Camping Fun

Miss Scarlett and I went camping this past weekend with several members of my husband's family (Hubby was working). It was such a blast! Swimming, fishing, eating food cooked over a fire...aaahhh, that is the life! We came home exhausted, sunburned and sore, but we loved every minute of it. I am so thankful that my in-laws are such totally cool people.

The funniest part was that we were camping on a point at the lake while some sort of bass tournament was going on. Bass boats were flying up and down the lake at all hours of the night. One crazy boater was spotlighting (Can you say "illegal"?) and woke us up at 4 a.m.! We made the best of it by stoking our fire back up and eating marshmallows.

Here a couple of the kids' photos...

Cousins and Best Buds... Sure, I'll drive!

Her First Fish

Scarlett's First Fish

How to Be a Rock Star...

Miss Scarlett was invited to a Justice for Girls Rock Star Party by a little friend. All the girls had their hair done, makeup applied, and given a rocking headset to sing into.

This is what I came home with...a little rock star. Reminded me more of one of the Olympic skaters than a rock star, but as long as Miss Scarlett was happy, I was happy.

Second Adoption Rant

So we are now going through our second home study update and second renewal of our I-717H (which allows us to bring home a child from China to the US). I have to tell you, I am getting discouraged. It seems like things have come to a stall. You know how boats just sit dead in the water? Well, that is what has happened to our adoption file. It is sitting dead in some file, somewhere on a desk in China.

The waiting on China isn't the worst part. It is continually being hit with more and more fees for renewal of fingerprints, arrest searches (that we aren't felons), renewal fees for everything imaginable. I mean, nothing has changed! We've aged a couple of years, but that is it.

So, I am definitely in a funk about all this. We have waited 2 1/2 years already...some folks may wait longer than we will.

I am almost to the point that I want to quit. Almost. But not quite. I try to remember that waiting is hard, and good things come to those who wait. But man, it is so hard.

So we are sending in our second renewal request of the I-171H. Hopefully, we will see our child before we have to renew again. Please pray for us that we will. Thank you, and God Bless.

First Tooth

Miss Scarlett has finally lost her first baby tooth. Her dentist mentioned that she had one lose on the bottom a couple of months ago, but I had no idea how soon it would come out. Over the last week, Miss Scarlett had been worrying the thing constantly, trying to get it lose so the Tooth Fairy would come.

Yesterday while she was in daycare, she just pulled it right out! Mrs. Jean put it safely in a baggie so that it would make it home for the Tooth Fairy. On the way home, she and I discussed how the Tooth Fairy operated. When you lose a tooth, you are supposed to place it underneath your pillow before bedtime. After you go to sleep, she (the Tooth Fairy) would sneak into your room in the middle of the night and take the tooth. In its place, she would leave money. How much, we had no idea.

So, Miss Scarlett very seriously placed her tooth (still in the baggie) under her pillow and went to sleep. This morning,you can imagine our delight in seeing that the Tooth Fairy had, indeed, visited. Not only did she take the tooth, but she left FIVE DOLLARS! Yes, five dollars.

I will upload a photo of Toothless Joe soon.