It's done!

At about 1:00 this afternoon, I was really wondering if we would pull it off. Sophi had a fever, the house was a mess, I hadn't showered, and my brain was beginning to turn to fog again. I had three hours 'til the cameras would begin rolling.

Luckily, Allen was here.

He watched the girlies while I cleaned, cleaned my kitchen while I showered, then picked up the remainder of the kiddos from school before heading to the airport-- thank you, Allen! We'll miss you around here!

The kids and Jeremy all came home at the same time and we worked like crazy to make it appear that we have it all together (which, obviously, we don't!) Bedrooms got cleaned, bathrooms got scrubbed, junk got hidden.

After all of that, the cameras only entered the living room/kitchen-- but I'm so glad that I hadn't known that would be the case, because now (besides our room, where we stuffed all the unpacked suitcases and anything else we didn't have time to put away) the house is again clean. We even managed to get a few baths in and give X-man a much needed haircut.

Besides SEVERAL outbursts from Elli, one from Lexi, an unusually subdued Sophi, a very wild Xander, a messy diaper that warranted new clothes, and a mom who doesn't enjoy being on camera, I think it all went relatively ok. :)

After a couple of hours it was time to eat. My friend, Megan, brought dinner in (thanks!), and we ate it on the paper plates that another friend had brought. There were no placemats or tablecloths, fancy dishes or centerpieces and the cameras were rolling. But hey-- they did say they wanted to see what our dinner with our family is really like! Pure chaos. Simpleness. Happiness. And lots and lots of noise.

At one point, they said they needed video of me playing with the kids-- as many kids as possible. My mind went blank until someone suggested "London Bridge." This happens to be our family's favorite opening song for Family Home Evening (LOL) so it sounded good at the time. After the cameras were gone, Taylor said, "Um, Mom. I felt kind of silly doing 'London Bridge' for TV."

Now that you say that, Taylor, I see what you mean. (: A bit cheesy, perhaps.


So... because many of you are asking and because I haven't seen the final product yet (chances are, once I have, I will feel too embarrassed to share) I'll let you in on the details:

Tomorrow, Deseret News newspaper. (We are pretty sure it's tomorrow, but they said you never know until you see it in print.)
Tomorrow evening on 10:00 pm news, KSL channel 5.
Sunday morning at 10:00 am, KSL channel 5, longer version.

Pray that I didn't sound lame during the interview portion. Pray that they didn't ever catch Elli pulling the front of my shirt down. Pray that the 35 minutes I had to shower, find a clean outfit, and get myself ready without being able to find my curling iron (it's still packed away) looked like I had spent a bit longer.

All kidding aside, pray that someone out there will hear our story and open their heart to adoption. That would make the effort and humility to let four strangers into your home to see what your life is about, worth it in EVERY WAY.

--Christianne (:

PS I have been asked how I find time to blog right now. Well, I'll tell you. After the kids get settled into bed, I tend to go back on China time and feel wide awake. The last time I took an Ambien, it proved catastrophic, as Sophi woke up an hour later. So I have to find other ways to wind down. Besides that, I think I mentioned that writing is therapeutic for me. Somehow sharing my feelings (the good and the bad) help me work through them. So thanks, our loyal readers, for being our sounding board at this crazy, wonderful time! (;