Annie’s room mostly done.

Lori got a lot of painting done this weekend and I got the headboard done. We will wait until Annie gets here to get accessories and bedding for the room so she can suit her taste.
Glen

Brandon’s room done.

I got the dresser and bed for Boo’s room painted and all set up. The dresser was another good find at a flea market it just need some spackle, some paint and new handles.

Glen

Busy Day

Well it has been another busy day today. We are still getting ready for Annie to come. Lori had her hands full painting some more art work on the walls in her room, and touching up the trim paint in the hallway. I was busy building a gate headboard to go along with the Beatrix Potter theme that is all over Norah’s room. The headboard is going to look so cute, after I paint it white. I hope it does not rain tomorrow so I can paint it outside. I would really like to get her room done before Annie gets here.

Brandon also wanted to have an Asian looking platform bed made for his room and wanted to scale down to a twin bed like the one we got for Annie. So we had to buy him a new bed. When we told the guy at The Denver Mattress Company that we just needed the mattress and not the box spring. He told us we HAD to buy the box spring or it voids the warranty, plus it was a fire hazard not to have the box spring.
Lori just about told that guy where he could put his box spring and warranty, but she restrained herself.
We told him we just wanted the mattress and that was it. We didn’t care if it voided the warranty. When am I going to use that? and fire hazard? If you need an extra 6 inches of height in wood and material to keep you safe from a fire you are already in big trouble. That guy was full of it. He also had the personality of a wet washcloth. Perhaps sales is not his calling.
Anyway I built Brandon’s bed today too and made him putty all the holes so we can paint it tomorrow. Again hopefully it doesn’t rain.
Glen

Life goes on while we wait.

It has been over 13 months since I posted a photo of my frog.
Why do I know this because we were logged in then.

I love this fountain. This hard working girl blocks out city noise and looks good doing it.

Vegas by one of our maple trees, the red bark will stay that way for life and should make for a magnificent tree.

Last but not least our old Kitty. We got these pillows for us, Kitty thinks they are for him. That cat sleeps more then any animal I have ever seen, He loves his pillow.

Glen

MSN on China

I came across this MSN report on china it is full of interesting thing to watch.
Just keep looking at the diffren ones at the top there is a lot of articles on china.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StockInvestingTrading/Shopping101.aspx

Annie is on her way to the U.S. for the first time.

Beijing Airport

Well Annie is now on her way and in the air some where in-between China and the U.S.. What a time it must be for her to be leaving all that she knows, to come to the U.S. to live with a family that she has never meet. Hopefully she has a safe trip. Just 22 more day until she is home with us,and 31 more days untile school starts.

I wonder what it looks like when someone packs for a 10 month trip. We may need to bring my truck to the airport so we have room for all her bags.

Glen

All is Ok Annie Called again this morning.

After worrying about Annie’s E-mail last night I got up again at 1:00 A.M. and sent her another message.
Basically telling her that I wonted her to call again no matter what time is was here so we could talk and I could find out what was going on. Luckily she called at 5:30 A.M. unfortunately Lori had just left for work and missed getting to talk to her.

Here the skinny. The part about 5 days was, that she was leavening China in 5 days. Not that is was going to take 5 days to get to the U.S. Now for the missing time in-between when she was going to leave China and the time she was going to leave a U.S. airport to here. She will be attending an two week AYUSA per College student work shop for before she comes here. Lastly she told me she was going to get her ticket here when she got to the U.S. airport I was worried that she might get stuck in the airport. Well now that we know she is going to be there more than 2 weeks it makes since.

Her English is very good , I do have to some time change what I am saying for her to understand. But she is knows 100 times more English then I know Chinese so that is good. I must say that I fell sooo much better that we got me up to speed. I seemed to be the only one out of the lope she new exactly where she was going.
One good thing is she will have more than 2 weeks to get used to being in the U.S. and on our time. Before she comes. 26 more days till she here.
Glen

Annie called today.

Well I was at work and my cell phone rang and when I looked at the Number it had way to many numbers to be any one I new. It had like 15-16 numbers. I usually go ahead and acre my cell incase it is business but I was so thrown buy all the numbers that I let it go to voice mail. I checked the voice mail and the person just hung up with out saying anything. I thought about this call all day & when I got home I even said some thing to Lori about it. As I sat down to read check the E-mail, I Open it up and there was one from Annie Wishing Brandon a Happy birthday. The next line was I tried to call to today. Is this the right number. Of Corse it was I just didn’t pick up. That was I call I hated that I didn’t pick up

She is now in a 3 day AYUSA Pre-Departure Training class and busy packing. She said she will be leaving Beijing on the 21st of July the trip will take her 5 days, that was the first thing that I thought was off. Then She wrote she will get to the U.S. on august 11. I think something is getting lost in translation unless she is going to visit relatives some where in-between. I wrote her about this and asked her to call back so we all can be on the same page.
Holy cow the 21st of July is just 4 days away, and from the 21st of July to the 11 of august is 21 days, that is way to long even by boat. This is going to rack my brain until I here from her. She has sent us some recent photos of her and her friends at school beautiful place. If I don’t here from her buy tomorrow knight I will have to try to call for her safety & my sanity. It make it interesting with the14 hour time difference. I can see our life is already getting more interesting. Here’s to sanity, Glen

Boo turns 16 & I have become a dork.

Boo turns 16!

We knew what we were going to be getting Brandon for his 16th birthday for sometime now. So after many searches on the internet and at the big box stores: Sears, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, K-mart, Radio Shack, and Wal Mart. We had made our choice, a 32 inch VIZIO flat panel LCD TV & mount (made by the same company that makes LG). It is sooo cool. After I hooked up the surround sound and DVD player to it, with the sound and size of the screen it is like he has a movie theater in his room. The TV screen can also be used as a computer screen, good for all the games and you tube watching he does. He will buy the cable that will allow him to use it as a computer monitor when he gets paid. Yes, he is a "little" spoiled, I know, but Lori & I did tell him not to expect the same treatment on next years B-day. I was going to get a good shot of the birthday cookie we got him. This is the condition I found the cookie in when I opened the box. Looks like Brandon already had a snack. Happy Birthday Boo. Yes, we still call him Boo in front of every one with out thinking about it and have no plans to stop.

That's a Weird Al Yankovic's video on the big screen.

Me and Lori got up early this morning & headed down to the River Market. We haven’t been down there in years. To our surprise it has grown to fill the entire market area and spilled out to the surrounding streets. When we do get to go we try to only buy from the farmers that grow there own produce not from the ones that just buy thier stuff from a wholesaler and then resale it, that, in our opinion, is not what the river market is for. Well on to my becoming a dork. First on the way through the market me and Lori spotted an eggplant with hair, that looks like it told one to many lies. So I whipped out my cell phone and got a pic of the Pinocchio Plant. (To the creators of Veggie Tales: This eegplant would be a great new character.) It was the first time I had ever used the phone to take a photo, it works so good I think I will try to make a habit of it.
Then we went on through the market to find one of the water plants I have been wanting to add to my pond plant collection. It is a lily that rises up out of the water and the leaves get huge, helping to shade the water from the blazing sun we get here in the summer. So I had Lori snap a shot of me with my prize, I look like the cat that swallowed a canary. Man I’ve become a Dork, luckily my wife is partial to dorks. So that makes me
A Happy Dork.
Glen

Why do these kids keep calling me Mom,aka LindaJ heads back to China!

I have had the pleasure of knowing Linda for a couple of years now. I also was able fallow her, via the her web blog, when she meet Lila, her daughter adopted from China for the first time. They are about to finally heading out in a couple of day for there second adoption form China of Ellie. If you would like to fallow along just click on the link under, Other peoples blogs that I like too the right, that says Lila. Her blog title makes me chuckle.
Glen

Ellie my mom will be here soon peace.

Braydon the man in the middle

Lila supper star

"Dear Sweet Daughter" poem.

I Thought I would share one of my favorite adoption poems with my fellow waiting families. It is one that I found over 2 years ago but still holds true today. Even though the wait is still getting longer, even though each day that passes with out a referral bring us some sorrow, it also bring us JOY knowing that we are one day closer to Norah. Hope this poem bring you joy, like it dues for me.

Glen

Dear Sweet Daughter

As a girl I had a common dream, to be a mom someday.

My baby would have eyes of blue, and hair the hue of hay.

But now my dreams have been transformed.

New visions fill my head.

Now the tresses that I long to stroke are raven black instead.

And in my dreams those eyes are not so big or blue or round.

Now in my dreams they’re almond shaped and coloured cocoa brown.

And in my dreams my arms can stretch across enormous seas.

They reach half way around the world and hold you close to me.

As you grow in your mother’s womb, carefully knit together, You’re also growing in my heart, where you will stay forever.

And in my dreams the moment that your mother says good bye, I’ll be right there to comfort you and hold you as you cry.

Our features may not look alike; we’re different as can be.

But still I know the Father has created you for me.

And though I’ve not yet seen your face, or held your tiny hands, And though we’re half a world apart in very different lands, I’ll be right there to get you just as soon as God allows.

But till He says the time is right I give to you this vow.

I’ll pray for your protection every night on bended knee.

For God will hold you in his arms until you’re here with me.

~ Gayle Leubecker ~

Sweet find!

Well, Dear Lori had to work today saving lives, no really that is her job. So I went yard sailing by my self in hopes of finding a desk for Annie’s room. The fruits of my labor are seen below. The desk was in very good condition but it was stained wood finish and all of Annie’s stuff in her room is white, so I sanded that sucker smooth and painted it gloss white. Notice how bright and shiny the desk is. Annie just might have to where sunglasses when she dues her home work. Hopefully I didn’t just kill all the effort that was put into the, save the planet concert, that the singers put on this week. I don’t think, with my couple of spray cans. I did any more harm then they did with there jets flying to the concert, and both our efforts were for a good cause, and I'm recycling the desk, so were even in my book. I will have to show you guys the room when I get it all set up. Glen

36 more days.

We herd from our exchange student, Annie a couple of times since I last posted about sending her a birth day gift. She has received the CD we sent her and loved it. I know that when you give a gift you
shouldn’t expect anything in return. Still it was nice to here that she liked it and was grateful to receive it. She even told us if there was anything that we wonted that she could bring us from China please ask. We still have to get a desk for her to study at for her room so we need to pick that up this weekend. Just 36 more days to go.
I have been doing well at work and my son Brandon has been a big help, he is so looking forward to turning 16 so he can apply to K-mart. (They have air conditioning).

Happy 4th of july.

Happy 4th everyone! I went back to work on the 30th of June and was able to get the duplex done that I started. I was feeling very sore by the end of each day and the next mornings. I knew that was going to be the case when I went back. I actually feel better now that I have been back to work for 4 days. I have been stretching out every morning before work and each night before going to bed, that has help a lot. I went back Saturday knowing I was going to take the 4th off to rest so I am home today. I am so happy to be back to work, I missed working. With Annie, our exchange student, coming in just 38 days it is nice to know we can get our savings built back up before she gets here. Thanks again for all your well wishes. It is good to be back. Glen