September 30, 2012 -- Final Touches!

So I am a crazy about pinterest and found out how to make these adorable onesie-tie outfits :)  So my amazing mom and I started making them today!  These are Grayson's "church clothes"!!

We have also been working on his room!  We are sooooo excited to be getting it all ready :) Counting down the days.....even though we don't have an exact date we will be bringing out baby home yet.  We know that God's timing will be perfect.

September 16, 2012 - Build-A-Bear

We ventured out to the Greenwood Park Mall today to visit the Build-A-Bear Workshop and make Grayson a bear to give him when we go over to Taiwan. We're going to keep him in our house and hope that the bear starts smelling like we do so that he can recognize our smell when we are not together and get used to us. A long time ago, Lindsay went to Build-A-Bear and got a recordable piece that could be inserted into the hand of the bear. We finally were able to make it back up to the mall to make the bear and put our message in the bear. We picked the standard teddy bear to use for Grayson's first teddy bear. It just seemed more like his personality than all the others. Not really sure how we could tell his personality by not actually meeting him, but nonetheless, this seemed like the right one. Once we picked out the bear, we had to go over to the "Stuffing Station." The lady put our recordable thing into the hand of the bear and then she started stuffing the bear. While she was stuffing the bear she asked who the bear was for. We got to tell her all about our journey to being matched with Grayson. She was really excited for us! Once it was all stuffed we had to put the hearts into it. We both put one inside the bear in case you were wondering why it would have two hearts. :) She was so nice as she asked us to put the hearts into the bear. She told us to warm up the heart by blowing on it.  At this time, we kind of looked at each other thinking that this is really odd, (if you were watching us, you would have been laughing hysterically by the way). We decided to follow her directions. So we rubbed the heart in our hands and started to blow on it. Then we had to rub it on our knees so the bear would run fast. Then rub it on our heads so it would be really smart. Next, we had to rub it on our hips so it would be a good dancer. There were a few others in there, but she went so fast that we don't even remember them. We were rubbing hearts all over our bodies. I'm sure it was quite comical to watch us. We then stuck the hearts in the bear and she sewed him up.

We moved on to picking out some clothes for him. We picked out some simple jean overalls. I think it was an nod to our midwestern roots. We thought it would look good on Grayson, too.

We then got to print out the birth certificate. We paid for him and off we went.

September 14, 2012 - Parents Night Out

Tonight, we hosted a Parent's Night Out at Elite Cheer and Dance to help raise a little money for our airplane costs that we will be incurring. We had around 45 kids come out for the event! We had some VERY, VERY generous parents this evening and we thank you very much for what you all of you have done for us with your donations. We appreciate your kindness and your giving.
Matt.

September 3, 2012 - Mission Accomplished!

The paperwork had made it to Taiwan!!! Now we wait............ ;)

September 2, 2012 - Heavenly Coincidence?

During the church service today, there were four baptisms. It was Lindsay's turn to take the baptism pictures. After the service, Lindsay was back in the prayer room waiting for the families to come in the room. While waiting there, a lady from the church approached Lindsay and asked her if she belonged to the Cooper family. She said yes and wondered why she asked that question. The lady continued to tell Lindsay that when she walked into the prayer room God put it on her heart to pray for the Cooper family. She went on to talk about how God was telling her it had something to do with children or something like that.  I imagine Lindsay's chin hit the floor about that moment. Lindsay began to tell her about us adopting. The lady replied, "Oh, how wonderful! I had no idea you were adopting! Yep. That must be what God is putting on my heart. I will be praying for you and your family."

God must have known that our hearts are getting anxious and a little nervous at this point.  It's exactly what we needed to hear that day. That God IS still in control even when we are fearful and we should find peace in knowing that He will never forsake us.  God is good - and He is able.

September 1, 2012 -- SAY CHEESE!

So we have been looking forward to September 1st since August 1st!  On the first of every month we get new pictures and a letter from Grayson!  We were so excited to open our email this morning and see the most adorable pictures of him!....and yes, we even cried a little :)  Below is the letter we recieved and the new pictures.

Hey Mom and Dad!

I may be small, but I’m growing! I now weigh 10.56 lbs and am 21 inches long. I still like to kick with my long legs, but have started to sleep better at night. I love to smile and am very ticklish sometimes! My cheeks are getting chubby, and I’m even starting to get a double chin! I am usually kind of slow at drinking my bottle, but sometimes when I am very hungry I drink it all really fast. I also really like my pacifier, and I need it to fall asleep. The weather has been really hot, but just started cooling down which makes everyone happy! I hope you are great!

Love, Grayson