Extension Granted

Long story short....our case worker decided (after 4 months of "finishing our home study") that Ji was not the right child for our family. This put us way behind on finishing our dossier. For about a month now we have been uncertain if we would still be able to adopt Ji. Today Faith International emailed me and the CCCWA has given us a 3 month extension. Ji is going to be our daughter!!!!

Tomorrow some of Julie's friends are going to visit Ji at the orphanage. I'm so excited and I hope they send me some more pictures. WE LOVE YOU JI!

More Party Pictures

Sunday Snapshot-Pumpkin Party

Molly's little friend Reese, who lives a street over had a pumpkin decorating party. It was all girls plus Timmy. They decorated pumpkins, ate lunch and hit a pinata. Even Timmy took a turn. The kids had the best time and Tammy took some great photos. Nice day!!!!

Favorite Photo Friday-My Brother

Here is Molly with her microphone giving a speech about Timmy. I guess she has seen something like this on t.v. We were dying laughing. She introduced him by name, told us he was from Korea, explained his heart condition, and also told us what he liked to eat. He certainly didn't mind the attention from Big Sis! I love how proud she is of him.

Picture Taking

I'm so funny about having my picture taken. It's not that I am so vain. It's more about looking at my own inperfections or thinking about how much I look like my Dad. Seeing Tim Cook in my face is painful for some reason. BUT when your precious kiddo has surgery and life seems a little more fragile, who cares! I want to remember this moment forever and I want to be able to look back and see myself in it too. I'm going to work on making sure I'm in pictures from now on.

Cutie Pie Timmy did well yesterday. 14 days till the "real surgery". Thanks for praying!

Waiting..........

Here is is waiting to get his heart cath. I'll update tonight or tomorrow about how it went. Sweetie Pie!

Pumpkin Carving

We carved 2 pumpkins this past weekend. Both kids loved it except Timmy didn't like pulling out the seeds. His hand went in the pumpkin only once! Then we cleaned the seeds, cooked them and ate them. YUM! Timmy now says the word pumpkin about 100 times a day.

Today is his heart cath so please say some prayers for him. It's at 11:00 and should be done at 2:00 or so. I'll update after!

Sunday Snapshot--State Fair of Texas

Can I just say....I LOVE MY COUSINS!!!!! Those girls (and Daniel) continue to be a huge blessing in my life and the lives of my children. Shannon called yesterday and invited the kids to the State Fair of Texas!!!! YEEEHAW! Timmy stayed home and good thing because they stayed for 8 hours. Molly got to ride tons of rides and ate funnel cake, the inside of a corny dog and "lots of coke mom". Look at all the fun she had!

So often I lose sight of the blessing in my life by thinking of what I don't have or what I think I should have (in the way of a family/parents). These girls and boy, SHANNON, MEGHAN, COLLEEN, MAUREEN, and DANIEL in so many ways fill that hole. Thank you all for the JOY you bring to my life every day by your texts, phone calls, enchiladas nights, movie dates, park dates, baby sitting, etc.........I'm sure I left somethings out :) I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH and my life would not be the same without each of you. I LOVE MY COUSINS!!!!!

Both Hands Fund Raiser

Dear Bloggy Friends,

We debated a long time about how to fund our second adoption. IBC does a great deal of work with Life Song for Orphans. In June of this year I happened upon their Both Hands Project and thought, WOW! This is something I could personally get excited about. Both Hands =one hand for the widow and one for the orphan. Think of it as a golf tournament but instead it's a team of us working on a needy widow's home. We do a weekend worth of repairs and raise support for our adoption. There are more details about the widow we are helping and a donation button on this link. http://bothhandsfoundation.org/bob-amy-meeker.aspx

It is my personal hope and prayer that this helps us bring Ji home. However, my even bigger hope is that our project is successful and that we can help others in the DFW area bring their children home. 1 less. There are 145 million (yes, I said million) orphans in the world. Can you help there be 1 less. If you don't feel called to donate please pray for our Ji. It's been a tough adoption so far and we just want her home.

Love to all,
Amy

Surgery Scheduled

Well, Timmy had his routine cardiology appointment this week. Turns out he came from Korea with two heart conditions. We were only aware of the pulmonary atresia, which was repaired before he turned 1. Seems like they may have left out his other major heart condition which is tetralogy of fallot. Left off the records and left without repair. Without another surgery NOW he would live to be only 5 years old. So, on November 3rd our precious little guy will undergo MAJOR heart repair at Medical City Dallas. Please pray for Timmy, otherwise known around here as small but mighty!

Sunday Snapshot-Timmy

6 Months Home-October 6, 2011

Favorite Photo Friday-Sunshine

Sunshine Meeker is the best dog ever! We love you lots little Sunny!

Also, today is Ji's 2nd Birthday! I have no idea what it looks like to have a Birthday in an orphanage. It's not something I can wrap my mind around. When Ji makes it here and we are praying that she does, we plan to make her 3rd Birthday something really special! This adoption process is very complicated so please pray that we will be able to adopt Ji and that our paper work (with the social worker) will some how finish in time. We love you Ji!!!

2 and 3

The longer Timmy is with us, the less he looks like a baby. DUH! Really, though he's losing his baby look and in some ways I think he looks like a little man. LOL! It almost looks like I have 2 three year olds!

Born!

Noel had her babies last night. 6 BOYS and 1 GIRL! They are gorgeous. I can't believe they actually start small! Our Zoey is 130 lbs and she was the runt.

Puppies

This is our Zoey's sister Noel. She is in labor and I can't wait to see the pups! I wonder how many there will be???? Sadly, none for me. 2 great danes is enough :) or at least that is what everyone else thinks!

Self Defeating Games

This past weekend I went to a one day Barnabas workshop. As always (and I say this sarcastically and thankfully at the same time ;) it's always helpful yet difficult to take a look at myself. This particular workshop was focused on self defeating games. These are the games we ALL play that keep us from what we really want, hence self defeating. The Barnabas Journey is having their full workshop in October 2011. I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a new direction or wants to look at patterns that aren't working for them. I went through it 7 years ago and it is by far the best thing I've ever done for myself. www.barnabasjourney.org