An Answered Prayer

Since we decided to adopt, I have prayed that Amelia and Bailey would learn to love each other.  After being left for 17 days and a sister moving in his house, Bailey was not the most welcoming of big brothers.  There was the incident on Day 3 that left us dividing the house in half with baby gates and daring Amelia and Bailey to look at each other.  I thought there was no hope for them to ever get along.  Well, I was mistaken.  The new house has brought the two of them together.  There are NO baby gates up in the house.  Amelia and Bailey go everywhere together and seem to love each other.  Here is my proof:

Can you see it?  Amelia is actually feeding Bailey his food FROM HER HAND!  He waited patiently for her and was extra careful not to bite her fingers off.  Amelia actually made a pile of his food next to his bowl, and he let her. 

Bailey actually wags his tail when I bring Amelia downstairs in the mornings.  He lets her rub his back and accidentally step on his tail without a reaction.  It is an answer to prayer.  He whines if he is left downstairs when I take her upstairs, and she BEGS for Bailey to come up with her, "Bailey. Stairs." "Bailey. Play" (she wants to play with him in her playroom upstairs).  Amelia and Bailey actually have tea parties together.  She fills and refills his cup over and over, and he pretends to drink out of it.  Again, it is an answer to prayer.  It is more than I could have ever dreamed would happen!

We've Moved!

We have officially closed on our old house (Friday) and moved into our new house.  I say moved, but there are still a few things at the old house that wouldn't fit on the moving truck.  We need to be officially out of the Chelsea house on Wednesday at 5:00, so it gives us a few days to get those items and clean it.

Actually closing on the sell of our house was a miracle.  We found out Thursday night at 9:00 that the buyers had actually decided to go through with the closing set for the next day at 11:00.  It has been an experience dealing with these buyers and their realtor.  The closings on both houses went rather well except that I had to focus on not crying when I signed the papers giving up our house.  I teared up and took some very deep breaths.  It was difficult because my dad built it, and we have lived there for so long.

The movers came Saturday morning and the official move began.  The movers were fabulous!  We couldn't have asked for a smoother move.  David coordinated the packing of the Chelsea house, and Amelia and I waited at the new house for the appliances to be delivered and the internet man to come.  We unpacked the fragile kitchen boxes while we waited on the moving truck.  Amelia thought the moving truck was great, but when they pulled off a huge box and put her in it, she was in heaven!

I don't think she quite grasps the concept of the move, but Amelia is being a trooper!  She spent the first night away from us Saturday night at Poppy and PawPaw's house.  It was weird not having her here, but she did great at their house.  Amelia actually slept!  She only cried out a couple of times, and it was not her normal screaming. :)  David and I used the time to get things put together.  Amelia's room and playroom were all ready by the time we picked her up Sunday after lunch.

I will pick Bailey up today.  I hope he is able to make the transition to the new house.  I took him on a last walk through the neighborhood before he went to stay at the groomer's house.

Please pray that he handles this well.  Bailey will turn 13 on September 26th, so I'm not really sure what to expect from my little old man.

Thank you all so much for your prayers this week.  I have really needed them!  I also would like to thank the Caucutt family for bringing us dinner last night.  It was VERY much appreciated!

The Latest on Our Move

What were we thinking when we decided to put our house up for sale?  It has been a whirlwind of emotion, and the stress of packing and leaving this house is about to put me over the edge.  We are set to close on the sell of our house and the purchase of the new house on Friday with back to back closings.  The moving trucks will arrive at our house Saturday morning and move our things to our new home.  David is super excited, but I am still feeling hesitant about the entire thing.  Yes, I know that I agreed to this and that in some parts, it was my fault.  I put the sign in the yard.  I honestly never expected any of this to evolve so quickly, and it is making my head spin. 

I have spent the past week packing up our house while Amelia has been at school.  Her first week of school occurred at the perfect time for me to actually get some things accomplished.  I have made some good headway, but there is still a lot more to pack.  I just keep looking around trying to figure out how our things in this big house are going to fit in a smaller house.  David assures me that it will get done.

This will be a very busy week for us.  Friday and the weekend will be pretty crazy.  We have the following prayer requests and would appreciate each of you lifting us up this week:

- We will be able to get everything packed and all needed items ready for the closings on Friday
- The closings will not have any issues
- All of our items will be moved without any damage
- Amelia and Bailey will transition easily to our new house
- I will survive everything with my sanity

Micah's Birthday Party

This afternoon, we had the pleasure of attending a birthday party for Amelia's friend, Micah.  Amelia and Micah shared the same room in the orphanage in Chongqing.  David and Micah's mom, Courtney, have known each other for almost 20 years.  They met at Camp Winnataska.  Courtney is still a director there, and David serves on the Board of Directors, so there is still a lot of contact between them.  We had the opportunity to take pictures of Micah when we were in China and send them to his new family.  Courtney and I have become friends through this process, and we are so blessed to be able to allow Micah and Amelia to keep in contact.  I love that Amelia and Micah celebrated their first birthdays together in China (although probably without a true celebration) and will continue to celebrate all of their birthdays together in Birmingham.

Micah's party was held at Camp Winnataska.  Everyone had a fun time playing on the playground, eating yummy snacks and cake, and swimming in the pool.  Amelia really liked snack time, but swimming in the pool was her absolute favorite part of the party.  She LOVED the huge water slide.  We let her slide down the slide and one of us would catch her at the end.  She thought it was the greatest!  We took some cute pictures, but unfortunately, we didn't take any at the pool.  David and I were both in the water with her the entire time, so no pictures were taken.  Amelia and Micah played with each other in the pool.  They were so precious!  We all had a great time, and I would really love to have Amelia's party there next year.  I think all of her little friends would have fun at the pool.   We wish Micah a very happy 2nd birthday and hope to be able to share many more birthdays with him.

Amelia's First Day of School

It has been a very emotional day for me.  Amelia started school.  I can hardly believe that I am writing this.  She seems too little, and it seems like she hasn't been with us long enough for this day to have arrived.  The director of God's House, Susan, and I spoke in March about the best plan for Amelia.  March.  It is now August 1st and this is the date we planned for Amelia to begin.  How can time go by so fast?  We have made several visits to God's House and discussed school with her all week. 

This morning after breakfast, we got into the car and drove to school.  I teared up a few times thinking about this being the first time that I have left her with people she is not very familiar with.  I have never even let her go to the nursery at church by herself.  I have always gone with her.  I worried that it would seem like a very happy orphanage setting with all of the children running around and that she would think I was leaving her and not coming back.  David met us at school to experience this first day and to give me emotional support.  Amelia seemed happy to be there but stuck close to us.  Her teacher, Ms. Anya came to greet her and take her to meet her new friends.  I chatted with the secretary (and got her cell phone number so I could text her), and we walked out the door.  We actually left her.  I sat in the car and cried with David telling me she had to start school sometime so this isn't a big deal. 

I managed to only text one time to check on Amelia.  I told Diane I wanted to check on Amelia and wanted to know if she had cried.  Her response was that there had been no tears, and she was painting.  I felt some relief.  It was nice to be able to run some errands (I stayed close to the school just in case I had to go pick her up early), but it felt very strange not to have to get Amelia out of the back seat (or even have her in the back seat).  After running some errands and visiting my friend, Sue, for lunch, I went back to the school to pick up Amelia.  She was sitting in the office (I requested that she not take a nap after they had lunch) waiting for me.  Her face lit up when she saw me, and she screamed, "Mama!".  It was wonderful to hear.  She ran into my arms and wanted to be held.  The director of the school and her teacher were full of praise for Amelia.  They said that she followed directions, minded the teacher, and was a joy to be around.  I am sure they were reassuring me, but it was nice to hear that everyone survived.  I was so glad to see my precious girl!  I hope that she's excited to go back tomorrow. :)

In the car headed to school...

Headed to the door

Brief stop to show that they have a slide

She REALLY wants to go on the slide

Chatting with Ms. Diane

Ms. Anya

She decided to take her shoes off in school, but we told her that wasn't allowed.

Watching the children with Ms. Susan

Ready to head to the classroom with Ms. Anya.

First Day Family Photo

Meeting all of the children in her class

Ms. Anya carried her to the classroom

Last glimpse before she headed to the room, and we walked out the door.