We Have a Star in or Midst....

As of yesterday at 2:00pm, Holly is a genuine "STAR"!!! Disney's High School Musical began it's stage run in Australia! Holly has been a busy girl for months! All the hard work payed off yesterday as she stepped foot on the grand stage and had a great opening performance! We are waiting for Joe to run and get the morning paper so that we can read the "review" hot off the presses! I am sure it will be glowing! These children have all put their hearts and souls into preparing for the show!

You can read more about the production at www.highschoolmusical.org.au .

Great job Holly ~ We are so proud of you!

39 Down...

It is now midnight in Canberra, and the 29th of September, so I can officially say that our dossier has been in the hands of the CCAA for 39 days. We are 39 days into the wait of ___ days! I leave that blank because there is such a "huge array of average wait times"... so we really never know what to expect! I do hope and pray that all will continue on course and we will travel on or shortly after Christmas!

I wish I was on vacation in Louisiana with my family as the time passes so fast when I am there... Lilli would be in my arms and with her family in no time flat! As the saying goes, "Time Waits for No Man"... it is difficult to wait... but soon enough the long wait will just be a memory!

Keep us all in your thoughts and prayers... especially Lilli as she is about to experience a huge transition in her life!

My New Bloggin' Machine...

I have been so sick... I am so sick... half of the Judge family is so sick. What could cheer us up under these circumstances... our new computer... my new "Bloggin' Machine"!

Almost 2 months ago, I ordered a Dell computer ~ the new Inspirion. As it is the most popular computer on earth at the moment (what genius thought of the color choices....), I had to wait nearly 2 months for the computer to ship. Then... add an extra week, as the Embassy only delivers registered mail once a week.

We will probably have to "disinfect" the new computer, as we all could not keep our hands off of it... but WOW! What a beautiful little machine it is! I was joking with the kids that I could use it as a throw pillow if it stopped working properly and no one would be the wiser because it is so "beautiful".

Now to read the directions and figure out how powerful it is! That will have to wait until I feel better and can sit up longer than 10 minutes at a time! So exciting!!!

Lilli An has her 3rd Birthday Party!

Lilli An turns 3 on September 23rd, but because our Aussie friend will be departing China for a month ~ the celebration was held a little early! To read more of the details and see more pics, please check out Lilli's site ~ http://www.tolovelilli.com/ password: lillian

What a beautiful Birthday Princess!!!

Kindred Spirit

Oh the joy of finding a new friend... a true kindred spirit!!!

Life overseas is not always easy... life on the road to adoption is not always easy... having a friend to share the journey makes it so much better... and I am so blessed to have found such a person!

I have only "met" my new friend once... (but we meet everyday via aol!!!) we are both Americans living in Australia... we just live hours apart! We are both waiting for our daughters in China... such a hard wait! We were both flight attendants years ago(so funny) .... We are both just a little on the crazy side (good crazy that is)... We both have little ones that are biological and adopted... we both travel the world, following our husbands and their careers... we both get sad... we both get elated... we find something new that we have in common each time we chat....

... and the best thing is we both have a friend to share the journey with... a friend that truly understands! How priceless is a kindred spirit... I am at a loss for words! Thanks so much for you friendship E.W. !!!

Do you remember where you were six years ago today?

I don't think I will ever remember one moment in time more...

My world changed... my children's world changed... the whole world changed in a matter of seconds!

My hope is for peace and freedom for all people!

To Infinity and Beyond! We have a favorite new character!

We have moved on from Diego who recently replaced Handy Manny who had taken the top spot from the one that had it the longest... Bob the Builder. We have moved on to none other than Buzz Lightyear! You would think I was talking about my son in this post, but alas, I am talking once again about Abby. All dolled up in her pink sweater with a candy striped pink jacket and beautiful pastel bow in her hair, we departed for the mall this evening. I had to pick up some photos for an album that I am making for Lilli. While in Target, Abby spotted the Buzz Lightyear travel case... sitting right next to the Dora, Tinker Bell, and Barbie ones I might add. Abby paid no mind to the lovely pastel colors or sweet smiling faces on the "girl cases"... she only had eyes for Buzz and all the beautiful blues and greens of the case he highlighted! Thank goodness it had just been marked down to a very reasonable $31 Australian Dollars (around $25 US)... because I had a choice... leave with a screaming child that does not understand why we have to pay for anything (she actually asked me why we pay for things in the car on the way home) or happily oblige her, knowing that the case will be put to good use in a few months when we travel to China. I opted for the second choice... to save my sanity and that of all the other Friday Late Night Shoppers! When we arrived home, what a surprise ~ included on the inside of the suitcase was a backpack, wallet, passport cover, and an eye cover .... Abby says that is for the trip to China when everyone is being noisy on the plane.... Guess she doesn't want to see them being noisy???? I will have to explain that later!

We are also checking with Daddy everyday when he arrives home from work, regarding the mail as the nice people from Amazon.com are mailing us a Buzz action figure!!! Wonder if he will fit in the new play stroller and doll bed?????

You can take the girl out of the jeans, but you can't take the jeans out of the girl....

... for those of you who know our Abby ~ you know that she wears jeans ~ "I want to be like you Mommy Rebel and you like jeans so I like jeans" she tells me when I ask her (I have even been know to attempt a little bribery with a chocolate frog) to wear a dress or skirt! But... today was a bit different (insert drum roll...)... Joe brought home a package that I received in the mail. It contained two dresses from a wonderful little store in the States ~ Jolly Rompers. The dresses were for Abby and Lilli ~ for pictures . How I ever dreamed of getting Abby into her dress ~ I don't know ~ but it was too pretty so I bought it anyway and decided to deal with that issue in China! :)

When I opened the package and pulled out the two beautiful dresses, Abby asked if they were for Lilli. I told her that the pink one was for Lilli and the one with flowers was for her... for pictures in China. She said "Oh ~ they are pretty" and when I asked if she wanted to try hers on.... she said "Sure"!!!

WHAT??????

The only demand (on her part) was that she was able to keep her pajama bottoms on.... this was a demand that I was willing to meet! I hurried ~ not wanting to give her a chance to change her mind! I did not even bother doing all the buttons... just the top one and the big bow for fun! She looked beautiful!!! She was checking out her blue jeans from the corner of her eye so I scooped her up really fast to show Joe and take some pictures...

You can see from the pictures what I mean about not being able to take the jeans out of the girl... she went down the slide... stood on her head... jumped on the couch... But I was happy... she was doing it all in a dress!!!!

She kept it on for about 20 minutes... ate her chocolate frog , brushed her teeth, and went to bed! Oops... I wasn't supposed to tell you that I bribed her with a chocolate frog... but it worked!!!!

Our lives are measured by basketball seasons ...

... and today, another one is done... our third since arriving in Canberra! Time sure does fly when you are having fun!

That is the bad news... but the good news is that tryouts for next season are this week!

All of the kids had a great season ~ on teams with great team "mates" and awesome coaches... and most of all ~ only one trip to the emergency room!

Some of you might not know that Joey is about to depart on a pretty amazing adventure. Not only an adventure that centers around basketball, it will be his first true "American" teenage experience. He will be traveling to the US and Canada as a member of his High School's Basketball Team (Go Grammar!!!) ! They will be playing Canadian and US High School Teams in 3 states and taking in 3 or 4 NBA games also! Joey will spend his 16th Birthday with his friends at Universal Studios in California... not bad I would say!

This all means that although his regular practice is now over ~ The USA Tour practice picks up full steam!

Seriously, Joe and I have had a great time watching the kids enjoy the sport of basketball! Abby has also, but is so ready to be on her own team... not just any team though... she told us today that she wants to be on Chris Paul's team... Look out New Orleans Hornets ~ Here comes ABBY!!! (The picture up top was Abby before she turned 1 ~ she really was introduced to basketball at a young age... her first game when she was about a month old!)

And the big winners of the night were.....

The Judge family.... or in particular, Joe Judge!

Joe and I were invited months ago to attend another infamous Aussie Trivia Night in support of a friend's son's school. We are certainly glad that Jill called yesterday morning to remind us... as we had no clue the important day had finally arrived! We rushed around getting all the kids where they needed or wanted to be... and Holly was able to find the perfect present for Joe (This is Father's Day Weekend Down Under) from all the kids! Then we rolled into the venue with about 4 minutes to spare... hungry as can be because neither Joe or I had eaten since about 10am ~ no time for a break when you are the Taxi Drivers' for the Judge kids!

Anyway, what fun we had! Amazingly, even though we came in next to last as a trivia team, Joe and I departed for home a little after midnight with the feeling that we were the big winners of the night! Not only had we enjoyed a great night with some great people (Thanks again for the invite Mark and Jill) we had WON some great prizes!

I would not be putting myself on the line to say that Joe was probably the only pilot at the party, so it should not have been a surprise that after about 100 paper airplanes were launched, Joe brought home the prize for the BEST!!! The award for this skill was a $100 voucher at a local restaurant. Next was the traditional Aussie game of "Heads or Tails". There were 150 people in the room and they have to select heads or tales before the MC flips a coin... If your hands or on your head and the coin comes up heads, you continue... if the flip was tails... YOU ARE OUT! Joe started Heads for the first toss, and then switched to tails and after 6 more Tails, he was handed another dinner voucher for $90... The "gift giver" did make a comment about his winning the two best gifts right in a row... :)

There was also a sheet of riddles such as "1001 AN" and "18 H on a GC" ~ there were 24 of these, and thanks to Holly and her MYSPACE page, I knew most of them and my team mates were able to get the others quickly and we won a huge basket of chocolate for that... sure was fun dividing that up!

Last but not least, we are Daniel's hero because we made a bid at the silent auction ~ for a Aussie Footie that was signed by all the players! With a bid of $40 Aussie ($34US) we walked away with the Panther ball and it now has a very important spot in Daniel's room! "YOU GUYS ROCK ", he told us when we got home and gave him the ball!

Our soon to be 12 year old thinks we rock??? YES! We were the big winners of the night!