"Sisterhood"

(the girls tasting the icing...it was way too cute!)

Katie and Francesca sharing some birthday cake at the rehab center with G.G. (It was Keith's Birthday on the 29th! Happy Birthday Honey!)





Francesca and Katie enjoying a ride in the #20 car...




Aunt Amy helping Francesca ride a 'big girl' bike...that is Katie's. Katie is riding Francesca's tricycle.

THERE HERE!

Uncle Owen, Aunt Amy, and Katie finally made it to PA on Saturday around 7:30PM and since than we have been having a blast! As most of you know, the relationship between our two families is truly "a red thread connection" that has lasted almost three years...since that first email between us mothers after receiving our referrals for our daughters ...than finding out that that both girls were from the same orphanage...and that we would be traveling together...and that our two families would be together for that truly special moment of holding our daughters for the very first time! The girls have really come into a friendship of sisterhood that we can not even understand. We, the Leonard's, are so totally blessed to have such wonderful & beautiful people in our lives....and the chance for Francesca and Katie to continue share that bond of their "sisterhood" that joined this friendship between two families from the beginning and is still growing...

I promise I'll have photos to post of the girls soon....

My Life in Six Words..

I have been tagged by one of my wonderful blogger friends, Lisa at
The Long Road To China. Here is the task...Describe your life in only 6 words!

(I have to admit, when I first read the rules of this tag, I thought it would be a piece of cake, but it is way harder than I thought)

OK....here mine goes....

Organizer...Overwhelming...CareTaker....Artist...Good Tipper.

This was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be when I first saw this tag, but after thinking about it, 'I think' I summed up my life the best that I could.

The Organizer is an easy one. I am just that type of person...everything around me must be organized! At times, this is not always easy for me because Keith is not the most organized person and he will admit he relies on me way too much . I handle 99% of everything that goes on in our family and home. You name it....I organize/handle it.

Overwhelming...seeing how I am living in PA while Keith is working in D.C. most of the week, my life does feel overwhelming at times. There are days that I am handling (and these are just a few), trying to be 'the wife', taking care of Francesca, running a smooth household, trying to be the best daughter I can be for my mom through this very difficult time with my grandma, my sister's cheerleader, a friend to many, great Avon rep (I bet you guys didn't know that one...I have been selling Avon since 2004 and my business has grown beyond my expectations), bill payer & check book balancer, which is a job I really don't want but being the organizer, I am better at it than Keith...and so much more! Boy, just thinking about all that, I am feeling a little 'overwhelmed'.

Caretaker...again another easy one. My family comes to mind first with this one. I wanted to list mother and wife, but the word 'caretaker' fits me better. I don't only care for my family, but I also try my best to help my mother, grandmother, sister, and all our friends. I try to help anyone and everyone who needs help from me...trying to be the one who takes care of everything.

Artist...As many of you know, I love to draw, paint, and create. Since bring Francesca home, I haven't focus on it as much as I would like to, but it is still so thrilling to see invitations come in the mail from all over the United States, inviting me to show one of my painting in their artist exhibit. I did do a gallery show here in NEPA about a year a ago after receiving an invitation and my piece sold for nice sum of money. I just wish I had more time to myself (and a room in our house to call my studio) to be able to do so....I miss it so.

Good Tipper...If it wasn't for my husband Keith, I would never be listing this as a label of my life. Keith believes in going above and beyond in 'the rule of tipping' and he does it in a way that makes everyone he tips feel like you have just done him this huge favor and he is so grateful for you taking the time to do so. It amazed me when I would watch him do this (because he is so not tacky about the whole thing) and I learned and became a good tipper as well (just ask our "Thursday night out" bar-tender, who takes excellent care of us). Keith also showed me that if you get good service, show them you enjoyed their service...leave a good tip!

Now here are 6 words for you that I just had to steel from Lisa's blog...because I too feel..

So Blessed To Have This Life!

And how true that statement is! There are days I want to so badly run in the other direction when life gets a little out-of-control, but knowing that I am so loved, needed, relied on, and living the life that I never thought possible (and having the best that I could ever ask for)...I am truly blessed!

Needing to tag 5 more people...here mine go!

Sara at Football and Fried Rice

Colleen at The Crazy Eight

Sue at Biddle Bloggers

Linda at Parker's Paradise

and

Janelle at Wise Tails

Here are the rules...you need to describe your life in 6 words....link back to me and tag 5 other people (Leave them a comment to let them know you tagged them)...It is that easy!

How can a mother loose her child? (bad mommy I am)

Trust me, I know all too good how it can happen because it happened TO ME! And worst of all, it took me over 5 hours to realize that my child was missing! How could this be? Am I that bad of a mother? Am I loosing it? What gives! Now before you start asking a ton of questions let me inform you that it....


...wasn't this one

BUT


It was THIS ONE!


Yes, that's right...Our big old Honey Bear decided to have a night out on the town Thursday night! What happen was after eating some supper and baking some goodies for our friends that will be coming here this weekend, my mom called me to see if Francesca wanted to spend the night. Of course Francesca's answer was yes...so up to Grandma's we went. Since it was only about 8PM when I left Grandma's to come back home, I figured I get our grocery shopping done, instead of doing it Friday morning. So grocery shopping is what I did! After an hour at the store, and the night sky being dark, I headed home. After putting away all the groceries and finishing up my baking, I went upstairs to put on my jammies and get ready for bed. When I walked into our bedroom, I turned on the AC and checked for Honey (he is usually in our bedroom or the living room). He wasn't there and I didn't think anything of it. When I went back down stairs, I finished cleaning up the kitchen and got ready to watch some TV. After sitting in the living room for about 5 minutes, I noticed that Honey wasn't there either. Now again, I didn't really start to panic. Sometimes, he gets behind the couch or hides upstairs in our spare room whenever we have a bad storm or some fireworks are going on (he doesn't like the noise and someone in our neighborhood has been lighting them off recently...all day long!). OK, after checking those places, and the rest of the house and still didn't find him (mind you, he is a 80lbs dog!) , I called our neighbors to see if they had seen him. As soon as my neighbor, Nancy heard what was happened, she jumped right into wanting to help. We meet outside and started the search. Up and down our street, alley way, and side streets...all the while calling out his name.. and still no Honey. My heart was breaking. I kept thinking...how did China trust me with one of their own...and are going to trust me again...when I can't even keep track of a 14 year old dog, who is such a loving, easy-to-care for, lazy dog that is my baby! How might I ask? (I must have said this about a hundred times to Nancy while we were searching for him too). Anyway, after going around the block for the second time, I told her that I was going inside to go call the police to see if they knew anything. (my biggest fear was not of him being hit by a car, but someone seeing what a wonderful dog he is and keep him for themselves). Anyway, after talking to the police, I did find out that they did pick up my dog who was laying on someones front porch about 1/2 block from our house. The officer said she dropped him off at the Humane Society and I should call them in the morning to make arrangements to pick him up. Now mind you, it was now after 11PM at night...so morning it would be!

9AM this morning I was at the Humane Society to bring Honey home. All the employees couldn't stop talking about him to me... all saying what a wonderful boy he was and how much he seem to be missing home. By 10AM, we were both back home...safe and sound.

I can't tell you what I was feeling throughout this whole mess! I can't begin to tell you how happy and relieved I was to hear that the police did pick up Honey and he was being taken care of...and I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it feels to have him home.

I still am not sure what happened. I am not even sure when I left him outside in the yard (he only goes out after he eats...so I am thinking it was about 4:30PM....but something inside me is telling me that I let him back in. Oh, and another thing...our yard is fenced in...so what happened)!

Now, that part about being a bad mommy....According to the HS, he arrived at their office at 5:30PM and I didn't notice he was missing until after 10PM....THAT'S 5 HOURS! 5 HOURS and I didn't notice that my dog wasn't around. I feel awful! And the best part of this whole thing is I can't remember when I let him outside! I know I am just beating myself up, but how can a mother loose her child! (I guess the answer to that one is...just ask me!)

the book..."If You Give A Moose A Muffin"

by Laura Joffe Numeroff

"If you gave a moose a muffin, he'll want some jam to go with it. So you'll bring out some of your mother's homemade blackberry jam....

This is Francesca's favorite book! We read it at least two times a day and she has gotten to the point (because she knows the whole book by heart) of being able to quote lines from it throughout the day to just about anyone who will listen. This morning, after brushing her teeth, she asked me, "Mom can we make some muffins today like in the book and can you make some homemade blackberry jam?" Of course, my answer to this was "yes" so after her school today, we went to the store to get the muffin mix (as in the book) and the ingredients for the homemade blackberry jam. (thank God making homemade jam is one of things I do best...) As soon as we got home, she insisted we make the jam...which we did...and we got most of the muffins ready for baking before her quiet time down. I started baking the muffins about 10 minutes before she started waking up and as the smell of the muffins filled the house, Francesca came running down the stairs so excited...and couldn't wait to see the muffins. In her own words, she told me, "I smell those muffins and they smell so good, Mommy!". Anyway, after some time with them cooling on the baking rack and cheating a-little on the jam (it was supposed to sit for 24 hours before using), she and I had an afternoon snack of muffins with some homemade blackberry jam. She just loved it...as I did too...and she can't wait until she wakes up tomorrow morning to have another....

(the muffins)

"They sure smell good!"

(the homemade blackberry jam)

"Can I have one, please Mommy?"

"And chances are...if you give him the jam, he'll want a muffin to go with it."

"A package in the mail for me!"

One day before we left for our trip to the beach, Francesca received a little package in the mail (that was waiting for her when she arrived home from school) from Auntie...while Auntie was vacationing in Florida.

A package for me!



What can it be?



Almost there...



Oh My Gosh!

It's a giant C.C. cookie (my favorite)!




Thanks Auntie for the awesome cookie! I just loved it!

Virginia Beach photos and more!

Here are some of the photos from our time down at Virginia Beach. We had such a great time!

At the Virginia Beach Aquarium....

Francesca and Mommy outside the aquarium with the harbor seals.


Francesca and some string rays....





The sea turtle was just enchanted with Francesca. Every where she moved, he followed. It was so cute!




Francesca and a shark (she was so excited to finally see a live shark - up close!)



Group Photo...

(Francesca, Grandma C, Mommy, and Papa minus Keith who was taking the photo)


On The Boardwalk....

Francesca and Daddy cooling off with some spray water.


Tomorrow we have our one and only meeting with our social worker for Sofia's home study update. I'll keep you all posted on how that goes....

And yesterday...
We drove the 6 hour trip (to and from) Philadelphia to get our fingerprints done. After the long ride, we came home and started getting our house and yard in order for....UNCLE OWEN, AUNT AMY, and KATIE who are coming here next week! We can't wait! It seems like forever since we last seen them and this time we will be seeing each other for a whole week! Francesca is already asking me, "When are Uncle Owen, Aunt Amy, and Katie coming?" "Will they be here tomorrow?" and "Are you going to get me up when they come?" (that is the question we got last night at bedtime). We love you guys and we can't wait to see you all!