The matches are through December 8th!!!!

Well the latest news is that they are through matching people logged
in through December 8, 2005(and we're March 15, 2006)
So, what that means for us is that there are only 71 days left of people logged in ahead of us!!!! That does not include Saturdays and Sundays of course, b/c the Chinese Gov does not log people in on weekends, so that leaves 71 Days of people between us and the match day of our baby girl!
And to "guesstimate" if they match an AVG of 15 days worth of people each month for the rest of time(or at least the next 6 months or so)that is only about 4 or 5 months away till it's our turn!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! That sounds so close just compared to the 2 years we've already waited! And of course are we ready for our Sophie girl????? NO NO NO!!!(Well, of course yes ready for her, but not, "baby ready" as in supplies....!) Her room has yet to be done(it's currently the junk room), we've yet to buy durable suitcases for the trip, we have not watched our "Prepare to travel to China" video our agency sent us. We've yet to transfer our savings money to thousands of "FRESH PRESSED" bills.....and the list goes on!
But, the girl does have clothes!!!! (now that's a given for all you who really know me!!)
So we are really getting excited! I know it may be shorter or a bit longer than 4 or 5 more months, but reguardless, it's coming SOON!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, and one more thing, I saw my butterfly, or I should say, Sophie's orange(Monarch)butterfly on Saturday.....It's Mid-November, there should not be any butterflys flying around Ohio in Mid-November, esp Monarchs which travel south in September(and it was freezing here Sat.) I had just been praying again last week about how I probably won't see any butterflys until spring again, and low and behold, God showed me one!!!!!(and Jeff and Charlie were there as my witness!!!)
So Sophie girl we are going to be coming very, very soon!!!
Love mommy xoxox

This Morning in China

This morning in China a mother cries
She'll never forget her daughter's eyes
Her heart is broken and filled with pain

She has no choice but to leave her there
The cost of living is too much to bear
She hopes her daughter will one day know
True love can be found in letting go

This morning in China a baby cries
Hungry and scared as tears fill her eyes

Her mother has left her in this public place
Another lost daughter of the Chinese race

Someone passing by has heard her soft moan
She's soon quickly taken to a foster home

It's there she'll reside in the care of another
Until she's adopted by a brand new mother

That very same moment in the U.S.A
A woman cries as she starts to pray
Her heart is heavy but filled with much love
She prays for a daughter she thinks the world of

"Dear Jesus I ask that your arms would be
wrapped tightly around the one picked for me
Guard her in China 'till I make my way"

And in my arms FOREVER she'll stay!
-author unknown

Dear Sophie Ruth, I found this poem while roaming around online and had to journal it for you. It spoke so much to my heart, I feel like I could have written it myself.
I know you are of this world right now, as crazy as it seems, I can feel you in my heart each day I breath. Daddy, Charlie and I don't go to bed one single night without praying for you and asking that God is protecting you in these first 6-9 months or so of your precious life!
We love you sweet daughter to be!!!!!
-Mommy!

Happy Halloween/Fall our Sophie Girl 2007

Dear Sophia Ruth, all our halloween festivities and trick or treating were fun, but we really missed you this year! Last year we thought for sure you'd be here with us to dress up and take around the block, Charlie even came up with lots of cute costume ideas....BUT... you WILL be with us next year and we just can't wait!!! Charlie has even more costume ideas and can't wait to dress you up!
We love you our sweet daughter/sister to be...Happy Fall to you way over the ocean!!!
Love Mommy, Daddy and Charlie

More Halloween fun 2007!

First of the many Halloween festivities....Friday night at the rec center 2007 with "Leo the little Einstein", "Troy" from Highschool Musical and a princess fairy cat!!!

The 24 months we've been waiting....and are still waiting!

The 24 months we've been waiting....

Sorry about the music from the bottom last two posts, for some reason they are playing at the same time!
Anyway, two Octobers ago, in 2005 we began this journey to adopt our daugther Sophia Ruth(who two years ago was going to be named...Madelyn, Miah, Kennady, Sadie...and the list did go on..!!!) BUT...thankfully, our Charlie boy came up with Sophie! And we are now set with her name, Sophia Ruth Rogers!
So...24 months ago, my baby was literally a baby, two years old...he has had 2 birthdays and is now a big 4 year old preschooler. We've dressed up for Halloween twice and are approaching the third time. We've waited through two Christmas's and soon to be a third. We've left the year 2005, and the year 2006 and will leave 2007 without her.....
But, my sweet Sophie girl we are not giving up on you. This wait has only strengthened us and made us realize how much we already love and want you and Know God has chosen you for us! We will wait no matter how much longer we are asked to wait!
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared
to what lies within us.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
I love you Sophie Ruth....!
Mommy!

The 24 months we've been waiting....and are still waiting.....

Charlie's first wedding...and Ian's too!!!

Pumpkin Picking in Kentucky 2007

Halloween Costume Debate 2007

Well with Halloween literally around the corner, our Charlie boy is having trouble picking between two costumes......Will he be Leo from the Little Einsteins program he loves(whom if we dye his hair red, he actually looks like!)
Or will he be a space pilot...his other favorite obsession(space/flying)????
Decisions, decisions.....maybe he'll be both and mix it up between the diff halloween parties! Stay tuned to see what he picks!

They are finally through referring the month of November 2005

Yeah!!!! We are so happy that China has finished matching babies to ALL the families that were logged in in November 2005! That was such a HUGE month and took them 6 months to get through. Now...rumor has it that Dec/Jan/Feb are much smaller months as in the amount of people logged in and waiting, so lets all pray that we see them moving through these months quicker to get to us in March!!!!

Nothing else new, Charlie is loving school and made a best, or should I say, "girl"friend, named Kylie, and it has made all the difference in him LOVING going there! Funny, b/c she looks so much like my neice, Abi, whom Charlie adores, so maybe that led him to her!

We are off to ANOTHER wedding this weekend out of town, but this one should be so fun, Jeff and Charlie are in the wedding! This will be Charlie's first time as a ring bearer!! I'll be posting many pic's of our handsome little guy after we're back, so stay tuned!

Also, if you read that last post of the butterfly song by Martina McBride, that's thanks to my sis-in-law, Krista, who brought that song to my attention!! Thanks Aunt Krista, we LOVE the song and listen to it everyday and know it will be Sophie's song!

That's it for now, Blessings to all and love to Sophie Ruth!

She's a Butterfly

Monarch
Originally uploaded by sokolowicz

She remembers when she first got her wings
And how she opened up the day she learned to sing
Then the colors came, erased the black and white
And her whole world changed
when she realized
She's a butterfly, pretty as the crimson sky
Nothing's ever gonna break her down
And everywhere she goes, everybody knows, she' s so glad to be alive
She's a butterfly
Like the purest light in a darkened world, so much hope inside
such a lovely girl
you should see her fly, it's almost magical
it makes you want to cry
She's so beautiful
God bless the butterfly
give her the stregth to fly
Never let her wings touch the ground
-Martina McBride

Poem for Sophie written by Amy Rogers

Butterflies and apple trees for my Sophie Ruth to be!

As I look out the window, above piled up dishes
I stare at your tree with so many wishes

Your butterfly comes through our yard each day,
I know it's a sign and a time I pray

I pray that you're warm, snuggled up with care
I pray that you're looked after, and that someone is always there

I pray God's Angels are whispering in your ear,
that Mommy, Daddy and Charlie all long for you here

I pray that this spring, when your apple tree blossoms,
when the pink flowers appear
and your butterfly is near

That you Sophie Ruth know we're on our way,
that we've waited so long and each day we pray

We've prayed for you, and loved you this whole time through

And God has whispered You are for us
And we are for you!


Charlie, Jeff and I have really been feeling Sophie so strong on our minds the last month, so I felt led to write to our sweet girl and this is the poem I came up with from my heart!
I love you so much already Sophie Ruth Rogers, words can't express how much we hold you dear and want you here!!!!!!!!
Love, Mommy

Yet Another Butterfly

Yet Another Butterfly
Originally uploaded by Straw6erry Gir1

Okay, I don't even know how to write my butterfly story in a "nutshell", b/c it's pretty long, and most of you will think I'm crazy(except for Kearston and my mom), BUT...for almost a month now, I've had "a" butterfly, or numerous different butterflies, following me around EVERYWHERE, and when I say everywhere, I mean it...even different states, and this is on a DAILY basis!
This all started a month ago when I began praying and asking God to send me some sort of signal that our Sophie girl was okay and on her way to us.....that's when all these butterflies, started showing up in my life. Anytime I am outside, whether at my house or a local park, or in KY or in CA a butterfly will appear and fly around my head!
So I began telling my dear friend Kearston all about this and she had someone look up the theory behind butterflies showing up in ones life and I couldn't believe it!
This is not word for word, but basically it says that it is very good luck to have a butterfly continue to appear in your life and it represents that there is a time you are going through that you have to "wait"...and during the wait, something wonderful is being made to happen in your life, and after this long wait, as a catapiller waits to turn into a butterfly, the beauty in your life will emerge.......the beauty for us will be our Sophie girl!!!!
Anyway, again, I don't have the story entirely correct, but that is the just of it!
So when you see a butterfly, think of our Sophia Ruth and say a prayer for her!
I know Lord, this is you, showing yourself to me, and reminding us to trust in you and hang in there, and have faith.....
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" -Hebrews 11:1

Our baby is growing up, Charlie's first offical day at Preschool -September 12, 2007

Well, I did it! Or I should say, our Charlie boy did it! Preschool today was a HUGE success! No tears I am happy to report from Charlie or mommy!
Charlie is so excited that his best buddy Caden is right in the classroom next door to him, and I think that gives them both a bit of a sense of security!
I adore this school and am so happy we chose it for him.
Both his teachers said they would have never guessed that he hadn't already been at school previously, b/c he was so secure and well adjusted......I admit, I had a proud mommy moment upon hearing that!
As much as my heart broke when I walked into my lonely house this morning after dropping him off, I also felt so much joy in my heart and happiness for Charlie that he is off to a great start, begining his little life journey away from home and from me! Praise God for a great start to school and prayers for many, many more to come!
And Sophie girl, as always, we think of you and pray for you each and every day!
Love, Mommy

Charlies First visit at Preschool -September 2007

The next batch of baby referrals....thru November 25 2005...

Well, I wasn't going to post this, just b/c I am so sick of hearing that they are STILL matching folks that were logged in, in November....BUT everyone keeps asking(and I do appreciate how much everyone cares!)So....yes they only sent baby referrals to people logged into the adoption program through November 25 2005...meaning they still have five more days in that month of November to match people and then they can move onto the month of December.....
Remember we are logged in on March 15 2006....not much later than December, and the word out there is that December 05 and January and February 2006 do not have that many people logged into the adoption program, so things SHOULD start moving a bit faster bringing them to us in March 06.....We Pray, please pray with us!
On another note, our dear friends, Tressa and Alan, are in China right now as I write, on their way to get their sweet baby Mattie! Their blog is: www.tressanalan.blogspot.com if you want to follow their journey! They are going to get her on Sunday! Please pray along with us for them too! Some day our Sophie Ruth and their Mattie girl will be pals!

The Rogers Go Hollywood

Well, I can finally say, "I went to Hollywood!!" And boy did I EVER fit right in!!!(just kidding) I'll have to say it's not exactly what I pictured it to be, but we sure had lots of fun!
In the first picture, that's us at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater were all the stars put their hand and/or footprints in cement...and their names on the stars in the sidewalks.
Then we went inside the Kodak Theater, where in just a few weeks, the Emmy's will take place and all the stars will walk the red carpet and staircase, so that's us on the actual staircase!
The third picture down is me at.....BRAD and ANGELINA's.....yeah, I was just stopping by for coffee....until I peered into that little hole in their driveway gate and was sent screaming back to my car after their dog started charging the gate(you can only imagine that scene, Jeff and Kevin were mortified and wanted to leave me there I'm sure!) So although I missed the coffee(haha), I did peer in enough to see they own a Toyota SUV and of course a red little beemer right next to it! And some outside toys laying around for the little ones!
The next pic down is us driving down Rodeo Drive.....we tried to call and book an apt with LV or Chanel, but too bad for them, they were full!
And lastly, we got to watch a live taping of the show "10 Years Younger" which is one of TLC's popular reality shows. I couldn't believe how fake reality TV REALLY is.....it was interesting watching how it is acutally produced.....and let me just say the producer was anything but sweet.....totally HOLLYWOOD!
So, if you scroll down more after this post I put two different slide shows of the rest of our trip, we visited Venice Beach and the Santa Moncia Pier too! It was a great time, but it made us appreciate our little homestate of OHIO! You couldn't pay us to move there....cool to visit, but cooler to come home!
We miss and love ya Uncle Kevin! Stay sweet in L.A.!
And Sophie girl...some day, you and me will go back to Hollywood and tear up Rodeo Drive!!!
We love you Sophia Ruth!
Love, Mommy

The Santa Monica Pier