Happy Birthday Jon Paul

My dream, my wish and my goal was to be with you today. Either in China or here, at home, to celebrate your 3rd Birthday with you. But it seems God had other plans and we cannot be together. Perhaps He wanted to give Mike and Deena one more birthday, one more Christmas, with you. We know that you are celebrating and, with heavy hearts because we miss you so much, we are celebrating too. We hope you received the very special gift we sent to you for your birthday. Happy 3rd Birthday, son... we love you.

A letter to the Seeing Eye

Hi Teresa,

Thank you for your wonderful email. The comment on Facebook was genuine. We hear a lot about how Seeing Eye Dogs change the lives of blind people (and they do... no doubt, we know plenty of grads!) But they also change the lives of the spouses and children of those blind people... and it really is a beautiful thing! I love my husband. I love him dearly... but the independence and confidence your "Otis" has given him? Well, it's second to none! He has a sense of confidence I've never seen before! He "offers" to go to the grocery store! Thanks to TSE's superior breeding, Otis is the nicest dog we've ever had. His intergration to our family has been so easy and he is such a good boy! So you see, yes, Otis has given Mike new independence... But Otis has affected ALL of our lives... He makes the play park accessable to my husband and our 6-year-old daughter... he gives Mike confidence and Otis welcomes me home from work (with that big, wet tongue) everyday... we all love him more than we anticipated...

Thank you, Theresa... to you, the breeders, the puppy raisers, the trainers... everyone who puts their hearts and souls into guide dogs. It's a sacrafice. There is not a guide dog user out there who doesn't realize that. Unless you live this life, it's difficult to appreciate the impact. Please know it's been a life-changing experience, not just for your graduate and his dog, but for his whole family. We are grateful.

LOA!

We received our LOA today! That golden piece of paper! Thank you CCAA! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Now I'm off to sign and file our I-800... Hopefully it will come swifty. We are hoping to travel in February 2011.

A care package for Jon Paul

Jon Paul will be celebrating a birthday in a couple of weeks. Christmas is also on the way. I would love nothing more than to send Jon Paul loads of things for both his birthday and Christmas. But we are limited in the size and weight of a package we can send. Mike and Deena, Jon Paul's foster parents, told us he needs clothing and loves trucks that make sounds and have lights. I found a small truck and the clothing below. We are going to send it USPS international and hope it arrives at all.

Prepare

We prepare ourselves for all the worst case scenarios: attachment problems, toddler sibling rivalry and disability adjustment problems. Why dont we prepare ourselves for the best things?

Another new photo

The boys recently got haircuts. Jon Paul has very fine hair and I think this barber went a little crazy with his haircut this time. Not my favorite photo, but we certainly appreciate EVERY ONE that Mike & Deena send to us from Hidden Treasures.

Wonderful Fundraiser News!

We have been chosen by Hip Mom Jewelry as their adoption fundraising family for the month of November!!! We are so excited to have this opportunity!! Please click on the button below, and go shopping!! Our family will receive 30% of all adoption related sales for the month of November when you use our

FAMILY CODE: COR1110

When you are on the homepage, be sure to click on "adoption" since that is the jewelry that gives us a percentage of sales for our adoption!! Please take a look - they have some absolutely gorgeous stuff, and really wonderful adoption themed jewelry!!!

Shop early for Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries!! Every adoptive mom would love one!!! And, you will be helping us to bring our son home!!

Our family code is COR1110!