Fun times with Daddy

On the rainy days when they can't get outside, Maddy & Daddy do fun things inside-

Watching Kai Lan with her dolly in the stroller

Playing video games- see I have my own 'trollee'


Making fun things out of cardboard boxes

P.S. An update on my mom, she's doing better. She is undergoing physical therapy & still in the nursing home but we are hopeful that she will go home within the next week or so. Hopefully by Easter. Thanks for your prayers & thoughts!

Missions Sunday - China focus

We had our monthly missions Sunday this week at church and the country of focus was China. The family that spoke has served in China for 11 years. Their main ministry is running an orphanage in Southern China. Their stories were inspiring & in some cases heart breaking. Matt & I are on our church's missions committee & have recently been assigned to Asia as our area of focus. We had a great time on Sunday as some of the families in the church have kids adopted from China so we all dressed in our Chinese clothes & we had a buffet afterwards of Chinese food.

Here are a few pictures of our church cuties (Maddy is the youngest & coincidentally there is another girl named Madison adopted from China). I was excited that Maddy finally fit a dress that I had made for her in Nanchang that matches one that I has made in the same fabric.

Been a bad blogger lately

I have to apologize that I haven't posted in 2 weeks & I haven't had a chance to go around to look at other blogs. Matt is back from India now & getting over his jet lag. The day he got back my mom went into the hospital so that's kept me tied up this week. She is still in the hospital and slowly improving- I'd appreciate your prayers for her.

Here are some pics of Maddy trying to help me clean. Matt will do a post on India next week hopefully so you can see what he did there.

$162 cup of tea

Today my car got towed by Minneapolis' finest while I was having coffee with a friend. It was parked at a meter that allegedly has no parking 4-6 pm but it wasn't marked very well. The worst part of it was that Maddy was with me & daddy is out of town for 2 weeks. Talk about horrible timing! Thankfully I was able to call Matt's Uncle Bob (thank you!!) & he came to the rescue.


Maddy was so sweet during the whole thing though. She could tell that I was upset & said 'It's ok Mommy' kisses' & she gave me a kiss. Kids are just so smart & have a knack for knowing the situation for what it is.

I am glad though that it was towed & not stolen. I wasn't sure at first when I saw it gone if it has been stolen & then as I was calling to get the Impound Lot # I saw the truck roll by with my car on the back.


I have been off this week & have not taken 1 picture, I guess it's a little hectic trying to be a solo parent for 2 weeks.

I did manage to find this photo from a recent archive of an adorable outfit Maddy wore to church a couple of weeks ago (thanks Amy for passing on the blazer).

Mid Feb already?

Wow, where has the time gone? This short month of Feb is already half over!
We have a news update on our 2nd adoption, our dossier is now compiled & just going thru the Secretary of State and Chinese Consulate authentications!! We got our immigration approval last week and I put the finishing touches on our dossier. We have 1 other family that we will be grouped with & have been in contact with them. They are all done and were justing waiting for us. Here is what our dossier looks like for those who don't know what goes into it:

Also, I am posting a few pictures from Maddy's Birthday party. I was too busy being a host so I didn't get as many pictures as I had hoped. Maddy had a great time & actually got along with the other kids pretty well despite the fact that they were playing w/her toys.


Ava having a little cake

Craft time

Watching Hi-5

Happy 2nd Birthday!!!

Wow, it's so hard to believe that our baby girl is 2 years old. As we started this year we had a baby on our hands that just learning how to walk, still using a bottle & napping 2 times a day. Now we have a toddler that runs, jumps, dances & sings. We are just amazed daily at how blessed we are to be parents. Not that everyday is easy, but it's just incredible how a little person can make such a big impact on your life!

We woke Maddy up today singing Happy Birthday, but she was a little crabby & not quite ready to get up. Once we told her about a present waiting for her, she perked up & was anxious to get dressed & go see. She was very excited & surprised by her new kitchen. In fact, I don't think she quite knew what was happening at first. Once she saw all of the neat gadgets, lights & sounds her face really lit up.

After breakfast together, Maddy & Daddy dropped mom at work & went to the 'Fun Place' (as dad calls it) and out for lunch. I came home early so we could go out to dinner together. We went to the 50's Grill & it was so cute- they brought out a little Hot Fudge Sundae with a candle on it & sang Happy Birthday.

Maddy served me hot tea from her new kitchen before bedtime. Saturday will be her big day with a party.

Here are a few photos from today:

Heading downstairs to see what's waiting for her

Cool, this comes with a phone!

Making hot tea for Mom

Kitchen Upgrade

As we sit on the eve of Maddy's 2nd birthday, we are furiously putting together her new kitchen we will be surprising her with tomorrow morning. Like any home upgrade project, we have run into a delay-the plumber couldn't install the faucet as it was missing from the 100 parts that came in the box. So tomorrow we will make a call to Baby Age where we ordered it from to see if they can send this out.

Here is the before kitchen picture:

And a manufacturer's picture of the new one: