Turn that book right side up.....

HI Everyone - Well we have another update!!!! Brody is in great spirits!!!! Isn't that awesome. Not only has he done a complete 180 but he's developing so well too!!! YIPPY! He is learning his English very well, and understands it almost perfectly ~ speaking is still a little broken, but progress is being made.

Brody went to the doctors on Sunday - we don't have the report yet, but other than some skin irritations, nothing from the naked eye seems to be wrong, or raise concern.

Of course Lois told us to bring him to a dentist right away LOL - hopefully it's not too late.

We got word that the family that has been going through court for several months did not get their adoption granted as "Permanent" they unfortunately got and interim adoption for 2 years, meaning they can not bring their children home to the US. The attorney is going to file an appeal to it, so we are all keeping our fingers crossed!!! Let's pray that something can be done, or it's not going to look good for us!!! As a reminder there are 4 judges that do the International Adoption hearings - 2 approve of International Adoption - 2 that don't. Luck of the draw - please - on our side!!!!

Ciao,

Julz, Scott & Brody

What a difference some care makes....

What a different kiddo?? So as it's clear we received our update yesterday. It was a small one, but Lois has been SOOO Busy!!! We got 4 photo's yesterday.

What we were told:

1) Buy lot's of books he loves them (remember we sent a few with our care package).

2) He happy & he smiles a lot.

3) He's a totally different kid then when Lois first meet him (August). He ran up to her when she arrived at his foster care home.

4) He loved his shoes that light up when he walks!!!

Lois will be taking him to the doctors today so we are hoping that we'll have all of that information as well soon. Lois will be returning to the US on Tuesday, so she has 2 more days with our boy!!!

It's so great to see him smile. The first thing I noticed were that his teeth looked nice, looks like he has all of them LOL. His nails look cleaner than before, and those eyes are still telling a story.

So our response to Lois last night.....let's get him home!!! I'm even more anxious now!!! My fears about him being sad, are gone. It was that orphanage that made him sad. He didn't have that 1:1 love and attention that he needed!!!

Brody is in the foster care with 2 other children (Monica's) and they too are doing well.

I am hoping that Edward liked the camera we got him, and hopefully that means we'll have lot's of updated photo's for the next 2 months or so while we wait.

So it is our understanding that Daniel will file the papers this week in hopes for a court date early December with the "adoption friendly judges"!!!! I'm hoping for more information on that this week!!!

A few things we are still waiting on...... what was his reaction when Lois told him about us, and what did he think of the photo album. In one of the pictures we saw him looking at it. Did the clothes that we sent over fit okay? And the shoes, I take it if he likes them, they fit.....but want to confirm shoe size!

I'm thrilled that he loves books - heading to Borders today for a few more!!!!

So we continue to wait!!!! But it's going to be worth it in the end!!!

Cheers,

Julz, Scott & Brody

Happy Thanksgiving

HI All,
Just wanted to wish you a very happy thanksgiving from our family to yours!!!
We have nothing really to report about Lois' trip in Ghana. I did hear from her on Wednesday, but she had not yet spent any "real" time with Brody yet. She did see him on Monday when he was at school, he looked well & happy!!
Lois is in another region of Ghana right now called HoHoe. She is working on another orphanage up there, and will return to the Greater Accra area on Saturday. She will be spending the day with Brody and the other children (Mo's) on Sunday & Monday.
During this time she will take them to the DR. She will show Brody the box of goodies we sent over, and she will share with them that they are going to come here to live with us as a "family". It brings tears to my eyes sometimes thinking about how he's going to react to that. Will he get it? Or will it just be no big deal....... I just can't wait to hear. We don't expect to have an update from Lois until she returns here to the States! That should be Tuesday, so maybe Thursday (yes 1 week) we'll have some updates & NEW PHOTOS!!!
Since it's been awhile since you all have seen a photo of Brody - here is one of the originals we have......from August!!!

So today I had Thanksgiving at my brothers with his wife, and 3 kids and my parents. Scott had to work (but he has Xmas off). It was a great day, and I had a blast with the kids!!! I think I'll be okay at this parenting thing ;-) I came home and it's FREEZING and the puggies were so excited that I was finally back. Of course I brought them some turkey - it's a big TREAT for them to get human food. The always get a little turkey on Thanksgiving & Christmas.

So tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the year!!!! I can decorate! I love Christmas, it's my favorite holiday (next to my birthday LOL!!!). So we'll get all ready, and the cards will be addressed over the weekend. NO I am not one of those that goes shopping tomorrow! I think anyone that goes shopping tomorrow might want to look into therapy!! LOL. It's a crazy day, I wait until the Saturday!!!LOL.

So good night all, hope you all had a beautiful day!!!

Cheers,
Julz, Scott, Brody & Pugs
Happy Thanksgiving to all

Over The Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow - way up high........

I woke up thinking of this song this morning. It reminds me of being a kid!!! But this morning it made me think of Brody.
By now Lois is with him. She should have spent yesterday & today with the kids from my understanding. It's currently 4:33PM on Sunday in Ghana (8 hour difference from CA).
We have not heard yet from Lois, but we are hoping we do before thanksgiving, so we can truly have something to be thankful for!!
This wait has been becoming extremely difficult for me, and I know it has for Scott as well. Just when we think things are starting to go the way they should, and he'll be home in no time :-( something happens.
So I did what I always do when I get down in the dumps, yesterday I went shopping again!!! It's so much fun! Now to just get him home and in these adorable outfits!!!! I want so badly to pack his suitcase to bring there, toys for the plane ride, DVD's...etc......
I want so badly to pack ours as well........minus the toys though LOL.
Our dream of having our Brody home by Christmas has been shattered.......and I know I shouldn't, but I have a new date in mind. Mid January (1/12 to be exact) - I want to be with him by his birthday. I think that is so important.

Well when we hear from Lois while she is over there I hope it's all GOOD NEWS!!! I hope she has time to take him for another medical exam, has time to sit with him and show him our photo album. I hope he likes the stuffed animal and the books, the shoes and the clothes!!! He's already spoiled in our hearts and he's not even home yet.

We've started to look at travel things!!! And we've found a couple of nice hotels, that we could get a "family room" or a suite for like $100 a night. So that's good. One of them had a great big playground, and both have pools!!!

Well I should sign off for now, it's still early Sunday AM here, and I have to take the Puggies out for their walk........

You all have a great Sunday,

Love & Peace

Julz, Scott, Brody, Butch & Bella
XO

Care Package to Ghana

Well I know it's been awhile since we sent any sort of update. As most of you know we had a family emergency and were out of town for over a week. We thank all of you that were there for us, with support & love. So THANK YOU!!!!!

While we were gone we were able to check on emails every morning, and I did receive a message from Lois (LVI) saying that she was going over to Ghana on Thursday (11/16/06). WOW!!! Going back so soon. Lois was just there in August. It's an amazing thing that she's doing. She really takes that extra step as an agency director to make us families feel comfortable. Though it's true that Lois probably wouldn't need to head over so soon, IF things were running smoothly over there.

So here is where we are. We all thought that Daniel (attorney) was going to file our Adoption Application with the Ghana High Court, at the end of October. Well with no update, that concerned us. There was no court papers filed....and we wait. Our papers will be in the High Court by the end of Nov, and hopefully we'll have our adoption final in Ghana mid December. So that means no Christmas trip....... I do have to admit there was much sadness in finding out that we would not have our ultimate Christmas gift. Our little boy home. Now my wish ..... that he'll be home by his Birthday. For those of you that have been paying attention his birthday is 1/16/06 - OH MY GOSH - that's exactly 2 months away, I didn't even realize that until right now!!!!

So today we shipped up to Washington (where LVI is located) a care package for Lois to bring over with her for Brody. Contents: 4 T-shirts, 3 pair of short, 1 pair of light pants, 1 pair of sneakers that have the lights on them, 1 pair of sandals (yes the gray ones), 1 stuffed animal - a cow it's cute, 2 reading books, and our photo album that we created for him. The photo album includes photo's of us, the PUGS, his room, our home, vacations we've gone on and cool pictures of San Francisco, etc. We are hoping that with the stuffed animal that he'll be able to keep that with him always, and have it with him when we bring him home here, to help comfort him as it will be something "familiar" to him. Lois is going to tell Brody this weekend about us, and how he'll be coming to live with us and we'll be Mommy & Daddy. The pictures will be helpful for her to tell our story.

Did I tell all of you I bought a digital camera on EBay for Edward (driver & helper)??? Well I sent that in the care package too, I got the memory card for it too. Edward will have the camera soon, and be able to send photo updates SOON!!!

Lois did promise to take TONS TONS TONS TONS of pictures while she is there...... you know what that means??? new photo's very soon everyone. You are excited? think of how we feel??? We are beside ourselves right now.

Well the story for tonight is over........

Thanks again everyone for your love & support.

Hopefully we'll have a travel date in the next month!!! And yes we want all of you at SFO when we arrive with our little guy!!!

Love & Kisses,

Julz, Scott, Brody, Butch & Bella
XOXO