Care Package

We officially ordered a care package for Brooke yesterday. I had put two together before and shipped them, but only one made it to the orphanage. So, no more free gifts to some postal worker somewhere between here and there. Who would steal a gift for a child in an orphanage anyway? How low can you go? This time we are using a woman who is already IN China. She assembles care pkgs and gets them to the orphanage with no problem. We have also ordered a cake. We missed Brooke's 2nd birthday, but celebrated it by sending China our official Letter of Intent to adopt her. So, she will soon get a cake, a letter from us, a toy, a book, a set of spring clothes and butterfly squeaky shoes, candy for her foster parents, a camera, and a book for her little foster brother. And - hopefully - we'll get an update and a new picture or two. (please, please, please...) It depends on the orphanage. We have our fingers crossed. Brooke's little foster brother has a birthday in May and his soon-to-be mom, Allison, will send a cake then.

Oh, yeah! We have been LID for 34 days!!!!!!!! Tick...Tock... The wait could be as short as 75 days or as long as 125. I've GOT to make more progress painting!!! We've gotten some more paperwork from the adoption agency (CCAI) concerning the actual trip to China and I get the feeling that the paperchase for the dossier was the easy part...

Putting together the new Sit 'n Stand stroller for Brooke and Olivia:















It went together fairly easily.
Thank heavens.

















Olivia loves to be driven around the house. She really likes to ride in the front, but there's a jump seat on the back for her, or she can stand on the back and face forward.















Jinx - fat cat extraordinaire.

If all the other animals would disappear, she would be very happy and not the least bit curious where they went.
















Mark likes his new job. But this is a good picture of how he feels when he gets home. Getting up at 4:30am does that to a person.
















But he still loves to cook. At least Olivia will know how when she grows up. The SHE can cook for mommy!! :)