The cutest little boy is for adoption at our adoption agency .He is two years old. He had surgery for both Cleft lip and palate. He seems to be doing just fine now. He lives in China with a foster family from Holland, and is learning Dutch and English. This kid could be a star...his face has so much character. He is small, but all charm! Someone,please adopt him!

This is a very well made slide show of one families trip to Nanjing to pick up their girl in May of this year. It is a little long, but if you have the time well worth a look. They have older kids they took on the trip. When I begin to think we are a bit crazy (yes I know what people think)...well I see we aren't the only ones! Thank you Kirsten for the super slide show!!!

slide show here

One of the nice things about this adoption process is all the wonderful familys you get to meet on- line who are, or already have adopted. I got a post from one mom from Washington State who adopted her beautiful girl Maci from Nanjing (Sarah's children s home). She had the nicest things to say about the Nannys, and the children s home. It seems they really love and take good care of the kids there! I've heard this before, but it is nice to hear it again. Here is an adoption day picture of Maci, and a picture from today! She is doing so great!!! She is getting allot of love and good care at home! Thank you Julie for the photos! If you want to see their web site then click here.

How do you like my new music? L'Incontro By Andrea Bocelli
We are big Bocelli fans! My daughter Jessica (14 years old with autism) will not sleep at night unless we play a Bocelli CD. I am so happy she likes Opera and not rap! The poem is read by Bono of U2. The words are so beautiful.

While like a giant, proud and happy,
I take my baby in my arms, Fragile, innocent, and alive
And like a little bird he's pushing against my chest
Abandoned quiet and safe, for an instant, almost sweetly
My destiny appears to me like a dream

And I see myself, old and surrendered,
Seated there near the coal fire,
Waiting for the evening with the anxiety of a child,
Just to see him coming back home
With the gift of his smile, of his words and kindness
It's like a promise that can solve the enormous joy
Of one of his caresses

Then i wake up and I have already forgotten
But inside of me the kid's trapped soul advises me
That this new born child is already more important to me
than that of my own life....

I am sure all my children (Sarah included) are more important to me then my own life. It is amazing to me that God could give me so much love for a child I have not even met yet. But I have known for a very long time (maybe 20 years) that I had a daughter in China. I do not expect her to be a perfect "dream" child. None of my kids are perfect (and their mom is far from perfect). This is not why I love her. I choose to love her. I am sure it will not be hard...because she appears to be so sweet. But even if she makes it hard, she will be loved by me! I have reserved my time, prayers, money and emotions for her. She has her own bedroom and already too many cloths and toys. I really need to stop shopping! Juergen shouts AMEN!!! She has a special high chair (pictured above/child not included) and a place at our table. Now all we need is Sarah!

Steven Curtis Chapman song, The Great Adventure


started out this morning in the usual way Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last

I opened up the Bible and I read about me
Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say "let's go"!

CHORUS
Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure

Come on get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for

(Chorus)

We'll travel over, over mountains so high
We'll go through valleys below
Still through it all we'll find that
This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams

Yeah... oh saddle up your horses... come on get ready to ride

Wow! I received the following e-mail today! What a special surprise!

Dear Amelia Heymann,

We have recevied your package for Zhang Shui Qing,whom you will adopt.And as you wish,we gived the candy and chocolate to the orphanage caretakers and children.They like them very much.

Thank you for your gifts,Shui Qing like the doll and the cloths very much.You know,she Always love the dolls.

We are waiting for you to come to China to bring Shui Qing home.I think so as Shui Qing.

Nanjing Children Welfare Institute

Jiangsu Province of China

2006.06.27

Today my niece Lissa will marry Nate. Family and friends will gather for what I hope will be a really wonderful day (you never know with Oregon weather). Lissa is a really wonderful person, and it looks like she has met her perfect match!!! We wish them our heart felt Congratulations! God bless their wedding day, and God bless their new lives together!
I remember changing Lissa's diapers. She grew up so quickly! My own daughters are also getting so grown up so fast. Jessica will be 15 years old in September, and Nicole is almost 13. Nicole is taller then I am! Sarah is only 3 years old. I could easily be her grandmother. When Sarah is grownup, I will be "old". Yes, then I will be old! Hopefully Juergen will be healthy enough to walk Sarah down the aisle someday. I hope that day does not come so fast! I am so glad she is only 3!

I saw some of the USA -vs- Ghana world cup game. The USA lost to Ghana 1 to 2. Ghana is the first African team to move on to the second round of the World cup. I couldn't be happier too lose to such a glad and grateful team! I saw this sign in the crowd. God bless America, and let Ghana win!

Here is the address to Sarah's children s home. You should not send a gift unless you have a child waiting there.

My 12 year old daughter Nicole and I just finished the last chapter of the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. We thought it would take us at least 6 months to read all 7 books, but we breezed through it in less then 4 months! Now we plan to read the entire Bible together! In the final chapter of Narnia (The last battle), CS Lewis writes about heaven. He says ,"All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." We are living in the cover, the title page! Our lives are only a shadow of what is to come! My title page might be very exciting (and it is exciting), but this isn't even chapter one!

NANJING 2006

I read this great thought today...
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

There is now a new world cup fan zone Commercial on CNN, and they included Nicoles photo on the Commercial! I am really excited!!!

New Picture of Sarah, and her children's home.

Happy Fathers day! I am up early today to drink coffee with Juergen. His plane leaves early for Chicago. He has a conference to go to. We will celebrate fathers day a week late. I asked him to go to Target and buy Sarah some of those sleepers that have the feet. I just love those things! I thought about the time I would be catching a plane to the USA to register Sarah's adoption, and get her passport. We are hoping Germany will give Sarah a visitors visa, and that I won't need to make that trip right away. I hope I can bring Sarah to America for Thanksgiving. I know who Juergen will miss more when we say goodbye, and it won't be me. It is so sweet to think about him saying goodbye to his new sweet heart, Sarah. He is going to love her! I am too! I am glad I won't have to say goodbye!

"Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit." -- Bill Cosby

"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?" - Milton Berle

"Laughter is like changing a baby's diaper. It doesn't permanently solve any problems, but it makes things more acceptable for a while" - Unknown

"Before I got married, I had six theories about bringing up children. Now I have six children and no theories." - John Wilmot

"It is not economical to go to bed early to save the candles if the result is twins." - Chinese Proverb

"If your baby is "beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time," you're the grandma." - Theresa Bloomingdale

"Giving birth is like taking your lower lip and forcing it over your head." - Carol Burnett

"A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on." - Carl Sandburg

World cup Doughnuts

I am planning on sending a care package to Sarah in the morning.

We are sending her a back pack with an Asian baby doll, a toy cell phone that plays 10 different songs, an outfit, chocolate for the SWI staff, and candy for the kids. I also got two one use cameras and a photo album with pictures of the whole family. I am sending the package DHL. The cost should be about 32 Euros and it should take a week to 10 days to get there. UPS wanted 157 Euros for the same package. I got the address on line. Soon she will know our faces, and that we are coming!

Some facts about Nanjing (Sarah's home town). Nanjing, also called Nan-ching, and Nanking, is the main city on the Yangtze river Basin. It's historical names have been, Moling, Jianye, Jiankang, Jinling, Jiangning, and Tianjing. It dates back to 495 BC. It was the capital of 6 dynastys. It is now known as the capital of Education, Science, Culture, Art, and Tourism. It was also known as the capital of Heaven. It is a major transportation hub only second to Shanghai.

Exciting News, I e-mailed some of my kids world cup photos to CNN International, and they actually showed two of the pictures on the News! Wow!!! My kids were on international TV!
Cool, Cool, Cool!!!

Hi, I took these photos of the kids in the garden before the BIG game! Brazil won over Croatia
1-0. Croatia actually played very well, and very hard. It looked like Brazil was not even trying. I guess they were saving their energy for when they need it. The announcer said every member of Croatia's team had medical treatment in the half time, and none of Brazil team had medical treatment. The one goal was made by a young guy named KAKA (not a name you would want to have as a child growing up in America). When KAKA isn't playing football at the very highest level, he is studying math at the University. Cool!!! We let the kids watch the first half of the game, because it was past their bedtime.

Today's weather is

82 °F / 28 °C

Haze



Our new daughter Sarah lives in Nanjing, China. I don't have any adoption news. For family and friends following this site, I thought I would start posting some stuff I learn about her home town, Nanjing. It was the capital of 6 dynasties, and it should be an interesting place to go! Yes, we will be traveling there to pick up Sarah...so I am going to be doing research on this amazing place. Below is a link to the weather in Nanjing. It is called one of the 3 furnaces of China...I guess this means it gets hot there? More later, have a good day!

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/58238.html

• Well, I am sure you have already read the big headlines, Czech Republic wins 3 to 0 over the USA at the world cup! What, you did not get all destroyed over this big loss? I did watch the game, and I had a red, white and blue heart painted on my cheek. I found out that Czech Republic is ranked number two in the world, so actually the USA did not do too bad considering the level of team they were up against .
• I have no adoption news. We are waiting for our visa to come, and then our papers can go to China. I don't think we will travel until the fall. If we get to travel earlier, it will be a very happy surprise!
• Brazil plays their opening game in the world cup tonight. My 8 year old adopted son Thomas is a Brazil fan. I will try to post pictures of Thomas watching his team play! Thomas was adopted two years ago from Thailand. I got him a green and yellow rain jacket when he first came. He loves this jacket, and the colors. He did not know that yellow and green are Brazil colors. But we told him these are the colors of the best football team in the world. Well, he adopted Brazil because of their colors. Now he is becoming a big fan!!! It is really cute to see this Thai boy growing up in an American and German house cheering for a soccer team from Brazil. He is a citizen of the world!

Very cute video....

Germany launch World Cup in style

do you even know what the world cup is? It is the worlds biggest soccer tournament. It just began here in Germany, and will last for a whole month. Many Germans take their whole years vacation to watch this. Others pile up allot of debt buying big screen tv's for this once in a life time event. Germany just played the opening game agents Costa Rica. They won 4-2. I am sure most of America was not watching, but Germany was stopped! I brought my kids to Tae kwon do,and there was a big open air world cup party near by. We saw a few thousand fans, waiving German flags walking towards the party. Sometimes it is so strange living in Europe. My son Thomas is a big Brazil fan. He has all the gear. He has a hat, t-shirt, even Brazil shoes. They play their first game on the 13th. I am thinking of getting him Brazil under wear just for the occasion! See what you are missing!!!

The wait continues...and we probably won't go to China until September. I am checking airline prices, and trying to figure out if we can take the whole family. The good (cheep) tickets are of course selling out. By the time we go, we probably can not afford to travel! Sad but true! I found a sight that has very funny, and stupid videos. Something to get a smile on our faces as we wait.
http://www.stupidvideos.com/

Update: Waltrud is out of surgery and is stable. They got 3 of the four tumors out. The one tumor they could not get is very small. They may try to reach it with radiation. The doctor said it went very well. He did not disturb her brain. There was no serious bleeding. She should be able to recover well. They need wisdom about how to deal with the remaining tumor. Thank you for your prayers.
Hi, My wonderful mother in law Waltrud (good German name) has her brain surgery in the morning. The doctors believe it will take between 12 and 18 hours. They are now cautiously optimistic they an get all the tumors out (this is very good news). Please remember to pray for her. She is an extremely wonderful women. She actually informally adopted two 18 year old girls who aged out of the system and needed a home to go to. She is the mother of 4 (6 if you count the unofficially adopted girls) and grand mother to 17. Thank you for your prayers!!!

We are making some progress towards adopting Sarah. Today Juergen and I drove to Frankfurt (about one hour away) to notarize all our documents, and get finger printed for our visa. They say the visa should take two weeks (this is very quick...but their volume is pretty low being in Germany). We also fedex'd all our paper work to our agency (IAAP) in the USA. They should have our papers by Monday. We have to send a copy of our visa when it comes,and hopefully then the paper chase will be finished. Maybe our documents can be in China before the end of June? It would have been wonderful to be totally finished now, but we had some delays with the doctor, and We tried once to get our visa done, but the Embassy was closed that day. I guess there is still a chance we could go to China by the end of summer vacation...but more realistically We will be traveling in the fall. It feels wonderful to have gotten this far! I hope everything is in order! Here are some of the pictures we are sending to China of our humble home.