Oh what fun it is to ride...

on this incredible journey! We had a great time on Saturday celebrating Shelby's arrival. A big fat thank you to my sister for hosting and for everyone who came or brought a dish or simply has wished us well on this journey to Shelby. Shelby racked up on some great things and best of all was that we collected almost $300 to send to Grace-Hope!! I know this contribution to their organization is going to change lives. So thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has supported us!

As you can tell from the pics we were really bored at the shower ;) Even though Sheridan appears to be really bored, he was just having a small meltdown since my sister's dog ate one of his crackers. This boy loves his food!! I just couldn't resist snapping a true 2 year old shot of him! Lots of the other big smiles came at the end of the shower when the conversation somehow changed from adoption and babies to waxing and Velcro-weird I know! Great time had by all :) Oh and here is a little shot of Lily doing her dancing for us...


Well we are getting closer and closer to the big day. What a great feeling to finally be able to answer that ultimate question of "When are you going?" with a big fat NEXT WEEK :) Yes, we are going to China next week. How cool is that! We were able to visit with Ally and Frannie yesterday and it is great to get those little visuals of what we are about to have added to our family. You can sneak over to Lucy's blog for some pics. I am looking forward to seeing all the girls play together very soon.

I did manage to finish up getting all the "gifts" that you are supposed to take to China. I went with little tool kit thingys and lipstick for each gift. I also finally found some red envelopes for a few of the cash gifts as well. I decided to buy Shelby's foster mom a locket. I am going to put a couple pictures of Shelby in the locket and give this to her along with the regular gift bag. As everyone said there is no way I will ever be able to thank them enough. The CCAA does not want to corrupt their system by allowing people to give large monetary donations directly to foster families. I don't blame them for that as that is something that would be too hard to control once ever allowed. I just feel strange handing this woman $10 for loving my child for 2 years, weird :( However, I thought the locket would be something they would allow me to give since it is truly from my heart to hers.