Our first Christmas with Sam

We had a wonderful Christmas with Sam. He was such a trooper! Sunday we were invited to Aunt Sherry's and Uncle Pat's. Monday we traveled to Clanton to visit with family and then ended the day at Aunt Becky's and Uncle Richard's. Christmas morning we traveled to DeFuniak Springs to visit with Nick's family. Sam's favorite part was the food. He loved the peas, butterbeans, and sweet potatoe casserole!! He got to meet lots of friends and family and was very busy playing with his new toys. We are learning more about Sam each day. He has a wonderful sense of humor and he is a very strong willed individual which we feel will help him be successful later in life. He enjoys laughing and he continues to be very loving and compassionate. Glory goes to God for bringing this child into our lives!

First Week at Home

Sam and his MiMi

This is the way we brush our teeth

Peek-a-boo

Mama and Sam are very glad to be home after 30 hours of traveling

Meeting Nai-Nai and Pop Pop for the first time!

So glad to see these loving and friendly faces at the airport!

We have had severa firsts this week and lots of doctor's appointments. Sam brushed his teeth for the first time, he attended his first Christmas party, and he went to church where he stayed in the nursery. They said he got upset one time, but they walked him around and looked at the fish aquarium and he calmed down. He was asleep when we picked him up. He opened his arms wide and came running to us as soon as he opened his eyes. Sam does not like visiting the doctor's office (who does??) but so far he has gotten good medical reports. We are learning that Sam is very strong willed and impatient!! He is a happy baby... laughing and smiling very frequently. He loves music and he also loves to eat. He is learning new things everyday and we are amazed how quick he picks up on things. He is saying DaDa, Mama, Cat, Bite (to eat), and he waves bye-bye. He also loves to play peek-a-boo. Sam is a true blessing. All glory to God for this child.

We're Home and Update on Sam's Heart

We apologize for not posting sooner! The jet lag has been pretty rough and we have been resting and letting Sam adjust to his new home. We were thrilled when we arrived and about 30 dear friends and family were at the airport to greet us. It really meant the world to us to see so many lovely and friendly faces!!

Sam has been doing wonderful considering everything he has been through. He was having trouble sleeping at first, but we adjusted our sleeping arrangements and he is now doing very well. We also visited the Pediatric Cardiologist this morning and he says that the Chinese doctors did a very good job patching the hole in Sam's heart. He says everything looks great and he does not need to see Sam for another year. Praise the Lord!! Another answered prayer!!

We will post again very soon. This is Sam's story and we will post every week to update everyone on his progress.

Thank you all for following our journey.. and we are especially thankful for all of your prayers!

Coming Home

Hello everyone!
Thanks for following our journey.
We are scheduled to land in montgomery December 6th at 8:40pm on Northwest Flight 5904
Susan

Last Day in Beautiful Guangzhou

Today was a free day for us. We had no appointments.. we just had to wait by the phone for an hour and a half just in case the consulate's office had any questions for us while reviewing our file. While we waited we went and visited with Martha and Isabell Gallahue. Sam loves the ladies and he is so sweet to Isabell.. he freely gives kisses to all the Gallahue women!! Later, Nick stayed with Sam in the room while I went shopping on the island. We stopped at Starbucks for a snack. The weather in Guangzhou has been perfect during our visit. Shamian Island is so nice. It has alot of greenery and parks. It has been sunny and the weather in the upper 70's. I was gone for about 4 hours and I really started missing Sam (and Nick too). I got a huge blessing when I returned. Sam was playing and when he saw me walk through the door he came running toward me, squealing with delight with his arms wide open. He jumped in my arms and gave me several kisses!! Gosh, did it melt my heart!!! This evening we ventured back out to pizza hut where Sam ate his first spagetti. So far he likes all the food he has tried. We are also sending pictures of his bath this evening. He really enjoys the water now and likes to put his face under the facet. I think he is going to be a great swimmer! Tomorrow we have our swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Consulate's Office at 2:30pm. After that the whole group is going to eat at Lucy's again for our last meal in China. We leave bright and early Thursday morning (5am) for the airport. We cannot believe that our time here is almost over. We are looking forward to starting our lives with Sam in Alabama. We know he is going to love everyone. I do not know if I will get a chance to post tomorrow. If not, we will see all of you once we get home. Thanks for joining us on this amazing journey to our precious son.

One Week Ago Today

Sam was placed in our arms one week ago today! It is true what they say about time flying when they are babies. We started the day by getting our medical exams. Sam was not happy about it at all. There were three stations during the exam. The first one was a doctor who examined him all over and listened to his heart. He felt for hernia's and checked out his limbs. The other station Sam was weighed and measured. He had gained 1 pound in a week (we were not surprised). The last station was the ENT doctor. We are glad to report that all three babies passed with flying colors. After the exam we got on the bus and went to the Jade Market. After that we had lunch then visited the Guangzhou zoo. Sam loved looking at all the animals. The panda bear was asleep so we could not get a good look at him. Sam continues to win everyone's hearts. He has so much personality and is so loving. He is quiet the lady's man!! Tomorrow we have a free day except we have to hang around the phone from 11am-12:30pm while Pat goes to the Consulate's office with all our paperwork. Wednesday is our swearing in ceremony. Thursday we come home!! Our flight leaves around 8:00am Thursday morning (China time.. 6pm Wednesday night in Alabama). Our flight is scheduled to arrive in Montgomery Thursday evening at 8:40 (if nothing is delayed). I cannot wait for everyone to meet Sam! Enjoy the pictures of the day!

Giving Thanks

We started the day by walking back over to Shamian Island to the White Swan Hotel. Pat had arranged a Service of Thanksgiving for Adoption. It was a real sweet service where we thanked our Heavenly Father for our precious children. This is one of the prayers: "May God, the Father of all, bless our child Samuel and we who have given to him our family name. May we live together in love and affection through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." After the service we took our famous "red couch" photos. It is a tradition for all the adoptive families to take pictures of their babies on the red couch. It was quiet amusing trying to get all of them to look at the camera at one time. The White Swan is a beautiful hotel with a large waterfall. It is really nice all decorated for Christmas. After the Thanksgiving service we walked a block to a Church of Christ. They have two services one in Chinese and the other in English. Both services were packed!! Praise God. We met a young chinese lady who was sitting in front of us. Her english was excellent. She actually teaches english at a local University. Anyway, she has been to Montgomery and she spoke at First Baptist Church (isn't it a small world??) She works for Campus Crusades but she says in China they cannot tell anyone it is Campus Crusades.. they call it Human Resources. The church was really nice and they sang lots of Christmas songs. Sam got to praising our Lord a little to loud and we were asked to leave (LOL). We went outside and Sam fell asleep in my arms while Nick was approached by a Chinese television crew and asked if they could interview him about being a Christian and what Christmas is like for him as a Christian. After church Doris and Pat gave us a New Testament Bible in both english and chinese. We then went and ate at the Cow and Bridge which is a Thai restaurant. Nick, being the adventurous eater that he is, order a seafood noodle dish. He really enjoyed it and had ate almost all of it when he saw something with "suction cups" and tentacles at the bottom of the bowl. It was either a baby Octopus or Squid (see picture). We were also approached today by a group of about 6 chinese girls who wanted to practice their english on us. Our young girl was Jenny (she is pictured above with Nick and Sam). She spoke excellent english and was so polite! We did a little shopping today.. and I bartered as best as I could. I got Sam two chinese outfits and 3 pair of squeaky shoes. Let me tell you, he LOVES those shoes... he just dances and jumps so he can hear them squeak! Tomorrow we leave at 8:30 to get Sam's medical exam and then we will go to the zoo. Sam seems to really be enjoying strolling through the streets and seeing all the sights. That is all for now. We will write again tomorrow. Love to you all.

We Made it to Guangzhou

We are here in Guangzhou and the weather is very nice. It is sunny and in the high 70's. There are lots of tropical flowers and palm trees. Sam did okay for his first plane ride. He is a boy and he can get fussy when he has to be still for very long. None of us could sit together because the flight was so full so I had to sit with Sam in my lap between two other people. One of them asked to be moved which was a blessing because it gave us more room. Anyway we made it safely and please pray that Sam sleeps alot on our way home to the U.S. We are staying at the Holiday Inn and it is VERY nice. It is a large room and Sam is having a ball running around checking out his new home for this week. I guess he thinks we live in hotels!! After we unpacked we went for a walk over to Shamian Island. On our way there we walked through a street market where we saw alot of unusual items for sale... lots of puppies and kittens, dried seahorses, live snakes, live turtles, live eels, aligators, all kind of herbs. China is very crowded! Wherever you go there is always lots of people.. and they are all fascinated by us. Tonight they were taking pictures of us as we were taking pictures of the sights. We ate a favorite local spot called Lucy's. Sam had mashed potatoes and grilled cheese and of course he loved it!! He is also experiencing all of this for the first time and he is as fascinated by all of it as we are. Tomorrow morning Mrs. Pat is giving us a Thanksgiving service to thank God for our beautiful children. We will also go to church then have lunch at the Cow and Bridge Restaurant. The pictures for today include a picture of all three babies in the airport before we left for Guangzhou, Nick and Sam in front of the Christmas tree in the lobby, Doris (our facilitator) and Grandma Pat with Sam in front of gingerbread house in lobby, and the other two are us eating at Lucy's. We are starting to get homesick. We cannot wait to see everyone and have them meet our little man! Please continue to keep us in your prayers... we truly feel them. God has blessed us so very much! Oh by the way Sherry.. there is a shop here called Sherry's place and it is located right next to Susan's Place!!! Tell Hunter we got his message about Sam's hair and we are really going to try and keep him looking "cool"!!

Last Day in Nanjing

All our bags are packed and we will leave for Guangzhou at 10am Saturday morning (8pm Friday night in Alabama). Weather.com reports it is Sunny and in the 70's there so it will be a nice change of scenery. Nanjing is a very busy, bustling city and I think Guangzhou is more laid back. This will be Sam's first plane ride and we are a little anxious to see how he reacts. Today we relaxed and got out a little bit this morning for a stroll to the river walk. This time it was just the three of us and again we drew crowds. I attempted to buy a banana for Sam at this little stand and I could not make the lady understand I just wanted the banana like it was.. she put batter on it and deep fried it, then put it on a stick for me. Nick and I can not eat the fruit here and Sam did not like it. I gave it to a man who was digging in the trash for something to eat. We've seen a few homeless people and some ask us for money. They are starting to put up Christmas decorations in our hotel... and last night a Chinese lady delivered a Holy Bible to our room! It is a new translation version with both english and chinese. I would really like to keep it. I could not understand the lady who brought it to our door.. I do not know if we can keep it or if we have to leave it for the room. Regardless, we are praising God that a window of opportunity is opening here in China for Christianity. We had sent the orphanage two disposable camera's to take pictures of Sam and we got them developed last night. Unfortunately only 9 pictures are all that developed. Something was wrong with our film. The Schmidt family's pictures turned out good and Sam is in some of those pictures with their son Cole. They were kind enough to give us a copy. The pictures you see of Sam and Cole were taken at the orphanage. Sam is in the red and blue. The other pictures today are of Sam playing in our room this morning. That is all for now... we will write again from Guangzhou.

Having fun with Sam

Sam opens up to us more and more each day. Lets just say he is 100% boy!! He is walking everywhere and is curious about everything. He is very observant and learns things quickly.. do we sound like proud parents or what?? We are having so much fun with him. We laugh so hard at him at times when he is running around and playing. He is also having lots of fun... giving us deep belly laughs. You can get him squealing and laughing when you tickle his feet or his stomach. Today we went on a tour of the Nanjing Wall. Nanjing used to be the Capital of China many years ago and they built a wall around the city. There is a tale that the mortar in the wall is made of rice!! We also went back to the notary office and picked up our Red Book which is the official adoption documents. On the way back to the hotel I was christened as Sam's mom.... he wet on me!! Sam got a little fussy on the ride back to hotel so when we returned we went straight to the room and made him some instant cheese grits that we bought from home. He really loves them! He also likes taking off his clothes. So here we are in the middle of China with a baby with only a diaper on and cheese grits all in his hair and on his face. He might have been born in China but he is a Southern boy through and through! After he ate he was like turbo toddler... running around the room.. laughing and playing. We had so much fun with him. He also played in the tub tonight without crying.... it was a major breakthrough! Everyone in our group agrees he is right on target developmentally with his age. We also had our laundry done today. It came back so pressed and tightly folded. Sam is now asleep and we are happily exhausted. Good night for now and we will write again tomorrow. Enjoy the pictures of the day!

Hanging out in Nanjing

We had a free day today and it was good to relax and rest. We are waiting on the babies passports which will be ready Friday. When we get the passports we will fly to Guangzhou Saturday morning at 10am. They say the weather there is nice and in the 70's. The high in Nanjing today was in the low 50's. Sam continues to thrive. He is sleeping really good. He is taking long naps and still goes to bed at night right at 8:30. Nick and some other members of our group went back to Walmart today. They took a cab ride and had quiet an experience. Those of you who have been to China know how crazy the traffic is... I mean it is really nuts.. people everywhere on bikes, mopeds, and everyone going in all different directions. Lets just say Nick will never forget his taxi ride to Walmart! We are about a block from a river and there is a riverwalk next to us. We went looking around this evening with another family in our group. Boy, we were stars!! Everyone stopping, staring, pointing, and talking. When we would stop for just a minute we were quickly surrounded by lots of spectators. It is quiet amusing. The first picture iI am sending is of Sam waking up first thing this morning. Another picture is of Nick changing his first diaper!! One of the pictures is Nick and Sam with Nick Schmidt and their son Cole. Cole and Sam were playmates at the orphanage. The pictures from the orphanage show them playing together at a playground. Rene Schmidt is a nurse and she checked out Sam really good. He seems to be in good health and we are praising God! Another answered prayer is that Sam seems to be bonding to both of us. He has also developed an attachment to both of us. Today we walked around alot with Sam just holding his hand. He can really work up a trot. We have noticed he is a little shy when he is around new people... but once he gets to know you his personality really shines through! We fed him cheese grits this morning and he LOVED those... of course there is not much he doesn't like to eat! One thing he really hates is getting a bath. That is all for now. We are exhausted.. but it is a happy tired! We will post again tomorrow. P.S. One more thing.. for those of you waiting to come to China please remember to bring salt and pepper.. we have had problems finding both!!

Sam is Officially Ours!

This morning we went back to the Civil Affairs Office to complete the paperwork for the adoption. They asked us questions like why we wanted to adopt from China and if we promised never to abuse or abandon Sam. We then had to print our right thumb in red ink and stamp it over our signatures. We gave them all gifts. The orphanage director was there along with two other care givers. We gave them gifts. Director Gu presented Sam with a jade pendant on a red string. The pendant is a dog because Sam was born in the year of the dog. She also gave us a copy of the note from Sam's birth mother. It seems she did name him Hao.. and it also has his birth last name which is VERY unusual!! I am attaching a picture of the note. She also gave us a picture book with pictures of Sam they had taken at the orphanage. Sam was asleep until the very end and when he awoke and saw her he started crying really hard and arching his back. She kissed and hugged him. We thought he was upset because he wanted to go back to her, but she said no... he is upset because he thinks I am going to take him back to the orphanage. It absolutely broke our hearts to think that he thought we were giving him back. After the Civil Affairs office we went to the Brocade Museum. Nanjing is known for their hand made brocade material... and it is very lovely. We saw some awesome costumes worn by former Emperors. Sam is still eating very well. This morning for breakfast he had yogurt, congee, watermelon, and eggs. For lunch he ate noodles, rice, and steamed eggs. Of course in between meals he ate cheerios, gerber graduates sweet potato puffs, and gerber fruit treats. That boy can put down some groceries!! He also takes a bottle with formula first thing in the morning. He is so sweet and lovable and he smiles alot. He loves to give us kisses. Right now as I am writing this Sam is taking a nap with his Daddy. Nick is head over heels for Sam. I can't wait for everyone to see the two of them together.. they are really alot alike in their personalities! Sam started walking for us this morning. We have to hold his hands because he is a little wobbly. We will not be visiting the orphanage hometown because the road between here and there is under construction and it would take five hours with the detour. Instead we are going to sight see some more around Nanjing. We fly to Guangzhou Saturday... and then home next Thursday. By the way we love getting emails and comments from everyone. Enjoy the pictures and we will post again tomorrow.