Wordless Wednesday

A Girl and Her Buddy

Here is a picture of Samantha and "her" dog Daisy.  Daisy joined our family back in August.

First Day of School

Today Samantha started 2nd Grade.  Oh my, where did our baby go?  She is growing up so fast.  Here are few pictures from this morning.  She was very excited for school to start today.

Wordless Wednesday

Lost Tooth

Samantha lost her first tooth this morning!  She is so excited to FINALLY have lost a tooth!  She says everyone else in her class has already lost one or more.  I will post a picture of her "new smile" something later today if I am able to snap one!  WTG Sammie!!!!!

UPDATE:  Here's a picture of Sammie with her tooth missing!  Can't really see it too much as the other tooth had grown in behind the baby tooth!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!

Today my big girl turns 7 years old.  Wow that is hard to believe as it feels just like yesterday that she was placed in my arms.

In celebration of her birthday, we are going to CiCi's Pizza for dinner, her grammy and pappi will be joining us.  She also got a desk top easel from us.

On Saturday the 12th we will celebrate her big day with family and friends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN SWEET GIRL!  We love you and are very proud of you! 

Happy 6th Forever Family Day!

Today marks our Sixth Forever Family Day - the day Samantha was first placed in our arms and our family was born!


We can recall the day like it was yesterday. Dale and I got up early in the morning (it was a Monday) we ate breakfast and then took a walk around Nanchang. We watched the people of Nanchange do Thai Chi (sp?), and just took in the sights. It was an amazing experience.  After our walk, we went back to the hotel to meet up with our travelmates and our guide. We were off to the Civil Affairs Building to meet our daughters for the first time. Of course, we had mixed emotions - anxious, excited, scared, but most of all HAPPY to finally be meeting our daughter!

At approximately 12:10 pm (China Time) we heard some noise in the hallway and realized our daughters were on their way to meet their families. We heard one of the babies crying and later learned that it was Samantha.

We all were very excited as the girls began coming into the room adjacet to ours. We could see their beautiful little faces and most of them had rosy red cheeks. As I recall, the girls were all tired from their long trek from Tonngu.

One by one, each of the four families in our travel group was called up to meet their daughter. Samantha was lovingly placed into my arms around 12:15 p.m. that most wonderful day six years ago. Both she and I were crying but for very different reasons. Me, for it was the happiest day of my life and for her, it was was probably the scariest day of her life. I'm sure she was wondering what the heck was going on.

Thereafter, Samantha has been, and continues to be a very happy, bright and beautiful child. We could not have wished for a more perfect little girl than the one God and the CCAA chose for us. Our lives have been foreverly blessed with this most wonderful child!  Samantha continues to amaze us each and every day and she brings such joy and happiness to us and all those around her. 

We can't imagine where the time has gone! Six years later and this most wonderful journey of parenthood continues!  We anticipate what the future holds for Samantha Rae! 

In honor of Samantha's special day, we had Chinese take out for dinner (one of Sammie's favorites) and gave her a special gift from China (a small porcelain dish), which she proudly displays in her room.  Each year on her Forever Family Day we give her a gift we bought in China.  This is our way of giving her a piece of her heritage each year on her special day. 

Happy 6th Forever Family Day Samantha Rae Minhe!  Mommy and daddy love you very much and are so proud that we get to call you our daughter!

One Year Ago Today . . .

Dale and I began our journey to China to be united with our daughter, Tong Min He a/k/a Samantha Rae Minhe.  The day started our relatively normal (if you can call traveling half way around the world a normal day).  Our plane wasn't scheduled to leave until around 4:00 in the afternoon (as I recall) and thus we headed to the airport late morning/early afternoon.  Of course, true to Minnesota weather, we hadn't had a winter storm all season until the day we needed to fly out of Minnesota.

Low and behold, we boarded the plane (one of the first ones on as we had seats in the back row of the plane) only to be told that the airplane was having computer troubles (just what one wants to hear as you are sitting on an airplane).  Low and behold it took several hours of repairs but it was finally fixed only to have the storm pick up in intensity and causing our plane to have to be deiced numerous times, we finally made take off and made it to LAX with little time to spare.  What was suppose to have been an 8 hour layover turned out to be under as I recall 1 or 2 hours.  I'm thinking it was more like 1.5 hours or so.  All I know is that we were thankful for such a long layover or we would of missed out connecting flight to China.

After several hours in plane (in business class, which was a nice surprise) we made it to China in one piece and a day later (due to time change) we met our princess!

The Green Queens

Samantha is playing soccer again this year.  This year her team is comprised of 5 six year olds and they decided to name their team "THE GREEN QUEENS".  Dale is coaching her team again this year.  Soccer season began the middle of August this year and will run until the middle of October.  We've had practices twice a week through Labor Day Week and then we'll drop down to one day a week.  We've had one game so far this year and our next game is this coming Saturday.  Games are each Saturday afternoon from 12:00 - 1:00.  They have a fall Jamboree coming up on Septembe 18th, where they play 3 or 4 games in one day.  Looking forward to that.  We are excited for a great soccer season!  This is one sport Samantha loves to play!

First Day of School - 1st Grade

Today Samantha started school ~ it was her first day of 1st Grade!!!  Wow, I cannot believe my baby girl is a big first grader already!  It really seems just like yesterday that Dale and I boarded a plane bound for China to meet our first child.  Where has the time gone?

In any event, on Monday evening at bedtime, Sammie was pretty nervous; she said her tummy hurt.  I explained to her that was normal and she would be fine.  Well low and behold, come Tuesday morning when her alary went off and I went in to turn it off, she bolted up in bed and said "I'm gonna get dressed now".  I told her to go out in the living room and wake up a bit.  She ate breakfast, brushed her teeth and got dressed all in under an hour and had her coat and back pack on by 7:00 a.m. (we didn't have to leave for school until 7:45 a.m.)  She was bouncing off the walls with excitment and kept asking me if it was time to leave yet.

I did manage to take a couple of pictures of her at home (see below) and was going to take the camera to school, but had forgotten it as we were leaving and then she said she really didn't want me to take pictures at school and said and I quote "You know, dad can't take pictures of me when I go off to college".  She's really too funny!  Thus, no actual pictures of her in school, but she had a wonderful first day of First Grade!

Open House @ Samantha's School

This afternoon we had open house at Samantha's school.  She got to meet her teacher; we brought her school supplies in and she put them in her desk (with the exception of a few items that had to go in a special place), and went on a small treasure hunt around her classroom.  Her teacher seems really nice and we are looking forward to a good school year!!!!

First Grade Assessement

Samantha had her first grade assessement this morning.  It was scheduled for one-half hour, but Dale said her teacher said it wouldn't be long as Samantha reads at such a high level already.  At the endof kindergarten they want you to read at around a level D or E (if I recall correctly) and Samantha exceeded that, and is currently reading at a level I or higher.  She is a wiz kid when it comes to reading.  We are very, very proud of her and hope she keeps up her love of reading!!!!!

Madison's Baptism

Madison was baptized into God's Family today at 10:30 a.m. at Christ Lutheran Church  in Lake e Elmo, Minnesota.  This is the same church Dale and I were married at.  Madison's Sponsors/Godparents are Denise's sister, Theresa and her husband, James.  It was a very speical and beautiful day.  Samantha helped out during communion and following the service and baptism we had a luncheon at Dale's brother's house.  Here are a few pictures from Madison's special day:

School Conferences

Last night, February 10, 2010, we had our second school conference for Samantha.  It went great.  We have learned that she is pretty advanced in her reading skills (at the end of Kindergarten they want you to be at a level "C") and she is currently at a level D, and almost to an E, which is the highest level you can go.  Overall for all the kindergarten classes, she is in the top 10%!  She has expanded her writing skills tremendously and her favorite thing to do in school is writer's workshop.  She has a wonderful teacher and she may be working with Samantha one-on-one for reading so that she can challenge her more and more throughout the rest of the year!

We are very, very proud of you Samantha!  Keep up the great work sweetie!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA RAE!!!!

 Today I am wishing my bright, happy, beautiful, sensitive and most wonderful little girl in the world a BIG HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY!  Wow, I cannot believe our little girl is already 6 years old!  Where has the past 5 years gone?  It just seems like yesterday that we were coming home from China and celebrating her first birthday.  Well we were . . . just five years ago today!

On her special day, Sammie has chosen to have dinner at Red Lobster tonight.  She wants baby shrimp (popcorn shrimp) - yummy (as she days)!!!!!!  So after work we will head out for dinner and then she'll get one present tonight and the rest on Saturday when we celebrate her birthday with family and friends!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!  WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!

Hell Day . . . no make that week!

Last week, beginning on Monday, January 25, 2010 started the beginning of H-E-L-L week for the Roth Clan!  Sunday we celebrated Samantha's 5th Forever Family Day with our good friends the Maupins, who also adopted their oldest daughter the same time we did Samantha.  Our families have been great friends since that wonderful time way back when.  Sunday was a great day, with the exception of the Vikings losing the championship game, but oh well.

Now onto the beginning of hell week . . . I woke up at my usual time on Monday morning and was getting ready for work.  I woke Samantha and Madison up at their usual times (around 7:00 a.m.).  Madison didn't seem her usual bubbly self that morning when she got up (just laid on on her little couch, kind of our of it).  I finished getting ready and was going to start getting the girls ready when I noticed Madison felt warm.  Thus I took her temp and it was 101.5.  I gave her some Tylenol at 7:45 a.m., called into work and daycare (Sammie didn't have school on Monday) and we were just going to stay home and have a quiet day . . . or so we thought! 

Madison began feeling better and ate breakfast and was playing and all seemed well.  Then, about 10:15 or so she went and sat back down on her little couch and pulled her blanket up on her and was sitting quietly.  Sammie was playing a game on the laptop in the living room.  I went in to get dressed and was going to recheck Madison's temp after that.  A  few minutes later, Sammie yelled, "Mommy, Madison is just laying on the floor".  Needless to say, I ran into the living room and she was laying on the floor in a weird position in between the couch and the coffee table (thankfully she didn't hit her head on the coffee table when she feel, if she did in deed fall, as Sammie said she didn't hear anything).  In any event, I quickly picked her up and instantly knew something was wrong ~ she had spit/drool coming from her mouth, her eyes looked strange, she was pretty limp and as a mom I could just tell something wasn't quite right.  I kept talking to her and tried to get her to focus on me and look at me and she would for a little while, but her little body was just like a rag doll.  I quickly called Dale at work and told him to get home ASAP and then I hug up and called 9-1-1.  Needless to say, they took her Children's Hospital by ambulance.  Both the EMT's and the ER figure she had a febrile seizure as her temp was 104 when the EMT's arrived at our house and was still 104 when we got to the ER.  We stayed in the ER for the better part of the day and after her temp came down and they ran a few test (strep and urinology to rule out a UTI), they sent us home with instructions to keep her on Motrim every 6 hours around the clock, which included waking her up during the night and to follow up with our own doctor in 2 days.  One of the scariest days as a parent of Madison thus far!  Her older sister also had a seizure episode back in November 2005, but hers was much different than Madison's was.  Sammie's was not a febrile seizure.  I wrote about this episode on our family's Yahoo Group.

Twelve hours later we are back in the ER at Children's Hospital, this time with Samantha.  She developed severe abdominal pain and started throwing up around 8:15 p.m.  At first we thought it might have been her nerves from everything that had happened earlier in the day with Madison, but when she kept throwing up every 20 minutes or so and couldn't keep anything down, I knew it was not just nerves.  After a phone call to the triage nurse line at the hospital, it was time to bundle up the kiddos and take Samantha to the ER as they wanted to rule out a bowel obstruction, etc.  Dale dropped us off and then took Madison back home.  After spending several hours in the ER, then giving her some anti nauseu medicine to stop the vommiting, we were told she had a severe case of the stomach flu.  After she was able to keep down a popsicle and some apple juice, they gave us a prescription for the anti nauseau meds and back home we went.  She ended up throwing up again when we got home (after the car ride home and I think was related to the car ride and being overly tired - she hadn't slept at all that night and here it was now 4:00 a.m.).  After that, she went to bed and slept all night with no more episodes of vomiting.  Thank the Lord!  See your child have the drive heaves is horrible.  Luckily, it was only a 24 hour flu bug, but we kept her home from school both Tuesday and Wednesday as it drained her little body big time!  After she got over the stomach flu, she then developed a cold. 

Tuesday morning the dawn of a new day or so we thought . . . Needless to say, Dale work up with the same stomach virus Samantha had.  It was not pleasant.  I felt a little bit ill, but didn't vomit or get the diarreha at all.  Madison was doing better and so was Samantha.

Wednesday, Dale took Madison in for her follow up doctor's appointed and she was given the thumbs up and said all looked well, but her doctor wanted us to keep her on Motrim for another couple of days . . . we didn't have to wake her up during the night, just give it to her every six hours while she was awake.  I went back to work today too!

Thursday and Friday for the most part were okay.  Madison' wasn't eating much and had developed some funny poo's and we thought oh no, not again.  Last time she had those same symptoms, she had a double ear infection. 

Now it is early Saturday morning and guess who wakes up with the flu stomach virus!  Yep you guessed it, mommy!  I do not recall when I have been so sick!  This virus is very strong and hits you very fast.  You are down hard.  Needless to say, my entire Saturday was spend either in the bathroom or in bed!  It took me a few days to recover.  The same virus also hit my sister's entire family of 6!  Saturday afternoon, Madison was still not eating and drinking much so back to Urgent Care she went with daddy.  No ear infections, but they thought she just might be getting her sister's cold.

Fast forward to Sunday and Monday of this week, and now Miss Madison has developed a case of having a hard time pooping!  Finally, she was able to go and now it is Wednesday and for the most part, the Roth Clan is on the road to recovery!

Let me tell you, when your kiddos are sick, as any parent knows, it is heart wrenching as you want to make it all better and right now!  I'm just thankful that for all intents and purposes, our girls are over all healthy!  Now, let's stay that way!  Please bring on summer!

Happy 5th Forver Family Day!!!!!

Dale, Samantha & I on January 24, 2005

Dale, Samantha, Madison & I on January 24, 2010

Today marks our Fifth Forever Family Day - the day Samantha was first placed in our arms and our family was born!


We can recall the day like it was yesterday. Dale and I got up early in the morning (it was a Monday) we ate breakfast and then took a walk around Nanchang. We watched the people of Nanchange do Thai Chi (sp?), and just took in the sights. It was an amazing experience.  After our walk, we went back to the hotel to meet up with our travelmates and our guide. We were off to the Civil Affairs Building to meet our daughters for the first time. Of course, we had mixed emotions - anxious, excited, scared, but most of all HAPPY to finally be meeting our daughter!

At approximately 12:10 pm (China Time) we heard some noise in the hallway and realized our daughters were on their way to meet their families. We heard one of the babies crying and later learned that it was our daughter, Samantha.

We all were very excited as the girls began coming into the room adjacet to ours. We could see their beautiful little faces and most of them had rosy red cheeks. As I recall, the girls were all tired from their long trek from Tonngu.

One by one, each of the four families in our travel group was called up to meet their daughter. Samantha was lovingly placed into my arms around 12:15 p.m. that most wonderful day five years ago. Both she and I were crying but for very different reasons. Me, for it was the happiest day of my life and for her, it was was probably the scariest day of her life. I'm sure she was wondering what the heck was going on.

Thereafter, Samantha has been, and continues to be a very happy, bright and beautiful child. We could not have wished for a more perfect little girl than the one God and the CCAA chose for us. Our lives have been foreverly blessed with this most wonderful child!  Samantha continues to amaze us each and every day and she brings such joy and happiness to us and all those around her. 

We can't imagine where the time has gone! Five years later and this most wonderful journey of parenthood continues!  We anticipate what the future holds for Samantha Rae! 

Happy 5th Forever Family Day Samantha Rae Minhe!  Mommy and daddy love you very much and are so proud that we get to call you our daughter!

Samantha's New Hairdo

Samantha has been asking her dad and I if she could get her haircut short.  Those of you who know Sammie know that her hair is down to her patootie and is very beautiful.  She's been on this kick of wanting it cut for sometime now and even though she wanted it short, her dad and I did not.  Well, the other day she said how about a compromise . . . I want it short, you want it long, how about some where in between.  Well, today I asked her if she still wanted to get her hair cut and she said yes, so Dale and I both agreed and took her to Kids Hair in Woodbury.  She had 7.5" cut off the back and they did some layering/framing of her face with the front/sides of her hair.  I turned out really cute.  Her hair is now just below her shoulders.

Here's a couple before and after shots:

Side shot before haircut

Back view before haircut

Back view after haircut

Front view after haircut

She really looks more grown up now!  Luckily, her hair is still long enough to put up or leave down and we got some groovy  new barrets to use too!  Sammie was simply glowing as she was having her haircut!  I'm glad we let her do it.  She said, my hair can always grow back!  Sometimes kids are just so right!

First Day of School

Samantha started school today. These are a couple of pictures from her big day. The one is of her putting her backpack in her locker. She had a wonderful first day of school and met many new friends. She is excited to go back and learn lots more new stuff.

Although we waited over 15 minutes for the school bus, it was running way behind schedule so we ended up driving her to school on the first day.

No tears were shed by her or mommy and daddy. That was a huge day for us.

Sammie's First Soccer Game

Today was the first soccer game of the season. Sammie's team has 6 girls - ages 5 - 6. Team name is the St. Paul Park Giants. They have a really good team this year. They won their first game 9-0. Here's a couple pics of the team: