Reality....Signs That a Two Year Old Little Boy Will Soon Be Here!

You'll have to excuse me here....even car underwear....hee hee! :) (I know I don't need to count on him being ready for these right away; but they were so cute, I couldn't help myself).



And look what what a thoughtful gift....Luke is going to love this! It's from Linda of Behind My Red Door! The package arrived a few days ago and Joy beat me to opening it! Of course, she and Colt have "tried it out" many times. It's just so fun! The little screwdriver winds up the car in the back; then you push down on Handy Manny's head and off the car zooms! This little toy just may go to China with us as an icebreaker for Luke! Thank you so much, Linda! You're so sweet!



And Luke's bedroom is done! I'm just doing a little accessorizing (not much..I figure his toys added over time will do most of that). Hopefully pics of that will come later this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by today! And thanks for all the encouraging comments! I appreciate each and every one! Have a great weekend! :)

The Letter Came Today!

From my last post on the baby steps in the adoption process, you know we were waiting on the letter from the National Visa Center because this has to be faxed or scanned to our agency before they can proceed with the visa for Luke. Well......it came today! Praise the Lord! (Thank you for the prayers)!



Now on to the next step....the Article 5. This is an approximate two week wait from the time our letter is taken to the US Embassy for Luke's visa, which probably won't be until this Thursday (China time, and they're 14 hours ahead of us).

So now we wait............again. :)

Blessings,
~ Tammy ~

Ballet Observation Day

This past Wednesday, Joy's Ballet II Class held Parents' Observation Night. I think Jason and I were the only ones in the class with our cameras. Imagine that! When the kids were younger, all parents had their cameras.....I can't figure out why they quit when the kids get a little older! Or maybe it's just that I'm just crazy with my camera! Anyway, I'm taking mine!

The teacher, Ms. Tracy, was naming all the moves, and the girls would do whatever she said. So, I lean over to Jason and say, "It's amazing how they know all that terminology and what to do, isn't it?" He says, "Yeah, it sounds like a whole other language to me", and I say, "It's French, honey". He didn't have a clue! :) He got to laughing at himself right then and there so much that I was having to shush him before the girls thought he was laughing at them!

Here's Joy with her friend, Kayla, before class started.



Doing some stretches:



Grand Plie'



Develope':



Was performing Entre Chicat: (Okay, I'm not sure at all about that spelling, but it sounds something like that).



Most girls remain in the various levels of ballet for two years. That's considered average. It is very rare to go through a level in one year and being in one level for three years is common. This is Joy's first year in Ballet II. She was in Ballet I for two years. But I can tell you, all of those moves, positions, and leaps aren't as easy as one might think! The girls did a great job!

So once again, we were proud of our dancer!

**Oh yeah, Joy is back in blogging world again (after a brief absence). She's been brainstorming on ideas for posts and she has one on now that takes me on a trip down memory lane and makes me realize how much she's grown up from my baby girl. Click here if you would like to check it out!**

Loving the Colors Outside My Window!

The simplest things can make me the happiest! One of those is all the color I'm beginning to see from my kitchen bay window these days. I can sit at my table and enjoy the view! (No curtains or blinds on those windows)!!

Just in the past few weeks, my azaela bushes have bloomed.





Then shortly after, my knockout rose bushes (love those bushes) started getting buds on them and some have already bloomed!




Not only do I get to see these sitting from my table, but we walk past them every time we walk to or from the car to go anywhere (which is alot, believe me)!



They are just covered with buds about to explode with colorful blooms!



I'm still waiting on my huge crape mrytle that frames the pool deck entrance to bloom. It doesn't bloom until a little later, but it really makes a colorful statement out there as a focal point when it does! Click here for a picture of it in bloom last year!

God really was creative with all the colors he designed for the flowers and bushes. I'm just so thankful for these little things....the beauty in the colors outside my window! :)

Have you taken a minute to enjoy the simple things and thank God for them?

Cabled!!....Another Baby Step Behind Us!

We have another baby step behind us!

In a previous post, I explained the rest of the process leading us to Luke. The next immediate step after the I-800 approval was waiting to be cabled by the NVC (National Visa Center). Well I called yesterday to check on our status. The line was busy for the longest, but I finally got through! And again, I got a very nice lady on the line. (That means alot!) After checking our status, she reported that we had just been cabled that day (cable sent to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China) and that our NVC letter was being sent out to us at the same time (4/21/10). So now we wait on that letter. When we receive that letter, we scan or fax it to our agency. It is then scanned and emailed to the lady in Guangzhou who takes it along with our visa application for Luke to the Consulate. She only does this on Mondays and Thursdays, so I'm really praying our letter comes Saturday so it can be taken Monday, and we don't have to wait on Thursday for that!



Then we wait for the next baby step....for them to prepare our Article 5. That takes about 2 weeks.

After we receive that Article 5, then it's running about 2-3 weeks for TA (travel approval).

So all that said, I'm hoping that about 5 weeks from now, we have our TA! Those will be two sweet letters to hear, believe me! That means travel in June is very likely and most probable.....and hopefully the earlier in June, the better! Joy has it all figured out. Her dance recital is May 29th, so she says we can leave on either Monday, May 31st (Memorial Day), or the next day, Tuesday, June 1st. I wish it was that easy!

I know the day's coming and God knows best......in the meantime we're keeping busy (and trying to hurry and finish everything for Luke's room now)!

Thanks for hanging with me and for the prayers, support, and encouragement through each step as we wait!

Have a great day! :)

~ Tammy ~

Yes!

His black hair is back.....his beautiful, shiny, gorgeous, black hair! (Thank you, Colt)!!!

My Carpenter's Been Busy....

This weekend we had a fairly productive weekend as we spent most of it at home trying to accomplish some things around here. Joy hasn't been feeling well, so we just didn't get out much at all.

The plus side to that.....my carpenter's been busy out in the workshop working on Luke's bed.......and I've been working on closet organization and cleaning out old toys and all the stuff we've somehow managed to accumulate. How can 4 people have that much stuff stashed away? I figure adding a 2 year old little boy and all his stuff to what we have would be overload! Besides that, we were looking at all the dolls and girl toys upstairs and thinking it might be a good idea to box up some of the stuff that Joy's outgrown and donate some of it and put some of it away for safe keeping for her one day.....and make room for a few boy toys.

Anyway, back to the title of this post, I slipped out to the workshop yesterday afternoon and snapped a picture of Luke's bed. Jason's really been working hard and doing a great job...I love it! I found a picture of a bed that I liked and we made some adjustments to fit Luke's room better...and he went at it! I don't want to ever take for granted that my husband can do these things and that he's willing to do so! (I sent him a little note in his lunch today telling him how blessed Luke is to have a daddy that is making him his own special bed).



Since this picture, he and I stained it. Maybe by this weekend, I'll have more pics to share.

The walls and trim are painted in Luke's room and I HAD to hang the valance to see how it was going to look against the green. Now I can't stop walking by and gazing at his room! :)



And the weekend of Easter, we laid the laminate flooring in Luke's room.



We've also been painting some accents for his room (red). And you know adding the little finishing details is really my favorite part in completing a room!

Maybe with another productive weekend, we can pull it all together. I hope so! I'm ready for these redos to be over for awhile. We need to focus on gathering everything we'll need for travel to China! (That will be fun too)!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great Monday! :)