A Little Business and a Lotta Pleasure!

Just over a week ago we attended the Florida State Convention for my company and Marc also entertained at the event as he always does. It is held in Marco Island, Florida at a beautiful resort. We have the same event every year and we try to extend it and make it a quasi vacation. This year was no different. We invited my sister and her family, Justin's girlfriend Judy and her sister Joyce and of course my dad and mom were with us as well. My nephew Sam stayed with us for the next few days following our trip as well. It was all great fun and the following are pictures that will tell the tale. Unfortunately, I do not think I got into even one of them. I am usually the picture taker.

Katie chose that weekend to begin putting real sentences together and is really talking up a storm now. Her favorite phrase last week was I love Sammmmm!! She stretches out the "M" for true emphasis. She loved her cousin and looked forward to seeing him each morning and he was so wonderful with her. Katie is fixated on airplanes ever since we took Sam to the airport and we explained to her that he was going on an airplane to go home to his mom and dad. She looks for them incessantly and tells me that Sam is in AIRPLANE!!!

The weekend was full of laughing, eating, swimming, dancing and more eating :) Katie even tried to take a french fry from a total stranger at the pool (see photo below) what a laugh that one was. Thankfully the victim of her crime was very sweet and generous.

We made some wonderful family memories....

From L-R Justin's girlfriend Judy, Justin, Uncle Steve, Sam and my sis Jane

Jane and Justin chillin

A sweet moment
From L-R Justin, Judy, her sister Joyce and Sam

A Funny Video

Here is a video of my friend Elaine with Katie at dinner one evening. Elaine and Katie had a little game going where they would make a silly face, wave their hands and do a little shrill scream when they saw each other during the convention. Well, Katie thought it would be hilarious to take it one step further and do all of that with Chocolate Mouse in her mouth for the best effect possible. As silly and gross as it sounds it made us all laugh until we were almost in tears.

Convention ~ Vacation Photos

Fun in the Pool with Marc and Katie Starr

From L-R My mom, Marc with Katie on Soulders, my sis Jane, nephew Sam, BIL Steve, and my dad.
Katie filching a french fry from a total stranger

Sam and Katie

My nephew Sam and Katie Starr

The Three Cousins ~ Justin, Katie and Sam

Aaaaaargh!!! I was blocked by Blogger!!!

I am back folks; I was taken out of commission for a few days due to some spammer detection software that Blogger employs. It identified me as a potential spammer; what?!*@!?? Lil ol' me and my adoption and family ramblings are a potential threat to the blogging public at large....gimme a break!! Anyhoo; they blocked me from posting until I could prove otherwise. Now, I am seriously thinking of changing to typepad.

I will post later with an update of how life has been lately with Three and a Highchair soon to be Two Highchairs :)

~UPDATE~

Thanks To The Generosity Of All Of The Donors, Fu Yang's Adoption Has Been Fully Funded! There Will Be Updates To The Blog As Pat Travels To China To Adopt Fu Yang.

What an amazing community of people we are a part of :0)

An Urgent Plea for a Child in China ~ Please Read ~

This plea for help has been published on many listservs by a prominet member of the adoption community. Please read the following, look into your heart and give what you can. Here is the Urgent Plea....

Occasionally one comes across a story that gives you renewed hope in happy endings and the power of hope...and makes you grateful that there are families in this world that will risk so much to bring hope to a child. Hundreds of thousands of children live as orphans in China...and as they get older, their hope for finding a family dims and then goes out at the age of 14. If they are lucky enough to have their file sent to the CCAA, they might be adopted, but if that dreaded 14th birthday rolls around before their family finds them, they are doomed to a life that most of us can't even imagine. With little education and no one to turn to, their life most likely includes begging on the streets. For girls, the chances of adoption are better...for boys, not so much. For a 13 year old boy with a visible special need, the chance is slim indeed. Right now there is a boy in Henan – a beautiful boy with a smile whose dimples melt the heart. He's been looking for his family for a long time...waiting and waiting and waiting and going to bed at night with the hope of a home on his heart. His orphanage saw his spirit...how wonderful he is with the younger children...his artistic abilities...and sent his file to the CCAA to try to find him a home. The SWI had the faith that a family would see this boy and realize his potential and a family did! They began the paperwork...but then were unable to continue. What now? Time was running out…this child would be unadoptable in a few short months. I remember the pleas that IAAP put out into the adoption world to find this boy's true family...and the commitment they made to help a family get it done. A family stepped forward and under amazing circumstances was able to prepare a dossier and get it to China in June. Can you even imagine? They got their dossier together in less than a month!! But they'd been home only half a year with their little daughter from China...and would need some time to get the money together. The willingness to step into this young man's life, to take the risk and do what it takes to bring him home is stunning in it's faith. Who could believe that it could be done? The Kubicek's believed and because of their amazing capacity to hope and trust that it would workout Fu Yang is coming home. Imagine their shock when they found out on the 4th of July that they would have to be in China just a few weeks after their dossier was sent. He desperately needs his family to sign his adoption papers by July 15 – just one week from today. He turns 14 in ONE WEEK!!! Where would the money come from? They need $5,000 more to bring this child home...how can this possible happen? I know how this can happen...I've SEEN it happen. Six months ago I set up a website to try to replace a grant for Django...a child whose grant was removed by the donor after they discovered the sensitive nature of Django's special need. In just over a month the Chinese adoption community came together and raised just under $5,000. IT CAN BE DONE!!!! At times a situation comes up in our community where we need to pull together and MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the life of a child. This is one of those situations...and the TIME IS SHORT!!!! This isn't about a family raising money to bring home a child...it's about a COMMUNITY coming together to give this child the gift of a family. Please, can you give $5, $10, $50 to Fu Yang??? THIS CHILD HAS ONE WEEK LEFT BEFORE HE WILL NEVER EVER HAVE A HOME. It is very easy to contribute, as they have a ChipIn set up...all it takes is a few clicks: http://helpbringfuyanghome.blogspot.com/ I salute the Kubicek family for their willingness to believe in miracles...let's make one happen for them!

Ethan is Two Today!!

Ethan turned two years old today in China. We celebrated his birthday here and sent him a care package of goodies for him and his friends in the orphanage. No child should ever have to be without their family on their birthday. Ethan and Katie will never know another birthday without the love of our family.

I have begun a new website to document our journey to bring Ethan home. We would love for you to check it out at www.Ethansjourneyhome.com . Please leave a comment in the guestbook so that he can read how much he was thought about during the wait for his arrival home.

LOG IN DATE!!!

Our agency notified us that our dossier was logged into the Chinese Center of Adoptive Affairs on June 4, 2007 (our 7th wedding anniversary :) That means we are about 30 days into an approximate 75 day wait for our Letter of Acceptance. Once we sign and return that document we can expect to receive travel approval about 3 weeks later. We are cautiously optimistic that we may travel by early October to adopt Ethan and bring him home forever!!