More quilt squares!!!?!!!!

Wow! Just when I thought it was safe--Four more quilt squares have arrived! I guess we'll be adding another row to the bottom of the quilt!

Quilt Square #118



This soft flannel came to us from my cousin, Angie and her family, Mike, Evan, Ethan and Ean.



Quilt Squares #119-120





Daniel's brother, Brian and his wife, Cheryl, sent us these two squares!



Quilt Square #121






A friend from our Sunday School class gave us this square. We agreed that it reminds us of Heather, she always has a positive outlook and a great smile!

Duke

As we wait to see how far the matching will go for this next batch of referrals, finding ways to stay busy and sane are important! So earlier I promised to post about Duke. Here it goes:

Duke, our New Hampshire Red rooster, was hatched on March 30, 2008. He grew and matured more quickly than the other roosters and he actually wasn't my first pick to be the one spared from the stew pot. I had originally selected a barred rocks rooster to be the lucky one. He was not yet mature but I chose him because that variety tends to be more docile than others and after hearing all of the horror stories about roosters, I wanted the most docile bird I could find!

I put the barred rocks rooster out with the girls and he chased me out of the pen. So knowing what little I knew then, which was enough, I needed to choose again. So the more mature, New Hampshire Red, was given his fair warning that if he chased me out, he'd be in trouble.

For those who don't know, it's not the fear of being pecked, roosters have these spurs on their feet that are pretty intimidating. They can fly, they can literally rear back and use their tails to jump with their spurs aimed at their target. I've been told that they can really hurt small children.

Duke and I have pretty much always gotten along. He protects his girls though. He doesn't really care much for Sam or Daniel and never has. When Duke was younger, Daniel would stand on the outside of the pen, stick his chest out and crow at Duke. Well, Duke would get a little irritated and stick his chest out and crow right back as if Daniel were competition.

Sam tried to pat Duke on his comb (on top of his head) which I'm sure is a huge "no no!" That was the day that Duke reared back and was literally on his tail ready to spring at Sam. Fortunately I was with Sam and we got out of there quickly. After that, Sam was barred from the hen house.

Daniel has been warned a few times to stay out too. Duke will often stand in front of the door so that Daniel can't come in. One day, while Daniel was working inside the hen house, he accidentally bumped one of the hens, she squawked and carried on and here comes Duke, wings flapping and all. Daniel got out as fast as he could and hasn't gone in since!

Duke and I get along fine...a few scratch grains go a long way with him. And he is a pretty boy!

Three Years

Well, on Saturday, it became official. We've been "logged in" for 3 years. I'm pretty sure that's as long as the gestation for an elephant. But we can now see light at the end of this very long, very dark tunnel and a whole lot of faith that she is out there, waiting for us!

***************************************************************************************

Gymboree is having a huge sale...I'm on my way! Every once in a while, I allow myself to splurge on something pink and today's the day!

117 Good Wishes Quilt-top

I've had a lot of requests for pictures of the quilt top so I'm putting it out there!

Clean water for China's orphans!

I've seen this issue out there since I've been watching the China boards and now finally it looks like it may be the beginning of the end. Clean water is something that we take for granted everyday. Unfortunately children in third world countries don't have this luxury.

The first I had really thought of such a thing was shortly before we traveled to bring Sam home. I met a little girl who had been born in Russia and found her forever family here in the U.S. She was two when she came home and was discovered to be infected with giardia, a parasite that is transmitted by dirty water. After several months of antibiotics, her system was clean, no more giardia and all of the effects that come with it. She is now a very healthy and thriving almost 10 year old!

While searching the adoption boards this morning, I see that thanks to a huge donation, all of China's orphanages will now be equipped with water filtration systems. And China's most susceptible children will now have clean drinking water. That's great news!

117 Good Wishes!

We had a good time piecing the quilt top last evening. I am completely touched by the response we had...117 squares is pretty cool! This has truly become a labor of love, given by those who will be such a big part of this little girl's life!

I think those die-hard quilters out there were a little concerned by the "anything goes" theme but I believe it is the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen, full of 117 Good Wishes for one pretty special baby girl!

I'll post a picture once it's completely done!

Quilt square #117--the last one!

This was the final quilt square. I made a counted cross-stitch rose with the year "2009" to represent the year we finally bring this baby home! It will go in the center of the quilt.