Whew....

Wow, I think that was the quickest holiday ever! Over a 2 day period of time
I had no less than 3 Christmas meals (at my house) with a total of 34 people (not all at once) mounds of gifts and lots of laughter at our house this holiday! It was a pretty chaotic turn around with a half an hour between my family leaving and Tims family arriving on Christmas day but it was wonderful to see everyone and spend time with them. My sisters were able to make it home this year and we were really able to catch up and visit since my sister Ellen and her very tolerant hubby Charles stayed with us! They have been on a whirlwind tour of the world and have been overseas for the last 4+ months. They came home with quite a Christmas surprise for us and now it seems as if there will be 2 new grandchildren for our parents to spoil this year! She is due in early June so I am hoping and praying not to be in China during that time. I so want to be with her and support her as she has for me so very many times when Emily has been in the hospital! you can visit their blog www.charlesandellen.blogspot.com
I got to spend some great time with my other sister Bonnie as well who was home from Boston! My kiddos wont know what to do without all their aunts, uncles, and grandparents around all the time this week.
Now everyone has gone home and we have spent 2 days just recouperating, so it is time to return to the realy world. We dont do a bunch for New Years so this week will be relaxed for us.
As far as the adoption goes, we have been at a stand still right now. We are still waiting on the USCIS for approval and then our dossier will go to China. Our magic 90 day mark is January 20th but I have been hearing of families getting their approval in 60-70 days so it is possible that we may get it approved sooner. Christmas was indeed bittersweet as my heart ached for our son so many miles away, but we took comfort in the fact that will be the last Christmas he will not be with us. We are just slowly but surely moving forward as we get just a little closer to him with every passing day!

Have a Jolly Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Holidays!

Thought that the blog needed some holiday cheer this time of year! Hope you like the changes and the festive music! We are quickly approaching Christmas this year and for us it will be bittersweet. We of course are thrilled to be able to spend time with our family and friends and the time will go so quickly, but in our heart we are still sad because a member of our family wont be able to be with us this year! However, I did hear from Vickie again today and our entire dossier (with the execption of the immigration approval) has been sent to the secretary of state to be authenticated. and as soon as that is approved (appx 2 weeks) it will be sent to the Chinese consulate to be authenticated as well. We will then have to repeat the process with the immigration approval, but our documents cant be over 6 months old and since we began our "paperchase" the end of July we are running out of time and would have to get more recent copies of everything.(not really what we want to do :-)

I also contacted immigration this week and found out that our fingerprints have passed. There isnt an officer assigned to our case yet, but the agent I spoke with said "plan on 90 days but more than likely it will be less" That is great if it is true...we will see. We are on day 50 today so over the half way mark

We have had great success with the cookbooks so far. Most of the original batch have sold and we are going to order more! We are excited since every little bit helps.
ALSO....
Last call for ornaments...I have a few left here still to sell to anyone who would like some just email me or leave a comment.

Anyone else have ideas on fundraisers that would be effective. This is all new to me so any advice would be great, just leave me a comment. I figure the more help the better!!
Happy Holidays to all of you

More Updates...and some bummer news

WOW!!! I am really thinking that Santa thinks I have been really really good this year!
I was having a rather rotten Monday as far as Mondays go....Short Staffed, forgot keys, forgot lunch, no coffee.... My list goes on and then after my daily morning meeting and things settled down in the office I got a chance to check my email!! What did I find in my inbox but yet another email from Vickie titled "updates"


Now obviously these pictures were taken the same day that Rebecca took our SMILING pictures unless he is wearing the exact same outfit and coat again (possible I suppose??)

But gotta love the 2nd SMILING picture!!!! What a doll he is...

I also recieved size updates:
December update

Hua Yong Yang:
Head size: 48cm
Chest size:51cm
Height:87cm
Weight:15kg
Feet size:14.2cm
Teeth:19

If however, one was to wonder how these compared and scrolled all the way back to the September posts you would find that although he gained 2 Kg (4.4 lbs) his head size shrunk an inch, He shrunk 4 centimeters and lost a tooth :-)
We will just say that China isnt the best with measurements LOL

So I was floating along on my cloud nine when I got yet another email from Vickie with our adoption newsletter in it.......our orphanage donation has been raised effective January 1. So I came crashing down from cloud nine when I realized that our adoption cost just increased by 2000.00 YIKES...Not quite expecting that, there had been rumors, but it is official and across the board from China.

You win some, You lose some I guess....but I still have my smiling pictures!!!
Good Night

What a gift we recieved!!!

What a huge thank you to Rebecca who is in China right now getting her daughter Maylee. You can follow her journey at
www.livinginarainbowworld.blogspot.comShe was kind enough to get some great pics of Sammy for me, along with some encouraging words. She writes in her email to me:

Amy,

OH MY GOSH!!! Your little boy is absolutely precious!!! He was having such a good time playing outside! Our guide said that he is very smart and was talking a lot to her. He even said "bye bye" to me!I know that I have read a lot of good and bad things about the N*njing SWI and it really bothered me during our wait for Maylee. But, I could tell that Maylee was truly loved the best that they knew how. I feel the same for your little sweetie. Maybe that will help ease some the pain of not being able to hold your baby yet

.


I was so thrilled to hear all of that and with the pictures...I was especially thrilled to get the pictures since they are a bit different then the previous pictures I have recieved!!








What a Smile!!
Isnt he the cutest thing?? I just cant wait to snuggle him! We are so very blessed today. I was really beginning to think that he would never smile for us. I got these at work this morning and was pretty distracted the rest of the day for sure.

What a wonderful early Christmas present to recieve! We are coming up on our 1/2 way mark for the USCIS (immigration) on Friday (appx 90 day wait) and I am starting to get nervous about asking China for an extension to have our dossier to China.

I also recieved another wonderful gift yesterday. My mom has taken it upon herself to spend lots of hours (With Taylor) producing and printing a cookbook of recipes for a fundraiser for us! She donated her time and resources to getting them ready to sell and are giving us all of the money raised!! Thanks Mom! and Thanks Taylor who spent 3 full Sundays typing them all out for the printer! As soon as I can figure out how to use my scanner I will post some pictures of it and if I am really good.. a paypal link so anyone can order them from us! We are just so excited to have all of this support. We are coming Sammy...as soon as we can!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Happy Birthday Sweet Emily!!!

11 years ago today my second daughter was born. I missed my thanksgiving dinner that year but had a much better blessing! She was 6 lbs 13oz and was 3 weeks earlier than planned. She has had a tough ride twith 3 open heart surgeries before she was 2, and 2 more since. She has had to have 12 cardiac catherizations and has had a stroke, but she is one of the most happiest, free spirited, beautiful, dramatic little 11 year olds I know. She is a fighter and has such a wonderful spirit. She makes friends with everyone she meets and always sees the good in people. She is beautiful inside and out and loves the Lord with her whole self.




We Love You Emily, Have a very very happy birthday

Love Mommy, Daddy, Taylor, Zach, and Sammy

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
I just want to take the time to reflect on how blessed we all are and how grateful we are.

I am thankful for you all who take the time out of your schedules to follow my blog :-)

I am thankful for my husband who loves me unconditionally...even when we are having a houseful of people and I may be just a bit stressed

I am thankful for my children...who have heard "dont leave anything out" more times today then they ever wanted to

I am thankful for my pets and avoiding them snagging the holiday dinner

I am thankful for our families and the closeness we have with them

I am thankful for our friends are their unwaivering support.

I am thankful for my job and the opportunity to help others

I am thankful for my son in China who is waiting for me

I am thankful to my God who loves me always

I am thankful for all the support we have recieved for our adoption

We have been so very blessed. I am wishing you all a very happy thanksgiving!!! Enjoy your food, your families and rejoice in all your blessings
Love,

Amy