Fun with Friends at Big Canoe

Zach and Matt wade in the lake.

Zach prepares for the final stretch of the rock slide.

Hannah begins her trip down the rock slide.

The motley crew: (back row) Hannah, Maya, Myles, and Matt

(front row): Zach, Emma, Alex, Catherine, Sydney and Sara

Monica, me, and Stacy catch up at the pool.

Maya and Hannah pose after an exciting rock slide ride.

Alex and Myles play at the pool.

Emma, Maya, Sara and Hannah play Marco-Polo and do tricks in the pool.

What a fun day we had! We traveled this past Sunday to Big Canoe (approximately 1 hr. and 45 min.) and visited my college buddies and stayed all day. We journeyed down the rock slide, played in the lake and pool, and peddled boats on the lake. The kids had a great time! (See pictures above.) I think the best part for me was just spending time with good friends and catching up on each other's lives. It is amazing to me that even though we don't see each other often and are usually terrible correspondents, it is like no time has passed when we get together. I have known most of these people 20 years, and I'm so thankful to have such good friends.

Stacy commented to me when she looked at all of our children sitting at the table eating dinner together that we've made another group of us. She is so right. It warms me to see Hannah and Zach playing and getting to know this group of friends, and I hope they continue to grow these friendships as they mature.

Old Friends...

Zach performing his palm.

More of Zach in action...

Myles, Maya, Zach and Hannah at the end of Zach's belt testing.

We have had a great week! On Friday, my college friends, Kenny and Monica, and their children, Maya and Myles, came to stay the night with us before they traveled up to the Big Canoe in the mountains to meet the rest of the college gang. We cooked on the grill (Well, Kenny did.), and after the kids swam in the pool. On Sat., they joined us for Zach's green belt test and then went to Mellow Mushroom for lunch. Although we did not have a lot of time with them, it was great to see them and catch up. It's like no time has passed.

Our First Purchase....

Well, yesterday, we bought our first purchase for our daughter/sister-to-be. Even though I've strolled through the baby aisles in stores and admired all the baby clothes and new baby gear (It has been ten years.), I have yet to purchase anything. It almost seems like I would be jinxing the adoption process if I do....However, yesterday, Hannah and I were in one of the dollar stores while Zach was in karate class. We passed by these cute bibs that said, "I love my big sister" and "I love my big brother." Hannah said that she wanted to purchase them for our "Della" (more on the name later), so we did. She also said she was going to add "...more" to "I love my big sister" on one of the bibs.

From Hannah:

Bye bye .

Our Log in Date!

We received an email from CCAI yesterday stating that our log in date is June 6, 2007. I expected that we'd have it by the end of June, but they logged our dossier into the system just two days after receiving it on June 4. This is wonderful news! Now, all we have to do is wait to be matched with our daughter....

Great News Today!

I was just about to email CCAI and ask about the status of our dossier when I received an email from them that it was sent to China this past Friday. Then, I received another email that stated that our dossier was hand-delivered to CCAA today! Yea! That means that within four weeks we should have our coveted "Log In Date" which basically marks our place in line for adoption....We better start working on that basement.