WE ARE DTC!!!

I just got the email confirming that our dossier will be going to China tomorrow June 1, 2007! It took us almost exactly 4 months for the dossier process, start to finish. That's pretty good, from what I hear. I will be so glad when it is safe in China and that phase is completely done. I am also going to get a list that AWAA will send out with the other couples' names and email addresses that are DTC on the same date. We will be able to get to know them pretty well during the wait, and will then probably travel with them. Very exciting!



The picture is of Braden and Cade yesterday. A true sign that summer has arrived - watermelon. They begged me ALL day to cut that darn thing. That's usually a Daddy job because I can't stand the sticky everywhere. At about 2:00 pm, I finally gave in and let them eat all the watermelon they could stand. They were in hog heaven.

Just For Fun

I got this from another blogger. It looked like fun, so I answered the questions for myself. Copy it and answer them for yourself if you want.
Aprons (yes or no)? no
Baking(favorite thing to bake)?Brownies
Clothesline(yes or no)?NO
Donuts?Would love to be able to say no, but can't resist
Everyday (one homemaking thing you do everyday?)wash clothes, but I might miss a day here and there
Freezer(Do you have a separate deep freezer?) Two of them!
Garbage Disposal (Yes or no)?Yes
Handbook ( What is your favorite homemaking resource?) HGTV
Ironing (love it or hate it?)Hate it
Junk drawer (y/n) where?Three! in kitchen
Love (What is your favorite part of homemaking?)being with my kids
Mop (y/n)No, Swiffer
Nylons (y/n)Are you kidding? Do they still make those?
Oven ( Do you use the window or open the door to check?)Open the door
Pizza (what do you put on yours?)pepperoni, onions, jalapenos
Quiet ( what do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?)surf the web
Recipe card box(y/n)?No, but I have a book
Style of House:we are building a two story acadian style house now.
Table cloth and napkins?paper towels
Under the sink (organized or toxic wasteland?)unorganized but not toxic
Vacuum ( How many times per week?)Maybe once
Wash ( How many loads of laundry do you do a week?)6-8
X's (Do you keep a daily list of to do things and cross them off?)No, only when doing unusual things like building a house, or putting a dossier together.
Yard (Who does what?)The yard man does the lawn, We both do the flowers (if by "do" you mean "neglect")



We play a game at my house called the initial game. We mostly do it when we are in a restaurant. It keeps them all busy, quiet and occupied. One person thinks of someone (usually a major league baseball player in my family) and says their initials. The others try to guess who the person is. Cade just came in and said "It's an animal, try to guess: R,T." I couldn't guess so he told me the answer "rang tang". He obviously means "orangutan", but for a kindergartner just learning to read, I think it's pretty cute.

The Beginning of the End

Well, it's here: the beginning of the end of baseball. Bryce and Cade had their last games yesterday and the we had their end of season celebration. It was a lot of fun. I have uploaded a few pics from the night. The other children in the pictures are the Guidroz children. They are some of our dearest friends. I have to say, I don't know if we're ready for baseball to end. Braden still has a few games left, but not many. I can't remember what you're supposed to do when you're not playing baseball!

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Wow, what a difference a day makes! The top picture is the house the day after the slab was poured. The bottome picture is of the house after day 2 of framing! It is so exciting to see the drawings that you have been studying for months come to life!

We Have Concrete!!

It is finally here! The slab has been poured. They started at 4:00am and are about to finish at 11:00am. So, about 7 hours and almost 30 cement trucks later, the foundation is done! You can see that the skies are not sunny and blue here. We are praying that the rain will hold off for a couple more hours, but either way, we're ok. The Lord has really blessed us with great building weather the last couple of weeks. Now on to the next stage.

China Update

Well, we are almost there! Officially waiting, that is. Everything has been done with the dossier, except the authentication. If everything goes according to plan, we will be DTC on May 25th. We are so excited, but are trying not to think about it too much because we know we still have such a long way to go. So, I will spend my time with these three crazy boys and building our new house this summer, and traveling out there in blog land to live vicariously through the familys who are going to China to get their daughters in the mean time. Life is good!!! Have a great day!

Happy 40th Birthday!!

My handsome hubby turned 40 today!! I can't believe it. We have been married for 13 years and have three beautiful boys and a Chinababy on the way. Life is good! Of course, I am glad that it's HIM turning 40 and not ME (yet). He has a few years on me, at least. So how did we spend the big day? Why, playing baseball, of course. What else would the Doughtys be doing on a sunny weekend day? We had two games yesterday, two games today, and we have two games tomorrow. I can't think of anything Richard would rather do on his birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, I LOVE YOU!!

Proud Mama

Today Bryce and Braden had their awards ceremony at school. Bryce received the President's Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence. Only a few received this and he was very proud. (I was proud too!!) He also won the science award from his teacher. She said it was because he knows more about science than she does. Braden received the 1st place trophy for math speed drills in computer lab. He won this award last year also, and has stressed about it for at least half the year. He had convinced himself that he probably didn't win, and was so excited when they called his name. His teacher gave him an award for being a numbers expert. She said every time she watches the show "Numbers" she thinks of Braden and thinks he will solve the world's problems with numbers. It's always nice to hear good things about your kids. Thanks for indulging me! By the way, today ended elementary school for Bryce - YIKES!! Is that even possible that he could be going to junior high? Unbelievable!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers and future mothers. I hope you have a great day!

David and Goliath

Today was another three game Saturday. The first was at 8:00 (yes a.m.!). When we got there, only a few of the players had shown up. This is Bryce's team. It is a 5th and 6th grade team. It is a very laid back league, so Richard decided to pull from our own backup team - the Doughty team. We actually had an extra with us today as well. His name is John Ashley. He is a year older than Cade, but a good bit smaller. You'll notice in the picture, John Ashley standing on 1st base next to the 1st baseman. Talk about a size difference. He has the strike zone of a few inches, so he got to walk on base - not that he couldn't hit it. He's an awesome little ball player. So I got to watch all three Doughty boys play in the same game. And we won!! Don't worry, no stones were thrown. We then enjoyed Cade and John Ashley's official game, took Braden to the after hours clinic to find that he has an awful ear infection, and then took him to his own game which they lost in overtime. He's a trooper, there's no way he was missing that game! Just a regular day at the Doughty's. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready for bed.

Cade's Day

Today was Cade's end of the year program for kindergarten. It was so cute. He was really excited and proud. They sang a few songs and Mrs. Mitchell passed out awards, etc. They went outside and had a water balloon tossing contest. Cade was all about that. Notice on the picture of him with the cap and gown on, how small the gown is on him. It didn't come close to covering his arms. All the other kids, you could hardly see their hands. You can also see in the group picture how much taller he is than the other kids. He is also one of the younger kids, he just turned 6. I can't believe my "baby" has finished kindergarten! Time sure flies when you're having fun. These boys of mine are a blast. I am so thankful that God decided to bless us with them!

It Came!!

Look what I found in the mailbox today! The final piece of the dossier puzzle! I have been running to the mailbox for about three weeks now, hoping that the I 171-H would be there. Today it was, so I ran in and finished the final photo pages and got everything together to send to AWAA tomorrow. I am letting them do all the certification and authentication. It shouldn't be long now, and we will be DTC (dossier to China). Now all we have to do is hurry up and wait (and wait, and wait). We are praying that China will speed up its referral process, but also know that God already has our little girl picked out for us (even though she probably isn't even conceived yet!). It will all happen in God's perfect timing. Be sure and remind me of that on the days when I'm not so sure!!

Photo Pages Galore

Last week, I found out that the last document I need for our dossier to China would be coming this week. Being the procrastinator that I am, that meant that it was time to work on those photo pages! China requires you to send photo pages showing what life is like at your home. I have known that they needed to get done, but hadn't quite figured out how I would do them. Well, today was the day. As you see, I am well on my way to completing the photo pages. (It has taken me almost all day!) As you can also see, I had a different type of photo page to complete as well. Yesterday, Braden played catcher in his baseball game with a hurt foot. He did an awesome job, especially considering that he limped through the whole game. When we got home, his foot was very swollen and he couldn't walk on it at all. I was going to feel really bad if I had let him play with a broken foot! Thankfully, it wasn't, and he is pretty much back to his regular self. I have no doubt he'll be catching in our next game Thursday. As we were walking in to get the x-ray, we were talking about it and Braden said, "So if it's broken, I'll just play third base instead of catcher, right?" Of course, I gave him the patent mom answer when we are avoiding a subject, "Well, we'll have to see".

House update

Well, we have finally seen a little progress with the house. Oh course, it is still much slower than we would like. It seems as if there are lots of things in my life that I am having to learn patience with. The house and China being the main two. I am trying to relax and enjoy the ride. Speaking of China, we are now waiting on only 1 document. It is the I 171-H which comes from immigration. Everything else is at the adoption agency ready to go! Very exciting! I run every day to the mailbox to see if it's there. Nothing yet. God's timing will be perfect.

Craziest Weekend Ever!

Wow! What a crazy weekend! Last Wed. Richard's grandmother passed away. She was 86 years old and died on her 65th anniversary to Frank, who is 90. They are an amazing couple. They have always been someone that Richard and I look up to a great deal. They played a huge role in Richard's life as he grew up. It was sad to watch her go, but she was suffering, and watching that was much worse. We hope Frank will be able to adjust to her not being here, but I don't even know how you would begin to do that after 65 years together. Her funeral was Friday at 3:00 in Jena, LA (about 2 1/2 hours away). This is important because we also had my cousin's wedding Friday night at 7:30. We have been planning for this wedding for weeks now, and really needed to and wanted to be there. So, we actually changed clothes in the funeral home and left for the wedding. Of course, we couldn't stay as long as we wanted because two of the boys had 8:00 (yes, am) games Sat. This was followed by a 1:00 game, which was followed by a 4:00 crawfish boil to celebrate Richard's dad's birthday (of course, at my house). Sunday, we had the end of a baseball tournament with games at 9:45 and 12:00. By the time we got home, we were exhausted. The picture is of Kai. He's a cajun in training. You'd never guess that he's a transplant from North Dakota!