two more weeks...

This is it, folks!  We'll be wrapping up our "Home Sweet Home" dress promotion in just a couple weeks.  I started this little fundraiser back in May and decided to extend it a couple times and offer different dresses.  (because honestly, I get bored doing the same thing over and over!)  But I'm serious this time.  This is it.  So share with your friends and order now.  All the proceeds go to helping an adoptive family bring their child home.  So you get a cute dress AND you get to help bring home a little one!

Sweet Olivia is modeling July's dress.  I love this one.  Right now it shows off those chubby, little arms beautifully, but in a few months we'll be layering with a long sleeve tee to carry us into fall.  Versatile!!!


(This is her version of modeling.  She's a natural.)


(ha ha - those baby blues are SO sensitive)


(My, what nice brown grass you have...  Yuck.)

So!  If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email at nlaire@yahoo.com.  Additional information can be seen here.  (I don't think you need a facebook account to see this page.)  Available fabrics can be seen here.  Happy shopping!

cheating

Here's an easy way to post.  Have other people take pictures and use those for your blogging.  :)  We had pictures taken on Tuesday, and here is one of our sneak peeks, which I love.

Oh yeah, they are best buds. (Well, sometimes.)

hello blogland

It's been awhile.  I didn't even post in June.  Oops.  But we sure have been busy!  Unfortunately, my camera has not.  I did get this picture of Olivia last week.  Cora was screaming at the time - so no picture of her.  But here's some Olivia sweetness.



She was so proud of that face paint.  And I love how her tongue is hanging out just a bit!

mother's day 2012

What a Mother's Day!  I started mine a little earlier than usual, or expected, actually.  4:30am -  one of my little sweethearts had not been feeling well and was in need of some clean sheets, so I had laundry to do...  (and I've been doing laundry ever since.)  Yuck.  Fortunately, I got to snuggle with this little sweetie once the mess was taken care of.  Unfortunately, this little sweetie was wide awake by that time and was up another hour and a half before falling back to sleep... Oh well.  Wouldn't have it any other way.

So we took a nap later in the day.  I'd say someone slept pretty hard...



And we had a great day.  The grandparents were in town for the weekend, so we started the morning with a little shopping (just the girls, of course) and then grabbed some lunch before the grandparents had to start back home.  We even got in a couple mother's day pictures.  Here's grandma with her girls:



And here are all us girls!



But now I must go.  I have just a bit more laundry to do.

"may day! may day!" they just need families

Like my "play" on today's date?  ;)

I'm going to interrupt my regularly scheduled, light-hearted family blogging to jump up on a soapbox and do a little fundraising. Everyone ready???  (You will be rewarded with pictures if you read to the end...)

I read this the other day. It's the story of a child who lived in an orphanage from age 4 to age 13. Go give it a read.  It's a little long, so I won't say much more about it.  Just make sure you come back, okay?

There are millions of children living in this world without a family. No mother.  No father.  No someone special to care for them, to defend for them, to love them.  And I know there are families that would love to bring a number of these children home, although I'm sure it's safe to say that the price tag of adoption stops many of them from even considering it. (Although I will tell you otherwise... I used to think it took someone "well to do" to adopt.  Most of the families I know that have adopted are your average, ordinary, every-day, middle-income families. No fancy homes or fast cars or extravagant bank accounts... But that's another story for another day. I'm getting sidetracked.) It shouldn't be this way.  A one-time expense should never keep a child from coming home. Because these children certainly don't need wealthy, they don't need privileged... they just need families.  Plain ol' families.

So sometimes, these plain ol', average, ordinary, every-day families could use a little help in providing this "one-time" expense. (And I'd like to give them a little help!  How about you?)  During the month of May, I'll be taking orders for this dress to raise money for a certain family...







The dress will be custom-made (in your choice of fabrics) to fit according to your little one's measurements.  It will be listed for $25 plus shipping, and since I'm volunteering my time on this - the proceeds all go to the family. I will be loading fabric options on my facebook page soon, but tonight I wanted to give you a sneak peak at what is being offered.

I do have a family in mind that I want to support with my little idea, but this family does not know about it, yet. Why? Because I think it will be great fun to surprise them. (Don't you think?) And then we can blog about it. Hooray!

(Olivia just wants to say, "hi!"  She thinks you need a dress, too.)



And of course, I would love it if you help me spread the word!  Please keep me busy.  I'm willing to sew until these little ol' fingers are raw!

 

And finally, to place an order or to ask any questions, please email me nlaire@yahoo.com.  Can't wait to hear from you!

my side of the story...

Last fall, a mom named, "Robyn" announced on a yahoo group that her family had been matched with a little girl from Guiping, the city where Cora is from. Cora's orphanage is pretty small and we've only connected with a handful of families with Guiping kiddos, so I was ecstatic when I read the news. I emailed this mom right away to say hello, and we've been talking back and forth ever since!

Yesterday that family flew home from China with their new daughter, and since they were traveling through Chicago, we decided to make a day trip to the Windy City and greet them at the airport. They live pretty far away and this would be a rare opportunity to meet them and reunite our Guiping girls. I was SO excited! I had been talking to Olivia and Cora about meeting their friend, Mamie, and had imagined the cute pictures we were going to (hopefully) get of the two China sisters together, once again!

Homecomings are exciting. I've been up in the air, eagerly waiting to land and see my friends and family that I knew were waiting there for me. I've also been on the ground, anxiously waiting to see my friends and to meet their new children. It's a pretty sweet reunion, either way.

So Robyn, if you're reading this, this is "my side of the story" - the story from the ground.

We got to the airport and checked our friends' flight status. Delayed. We found the "International Arriving Passengers" area and checked for another update. Delayed even further. The flight ended up being an hour late, and by the time they landed, Robyn was sending texts that they were were going to have to run to catch their next flight. We agreed to run right along with them. :)

Waiting for them was awful, though, because I wasn't even convinced we were in the right place. Assuming the worst, I waivered between wondering if we would even see them to wondering if we had already missed them. Fortunately Robyn kept sending texts, updating us about their progression through customs. Finally, she sent the text that they were re-checking bags, and I looked up and saw her behind the glass doors carrying her little girl! I started waving frantically to get her attention and called for Brendan to grab the girls. Knowing we were going to have to move fast, we made the split decision for Brendan to head for the elevator with the girls (and our huge double-stroller) while I greeted the family.

The "plan" was to meet upstairs to catch the tram to the domestic terminal, but when we reached the top of the escalator, we saw the tram was waiting and jumped inside just before the doors closed. We took off, and I looked out the window to see Brendan and the girls waiting outside. They had missed their ride, and with that we missed our shot at reuniting the girls... Really - it was only a matter of seconds.

But here was my friend that I had been emailing, calling, and (very recently) texting, standing right before my very eyes. And she was holding a precious, little bundle, someone pretty important to my daughter's past. It was almost surreal!

Now you need to know that Robyn and I can talk. I think for the first time ever, though, we looked at each other speechless. (Honestly, how do you pick something to talk about knowing you only have a few minutes? Especially after one of you has just traveled halfway around the world to bring home a child!)

We exchanged a few details while riding on the train and racing toward the gate. Their boarding passes weren't working for some reason, so we got maybe an extra minute to catch up as much as we could. And we managed to take one picture. So here we are. Our Guiping group minus my Guiping girl.



Stupid late airplane.

To sum up the day? It was crazy, chaotic, totally nuts... Not at all what I had planned or hoped for, but absolutely worth it!

girly girl

It doesn't get any girlier than this.