100 Good Wishes Quilt

There is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt, to welcome and celebrate life. It is custom to invite family and friends to contribute a square of cloth along with a good wish for the baby. The quilt is said to contain the luck, energy and good wishes from everyone who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt becomes an heirloom and is passed from generation to generation.

Typically this is something that is completed before the child is born (adopted, for us). In our case, we were not aware of this tradition until we returned from China, so we decided to go ahead and collect quilt squares to make Sarah a 100 Good Wishes Quilt of her own. We would love for you to participate, if you would like, please select a machine washable, 100% cotton fabric. The fabric can be new or "used and meaningful". Please pre-wash the fabric so it will not shrink or bleed when the quilt is laundered. Cut a 9"x9" square of fabric. In addition, glue a small patch of fabric on a 4"x6" or 5"x7" paper or cardstock with your good wish for Sarah. Your wish can be simple or elaborate-of your own words and thoughts, a favorite poem or quote. Please remember to sign your wish and include your address. The good wishes with the small patches of fabric will be put into a scrapbook for Sarah. When she is older, she will be able to match up the wishes and fabric to her quilt. The quilt will also give Sarah some history. If you would like to contribute and be a part of Sarah's quilt, please send us the wish and quilt square. Email me and we'll send you our address.

Thank you so much for helping us make this gift for our daughter possible. Your kindness and generosity means so much to us.

Merry Christmas Photos, and More!

Well...I have been slacking off severely! As Sarah's Lao Lao is not forgetting to remind me about. So, this is an attempt to highlight some of the fun activities that we've experienced this past few weeks. A photo journal...one may say...

We decided to start a new tradition for our Sarah...we made a birthday cake and on Christmas Day we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. Of course, Sarah got to blow out the candles, and taste them as well!

This was one of Sarah's FUN presents. She got a Dora indoor tent that she loves! Peek-a-boo was her favorite game with it.






This year we had a blast opening presents. Sarah would look at them and say, "peasants! Open it!" and whenever ANYONE had a present to open, they had a 2 year old helper. She'd say, "help you!" while tearing into your present!

Awww, giving her new leopard hugs!


I had to post this one, Sarah has officially learned how to jump! I just wish I'd been facing her at the time, I bet the smile on her face was priceless!

She just loves those books...


This is Christmas morning and Sarah just opened her new Lamb chair. She's so cute, she gives it hugs and kisses all the time. It's so soft and comfy!

Not to mention, it's pretty bouncy, too!

Awww...those priceless hugs. This is the doggie that Mama and Baba got for me. He's so soft and cute!

And my cool new table with chairs. I love to sit and play!

More hugs for my doggie, we're still thinking of a name for him...any ideas, anyone?
This is my awesome new stool from LaoLao! It has my name as a puzzle on it and I love to try to put the letters in the right place! It's a lot of fun to sit on, too!

This was on Christmas Eve, and the awesome new legos I got from Aunt "Shay-shee", Uncle Chris, Shy, and Jash. Me and Shy built a big tower!

This is my warm and pretty new hat that Aunt "Shay-shee" made me! I like it!



I was dancing around the living room and Mama grabbed the camera, of course!

This was my cute outfit from Lao Lao. We were getting ready to go to Lili's birthday party and Mama made me smile for the camera. I don't mind, though cause I like to look at the baby on the back of the camera!



This was one of the presents that I got from my Grandma & Grandpa Archer. This is the best frog! It sings songs and I dance to them and play with it EVERY day! I love it!


Hanging out with Baba!

THANKS LAO LAO!

Well, today we got ANOTHER box from Sarah's Lao Lao. She sewed this beautiful jacket for my baby girl. What a seamstress, huh? She did a great job and it is so cute. Sarah HAD to model it for the camera right away. I know the pants don't match, but we were just trying it on and I had no desire to change the whole outfit! Merry Christmas early from Lao Lao!

This one is a little blurry, cause I wouldn't hold still for Mama, but I'm still cute, don'tcha think?

In this one, I was telling Mama, "I'm so cute!"

Of course, I'm showing you my pretty pearly whites in this one. I get a really funny look on my face when Mama asks me to smile, so she said, "show me your teeth" and this is what I did!

Contemplations

So, for some reason today I'm feeling quite comtemplative. I read something that has got me thinking about the Blessing that my daughter is. So, I decided this is the best forum to get these things out of my head and heart to words. There are so many things in my brain right now, bear with me.

My daughter has changed my life in so many ways...I went from working full-time in a career to a life of a full-time cook, maid, diaper changer, snot wiper, and owie kisser.

I love that when it's time to go to bed, Sarah gets really silly and we have a blast together being silly and laughing.

I love that when she has an owie she wants me to kiss it and when it's a really big owie, she runs to my arms, lays her head on my shoulder and wraps her arms and legs around me and just cries it out.

I love the way she finds something humorous and looks over to me with a smile that could light a room to see if I think it's funny, too.

I love how when we adopted her she wouldn't even look my direction but now, she looks me straight in the eyes and says, "yahve you"

I love the way she tries to sing along to the radio in the car when she thinks I'm not paying attention and I hear her sweet little voice repeating the words of the song in her own little sweet melody.

I love to watch her dance to the music with such abandonement...bouncing up and down at the knees, clapping her hands, wobbling her body to and fro, and walking around in circles to the beat.

I love the way she claps and cheers, "YAY, MAMA" when she hears me flush the toilet after using it. (Can you tell we're trying to potty train?)

I love the way she runs to me when I get home in the morning from work with a big laugh and jumping up and down yelling, "MAMAAAAAA" as she wraps her arms around my shoulders with a big hug.

I love that she says, "Yawve You," "MISSHYOU" when we put her to bed.

I love that no matter where we are, no matter who we are with or around No one can cough, sneeze, or burp without Sarah telling them, "bessh you"

I love that while she lies in bed at night and we are talking when we cough or sneeze she shouts from her room, "bessh you!"

I love the way she farts and tells me, "Mama farted!" when I say, "No, it wasn't Mama" Then she says, "Baba farted" when I tell her, "No, Baba isn't even here" she gets a BIG, SILLY grin and says, "shara farted!"

I love that when she sees a photo of herself, she says, "baby shara" then she'll say, "mama's shara, baba's shara!"

I love that when I grab the duster to get the house clean, she runs to the cupboard, grabs the second duster and runs to the living room and says, "dusty tee vee, Mama" and continues to help me dust.

I love that when it's time to vacuum, she says, "help you, Mama" grabs the handle of the vacuum and starts to try to vacuum the carpet with the vacuum angled in the air cause she's too short to hold it so it touches the floor.

I love the way she rides our dog Liberty like she's a horse!

I love that she says, "petty yites" "kissmas tree" and NO Man when we see Christmas lights, a tree and a snowman while driving around in the car.

I love the way she snuggles up in my lap on my left leg and leans into my shoulder as I read her story after story after story, each time she goes and gets another one.

I love the way she laughs like crazy when I tickle her until she's had enough and she manages to get out, "shtop it peazhe" while she's still laughing.

I love that when she is in the shopping cart that I'm pushing and I'm stopped, looking at something, she'll lean forward put the side of her face against my tummy and say, "Awwww, yawve you, Mama" Then she'll ask for a "UG, Mama"

I love the way she wakes up from her nap and yells at me, "WAKE UP!" thinking that I'm asleep, too...and it's time for me to wake up and get her!

And, that's my cue! Gotta go get my girl.

Before I do, I guess the most amazing thing that I love and have learned is there is no feeling on this planet like feeling the love of my child.

Here's my baby when she saw the Christmas tree for the first time last Sunday, Please pay no attention to the laundry!

Our First Ever Santa Experience

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words...well, You gotta hear the story behind this one. We decided that Sarah needed to sit on Santa's lap for the traditional annual photo with Good Ole' St. Nick. So, I noticed the other day that Wal-Mart was having photos with Santa last Saturday and thought...perfect, it's near my house, at a convenient time. I'll get my Noodle all dressed up Christmas-like and get a cute photo with the Jolly Old Guy.

Well, we got there before Santa arrived. He was a little late, can you believe that? Anyway, I digress...Sarah was sitting in the cart hanging out with her toys while we talked and played and we were second in line. Before us was a family of 3 kids and the parents. There were 2 boys and their little sister who was probably 6 months or so older than my Sarah. The boys had their turn, but then it was time for their little sis to sit on Santa's lap, and the tears started to flow! That cute little blondie just cried and didn't want ANYTHING to do with sitting anywhere near Santa, let alone his lap! Well, the aforementioned family was finished and I told Sarah, "Come on, Sweetie, let's go sit on Santa's lap, he's really nice!" Sarah let out the most blood curdling cry, "NO!" and as I started to pick her up out of the shopping cart she screamed and cried-I'm sure they could hear us all the way back in Layaway! Her body was wrapped around me with the Sarah Grip Of Death! She didn't want to get near the big guy in a red suit with all that fuzzy white hair all over him. No Thank You, No Way, No How!

I just finally set her on his knee and told her how nice Santa was, to no avail. The helper chick came over with a treat and if you look closely in her hand, you'll see the hershey's kiss that the gal gave her in an attempt to help her to stop crying. Sarah stopped crying for about a second-just long enough to look at me and say, "OPEN!" then continued her screams. I told the photographer, "just take it, don't worry...she's not planning on stopping til she's off his lap and besides, it'll be cute" So, here we have our daughter's first experience with Santa! You gotta love that little face even when she's so unhappy!

Of course, for the rest of the day, Baba couldn't help but tease her about it. He kept saying Sarah, let's go to Wal-Mart and see Santa! You can sit on his lap again! She would just run the other way and say, "NO!!" I guess with all the 2 year old tantrums of late, he was thinking of a little revenge.

Again at church Mama made me stand by the petty kissmas lites cause LaoLao wants pictures of my petty dresh. Lao Lao buys me the best and pettiest dreshes! See, I like the lites!

Heehee, my Baba was standing behind Mama while she took my pictures cause he was making me laugh and smile!

Merry Christmas a little early

Well, here is our baby, who's not such a baby anymore, in her Christmas photo. She has that...hmm...kind of half smile, when you're not looking I'm taking off with this string of garland so, look! Mama! over that way! kind of look on her face!