Sewing on the binding

Yesterday, my mom came in town to get the binding sewn on our daughter's lap quilt I'm (more like my mom and I'm just there for moral support) making. It's been a labor of love. Every imperfection that we made is just more reason to love it. I think it is turning out beautifully, but I'm a bit biased of course! I can't wait for her to snuggle with it. Next job is mine - hand stitching the binding to the back. Something to do while watching a movie or TV at night...

Me holding the quilt after I trimmed off the excess fabric and batting.

My mom sewing on the binding. Just look at that concentration! Gotta love her!

Holding the final product! A sight to behold!  :-)
Just the hand stitching to go and it's done!

June Referrals are IN!!

Well, while it wasn't a stellar month of matches - they matched those logged-in with dates of March 22 - 26, 2006. A 5-day referral month.

Only 79 more referrals days to go until we're matched with our daughter!

As one of my adoption friends so wonderfully put it today - some of us could be holding our daughters this time next year! How wonderful a thought is that?!

Blue Mound State Park

Well, today we decided to visit another Wisconsin state park - Blue Mound State Park. From the lookouts, you get this magnificent view of the surrounding area. It's the highest point in southern Wisconsin.

We started out and had lunch at this very traditional little diner in Mount Horeb on our way. The diner is an institution!

From there, I spotted this cool barn along the way - we had to stop so I could take its picture. I mean really, we live in WISCONSIN - home of barns, cows, cheese, and beer!

We finally made it to Blue Mounds and had this amazing view... WOW! For those who don't know, the driftless region is where the glaciers, when they were coming down North America, missed this little region - so the geology of the area is very different (there are actually hills!). It's located in the four corners of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa.

When we climbed the West Tower, we could see the storm coming, and decided it was time to leave. Five minutes after we got in the car, the rain hit. Downpour, really... But, you can't beat some quality time with your hubby!!

Hiking in Devil's Lake

Today's been an awesome day!

We started out hiking in Devil's Lake - we hiked the Balanced Rock trail. It was such a beautiful day. The weather was just perfect and the scenery was even more so.

Then, we had a quick trip to the Brat Fest for veggie brats and hot dogs (I know... sacrilegious if you live in Wisconsin... but what can I do - I don't like 'em, never have...)

Now for the end of the day, we going for beers at the Great Dane brewery. MMMM! A lovely end to a lovely day!

Signs of Summer

Well, it's certainly been feeling like summer around here. We've been at nearly 90 degrees the past few days and I can certainly say that these are NOT typical Wisconsin May temperatures! It's supposed to be like this until around Wednesday. It's just plain HOT! Humidity is my enemy (as anyone with curly hair will attest to!).

I did get most of my herbs planted in my deck boxes - this year it's sweet basil, thai basil, oregano, and rosemary. I still have to get my mint, but the last nursery was out of it. Something to do today.

Earlier in the spring, we did buy a new bird feeder and it is now like a bird sanctuary around here. We've been getting lots of house finches, goldfinches, cardinals, sparrows and unfortunately some doves who like to be naughty and scare away the smaller song birds and sit on the bird feeder that is too small for them. Ah well. I try to scare them away when I catch them, but they don't seem to catch the hint.

Here's a photo Robert caught of a male cardinal, a sparrow and some house finches on the feeder. Happy birds!! We really enjoy just looking outside and watching them. It's very relaxing.

May Matches are Official

Well, I was just waiting for the official cut-off to be posted from our agency's website before I made the announcement. It was a disappointing 4-day month. I was hoping for  more days, but that's just the way things go with a Chinese adoption I guess... Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

We have 84 more referral days to go until we're matched with our daughter. Closer, but still so far to go...

Here's the official notice:

5/13/2010
CCAA

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application  documents registered with our office before April 30, 2009.

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before April 21, 2006.

Happy Mother-To-Be Day!

I'm hoping that this will be the last Mother's Day that goes by without my daughter in my arms. Every year I think that next year will be the one. Well, almost 4 years later, I really think that next year is OUR year! Every year you are forced to sit on the sidelines as your friends and family get to celebrate with their children. I can't tell you how hard it is some days. I just want my WHOLE family already - me, my husband and my dear daughter.

As I said in my previous post, I seem to have a plethora of patience, but some days you just want them to hurry up and get on with the process of matching already. Part of this is that a new set of matches are coming up and I start to wonder how many days are they going to match this month? Will it be a good number of days or a bad number? It's enough to drive a person crazy! I know I shouldn't dwell on it, but on a holiday like today, it's hard not to. You just want your whole family to be together at last.

So, today I'd like to wish my mom, sister and sister-in-law a very Happy Mother's Day. Maybe next year, I'll get to celebrate it too with my daughter.

So, for me, this is a Happy Mother-To-Be Day! And in our family, it's all about the food... hence the photo...

Humor for the Day

Sometimes laughter is the best medicine. Today I was talking with a friend (who is also logged in on the same day we are and is using our agency) and we got to talking about the word "patience." This seems to be a topic we talk of often - as we seem to have an overabundance of it. How else could we have endured this wait?! We just laugh at others and what they think a long wait is - they just have no idea or no clue...

So, I decided to humor myself and create this t-shirt. Just makes me smile. Maybe it will give me some more of that patience that I'll need to endure the rest of this wait.
http://www.cafepress.com/learnpatience

Love Without Boundaries Art Auction

Love Without Boundaries is in the midst of their "Born In My Heart Art Auction." The proceeds from all listed items sold by Love Without Boundaries go to help orphaned children in China, by providing medical care, nutrition, education, and foster care to some of the world's most vulnerable children. (Love Without Boundaries is a registered 501(c)(3) organization in the US.)

This year, I decided to donate one of my original owl collages to help them raise money. I hope you will check out the auction to help save many more children who need our help.

http://stores.ebay.com/Love-Without-Boundaries-Store/Born-in-My-Heart-Art-Auction.html

Here is the artwork that I submitted. I hope you will check out not just my item, but the others as well. My owl can be found under "Handcrafted items".

Auction ends on Tuesday, so better get in there soon!

UPDATE:

Last month's "Born In My Heart" art auction raised a total of about $23,000! 361 items were auctioned and will  help provide hope and healing for children at their Heartbridge Pediatric Healing Unit and for those needing critical care which just can't wait. 

45 Months Waiting

It's hard to believe that today marks 45 months since we were logged-in for China. I can't exactly say that "time flies when you're having fun" because this has been anything BUT "fun"!

But, here we are 45 months later and things are starting to feel like we're on the downward trend towards our daughter. Keep your fingers and toes crossed that this positive momentum continues!