My First Thanksgiving

Sarah spent her first Thanksgiving in Texas with Michael's family. She had PLENTY of cousins to play with and she also had PLENTY of turkey to eat. She came home a few pounds heavier! Back home we enjoyed a visit with our dear friends, The Chiodos, who were in town visiting family. Their daughter is a few weeks younger than Sarah. The Christmas tree and other decorations went up and we are now experiencing the joys of keeping a toddler from tearing everything down! Didn't think about that one in advance! We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.


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Happy Adoption Awareness Month!

Sarah Elizabeth Tam- 16 months old

Follow the links below to find out more about orphans world wide and what you and/or the church can do to make a difference.

voiceoftheorphan.org

orphancareintl.org

"....You are the defender of orphans...Lord you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will listen to their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphan and the oppressed...."
Psalm 10:14, 17-18

Quick Sarah update: Almost as soon as I published last week's post she started pulling up to a standing position all by herself! Now we are trying to work on teaching her how to sit back down by herself. And, she started using baby signs to tell us when she is hungry and when she is done eating.

Back in the swing of things

Making a mess of mommy's office!

Sarah is so orange! (OSU fans will get that one!)

Last week was my first week back in the office after nearly 9 weeks off for travel and maternity leave...and I survived! Other than missing spending my days playing with Sarah, it was good to get back and get things re-organized. You can only put off the inevitable for so long! I think Michael was glad to have me back, as well as the rest of the youth department. As you can see in the picture, Sarah got to spend a little time with me in the office. She was such a big helper... helping me to have more things to clean up. She is attending a Mother's Day Out program three days a week at a local church for 4-5 hours a day and Michael and I each have a week day at home with her. Michael had a great time keeping Sarah on his day off - and he even washed the sheets and towels. :-) What a great dad and husband!

Sarah did great for her teachers this week. She never cried (much to my relief), played well and napped well. The best part was how cuddly she was when we got home. It is a blessing to have a child that can be apart from us, but one that is always thrilled to have us come back.

Sarah had her last major examination by her doctor before I went back to work. Since she had to have so many tests (lots of blood work) and shots, we spread them out. Her doctor gave Sarah a clean bill of health - no parasites, diseases, or other concerns. Her titters test even came back saying that all the vaccinations she recieved in VN were good. The doctor can continue to work off of her current vaccination schedule and not have to start over.

Sarah continues to develop rapidly. She is learning so many things at the same time, I don't know how she has any energy left! She is off the floor and up on her knees to crawl, is very close to pulling herself up to her feet, and is more sure-footed when she practices walking. She continues to mimic us, as evidenced by the facial expressions she makes. It is a bit like looking in the mirror and we have to remember that she is very observant of us. She is making all kinds of new sounds, including "da". That makes Michael's heart warm!

That's about it for our family this week. Have a great one!

Thankful

I know it's only the first of November and Thanksgiving is weeks away, but here are some thoughts that have been on my heart lately.

I'm thankful for our church family/congregation. I'm thankful that we are surrounded by adoptive families in our church that have created a culture of people who "get it." We have been blessed with prayer, encouragement, gifts, meals, and so much more....

I'm thankful for family (grandparents, siblings, and extended family) who love Sarah and who welcomed her into our family long before she arrived home.

I'm thankful for friends who have chosen adoption as their way to build their family simply because it is the heart of our Father who asks us to care for orphans, widows, and the least of the least. You have been a role model for our family.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress... James 1:27

I'm equally thankful for our friends that have been down the path of infertility (like us) and have realized their dream of a family through the miracle of adoption. We will always have a common understanding and bond.

I'm thankful for my husband, who is not only a great husband, but also dad. I'm thankful that he trusted me that I really did hear God say "Vietnam." :-)

I'm thankful for Jesus' promise that He won't leave us as orphans (John 14:8). And, I'm grateful to God for my own (spiritual) adoption. Don't you just love how the scriptures use adoption to explain our relationship with God??

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.... Ephesians 1: 4-5

I'm grateful that God doesn't always give us what we want - sometimes we get something better!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights... James 1:17

I'm thankful for a woman in Vietnam who first of all chose life, and then chose to make the sacrifice to give a baby girl what she thought would be a better one. We will do our very best to honor her by the way we raise Sarah.

I'm thankful for our precious daughter, who lights up a room, who wants a million kisses a day, who won't let me put her down hardly long enough to get anything accomplished in the house, who won't fall asleep unless I sing to her (and I don't sing well).....

I'm thankful for all our blog readers who have been so sweet. Who knew we would have so many? I hope that we are always a witness to God's faithfulness and the awesomeness (is that a word?) of adoption. Maybe God will use you to touch the life of a child.....