One Year Older....

Yes, today I woke up and was a whole year older. My body sure did feel like it too. Yesterday we worked so hard outside clearing the area on our deck and hill to create my garden. I told Mark for my birthday that was all I wanted was to finally start a flower garden. My neighbor Pam has a gorgeous back yard garden and has been trying to get one started for me for a few years now. We worked so hard and sweated so much around here yesterday that Mark lost 6 pounds! Today I went and picked out a few trees and some flowers from this lady who has great deals going on right now. My sister and the girls came down and got a hotel room with her hubby and we all went to the pool, it felt wonderful! I don't know about the weather where all of you are but this week is supposed to be a very hot one! My birthday is always either super hot or rainy. I had a nice day with my family, the kids were so cute, Myah keeps singing Happy Birthday. She walked around the house saying "happy day!". My parents called tonight and wished me a great birthday. They informed me that I was their Corvette. They were living in Germany while my dad was in the Army right after they were married and were told that they couldn't have any children. So for 4 years they didn't worry about it. As soon as they were on American soil and I mean almost the same day, I decided it was time for them to be parents if you know what I mean. Nine months later I was born, 37 years ago today. They said that they couldn't wait to get home and buy a Corvette and then when they learned that they were going to have a baby, it kind of changed their plans! The closest they ever got to a Vette was when my first car was a Chevette! Thanks to everyone who called, sent a card or email, I don't really like birthdays (for myself at least) but it was nice to feel loved!

Sneak Peak

I have started working on Myah's big girl room. She has showed great interest in climbing out of her crib so I figured I should start looking around for a bed. I have always wanted a girly girl room for my little girl. Evidently so because I only had to go shopping in my own basement to find all the accessories that I needed. I am a collector and also have inherited some great pieces. I love the vintage, pink, somewhat shabby chic look. I still have the crib up so I don't have everything in its permanent places just yet but I do love how it is all fitting together. Myah seems to like it too and wants to sleep in the bed already. I found an adorable iron bed at the local antique mall for $113! Mark's Grandma gave us the mattresses, that are like new. I found a great vintage chenille bed cover at my favorite consignment shop for $29.I lucked out and spotted the curtains on clearance at TJ Maxx for $8. It is just perfect. I do have to get some reinforcements for the bed frame before I let her sleep in it though. Here is a sneak peek, I have had the pillows for years too! Must be I always knew I would have a little girl, you all know how I get rid of things!

Another Piece of the Puzzle?

I received and email the other day from Brian Stuy, some of you may have used his services before. He has gone over to Tuanfeng (many other cities too) and has made a dvd of the orphanage, government buildings and the city. I am so thankful that he chose to visit Tuanfeng, Hubei on his most recent trip to China. He traveled all over China taping finding spots, orphanages, etc for families like us who are searching for any little piece of the puzzle we can find for Myah's sake. I ordered the dvd today and am so anxious to receive it. He takes an interpreter with him to ask questions that families may have and that the orphanage director is willing to answer. He also has several pictures available for purchase. I was flipping through them on his website and noticed that there was a picture of a foster family room at the orphanage. I was under the impression that the foster family Myah lived with had their own home. After seeing that picture, I began to cry, it looks just like a room in one of the photos we received in our album from the orphanage. Myah is sitting on a bed and the caption reads that this was taken in her eating room. This room looks almost identical to the one at the orphanage. I have to believe that she was under the care of a family who lived at the orphanage. Whether it was a worker, an elderly family or some one else affiliated with the orphanage, I do not know. I ordered the picture and hope that upon receiving it I will be able to see things more clearly to know for sure. I can't wait to see the video and I hope that Mrs. Li explains about the foster rooms. Mark and Dayton were able to tour the orphanage but never got the impression that babies lived there. It broke my heart to look at the pictures that are posted in Tuanfeng, I loved our trip to China and how warm the people were. I can't imagine what her life would be like. Or ours without her. If you would like to check the site out for yourself go to http://www.research-china.org/ and look under city pictures and dvd's. There are many other cities offered too if you would like to see if your child's information is there. We ordered our finding ad through Brian before we left for China and he is very quick and reliable. I will post the picture of Myah that I am talking about so you can see for yourselves.

Bad Storms....

The little Baptist Church by our house had alot of trees damaged
The cemetery by our house was just littered with huge trees like this.

Thursday afternoon we had a horrible storm. People claim it was a tornado. Whatever it was it was very damaging to our little town. Amazingly, I had just left with the kids to go to Target and I had just got inside when the storm kicked up. Our neighbor called my cell phone and told me that a bad storm came through and power was out. It was so bad that I could barely get back home due to the trees, power lines and debris. I had to take a dirt road that everyone else was using too. We stayed at a hotel that night and luckily had power the next day. The scary part is that two huge trees fell in my neighbor Pam's garden. She has the most beautiful garden and I was going to take Myah's pictures after they got home from going into town. The trees fell in my favorite part of her garden, where I would have been with Myah. We had a mess to clean up, Mark found pieces of our patio furniture at the front of our subdivision. Luckily everyone was ok. It was so strange because just the night before a tornado ripped through my hometown up north where my parents live. It went over the lake where all of our pictures were taken on our boat. Isn't that weird!? Here are a few pictures that I took while in the car, they aren't very good.

Happy 60th Birthday Mom and Grandma!

Last year on her birthday with all of her grandkids.

You know how they say to know her is to love her, well that is my mom Linda. Today is her 60th birthday and I am in denial. She makes 60 look really good! Many of you know my mom. When ANYONE talks about my mom they all say how NICE she is, I have to say she is THE nicest person I know. She has a heart as golden as her hair. She is just as beautiful if not more on the inside as she is on the outside. She is my best friend. I wish we lived closer, we are so much alike, my family calls me little Linda. I pray that I can be half of the woman that she is. She makes everything special, she has collected many pretty dishes throughout the years and loves to entertain and make everything beautiful. Many years ago after we moved up north (30 years ago this August) my dad was hurt on the job and becamed disabled. My mom went to work full time for our family. She still works at the same place for the State and is now a manager. She always managed to make sure that us girls had designer jeans while she shopped at second hand stores. As a child you don't realize what sacrifices that your parents go through to raise you. She made many for us. I love her now even more as I look back on what she gave up to keep us happy. She always has a smile on her face, my dad teases her about it, he says "Linda stop smiling, people will think you are goofy", but she always says, " I can't help it!" That is my mom, and would you believe, I do the same thing!!! And I can't help it!! My mom also has stayed in great physical shape, my sister and I always laugh and say it is pretty sad when your mom has more energy than you do! I remember when Mark and I first started dating and we were up at my grandparent's cottage, my mom was in a bikini and Mark (who was 17) remarked, I sure hope you look like your mom when you get to be her age! I still tease him about that one! I pray that she has a great day today, I am going up north to celebrate with her, my grandma is up there also so I am sure that it will be a fun time. I could go on and on about my mom, those of you who know her know what I mean. She is an Earth Angel and I love her dearly. Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

I am blushing...

My blogger friend Lori nominated me for this award. I was so touched by her special words that she left on her blog. I started out doing baby jelly beans and have our whole adoption story, travel, etc on there. I left it right after our 1 year gotcha anniversary and moved over to this blog. It is so much fun and I love that everyone has given me such positive feedback about the new format. I still go back to bjb and reminisce but I love how simple blogging is. My family and friends are my world, I love them dearly and I am so thankful for all of the people in our lives, many of you I have met through our adoption and I never dreamed that I would meet so many wonderful families while trying to add to ours. Thank you Lori for the nomination, you are a great cyber friend and someday I hope that our paths will cross, you are a kindred spirit. We pray that your wait for your daughter will go quickly, we know that she will be worth it for sure!

Nate the Great

Next stop... the cover of GQ!
So handsome!
I love this one not so much for a portrait but because I snapped it while he was laughing at himself after I asked him to pose a certain way and and he couldn't do it, we all thought it was hilarious!

I know. It just doesn't seem possible, our nephew Nate is going to be a senior in high school this year. Not only does his birth seem not that long ago, but I also realized that when he graduates next spring, it will mean that I graduated 20 years ago! Oh my gosh!!! Time just flies! We are so proud of all of our nieces and nephews. Nate is our oldest. He just received many honors this year in baseball, lets just say, the college scouts are calling his cell phone already, yeah, he is that good. But not only is he a great pitcher, he is an exceptionally good student, he is a strong Christian, a great son and grandson. He was our ringbearer 14 years ago, I remember when we asked him if he would like that position in our grand event, he replied a few minutes later " I want to be a ring lion" not a bear. So my mother in law sewed the cutest little lion patch on the back of his little pillow that he carried down the aisle, he was a ring lion inside! I have been thinking about him so much lately, probably due to the fact that I took his Senior pictures last week and I have been staring at his face for the past few days editing into the wee hours of the morning. I see such a special young man, quiet and respectful, yet quirky and humorous. He is a great kid. We look forward to his bright future! Here are a few of my favs from the other day.

Matilda Jane Groupies!

This past weekend was the Plymouth Art Fair. I have been going for years and years and had always seen the booth with all of the adorable little girl things and never had an excuse to buy anything. Denise at Matilda Jane used to do painted furniture but is now only doing clothing. Many of you have seen her work, Myah has a few pieces that I have taken pictures in, her adoption announcement for example. I had the chance to visit with her this weekend at the show, she is so sweet and humble. Her stuff was included in the Oscar's goodie bags this year for the stars with kids. I have photographed many little girls in her clothing and I love how they look! I ran into my other Matilda Jane groupies while I was there, great minds think alike right girls, I won't identify you so I won't get you into trouble with the hubbies! I restrained myself from taking one of everything and just walked away with a dress and hat. It is in the picture, mostly browns/floral scroll fabric. Look for Myah's special pictures soon to be taken in this one! I love it!!! I am obsessed with brown lately! Anyhow, if you are interested in her clothing she has a website at http://www.matildajaneclothing.com/ she is getting her fall collection out soon and she is only doing a few more art fairs this year. This is a picture of her booth from this weekend.

The Cutest!

I found these adorable "sugar"cookies for Myah on etsy. They are so sweet! Myah loves playing with them and I had her jar personalized for her. You must go and check out Nana Company on etsy. Her things are so cute, I want them all. I learned that she was adopted herself and she also is married to a police officer! Such a small world isn't it! She has the cutest aprons and baking kits. I love that she has some girly Asian inpired fabrics on the aprons. I have posted some pictures from her site here for your viewing pleasure, run, don't walk to her site!!!!! You are so talented Amy!

Horsing around!

We were invited to Megan's birthday party this past weekend at the local riding stable by our house. We weren't sure if Myah would even like the horses. She begged to get on it and had a smile a mile wide while she was riding it! The cherry on top for her was that this gave her an opportunity to wear her favorite pink boots! Always a good day when that happens!

My Hero

I can't believe that 17 years ago today Mark started his new job as a police officer. Ironically it was also a Friday the 13th. I did have a few reservations about him starting on such a day but all went well. I remember moving him down to our friend's house and crying the whole way home. Phyllis was driving and Eric sat in between us handing us tissues. He was 2 hours away from me! Oh young love!! Mark had graduated at the top of his class in college and was blessed with many job offers, many of them in the metro area. I knew that his dream was to be a police officer so I couldn't help but be happy for him. I was sad that he had to leave everything that he loved, his family, friends, community, me.... and start out all alone not knowing anyone in a strange area. He will agree that they were very long months. However, now we are so thankful that he works for such a great, state of the art police department. He has had the opportunity to explore areas of law enforcement that we never dreamed he would go. We also thank God for his promotions over the last 6 years. He has experienced some very dramatic moments through the years and we praise God for his safety and security. He has put his life on the line to protect his community, he is a hero in every sense of the word. Many people ask if I worry about him. I always reply no because I seriously don't. He is living his dream, and that makes me happy. That is not to say that I don't get upset at times, the schedules are very demanding, he may leave in the middle of the night, have meetings and court without much warning, he is always sleep deprived, and work comes first many times. A police officer's wife is not an easy job but fortunately, we have a sister hood of other wives who understand our situation and we look out for each other. We have witnessed many marriages fail during his 17 years with the department. It isn't easy that is for sure, but to Mark's credit he has made our family a priority. We might not get to see him as much as we would like to but he makes the most of those precious moments that we do have together by spending time with us. Some of you don't know us personally, most of you do and you know of the situations we have faced in recent years. Our faith was never more stronger than the morning he called me and told me that he was involved in a shooting. Not sure of the situation, I drove home from up north frantically, learning news from my friends who were watching the news and calling my cell phone. I can't really share a whole lot more at this point but I know that Mark was spared that morning. God shielded him and wrapped his arms around my precious hubby and gave him the strength to protect himself. He is so brave and so humble. I love him so much and appreciate his hard work all these years, he is such a great provider for our family and works so hard so that I can stay home and raise our children. We pray for daddy's safety every night, believe me, it works. We love you Lt. Schultz!

Five Years Ago....

I don't like to publish alot of sad memories on this blog, enough was said during the long months waiting for Myah! But today I can't help but recall that 5 years ago I received the call that my Grandma Friend had died unexpectedly in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. We were extremely close to her and took it very hard. As many of you know that was a super hard time in our lives. It is really painful to look back on that summer. Mark's Grandma Schultz had became very ill very quickly and died just a few weeks after being diagnosed with her bile duct being blocked. She was the martiarch of his family and hosted all of the family holidays and get togethers. This was a huge loss to all of us. To make matters even worse, Mark's dad was dying also. At one point we had Lynn(dad) and Grandma, mother and son, in the intensive care unit at the same time. I remember praying outside the unit very late at night at wasn't sure which one of them were going to leave us first. Grandma passed away late one night and Lynn died 3 weeks later. My Grandma Friend died 3 weeks after that. This all came the same year that we lost 13 people that we were friends/co workers/family with. I pray that we never feel the pain again like we did that year. These were 3 very important people in our lives and life just hasn't been the same since. We don't see our families very much at all, homes have been sold, personal belongings have been given away, all we have our precious memories, photographs and a few keepsakes to remind us of our days when they were just a phone call away. We have moved on but days like today bring it all back again. We sure miss them and look forward to our reunion in Heaven someday when Grandma Schultz talks about how good the Tigers are doing, Lynn introduces us to his new best friend, Dale Earnhardt, and Grandma Friend plays us the songs she has written for the angels choir.

The Smith's Visit

You might remember my posting on babyjellybeans this past February when our good friends the Smith's moved to Wisconsin. Well, they came home for a few weeks and we were able to visit with them on Tuesday. As soon as they left everyone in our household was sad. We met when Dayton and Nick were in the same 3 year old preschool class and Abbie was about 3 months old. Jeff was a pilot for Northwest and has since taken a job flying a private jet for the executives of a big company in Wisconsin. We love spending time with them and can always catch up right where we left off. We sure miss them but know that good friends are lifelong friends and no matter how much distance is between us, they are always in our hearts.

Misc.

These are so out of order, sorry... This is my sister's new kitchen, you all know how long this project has been taking them, the rest of the house is almost done too, I am jealous of her space, look below for another shot of the kitchen.
Miracles do happen, these little girls are proof of it! I had the pleasure of photographing the Steckel girls a few months ago and I just love them. I hope they don't mind my sharing these!
Look at these beauties! They are such miracles, you little girls are so lucky to have a mommy who went through so much to bring you into this world!
Aren't they just adorable! This blog doesn't do justice for how cute they all are!

Here is Myah in her favorite new chair from Grandma. It is just her size and she drags it all over the house.
Happy 2nd Birthday Cousin Sophie, isn't her room cute!
Myah loves to blow bubbles!
Another miracle, Margaret is finally home and we are so thankful, she is so special to us!
Aunt Mel's kitchen again, we can't wait to see what yummy goodies she will whip up in here! The best part is her huge walk in pantry complete with french doors around the corner.

Sorry I have been neglecting my blog this week, with the holiday right in the middle it threw me for a loop. We are planning on spending the weekend on the boat again, say your prayers for us as we bought a pair of water skis for Dayton this weekend! Yikes! We are looking forward to my friend Sherry and her family coming by for a visit next week, she moved to Wisconsin in February and I haven't seen her since, I miss her terribly and can't wait to see all of them! I took Dayton to the Dr. today and afterwards I drove by the airport near our old house, they have an air show this weekend and the Blue Angels are performing. When Dayton was newborn, one day I heard this loud window rattling noise and had no clue where it was coming from. I ran over to Dayton and covered his little ears while trying to cover my own. It was the Blue Angels preparing for the show. They come into town a few days before hand and start practicing. I sat with Dayton for 4 hours today in the back of Mark's pickup praying that they would be there. They WERE!!! We sat right at the fence to the airport and had these amazing jets screaming right over top of us. It was so awesome! Dayton said I got the "cool mom of the day award", hey I have to accept these awards when I can, they don't come very often! Miss Myah is doing great, she is into taking all of her clothes off during her sleep/naps. She also is in the habit of throwing all of her food. She has learned the word "mine" and knows when to use it. She is talking so much that we can actually almost have a conversation with her. She asks me questions like "where daddy/Dayton go?" One of the sweetest developments this month is how when we say her prayers at night, she has started saying everyone's names to "bless" . She goes down the whole line, it is so cute. She even says her family in China. She keeps us so busy, she gets into everything! She loves her bike, wagon, swimming, sidewalk chalk and bubbles. It has been so nice having Dayton home during the day to help in "watching" her every move. He is very helpful, it really is nice to have a large gap in ages, who knew. They are cute together, he begs me to pick her up at night before he goes to bed so that he can hold her, I know I am nuts but it is so sweet, she holds right onto him, he needs that too. She is still not a big cuddler so we have to take it when we can! I don't have alot of pictures from this week so I will include some miscellaneous pics from the day to day life that we live! Hope you all had a great 4th of July!

Great Weekend!

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for all of the fun!
Our boat on it's maiden voyage on our lake!
Dayton and Myah ready for a spin!
Cousin Sophie was the flower girl at the wedding.
Our girls loved to dance! Myah even did the chicken, hokey pokey and YMCA!
Sorry the pics skip around a bit, Myah found a nice spot inside the tube to relax.
Grandpa and Grandma anchored off so we could all swim for a while.
Is it cold Myah?

Myah, Chloe and Annabelle before leaving for the wedding.
Myah looking precious for her first wedding.
Myah was my date for the night.
Congratulations Courtney and Chad, they were high school sweethearts too!
The Michigan State Sparty was at the wedding, the girls completely freaked!

Grandma and Myah relaxing on the water.
See what I mean about beautiful!
The day before our wedding my dad took Mark fishing, dad snagged a lure on a stump in 12 feet of water and lost it. A little while later, Mark "caught" his lure, pretty miraculous! This is the spot where it happened 14 years ago! We still have the lures connected to each other.
Myah loved watching Dayton catch fish, she would kiss them! Yuk! She loved her own fishing pole and played with it all weekend.
This is Dayton's bass that he caught off of the dock.

We went up north this weekend (back home to those of you who don't know us personally) and had a wonderful time. This was the first time that we hauled the new boat up to my parents. I grew up on the lake and it was so fun to finally have our own boat on my lake! On Friday night we took a boat ride with my parents and dad showed Mark how to manuver up the river. It was beautiful, we saw deer on the bank, the water was like glass. We don't get home very much anymore with school, kids, work etc., and we sure seem to appreciate it so much more now that we can bring our kids up there and see how much they are growing to love it too. Every single time we come home, Dayton tears up, he just loves to be up north. He always tells us that he is going to live up there. I can't blame him! In between boat rides, fishing and playing , we went to a cousin's wedding. My mom, sister and I took the 3 little girls, whew, what a handful! But what a beautiful wedding, it was fun to see our family and celebrate a special occasion. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.