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!!!

Both kids are loving it here. Sarah loves the fuzzy cover grandma has on her toilet seat. She loves chips and salsa. She has taken well to her grandpa. She absolutely loves her aunt Dianna. She loves looking at pictures with grandma. She loves chasing the cat. It"s very good to be home!

We had a good sleep. We went to bed at 6pm and slept until 1am. Then we went back to bed and slept until 5:30am. I went shopping with my sister Dianna this morning. I reached into the car to help Sarah out and I pulled a muscle in my back. I am in allot of pain. There are a number of conspiracy theories in the USA. My dad says I hurt my back just so I don't have to go to the basement to get his clean laundry(he is just kidding). It is kid of sad, my back is in pain, my sister also has a sore back and my mom has a bad knee. I hope my back gets better fast. I just am so tired and my muscles are cold and over tight.

My mom who has hurt her knee and my sister Diana were at the airport to pick us up. Sarah ran to her grandma and gave her a very big kiss. We were hungry so we stopped at Denny's on the way home. I wanted pancakes. I always seem to miss the pancakes with maple syrup more then anything. Strange what a person misses about home. After the lunch I wanted to give my new credit card a try to see if it work in the USA. I've never used it before. There was an older man sitting alone at the counter ordering his lunch. He looked pretty scratched up and a bit dirty like a homeless man. I though he was coming in from the rain that had begun to fall in buckets. I felt like God told me to pay for this man's lunch. I did not question it. I just did it. When the cashier gave me my total I immediately told him to add this man's lunch to my bill. The man looked at me in a surprised way and asked why. I said I just came home and I am feeling very happy. I just want to do this. He said that he saw 2 hungry people just yesterday and he gave them $20. I then said that the good thing he just did was coming back at him. He said "God bless you". His eyes were very intense. I think I was looking into the eyes of an angel. I would not be surprised if he really was an angel!

When we arrived in Portland, Sarah became an American. She already has German citizenship. We got pulled aside to go to the secondary screening room with all the Arab men under the age of 40. Poor men...but I can understand the need to double check these poor guys. Sarah now has an American citizen visa stamped into her Chinese passport. I will return with her to Germany using her German passport. It was a very exciting moment to me when Sarah became a citizen, but the security officers didn't even say congratulations. I guess that was sort of a let down.

Hi, We made it to Oregon and Sarah is doing great!!! She cried for about 20 minutes at the security gate...I was little worried. She snapped out of it and got excited about her trip. Philip and Sarah were just wonderful on the flight. It was long and boring, but I had a big bag of surprises I just kept pulling out. We had a small gift of Lego, a set of paper dolls, fun new Tiger candy etc. There was a pretty cranky old women sitting directly in front of Philip. She yelled at poor Philip once on the fight because he bumped her seat when he was digging into his back pack. I guess no kid would be good enough for this women. Every time I took the kids to the toilet one or two of the other passengers would complement the kids on their good behavior. You all know I was worried...I'm so glad Sarah did super great! Thank you very much for your prayers!

Good News! The little boy Joey who needed a family, two posts down has found a family! His file is on hold! Dreams can come true! Praise God!!!

My oldest autistic daughter Jessica got me up at 5am. I couldn't get back to sleep. This morning I started to vomit. I guess the head cold has decided to become a flu. Great! I had some stupid last minute shopping to get done. I was standing at the check out counter and the cashier asked me if I was OK. I felt very hot, and almost like I would pass out. I managed to pick Sarah and Philip up from Kindergarten and school. I wanted to just sleep this afternoon. Sarah is sleeping. Philip is very anxious about the trip and keeps getting into trouble. I keep hearing "Mom"!!! "Mom"!!! I finally gave up on the nap. I've got to drive Thomas to his drumming lesson anyway. When Sarah was very tired before this nap, she stood at the front door with her back pack crying for the airplane to come. I guess that's a good sign. Please be praying for our health, and our flight. Thank you!!!

A friend of mine sent me the information about this beautiful boy waiting for a family. he needs his family fast because his file is about to be returned to China. There is a large grant available for his adoption. He has burn scars on his body, this is his special need. It seems he is very sociable. They say he can make friends with anyone in 30 minutes. If you are considering adoption, maybe this is your son? If not, please really pray for his family to find this special boy! Thankyou. You can read more about him Here and also Here.

(this is from the LWB newsletter about this little boy)
"we were going to do a heart surgery for one little girl in this orphanage, and so I asked for a photo of her so that we could raise funds. This orphanage didn't have a lot of nice clothing, so for this special photograph they wanted the little girl to look nice. Another little girl in the orphanage, named Yan, who was just three years old, had been given a beautiful red coat by a volunteer, and she loved that red coat and wore it all the time. The aunties went and took off her red coat to put on the child with heart disease for her photo, and Yan burst into tears crying. The aunties scolded her and said, "Yan, you must share your red coat...don't be selfish", but Yan kept crying and crying and kept trying to climb over the gate to get out in the hallway where the photo was being taken. Finally one aunty had heard enough, and so she walked over to Yan to take her back into the room. As she got closer, she realized that Yan was NOT crying because the other little girl was wearing her coat. No, not at all. Yan was crying while saying over and over, "take MY picture...please take MY picture. I want a family....take my picture so I can have a family, too. "
You see, at the ripe old age of three, Yan had already learned that the only way a baby got a family was by having her picture taken first. And she wanted a family of her own so badly, that she was crying to her aunties to please take her photo, too.
I wanted to share this story because the reason I am so sad that Joey hasn't found a home yet doesn't have anything to do with the fact that we told his orphanage a family would be found, or that we told provincial that certainly there was a family for him. I am sad thinking about Joey because I know exactly what happened when they prepared his adoption file earlier this year. I have been in orphanages when they do the files, and each and every time the aunties try to make the kids look at cute as possible. They say things like, 'smile pretty so a family will pick you." I am sad when I think about Joey's file, because I know he had probably gotten used to the idea that there would not be a family coming for him because of his burns....and then we went and placed hope back into his heart. I am sure he knew exactly why the orphanage was taking his photos that day, and I am sure the staff told him to look as handsome and clever as possible so that a family would choose him. Tonight I am thinking about this handsome little boy who is probably wondering each day now if his photo was good enough for a family to choose him."

We adopted our son Thomas when he was 7 years old. There were only a handful of "older" kids still waiting in the orphanage when we picked Thomas up. You could see the pain in their eyes. They were happy for Thomas, but they could not hide the hopelessness they felt. It is easier to adopt a younger child...but every child needs a family. No child should have to grow up unwanted and unloved!

Tagged...

I was tagged by Cannon fish bowl to answer what I slept with as a child, and the strangest food I eat. I had a very big stuffed bear named Smokey. He got very loved by me! My Mom through him away with out my knowing it. That made me very sad. I always ask my kids if I can get rid of stuff. I use to love Underwood deviled ham on crackers (when I was a kid). Once a friend of mine and I decided after church to buy Underwood ham and crackers for lunch. We were both in our late 20's. It was not what I remembered! It tasted like dog food on crackers!!! I actually love all kinds of food some people would think strange. I feed my kids sushi, squid, curry, .... They all have pretty sophisticated taste. I finally got Philip hooked on salad, now we are working on Thomas. To the boys, vegetables are strange food! Sarah loves French cream cheese with herbs, and also fine chocolate.

My brother in law tagged me to answer a two thing questionnaire. That was two weeks ago. I was too busy to get 2 it! So Paul here are my 2 thing answers...

Two Names You go by
Amy and Amelia
Two of Your Favorite Things to do
Sleep and drink coffee in bed
Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment
to get Fridays flight behind me, and to eat Mexican food in Oregon
Two pets you had/have
Mickey our dog, Tom the cat(he ran away 4 months ago but I saw him yesterday)
Two things you did last night
I read with my boys and I went to bed early because I'm sick
Two things you ate yesterday
I eat chicken for lunch and German bread for dinner
Two people you last talked To
I talked to Juergen on the phone and Philip here at home
Two Things You're doing tomorrow
I hope to get my hair cut and we may have a good friend from Israel over to eat dinner
Two longest car rides
Oregon to Arizona(24 hours)
Germany to the South coast of France(only 16 hours but with kids)
Two Favorite Holidays
Christmas and My birthday!
Two favorite beverages
Coffee with milk and black tea

A few people asked to see pages of Sarah’s book. It is simple, but 23 pages long so I do not want to scan the whole book. Here are a few pages from the book. Someone also said I should raise money by making special books for other kids. Personalized books. I will have to give this some thought. Nicole and I want to go to Mexico next summer to build a house for a poor family. We need to raise money for the trip, but we also want to sponsor the building martial for a house ($5000). Maybe making personal books for traveling families might be a way to raise part of the building martial money. I'm trying to teach Nicole to give to the poor and go help the poor. She is 14 years old. She has a compassionate heart.

I just bought a DVD teaching series called Fit(Frauen in training). There are DVD teachings by 15 very dynamic women of God on different subjects to help strengthen spiritual life. It happens to be in English and German. I may just go through it with some local friends. Any way, I was listening to Pat Harrison teach on the Holy Spirit. She talked about meditating on the Bible. The Holy Spirit would help remind us of the words of God later when we need it. Then she explained that most of us know how to worry. Worry is to think about a problem, or fear over and over again. Meditation is just the opposite. It is to think on the word of God over and over again. I know I have been worrying allot about this up coming trip with Sarah. I am trying now to meditate on Gods goodness, his help and his grace. Sarah wanted to bring her traveling to Grandma and Grandpas house book with her to kindergarten today. She wants everyone she knows to read it to her. Her attitude is so good. The book was not my idea. I prayed, and I felt like God gave me this idea.

When I picked Sarah up from kindergarten an over whelmed and probably still sick Sarah collapsed into my arms and began to cry. Her teacher said there was a very big party to celebrate all the September birthdays. There are 6 groups of kids (about 120+ kids) that came together. It was loud and Sarah probably was overwhelmed. She is also still sick. She fell asleep on Philip's bed before lunch. She doesn't have a fever (praise God) but she has slept for 3 hours so far. I think sleep is the best thing for her little body. I guess that's just one more pre trip prayer request. Please pray for our health. I also feel pretty run down...but that could just be a lack of sleep and stress. Going home to visit my family shouldn't be such a big stress....it's just taking my Sarah away from her very loved Papa.

Sarah got sick in the night. She had a high fever. I gave her some medicine and prayed for her. She slept one hour, then screamed for Juergen. I admit I got very upset that Papa was taking care of her. I should not get so upset, but it's my anxiety about our trip to America that is driving me. It was such a trauma for me to take Sarah away from her Papa when we went from Shanghai to Guangzhou last April. I hope Sarah has totally forgotten that experience. I unfortunately have not forgotten it. I must travel to the USA on Friday without Juergen. I am so afraid of how Sarah will react. She will probably be just fine. I've done every thing I can to prepare her. She felt just fine this morning. She is in school today. I'm such a wreak...I need prayer.

I put Sarah to bed tonight. She even asked for me instead of Papa. She has been with us for 6 months now. So much has changed...so many good changes have taken place! I do not want to over look the miracle that has taken place. What a sweet child sleeps peacefully in her bed. She has forgotten the fear of the past. Every day we see a greater and deeper sense of security forming in her. I'm so grateful to God for helping us walk down this difficult road to get to this wonderful place called home!

Juergen was away all weekend visiting his wonderful mom who is very sick. I was worried about how Sarah would handle things, but she was really fine with Juergen gone. We had out of town guests, and she was too busy to get sad. She also seems to be trusting me more and more. I'm so grateful for this because we travel (God willing) on Friday to America. Sarah has had everyone she sees read her traveling to Grandma & Grandpa book. She even wanted to take it to church with her this morning. In Sunday school she did good. She stayed alone, but the teacher felt it was a little over whelming for her. Next time I will stay with her.
Yesterday we went to the Heidelberg zoo. The battery on my camera went dead before I could take allot of pictures. It's a small zoo, but Sarah loved it!

It's been a full week. I hardly picked up my camera, and I forgot to give it to my kids. Sorry! Next week I'll post Fridays 5 fotos from my kids again! The book I made for Sarah has turned out to be a great hit! I've read it to her 6 times, and Juergen has also read it about 6 times. Nicole did a good job illustrating the whole book. I scan pages tomorrow so you can see some of it. We have guests again this weekend. That's good because Juergen will be gone. Sarah will be too busy playing (I hope) to be sad.