A place for clothes!

Here is Peyton's dresser, it is Espresso to match her crib - Thank You Papa and Grandma Janie!

We are very excited, Papa and Grandma Janie have ordered Peyton Sakura's dresser and changing table and it will be delivered on the 13th, right before we leave to go and get her - perfect timing - Daddy can keep busy assembling while Mommy does laundry and packs for our trip, then all of the pretty little clothes will have a place and Peyton's crib will be cleared of all of the pretty pink clothes in there now - Yeah!

New pictures!

Friends Forever

Kazuya Watanabe, Sakura Shimizu, and Sena Yamamoto

Kazuya says "Hey I'm going to live near the Happiest Place on Earth", Sakura says "I'm going to the land where there is lots of sand", and Sena says "I'm going to the beautiful island of Hawaii...someday you two will have to come and I'll teach you to surf!".

A new little someone has joined Sakura and Kazuya...his name is Sena, Sakura has two boy friends now!

The days are going by, not quite quick enough even though we have lots to do, we are SO anxious to go to Tokyo and meet our daughter.

To Sakura: Your Mommy and Daddy love you SO much...hang on sweet girl, we will be there as soon as we can, be a very good girl for Okada-san and Senda-san. Hugs and Kisses, with lots of love Mommy.

Sakura Information!

Today we received a note from Taz with Sakura's birth information....the moment so many have been waiting for :)

Date of Birth = 4 February 2009

Time = 4:19 p.m.

Weight = 6 lbs 1 ounce

Length = 19 inches long

Sakura was born at 41 weeks 3 days (just a little over due) at Toyohashi Shimin Hospital, Toyohashi Japan

Plane Tickets purchased and Travelers Checks too!

Korean Airlines Flight 002

Our tickets have been purchased as well as our travelers checks (unfortunately we had to get $100 denominations)! We will depart LAX (will be purchasing another ticket from Phoenix to LAX more than likely, since Grandma will be puppysitting, and that means a trip to Phoenix, not to mention I think she'd DIE if we didn't 'land' there and she had to wait another second to see Sakura when we return!) on March 18th - landing in Tokyo Narita airport March 19th - then we fly home on March 28th with our baby!

We are very excited to have this major step crossed off our list...and now to concentrate on the Immigration forms, and getting everything else ready for our trip of a lifetime.

Sakura gets her passport photo...Uncle Matty did some shopping!

Our Precious Baby Girl!

Sakura's passport photo

Late last night we received this precious picture from Taz of Sakura. This is her passport photo. Doesn't she look adorable? Dean and I are so anxious to go and get her. We love this picture!

This week Sakura received a very special package in the mail (her very first mail!) from my brother - her Uncle Matty. Uncle Matty did an awesome job of picking things out for his special little niece - he is VERY excited to be an Uncle! I LOVE everything, but especially her little dragon jammies, and her Snoopy. Matt has always had a thing for Snoopy and he bought little Sakura her very first (VERY soft) stuffed Snoopy....Sakura will have to try and find a special Snoopy in Japan to send to Uncle Matty - thanks to many families (especially Candi and Jared) we know that there is a neat Snoopy store somewhere in Tokyo!

Special gifts from Uncle Matty

I am also including a little bit from Taz about why we don't have Sakura's information yet, I know that so many have asked me, and this is why.....

Exerpt From Taz: I have been waiting to get original documentation of sakura but it seems like takes more time. The reason why takes more time as other because of your bio mother is NOT moving to our institution to birth. She gave birth at her local town, but mostly our bio mothers move in at Okada-san's place. Normally, bio mother has to check up at OB/GYN after 1 month later of birth, and she must bring baby-book with her to the hospital.So now, bio mother of Sakura still has baby -book which has all birth information, that is the reason why I can't confirm you the detail of birth measurement.It should be come to us very soon but again, I can't confirm you exact date. Sakura is doing very fine. She takes a LOT of formula.I attach here Sakura's passport photo.

Time for Travel Arrangements!

Tonight we got an e-mail from Lesley at ATWA with our Embassy appointment! We have our Embassy appointment on Monday, March 23rd at 10:30 a.m. Okada-san and Taz will deliver our precious baby girl on

Sunday, March 22!

We will keep you informed as we make our travel arrangements....we are SO excited to finally know when we will travel - AND we will be joined by the Watanabe's (Kazuya's parents) - our Embassy appointments are on the same day!

How Exciting!

We still don't have any of Sakura's birth information and hope that we get that soon too, I know that everyone is as anxious as we are to find out!

Sakura and Kazuya

Kazuya Watanabe and Sakura Shimizu

Today we received another couple pictures of our beautiful baby girl....and look someone has a new little boy friend to keep her company until Mommy and Daddy get to go and pick her up!

Don't they look sweet together? Sakura is looking SO big to us!





Chances are likely that we will be traveling to Tokyo to pick up babies "together" or very close to the same time which will be great. The first thing my Mom said was "That is great, we'll get lots of family photos" - instead of just Daddy and Sakura or Mommy and Sakura, which is true, we will be sure and ask the Watanabe's to take pictures of all of us and will do the same for them!

Gramma goes shopping!

Driving on I-5 San Clemente area

While we were driving home from Anaheim on Saturday, Sakura's Grandma (my Mom) was dropping off a few goodies for her! She got 4 new outfits and an adorable pink and brown teddy bear which is Mommy's favorite! I think we are going to have a hard time deciding which outfit Sakura will wear first!

Sakura's new clothes and Teddy Bear

Sakura's new bear

Gifts and Dinner

Dean and Jennifer, Ryan and Jill celebrating Sakura!

Tonight we met up with Jill and Ryan Patterson for a nice dinner at Yamabuki (Paradise Pier hotel) for our last dinner while we celebrate our Anniversary and the great news of the birth of our daughter!

Dean while we waited for Jill and Ryan, this picture is for Miss Carol - a Passion Fruit Mojito - he said it was VERY good!

Compliments of Yamabuki for our Anniversary - sooo sweet!

We had a very nice time finally meeting the Patterson's in person, although I felt like they were not strangers since Jill and I have been

e-mailing for awhile now...Jill and Ryan are also in the ATWA adoption group, their paperwork just went to Japan with Taz....boy do we remember the feeling of "whew..we're finally "just" waiting" - I could not wait to get to that point...Now I can't wait to go and get my daughter! Jill and Ryan came bearing gifts for baby Sakura - adorable gifts, I LOVE everything! Thank you so much Jill and Ryan - I will be sure to take pictures of our angel looking cute in these!

Cutest little ladybug sleeper, Heart Onesie, Burp Cloths (our first!), a sweet little butterfly rattle and a SOOOOOOOO Soft little blanket with hearts on it! SO sweet we LOVE it - it's a little hard to see, but Jill even got a card with cherry blossoms - how thoughtful is that?!

Look how sweet - it says I Love You on the butt!

Sakura...what else?

Peyton Sakura Shimizu

We received another couple of pictures of our little angel! We won't know any of her statistics for probably another couple of weeks, I forgot that they don't "know" anything until they receive the baby book from the hospital, which occurs about 1-2 weeks after the baby has been placed with Okada-san, we have to be patient! I will definitely post all of that as soon as we know.



Yesterday Dean and I celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary - we both are amazed and excited and know that there won't ever be a more memorable anniversary! Right now we are at Disneyland, we came back here because this is where we honeymooned 15 years ago....AND we had already booked our trip before finding out about Sakura. What do you think it means when you see this while walking around the grounds of Disney's Grand California hotel?




Sakura in bloom at Grand California hotel and spa





I think it means that our very own little Sakura thinking about us! I have said numerous times how with our adoption there have been SO SO SO many signs that this is what we were supposed to do, that THIS baby is the one meant to be with us, and I think that this along with everything else we have seen just solidifies things.


To our precious little Sakura - your Mommy and Daddy cannot wait to come and get you! We love you sooooo much our little angel!


To Dean, my heart and my life are complete - I love you!





Jennifer and Dean boarding the Monorail 12 Feb 09

It is amazing to me how things work out, yesterday upon our arrival we were greeted by "Max" - Max is the VIP person for Disney's Grand California Hotel and Spa, we were taken to the large center table inside and given a packet of things .... we had been selected for VIP treatment, our room upgraded, personalized room keys, Happy Anniversary buttons, a special number to call for any reservations we wanted on property and off, etc....This has been a TRULY amazing week!

Pink, Pink, Pink!

I'm thrilled that we have a girl and I can have a pink nursery...pink and brown that is :) Here is the bedding I have chosen for Peyton's room.

It's a Girl!

Introducing Peyton Sakura Shimizu

Dean and I have a daughter....

All we know that she is about a week old and that we will travel to Japan to pick up our daughter sometime in March, more details to follow!

A couple little blue birds....

Grandma painting baby blue birds

There are now a couple of baby birds in the nursery.....My Mom was here this weekend and thought it would be nice to paint a couple of baby birds in the nursery (for good luck/happiness) - I think they look sooooo cute, what do you think?

When we find out if we have a boy or a girl, more painting will take place :)


All finished - two baby blue birds in their nest above the closet door

Just Waiting.....

You can't have too many bluebirds hanging around :)

Not much going on here....we're still just waiting for our Bi0 Mom to find out about us (and pick us).

Please continue to keep all of the Bio Mom's in your prayers as they make this very difficult decision, please pray that they are taking good care of themselves and their babies.

We will continue to keep you posted!