Updated Picture of Sofia

We just recieved an updated picture of Sofia. This picture was taken in June 0f 2006 (she's 9 months old). I'm sure that you will notice she has the same outfit on as her previous picture but you will also notice how much she now fills in the outfit and she has more hair. That's right, she's growing..... We are still anxiously awaiting our invite to travel so that she can come home. Keep us in your prayers .

A Sofia Update

We were advised this week that we have officallly been approved by China to adopt Sofia. All we need now is the invite to travel which could take as little as 6 weeks or 3 months. We'll keep everyone posted on any news we receive.

Again, we thank everyone for your prayers and support during this process and ask for your continued prayers.

Sofia will soon be here and we can all take part in her life as a member of our family.

sofia's room

We're still waiting for our invite to travel. It's difficult to know that she's there and we're here just waiting but it's in God's hands and we'll wait accordingly (Please pray for us to get her sooner than later). We are truly READY for her. We have everything we need except her. We thought we'd put some pictures of her room and closet (clothes) that are just waiting for her as well (Just for the record - the clothes you see here are just a scratch of the surface of the total clothes we have for her ...the dressers , yeh they're full of clothes):

Update on Sofia

Today, our amended paperwork was mailed to China for transcription. The next step in the process is the adoption agency contact in China will transcribe all our additional paperwork into Chinese and submit it. We then wait for our "invitation for travel" letter from the China government.

Keep our family (including Sofia) in your prayers. As every day that goes by gets us one day closer to bringing her home, we need all the prayer and support we can get.

Sofia Update - June 7, 2006

Just thought we'd update everyone with the latest information we received today. Sofia's name in Chinese is Li Yi Shun. She was found in the Guang Dong Provience in the city of Foshan in the Shun De district. She is currently 13.2 pounds, 24 inches tall and all her blood work and other test appear to be normal and she's healthy.

The boys are as excited as we are. Will and Zach are carrying pictures of her around and showing everyone and anyone who will listen to them. Zach drew a picture of a panda for her today and we're going to frame it so she can see it when she's older. We've decided to name her:

Sofia Alma Li Yi Newsome.

Little Sofia

Well, what a difference a couple of days make. God has blessed us (once again) with our beautiful little Sofia. Her picture is to the right (if you double click on the bottom picture, you can enlarge it). We just got word today that she's being held for us and and we should plan to travel to China sometime in the next three to five months. (our prayer is to be with her either in China or at home by her 1st birthday - September 23).

We'll keep everyone posted on our progress and we appreciate all the calls, prayers and support that everyone has offered to us.

An adoptive prayer / poem:

I didn't give you the gift of life,
but my in my heart I know the love I feel is as deep and real as if it had been so.
For us to find each other is like dream come true.
No, I didn't give you the gift of life;
Life gave me the gift of you!

chicago trip - May 2006

Just thought we'd post some pictures from our Chicago trip. You can take the Metra rail / train from Wisconsin to downtown Chicago for $5 per adult, roundtrip - unlimited usage on the weekends and the kids, they ride for free.

May 16 2006 - Sofia Update

We received our first ACTUAL documentation confirming that our paperwork for the adoption has been received in China and is making its way through the process. Things are moving along but at what seems to be snail's pace.

Photos from our Florida Trip April 2006

Here are a few photos of our trip to Florida - April 2006

2nd posting - April 2006

We were notified that our expected time for travel to China to get Sofia would be delayed due to amount of people looking to adopt. Our new date is projected to be around February or March of 2007.

As we can do nothing but pray and wait, we took a trip to Florida (Orlando) where we visited Disney, Univeral Studios, Wet N Wild, SeaWorld and Bush Gardens. Sandy, Bill and Cyndi joined us for our Disney trip. Here's a picture of all of us together in front of Cinderella's castle.

First Entry - What this is about

This is the first posting to our family blog. We hope this will be a way of communicating what we are doing and update everyone of our journey to adopt our daughter, Sofia, from China.