Saturday, July 28, 2007

Sam's Room in Finished





























Nick and I finshed Sam's room last night. The final touch was some shelves. The theme of his room is "Under the Sea". The walls are spearmint green and we got some of the cutest stickers of fish to put around the room. One of our favorite walls is the porthole where it looks like you are in a submarine and looking out into the sea. We hope Sam loves it!!! We had so much fun putting it together. We are getting closer to receiving our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from China. They have been arriving between 60-90 days and we are on day 55 so I guess it could come anyday!! Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Please pray specifically for God to prepare Sam's heart to love and accept us as his forever family... and for us to get word that Sam is officially ours. God has been so good and faithful to us. He is preparing us because our love for Sam grows each day. God bless all of you!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

44 Days and Getting Closer

It has been 44 days since the CCAA received our Letter of Intent to adopt Sam. The average time frame for most families receiving their letter of approval comes between days 60-90. The longest is 120 days. I have a positive feeling that we will get that letter sometime in August. Nothing concrete to base it on... just my mommy instinct (which I am developing more and more each day). In the meantime we have started packing and we are just about finished with Sam's room. I will post pictures once I get everything in place (probably next week). I am having so much fun buying things for Sam. I went last week and got all of his baby medicine that is on the packing list from our agency. I got such a kick out of looking at the infant tylenol's and teething gel's.. and I was really thrilled to buy his first pack of diapers!! Most of you know that I have a strong desire to be a mom for the last 12 years so these little things just warm me to the bone!!!! I was reading over his profile again and wanted to share some things about Sam. He gets up at 6am and takes a 2 hour nap in the morning and afternoon. He goes to bed at 8:30pm. He eats at 6:30am, 10:20am, 2pm, 6:20pm and 10pm (I guess he wakes up and eats??). He has ten diaper changes a day (can't wait for that). He is a moderate to light sleeper and sometimes sucks his fingers while sleeping. He eats five meals a day (milk with rice powder) and eats fish soup, fruits and egg cake at 9am; steamed eggs and noodles at 4pm. Under language and social it says he follows you with moving head from one side to the other; laughs aloud; knows name and turns when called; distinguishes between acquaintances and strangers; eats crackers without help; crawls on floor, imitates sounds; imitates words (so he already knows some chinese); responds to facial expressions of adults; and expresses his refusal in a simple way. It says he is active (look out Barney), fond of playing with toys; fond of music; has ready smile; loves toys that make noise; and is close to caretakers. The caretaker writes: "Jinhao is fond of listening to music; playing noisy drum, imitating talk, very playful; quick response, such as faking to avoid punishment. He is learning to walk and he is getting so cute"!!

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Pancake Success Beyond Our Dreams

Our Sunday School teacher and his wife (Judy and Jerry)
made our t-shirts. They read "Sam's Dad and Sam's Mom!

The Wade Family (mom was helping in the kitchen)

The Singleton Family


Our niece and nephew, Summer and Jamie Kyser

Two lovely helpers: Shannon (our niece) and Annie

The Pope Family

Some of our angel helpers (Renae, Sherry, Farris, Caroline,
Elyse, Tracie, and Alethia)

Our lovely hostesses: Leigh Ann and Mary Grace

Praise God. He is so faithful! When he calls you to do something he promises that He will provide everything you need for the journey. So why should we be surprised that we surpassed our goal of raising $1,000 from the pancake breakfast fundraiser??? Drum roll please..... the total raised was $2,011.90 from pancake sales/tips and $900 in donations from some members of our Sunday School class!!!! We are so blessed and all the glory goes to God!!! Since May (when God put Sam in our lives) we have raised and/or friends have donated more than $5,400 toward his adoption (this doesn't count our anonymous angel who is donating our airfare to and from China)! WOW.. what a reaffirmation of God's will for us!
We had a wonderful turnout of friends and family at the pancake breakfast. We want to send a special thanks to all our helpers who sold tickets and then got up early to help serve: Nick's mom, Judy and Jerry (who also made t-shirts for us.. see pictures above), Ted and Joetta, Sherry, Renae, Farris, Caroline, Shannon, Gerald (who helped get us organized with the serving), Sue, Alethia, Elyse, Tracie, Sandra (who works with Nick and helped sell a huge amount of tickets), Scott, Kim, Annie, Leigh Ann, John, and of course Mary Grace!! And we want to thank all of you who bought tickets. May God bless each of you for helping us get Sam home. We are still hoping to travel in October. Hang on Sam... mommy and daddy are coming soon!!! "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" Romans 8:28