Last Weekends Road Trip to Tennessee

Well basically when we left for on our Road trip we only had enough money for gas. So we packed food and water and my amazing, don't always get along with Aunt was paying for our hotel room. So we basically drove straight through but stopped at a rest stop in Tennessee to have lunch, cold mac-n-cheese and jello. We picked up some brochures and decided some we would have plenty of time to kill before the party and didn't want to be put to work when we got there decorating and cooking, so we went to the Parthenon in Centennial park. We walked around and explored for over an hour and then decided it was time to head over to Cousin J's birthday party. When we arrived, they still weren't done decorating, so of course we still ended up helping and doing alot of the setting up. Finally it was 5pm and no one was there, their guests didn't start showing up until 530-6pm. So that gave J and K lots of time to play together. They actually played pretty well, he didn't bully K around but he did grab toys away from her alot of the time but it was 100% better than it was last year about this same time. Right after the guests got there she let J get in the pool instead of playing the games, having cake or even opening presents. They didn't even blow out candles till 730pm and then played games at 8pm. Which I was really bummed because they didn't let all the little kids take a whack at the pinata before the bigger kids did, so K didn't even get a turn. I finally had to beg my Cousin M to open J's presents or at least our presents at 930pm at night because I was ready to head back to the hotel. She was put off about it but hell I didn't drive all this way to not see his face when he opened our gifts. I still couldn't believe that she didn't even care if people saw J open his gifts or at least have them opened so people could see what he got. So we got to the hotel and it was almost 11pm. My Aunt ended up staying at our hotel room until almost 1am and amazingly K was awake still at 1am (which was 4 1/2 hrs past her bedtime). But I just couldn't make K go to bed when I knew my Aunt was paying for our room and they never see each other. Also J is 6 months older than K and is also almost a Foot Taller than her too.

K and J playing in his new sandbox

Cousin M and Cousin J writing with Chalk on their house

The kids playing with glow sticks when it got darkThe next morning, we still got up bright and early. My Aunt joined us for complimentary breakfast and we continued to visit. It was a nice relaxing morning. We then headed out to my Uncle's house (about an hour outside town). He was a little miffed with us because we haven't seen him in so long but after talking he finally realized it wasn't because we didn't want to see him, it was because of everything bad that has happened in our life. After awhile K warmed up to him (he's a gruff mountain man type but has a heart of gold). Our visit was way too short! Finally it was time to head home because of course Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa decided to plan a surprise visit on us and we had to be home for them.

Aunt and K practicing a cheer in the hotel lot

Uncle and K looking into the birdhouse

Otherwise if you want to read about the rest of our week, check out the post below

Thank Goodness it's Thursday

Well lets see Tuesday didn't get any better, it stayed the horrific Monday that it was disguised as. I went back at 1pm for the Interview which really turned out to be 1 1/2 hours of testing. There was another Candidate there, so they sat us across from each other, I guess to intimidate each other. Well about 5 minutes after 1pm, the tester comes in and goes I'm waiting for another person, do you mind waiting a few minutes for her to show up. Ok, at this point I am furious because just this morning, I wasn't even 5 minutes late and you told me to come back at 1pm and this B*tch it getting to be almost 15 minutes late. So I said a few things to the tester because my thought at this point was "hell what do I have to lose!" Well she stumbled over her words and the other Candidate just sat there stunned that I would say anything at all and loose my chance at this job. Well the other Candidate never showed up, so finally they started the testing. Well I have to say that these tests were some of the hardest I've ever taken and when they were finally over and done with, I walked outside and called home and said "You know it's sad when the test you think you did the best on was the Math test and you know I suck at math". So I came home and just felt crappy the rest of the day. I tried getting some stuff done on the computer after K had went to sleep but by 1030pm, I was exhausted, I tried to head downstairs to bed but couldn't make it down the stairs, so I fell asleep in the chair. I woke up the next morning in utter pain and my whole body was swelled up, my feet, hands, arms, legs, face, etc. I couldn't barely move. About half-way through the day I told my Mom that if I had health insurance that I would have her take me to the ER because something wasn't right. So instead when K was taking her nap, I laid down also, I wish it would have helped but it really didn't. Well about 4pm last night I get a call from the Company that I tested at yesterday for an interview today!!! Yep, I was shocked and then worried because how awful I felt. This morning I woke up still feeling awful but better than yesterday, the swelling is mostly gone but I'm still in lots of pain. The interview went great, I took a tour of the plant and they basically told me if they didn't hire me into this position that they had 3 other positions that they would more than likely offer me. So I felt really good walking out of there. It pays way better than any job I've had in the last 22 months and the reason they are hiring is because the work is getting to be too much for one person to handle, so it's almost 100% they won't be laying off anytime soon. So please keep me in your prayers that I get a job at this company.
Otherwise I still have to update pictures from this past weekend of our road trip to Tennessee. Hopefully I'll get that done today.

Tuesday disguised as a Monday

Well when I sat down to write this it was a little after 9am, now it's 11am. Today so far is the day from hell or a Tuesday disguised as a Monday. Lets see I had a job interview today, called the lady and told her I was running just a few minutes late, actually ran 2 minutes late and the lady smugly told me I had to come back at 1pm to do the interview. I wasted almost a 1/2 a tank of gas to hear her say this. If I didn't need the damn job, I would of said some choice words and not have come back but of course I can't do that so I have to take the abuse inflicted. Of course my Mom and I get into it before I even left this morning, what about, everything and anything. Then my computer printer decided to die at about 3am when I was trying to print off the last of the application stuff I needed and of course my Mom's printer is out of ink and we don't have any extra ink cartridges lying around. Of course I don't have any money to buy new ink cartridges so I try to download the crap I need onto a disk so I can go to the library and try printing it, of course my disk drive decides to crash too. Oh and don't even get my started about what happened at 1am this morning but of course my life is in a downhill spiral anyway so why should anyone care anyway. I wish I could turn back the clock to midnight and start the day over. Wow it's only 1120am, wonder how worse today can get!

Forever Family Day and Road Trip

Well today was great, we ate pizza from Little Casear's and spent quality family time. We played, did craft projects and just had fun. We also spent part of our time packing for an unplanned, throw caution to the wind road trip. We are headed to a 3rd Birthday party being held for Cousin J. Cousin J is referenced from last Labor day when he was being a big bully to K. Well we are hoping this time it goes much better since he is older. Plus we are making a side trip to see my Uncle (who I haven't seen since 2005). So I'm pretty excited that he is going to meet K for the first time, especially since he's been pretty ill. So I'll have no internet access, so I'll see everyone on Monday.

HAPPY 2nd FAMILY DAY!!!!

Well according to my clock it's 1221am, so that means it is August 22nd. Two years ago today, I spent the day wandering around the Municipal park in HCMC, both my Mom and I had pretty much decided there was no way we were going to have a G&R that week. We had been in Vietnam at that point for 20 days and I have to say at that point we were both so sick that we just wanted to get on the next plane with K and go home but we were stuck. Then about 5 minutes before 4pm we got the call saying we needed to be in the hotel lobby at 415pm. You should of seen us rushing around trying to get ready, trying to get K ready and pack the diaper bag. We were two crazy women. We got ready in record time and had 5 minutes to spare. We were then whisked off to the Ministry of Justice building where the orphanage director was waiting to sign the paperwork to make K officially mine. So right around 5pm we signed all the necessary paperwork (4 copies each), signed the book and it was over. We were officially a Family in the eyes of the Vietnamese government.

That night we celebrated with pizza from Al Fresco's. Last year we celebrated with a quiet evening at home and of course homemade pizza. This year we will continue the tradition, not sure were we will be getting the pizza from or any other plans we have but we will be together as a family and that's all that matters.

K and I at the Municipal Park in HCMC

The matching Jade bracelet my Mom got us to celebrate the day

CONGRATULATIONS

I just want to send CONGRATULATIONS out to two of my friends who became Mommies and Daddies today

Big Congratulations to Cindy and Adam on your new daughter from China and also a big Congratulations to Amy, Greg and Big Brother Samuel who welcomed their new son to the world at 215pm through Domestic adoption

Trip to Grad School and Recouping

Well the trip up to Grad school wasn't bad, I spent the entire trip behind my Baby Brother watching to make sure none of his stuff flew out of the truck. I spent most of my time watching the car's passing us shocked at how much crap we loaded into an F-10 pick-up truck. I have to say it was pretty amazing that we fit a couch, entertainment center, large full size desk, 5 dining room chairs, a dining room table, a blue overstuffed chair, blue beanbag chair and finally his coffee table in the bed of truck that measured 5'x4'. The rest of my time was spent watching this ant crawl back and forth across the windshield and my friendly neighborhood car spider (I have done previous battles with this spider trying to kill him) catching the ant and trying to kill him but the ant somehow getting loose. It became very comical but that could have been from the serious lack of sleep, the long road trip and the 44 oz Cherry coke. Once we got there and he picked up his keys we had everything moved into his apartment in under 2 hours. We then set up his furniture where he wanted it and then started to unpack before we headed off to the book store in a quest to get him cable and broadband service. Needless to say 1 1/2 hours later we walked out carrying the cable box and modem in a bag made of recyclable plastic bottles. It was really cool. We then walked the 7 blocks back to the car and drove back to the apartment. When we got there, my Mom, K and his Girlfriend just arrived. Needless to say I've got a lot more grumbling to do about his girlfriend. She is so bent out of shape because Baby Brother is leaving her and going off to Grad school. They have had so many fights in the last few weeks and I talked to him today and I know they had another fight after we left last night and all it is doing is stressing him out more. Honestly I'm not sure if it's going to last and after everything that has happened and the rude, hurtful, mean things she has said to me in the last week, I won't be broken up about it if it happens because honestly, my Baby Brother needs a Women not some Girl who's acting like she's still in High School. So off my soap box, almost. Otherwise the move went smoothly and my Brother was super appreciative of everything we did especially since every time we turned around his girlfriend would complain about how tired she was and would plop down and not do any work. So he knew if we hadn't stayed behind there was no way his apartment would have been unpacked and looking like a million dollars. Now the killer of the trip was when we were getting ready to leave. All of a sudden it hits K that something isn't right because her Uncle wasn't getting in the car with us and we were telling her next time they would see each other. Next thing I know K starts tearing up, won't say good-bye and just keeps saying over and over again "no, no, don't leave, no" Of course it breaks my Baby Brother's heart that K doesn't want him to go and she just doesn't understand the totally affect this is going to have on her life. Next thing I know we are all a crying mess except his Girlfriend who actually gets really snotty and acts like a total bitch. I won't even go further into her actions at this point but if I would have been on my game I would have said "Look he loves his niece way more than you and he is going to miss her a heck of a lot more than you". Finally we got K calmed down enough that she does tell him good-bye and gives him kisses but all day today she spent asking about her Uncle and when was he coming home. Even with him coming home to visit, it's going to be a long 2 years.

The truck packed and ready to go

This is what I stared at for hours on end

K standing in front of the fountain before we left

Baby Brother and K acting silly

Where does time go?

I swear I am losing large chunks of time. I can't believe that today is already Monday and that tomorrow we move my Baby Brother to his 1st apartment so he can go to Grad School. Seems like yesterday he was just that annoying little brother who drove me crazy, Oh wait he still drives me crazy and yep, he can get pretty annoying (LOL). We spent the last few days helping him pack, repack and pack some more. Both he and I will leave early in the morning driving 2 cars with the bulk of the load and then since his girlfriend has a job interview and she just has to go up there (hmm, can't put what I really think so, grumble, grumble, grumble), my Mom, K and her will leave sometime after noon and they will basically have his clothes and odds & ends. I'm hoping that this goes fast and honestly the way we work together, I'm hoping that almost everything is done in 2-3 hours. Well I leave you with a few pictures over the last few days, I really, really need to get to bed since it's already midnight.

we went to see what we could find in the garden, was a little disappointed when we only got a handful of tomatoes.

We hit 3 yard sales on Saturday, we got everything pictured for $1.50. There was 42 pieces of ribbon and each was 1-2 yards and was rescued from a former cheerleader who was getting rid of it. Also very excited because the boots actually fit over K's brace, which is super rare when it comes to any footwear. Then of course the things K picked out, the Hello Kitty purse, Little people dinosaur and what I've been calling Ninja Fighting Cat (if anyone can identify who he is, we would love to know).
The mountain of boxes from the garage, it really wasn't that bad but K shot this picture from her very short sitting down vantage point, so that's why it looks like a mountain. and finally a picture K took of Kitty Cat and if you look closely her toes are in the bottom right hand corner. K told me, "Mommy look, toes and KittyKitty", then she just started laughing hysterically.

Day out with Great-Grandma

Well today we spent the day with K's Great-Grandma. This is the same one I've talked about before in quite a few posts, including the Christmas miracle. Well she contacted my Brother a few weeks ago (totally out of character for her) and wanted to get together with him before he left for school. So today was the day for us to have some fun. First we had to drive over an hour north to go and pick her up. We took K with us and I got some awesome shots from around what is remaining of the family farm. It's so sad to see what has become of the place, to see buildings that meant so much to my Grandfather because of the family history behind them just removed with no traces that they were ever there except for pictures I took to document them. Well Grandma tells me that she is tearing down the big barn. I love this barn, it has so much character and charm to it and it breaks my heart that in a few months there will be nothing left of this building that my Great-Great Grandpa, Great-Grandpa, Grandpa and his 2 Brother built with their own hands. Yep, I'm a sentimental fool and I'm damn proud of it. I asked my Grandma to save me a few boards from it, not sure what I'll do with it but both my Brother and I agreed that we wanted a piece of our family history since we have nothing left other than memories and pictures of my Grandfather. I just hope she keeps her promise and actually saves us some of the wood. Otherwise I have to say we had so much fun together. Like old times we use to have together when we would have our girls day out and go Christmas shopping. We had so much fun acting goofy, playing games and just quality time together. After our day of fun, we then dropped K and my Mom off at home before taking Grandma back home. We were sort of quiet on the way home but once we got to her house, she didn't want us to leave, she seemed so very lonely. Now I have to say as we sat there and made small talk about a variety of issues, the issues we have had over the years just seemed like a bad dream. But once we were in the car and headed home, I had so many mixed feelings, I mean this is the same evil women who signed the paperwork that denied reasonable pain meds and any type of food/drink/fluid to my Grandfather while he was dying. So instead of being peaceful when he passed away, he was in agony and on top of it, he was severely dehydrated because unless he could pick up the glass and put it to his lips, the nurses wasn't allowed to even wet his lips. I mean that was just inhuman. But then I think there had to be a reason she signed that paperwork, I mean I really can't say it's because she's EVIL and leave it at that in my heart. I just don't know, I want to love this women, I want this connection to this side of my family, I want this connection to the past, I guess more importantly to what she meant to my Grandfather. But on the other hand she has caused so much pain, so much hatred and is partially to blame for splitting this family into a billion pieces. I just don't know?

A Trip to the Zoo - Big Picture Post

Well today we decided to head over to the Zoo since my Baby Brother is leaving early next week for grad school, plus we didn't want to miss the special Dinosaur exhibit that ends September 1st and honestly it was a great escape from reality for a few hours. We got up super early so we could get over to the zoo in time to get into the Dinosaur and Children's Zoo for free. I was really surprised that K was freaked out about the Dinosaurs but I could see why because they were really life like, there mouths opened and closed, their eyes looked around and they had eye lids that blinked and they actually moved their bodies too, like they could gobble her up and made sort of growling sounds. K had more fun over at the Children's zoo and at the rest of the exhibits. She got to pet goats, guinea pigs and a snake. She got face to face with a baby leopard who was almost the same size as her and she kept calling him Baby Jaguar (of course from Dora's Cousin, Diego). We went to Penguin and Puffin coast and she got splashed by penguins and then we headed over to the Tiger exhibit and got to see the 5 new Tiger cubs and the Momma Tiger. They were so adorable and K loved watching them, they ran, swam and attacked each other, it was so freakin' cute. We also went into the Butterfly house and it was amazing, I have never seen so many butterflies in my life and they were gorgeous. K had the same butterfly land on her cup and stroller tray close to 8 times. Of course none of us was ready and didn't get a picture of it. I also had a large purple and black butterfly land on my shoulder, of course my Mom, Baby Brother and his girlfriend were further up the path and didn't hear me yell so they could get a picture for me, so I tried to take a picture of me and the butterfly by holding my camera at arms length but it didn't turn out, so I'm bummed out about that because it was such an amazing moment. We had such a good time and even though there were some issues with Baby Brother's girlfriend (don't even get me started on that girl!) we didn't let her spoil our fun and my Brother didn't let it spoil his fun either (thank goodness)!!

Looking at a little dinosaur, he didn't look that threatening because he didn't have long point teeth and didn't move!

K hanging on to her Uncle for dear life, this dinosaur sprayed water out of his mouth, she totally freaked out when she got hit by the water, like she was the wicked witch in Wizard Oz and was melting away

Mommy and K checking out the dinosaurs

K loved petting and brushing the goats

the real Tarantula in the children's zoo, K spent so much time just looking and looking at him

Another exhibit showing strange insect food people eat (as many of you know I'm a pretty big fan of chocolate chip cricket cookies and stir fried mealy worms and no I'm not kidding, they are really good but I just don't think I can eat a tarantula or bugs on my pizza)

K trying to figure out where we should go next

K loved getting to see the turtles and after she got done looking at them, I asked her if she was still going to eat turtle when she goes to China and she looked at me and goes, K eat turtle and snake in China. Guess even though she thought they were a cool animal, they still looked tasty.

K and Uncle watching the penguins and getting splashed by the ones in the water

the super cute baby tigers, I've got some amazing movies of them

K with a poisonous frog, they had 4 of them but this one was my favorite

I've been trying to find some articles about the Vietnamese athletes that are participating in the Olympics but haven't had much luck but I did find these two.

Vietnamese Athletes Competing in the 2008 Olympics

found on Sports Illustrated
Vietnam Athletes
Do, Thi Ngan Thuong - Gymnastics
Doan, Kien Quoc - Table Tennis
Hoang, Anh Tuan - Weightlifting
Le, Ngoc Nguyen - Badminton
Nguyen, Dinh cong - Track and Field
Nguyen, Huu Viet - Swimming
Nguyen, Manh Tuong - Shooting
Nguyen, Thi Hoai Thu - Taekwondo
Nguyen, Thi Thiet - Weightlifting
Nguyen, Tien Minh - Badminton
Nguyen, van Hung - Taekwondo
Tran, Thi Ngoc Truc - Taekwondo
Vu, Thi Huong - Track and Field

Vietnamese Athletes Ready to Take on Olympics

(07-08-2008)
HA NOI — Though the Vietnamese sports delegation has not set a goal for the number of medals the nation will take home at the Beijing Olympics 2008, which begins tomorrow, athletes have still outlined their own goals for the events.
Hoang Anh Tuan, who left Viet Nam a bit earlier to get familiar with the environment in Beijing, recorded results that were better than the 19 other weightlifters participating in the men’s 56kg category.
However, in order to take home a medal in his category, Tuan, who took gold in the same category at the Good Luck Beijing 2008 tournament in China last January, must lift around 295kg total in both snatch and clean and jerk categories.
Tuan won two gold medals in the men’s 56kg at the Asian Weightlifting Championships, held in Kanazawa, Japan in April, and a silver medal at the Asia Games Doha in Qatar two years ago.
Team members Nguyen Van Hung, Nguyen Thi Hoai Thu and Tran Thi Ngoc Truc are making final preparations for their event at the National Sports Training Centre 2 in HCM City after returning from a training trip in South Korea.
The three-member Vietnamese taekwondo team has set a goal to win three medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing this month by gaining two wins to secure places in the semi-finals.
Bad-minton to the bone
As the latest draw, Vietnamese top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh, who was ranked 21st by the World Badminton Federation, was expected to rank in the top 16 in the Beijing event.
Minh was exempted from competing in the first round, and he will play against rivals Indonesian Hidayat and Indonesian Wong Choong Hanin in the second rounds.
In women’s weightlifting, Nguyen Thi Thiet will have a chance to gain a medal if she lifts a total of 230kg in the women’s 63kg, a level which she has actually reached during her Olympic training sessions.
We will overcome
There are also goals for swimmer Nguyen Huu Viet, track and field athletes Nguyen Dinh Cuong and Vu Thi Huong and shooter Nguyen Manh Tuong.
Concretely, Viet must overcome the time of 1.03:72 in the men’s 100m breast stroke. At the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand last December, Viet won the gold medal with the time of 1.03.73.
Asian silver medallist Vu Thi Huong will have to record a sprint time of 11.42 seconds. Meanwhile, 1 minute 05 seconds is the time to beat for Asian bronze medallist Cuong.
In the men’s 50m free pistol, Tuong will need to reach 555-560 points to rank in the top 15. If he restores his old national record of 563 points, he will be able to rank in the top eight.
Meanwhile, in the wushu event – which will not be presented in the official competition programme – the golden hopes have been put on the shoulders of Luong Thi Hoa, Vu Tra My, Vu Thuy Linh and Nguyen Huy Thanh.
The 52-member team, including 21 athletes, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday and will compete in nine events including taekwondo, weightlifting, badminton, table tennis, gymnastics, shooting, track and field and wushu.
President of the Vietnam National Olympics Committee Nguyen Danh Thai said that the taekwondo artists would go to Beijing on August 15 to compete on August 18, while the other athletes that were now in Beijing were fit and determined to bring glory to the nation.
The team held a light training session right after they arrived at the Olympic Village.They were scheduled to meet State President Nguyen Minh Triet at the Vietnamese Embassy in Beijing today, and to hold a ceremony to raise the national flag at the Olympic Village on Saturday. — VNS

Beijing Olympic Ceremonies

We are so excited that the Olympics have started. We had so much fun watching the Opening ceremonies and thinking ahead of our trip to China (sometime in Aug 2010 per the latest rumors) to meet C. K has really enjoyed watching the shows on China and we have talked about her getting a sister from China and how she is from Vietnam. Not sure how deeply she grasp the conversation we have but she does understand what a sister is but now everyday she asks me if today she "go China for sista an eat snake, pig, tutle". So everyday I explain to her that "No today is not the day we go to China so she can meet her sister and eat snake, pig and turtle." We watched a few shows that showed the different foods that are eaten in China and it made a really big impression on K. So she states with much determination that she will eat Snake, Turtle and Pig when she is in China just like the guys on TV did. She has also asked me, my Mom and Uncle if we will join her. I of course said yes, if my baby is brave enough to eat it, then I will surely join her, her Uncle said if he makes the trip he too will eat whatever wild animal she wants to eat. My Mom, she was a resounding "NO". I on the other hand look forward to trying fried starfish. Also in honor of the Olympics, I made some awesome bows, that K is holding in one of the pictures.

2 Years Ago Today....Meeting K for the 1st Time

Two year ago today, I sat in a muggy restaurant in the hotel eating breakfast trying to keep calm because we were going to leave the hotel around 10am to finally meet K. We left about 10 minutes before 10am and as we rode out to the orphanage we made small talk with the facilitator but I was concentrating more on what was outside my window, so that way when K is old enough I can tell her all about what the community and trip was like out to the orphanage. When we arrived, we were greeted by the security guard and within minutes we were heading towards the infant room. I remember turning back to my Mom and making sure she was taking pictures and taping this event. We took our shoes off and stepped inside the room, all I can remember was the Nannies tending to the babies and hearing hungry babies crying. And then I remember our facilitator say K's name and one of the Nannies heading over to a crib. She picked up this tiny baby who didn't look more than a month old and I thought there was a mistake, this wasn't my daughter who was suppose to be almost 6 months old. But when the Nanny was about 5 feet from me, she flipped her around and there was that little face that I had memorized from the few pictures I had. Finally after all the heartbreaks and disappointments my family endured there was my daughter that we had all been praying for. And even though I asked my Mom as we made the walk to the room if she was taping and taking pictures, she got caught up in the moment and the first picture I have is after they had already handed K to me. We spent almost 3 hours with her that day, she was running a super high fever and was super sick. Because of that we got to take her outside the hot, muggy infant room for awhile to try and cool her down. She was so bright and alert and just took everything in. Finally we had to leave, we were suppose to go back that afternoon but with her being so sick we decided to let her rest, since she had already had such a big day meeting us for the first time.

Today we spent together, we played playdough, colored and cuddled together and watched Over the Hedge (the movie I watched like 40 times on the plane ride to Vietnam).
Wow I can't believe it's been 2 years, look how little she was!

Weekend Pictures and Blog Award

Well we had such a great weekend, we did really well Friday night with the garage sale but Saturday was a flop, there was hardly no one there, so that really sucked. On Sunday it was the ball game and we had a blast. We had great seats, section 136, so that meant box seats that are like $75.00 a ticket regularly, I paid $10 for them. We had such an awesome time, during the game I let K take picture and they turned out really good. I keep trying to figure out how to get her one of those kid digital cameras for Christmas but I just can't spend that kind of money on one when we have bills to pay. Maybe I'll luck out and find one at a yard sale really cheap? Otherwise today and Monday it was super hot, like 125 degrees or hotter kind of hot. So we have been spending most of our time inside.


In other news my friend, Farrah awarded me the Brilliant Blog Award. So here is how this thing works: 1st I have to answer a little questionnaire thingy which is all about me. Then I have to choose 7 bloggers who I feel are BRILLIANT (see list below) and I give them the award.They will post their own answers to the questionnaire on their own blog and they will choose 7 more recipients.And so it goes! Here is the questionnaire

A. Attached or single? Single
B. Best friend? Too many to name
C. Cake or pie? Pie
D. Day of choice? Friday
E. Essential item? Credit Card
F. Favorite color? Blue
G. Gummy bears or worms? Sorry, it's all about the frogs
H. Hometown? Moro
I. Indulgence? Maui Onion and Garlic Macadamia nuts
J. January or July? January
K. Kids? 1 and waiting for 1
L. Life isn’t complete without? my family
M. Marriage date? N/A
N. Number of brothers & sisters? 1 Brother, 1 Half Sister (long story)
O. Oranges or apples? Oranges
P. Phobias? Failing and Losing everything
Q. Quotes? Sometime on the way to a dream you get lost and find a better one
R. Reasons to smile? my daughter
S. Season of choice? Fall
T. Tag seven peeps! (see below)
U. Unknown fact about me? I lived and worked in Germany
V. Vegetable? squash
W. Worst habits? cursing
X. X-ray or ultrasound? x-ray
Y. Your favorite food? Seafood
Z. Zodiac sign? Aquarius


I give the Brilliant Blog Award to
1. Sara (my awesome friend and blog designer)
2. Cindy (my long lost sister I never had who should receive her referral for her daughter aka my niece at anytime)
3. Nesha (with her ooh-so cute little boy also from Vietnam)


I would give it to more people but most of my other super close sister like friends who I think are brilliant have already been given the award, so I'll just leave it with my 3 picks.

2 Years Ago Today

Two years ago today, I had just finished packing the last of our stuff, it was about 130am. I couldn't sleep at all, a thousand things kept running through my head along with an overwhelming sense of fear and panic. Finally, I fell asleep but it hadn't even been an hour before my alarm went off and it was time to go. I woke up drenched in sweat, I kept thinking that at any moment the adoption agency would call me and tell me there was yet another delay. That this long awaited moment wasn't going to come true. I think I spent the next 45 minutes getting sick, my stomach was turning this way and that way. Then finally the van was loaded and we were on our way. At every corner we turned, my thought raced back over the last year, it replayed every bad thing that had happened and again fear over took me. I was so scared that maybe the two bad adoption agencies would act on their word and harm K, or even worse yet act on their other threat to stop the adoption because I questioned their ethics! My new adoption agency assured me that, K was safe and I had nothing to worry about but still those feelings loomed. And then before I knew it we were at the train station, we said our good-byes to my brother and for some reason I had such a sense of doom that I wondered if this was going to be the last time I would see him. As we crossed the river and I memorized everything I could. For some reason I felt an urgency that I needed to remember these things because it was the last time I would see them. We arrived at airport and made the long trek to the check-in desk and then onto our flight to Atlanta. They served breakfast but I couldn't eat it, my stomach was still in knots. We arrived in Atlanta and made a mad dash to get to Korean Air in the International terminal. For everyone who has been there, you know it's not easy since you have to board the train and on top of it all they were having train troubles that day. We rushed up to the desk and checked-in. I know we must have looked strange in the sea of Asians waiting to board because we were the only Caucasians heading to Seoul. Still my stomach was in knots and I kept waiting for that phone call saying...Oh, sorry everything was canceled you need to head home. But as it was finally time to board the flight, I looked at the phone one last time, said about a thousand prayers and then turned the phone off and boarded the plane. Our adventure was just about to begin.

Now two years later, after all the hell we went through it's amazing to remember the feelings and adventure my Mom and I felt. To be able to remember the day so vividly, that it felt like it just happened. Things sure have changed in two years but today we are going to the baseball game, I have had these tickets purchased since the beginning of the season. So we will celebrate together that two years ago today, Grandma and Momma stepped on the plane and started their month long adventure to finally meet K and bring her home.

Garage Sale Weekend

We are participating in a 70+ vendor yard sale being held at our local convention center. Only reason I'm home right now is K and I came back for the last load of stuff. So once we get back there, we are there till 9pm tonight and then gotta be back there at 630am tomorrow till noon. Then we've got the evening to rest before Sunday, which is Build-A-Bear giveaway at the Ball Stadium. Whoo Hoo! Too bad they seem to plan the Build-A-Bear giveaway on the hottest weekend of the year. It's suppose to be about 118 that day. Gotta get going