Jinnae's room complete

Rick has worked so hard this past week on Jinnae's room. It is now complete except for the curtains. My mom is sewing them right now. Notice the daisy and Imagine sign on the wall? Rick made those too. He is so gifted.

I came home from the store yesterday and wondered where Rick was. I looked for him in the normal places: garage, backyard, lazy boy, computer room, looking in the fridge and finally found him in Jinnae's room. He was whistling and making Jinnae's bed. He was being so careful and tying perfect bows on the bumper.

He is going to be the best dad ever.

First Baby Shower

Today I had my first baby shower for Jinnae. The staff at my work took me to the Olive Garden and presented me with many special gifts for Jinnae.

It was a very nice time. I am very blessed to have a job I love with great people to work with. I was also able to visit with my good friend, Dawn whom I used to work with. Dawn now teaches at Grand Haven Christian which is closer to her home.

My work friends gave us a gift certificate for free admission for a year to John Ball Park Zoo. We plan on spending much time there. It is nice that the zoo is only 15 minutes down the road. They also gave us a beautiful framed picture that was drawn by one of my previous students, Sarah Landstrom. Sarah is now in the eighth grade. The picture is beautiful and special.

We received many cute outfits and toys as well. I opened the toys when I got home and put them in a toy box for Jinnae. I know they won't always look this neat, but they make me excited to have Jinnae crawling around here soon. No exact travel dates yet - still waiting and praying that it will be very, very soon!

Don't you just love the pink chair?! Our friends Phil and Missy bought the chair for Jinnae.

Thanks for the special day, friends.

Rick, Jinnae and I are very thankful for all your kindness, thoughts and prayers.

By the way, Rick has been cranking away on the nursery every night this week. Pictures of the finished nursery should be this weekend. I hear the sander now!

Jinnae's room in progress

Rick is working hard on Jinnae's room.

It will be awesome when it is done.

The colors will be pink and brown.

His goal is to get it taped off and the crown molding up tonight.

The nursery should be done by Friday.

Mom's Cooking

Sorry Jinnae, you have not been blessed with a mom who can cook. I was so excited about making this thin crust pizza for your dad too! Oh well.

I can bake, shop, do hair and make up so we will have lots of fun.

And don't worry, your daddy can cook. He is a great chef!

Baskets and Reading

Today Rick and I sent a goody basket to Jinnae and her foster parents. We included a camera so we hope to get lots of pics of the things we are missing. We also sent a picture of ourselves and a letter (translated in Chinese). She will probably slobber all over the picture, but maybe she will recognize us when we get there. My friend, Tanya, suggested I not send a pic of Rick with his shirt off - she didn't want Jinnae to be scared! :)

We are keeping busy with baby showers, decorating the nursery, final doctor appts. for Hep. A and Hep. B shots and saving more money.

We also are reading together the book, Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline MD and Jim Fay. It is interesting and helpful.

It is hard for both of us to concentrate on work these days. Hopefully the time flies until May or we may be surprised and leave earlier. We'll see!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Rick and I went to Mars Hill Easter service this morning.

It was thought provoking and meaningful.

The music brought tears to my eyes.

God has been so good and so faithful to me throughout the years, even when I don't understand things sometimes. He has a plan for my life and I need to always trust Him.

We had a nice dinner with my family. We then came home and talked with Rick's parents on the phone as they live in North Carolina now.

It was a beautiful day. We are thankful for our faith and our many blessings.

We also had a nice time Saturday night with our spectacular friends John and Carole. We laughed a lot. John gave us great vision on how we should paint the nursery. Posts on the nursery will be coming soon. Carole actually crawled around my house and got into everything Jinnae would. Thanks Carole, for helping me baby proof!! This picture is from a fishing trip we took with John and Carole in South Carolina. I get seasick easily so I wasn't sure I wanted to go on this trip. John convinced me I would be ok. He said we would still be able to see the shore. We went out 20 miles!! You could not see the shore!! I actually ended up being alright, John was the one who got sick! Sorry, John.

Patience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so I'm tired of being patient. I have been patient for three years. We were hoping to hear something today about travel dates and by 4:00 pm we still had not heard anything.

So....I called my agency. They said they still had not heard travel dates from China. China is setting up appointments for us right now. We will need to meet and interview with government officials when we are there, do MORE paperwork, etc.

I said I understood that they did not have exact travel dates but could they let me know what they thought they would be approximately?

They said Rick and I have a ten percent chance of going before April 15 and a 90 percent chance of going the second week in May. (China's government offices are closed April 15-April 30 due to a trade fair, so adoption travel doesn't happen then)

We can handle that, it's good to kind of know for planning for our jobs, getting the nursery wrapped up, etc.

I did cry. On May 12, Jinnae will be 9 months. I feel like I am missing so much. Rick and I are going to send Jinnae's foster parents a goody basket for them and Jinnae. It will have blankets, stuffed animals, a camera, and lots of film. We are going to ask her foster parents to take tons of pictures of Jinnae for us.

God is good. Thank you for all your prayers.

Happy first day of Spring!!