Kaylah's East Coast Toddler Shower: We've Been Sprinkled!

Well, the trip was a success. It was a long day flying into Erie, Pa  and an even LONGER day flying home last Sunday. This is me... one ANXIOUS Mama who cannot wait to get her arms around her little Diva!

This is my Dad, Ray Sr. He's really anxious to be a Grandpa again! Kaylah is just gonna love him!

This is my little brother, Ray Jr. He's SO excited about being an Uncle again! 

 This is my Mom, Christine.... who is as OOOBER excited as me about bringing little Kaylah home as soon as we possibly can!

Carly, Cindy and Breanna.

 A CUTE little outfit for Kaylah.

Lots of fun goodies to open with everyone!

 LOVe this little purse from my friend, Melissa. It's SOOO going to China with us... I can't wait to see little Kaylah carrying it around filling it with goodies!

Another group shot. The Chinese restaurant was amazing! The food was spectacular and the company couldn't have been any better!  The staff was so friendly and were so excited that we were adopting a little one from China. They were teaching us Mandarin and were always saying, "OH she's such a lucky little girl!!"

All the loot we ended up with! And LOTS AND LOTS of squishes of fabric for Kaylah's Quilt! Working on taking pics of those! And we still need more! Please consider sending us some fabric and a good wish! We would love to include everyone and anyone who wants to participate!

Call out for "SQUISHES"

Dear Family and Friends: While we are waiting for the arrival of our daughter, we are working on a project with which we need your assistance. We are creating a "100 Good Wishes Quilt." 

To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Good Wishes Quilt." It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the family and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. We ask that you please participate in this project. We love the idea of welcoming our daughter into our home with a quilt that represents the good wishes for her from our family and friends.

HERE IS WHAT WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO DO: 1. Choose any 100% cotton fabric that you like. It can be from a piece of clothing or from a fabric store. It just needs to have a design and color that you like. 2. Cut one (1) 9" square from the fabric. 3. On a sheet of paper or notecard, put a small piece of the fabric and include your "good wish note." Please include why you chose the fabric and your name and address. The fabric will be used to make a quilt, and the notes will be placed in a photo album which we will give to our daughter when she is older. 

IDEAS FOR SELECTING FABRIC SQUARES: * Select a fabric that is meaningful to you. * 100% cotton fabric is best, as it washes and wears better. * If there are several members in your family, please feel free to send more than one good wish note and pieces of fabric. In China, these quilts were originally made from the garments of family and friends surrounding the child with luck and good wishes. 

IDEAS FOR GOOD WISHES NOTE: What would you wish for an infant to have in her life? Some ideas are good health, perseverance, success, love, and a sense of humor. Use that as a guide for your good wish note. 

To see what we mean, please check out these websites with beautiful examples of these quilts: 

http://www.originalquilts.com/100_good_wishes_quilts.htm
Please take a few minutes from your busy schedules to help us create this very special keepsake. The miracle of this adoption has been helped and nurtured by so many of you and this will be so incredibly meaningful for us as well as our new arrival! 

If you would like to participate, please e-mail me at krissiem72@yahoo.com and I will send you our address. 

Thank you!
Krystal and Mike Murphy

Sending out Visa application

Here we go! Sending out Kaylah's Visa application tomorrow to CCAI. Things are just trucking along! We hope to travel now by July to bring her home. I've been dreaming that we travel the last week in June.
I've never been a Mama before. And honestly, I'm a little freaked out. I know things will come "naturally" and that motherly instincts are supposably going to kick in while we are in China.
But she's going to be 3in July.
SO much to wonder about.
So much to WONDER about.
So MUCH to wonder about.

I got the tree done in Kaylah's room. And I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's not perfect. but it's certainly FUN! And a BIG TIME "YEAY" for Lowe's selling small jars of latex paint that you have have tinted into ANY color you want! I'm sure someday, she's going to want us to paint over this. But for the next few years, I hope she enjoys it as much as I do.
Bedroom furniture will be shopped for in about 3 weeks. I'm heading to Pennsylvania in a few weeks for Kaylah's East Coast Toddler Shower that's going to be held on May 19th. I can't wait to see my many friends and family members and enjoy the celebration of bringing her home.
We'll also be having a Toddler shower here in Colorado for friends and family here. That is scheduled for June 10th. Fun times!!!! WE are so excited!