January News!

Finally a new post!!

Girlfriends 3rd anniversary!
Brooke and Izzy!

Byron turns 41!

We almost killed the class turtle!

Uncle John. Brooke looked so cute! (breathing treatment for RSV virus)

Andrew and Brooke!

Family Tradition: They make it and I take the pictures!

Family Fun! RockBand! Maybe Byron has other career options?

I have had so many of you ask about my blog....or lack of post. It has been really busy in our house. So here is one very long post. Photos to come very soon!
Brooke News:
Brooke has now adjusted to being in our family. She is no longer crying for hours every night. She is very happy most of the time. Andrew is doing so well with adjusting to not being an only child. He really enjoys playing with Brooke. He is great a making her laugh especially for pictures. She has become more clingy and not wanting others to hold her.

We took her for an appointment at the international adoption clinic. They we amazed at how young and health she was!!! She has learned how to crawl. This week she has mastered the art of sitting up by herself. She is trying to stand up, but with no luck. I guess we need to start baby proofing our home! It seems she is getting bigger each day. She is still sleeping great. We have started her on solids. She loves to eat. She now has favorite toys. I will post pictures soon. She now has a favorite toy...a brown dog that plays music!

We did receive Brooke's Certificate of Citizenship! So she is officially a U.S. Citizen! I am now waiting on her Social Security Card!

Andrew News!
Andrew brought home the class turtle "Buba" during the Christmas Break. Well.... somehow she became a chew toy for our hyper dog Izzy!! Just, the day before I had made fun of my sister-in-law for taking a hamster to the vet. So I dreaded telling her about this... We took Buba to the vet. She had to spend the night and them have medicated soakings two times a day! We then had to share this news with the entire class. Thankfully Buba made a full recovery! Andrew will not be bring home a class pet again!

Andrew had a great Christmas. We now have Rock Band for Wii and have had alot of fun playing it. We have discovered Byron is an excellent singer. I could not make it through a song with out being kicked off the stage! I will stick to the Drums.

Andrew is playing basketball and is doing well. Baseball season will be starting soon. This is his favorite sport. I plan on using Brooke as an excuse not to sit out in the cold for practices!

Byron's News: We have had many visitors to welcome Brooke home. Our friends gave Byron a surprise "mans" baby shower before we left. Thanks Mike, it was a great idea! I have always hated showers, and insisted that I not have one!

He also turned 41 on January 1st! Andrew enjoyed decorating. We have used these same decorations since Andrew was a baby! I really need to get them laminated, so we can use them the next 15 years or so!

Michelle's News:
Today I had lunch with the "girlfriends" They brought lots of cute gifts for Brooke. They have been on the journey with me from the beginning. This group was started by a great person after our church experienced some changes. It was a way to keep for all of us to keep in touch. Today was our 3rd Anniversary!!! Thanks Glenda (our founder). She was sick and unable to attend. We missed you!!!!

Our small group at church also helped us celebrate having Brooke home!

We have had lots of friends give gifts to Brooke and Andrew. I want to send out a Big THANK YOU TO ALL!

If I have not had enough changes in my life, I am now changing jobs! I will start in about one month!

I have been invited to join a Facebook group.... It took me awhile to figure out this blogging thing. So for 2009, I will attempt learning about Facebook. I really don't understand what the purpose is. So if I don't respond to your request....be patient! You may need to just e-mail me!

My goal is to update this blog every two or three weeks! I will post pictures soon.

December News!

Well it is great to be home. Brooke is adjusting very well. She is now sleeping in her crib from about 9 pm to 7 am (Yeah!!). She is very happy during the day. At night....she is very fussy for about 3 hours!! She likes watching Barney so we turn that on for her to watch sometimes when she won't stop crying! She is starting to crawl and will be all over our house by next week. Brooke is now 6 months old!



She was sick last week with the RSV virus. She has not acted like she is sick, so this is good. Brooke likes to look at board books, play on the floor with toys, taking baths, and sleeping in her swing.



Andrew has done great. He plays with Brooke and is interacting more each day with her. We all head back to work and school this week. We have been off for about one month! I am attempting to upload photos of our journey using smilebox so watch for these photos!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

For my JOH friends, I sorry that I have not updated my blog in so long. We did not think we would be so tired after returning home!!! It took us about two weeks to return to normal. Please email me if you have any questions about travel or other things.

Anyone following this blog: if you want more information about our adoption process please email me our leave me a comment with you email address!

Day 5! Going home!!

Day 5!
TODAY WE GO HOME!!
We were all up early and finished packing! It is somewhat sad to leave knowing we may never return. Overall our trip has been great! I had to much anxiety the first two days! We really enjoyed yesterday. I think we were all more relieved to have Brooke! Brooke has done wonderfully! Now for the long trip back home.
HOME:
We had great seats coming home. We had more legroom and were all on the same row. Byron, Andrew, and Brooke slept most of the time on the long plane ride. Brooke was fussy on the plane from Detroit to AL. It was very emotional to be back home. It felt so good to finally be in Huntsville! We had many family and friends to great us. In addition, Chuck, Amy and Morgan (From Taiwan Oct 08) were there! We hope to have some great pictures of Morgan and Brooke. We were all so tired! Brooke did not go to bed until 4 am!

Day 4

Day 4:
Just like clockwork, Andrew and I are up at 3:00 am.! Today we will be going to Taipei 101. For breakfast, we had honey buns (from home) and cold pizza. Brooke slept until 7 am. She is a good sleeper! We hope this continues. She hardly moves all night long. We went to out AIT appointment. This took four hours! They were very nice. There were many Taiwanese trying to get a Visa to come to US. They were also waiting along time. I don’t think our government is very helpful to others wanting to come here. You could tell that they were all frustrated!
We then headed to Taipei 101. It is huge! We went to the food court first. Andrew and I ate at KFC, They had a picture menu that made it easy to order. I had chicken wings and pop corn chicken, which was very good. Andrew had chicken nuggets with a special Asian sauce, which was also good. Byron ordered a chicken sandwich, but said the sauce tasted funny. He and Mei-Rue also ordered some kind of chicken and noodle soup. Andrew and I both tried it. It was not that bad! Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world and has the fastest elevator in the world! From the top, you could see all of Taipei! Mei-Rue went to a bookstore called Page 1. They have earphones you can get to hear everything in English. The man giving these to us said, “Many people have come to him saying Byron looks like John Travolta!” After Taipei 101, Mei-Ru took us to the market. She showed us various things. The fish here comes whole. She said this is how they can tell how fresh it is by looking at the eyes. They have lots of food that is the same, like the cereal. Then we went to the produce section to see different types of fruit. Some are the same. We really enjoyed the bread store and looking at the different types of breads. Squid bread, seaweed, ect

Next, we went to the Martyrs Shine. It is very big and beautiful. Andrew enjoyed the pond. Byron and Andrew climbed the 85 steps up to the shrine. While I stayed down with Brooke and Mei-rue. We talked about the different things about Taiwan vs. America. We also purchased some souvenirs.

It was getting dark so we headed home. Brooke did great the entire day! For dinner, we had cold pizza and M & M’s, and Pringles! Brooke had her first bath, cried for about 10 mins, and went to sleep. Brooke started smiling at us today! She has not smiled since we picked her up. She has not seemed unhappy, but not happy either. Andrew is doing well and has been playing and reading to her. Byron and I started to pack and went to bed about 10pm.

Day 3

Day 3:
Our AIT( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Institute_in_Taiwan )appointment did not go well at all! This is an American agency that issues the visas. The AIT informed our guide that we did not have an appointment and to come back tomorrow! Our guide was very upset and made several phone calls. She told us we may not get to leave until Tuesday. Andrew said “I don’t want to stay here till then!” We had to go back to the hotel to fax several documents and made plans to go shopping and to the Martyrs Shine at 1:00.
We stopped at a store and bought several small things to give to Brooke when she is older. Then we went to the Grand Hotel. It is very beautiful and large. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Hotel_(Taipei_City) Later we went to the Martyrs Shine ( http://www.taiwan.com.au/Envtra/Taipei/report37.html) to see the changing of the guards. See video (not ours) http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=2jCuZ7UAIsE . Our guide was helpful in explaining the importance of this place. While there a group of school girls came up and ask to take our photo. They were about 10 or 11 years old. They continued to come up and say HI and Bye! Later we ask if we could take their photo. This made them very happy. We had noticed several people taking our photo while we have been here in Taiwan. Andrew finds this very strange. One of the students spoke some English and she would tell the “brave” girl to say something to us. At one point she said to Andrew “You are very handsome”! Brooke did really well during the outing. We were all tired and went to the hotel room. On the way back Mei-Ru received a call and informed us that AIT was going to issue the Visa tomorrow. She said she was going to have to apologize to AIT, even though it was their fault. That’s our government for you!! Mr. Ru from AIT called to apologize stating “My boss said for me to call and say I am sorry” I’m sure this will be how Mei-Ru will apologize tomorrow. Andrew and I did not eat lunch, so we were starving!! So we decided to try another restaurant in our neighborhood…..Pizza Hut. We made Byron take the first bite! Andrew and I are afraid to eat anything. Byron made a face that said it was not good. Andrew and I said “Oh no what are we going to eat!” Luckily he was just kidding. The pizza was great, just like it is in the U.S.!!!
I went to bed at 6:00pm and woke up at 8:00 pm to hear Brooke screaming. She cried for about 2 hours and finally went to sleep. Andrew slept thought the entire melt-down. Brooke maybe getting sicker. She seemed better yesterday, but last night began coughing and sounded congested.
Here is a video of the Temple we went to the first day: http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/998921/
Day four:
Just like clock work, Andrew and I are up at 3:00 am.! Today we will be going to Taipei 101

Day Two in Taipei

Day one continued:
Today we were able to meet another JOH family. They picked up there daughter Alanya yesterday!
We went to dinner with them. We ate at our hotel restaurant. We ordered drinks and they took our menus. Then we had to tell them we wanted to order food. I tried to order a ham and cheese and made the mistake of asking , if that came on toasted bread! I think he thought I wanted toast. When the food came out, I received a hamburger with Ham and cheese on it! Andrew had speggitti (Yuk) and cheesecake (great)! I thought our friends Chuck and Amy (traveled here in Oct) said the hamburgers were good and steak not so good. Therefore, everyone ordered hamburgers, which were Yuk, Yuk. I just took the hamburger off mine, had ham, and cheese which was ok. Chuck later emailed us to tell us that no it was the steak that was good and hamburgers were not good. OH WELL!
Day Two:
We had gone to bed at about 11:00 and all of us were up by 3:00 a.m. We went to Breakfast at the hotel. Byron tried several new things. We left to go to TWCA (agency) at 10:30. We stopped at a rest stop on the way. Our guide assissited us with selecting lunch. Andrew and I had chicken nuggets (yuk) and Byron
He had some kind of very adventurous pork plate. He even ate with chop sticks! When we were back in the car guide Mei Ru said “You are very American”! She said most families will try different foods. Later in the drive, I ask her what she thought was strange in America. She said “ I really have a problem the food…and started laughing. I said see you know how I feel!!

We stopped by agency, and then went to foster family. The foster mother was waiting in the door with Brooke. She looks just like her last photo. She was smiling and happy. I held her first and then Byron and then Andrew. She is very active. We were also informed that she has been sick with a cold and is now on medication. The foster mother provided a lot of information of Brookes schedule ect. She then fed Brooke before we left. Well….Brooke has a reflux problem like Andrew did!! And milk was coming out everywhere!! The foster mom states she feeds Brooke and then places her in the stroller in an upright position. Then we left after about 30 mins. We went back to the agency to sign some paperwork. All the things that we sent were returned to us. In the car on the way to the baby store (Brandy you will like this) Brooke spit up again….Andrew started gagging and started talking about the night everyone was sick in your car!! We quickly handed him a zip lock bag and begged him not to throw-up in our guide’s car!!

It has been an amazing experience!

We went to the baby store and bought bottles, diapers, formula, and some baby books. Brooke loves the small board books. They have English and Chinese and came with a small CD. Brooke slept most of the two hour ride back.
When we made it to our hotel we were all very tired!! We played with Brooke, fed her, gave her yucky medicine. She was a little fussy, but not to bad. Andrew and I took a short nap while Byron watched Brooke. Byron ordered pizza from Dominoes. Byron said it was better than his lunch. Andrew and I (YUK)! We had beanie weenies! Byron went to bed at about 10:00pm and I stayed up until Brooke went to bed at 12:30 a,m I put one of the CD’s in the computer to play for her/ Our computer played it with graphics of various lights. She liked watching this. She is still asleep at almost 7:00 am!! Almost no crying last night. Most families report babies cry all night the first night. Well Byron is off to pick up our Breakfast…at McDonalds! I hope it is good or Andrew and I will be very hungry.
We are off to AIT to get Brookes Visa. Then we are going to one of the tallest buildings in the world: Taipei 101. Our guide says there are lots of American restaurants!!!

First Day in Taipei

Our flight was very long..... will post more about this adventure later.
First Day in Taiwan!
We woke up early to eat breakfast at our hotel. They did have a western breakfast. When I was helping Andrew with his breakfast, I mistakenly put soy sauce on his pancakes!!!
We did not have a guide today, so we toured the neighborhood on our own. We first went outside and walked around the block. It was a little nerve racking. There is lot traffic and hundreds of scooters. We are staying in the downtown area. Later, we decided to brave it again. We headed off to see the Temple and find some American Restaurants. We also made out a currency chart so we would know how much things cost. (JOH friends; current for today may change in future)
US $ NTD
1..00 34
2.00 67
3.00 101
4.00 134
5.00 168
6.00 201
7.00 235
8.00 268
9.00 302
10.00 ` 335
15 503
The money comes in coins of 1=$1.49; 5=.15; 10=.30 ; 50=1.49; Bills 100=2.98; 500=$14.92 1000=$29.84
Our first purchase was a Pepsi under $1.00.
We also found a Subway sandwich shop, Pizza Hut, Dominoes, Starbucks, and Dunkin Donuts!
We walked to a temple a few blocks from our hotel. There were people outside selling items used in the worship ritual it looked like some kind of food, fruit and incense.
About one block from the temple, we found a large park. Andrew played with a two-year-old boy for a while. This park had a small playground, basketball court, pond, and large fountain.
At one point, two teenager girls ask if they could take our picture! Andrew thought that was neat.
We ate lunch at McDonalds for $329 NTD or about $10.00 for three meals. All of the food tasted like that in America except the Diet Coke
We really did quite well. We found most her know some English and Byron is good at making gestures about what we need. Byron brought his GPS and used it to mark our hotel, as well as restaurants that we may want to goes back to.

Tomorrow we pick-up Brooke tomorrow!!

Preparing to Leave for Taiwan.

We have been busy preparing to travel to go pick up Brooke!! We have purchased tickets, booked our hotel rooms, purchased gifts for foster mother, guide, TWCA staff and most importantly Brooke's Birth mother. Byron and I have also been struggling with the stomach bug this week. We are praying that Andrew does not get this while we are traveling. We still have a lot to do and will try to post pictures and updates as we go on this Amazing Journey. It will take us over 24 hours to reach Taiwan from Alabama!! We will first fly to Detroit, then to Toyko, Japan then then onto Taipei, Taiwan!! This is our 1st international flight, so we are not really sure what 24 hours of airline travel will be like. We know it can't be good!! We do know the end result will be worth it!

Final Ruling is here!!!

We also received notice that our final ruling is in!!!! We are headed to Taiwan. We will pick up Brooke on December 10th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So that means we will all be home for Christmas!!
We have been busy trying to make travel plans!

There have been lots of referrals this month (5 girls so far this month)!!! That mean my good friend Christy moves into the top 10 on the wait list. Another milestone achieved. She is now number 10!!!!

I hope the good news keeps coming for all those on the wait list!! We are almost at the end of our adoption process!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Updates are in!!!!

Brooke is 4 months old in these photos. She will be 5 months on November 28th!!

She weighed 12.7 pounds and is 23.62 inches long!! She is getting so big!!! For my JOH friends...this is not an outfit we sent. Cassey daughter is wearing the same outfit in her update this month!

I really like this photo!!!!

Here is the "MOVIE OF THE MONTH"!! If you watch you can see her smile. We have been waiting each month to see a smile!!

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING?

From Katie's March 31st post: " The purpose of of is to discover your gift. The meaning of life is giving your gift away."


Whose Katie you ask? Read on.

I found this video on a fellow JOH blog. I thought this was really powerful. Watch and think!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65At9FOluRI

This video was developed by a church called The Black Hawk Church http://www.blackhawkchurch.org/


What are you willing to give?

Don't know where to start giving....

Please read the following blog. This is a young woman who lives not to far away from us. It is amazing what one person can do.

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

I challenge each of you to give $10.00 (or more) towards sponsoring a child. If 30 people who visited this site gave only $10, one child could go to school, eat, and receive medical care for one entire year!!! So visit her website and donate on- line right now!!


"Amazima Ministries International Sponsorship For just $300.00 per year, your sponsorship will provide a child with their yearly school fees, a school uniform, shoes, all school supplies, 2 hot meals a day, and any needed medical care. Your sponsorship also helps provide these children with tutors and spiritual leaders, to help the do their best, physically emotionally and spiritually". You will be sent a picture of your child and a letter from him/her. Twice a year you will also receive a report so you can see his/her progress in school and at home with the family."
Unable to sponsor a child by yourself. Ask a group to sponsor together.

Want to know more about this amazing person: http://www.dioceseofnashville.com/katiedavis.htm

November Happenings...(Voting and Meeting)

One of the great things about adopting is the people you meet... Andrew and I briefly met Chuck, Amy and Morgan when they came home from Taiwan. This is our 1st real meeting. For my JOH friends I ask Chuck and Amy 1 million questions about travel. They may never eat with us again hahahaha!! It was great to see a family home and finished with the adoption process!! There is an end in site. This gives us hope. They are a great family and l look forward to getting to know them even more. It will be nice for Brooke to know someone adopted from Taiwan. Morgan is just the cutest baby. He is 11 months old (wow).

We took Andrew to vote with us. He went four years ago, but does not remember this. I really want him to remember this one. Historical (first black man for President and 1st Woman for vice-president!).

Halloween (Late posting)

HALLOWEEN 2008!!!

Here's what Andrew looked like after a night of trick and treating. (This is his prize treat!).
Andrew dressed up like a Star War's character!

Andrew at his grandmother's house.

Andrew with his cousin's Tate and Talon.

Annual Family Halloween portrait at Ms. Verns.

Andrew received way to much candy!!!!!!! Next year we will have double the candy because we will.....................have Brooke!!!!!!

Adoption Braclets!!!

GIVE A GIFT WITH MEANING !! (only $8.00 and $10.00)

A fellow adoption friend has started a fundraiser to assist in her adoption expenses. She is very dedicated to also helping others adopt. Please consider purchasing one or more of these. Her daughter is helping make these beautiful bracelets. If you know me personally, call me and I can get one to you.

For all my JOH friends, this would make a great supplement to your birth mother gift. You could buy one for the birth mother and one for you child to keep!!! Also, they would make nice foster mother/TWCA gifts!

Here is her website http://childrenoftheworldadoptionbracelets.blogspot.com/

If you have a store why not talk with Kristy about displaying a few of these bracelets.

1st Ruling!!!!

Super great news!!! We just received word that we had our 1st ruling. This means we could be traveling within the next 6 weeks or around December 15th!! It would be great to have Brooke home before Christmas. We will know more when we have our final ruling (4-6 weeks). We are hoping we have one of the "fast Judges".