Surprise Visit Saturday

Blogger, quit that - it's all out of order, but oh well, see if you can figure out our Saturday, hee hee.

Chris, teaching my son how to toast. With mountain dew and fruit juice - whatever, boys?

We grabbed a bite to eat at an Amish restaurant, it was yummy as always, but the best part was the free carriage rides!

We all took a carriage ride - Sam loved it.


So, what's this? Yeah, after I threw my blog fit yesterday morning - God told me to wake up! As I walked out the front door to go on a walk - this huge spider spun a web over the entire door - yikes, guess I got the point!

We went to Morgan's volleyball tourney today and they played pretty good. They got to the final game, but lost the tournament. She loves volleyball!
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During Morgan's game my brother Scott was nice enough to read to Sam - love seeing this, it warms my heart. We also grabbed lunch with Scott and nephew Cole.
Then, during the game best friends Chris and Toni called to tell us they were coming down! We love their visits. They came around 2pm - Sam was supposed to be napping, but heard them come and it was all over with -so a no nap jam packed day for Sam!




We had a great day - loved our surprise visit from Sam and just perfect on cue, Sam threw a huge fit when Chris and Toni left. Now, next time maybe they will spend the night. Love you two, you are in our hearts and prayers!

As we wait...

Joe - 11 months

we get angry, we get sad, we wonder why...then we pray.

Now, to be quite honest, we haven't gotten any profound answers as to why the cival registrar in Guatemala won't release our birth certificate. I have gotten cross and the director of our agency is involved in contacting our lawyer in Guatemala. Why did it take me getting angry with our coordinator? Shouldn't they have looked at our wait for issue of a birth certificate with no real reason for a delay, and said hey, I bet these people are getting tired of waiting to BRING JOE HOME!!!!!!! This week has been frustrating on the Joe front. I will spare you the details on my conversation with our coordinator, pretty sure it was not either of our most shiny moments, but it did land us a call from the bigger boss. This was a comforting call, but it is the weekend and still no news.

My plea to them is this, my child, my son is in Guatemala waiting on his family to pick him up. His birthmother has signed off on him, since June they told our foster mother to prepare to give him up for good, and this mother(me) still doesn't have him in her arms. Can you hear me screaming, crying, yelling???? OK, you are right, I am quiet because Sam is still snoozing.

Now, somehow in this situation, I need to figure out how to praise God. Stay tuned. I am going to go look this one up, let's be real, I am not feeling the love.

Cute Little Man

Sam,

I love you Little Man!

Mama

Switching Committees

This is Sam taking a nap in the camper on Friday. No, I didn't leave the lights on and I even pulled the shades down...my Grandma made the quilt, isn't it pretty?

So, Sam was pretty dirty most of the weekend...just like this!

We made homemade ice cream on Saturday night. We went thru 11 gallons!

We had a group come and sing. They sounded great and we had a good turnout.

This is church this morning. It was so nice outside. We met at 9am for breakfast and then enjoyed our worship service by the lake. We had plenty of shade and a great message.

We spent this weekend camping for our annual church campout. We did have the luxury of a camper and that was great. It was a hot weekend, but overall, it went great! We have been on the social committee at church for 2 years. This committee plans and mans most of the big church events. Christmas Dinner, New Years Eve, Valentines, Easter, Mother and Fathers Day, the church campout. We have really enjoyed the social committee and even more the couples we have grown to know better thru the committee. This weekend our church participated so well. We had great attendance for all the events, so the planning was well worth it! Our time with the social commmitee is thru, and now we move onto something that will take even more energy!

We have been elected (by the youth) as youth sponsors. We have talked about it and prayed about it and we are both ready for the 2 year challenge! We will attend bible study on most Wednesdays, gatherings on Saturday and sometime Sunday night (in fact Dan is at softball practice as I type). This is a great group of kids and we cannot wait to have a small part in helping them find/continue their relationship with God. Now, for this challenge I am reading a book titled "Holy Wow" It is aimed boosting youth ministry. We have a great youth minister and another energetic couple to work with, and as I mentioned before a supportive church ----so with that said and God's guidance---we are up for the challenge! So, we move from social committee to youth sponsors.

Pray for Andre

Please say a get well prayer for my cousin Andre. He has been sick with pneumonia. We went to the hospital on Wednesday to see him and he was crazy as ever!! He always makes me laugh, but mama says he still needs our prayers to to give his immune system a boost. Also, his Grandma Judy has the same bug - let' get her better too! Hop on over and visit Andre sight if you'd like, mama has a link to the left! I know, I sound pretty smart, eh?

FFF - Cousins

These pics were taken sometime last summer and it must have been a spur of the moment, late night gathering because Sam already has his PJs on. Dryce and Andre are 5 in the pics and Sam would be 18 months. They all play well together and try to include each other. This game is a long standing tradition at Sam's great-grandma and grandpa Graber's house. Playing basketball - the hole that the door makes with the wall is the basketball hoop. I remember way back when I first went to Grandma Grabers Dan, Darrin and Valarie would play this game. Well the cousins are loving it just the same. Over the years there were some broken dishes, but Grandma rarely scolded the kids. Grandma passed away in 2003, shortly after we moved back home. We miss her a lot, I know she would love Sam to pieces. Wouldn't she be so happy to see the greats loving the same ol game of basketball?

Indiana State Fair

Last Friday we went with Grandma and Grandpa to the state fair. It was the nicest I can remember it being. The weather was perfect. We spent the day visiting all the animal barns. The sheep were among Sam's favorite. Mama thought the horses were pretty cool. Daddy always likes the pigs. Grandma liked the horse races we saw. The best part of the day was an interactive "Day in the life of a farmer" that Sam go to do. He loved it! We finished the day with milk shakes at Steak and Shake and headed home!

Happy Birthday MonteLee...

Happy 5th birthday to my friend MonteLee...
Love,
Sam

Together Two Years

Two years ago today, we were preparing to leave to be united with our son forever. This was an amazing hope filled time in our lives. We waited so long to be parents, a family, and it was nearly time. As we prepared to leave, I recall being nervous that he would accept us, and be able to feel our love. Honestly, though, I feared how Sam would fit into our lives and our hearts. We spent years, and more specifically 8 months praying for this day. Why would I fear this? I was nervous that I wouldn't be a good mom. I wouldn't know his needs, he may never bond to us. My fears were more selfish, for this I feel bad. Here is this child miles away (on land) ready to come with us, a strange family, but my mind wondered to selfish fears...
Sam was placed into tour arms at 2 pm on Thursday August 16, 2006. Immediately my fears disappeared. God told me when to focus my thoughts, my prayes and my heart. By Sunday, with Embassy appt behind us, when the foster family came to visit for the final time it had sunk in. I wept. Sam was ours forever, but morever, this family, Sam's first family, the only family he knew were the ones faced with leaving him behind. They walked out as he watched - my heart turned to Sam's needs, frantically, I prayed for Maritza as they left the hotel and for Sam that he may find his home with us. I remember how easy Sam was - I don't recall a time of grief. He played, laughed, splashed in the pool, blook into our eyes as he took his bottle, spit raspberries as he ate and snuggled with his daddy, alot! These were all the things we had waited a lifetime to call our own and magically the fears we'd had melted away and we just were - a family.
We were so lucky to share our trip with our friends Chris and Toni -they surely helped us through this wide range of emotions! And after we realized all the years of waiting were behind us, we could understand God's perfect timing. Sam was safetly tucked into our bed at 2 am on August 24, the very day mom my had passed away 9 years earlier...
All of this helps me put the wait for Joe into perspective, thanks for letting me share. Thank you Sam for all you have shown and given to us in the past 2 &1/2 years, we are so lucky. I love this world thru your eyes.

Good mama turned bad...

So, last week this time, Sam and I were in the middle of our favorite time of the week! Wednesday nights we are usually giddy because mama has Thursdays OFF!!! We got out the playdough to begin the celebration. He thought it was cool for, ummm 7 minutes or so. This is the good mama part.
On Thursday we took a long walk and caught up around the house. Then we took a picnic to the park. The weather was gorgeous- {it looks like today may be more of the same!!} We played around on the equipment and had a lot of good ol fun! We enjoyed the rest of the day, the details escape me...and then bad mama came to town. I put Sam down for bed, we read our book, said our prayers and I tucked Sam in only to what? LEAVE ON THE LIGHTS....oh my poor man. Dan came home after dark and said, why is Sam's light still on and my heart sank. Was he still awake? No, but he sure had compensated. The last picture is what we found when we checked on him...
Good mama, bad mama - guess we all have our times...

Splash Park

We found a splash park and we loved it! It is a little drive from here, but well worth it. The best part? It is free...beat that!
My niece Jaelyn and nephew Drew and of course Sam had a blast. Next time we will pack a lunch, too - the playground equipment was nice, too - but it was time for a nap.

BC - Update

As you all know, we are simply waiting on a birth certificate to be issued. Once this is issued, we have DNA taken again, get a passport, DNA goes to embassy and we get an appt. to BRING JOE HOME....

Our coordinator emailed to say that the man who issues the BC in the region where Joe is from has finally been found ??? and he is reviewing our documents. Let's hope they are all in order. This is one roller coaster I will be glad to leave behind.

Little Joe

Meet Little Joe. Sam is so proud of this dog. Yesterday, in honor of Joe's birthday I took the day off work for fun with family. We headed to E'ville and made a build-a-bear for Joe. We all chose the dog, he was so soft and cuddly. Sam help stuff him by pushing the pedal and buttons. We kissed the heart and said a special prayer and Sam placed it in the puppy. Daddy and Sam gave him a bath. Daddy also chose the St. Louis Cardinal Jacket. Mama and Sam added the birthday hat. Pretty sure Sam understands that the puppy is for Joe - he loves to hold it and say "Ma, little Joe."

Thanks to both of my brothers for remembering my birthday - it meant a lot. We celebrated with my family last night at our favorite Mexican rest.- Los Bravos- yummy. Then I went walking with SILs Jill and Chris and my neice Blake. Somehow the keys got locked in the car so we were stuck in the parking lot - too funny.
Don't get me wrong - I had my share of breakdowns, but it was mixed in with all the fun - a birthday to remember.

Hope you love your bear, Mr. Joe...

Joe's Birthday Package

Joe,

We hope you got your birthday package in time for your birthday. It is filled with goodies that I hope you will love. Moreover it is filled with all of the hugs and kisses we could squeeze into a 1 gallon ziplock bag.

Love,
Daddy Mama and Big brother Sam

Happy Birthday Joe...

Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday Dear Joseph, Happy Birthday to you...Wish you were here, Little Man.

Mama is so proud to share a birthday with you, you have made this day so joyful. I cannot wait until we can celebrate our day together, birthday buddy. Until then, here is our love and wishes for a 1st birthday to remember. How lucky can one little boy be? A birthday in Guatemala and one in the good ol' USA - you know I won't be able to resist a party once you are home!

Joe's got a new look!

I have said it before, but these latest update pictures confirm it...we are going to have our hands full. All of the things that Sam has never thought of...Joe is gonna do not once but 3 or 4 times over!
These pics make my heart full of hope, this little man will be ours soon. He looks so happy and so full of mischeif - I cannot wait until it is all mine!
Did anyone notice that I missed Joe's first haircut? He does look mighty handsome...I must admit that I am sad that I wasn't there. There is always a first haircut here, right?
Now come on Joe - it looks like you are on the move - make you move on home to the US!