Five Reasons Why...

...I blog. Terri tagged me for this one and really I hope I can think of five reasons for her.

1. When I first began using the Internet to research adopting from China, I came across Julie's, Lisa's, Alison's, and Shana's blogs and I was inspired by them. As singles, Julie, Lisa, and Alison were traveling the same path I was starting on, and I was excited that there were other women like me in this process. Over at Shana's blog, I was delighted by Sophie Lu and drawn to Shana's spirit and compassion. After reading these blogs for a while, I decided that I wanted to document my adoption journey for Jillian as well, and that's what I've been trying to do for the last fourteen months or so.

2. Once I had my own blog and I spent time reading other blogs and leaving comments, I began to make some blogging buddies like Jenny, Terri, Stephanie, April, Christi, Michelle, Shannon, Mariah, Tamara, Paulette, and Sandy (and so many more since then!). The friendships I've made with these women (and a couple of you guys!) have kept me blogging. I feel invested in these relationships, and I look forward to seeing each of you have your adoption dreams come true and your little ones home with you (like Christi, Tamara, and Jenny have!).

3. When I began this adoption journey, it seemed as though I would have my referral within a year of being DTC. We all know how that has changed! Blogging has helped me deal with the increasing and uncertain wait time. I have learned more about the suspected reasons for the slowdown. I have also been encouraged by my fellow bloggers when the long wait has made me feel discouraged and sad.

4. Once I finish the class I'm currently taking, I hope to have more time for other interests like reading, scrapbooking, gardening, cooking, and traveling. I have been so impressed with the diversity of talents my blogging friends possess. I hope to try some new things and blog about them as I do.

5. Lastly, I blog to bring something positive and encouraging to others. I avoid being controversial or snarky on my blog. That's just not my thing. I hope you sense my overall optimism in the future and my excitement and anticipation for Jillian's referral.

I'd love to read about your five reasons for blogging. Let me know if you decide to post about this later.

Back to Our Regular Programming...

Before I was stricken last weekend with food poisoning, I paid a visit to my dear grandmother (known affectionately as 'Tata') and she gifted me with this:

She is the Princess Poet and I think she's gorgeous.

I had blogged about these figurines a couple months ago and expressed a desire to have one someday. Well, my grandmother thought this would be the perfect way to acknowledge my impending graduate degree. Lucky me! Thank you, Tata!

Speaking of my graduate degree, I have about three-and-a-half weeks to go and five assignments to complete! I can't believe it! I'm almost done!!!

Thanks to all for your good wishes for my recovery. I'm doing much better and plan to return to work tomorrow. I don't recommend that approach to weight loss at all!

How to Lose 7 Pounds in 24 Hours...

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Many people want to be friends with the gracious and courageous Pig, who is sometimes called the Boar. The twelfth sign of the Zodiac sees the good in everyone and is able to make even casual acquaintances feel special through his attentiveness and sincere compliments. His ordinary—or even unpolished—appearance makes him approachable, and those who do befriend the Pig quickly discover he is kind, cultured and generous. This sign readily indulges the people he cares about and goes to great lengths to accommodate their wishes. He is gallant and quite the connoisseur, seeking the best in life for himself and others. His love of the gourmet lifestyle frequently causes him to overeat and his naive faith in humankind sometimes creates financial or personal woes.

The Pig gets along best with people born under the sign of the Tiger, Rabbit or Sheep. He is least likely to extend his hospitality to the Snake or another Pig.

Compatible: Tigers, Rabbit, Sheep
Incompatible: Snake, Pig

I told my mother that she is a Golden Pig (she was born in 1947), and she snorted a little and rubbed her tummy. I shook my head and tried to tell her that she'd been born under an auspicious sign according to the Chinese tradition. She's too funny!

I am a Sheep, so if Jillian is born in the Year of the Pig we are suppposedly destined to be compatible. Well, that's good to know, because I don't know what I'd do if we weren't... ;-)

Brought to You by the Letter 'J'

Connie assigned me a letter, per my request. I was afraid that I wouldn't come up with enough things to write about, but I didn't do too badly after all. Here are some things I love that begin with the letter 'J'.





James Taylor - I've lost track of how many of his concerts I've been to, and I have many of his CDs. His music is consistently good, and he always puts on a great show. His voice is like an angel's.













Japanese food - especially sushi! I love salmon-skin handrolls, the Spider roll, salmon and tuna sashimi, edamame, miso soup, and the California roll. I've even learned to like sake. It's one of my favorite meals.










Jam - strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, apricot, you name it! I love jam on toast or waffles.







Jardins - um, that would be French for gardens. When I was in France we spent an afternoon in Monet's Garden. C'est magnifique!







Jeopardy - this is the gameshow for grown-ups! I like how it tests my trivial knowledge.








Jesus - " God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." John 3:17

Happy Valentine's Day

Fascinated by Orchids

The storm blew over without leaving much more than a half inch of rain, and so today I was motivated to get out of the house. My mom and I went to the orchid show in Orange County where we saw thousands of spectacular specimens of one of my favorite flowers. The variety of colors and shapes provided a feast for the eyes, and we were sorry that we hadn't brought our cameras. As tempting as it was to bring one home with me, I didn't do so. I already have a deep rose colored cymbidium orchid blooming in my living room. It was a gift from a student last school year. Beautiful, potted plants are one of my favorite gifts to receive from my students because they last for a long time and remind me of the giver.

As for my movie watching...

Well, I was somewhat disappointed with A Prairie Home Companion. I'm a fan of the radio show - in fact, it made me laugh so hard once that I could hardly breath. I love Garrison Keillor's sense of humor. He's written some really funny books for children, too. I highly recommend The Man Who Loved Cheese! But APHC, the movie, wasn't as entertaining as the radio show. The plot was weak. It was so weak that I could barely identify it. And it moved painfully slow. I struggled to stay awake through the whole thing. If I hadn't been waiting up to finish my laundry, I wouldn't have made it through the whole movie. Zzz...

I may be too tired to watch another movie tonight, but I'm thinking about watching The New World before the long weekend is over.

TGIF

The good news?

It's a three-day weekend.

The bad news?

It's supposed to rain all weekend.

Looks like I'll have no excuses for not catching up on my studies. But there should also be time for watching some movie rentals. Any recommendations?

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I'm just back from the video store and I've got A Prairie Home Companion (love the radio show), The New World, and the last kiss.

I'll let you know what I think of them in a day or two.

BuggyAboutBecca

Here are my wonderful nieces again. I posted this picture a while back when they were modeling their Halloween costumes. Rebecca is on the left and Sarah is on the right.

I think both of these girls are beautiful, intelligent, and talented, but I want to let you know about Rebecca's latest endeavor. She has started her own business called BuggyAboutBeads.

You see, Rebecca is a jewelry designer, and now she is a young entrepreneur, too. She has launched her business on Etsy.com and you can see her designs here. Rebecca has been learning about jewelry design and making her own pieces for several years. All that while being a straight A student, ASB representative, and an active member of her church's youth group. She is an amazing young woman.

On Sunday, she showed me her latest creations and this was my favorite. I may just have to buy it...


I hope you'll take a moment and visit her site. We hear so much in the news and such about all the young people who make bad choices, and I think we need to give those that are making good choices with their lives more attention.

Thanks!

Seven Months

Tomorrow makes seven months since I was LID. I believe I have another twelve months to wait.

February Referrals

America World is pleased to announce the receipt of 19 healthy female
referrals today! Families receiving referrals were logged into the
China Center of Adoption Affairs on October 11th and October 12th of
2005 (groups 231 and 232). The little girls are currently located in
the Jiangxi and Guangdong Provinces and range in age from 8 to 22
months. We are also excited to announce that one of the families
received twins! Please join us in congratulating these families, and
in praying for them as they prepare to travel.

This is the second consecutive month my agency has had a referral for twins! I'm off to look for referral photos...

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Update: I've just been thinking about the timeline to my referral based on the number of referrals in this batch and the numbers in Rumor Queen's polls up to my LID. With that in mind, I don't think I can expect a referral until February of next year. Of course, anything could happen, but just looking at the numbers that's what makes sense today.