Bargain Day, part 2...And we have clothes, LOTS of clothes!

Yesterday I showed you how much fun one can have with toys at a clearance sale.  Remember EVERYTHING at the sale was only a dollar!  The little princesses needed some additions to their wardrobe (we expect them to come to us literally with only the clothes they are wearing) and sweaters and jackets were a top priority. 

The little princesses come from a tropical area of China where it is HOT much of the year.  This week when we were in single digits in Ohio, they had weather that was in the high 60's.  That is their winter.  SO... when we are enjoying springtime in the 50's here (likely when they will arrive home) they are apt to think, "Wow, it is COLD here!"  So, we have coats, jackets, sweaters...

And more coats, and jackets, and sweaters....

 
 More cuteness...

And note the shirt on the end there.... BIG sister.  That is Tikvah's.  She has shot up like crazy the past couple of weeks, so it was fortunate to have this sale to allow her to move up a size!

Missed a few things.  Also didn't take a picture of the TWO hip carriers we hope to use in China.  And yes, they were only a dollar also!

So we have the beds, the bedroom decorated, we have the playroom, we have the clothes....now all we need are for the two little princesses to come HOME!

Bargain Day!

I gave away our preschool toys several years ago; so I was quite excited today when I went to the Once Upon a Child clearance sale.  As advertised, anything with a clearance tag was just ONE DOLLAR!

I have outfitted the little princesses playroom with lots of "new" toys, and only spent $10.00! 

There is a set of building toys with TWO plates - to build flowers
A little mop and bucket
Tag Reader, six books, and two National Geographic Kids Activity card sets to go with it
Polly Pocket play set
Four different computerized sounds/colors/shapes/songs toys
Fisher Price monkey with his little hut and bananas
Two View-Masters with several reels

Just take a look at this haul!

As amazing as that $10.00 buy is, just wait till you see how I rounded out their wardrobe!  Stay tuned.  My washer and dryer have been working all evening making them fresh.  I'll try to get a picture of them tomorrow.

Have you ever gone to one of these sales?  It was amazing!

Waiting is Hard

I guess it is obvious that waiting is hard.  We have all experienced that whether it be waiting for the birth of a child, waiting for an adoption, waiting for Christmas or waiting for our birthday as a child!  Now that we are within that target range of "could be any time" the wait for LOA (Letter of Acceptance) is nagging at me.  I just want to get our daughters home!

We were discussing this wait at dinner last night.  Someone told me I needed to be patient.  Hmmmm...  So I've been evaluating the whole scope of emotions over this wait, and I can honestly say it isn't that I'm pushing against the Lord's timing, being a control freak or any of those things.  I couldn't quite explain it, but I think the story and definition of "impatience" that I found on a friend's blog last night sums it up very well.  Thanks for sharing this Jane!

 

I "stole" this from a friend over at Adoption Makes Six

 

A journal post from an anonymous adoptive parent:

"Here's something I wrote about 2/3 through our first adoption process. I surely did not understand before being an expectant-adoptive-parent how hard the wait was. I did not understand how love grows before you actually meet your child. When watching my friend go through an adoption (before ours) I kept wondering why she was worried or not trusting in God's timing. I had no clue really about the emotions involved. I have since apologized to her! :-) So I have to keep that in mind when talking to people who don't understand ... to understand that I was the same way once. However, I had to "write this" to counter all the comments sent my way about trusting God (even from my husband!) I had to put into words that I could still trust in the Lord and be "impatient" but impatience had to be defined….

Impatience Defined

In our adoption process…

Impatience does not mean I don’t think everything will work out okay;

Impatience does not mean I am a control freak;

Impatience does not mean I do not trust in Providence;

Impatience does not mean I do not have confidence in my agency;

Impatience does not mean I don’t suppose my child is being cared for until I’m united;

Impatience does not mean I do not believe God’s timing is best.

Impatience simply means…I miss my child!"

Working Weekend...

Daddy of the princesses spent much of the weekend working on the big surprise.   There were multiple scavenger trips to the garage and the home improvement store.  Big sister Tikvah assisted at times.

There is still quite a bit to do, but it is starting to look like what we intended.

Funny the things that adoptive parents find to do while we wait for LOA.

Three Hints

Yesterday I showed you a special project in the works for the two princesses.

Today I will give you three hints as to what this is.  I went to Goodwill again last night.  Here are some very vital parts of our project:

1. a dowel rod
2. a stainless steel bowl
3. two knobs taken off pan lids

I promise, this is going to be so cool!

Playroom for Princesses

Living Room

 As I told you in my last post,  we've been rearranging the house and are transforming our living room into a play room.  I had really hoped to be finished by now, but alas, my timetable seems to be too ambitious again.  We have made a lot of progress, however.  Here is a glimpse at what is happening at our house.

Play/School Room

 The living room furniture has made way for a table (IKEA clearance, folks!) and my husband made it shorter by cutting the legs down several inches.  We can't have the little princesses struggling to reach the table!  Four smaller chairs (red!) are in the works.

The large, red shelving unit moved up from the basement and now holds a wealth of toys and books. Tikvah's desk has moved down from her room, and fits nicely in the corner on the left.   My favorite chair is to the right of the shelves, so we are all set for playing and doing school work in this room.

  
And do you see that thing on the right?   

On Saturday, this "mystery item" was an U-G-L-Y entertainment center purchased at Goodwill - on clearance, of course.  It was fake oak with glass doors.  We removed the doors, and you can see that it has become red, black and white....why?  A friend gave me a GOOD IDEA!  Stay tuned.  You won't believe it!

Got an update...sort of

We aren't allowed to request updates from the orphanage very often,  so when we do I am soooo anxious to get them!  I was especially excited about this one because it was the first we've been able to request additional information about Jennifer.  We have so little information about her (literally half of what we have about Abigail) and very few photos.  I have been waiting an entire month for the orphanage to respond to this request.

Sadly there were NO photos of either of our girls, and the questions I asked about each of them got scrambled in translation or something.  The reports obviously mixed the two of them up with one another in places, the questions weren't really addressed, AND there are just two short paragraphs about each girl.  Yup, I'm whining a bit.  This momma's heart longs for news about them!

About the only new thing they told me about Jennifer is that her favorite color is red!  Not sure if that is accurate or not, but if it is she is for sure going to like her new home!  If you have ever been here you know how much I love the color red; and it is all over the house.

This week I have been working on transforming the living room into a play room for the little princesses.  Since neither of them are very steady on their feet, I just couldn't stand the thought of them having to go to the basement play room or upstairs to their bedroom to play.  I have recently papered this room with some bold, red flower print so I think it will be a perfect, cheerful place to play.  It is also on the main floor so I can keep them very close to me throughout the day.

This rearranging the of house is a slow process for sure, and it looks as though we have just moved in at this point.  We are making progress however, so I'm hopeful to have a before and after photo to share here by the end of this week.   My goal is to have all the rearranging and setting up done by the time we receive our LOA.  We can send them photos at that time, and I want the photos that we send to them to accurately reflect what they will see when they arrive home.