The weather outside is beautiful! It was almost too warm to wear a jacket. I have flowers in my garden starting to come up, and even some miniature iris blooming. I went shopping with my daughter Jessica today(she is autistic, but like a normal 15 year old girl loves to shop). We found this cute butterfly personal toiletry bag for around 4 dollars. I will put a hair brush, tooth brush, etc for Sarah in it! I am in a very GOOD MOOD!!! I am very hopeful we will get the SC form today! We are on day 87 of our TA wait, so it just seems right it would come today. I will shout it out if it comes! I have a new question for the Amy's Adoption Forum. I will find some kind of spring surprises to give to you for the best answer. What do you do to cheer yourself up? Adoption can be an emotional roller coaster! For example, today I am hopping for my SC form. If it comes I will be happy. If it does not come, I will need your good advice to cheer myself up again! You have one week to answer the question "what do you do to cheer yourself up"?

Adoption Advocates International has a great work in Ethiopia! To raise funds for their new initiative "The Year of the Older Child" they are raffling off this beautiful quilt. the tickets are $5 each. If you want more information about the quilt raffle click HERE! I am planning on buying as many tickets as Juergen will allow...The quilt is coming to Germany!!!

also read The Making of the Layla House Quilt.

"See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!"
Shakespeare

I know I'm posting allot today,but I also found this great you-tube video!!! I Love Andrea Bocelli.

Charles Dickens
To a young heart everything is fun.

“Some people enter our lives and leave almost instantly. Others stay, and forge such an impression on our heart and soul, we are changed forever.”
Author Unknown

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.”

Jessica's Loving words to me
(bragging post)

All that I like about you: comfort giver, patience, joy-maker, good words, understanding,
contentment with self and us, gifted for friend-love, crazy about flowers, garden fanatic,
colorful women's meetings, sleeping too long, understanding of sad hearts, deep friendship
for special people, too good for thankless brothers, valuable knowledge of autism, faith in God
and thoughts of peace.

- The loving words written by my 15year old Autistic daughter Jessica. Jessica can not talk, but she has allot to say! All my compassion I owe to loving Jessica. She has been my greatest teacher. If this is our week to share what we love, I love my first born daughter Jessica! I thank my God for this indescribable gift! She is sweet, and very funny. She has the very best, deep from the depth of your being, laugh! You could never imagine someone who is non-verbal being so loud! You don't need to be perfect to be perfectly wonderful! I always say my daughter Nicole is Bert,and Jessica is my Ernie. How could we ever get along without both of them?

It is only two days until Valentines day. I would like to know what you love, or how you met the one you love, or why you love them! It is all about LOVE! Tell us on my new Amy's Adoption Forum, just to the right of the page. To make it interesting,I will send a bar of the BEST GERMAN CHOCOLATE to the person who writes the best response on the adoption forum in the next two days! OK, I am bribing you to respond...it has come to bribery.I know you are reading,but it's a one way conversation (apart from the faithful few who always respond...and I LOVE you guys). I want to know my readers, it makes this more fun for me. So it will be GOOD CHOCOLATE for the best response on the adoption forum to the right of the page!!!
PS. I will have Juergen be the judge. He likes funny stories (just a hint).

China's rich spend big to celebrate Valentine's Day

A panda cub peers out from a cage at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, in Wolong, in China's southwestern province of Sichuan. I love these beautiful animals! I've only seen them at the San Diego zoo. I always thought they were much bigger then they are. That's what people always say about the Mona Lisa.But they are both works of art!!

Chinese lifespans to jump 13 years

I love good coffee, old movies,chocolate, flowers,sleeping in, and hot baths! What do you love? Tell us on Amy's adoption forum (on the side bar)!!!

I also added a Babel fish translation feature on the side bar. If you just click on a country flag, you can see my blog in that language.My blog in German and Chinese! It's really cool!!!

Hi, I just joined 5 Minutes For Mom.It is an online site to inspire an teach Mom's, and will also help me improve my blog.They sent me a link to a 20 page printable coloring book. The link is HERE. If you have small kids, it's always nice to have some pages for the times you wait(in the DR office, restaurants, etc).

I made this just for the fun of it. If someone wants to try to use it to raise some adoption funds, let me know. You could try selling it at Cafe press.

It's after midnight in Germany. I need to get up in the morning because the kids will want to eat, and Juergen isn't here to feed them. He is at his parents house for the weekend! Here is a too funny video I found on another blog. It is about Asian Chicken Salad!

Why am I changing the look of my blog again? It is easier then moving all the furniture in my house around, and it's easier then painting all the walls! If you know what I mean!!!

I took Philip to the eye Dr this morning. We past a card shop. The shop had 3 ladybug post cards on display. I saw it as a very good sign. I've heard the TA comes when you start to see Ladybugs. If you want me to mail you one of these cards, Leave me your e-mail address on my comments. Don't worry, I will delete the comment right away. The first 3 people that e-mail me with a address will get a ladybug post card from Germany!



Update: The winners are The Waala family, The Girvin family, and the Gunderson family! This was fun! Maybe I will do this again next week!!! In the mean time, post your love stories on the forum. It does not need to be about your romantic love, tell us about your kids, first car, your dog! Come on let's hear it!!!

2ND Update:The cards went in the mail today!!!How fun!

"I'm officially completely done being patient "! I got this from another waiting mom who has the same log in date. I am doing OK at the moment...but it sure is an emotional roller coaster! My friend, and fellow waiting mom Deb wrote, "Amy, hang in there. Just imagine that this is the world's worst case of labor pains-and remember you'll forget all about the agony once she is home!" I hated being pregnant with my girls. I got sick, I gained weight, I could not sleep well, and I spent a very large amount of time in the bathroom. At least you had a reasonable idea of how long this thing was going to last(give or take a few weeks). I think the not knowing when is one of the hardest parts of the adoption process. You hope for the best, but have to hang in there...and just keep hanging in there!

Amy's adoption Forum
Hi, I just added a little forum on the side of the page. Feel free to ask me a question. I also asked you a question. Tell me a love story! I just shared how I met Juergen. How did you met the love of your life? When did you fall in love with your adoptive child? I had to grow to love both my sons...it happened over time.

I just got these beautiful new photos of Sarah taken on her 4TH birthday! Thank you so much Sue and Jodi!!! I want to write you'll never know how much these pictures me to me, but I know because you waited for your own children, you already do!

Thank you for the encouraging e-mails, comments! When you find yourself falling into a pit of self pity,it is always a good idea to cry out for help! Sarah is still not with us, but I know I am not alone! Thanks! I got a good idea from a women on one of my Yahoo adoption groups. She said she gave her waiting child a party anyway...and that helped her feel better. I decided to do that! I ran over to the food store and got a strawberry cream cake, candles, and balloons. We eat cake, and painted Sarah some birthday pictures. Even Thomas got into it! Here is a short slide show of the 4TH birthday party for our Sarah sunshine! I also added a video of the kids singing Happy birthday, but you mostly hear our dog Mickey in the video! Keep the good wishes coming, you really lift my spirits!

Hi, It is Sarah's birthday. I am as you can imagine a bit down because she is not with us. I comfort myself with the idea she will have a very nice birthday party next year,God willing! Last night we gathered around our dinner table to pray for Sarah and her birthday. Thomas (adopted when he was almost 7) looked jealous. He left the table, and went into the other room. It kind of upset me. After almost 3 years with us he still often only thinks of himself. I was praying about it. I got a picture, or impression of what was going on. If you have a bucket, and you pour water into it, at some point the bucket gets full and overflows. Thomas is like a bucket full of holes. We pour our time, energy and love into him, and it never seems enough because there are holes in his bucket. Now the big question is, how do you patch up the holes? Is this something we can do, or does God need to heal my son of these holes? I know many of my readers pray, and I would be grateful if you would pray for Thomas. Over all, he has come a very long way. He has grown so strong, and we are very proud of him. Still, we can see that there are holes that need healing. I want him to be happy for Sarah, not jealous of her. I desire him, and all my children to welcome her in, realizing we have more then enough love to go around.
Please sign Sarah's birthday card by leaving a comment on the post below.Thank you for your good thoughts, prayers, and wishes. It has been a long journey to Sarah, but it won't be long now...we are almost there!

PS. I thought I should try to use this post to educate future parents of adopted or biological kids. We wait for our kids to be born, or to adopt them. We dream, plan, and hope. When they come, they have issues of growth you need to deal with as a parent. I have both biological and adopted children and can assure you they all have issues of growth. Raising kids is a process. I think jealousy is not an issue unique to adopted kids. It is just our present issue with him. I guess I just want people to understand that adopting kids means they don't arrive perfect! Sarah won't be perfect either! It is a process. I can not wait to begin that process of growth with Sarah. Today, and everyday I am thanking God for all the amazing children He has allowed me to raise. I was not strong enough in my praise of my son Thomas.He has had the greatest mountains to overcome. He is a brave and precious soul. He will be a great Big brother! I am sure of this! Again, I thank you for your prayers.

Yesterday is history,
tomorrow is a mystery,
and today is a gift;
that’s why they call it the present.
Eleanor Roosevelt

I just made Sarah this birthday card. If you want to leave Sarah a birthday wish, just post a comment or sign our guest book. Tomorrow she turns 4 years old. I wish I was with her,but I look forward to next year. Next year,God willing, we will have a party!!!

To my own personal cheerleader in Oregon, Go Kristy Go!!!Sweetheart, you mentioned the word "Poop" in your most recent post! Scandalous !!!Her post on doing all to the glory of God!!!

Tomorrow is Sarah's 4TH birthday. It occured to me that today was the last day she spent with her biological family.Her mom probably did not know if she was having a boy or a girl.In China it is not legal to reveal the sex of a child before it is born. I am sure Sarah's mothers emotions were mixed as she went into labor. If Sarah had been born a boy, she probably would have been kept by her parents. Her birth would have been a great and happy day. Along with the pain of birth, her poor mother had to deal with the hope of being able to keep this child -vs- the fear of needing to abandon her. Since the Chinese only allow their people to have one child, a great number of Chinese feel that one child must be a boy. But our perfect and beautiful Sarah was born a girl. On the day of her birth she was wrapped in a blanket, and placed on a bench near a water treatment plant. Her Chinese name means "pure water". I think about Moses, whose mother needed to place him in a basket and put him on the water...only being able to pray he would have a future. I feel like many other adoptive parents feel. I wish I had a way to let them know their child would have a future. They would be greatly loved! Sarah's biological parents created a beautiful child. I am deeply honored I will be allowed to raise this amazing Child! God bless her parents, God comfort them, and bless their future.
I posted this video last March, but it reminded me of today.

Adoption1
Video sent by ludo

When you were watching the "Big" game I was giving my blog a new look. I could not figure out how to change the background with my own background, but I did manage some nice changes anyway (if I do say so myself)! Actually, we don't get the super bowl in Germany. I think I could have watched it on cable, but I don't have cable TV. I watch soccer now! We followed the world cup last summer. I have not seen an American foot ball game for years. I use to be a big fan! Here is an old photo of me as a high school cheer leader at Corvallis High school! I did look up some ads from super bowl 2007, they are already on you-tube. Here is an ad I thought my kids would love. I like the coffee patch. Stay warm in the Midwest!!!

Here is a 3D text banner creation tool 3D TextMaker.Com

Mr Picassohead

Approximately 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are sent each year.

In order of popularity, Valentine's Day cards are given to: teachers, children, mothers, wives, and sweethearts.

The expression "wearing your heart on your sleeve" comes from a Valentine's Day party tradition. Young women would write their names on slips of paper to be drawn by young men. A man would then wear a woman's name on his sleeve to claim her as his valentine.

If you click on the pictures they get big,and you can print them as V-Day coloring pages.

Here is a 2006 FedEx Super Bowl Ad. They must have used DHL! As some of you know, our adoption agency used DHL and our paper work got lost!! I felt like I was stepped on by an elephant, and I wanted to kick a dinosaur! But that's History!!!

HERE is a cool web site for kids travel games!

I took this picture of Philip with his good friend Louis almost 5 years ago. They were so cute when they were 4 years old! Now they have gotten so big, and grow so independent! Sarah turns 4 years old on February 7Th. I am looking forwards to another cute 4 year old in the house!

Ryan is now on hold for a family!!!

Phil did not see his shadow on Friday which, according to German folklore, means folks can expect an early spring instead of six more weeks of winter.The Germans believed that if a hibernating animal cast a shadow on February 2 -- the Christian holiday of Candlemas -- winter would last another six weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.

So far no SC form for me. My friend Denise got her TA yesterday. She travels at the end of February or early March. Juergens parents are not doing very well,health wise. I see now that it is good for us to be in Germany for now. I think even if we got our TA,I think we would still wait until April to travel. All the signs are pointing in this direction. I would like to say I am sad about this. On the one hand I am. I long to have Sarah home. Right now my thoughts are moving towards Juergens parents. They are pretty fragile right now. Juergens dad (Richard)needs heart surgery (he is 79 years old), and his mom (Waltrud, good German name) just had brain surgery. They did not manage to remove all the tumors(it was her 4Th surgery). We need a miracle for Juergens Mom. She is the most wonderful women. I love her deeply. I thank you for lifting them up in prayer. I think Juergens dad Richard will be OK, but he is so worried about his bride!

Well, so far today no SC form for us. I did get e-mail just now from my very good online sister Sydney. They have waited longer then anyone I have heard of. Well over 100 days, more like 150 days for a TA. Today they finally got the SC form. They more then deserve it!!! God has a plan for their new son. This adoption has been a miracle from the start! I expect to hear amazing things from this wonderful child!

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else,
you will have succeeded.
Maya Angelou

I opened a fortune cookie today. It read Eine kleine Überraschung erwartet Sie! translated from German that means, a small surprise awaits you! I sure hope that means my SC form!