BlessingsForMadi

Photos of my childhood...

2012-01-13T23:49:00.000-08:00

Feeling nostalgic on a Friday night.....looking at old photos of my childhood. It was 1976 and from the looks of this photo, it was evident we didn’t have much. At four years old, I can still remember where we lived. It was this tiny little house....wait...it was a tiny little room actually -behind a real house that belonged to some friends of my parents. They let us stay there for about a year, for probably around $40 or $50 per month. I can still recall that there was one of those old-fashioned merry-go-rounds right outside our door. I remember our first pet hamster, the one we buried near a rose bush -after it died of course. Then there was “Chiquita” our little black terrier that I loved so much. But I’m not sure why we couldn’t keep her....except I do remember she had to move next door for some reason, to the neighbors with the chain link fence. Thank God for that chain link fence, because I remember I was still able to call her by name & she would come to the fence to lick my fingers. Those were the days where nothing caused me to worry. I didn’t know the difference between a “real” house and a tiny room, or whether we had a kitchen table, or what money was for that matter. I just knew about what I felt, and I remember I felt happy. I had a set of parents who made me feel loved, and protected. Nothing else mattered.

Here I am pictured celebrating my fourth birthday it seems. Love the orange color of that chair! The other photo is of me & my older brother on a pony that belonged to another neighbor.

So.....as we get closer to receiving news from China, I am just thinking about what kind of mother I will become. I know that as a mother, I will most likely have a whole new set of worries. I will probably worry about not being able to soothe her as she cries for the hands that once comforted her back at her orphanage. I am sure that it’s only natural for me to feel sad that I am most likely missing out on her first months of life ( considering how close we are to receiving a referral in the next couple of months, it is very likely she has already been born ). And I think about who’s caring for her now. Do they love her? And are they allowing her to get attached? What kinds of flavors are becoming her favorites? What’s becoming her routine? Will I be able to to be ok if she rejects me or her daddy at first because she will not recognize us?

But after allowing my brain to have these feelings of uncertainty and worry......I can’t help but to return to these old photos, where ironically I receive some kind of comfort. When I look back to these photos I am reminded that children are simple-minded. They don’t really ask for much, except to be loved, and to feel safe and protected by their parents. And that is all I will allow my brain to worry about for now.

Hopefully.....our last Christmas of Waiting for Madi.

2011-12-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

Sharing this song by Third Day which has beautiful lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muQhSwVBkAo

Reflections of Today...our God-Daughter's Birthday.

2011-11-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

Today is November 8, 2011, and exactly 13 years ago, a very special baby girl was born whom would forever change our world. She was our very first niece from my side, born during our first year of marriage. I can still remember the day when she first entered this world. My husband and I were just outside a curtain from her hospital room waiting for her to let out her first cry....it was around 3 in the morning. She was bright red, had a ton of black hair, and scrunchy little eyes. She was beautiful...and we were clearly smitten with her, no doubt.

During her first year of life, our niece, along with her parents, lived with my folks only a few miles away, which abled us to visit quite often. At about 6 months, we were thrilled to be chosen as her God-parents, and I’d say that ever since then, we took on the role very seriously, vowing to always care for her, love her unconditionally, protect her from harm’s way, guide her through life, and show her direction towards a spiritual life.

By the time she was to turn 2 years old, her family moved up to Northern California for a few months, and while they worked on relocating back to the area, our God-daughter came to live with us during the summer. We have so many incredible memories from that summer, and the bond that we developed during that period will forever remain priceless. We really got to love everything about raising a toddler, including changing diapers, although that summer we did help her potty train. We also helped to wing her off the bottle she had been so used to sleeping with, the one she would request with “leche con quik” (milk with Quik Chocolate ), which had unfortunately already started to ruin her teeth. I remember that one night as she woke up with a cute little whimper asking for her bottle. It only took a small conversation with her in Spanish to let her know that drinking chocolate milk at night was not good for her teeth. Unbelievably as it seems ( as she was only 2 1/2 years old ), she seemed to understand the concept. Our conversation went something like this ( but in Spanish ):

“drinking milk with chocolate at night will make your teeth yucky, drinking water instead is better” .

then we continued to go down the list of family who drank water but not chocolate milk at night, until it was her turn to recite it, so her conversation went something like this ( but in Spanish ):

“Nino doesn’t drink milk but water yes?”,

“Nina doesn’t drink milk but water yes?”

“Samson ( our dog ) doesn’t drink milk but water yes?”.

then as she took a deep sigh, she finally said:

“Nino.....can I have some water”?

Ahhh! What a tender little moment. She continued to learn many new things with us, in particular -many new “English” words. She also mastered her “Sign of the Cross” as she held her little hands together while she prayed to “Diosito” and asked for many blessings for her entire family and extended family including our dog “Samson”. And I could still remember her sweet little voice as she would often say to us “I wuv you”. She always knew what to call us. We were her “Ninos” ( which is short for “Padrinos” the term for God-parents in Spanish.

Eventually, her parents relocated and they lived with us for about 6 more months while they found a house nearby to purchase. During the next several years, we were very blessed to play a large role in not only our God-daughter’s life but in her little brother’s who was 4 1/2 years younger. Living just a few blocks away from each other, the kids spent many many days, nights, weekends, and many summers with us throughout the years. We did countless school projects together, swimming classes in the summer, small weekend trips, and just about every little thing you can think of. We really, really enjoyed every moment.....and it was evident that our God-daughter & her little brother filled a void in our lives for many many years. We got to experience parenting to the fullest, but now that they have recently moved to the Mid-west, we will truly miss being a part of their daily lives as they grow into their teen-age years.

So for today, I will have to settle for sending special presents via mail, posting on her FaceBook wall, and sending a “virtual” but deeply heartfelt Happy Birthday wish to our beloved God-Daughter Ivi. May you always know how very special you are to us, how you have inspired us to pursue adoption, and how you continue to help us to be better people.

Love,

Nino & Nina.

This photo was taken around the time she was 5 years old.

Here's one of our more recent pictures together, which was taken right before she moved to Nebraska, during the summer 2011.

CCAA is now Processing July '06 files!

2011-07-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know...... it's been years of waiting to adopt from China ( around 5 years in fact ). And the picture above, my friends & family, is the exact place where our file has been sitting for the past 5 years waiting to be reviewed by a few Chinese officials who will decide who our future daughter will be. When we think about this more deeply, we realize how bizarre this must look to some of our friends and family. To think that our destiny is actually being left to complete strangers half a world away who know nothing about us except what has been written about us by other strangers. Our file, otherwise known as our "Dossier", contains a paper trail of medical records, finances, personal reference letters, passports, personal photos of not only ourselves but of our home, our bedrooms, our yard. But most importantly, our Dossier contains several pages of our "HomeStudy", a sort of biographical type of report done by a certified agency which includes very personal information about our upbringing, our personality, our likes and dislikes, our extended family dynamic, our careers, our interests, our current and future goals and aspirations, and other insights like what we plan on naming our daughter, or how we plan on raising her, not just in terms of parenting styles but religious-wise. All of our documents in our Dossier by the way, have also been translated into Mandarin Chinese, so I wonder....by the time each piece of information is translated, how accurate our information ends up being. Oh no.....what did we get ourselves into? Just kidding! There is no turning back for us. We are both fully vested in what has been a roller-coaster journey to meet our little "Madi". Ultimately, we trust that God will send us the perfect little girl who is meant to join us. And one day when she is older, we will share with her our story of how we waited and waited....and waited and waited....and then waited some more until we finally got to meet her.

Until then........here is a photo of an office inside the CCAA ( Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs ). Can you believe those files you see are "Dossiers" from all over the world waiting to be reviewed and matched with babies? I wonder where ours is. It's probably covered with dust by now....but I sure wish they can get to ours soon. By the way....the CCAA is currently processing July 2006 files, and many people are now speculating that based on their average activity, they may take about 6-8 months to finish July & August, and finally get to September where our file is. Which means that it may be possible to actually receive our referral by early 2012. This may still seem far away to some people, but to us this seems unbelievably close! After 5 years of waiting, what's another 6-8 more months? So for now, it looks like we are getting back on this roller coaster ride of excitement once again. Thank You for tuning in & I hope to update this blog more often as we get closer to receiving our referral.

4 years.................

2010-09-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today is September 11, 2010. And while we (and the rest of the world) are reminded about that terrible tragedy that occurred in NYC 9 years ago, we are also reminded of how long we have waited to hear news from China. Since our dossier was logged in back in 09/11/06 we have waited.....and waited.....and waited. We have no words......just Hope.

The last time our Adoption agency called us, they informed us that China had actually processed 2 weeks worth of referrals in the last month. What this means is that for some reason or another, China processed a heck of a lot more files then it has been the last couple of years ( the average has been about 2 days worth or so per month ). In any case, it seems they are in May of 2006 and the only thing we hope for is that they continue their speed and process the rest of the files as quickly as possible so they can finally get to us. I wish I had a timeframe I can give to family & friends who continue to ask, but the truth is I just can't predict the future. This long wait has taught us to let go of any expectations, and to have trust in what God has planned for our future. It's not easy to do by any means. But during our times of frustration and uncertainty, we rely on our closest friends and family for support.....and this alone is worth this experience.

In the meantime, her room still awaits her. It may not always be as tidy as it is in this picture ( as I often use it for crafting & don't always pick up my stuff ), but it's still there along with little stuffed animals, cozy blankets, books, and clothes.

A sad farewell, to another furry companion.

2010-07-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ever since we adopted "Bo" almost 2 years ago, he had a tendency to want to run away any chance he would get. In fact, on the very first day we got him, he bolted across the street. At first we thought it was because he missed his original family, but soon we learned that this particular breed tends to experience severe anxiety, always needing to be around people. For that reason we decided he would mostly be an inside dog, allowing him to hang out by our side as we worked from home. In the beginning we had to take "Bo" almost everywhere, to the outdoor mall, to friends house, on trips, etc. But as "Bo" started to look like he was learning to chill out a little, we started letting him hang out in the back yard with our other dog "Dalila". Until he started jumping over our 6 foot fence. When this happened we always had to go out to look for him, for the fear of him going into a busy street. Sometimes we would find him in a few minutes, sometimes it was hours, but we always found him. One time, we had crated him inside a metal crate ( for what we thought would be a few hours ) as we went 3 blocks to our Niece's party. It wasn't maybe half hour before "Bo" managed to chew open the metal crate, squeeze his bulging little belly out, jump our 6 foot fence, and sniff his way to where we were. So after we realized that the create was not going to be an option any longer, we started tying him up in the backyard next to his little house whenever we had to leave for a few hours, then let him come inside to sleep once we got back in. But in the last few months, we were starting to let "Bo" hang out in the back yard for a few hours so he could play with our other dog & many times he would manage to stay back there until it was time for him to come inside to sleep. But every so often, something would trigger him to go into panic mode and make him want to jump our fence again to run away. Usually it was either the sound of a nearby mower or blower, but lately it was a fire-cracker, and this week alone, "Bo" had managed to bolt about 4 times because of this very same reason. We had finally added about 2 feet of plywood on one side of our fence door, and were planning the same for the other side door. But unfortunately........it is too late.

"Bo" had escaped last night around 8pm. He was out there maybe 15 minutes before he bolted over our fence. My hubby searched for him for about three hours on the scooter. Then around 2 am when we were about to go to bed we both decided to go for another drive around our neighborhood. "Bo" loved going to Ivi's (our niece) house which was a few blocks away. Several times she would call us to say he was there. But this time, we're not sure if he even stopped there. We have no idea where he spent the night, or when he headed out to the busy street. This morning before we left to a friends funeral, the hubby went out for another drive to see if he had any luck, but there were no traces of him. By the time we returned around 4pm, there was already a message on our phone, as well as a green notice from the local animal shelter. All we had left to remember "Bo" was his brown leather leash, and his silver chain with his "bone shaped" id.

It was a sad day indeed. We loved "Bo", and we will miss him greatly. Here's just a few things that "Bo" loved to do, which we'll always remember.

He loved going to "grandmas house", where there was a much larger yard for him to run around and play football with the kids.

He loved going to the dog park to play with his furry friends.

He loved, loved, loved, his stinky bed ( which we recently just absolutely needed to replace ).

He loved to eat. What dog doesn't?

He loved going on trips. ( he went with us numerous times to Arizona, & twice to Mexico).

He loved kids...........& kids loved "Bo".

We'll miss you!

1,303 Days...

2010-04-07T02:34:00.000-07:00

That is how long we have waited so far to hear news from China. I have hesitated to write a post on this blog regarding our status, simply because I don't have any new news to report. We have literally not progressed in line from where we were last year. Even though it seems we're only about 150 days of Log In Dates away from China getting to our file, the Chinese officials are barely getting through April '06 referrals. It's been very frustrating not knowing why this wait has been so incredibly long. All we have is speculation. A little bit of rumors on blogs, and bits of facts, but nothing concrete. We've been told that the slowdown "could" be attributed to China allowing for domestic adoptions, or that they are allowing the countryside to keep 2 or more children, or that there are simply way more families that are logged in ahead of us waiting for their turn. Whatever the case may be, we just seem to be at a standstill. There is so much uncertainty that for as much as I hate to say it.......we sometimes wonder if we will ever see the day when we will get our referral to the little girl we dream about every night. Her room still awaits her, and our whole family along with our God-kids who often stay over, lovingly refer to her room as "Madi's room". So I should also mention that we are not loosing hope. We are currently updating our Homestudy to re-apply for a new I-71H approval ( which basically means that the US Govt. grants us permission to bring an orphaned child into the U.S. ). The new worry we have now however, is with the US reviewing our financials, as last year was one of our worst years ever. But we are hoping that the US will be considerate of us, not forgetting that our entire country has suffered a great loss during this recession, and still grant us permission while we recoup, especially since it doesn't seem like we will be traveling to China any time this year.

-During our wait, we do want to thank all of our family and friends who continue to ask about our status, and are genuinely concerned while offering their love and support. It really has meant a lot to us to have this support.

Sew cute!

2010-02-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a little boy's shirt I was just itching to make for a friend's grandson. It's sew cute isn't it?

It all started with this shirt, which belonged to a friend's son.......who has a 2 year old little guy of his own. I had grabbed this shirt from a pile of clothes that my friend tried to get rid of at a yard sale. It was still in great shape, being only worn a few times, and it just seemed like a pitty that she was only selling it for a buck.

So I told her I would rescue it & re-construct a little shirt for her grandson. It was the perfect excuse to use my favorite book by Heather Ross called Weekend Sewing, which included a pattern to this adorable little shirt.

It's a super easy pattern that anyone with elementary sewing skills can do.

I was even able to re-use the original buttons & even the original pocket, of which I only had to resize just a bit.

Overall, the little shirt was a great success! Even Bo agreed.

Craft Hope for Haiti

2010-01-20T00:23:00.000-08:00

On January 12, 2010, a devastating quake hit Haiti, causing the end of thousands of lives. It's been just horrific to watch these poor people on television as they wait for the world to help. Feeling helpless myself, I've been eager to help in any way by either donating a few dollars to a relief fund, donating shoes, and most recently donating a few items from my Etsy shop to Craft Hope for Haiti. Craft Hope has set up an Etsy shop exclusively to raise funds to benefit Doctors Without Borders ( 100% of the funds are being donated directly ). It's been amazing to watch their shop burst with sales and donations from crafters from all over the world. Whether you're a crafter yourself or a shopper, visit their Etsy shop & help to re-create hope for Haiti.

Here's one of the items I donated. It's a little pillowtop dress I made with garden-bugs fabric & hot pink ribbon ties.

Our 2009 Christmas Card

2009-12-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

Here's our 2009 Christmas Card we mailed out to family & friends this year. We decided to go with a simple message & just include our adoption website logo as opposed to including an update like we have in the past. It's been three years since we've sent out xmas cards without our little "Madi" so it was honestly just too difficult to write yet another boring update. We figured those interested could visit our newly designed site for any updates they can read on their own as they become available. Our new site will have links to this blog as well as information on all of our fundraising events. Merry Christmas!

It was Halloween......& I wanted it to be "All about Me"

2009-11-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

I sometimes wonder what it's like to be somebody else for one day. And what better day to experiment with this than on Halloween! Especially if there's a parade to go to. Even if it's at the local elementary where my niece & nephew go. I've been attending for about 6 years now. I know....very sad. Or Very Fun! This year, I woke up late, having only about 10 minutes to make it to the parade. So I quickly had to throw on a wig, put on some heavy lip gloss around my lips, grab as many babies I could find around the house, put on some sweats & flip flops, and whala! I was Octomom!

I was surprised people actually recognized who I was (trying) to be. I kept hearing "Nadya" "Nadya". My husband felt sorry for me.

My "Ninja" nephew was embarrassed for me.

But I secretly savored the attention. After the parade, I insisted I be taken out to breakfast. I pretended I was being followed by Paparazzi, as we drove past cars who were quick to point fingers and giggle as they took one look at me. I was ready for my own reality show, and interviews with Barbara Walters!

But once I got home, my husband gave me my own reality check. He said "those lips & that hair scare me. Please take that #@%! off.

The End.

Fundraising for Madi!

2009-10-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

What an incredible time we had during our very first "JourneyToMadi" fundraising booth over at Sacred Heart's annual festival this past weekend! We met some amazing people, many of them who stopped by our booth just to share personal adoption stories of their own. We were truly overwhelmed with the amount of love & support that was outpoured all weekend. A Huge Thank You to Family, Friends, Parishioners, Vendors, (& new friends we made during the weekend ) who were able to make it.

Among some of the items we had for sale were of course our LuckyLadyBug Rocks from our very own garden, which continue to be hand-painted by Grandma Toni. We also had some amazing prints with both inspirational & biblical verses. (The original photos were donated by Ryan Beck & Ron Boyd & a few were even taken by Kris). Prints will continue to be available on-line for $15 & $10 ( mounted to illustration board & sleeved ), along with photo-greeting cards. I will provide the link soon. All proceeds will help with travel expenses & orphanage donation.

Here's Nes (a dear friend of ours) with her mom shopping for a few items for themselves and a few gifts for family. Nes by the way.....is also our #1 recycler, donating bags & bags of recyclables to our cause. If you're local & also want to donate, please contact us. Grandma Cari has been amazing helping out with this project.

A very Smart shopper who's purchase will go towards two amazing causes. One is for "Madi" and the other one is to help her advocate her love for life. We sold many of these "Choose Life" totes, of which we designed the artwork & then embroidered by a local neighbor. If you'd like to order one for yourself or as a gift, I will post them to our etsy store on-line soon, or you can email me. (marsi@kmdezine.com). I have a few dozen left & they come in a charcoal grey & cream.

Posing with Father Henry & a parishioner. We gave the priests VIP passes (Very Important Priest) which entitled them to complimentary items.

With Father Ben, who also enjoyed his VIP pass. Don't ask what's around my neck. ( ok....they were these cute little skeletons from a neighboring vendor, that I traded two greeting cards for).

And here we are with our God-daughter Ivi & a new friend she made from one of the vendor booths. The other adorable girls in white are (photographer) Ryan's daughters.

Upcoming Fundraiser!

2009-10-19T17:51:00.001-07:00

Our Parish is having it's annual fall festival this coming weekend & we're so excited to be having a small fundraising booth for our adoption travel & orphanage donation. This is the banner that Kris designed & it will hang on the front of our table. ( I thought it was cleaver of him to place 9 butterflies & 11 ladybugs on it for our LID ). I love it so much & the best part.....I got one of our vendors to sponsor the printing for us. Thank You Linda over at TransportGraphics in Riverside. So....since we've never done our own booth, we don't really have a clue of what to expect. But, it's strictly a fundraising booth, so we've decided to have some fun with it & just see how it goes. There's a small donation we've got to give to our Parish, but we get to keep any of the proceeds from the weekend. We'll be selling our popular Ladybug Rocks, as well as some custom embroidered Totes, and some really amazing photo prints that were generously donated by a couple of local photographers Ryan Beck & Ron Boyd ( & even from my very own amateur photog but talented husband ). Some prints will feature either inspirational quotes or biblical verses, and they will be available as 5x7's, 8x10's and possibly some larger sizes too at great prices. It's all kind of happening pretty fast, so we're doing our best to juggle our day jobs along with getting prepared for this coming weekend. I'll be posting some samples soon & maybe upload them to our Etsy store for anyone who's not local and would like to purchase some. They'll make great Christmas gifts & at the same time go towards a great cause.

Heather Ross Book Signing

2009-09-04T13:24:00.001-07:00

Had a great time yesterday at Harts Fabric in Santa Cruz, where fabric designer Heather Ross came by for a book signing & to do a fabulous workshop to teach us how to do a custom skirt sloper ( custom pattern to fit my body ). We had just enough time to create our own pattern, so I'll have to try to make the skirt as soon as I return home. I didn't get too many photos of the workshop but my hubby took a few during the book signing. Here's one of Ivi & I with Heather. She was so excited to meet her and kept telling me "she's really pretty, and very nice ". We're heading off to San Francisco but here's a link to more photos I've posted on Flicker

A Much Needed Getaway.

2009-09-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I won a Borders gift card at a seminar & the first thing I thought of getting was this book "Weekend Sewing" from a fabulous fabric designer Heather Ross, that I absolutely love. There's plenty of projects that any avid sewer can make, & it even comes with all of the patterns. Heather lives and also teaches in New York & is also known for holding many weekend sewing getaways in Vermont......which one day I hope to be able visit. But most recently she announced that she would be visiting Northern California prior to Labor Day weekend, not only to promote her book but to hold a mini workshop as well. So as soon as I heard this, I was thrilled to be able to plan for a small trip to Santa Cruz, while also planning to take advantage of this trip to visit family who lives nearby. We're thinking of spending at least a whole day or two in San Francisco experiencing as much as we can, and checking out it's famous China Town where we can only daydream about going to China someday soon. Speaking of China.......we have been experiencing a few glitches in renewing our homestudy-renewal paperwork. But it will definitely have to wait for a future post. We've both been a little stressed out not to mention financially drained, and overall just slightly frustrated with all of this paperwork renewal stuff......more physicals, more financial reviews, more backround checks, more money etc. And all of this is really for the U.S. sake, not necessarily for China. But like I said, I will have to leave it for another upcoming post. For now.....it's off to Santa Cruz!

Time to Party after Cat Scratch Disease

2009-08-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

After a week long of doctor visits trying to find out what the heck was making Kris sick (causing him some funky swelling under his arm pit area, in addition to flu-like symptoms ) he was diagnosed with "Cat Scratch Disease". Yes, you read right. There is indeed such a thing. The swelling was actually his lymph nodes, and the flu-like symptoms were due to the infection his body was fighting after he got a small scratch on his finger by our visiting kitten about a month ago. The first PA who saw him didn't think there was a correlation with his swollen finger & the rest of his symptoms, but the second PA who saw him on a returning visit knew right away what it was as she had experience treating this type of infection. She told us to google it once we got home, so we did & were shocked to hear about such a thing. So anyways, he's taking some anti-biotics to treat it and is expected to be on the road to recovery soon. As for the new kitten....we understand that a person can actually get it from any cat not just one particular cat, so we've decided to keep him around as an outdoor kitten only. He loves climbing our trees and sleeps on our roof anyways, then comes down for food and plays in the back yard.

So after that ordeal, by the end of the week we were ready to celebrate Kris's bday with a small group of friends & family at our fave place Pacific Sticks, in Downtown Riverside, on Sunday the 23rd. It was actually a surprise gathering for Kris as he knew nothing about it except that we were going to have dinner with another couple. I literally had about 1 day to plan, calling just a few close friends & family to meet us there, picking up a bday cake just a half hour before & rushing there with a friend to lay down some table cloths & ordering food for about 20 of us. ( I had to come up with a story about an hour before saying I had to leave to pick up our niece who was in the area, so I just asked him to meet me there later ).Our friend Joel who owns a flowershop downtown was also kind enough to make us some center pieces which I had picked up the night before. Kris was totally surprised to see all of us there! It was a great evening of good food, friends, and an overall good time.

Here's the ( Thank You ) card we put together to mail out to our guests. Our good friend Ryan who's a photographer, borrowed our camera to take this group shot and then Kris did his magic to include him in the shot. ( I just noticed though, that my sis-n-law in blue & black has a funky looking right foot....oops! ).

Here's the "Before" shot, pre- Ryan.

And here's Ryan posing on his own, ready to be photo-shopped.

Pretty in Purple!

2009-08-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

This is a pic of my beloved niece & God-daughter Ivi. I love this kid. I know....I can't say that enough. She's everything I can ever ask for in a niece & god-child. She's sweet, lovable, kind hearted, helpful, smart, giving, gracious......and incredibly photogenic. My hubby captured this photo of her in our backyard in just a few minutes after I asked her to put on the dress I had just made for her in her favorite color: purple, then I asked my hubby to snap a few pictures. He wished it was a little sharper, but I still love it. He cleaned it up a bit & put my mklittle logo for fun. What a great memory this will be for all of us.

Here's the smocked dress again close up. I believe I bought this fabric at Joanes, nothing fancy, but it was purple -so Ivi was happy. So happy.......that she asked me if I could "possibly" make another one for her best friend. So I sewed another one for her best friend the next day. Ivi was so excited to give it to her, and thankfully her friend loved it! Their plan is to wear them on their first day of 6th grade. No name brands, just some home-made dresses by "Nina". This makes my heart smile. :)

Here she is again by the fountain......patiently waiting to hear any news about her little cousin "Madi".

Swimming classes & Sewing......

2009-08-01T00:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had a last minute invite to a 1 year old celebration from a few blocks away, so I literally only had a few hours to come up with a gift. It's a good thing I love to sew because it was the perfect excuse to make this cute summer dress with some ladybug fabric I had in my stash. I originally made one about 2 sizes larger but I was reminded by my 6th grade god-daughter that the baby was just turning 1....not 3. Ok...fine. So I made this new one. The larger one I will be posting in my Etsy store for sale (as soon as I get around to it :) ).

My de-stressor lately continues to be sewing. I'll take advantage of any extra window of time I can get, even if it's late at night or early in the morning, and sometimes while visiting my mama ( I get to see her all the time, so when I go to her place I love to carry my machine & stash of projects while she cooks or crochets ).

I've also been taking our G-kids to swim classes ( daily, for several weeks now ). Here they are at a "mock" swim meet after only 1 week of instruction. They both did awesome, even taking 1st place during one of the competitions. I'm so proud of them.

And here's the proud "Nina" with the G-kids. Can you tell we were getting tired of holding our "say cheese" smile? It was over 100º and very sunny.

"S" is for Sunday....Swimming...and Sunshine!

2009-07-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

I love Sundays! Especially when our Godkids stay over the night before and we can stay up late watching a good movie. Up until recently, we were going to the morning Sunday service, & we used to take the kids along then go to lunch or to the park, but our parish just added an evening mass, that we really seem to like......at a time slot that we can actually be early. So this past Sunday, we had some light breakfast, had the kids help out with household chores ( which believe it or not, they love to do ), then watched them splash in our Intex pool, then sat down for our favorite tomato-egg omelettes with home potatoes and toast. I even had some time to sew up another sundress before heading out to the 5pm service. A perfect Sunday indeed!

Here are the kids getting a little sunshine.

But before going in the pool, the kids had some chores to do. Here's little Anthony doing his part....which was raking up the leaves and picking up the doogie poo. We used to have grass in this area, but it was getting way too damp in the shade, so we're planning on laying down pavers in this area instead.

Here's the part where he'll ask for help cuz this bucket can get heavy quick.

And here's Ivi also doing her part. The kids always do a great job with their chores, they rarely complain, ( although Anthony does like to ask for a lot of snacks....he'll say "Nina, can I have my break now?"....so funny ).

Here's their reward, some splashing around in this donut-like rubber pool. They love it.....and will do anything to splash around in it for a couple of hours. They tried to get me to go in it, but the water was still freezing, even though outdoor temperatures reached a 100ºF.

Here's the new kitten, who came to us a few weeks ago. He still doesn't have a name yet. We feed it, let it spend the night, play with it, but we haven't given it a name.....go figure! I think we're secretly thinking that if we don't name it, it's technically not our cat. ( we swore we wouldn't get another one after our last one got ill & had to put it down ). He loves to climb our trees then hangs out on the roof.

Here he is crying.....not sure if he liked his cushion.

He is a good looking little kitten though, and very lovable.

Check out his little tongue!

And here's the beagle taking in some sunshine himself. My hubby threw him in the rubber pool and he seemed to like it. He just swam in circles.....so funny!

A little Cherry-Sundress for Madi

2009-07-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

Since our adoption process has been a little depressing lately, I needed something to get me through this summer as we are facing yet another re-do on our homestudy report: physicals, visas, finances, yuck! So I've decided to sew away my worries. Here's a little sundress I sewed the other day....it may be perfect for our little Madi someday.

I thought this cherry fabric was just too sweet to pass up. It brings me back to the 70's when I was just a little girl myself, running through the sprinklers wearing my favorite little smocked dress. I just learned how to sew with elastic thread & to say that I love sewing with it is an understatement. I am honestly hooked on this thread. So, ever since my discovery of this magical thread I've been sewing several of these smocked dresses in the middle of the night. My hubby's up late anyways....but the beagle & the kitten think I'm nuts. Actually, Bo just likes to stare at me, and the kitten loves to be mischievous and likes to play with my spools of thread. I've made a few of these dresses for my niece, a few for my little friends, and several for myself. I will have to post some pics soon. But I am planning on adding a few of the little versions for MKLiTTLE soon.

Here's another close up of this cherry print fabric on cotton.

A few pics of our backyard jungle. I love this tree! It's a very messy ( Jacaranda ), but I still love it.

Our Bougainvillea.....so pretty in pink. We've had this bougainvillea for years....I think I got it while we were dating...which was forever ago. I had it in a container while I lived at my parents, then we transplanted it a couple of times. It's kinda thorny, but very resilient.

And here's my daily sunshine... niece & god-daughter Ivi. I love this kid! She's out of school for the summer & so we both spent the night at grandma's ( my mamma ) one day, so we stood up really late....like 2:30 am. She insisted on learning how to sew with this ( very addictive ) thread, and she was hooked! At 10, she can already thread the machine, sew pretty straight, iron hems. I love this kid! Did I say this already? Here she is helping out with Madi's little dress, in her ladybug jammies.

Will Sew for Travel.....

2009-06-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

For those of you who may not know yet, I Sew for Travel......to China that is. I started sewing again a few years ago when my hubby bought me a new sewing machine ( my third one in 20years ). He got tired of hearing me whine about all the trouble I kept having with the last one. So anyways, I had started making a few clothes for myself here and there, as well as a few gifts in addition to doing some freebie alterations mostly for family and friends. In the winter of 2007 ( as we entered our second year of waiting ) I decided I'd sew some special blankets for our China travel group ( I believe there were 7 or 8 families in our group at the time ). I found this adorable embroidered ladybug flannel & I edged it with some red satin. I had so much fun doing this that my hubby quickly suggested I should just start a little side venture to make a few extra bucks for our travel. And so.....MK Little was born. Since then I've been busy sewing mostly baby blankets & a few other little novelty items. I've been pretty bad at marketing myself though( even with these incredible new virtual avenues ). But for the most part, I only sew whenever I have some extra windows of time ( usually very late at night while watching my tivo'd reality episodes ). This past weekend I had a custom request for a set of newborn twins. I usually don't like to take in any custom orders unless I know for sure I've got extra time, but this past weekend I managed to get it done no problem. So I sewed away & made these absolutely adorable matching nap sets to go with detachable/velcro handles. As always, I fell in love with these little items & had the hardest time parting with them. I truly enjoy sewing them, & it's always hard to let them go. I know.....so silly. But I hope these little nap sets will be enjoyed by these new little twins. Here's some pics.

I had purchased this vintage bike fabric by designer Heather Ross over a year ago & I finally got to cut into it. I paired it up with some pink striped flannel as well as pink solid cotton, and then made the straps with a hotter pink cotton.

I sewed in some velcro on the bottom of the straps.

Then I finished the edge of the blanket with my signature hot pink floral embroidery.

Here's the basket prior to wrapping, ( minus the little frog...cuz it's Madi's ). I also made some cute little patches for these onesies with the left over fabric swatches.

Here's the tote bag I also included in the basket. My hubby created the artwork & then it was embroidered in a hot pink actually. I still have a few dozen of these I can custom embroider & I've listed them on my etsy site along with a few other items I still have in stock.

Celebrating 11 years of Marriage!

2009-05-08T18:38:00.000-07:00

Here's the front of the card that my hubby gave me for our anniversary. He surprised me with this along with a beautiful ladybug from Swaravski crystals. No fancy plans, just a quiet dinner at home. We originally had dinner plans to host our monthly meeting with our [marriage support group], but I've been feeling pretty run down from a sore throat and an annoying cough that we decided to cancel. Because of the world-wide concern lately over the Swine Flu, I didn't want to make anybody nervous with my current germy status. Our marriage support group by the way, is composed of 5 amazing couples, all of us married anywhere between 10 and 37 years. With the exception of one of the couples who just recently joined us, we've all been meeting quite loyally once per month for almost 3 years for an evening of some good ol' home cooking, sharing, bonding, and learning through a very structured format dealing with important marital topics. We all share a special bond with each other, and we all share the same goal which is to want to stay happily married. We always look forward to our monthly gatherings. Our group is so much fun and very therapeutic. We are very blessed to have them in our lives.

-So a very Happy Wedding Anniversary to Us!, if I may say so myself..... hoping we can share many many more. We definitely have our challenges, and this adoption process plus extended wait can certainly add to our stresses. And we also realize that parenting will come with a whole new set. But what can we say......other than it will all be worth it.

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Today is Earth Day! And to celebrate we should all remember to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle! We started this "Recycle for Madi" fundraiser last year & have tried to spread the news to a few friends & family who live locally, and so far it's been a success. It's very easy, fun, & for a great cause. For those of you who don't already recycle, we try to encourage you to do so by saving all of your aluminum cans & empty plastic water bottles for us. We'll provide bags & reminder stickers & free pick up ( So.Cal ). Mama Cari has been in charge of this program for us & she's been awesome. We are also so very grateful to those who have decided to join in on the fun. We have literally gotten truckloads of recyclables at a time from a very good friend who collects them at work, just awesome.& For those of you who already recycle, you can still participate by donating a bag or two or even helping out for a few months. You'd be surprised how many bags you can collect at work...picnics...parties etc. Again, all of the proceeds from this will (one day) benefit the orphanage of where little "Madi" will come from. The CCAA has recently increased the required orphanage donation from $3,500 to $6,000 ( which is a lot of money in China ). So this money helps the orphanage with things like heaters, air units, cribs, in addition to paying for several nanny salaries for an entire year. ( Average annual salaries per nanny is just under $1,000 ).

I will have all of this info on our new adoption site ( coming soon ) under fundraising. But for now, you may contact us if you'd like to participate ( marsi@kmdezine.com ).

31 Months of Waiting Today

2009-04-11T23:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 31 months of waiting since our paperwork was logged in China. 31 months! I say it and I still can't believe it. Where has all this time gone? Not that we haven't had our days of frustration. But I'm pretty amazed we haven't gone crazy. I think our first year of waiting was actually the hardest, because we were only expecting to wait about 9 months to a year since that was the current wait times in '06. And then when we entered our second year and started to learn that waiting times were beginning to increase, we pretty much decided there was really nothing we could do to get our file ahead of the thousands of families still ahead of us. So we stopped following the rumor sites that were predicting unbelievable wait times, and possibly even a shut down of the program and started focusing on more productive stuff. If we followed these rumor sites, I know for sure we would of already pulled out our hair. But despite the fact that our Homestudy report & fingerprints have already expired once & will expire once again this summer, our agency is assuring us that we are "grandfathered" into the system and that we will get our turn....eventually. But even so, it's still pretty frustrating that we have to keep updating our Homestudy report & fingerprints, which means paying more fees. And this stuff is just not cheap. Our social worker has to make a trip to our home from San Diego to check out our place for ( we're still not too sure why or what they're looking for exactly ) and then makes any updates to our Homestudy report ( like a sentence or two ) and then sends it over to CIS to read through etc.. etc....so they can re-decide whether or not we're still worthy of getting an approval to bring an orphan ( aka: Madi ) into the US. We just sent off our letter to CIS a month ago asking to get fingerprinted locally so we don't have to drive into LA. But we still have to schedule our Homestudy update for the summer sometime. Hoping this economy improves somewhat so we can continue to get some work as we've had one of our slowest months ever in March. We also continue to fundraise for adoption funds through several avenues, like mklittle (blog post coming soon), our ladybug rocks (blog post coming soon too ), and our recycle for madi program. So there will be plenty of stuff to blog about ( if I can only find more time ). But the best part of all of this wait is that there have been so many wonderful people ( including family, friends, and even complete strangers ) who have been incredibly supportive of our adoption journey, helping out in so many ways, -and for this we are just so very thankful for.

District Science Fair

2009-03-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Ivi was one of four 5th grade students at her school who was invited to the District Science Fair, & lol & behold....she took 1st place among 12 kids in her category. Of course....we were estatic. We're so proud of her. Here she is with one of her friends -Yen Wen, who's such a little doll & who also placed 1st in her category. Two years ago, when Ivi was in 3rd grade, we also helped her on her project dealing with the "porosity of rocks" & she had taken 2nd place then. So this time, you could tell she was pretty surprised, but very excited. Up next: County Science Fair. Yippee! Her project by the way was titled: The Taste of Caffeine, can you really tell the difference? We celebrated afterwards with a group of friends at our favorite pizza place "JoJo's". Yumm!

Fun at Disney with "Madi's" cousins

2009-01-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

Here's a few pics from our recent visit to Disneyland on Jan. 17th. Pictured here with our niece & nephew ( Ivi & Anthony ) & Gelo & Leah, who were generous enough to give us 3 day passes ( thanks guys! ). Our twin nephews came all the way from Sacramento just to spend their 4th birthday at Disney ( where it's free on your b-day by the way ). We also took along our friends Brian & Veronica & of course the twin's parents Lisa & Stephen were also there.

Here's a pic of "waiting daddy" Kris with his big sis ( & waiting auntie ) Lisa.

Will "Madi" be multi-lingual?

"Madi's" cousins: twins Riley & Jacob (4), Ivi (10), & Antho

ny (6) - all getting ready to ride "Big Thunder Mountain" ride ( all except for wimpy me :)

Here they are again sharing some fries and taking a small break.

"when you wish upon a star

makes no difference who you are

anything your heart desires

will come to you......."

Our Christmas "Bo"

2009-01-11T00:18:00.000-08:00

Meet "Bo" the Beagle, our latest pooch adoption. Ok....so it may not be the referral to our daughter from China we have forever waited for, but for now we hope this new beagle will add many memories to our very slow growing familia. Isn't he sweet?

Here's a little info on "Bo":

"Bo"s about 1 year old & he came to us from Arizona. His original family couldn't keep him because he kept jumping their 4 foot fence & they feared he would get hit by a car or get eaten by hungry coyotes. So after my sister heard this story from one of her co-workers, she inquired more about him & called me to tell me she had "found my beagle". ( She knew we were actually hoping to find one to give "Dalila" our lab mix a companion. My sister ended up driving him down along with her own two dogs "Coco" and "Athena" & we got him just in time for Christmas.

So far, "Bo's" been a perfect fit for us. At first, "Dalila" wanted nothing to do with him, but now she's totally in love. "Dalila's" been a little lazy for some time now so with "Bo" around she's been getting a lot of exercise chasing him around the gazebo & they're also both pretty good at making us feel guilty when we don't take them out for walks. "Bo" will be sleeping inside the house for now until we secure our back fencing ( he's already escaped about 4 times since we got him ), believe it or not he actually jumps & claws the top of the wooden fence & crawls over like a cat. But he seems to be doing great now that he's getting used to his new routine. He's a good dog. We can't wait to bring Madeline home, she's going to love these pooches.

24 Months of Waiting...

2008-09-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

Today we completed a huge milestone, we've waited for 24 long months. And although there is still no sign of Madi, we feel like we are getting a bit closer. Tonight I'm posting a poem by Tom Fisher ( a dad who wrote it while also waiting for his daughter from China ) -that best describes these feelings of waiting and not being able to do anything other than daydream.

Daydreaming

I stepped into her room today

Knowing she's not there

This waiting for referral

Is more than one can bear

But taking in the moment

I sit down on the floor

And dream of her here with me

When waiting is no more.

A little giggle fills the air

As I rub her feet

I place my hand upon her heart

To feel its every beat

A song is sung so very soft

Her eyes begin to close

She's meeting me in dream land

A place where love still grows

My vision now is very blurred

The tears stream down my cheeks

I've dreamed of her quite often

Throughout these past few weeks

Suddenly a sound is heard

The phone rings in the hall

Waking up I quickly pray

Please let it be "The Call".

poem by Tom Fisher

A new coat of paint & new knobs.......

2008-08-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

Newly Refurbished

Before new paint & knobs

Yes, that's all it really took to transform this "dated" looking chest of drawers we recently found at a yard sale for a real bargain ( we paid only $30 bucks ). I had been longing to find a piece like this that I could re-furbish for Madi's room ( very similar to one that sells at Pottery Barn for over $1,000 ). Anyways, we found it while driving home from Downtown Riverside. Kris spotted it first & I admit that at first glance I wasn't to crazy about it, but after we checked out the drawers & realized it was solid oak, I knew we had found a "diamond in the ruff". Thanks hubby! Good thing we were driving our truck that day ( and not our scooter ), so we hauled off to my mom's house to re-furbish it there since we don't have a whole lot of room to work on it at home. It took us about 2 weekends to finish it, maybe about 10-12 hours after sanding it, primering it, 2 coats of paints of "Du Jour-white" by Valspar, and new hardware from Lowes ( total cost around $150 ). And that also included new metal drawer sliders which Kris wanted to add for durability and safety. -So anyways, the newly refurbished chest of drawers fit perfectly under the mural ( that's still under progress ). I especially love the extra long counter space ( 72 inches ) which is great for folding clothes, displaying books or stuffed animals etc. We know Madi's going to get lots of use out of it.........we're just hoping she doesn't decide one day to scribble all over it with her favorite colored crayons. Yikes!

8.8.8 Beijing Summer Olympics

2008-08-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

The Summer Olympics have officially started in Bejing. In the past, I haven't made too much of an effort to watch them. But this time, I've been tuning in a lot more, perhaps because it will be Madi's homeland. After the opening ceremonies, I must say I was completely blown away by what the Chinese were able to produce. What a spectacular show. It was estimated that over 150 million was spent just to produce it, using an extraordinary 15,00 performers. I've truly never seen any performance with such precision and synchrony. Anyways, I'm looking forward to the rest of the olympic games, watching it when I can. Lately I've been super busy with several projects both for Madi's fundraisers and for her bedroom. I've been working on refurbishing a piece of furniture we picked up from a yard sale last week for a real bargain. But I will have to make another post soon with some photos to share.

A Red Thread Moment

2008-05-18T09:28:00.001-07:00

Since we started on our journey, we have had our share of "red thread moments", simply known in the Chinese adoption community as moments which seem to have more than coincidental connections to our child. There is an ancient Chinese proverb that reads: "there is an invisible red thread that connects those who are destined to meet. The thread may stretch or tangle but never break. You can read about our very first and biggest "red thread moment" so far here.

But I wanted to share a cute moment we had earlier in March '08. The night before while we had our niece & nephew over, we spent the evening painting some pictures of giraffes since our nephew Anthony loved them so much in our last visit to the zoo. The very next day, while attending a local childrens store's grand opening, I had decided to enter the store's raffle and ended up being one of the last winner's of the evening. My prize? A book called "Philly Joe Giraffe's Jungle Jazz that had a picture on the cover that was very similar to the ones we had painted the night before. Hmmm. And that's not all. When one of the store's manager asked me who I was shopping for & I told her that I was waiting to adopt from China, she was curious to know if I had already picked out a name. So when I told her that we had chosen the name "Madeline", she quickly pointed to one of her assistant managers who happened to be about 8 months pregnant, and said "Oh my god, my assistant manager has also decided to name her new daughter Madeline." How sweet was that? That was just another one of those special connections in our journey that really make this wait bearable.

( the first photo by the way is from my husband Kris, #2 is mine, and #3 is from our 5 year old nephew Anthony ).

Our "Waiting for Madi" Video

2008-04-28T15:13:00.001-07:00

When we first started our adoption paperwork, I found the most adorable figurine at a gift shop with a little angel watching over this cute little boy sleeping on a moon. I've always been into stars & moons, so when I saw this I thought it would be perfect for our nursery. Aside from the light switch being broken, my husband asked me if I was sure I wanted it considering there was a little boy with blonde hair & a blue outfit ( and not a little girl ). But to me these little details were not enough to convince me to leave it behind. So as soon as we got home & my husband was able to fix the switch, I snuck away to paint the little baby's blond hair to black & even made it a bit longer, and then I painted the baby's blue outfit to red. Now, it was really perfect. During our wait, this little figurine has been able to serve as a constant reminder that there is ( or will be ) a little girl waiting for us on the other side of the world.

A few months ago while my husband Kris was going through photos, he decided to create a short video inspired by our special figurine & I think the song he chose is perfect, it's by one of his favorite artists: "Jewel" & it's called "Angel Standing By" . Here are the lyrics:

All through the night I'll be watching over you

And all through the night I'll be standing over you

And through bad dreams I'll be right there baby

telling everything's going to be alright

When you cry I'll be there baby

telling you were never nothing less than beautiful

So don't you worry

I'm your Angel Standing By

"Cookie Lee Jewelry" Fundraiser

2008-04-21T21:39:00.001-07:00

I couldn't pass up this pretty cross so I bought it for myself (at my own show).

I also loved these earings ( they look much better in person ) price: only $12.

I'm posting a few pictures from our first fundraiser event with "Cookie Lee Jewelry". Our friend & industry partner Amy Karp from MasterPlan Creative, recently started booking jewelry shows for corporate and private clients, so I recently hosted a show and opted to earn 15% of the total sales for our adoption fund in liu of free jewelry. Surprisingly, we had a really good turnout & the girls seemed to enjoy their shopping experience as well as the tacos & margaritas. I've never attended one of these shows & I was really impressed with the jewelry especially the prices. I think the highest ticket item was about $38. For those who were able to attend the show: A Huge Thank You for your Support! I hope you're enjoying your new jewelry. And for those who weren't able to attend but are still interested in either a catalog or even booking your own show you can still contact Amy & she'll be happy to take care of you. I will also be hosting another show again in my home since it was so much fun, so you are welcome to come over. I'll be posting a new date & time soon.

First Post...and a few gifts from Mexico

2008-04-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ok....so after a few years of being a "blog lurker", I thought it was finally time for me to create my own blog. I'm so excited to be using this space to document the many blessings our little Madi has already received and will continue to receive until we can bring her home. Our current site: journeytomadi.com, recently crashed so I haven't been able to make any updates for several months. Unfortunately it will have to be rebuilt. I originally created it using iweb....a super easy to use web application, but since my husband used his graphic potion to make it pretty, I'll have to wait until he has some time to re-create it. So I've been antsy for months now getting on his nerves I'm sure. My requests always seem to go something like this "can't you just re-create it really quick"? And of course his response is "you're starting to sound like a typical client". So, until then, I have decided to have some fun with this blog. I have so much I'd like to share, including our new fundraising venture that will benefit Madi: MKlittle ( more on this soon ). As for our adoption update...we are still on the slow bus to China. There are so many families ahead of us, so it looks like we will have to continue to wait until the end of this year, possibly even longer. I'll be posting more info soon, but for now here are a few gifts for Madi I'd like to share:

A few weeks ago, Grandma Cari went to her native town in Mexico to visit family and she brought back these pretty hand crocheted dresses for Madi.

She also brought her this cute traditional mexican outfit. It's a little big, so I think she'll have to wear it one day when she's 3 or 4.