Thelma and Louise

"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats." Chris Murdoch

Some times you just have to jump in a Bug and get out of dodge! This morning my "small treat" was coffee with my girl Tina at 6:00 a.m. It is always a sure thing that we will be laughing the whole way down the road!

~Small wonders~

Just taking care of business...giving Ned some water. That's his den back there that my dad built.

Hmm...what's that sound?

Chirp, chirp, chirp....

Oh hi! Nope it's not you little one...you just look scared to be out of your nest for the first time.

Oh, hey little buddy! It's you. How'd you get in there?

One thing the Chief, Alex and I have in common is the soft spot in our hearts for animals. We all share the same nurturing, protective love of God's smallest creatures. Alexa and I see wonder each day in the hummingbirds, the quail who sing to us, the butterfly that lands on a branch, the roadrunner that walks along our fence, and the baby birds learning to fly.

When the Chief and I first moved into this house, there was a little baby bird that had fallen from its nest and broken its wing in our backyard. Neither of us could stand to watch it suffer, so I found a place (after many phone calls ) that would take it. It was about 30 miles from our house but at 10:00 that night the Chief and I brought this baby bird to the "bird lady" who takes in injured birds. I think living out here in the desert has made us appreciate all the unique wonders it gives us each day. Don't get me wrong, if I find a scorpion in the house I whack the sucker with my flip flop at a high rate of speed and regularly kill spiders without pause but I never take the small wonders for granted. Alexa has that same spirit in her and I hope she keeps it. I want her to respect her surroundings and see the beauty in the smallest wonders.

Happy Father's Day!

I chose this photo of the two of them because of how happy the Chief looks. Happy Father's Day honey...you are a great dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Concert at the Park

Last night was a playgroup date with our FCC called Jia Ting. It is for families who have been home with their child since 2005, so a lot of the girls are similar in age. We met at the Railroad Park where they do a free concert on Sunday nights and lots of people show up! It was really fun!

This one is blurry but Alexa's big smile is all I see. Playing with some new friends.

With Amy. I couldn't seem to get a shot of them both smiling but it's still cute.

Alexa dancing to the band. She loved her glow sticks.

Beautiful baby Georgea made her debut last night and everyone wanted to see her!! She is so precious!

Alexa had a blast playing, dancing, doing somersaults, hanging out with her buddies James, Amy and Georgea and eating marshmallows. : )

~The Girls~

Yesterday we went over to see Georgea. Our friends James and Amy just returned from China last week. Bestill me heart...I am smitten with their little girl. Alexa loves her too and proclaimed at the airport last week that "She is darling." That she is! When we came into their house, Georgea wouldn't take her eyes off Alexa. Georgea is so sweet, has the cutest raspy voice and just loves to snuggle on her mom. Alexa gave her some tickles and some "coochy coochy coos" and Georgea smiled and giggled.

Watching Georgea's journey home has been really good for Alexa. It has brought up some really beneficial conversations between her and I about her birth parents( which we are already open about), China and adoption. She has been roll playing with her dolls and pretending that she is a baby and we are coming to China to get her. It has all been positive and I think it is so important that she knows there are other girls like her, who are with their forever parents and are loved and cherished like she is.

I love the fact that her and Georgea share a very special bond and will have each other to lean on as they get older. Best buddies forever!

Introducing.....

Beyonce Shine!

~Dance Recital~

Alexa had her dance recital today. She has been taking ballet and tap for about a year and a half now. She looked beautiful and danced like a star. We were not allowed to take pictures or video inside the auditorium so we had to settle for a few outside. Alexa loves to be on stage and really did not have any stage fright. She spotted us in our seats and was so cute waving to us on stage when she was supposed to be dancing. During the finale she really busted out some moves and we just cracked up. She loves to dance but I think freestyle is more her thing. ; )

They have their girl!

Our friends are in China now and met their beautiful daughter Georgea on Monday. Isn't she a beauty? She just turned one year old on Tuesday. They are having a wonderful time bonding and enjoying China. We cannot wait until they get back home! You can follow their story at http://joyofgeorgea.blogspot.com What a blessing!!!!!

~Appreciation~

Tomorrow is Alexa's last day of school. We spent the day painting, potting and making caterpillars. Alexa worked very hard and painted each pot herself. Alexa has 3 preschool teachers and 2 dance teachers. I got each teacher a Target gift card and on the card it says "Thanks for helping me grow". We appreciate all the teachers in our life!

Awards Night

Last night was Awards Night at Alexa's school. It was really nice and the kids and teachers did a great job. The preschool class sang two songs, one of which was "What a Wonderful World" which is the song that The Chief and I first danced to when we eloped, so it was totally a "full circle" moment for us. We are so proud of Alexa. She is a hard worker, responsible, caring, curious and a good friend. She earned 3 awards last night and we could not have been more proud of her. She really enjoyed herself ( she loves to be on stage) and kept waving to us in the crowd. I just love being her mom, everyday is just an absolute pleasure to experience.

~Pins and Needles~

Our friends left this morning for China to get their beautiful baby Georgea. You can follow their journey here at http://joyofgeorgea.blogspot.com/. Their Forever Family day is scheduled to happen on Monday. I will actually be posting for them on their blog since Blogger is currently not operating in China. We are so excited to follow their journey and of course meet Georgea when they return home!!!! We plan on greeting them at the airport on June 3. I cannot wait!! We wish them safe and speedy travels and the adventure of a lifetime!! Georgea turns one year old on Tuesday so we want to send a special early Happy Birthday to her!!!! XOXO

San Diego~Part 2

So....off we go to La Jolla and we find this cool beach were we took the photos above. Everything seems to be fine and we find this sushi place to have dinner. So we are sitting in the booth and Alexa is next to me and I notice a strange look on the Chief's face as he is looking at Alexa. I look at her and underneath her right eyelid is a swelling that looks like a fever blister that is literally growing as we sit there and look at her. I can't even believe this. Needless to say, dinner is over and we get the check. Our stress/worry level is already on high because of the fevers so this just adds to it. We rush to the car, drive to the nearest pharmacy ( the Chief's idea ) and then off we go to find the nearest Urgent Care Center. They are closing in 10 minutes and tell us to hurry up. So we finally find it and they are kind enough to see us. The doctor tells us it is some kind of reaction, listens to her lungs and heart and tells us she has a viral infection and to give her some Zryt*c which I have actually packed. So we get back to the hotel and do this and the swelling starts to go down. Then about 4 hours later, the nightmares and cold trembling starts again and sure enough 20 minutes later the 103 fever hits. There is nothing worse then being in a strange place, in a hotel at 2:00 a.m with your delusional feverish child ( she was telling me that I was dreaming of Spiderman) and just waiting it out until it stops. The sound of the ocean was the only calming factor in the room. So after a couple of hours of sleep the Chief and I decided we just wanted to get her back home. There was no point in staying since we knew we would only be hanging out in our hotel with our sick girl and no way was I going through another night like the previous two.

So at 6:30 a.m we packed up and got in the car and drove all the way home. Alexa had one more feverish, coughing night and then was pretty much back to normal yesterday and today other than the occasional cough and being tired.

So that was our long awaited, much anticipated vacation in San Diego. We were totally disappointed that we did not get to do all of the things that we had planned. We did enjoy the time that Alexa was feeling okay and managed to get some good memories captured.

San Diego~Part 1

So, off we went Wednesday morning on our much anticipated California vacation. It's a 6 hour drive for us and we were planning on spending 3 nights. Alexa had never been to the beach so we wanted to spend time doing that and then Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. We arrived Wednesday afternoon and checked into our hotel which was right on the beach, perfect to listen to the ocean as it lulled us to sleep at night..oh wait, sleep?...not on this trip...! We immediately got our swimsuits on and went down to the beach. Alexa LOVED the ocean and getting chased by the water ( and her dad with the seaweed). We spent a couple of hours there and then Alexa wanted to go swim in the hotel pool. We were really having a fun time. It was starting to get late and we decided to head up and just have dinner in our room that night since we had a late lunch and wanted to get up early in the morning and go to Sea World.

So, off to bed we went ( a little late for Alexa but hey, it's vacation so who cares) and right away the coughing starts...incessantly. "Oh crud" I think to myself, here we go. At first we are thinking that maybe coming from a very dry climate and now being at the moist beach, she is having throat problems but after about 4 hours of restless coughing sleep she started to shake and then the fever hit. As is normal for Alexa she runs pretty high so we gave her some children's M~tr~n and hoped for the best. After none of us getting much sleep she seemed a bit better in the morning and off to Sea World we went. Throughout the day she seemed fine and we were having a great time. I have never been one of those parents who are like " We're here so let's just drag them around the park with 103 and make the best of it." I was really checking her and making sure she was getting enough fluids.

So, after a long day at Sea World we headed back to our hotel and decided to just rest until dinner. We were heading into La Jolla that night for a nice dinner and I wanted to take some photos beforehand. So, we relaxed, got dressed and off we went....and that's when vacation went from cautiously having a good time to "let's just get out of here!".......to be continued.....

My Garden Girl

Alexa really is most happy when she is outside in nature, singing to the sky and soaking up the sun and breeze. If we are stuck inside for too long she gets bored and restless ( so do I). Thankfully we live in a place that we can be outside the majority of the year. We read outside, eat lunch, do crafts, tend to our plants, visit with our tortoises, or just lay in the grass with our dogs and look at the clouds. Life is good! : - )

~~Prayer Request~~

An FCC-AZ family NEEDS OUR HELP! Recently, FCC-AZ mom Kim H. received the news that her 4 year old daughter Riley, adopted in 2005, has been diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia. Aplastic Anemia is the same condition that Kailee Wells, also adopted from China, is recovering from. http://www.kaileewells.com/index.htm Aplastic Anemia involves the reduction in the number of every type of blood cell in the body -- red cells, white cells, and platelets. Symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, increase risk of infection and increase bleeding risk are due to bone marrow failure and the loss of blood cell production. Riley's treatment will involve immunosuppressant drugs, steroids, antibiotics and possibly antiviral drugs. If Riley's pharmaceutical treatments are not successful, then Riley will need a bone marrow transplant. She is currently receiving platelet transfusions and is on neutropenic precautions, meaning she is not allowed to go to school, to be out in public places and can have limited visitors.

Riley is from Hubei Province just like Alexa. I believe in the power of prayer and also believe in miracles. Please say a prayer for Riley and her mom Kim. This could be any one of us living this nightmare. I have been in contact with Kim and she appreciates and welcomes all prayers offered up! Thanks so much!