Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween our Chicken, Bicken...that's what we have been calling him. Dryce helped us come up with this name. Nonetheless, Sam makes a great chicken. Depending on his mood, he will even bock like a chicken. Next year baby, next year, you can pick your costume then, promise! Hee, hee!

Can I have a favorite photo friday?

So I have been reading a lot of blogs and most do a favorite photo friday...can I copy? My high school English teacher would say, I don't know can you? Well, I think I will. Here's my 1st favorite photo Friday. I pick it because I have been praying for my Aunt Polly who had a surgery this week. Praying for your recovery...thanks for coming to see Sam the day after we got home 8/25/06. Thanks for loving the grandkids and great grandkids so much. Aunt Polly loves to give the great grandkids fun gifts. This year she played Easter bunny for the kids, Sam got a train track that he still plays with! My niece Morgan honored Polly at her queen padget this summer, too! We love you Polly.....

We love cereal...

Sam loves cereal. Today he ate fruity cheerios (so did mama)! He not only eats every piece of cereal, he then spoons the milk in for a few swaps, then the finale - he picks up the bowl and attempts to drink it. Now, if you can tell, most is in the bib, but he is so proud of himself. He says uummmm (yum, I think). Today we are packing, going to get a flu shot, looking for a cow costume for Halloween at work, and watching our friend Breanna for a little while.

Happy Birthday, Dada.....

Dada, I love you! I hope you have a good birthday. Mama and me are at home today. We will wrap your present and make you a cake,too! I will help a lot! Do you remember when you came to visit me last July. You thought I was so big. You hadn't seen me since I was only 10 weeks old. I surprised you, didn't I? So glad we are together everyday now! Happy Birthday, dada.

Sam (with a little help from mom & Joe from Guatemala)

Preparation for the visit?

Well,

It is 5am - up since about 4:15 - It occurred to me that maybe baby Joe is up, too? I prayed for him and tried to go back to sleep, but it didn't work. I have had a lot of sleepless nights since referral -guess it is sympathy pains for our dear foster mother.
A post on the chat group asked if anyone knew Sam's foster mother, Maritza. I quickly replied. I told them that they had been given a gift - to quickly unwrap it and cherish it. Maritza meant and means so much to me. I am looking forward to seeing her again. I cannot wait to see her face (and tears I am sure) at how big Sam is now. I still think of her and pray for her often, and now have added Joe's foster mom, Norma to my list. I will feel better after I meet Joe's FM. Until then, I place him in God's protection.
So, I work today...then I have 4 days off, I will begin and mostly finish packing for the boys and Dan and I. Why you ask?

Well, here is my schedule until I hold baby Joe for the first time:
Wed work 8-6
4days off -I get to buy little diapers (hee, hee)
Mon work 9-9
Tues work 8-6
Wed work 8-6
Thurs - off - yeah!
Fri work 9-9
Sat work 9-6
Sun church, work 11-3
Mon work 9-9
Tues work 8-6
Wed work 8-6, go to Toni and Chris's in Indy
Thurs, Nov 8.....flight from Indy at 6am, hold baby Joe around 3pm!

PS, Not to mention, I have a husband and a wonderful son at home and we are remodeling a house! I love it all!

Visit trip

It is sooooo close. I cannot wait to hold baby Joe in our arms for the first time! This adoption feels vaguely the same, but very different indeed. I am just excited this time. No nerves or apprehension. We will see Joe on Nov 8 - Nov 12. Sam is making the visit with us, and we could not be more elated to have them together! I just want to see his every feature!
I can actually count down the days to our visit!
A coworker asked today, isn't it hard to leave him? I told her that it no doubt is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. But two things come to mind. God gave me a peace each time I was faced with leaving Sam that we would be together again. And I am ever so grateful to hold my child, even if for a few days. Praying for you until we can be united, baby Joe.

Need landscaping? Call......

Here are two of our helpers yesterday. Dryce and Sam loved the afternoon break. Grandma brought us some cold soda pop and Sam couldn't get enough!

Dan and I met with our contractor yesterday to go over a few details and order the new windows. Marv has been easy to work with so far - looking forward to some more plans! Then we started by working on the pool. It is not closed yet which poses a small problem in the middle of an Indiana fall - lots of leaves. We worked to get the leaves out. We also began to drain the hot tub. I worked on the landscaping weeds while Dan finished mowing. Then we grabbed some lunch and listened as Loogootee defeated Barr-Reeve in the girls volleyball sectional.

Donnie came after lunch and the real progress began! I told him that he missed his calling of being a barber. We trimmed every bush on the place! It looks very nice. We also pulled out a few bushes and tried to remove the big tree in the back to make way for our bathroom addition. All in all we made a lot of progress. It was a beautiful fall day - glad to spend it outside!

Loogootee girls went on the win the volleyball sectional -they played well!

Thanks everyone....

A big thanks to all those who helped with the petitions to our senators and congressmen. The road ahead with Joe's adoption is still long, but new statements look positive. The current Guatemalan president is expected to release a statement soon about his stance on adoptions. He has been anti-adoption all along, but due to pressure from US government, etc., he seems to be backing off a little. Prayers are still in order, until the day Joe is in our arms forever, but small steps should be celebrated along the way!

Thanks to Blake my niece who watched Sam all day today! He had a little bloody nose and it scared both of them, but by the time she called me she had handled it well and both were calm!

Lastly, thanks to all who visit the blog --16 hits since yesterday--I think I will just keep on blogging!

Pooped at the end of the shopping trip...

Daddy's attempt at a photo of Sam and I this morning fell kinda short. I finally got Sam to raise his head for the camera and daddy cut mama's head off! LOL.

Sam and I drove Joe's POA to Evansville to our wonderful agency FTIA today. We met of coordinator Ellie again today and she was excited to hear our name, of Joseph had a tie to his birthname. Sam charmed the socks off the agency folks- we have been there a few times and he feels comfortable. We made a few stops in Evansville. We got daddy's birthday present at some new clothes for baby Joe. At the end of the day, Sam had had enough...don't worry I was at a stoplight when I took the photo.

Tonight I am going thru some nice hand-me-down clothes from a coworker, Karin. Thanks Karin!

Wrestling with Cousin Cole

Sam loves to wrestle. Grandpa Donnie and Uncle Scott taught him this. But, his favorite is to wrestle with Cole. As you can see he holds his own... and when it is all said and done, he loves to give Cole hugs.

We were glad to have Cole with us on Saturday night. He picked to eat dinner at Lakeview then we came back home.

Daddy said plan the trip!

We are going to visit baby Joe sometime before Sam's birthday! I checked flights and they seem reasonable, even out of Evansville. Let the packing begin.... Now, this does mean that we are traveling before DNA authorization. DNA from mother and baby is tested 2 times in Guatemala to ensure a match. So, we are traveling on a leap of faith, but as I see it the whole process is a leap of faith and a whole lot of prayer. We traveled to see Sam prior to his DNA results.

Let the demolition begin. We got possession of our new home on Sunday. We visited with all the Walkers - it echoed a lot and the kids loved it! Dan and our good friend Brent started the Demo last night...and they broke a water line. Should I worry? Maybe, but I haven't see the damage. Dan says it mostly went into the basement, it was from the dishwasher. I won't send the 2 of them to demo together again. Visit our house timeline, I will track the progress there.

What's in a Name?

Joseph Daniel Luis Graber (joe)

Well, there is a lot in a name if you really think about it. We did think about it a lot. We decided on baby Joe's name on Thurs. evening over dinner. We had thrown around a lot of other names mainly Elijah and many combinations of the above and a few other straglers. We are settled and we talk about Sam and Joe a lot!

Joseph - spanish form of Jose(birthname); Grandpa Donnie Joe; my uncle Joe

Daniel - after daddy

Luis -I love this little spanish name

Love it ---however, beware, don't call my child JD! I am not into the inital thing...

Baby Joe, mama continues to pray for you often and has been looking at plane flights...

On another note -----we got possession of our new home today! Yipee - my fam went out to see it. I really do love it. Now let the renovations begin!

The stork came to visit...

Our new little darling has arrived! Jose Luis Poou Choco has been born in our hearts and his image is forever marked in our minds. We received his referral on October 10, 2007 at 2:21pm. We knew of him on Oct. 9 in the evening, and were reserved simply because of his age. He is 2 months old, we were expecting a newborn. However, upon reviewing all of his information and seeing his precious face - God has made it clear that he is our son.

You see:

• He was born on my birthday... 8/5/07!
• His birthname, Jose, is the spanish form of Joseph, a name we are considering.
• He is older than we were expecting, but if our paperwork had never been misplaced by the USPS, this would have been the original timeframe for our child's birthday.

We are extremely elated and honored to have been chosen for his parents. At 2 months old he weighs 9lbs and is 22.7 in. We are finalizing his name choices and working towards our power of attorney for our Guatemalan Attorney to act on our behalf. Prayer and petitions for Jose Luis are needed at this time. I pray that his birthmother is okay with her decison and is provided with a peace that he will be in a loving and faith filled home. I pray that his foster mother is nuturing and loves our son as we do. We were so blessed by Sam's first family and pray that Jose Luis's family is just the same!

Blessed to be the parents of two Guatemalan miracles...

Nice Sunday

Here is Sam going thru his diaper bag to see if I have packed the right things to entertain him at church. Today we started our day at church. We sat by a couple of other familes with kids Sam's age. At one point we had all swapped snacks and toys. We will take support any way it comes!

We went to Grandma and Papaw's for lunch. Grandma made baked spagetti and Sam loved it. He just kept eating. Then there was apple crisp for dessert and he ate that too!

I made brownies for my boss's 50th birthday tomorrow. We are all wearing black in honor of his big day! Sam and Daddy took a nap. I also got some letters ready to send our congressmen and senators about the Guatemala 5000.

Blake came by and dropped off her fundraiser loot I had purchased. She said I don't talk about her on my blog enough. She is a freshman this year and busy with JV Volleyball this year. She constantly teases me because I am shorter than her now. Little does she know, I am not very tall, so it doesn't take much! LOL...

Something you can do...

It is not often that I will give an outright shout for help. But there is something we can do to help these children come home. The link below is an online petition to sign for the Guatemala adoption crisis. This has been titled the Guatemala 5000. These are the 5000 children that have been given up for adoption in Guatemala, waiting to be united with their forever families. Their birthparents have given away their rights, but the Guatemalan government could cease their adoption -what will their future be? Please take a moment to sign the petition... key voting will be Oct 8,9,10 so all signatures make a difference! Thanks for your help!

http://www.jcics.org/Guatemala5000.htm

Yard Sales

Today Sam and I got up early and went to yard sales! My mom would be proud. I really do like them, I just want to pick the good ones! We got some books and one outfit for Sam. It it the thrill of the bargin hunt! I saw my cousin Amber and her two daughters Ava and Abby. Her niece Allie was also with them! We went to Morgan's volleyball tournament today. She is in 7th grade and is playing setter. She does really well. Cannot wait to see her develop more.
Scott and Chris are putting in new kitchen floors and cabinets. I am excited for them for it to be all done!

Several families waiting on girl referrals got news this week! That's good for us too. We have some folks to go on the journey with!

Daddy is working and golfing today. We will clean and pack some more today!~

Oh no!

Sam can reach the bathroom faucet. He loves to play with the "Wawer". He came proudly displaying his latest trick to us this morning. Daddy thought it was very cute. Mama is glad it is only "wawer"!

Sam had a check up this morning and Dr. Ruff was happy with Sam! He says his vocabulary and growth are right on target.

Poem to Remember

My friend Nakia sent this on email the other day. I want to remember it:

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my firstpainting on the refrigerator, and I immediately wanted to paint another one.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a stray cat, andI learned that it was good to be kind to animals.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my favorite cakefor me, and I learned that the little things can be the special thingsin ife.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I heardyou say a prayer, and I knewthere is a God I couldalways talk to and I learned to trust inGod.When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I learned that we all have to help take care of each other.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of your time and moneyto help people who had nothing, and I learned that those who have something should give to those who don't
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you take care of our house andeveryone in it, and I learned we have to take care of what we are given.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw how you handled yourresponsibilities, even when you didn't feel good, and I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grow up.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come from your eyes, and Ilearned that sometimes things hurt, but it's all right to cry.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I learned most of life's lessons thatI need to know to be a good and productive person when I grow up.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked at you and wanted to say,"Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn'tlooking."

Great News Wednesday!

Following stressful days at work for Dan and I on Tuesday - Wednesday held a lot more promise and fulfilled those promises, too! Today we closed on our new home! Means good luck for my bosses, because I will be working for eternity to pay it off -hee, hee! We truly do love the home and its location. We cannot wait to have possession -within two weeks!

Even more exciting.....we are on the referral waiting list! We are sooooo excited and are briming with anticipation. We are certain that this is the right decision and cannot wait to see our tiny man's face. I will keep everyone posted. More good news came from our agency in regards to the outcome of our adoption. They will fight to bring all these babies home as planned! It is amazing God's gifts, when we have faith!

Let me just tell you how cute my little man Sam is...(he is feeling much better and we are ever so thankful to have his laughs back in the house). We were coming home from Andre's party on Sunday with the windows down and these are the pics. He was loving it and then it ended - you can tell in the last pic he was done with the wind! I love his hair! Tomorrow we go to the doctor for a well check up!