I Had a Famous Guest!

I will give a little bit of background info for those of you who don't live in the same "world" that I do.  When you tread into the world of international adoption, no one, and I mean no one can understand your trials, triumphs, fears, and joys like people who have been in the same boat, or people who are currently in the boat with you.  So, you go searching for your boat mates.  Fortunately for us, there is a place that we refer to as the "Queendom" where we, the adoptive parents and hopeful adoptive parents of Chinese children, can rely on each other. Some of us in the Queendom build tight internet relationships that transform into real friendships. In the Queendom, there are a few really famous people.  Of course the purple queen herself is the most famous of all, but I would have to say that the most famous "princess" is Courtney.  She isn't an adoptive parent, but a big sister to two precious little boys from China.  She is also the most knowledgeable when it comes to paperwork, steps to take, and how the process works.  Pretty impressive if you ask me.  So in the Queendom, Courtney is extremely famous and she came to visit me!  

So, let me go ahead and admit my mistake in this visit.  While Courtney's mom had already been in contact with me and asked me to take lots of pictures, I didn't want to seem like a crazy stalker lady with a camera, so I let my kids take pictures.  So all the pictures you are going to see were taken by my lovely children.

So, this Courtney! She is more precious in person that she is online.  If that could even be possible!  We enjoyed getting to know both her and her father. We had a fun day!  They got here and then we headed over to Ashley's house for lunch.  Ashley and I also met on the same website, and Ashley happened to move to Auburn.  So, Ashley also had a connection to Courtney, so lunch with her was a must.  Then we headed back to my house for dinner.

Dinner was the big event of the trip because I had some very special friends who were also coming over to meet Courtney.

Of course my children love him to death, so actually meeting and talking to Courtney and her dad seemed almost impossible.  He first had to be attacked and mauled, and climbed on like a jungle gym.  He loves it, and encourages it, because he loves them as much as they love him.

In fact the kids had to get ready for bed, then they made a bed for him too and covered him up.  He was such a great sport.

After my kids finally went to bed, Courtney and her dad were finally able to really talk to this young man and his parents.  They were able to learn so much from each other, and get some questions answered in regards to homeschooling in Alabama, as Courtney and her family are contemplating a move. (Now I am desperately praying that happens!)

So, the evening was a success.  Everyone had a good time and great fellowship was had by all.  

The pictures below are just a very few of the pictures that made me laugh out loud when I looked through to see what my children had captured.  I have learned my lesson, and next time I will just look like a crazy stalker woman with a camera.

This was an intentional face he was making at my children. 

 This is Courtney's, I don't know what you would call it look!

And for this one, well, I have no clue!

It was hard leaving Courtney, but I left her in good hands when we said our good byes.  I had taken her out to this special family's farm.  It is always fun out there, and I knew they would take good care of them and point them back in the right direction to get back to the airport.  I can only hope that our precious Miss Courtney will visit again!

Beach Pictures

Top Ten Reasons Why I LOVE the Cape

10.  The beaches are dog friendly, so we don't have to leave behind two of our most important "family members.  They love the beach, and I love having them with me.

9.  The bay is amazing on the Cape.  It provides so much fun sea life to explore.  It is neat to see the sea floor basically moving with tons of God's creations.

8.  During the day dolphins swim by on a regular basis.  I love dolphins, so this excites me.  At night it is not uncommon for a giant sea turtle to emerge and lay its eggs.

7.  Success at fishing is guaranteed. Whether it is in the cape or on the bay, you will catch something.

6. Captain Joey is there, and he is great at loving on my son.  He is so patient to take him shark fishing and always makes sure that Hunter will be able to have great success fishing.

5.  There are no restaurants, no golf courses, nothing to entertain you except God's amazing creation and family. No high rises, and nothing built on the beach.  The dunes are completely preserved, and some of them are almost 100 feet high.  It is breathtakingly beautiful.

4.  The people who visit the cape aren't coming for a party atmosphere.  They are coming because they want good wholesome family fun.  It is easy to make friends with the people who are down there, and everyone is helpful and sweet.  It is a Mayberry type of place.

3.  The cape has the most beautiful sunset.  It is untainted by people or things.  The beach is always so empty, that you always have your own unobstructed view of God's first creations from Genesis.  I can't help but feel like God is shining his light right on you as it is going down. As soon as the sun goes down the beach fires start.  Roasting marshmallows and catching ghost crabs become our favorite night time activities.

2.  Cell phones don't work there, so we have no interruptions.  If you know my husband and how demanding his business is, this is great for him and our family.

1.  The number one reason why I love the cape is because of the memories we have made here as a family, and memories we hope to make for many years in the future.  To us, the cape is a little slice of heaven on Earth.

Beach TIme

Hope took to the beach quite well too!  She loved the waves and the sand.  It was such a relief to have her let go of us and enjoy everything the beach had to offer. 

 Rags enjoys the beach so much too!  He used to be extremely adventurous in the water years ago, but I still think he remembers his near drowning experience, so he won't go far into the water now.  But he does love to get wet then roll around in the sand.  We just hose him off outside like we do the kids.

LeeLee is the ultimate beach baby.  She loves the activity of the sun, sound, and surf.  She is non stop action at the beach.  She also gets so incredibly dark even with 100 spf sunscreen on.  I know all my asian friends will fuss at me for how dark the girls are, but there really isn't much I can do except lock them inside.

Sand Dollar Island

We have a little tucked away place at the beach that we like to call Sand Dollar Island.  We walk out into the water and find the seaweed patches that collect the dead sand dollars.  We got over 70 in this trip.  The kids were all so excited.  Hope became very good at finding them, and had so much fun.  At first, she was so discouraged, but by the end, I think she may have found the most.  We saw lots of live sand dollars too, so I was able to give the kids some great lessons on what live sand dollars look like so they would be able to tell the difference.  It was cute because they would pick one up and yell, "Oh yeah, it is dead, I can keep it!" or "Oh no, it's alive, everyone back up and don't step on it!"

Shark Fishing

We were blessed enough to find Captain Joey and have him take Hunter out again on his boat for some shark fishing.  He had success, and this was the biggest one he caught.  Hunter so loves fishing, and I love that he does so well.  He was very proud to show off his catch. Pretty great catch for an eight year old if you ask me!

Pool Time

To beat the heat, we hit the pool quite a bit. I was worried about Hope and the pool since our spring break pool encounter with her didn't go so well. It took her one day of observing everyone while she held onto the side, then she decided to let loose and have some fun the next day. I was so proud of her and had fun watching the sheer joy on her face.