How does your garden grow? We are just glad ours is! hehehehe... the wet weather is much appreciated this year (for more than the obvious reason)! We are so proud of our little garden!

Tonight we "harvested" our first cucumber and two green tomatoes! Yummy! Guess what we had with dinner tonight?(shouldn't be too hard of a question) ~ FRIED GREEN TOMATOES and sliced cucumbers on our spinach salad! Did it taste soooooo good because we grew it? possibly! Delicious!

Here is a pic of our little gold patch of lush green vegi's!

It's not a huge spot, but it's grow'n quickly! check out all the tomatoes waiting to turn red!!
And, here's our cucumber plant. There are A LOT of yellow flowers!! We are going to be overloaded with cucumbers VERY soon!

Hello friends and family! Julia here, just wanted to post a few layouts that I created this past weekend. I promise, I did take pictures of more than just food! :P

I cornered Matt to choose one fave FOOD layout of the three I put together this weekend... and this particular layout was Matt's favorite because he says, "the pictures make me hungry".

The journaling on the LO says: "Foodies, Our mission, on our four day trip, was to eat as much NYC food as possible. And, we did! From the street vendors outside Bryant Park: gyro, hot dogs, pretzels & sugar cashews. A bagel in "The Village": The deli had a myriad of cream cheese choices (I had cucumber cream cheese, Matt had plain). In Times Square we stepped into a pizza place where Matt had a slice of pepperoni pizza & I had a ham and cheese calzone. Everything was delicious!"

My favorite FOOD layout, from my efforts this weekend, is the one below. Journaling reads: "Serendipity. A few years ago, I saw an Oprah show about the "Frozen Hot Chocolate" dessert at the NYC restaurant "Serendipity". I made a mental note to visit it if I ever made it to NYC. At the end of the day, of our last day, we were exhausted but decided to hunt it down! The food was fresh & delicious. I had a potpie and Matt had fried chicken. Unfortunately the dessert did not impress us as much. It tasted like an iced frozen Wendy's Frosty!!"

Even though we were disappointed in the FAMOUS "Frozen Hot Chocolate" at Serendipity I love this LO because finding the restaurant after years of wanting to go was a dream come true. And, to me that was what mattered most.

The Dark Knight, Batman!! Matt and I went to a matinee at the NEW Hamilton Mill movie theatre! The theatre chairs were so relaxing, if the movie had not been as good as it was it would have been very easy to fall asleep! The Chairs rock, and I mean that literally!! Okay, so back to the movie... by far the best acting by any actor, in my humble opinion, by Heath Ledger! Yes, I do mean best acting EVER!! His character, the Joker, stole the movie! The movie, though a bit long, is a must see!

Creative Juices are flowing! ~ Julia here, I've been inspired by creative craft bloggers and have been playing again over my craft table! I've forgotten how it feels to have creative energy and am experiencing somewhat of a crafting high! :) (Or, maybe it's from the pain meds the Doc gave me for the holes in the bottom of my foot, lol~ either way I'm lovin' it!)

Sometime soon, based on my pitifully foot, we have plans to visit our local Blueberry farm! It better be sooner than later because Blueberry season will be coming to an end soon. All this talk about buy locally has us thinking. We searched out local farmers markets (which are in full swing) and expect to visit one early Saturday morning! Also, we planted a small itty bitty plot of vegi's!! Tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers & cucumbers... all of which are blooming!!! We will have to share pics of our little garden at some point. Luckily we have been blessed with lots of rain for a green sturdy garden!!

Support your neighborhood farmer, Buy Locally!!

Is there such a thing as bliss in a bottle? I think so. For me, it's a Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino - chilled & over ice! Luck for me Sam's Club sells these in BULK! I have been known to send Matt on a run to Sam's solely to replenish my stash!!

Because of the calories I limit myself to one a day. And, my day is not complete with out this sweet indulgence (no joke)! I have enjoyed them for so long that when I open one, breaking the pressure seal, little Chihuahua Penny hears to "POP" and comes running for a taste! Seriously cute!

Matt has convinced me to save the $$ and create my own recipe of this delicious beverage. After many a-failed trys I think I have come up with something good enough to fill my morning cold coffee fix. Using my Cuisinart iced cappuccino maker to make the espresso, I use 2 scoops of ground coffee grounds (when I'm indulging I'll use Starbucks- other wise Maxwell house tastes just as good)& 2 cups of water. Once brewed I add 2 heaping spoon fulls of sugar and chocolate quick mix. Top off with 2 cups of soy milk. Yum, Yum! Penny even likes it!

Matt here. Wanted to post a couple of pics from my first running of the Peachtree Road Race on July 4th. It was a lot of fun. Even that early in the morning, though, the humidity was INSANE. Plus, the course was reworked this year and the finish was UPHILL. Oh well. I survived it. That is the important thing.

Adoption Update...

The stork has landed at our agency! Referrals for families whose dossiers were logged in on January 23, 2006. The CCAA has not released a cutoff date yet, but as soon as they do, I will let you know. Of the referrals, they were all girls! The children ranged in age from 6 months to 18 months. The children in this referral group are from the following Provinces: Hunan and Chongqing . Congratulations to these families!

We have been meaning to scan & share this NY Circle Line picture since we returned home from NY... we enjoyed our 3 hour tour (didn't see Gilligan anywhere)

Happy 40th Birthday Figgy!!

Julia just returned from Biloxi where a few friends celebrated Connie's
arrival into her 40's! Cheers!!

Adoption Update:
This month, the CCAA completed the matching process for families with dossiers registered through January 20, 2006. Great Wall Beijing has confirmed that the CCAA has completed the review of dossiers registered through January 31, 2007.

More pictures of our trip to NY:
Second Day of trip: We rode the red double Decker bus tour around the Downtown Loop. Part of the tour went by Ground Zero. We were told that when 911 occurred there were many memorials around the city. However, this is one of the only ones left. Apparently the painted tile store no longer exists but the memorial was left untouched.

Ground Zero is still really only a construction site. We over heard a local NY'er telling some tourists that many people come down to visit the site and are shocked to find there is no official true memorial marking the site. However, we were told there was a building in front of the construction site housing a memorial of pictures, etc.

On our second day we also visited: Greenwich Village "The Village", China Town, Little Italy, Times Square, Central Park, SOHO... it was a long tiring day~ we saw quite a bit in 8 hours!
Julia in Central Park- most places we walked hid the skyline- the only thing indicating NY city was near was the sound of the cars honking! Matt GEO Caching in Central Park

We have returned from our FABULOUS visit to The Big Apple! Thank you Elaine and Mario for being such wonderful Hosts! Matt and I were exhausted from all the site seeing in Manhattan. Here are a few pictures of our trip...

Day one: we spent the morning on The Circle Line Cruise- enjoying the 3 hour cruise around Manhattan. Most of the sites were with in the first hour and a half. Here is Lady Liberty, one of our favorites...

It was a bit windy and we both got a little sun! Here we are near the end of the cruise with the NW side of Manhattan behind us. Matt's Pink Floyd shirt appears to have come alive!!

The Lions outside of the NY Public Library.
The Lions were named by the Mayor:
Lion Fortitude & Matt Lion Patience & Julia

Finally, On our Third day we were on a subway headed toward SOHO and we were stoped by Jack Nicholson who welcomed us to New York and asked where we were visiting from! Okay, so we know this picture is not actually Jack in the flesh, but rather a poster outside of the movie rentals. But, we HAD to take a pic to remeber Jack and how nice he was to us!

We will post more pictures of our trip over the next few days. Hope y'all are all doing well! TTYS

Adoption Update:

"The current status for dossiers registered with the China Center of Adoption Affairs is detailed. This month, the CCAA completed the matching process for families with dossiers registered through January 12, 2006. It has been confirmed that the CCAA has completed the review of dossiers registered through January 31, 2007. We hope to receive our next batch of referrals in early June."

Reminder: our LID is September 18, 2006 and we are watching for the matching dates to get closer and closer to our LID- currently CCAA has completed LID through Jan 12, 06. And, we expect to hear the next matching batch in early June.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080505/hl_afp/chinahealthenterovirus_080505144747

Some very scary news... "BEIJING (AFP) - A deadly viral outbreak that preys on children has appeared in Olympic host city Beijing, and the number of infections in China has grown to more than 9,000, state media reported Monday."

ADOPTION UPDATE:

The stork has landed! Our agency received referrals for families whose dossiers were logged in on January 12, 2006. The CCAA has not released a cutoff date yet, but as soon as they do, I will let you know. Of the referrals, our agency received- they were all girls! The children ranged in age from 6 1/2 months to 36 months. The children in this referral group are from the following Provinces: Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Guangxi . Congratulations to these families!

Our LID is September 18, 2006. Atleast CCAA is finally in our year. Though it is taking them a very long time to make it through January we are excited they are progressing closer and closer to our LID. We estimate we may hear our referral Summer 09. Of course, we keep our fingers and toes crossed that it will happen sooner- anything is possible when God is in control! Please keep us and Baby Miller in your prayers! We thank each of you for following our journey!

Wow. We just got the news that Vietnam has stopped ALL US adoptions in response to a report the US government filed which alleged widespread baby-selling, corruption, and fraud in their adoption practices. We had, at one point, considered dropping China and switching to Vietnam. Thank God we stayed put. It's a long road to Beijing, but we will get there. Our hearts go out to those folks who are in the Vietnamese adoption process who must now be wondering, "now what?"

http://news.yahoo.com:80/s/ap/20080428/ap_on_re_as/vietnam_us_adoption

Nope, no new news... just pictures of every day life here at Casa de' Miller! ;)

Sierra fell asleep in Daddy's lap this afternoon
~ all her glory was showing~
Buddha Belly included!

Here is a picture that The Melting Pot staff took of us during Julia's Birthday Dinner. As usual, the food was DELICIOUS!

Adoption update:

This month The current status for dossiers registered with the China Center of Adoption Affairs - - CCAA has completed the matching process for families with dossiers registered through January 9, 2006. Also, it has been confirmed that the CCAA has completed the review of dossiers registered through December 31, 2006.

We've been FORKED!!
We woke up to 306 plastic forks in the front lawn! Our first inclination was we were vandalized by teenagers... Matt grudgingly went out side to begin the clean up...

..Quickly he came back in and said,"There's another element to this forking! Your "friends" left a sign for you"...

Thanks to Connie, Tracey, Crystal R., Amy & Crystal H. Julia was Birthday FORKED last night!!!

Girls, do you know what they say about payback??!
OH, IT'S ON!!!

Nothing new to share on the adoption. But, I would like to share a story that seems quite appropriate. I hope you will take the time to read a little story about an Ant and the Contact Lens: a true story

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens . "Great", she thought. "Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry."
She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there.

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the bible verse "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."

She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

I think it would do all of us some good to say, "God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Yes, I do love GOD. He is my source of existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning each and every day Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him....I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)