Coupaide Campaign

Celebrating Chinese New Year with Team Coupaide

What an amazing journey thus far, as each day passes we are one step closer and feeling overjoyed, anxious, and so in love with our baby! We have grown as a couple and feel so ready. As far as time-lines we have let them go, it is out of our hands and we will sit back and enjoy every step of this journey.  When we began, we were so naive and clueless and of course we do have so much to learn, I guess that is the journey of parenthood!

We met with the founders of Coupaide over 6 months ago and our journey in fund raising could not have been better if we planned it. We successfully raised the funds needed for Phase I, this included paperwork fees, home study, social worker and the cost of our parenting courses. We will begin Phase II of our fund raising campaign, which will help raise the funds for our hefty dossier payments, and we hope to file by the end of April. We will be asking the help of friends and family to help spread the word about our campaign and how they can help by becoming a part of Lottie Lee's Red Thread - this is done by helping invite others to participate in the Lottie Lee fund by purchasing a restaurant.com gift card.

We are celebrating tonight and thinking of the 300 plus people who joined Lottie Lee's Red Thread, this is simply amazing! But tonight we have even more to celebrate. We are so happy to share that Coupaide has designed an entire portion of their company towards adopting families and currently are helping 6 other families. Just seeing all the families who are gaining from Coupaide makes us realize sometimes life's path takes you in a direction you never expected! This alone is just so amazing! And if our fund raising was to end here we feel pretty happy where it has gone in these short months. Coupaide is making it easier for us and other families who choose adoption to afford the costs.

Thank you to all who has joined this cause, we feel proud that this can be a very successful way to fund raise, and are eagerly awaiting the next step.

Smile Pinki

With the Academy Awards on tonight we wanted to share the documentary, Smile Pinki, that won the Oscar for best documentary short back in 2008.  This film can be ordered free at smiletrain.org.  We laughed and cried, and the true story warmed our hearts.  Here is a description of the film.

When she was born with a severe cleft, everyone in her village thought it was a curse from God.  With no education and unable to read  or write, Pinki's parents had no idea that her cleft could be fixed.  Even if they did, with a household income of less than a dollar a day, they could never afford the surgery their daughter so desperately needed.

Not allowed to attend school, tormented by other children who threw rocks at her and called her Cut Lip, Pinki faced a long and difficult life filled with pain and heartache.  There were times her father thought she would be better off dead.

But one day, a social workers told them about the free cleft surgery program for the poor.  Pinki and her father set off on foot, to find the Smile Train partner hospital in Benares, India, that would give Pinki not just a new smile, but a second chance at life.

http://smilepinki.com/

http://smiletrain.org/

Lottie Lee's Tree

Several months ago while researching books about Chinese adoption, I stumbled across this children's book, called Motherbridge of Love and immediately feel in love with the poem and drawings.  The story talks about the  bond between a parent and a child. The tree in the story symbolizes the two different lives that helped create one. I found a wonderful Austin artist Paula Torres who came to make my vision a reality.  Amazingly enough she grew up and attended high school with my cousin Janine.  This huge world can be so small at times!  We absolutely LOVE the mural, and it adds such beauty to Lottie's nursery.

Motherbridge of Love

Once there were to women who never knew each other

One you do not know. The other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.

Once became your guiding star; the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life; the second taught you to live it.

The first gave you a need for love; the second was there to give it.

One gave you a body, the other taught you games.

One gave you talent. The other taught you aims.

One gave you emotions; the other calmed your fears.

One saw your first sweet smile; the other dried your tears.

One found a home for you that she could not provide.

The other prayed for a child, her hope was not denied.

And now you ask, of course you do, The question others ask me too.

This place or your birthplace-which are you a daughter of?

Both of them, my darling- and two different kinds of love.



If you are in Austin and looking for a talented artist Contact Paula Torres
paulaliztorres@gmail.com

Be Mine

This year we spent Valentine's Day different than our usual, we cooked a nice meal at home, nothing too extravagant, just enjoying some much needed time together.  The process of adoption can be so crazy and stressful at times it seems like you can't afford to take a break and when the to-do list seems to get shorter, another long list of to-do's is added.

So we enjoyed the break and a quiet night at home was wonderful, but it didn't take long for us to start talking about Lottie Lee and how next year our Valentine's celebration will be different, but so much better. After the dinner and some champaign, we settled on the couch and watched YouTube videos of other families Gotcha days.  For those who are not familiar the term "Gotcha day" is when adoptive parents meet their child for the first time.  This is our birth and what we daydream about.  Most of the time the child is terrified and it can be a bit hectic and trying few moments as the new parents are just as scared, but honestly the sweetest moment.  I just would love to personally thank all those who posted their intimate first moments meeting their child and sharing it with families like us.  We live through these short clips, and it makes this experience so much more real for us.

We are getting closer to these moments each day,

Lottie Lee's Crib

It's Friday night and all we want to do, (Okay, all Winn wants to do) is put together Lottie Lee's crib that just arrived.  After some persuasion, we decided crib assembly would be a fun Friday night activity.  At first Scott was skeptical of all the fun, eventually he realized how momentous of an occasion it was; we never had a crib before. 

 We had no idea what we were doing, I mean Scott is handy and we put it together in a few minutes, but we had no idea really how the completed project would effect us. It became real, that one day soon, there would be a baby sleeping in this room.  So long waiting...almost a year, and although there is no definite timeline when we will travel to China, this crib is up, it's beautiful and perfect and it's Lottie's crib.  Friday, January 27th, will be a night ingrained in our memories, and it was just another step closer.  One day soon Friday nights will be spent wishing Lottie Lee sweet dreams and reminiscing of that night in January when we assembled that  crib, knowing nothing but the love we have for this baby who is so far away, yet so close in our hearts.

Every night until she gets here, we will say goodnight to an empty crib, "goodnight baby, we love you more than you know and cannot wait until we meet you".

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. In China, it is known as "Spring Festival," the literal translation of the Chinese name 春節,  since the spring season in Chinese calendar starts with lichun, the first solar term in a Chinese calendar year. It marks the end of the winter season, analogous to the Western carnival. The festival begins on the first day of the first month  in the traditional Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve, a day where Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, is known as Chúxī (除夕) or "Eve of the Passing Year." Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year".

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, such as Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapor, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors. These include Korean and Vietnamese cultures.

Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1st Annual Chinese New Year Celebration

This year we decided to begin a new tradition in celebration of our sweet baby girl and embracing our soon to be multicultural family.  We planned a Chinese New Year celebration at a local restaurant called Ming's Cafe, located close to UT's campus. It was the perfect place to celebrate. 

Twenty-five of our closest friends whom have quickly become our Austin family joined us in the celebration.  These friends have been with us every step if the way, announcing our adoption, and following our journey over the past year. They have helped in our CoupAide fundraising project and are always there to lend an ear and share hugs when times were challenging. We don't know where we would be without their love and support.  Lottie Lee is one lucky little baby, and she already has so many people who love her and cannot wait to meet her.  

There was amazing cuisine, lots of laughter, dragons, balloons, love, and heartfelt wishes for Lottie Lee.  We ate, drank and we were merry.  To top it off, we lit sparklers and all sent our prayers to Lottie Lee that she is loved and for her safe arrival into our family.  Overall the evening was magical, we couldn't have planned it any better.  We look forward to the New Year celebrations to come.