Please pray. I met this sweet boy in Nanjing. I even advocated for him to find his family. His single mom has only had him for a few months. The moles that cover a great deal of his little body are also now deep with in his brain. They are causing him to have seizures. I read this prayer request on IAAP's web group.

"If you are a person who prays, please say one for Sawyer, Shelli, and
his siblings. He had a grand mal seizure last night that would not stop with meds and he was put into an drug-induced coma on a respirator.

This morning he was still sedated, but off the respirator. He is in Cincinatti Children's. If we hear anything, we'll try to update here.!"


He is a beautiful child with a really wonderful mom. Please pray for this family.

Sarah got to meet Saint Nicolas this afternoon at the kindergarten. I don't have any pictures because parents weren't invited. Saint Nicolas gave her one of his old hats filled with lots of good stuff. She was a little afraid when I brought her to school. I had to talk her into staying. Boy was she jazzed when I went to pick her up! I hope the kindergarten took pictures, but I have these "after" shots. Oh what joy!!!

Santa almost forgot to leave the cookies on the table this morning. It is Saint Nicholas Tag in Germany. The kids get cookies and candy, and a small little gift from Saint Nicholas . Sarah was very sleepy when Juergen brought her to the table to meet her new bear. She did like the cookies, but only eat one. the rest she will eat later. This afternoon Saint Nicholas comes to her kindergarten. Fun, fun, fun!!!

I've been watching Adoption on the Hallmark channel online. The newest episode is very interesting, it's called second chances. It's about an amazing women who took in Russian orphans who have had disrupted adoptions. These kids have been through very awful situations in these institutions. This sort of adoption is not for cowards. I think this women has some pretty good clues on how to help post institutionalized kids. She speaks about structure, teaching them to work at natural things (gardens, cutting wood, raising animals) and ridding horses. I think I can apply some of what I see here to the lives of my own kids. Their experience was not so awful, but they were all in institutions (Philip, Thomas, and Sarah). They all need structure, respect, and hard work. Work is very important because everything is done for you in an orphanage. A great deal of pride and self worth is passed on when a person starts a task, and manages to finish that task. Like I said, this kind of adoption is not for most of us, but I found this very interesting.

I just dropped Sarah off at the kindergarten. Her teacher told me that tomorrow afternoon Saint Nicholas will come to the kindergarten for a visit. We told Sarah and she got very afraid. I almost could not leave her. I had to stay for 10 mins. just to calm her down because she just seemed so afraid. She has no real concept of this whole Santa thing. Here in Germany December 6Th is Saint Nicholas day. The kids get cookies and small gifts in the morning. Santa does not come on Christmas, that is the Christ Child. I actually like the German tradition better then the American way. We also decorate the tree on Christmas eve. I will buy the tree next week, and leave it on the balcony until then. Every day until Christmas (beginning December 1) our kids get a small gift in their advent calender. Every morning it's a small bit of excitement.

In the Christmas card I just posted of Sarah, I was trying to recreate a photo I took of Nicole when she was 4 years old. The dress is very special. It was made by my mom. The white satin was from my wedding dress. I love this photo of Nicole, but Sarah was so goofy...she would not sit still. Oh well,As Edna Mode said in the movie the Incredibles,"I never look back...it distracts from the now!" BTW, the dress almost didn't fit Nicole when she was 4, and it is way too big for Sarah.

I just saw this beautiful adoption video. I don't know the family but their daughter is very lovely! I know many people are just waiting to bring your kids home. It is so hard to want them home for Christmas. Oh, we wanted Sarah to be home for Christmas last year. It hurt that she wasn't with us. But she is with us now! She will be getting a bicycle for Christmas, and she can not wait! All I can say to those who wait and those who dream to adopt is hold fast to your dreams. It will be worth the wait. It will be wonderful!

While I'm at it...How can a little two year old girl as beautiful as this still be waiting for a family after one month? Her SN has been corrected. Her development is normal! She should have been snatched off the waiting list in one day...no, one minute. I expected people to be fighting over her. People please take my word for it...this is a treasure! I am so amazed her family has not found her yet! If I could only get a waver from Juergen I would adopt her myself! She is on CHI's waiting list. It is easy to get the password. Just ask for it HERE. She has the cutest mouth, like a little bird.

The girl in the light blue shirt is 11 years old and available for adoption through CHI. She is healthy and does well in school and is helpful with other children. Her only special need is her age. When she turns 13 she can no longer be adopted. Do you have the room in your heart and home for an older child? Her profile reads, "she is studying in Grade 4 in primary school, studies hard, respects teachers, is friendly to classmates, like to commonweal activity at school, got excellent grades for every lesson in exams, is gifted on drawing and well-liked by teachers and classmates." It also reads "She likes cleanness, is polite and obedient to the caretakers as well as care for younger sisters and brothers. She often shares the food distributed to her younger sisters and brothers in the SWI. She is outgoing and empathetic." Sounds like a real treasure! Did you know that if you are past the normal age limit to adopt from China, you can still get a waver to adopt an older child like this child?

HERE is the information about a new book I'm definitely wanting for Christmas. It's called the faces of Layla and it is photos of the orphanage in Ethiopia Juergen and I love to raise money for. I believe a large amount of the money from this book will go to the Layla house. You can buy this book HERE.

Kim just wrote in a comment about this family adopting from Ethiopia. You can also read the really great blog called Owlheaven. They also adopted from Ethiopia. If fact I read about this book on their blog. And if you think you may want to adopt from Ethiopia, AAI is a wonderful agency to work with. We used them when we adopted Philip and Thomas. I just noticed AAI has a very cool new web page! Very cool!

Here is my 2ND slide show. It's called your love makes me sing. I tried so hard to fit everyones photos in, but I just couldn't do it. I thought I had gotten all the photos in the show when I discovered my spam folder was full with over 20 extra pictures. OK, I now have a folder marked Slide show 3! I have spent far to much time in front of my computer, and away from my family this week. It's been a real joy to see all your beautiful children! I got some great e-mail this week. Thank you so much for the feed back. I got one letter today that really touched me. The women wrote...
"Thank you for putting this together (the first slide show). My husband has been rather reluctant, and I was watching
it just as he came in the door from work. Knowing that this wasn't random abstract adoption experiences, but real children with a real home for Christmas, struck a chord within him. God used you in a powerful way in our decision, and he was very moved by your work of art. Thank you for taking the time to do this, moreover, putting it out there to champion kids who need a home."

If we get just one more kid home it would be the greatest blessing! Nothing sells adoption like your beautiful, happy, wonderful children. I'll make number 3 (and maybe even number 4) in time for Valentine's day. If you sent me a photo and you didn't get into this show, you will be in the next one. Until then, I hope you enjoy this show.

Sarah is my nutcracker. Isn't she sweet!

Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music. ~William Stafford


I found some music I love for my next slide show project. It's called "Your love makes me sing". It's not a Christmas song but I think it will make an extra special slide show. I want to start with the above quote, and at the end of the slide show write something like "help a child join in the choir...open your heart to adoption". If you want your child's photo in this slide show, then e-mail a jpg to me at my yahoo e-mail address, and put slide show in the subject line. One photo per child please. Also I would love kids from all over the world (domestic and international). Also, only adopted kids please. If you want your biological kids in the show, send me a photo with the biological kids with the adopted child. This is an adoption slide show...I'm sure you understand. Oh, I will need your child's first name. Thanks


You can e-mail us at our Yahoo address.
amy_heymann @ yahoo. de (remove the spaces)

01 Hallelujah(Your...

Other thoughts from today...
First I got an e-mail from the organization Shaohannah’s Hope. They liked the video and I guess as long as I don't use the video for a commercial purpose it's ok that I use the music of Steven Curtis Chapman. It is BTW a very good Christmas CD. We love it! Sarah falls to sleep listening to this CD every night now.
I've gotten some great feedback from the slideshow. This never hurts a persons self worth! Thank you for the great feedback! I've also gotten extra photos. I am thinking I should make another slide show. I need to choose some new music (Christmas music). If you didn't send me a photo in time for the last slide show, go ahead and send me one now. Please just one photo per child. Send it in jpg format and try to send an everyday life kind of picture. A close up looks better on you tube. Please post it to my yahoo mail on the side bar. I just love seeing your beautiful kids.

I don't think I really wrote much about Sarah's first play date last week. Sarah was pretty tired, and Philip and Thomas ended up playing with the little boy. She was suppose to go to his house this afternoon. I met his mom at the kindergarten. She looked stressed and afraid. She can not go home. Her husband beat her up. In fact, she was in the hospital last week. Now she is living in a women's home. My heart hurts for her. Please pray for her and her two beautiful children. Please pray for their protection. Her name starts with M, I don't even want to publish her name. I shake when I even think of such an awful thing. I'll be trying to help them but she also needs legal help and protection. I believe she has plans to move. Her children are beautiful and they deserve so much more!

I lost my links. If you would like me to add your blog link to my new list of links then please leave me a comment. We will rebuild... BIGGER,BETTER, STRONGER, FASTER, ...will will rise up from these ashes like the mighty Phoenix!

Well, I did it! I tried to change my blog templet and I backed up the HTML code. Somehow I managed to lose all my links and side bar information in the process. I'll try to recover the important stuff. Sorry!

I have had two people e-mail me today and they both wrote they do not know how to post a you tube video to their blog. I figured if two people don't know how to do it, at least 20 others don't understand how to do it. I am living with a husband that has a PhD in computer science. With out him, I wouldn't know how to do it either. There are no dumb questions! Here is the blind leading the blind...

1. Watch the video. At the end of my video, or any other you-tube video you watch there will be a message that reads embed.

2. You want to copy and past this information(the embed information) to a new blog post. How do you copy and paste? Here is a website that tells you how to copy stuff. It's a cool trick. If you don't know how to copy stuff...you'll be so happy to learn.

3. Leave me a comment if you decide to post the video to your blog. It's good for my ego!

I spent most of yesterday working on the adoption slide show, but I also made some time to do art work with the kids. We used glitter glue on plain coloring book pages. Once the glue is dry, I'll cut the pictures out and put them on colored paper for nice cards. The boys loved the glitter glue. Sometimes it's hard to get boys to sit down and do some arts and crafts. The glitter glue was a hit! Nicole did her own thing with paper plates (she is writing a book on paper plate crafts). Yesterday she made the cutest big mouth fish.