OOPS!!

While writing the last post i left some important details out that i thought about later.
For beginners on Friday the 5th our Sophie turned 21 months. Where has time gone, it seems as if we were just in China and few days ago. She has been teething pretty bad but has finally cut the 5, yep 5 teeth. She is really doing good. When we went to the Cleft Clinic in B'ham, the Dr. said that her palet is in good shape, no surgery needed. The hole she has is between the lip and gum and may need some work 4 or 5 years from now but let her be a toddler and be happy.
During our trip to China i took FMLA, which is suppose to use your vacation and personal days before unpaid starts. They messed up and had me on unpaid leave the entire trip. So i have 2 weeks of vacation to use up, and i started 1 on Friday. So its Sophie and BaBa this week, if you would have told me a month ago that she would be happy staying with me all day much less a week i would have told you that you were crazy. She woke up this morning and was as happy as ever !! God has moved mightly in her life and i beleive He has provided peace within her with her Forever Family!!
We are not fools and think we are over all the hurdles by any stretch, but we are thankful that God has provided joy, love, and peace for Sophie with us.Keep us in your prayers!!

The Aldridges

Some Fall Pictures and Church Dedication

WOW!!!!! A month has passed

Time has passed so fast and so much has took place i will try to update to today. First, on Oct. 7th Sophie had tubes put in both ears and is doing good. Her pediatrician appointment went good, although she got 5 shots, 3 more in Dec. and she will be good till 5yrs old. Rodney's parents started coming to sit with Sophie on the 11th of October, in hopes of making Tammy's transition back to work smooth for them both. She has done great allowing Tammy to go back to work a couple of weeks early, she went back on the 25th. She went back early because she has surgery on her arm the 16th on Nov. to get alittle more time to heal before she goes back to work again. We all passed a head cold around for a week or so, but presently we are well. Sophie is really settling in to her surroundings good. She is watching alot of Barney, the only thing she will watch. She has bonded with me alot over the past few weeks, we have went to town alone a time or two and she done great. I get to come home earlier than Tammy allowing my parents to leave and have a couple of hours or so of time alone with her.
We had her Baby Dedication at our church on the 10th of Oct., and they had a church wide lunch and shower in honor of Sophie. She got sooo many clothes, and bows, shoes and boots,toys and alot of money on that day, plus so many had already given her clothes and toys and supported us financially. Our church family has really showed our family the Love of God. They are so supported of us and has been willing to help in every way imaginable. I just hope and pray that we can be a blessing to them sometime the way they have blessed us. God has been so good, we set back and think what have we done to receive so many blessings from Him!!

October 1st Friday Nights Favorites...

This has been an eventful week for our girl! She had her follow-up appt in B'ham on Wednesday and got a very good report. The MD says she is physically very well. Her labs showed her immunizations so she will only have to get the shots that the US gives and China does not... She will have to have no repeats from her China shots!!! That is huge b/c it saves her from having to have 7 shots over again!!! She also thinks that Sophie should be over the parasite... We are doing the fun labs work (stool samples) at home again this week to find out for sure. The occupational therapist did her developmental test and determined that Sophie is not behind at all. She is right on track with all kids her age!!! That is awesome and very unheard of in China adoptions... So we have another one of our prayers over the past four years confirmed and answered once again! The psychologists thinks she is doing well and said for us to keep up the good work. She said it would be best for me to not have to leave her until she had been here about 6 mths but since I can't swing that she said to just do all I can to give her stability until the day I do have to leave her. She also thinks that it would be best to not take her to a sitter but to have someone come into our home to keep her for at least the first few months of me returning to work. So we are on the lookout for someone to do that if any of you have a suggestion. Once she can go to a sitter we have someone great... two of my best friends in the world's mom and one of my BFFs will be keeping her. They only live 4 miles down the road so it will be great when we can get to that point!!!! Just pray for our transition... Sophie and I will both need lots of prayers in the beginning. I hate to have to leave her... so far since Aug 16th she has never been separated from me. Scary!!!! Back to the doctor... she still thinks that Sophie will have to get tubes pronto!!! So we have our cleft clinic appt next week and our first pediatrician appt. One on Tues and one on Thur. We are using Dr. Buckle in Amory... My sis-in-law is using him for my new little niece and really like him. He is from South Africa and is up on international issues so he should be great for Sophie! The cleft clinic is in Bham and is recommended by the International Adoption Clinic we are using.
Sophie is growing more and more comfortable with her daddy each and every day. It is truly amazing to see how much she is changing and growing in trust daily!!! She also is getting more and more comfortable with the other significant people in our lives. Shew is all about some Heather Fields a Friend from church. She watches her intently and even let her pick her up a few nights ago!!! She is loving Rodney's daddy and finally warming up to his mom. We had so much fun watching her eat peas one pea at a time with each hand when we went to supper at their house a few nights ago. Of course, she still worships the ground her guh-guh (big brother) walks on and screams for him and at him daily. The other day when he was at school she pulled me to his room and wanted to see in his bed cause she thought he was still in it. I told her he was in school but she had to see for herself!!!
She is so independent and STUBBORN!!!! When she cannot get something to work the very first time she points that little finger and jabbers something very LOUDLY at whatever she is working with :-) ! ! !
Any way, life is good and very fun nowadays as we share them with our two kiddos. We are blessed! I am so thankful to God for His wisdom and foresight in creating our children. He proves more and more that He only wants what is good and right for us!
Lots of love to our followers,
Tammy

Friday Night Favorites version of Sophiemania !!!

This is the first night of a new project i have come up with. I will do my best to post every Friday night Sophie's video of the week. We captured some great video as she seems to open up more and more each day.
She has done great this week with the exception of 1 day. That day she just seemed to really (in our opinion) wonder if Tammy was gonna leave her. The next morning she was back to her new self.
Last Friday we received a call the IAC(International Adoption Clinic) and Dr.Kizer informed us that her stool samples was positive for the intestinal parasite Giardia. We have her on meds for the next ten days that should clear it up. We take her back Wednesday for hearing and follow up with Dr. Kizer on her other blood test.
Paps update: He has been home for a week now and they have him on the same meds as Sophie only his is a pill version. He has been weak and slow to recover been, but he was better this afternoon.
We received our proof from our family photo session with Amber's Photography. Sophie done really well ae want them all, but we will be narrowing the list down to a few.
Sunday night we done a little presentation to the church about our journey with a slide show. A big crowd showed up and i was as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. We have the best church family anybody could ask for, they have really been supportive of us and have been lifting us up in prayer daily.
Hopefully i can get this video to work!!
I have encountered technical difficulties therefore pics will have to do till we get the video straight !!!

Because He Lives
The Aldridges

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.