5 Blogs that Make My Day

Susan at The Rachel Chronicles nominated my blog as one of the "5 Blogs that Make Her Day." She actually posted this back on the 13th, the day the evil strep bug started attacking me, so I didn't see the post until today. Anyway, Susan is a member of the July 2006 Dragonflies LID group, and she and her hubby brought their daughter Ting-Ting home shortly after we came home with Mary Joyce. Sometimes I think Mary Joyce and Ting-Ting are kindred spirits when I read some of her posts. Thanks, Susan, for including me in this.

Now, for my 5...

1. I will start off with one of my dearest IRL (in real life) friends. Jen and I met back in 2005 via an online China adoption forum. This was a national forum, so when she mentioned living in south GA, I sent her a private message, as there are not a huge number of China adoptive families in south GA, especially where we lived at the time. As it turned out, we lived within 20 miles of each other. We were lunch buddies, regularly getting together to talk about adoption and life in general. Jen and Mike even came to meet us at the Atlanta airport when we arrived home with Mary Joyce (even though we had a flight delay and didn't get in until the wee hours of the morning.) Jen and Mike have 3 biological children, and this past winter, they finally were able to bring their youngest daughter, Mei, home from China. Knowing Jen and her family has been a huge blessing for us. Jen's blog is A Life of Laughter.

2. Another IRL friend, Angie, at A Mother's Place... Angie and Milledge were friends of ours before any of us started the process to adopt from China. Chet has known them for a long time, as they live in his hometown. Our friendship has really grown as we have gone through this amazing process together. Angie and Milledge and their boys are still in the midst of their very long wait for Ruthie.

3. We met Shelley and her family at a local China families gathering here in Florida, and in one of those genuine small world/Red Thread/ and most of all "God Thing" kind of moments, we discovered that Mary Joyce and their youngest daughter, Lili, were not only just weeks apart in age, but they were from the same tiny SWI in Tonggu, Jiangxi, China. Shelley's blog is always a lot of fun to read. You can find her at Wok on the Wild Side.

4. One of my favorite blogs to read is written anonymously by Tonggu Mama. Her daughter (The Tongginator), who is a little older than Mary Joyce, is also from Tonggu. TM has a true way with words, and her posts range from informative to absolutely hilarious. She has a true gift for storytelling. You can find her blog at Our Little Tongginator.

5. Another blogger with a way with words is Heather at Our Little Ladybugs. Heather and Rob were one of our Adoption Voyages families. We hosted their website when they brought Hannah home from China. They feel like part of the family, and I love being able to watch their girls grow up in pictures.

I really had a tough time limiting it to 5, but there's the list...