On the 7th day of Christmas....

my true love gave to me....

a double ear infection and the croup!  Yep, that's right ladies and gentlemen, the girl who always looks like this has been sick with one of the worst ear infections our pediatrician has ever seen.  We knew she had to be tough to have four older brothers, but, whew, this girl is REALLY TOUGH!

Tomorrow is our court date where we readopt ALL of the children at the same time.  We will swear in front of a judge to love and protect them for the rest of our lives.  The boys are excited about the judge part...they think he is like a policeman and will have a gun I think :0)  Samuel is excited because we told him he will have to promise too.  Please say a prayer for us tomorrow at 9am.

The littles had a Christmas recital last week which was super cute and we finally decorated the tree.  Believe it or not...ALL of our shopping has been done for a week!  Although I will admit shopping for five children is a bit of a marathon sport it was fun to try and get them both the things they wanted and the things they need.  We opted for Santa bags this year to cut down on the shaking and the competition of counting who got how many and guessing who got what.  So far, all the presents have remained intact...even dear Scott's who is dying to know what we got him.

We are also blessed to live in a totally cool and loving neighborhood.  Over the last three nights we have been visited by a different neighbor bringing the joy of the season and some baked goodies too.  We have also received some beautiful ornaments for our tree.  I must admit, I have missed being in a neighborhood.  The boys and I will be baking tomorrow!!

I will close by sharing some pics of our tree decorating and the boys recital.  We wish all of you a most glorious Christmas and the most spectacular New Year!!  God is so good!!

**turning comments back on...will not go private until after the new year.  Please send me an email at sheilarm29@yahoo.com if you would like to follow!

Christmas ornament

Several of you have asked about our ornament. I purchased it at a Hallmark store of all places. It is a white house with a red roof. The chimney has 2011 and a small heart hangs from beneath the house with inscription I mentioned earlier. I will post a pic soon!

Going Private

We have decided to make our blog private.  Our adventures of traveling around the world seem to be over for now and the adventure of living is just beginning.  We plan to maintain the blog for our friends and family who are not able to watch our children grow up close.  Our adoption journey has been an eye opening experience like no other and has strengthened our faith in God and in ourselves.  This weekend I purchased a Christmas ornament which said it all... "Forever Family 2011...held together with love".  We are complete and ever so lucky to be the parents of these amazing children.  Thank you God for giving us the strength to step out on faith.

Please leave a comment with your email address if you would like to receive an invitation to follow our blog once it goes private.  I will disable the comments so your address will not be posted.  Thank you so much for following our journey.

S7

At long last....a post

Life has been busy, but fabulous!!  Today we are celebrating 3 weeks in our new home.  We still do not know what to do with all the room...the yard sale and donation piles are growing as we refuse to "clutter" it up too much.  The boys are loving life with their own upstairs "wing" complete with playroom and bathroom just for them.  Sophie is next to Mama and Baba which is perfect for us.  Our country mouse side was fulfilled with our 1.4 acres with no chance of anyone building behind us and the city mouse loves the fact that we can walk or bike to town with sidewalks the whole way.  We have celebrated 2 birthdays (Scott turned...old, and Simon turned 9) and Thanksgiving and are gearing up for Christmas.

The boys are still doing wonderfully and have enjoyed Mama being off work. Baba is also home more now so family dinners are a nightly occurrence.  Sophie still amazes us with how easily she has adapted.  No matter how long she has been with us, we still look at her in awe that God gave us this blessing.  98% of the time  she is an absolute dream so I can definitely deal with the 2% crabby some times.  She has gained 3lbs and is dying to walk even though she is still now crawling.  I have to start back to work next week which is giving me the Mama blues.  But, I only work 4 days a week and have only 3 weeks until Christmas break.  I have found a nice lady to watch Sophie 2 days per week and Mom will watch her the other 2 days.  I am praying she knows this is not a "new mom" or a new family.  I feel she is attached to me and seeks me out but I am still apprehensive.  Prayers to ease the transition would be appreciated over the next week.

Now that I have a new laptop (thanks to Hubby and Black Friday), I am able to upload/download pics so prepare to be overrun with absolute cuteness!

"Homeless"

Well, it's official...we are homeless.  We sold our house last Friday and packed everything into 2 UHaul's (big uns) and my husbands car, oh and today my husband borrowed his Mom's flatbed to get the rest of the outside stuff.  A local church as been kind enough to let us park on their lot while we wait to close on the new house which we are really hoping is tomorrow.  We are currently staying with my mom in her little apartment.  She has been so gracious to allow her grandchildren to "take over" but we are ready to be back in our own home so we can finally spread out! 

Things are going wonderfully with Sophie!  The boys are all doing really well, especially Samuel who is totally smitten with his new sis.  She has adjusted beautifully with really no issues to speak of.  She sleeps through most nights but may wake up to take a bottle then goes back to sleep.  Our peds appointment was great.  She is small (15.5lbs) but she is very smart and has made great developmental strides just since coming home.  The care center took wonderful care of her but there are so many babies there waiting to come home it is difficult for them to get a whole lot of individual attention.  Here, Sophie has a mom, dad, memaw, and four older brothers to love on her...not to mention all of our family and friends.  Thank you again for all of your prayers and well wishes.  They have truly been a blessing.  We are comforted to know our family is complete...at least for now.  God has given us a sense of peace and we look forward to our new normal.

Now, on to what you really want to see...pics of all of the kiddos!!

Home!!!

We are home!! We are now a family of SEVEN!!  More to come later but we are all exhausted and in the midst of transitioning to this new normal.  Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.

Sheila

Freaky Friday

God has a plan.  One day I will accept this pre planning instead of post planning. 

Life is hectic right now.  We are still packing duffles for the trip to Addis.  We received lots of donations from friends and family plus our agency purchased over 30 cans of powder formula for the influx of malnurished infants.  We are so happy we can help but trying to get everything packed and keeping within the weight limits is a wee bit of a challenge. 

We are happy we will be traveling in a couple of days but continue to pray for all the other families still waiting, especially those we had the pleasure of meeting. We plan to take lots of pictures so they can see there little ones! 

On the home front, we have been blessed to have a contract on our house and have been inspected and appraised to every one's satisfaction.  And, as of today, we have a contract on a new house which will hold our new large brood.  We are hoping everything goes as planned so that we can celebrate Halloween in our new neighborhood. 

We appreciate all of your prayers and have been uplifted through all of the trials we have experienced over the last couple of months.   We will not have reliable Internet access in Ethiopia but comments are still welcome and prayers are especially needed as we travel and leave our little men behind.

God bless!
S7

Happy, glorious, uplifting, exciting, terrifying news

We will soon be a family of SEVEN!!!!

In the midst of all the worry and grief, God has brought us to the last chapter of our adoption journey. On October 10th, Scott and I will board a flight to Ethiopia to bring our daughter home! We are beyond excited and the boys, even Shepherd, appear to be excited also. Shepherd even drove Sophie's stroller around the house saying "Shepherd push Sophie". I am happy to have something to do and plan. I have made lists and had friends (with babies) check it twice. I want to make this as smooth as possible for her. Scott is excited to travel to Ethiopia for the first time. It is almost surreal that we will be leaving in 2 weeks and bringing home a BABY that's a GIRL!

Now, on to more nesting..... :0)

Sheila

Update - Thankful Thursday

I have tried to write this entry several times.  I have struggled with the burglary and all it entails - the loss of things and security as well as how to protect my children.  I have also struggled with my faith and the "why me" questions.  Of course it doesn't help to hear things like "Why do bad things happen to good people like you?" and "You don't deserve this.".  Well, no we didn't "deserve it".  I'm not sure anyone does.  And, unfortunately, bad things happen to everyone, not just bad people. 

It has been a few weeks and Shepherd and I are the only ones who still do not sleep through the night. None of our stuff has been returned although there is a suspect in custody.  He had just recently been paroled for...you guessed it...burglary.  We have a new door that our contractor guaranteed would break the arm or leg of the person who tried to break and down.  And, last week, my children played outside without us hovering near by for the first time.  So, life is returning to a fragile state of normal.  Fragile because we know how quickly feeling safe and secure can disappear. 

I guess Scott and I had lead a relatively risk free life having never dealt with anything like this together or in our lives before we were an us.  I can tell you there is nothing you can do to prepare for the violation you feel.  And, after much debate and soul searching, there is nothing we could have done to prevent this from happening.  We plan to ask friends traveling to China to purchase replacement items for our children in regards to CHOPS and jade pieces.  We can't replace the passports which will be a loss for our children but it is a loss we will have to explain for them when they are old enough to understand.  The other things had both material value as well as sentimental but my loss is more of the sentimental.  Each piece of my jewelry for instance was so much more than bling, it was a memory of places, events, and even history.  Many were one of a kind, hand made pieces I had had for years.  But, in the end, they are only things.

The biggest struggle has been with our faith.  Questioning why this would be allowed to happen when we have so faithfully followed God's plan for our family.  We have adopted four children in less than 2 years.  We were doing what we were supposed to, hence the "why me" questions.  What did we do wrong? The short answer is nothing.  The long answer is that sometimes we have to hit our knees to look up.  We looked up long and hard this time.  We asked for strength in order to be strong for our kids.  We had to be there rock and, therefore, God was ours.  And the great thing is, He didn't let us go.  He allowed us to grieve but reminded us what was truly important.  Our family was safe.  I had come home only a little early that day, but had planned to be home even earlier.  My delay "could" have saved my children.  We will never know the truth of what happened but I do know from life experiences that people who are desperate enough to knock your door down, crazy enough to break into your house in the middle of the afternoon, and confident enough to stay for a long while will do ANYTHING to get away.

So, we are till faithful and God is still our father who knows at times His children will stomp their feet and say "why" or "no fair".  But He is patient and understanding and, although it seems we will never learn, He has faith in US...

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us during all of this.  We have felt your love and prayers surrounding us.  It has truly made a difference in our lives.

Blessings

Devastated

We were burglarized today...there are no words for why this happened. Our faith is shaken but we are trying...to find peace, meaning, something...our memories from china as well as all of our gifts for the boys were taken...

Please pray

We have NEWS....the GOOD kind!!

Just a quick update...We received an email today from our case worker.  Our file has been submitted to the US Embassy in Ethiopia!!  We are thrilled that we are one step closer to our precious baby girl.  Can't wait to get her into the mix so she can set all of these hoodlums boys straight.  Keep those prayers coming!  We are so close!
Sheila

Bring Our Children Home

We wait... for the last piece of this puzzle sent from God.  We wait for Sophie and know that His eyes are upon her at all times and His arms will comfort her until we can.

We wait and enjoy the small bits and pieces we get to see as other families travel to bring their children home.

We love you Sophia Senait and we WILL bring you HOME!

The dog days of summer....

are officially over at our house. All of my children are now in school!! Woohoo!

One ran so fast I could not even get my traditional picture of him walking into the school. You might think he didn't enjoy his mother being home with him all summer!

Sawyer and Shepherd are going to the same school after much discussion and prayer. Always good to have Dad walk you in on your first day.

Shepherd - handled it like a pro complete with a "Shepherd School! Bye lub you Mama!" as soon as we pulled into the school.
Sawyer - not so much. He's going to need lots of convincing that a) school is a good thing and b) Mama and Baba will always be there at the end of the day.

It helps to have a teacher who speaks your language!

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes on this journey.

Sheila

1 down, 3 to go

The most glorious season has once again settled in the South:

School

Let me tell you I don't think I have ever celebrated so much!  Samuel had his first day of 5th grade!!  He tried to tell Dad and I that we would not be able to walk him in to his class.  Hmmph!  You can imagine how well that went over with me.  I plan to hold on to my first miracle as long as I can and explained this small fact to him.  We are both so proud of him and all he has accomplished both in school and with the acquistion of all of his brothers and sister. 

Now...if I could just get the other three started!  Come on Tuesday!!

Ignorance exemplified...

Person: "What do Ethiopians look like? Do they look like us?"

Me: (They have a 3rd eye in the middle of their forehead! What the heck do you mean asking me what Ethiopians look like?!)  Hmmm, I'm not sure what you mean.

Person: "Well, you know how it's OBVIOUS your children are from China because they look Chinese? I just didn't know if it was OBVIOUS that your daughter was Ethiopian."

Me: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, .....) Well, my children are all different ethnicities and they do not look alike; Ethiopia is much the same.  I guess I have never really thought or cared about what they look so I'm not sure how to answer your question.

Person: "Oh, well, congratulations anyway"

I know I live in the South...really, I do.  I also understand that, although this is a stereotype, in my experience, it has been earned.  And I know our choice to follow God's plan for our lives means we will get a lot of stares from strangers who find us to be a novelty or even disgusting.  What I don't know is how people in today's society can be so ignorant of the world we live in.  I also don't know how many times I can count in order to keep myself from turning into the over protective mom who will lash out at anyone who attempts to hurt my children. 

My children, all of them, are amazing gifts from God through fertility or adoption.  They do not look alike but they are all made in His image.  And, I guess if I am honest, so is the ignorant woman who made the comments that almost landed her on her...booty.  Amen.

A new name

A new title now graces our blog. We feel it accurately reflects our journey and the development of our faith through this entire process. We have been led by God throughout this entire journey. He has carried us and our children through every trial and set back. We are forever thankful for his love and grace.

You may remember...(part 1)

that in this post here, number 9 mentioned we had other news to share. As of today, we are now able to share our glorious news!!

WE HAVE A DAUGHTER!!!!

Introducing Sophia Senait who was born in Ethiopia.

We do understand that this is a shock to some. Last year, God made it clear to us that our daughter would not be coming from China. Our sons would be from China, but our daughter...well, she would be from somewhere else in the world. Where we still did not know but we felt a tug in our hearts from Africa.

When my mom had her stroke in July, we were certain her time on Earth would soon be coming to an end. She continued to pray that she be allowed to see all of her grandchildren that God had planned for us at least once. She would jokingly say many times - especially each time we told her of her newest grandson - "when are you going to adopt a girl?". But, once she saw the faces of our little men, she would immediately say we have to get them home as soon as possible because they were a part of our family. During an especially difficult time with her health, I knelt and prayed that God complete our family as soon as possible so my children would have the opportunity to know there Memaw. Later that day I spoke with my mom on the phone. After hanging up I heard God's voice say "Ok Sheila, it's time to find your daughter".

Admittedly, this both thrilled and freaked me out. What God was asking...no telling was for us to begin concurrent adoptions...that means adopting from China and "somewhere else" at.the.same.time. Are you kidding me?? We were already stretched adopting Sawyer so close on the heels of Simon. (For those of you keeping up with the timeline, yes, this is before God chose us to adopt Shepherd!) But, we had already learned through this adoption process that the very act of faith was one of jumping off a cliff with no idea what lay below. God, however, has caught us each and every time.
All of this praying and freaking out led to us doing a lot and I mean a lot of research on other adoption programs. Each and every time, however, we would come back to Africa and then to Ethiopia. There is a lot of controversy in the international adoption world right now. Controversy which centers around baby stealing, selling children, marketing children for profit, etc. We are not oblivious to this and no country is immune, even ours. To that end, we pledged to research our agency options thoroughly before diving headlong into an Ethiopian adoption. Our China agency had a program, but we did not feel led to adopt with them in any other program but China. We interviewed several agencies and spoke with several families across the US who had adopted from these agencies. We settled on our current agency with a Christian base and real people who had adopted internationally so truly understood the process.
We updated our homestudy and filed additional paperwork with USCIS. Then Mom had open heart surgery, the slowdown in Ethiopia hit and God sent us on the road to Shepherd and we thought, hmmmm, did we take the wrong "call" and misread God's intentions for our life? We resigned ourselves to waiting it out. We were strapped financially trying to pay for 3 adoptions at the same time and thought maybe God was giving us a breather...and He did. Until the day before we left for China.
I still remember our agency director calling, asking how I was, asking how things were going and then saying a bunch of stuff I don't remember because all I heard was "Are you interested in seeing the file of a baby girl?" My heart stopped. Was I, really? We were about to leave for China to get not one, but TWO boys. Are we really ready to see/take on/fall in love with a daughter at the same time? YEP!!! Oh, and by the way, did you notice her Ethiopian name begins with an "S"? Talk about a God wink!! But, there was a catch...of course. If we accepted the referral one of us may have to be in Ethiopia for court on June 17th. I looked at the calendar. We weren't coming back until June 10th. Holy macaroni! So, I talked to Scott and he said in his silver lining, trusting in God relaxed manner, "If this is our daughter, God will help us figure it out". And He did.

New addition...

As if our house wasn't full enough....



Introducing Sugar...or as Paula Dean would say "Suga". Sugar is an American Staffy mix from the McKamey Animal Shelter in Chattanooga. Most of you know we lost our German Shepherd, Ginger, in June to complications from old age. Our house has been quiet since then. We really miss having a dog in the house, well, Samuel and I do anyway. We just intended to "look" and see how the littles did but Sugar stole Samuel's heart. Simon and Sawyer really liked her too. Shepherd? Not so much but she is growing on him. She is not overly hyper but the biguns run her around the house and down to the barn which is exercising all of them!

My only saving grace is I don't have to share the bathroom with her too!!!

S6

Fun pics for your viewing pleasure