The Big Reveal!!

I am sure that there are many of you who are anxiously awaiting the BIG REVEAL of our dining room that has been converted to a "play room/study" HAHAHA

Regardless...we are thrilled with the way it has turned out. My darling hubby spent many hours getting all 13 picture frames hung "just so" this weekend for me, the toys are just starting to be brought down (why the bookshelves look empty for the most part) and I think just about everyone in our house has now slept at some point in the comfy chair that we recieved (Thanks Val!!)

I believe that we have spent more time in this room relaxing then we ever have in the almost 2 years that we have lived here! Our good friends came over this weekend and we spent the whole evening in here so everyone could take turns sitting in the "comfy chair" while we were chatting. How sad is that??? LOL

Feel free to offer any decorating tips you have...I am desperately trying to come up with some more items for the top of the book shelves. We are intentionally not putting a rug in here for now since little boys like to build things and race cars and it is so much easier on hard floor...





Can you see how HUGE the chair is???



The "Art Gallery" (all works of art done as school this year)



I am really happy with how the pics turned out


This was so easy...it says Family one of Gods masterpieces.

So let me know what ya think. Whats good, Whats bad and What needs to be added! I thought it turned out pretty well for just a plain beige and tan dining room.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Blessings

Amy

PS...DAY 80!!!!!

What a wonderful surprise....

I really wasnt going to post today...especially since I posted yesterday, however something changed for me this morning....

I got these in my inbox!!!!







Nice Diaper...













Oh my Goodness!! How cute is he????

We were so blessed to have Staci travel and get her daughter that is the same age is Sammy...and graciously offered to get pictures if she could.

I really thought that she was not going to be able to tour the orphanage with all the Swine flu precautions.

Obviously I was wrong!! YIPEE

What a wonderful blessing for us today!!!! God is so GOOD!

Blessings

Amy

still waiting....

and waiting and waiting!!! I so totally missed my opportunity yesterday to do a 75 day post, but it has been CRAZY around here! Why is it that the closer we get to summer break the busier everything gets at school? We, in the last 3 days, have had color guard tryouts, softball games (Tims) and choir concerts. We have Zachs music perfomance tomorrow, friends over on Friday, and orphan ministry on Saturday! Whew...there went my weekend! I honestly am counting the days down to the end of school right along with the kids! I LOVE summer break, when life slows down and there are no huge schedules and agendas to keep up. We have time to just be!

So to catch up....

Bad news: (always like to hear the bad news first :-)

No LOA...I am sure that surprises you!

Good news: (we are really trying to focus on what God has blessed us with..)

We were blessed like crazy from everyone who supported us in our Vera Bag giveaway! We raised over 1000.00!

We have 2 wonderful organizations reviewing our application for a no intrest loan for most of the funding we are still in need of !! We ask that you pray for guidance for the organizations as well as us in following Gods plan

We are *almost* done with our playroom conversion!! Now Sammy and Zach will have a perfect place to play and I can relax in there as well...we just have a final "art" project to finish..

We have a family who is in Nanjing right now and is going to try and get new pictures of our little guy!

We are seeing more TA's and LOA's trickle in so we are hopeful for a big batch soon????

See..the good outweighs the bad by far right???

Blessings

Amy

Distraction...

This weekend I found a great distraction to keep my thoughts off of adoption delays!

We have been wanting to convert our formal dining room to a sort of study/play area for 2 reasons. One, the boys will be sharing a vey small bedroom and there isnt room for both toys and dressers and Two, I dont really want Sammy playing either upstairs alone or in the basement alone...we have no idea if he can do stairs ect and he isnt going to know the "rules" yet around here. Besides...we dont ever use our dining room except 2x a year and as a catch all...

SO....we took the table apart to store in the basement and I went looking for paint samples....and found 2 large bookcases on clearance at Lowes for over 50% off!!! Yippee...less than I would have spent on used ones on craigs list! (I did find paint as well btw) Then in a conversation with my friend and coworker I happened to mention that I wanted to get a small loveseat or chair and half for "story snuggle time" to put in the corner of that room...I had been searching freecycle and craigslist to no avail..and get this...SHE HAS ONE!!! I can have it ...FOR FREE!! What a HUGE blessing that is! (ok, not totally free...I owe her a cup of coffee :-)

I am so excited...I spent Friday night and saturday painting and then assembled both book cases on saturday! We will be picking up the chair this week and we will be set! All that is left to do is to bring the toys down and tie up the chandelier (sp) and it will be a multifunctional room that we will actually USE!

I will post pictures of it when it is all done but I am bummed I didn't get a "before" picture! It was plain with white and light brown walls. Thats it...no artwork or anything yet since we never use it. I am thrilled with how it is coming together!

One special little twist I did was we used magnetic paint on the bottom half of 2 walls so Sammy can use his letter magnets (once I can find the big ones) on the walls...cool huh? Then you just paint over it so it looks like the rest of the wall!

I really needed a distraction to keep my mind off adoption things for a while and to refocus myself. I really think I needed this time to stay away from my computer and stop obsessing. We will bring Sammy home. Thats it...it may not be this month or next or even this summer but he will come home and it wont matter at all how long it took once we have him home!

Blessings
Amy

Rumors...

There are always lots of rumors in adoption world. I follow the site Rumor Queen regularly....Tim would say that I stalk the website but who listens to him :-)
ANYWAY.... Several posts ago, I mentioned that there has been a speed up in the way CCAA have been doing things. I believed that I mentioned that we might travel sooner than I thought. Hmmmm....maybe not so much!

The latest rumor out there is that the CCAA (chinese center for adoption affairs) is going to stop processing for adoptions for 20-30 days due to the swine flu...and then reassess. This obviously is not a good thing for our adoption! That means no referrals, no TA's ect... Not really what I was planning here!!!

For someone who was just *sure* that she would get her LOA this week, this is not good news! Now, I know I am only on day 69 and shouldnt expect anything until May 20th which is 90 days....it is hard when people who have later LID than us are getting their LOAS!

The problem with all this is really that the whole preceding post is filled with I.

I want our LOA
I want to travel this summer
I planned on LOA coming sooner
I dont want to be delayed....

you get the idea. The funny thing is a lot of the time when I make plans or think I have it all figured out...God says "HA"
and boy do I hear "HA" alot these days! The great thing about when we get the "HA's" it works better than we ever could have imagined in the long run. It isnt the way that we think it should be, or the timing that we feel it should be, but it is so much better than it would have been if it had gone "our" way! Who knows why the delay? Only God knows that answer. I can get mad and stomp my feet and eat all the chocolate in the house or I can trust. From the day He put adoption on our hearts we have been trusting Him...and we will continue to do so...swine flu and all!!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Blessings
Amy

Not Me Monday

Today I certainly did not oversleep and short my time on the treadmill
I didnt get snappy with my coworker in the morning, or with my husband later in the afternoon either....
I definately didnt pick up the phone and dial my adoption agency 8 times on my way home and never hit "send" just to see if my LOA was here.
I certainly didnt whine about not getting our LOA "when everyone else is getting theirs!!"
No way I started to cry when we got yet another rejection letter from a grant agency.
I really havent checked Rumor Queen about a zillion times looking to see who is getting their LOA's today.

I sure didnt feel helpless and discouraged and PMSing and just over all edgy about not bringing my baby home today
I certainly didnt forget the Gods Timing is always perfect and His plan is WAY bigger than mine ever could be....I also didnt forget that our adoption funding is a piece of cake for Him! Nope, Not me....

I most definately didnt slack on house work today and no way did I make the kids do ALL THE DISHES by themselves....

No way I ate 3 one bite brownies and 2 lemonade cookies today when I am on a diet...

I didnt let my kiddos skip over most of their homework so they could enjoy the weather before all the rain...not a responsible mom like me...


Blessings

Amy

I am SOOO weak!!!

I have to admit it...I am a really very weak person! Here we are inching along day by day on our way to our LOA and saving all our pennies since we are still short on cash to bring our little guy home! Good plan right? Well, I also have been feeling rather anxious, and a bit edgy as well...and to top it off I havent gotten any new updates since December!! That is what 5 months ago????
5 months of waiting, wondering and most importantly praying...

Wondering what he is doing, waiting anxiously to bring him home and praying constantly that he is safe......

5 months of no families traveling to bring home pictures

5 months of not hearing ONE word about how he is doing...

I am so weak!!

I went here and Tim and I decided that the cost of an orphanage phone call was worth the peace of mind that I desperately need as not to become one of my clients.....Kelly and Angela are wonderful (we used them in July for our updates too) So for the price of one dinner out (which we all gratefully sacrificed) we are now the great recipients of UPDATES!!!!!

We got to ask 10 questions:

. Did he receive the care package we sent in the mail?

Yes. (I need to learn not to ask close ended questions...)

2. Is he drinking from a cup or a bottle?

Cup. (guess I can take those bottles back)

3. What are his favorite snacks?

He is not picky. He likes to eat dim sum. (UHH...what is Dim Sum??)

4. What are his favorite toys?

Little cars. (Just like Zach at that age!)

5. How does he communicate best ?

He can describe what he’s seen with some short sentences, such as: my doll is crying; I will take my doll to see doctor; Let me deliver dim sum to the children, etc. He communicates with friends on his own. (take doll to see a doctor???)

6. Does he wear diapers?

Yes, he still wears diapers. (we atleast guessed that right!!)

7. What is his personality like? (happy, outgoing, shy ect…)

Happy and shy. (very sweet!!)

8. What are his favorite things to do?

He likes movement activity. (This might scare me???)

9. What makes him happy?

To interact and play with his nannies and teachers makes him happy. ( and hopefully his new parents...)

10. Is there anything he doesn’t like?

He doesn’t like to be with strangers. He is afraid of that. He doesn’t like others talk with him sternly. He would cry if someone talks to him with a firm voice. (UHH...we might have a problem here!!! We really will be strangers to the poor little guy!!)

11. His updated measurements:
Height: 95cm; Weight: 15kg; Head: 50cm; Chest: 54cm; Teeth: 16; Foot: 15cm.
(He has grown 8 cm since Dec but not gained any weight...however he has lost 3 teeth LOL!!)

Wow, we are feeling so very blessed to get all this information about our son....It will really help as I try to start packing things and buying necessary items. We are on Day 63 today so the clock is TICKING!!!

Our Raffle is going well...we are at 550.00 TOTAL in donations....BID BID BID!! I got the bags yesterday and they are incredibly GORGEOUS!!! Remember bidding ends MAY 3rd!! you can go here to bid....

Oh, did I forget to mention that along with the update...I might have gotten some new PICTURES?????

Wow this is fun...



Lacing is hard work..



What do YOU want???



I think I have it...



Maybe stickers would be more fun....



WHAT A SMILE!!!!



What more could I possibly say now except WOW!!!! That was so totally worth it!!

We have a few more families traveling soon so I wont have to spend any more money on updates, but I am just absolutely THRILLED today!!!

Blessings
Amy