"Mom, I'm FAT!"

This is a conversation that I had with Elias tonight while he was brushing his teeth getting ready for bed. It went a little something like this:

E: Mom, I'm fat! I'm thick and fat!
Me: (crickets)
E: Don't you think?
Me: Really Elias? You are EIGHT! (that's right people, you heard me right. EIGHT)
No, Elias, I don't think you are fat! You are healthy, but not fat!

Seriously! I was having this conversation with my eight year old son!!! I could not belive that he would even think that! I asked him who told him he was fat and he said no one. We talked about food choices and activity choices and we both agreed that neither of us was making that a priority. I just couldn't imagine that he thought he was fat. Where on earth did he get that from?

Then it dawned on me.

It was me.



I'm the one who is constantly complaining because my jeans are snug (okay... tight) I am the one complaining that my hair won't do just right. I think I need a better attitude!!



This child means more to me than any of you will ever know. He is the apple of my eye and I hope and pray that I am a good role model for him AND for his self esteem.
I need to be a little kinder to myself and talk nice things and not mean negative things about myself, even though I think and feel them because little ears are listening!!!

He is witty, charming, and soo stinkin funny! If I were eight, I would totally be his friend! He is so sweet and caring and so kind. He is more beautiful on the inside than he is handsome on the outside. He has a real heart for Jesus and I can just see him growing in Him and it makes me so happy.

I hope that he knows just how special he is to me and to so many other people. I am praying that from here on out I will be able to give him the things he needs emotionally, spiritually and physically. He is my boy, my sweet angel.
And the very thought of him feeling so badly about himself makes me sad.
So what did I do?? I grabbed the camera, we had a little laugh and silly fest, and I think we both felt better.

I have always had a special verse for Elias. For all of my kids actually. Maybe one day I will go onto that. But the verse that I choose for Elias is

Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plan I have for you" declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I hope that he knows how special he is to ME, and to the One who made him.




Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song called "Fingerprints of God". It speaks clearly the message of beauty, acceptance and love....

I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know it's true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

Never has there been and never again
Will there be another you
Fashioned by God's hand
And perfectly planned
To be just who you are
And what He's been creating
Since the first beat of your heart
Is a living breathing priceless work of art and...

Just look at you
You're a wonder in the making
Oh, and God's not through, no
In fact, He's just getting started...

Oldie but goodie...

I was looking at my old blog and at the pictures of Norah when she first came home. Stumbled upon this video and I had to share!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Playing catch-up!!

BIG HOUSE, LITTLE ROOM!!

Do ya like my new blog design? Well then meet Big House, Little Room They did an amazing job on my blog with just a little insight from me. They took my ideas and RAN with them and I honestly couldn't be happier!!! Everything was perfect and it took no time at all to get it back!!! THANK YOU for making my blog PERFECT!!!!

We are also a featured family for Wild Olive tee's until December 19th. When you go to Wild Olive Tee's there is a button for Adoption Fundraising. There are 3 amazing shirts to choose from. For each shirt that you buy we get a certain percentage to add to help bring Samuel home! If you want to order, make sure you put our family code: SHARP1119 in the comment section as well as the coupon section so we will get the credit for it!

Things are going well in the Sharp house. Elias is now playing basketball and Norah is still in her dance class. They are both such amazing kids and it is a joy to be their mom!

We sent off our I800 paperwork on the 19th, so the ball is still rolling, just a little slower than we would like... Travel is hopefully going to be Januray or February and we are so excited to bring our little man home!!!!!!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and also keep Samuel in those thoughts and prayers as well. His world is getting ready to be turned upside down and changed forever.

Much Love!!

LOA!!!!!!

We got our LOA today and we are beyond excited!!! We really didn't expect it for a few more weeks, so we were really shocked! So shocked that I didn't call my mother, my best friend, Nicole, Rene, parents.... I'm sorry :(
I just went into panic mode and thought of the 1001 things that I needed to do! Oh, it's gonna be a long 3 months!!! Thank goodness the holidays are here to take my mind off of things :)

HIP MOM JEWELRY!!!!

Just wanted to let you all know that our family was chosen to participate in the November adoption fund raising for Hip Mom Jewelry. We actually applied several months ago and just learned that we were accepted! We are so excited to be a part of this program and I am hoping that I will have the "I will Go" necklace under the tree this year.... (hint hint)... Anywhooo...
The website is: http://hipmomjewelry.com/

On the right hand side you will see a tab for "ADOPTION". Once you click on this, there will be several pieces of jewelry to choose from. For every piece of jewelry that is ordered, we will get 30%. Please feel free to share this link with your friends and family too! These would make great Christmas gifts for the loves in your life, and all the while you will be helping to bring Samuel home!

Once you choose the jewelry of your choice, it will ask for the family code. Our code is: SHA1110

Thank you all so much for your continued support in helping us bring Samuel home. We cannot wait to see his face and to have him home for good!

Any questions, please feel free to contact me!!

Much Love,

I love him :)

Just a gratuitous shot of my boy :)

She saw him...

My friend Amy is traveling to Jiangsu to Wuxi, Sam's orphanage, and she was able to see Sam and hold his sweet little hand. She also sent us four pictures and 3 videos. He is even more precious on the videos and he is so.... a part of our family already. I know that sounds absolutely crazy!! But I can see him fitting in so very well with us and I hope that he loves us half as much as we love him already. Once Amy gets home I will post the pics here. We are so very thankful for those pieces of his life. I am greatful that she was able to give us those pieces, as they will be so precious to him as he gets older. She really went out on a limb to do this for us and I am so very very thankful :)

Where O Where...

Where o where have I been you ask? Right here running in a million circles like a cute little hamster on a wheel. Phew!

We got our fingerprint appointment notice and we were able to walk in 22 days early for that, no problem at all! We got our approval 2 days later (WOW!!) and we were able to fast track that piece of paper to the courier and then all of our dossier came back to us last Thursday. I was so emotional to have all of that paperwork in my hands! I took it to the UPS store on Friday to send it off. I checked, rechecked and triple checked everything that I had to send. I hugged it. And then hugged it again, thinking of all of the blood, sweat and tears that had gone into that sweet pile of paper goodness. I handed them over to the clerk and asked her to please be careful with them. I think I was even sweating a bit with the way she was moving them so quickly.
In the end, I did let those papers go. I felt like my child was leaving for college... but I didn't let them go without putting a tracking number on them. And they were safely delivered to Oregon this morning at 10:17 am. Ahhhhh....

Blood...

Sweat...

Tears....

With that said, our dossier will be going to China on Friday. Will then be DTC (Dossier to China) and shortly after the CCA*A will log us into their system. We will then have a log-in-date. At that time we will wait for more approvals and jump through more hoops :) All for that sweet sweet face that I am falling more in love with everyday.

Lots of GOOD things!!!!!!

Well, today we got an update on Samuel! Those pictures almost brought me to my knees! I know that's why you came, so here you go :)

(Hey Momma, Can you come and get me please? Thanks! See you soon!)

And this is what they had to say about my little love...:

What are his current measurements?
Height: 85cm; Weight: 13kg; Head size: 47cm; Chest size: 51cm;

Have there been any illnesses?
He hasn't been sick since the last report.

How is he doing developmentally?
He says the sentence of around three to five characters. He is good at imitating and he enjoys learning from caretakers and teachers. He can feed himself and take off shoes and socks by himself. He tells the toilet need and goes to the toilet by self. He understands adults' direction and he can cooperate when dressing up. He tells people what he wants.

What is his favorite activity?
He likes playing with balls and electric toys


Honestly people. I can hardly contain myself!
And to top it all off... we got our fingerprint appointments in the mail today! Our appt isn't until 9/30 but we are going to walk-in tomorrow and hopefully they will allow us to do that! Please say a prayer for us!!!!
Gonna go to sleep now.... Got some sweet dreams running around in this head of mine :)

Saved by Grace...

Today I picked Elias up from school right on schedule. He was happy to see me, which was nothing unusual for him. He hopped in the car and buckled up... nothing new. As we were driving away from school I asked him how his day went.
Elias: "It was great mom. You will never believe what I did!"
Me: "What did you do buddy?" (I was kinda scared, I'm not gonna lie!!)
Elias: "I asked Jesus into my heart."
Me: "Elias! That is amazing!!"
Elias: "Did you know that I have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb??"
Me: "YES!"
Elias: "Did you know that all of my sins are washed away??"
Me: "YES!!"
Elias: "Can I play on the computer when I get home? And can I get baptised at our church?"

I love this child with every fiber of my being. I prayed for him like you wouldn't believe. He is so sensitive and kind and loving. I am praising God tonight that his heart was open to accepting God into his heart.

On the adoption front, I mailed out our dossier (minus the immigration) to a courier in DC that will get it all ready for China. Once we get an invite to get finerprints done, we will then wait on the approval. Once that piece of paper comes back to us we will rush that through and then send our dossier to China!!!! We are looking at maybe traveling between January and March... praying for January...

For this adoption, we are having to take out a small loan and we will repay it once we get our adoption tax credit. It is $200.00/month and that freaks me out. We are paying for Elias to go to private school which is totally worth it and I would work 3 jobs to keep him at his school. I know that God has orchestrated this adoption and I have seen some pretty powerful movements from Him during our wait.
I was due back to work on a Friday and they asked me to come in a bit early for my yearly evaluation. (We haven't gotten a raise in a few years, so I wasn't thinking of any of that.) After we went over the paperwork she said that I would get a 5.5% raise. I'm sorry, what did you say? When all is said and done, it comes out to be $200.00/month. The same amount that the loan is for. I chuckled to myself for a second and said a prayer of thanks that His hand still moves me...

Thank you to those of you that have donated, bought sweets and sponsored puzzle pieces. I cannot wait to wap my arms around Samuel and kiss his face. Thank you for helping to make that dream a reality.

The way it used to be...

I remember when we were waiting for Norah, there was not a day that went by that I did not think of her. I was praying that she was getting the things that she needed, that she was being loved on and well taken care of. I feel in my heart that they did the best they could by her and when she came to us she was, for the most part, healthy. I think of Samuel often hope that he is being well taken care of. I look forward to the day that he is home and interested to see how he will mesh with our loud big family :)
We sent off our paperwork to the Secretary of State and go them back last week!! They will now be sent via FedEx to a courier in Virginia and be hand delivered to the Dept of State and the Chinese Embassy. It will be hard to see them go... but I know it has to be done. Once we get our fingerprint appointment and get out approval we will expedite that piece of paper and then our dossier will be done. Please pray for a speedy approval as that will be one thing we will be waiting on!
And thank you to all of you that have help with our efforts to bring him home. I could never ever repay you, but please know that every prayer, donation and purchase is so much appreciated. It is amazing to me that Samuel will be surrounded by people that truly helped to bring him home to his family!
I also found out today that our agency asked for an update last week, so hopefully we will be getting that anyday now!!!!

Thank YOU!!

Just wanted to post a quick thank you to EVERYONE that has ordered things off of our sweets for samuel site, people that have generously donated their money and friends that have donated their time! I cannot tell you how much this means to me... it really does. Thank you for helping bring Samuel home and for loving him (and US!!) enough to help and believe that he WILL COME HOME!!!

What does it take?

I have had several people ask what goes into adopting a child internationally.
And it goes a little something like this...

* Find a reputable agency that handles the type of adoption that you want to start. DO RESEARCH!
* Once signing with an agency you will have to have a homestudy. A homestudy consists of several things. You will have a social worker visit multiple times and you will talk about... well YOU! How you grew up, how you were disciplined, how you will discipline your child, whats important to you... that kind of thing. We filled out a 15 page autobiography about ourselves and some really DEEP questions.
* You will begin to prepare your dossier that will travel far and wide before it makes it to China! The documents you will gather will be:

A family information form
An application letter
Birth Certificate of husband and wife
Marriage Certificate
Employment Letter for both- how long we have been there as well as pay per year
Certificate of Financial Status- a break down of our finances WOW
A complete physical for both - hearing, vision, blood tests, HIV test, ...
Police Clearance for both
Homestudy
Photographs- of our family, our house, inside and out

These all need to be:
notarized: stamped
secretary of state: stamped
Dept of State: stamped
Chinese Embassy: stamped

There are several other steps that I left out like the child abuse clearances for each state that we have lived in since we were 18 and the immigration paperwork and fingerprints.

PHEW! There is ALOT that goes into adopting a child, whether you adopt internationally or domestic. All for the best interest of the child! Once all of our papers have been stamped, I will take a picture and post it. They look sooo official! It is so worth it, no matter how time consuming and utterly confusing it is! The end result is Samuel and that is worth it to me!!

Sweet!

Just wanted to let you all know about a super cool website that I found! Its Post Your Adoption Fundraiser Here and we are the main event right now! This website was created to bring awareness to the families that are fundraising to bring their children home! Stop on over... you just never know what you might find and help a family at the same time!

Sweets For Samuel

How appropriate is that! Just one look at that SWEET face and I am in love!
We are fundraising to finish our adoption of Samuel. Unfortunately we are not independently wealthy...so we have been saving and brainstorming ways to gets this lovebug home. My friend Nicole designed a fabulous website for us called Sweets for Samuel There are several ways that you can help us bring Samuel home:

1. Sweet Bites: These are DELICIOUS! Nicole makes these and they are to die for! The mint chocolate is my favorite and the peanut butter is Shannon's favorite :) They are amazing and everything you would want them to be! I have been known to hide these from my children so I can have them all to myself. Yes, that is true. All of you parents out there... try them and you will see why!!!
You can buy these in either 6 count or 12 count. We will ship them to you - anywhere in the U.S. :)

2. M&M Tubes- These have been the ticket so far! So here is what you do: request the tubes and eat the chocolate. How can you go wrong with that! All that we ask is that you place your loose quarters in the tube (roughly about $20.00 in quarters) and either mail them back to us or I can come and pick them up!

3. Puzzle pieces: We have a puzzle of Elias and Norah holding Sam's picture. We have made that into a puzzle. You can sponsor pieces and when you donate your desired amount for the piece(s) we will write your families name on the back of the piece. once the puzzle is complete we will seal it and frame it for Samuel's room! Lovely!

4. And last but not least, the donate button.

We would like to thank those of you that have donated so far! It means so much to us that you GET it! Thank you!!!

Also, we are planning to have a Harvest Moon Festival September 25th on Daniel Island. We will post more information as it gets close, but you will not want to miss it!

Much Love!!

Sam's "special" need...

Samuel was referred to us with a malformed earlobe (that is absolutely perfect in my eyes) and hearing loss. We will not know the exact amount of hearing that he has until he comes home. His right earlobe is malformed slightly and he has moderate hearing loss in his left ear. Once home we will visit MUSC to get this little sweetie checked out. He may need a hearing aide, he may need some sort of implant, we just aren't sure at this time until we actually bring him home. Whatever he needs, we will do our best to see that he gets the best care possible!!! I am so ready to have him home with us!!!!!

MOVED AGAIN!!!

Guys, I am so sorry to do this to you! I have moved our home AGAIN... but I am all settled in and ready for visitors! Please stop by when you can!

www.bendingbeneathmercy.blogspot.com

Window Shopping :)

I have been browsing the net shopping a bit for Samuel. I cannot wait until he joins our family and think about him everyday! So, doing a little "shopping" helps the time go by!!

Reminds me of that song...

That song by Tenth Avenue North. The song where he is talking to God, feeling so far away at that moment. Feeling ashamed, hopeful that he will be forgiven, totally humbled. And then just like God does, He scoops him up and says...

i hear you say "my love is over,
its underneath, its inside, its in between
the times you doubt me, when you can't feel
the times that you've questioned 'is this for real?'
the times you've broken, the times that you mend
the times you hate me and the times that you bend
well my love is over, its underneath
its inside, its in between,
these times you're healing
and when your heart breaks
the times that you feel like you've fallen from grace
the times you're hurting
the times that you heal
the times you go hungry and are tempted to steal
in times of confusion and chaos and pain
im there in your sorrow under the weight of your shame
im there through your heartache
im there in the storm
my love i will keep you by my power alone
i dont care where you've fallen, where you have been
i'll never forsake you
my love never ends, it never ends

Norah's 2nd Family Day

On July 13 2008 at 4:48pm in Nanchang, China, a sweaty screaming child was placed in my arms. It was nothing like I had dreamed so many times leading up to this very special day.






With Shannon videotaping and taking pictures, these first few moments as a family were unexplainable. Scared, terrified, unsure... these all come to mind for me and I am sure if she could tell you how she felt back then it would have been much the same. But in the months and years to come she has blossomed into this creature that does not share our DNA but is most assuredly our daughter. She is a spit-fire for sure but in the snap of a finger she can morph into this nurturing soul that is wise beyond her years. There is a story in her eyes. A story of new beginnings, a story of brokeness and healing, a story of trust and love. She is her daddy's little girl for sure. She has him so tightly wrapped around her finger yet leads him gently to where he must go. She is her brother's keeper without a doubt. They can argue and raise the roof like the best of them. More that one time I have had to pull her off of him. But at the end of the day you better be sure they are on the same team and ready to conquer all that wish to seperate. They are best friends and I have seen a rowdy stinky sweaty 8 year old become a gentle giant.
She has turned this mother's heart into a ball of emotions. Oh, how I prayed for this child when she was not with us. How I pleaded with God to please take care of her until we could get her. She means so much to me, that little girl. I am reminded daily as she splashes in the "tubby" with her bubbles and barbies and toys that I did not give birth to her. It's the bellybutton. The connection to her birthmother that is a gentle reminder each time I scrub her from head to toe. I cannot help but think of that woman today as I remember our first moments with Norah. I wonder if her mother knew, if she felt in her heart that her daughter was gone. That she had another mother holding her so tight and kissing her face.
I am so thankful for Norah. For what she brought to our family and for the laughter she provides. She is a funny girl with a sweet sweet smile.
Happy Family Day, T. We love you to the moon and back. You will always be our princess.







Mani-Pedi courtesy of... Elias :)

Why Bending Beneath Mercy??

How He Loves - David Crowder Band

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

That He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

He loved me enough to:

- hear my prayers
-give me my hearts desire
-not give me everything in MY time, but HIS
-to take away in order to fulfill me

That's how I know He loves me...

A little about Samuel....

I wanted to take a few mintues and catch everyone up to speed on where we are with the adoption. For the sake of leaving anything out I will just start from the beginning :)
At the beginning of April, I happened to be looking at the Holt International website that lists children available for adoption. These children are special needs children, and this agency takes special care of advocating for them and their hope is that one of these people visitng their site may find their son or daughter. So, I was cruising this particular day and this child caught my attention. I mean, REALLY caught my attention. Now Shannon and I have talked briefly about adopting again, but nothing serious. It's mostly me giving Shannon a heart attack about adding another child to the Sharp brood. But I digress...
I emailed this agency about this little boy and I got an email back shortly after that he can old be referred to families that had all of their paperwork in China. Well, I bowed out gracefully and said thanks. She assured me she would email if plans changed and we were able to look at his file. I thought of him often, but never invisioned him with our family. I have been on this rollercoaster called "adoption" before, and I know where the turns, bends and loops are. Ya know, the kind that makes you wanna barf. Yeah. So I didn't let myself get attached to him. Time marched on about a month or so later, and I was taking a shower because I had to work that night. I had been really down for the last week or two because I was longing for another child. Since the "good old-fashioned" way was broken the only way we would be able to "have" another child would be to adopt. My heart was breaking and I was a little angry at God (okay, ALOT angry) because this was the only thing I wanted. To be a mother again. Was that soooo wrong?? Jeesh... So I was in the shower and I began to weep. It was years of emotions just falling from my eyes, to my cheeks and down the drain. I was so hurt and angry and sad. Very sad. I dropped to my knees in the shower, put my head in my hands, and just screamed. Screamed for the children that I would not bear after my surgery, I screamed for the children that had no parents, I screamed because it felt good. I will admit, I did get a little sassy. And after all of this was over, I did apologize. But in the heat of it all, I was angry at God. Why would he put this longing and desire in my heart, this overwhelming desire to be a mother to 3 children instead of 2. How was that fair? I had pleaded with him several times that if it was going to be Elias and Norah, that I was perfectly content and so very greatful for them. But to please take that desire away. And that if I was to adopt again, to please make it clear and in my face. I asked Him to open that door wide enough that I would not trip over my own emotions and make that path clear for me. But the not knowing...it was just too much and it was breaking my heart. Sometimes it was almost suffocating. After I dried my tears, I felt better. It was the most amazing conversation I have ever had with God. I felt like a huge burden had been lifted just by talking to Him, and praying, and just being... real.

The next day, the VERY next day I got this email...

Shannon and Penny,

Thank you for your interest in this waiting child! We are now able to lock these children in with families who do not have their dossier in China. Please keep in mind that they are on the shared list and multiple agencies are home finding for the children at the same time. Please see the attached child material that you requested.

How's that for clear and in your face...



Of course, we scoured his information, all the while not falling in love. Remember the loops and such?!? Our next step would be to send in an LOI (Letter of Intent) that would go to China to tell them we were indeed certain we wanted to make this little one a part of the Sharp family.

BUT, could it really be this easy? Nope, it can't :) But in all of the chaos, it was just God confirming to us that this child would be our son! We called the agency after we had our Dr. review his info. There were two other families that also had his information and they needed to make their decision to move forward. We had two days until committee day. Committe day is where we are assigned a social worker, the other families would each have a social worker and then Samuel would have a social worker. They would go to committee and decide who would be the best family for this little guy. We had our conference call with our social worker from Holt that lasted a looooong hour and a half and then committee would be the net day. I asked her before we got off the phone if the other two families has decided to pursue him and she said, "For personal reasons these other two families backed out." SWEET!!! But that didn't mean we were in... they could go to committee and decide we weren't a good match for him. Anything was possible at this point. I got a phone call at 2:15 the day of committee, and she told us that we were indeed a good match for this little one! Then I took a breath....
Five days after we sent in our LOI, we were PA (pre-approved). This is China's way of saying, "We are picking up what you are putting down, my friends".
LOI - check
PA-check
update?? CHECK!!
I had asked for an update since the info was kinda old, and a few days later I got this in my inbox :)

1. May we have updated measurements including weight and height?- Height: 82.5cm; - weight: 13kg; - head size: 47cm; chest size: 52cm; teeth: 16

2. Overall health/any sickness (chronic)He has been quite healthy and he seldom gets sick.

3. Is his hearing getting better or worse from the first test?According to the result of the update hearing test done on May 31, 2010, there is no change compared to the first test. Overseas staff will send once they have the English translation.

4. What words or sounds is he currently making?He understands directions. He is willing to learn speaking from the teacher. He addresses aunty, teacher and elder sister by himself. What's more, with the teacher's help, he says other words as well.

5. How is he doing developmentally and cognitively? May we have updated photos?
He has been quite healthy and seldom gets sick. Yet he often gets heat rashes once it's warm.
He is willing to learn from the teacher in class and he enjoys following the teacher's action with the music. He can stack up eleven building blocks. He likes to scrawl with oil pastels. Additionally, he can tear newspaper into long strips. Update pictures are as attached.

And these... ahhhhhhh....

Yes, I would LOVE to be your son!!

LOVE this face...

My little man can stack some blocks, y'all!

His cheeks are begging to be kissed!

We will be able to ask for another update in September, and we are all anxious to see how much he has grown!!

All of our paperwork is in order and our homestudy has been done. We were so fortunate to be able to work with the same social worker, Mrs. Smith. She did our homestudy when we were adopting Norah, and we just fell in love with her and she is such a special part of our family. So it was really great to share this with her as well, and of course to be able to see her again!!
We will begin sending all of that paperwork to various places to get super important stamps on this so we can be DTC (Dossier to China) and then after that we will have our LID (Log in Date). Phew! Confused yet??
We are hoping to travel February or March... the sooner he is home, the better :)

I am so thankful that we are able to have Samuel join our family. We are naming him Samuel after the Bible verse that became so clear to me...

1 Samuel 1:27 "I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him."

His middle name will be Harrison, named after my husbands great grandfather William Harrison. My mother-in-law found out several years ago that William Harrison was adopted, so I thought it fit perfectly!!

We will keep part of his Chinese name, so his formal name is:

Samuel Harrison YunDi Sharp

In the next few days, I will go into more detail about his special need and where he is from. Until then.... peace and love from the Sharp family :)

Welcome!!!

Welcome to our "new" home! I know that we changed blogs recently and as crazy as it sounds, I just may be nesting! I just didn't "feel it" with the other blog and decided to find a new home for my thoughts and feelings.... and new pics of the kiddos!! Hope that you will enjoy all of the really cool things that we have instore for this blog! Tonight I will be tweaking it and adding pics of the kids. Hope you will sit back, grab a cup-o-joe and be entertained by our family. I know I am :)

Updates on Samuel

We got an update on Samuel today, and he is so stinkin precious!! It was such a surprise to see the email from our agency! So here it is:

1. May we have updated measurements including weight and height?
- Height: 82.5cm; - weight: 13kg(28.5 pounds!); - head size: 47cm; chest size: 52cm; teeth: 16

2. Overall health/any sickness (chronic)
He has been quite healthy and he seldom gets sick.

3. Is his hearing getting better or worse from the first test?
According to the result of the update hearing test done on May 31, 2010, there is no change compared to the first test. Overseas staff will send once they have the English translation.

4. What words or sounds is he currently making?
He understands directions. He is willing to learn speaking from the teacher. He addresses aunty, teacher and elder sister by himself. What's more, with the teacher's help, he says other words as well.

5. How is he doing developmentally and cognitively? May we have updated photos?
He has been quite healthy and seldom gets sick. Yet he often gets heat rashes once it's warm.
He is willing to learn from the teacher in class and he enjoys following the teacher's action with the music. He can stack up eleven building blocks. He likes to scrawl with oil pastels. Additionally, he can tear newspaper into long strips. Update pictures are as attached.
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What a sweet sweet angel! This is going to be torture waiting for this little one to come home! He looks so sweet and just lovable!! Cannot wait until all of my babies are together!

1 Samuel 1:27

says: "I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."

Two months ago I was looking on the Holt International website. My husband calls it torturing myself because I would get all bleary eyed and emotional, longing for another child. We just weren't financially ready. Yes we have the love in our heart and room in our home, but let's face it. International adoption is expensive. So I would look at those little faces and just daydream about the time that all of my children are home.
I emailed Erin at Holt about one little boy in particular that really caught my heart. She quickly emailed back and said that C2A2 was not sending out file of children to families that were not paper ready. Well, that's it. I said my thank yous and went on about my way. She said that she would call of things were to change and I said sure, but I honestly didn't think I would hear back from her again.
A few weeks later, Shannon and I were seriously considering the Congo program. There was a little one that would have been perfect for our family and a few days later the lady at the agency called and said a home study ready family would like to see his file and proceed with adopting him and that we would need to make our decision right then and let her know. So, I took that as this just not being the right timing. I told her of course, to please let the other family go after him. I was a little sad, but knew that it was the right fit for him and for us.
A few weeks later Erin calls from Holt and said that C2A2 has lifted the wait and that all families may now apply for this little boy. He was on the shared list as well as the agency list and after a month, his file could go to anyone.
**I would like to add that the day before Erin called us, I was getting ready to go to work. I was in the shower and my heart was just breaking. I kneeled down in the shower (not a pretty picture) and just began to pray. I begged God for a good 15 minutes to show me something. Either take the desire away to want another child, or to show me that the path I was on was the right one. I prayed for him to be specific and to be in my face. I needed the in my face and clear part. And we all know what happens when I pray in the bathroom....

- May 4th: Erin called and forwarded his file to us. We were one of 3 families interested in him. I immediately called our doctor so she could look over this info as well. I called Erin back right away to tell her we wanted to proceed.
- May 5th- Erin calls to tell us our agency appointed social worker will be Jessica. Jessica would be calling later that day to have a family phone conference with us about this little boy so she can represent us at committee. (NO PRESSURE)
-May 5th- get an email from Jessica that committee will be May 6th. I'm sorry, did you say May 6th as in tomorrow May 6th? You did? oh, okay. ( We were under the impression that the families had 2 weeks to decide if they wanted to proceed. Guess they made their minds up as quickly as we did!!) Jessica calls to tie up some loose ends and I asked her about the other families. There are no other families. For personal reasons, the other families backed out.
-May 6th- 3:30pm - Jessica calls us to say we have been selected to be his parents. How's that for in your face and clear??

So without further hesitation we will be welcoming Samuel Fountain YunDi Sharp in February or March of next year :)




We are SO ridiculously happy!
His date of birth is December 10, 2007 (my grandfather's birthday)
So he is 2 1/2 right now. He is from Wuxi, Jiangsu. You can see his picture in the upper right hand corner of this blog :)
We are excited to have his as part of our family!!
Now to do tons of paperwork and get this ball rolling :)

Will add more later :) I have some updated pics of his sweet face that I cannot wait for you to see!!!!!!!!!!

Be Still...

I know that most of you are aware that we are adopting again. I have felt this longing in my heart that started not long after we got Norah home. I have prayed and prayed, searched and searched. Longing for a child that I do not know yet...
A while ago Shannon and I went to a 2 day DSS class here in SC to be able to adopt from our state. We got our fire inspection complete and now we need to do our DHEC and homestudy. Why am I dragging my feet????
In the mean time I am approached several ( 5 or 6 ) times about someone that knows someone that maybe knows the neighbor that is pregnant and is choosing adoption. Or someone else that may be choosing disruption. Sure! Pass along our name and number!! Nothing has worked out to date for us. Those that know my story, and I have made mention of this several times, that Baby Bird #3 will be no different than #1 or #2. It will not be easy for us and bringing them home will require many hours on my knees in prayer. I am ready for that.
I recently took a month off from looking. I was getting a bit, okay ALOT obsessed over another adoption. I was searching and scouring the Internet. I looked at every Heart Gallery in ever state in the US. I poured over every international agency that had a photo listing. I was exhausting myself and tormenting my heart. I had to take some time off. This journey to child #3 was getting in the way of me being a mother to my kids. I was constantly on the computer and just in a bad way in my head. I had to step back and just "be still".
I also wanted clarity if we were doing the right thing by adopting again. I felt it so strongly in my heart but I wanted to know that I was doing right by God. I wanted to make sure that what I was doing was pleasing to Him. So during my month off, I prayed . Alot. That if this was not what we were supposed to be doing that He would take away this desire and replace it with contentment.
No such luck. But I know that I am on the path that He has cleared for me and right now that's all I need to know.
I know that there is a little one out there that was made for us alone. And that makes me so excited. There is a child out there that belongs at our table. There is a little one that needs our family as much as we need them. I don't know where they are. But I will rest in the peace that He has provided thus far. He has not let us down and in His time, everything is made perfect.
Thank you Lord for hearing this mother's heart. Thank you for giving me the desires of my heart and for hearing me when I cry out to you...

Welcome to our new nest!

We would like to welcome you to our new nest :) Corny, I know but I could not think of another word that best describes our family! Since Norah's adoption is finished, and Elias is getting bigger, we wanted to try something new to keep everyone in the loop and updated on these wild and crazy kids! And just as the name of our blog says, we hope to have 3 in our nest! So please drop in from time to time and check on us... there is always something going on around here! Until then....

One More For The Road...

Okay, I am becoming slighlty addicted. I admit it. I think I have finally figured out this signature thing... let's see...

Free Personal signatures - cool!

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