I've been tagged by Beverly to show you 8 things in my kitchen. First you need to know my kitchen is so small it can only hold about 8 things. I'm not really sure how I manage to cook for 7 people every day in this very small room...but it's what God gave me and I am grateful for my house!
1. I have magnets on the refrigerator. This big magnet is from OSU (Oregon State University). I graduated from OSU in 1984. I was 5 years old when I graduated!

2. I've got this cool coffee can from Israel. The coffee in Israel wasn't very good, but I love the can! I actually keep my ice coffee mix in the can.

3. I have this photo of Rick's cafe on the wall. I love the movie Casablanca. My brother is named Rick. I found the photo in the trash...waste not want not!

4. This is my new cast iron skillet. I just carried it home from America and I love it! It isn't washed because my facet just broke this morning. Here is Juergen trying to fix the facet!


5. This is where we keep the cookies.

6. This old wooden wall hanging came from route 66 in the good old USA.

7. I got this pig at a second hand store.

8. I have two sets of Staffordshire dinner ware. One set is red, and the other is blue. I plan to give these dishes to two of my kids (probably Sarah and Nicole). I got the dishes on E-bay . As you can see I shop at second hand shops, and on E-bay allot. I never (ever) pay full price for anything! I love looking for treasures in all kinds of places.

Those are my kitchen 8. My sister Shelley just started to blog. She has a very nice kitchen. It's about as big as my whole house! Shelley I tag you to share 8 things from your kitchen.


This is Shelley's beautiful kitchen, not mine!

Tonight she crawled into my lap and fell asleep. I could never imagine this happening 6 months ago. Now it seems so normal, so comfortable.

It's been one week since we started our trip home from the USA. Yesterday was the first day I felt like I was not in a coma. I felt so good, and the weather was also good so I worked in the garden. I of course over did it. My back hurts so bad today. I can hardly walk! I guess I've just go to exercise those muscles more!
Last night I read the last 6 months of my blog. I am so amazed to see how far Sarah has come. Our relationship has really grown. It is not hard for me to remember how sad I was, and how hard it once was with her. It was so painful, and now that pain is fading. She is now my daughter. She is healthy and happy. She accepts us and trusts us. It is amazing...just amazing!

The Star Fish

Based on the story by Loren Eisley...

I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise to walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.

As I approached, I sadly realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves," the youth replied. "When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea."

As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, strectching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear to me and I countered, "But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference."

The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, "I made a difference to that one."

I left the boy and went home, deep in thought of what the boy had said. I returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping the boy throw starfish in to the sea.

I just got to look at the new waiting child list at AAI (Adoption Advocates International). We used AAI to help us bring Philip and Thomas home. It is a really wonderful organization. They treated us great! They now have 3 healthy older girls on their list. One of the girls is 8 years old and very cute! They also have a baby boy (less then one year old). His SN is Hep B+. He is a very good looking little boy. AAI does not photo list their kids, but if you want to take a look then you can e-mail Ky at AAI kyaai@olympus.net. I wish I had more time, more money and a bigger house and car. I would adopt more kids! I told Philip and Thomas the story of what it was like waiting for them. I told them about how we prayed for them, and found them on a waiting list. We searched for them, and are so glad that we found them. I hope many of you are also searching for kids. They need families to find them...they get so sad waiting.

It's Friday and I sent Philip, Thomas, and Sarah into my sleepy garden to take some photos for you. Here is a slide show of the photos they took. If you have some photos your kids have taken then please just add the link to our Mr. Linky below. This is our weekly way to see the world from the perspective of our kids. I do believe their photography keeps improving. I hope you will join us in this little experiment.

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When we first got Sarah in April, she was toilet trained. She never had an accident. In fact she would come tottaly unglued if she had an accident, like she was afraid we would beat her or something! When she got home, she got busy. She also began to relax, and would pee her pants 4 times a day! I decieded not to fight with her. I bought pull up training pants. Sarah basically never used the toliet! Then she began kidergarten. In kidergarten you must use the toiet. So Sarah used the toliet at kidergarten, and pull ups at home. Now, she has decieded to only use panties...her choice. She has come home from the USA and decieded she would be a "big girl"! She has done all this on her own. She has been dry all week. I am very proud of her!

I do think they look a like!

Sarah wanted to dress herself for kindergarten this morning. She put on a bright orange shirt with jeans (so far so good). Then she wanted to wear her bright yellow rubber boots that look like bees. Then she topped this off with a leopard fake fur jacket, a pink hat, and light blue gloves. I'm very conservative in how I dress, and Sarah is clearly fashion forward! Maybe this is what you would call Asian chic?

The Waiting Child
by Debbie Bodie

I saw you meet your child today
You kissed your baby joyfully
And as you walked away with him
I played pretend you'd chosen me.

I'm happy for the baby, yet
Inside I'm aching miserably
I want to plead as you go by,
"Does no-one want a child of three?"

I saw you meet your child today
In love with her before you met
And as I watched you take her out
I knew it wasn't my turn yet.

I recognize you from last year!
I knew I'd seen your face before!
But you came for a second babe.
Does no-one want a child of four?

I saw you meet your child today
But this time there was something new
A nurse came in and took MY hand
And then she gave my hand to you.

Can this be true? I'm almost six!
And there are infants here, you see?
But then you kissed me and I knew
The child you picked this time was me.

Today is Wednesday and I have a waiting child for you to consider, or at least pray for. She is 6 years old and has Hep B. Her description reads, " I love to smile! I also like to play with dolls, play house with my friends, draw pictures, and read books. My favorite toy is a white rabbit. I like going to school and my teachers say that I am smart and I am learning to speak English very well." I think she looks allot like Sarah who also has Hep B. If you want more information about this waiting girl look HERE. I'll be writing more about the special need Hep B in the future.

My two sisters in the fish tank at the Oregon coast.

Here are some final photos from Oregon.

I started cleaning my house and unpacking. Philip slept all morning. I finally had to put water on his face at 1pm to get him to wake up. Sarah went to kindergarten, but she is sleeping now. I'm running on coffee but the coffee isn't working so good. I'm suppose to go to a parent teacher conference tonight . I don't think I'll be about to stay wake that long!
I fried chicken in my new cast iron skillet. I bought it at K-Mart for around $15.00. It's a Martha Stewart pan. It's real flat so I can use it on my electric stove. I'm trying to switch all my pans to iron because Teflon and aluminum are pretty unhealthy. I would have bought a whole set of iron pans but they are so heavy to carry on the airplane! I'm excited I could carry even one pan. I think Juergen fed the kids a steady diet of McDonald's and Pizza. I browned the chicken in olive oil then baked it in the oven. Thomas eat it like he was starving!

It's Tuesday I think? I slept through the night and so did Sarah and Philip. Sarah is at school, and poor Philip is still sleeping. It will take us a few days to get over the 9 hour time change. I always find it harder coming home. I have some more photos to post, and some more thoughts on the trip, but that will need to wait until I feel a bit more awake. It's great to be home. I missed my family, especially Jessica. I could talk to Juergen ,Nicole and Thomas on the phone. Jessica can not talk and I just miss her sweet self so much when I am away. She loved all the new videos and books I brought her. Her smile is so beautiful! I miss my family in America. This is the other side of this coin! I had a wonderful visit...but as always it was way too short. I'm just so grateful I could come . I hope some of my family will be coming to see us next spring. The thought comforts me. It will be a joy to travel with my parents and hopefully my brother and his wife down to Italy next spring!

I'm Home! I'm feeling really sick(I have jet lag, a cold, and some back pain) so I'll write tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers. Everything went very well. My next goal is just a few weeks of "normal" what ever that is!

I took my parents out to breakfast this morning. It was very special. Sarah was with us. Philip stayed at grandmas house to play with his cousin. An older man approached us in the restaurant and greeted Sarah. He told us that his daughter had adopted a 17 year old girl out of the US foster system. One day her new daughter came to her crying and told her she was pregnant. This grandfather said his new great granddaughter is the apple of his eye. All Gods children are precious and valuable! I love his attitude!
I'm packing to leave. We eat Mexican food tonight. Sarah can not wait to get home. Philip is still playing with is cousin...I have not seen him all day. I am so sad to leave, but so glad to get home. I miss Juergen, Jessica, Thomas and Nicole. Please pray for our flight. We leave at 1:30 pm on Sunday from Portland. I will say goodbye from Oregon...I'm going to miss my home!

It's October 6Th, and 17 years ago today I said "I do" to one of the most wonderful men on the planet! I miss you Juergen and I am looking forward to being home soon. I'm sorry to miss our Anniversary, but I don't mind telling the whole world how much I LOVE YOU! Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

Today my brother and one of his sons were with us. Philip is having a super great time playing with his cousin! Sarah helped her grandpa dig potato's in Grandpas garden. She is a hard worker! My brother and I had a wonderful long talk while our kids had a wonderful play time at the local pizza joint. Tonight my whole family is at my oldest sisters house for dinner. Shelley, my oldest sister is telling tales from her recent trip to China. She had a interesting experience touring China, Korea, and Japan. She was on a cruise and she got very sea sick. She also had a ruff time stomaching the chickens with the heads still on. Know one spoke English. It was interesting, and she tells the story it the funniest way.It's great to see everyone...the time goes way too fast!

Today we are taking the kids to McDonald's for breakfast. They have a very large indoor play area. I am meeting my old campus pastors. They are now missionaries in Spain. It should be a great visit! I hope the weather improves. My dad has a great garden but we have spent most of our time in the house. The kids are counting the days until we go home. I am of course mixed. I miss Juergen and the kids. I miss my life...but I love being with my family. For me the time passes way too fast! I could get really sad about this but I choose to just be here now. I only think in the now. I don't want to cry about saying goodbye!

I'll try to post some more photos from the past few days, but it's not my computer I'm using and the whole blog thing takes some effort. We are having a good time. Sarah is doing wonderful! Philip is getting home sick. I think he misses Thomas and doesn't like hearing English all the time. Today we are going to visit my Niece Lisa. Her husband runs a camp towards Portland. It has animals and rope bridges. It's raining so much, so I hope we manage to get outside!

Fran Seymore and Kim Perry if you read this note please e-mail me your street address to my yahoo e-mail address amy_heymann@yahoo.de
I owe you a care package and I can not find your address. Thank you!

Today we hung out mostly with my sister Shelley. We ate lunch and went shopping. The kids got new PJ's, toys and shoes. We were at Target and they tried on the Halloween costumes. We are almost over the jet lag. Almost...but not totally. Tomorrow we hope to just spend a lazy day at grandma and grandpas house. Both kids are doing good. Sarah had one melt down today, but we got through that OK. She is basically doing great. Philip is being a good helper. I'm super proud of him! I am missing my Thomas, Jessica, and Nicole. I also miss my sweetheart Juergen, but that goes without saying! The time is going by fast. It is almost one big blurr!

The highlight of today was lunch at a Mexican restaurant with both of my sisters and one of my brother in laws. My mom is feeling a little sick. I hope we did not bring her the flu! Sarah is loving grape soda. That's her absolute favorite stuff! I've got photos I'm hoping I can post tomorrow. Tonight I'm going to watch Extreme home make overs. I love that show, and we don't ever see it living in Germany. Someone should nominate our family for an Extreme home makeover European edition! I would love it!!!