a walk down 'bow' lane inspired by my secret pals

10 months old in Chongquing, China

The Southern girl in me just came out and the bow

was bigger than little Lily's head!

our first week home in Louisiana

Her first St. Patrick's Day Parade

Spriing Time in Louisiana

A year later, Spring time in Kentucky

Our Winter CUTIE

Well we are officially 4 months into the wait. Some days go by quickly and others just drag along. Today was dragging. Then, I recieved my second secret pal gift within a week. Let me just say that these pals must know me because they have both sent bows for Becky. One of the gifts we got last week and I am just late in adding it to this blog. It is from a swap I am doing with people who all turned in their paperwork in the same month we did. We received 2 Karen Katz lift the flap books and a beautiful black and pink bow. I love it. Those of you who followed our journey to Lily will remember how bow crazy I was. We love the gift and thank you so much secret pal. Our other present arrived today from my secret pal who is using our agency CCAI. It was a purple onsie with socks and matching bows for Becky. Little did she know that my favorite color is Purple. I love it and can't wait to see Becky all decked out. She also sent the cutest turtle for Lily. You put it in water and it grows. We are calling him Tiny Timmy and he should be growing as I type. Thanks so much secret pals. You both made my week!! After I typed this, I just couldn't resist pulling up old bow and hat pics of Lily. As you can imagine, I had plenty to choose from. I put six yes just six on this post. Enjoy! I may be biased but she is just so darn CUTE!!!!

Fun Weekend

Lily and "Taylor" at the High School Musical Performance

flying high

Wes, Lily and I all headed to Prestonsburg, KY for the weekend for relaxation and a live performance of......(anyone who knows Lily will know) High School Musical. We had so much fun! The performance was at an outdoor amphitheater and the weather was perfect. Lily was in rare form. There were so many families around us with there daughters who were 10-14 years of age and there we sat with Lily, a tiny 3-year-old who thinks she is 10-14:) As soon as the production started, Lily began to dance and sing along in her chair and didn't stop. Many around us stopped watching the performers because Lily's performance was so mesmorizing. we had many comments at intermisson about our little actress. She was worried during intermission because of her many times watching the movie, she knew that it was not over and did not want to miss the end. She continued to dance and sing right along with the actors until the end of the show. She did cry at the end...I am talking large tears because she did not get to go on stage (no one did). We had to reassure her that when she got big that if she wanted to perform that she could. Wes said that we better start a trust fund now because she will never support herself acting. All I can say is that she can really belt it out for a 3 year old. We sure hope Baby Becky enjoys music because I can see many live performances in our future! Enjoy the pictures of our little actress. By the way, she wore the t-shirt from the performance for over 24 hours straight until we had to bribe her to wash it so she could wear it again to daycare the next day. Talk about a Drama Queen! We are so blessed.

Our trip to Virginia and Washington DC

We have been so busy as usual. Lily and I made a trip to Washington, DC. I attended the Talk for a Lifetime Conference and we spent time with my Aunt Erms and cousin Di and her family. It was a quick but fun trip. Di has 5 children and Lily loved spending time with 4 of them. Matt was out of state at a camp in Colorado. We really missed seeing him. We all went to see Lily's favorite movie of the summer, Hairspray. It was her third time seeing it. She loved singing the songs from the show with Stephanie and Caroline. She had a great time playing with John. She was a little shy around her oldest cousin, Chris, the high school senior who was gone every morning for football practice. She was just warming up to him when we left. I think she had the most fun when I was at the conference. Diane and the kids took her to Libby Lu where she had the Hanna Montana make-over complete with blonde wig and microphone. I hear she was quite a hit at the mall. She continues to wear the wig daily. I'll post pictures as soon as Diane sends them. I had a wonderful time seeing the Phantom of the Opera at the Kennedy Center. Diane and Steve also took me to dinner when they picked up from the conference one evening. We loved our time with Aunt Erms, Diane, Steve and all of the kids. Lily is still talking about the trip, "Hey Mom, remember last year when we...." We are working on the time concepts. Thank you to all for our special time!

For those keeping track, referrals came out this week. China referred another 7 days of Log in Dates. Our wait continues to grow. We are praying that things speed up soon!