Today Marks One Month With Sophie ! ! ! PTL ! ! !

Wow!! We had a friend who said,"time goes by so slow while we waited for our referral(4+years), then its rush rush rush,then its over and we are home w/ our baby." That is exactly how it went for us. When we got home we had to take a deep breathe and take a dose of reality that we were in our home as a family of 4. We have lived as hermits for the past 2 weeks trying to give our girl some time to adjust to life at home in the U.S.A. We have had a lot of visitors and she has had her moments. She just seems to go in panic mode by the smallest of things. The outpouring of love, support, and prayers by our church family, friends, and family has really overwhelmed us. Thank You All for all that you have done and continue to do each passing day.
Bailee returned to school on Tuesday,and I went back to work that Wednesday. Sophie and mom had their time to bond the rest of the week. She was pretty much on Tammy's hip all the first week.
Week #2 We had our first appointment at the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham,Al on Wednesday the 8th. Sophie did not like the 2 hour car ride in her seat , but we made it there fine. They done alot of test on her and took about 5 or 6 viles of blood to check everything out. We came home to do stool samples every other day for 5 days. They will test these for any stomach parasites. We will go back Sept. 29th for results and treatments. Then we go to The Cleft Clinic in Birmingham on October 21st for Cleft visit, dental, ENT and Cosmetic surgeon visits.
The next day is big news. She reached up for me to hold her for the first time. She is getting more and more comfortable each day. We had our first family pictures taken Friday by Amber's Photography. Saturday afternoon we had some rain and it give Sophie the opportunity to play in a little puddle for some photo ops. Yesterday(Wednesday) she and i went outside for about 20 minutes without momma and did fine. Her night terrors have dropped off alot this week, with only a sporadic outburst. We have been to church on two Wednesday nights and one Sunday night so far. She has picked up a few words so far: momma, ba-ba(daddy), guh-guh(brother), not nice, no,night-night, and amen. Paps has had a stay in the hospital in Columbus from Sept. 4th - Sept.14th with dehydration, an inflamed colon and stomach problems, Tammy's brother and sister-in-law had their baby Friday night in Amory. Her name is Ansley Lynn Harris. So we have been busy since coming home.
Please pray for us as we continue this bonding and transitioning phase in our life that in God's Way and Time we will be able to move forward as a family.