Have a Great Weekend...

I am not blogging as much as I used to. We are very busy around here preparing for Sophia and Spring. Today I am hoping to put the finishing touches on Eli and Sophia's room and I'd like to get started painting the downstairs bathroom, we are going to re-do it too.

Zach is up at Michigan Tech with his Dad. That is where he wants to go to college, so they are touring the campus.

Tim's fishing boat needs some work, so he's going to be working on that this weekend.

We are busy busy!

Thank you for all of your comments below. I know that I will be using a separate travel blog, I still haven't decided about moving the main blog. I will let you all know the travel blog info.

Moving the Blog

I am thinking that I will be moving to a new blog to document our trip to China and our new family life which will include Sophia. I am not going to put a link to it, so if you would like to be informed when the time comes so you can follow us, please leave a comment below or send me an e-mail. I think we need a fresh start. This blog was about the wait and since we first saw our daughters face on February 19th, we are waiting no more.

A Peak at the Room...

Eli and his Grandma Peggy Bear. He just loves his new bunk bed. He's doing really well sleeping in the top bunk and can get up and down the ladder very easily and carefully. Eli has a quilt with sail boats on it.

Sophia's quilt came today and I just love it. It's from Target. It has different things embroidered all over it with different types of fabric. In the center is a princess ballerina with a toole skirt. I love the saying at the bottom of the quilt, I think it is so fitting for her... good night friends, I'll see you soon.


The shelf doesn't look level in this photo, the shelf is up higher on the wall, so I had to hold the camera above my head to get you this crooked picture. I'm not done with this shelf yet. The middle frame will have a photo of Eli and Sophia together on it. I like the doll on one side and the sailboat on the other, but I haven't finished in-between. It is a challenge to integrate a boy and girl room.
This is the top of Eli's dresser. It's not done yet either. But you can see where it is going. Eli's furniture is the stained wood. Sophia's is white. Most of Sophia's furniture is in storage since she will be sleeping in the bunk bed below Eli until we feel it is time to seperate them. When they move into seperate rooms, Eli will take the bunk bed with him and Sophia will have all white furniture.

I still have quite a bit do in their room, but I am happy with how it is coming together.

For those who have asked...yes, I got my cast off two days ago. I have a wrist brace I have to wear for 4 to 5 more weeks, but it is removable and I don't have to wear it at home. I am so glad to be rid of the cast!

Quote for the Week...

Mark Your Calendars! A Shower for Nancy and Arianna...

Have a Wonderful Easter...

I hope that you all have a blessed Easter. Grandpa is here to help Tim finish up Eli and Sophia's room.
We plan to have a wonderful Easter dinner on Sunday. We will be eating dinner on Grandma Peggy's China. It is the only possession of hers that was passed on to us, so we cherish it.
I hope I will be able to pull off the big ham dinner with only one usable arm...we'll see how it goes :)

Conversation with Eli about Sophia...

I have been talking with Eli about our trip to China and about Sophia. This is a conversation we had the other night.

Eli, "Mom, Sophia may not love us when we get to China."

Mom, "That is true, she might be scared and sad when she first comes to be with us."

Eli, "How do I make her love me Mom?"

Mom. "You love her first with all of your heart."

Eli thinks about this and I can tell he understands.

Mom, "You are so wonderful Eli that she won't be able to resist you and she will love you."

Eli looks at me and smiles as if to say "of course she won't be able to resist me", and goes off to play.

There Are Some Cute New Items at the Fundraiser!

Oh yes...who can resist a pair of red maryjanes???? I know you can't, so go ahead and click on my sidebar and head on over to Sophia's fundraiser.

LOVE THIS PURSE! You can have it...it's at the fundraiser :)

Is this cute or what?? Handmade for the fundraiser...you know where to find it!

If anyone would like to make a donation to the fundraiser, it would be greatly appreciated. I know that some of you have left comments to donate, but I haven't been able to find a way to contact you. So, if you could leave your e-mail address, that would be wonderful!

Come and See Our Girl...We Received Our LOA Today!

The photo in the header above is Sophia's referral photo. I fell in love the minute I saw her sweet little face. These photos are the most recent and were sent to us by Ann just a few days ago. This looks like a large play room.

I am guessing that this is Sophia's little bed. It does my heart good to see her little pink sheets and the little girl's vanity beside her bed. Her bedroom looks fun and comfortable.

This must be a little grocery play area. Love the pineapple! I don't know why they feel need to cut her bangs so short, but they will grow. We just can't wait to get to her.

Our Daughter Had Heart Surgery 2 Weeks Ago...And We Just Found Out

I want to encourage everyone who wishes to send a care package to their child to do it through Ann and Red Thread China. She was able to get us updated photos of Sophia(and believe it or not she has another pair of red maryjanes on in these photos too). And she also was able to find out that Sophia had her heart repair surgery two weeks ago and is recovering well.
I was just in shock over this news. We were planning to do her surgery here when we brought her home. No one had said a word to us and when I spoke with my SW on Friday, she said they were not aware that it had happened.
I just can't stop thinking about my girl and how scary it must be to go through open heart surgery. She is old enough to understand that something very significant has happened and that she has been in pain and has a scar on her chest.
I hope that our care package brings her comfort.
Please pray for our girl.

Sophia & Eli's Room

Many of you have been asking me about Sophia's room. Sophia and Eli will be sharing a room for right now. We have a 4 bedroom house and Zach and Tyler would never share, so that leaves the little ones sharing for a while. I think it will help them bond.
I originally wanted to paint the room yellow, but Tim adamantly said he would not have Eli in a yellow room, so we are doing a lighter sage green. I really love it.
The painting is about 80% done at this point. Hopefully we can get the rest done this weekend and get all of the kids' things into the room. Right now the hallway is packed and so is our room and Zach's room. I tell you, the little ones have a lot of stuff!

Sending Sophia a Care Package Via Red Thread China

I heard about this company from Steffie. It is run by a woman named Ann. She is wonderful! They have many services for adoptive families, but the one we are using is for Sophia's care package. You can choose from many different items. We ordered the PJ Package which includes a doll, a pair of nice pajamas, a soft blanket, a camera, candy for the nannies and a letter translated for our daughter.
We also added the photo book. I e-mailed our family photos to Ann and she will put them into the photo book for us.
For an additional $8.00, Ann can make sure that your package gets delivered directly to your child's orphanage. This is important because if you send a package from home, often times it is delivered to the nearest post office to your orphanage and someone from the orphanage is required to go there and retrieve it. If no one from the orphanage claims the package, it may be returned to you at your cost.
Ann is also willing to contact your child's orphanage to see if they will give her updated photos or size information on your child. Many times they do. She contacted Sophia's orphanage yesterday, so we are anxious to see if we can have some updated photos of our girl!

http://redthreadchina.com

Important! Federal Adoption Tax Credit expires next year.

I read about this on Lena's blog. This is something we all need to take action on. Please post about this and get the word out that this needs to be renewed. Many families won't be able to afford to adopt without this credit.

New Items Needed for the Auction

I want to say thank you so much to everyone who has donated to and/or purchased from the auction. We are a little low on auction items right now, so if anyone has anything that they no longer use or want at home and think it would do well at the auction, please let me know.

Thank You So Much!

Thank you so much Kim and Kelly for the most amazing on-line shower I have ever seen! I had a wonderful time yesterday.
I want to thank everyone who came. It meant so much to me that you took time out of your day to celebrate our daughter.
A special thank you to Lynn at Livi Lu, Colleen at Nutty Chic, Kayce, Kathy's Bows and Doris for
donating the fabulous shower prizes.

If you want to see the photos, click on the link in the post below. There are so many that I can't do the shower justice in a post here.

Thank you so much everyone! I think our daughter is going to look like a little princess now.

Today is Sophia's On-line Shower hosted by Kim!

http://welcomesophiajane.blogspot.com/

Click here to join in!

Whirlwind...

I tell you, things are just a tad crazy here right now. I am used to having a lot going on and projects working simultaneously. But I am used to having two functional arms. Have you ever tried to get by for weeks only writing with your opposite hand? I'm hanging in there, right now I'm typing with my left hand.
I owe so many thank you cards. I've written some with my right hand and the cast, but I'm not supposed to and it starts to really hurt. So, please bear with me. I live in a house with all males and their writing is awful. so I'm kind of stuck.
But let me tell you how happy I am. The daughter in my dreams now has a face and she is so beautiful. I keep rehearsing in my mind what I will say when I see her for the first time.

Sophia's Shower...Hosted by Kelly

I want to begin by saying Thank You to Kelly for throwing the most wonderful shower that I have ever attended. I had a wonderful time and hope that someone has a photo of the two of us together. Thank you to Kim too, who I know also did a lot of work for my special day. Nancy, I can't believe you drove over 6 hours to get here..thank you, it a was wonderful surprise to see you. And thank you to Aunt Carol, Aunt JoAnn and cousin Melinda..it was great to have you there. And thank you to all of my special girlfriends who came and just overwhelmed me with all of the love you showed for my girl.


My pictures saved in different sizes, but this is me and Steffie. She was our official photographer. Our children are the same age and are living together in the same orphanage. We have spent the last two years together...waiting and half a world away our children have been together too.

These are Sophia's gifts. Each one was truly from the heart. Everything is so special.

There were a couple of times when I got a little emotional.

Here are some of the ladies underneath Chinese Lanterns. Kelly had each room decorated for the shower.

This is a shadow box that Kim made for Sophia. I wish you could see it better..it is amazing and contains things from Beijing where Sophia is from.

Kelly is holding up one of Sophia's beach towels.

Kelly made a wonderful lunch for everyone and the shower ended perfectly with cake.

No Sat Chat

There will be no Sat Chat this week. It is too difficult for me to type right now since my right arm is broken. There are also showers for Sophia on the next two Saturdays. I will let you all know when the Sat Chats will start up again.

Operation Princess..Helping Orphan Girls in India Feel Cherished

I read about this on my friend Holly's blog. I am so moved by this woman and her ministry. I have been in contact with Leslie and I have her address here in the US for anyone who would like to donate dresses or jewelry. Just leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I will get her info to you. This is Sarah's blog link to learn more about the children she cares for. www.sarahscovenanthomes.blogspot.com

Here is Sarah's post:

Silver and Gold Have I... (Operation Princess)

In the past few days, I've gotten a lot of e-mails and comments asking for practical (and not-so-practical) things people could send to our children. There IS something on my heart! It leans toward the not-so-practical, so bear with me and hear my heart...

I want to make the girls feel beautiful.

Before we picked up the first group of kids a year ago, I talked with 9-yr-old Hannah briefly. She said, "Are you taking me to your hostel?" I nodded. She said, "Can I go to school? Will you buy me bangles? Can I get my ears pierced?" I got teary-eyed and told her, "Yes, absolutely." It was important to Hannah to be a 'regular kid' and to feel beautiful.

Here's Hannah following her first day of school (Feb '08), and, below, on Christmas 2008 showing off her new watch.

So far we've done everything but the ear-piercing (she's wearing the non-pierced kind in the Christmas pic), and it's just because we haven't found a place in town that I know will do it in a sterile way.

Is this a 'need'? I think so. Jewelry may not be super-important to me or in my culture, but to the vast majority of Indian girls and women, jewelry is inestimably important. It says to the world "My Daddy (or my husband) loves me. He thinks I'm valuable and I have worth. He spends money on me, and he cares that I look beautiful." There's not a day of her life that an Indian girl doesn't wear her gold and silver.

Our SCH girls (all but Wendy) do NOT have their ears pierced, because they're orphans (in the world's eyes). They have no daddy, and without jewelry, that's all the more obvious to everyone around them. I don't want it to be that way.

When our eldest daughter Simona started in at a local school, her ears were not pierced (we'd had it done for her twice, but her sensitive ears had gotten infected). Kids teased her and made her cry, teachers asked about it daily...it was a BIG DEAL to everyone. We got her ears re-pierced on our next trip to the States, and made sure my little girls' were pierced before they started school. It was important to me to meet that need for them, and as an Indian man, it has always been even more important to my husband to take care of our girls in that way.

The bit of scripture floating through my mind is "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee." In Acts 3, Peter and John said that. To whom? To the beggar--the handicapped, family-less beggar--sitting (where?) at the temple gate called Beautiful. The beggar was asking for a few coins to meet a few practical needs, but the apostles saw deeper than that. They SAW the man ("And Peter looked straight at him, as did John..."). They saw him and acknowledged his deeper need to feel normal, whole, and beautiful, to be accepted and included in society, not to be a beggar anymore, to feel SEEN and worthy of attention from a good and loving Father.

My heart is to give all my children (but right now my heart is bleeding for my girls, in particular) the feeling that they are seen, they are wanted, they are worthy, they are beautiful, they can go IN to the Father because they BELONG.

I have not seen a whole lot of divine healing through my personal prayers, and I will persist in believing for and pressing into that, but I do have silver and gold. I have it by faith, which came by hearing the word of the Lord and which stays by remembering that word. The Lord said He has taken great pains to provide it for this work, and I want to lavish it on his little girls right now.

I want you to send me your daughters' Christmas and Easter dresses, flower girl dresses, 8th-grade graduation dresses, etc. (sizes 2-16, with the majority of girls in the 8-14 size range). Pretty, frilly dresses (girls here wear these every day and love them). Dresses that cover the knees at least and have some type of sleeves are best in the upper (10 & up) age range. They should be either new or slightly used (something you could still get a good price on ebay for).

And I want TWO professional ear-piercing guns. And I want piercing studs--at least 22 pairs-- real gold. And any other gold and silver jewelry you feel led to donate (gold chains, children's gold rings, etc.). And I want money to buy each girl a set of jingly silver ankle bracelets (about $20/child).

Why should they not get the very, very best?

God met the felt need of the beggar at the gate (He's so GOOD at that!)--even beyond what he asked for and probably even felt he deserved. The man's heart was instantly flooded with Love for the King. And the testimony was so powerful to all around. Let's show the world that Daddy loves His girls.

"Silver and gold have I, and such as I have give I thee."

(Down to practicals: ankle-bracelet donations can be made online (click 'donate') and the other things can be collected and (if you're closer to the US than India) sent to Theresa's home address (e-mail me for it at sarahscovenanthomes@ymail.com) and she or Julie and team can carry these over in June. Contact me if you would prefer to send the items directly to India.)

Posted by sarah bess at 2:49 PM