Another conversation

Tonight Riley is staying with us for his normal Wed. visit. Well earlier today we rec'd gifts for Drew-which were 2 picture frames. One was magnetic with a baseball field, and bases, home plate that held the pic in place; the other was a nice voice recordable frame. Riley thought this frame was just the coolest. He had to record his voice a few times on it. The last message he recorded was of him whispering,"Kimber, I love you and Drew too." I could barely make it out after he told me what he said. Wasn't that the sweetest? We explained to him that we would be leaving in 2 weeks to pick up Drew. I got a calendar and showed him all the dates and so on. He said ,"you mean you have to be gone for 14 days,why?" I told him that he would see me next Wed again but wouldn't see me after that until we got back with Drew. He just sat there smiling the whole time.

Ever heard of Urumqi, China?

Now you can officially say you have! It is pronounced as Oo-roo-moo-chee. It is in the most northwestern part of China. See if you can find it on the map. Look at all the countries it borders too. This is where our son Drew is from. He currently lives with a foster family during the weekends and at night, while attending a preschool type program at the Urumqi CWI (orphanage) during the day.

More pics from shower

Here are some more pics from the shower day. The cake was just fabulous and delicious! Kudos to Ms. Billie Gail for it. Don't you just love the pic of me in "the hat". My friend Felisa left this minor detail out of her plans that she told me, when I got there, she proudly exclaimed that I had to wear this thing!! Luckily Riley also volunteered to put the hat on, so I couldn't resist a Kodak moment. I don't know how we got all of Drew's gifts home and into his room, but we made it fit. Here's also a pic after we unloaded all the stuff! Can you find his bed??

Proud moments

I was still thinking about the past weekend with the shower and everything and forgot to mention how proud we were of Riley. I had thought he would have shown an inkling of "sibling rivalry" because of the shower, even though Drew's not here yet. I wasn't sure he would understand that the gifts we receive would be for Drew or not. I had asked him a couple of times through the weekend if he wanted to go to the shower and he changed his mind each time. So I was really wondering if he might see all the presents and think, why does he get all the presents? However, I could not have been more wrong--thankfully. Riley is a true trooper, and a very kind hearted kid anyways. He never once said or acted in anyway envious or sad of all the attention and gifts that Drew got. However, we realize once they are "true brothers" playing, this might all go out the window at times... haha.

Shower Day

Today, we were given an adoption shower for Drew by my very bestests of friends! Man they really worked hard on getting it all together. I almost felt guilty for not being there to help set up-haha. My friend Felisa raided my house of Chinese/Asian decor to use. My mom donated these beautiful Chinese silk bed linens that she bought while in China two years ago which were used to cover some of the tables. Felisa tied chopsticks together with a red ribbon and attached a label that had different sayings and our blog address as party favors. Oh yes, they made me pose with this hat on which to me looked more Vietnamese than Chinese but they didn't mind, they just wanted pictures. We had pictures of Drew everywhere and I made a "Welcome Drew" scrapbook page for everyone to sign for Drew to see. It all turned out so wonderful! You should've seen the cake, it was 3 layers- all different kinds, with red icing decorated with cherry blossom flowers, chop sticks and 2 miniature USA flags and a China flag as toppers. We had crab rangoon, spring rolls, teriyaki chicken on a stick, Asian dip/chips to eat. Man, he made out like a bandit too! He got 3 BIG Tonka trucks, Riley got 1 as well- which was great. He got a denim bean bag and a duffle bag with his name stitched on them from his "grandma" Shirley- she even got Riley one too. He has enough art and craft supplies to make tons of projects; lots of DVDs, booster seats, clothes, an MP3 player, books, toy chest, a table and chair set that matches his room, VTech/LeapFrog learning toys, balls, and much more! I wonder where we're going to put it all, it looks like his room exploded today. I couldn't take pictures with my camera because it turns out I'm a big dummy and had the battery in wrong so it wouldn't work... DUH!! I found this out after I got home and my dh Scott showed me. Whew, I must have been nervous or something..hmmm... Luckily my dear friend and my niece took lots of pics for me so I'll post them as soon as I get them. Well let's see, it's now 17 days and counting til we leave for CHINA!! Drew and the rest of us are so very fortunate and lucky to have such a supportive and caring group of friends and family. I can't wait for him to meet them all!!!!!

Oh yes, have to tell you two more cute stories about Riley that happened today at the shower.
My friends from work had all went together and got Drew and Riley the Tonka trucks. While he was hugging Ms Shirley for his presents, I asked him to thank the other 4 ladies as well. Therefore, he ended up hugging each one and telling them thanks for the truck. When he was done, he acted like he was exhausted ,was ready to run off and said, "Whew, am I done?" It was so cute and he ran around the table to hug them all.
Also, Riley walked up to my friend's mom (whom he doesn't know really well) and said, "Hey, you know I'm getting a brother?" She said, "yeah, that's what this is for."He said," yeah, I know, and I like his room, it's SO cool ."
How cute is that????