Melina Watch

Our colleague and friend, Shanna (along with husband and two beautiful daughters), are finally ready to travel to bring home their newest blessing, Melina. She will be 10 months old on the 23rth of May and is currently residing in Guangdong. Shanna, her hubby, and youngest daughter are actually traveling to China. Their "Gotcha" Day is May 14th which is May 13th here...what an AWESOME Mother's Day gift! God is so GOOD!

We are so thrilled for our friends. This has been a long, long wait as they emailed us when we were in China in November, 2005 with their LID. At that time, the wait times for referral were about 7 months, so we are all so thrilled for Melina to finally come home. Please feel free to follow along on their journey and send your well wishes and prayers their way. The link to their blog is here under the friends section.

Mommy & Me Tea

Mikayla invited me to a very special tea at her preschool. We both dressed up and had a lovely spot of tea with her other classmates and moms. Tea, pretzels, muffins, apple slices, and cookies were also served. Mikayla also presented me with a precious, framed photo of my dream-come-true little girl that is proudly residing on our refrigerator.

Then, the children serenaded us from the stage. Mikayla was not in the mood to depart from Mommy's company, so I enjoyed a private serenade from Mikayla at our seats.

It was a lovely morning. I am extremely blessed to have four amazing people in my life. Days are hectic, schedules are insane, but I wouldn't have it any other way. To Huey, Spencer, Connor, & Mikayla: Thank you for making my life wonderful! I love you all so very, very much!

Happy Birthday, Connor!

This is the famous Sherouse Chocolate cake...a tradition in my family as my mom created it just for me when I was 2 or 3 years old. It is a chocolate cake with whipped topping and a melted Hershey bar (with powdered sugar added to make a pseudo-finet) over the top. NOT low fat, NOT low calorie, NOT low carb, but OH SO GOOD!

Today is Connor's 11th birthday! Wow! I can hardly believe he is already 11! It seems just such a short time ago that I was carrying him in my arms as I carry Mikayla today.

We are picking up Payton and heading to Disney World to celebrate the day! But, first, we have to catch the opening day of Spider-man 3, have a little pizza, and then head to Disney. We will spend the night and hit Animal Kingdom on Saturday. Expedition Everest is the first thing on the agenda. I know I will be going with Connor and Payton as Spencer & Huey will have nothing to do with roller coasters. No problem...Connor and I have conquered this particular roller coaster before. At least we can use Spencer & Huey's fast passes and the baby swap feature to finagle another ride without waiting out of the deal!

Happy Birthday, Linda

Yep, today is my birthday! I am 42 years old/young. Wow! When did that happen?

Huey has to work 8am to 8pm today and the kids are in school (but only for a 1/2 day), so birthday goodies were very early. And yes, early means no pictures....

I got a new pair of running shoes (that I desperately needed), a PSP, 4 games to go with my new PSP, instruction manuals, an accessory package with additional memory for my PSP, a new outfit, money from my mom (thanks, Mommy!), and a new outfit from Miss Carrie and Mr. Charlie.

I am planning on spending the afternoon allowing Connor to show me all the nuances of my new PSP (as he has one) & spending the rest of the day shooing Spencer from trying to swipe my PSP (as he does not have one, yet). It should be great fun!

Oh, and age is a number...the attitude is the deciding step in anyone's age. Fortunately for me, I am the youngest in my family (in more ways than one--tee hee), so everyone is always older than me. ;)

Easter, 2007

Resurrection Sunday is a day like none other. A day to reflect on the indescribable gift Jesus lavished upon us. We drove down to Leesburg to visit the church there as our former youth minister, Hoss, has accepted a pulpit position in Leesburg. Hoss has never failed to prick our hearts with his tender presentation of God's love and word. This morning was no different.

After church, we were off to meet up with the Sloans, her awesome parents, the Reedy's and of course the Ridgeways for lunch. We all met at a seafood restaurant (I know..seafood on Easter Sunday?), but it was all about the fellowship.

We are blessed each and every day, but today, it is nice to take an extra long pause to really appreciate the gift.

Hubei Family

We are on VACATION!! Yippee!! No School!! No Work!!!

Our vacation is off to a great start. We were blessed to meet up with one family in our travel group, the Dudleys. Steve, Stacie, and Lil Miss Lauren met us at Cracker Barrell for breakfast while we were passing close by in Georgia.

I can't tell you what we ate because we just enjoyed soaking up every second with our friends. There has been so much to just catch up on. Time flew and what seemed like such a short time, we had to part ways.

Lauren is so adorable! She has grown and developed so much in just a few short months. This was just a wonderful morning....

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year!

Actually, Chinese New Year (CNY) begins on February 17, 2007, but our local FCC (Families with Chinese Children) chapter in Gainesville had their 2nd annual CNY Celebration on February 10, 2007 in Gainesville.

This is year 4705 by the Chinese calendar which is a calendar based on the lunar rotation whereas our calendar in the West is a solar calendar. This is the year of Ding Hai or the year of the Pig (boar).

According to legend, being born in the year of the pig means that you are chivalrous, strong, gallant, and tremendously honest. Those born under the sign of the boar do not make many friends but those they make are for life due to their loyalty. Here in the Register clan, we have a rat (Connor), a ram (Spencer), a tiger (Huey), a snake (Linda) and a monkey (Mikayla).

We had a great time at the CNY celebrations. There was food, crafts, activities, a silent auction, and a finale of a dragon parade, firecrackers, and a stage show. The stage show began with 10 adorable little Chinese ballerinas, followed by a Chinese story reading, and progressed to a Chinese folk song performed by Jen Mei (a student at the University of Florida). The night finished with a group shot of all Asian children and the receiving of a red gift bag full of goodies for all our newly aged children.

(click on the collages to enlarge).