Briana Day Anniversary Recap

We had such a nice day for our 7 year forever family anniversary.

When Briana got up, I (and Doug) gave her this doll that I have been holding on to for a number of years. I wanted to give it to her when she was old enough to take care of it (since it is Precious Moments!)...

And I bought this before Briana became a panda fanatic! ;)

Bri with her new doll...

Me and my best gal...

Bri was watching the Disney Channel that morning and a classic Disney cartoon came on. The premise ~ Mickey Mouse had gone to the Beijing Zoo to snap a picture of a panda (who would not cooperate). I honestly couldn't believe it...

For lunch, Bri and I met our awesome friends over at Stevie B's for pizza and games.

The three musketeers...

Bri received two beautiful bracelets - one from I and one from ML...

The girls chatting with C-Man and G-Man...

C-Man got 100 tickets - pretty awesome...

When we got home, I picked some wild flowers out of our yard that Bri had been admiring...

And she wanted to play with her panda bamboo village...

Dinner was just Bri, Doug and I at our favorite Chinese restaurant...

Edamame, crab rangoon and dumplings to start...

And lots of lo mein noodles...

It was a wonderful day to reflect on how blessed we are to be a family.

7th Briana Day Anniversary

Seven years ago today, Doug and I held our new daughter for the very first time.

She was hot, tired, bug-bitten, hungry and terrified. She was beautiful and breathtaking at the same time.

It was one of the most amazing moments of my life...

I cannot imagine my life without my amazing Briana in it. 

She completes me.

If you want to see our Journey To Briana video (including our gotcha day) - click on this link...

http://www.gotchadayvideo.com/medium/

We Finally Met In Person

I've have been blogging on "Life With Briana" (formerly "Waiting For Briana") for almost 8 years now. My first post was on July 30, 2006. Little did I know that Briana's gotcha day would be exactly one year later.

When the wait times extended for those in the China adoption program, blogging became a lifeline for so many of us. We leaned on one another for support and comfort. Then when our kids finally started coming home, we started to share that part of our lives. So many of us had never met in person (and still haven't met), but we felt connected and were online friends. Many of us have stayed connected. Most of the China adoption bloggers (at least the ones I followed) have shifted to Facebook now, so I am able keep up with them there - which is so great.

I'm one of the few die hard bloggers left. I can't seem to let the blog go. It is more of a scrapbook for Briana now. And in time, as Bri gets older - she may not want me to share as much. There isn't all that much drama in the life of an 8 year old, but the older she gets, her life will become more complex and complicated (not saying that in a bad way) and she may want to keep her life more private at that time.

But for now, I'm staying. :)

I followed Bailey and her family for years through her blog, as did Lisa. And Bailey followed both of ours.

Bailey contacted me and Lisa several weeks ago to say that her hubby and daughters, Ladybug and Butterfly, were coming through town and they wanted to meet us. It was an immediate yes on both of our parts! We were all so excited to meet in person!

 Finally on Wednesday, Bri and Maisie got to meet Ladybug and Butterfly! They all became instant friends...

 

Bailey, Lisa and me - finally in the same room. It was so nice. It seemed like we already "knew" one another (because we did!)...

A big thanks to Lisa for hosting the evening.

I wish we could have even more time together. There was still so much more we could have talked about.

Well, now I will just have to figure out a way to go visit them. :)

Blueberry Pickin' - Year 7!

Year 7! I'm so happy that Bri and I have been able to continue our tradition of visiting a blueberry patch in July. And I'm even happier that Kathy and Chani could join us once again!

Here are our previous years...

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

We all got to the patch pretty early this year. I like getting there before the day really heats up.

Kathy and I had to get a cute picture of our adorable girls before we got started...

When we arrived, the sign that was posted said that the berry picking was "just ok." And they were right. There were some slim pickings on the trees this year. There were a lot of berries - they just weren't ripe. They probably needed to close the patch for a few days and let the berries ripen. I'm glad they didn't close though because Wednesday was really the most convenient day for me to go, so we made the best of it.

Rows of trees...

The girls started to search...

Silly gal...

As you can see, some were blue and some were not so blue...

There's quite a few unripe berries here...

Finally - some blue blueberries...

Two sweet friends...

 Walking on the beam...

We were out in the field for about an hour. Bri and I managed to get about a 4th of a bucket of berries and Kathy and Chani did a bit better. It's always fun watching the girls walk around the field - chatting and giggling.

They are so cute...

The girls played on the little playground for a while...

They hopped on the tractor...

They also picked flowers in the grassy area...

When I got home, I washed the berries and let them dry really well. I'm happy that we did manage to find a few blue ones!!

I love this tradition so much - even when we don't come home with a ton of berries. It just doesn't feel like summer if we don't hit the blueberry patch!!