JUST WHAT WE NEEDED!!!!!!

Never expecting in a million years to jump on my notebook, check my emails, and see "this" from our agency labeled, "Dang Zi Zhong"! Here are two photos that we received dated yesterday! We also received some current measurements...he is currently 29" tall and weighs 22 lbs (he is currently 6 lbs less than Annabelle and 4" shorter) and has 16 teeth (along with some other information). This is EXACTLY what WE NEEDED to keep us going. Today truly turned out to be one beautiful day!

When I am stressed...

...I cook, bake, cook, bake, cook, bake and eat almost everything in make! (seeing how things have been going for us these past few months - no wonder I gained almost 10 lbs which I so don't need).

One of my favorite recipes that I tend to "turn to" when I am feeling down and out is...

my very own "Potato Chip Cookies" recipe!





They are truly as good as they look and super easy to make...

All you need is...

a preheated oven set at 375

1/2 lb of butter (2 sticks at room temperature)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of crushed potato chips (ridged or ruffled chips work best)
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients and mix until semi creamy (batter won't become completely smooth because of the chips)

using a teaspoon, drop prepared cookie dough on a non-greased cookie sheet

bake at the 375 oven temperature for 10 - 12 minutes

once removed from oven, let them stand to a semi cool than remove them from the cookie sheet to finish the cooling process on a raised rack.

and last but not least...Top with some powder sugar!

(recipe makes 2 dozen cookies)

These are truly one of my favorite recipes that took me many years to "tweak" to perfection! They are a hit with adults and kiddos...because of their buttery & salty taste! As for my family, one batch is never enough and in our house this recipe is one of the more popular requested!

(OK I have to admit here that I had another post all-ready-and-set to go but I removed it. It's just that I have been doing a lot of thinking lately and have been evaluating almost everything and everyone surrounding my life...all in all I see some changes coming...)

for our Benjamin..."Angels Among Us"

I must admit - we truly have some amazing people surrounding us! During this time of the unknown...the unknown of when our home study will be finalized and the unknown of any updates...many of our family and friends have taken charge and done something totally amazing & mind blowing! Seeing how we are so desperate for seeing any of the smallest sign to let us know that this will happen, our wonderful support team has set up a beautiful site to help us raise some much needed funds to bring our Benjamin home. As many of you know, this time, the process for us has truly taken its toll...not only emotionally, but also financially. With double the paper work and in some cases double the fees, the funds we had placed aside for our final adoption, has slowly been disappearing. After hearing our story of how we are struggling to bring our Benjamin home, a web site has been designated into doing just that! Our wonderful family & friends, and yes - even "strangers" have come forward to donate some amazing prizes to be raffled off to help raise some funds for our Benjamin. (in fact there are 15 incredible prizes that are being raffled off) So without keeping you all in suspense any longer, we here at the Leonard household are very excited to introduce to you...



Click on the photo above for a direct link to our Benjamin's site!

There are truly some terrific prizes and even a very special one that only requires you to get out there and spread the word about bringing our Benjamin home.

Finally something to get excited about - THANK YOU...ALL!

Play Date

with B & E!

Thank You K for hooking up our two families! We truly love you & your girls company and can't wait for some more "play dates" together!

Road Blocks & Detours

Since starting this paper chase once again, we have truly hit a zillion road blocks & detours...along with a ton of "other" things that have come up. Within the next few days, our social worker will again be sending in another unapproved home study (this is now #5 if you are all keeping track) for our agency to review. Our agency contacted us (and our social worker) late Monday evening with once again changes that need to be made to #4. I am truly hanging on by my finger nails at this point! It has been over 3 months...YES OVER THREE MONTHS...since we received our PA for our Benjamin. You know how hard it is to answer questions from love ones who think you have it all "wrapped up" and are just waiting to travel! It totally sucks to have to explain to them that we are STILL working on our home study report (the same home study report we "thought" was going to be completed by June). I know that eventually we will get an approved home study, that we will get our 797C clearance and that we will finally have a log in date, but right now, it just seems like there is no light at the end of this tunnel.

Seeing how this is such a downer post, I just have to post some photos of the girls to bring on a smile (at least to my face)! Hope you all are having a better week than I am.

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*this is what keeps me going...*

Where do I begin...

This past week has truly been a crazy one for us in the Leonard household. With a trip to PA to visit Grandma and a few other surprises...life is never dull around here!

The girls and I had a wonderful time in PA while visiting Grandma! The girls were so very sad when we left yesterday. Francesca cried for the first 45 minutes of our ride and repeatedly questioned me on why Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma can't live together. It was super hard on my mom as well for after spending almost a whole week with the girls - she did not want to see us go.

While we were in PA, I did have a visit with our social worker. As some of you know, our social worker submitted an unapproved homes study to our agency for review back on July 23rd, which was returned unrevised because it was not Hague related. Back on August 7th, our social worker sent in another unapproved home study for review and this time it was Hague related. It took our agency almost 1 week for them to review it and get back to our social worker with the corrections that needed to be made (which now makes it August 14th). So last week, I meet with or social worker to make those corrections and get the now corrected, once reviewed - waiting for approval - home study sent back into our agency for another review. I am so hoping that we hear that all is well and that this home study was finally approved so we can move forward with sending in our I800A.

Since the home study has been taking us a lot longer than originally "told". Our agency advised us that we start the certification & authentication process of the documents we already gather for our dossier. Birth certificates, marriage licence, financial report, employment letters, state police clearances, adoption petition, and doctor reports were dropped off today at the Fed Ex box for delivery. Even though we are still waiting on our approved home study, I am feeling like we are moving forward with what we can do.

OK - now here is some news on our Benjamin. I have been in contact with some volunteers that are currently at his orphanage. So far, they have not been able to locate him. They are thinking he has been placed with a foster family but so far no one has gotten any information. To ask the question, am I a little worried about not being able to find out anything on our little guy - you bet, but I am not stressing over it. When I last spoke to our agency's waiting child department two weeks ago, I was told that a request for an update was placed (along with a request for some updated photos). Now, only time will tell on whether we will get anything. According to our agency, any thing is possible - and we might not get anything at all....sigh

Since this post is getting way too long, I'll start wrapping it up here. One last thing to post - while we were in PA, the girls got their hairs cut...short! I think they look adorable and here are a few photos just to prove that I am so right! Love those girls of mine!

Before & After - Dress Up Style!

This past weekend was truly one of the best! The Fitch Family (Al, Lori, and Hannah...who were one of the families we traveled to China with back in 2008) came to our neck of the woods for a weekend visit! With a trip to DC's Zoo and DC's Chinatown...many wonderful meals...two bottles of wine...three nights of very late night talks...an introduction to True Blood (which Keith & I watch every Sunday)...two "accidents" (OK I admit I have a little problem when I get to laughing & trust me - we all shared many laughs) and some incredibly-shocking-&-totally surprising news (but not ours to share), we all had one A-M-A-Z-I-N-G weekend! We are so looking forward to our next get-together in October!

And just for the record ~ the girls all had a great time too!