AVA'S QUILT SQUARES

QUILT SQUARE # 36

This very cute print of dogs and cats skating was sent by my online blogger friends Tracey and Mike from Kincadine, Ontario.

Their wish reads:
"This is my wish for you:
comfort on difficult days,
smiles when sadness intrudes,
rainbows to follow the clouds,
laughter to kiss your lips,
sunsets to warm your heart,
hugs when spirits sag,
beauty for your eyes to see,
friendships to brighten your being,
faith so that you can believe,
confidence for when you doubt,
courage to know yourself,
patience to accept the truth,
love to complete your life."
_~Author Unknown~

QUILT SQUARE # 37

This quilt square of pretty ladybug fabric
was sent by my online blogger friends,
Robin, Troy and their daughter Sarah
adopted from Jiangxi, China. They live in
West Jordan, Utah.

Their wish card reads:
"Family isn't about whose blood your have.
It's about who you care about."
~Trey Parker/Matt Stone~

"Some say blood is thicker than water.
I say that love is thicker than blood."
~author unknown~

May your life be full of health, love,
happiness and joy.

BLANKETS FOR AVA

Since all the packing lists I've read say you need to bring several blankets as they are not supplied with the cribs, I decided to put my break time at work to good use and made Ava several fleece blankets. This one is my favorite...with her name on it and being red with ladybugs for good luck! My friend from work, Carlene has one of those fancy embroidery sewing machines, so she did Ava's name for me.






This bright orange one with ladybugs and daisies I made so she could leave one in the car...just the perfect size to cover her in her car seat or throw over her in her stroller on our outings.

And of course to celebrate being a "Proud Canadian" I made her this one for our appointment at the Canadian Consolate and our trip home on the plane.

ST. PATTY'S DAY JAMMIES FOR AVA!

I picked up these cute jammies for Ava when I thought I might be in China for St. Patrick's Day. Click on the image to enlarge it and you can see the little ladybugs sitting on the shamrocks...how cute is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also picked her up this little T-shirt as they tell me the hotel rooms are kept very hot.

MY NEW DISHWASHER!!

Pimp-My-Profile.com

Courtesy of SparkleTags.com

FLOWERS TO CELEBRATE!!!!!!!

To celebrate receiving and signing my "Letter seeking confirmation from adopter" I stopped and picked up these flowers on the way home from work today. I choose the yellow ones as yellow flowers always remind me of spring...and since I will be traveling this spring to bring home my Ava!!

HORAAY!!! YIPEE!!! YAHOO!!!

Must be some of my Irish luck rubbing off this week!!!! I just got notice today from my adoption agency that they received my "Letter seeking Confirmation from Adopter" from the CCAA! They are purolating it to me to sign and then I have to purolate it back to them to send to the CCAA. About 2.5 weeks later I should get my approval to travel and then about 2 weeks after that I will have Ava in my arms!!!! Good old St. Patrick must be helping pull some strings for me this week! My prayers are starting to be answered. Thank you God!

AN IRISH WISH

AN IRISH WISH

May you always have...A sunbeam to warm you, Good luck to charm you,And a sheltering angel So nothing can harm you , Laughter to cheer you, Faithful friends near you, And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you. May your joys Be deep and many, May your heart be light and glad, May you have the best St. Patrick's Day That you have ever had.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY TREATS FOR AVA

FRIENDS DONATE MORE QUILT SQUARES FOR AVA

This evening I met with one of my very best friends,
Mary and her kids for dinner. Before dinner the kids
wanted to give me Ava's quilt squares and good wish
pages that they had made. Here Nicole, Paulina and
Matthew(hiding under his fabric) are showing off the
fabric they chose for Ava's quilt.


Matthew getting a little braver and letting us see
one eye!...or he's just wearing his spiderman fabric
as his "super hero" costume!



Nicole(my God Daughter) giving me the peace sign,
shows off her pretty yellow (her favorite colour) fabric
she chose.




Paulina posing with her pink(her favorite colour)
fabric as a skirt!





Mom(Mary) and her gang all showing off their fabric
pieces.






Quilt Square # 32, donated by my very good
friend Mary. She chose a beautiful pink/purple and green
fabric with ladybugs/butterflies and daisies. Her wish has
the chinese character for friends and also says:"Let the wind
of friendship blow happiness into your life...when family and
friends gather memories are made"







Quilt Square # 33, was donated by Paulina, my friend
Mary's eldest daughter. She chose a beautiful pink fabric
covered in hearts. Her wish page says: Welcome home Ava!








Quilt Square # 34, was donated by Nicole(my god
daughter) and my friend Mary's middle child. Her wish
page says: Ava I want to be your friend.









Quilt Square # 35, was made by Matthew, my friend
Mary's youngest. Matthew chose a spiderman fabric and
for his wish page drew Ava a picture.

Mary and kids, thank you so much for your fabric and
good wish pages...Ava will love seeing them in her quilt.
It was nice seeing you all and getting together for dinner,
we'll be able to do that more often once I'm off for my year
with Ava...can't wait!

MY PRINCESS ON HER THRONE!!!

My princess Abbey sitting on her throne while her much older
(7 years older) sister Jessies gets the cold pavement!


Jessie hears me at the window taking pictures...just
a matter of seconds before Abbey catches on. She often
stands on my patio table and stares up at the bedroom
window watching for me!



Oh, Jessie sees me, Abbey hasn't caught on yet!




Now I've been caught!

MY VISUAL DNA!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

"GRANDCHILDREN AND GRANDPARENTS"

Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting.
~Author Unknown~

What a bargain grandchildren are! I give them loose change and they give me a million dollars worth of pleasure.
~Gene Perret~

Grandmothers are just "antique" little girls.
~Author Unkown~

Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.
~Welsh Proverb~

A grandmother is a babysitter who watches the grandchildren instead of the television.
~Author Unknown~

Never have children, only grandchildren.
~Gore Vidal~

Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you're just a mother.
The next you are all wise and prehistoric.
~Pam Brown~

Grandchildren don't stay young forever, which is good because
Granddaddies only have so many horsey rides in them.
~Gene Perret~

Grandmother always made you feel she had been waiting to see
just you all day and now the day is complete.
~Marcy DeMaree~

Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies.
~Author Unknown~

Grandmothers hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our hearts forever.
~Author Unknown~

If I had known how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren, I'd have had them first.
~Lois Wyse~

My grandkids believe I'm the oldest thing in the world.
And after two or three hours with them, I believe it, too.
~ Gene Perret~

If becoming a grandmother was only a matter of choice,
I should advise everyone of you to become one.
There is no fun for old people like it!
~Hannah Whithall Smith~

It's such a grand thing to be a mother of a mother
that's why the world calls her grandmother.
~Unknown Author~

Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old.
~ Mary H. Waldrip~

You do not really understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother.
~Proverb~

An hour with your grandchildren can make you feel young again.
Anything longer than that, and you start to age quickly.
~Gene Perret~

The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby's grandparents.
You feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long periods,
which is why most grandparents flee to Florida.
~Dave Barry~

I wish I had the energy that my grandchildren have-if only for self defense.
~Gene Perret~

Grandmother-grandchild relationships are simple
Grandmas are short on criticism and long on love.
~Author Unknown~

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do.
Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of children.
~Alex Haley~

Grandmother-a wonderful mother with lots of practice.
~Author Unknown~

A grandparent is old on the outside but young on the inside.
~Author Unknown~

One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new grandbaby
around the finger of a grandfather.
~Joy Hargrove~

It's amazing how grandparents seem so young once you become one.
~Unknown Author~

If your baby is "beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time", you're the grandma.
~Teresa Bloomingdale~

Grandparents are similar to a piece of string - handy to have around and easily wrapped around the fingers of their grandchildren.
~Author Unknown~

What is it about grandchildren that is so lovely?
I'd like to say that grandparents are God's gift to children
And if they can but see, hear and feel what these people have to give,
they can mature at a faster rate.
~Bill Cosby~

Grandchildren don't make a man feel old;
it's the knowledge that he's married to a grandmother.
~G. Norman Collie~

QUILT SQUARES # 30 & 31

QUILT SQUARE # 30

This really cut soft flannel print with ladybugs and butterflies came from Cathy, a friend from work, and her daughter Sarah. Her wish page says, "The Joy of a Child, Welcome Ava Grace"

This is a little lady bug purse...Emilie, my official ladybug apparel scouter send this along with her fabric square and good wish page...thanks Em!

Quilt Square # 31

This fabric square was sent by my friend Cathy's daughter, Emilie(my official ladybug apparel scouter!). Her wish page reads: "To the world you may be one person , but to one person you may be the world"

THE ULTIMATE BLOG PARTY INTRODUCTION

The Blog Party over at 5 Minutes for Mom started yesterday. So come and join the Party. Make a post on your blog and go over to 5 Minutes for Mom and sign in, go blog hopping and see who you can meet.

Let me introduce myself...I am a single Mom to be...in the process of adopting my daughter Ava from Inner Mongolia, China. Here are a few pictures of my sweetie! I'd also like to introduce my "Fur Daughters", Jessie(Yellow Lab) and Abbey(Black Lab).

I am an RN with a background in ICU/PACU nursing and started this blog so family and friends could follow my journey to adopt my daughter Ava.

THE ULTIMATE BLOG PARTY!

The Ultimate Blog Party is being hosted by "5Minutes for Mom" and runs from March 2-9nth. If you haven't been there yet...be sure to visit...you could meet a whole lot of new blogger friends! Party On!

INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN AVA'S "100 GOOD WISHES QUILT"

I am extending an invitation to all of my family, friends, fellow bloggers and blog followers to participate in building my daughter Ava's "100 Good Wishes Quilt."

To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the Northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or a "100 Good Wishes Quilt". In China these quilts were originally made from garments of family and friends, which would surround the child with blessings. The custom is to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth and a cloth scrap. The 100 patches are then sewn together to make the quilt of blessings. The little cloth scrap goes into a memory book with the wish or blessing.

The fabric you choose can be anything, it can be a piece of old clothing, a print that has some significance to you, ie: a sports team, favorite flower, favorite colour etc. The patch of fabric needs to be 12x12 inches. Then write a blessing or good wish to Ava on a piece of paper no more than 10x10 and include a scrap piece of the same fabric on the good wishes page. Now for the blessing page you can write something yourself, write a quote, poem, lyrics from a song you like etc. For you scrapbooking people you can get as fancy as you like or keep it as simple as you like.Please sign your name to good wishes page.One day Ava will be able to read her 100 Good Wishes Book and see how many people love her and were waiting for her arrival.

Anyone who would like to participate just leave me a message in the comments section at the bottom of this post with your email address and I will email you my address.

I would like to thank those of you who have already contributed a patch of fabric and a good wish page for Ava...she will so enjoy her quilt and reading all the good wishes and blessings.

Liz

PARCELS IN THE MAIL TODAY!!

I received a package in the mail today containing these signing dvd's and a cd of signing songs for Ava from my very good friend, Mary from Pickering, Ontario. I first saw these signing dvd's on another bloggers blog that I follow...her daughter Eliza was already signing at about 10months old and she was using these dvds to teach her. When Mary asked me what I needed for Ava I thought of these dvd's and voila...here they are! I can't wait to view them myself. Thanks so much Mary.

















I've been meaning to pick up a little something for Ava to put away as a present for CNY....was browsing through the gift shop at work today and this Robert Munsch book caught my eye...being the "YEAR OF THE PIG" and all...I had to get it.

THIS ONE'S FOR YOU SUE!

I posted a picture of this pillow with the Fu character earlier....but I didn't know that the manderin word for "upside down" is dao, which is a homonym for "arrives". So for maximum good luck, at the Lunar New Year Chinese families display the Fu character upside down within their houses.

I have now turned my pillow upside down!(thanks for the tip Sue)