Heart Smiles: October 2009

Friday, October 23, 2009

ONE...

4:40 PM | Posted by Amie

Today I become a mama(in flesh, already been in my heart) … to ONE more blessing from God.

which means...

ONE more little face to the family picture.

ONE more setting at the table.

ONE more face smiling back at me in the rear view mirror of BIG MAMA!

ONE more silly song singer.

ONE more nonsense Joke-maker.

ONE more giggler

ONE more family dance party dancer.

ONE more little coat to zip.

ONE more snowman builder

ONE more lego tower maker

ONE more little artist who will create masterpieces for my wall.

ONE more to tuck in and snuggle with at night.

ONE more I will no doubt mortify and embarrass thousands of time throughout their lifetime.

ONE more to hug.

ONE more bed jumper.

ONE more snack sneaker.

ONE more chore avoider.

ONE more bus rider who waves enthusiastically at me out the window as If I am a ROCK star, as they head off to school.

ONE more bath-tub scuba diver to certify.

ONE more who will bring home flowers(weeds) to make mommy smile.

ONE more little stocking to fill!

ONE more cup of hot cocoa waiting after playtime in the snow.

ONE more who will no doubt teach me to love a little more like our Father Loves.

ONE more who WILL know Jesus.

ONE - hundred forty seven million, less ONE, orphan in the world

ONE more who will be given the chance to live to their potential

ONE more who will not cry themselves to sleep at night wondering what it feels like to have a family.

ONE more to love with all my heart….

Thank you Jesus, for every ONE of my blessings that Come straight from a Father who love is unconditional and infinite.

I am ONE blessed mama!

33 heart smiles

Monday, October 19, 2009

No Hands But Ours Giveaway!!!!

9:08 AM | Posted by Amie

Have you been over to No Hands But Ours lately? Several adoptive mamas have agreed to be contributing writers for the No Hands blog, and to share stories about their adoptions. For the past couple of weeks, there have been some amazing stories posted. Like this one, and this, how 'bout this one, Or maybe this one, and on and on and on. , There is no doubt that through sharing their stories, these women are going to help open others hearts to the blessing of adoption. That means more kiddos finding their forever families. Good stuff!!

I hope you will take the time to head on over to No Hands But Ours, and be blessed by these heartwarming and honest stories!

While you are there, why don't you take the time to become a follower. That'll make it even easier to keep up with all the wonderful stories still to come!

And as a bonus we will be giving away a Wild Olive tee a week, for the next five weeks. We will choose a winner a week from the followers list. The first winner will be chosen next Saturday, October 24th out of the list of 'followers', and we'll continue to do that weekly... with the last winning name being chosen on November 21st.

So head on over to check out No Hands but Ours. And venture off to the side and click on that followers widet and get yourself entered into our Wild Olive tees giveaway! And why not tell others about NO HANDS BUT OURS! You never know how many seeds you will plant!

See you on over at No Hands But Ours

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Life is Good...

2:57 PM | Posted by Amie

GOD is sooooo GOOD!

5 heart smiles

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Our Little Superhero...

9:50 AM | Posted by Amie

I have set up a private blog for Samuel's Journey. If you would like to follow along, please e-mail me at heartsmiles08@gmail.com. in the subject field, please put SAMS BLOG, so that I can keep the e-mails straight. Also, if you don't mind, if we haven't "met" yet, please tell me a bit about yourself, or if you have a blog, where I can find you! I like to know whose hangin' out round these parts!

Isn't he the sweetest??

8 heart smiles

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Keepin' it Real...

3:00 PM | Posted by Amie

We are less than 12 hours to Samuel Day!! In 12 hours Samuel will be with his FOREVER FAMILY!!!! one moment please......

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I am so much more nervous for him than I was for the other three. Because he is older, he GETS what is about to happen. Can you imagine how weird that must be for him. I imagine he is scared. excited. nervous. comfussed. sad. happy. overwhelmed. so many emotions must be going through that little big man.

Bless his heart.

He is sleeping now. Or maybe he is awake thinking about what tomorrow will bring. Does he have a little bag packed? hold on a moment, that just brought me to BIG UGLY TEARS!

Seriously. Does he have a little bag packed with just a few of the things that he has been able to call his own over the past few years? Did he bring a little picture of his foster brother whom he ADORES and who will be staying behind waiting for his FOREVER FAMILY? What about his friends at school. Did they write him little good bye letters? Or throw a party? Did they exchange addresses so they can keep in touch? He doesn't even know his own address. Did that thought make him even more nervous?

Does he worry that he won't be able to tell us what he needs? Does he worry we won't like him? Good news is on that one, he will figure out pretty quickly he has SO MANY people who LOVE him. At least he can check that one off his worry list right away. Does he have a worry list?

The night before travel day, the kids and I set out to shop for a few things for the trip. On the list we needed to get him some socks and underwear. As we were looking at the different types, I almost broke down in tears because I realized I don't know if he prefers boxers of briefs. And I wanted to get it right.  What if he is a little underroos brief man, and he had to wear annoying boxer briefs. Or worse yet, I went with the baby superhero underoos, and he is MORTIFIED!

Yes I realize he probably has bigger concerns than boxers or briefs. But, I want him to know I care about every.little.detail.

And then in all my worry, God reminds me that from here on out, FOREVER. He has a family who has been given the gift of getting the chance to know and care about every little detail that makes him who he is. That will be here to show him that all the little details that make him who he is, matter! And he will know how blessed we feel to be the ones who get the opportunity to get to know him. To love him. To call him our big brother, little brother, cousin, nephew, grandson, and son.

Man, God is just so Good!

So the coutdown to Samuel Day begins... T minus 12 hours and counting...

Please Keep our little big guy in your prayers. And as for the underwear, would you throw that in there too. That I got it right? ;)

:)

26 heart smiles

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The time has come...

7:30 PM | Posted by Amie

In less than a week, we will meet our son!!!!

What's that?

T.A.?

When did we get it?

You don't remember hearing about it?

Ummmmmmm..... (cough.cough)

Surely you have just forgotten.

What's that?

You wouldn't forget something that important?

You would remember if I had told you?

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....(cough.cough)

You remember the story. I was in BIG MAMA with the kiddos, out and about, shuttling the gang around to their different activities, when my phone rang and it was a number I didn't recognize. I turned down the radio, answered the phone, and realized it was my social worker from our Agency. I sat and chatted with her for several minutes asking her about her weekend, finding out what was new, how was her recent vacation,etc. Catching up. You know, girl talk. It was 5 minutes before I realized, she called me and she might have something she needed from me. When I finally stopped jabbering on and on long enough to let her get a word in, that is when she broke the good news to us that she was holding in her hands our TA!!!!

Say what?????????

Let me back up. We received our LOA on the 21st of August.... 6 months to the day we knew Samuel was our son. Did I ever mention that I love when important dates can be connected to one another. Given my memory issues, it helps for when I recall the stories to the kiddos. I get to tell both Samuel and Johnathan, that we knew on February 21st(a year apart from one another), on my brother's birthday(who happens to be one of the coolest people I know!!), that we knew they were our sons. That just makes me smile. anyways...

When we got our LOA, we went over all the scenarios with our agency about possible travel dates. We were told we would get our TA at the earliest in 4 weeks. And with trade fair, and Guangzhou being so busy, we would NOT travel in October. Not even a chance. I was cool with that. At least we had a time frame for when we were traveling. I was geared up for travel about the same time we traveled a year earlier for Johnathan. Suh-weet! Good to go!

So the news of TA caught me completely off guard! I had NOT A CLUE it was coming! HOW FUN IS THAT?? So after I heard the news, I yelled to the gang in the back... "WE GOT OUR TA!!!! WE ARE GOING TO CHINA IN LESS THAN A MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" And then the whole gang joined in. All of them. Screaming. Cheering. WOOT WOOT'ing. And there was even some celebratory dancing that was done.

And it was loud. very very loud.

This went on for about a minute.......

while she was still on the phone........

In my excitement, I MIGHT have forgotten she was there.

At least I remembered to pull the phone away from my BIG OL' mouth before I screamed.(i think)

And the other cool part of the story... it was on 9/09/09. (yes, less than three weeks after we received LOA! ) For someone who likes dates to be easy to remember, that is pretty stinkin' cool, don't-cha think? And I MIGHT have been praying for that. One , because it would get us to China in October instead of November. And two, cause it is just a cool date. And I am weird like that. But then, I forgot that I was praying for it, so it still caught me off guard when it happened. See why the dates are so important. Memory issues. ;)

So, it is probably all coming back to you now. The whole story about the TA, I mean. You might remember that Sam Day is on Monday, the 12th. Less than a week away!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's okay that it slipped your mind. You are busy with the kids, and stuff. I understand, and I take NO offense. Just as I know that you would take NO OFFENSE and still LOVE me if I were to, oh, I don't know. Just throwin this out there for an example.... say if I had been too busy and forgotten to share the news with all of you in the craziness. Cause YOU are cool like that. And we are friends. And that's how we roll.

So NO WORRIES. We are good! ;)

I think I really should get to packing...

Sam, lookout little big guy. Here we come!!!

p.s. I do not know why it is not allowing your comments to go through. So sorry!! I made a change to the account, so maybe that will help. You can give it another try. sorry!! :(

22 heart smiles