Photos for Kim and her Very Special Mom...

Kim's mother made Sophia the beautiful blanket in these photos. It is very special to us. Kim told me that her Mom likes to have pictures of the little ones who she makes blankets for with her blanket. So, here is our photo shoot dedicated with love to Kim's Mom.

Wild Olive

Visit Wild Olive Tees to see their new line of children's t-shirts designed to help Love Without Boundaries.

Boating with Grandpa...

Grandpa is here visiting and getting to know Sophia. Today Zach took us out for a ride on the boat. It is just gorgeous outside! Sophia really enjoys the boat and usually will fall asleep when we're out on the lake.
The last photo is what we now call the 'Phia Face'. About 4 days ago she started making this face. She scrunches her whole face up and leans forward at you. I think it's her sassafrass look.

Sophia Jane Boutique August Hair Bow of the Month!

This collection is Summer Fun!
To view it CLICK HERE

In the Garden with Colleen's Outfit...

Sophia wore the outfit that Colleen/The Nut House made for her to church last Sunday. I took some photos of her in my garden. I tell you, ladies at church just kept coming up to me telling me how beautiful she is and how much they loved her outfit. Having a girl is a lot of fun, especially when your girlfriends sent such wonderful things for her to wear!

Tutu

Sophia LOVES her tutu. She actually has two. She can be found twirling and twirling in them. She wears them over any outfit. She wears them in the house and out about town. Thank goodness I can fit all of the poof into her carseat!

Meeting Great Grandma & Great Grandpa

Last weekend we visited with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa and Sophia was able to meet them for the first time. They are absolutely the sweetest people in the world and they showered her with love and attention. I absolutely love these photos. They were playing catch with a little stuffed sheep and Sophia, Eli and Grandpa threw it back and forth over and over.

Thank you so much for all of the compliments on her dress. I love it too. It was a gift from Doris at '3 D's'.

I Believe We Have Found Our Sleep Solution...

First I would like to say thank you to everyone who responded. It was a great help to us and gave us a lot of good things to try.
This seems to be the solution that works for us: I had Tim go into the attic and bring down our toddler bed. He had to re-assemble it, so Sophia watched him work on it. I told her that it was her bed and I saw that she was concerned and her eyes watered up a bit. I told her to come with me.
I took her upstairs to my room and I pointed to my bed and I said "Momma's bed". Then I pointed to the floor by my bed and said "Sophia's bed". I said this three times and I knew she understood what I was saying to her.
When we went back downstairs, she pointed to her bed and then pointed upstairs and I said "Yes, Sophia's bed upstairs with Momma's bed", and she smiled.
We took the bed upstairs and put it by our bed. She climbed right in. I did some e-mail work and read some blogs for a while and she was sound asleep in 30 minutes. Tonight is our 3rd night of her successfully going to sleep.
She does not have night terrors, she sleeps very peacefully, it was just finding a way for her to get to sleep that she was comfortable with and I think we have found it.
I'll keep you posted if we have any future hiccups.

Isn't She Beautiful When She's Sleeping??....The Key Word is 'When'. We Are Having Sleep Issues. I would appreciate anyone's advice and experiences.

I would really appreciate anyone willing to share their experiences with me about how they dealt with sleeping issues when their child first came home.

I slept with Sophia the whole time we were in China. Our hotel rooms came with two twin or single beds. My husband is 6'3" and over 200 pounds and we were not fitting into those beds together, so I slept with Sophia and Tim slept with Eli.

The first night we were home we tried to put Sophia on the bottom bunk with Eli on the top. Let's just say that the tantrum she threw shook the house. We don't have a child who cries quietly, we have the temper tantrum queen. So, she started sleeping in our bed but wouldn't go to sleep there without us.

Eli was in a fit because his sister got to sleep with us and he didn't, so we tried to keep things fair for him. We ended up with both kids having to fall asleep in kido sleeping bags in the quieter part of the living room, then transporting them upstairs to bed when we are ready to go to bed.
Well, this has the whole house at a standstill while they fall asleep in the living room and they have been staying up way too late.

So, for the past 2 nights we moved the sleeping bags up to their bedroom together. Well, Sophia throws a fit and will not fall asleep with Eli in their room, only the living room. And let me tell you...fit is an understatement. She is definitely my daughter. We say she is 'Chirish' (Chinese and Irish) because she sure has an Irish woman's temper. I don't get it. She loves to play in her bedroom, she shows no fear of it and goes up there freely to play dress up and with her kitchen. But when bedtime comes around, the room freaks her out. I keep it lit up with two nightlights and Eli is with her just like downstairs, but it doesn't matter.

Now, I've had people tell me to put a toddler bed in our room which I can do, but what do I do with her until I am ready to sleep? She won't fall asleep without me and I can't go to bed at 8pm every night. I have people tell me to let her cry it out....she doesn't cry it out, she becomes wild crazy hysterical, screaming like a banchee and stamping feet. I can't keep letting her fall asleep in the living room. We have two teenage sons who have to freeze for hours every night until she falls asleep and she fights it until 11pm sometimes. They need to be able to enjoy their evenings and when school starts they will need to do their homework and be with us. If I hold her until she falls asleep, she has an internal alarm that sounds off the second I put her down.

Her attachment to us seems to be going really well. We have wonderful days together filled with hugs and kisses and smiles. I am her center point and she comes to me for love and support throughout the day when she needs it, but she is not clingy. She is quite independent. Our extended family is the most loving group of people and love her to pieces. I couldn't ask for a better transition to our family during the daytime. But at night I have a completely different child.

I go back to work August 6th, so I would like to have something workable in place so we all have enough sleep at night to stay awake during the day. Eli is becoming as unregulated as she is because we've been trying to keep them together (they are 9 months apart and notice any discrepancy in treatment and rules). So...I now have two preschoolers who are up off and on all night and Tim and I are becoming zombies.

Please help!

Zach is on a Mission Trip in Alaska...

Please pray for Zachary. He left last Saturday for Alaska on a church mission trip. He texted us yesterday and said that he spent 6 hours splitting wood. I hope that he is able to serve others in a way that will help to build his faith and make him feel good about himself and the fact that he is there.

Alert and a Petition for Canadian Waiting Families

I received an e-mail from my good friend Rhonda about a tragic situation that happened to a couple that she knows. Evidently their adoption agency went bankrupt and left them possibly with nothing, no hope for refunding their money or providing a referral.

I know that in the US, you can migrate to another agency. You may have to re-pay some fees and get a new homestudy, but you are not back at ground zero. It looks like in this case, this couple may have lost everything.

That is not right and should never happen to anyone. Please read the e-mail below and sign the petition. This needs to be stopped.

Below is Rhonda's e-mail. I'm sure she won't mind me putting it on here because she's cool about things like that.

I was wondering if you could do me a favour? Dear friends of ours were blindsided this week when their adoption agency went bankrupt. They have lost over $15K, but that's besides the point. They have lost the chance to adopt their child. They were roughly a month away from their referral for a child from Africa, and now with the bankruptcy, they don't know if the adoption can or will continue.

I was wondering if you could post something on your blog. Since you have a rather large readership, I was hoping you could post a link to the petition site.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/SaveOurDreamofAdoptingInternatio/

Let me know, thanks!

--
Rhonda
(littlemaple.blogspot.com)
LID-September 13/06

Playdate with the Tribe...

Yesterday we had a wonderful time hanging out with the Beckering Tribe/Never Too Many. Their house is the perfect place for little people. There is so much to do and it was nice to get away for a bit and have some adult conversation.


This picture is my favorite take-away from the day. Steff's Sophia made this beautiful drawing which shows her and my Sophia together surrounded by hearts and flowers. She tried so hard to make my Sophia comfortable and shared all of her toys with her. Andrew thought it was so funny that there were two Sophia's.

I had to steal this shot of Steffie, she was playing shy hostess...yeah whatever. Bust out the smile girl!



I had taken Sophia to swim once before at the hotel pool in Beijing and she clung to me for dear life. Here is where she started...on the stairs. She stayed there for a good 45 minutes.

Here is where she ended up...which is absolutely amazing to me. She asked for the tube and then swam all around the pool for well over an hour. She was in heaven, not afraid at all.

I just love this little girl and her big heart.

The whole posse, we could start a preschool with all of these kids!

Learning to Fly...

There is a model airplane club that meets on Wednesdays and Sundays in the summertime at a farm by our house. For the past couple of years, we have gone there with the kids to watch the planes. My father was up a couple of summers ago and went with us. That year for Christmas, my Dad gave our family this model airplane. Last night we took the plane to the farm and Tyler got his first flying lesson.

How Do I Feel?

I have had a lot of people ask me about how I feel and how does it feel to adopt and how does it feel to adopt verses to have a bio child. I am sure that everyone's experiences are different, but I will tell you mine.

When I was pregnant with my sons, I knew a child was on the way. I had 9 months to prepare myself, but it was always a surprise when I saw their faces for the first time. There was a sense of anticipation with each one and a voice inside each time that said, "Well, there you are are and this is what you look like." I loved them because they were mine. They grew in my body and they were my babies. I cared for them instinctively and I grew to love them more and more each day as I gazed into their eyes and cared for them and watched them grow.

I wondered how I would feel when they put Sophia in my arms. I wondered if it would feel the same. I view her as the child of my soul. My daughter in every way, except God chose for her to be born in China.


It was very emotional for me when I saw the nanny carrying her down the sidewalk towards us in the guard shack. I had to hold back my tears because I didn't want to scare her anymore than she would be already. I kept thinking of Eli and how terrified he would be if I gave him to a Chinese family and left. I kept thinking of my little boy and what this would do to him if the tables were turned. I knew that day would impact her forever and the weight of what was about to happen weighed heavy on me.
It was truly gutwrenching when they placed Sophia in my arms. She is a smart girl and she had a pretty good idea of what was happening. She screamed to go back and tried everything to get away from me. It completely broke my heart.

There was also this underlying sadness. Here was this beautiful little girl with no one in the world. How could no one come forward for her? No Aunts or Uncles, no Grandparents. This little child all alone. It is a life changing experience to hold an orphan in your arms and look them in the face. To see a child truly alone. I claimed her then and there. With my heart and my soul I claimed her and I took her as my daughter and the voice inside of me said "Well, there you are and this is what you look like." And I knew that she was mine and that she would never be alone again.

I loved her then because I made the decision to love her and I am falling in love more and more each day as I gaze into her eyes and care for her.


I have been asked if I wonder sometimes if I did the right thing. I really don't. With each of my children, there was always a time (usually gazing at them through the plastic tub in my hospital room) when I felt a little overwhelmed and thought..wow, here we go, it's you and me kid.
I know Sophia is meant to be here with us and more than anything I wonder about how to be the best mother I can to her. I wonder about the right things to do. I wonder about what I need to do differently with her to meet the special needs she is going to have. Right now I want to do everything right so that she knows she is loved and she is not alone and she will never be left again.

My daughter has scars, scars on her body from 2nd degree burns and open heart surgery, scars on her heart from being abandoned over and over. I know that some people wonder why we chose her. But she is my girl and I could not love her more. I claim every hair on her head and every tear and every scar. I will live my life trying to heal them and not add more. She is a child filled with joy and laughter and smiles. Somehow she has found the strength to find the happiness of childhood despite her circumstances so I need to at least be as strong as she is and be the mother she needs me to be. And that is how I'm feeling right now.

Sunday...