As you guys probably already know, I am an avid reader of myadoptionwebsite stories and love to follow along and witness new families being created through the blessing of adoption! Recently a new site was added and I was so excited to read that the little one the family would soon be traveling for was at the same orphanage as Shepherd! I contacted the new mama, introduced myself and asked her to give our little guy a hug and a kiss if she were able to visit the orphanage. She was so gracious and said she would be happy to do so and even offered to request to spend a bit of time with him, and let him know his mama, baba and siblings were all anxiously awaiting his arrival! And WOW. Did she deliver or WHAT?!? She was able to visit with him, love on him and even gave him a little toy to keep. She also gave me the incredible gift of knowing he is doing well, is healthy and happy and most of all…. seeing a SMILE on the face of our boy! How darling is he?!? I haven’t seen a smile on his face since his referral picture and goodness gracious… he’s just beautiful (even if he IS a boy ;)!! Here is a tiny bit of what she had to say about Shepherd:
“Stefanie,
That sweet baby of yours has the BEST personality!!!! He has a ready
smile that lights up a room! What another wonderful child God has
chosen for you! He actively explored, had initiative, and competed with
one of his buddies for attention and a toy. His little feet don’t slow
him down much. What a beautiful, beautiful boy! “
How does one say “thank you” for something like that? I can only hope that when we travel for him, we are able to do the same for another waiting family!
Needless to say, our entire household is in love with this little guy all over again!! Getting a tiny glimpse into his personality makes him just that much more real to us… and we can’t WAIT to finally see him and hold him in our arms!! In 2 days it will be 5 months since we first saw his face and time has gone so fast in some ways, but SO slow in others!! We are hoping that our LOA might be coming sometime in April. Today is day 44 since LID and we are praying our LOA arrives before we hit the 70 day mark. For some reason I have it in my mind that we’ll be leaving for China May 23. No idea if I’m right or not, but I guess we’ll see! And we still aren’t sure who will be traveling. It will either be me or Chris, we just can’t afford for both of us to go. We are scraping together our frequent flyer miles and remaining hopeful that we might be able to have enough to cover a travel companion for me, if I am the one who travels. It is doable alone, but not something I would want to do again if I had the opportunity to take along a friend for support and help. Please keep our family and most of all our little Shepherd in your prayers. We are so grateful for every prayer that goes up on his behalf and we feel like these pictures are evidence that our prayers are being heard and answered 🙂
Oh Stefanie,
God is so good!! He is just beautiful.
Blessings,
Ohilda
He is ADORABLE!!!!! What a beautiful smile. I know it just makes you so anxious to get him home.
What a beautiful baby boy! I love seeing his smile.
Kathy
What a SMILE on that precious baby boy of yours!! And all those teeth too! Shepherd is beautiful, Stefanie!! You know my prayers continue for all of you…I lifted you up in a special prayer during Mass on Easter too.
HUGS!!
Patricia
What a treasured blessing! How absolutely wonderful!!
Praying you will be able to figure out the travel arrangements. That is such a difficult decision.
Lots of love being sent your way!
Happy Happy Monday!
What a blessing for your family, seeing your sweet baby boy’s face. He is adorable!
BEAUITFUL is right! Look at that smile…all those teeth! I’m so glad you were blessed with more photos! Thanks for sharing.
hi, i dont know much about frequent flyer miles, but can they be shared? maybe there are people out there who would share them with you…so maybe you both could go…my prayers will be with you – sister kim
Hi Stefanie!
What a sweet and happy smile your little Shepherd has! Thanks for sharing the newest pictures! I imagine you cannot WAIT to hear him laugh now too! What a sweetie!
Blessings,
Cindy
Oh my gosh I am CRYING I am so happy for you girl!!!!! He IS beautiful- and I’m loving that hand all open in the last photo 🙂 He sounds so happy and healthy too!!!
What a wonderful gift! These are such great photos of your precious Shepherd. He is just beautiful. Just look at that smile – I think he knows he is coming home to a very special family.
those photos are priceless – he is darling! what a gift!
Stefanie~
You just have to love this wonderful adoption community. I love how people look out for each other even during their own challenges, happiness, low points, etc…So very happy you have these latest photos of Shepherd and such a lovely description of him. Such a treasure. I can see how you fell in love with him. He is just breathtaking!
Can’t wait to see him in your arms, my friend.
Lisa
I can’t tell you how happy I am that you were able to get these pictures of your smiling, HANDSOME boy… AND get more of a glimpse into his personality! He sounds just perfect. What wonderful blessings each of these photos are. So thrilled for you!! And praying LOA comes soon… May would be a fun time to travel. 🙂
Rebecca
BEAUTIFUL BOY, STEPH!
We have a few SkyMiles we will be glad to donate to the cause.
Maybe , if you can do this, people could donate flyer miles.
Just a thought.
xoxo,
A
He is just beautiful! What a blessing and gift from the other family to yours! Hope you get your travel news soon 🙂
Oh, how I wish I could be your travel buddy!! It’s such an amazing journey — I’d LOVE to do it again, even if I were just a support system on the sidelines. He truly is precious and I love his little pearly whites. Wishing you a speedy LOA and TA!!
Hi – I’ve been following your blog – I’m also from joe and jen’s site (journey to lily mei mei). I like your current blog title for your new website “In Love all over again!” Just a thought!
Rachel
http://kittensandladybugs.blogspot.com/
Stefanie,
I know that we don’t consider ourselves “lucky” – we are blessed – BUT, the first words that came to mind were – LUCKY MAMA!!!!! Shepherd is so beautiful & looks so healthy and sweet & happy!! I can’t wait to see the light in his eyes when he meets his forever family!!
HUGS
Wow. He’s about the cutest baby I’ve ever seen (except for my own, of course!) He looks a little like her in the eyes. He is so happy! I bet that just warms your hearts. God is good.
Julie
What a cutie pie! Hope you have him in your arms soon.
Karen
Stefanie – Truly what a blessing. Shepherd is just gorgeous. If you need a travel companion, I’d love to travel…although I might want to smuggle a little one home for me! (Just kidding)
Stephanie,
I have goosebumps. I can’t believe you were able to have someone not only get photos, but spend time with him and give you a glimpse into his little personality. He’s such a beautiful little boy!!! I keep thinking girl for us, but your guys make me seriously question this!
Wendy
He does appear to have a great personality and he is SUCH a cutie!! What a wonderful thing that Mom did for you and your family!
Look at that beautiful boy! What a blessing from God to get these updates and new photos! He is just adorable and I know this makes you want to jump on that plane to China TODAY!
What a beautiful smile! I can’t wait to see him in your arms!
Margie
mommy to one of Shepherd’s friends 🙂
THAT IS WONDERFUL!!! Look at that precious SMILE! He is so cute. :0) Angel
bennett is sitting on my lap and he insists these are pictures of himself… how I *wish* I had pics of him so tiny!
what a doll baby
My heart was warmed today by your sons priceless smile. Lucky baby… lucky family.
Regards, Debbie
mom to Guan CaiLing waiting for us in Dongguan
Sheperd is the most adorable little guy! His smile is just amazing. We’ll continue to pray for a quick LOA so that you can have him home with you soon.
Oh Stefanie…..he is just precious! I am sure the wait for the travel approval must be driving you crazy! Hang in there….soon, very soon you will have your arms wrapped around that little sweet one! 🙂
So handsome and happy! Go get that boy! 🙂
I Love the new pictures of Shepherd, he has such beautiful little teeth!. What a doll!
cant wait until you travel to get him
Sue
lid 4-29-2006
He is ADORABLE!!!!!
What a beautiful smile dont ya just wanna love on him
I’ve been following that Mom’s story as well, and was thrilled to click on this eve. and see more pics. of this precious little sweetheart!! I LOVE the soft skin against the blue he is wearing. I know this makes you even more anxious to jump on that plane.
Oh, Stefanie what a beautiful smile! What a gift! He is just wonderful!
All I can say is OMIGOODNESS isn’t that boy cute! He just melts my heart!
Wow, Wow, Wow! He’s a little DOLL! What a radiant smile. I’m so happy that you got ths precious gift. And to be able to see him smile! We never had any pictures of Olivia smiling either.
It sounds like he will fit right in with your family!
~Lynn
Wow……. What a great surprise to wake up and find this morning. That smile is killin’ me he is so gorgeous!!!!! I am so thrilled for you that you got this gift and I cannot wait until you are the one holding him in the photos!!!
Happy Day! and May 23 sounds fabulous to me..!!!!!
🙂
Amie
had to go back and peek again…LOL
Those eyes are so big and beautiful and I just love love love his little teeth!!lol
😉
Amie
Stefanie…..How thrilled are you? I remember getting updates (but no pics) from families that adopted from Jami’s SWI when I was waiting. She was at the SWI, so all the nannies knew her. It was just a huge comfort to hear (ANYTHING) that she was doing well, while I waited. I hope you will be able to do that for another family when you travel. It does mean so much. And..Oh! My Goodness!!! How CUTE is HE??? A Perfect addition. And, I think you’ve come up with your new Shepherd’s BLOG Title…In LOVE all over again…it sounds perfect to me.
Regards,
Debby
mom to Lindsi & Jami
Love the smiles! The Lord knows the desires of our hearts! He is so good to His children!
How hard would it be to let Chris go and you stay home, huh???
We are debating about having us both go to Ethiopia or just one of us but we both WANT to go, just not sure if it is what’s best for our littlest one at home.
God will lead the way!!
Thanks for sharing your blessings!
A smile that can melt a mother’s heart! Congratulations on these new pictures of Shepard. Praying you will travel soon!
Robyn
What a beautiful baby boy!!
Karen Whitt
Wow! He is absolutley gorgeous…it makes me so excited to be able to bring home my own!
Oh my goodness he is gorgeous!! I’m sure you are dying to put your arms around him.
I have a question I was hoping to ask you about your SN experience…..yes you are inspiring us! can you email me at belladebi@verizon.net ? Thank you:)
OH MY GOODNESS – I go on a little blogiatus and look at what you get!!! He is gorgeous, miraculous, simply amazing. You posted the question raised by anonymous – send them this post, ’nuff said!
What a wonderful family to get such great pictures and to spend time with your sweet Shepherd, wonderful – you made my whole day! (well, in truth, I was already in a pretty awesome mood – it’s our hanniversary:) This was the icing on the cake!
Thank you for sharing with us.
Love,
Heather
Oh he is gorgeous. Praise God!
Oh my gosh what a beautiful little smile he has! He looks so happy and full of life. I can’t wait until he is home forever!!!
Heather
tovietnam.blogspot.com
Just precious, what a gift to know that he was held by a mommy. I am sure that you can’t wait to have him in your arms!