); Twoladybugs (39,40)-> Forks and Chopsticks (41,42)

Stay tuned to find out who’s next!

Have you ever slept with a blogger?

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some really great people through my blog. In fact, one person e-mailed me last year after realizing that we were using the same adoption agency. I have met her in person a number of times and tomorrow she and her husband are going to come here for lunch. 

Then there’s Tammy, who drove all the way to the Philadelphia Zoo to meet up with me last summer. Along with Katie and all of our kids, we walked around the zoo chit-chatting like old friends. 

While there, Tammy mentioned how she would be attending a scrapbooking weekend in the Poconos* and asked me if I would be interested in attending. Oh, and she also said that I could stay in her room (with three other women) to cut down on costs.

Normally, this would catch me a bit off guard. Here is this person, someone I just met maybe two hours ago, and she wants me to sleep in the same room with her for a weekend? Doesn’t she know I snore? Is she going to go psycho on me? But then I remembered that in fact, she wasn’t really a stranger. I had read about how she is a college student, just like me, currently studying to become a nurse. How she deals on a daily basis the sometimes rude questions people at the supermarket ask about her children, or what it is like be a to parent of two children. I might have just met her face to face, but really I knew quite a bit about her through her blog. She had felt the need to share her story in an on-line journal, just like me and for that reason I just made a new friend.

So yes, I slept with a blogger, and I’m not ashamed of it. Next weekend, Tammy and her family are coming to my house to meet Maya. I can’t wait.

* Unlike Kristin, who gets invited by GM to an all expense paid trip for a  media event in Memphis, my social life consists of scrapbooking weekends. Oh GM, call me please!

Up next, Johnny’s Rolling Meme of Doom…

Remember when…

I was just thinking about this here adoption blog and was wondering where all my fairly coherent posts went to. I used to write interesting stuff like this and this. Every once in a while I would be able to put together a few funny onces like this and this. Now, all I seem to do is post pictures of my kids. Oh, where have all the good posts gone?

Turning One

Today is Maya’s first birthday…

 

Really, where does the time go?

 Standing up and taking lots of steps…

She sure is one great kid! Happy birthday sweetie!

Maya’s baptism

Yesterday was a very special day for our family. We were honored to have Maya baptised in our church, by the same priest who performed Leah’s baptism.

About thirty of our close friends attended the Mass and afterwards we headed out to a local restaurant for a private luncheon.