We are headed out to visit Milledge's brother and his family who just so happen to live at Fernandina Beach, Florida!!! We hope all of you have a safe and fun Labor Day weekend!

Thanks Rebecca!

My ladybug group did a cyber shower for August and I received my gift today from Rebecca. This months theme was playtime! Rebecca sent Ruthie a Butterfly Spinner, a Laurie Berkner CD/DVD and a Little People book. She was very sweet to include candy for my boys and chocolate truffles for me and Milledge. WOW! Rebecca you spoiled us! Thank you so much!

July Bow Swap

I am late posting about the November groups bow swap for July. My friend, Kelly, had my name for July and she went above and beyond with her gift! She gave me a beautiful pink bow holder with Ruthie's name painted on it, a red, white and blue bow with Ruthie monogrammed on it, a ladybug bow and a camouflaged bow for when she goes hunting with her daddy!! Thank you Kelly! I love everything and can't wait to get Ruthie's room all ready so I can hang up the holder as well as have her here to model all these precious bows!

"Birthday" gift.....

My good friend, Caryn, is crazy! Caryn is the mother of five children, two of which were adopted from China. Caryn knows how I can't wait for Ruthie to be here, how I am so ready to dress a girl, and especially how badly I want to fix a little girls hair..with BIG bows! So, ever since we started the adoption process, Caryn has made it her mission to help me with all of that. Now, any gifts that I recieve from Caryn are really gifts for Ruthie disguised as gifts for me! Fine by me!
I had a birthday last month and Caryn gave me a bag full of bows and a precious reversible ladybug dress. How cute is this dress??! Thank you so much Caryn!
I am also posting a picture of all three of Caryn's girls. I was keeping the girls a while back and snapped a cute picture as they were getting ready for bed. I don't have one with all five handy at the moment but her boys are just as sweet!

Congratulations!

A baseball team from Warner Robins, GA won the Little League World Series after beating Japan 3-2 in the championship game on Sunday! This is the second year in a row that a team from Georgia has won the championship title! My boys are so excited and proud that these two teams are from their state and think it would be really neat to meet them. Last years team was from Columbus and were treated like celebrities for months after returning home. We actually got to see them and shake hands with a few as they led the Georgia Bulldogs in the DawgWalk before a UGA game last year! Jon Milledge and Anderson thought it was so cool. Maybe we can do the same with this years team!?! Congratulations! Way to go Georgia!

Please Pray.....

I was surfing blogs this morning and came across a post about a precious little boy in need of a miracle. I don't know this child or his family but felt led to post this so as many people as possible can pray for him. His name is Jude and he was in a near drowning accident last week. Please pray for him and his family during this storm in their life. I believe that prayer works and that God is still in the miracle making business.
Dear Father God, Please be with this sweet family as they are tired, weak and scared. Their faith in you is amazing and they will give you all the glory no matter what happens but they need to feel your presence surrounding them and holding them up now, Lord. If it is your will, please heal Jude's little body so that he can be a living, walking testimony for you. Lord, he needs a miracle and we believe that you can and will do that. Please give Jude and his family the healing, rest, courage, peace and strength that they need and that we know only comes from you, Lord. In your precious sons name, Amen.

You can read Jude's story here.

**Update**
Friday August 24
Jude went to be with Jesus late this afternoon. Please continue to pray for this family as they grieve the loss of their precious son.

Our 13th Wedding Anniversary!

"Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me." Ruth 1:16-17

WOW! It is hard to believe that it has been 13 years since we were married. We recited this scripture to one another at our wedding because it has always been one of our favorties and we felt it had great words of wisdom for a marriage. I thank God everyday for allowing me to find and to share my life with my best friend. We have had many ups and downs for which we are grateful as they have made our marriage and us what we are today. Happy Anniversary Milledge! I love you!

***The song playing here today is one that was sung at our wedding!

We're Full Term!

During both pregnancies with my boys, I knew that once I reached 9 months, it wouldn't be long before I would be holding my precious child. With this adoption "pregnancy", I have no idea how much longer I will be waiting to hold Ruthie. We are thrilled to have reached this milestone and feel so blessed to even be on this amazing journey, but the unknown is so hard. When we started our paperwork in January 2006, the wait was around 9-12 months. To think that we could be seeing her sweet face about now is hard especially when we know that it could very easily be 2 more years.

Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Please pray with us and for us as we continue to wait. Also pray for all the other families who are waiting patiently as well. We are trying so hard not to be anxious because we know that God set us on this journey and He will not forsake us! Thank you God, for your peace that passes all understanding and for always guarding our hearts and minds.

Happy 9 Month LIDiversary to us and everyone else whose paperwork was logged in on November 8, 2006! Special wishes today especially for Kelly B., Heidi and Rosie!! We are getting closer girls!

Today, my boys are......

Have a great day Jon Milledge and Anderson!!!

***UPDATE***
They both had wonderful days and can't wait to go back tomorrow!!

I was Tagged! (several weeks ago!)

Ok...Terri, tagged me several weeks ago to list 8 different things about myself and I am just now getting around to fulfilling my end of the tag. So, here goes!

1. I have to admit that I have been very anxious about doing this, therefore, I have put it off because I didn't really know what to say about myself. How's that for starters?

2. I told my mother the day after meeting Milledge that I had found the guy I was going to marry... BUT, it was 3 years after that before we had our first date.

3. I don't drink any hot beverages. I want everything I drink to have LOTS of ice in it. Is that weird?

4. I am told I am pretty funny...I think if you were to ask my boss what my title is he would say "comic relief"! I'm not sure that is a good thing but I do love to play practical jokes on my co-workers!

5. Back to #4....I deal with stressful times and valleys in my life and my loved ones lives with humor. It is much easier for me to make someone laugh than to help them cry.

6. I have a cat named Tiger who can say "Mama". If you don't believe me...ask my husband who is not a cat person and who gets very frustrated everytime Tiger wakes him in the middle of the night crying, "Mama"!

7. I am NOT athletic at all. I was a cheerleader in high school if that tells you anything. But, now with my two boys, there is nothing I enjoy more than being at the ball field and watching them play. I have actually learned bunches about baseball!

8. When I was in high school, I was robbed at gun point at my after school job at a local drugstore. It was very scary and I had a hard time dealing with it for awhile especially since they never caught the man. He didn't shoot anyone, thank goodness, but as he was leaving the store he sprayed me with MACE. OUCHHH!

Ok...that wasn't too bad. Now, I tag Dusty, Ivy, Ruth, Jami and who ever else is reading that would like to play along. Just let me know so that I can read your list! Have fun!

A "Fully Arched Rainbow"!

As we were driving home from my mother's house today in the rain, we saw a beautiful rainbow. Jon Milledge asked why you never see a full rainbow and I told him that sometimes you do but just not as often. We were talking about rainbows and their significance to us as Christians when he started screaming that he saw the whole thing! He was so excited and said, "Mama, this is the first time I have ever seen a fully arched rainbow!!" We kept watching it and he even called Milledge and Anderson who were in Milledge's truck in front of us and asked if they had seen it. Anderson informed us that there were two of them, we looked and he was right! Anderson's comment was, "God must be giving us two promises today!"
How can you not be happy when you see a rainbow? But seeing them through the eyes of a child makes the experience that much better!
Thank you God for rainbows, promises and children!

I Have a New Look!

My friend, Ruth, had her blog "blinged" and I just loved it and decided to let Sara see what she could do for mine. I love my new look...don't you??!! Sara is also adopting from China...check out her blog here.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Our 2007 All-Star season has come to a heartbreaking end. Jon Milledge's team made it to the state finals and lost by 2 runs. If we had won, we would be headed to the World Series in Virginia. We are so proud of him and his team and couldn't have asked for better kids and parents to have spent the summer with. It was very hard to watch as the kids faced the reality of their season coming to an end. As parents, we always want to shield our children from physical and emotional pain...I couldn't help him this time. He had to deal with it on his own, and he did like such a mature young man. It was a life lesson for him to learn that your prayers aren't always answered as you see fit but according to God's will. It has been such a blessing to listen to him tell family and friends over the last few days that God had a plan for his team and even though it didn't end as they had planned and prayed for...God's plan is always perfect. Although, baseball isn't everything in life....sometimes it is to 11 year old boys.
Jon Milledge played first base all but two ininngs of the nine game tournament and was recognized at the awards ceremony for having the most hits of anyone in the tournament. We thought that having the most hits out of 192 kids was quite an accomplishment!! We are so proud of him!
Next stop....FALL BALL...which starts in about a month!

All-Star Update

I just thought I would give a quick update on our All-Star progress. Anderson's team lost out of their tournament pretty early on but they were a very young team and were just so happy to have been an All-Star. Anderson played very well and is already looking forward to Fall ball!


Anderson's team ready to play!


Anderson doing his favorite thing....catching!

Jon Milledge's team has been practicing since they were elected to the 9-10 year old All-Star team....which was 4 1/2 weeks ago. Finally the state tournament started this past Saturday. They are currently 4-0 in the tournament and we play tomorrow night for a spot in the championship series. The series will be a best 2 out of 3 if we make it that far. Jon Milledge is playing first base and batting extremely well! Please keep his team in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days. Pray for safety, health, good sportsmanship and less nervous parents! My tummy has been in knots for days!


Jon Milledge's team...he is on the front row, fourth from left.

8 Months Down and Still Waiting.......

Eight months ago today our paperwork was "logged in" with the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs. We are praying today for our wait to shorten, for all the other families that are on this amazing journey with us and for Ruthie's birth family. May we all feel God's peace and comfort while on this journey that only He can give.

Our Fourth of July Fun!

We are just getting home from a trip to see my family for the Fourth! We had a wonderful time visiting, eating, swimming and watching the fireworks. The day started with a local parade here in our town with lots of antique tractors, golf carts, motorcycles...well..really anything with wheels! After the parade, we headed to my mom's house where we swam, cooked out and went to my high school for the 21st annual fireworks display. The boys had so much fun with their cousins and were completely exhausted that night.
We hope that all of you had a wonderful day celebrating our country's independence with your family and friends! We are so fortunate to live in a country where we have the freedoms that we do. May we never forget those, past or present, that have fought for us to have those freedoms. God Bless America!

Independence Day!

It's Finally Here!!!!

After 12 weeks of anticipating and waiting, Ruthie's bedding has arrived! I ordered it back in March from a lady in Massachusetts(she handmade the whole thing) and couldn't wait to see it in person. It came today and it is even more beautiful then it was in pictures. I am posting a picture of just the quilt now and will post all of it once we get her nursery in order which will be after we clean out the room, paint and put the baby bed up, etc....you get the picture, it could be a while!
The set included: a quilt, bumper pads, crib sheet, dust ruffle, two window treatments and two throw pillows.
Isn't it beautiful? I just love it!

Made in Louisiana

My friend, Kelly from Louisiana, made me three bibs!! I met Kelly back in January when we realized that we have the same LID. We are both members of the November LID group as well as the Christian ladybug group. She also has two boys and we have become great friends. She made a bib for the last cyber shower and everyone fell in love with it so we all told her we would love for her to make us one and of course we would pay her.....she agreed! I also sent her two more fabric prints just for her to use since I don't sew and they were collecting dust around my house. So...she made me two more out of those prints too....wasn't that sweet of her?!! Aren't they precious?! They are backed in chenille and have either her name or her initials embroidered on them. I can't wait to see little Ruthie wearing them..however, I hate to think of them smeared with carrots and green bean baby food!! Thank you Kelly, I will think of you and our friendship everytime Ruthie uses her bibs!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JON MILLEDGE!!!

My sweet baby is turning 11 today. I can't believe it! First of all, wasn't he just born last week??? Secondly, I am WAY too young to have an 11 year old child....right?
Here are a couple of pictures of him when he was a baby. I think he was the prettiest baby I have ever seen. And also a couple of pictures of him now....he is still so pretty to me. Don't tell him I said that! ;) He is such a mama's boy and it warms my heart everytime he calls my name or wants to talk to me about something....I love it when we have "grown up" conversations. He still likes me right now...oh how I hope that doesn't change when he is 14!!! He says it won't...we'll see! He is a such a funny, smart and all around good child! I am very proud of him and the young man that he is VERY quickly becoming!!!

Happy Birthday JM! We love you bunches!


Jon Milledge at 5 days old


7 Weeks old


3 Months old


Jon Milledge at the beach this year


With his 2007 baseball trophy


My handsome boy

First Day of Summer!

Today is the official first day of summer even though I feel like it has been summer here in the deep south for over a month now!! We hope and pray that all of you have a safe and fun filled summer!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the daddy's and daddy's to be! I would like to wish a special Happy Father's Day to the four daddy's in my life....Milledge, Pappy(my daddy), Pop(Milledge's daddy) and Grandy(my step-daddy).
Milledge...thank you for being the kind of strong Christian daddy that I always wanted for our children. They think you are the best...and so do I! We love you!
I thought I would include a poem here today that I gave to Milledge on his first Father's Day along with a picture of Jon Milledge and his sweet little baby footprints.

Walk a Little Plainer Daddy

Walk a little plainer daddy,
said a little child so frail.
I'm following your footsteps
and I don't want to fail.
Sometimes your steps are very plain,
sometimes they are hard to see.

So walk a little plainer daddy, for you are leading me.

I know that once you walked this way
many years ago.
And what you did along the way,
I'd really like to know.
Sometimes when I am tempted,
I don't know what to do.

So walk a little plainer daddy, for I must follow you.

Some day when I grow up,
you are like I want to be.
Then I will have a little child
who will want to follow me.
And I would lead him right
and help him to be true

So walk a little plainer daddy, for we must follow you.

Cape San Blas, Florida

We took a short vacation this past week to Cape San Blas, FL. We had a great time with my family and hated to have to leave early but we got in lots of excitement while we were there. There were 16 of us all staying in one condo....it was a really big condo! It was my mother and step father, my brother, sister in law and their three girls, my sister, brother in law and their three kids and us! WOW! The kids all had so much fun hanging out with their cousins and it was fun to watch them all interact.
We mostly just played at the beach and the pool everyday but on Tuesday we took an adventure on a boat in the bay! We anchored the boat at two different secluded beaches where we walked around and found all sorts of sea life. We saw sea urchins, sharks, sting rays, coral, hermit crabs, star fish, sand dollars and tons of neat shells. Once back on the boat we came upon a school of dolphins that were not afraid of us at all. We stayed with them for almost an hour and they came up to the boat, stuck their noses up out of the water to look at us and swam with our boat. It was amazing! I could've watched them all day but there was a storm brewing and we needed to get back. We were too late! We got trapped between the marina and the storm and there was no where for us to go. The boat was grounded in shallow water with rain and lightening all around. I can't remember when I have been that scared. We had all the children under towels and blankets in the back of the boat, the adults were trying to help navigate with no success...it was awful! Thankfully we had a radio that worked and we were able to call the marina and they sent out what they called a chase boat to bring us back in....I called it "search and rescue"! We were all drenched and looking a little like wet dogs when we finally made it back to shore(sorry..no pictures of that!). The Gilligans Island theme kept running through my head but I guarantee you none of us looked like Mary Ann after that adventure...or before for that matter!
We left everyone else there on Wednesday so that we could get back for All-Star practices. I hope they are all having a great time without us...we miss you guys! Eat some shrimp for us!

Mealtimes and Hairbows

I received a couple more gifts from the exchanges that I am in this week. The first gift came from Bren in my Ladybug group, which is a group of wonderful Christian women who are all in varying stages of the adoption process. This months theme was "mealtime" and as you can see from the picture, Bren gave me several items that will certainly be helpful at mealtimes with Ruthie since I have either thrown away or given away most of the stuff like this that I had with the boys. Thanks Bren!
Secondly, my November LID group is doing a hairbow exchange for the next few months. I send a bow and receive a bow once a month...how fun is that??! June's bow theme is "green". I received the cutest pink and green bow from Gail and her daughter Grace. Grace is almost 5 years old, is from China and is patiently waiting the arrival of her sister, Lily. Grace sent us a couple of pictures of her and two China Olympic pins for the boys...she didn't won't them to feel left out. Wasn't that sweet?! Thank you Gail and Grace....we love it all!!!

All-Stars....Let the games begin or at least continue!

The All-Star drafts have been held for all leagues in the county where our boys play baseball. Anderson has made the team for the Southern Division Pee Wee(7-8 year olds)League. And Jon Milledge has made the American Division Minor(9-10 year olds) League team. They have worked very hard to make it this far and we are very proud of both of them.
What does this mean for us?? We will probably be playing baseball for most of the summer. Anderson's practices started 2 weeks ago and his games start this Saturday while Jon Milledge's practices start Saturday and games will start the end of June. We are excited and can't wait to watch them play! We wish them and their teams lots of luck! PLAY BALL!

Our 7 Month LIDiversary!

As of today, we have 7 months of our wait for Ruthie behind us!! We just wish we knew how many more we had to go but we know she will be placed in our arms at just the perfect moment. We can't wait for that day!!

A Creature in our Midst!

I went to water my little trees that I have in urns on my front porch today and look what I found! YUCK!! I screamed and scared poor Anderson to death. Of course Milledge wasn't at home so we had to wait until after baseball practice for him to carry the thing off....luckily he was still there. I will have nightmares tonight for sure!

****Ok....I am having to edit this post for the sake of my friend Leslie. She is very concerned that I was actually outside up close and personal with our creature. She wants me to inform all of you that I was taking the picture through the window with my flash off!!! There is no way I was going out the door!

Off to Church Camp!

I took Jon Milledge to church children's camp yesterday along with two of his buddies from his baseball team. They were too funny getting their cabin all set up and deciding who was going to sleep in which bunk. We haven't heard anything from them so we are assuming that "no news is good news". I know that they are having a blast and I can't wait to hear all about it on Friday!