Fund Raiser For The Kids

Just a reminder that you still have time to help the children that we unfortunately will have to leave behind at the orphanage when we visit. See count down counter on right side bar. To all the good Friends and Family members who have shopped and / or sent checks. We Thank You from the bottom of our hearts. Through your generous donations we will be able to donate many much needed items to the Baby House. Children ages 0 - 3. These funds will be donated in addition to our donation. With any luck I will be allowed to take a few pictures at the baby house and share them with you on this Blog while we're in country.

If you haven't had a chance to visit my Suzanne site and go shopping please do so. 25-40% of retail will be donated to the orphanage which is 100% of my profits. Order online and your order will be drop shipped to your home via FedEx.

http://www.suzanne24.com/lee

Oh... enough of this white stuff

Winter... It's getting old already. Amazingly it's warmer in The Republic of Georgia then it is here. Thought I'd share a few pictures of Hummingbird Haven in the snow.

We've been Nesting for over 2 years...

Nesting...

Some of you thought I was crazy? Some said it's bad luck? The old agencies all said they expected to see nesting. The wanted to see her room finished. Toys, books and clothing. So I shopped and shopped and painted and shopped. Nesting when you switch countries as often as we did wasn't easy. With each country change we had a age change. And with each country change we knew our daughter would have a different ethnic look. So what does a mother do? Well you buy dolls with every ethnic look just in case and you buy clothing in all the sizes. Since Tamara is 3 but the size of a 2 year old she will fit in everything sooner or later. Her closets are full from 18 mo. to size 6X. Someone once said to me why do you need to bring clothing? This woman thought it was horrible that the adopted children don't come with clothing. So I asked her when your children were born did they come into the world wearing a snow suit?

Reality is when you adopt a 3 year old you need a lot of stuff. Especially a child who spent 2-1/2 years in an orphanage. Most of these children have never seen all the every day things that we take for granted. So safety first. Although she is 3 and yes her motor skills are great we do need to baby proof the house. Perhaps more so then if we had her since birth. She will be able to reach more and get there faster. So the baby gates are ready to go up. The outlet plugs are ready and we have spinning door knobs every where.

I decorated her room in Waverly Sweet Violets. I decided to stay away from the traditional bubble gum pink as I'm sure there will be plenty of that in our future. Right now she has a full size bed which we may change in the future to a twin or toddler size bed? We're keeping the full size for now adding bed rails for safety as she is probably used to co-sleeping with someone. That would be me ... I'm sure Bruce will enjoy my side of our bed for a month or two. Most adoptive parents put a crib in their room or co-sleep in their bed but I think it will be easier for me to slip out of her room rather then get Tamara used to sleeping in ours and then try to move her. That's the plan anyway.

We're Extremely Fortunate

We're extremely fortunate to have gotten over 20 video clips of Tamara during the referral process. We're also received countless photos. This is very unusual for an adoption referral. Usually adoptive parents either get one or two photos or travel on a blind referral.

Having these videos has helped us a great deal in getting to know our daughter even before we travel to meet her. Below you will find three videos of Tamara. These were sent to us 24 hrs. after I emailed the Denver Questionnaire which was sent to us by Dr. Aronson in NYC to check Tamara's development. Dr. Aronson is rated as one of the best International adoption pediatricians in the world.

Somethings got lost in the translation. Video # 1 She was to stack blocks, Video #2 She was told to stand on one foot and timed. Video #3 She had to show that she could dress herself.

We love the giggles... she's a cutie

We have gotten videos since these and her hair is starting to come in thicker as well as her lashes. It's amazing the difference we see in just the last couple of months. These children really do respond to proper nutrition and attention. So exciting!!!