JULY REFERRAL BAKING

Hello Babies!!!

(aka Hello Dollies)

This month was a happier month of referrals.... 15 days (?) worth... Sadly m3 missed the referral for Funshine by one day!!!! Big hugs going out to Rod and Mary-Mia .... But she will be here to enjoy these little nuggets of FUNSHINE yummmms!!!!


1 cube of butter (or if margarine if you must)
1 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips- I actually exceed the one cup and add 2 cups
1 can sweetened condensed milk

In 350 degree oven in a 9 x 13 pan melt butter. Sprinkle cracker crumbs, then add coconut then add chopped nuts.... then what else???? The chocolate chips !!!! Pour can of sweetened condensed milk on top and bake for 25 minutes.... cool slightly to cut......

ENJOY!!!!

BAD BLOGGER

I have got so much to share with blogville right now!!!

BLOGGER S--ks... Will not let me post pictures!!!!

I have pictures of my February Secret Pal gift(s) but cannot get it to work.... I still have not gotten on and figured out the tools bar and to delete the cookies like Stephe suggested....I need to do this or even load onto one of the online photo services.... This all takes time for me to figure out which I am kind of lacking right now... Instead I complain about it....Somehow this just makes me feel just a little better....

Stuff-
1- February Secret Pal gifts once again has blown me away...

2- Got an early (5:30am) morning call from Amy of Ruby in Her Own Time this morning. Usually this would have erked me.... But it was so fun to chat with her and get all the fill in the blanks information that I have been wondering about while reading her blog.... I got to hear Ruby babble and play and she even said "HI" and wished me "G'night" since I was heading back to sleep a few hours later..... TOO CUTE!!! I will say that Amy talked about NUTELLA and toast and TEA..... So what did I dream about during my back to sleep dreams??? NUTELLA.... A few hours of sleep later, I loaded Mesa in the car and headed to the store for bread and NUTELLA.... Good stuff I really must say!!! I have had it before when I was in Europe and the Continential Breakfast and all.... Oh, I hope to heading to Beantown for a day or two to visit Amy and Ruby on my way to or from Norway in September..... One of the amazing parts of my life right now..... FREE TRAVEL!!!!

3- I have done the Referral Baking... got ready to post last Friday and realized that I took pictures of the treats, gave away and ate the treats but forgot to download to my pictures and deleted the pictures on the camera..... As we speak I am re-baking these yummms and will take pictures again.... Lucky BlOGGERS that are visiting me this FRIDAY.... guess what we will be eating???? I am so looking forward to visiting you guys!!!

Like I said.... I have got STUFF TO SHARE.... consider I shared. But FSP gifts and referral baking will happen when BLOGGER will let me post pictures!!!!

MEETING

Jenn B and her little family of four kids...Taylor, Audrey, Noah, and Xander (2) who is pictured with us..... and husband Matt. I just wish I would have thought to take a picture of all the kids cause they were so cute and amazingly behaved!!! We meet in a park with a huge fun playground for the kids and shade and tables for us to talk....

One of the things I just loved about our chatting is the conversation of WHY we are adopting. Jenn has four beautiful healthy kids and has not had the heartache of infertility. I loved that she shared with me the spiritual side of her decision, one that started when she was just a young girl with a disturbing dream.... We both felt that there were too many "things" that keep happening that just made us certain that we needed to adopt from China..... It was so great to meet up with Jenn and have someone who is going thru the same process as me.... We also are a few days apart with our LID dates, and unless they split the days, we will be traveling at the same time!!!

Jenn also presented me with the cutest gift bag with these travel items inside.... PRUNES for the first few days of a POOP-LESS Tate. Teething biscuits, loopy-loops play thingy and a small blow-up beach ball in pink and white for my gal.... Jenn had to search the internet for the ball and I am so glad I got one cause I have been thinking that I needed to get one for the trip....

Thanks Jenn... it was so much fun to meet up with you...

FAV FOTO FRIDAY #3

Mesa loves to go on rides in the car...
Spoiled pup that she is, I will have the air conditioning on me and the windows in the back open for her....

THIS IS WHAT I SEE IN THE RIGHT SIDE MIRROR

SINGLE MOMMAS THAT MEET

I am not going to say that I recently WHINED that there was NO China waiting families group in the SLC area. Tiffany and I have gotten together as FRIENDS and we plan on being a support to each other. Although one other waiting family is better than none, it was so fun to finally meet up with these two single waiting mommas. Yvette (in red) is almost ready to get her referral. (Yvette, as you read this I bet your heart is pounding so hard just thinking that you will be sooooo soon)!!! Leeanne (in white) is almost done with her paper chasing. I am sprawling over the (hot) old juke box. What???? There are two more people in this picture!!!!

This is Marque and Elizabeth or Liza (from Shang Goa SWI, Jiangxi) .... Marque is an inspiration to Yvonne and me. Just being around Liza you see how amazing she is. Marque has done such a great job with raising and nurturing Liza.... a great example to anyone who is thinking of adopting. Liza is captivating, brillant, beautiful, and so WELL BEHAVED!!! I want you all to notice how much Marque and Liza look like each other.... SAME SMILE!!!! This just helps reaffirm that the long wait and frustration will have the most beautiful treasure at the end!!!

EYE CANDY FOR THOSE OF US WAITING AND WAITING FOR OUR VERY OWN LIZA!!!!

CREATIVE ME

(To the blogger Gods... thank you for finally letting me post my pictures!!!)

This is my FIRST double page I made for the Lady Bug Hunter's monthly scrap book page exchange. The posting with the pages were done by Nicole Martin who was the lucky one chosen to give me.... I am so glad she was so quick at getting her pages out to me cause it was a great example of what was expected!!! It is overwhelming when there are such rules and guidelines and you are so new to this!!!

I won't say AGAIN that I have spent hours on the internet and hours in a scrapbooking store just to get into the swing of the scrapbooking stuff.... I tried to get into the trendy colors that are out there, but I am a traditional gal and went with the primary colors of RED WHITE and BLUE with yellow.... I figured that Cindy, who is the lucky gal to receive these first attempts, can journal on the computer and print on white and add the journaling to the striped area..... Other than that, Cindy you are on your own!!!

This is the left side of the double page

So... this must be the right side of the double page spread!!!

I will say that this was a lot of work!!! I am not sure if I am up to the next assigned double page assignment!!! I will rest up, clear my creative brain, and think about it.... To quote Scarlett O Hara... "Tomorrow is another day".

BLOGGER S#&KS!!!

I am so frustrated with BLOGGER... I know it is free, but please.... Why is it always going down for photo uploading????? For the past two weeks I have tried to upload one of my photos for FAVORITE FOTO FRIDAY.... I thought it was ME last week and actually when to KINKOS to get professional help scanning and copying the photo for this Friday's photo.....

Is this why so many have gone to typepad????

I am going to bed now and will hope tomorrow will be another blogging opportunity!!!

For a little eye candy, I was able to get a picture from the internet.... this is not Mesa, although it does look like her and I know she could do THAT TRICK holding the flag and all..... if she wanted to.

NANA'S WISH

This is the first wish that I have gotten from my family, and gladly it was from my MOM and Tate's Nana... How appropriate that it would be from the matriarch of our family and Tate's middle name sake..... I know that the wish is blurry but it says "You are a sparkling gem in our Family Tree.... Welcome Dear One! Love Nana and Gramps.
Although my mom is not a crafter... she managed to do this for Tate. I know that she spent a lot of thought and time picking the perfect fabric that would represent her.... This fabric is so her!!!















I have always thought I would name a daughter after my mom.... Tate's middle name will be Solfrid after my mom who's nicknamed is "Sunny".... I have mentioned before that I wanted Tate to have a special relationship with her Nana.... My mom will be 73 years old when she travels with me to meet Tate.... I worry about her traveling at her age but especially since she has Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer that affects her immune system. I have talked to her Oncologist about the risk it will take for her to go to China with all sorts of exposure to "germs". I have been assured that she will be OKAY and that she just needs to get the normal shots... I will be so paranoid around anyone who is looking unhealthy during our travels and so freaking out that she will get something that her immune system cannot shake and end up making her severely ill..... My mom wants to go with me and have the bonding experience with Tate..... From the very moment I mentioned that I wanted to adopt from China and at my advance age, my Mom has been 200% supportive of me.... I feel so blessed!!!

On a funny note..... all my life my Mom was known as Solfrid. When I was 19 yrs old, my parents built a house in a new area. My mom dreaded meeting new people and having to endure the slaughter of her name SOLE-FRED... SOFFEE... SAWFREED.... The name is an old Viking name and means JOY OF THE MORNING SUN. As a solution to her dread, I suggested she call herself "Sunny".... which she liked and has stuck. How many of Kiddos can claim they named their mothers????

I am a lucky lucky Lisa!!!!

I'VE GOT NOTHING

Got stuff to talk about but not on one subject and not that important of stuff…

JUST MUSING

~~ I am having two full days off of both jobs -----a miracle!!! LOVING IT!!!

~~ Yesterday I spent 3 hours at the scrap book store…. My feet were killing me and my head felt like mush…. But I think I will have a 4th of July page for my Lady Bug Hunter’s swap!!!! I am taking the advice of the group and making one for Cindy and one for me…. Pictures later.

~~ Told Mesa if she gave me a kiss I would take her swimming…. She must understand me because out of character she gave me a big sloppy lick!!!! I speak DOG!!!!

~~ At the dog pond I saw a family with two Asian girls…. I wanted so badly to go up to them and say I am LID March 7…. I used self control, but want to come up with an international code that can be used in situations like this….


~~ My awesome neighbors are moving far away with the cutest baby boy…. Very Sad…. They gave me their baby jogger stroller!!! They ROCK!!!


~~ On my way home from getting coffee, found a travel playpen at a yard sale…. BOUGHT IT!!!

~~ Today, I have been eating nothing but Lays Chile Lime chips…. BAD LISA!!!


~~ The book I am reading right now is NIGHT by Elie Wiesel…. Blown away and speechless!!!

~~ Been getting real hot today .... Thought I might be getting HOT FLASHES.... found out that it has been over 100 degrees here.... I AM RELIEVED!!!

~~~~What have you all been up to??? DO TELL!!!~~~~

FIRST SCRAP PAGE

As I have said before.... I am a joiner.... I want to be a part of everything.... I want the connect to other people who are adopting from China, as well as the FUN of it all....

This is the page I recieved from NICOLE PARKER

So I have join another group, Lady Bug Hunters..... this one is a monthly scrap book double page exchange.... What is so funny about this is, I do not scrap.... I want to do this for Tate, just like I have wanted to do the 100 wish quilt for Tate and do not quilt..... I will say that yesterday I spent 4 hours on the 2Peas in a Bucket site looking at layouts for ideas and inspiriation.... All I can say is WHEW!!! I got some good ideas for pages.... Now I just need my Tate to take pictures of so I can put these 4 hours to good use COPYING other people's stuff!!!


This is my first scrap page exchange... The subject assigned was 4th of July.... I love that this page is personalized to Tate. The creator of this page is Nicole from The Moon is Always a Female..... Check it out cause it is a run read!!! Thanks Again Nicole....this is my first pages and will hold a special place for me!!!

PAPERCHASE BEGINS Series #3

I am concerned that people will think I am crazy….If they have just found my blog and only read my Series they might thing “What the ???? This gal is crazy.” I am sharing these amazing (to me) things that had lead up to and confirmed my decision to adopt from China through prayer. I will preface this prayer thing with….. Praying was something I never did…. I never prayed for guidance concerning major decisions and did not expected to get an answer to my prayers…. Some people have prayers answered, but I just was not one of them. I actually thought that God had forgotten me along this road of life. As I relay these very personal feelings and experiences, just know that I want to share a part of me with you….. I am also being selfish because I need to remind myself, and address my doubt, that I know that this plan for me to adopt Tate is not really my plan but one that is given to me as an answer to prayer.

One year ago today…. July 10 2005.

After feeling for months a spirit of a baby girl along side of me as well as the overwhelming sorrow I had shared with her birthmother, there was an urgency to get going on this process and felt total frustration with the inability to GET GOING on adopting my gal. On the night of July 10 2005, I prayed for comfort to settle all my frustrations and patience for the promised start in early spring from my agency. Tears were shed and I ended up sleeping poorly. Morning of July 11, 2005 I get an early morning call…. Totally annoyed I answer ready to berate the fool that woke this sleeping tiger…. It was my Agency China Representative, “Let’s get you going on the paper chase…. I am putting you ahead of 5 other singles because I feel this baby is for you”…. WHAT????? Needless to say I was in shock, then the overwhelming feeling that I am sure we all have gone through….. This was a miracle and a direct answer to my prayer from the night before!!!! I spent the rest of the day in tears of joy, sharing my news with the world and praying…..

This is a journal entry I wrote that day to my daughter…..

Baby of Mine-
I have the strongest feelings that your spirit is here with me…I know that I must find you and unite with you. Could you have been mine in the pre life???? Are you the spirit I felt when I was in my twenties and the age where I would have normally had a little girl? These are questions that will be unanswered until we leave this earth. I know that the spirit I feel right now is you.
For better or worst we are to be together on this journey on Earth. ….

FAVORITE FOTO FRIDAY #2

SECOND FAVORITE PHOTO FRIDAY.....

Hmmm Saturday

THIS IS MY NIECE TWINKLE TOES AND MY GRAND-NEPHEW TRISTEN... These two toddlers are five months apart.... HE is the older man!!! Somehow he could not take his eyes off of her.... I just love the expressions and the sweet soft shoulder exposed due to a strap slippage .... Accident??? Or does she know the magic of a little innocent skin showing.....

BIRTHMOTHER'S SORROW series #2

This is a posting that is the second installment of the story of my journey to adopt TATE. I will post these in installments in the order which they occured last year. I have not shared this with too many out there in BLOGGER internet land. And I am some what worried that I just might expose too much of my personal side to who knows may be reading this. However, I am writing this as a way for me to figure out and remind me why I am choosing to adopt at my age and singleness.

This is an experience that happened on year ago today on July 7 2005.....

This time it is an excerpt from a journal that I am writing for Tate. I have been writing as if I am talking to her.

"I was doing something very mundane in the house. Maybe straightening or dusting. All of a sudden an overwhelming sadness came over me and my thoughts were of your birthmother and the agony and heart wrenching pain that it would take to give you away. I knew you would be so sweet and beautiful and so difficult for a mother to have to give you up. I had the overwhelming feeling of kneeling immediately and praying that our Father in Heaven would give peace to your birthmother letting her have comfort and knowledge that you would be cherished and love more than can be imagined. I wanted her to feel forgiveness to herself and peace that her actions of abandonment were not by choice. After my prayer I stood up and had immediate peace and the warm knowledge that your birthmother also had peace in her heart."

Remember at this time I still thought I had a good year before I could even start the 12 month paper chase for you.....

to be continued July 10/11

FUN IN THE SUMMER SUN

JANUARY SECRET PAL... YOU ROCK!!!!

I got home from a long day of working sunrise to sunset and came home to a HUGE box with all this stuff for FUN IN THE SUMMER FUN!!!

I really needed a beach bag.... This one is so cute!!! The bag can be filled with all the needed summer stuff and the bag has a liner that pulls together to keep everything inside... The bright flowers are wooden and the bag is so cute!!!

Inside the bag I found this......

The cutest one piece swimming suit striped in BRIGHT colors... The top and around the legs are ruffles.... Orange sunglass to match and Tate's first thongs....This is what I have called flip flops for years.... Why change now!!!! I am planning on bring this swimming suit to China cause it will be the right size for Tate!!!!

THANK YOU JANUARY SECRET PAL!!!!!!

CELEBRATE

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY !!!!

To everyone...

The lucky families who already have their children home living in this freedom

AND THE FAMILIES WHO ARE WAITING.....

I KEEP SAYING.... "NEXT YEAR"!!!!!

SCHIZOPRENIC

Sometimes I feel like I am a schizoprenic blogger.... I will write something that is more thought provoking and soul defining on one day then turn around and write something so meaningless, stupid and silly the next.

I read blogs the same way.... my regular check everyday blogs of friends, and DTC group .... Happy sweet spiritual blogs..... BUMMER blogs.... Blogs where I can get rejuvenated on what life will be like when I have my Tate.... Traveling blogs where I live vicariously thru others... I will read certain blogs when I feel definitively strong... blogs that will keep in touch with the RUMORS (I actually try to avoid these most days)....

I'm a SCHIZOPRENIC BLOG HOG..... and I love it!!!!

UDATE TO THE VISIT

Who is the mystery blogger buddy who was unsure about coming but NOW IS COMING???? It is Lisa from Baby Shanahan!!! I am so excited that she is able to make this PARTEE!!!

BLOGGERS VISIT

We blog.... We comment on blogs.... We Email....... We now will visit!!!

WHAT FUN!!!!

It all started with a Franklin Covey workshop that Julie was going to attend at one of the local ski resorts..... An innocent e-mail from Julie to meet up with Tiffany and I .... AHHHHHH..... I have a light bulb idea.... Donna is friends with Julie and ME..... I have been wanting to meet up with her...... E-mailed Donna with an invite..... Another light bulb idea from Julie and another blogger buddy is invited and pending.....

Airlines tickets are bought and the date is set..... The first weekend of August.....

I AM TOTALLY THRILLED!!!!!