Song for Lucy - the video

Jackie and family at Taiwan Lucy have made a Youtube video of their "Song for Lucy." It's beautiful. I cry every time I watch it. If it touches your heart too, stop by their blog and leave them a message. It's been six months since their referral of lil' Lucy. It took a long time to get logged into court, so things are taking awhile. I think they could use some uplifting words of encouragement.

My 31st Birthday

Happy birthday to me! I'll be at work. Guess that means I'm a grown-up. I was out with girls on birthday eve. Had such a good time I can't even blog about it!

Kevin came home on Wednesday night, and we went out for Chinese. I think our friends at the Chinese restaurant feel really bad for us. We're welcomed with, "Ni Hao, Sarah... Kevin. When you get baby?" Heehee. That's pretty straight and to the point, isn't it? My reply, "No baby. More wait. More love for baby with more wait." Then we get big hugs.

I mentioned to Kevin that I might like an external hard drive to store my digital scrapbooking files, then I could transport them around between computers and travel with them. Kevin gets excited when I give the green light to anything electronic. My birthday present was a little pink external hard drive that's about the size of my hand. I need a faster USB port though. It's pretty slow. I backed up my 10 gigs of scrapbooking files onto the external, and it took over 200 minutes to copy. Woah!

Okay, enough geek talk for tonight. This birthday girl has got to get to bed. I'm feeling old now.

Life is precious.

Please say a prayer for Kristy, an Australian newlywed, who's husband died in a boating accident on Easter. I'd met her online recently while creating a blog design for her. She just married in January and started her blog titled "My Life as a South-East Country Wife." Here is a link to a news article, published before they found him. Life is precious.

I called Kevin today and asked when he's coming home. I miss him. It's really lonely here without him, and half the town is in FL on spring break. Sedona misses him too. She becomes "velcro dog" when he's away, wanting all of my attention.

Retail Therapy: After Easter Sale

As soon as I saw this dress a month or two ago, I knew that it belonged in the closet of Hannah Claire's pink and brown nursery. It hit 40% off TODAY. I expect a little Gymboree package to be on my doorstep later this week. Yippie!

Blogging fashion report: Rose, one of my favorite little blogees, wore this dress for Easter too. M3's salsa twins were both sugary sweet in pink and brown Easter dresses this year.

26 and 1/2 months

Jennifer and family got the referral call for their son in Taiwan! Party time!!! They waited 26 and 1/2 months for the referral in another program. (Gulp.) Man, I've only waited half that amount of time... and it's torture.

Good cell phone reception is important to the modern marriage.

Kevin's away for a few days helping two guy friends move into a new house. Well, that's what he tells me they're doing, anyway. He called me on his cell phone this afternoon and the conversation went something like this above. I think he was a little hurt by what I *thought* he said. He'll get over it. I think it's terribly funny. Seriously, he really is such a good guy. I think my brain has been affected from eating those pink bunny Peeps. You may have to click on the image to view a larger size to get the gist of the conversation. Come home soon, honey! I love you.

Credits: Custom QTs from Scrapfastic Designs. Cardboard edge and speaking bubbles from Peppermint Creative. Everything else from Shabby Miss Jen. Fonts Century Gothic and Last Words.

Happy Easter

Credits: Everything from Peppermint Creative's Painted Season.

exhausted just thinking about parenting a toddler

We had a 26 month old and her mommy over for dinner tonight. Ohmygosh. I can't imagine being a new ***first time parent*** of a toddler! Running around after them, trying to prevent them from opening the door and running outside, trying to prevent them from sticking finger in a light socket, forgetting the sippy cup and trying to stop them from dumping a cup of milk over every time they drink, having the child eat orange slice after orange slice but wanting to spit out most of the pulpy part into my hand, and trying to break them of the paci for the first time today. It exhausts me just thinking of having to do all of that. Toddlers are so fast! There's a reason children aren't born running. Mom and Dad have to do marathon training as they grow to keep up with them.

13 months

Credits: Weeds and Wildflower's Breath of Fresh Air and Itty Bitty Alpha.

Peep Show

Sherry e-mailed this to me today. This cracks me up and has made my day! Grandma loves peeps. I wonder what she'd think of this? Heehee.

Updated 2/22 10am. Dad called and said that Grandma didn't understand the photo. Would I like to explain it to her? There was lots of laughing in the background. I have a feeling the others at Grandma's house got the joke. :)

A Song for Lucy

Sniff sniff. I just finished listening to a song written and recorded by Taiwan Lucy's dad. It's beautiful! Here's a link to go listen to it. Lucy's case is taking incredibly long to get her home. Her family misses her horribly.

sightings of spring

My parents came over today to give us our Easter basket and my birthday present. We've got chocolates, plastic eggs with jelly beans, snacks for Kevin, treats for the babydog, and a little something extra for me that was wrapped in a ladybug bag. They'll be away on spring break on my birthday, so I got to open up my present early. Yes, I shed a few tears. It's a beautiful mommy necklace stamped "Hannah Claire." I took this photo on a little embroidered Easter dress I bought last year. My mother is convinced that we'll get THE CALL when she's away on spring break.

The adoption agency did call this week. Still waiting for the next baby girl referral.

Last night we went out for pizza with another adoptive family with two little cuties from Kazakhstan and Taiwan. It's amazing how families that have never met before can have a great time and share so much in common!

It's been so nice to have some warm weather lately. We picked up the yard and went on a walk around the neighborhood on Thursday afternoon. We met some new neighbors that have two shih tzus. When it's a little warmer we'll have to have the neighbors over for a shih tzu doggy play date.

Credits: Everything from Weeds and Wildflowers Joyful Hearts except the swirl from Mandabean and Robin Carlton's Precious Child at Sweet Shoppe Designs. Font is Jayne Print by Font Garden.

Ms. Feva N. Chills has left the building

After three days at home with Ms. Feva N. Chills (aka the stinkin' flu), she's packed up her bags and left. Mr. Mucus is going to linger around, but I can deal with him. I get to go to work tomorrow! YAY! No more laying in bed shivering tucked under two blankets, obsessing about Taiwanese babies and crying, or eating ice cream out of the carton while watching Star Trek. I'm greatful to be able to go back to work so I don't have too much time to sit around thinking about what's going to happen with the rest of my life!!! Praise be to God for giving the widsom to the medicinal chemists that made this chemical compound that helped me get better:

Lyrics Contest Winners

Thank you, ladies and gent... er... more ladies... for your entries into the lyrics contest. If you want to review all the entries you can read them here. And now for the winners...

Second runner up goes to Rebecca with her humorous use of the word ferret. First runner up goes to Tish with the most useful lyrics used to soothe a fussy baby at 3am. For their participation, the first and second runners up have won custom digital cartoons of themselves by Lauren Grier available at Sweet Shoppe Designs. Oooooh. Ahhhhh.

And now... the grand prize winner is.... Kristy and her private lyrics submission! Woo hoo! She wins a scrapbook page or Blogger blog design made my me to her liking.

Thanks for playing everyone, and have a good night!

Mr. Mucus came by for a visit.

I'm sick. I could star in a Mucinex commercial. Hack hack.

No baby news... but when I do, oh it shall be a grand!

Hack hack some more. I'm going to bed.

Update 8:30am Sunday: This is no cold, this has turned into classic flu (never ending chills, 101F fever, body aches, and headache). A little mucus is the least of my worries now. I feel horrible calling my work partner just now and having him come in and work for me. The only other time I did that was when I tried to cut off my finger and had to go back to the ER because the superglue didn't hold. All of the blankets in the house don't stop the chills. Brrrrr....

what I've been up to this week...

Here's what I've been up to this week.

I've made all sorts of connections online lately. I've "met" three Indiana families that are or will be adopting from St. Lucy's Center in Taiwan. I'm thrilled to know that there will be other children relatively close by that will come from the same orphanage where our daughter will most likely start her life at. I think these connections will be important as our daughter grows up and develops her sense of identify.

I've been doing a lot reading about lifebooks. Lifebooks are scrapbooks that adoptive or foster parents create to sensitively and honestly help our children understand their beginnings. Lifebooks document what happened to a child and how they came into the family in story form, they make talking about adoption feel like everyday conversation, and help an adoptee make sense of their history. I've joined an online forum called China Digital Scrapbooks for adoptive parents, mostly with children from China, who are into digital scrapbooking and using this medium to create lifebooks for their children. The digiscrapping that these ladies share in the galleries are amazing and very touching. Does this sound like a forum for me, or what???

I had a hard weekend this past weekend thinking about wanting to be in Taiwan. It's hard to ignore the little voice inside that says, "Me too! Me too!" Luckily I have made friends with others that are going through similar feelings, and we can comfort each other.

And of course... to comfort myself I turn to retail therapy! Hannah Claire has way too many clothes, so it's about time for Mommy's turn. Come on, spring weather! I've found some things for myself to put some "spring" into my wardrobe and stocked up on replacing several pairs of work appropriate pants that really needed to retire from service. Today I went to the beauty salon and had a Nioxin microdermabrasion scalp treatment in addition to the usual services. I totally love scalp massages, but now my scalp feels so clear and my hair is squeaky clean and full of volume. Ahhh!

And if you're local, yes that was me in the newspaper today that called the police and had that woman arrested. I don't write about work on this blog to keep my identity a little hush hush and so my employer doesn't get grouchy with me... but oh man, I just hate it when unsavory characters think they can pull one over on me!

Credits: background paper by SMJ Bohemian Traveler, left paper, tag, and ribbon are Freebie 01 by Graziela Mendes Designs, messy stitch by Fernlili, "S" initial by SMJ signature alpha, and staple by Cottage Arts Growth Spurts.

wet doggie

Mel and Judy in Taiwan!!!

My blogging friends Mel and Judy are in Taiwan now and will meet their sons tomorrow at the St. Lucy's Center. I'm so excited for them!

Lyrics Contest

We went out to dinner Saturday night at the local Chinese buffet, and I tested out my "Two Tigers" song out on the very friendly restaurant owner. She was thrilled that I was trying so hard to learn the song, but I realized that I'm pronouncing half the words incorrectly. I think I would need a private Mandarin tutor to get the hang of this. Languages are not my forte. I had some of my worst grades when I took three years German in high school. The only thing I'm worse at than German is Physics. (Funny story: Before I traveled to Germany when I was 16, my dad quizzed me before I left... asking if I knew how to say, "Buy me a beer, big boy." Apparently I learned enough of the essentials and I could spat back the very useful phrase, "Kauf mir ein Bier, groß Junge!") At least I can greet our friend at the restaurant with "ni hao, ping yu" meaning "hello, friend."

After hearing us sing the "Liang zhi lao hu" song together one of the other employees at the restaurant remarked that he thought this was a French tune. Of course, it is set to the same tune as Frère Jacques. There are many many many lyrics to this song in multiple languages.
This gives me an idea. Let's have some fun. How about a little contest? I'll give you all 10 days to come up with your own words to the Frère Jacques song on any subject of your liking. Post your lyrics in the comments section of this post. Best lyrics (judged by me) win a digital scrapbook page or a blogger blog designed by me in any dimensions you want. I'll have the winner e-mail me your photos, and what dimensions you want. If you choose a digital scrapbook page I'll have it printed at Shutterfly for you and sent to your house. Sound good? Here's my song's lyrics below. Of course, my lyrics are adoption wait themed... because honestly there's not much else I'm thinking about these days.

Our adoption, our adoption.

Long long wait, long long wait.

Pour a glass of wine, I think I'll have another.

Send/receive, Send/receive.

Added 3:30pm 3/2/08:

I've been asked a couple of questions on the contest. Yes, you can give away the blog design or digital scrapbook page as a gift to someone else. Yes, you can have more than one entry. How about making it a family affair? Ask each of the kids to write lyrics to this tune. Extra cuteness points go out for submission by kiddos. It's not that hard. I whipped up my little diddy in about a minute.

It's time for a "Two Tigers" sing along!

Liang zhi lao hu, liang zhi lao hu

Pao de kuai, pao de kuai

Yi zhi mei you er duo, yi zhi mei you wei ba

Zhen qui guai! zhen qi guai!

Two tigers, two tigers

Run so fast, run so fast

One has no ears, one has no tail

So strange! So strange!

There are many versions of this song. Sometimes the tigers don't have eyes or a mouth.

Here are links of little ones singing the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FurGAgzRNf8

http://www.56.com/u57/v_MTc3ODQxNDI.html

http://www.56.com/u33/v_MTg4MTk3OTA.html

My interest in this song started out with a post by Jane at "Love is a Place" where she talks about the song. Amanda in Taiwan was so nice to e-mail us translations and video clips of children singing the song that we'd heard YeYe sing on Ni Hao Kai-Lan. She writes that it is a very common children's song that every child in China and Taiwan knows.

Just be glad you aren't an adult living in our house. I've been playing these videos over and over learning this song and working on my pronunciation. I have a feeling Kevin's about had enough of listening to me sing this with Chinese children on the internet over and over and over and over.... It's a good thing that he has a pair of headphones that he will put on when he's on his computer!