Shelton's SP Revealed

And the person is..... Beth Lux. Thank you Beth and family for all the wonderful things you have given us during this SP exchange. You have been a great SP and we can't wait until Marissa is finally home to use all the things you have given to us.

This beautiful quilt that Beth sent to us came from Shamien Island in Guangzhou. It is made by people there and the money goes to help children who are not adoptable for one reason or another. What a thoughtful gift this was. Besides giving to us, she gave to someone else. And what a keepsake for Marissa! I have to say that I am a little sad that our exchange has come to an end. I enjoyed buying for mine as much as I enjoyed getting something in return. Thanks again, Beth!!!

THANK YOU KELLY AND JOE SHOOK!!!!!!

Well after all these many many months of being spoiled rotten by our Secret Pals, we FINALLY know their identity.........Kelly and Joseph Shook! We got the final package of goodies yesterday and couldn't WAIT to see who they were.......
They sent us so much stuff! Kelly made me a scrapbook for Rebekah and included a travel checklist,a travel book about China, an ornament with a plane/globe, a Chinese purse, learning Mandarin CD's, a panda, Shaoey and Dot book, a notebook that has a beautiful Chinese silk cover, and pictures of the two of them. How can possibly thank two people who have become our friends over all these months? There just aren't really any words that can let them know how much their thoughtfulness has meant. Even those months when we were discouraged and felt like dropping out, they would send us anonymous letters of encouragement and support. They have truly touched our lives and now that the Secret Pal program is over, we can move on and be great friends with them as we continue to wait for our babies AND after we become parents and raise our girls! Thank you Kelly and Joe!!!!!!!!! We just had to say THANKS!!!!!!!!!! And YES, we are going to STAY friends!!!!!

Thank you Blat Family!

We received our final revealer gift and wanted to say a huge thank you to the Blat Family. They stuck with us for the whole exchange and we have really appreciated all the gifts. Hopefully it won't be much longer and we will have our girls.

Thanks again.
The Totten Family

A Huge Thanks to Mark and Cathy Lam!!!

We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the wonderful gifts you have sent us! I never got a picture of the gifts by themselves because Will couldn't leave them alone. He was so excited--especially about the adorable farm truck!

He also pulled the straws out of the
Spider Man cups and wanted to start drinking from them right away! Thanks also for the Spider Man lunchbox, utensils, and plate and bowl set. We love super heroes around here.

Will loves pulling the car shade up and down. We needed that gift as we just used a free one someone had given us at a fair and it had torn up!

Everything was generous and perfect as usual. Even the Chinese card was a wonderful touch. Thank you so much from all of us for your generosity over these last few months. We wish you all the best and that you will be as blessed by others as we were by you!

God bless,
John, Tara, and Will

Thank You to the Appleton's

They were wonderful Secret Pals!! Our box of goodies arrived today and here are some pics.

Thank you to my secrest pal - all the gifts for Kiana Wall

Hi Megi,

Thank you for all the wonderful gifts the past few months. The gifts to my daughter coming in the mail helped make the wait easier. It was a reminder that this adoption will truly happen someday and now we are getting closer. Thank you, you picked some awesome gifts. I love all of them. Thanks for the last package full of fun books, sunglasses, a rattle and more. Its great. Thanks.

Sheryl Wall
LID 3-14-06

We're Beary Thankful for our Gifts!

Please forgive the cheesy title. I just couldn't resist.

I'm posting these thank yous in the wrong order. I will post last months thank yous soon, but the pics are on our other computer.

As for this month...we were overwhelmed again by your generosity. I think we were even more excited than Will. We went to see Kung Fu Panda on our anniversary this year, and we loved it. So we were extremely excited to see the cute Kung Fu Panda stuff--especially the cars. Our boy is very serious about the cars. You can see in the picture that he's not really smiling--he's analyzing the cars very carefully. After we were done opening the package, he let me put everything back for a little while--except the cars. We recently learned that one of the words he keeps saying is the Chinese word for cars. I think it's "chixi" but it might be a z instead of an x. I forget! And we love the sticker book. I'm already starting him a little sticker book with the stickers he gets from the doctor, etc.

We also play a lot of games and read a lot of books, so we loved the Eric Carle books and games. I'd been thinking Will should have a copy of Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? But hadn't gotten it yet. And we definitely have to use board books right now. Our boys is destructive, just like his mommy! I love that the Brown Bear book also has the Chinese in it!

The Feng Shui bear is adorable, but the box it cam in is just as cute with the bright colors and the dragons on it. We are going to use it as a keepsake box.

Thank you so, so much. I know Will would be thanking you to if he could. We're working on that. ;)

I hope you are enjoying the fall. We love it!

God bless,
Tara, John, and Will

THANK YOU!! to Cathy & Mark's secret pal Tonja!!

We were so excited to get a HUGE box delivered this week!! It was just chock full of all kinds of cool things for travel and other great stuff!! We received travel items, stacking cups, a very nice window shade, a travel utensil set, a baby book, just to name a few things. AND a giant jar of pink m&ms!!! This is so funny, because m&ms are my absolute favorite candy - people at work give them to me, I get them for my birthday, etc. so this was just so cool and is just perfect. And we are thrilled to announce that our secret pal was Tonja!! Thank you so much for being such a great pal, you have sent so many wonderful things. Each box of treasures was just perfect, and we really feel like we are getting prepared with the things we need. Thanks for making each month of waiting a little more bearable! :-) We just can't thank you enough for your friendship and being a terrific pal!!! We look forward to being able to celebrate together with our referrals!! Love, Cathy & Mark

The Appletons Are "Bear-y" Thankful For Their Secret Pals!

We were VERY surprised to come home Monday and find a box waiting for us from our Secret Pals, but let me just say that these wonderful friends, who always do a stupendous job of surprising us each month, really had fun with this theme!!!!!
The theme was "Bears" and they sent a panda backpack and matching panda lunchbox for Rebekah to use when she goes to school one day, a bear puzzle book, a white blanket with a bear embroidered on it, several little things from Build-A-Bear along with this red-white-and-blue outfit for the Build A Bear that they gave us months ago (it was dressed in a Chinese outfit), a silk handkerchief with embroidered pandas on it, and a Kent State bottle/bib/rattle set (we are guessing they are graduates of Kent State and may be from Ohio???????) Anyhow, we were just blown away by everything and wanted to let them know how much we love it all and say THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you SP

Sorry it has taken me so long to post my "thank you" to the blog. I took the picture right after I got the precious bear. But time got away from me and I am just now getting around to downloading the pictures. How cute are the little "glass slippers" on our Cinderella Bear? As always, you outdid yourself. I love the bear and I know that Marissa will also.