Fundraisers!!!!

We will be selling coffee through Just Love Coffee Roasters. This is an awesome organization which is fair trade approved. We receive $5 proffit from each bag of coffee we sell. Check out our store at www.justlovecoffee.com/TheMcKeehans. Please click on the link below Sawyer's pic. It will take you directly to our fundraising site. We chose this fundraiser first because they are an adoptive family and support adoption and 3rd world countries through this company. The coffee would make wonderful gifts for holidays or birthdays! Feel free to pass the link along to all of the coffee addicts you know!!!

Announcement!!!!

We would like to introduce everyone to our new son, Sawyer. He is a wonderfully, adorable 4 year old waiting for us in Qianxi County, China. He has a repaired VSD (hole in heart) and no other issues.





So, let me answer the questions I know you have.

WHY?

Because we are led....it is very simple to us and we have learned not to question God's plans.


HOW?

We don't know. We are still paying for our previous adoption and we are not rich by any stretch of the imagination.

We will be doing several fundraisers and would appreciate you spreading the word!!! We hope to have enough variety for everyone. We will also be applying for grants and interest free loans.

We are scared and nervous about doing this again, but we have faith that God has a plan and all we have to do is follow it.

Please keep us in your prayers as we tackle this journey once again!!

Still not very good at this....

I know, I know, the last time I said I would post more often, but...well you can see how successfull I was! Things have been going so well. Our littlest man is growing by leaps and bounds. He is speaking more in general and has now begun to speak in short sentences. He passed the Math CRCT which thrilled us! The test was in English and included several word problems so we were unsure of how he would perform but he exceeded all expectations. He made a 95 in Computers for the semester and earned the computer award for his class. He made a 90 in math. His ESOL teacher and his regular ed teacher are so pleased with his progress. He has been promoted to the 2nd grade for next year!! Yippee!! We will be working with a friend of ours, one of Samuel's former teachers, this summer to help Simon learn to read.

The brothers are doing well together, some typical whining and not fairs but other than that nothing out of the orndinary. We have been trying to work on completing our home remodel. We have trim, new paint, doors that work, and are working on flooring. We have listed our house for sale with Carol Potts at Remax. We really like her and she is working very hard to help us sell our house. School is out for both of the boys and they are looking forward to vacation Bible schools and lazy days. This is, of course, why Mama bought summer work books the other day :0)

Scott is gearing up at Chattanooga State for the grand opening of the Volkswagen Academy. My district has been hit pretty hard with budget cuts so we will be cut 10 days this year. God is good, however, because Scott was offered a part time teaching job back with the college he worked for a year ago which will hopefully make up some of the difference. We have just a few thousand more to pay from the first adoption. Oh, and we had our first home visit since coming home. Our social worker, Elizabeth, was thrilled to see that Simon seemed so well adapted and very happy! He even spoke to her and told her some of his favorite foods. He also told her he was happy here and loved his new family. Melted my heart...

We are considering adopting again. God has placed this call on our hearts and the boys (including my dear husband) are in a conspiracy against me. Much to my shigrin, they have decided we need TWO more children....we'll just have to see what God has in store for us. This first adoption experience has been amazing and we look forward to whatever the future holds.

We have our first hair cut next week (minus the one his classmate tried to give him the last week of school) and we will be having 3 teeth pulled soon so prayers would be greatly appreciated. His muscle tone is improving greatly as is his hand-eye coordination. He can now catch a ball and frisbee most of the time. Samuel is teaching him how to play football - it is quite humorous to watch.

I am sure I have left our loads but I will post some pics for you to enjoy and will try to catch you up again sooner rather than later.

God Bless!
S4 (4 now)

Wordless Wednesday

HOPE for Haiti T-Shirt by Wild Olive

The gals over at Wild Olive have come up with a beautiful t-shirt to help raise funds for Haiti. ALL, yes, I said ALL, proceeds will go to benefit Haiti. This is an amazing project so head on over and purchase one. Tees go on sale Saturday, February 13th.

Drumroll please....

I have now cooked 3 dinners in a row that my new, finicky child enjoys. After trying chicken and pork, both grilled, it was taco salad, followed by chicken parmesan (although tomato sauce was not a hit), and meatloaf which won me the prize!! Tomorrow will be lamb stew...we'll see. We are Americanizing him just a bit with good ole PB & J as well as Chef Boy-r-dee spaghetti! He loves multi-gran cheerios, any fruit we can throw at him, and ice cream - chocolate please ;)

We can now recognize letters through L although some are more solid than others. Tomorrow is review day so no new material. Through Google translate we have found out that he likes all of us, his room, our house, and the dog. For those who may not know, we have BIG dogs. Our inside beauty is a German Shep. who goes by Ginger. Outside we have two Great Pyrs, Bo and Belle. Bo weighs in at 125lbs by far our largest child :) Simon has taken to all of the animals. Today he even chose to walk Ginger on his own. I followed of course. Due to her advanced age, I have little fear of her taking off with him and I think she knows he's new to all of this. He is slowly improving his English vocabulary adding chickens, sheep, dog, and cat which are must use words.

Yesterday, we had a wee bit of a scare when the boys were out playing basketball. Simon's ball started heading toward the road but Simon wasn't paying any attention to where the road was. After yelling "no" multiple times with no response while walking swiftly behind him, I finally had to do the mommy grab followed by the very stern and loud "NO" and then several examples of where you could and could not go which was then followed by a 5 minute quiz of me moving around and asking him "yes" or "no". I think he got the picture.

So far things are going well. Thankfully he slept all night without incident so I am finally able to begin catching up on all of the sleep I have lost. I truly hope the pattern continues. We asked him today if he wanted to start school and he emphatically said yes. So, an LL Bean backpack has been ordered with his name on it, or at least his initials. Seriously, these things are worth the money as Samuel is on year two with his and it's not showing any signs of wear yet. And, let me tell you, my eldest is rough so if it can survive him, it can survive anything.

The boys also had a little adventure today and trekked to the back of the property (only 6 acres but it's a long way for little people :) They each had their weapon of choice in case there was the occasion to save the world. Boy habits are universal I guess. Oh, also "huh", rock, paper, scissors, whiping hands on clothes, and other things I will be sure to inform you of as I remember them.

Tomorrow is Friday...right?

Much anticipated update

So, after multiple facebook pokes and comments here about wanting updates - here goes.

First, my apologies, but the cameras have not seen the light of day since we got home. Sunday was spent sleeping until 11am, breakfast - he loves scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, biscuits, and mom's homemade strawberry jam. Dinner was not a hit - grill chicken simply seasoned, mac n cheese, and sugar snap peas. Oh well...

Monday - Scott had to go back to work and - God love him - he had to teach which meant he had to be at work by 6:30am. Samuel also had school and had absolutely no desire to leave his brother. Translation for mom meant two boys awaking at 3:30am both taking turns crying about different things until 6:30am when I completely gave up and began getting Samuel ready for school. Simon and I went to a very dead Wal-mart for a few can't-do-without groceries and a few more clearance clothes for him (still in a size 6 b/c a 5 is too short - we have a tall little Chinese boy:) learned to say and write A, B, and C and then spent most of the day disagreeing with one another about appropriate behavior. Jet lag and lack of sleep reared its ugly head this day more than I could care to imagine.

Dinner was pork tenderloin, scalloped potatoes, and sweet peas; again two thumbs down on this one :) Samuel had basketball practice and, although I am sure some people will disagree with this, we decided to take Simon. Samuel plays Upward so it is Christian based and laid back. The coach introduced himself to Simon and offered to let him practice. We tried to explain the situation but he advised he was aware and he was here to teach children basketball and God's word. He saw no reason why Simon could not participate if he wanted to. Scott and I gave each other the "look" that says "your call on this one ;)". We decided to allow him the opportunity to play if he wanted. We asked him and he said yes and ran straight to Samuel. First, let me say the young boys on this team are an amazing example of good Christian young men. They applauded despite the fact that he had no skill whatsoever. If he hit the ball once with his hand they high fived him and said good job. They were gentle with his feelings and accepted him as he was. We both got teary eyed when the director, someone I choose to call friend, came up and handed us the permission slip to sign for Simon to play and told us to "just sign". They were ordering Simon a uniform and wanted him to participate as much as he felt comfortable. No strings, no charge. God has surrounded us with amazing people and friends who add to our journey in so many ways. I thought he would be pooped, but alas, nope. He woke at 1:30am crying loudly, I hesitate to say screaming. I tried to calm him down but the language barrier makes it diffcult for us. So, it was another night up for mom. He finally fell asleep about 4am but I had no such luck. Samuel did sleep through the night, however, which was a blessing.