Fundraiser

I finally got this up and running so if you like magazines please click the link below to order yourself some magazines and support bringing Savannah-Hope home!!

http://magfundraising.com/PZWizardSplash.aspx?ftype=email


love ya and have a great weekend!!

there is a new adoption blog for fundraisers and every link is to support a child coming home I am going to get the link for my sidebar but check it out at http://adoptionfundraisers.blogspot.com/ the stuff is fabulous and it helps bring forever families together! The angel bows is my mom and money goes right to Savannah-hope's fund!!

Thanks for all the support and encouragement you have given us !!!

Special prayers for Savannah-Hope-update at the bottom

We received word this morning that SH is still quite sick with the respiratory infection this has been going on for a month and she has lost 2 pounds. Thandie is taking her to the seventh day adventist children's clinic this morning (around 12am Tennessee time) please pray for wisdom for the doctors and the integrity of the medicine (they have problems with fake antibiotics often). She has already completed antibiotics and is not better. SH is continuing to throw up at least half of her food and we do not want her to lose any more weight. Please pray for me as I am here and my sick baby is there. It is very hard to know I can not just run her to our pediatrician whom I completely trust, I am not snuggling and rocking her and sitting in the steamy shower at 1am (I would love to be doing this). I talked to her on the phone and she was jabbery and oh how I love the sound of that sweet voice, she said two new words this week (juze) which is sweater in chichewa and the letter H. I guess the whole time the kids sing the alphabet song she sings H!!! Thandie said she is also saying mmhh for yes and uhuh for no and shaking her head!! I think she is saying H for HOPE TO COME HOME!!!! Please continue to pray without ceasing for our paperwork so I can get to my angel and bring her home to be with her family forever!!


UPDATE: Savannah-Hope coughed all night long and all morning until she got to the doctor's office and then didn't cough once. (she is definitely a Johnson) Man this kid is a crack up! Anyways she had the works done....first weighed her and she was the same15 lbs 8oz. Then she had a blood test which revealed her iron is low. So now she is on iron supplements. Then they checked her ears and found fluid in both ears with begining signs of infection. Then she had a chest xray which revealed an upper respiratory infection...no TB....no pneumonia. She may be allergic to the tiny yellow flowers.(the are blown all over the grounds from the rain) Presriptions:
ear drops
cough syrup
antibiotic
iron

The papers have left our hands! and reached theirs!

The new information has been returned to memphis and they signed for it on thursday!! So here is what we need to do now....PRAY,PRAY,PRAY,PRAY OH YEAH PRAY!!!

I am going to be fasting and praying anyone interested please join me in either or both!!!

I am asking for specific prayer for Officer Cox as she is assigned this case and for us to have the paper back in two weeks!! I know we are going to travel to get our baby soon and I can not wait to see how God is going to use her and our journey to her to glorify Him! I want to thank all of you who continue to ask every week and continue to encourage and pray for us it means more than you know. Also all the comments are so helpful it is so nice to know you are following our story and praying with us. God is granting me the patience to wait even though some minutes I feel I will burst if I have to wait one more second. I thank God for who he is because I can come to him anytime and he knows my heart. I found this verse while spending some time with God trying to understand the wait. I love when God speaks a word to me and it just gives me peace.

-Being strenghtened with all power according to his glorious might so that you might have great endurance and PATIENCE!!! Colossians 1:11

Snow and chocolate!!!

Yesterday we finally got some snow!! The kids had a great time playing in it and it was very enjoyable to watch with all the stress of trying to get Savannah-Hope home it was nice to just sit back and have some fun with the kids!! I love the sound of them all playing and laughing and it is such a great reminder of how blessed we are!! We came in and made hot chocolate and brownies :) I am trying to get used to my new camera so bear with me as I try to get more pics on each day!! Thank you all for your comments and prayers..keeep em coming!!!

Still chasing paper

Well we finally heard from immigration. They did not deny or approve our paper work but just asked for more documentation. This is just another bump in the road but it will cause another delay because once they ask for more information then they get 6 weeks to review it. We already have all the new documents over to our worker and she is so fabulous and will have to them asap! Just pray pray pray that they do not take long this time and that we will get our angel home asap.

The funeral

On Sunday November 11, 2007, Savannah-Hope's birth mother died. Her funeral was the next day. Savannah-Hope attended the funeral. She was tied to the back of a woman whose husband is a staff member at Good Samaritan. She kept Savannah on her back until the funeral was over and most of the people had left. It was then that Thandie revealed Savannah's identity to her birth family. It had only been 2 months and 7 days since they had last seen her, but there was no way they would have recognized her. Savannah-Hope was a lifeless limp preemie size baby when they last saw her....at the time of the funeral she had gained 9 pounds and was looking big and healthy. I wasn't so sure that Savannah-Hope should attend the funeral. At the time the weather was very bad and the funeral was in an extremely poor village known for multiple sicknesses. I was also afraid that the extended family would be at the funeral, take one look at how healthy Savannah was and want her back. We weren't given a choice and Savannah-Hope was taken to the funeral. It turned out to be a great blessing. Her family and the people from her village where praising God for Savannah-Hope’s amazing testimony. And Thandie was able to capture some pictures of Savannah-hope with her siblings.

I know how unusual it is for adopted children to have pictures of their birth parents and extended family, especially in international adoption. We are so blessed to have pictures of both of our adopted daughters' birth parents, siblings and extended family members. These pictures are priceless to us.

Savannah-Hope's brother (name unknown) and twin sisters Tamandani on the left and Sidala on the right...holding Savannah-Hope's hand.

Here is a close-up of all four children with the maternal grandmother. You can see that each twin has a bracelet on their left hand given to them by a witch doctor. These bracelets are supposed to protect the children from harm, but they can be used to involve babies and children in witchcraft.

Maternal grandmother with Tamandani.

Brother, Sidala and Tamandani with the maternal grandmother. The twins look so tiny, but they will be 3 years old in April.

Here is a photo of the funeral. It is customary for the women to sit together under the covering where the casket is, while the men sit together outside of the of the covering. You can see Chrissie's casket in the center with the pink flowers.

Here is another picture of the casket.

Savannah's First Christmas

Savannah-Hope's orphanage has sent a memory card that has over 500 pictures on it, most of them are of my sweet baby!!! Of course it is hard to see her grow-up in pictures, but we are rejoicing that the Lord has provided her such a loving and nurturing environment while she waits to join us. We are so grateful that Thandie has captured these milestones on camera for us and for Savannah-Hope to have when she's older. Here the pictures from Savannah's first Christmas:

Santa's Lil' Helper

She may not be in America yet, but it’s never too early to practice for the "Miss America Pageant". I think she's got the wave down already!

"I've fallen and I can't get up"

One baby step forward....

1. We are praising the Lord today that we had a safe trip to Memphis. The children were wonderful! We made it in time, which was a huge blessing since there was terrible traffic due to the destruction left by yesterday’s tornadoes. We passed by so many homes and vehicles that had been destroyed. We saw a highchair on the interstate along with other baby items. Each fallen tree and piece of debris was a reminder of how blessed we are.
   
   The meeting with immigration:
   
   Mimi and the children went to McDonalds while walked up to the class window and handed a lady my info pass. She disappeared for a few minutes and came back to say that my case has NOW been assigned to Officer Cox and we should expect a response in the next two weeks. I was not able to talk to Officer Cox directly. I informed the lady behind the glass that three weeks ago we were told to except a response in two weeks. The lady wasn’t interested in hearing my sob story or seeing pictures of Savannah. Her only explanation for the delay was that all the officers have been in training and/or sick. This is the first day in two weeks that an officer was actually in the office.
   
   Prayer request:

Please join me in prayer for Officer Cox. Please pray that God would:

1. Lay a heavy burden on her heart for Savannah-Hope

2. give our family favor in her eyes
3. motivate her to review and approve our paperwork quickly
4. prevent her from asking for another addendum
5. mail the approved form now

Heading to Memphis

Due to the fact that we have still not received our paperwork and can't get any response back from immigration, I have scheuded an infopass appt with the immigration office for Wednesday at 1:45pm. This gives me the right to drive 4 hours to Memphis each way after three nights in a row of working the overnight shift, with four children just to sit in the office of someone that thinks my daughter is just another number. I will be taking pictures of Savannah-hope with me and a sack of documents proving that they have had everything they need to process the paperwork for the past 5 months...including my check for $850.

Cost of gas= $3 a gallon

Sleep deprevation = -8 hours

Waiting 5 months = patience

Frustration of waiting = Trust in God

45 mintue phone call to immigration = waisted minutes on my phone

Visiting Elvis' birth place= irrelevant and not going to happen

Bringing Savannah-Hope home = priceless

P.S. Mimi will be traveling with us to help with the driving and keep me awake. Please pray that God brings us a miracle and places the I-171H in our mail box tomorrow and saves us the trip altogether.