Waiting For You...

Bed HEAD!

2012-01-08T05:29:00.000-08:00

Our little peanut, with that head of hair on her, definitely wakes up with bed head!! This was one morning that it was all sticking up every which way!

For the love of SHOES!

2012-01-06T06:16:00.000-08:00

Adelyn is truly a daughter after my own heart! She loves shoes as much as I do! Over Christmas break, she kept trying to wear her cousin's very high, very stylish, very red high heel shoes. It was soooo funny! And she was so happy!

Peek-a-BOO!

2012-01-02T05:40:00.000-08:00

Adelyn loves playing peek-a-boo! She has now figured out how to do it by herself and its sooooo cute! Here are some pictures we caught of her playing this game with us!

More Christmas Pictures!

2011-12-30T21:59:00.000-08:00

(Sorry for posting these a little late... been celebrating her finalization!!)

The week before Christmas, we celebrated with a HUGE cousins party on Jeff's side of the family. We do this each year with his Dad's side of the family which include the families from ten brothers and sisters! As we keep growing each year, we are over 130+ people! It was a fun time of lots of YUMMY food and catching up with people. Everyone was very excited to meet Adelyn... so many family members have been following her blog daily. She was her normal charming self, although she has suddenly taken an aversion to men so no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get her to go to any uncles, cousins or even grandpa... just Daddy.

After we were done eating, it is tradition for all of the kids to sit together and sing Christmas carols until Santa arrives. There is a lot of excitement when we all hear those sleighbells! He even has a sack of presents- one for every single kid (and sometimes even the grown up kids!). This year, Carson was lucky enough to be the first one called up on his lap. He was all smiles of course. But when it came to Adelyn's turn, I could literally feel her tighten up on my lap. She started screaming before we even got over to Santa! There was no sitting on that scary red-suited man's lap! So the best we could do for a picture was for me to stand somewhat near Santa for about two seconds!! She was fine the second we sat back down... a long ways away from Santa of course!

We had a great evening of fun! Even though Santa may not be her buddy quite yet, it was still so fun to experience her first Santa experience with her! Merry Christmas!

Too stinkin' cute!

2011-12-30T06:04:00.000-08:00

Ok... seriously... These pictures are just random, but they are just too stinkin' cute not to post! Enjoy!

Its Official!!!

2011-12-28T13:44:00.001-08:00

At 2:40 this afternoon, a judge signed the Adoption Order that made Adelyn our daughter legally, officially now and forever!! We are officially a family of FIVE!!

It was a beautiful ceremony at our county courthouse. Our pastor, aunt, uncle, cousins (from Georgia), sister-in-law, nephews, grandma and grandpa all came to witness this important day. The boys, Daddy, Adelyn and myself got to sit up in the front right before the judges desk and our social worker sat next to us. The judge was very personable and told us how much he enjoys these adoption hearings and seeing the smiles on the parents and relatives faces. He said that he had read over all of our files and we seemed like a wonderful family. He even quoted a few lines from our homestudy. He also said over and over how beautiful she was.

Then he explained what each part of the Adoption Order meant. He explained that Adelyn would no longer be a ward of the courts/adoption agency, but that from this day forward she would have a real family with real brothers and a real Mom and Dad just as if we had given birth to her. That she would be ours forever and that no one could change that. When he finally read the decree, I had tears running down my face. We all hugged and then got pictures. The judge was so wonderful and let us take pictures anywhere in the courtroom- even in his chair. It was a wonderful ceremony.

I know that Adelyn was born in our hearts and she was our daughter the first moment we set eyes on her. But its nice to know that legally, nothing can change that. We are now a forever family of five. Happy Adoption Day sweet pea!

Fifteen... and Sixteen Months

2011-12-28T08:21:00.000-08:00

Somehow fifteen months just snuck right past me!

So, this will be a combined update! Not much has changed between 15 and 16 months anyways! Well.... except that her walking has turned into running and her hair gets longer by the day!

So... what else is our peanut up to??

*She is calling Daddy "Mama" and it drives him crazy! She knows how to say "Dada" but she continues to call him Mama." I think our little sassy girl knows exactly what she's doing!!

*She is repeating EVERYTHING! She blows me away at how many words she knows, repeats and understands!

*She has added some new animal sounds to her repetoire: She says "sssss" for snake, "hee hee (one is said higher, the other lower) for donkey (hee-haw), she says "ha hee" for monkey, and she does a chirping sound for bird. This is on top of her panting for dog, "meow" for kitty, ""moo" for cow and roaring for lion. I love listening to her do these!

*She is identifying body parts. She knows and will say "eyes" and point to her eyes or proceed to jab you in your eye. She knows hair, ears and nose. We are working on mouth.

*She will count to three! She says "one... two... THREE!" This is because we always count before we do things like roll a ball or car or tickle her. Now she is saying it by herself!

*She is saying two word phrases like "Hi Mama" or "Hi Carson."

*Speaking of saying hi, she says hi to everyone she sees. She loves to wave at strangers, cashiers, people in other cars, anyone who looks her way. She waves her little hands and says "hi." She will keep saying it over and over until they acknowledge her!!!

*She is starting to create her own words which we are working at trying to decipher like "kk-kk"... she rubs her little hands together when she does it. I think it might be cookie?

*She loves her baby dolls. She got two new ones for Christmas along with a stroller and high chair and bed and she pushes them all over the house in the stroller, tucks them into bed and covers them with the blankets and even feeds them with a spoon. Its so cute to see this pretend play! I often hear her saying "baby" and "mama" whenever she holds them!

*Her hair is getting so long I think we are going to have to cut them bangs again! We trimmed them once just to even them out, but now they are back in her eyes again!

*She is so snuggly and loving, but she has definitely developed an aversion to men. Within the last couple weeks, she suddenly will not go to guys - even grandpa, uncles or cousins! Now if you are a girl and complete stranger, that's fine... just don't get near her if you are a male! Daddy and brothers are the only exception!!

*When her brothers are pestering her, she will push them away with one hand and say "go" "go" "go"... too funny!

*When she is being lazy, instead of saying thank you (tink ku with a head nod), she just nods her head. Not sure where the head nod came in, but its so cute!

*She loves ice. She can sit for an hour eating crushed ice!

*She enjoyed her first Thanksgiving and Christmas! WOW!

Well... that's all I can think of right now! Until next month....

First Family Christmas Party

2011-12-26T12:57:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we celebrated Christmas with Jeff's side of the family. Everyone had a great time and Addi definitely figured out the whole opening presents gig! She was so excited to open all of her gifts! She received a beautiful handmade wooden doll bed from grandpa, a very special handmade family advent calendar from grandma, some fun Little People toys, some books and beautiful clothes. Of course her cousins, aunts and grandma all fought over who would get to hold her. She sure got lots of lovin!!!

The boys were also so excited to open their presents. Carson could hardly eat anything for dinner! He was thrilled to open an Angry Birds T-shirt, the Wii Lego game he had been asking for, and lots of Legos. Kolby was also so excited to get the Lego sets he had been wanting. Everyone had a great time! Great food, lots of fun and wonderful family... who could ask for more???

Getting Ready for Christmas

2011-12-26T12:36:00.000-08:00

This was Adelyn's first Christmas with us and it was so special to see it through her eyes. She loved helping us hang Grandma's handmade ornaments on the countdown calendar each day and she also helped decorate our tree- complete with her own Korean flag ornament.

Christmas is such an important and special time of year for us and it was extra special this year having her finally home.

Merry Christmas peanut!

(More pictures to come!)

Merry Christmas from my heart

2011-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

In December 2009, I posted this video on our blog for the first time just after Christmas. My friend Anni had told me about it and I was very touched by it. At that point, we were just beginning our journey. We hadn't even submitted our formal application yet, but we knew that God was leading us down the path towards our daughter.

Last year, in December 2010, I posted this video once again and I wrote: "It is now Christmas once again and definitely much, much harder this year not having her here. I feel in my heart our angel has been born. I feel connected to her somehow and I wish more than anything that I could hold her this year at Christmas. Even though I know that God's timing is perfect, my heart aches as I think about how true these lyrics are..."

It's Christmas time again, but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

But here we are finally together at Christmas. For two Christmases, I have closed my eyes and wished her a merry Christmas across oceans and continents away. I have longed for the day to celebrate the birth of our Savior with her, to hang the ornaments on the tree together, to countdown the days on our Advent calendar. And finally, it feels almost surreal, but the day is here. Now the last verse of this song rings so true:

Its Christmas time again and now you're home.
Your family is here so you will never be alone.
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms.
And tell you from my heart...
I wish you Merry Christmas.

Little Techie

2011-11-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

One of Adelyn's favorite things to do is to pull out all of the Wii remotes and gamepads and play with the cords. She loves trying to make "necklaces" out of them. Of course the boys follow her around saying "Aneyo" (no in Korean) and trying to round the cords up and pull them out of her clenched fists, but she can be very persistent! Its very funny to watch! Maybe this is an insight into a techie future?? Or maybe she's just a very practical girlie girl!! We will have to wait and see!

Our Lil Halloween Spooks!

2011-11-09T17:10:00.000-08:00

This year was Adelyn's first Halloween! She loved helping to carve pumpkins and especially to touch the slimy seeds! Her Halloween costume was picked out especially for Grandma "B"!! Grandma collects bees and we just couldn't resist dressing Addi up as an adorable bumblebee! Buzzzzzz....

Adelyn also mastered the whole trick-or-treating thing perfectly. Since she can say "peeze" (please) soooo cute, when we walked up to a house she would say "peeze" with this adorable little head tilt and melted every candy bowl holder's heart! They would put handfuls of candy in her little bucket as they oohed and ahhed over her! It was so funny!

The boys did an exceptional job of racing from house to house to get the most candy of course. Carson was a perfect Star Wars trooper and Kolby was Harry Potter. Kolby had a little magic wand that lit up and he used it to cast spells on everyone all night. They were both so cute! We had a great time!! I love Halloween!!!!

Corn Maze Fun!

2011-11-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

On the Saturday before Halloween, we decided to visit a big corn maze at a farm about an hour away. The maze was 17 acres big! We let the boys "lead" the way and amazingly, we accidentally found our way to the exit within about 30 minutes. However, there was a bridge in the middle of the maze that we wanted to go on so we decided to go back into the maze and try to find this bridge. This time we got completely turned around and lost. We had to use my phone to pull up a map of the cornmaze to finally find our way to the bridge and exit! We exited about 45 minutes later!! But it was fun!

The farm also had a pumpkin patch that the kids had fun exploring. Although the kids already had pumpkins at home, it was still fun to see them wandering in the field of orange!

Adelyn also loved the petting zoo. There were many farm animals to pet and she was not shy about reaching her little hands out to touch them and then giggle. It was a fun family filled day!!

14 Months and Piggie Tails!!

2011-10-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

Adelyn has grown so much this month! I just can't get over how much she learns and how quickly! She is like a little sponge! It really amazes me!

Here are some of the things she's doing!

*Her hair is long enough for her first pig tails! They are soooo cute!!!

* She has 4 molars and 8 baby teeth! Her poor mouth has been popping teeth all month long! Two more on the bottom are working on coming through too!

*She is learning new words everyday! She has about 10 words she can say now... "Mama", "Dada", "Papa", "More", "Please", "Carson", "kitty", "Meow", "Moo", "Woof" are her favorite words!

*She is working on animal sounds! Its soooo cute! If you ask her what a kitty says, she answers "Meow" (usually in a whisper). If you ask her what a doggie says, she usually pants with her tongue out (this is because her aunt's dog Deacon pants all the time). Its so funny! Sometime she will say "woof." She just learned how to "moo" for a cow and we are working on quacking like a duck! She also likes to "roar" like a little dinosaur or lion... its so funny!

*If you say "Pretty", she will try to comb her hair with her hand! What a little princess!

*She LOVES shoes! She will sit for 30 minutes playing with her shoes or mine trying to put them on! She is DEFINITELY my daughter!!! Girl after my own heart!

*She understands EVERYTHING. If you tell her to go get her baby, she will. If you tell her to go get her monkey, she will. If you tell her to bring you her cup, she will. It amazes me how much she understands!

*She loves her baby doll. If she is holding it, she will usually hug her baby and even pat her back. So precious!

*If you say "Hug", she will put her head on your shoulder (or on her babydolls shoulder... or a pumpkin... or whatever else she is near!!) Its very cute!

*She LOVES giving kisses and has figured out how to pucker up her little precious lips and even make a smooching sound! Its so cute!

*She giggles and laughs all the time!

*She knows the sign language for "all done" and "more." She has even figured out how to combine them by saying "Please" with doing the sign language for "more"! What a smarty pants!

*She is a great sleeper... usually about 12 hours every night!

*She loves to read books! Carson will spend 15 minutes at a time with her sitting in his lap while he reads to her!

*She still eats everything in sight... as long as she can feed herself!

*She is actually running... not just walking!!

RIP... Our Bailey

2011-10-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Its been a sad week.
Our little dog Bailey died Wednesday...

Bailey was our first dog for Jeff and me. When I was in high school, after much begging, my parents finally got me my first dog... an adorable pug named Buster. When Jeff and I got married, Buster was part of the deal... and it didn't take long for Jeff to fall in love with him. A couple years after being married, we found out that Buster's daughter had a litter of pups. Knowing what an incredible dog Buster was, we jumped at the chance to own our first puppy together... so we welcomed Buster's grandson, Bailey to our home.

Bailey was definitely showing signs of old age this year, but we just didn't think it was going to happen this fast. On Tuesday night, Jeff said that Bailey wasn't eating and acting himself, but I never imagined we would wake up and find that he had died during the night. It was a sad day for all of us.

The boys decorated a box for him and Carson wrote him a very heart-felt letter and told him how much he loved him and that he would get to see Buster in doggie heaven. We all cried as we buried him by his beloved grandfather. We sure will miss you Bailey!!

Last Post-Placement Visit!

2011-10-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

Wow! Time sure has flown since Adelyn has come home! We just finished our third and last post-placement visit with our social worker! She was amazed at the "tricks" that Adelyn is doing, how much she is talking, how much she understands, and how evident it is that she loves us!! She wrote us a very nice report.

Next step? Final paperwork and our court date to make Addi OFFICIALLY ours! Now of course, she has always been ours in my heart from the moment I first laid eyes on her picture, but this big milestone will legally make her ours in every way. We are praying that our court date will be able to be scheduled before the end of the year. What a wonderful Christmas present that would be! Please pray for us!

More pictures to come soon! :-)

Our Little Princess...

2011-10-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

In September, we were blessed to be able to attend the wedding of one of our nieces! It was such a fun trip for us as a family as we headed to Chicago to celebrate with family and friends. Jackie was absolutely beautiful and the wedding was picture perfect! This was also a great opportunity for me to REALLY dress Adelyn up!! We searched the sales racks for a few weeks before and Jeff finally found this green and white flowered dress. It was perfect and we knew it would be adorable on Addi. The boys were equally as handsome and we had a ton of fun getting these pictures!!

How to photograph a 13 month old....

2011-09-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

Did you know that 13 month olds will NOT sit still for longer than .03 seconds?

Did you know that 13 month olds will NOT look at you no matter how many silly faces you make?

Did you know that no matter where you sit a 13 month old, they will try to crawl over, under or off of whatever they are sitting on?

Did you know that with a 13 month old you need almost a full memory card in order to take enough pictures to get one good one?

Did you know that I love my 13 month old to pieces????!!!!!!

Here is a slide show of my most recent efforts at capturing my little 13 month old!!!

13 months

2011-09-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile since my last update... I forgot how much energy and time it takes to chase after a 13 month old!! LOL! So here is what our little peanut is doing!

*She has 3 teeth on the bottom and 2 on the top all the way through

*She has 2 molars and another bottom tooth coming in! (Poor baby!)

*She loves to try to copy anything we are doing!

*She can say "mama", "dada", "Carson" (da-tin),"more" and has tried to say "papa" the last couple days

*She LOVES tormenting the cat and "trying" to pet her

*She is WALKING WALKING WALKING everywhere!

*She continues to eat everything. Some of her favorites are peas, green beans, grapes and watermelon

*She is taking 2 hour naps! YEAH!

*She does the sign language for "more" and "all done"

*She waves bye-bye

*She blows kisses

*She understands everything we say!

*She is a snuggle bug and loves to sleep next to us instead of in the co-sleeper whenever possible.

*When I get home from work, she comes running (walking) and gives us hugs!

*Her hair is getting long enough to put into a cute ponytail on top- almost long enough for pigtails!

Well... that's it till next month!!

The Sacrifice of being a Foster Mom...

2011-09-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have been following the amazing journey of another adoptive family (Five Princesses Blog) who were in Korea last week and are finally holding their baby girl that they have been waiting and praying for. It is an emotional post to read... almost like witnessing childbirth- with all of the pain, anxiety, love and intense joy of meeting your child for the first time. Heartfelt and amazing.

But through all of the excitement of finally becoming a mother to that child that you have ached for and loved for so long... there is another mother who is grieving and broken hearted. This is the story of being a foster mother. A woman who gives everything she has to love and care for a child that she knows will be taken from her. These women are so amazing and so strong. They love with the same intensity that any mother does. And they do it for as long as they need to until that child is delivered into their forever family. It is not an easy road to travel. Karen (Five Princesses Blog) is an exceptional writer and I think she captured perfectly the sacrifice that these women make. Here is an excerpt from her blog:

This is a picture of two women that I do not know their names, I only saw their faces but briefly, yet I can tell you in a minute that I know their hearts, and they are some of the strongest most selfless women on this planet. They are foster mothers.

Today we had the VERY GREAT honor of being with a special family that we have met here from Alabama. Today they met their daughter for the first time and she is now forever in their arms. We were able to be there in the room to feel the excitement, the hair on our arms was electric while having goosebumps all at the same time. The most amazing part of the experience for me as well was that (we) were there to witness and experience every second. (We) had a front seat to being in the delivery room of an adoptive Mum. It is a sacred place, holier to me than any church, for this I believe is where God is most pleased as He sees the orphans embraced through His people...

Today, as I watched... I saw two women meet for the first time, that both would instantly give up their lives for this little girl. They are worlds apart, languages apart, cultures and customs apart, but they share the heart of a mother. They embraced and the tears just flowed down their faces.

I can't even put into words the uniqueness of the moment. As questions were asked and answers were given, you could sense the upcoming separation for the foster mother and the sadness on her face, yet for the adoptive Mum there was sadness for the foster mother, but expectation, joy and peace for a time of great waiting was about to come to an end.

How do I express in words the gratitude I had for this woman?

I've seen the pictures, I've watched the videos. I can see she is a quiet woman, a tender woman, yet clearly a strong women. You could tell the love that Adah's foster mother had for her in the pictures I was given, and you could see the heartbreak in the pictures just before she let her go. It's interesting, for in Hanna's foster mother pictures, even from 6 month old, I feel like I see both in her eyes. For she knows all the pictures that have been taken of Hanna are going to the family that will have her forever. She knows going in that all of her love is going to end in a broken heart.

I have no time for the person that says to me..."Well this is what they are expected to do." In Korea, the culture is lacking greatly with their attitudes to orphans yes, but these woman are like their beacon on a hill. I said to Mark today after riding the subway and seeing how clean, efficient and modern everything is. I said how is it that their city was destroyed decades ago, but now is what seems leap years ahead of America. He talked about how war makes you stronger. These woman, I feel like their heartbreak must make them stronger.

The foster mother that we met today... had 11 foster children. 11 times I thought, her heart has been broken. She has walked this little girl through several surgeries, through different ailments, all to know that this day would come. The day she would sit across from an American Mother, and pass along the precious soul she had been caring for. And to think that within the next few days she will most likely be given another baby to start the whole process all over again. (This) little girl is not replaced at all,her spot just moves do a different place in her very large heart.

I have a sweet friend that is a foster mother in America and her strength and sacrificial love put me to shame.

This process IS CHILDBIRTH. Yet there is NO EPIDURAL. Horrific pain has to take place for a child to be born into this world, yet there is joy on the other side. The amazing most sacrificial thing with Hanna, as the other girls is that I feel like this woman is going through this pain for me. For a woman she doesn't know....and that just blows me away. Tomorrow will be her labor, as ours was leading up to this day, hers will be the opposite, but each day will bring healing.

Tonight is the last night that Hanna's foster mother cuddles in beside her.
the last night she gives her a bath, and dries all her little toesies. The last night to read her a book and tuck her in bed.
I'm sure that everything else is going to fall to the wayside. The dishes will wait, the chores will remain, because she is going to soak in every last second with her little girl. The little girl that she has rocked with, sung to, slept with and comforted. Those of you that have seen the videos of Hanna, have seen just how content she is. That is from LOVE! Unconditional Love.

Than maybe when she's asleep, she'll go back over everything that's packed. All the things that she has prepared for us to meet Hanna's needs. I'm sure she'll go to bed, thinking of everything Hanna will need for a day. She knows the things that soothe her, she knows her every need. Just stop and imagine trying to pack all the 'what if's ' up into a Big Blue Bag. It's impossible. I can only imagine she has to have a faith to do that. To trust the daughter she has raised for the past year to a family she has never met who will take them across the oceans, far from everything familiar.

So tonight as I go to bed, and I know so many of you are on pins and needles of excitement for us. Please pray for this precious woman. Pray that her heart will be comforted. I have no doubt there will be waterfalls of tears tomorrow. Pray for her husband and her two daughters that will come home from work, from school to a quiet house without a little girl. We will have joy tomorrow, we will have noise, we will have activity, but they will have stillness.

We both knew this day was coming. It is a day we have dreamed for. It started with the prayers of a little girl that prayed for a little sister, and it climaxes with us seeing our dreams come true thanks to her prayer. Two faces will be watching the miracle unfold, two mothers. One has blonde hair, and hazel eyes, they other black hair with brown eyes. Two women from separate sides of the world that will share this bond forever, the love of a girl... that changed each of our lives forever.

When I read this, I couldn't stop the tears. I think of Adelyn's foster mother often. She was an amazing woman. An amazing family. It was so evident in the videos and pictures how much they loved our daughter. The raw grief I saw on their faces on the day Adelyn was placed in our arms is something I try to forget, yet it reminds me that our girl was loved and loved fiercely. I'm convinced that they are the reason Addi has had such a smooth transition into our family. Like Karen, I will never have words to express my gratitude. All I know is that Adelyn is not only in our hearts here, but is also in another heart in another part of the world. A heart who will never forget her and never stop loving her.

My Little "Helper"

2011-09-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

Adelyn definitely likes to "help" with the chores.

Yup... she "helps" with the dishes...

(AKA: Crawl INTO the dishwasher, pull out all the dirty silverware and carry them around the kitchen occasionally putting them on the floor or inside drawers and cupboards!)

She also "helps" with the laundry...

(AKA: Stand in front of dryer and pull clean clothes out, bite them, then throw them over your head onto the floor all the while squealing and laughing hysterically!)

Oh yeah... she's a BIG help all right!!!! ha ha ha ha ha....

Oh how I love this little peanut!!!!!!

First Matilda Jane!!

2011-09-19T05:35:00.000-07:00

Did you recognize this dress on Addi in the last set of pictures?

Did you suck in your breath recognizing it was a signature MJ? If you did, I'm impressed and glad to welcome you as a proud member to my fan club!

Yup.... I'm a MJ fan too.

Matilda Jane.

Ever since I first saw it on an adorable student (you know who you are!!) at school, I have been oohing and ahhing over every new fashion she walked in with.

Its quirky, its unique, its a little Bohemian...

Its just SOOOO STINKIN' CUTE!!!

I love love love love it.

The only problem is its a bit pricey for my budget. It doesn't stop me obsessing over it though... kind of like drooling over Gucchi or Prada, but knowing you will probably never own a real piece.

But wait....

You can imagine my sheer delight and surprise when I opened a gift for Addi from two amazing adoptive families from school. Addi's very first Matilda Jane dress! It just makes me smile every time she wears it! It may be for Addi, but its my guilty pleasure! Thank you- you know who you are!!

So Stinkin' Cute!

2011-09-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Nothing to report. Just wanted to post some pictures from the last few weeks.

Just bits of random cuteness!!

CaTOOTHstraphe

2011-09-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Our little catastrophe... I mean caTOOTHstrophe started when Kolby's two front teeth started getting wiggly. Kolby is the kind of kid who HATES wiggly teeth. He will not touch them or let anyone else touch them. They literally have to fall out. His last baby tooth that fell out he swallowed in his sleep! (We even had to write the tooth fairy a note!)

So although both front teeth were wiggly, one was just hanging there. We begged and pleaded to just let Daddy try to see if it would come out, but he just screamed and cried about it, so we gave up. He could push it all over with his tongue, yet wouldn't touch it or try to pull it out.

So fast forward to the night of open house.

I rushed home from school to get to Kolby's open house by 5:00 since we also needed to get to my school by 6:30 for Carson's open house (and being a teacher, I needed to be there too to greet my new students). It was already 4:30 so we really needed to hurry. As soon as we pulled in the driveway, there was a stray dog that was hanging around. The kids jumped out of the car and after I confirmed he was friendly, they went to get some dog biscuits for him.

Suddenly, I hear Kolby scream that he had gotten stung by a bee. Tears running down his face and sobbing, I quickly hussle him into the house. He was stung on his neck, so I quickly grab his T-shirt to pull it off. As I'm pulling it over his head, the bee- still in his shirt- flies out into our house. Both boys start screaming again as they watch it flying around. I tell Carson to watch where the bee goes while I run to the freezer for ice.

Just then, Kolby suddenly yells "Mom... my TOOTH!!" As he looks up at me still sobbing from the bee sting, I see that there is not just a gap where one tooth was, but BOTH TEETH! While I was pulling his T-shirt off, the neckline must have caught the two wiggly teeth and tugged them BOTH out!

So now both boys are worried about the bee flying around and also about finding Kolby's missing front teeth which were somewhere on the kitchen floor. I find the bee in the sunroom and not wanting to get too close myself, decide to spray bee spray at it. Basically, I foamed up the entire window! But it worked! The bee came to a quick demise!

We hopped in the car, toothless, bee-stung, out of breath, and determined to make it to open house... somewhat on time. Daddy was waiting for us. Since I was a few minutes late, I just shook my head, held up my hand for silence and said "don't ask." Of course, I didn't need to tell him our adventure since the boys very excitedly told him a play-by-play of our events and Kolby showed him his adorable toothless grin.

Now that is a story the tooth fairy won't forget!!!

My Cute Little Brace Face...

2011-09-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

Today was a big day for Carson.

Today was a day he has been counting down to for weeks now. Each morning he would tell me "Only 2 more weeks..." or "Only 5 more days..." or "Two more days..." You would have thought he was going to Disney World. Last night he couldn't sleep he was so excited.

Excited for what you ask?

BRACES!!

Yup, my cute little fourth grader headed into the orthodontist this morning and came out looking like a middle schooler!! I just can't believe how grown up he is becoming! He did a great job and has an entire mouth of metal now! Because he has such a big overbite, his braces will actually be in two phases. This first phase has an appliance in his mouth that forces his bottom jaw forward to help correct his overbite. There is metal around his back teeth, on top of his mouth and behind his bottom front teeth... all glued in place. There are also bars that look like car shocks on the sides of his mouth. He also has brackets on his top front teeth. Wow. What a trooper! This will last about 1 1/2 years, then he will have a little break until he is 12 when he will have traditional braces for a few years.

He was all smiles when he came out of the office. He chose circle brackets for his front teeth (wow they have come a long way in braces... who would have thought you could choose the SHAPE of your braces... stars, circles, diamonds, flowers...) He also has red and black bands around them since red and black are his favorite colors (although he told me his friend at school dared him to get pink and purple!!)

So continues a tradition of metal mouths in this family. Jeff and I both had braces when we were younger, so it was probably inevitable. We will see if Kolby and Addi follow in our footsteps!

BEFORE

AFTER!!!

Amusement Park Fun

2011-09-12T05:10:00.000-07:00

Last month, my cousin and her family came to stay with us. We had such a fun time! One of the highlights was visiting a local amusement park/waterpark for the day. The kids all had a great time!

Adelyn had a great time at the waterpark. She is such a little fish and just LOVES the water. She even went down some of the kiddie slides with no fear! Her brother would hold her and ride down the slide with her. It was sooo cute!

Adelyn's favorite spot was this little pool with rock landscaping. It was actually just an overflow pool since a big tube slide was on the other side of the rocks and every time tubes would come down, they would push water over the rocks and form little waterfalls. Addi would put her hands on the rocks and just wait for the water to come over the top and over her head. It was so funny!

Later Adelyn even got to ride some of the rides! She rode a little whale ride with Carson (although she did cling to him pretty tightly), little put-put cars with both Daddy and Mommy and even the carousel with Mommy. It was so cute! What a FUN day, but they sure were all tuckered out once we headed home!

Powerful Words

2011-09-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

I saw this poem posted on another awesome adoptive family's blog. What powerful words... and so very true....

"By adopting a child and helping them

reach their potential, they help us reach ours.

An adopted child is not an unwanted child;

to the contrary.

They are a child who was

searched for,

prayed for,

cried for,

begged for;

received by arms that ached,

making empty hearts full.

Love is meant to be shared."

Author Unknown

Soooo Flexible!!

2011-09-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

Addi loves to be carried in our Ergo carrier. She loves it whether she is on our backs or on our fronts. Whenever we are trying to do some chores like vacuuming or mopping, we often put her on our backs (to keep her out of trouble! ha ha ha....). She will usually snuggle up, hold onto our shirts and fall asleep.

Well one day, Jeff was doing the floors and I looked over and saw Addi COMPLETELY asleep, but flopped over backwards. It was the funniest thing! I can't believe how flexbile babies are!! Maybe she will be our gymnast someday!! LOL!

Watermelon Girl

2011-09-02T09:44:00.001-07:00

One of Adelyn's favorite foods this summer was watermelon. Now remember, our girl LOVES food and will eat anything and everything... but if you put watermelon on her tray, it will be the first to go! She just loves it.

So one day we decided to just give her a big piece just like the rest of us. She had so much fun trying to hold, suck, and chew on that watermelon piece. It was so funny! Yes a sticky mess... but that's what baths are for!!

Miss Mess!

2011-08-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

Now that Adelyn has turned 1, it seems like overnight she has become very independent... especially with eating. No more baby food for this girl! She wants everything that we are eating. But I do have some baby food to still use up, so I've been trying every trick to get her to finish it. The other night, I pretended to eat it myself which then sparked her interest, but instead of letting me feed her, she grabbed the spoon and started trying to feed herself. As much as it pained me (because I knew the mess I was in for), I let her try to eat the container of peaches all by herself.

Oh yeah....

This is what I ended up with. I think she may have managed to get "some" of it in her mouth??

Subway Song

2011-08-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

While in Korea, we spent a LOT of time on the subway. The subway is INCREDIBLE! So clean and easy to navigate. But every few stops we would hear a catchy little song played. It took us at least three or four days for us to figure out that this song played whenever you could transfer to another line. I remember hearing it at the Seoul University stop and thinking maybe that was their theme song or something, but then when I heard it again later, I realized that blew that theory. I finally guessed that it happened at the transfer stops! Lightbulb!! We were so proud of ourselves when at the next transfer stop the little jingle started playing! Anyways, the song is really catchy and we would find ourselves humming along and giggling whenever it played. Adelyn even bounced up and down in her carrier whenever it came on.

So when I saw a fellow adoptive friend post this on her blog, it totally made my day! Jeff was sitting on the floor next to me and I had the laptop. I excitedly told him that I had a song I was going to play and he had 3 seconds to guess it. As soon as it started, he immediately broke out into laughter. We were both giggling and reliving our trip to Korea. We recognized so many of the stations and landmarks in the video. And of course... the song... I will never forget this catchy little song!

So for all of you world travelers that have been to Korea... enjoy. I hope it brings back fond memories for you too. And to all of those adoptive parents waiting for their travel call, I hope when you are finally sitting on the subway in Seoul and hear this for the first time, you will smile and feel very smart for knowing what it means!

Unconditional Love

2011-08-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about writing this post for a long time, but I just didn't know the right words to convey it. I'm sure I still won't have the words quite right, but I'm going to give it a try.

One little word has been on my mind lately...
Love...

I remember the moment I gave birth to my oldest son and they laid him on me. I cried tears of joy. I remember watching him sleep and crying with the overwhelming love that seemed to overtake me. I would have done anything for this innocent, helpless little boy...

Three years later when I was pregnant with our second son, I also knew I loved the tiny baby growing inside me. But I wondered if I would love him as much as our first son. I mean... would I have enough love for BOTH of them? My Mom laughed at me when I voiced my concerns. She took my hands, looked me in the eyes and said "yes... you will have enough love for BOTH of them." But I had my doubts. How could I possibly love him as much as I loved our first son?

Then the day came when I stared into his beautiful blue eyes and heard his first gasp of air, his first cry and my heart swelled so much I thought it would burst. I fell so deeply in love with this precious little boy. Mom was right... there was enough love for BOTH of them. I didn't have to take any love away, or divide it up into even portions.... somehow it had magically multiplied. Somehow my heart had grown and held enough love for both of my precious boys.

There was one more day that would change my life.... the day when I first saw our precious daughter's picture. I knew in my heart I already loved her. I had loved her before I even saw her. A part of my heart was waiting for her. I knew I would love her, but I just didn't realize how much. I had read so many stories of other adoptive families who had loved their new children, but that it had taken time to really "feel" that love. Bringing home a brand new child takes a lot of adjustment and sometimes those "feelings" aren't there right away. I appreciated the raw honesty of these adoptive families who shared these real feelings and I tried to prepare for this as well. Being that this was our first adoption, I didn't know how my heart would react. Would it feel the same as if I had given birth to her or would it take awhile for the love to grow? Would I feel like her real mother right away, or would I feel like a stranger to her as if I were just babysitting? Would I love her even if she didn't love me, or worse hated me? How long would it be before I felt like she was truly mine? All of these questions haunted me at night. So many doubts. So many questions. I love babies, but babies are... well... messy. They drool and pee and poop and spit up and have snot and boogers and... truthfully, I don't do other baby drool and other baby poopies very well unless they are my own. Baby bodily secretions are just well... kind of gross... even from babies I love like my dearest nephews. So I wondered... how would I feel about HER drool and spit ups and poops. These were the questions that swirled through my head.

That was before.

That was before I held her in my arms for the first time... before I gazed into her beautiful almond eyes... before I touched my lips to her soft cheeks... In that instant, my heart gave birth to her!! I literally felt it stretch and the love that was there for my boys multiplied again and overflowed. I just couldn't stop watching her and staring at her and holding her and smelling her and kissing her. How could I have this same love that I had for my boys? Was it possible? How was it possible that immediately I was wiping drool and sharing spoons and changing diapers and it wasn't bothering me in the least? How was it possible that the first time she gave me that big wet open mouthed kiss that landed drool all over my face that I wanted to freeze time and have her do it over and over? How was it possible that my heart actually hurt just looking at her sleeping... knowing I would do ANYTHING for this innocent, helpless little girl...

I don't know how its possible, but I love this little girl just as much as if I would have given birth to her. In fact, there are times when I am rocking her to sleep, when I am staring down at the little eyelashes that frame her closed eyes, that I forget she did not grow in my tummy. I forget that she does not look exactly like me. I forget that she has not always been here, a part of this family from the beginning. Love is amazing. It is unconditional and yes... it does grow and multiply perfectly into the most overwhelming, beautiful emotion in the world. My heart is filled with the perfect love of not one, not two, but three beautiful children, an incredible husband who loves all three just as much as I do, and an amazing Father above who has adopted me into His family too and loves me more... yes... more than even I can love my own... I don't know how that is possible, but seeing the love I have for Adelyn has really opened my eyes to the love God has for me. All I know is one thing... love is from God and I thank Him everyday for giving me this precious girl to love.

Adelyn's Birthday Dol

2011-08-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Adelyn's Birthday on Sunday in the Korean tradition by having a dol for her.

A dol is a Korean tradition that celebrates the first birthday of a child. Along with the 60th birthday, it is one of the most significant and important birthdays celebrated. In the past, death rates for infants were high so when a child reached his or her first birthday, this was an important milestone for the baby and parents. Often whole villages would come out to celebrate with the family, sharing food and wishing for long life and fortune for the child.

Today, the modern dol is often celebrated in banquet halls or restaurants. It can be as elaborate and as expensive as a wedding reception! It is still rich in traditions which date back hundreds of years.

We invited friends and family and had a large celebration at our house. We ended up having 31 adults and 22 children join in the fun! It was great! We had beef BBQ, salads, jello, veggies/dip, watermelon, chips, cupcakes, birthday cake, candy, and thanks to my sister-in-law who lives near a Korean market, we even had traditional Korean tteok which are sweet rice cakes served at most dols. The weather held up so we were able to have tables both inside and outside for people to sit at. We cleared out our sunroom to have room for the dol table, the doljabi table and the photos and blessings tables. These are all Korean traditions that are at every dol.

Of course Adelyn wore her beautiful hanbok that her foster mother gave her. She looked absolutely beautiful! She wore it for the beginning of the dol and when she did the doljabi, but she changed into a little birthday outfit when she ate her cake and opened her presents. It was fun to have her wear both her Korean and American outfits to blend the two cultures.

Here are pictures from her big event! Happy Birthday sweet pea!

DOL TABLE
The dol table is the centerpiece of the party. It is often decorated with stacked fruits and candies which symbolizes prosperity for the child.

We had pineapples, oranges and bananas stacked. We also had cupcake towers, tteok Korean rice cakes and candy in tall glasses. My mother-in-law made a beautiful birthday cake and individual sugar cookies wrapped as birthday favors for guests to take home. The cookies even had edible pictures of Adelyn on them!!

Another part of the dol table are decorated cylinders called "dol go im." These towers are covered with beans or candies to create beautiful decorations. We used oatmeal tubes and hundreds of beans to create ours. We also used red and blue Skittles for the center heart on the Korean flag. It took about 7 hours, but I love how they turned out! The Korean symbols on the one spell "Daum"- Adelyn's given name and middle name. The back side of this tower also has her English name Adelyn on it.

BLESSINGS FOR BABY

One aspect of the dol is to bless the child and wish the child a prosperous future. Many parents create blessing trees where guests can write down thoughts, notes or blessings on tags and hang them on the tree. Some more modern dols have photo frames or piggy banks for guests to sign. We decided to do both a blessing tree and a photo frame for Adelyn's dol. This way, people could sign their name to her frame, but have a little more room on a tag to write Adelyn a prayer or message for the tree. This was really cool and we got some beautiful messages on her tags. We will put these in a book for her or put a small tree in her room to hang them on. We plan to get a professional picture taken of her in her hanbok that we will replace the photo in the frame with. These will make some great keepsakes for her someday! We also had the Korean dolls her foster mother gave us and her hanbok shoes displayed on this table.

PHOTO TABLE
Next to this table, we had a small table set up with pictures and also our laptop that played a slideshow. Sharing photos of the babies first year is a very important part of the Korean dol. The slideshow had about 90 pictures of her and was a very nice way to share her first year with our guests.

DOLJABI
The highlight of a dol is a game called the Doljabi. According to Korean tradition, this is where the baby is placed in front of various objects and the first object she touches will foretell her future. Guests will guess ahead of time which object they think the baby will touch. We had 8 buckets set out with the objects labeled on each. Our guests put their guess into the bucket and after the doljabi, we awarded gifts to the winners. Here were the objects that we chose:

Apple = Teacher
Baseball = Athlete
Thread = Longevity
Money = Wealth
Bowl of Rice = Abundant Life
Microphone = Entertainer/Musician
Book = Scholar
Wooden Spoon = Chef

So what did Adelyn choose?

Well... the MUSICIAN of course!! She was a little hesitant with everyone cheering and staring at her, and at one point she started crying a little, but grandma of course rescued her! That was right before she touched the microphone though!!!

After her doljabi, we changed her and put her into her high chair with Grandma B's baby birthday cake she had made for her! We sang her Happy Birthday and blew out her candle. She LOVED her cake!!

Adelyn didn't get to open her presents until many people had already left, but when she did she sure did have fun ripping up the paper and pulling out the tissue paper! She got so many wonderful, thoughtful gifts. Thank you so much to everyone who made this day so special for her!

Happy Birthday sweetie!

Happy Birthday!

2011-08-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet pea today!

I can't believe she has turned 1 years old today! Time sure is flying by! We love her more and more everyday (if that's possible!!).

On Sunday, we had a large dol for her with family and friends. It went AWESOME! We included many Korean traditions, foods and games. Everyone had a fun time and Adelyn looked so beautiful in her hanbok. I will post pictures very soon!

Tonight we celebrated by going out to dinner. Where? Well... an Asian buffet restaurant of course! I think Adelyn ate more than both the boys combined!! She LOVED it! She ate and ate and ate and ate. I'm convinced she must have a hollow leg or something! She had bananas, mandarin oranges, peaches, watermelon, fried rice, vegetables, pudding, lo mein noodles, chicken, and ice cream! She smiled and flirted with all of the waitresses! We had many Asian waitresses come up and ask where she was from and how old she was and how many teeth she had and all kinds of questions. They loved talking and smiling and waving at her. She would wave at anyone that looked her direction. It was so cute. She is so happy.

We love you so much Adelyn. Happy Birthday sweetheart!!

Family Zoo Trip

2011-08-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we went to the zoo with my sister-in-law and my two nephews. It was so fun and all the kids had a great time! Here are a few pictures from our fun day!

Mine

2011-07-31T07:01:00.000-07:00

I just love this picture of my kiddos. Yup... all mine. Love them all to pieces!!

Pink Little Piggies!

2011-07-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

While shopping a few weeks ago at a little children's boutique, I came across some baby-safe nail polishes! What a perfect girlie little treasure!!! I was so excited to be able to paint Adelyn's little toes! They were adorable!

This has been so fun especially since our little rascal thinks its a great game to pull off all of her cute shoes! The second you put them on, she tries to take them off. At least she can't get the nailpolish off!!

5 Weeks

2011-07-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

I remember how sloooooooooow the five weeks went before we got our travel call. I wished I could have sped up time. Now five weeks have gone by like a blink of an eye and I wish I could just freeze time for awhile!!!

So what is our dear Adelyn up to??

* She is very smart and learns basic sign language ("more", "all done", etc...) so fast! We showed her the sign for "more" during dinner and the next morning at breakfast Carson said the word "more" in normal conversation and she started doing it!! We couldn't believe it!

* Her language is definitely growing. She babbles all the time and even sings to us! I swear she says "hi" and Kolby thinks she says "cook" when she plays with her wooden cookies. She says both "mama" and "dada" all the time

* When she is eating and is full, she has her own signal. She scrunches her eyes closed like a wink. Its so cute! She will look at you but the second you bring the spoon near her she scrunches her eyes closed! I will try to get this on video to share! Its so cute!

* She loves to play with the boys. Especially in the morning. They play peek-a-boo with her while she sits in her co-sleeper and she squeals in delight and jumps up and down. Its so funny.

* Grandma watched her for a couple hours while we went to see the last Harry Potter. She did GREAT!! This was a good test to see how she will do in the fall when grandma watches her.

* She is such a climber! She climbs on everything... and has no fear. We have to watch her like a hawk or she is climbing on the fireplace or halfway up the steps the second we turn around!!

* She is standing up on her own for 10-20 seconds at a time. She has a walker that she walks and pushes all over the house! She will be walking soon for sure!!

Well... nothing too exciting to report, but I just love seeing these little milestones. I love watching her experience new things. Love my girl!!!

Family Visit/Bridal Shower

2011-07-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

We traveled to the other side of the state to visit with Jeff's family last weekend and to also attend the bridal shower of one of our nieces. We had such a great time and Addi did great meeting cousins, aunts and uncles. She played good, ate good and even took naps pretty well... especially considering it was in a new place with new sights and sounds. She even slept through the night for the most part (she usually wakes up one time to snuggle and goes back to sleep).

Everyone loved her to pieces!!

She especially loved her cousin Courtney's bird- JJ! She kept trying to pet him which JJ definitely did not like, but he did tolerate her trying to kiss him! It was so funny! One time, he even landed on her head for a few seconds before flying away.

She also loved taking baths in Auntie Julie's sink! What a silly girl!

She also did great at the bridal shower. She was dressed up in her little ladybug dress with matching shoes and headband and she looked so cute! She was such a good little girl. She ate great (surprise!) and even fell asleep on me in the carrier for a short cat nap. She LOVED grandma's cake and cookies she made for the shower.

Here is an adorable picture of Grandma B with all of her granddaughters at the shower!!!!

Adelyn is loved by so many!! She is such a lucky little girl to have such an amazing family... then again, I think we are the lucky ones to have her!!!

Prayers

2011-07-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

Here I sit with Adelyn snuggled up on my lap and I think... why me? How did I get so lucky? All of the things I dreamed about... her smell, her tiny fingers, her chubby little thighs, her pouty mouth, her beautiful brown eyes... they are all here for me to enjoy. Why me? I thank God everyday for bringing this blessing home to us. She is more amazing than I ever imagined!!

But there is a little part of me that feels guilty and sad. You see, while we are here loving and holding our precious daughter, there are many, many families out there waiting with grieving, broken hearts to bring their children home. My heart is aching for them. While I am so excited to share her beautiful pictures and milestones, these families are watching the calendar days go by and knowing that they are missing precious milestones with their children. They are missing first teeth, first steps, first words and first birthdays. And here I am celebrating these with Adelyn. Its not fair and it just makes me so sad.

You might remember awhile back that I had a very scary, sleepless night when we learned that the Korean government was not going to issue any more EP's (emmigration or exit permits). These documents are necessary for a child's visa and allow the child to leave the country. There is no travel call until a child receives an EP. We were so afraid we were not going to get an EP to bring Adelyn home this year. Our agency assured us that our wait might be longer, but that we would be traveling this year. Surprisingly, we received our travel call much quicker than we anticipated. In fact, it was only 2 days after being processed out of the National Visa Center. At that time, there were two other families that I had been in contact with that were also processed out of the National Visa Center and that we anticipated would be getting their travel call at the same time. We even thought we might be able to meet up together in Korea! But while we were meeting our baby girl for the first time and experiencing such happiness and joy, these families still had not gotten their travel calls.

We have now learned that we must have been the last group of EP's to be approved and that right after receiving our travel call, the Korean government has not approved any more EP's in June or July. These families that we thought would have been in Korea bringing their children home, are still waiting with heavy hearts. We have learned it may be two or three more months before they will travel. I know how much they are hurting and how hard every day of this wait is.

From what I have read (I am not an expert, this is just what I am reading), it seems that the Korean government has been lax in requiring Korea's agencies to provide post-placement information about their adopted children over the years. Even though the American agencies require post-placement reports, photos and finalization papers that are sent to the Korean agencies (Ex: Spence-Chapin sends all of our reports to SWS), the Korean government has not enforced that the Korean agencies (SWS, Eastern, Holt and KSS) send this information on to them. So the Korean government has said they will not approve any more EP's until they receive this information. All of the agencies- both in America and Korea are scrambling to find and provide any missing reports as well as adoption finalization dates to the government. Here is a wonderful blog post detailing this. It is so sad that the babies and waiting families have been caught in the middle of this.

To make matters worse, because the Korean government will not be issuing any more EP's to the Korean agencies this year, there are many, many families that have been notified that they will not be able to travel to bring their babies home until NEXT year when the new batch of EP's is given out. Some of these families who have received referrals of five month old babies, will be bringing 20 month old toddlers home. It is heart-wrenching for the children, foster families and waiting adoptive families. It is just a sad, sad situation.

These families have been on my heart lately and in my prayers, but I want to ask that all of you keep them in your prayers. As I celebrate Adelyn's milestones, I want them to also be celebrating with their little ones. I know how hard our wait was and in retrospect, it was pretty short compared to others out there. I can't imagine what these families are experiencing. Unless you have been on an adoption journey yourself, there are no words to express how emotionally draining... almost debilitating... this wait is. To have no due date. To have no control. To be at the mercy of governments and policies and paperwork. And to know your son or daughter is across the ocean waiting for you and that there is nothing you can do to bring them home... I have never experienced anything like it. These families need our support and encouragement, but mostly our prayers. For with God, anything is possible.

Giggles

2011-07-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

Auntie Julie caught this photo on her camera from this last weekend at her house. I absolutely LOVE it!! It sums up how happy and silly our baby girl is! She is always giggling and laughing and making us giggle and laugh!!!!

Four Weeks.

2011-07-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

Four weeks.

One month.

It has gone by so quickly, I forgot to post about it!!

Adelyn continues to amaze us. She is such a loving, outgoing and fun baby girl. We have been loving our summer playing together! Here are some highlights from the last week:

* Addi is a snuggle-bug. In the middle of the night, sometimes she will wake up whimpering and I will pull her next to me and she snuggles up to me so tight she's like a little magnet. She usually lays on her side with her belly against me and an arm thrown across my chest and goes right back to sleep. I could lay like that forever...

* Jeff and Carson have been at cut scout (webelo) camp this week, so its been just Kolby and Addi and me. Because of the heat, we've spent a lot of time at Mom and Dad's on the water swimming in the bayou. She loves to try to eat seaweed, sticks and sand!! She also loves to attempt to swim and will crawl out in the water as fast as possible until the water is to her nose! Silly girl! She spent most of the time floating in the water in a baby blow up ring just soaking up the sun!!

* She is having fun playing with her cousin Chase who is two months younger than her. They "attempt" to share toys... this consists of one of them pulling a toy towards them, then the other pulling it back the other way. This goes on with lots of little babbles back and forth. Its very entertaining to watch!!

* She met her cousins Brenda and Jim and their boys. She loved eating pizza and strawberry shortcake with them. They gave her a wooden cookie play set and it has turned into one of her favorite toys! She loves to stack them, chew them, and carry them around everywhere!

* She traveled to the other side of the state to visit her Grandma and Grandpa B, aunts, uncles and cousins. She even went to her cousin's bridal shower and entertained everyone! She especially loved Grandma's shower cake and special flower cookies! (photos to come!)

* She talked to Daddy on the phone! Daddy called from boy scout camp to say hi and I held the phone up to her ear. She heard Daddy's voice and grabbed the phone with both hands and said "Dada Dada Dada"... it was soooo precious!!!

*She continues to love to eat ... everything! This week she loved cauliflower and cheese, grilled zucchini, bbq chicken and brownies. Grandma even gave her her very own chocolate ice cream cone. It was a good thing she was wearing her swimming suit!! She looked like we had dipped her in chocolate!!

It still seems so surreal that she has been home with us for a whole month.... and yet at the same time, it feels like she has always been in our family. I thank God everyday for bringing us our precious baby girl.

Newborn Pics

2011-07-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

I still remember vividly staring at Addi's 6 month referral photo. I had every single detail memorized. The way her hair fell, her pouty little lips, her cute tiny nose, her beautiful almond eyes... I think she was the most beautiful little girl in the world.

But life before that picture was a mystery to me. What did she look like when she was born? Three months? Five months? How had she grown and changed? I knew that with international adoption, these holes and questions were often hard to fill. Pictures were hard to come by and I was prepared to help Adelyn grieve this missing part of her life that I knew she would wonder about.

But God had a different idea.

He gave us not one, but two incredible angels to watch over her and photograph these moments. You see, Adelyn did not just have one amazing foster family, she had two. Since she was born in southern Korea, she was placed with a foster family at birth until she could be transported to SWS's baby reception center in Seoul. She was with them for one month. Then she spent her next few months in the baby reception center being loved and cared for by a team of wonderful nurses. When she was almost four months old, she was placed with the foster family who she was with until we brought her home. They gave us a gift that I will treasure forever. They gave us an entire photo album and flashdrive of photos and videos documenting those months from December until June. We have pictures of her laughing and smiling and wearing crazy hats and making silly faces. This gift was priceless to us!

But God wasn't done yet.

On our way home from our first meeting with Adelyn, I asked our social worker if there was ever a newborn picture of her taken at the hospital. She said that typically they do not take photos at the hospital, but that since she was with a foster family at birth, she would check with them to see if they had any pictures of her.

The next day, we were given a CD of photos from her first foster family during her first month of life. Words cannot begin to say how treasured these photos are. I know I will never be able to thank this family who took care of her and photographed these first weeks of her life, but this was a priceless and rare gift that we were given. This is something that Addi has been given that many adopted children will never have. I am so happy for her that these pictures fill in some of the missing gaps of her life. Whoever you are, thank you.

Three Days Old:

Fourteen Days Old:

Twenty Eight Days Old:

One Month Old (33 days):

Labor of my Heart

2011-07-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

This beautiful poem was posted by a wonderful adoptive family who brought their darling daughter home in March. Check out their blog: Bringing AnnElise Home To Her Forever Family. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful post Elizabeth! This is exactly how I feel about our precious Adelyn too!

~LABOR OF MY HEART~

I would have given anything
to be the one to know
the pain of bringing you into this world
but it couldn't be ...

Though I did not bring you here
still I labored in my tears
through the long nights I prayed
you would come to me ...

You are the labor of my heart Child,
you are the labor of my heart
with all my strength I prayed
till they laid you in my arms Child,
you are the labor of my heart ...

Blessed be the maker
of bone of other bone.
He made flesh of my desire
and today I take you home...

You are the labor of my heart Child,
you are the labor of my heart
with all my strength I prayed
till they laid you in my arms Child,
you are the labor of my heart Child,
you are the labor of my heart...

Author Unknown

Three Weeks.

2011-07-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

Three weeks.

How is it possible that three weeks has gone by so fast with our little peanut! She continues to amaze us and bring us joy everyday. Already we can see her growing up and changing in the last three weeks...

*Her hair is getting longer and I can even get it into a pigtail on top! (How her foster mother got it into a pigtail on Gotcha Day is beyond me!!)

*She is sleeping through the night almost everynight! She wakes up occasionally and I pull her next to me in bed and she snuggles her warm body up against me and goes right back to sleep. I love it.

*She is so happy and outgoing, but definitely timid of strangers. She is very comfortable if we are holding her, but will only let other people hold her for a few moments, then its back to Mommy or Daddy.

*She is saying "Dada" and definitely knows who it means!

*She has two teeth popping through on top!

*She knows how to wave bye-bye double-handed!

*She went to church for the first time and did great! She bounced and clapped during the worship songs and played peek-a-boo and charmed the people sitting behind us. Everyone wanted to meet her afterwards and she did awesome smiling at them from her carrier!

*She went on her first bike ride in our bike trailer. She was more scared of the boys wearing their bike helmets than being in the bike trailer. She got used to it and loved it!

*She went to a nearby park and played in the water of the bayou. She is such a waterbaby! The water was very shallow, but she would crawl into it headfirst until it was to her mouth and she was drinking it. Its so funny!

*She went to the zoo for the first time! She was in the Ergo carrier, but everytime she saw an animal, she would squeal and kick her feet! It was so fun!

*She is getting more comfortable playing by herself. She will sit on the floor in the living room with her toys and play for extended amounts of time now independently. Its fun watching her discover new textures and sounds and explore new toys. The boys both love playing with her too!

*She ate pizza for the first time and loved it!

That is the latest scoop for now! Our little girl is doing sooooo good!

First Official Family of Five Photo!

2011-07-11T09:28:00.001-07:00

Its what many of you have been waiting for!

Our official, family of five photo!

So.... here it is!!

More Splashing Fun!

2011-07-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

Adelyn just LOVES the water! With the wonderfully warm weather we're having, the kiddie pools have been getting filled almost daily! What a cutie!!

Eleven Months...

2011-07-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Eleven Months my little one!!

And oh how wonderfully happy it makes me to finally write this with you in my arms! I look back at our ten month update and think about how heart-broken I was that you weren't with us yet. And now here you sit with me on my lap, in my arms and life feels perfect!

I love you so much my little sweet pea!

Fourth of July Photo Shoot!

2011-07-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

Mommy had WAY too much fun with the camera this weekend! I got so many great shots I just had to share some of them!

Happy (Belated) Fourth of July!!

2011-07-07T13:24:00.001-07:00

Our little sweet pea had so much fun celebrating her first American Fourth of July!!

We had a GREAT weekend! We weren't sure how Addi would do with so many activities, but she loved them all! Our weekend started with a boat ride with Grandma and Grandpa T on Sunday. She looked so funny with the huge lifejacket wrapped around her little head. We thought she would cry, but she just smiled. She kept trying to clap her hands, but she couldn't reach them together! It was so funny. Once we were in the boat, the faster Grandpa went, the more she laughed and squealed! She absolutely loved the wind on her face! Then she decided to start blowing bubbles with her spit! She knew exactly what she was doing and soon had drool all over her face. She was quite the little comedian!

On Monday, we spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa T's cottage on Lake Michigan. Adelyn had soooo much fun on the beach! She loved to sit in the sand and pick it up in her hands and watch it fall through her fingers! She also crawled ALL over the beach. She would crawl to play with the boys and crawl towards the water (although she would only get her hands wet- I think she was scared of the waves), then she would play peek-a-boo between the weathered posts of an old retaining wall. It was so fun to watch her make so many new discoveries! She finished up her beach visit with a dunk in the lake by Daddy (to try to get some of the sand off!). She laughed and squealed each time Daddy swooped her into the water! After we returned home, we went downtown to watch the fireworks. We thought she would be scared, but she watched them with wide eyes and even clapped her hands and reached in the air like she was trying to touch them. What a wonderful way to celebrate her first Fourth of July!

Two Weeks.

2011-07-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe Adelyn has been with us for two weeks now! Where did the time fly? The eighteen months we waited seemed to last five years, yet these two weeks have gone by in a blink of an eye! I just love our little family of five! Carson and Kolby love having a baby sister! Carson often is found kissing her and saying "I just can't get enough of her! I love her soooo much!" They are both wonderful big brothers.

Of course, after six years, getting used to having a baby/almost-toddler in the house again takes some getting used to again! After two weeks, we have finally achieved being able to leave the house with a diaper bag which actually has everything in it that we need! The first few times out, we would look at eachother and say "Did you remember her spoon?" We would have baby food, but no spoon. Or... "Did you remember a toy?" Food, diapers and bottle... but no toy. This was quite comical as it happened over and over. Finally yesterday, we achieved having EVERYTHING we needed!!

We also have managed getting Adelyn on a fairly good schedule. She takes a nap in the morning and a nap in the afternoon. She's even sleeping in her crib for naps! She usually sleeps 1-2 hours (although we have had a few days of only having 30 minute naps! Grrrr!) For the most part, she is sleeping through the night too- sometimes she will sleep in until almost 9:00 if we sleep in too! We have a co-sleeper by the bed which has been awesome, but sometimes she likes to lay by us in bed and snuggle up against us and go to sleep... which of course we don't mind at all! We just wait until she falls asleep, then gently set her in the co-sleeper. She has a little stuffed seahorse thats tummy lights up when you push it and it plays soft classical music (thank you Isabella and Carlos!). She LOVES that little seahorse. We often hear it playing in the middle of the night! In all fairness though... there have been some LOOONG nights too. Not sure if she gets gas and tummy aches or what exactly causes it, but some nights she will wake up on and off and cry and whimper for hours. Its a good thing Jeff and I can switch off trying to comfort her. During nights like that, we usually take shifts in the morning too- one person will get up and get her breakfast and dressed while the other person sleeps in, then the other person gets up to play with her while the other lays down and gets a little more sleep. Having both of us home has been such a blessing during this adjustment!! The good news is that most nights she sleeps through the night without any problem.

Our social worker came yesterday for her first postplacement visit (we need one at arrival, then 8 weeks later, and then another 8 weeks later). These reports will be sent to SWS and shared with the foster family and sometimes birth mother if she comes into SWS and wants to see how Adelyn is doing. Our social worker was astonished at how well she is doing! Adelyn was of course all smiles and played and laughed like she always does. She is our little charmer!

So in two "short" weeks, what has our brave little girl experienced??

* Leaving Korea and the only family, country, smells, sights and sounds she has known

* Being loved to pieces by a very happy new Mommy and Daddy

* Going to a huge aquarium at the COEX mall

* Braving the rain to add a lock to the top of North Seoul Tower

* Braving more rain to get pictures at Gyeongbokgung Palace as a family

* Traveling 16 hours and 6620 miles on a plane!

* Meeting her uncle, aunt and cousins in Chicago!

* Being welcomed home by an AMAZING family celebration at the airport!

* Meeting her big brothers for the first time!

* Exploring a brand new house and toys

* Playing in the kiddie pools

* Meeting her grandma, grandpa, aunt and cousins from across the state

* Opening her first present (American Girl Itty Bitty baby doll!) from grandma and grandpa!

* Surviving her first doctor's appointment including THREE SHOTS and BLOOD TESTS! (Not just a little prick on the foot, but SIX vials drawn from her tiny little arm!! It broke my heart!)

* Loving her first boat ride

* Celebrating her first Fourth of July

* Watching her first fireworks show!

* Playing on the beach of Lake Michigan

* Enjoying her first fudgsicle (in the tub!!)

* Dining out at an Italian restaurant as a family of five! She did AWESOME!

* Eating everything you put in front of her! (Ravioli, bread, watermelon, apricots, meatballs, cantalope, chicken, rice, vegetables, corn, spaghetti, and baby food!)

Our little lady has done so much in just two weeks! And to think this is just the beginning of forever! I'm just so happy she is part of our family!

Papa Lovin'

2011-07-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

There is something special about a grandpa and his grandkids.... especially his first granddaughter. Grandpa T is "smitten" with our little love bug! She has him wrapped around her little finger! It is so precious! He is even letting her play the "pull the glasses off" game! Uh-oh... someone is getting spoiled!! But its so cute!

Grandpa and Grandma B came this week to visit too! Even after 15 grandkids, the excitement of a new little one is no less. Grandpa was hardly through the door when he reached for her and she went right to him! It was so adorable. Even though they live across the state from us, we know he has been following our blog daily and couldn't wait until Addi was home. I think she might have both grandpas wrapped around her little fingers!!

Adelyn is so lucky to have such amazing grandparents! They love her so much!

Corn on the cob!

2011-07-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

The other day, we had corn on the cob. Addi of course wanted to eat everything in sight, so we cut off the kernals and gave her the cob to suck on. You would have thought we had given her an ice cream cone! She was so excited and held that corn cob with all her might! It was the cutest thing. Even after dinner was over, we finally had to pry it out of her hands! Funny little girl!

Random Cuteness!

2011-06-30T11:35:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from the last few days! What a cutie!

Adelyn is doing sooooo good! She eats anything and everything- she's a GREAT eater! And we are finally getting her on a more regular schedule of naps. She is even sleeping in her crib during the day for naps and not minding at all! Even our nights are improving! We have a co-sleeper attached to our bed and she has been "almost" sleeping through the night with no more crying- just a few whimpers 4-5 times a night when she wakes and can't find her pacifier. She usually goes right back to sleep with a few pats and rubs on her back. I think it may be awhile before I get a full night's sleep again, but each night is getting better! I think the hard crying we experienced the first 4 days during the night was grieving, but she seems to be over that for now and bonded so well to our family. She is even happy and not scared at all of friends or family who come by. We are so happy she is part of our family!!!

Pool Party!

2011-06-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a perfect summer day with hot temperatures. The boys wanted to get our kiddie pools out so they could play in them. Knowing how much Adelyn loves the water, we put her little bathing suit on and went to join the fun! She was sooooo adorable splashing and having a great time! Our friend Anni and her kids came to visit and her daughter even crawled in the water with her dress on to have some fun too! Adelyn warmed up to everyone quickly and was all smiles! What a cutie!

First Family Bath!

2011-06-27T13:49:00.001-07:00

Saturday night, we had our first bath with ALL of the kiddos together in the tub! It was so cute! Adelyn LOVES the water and had a bath every night with her foster mom. She definitely got everything very wet with all of her splashing. The boys loved it too!

Operation Sleep...

2011-06-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well... we sort of knew this might happen. Our little sweet pea is so messed up on her day and nights!! She had such a wonderful schedule going on in Korea...

Bedtime: 10:00.
Wake-up: 7:00.
Morning Nap: 10:00.
Afternoon nap: 2:00.

Like clock-work, you would give her a bottle, lay her down and she was out.

Well... that wasn't exactly the case after we came home.

We arrived home from the airport about 11:00 (I think?? Seriously... my own clock is so off too!). She just looked around and didn't fuss at all. Well... until she saw our cat. She was TERRIFIED of the cat! It was kind of funny. She wouldn't even look at her. She would just bury her head in my shoulder and hang on to my neck for dear life and cry. A little later, I sat on the floor in the living room and Una, our cat, came up to us. At first, Addi clung and cried again. But then I started to pet Una and of course Addi wanted to copy me. She would reach out and touch her as fast as possible, then quick turn into my neck again... almost like if she didn't see her, she would go away. LOL! Una started rubbing up and down her legs and soon Adelyn was giggling and petting her. That didn't take long! I'm sort of surprised since pets are very rare in Korea. I didn't see a single animal (except in the aquarium) the whole time we were there! So now they are good friends and she loves petting and touching her.

OK... so back to our first night...

After we were done with the cat, had a bath and had our pajamas on, it was time to go to bed. Jeff and I were exhausted. We tried to do our normal routine... bottle, rock, lay down... but she would have nothing to do with going to sleep. Instead she wanted to play. We played a little until she started tugging her ears and I knew she was tired... but she would not give in. She cried everytime we tried laying her in the co-sleeper (similar to a pack-n-play, but it attaches to the side of the bed and is raised up to be almost the same height as the bed). We walked with her, held her and talked to her. If we were walking around, she would point where she wanted to go. It was really funny! But then the typical screaming, "I'm too tired" cry started. She does this cry before she finally crashes so we knew we were close, but it was so heart-wrenching to hear. She may even be grieving a little and this is the time when she does it. No matter if she is grieving, or just tired, she gets very worked up and upset. I just held her and finally laid her on the bed between Jeff and me. She wrapped her little hands around my arm and went to sleep. I didn't dare move her. She was very content to be sleeping right next to us and touching us. This is how she slept in Korea too with her foster family. It was about 3:00 in the morning, but she did sleep the rest of the night- and even slept in until about 9:30!

We all woke up to her smiling and laughing. She is such a happy baby when she wakes up! We had a great morning of playing and eating. But her normal schedule was already off since we had missed her first morning nap. Then about 12:30 she fell asleep. We decided to take this chance to sleep ourselves and we all slept about 5 hours!! The boys played and watched movies so nicely so we could sleep. I'm so glad they are the age they are!

We thought we were doing good and we laid her down about 9:30 for bedtime last night. She went right down in the co-sleeper... well... until about 1:00 a.m. when she woke up and wanted to play! Oh boy! We played and walked around until about 3:00 a.m. and finally after some more crying, got her to lay down between us again and go to sleep. This morning she had her normal nap at 10:00, except she slept until after 1:00! We just laid her down again this afternoon and she has been sleeping for two hours! I think she thinks its night time right now!

It will be a slow adjustment to get her used to the time change, but it will come. Last night was better than the first night and I am hoping tonight will be better yet. I hope!

Flight Home

2011-06-26T07:41:00.001-07:00

Our little peanut is sleeping, so its time to hit the computer and tell you all about our trip home! Here goes... (unless she wakes up! ha ha ha....)

Friday morning 9:30
The taxi arrived right at 9:30 and we piled in with all SIX suitcases, a diaper/carry-on bag and backpack. Its AMAZING how much stuff this little princess needs! ha ha ha... When we arrived in Korea, two of our suitcases were filled with foster family gifts and donations to the baby reception center. It was good since we had received so many gifts from SWS, her birth mother, and especially her foster family that we had two empty suitcases we could fill to return home with. We also bought many gifts for her that we will give her over the years for her birthdays. So we piled in the taxi and headed to the airport with Addi on our lap. They do not use carseats in Korea so Miss Busybody went back and forth between sitting on my lap and sitting on Jeff's lap. It took us about an hour to get to the airport, but she was great the whole ride. Once we arrived at the airport, into the carrier she went. I am so glad I have the Ergo baby carrier! It is so comfortable to carry her and she really likes it! It also freed up my hands to carry luggage.

Once we exchanged our Korean currency back to American (except for a few bills and coins to keep for the boys and her), we checked in. It took a little longer than normal at the United counter because of Adelyn's ticket, but soon we were on our way. We had to go through security and customs in Korea, but we got through without any delay. It was a little weird going through customs because we had our two American passports and Adelyn's Korean passport. After checking our passports, they ushered just Adelyn and me aside (which did make me a little nervous) and took her passport into an office. They told me to wait outside. Within minutes, they came back, handed us her passport and told us we were all set. I think there was a paper stapled inside that they needed. She smiled and waved to them and then we headed towards security. We went through security quickly without making us take her out of her carrier. That was very nice! They just gave me a pat down instead and checked the pockets on the carrier. By the time we got to our gate, they had just started boarding. We had just enough time to change her diaper and find some warm water at a little cafe for her bottle, then it was time to board the plane!

12:40, Flight from Korea to Japan

Our first flight was wonderful. We were able to get bulkhead seating which gave us lots of leg room. As soon as we started to take off, I gave Addi her bottle. She drank her bottle and fell right asleep like a little trooper!

The stewardess offered us a bassinet for her (it was a soft sided rectangular box) and she just fit and was able to lay flat. She looked so cute all snuggled up in it!

She slept for the entire 2 hour flight and was still sleeping on my shoulder when we got ready to exit. She got so many smiles and ooh's and ahh's from everyone. She is such a cutie!!

4:55, Flight from Japan to Chicago
After landing in Japan, we had just a little bit of time to get something to eat. We figured since we were in Japan, why not have some Japanese food! We found a little Japanese cafe and had garlic chicken and tempura fried vegetables and shrimp (at least we think that's what they were! LOL!). It was good, but not as good as Korean food! We love our Korean food! I already miss it!

Soon it was time to board. We were keeping our fingers crossed that we would get another empty seat next to us to be able to stretch out like we did flying to Korea, but no luck this time. We sat next to an older gentleman. He was very nice and didn't seem to mind her squirminess at all. We warned him that she did like to cry when she got tired, but that we were hoping she was going to do good on the flight. Our flight was eleven hours. The plane was great because each seat had its own TV screen mounted to the back of the seat in front of it. Also, each TV monitor let you control what you wanted to watch! There were movies and TV shows. Most of the movies were all new releases too! While Addi was sleeping, I watched "Unknown" with Liam Neeson (great movie!) and "Just Go With It" with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston (hilarious movie!). The rest of the time, Addi and I watched Finding Nemo at least 3 times! She loved the fish at the aquarium and loved seeing the fish on Finding Nemo too! She would try to touch them on the TV. It was very cute!

Of course her schedule was completely messed up with the time change, and Jeff had set his watch to Korea time to try to keep her on her sleeping schedule. She fell asleep a few times for little catnaps for about an hour at a time, but nothing long. This little one has a VERY set schedule. She is used to going to sleep at 10:00 and if you try sooner, she just won't do it. So we played the "pass the baby" game for about two hours!

She played and played and was very happy, but was VERY active going back and forth between Jeff, me and trying to crawl over the seats behind us. We were counting down the minutes until she would hopefully sleep for the rest of the night (at least that is what we hoped). We could tell she was getting tired because she starts tugging her ears and whimpering. Soon the crying started. I tried to take her near the bathrooms, but she was really screaming. She gets very upset right before falling asleep and cries very hard. It lasted about 10 minutes and she was out. We tried laying her down on our laps between us, but she was very fitful and kept rolling and turning over. Of course, Jeff and I couldn't move and every part of our body that made contact with the seat was falling asleep! Finally, we asked a stewardess if there was a bassinet we could use to lay on our laps. She said she would check but there was only one on the plane! We crossed our fingers and guess what? She found one! As soon as we laid Adelyn in it, she settled down and slept much more soundly. We laid the bassinet on top of our two trays and it was perfect. We could stretch our legs and move a little. She slept about five hours until they turned the lights back on the plane to serve a meal... grr.... Oh well... she played very well after she woke up. Besides crying right before going to sleep, she was a great baby!

We finally landed in Chicago... very very tired since we had only gotten about an hour of sleep. We left Korea at 12:40 in the afternoon and somehow landed in Chicago at 2:30 the same afternoon... hmm... not sure how that works since my butt assured me that I had been sitting on a plane for 12 hours!! It sort of feels like you are a time traveler. Everyone around us said it was Friday afternoon, but we knew it was really Saturday and they were just crazy! LOL!

We saw a very long line for customs and got nervous, but actually got through very quickly. They never even went through any of our luggage! We did have a big envelope of paperwork for Adelyn that we gave the customs official and that was it! He just asked us some questions and sent us on our way after congratulating us! WOW!

There were so many people smiling at us and asking us if we had just got her. We must have had that proud parents looks on our faces! Jeff wore his adoption shirt that said "Fatherhood requires love, not DNA." It was so nice to be so close to home!

First Meeting with Uncle John, Aunt Sharon, Jackie and Danny!
As soon as we made it through customs, we called Jeff's brother who lives outside of Chicago. They had already all driven to the airport and were waiting to meet their new cousin/niece! Adelyn was sooooo good and so happy to meet them! She laughed and smiled and even let them hold her (as long as Mommy stayed close!). It was so great to have them see her bubbly little personality! She got the cutest little angel bear from them which she loves to snuggle with! Everyone was racing to take pictures and post them to Facebook! She has quite a fan club following her!

6:05, Flight from Chicago to home
We raced through security... of course American security is much different. They made us take off the carrier, remove our shoes, belts, remove the contents of our bags and even had to X-ray her bottle! It didn't make any difference how snuggled in and happy she was in the carrier... it all had to come out and off. I would have even opted for a pat down! Then in our hurry, I made the mistake of setting the carrier on top of our laptop. Big mistake. Had to re-Xray it again. The lady took her sweet time putting it back through the machine. Grrrr... we only had a few minutes to race to make our flight! As soon as we were through security, we ran to our gate. Adelyn laughed and squealed because of the bouncing as I was running. Finally, we arrived at the gate...

6:15, Still not boarding
grrr....

6:25, Flight delayed until 7:05
GRRRR....

6:45, Boarding plane

7:15, Sitting on plane

7:25, Still sitting on plane
At this point, even the captain is apologizing to us and telling us he has no idea what is going on and that they have been requesting clearance for 30 minutes. We finally found out later they were waiting on 16 college students who decided to take a bus home when they thought they were going to miss the flight anyways! Then there was a problem with baggage that had been brought out to load on the plane, but had missed getting X-rayed and had to be brought back inside!! Really???

7:45, Plane finally ready to leave!
Then it was really time to leave! We were going home! The flight was short- 32 minutes exactly. Adelyn fell asleep immediately.

Back in Michigan
Once we exited the plane, she started to wake up a little but was still so tired. I could hardly get off the plane quick enough knowing my boys were waiting around the corner for us! I missed them so much! As we started walking by a flight attendant, she said "This must be her." How did she know we were coming? But then we rounded the final corner and there was a crowd of our family welcoming us home with banners and balloons! My dear boys, grandparents, brother, sister-in-law, cousins, aunts, uncles... everyone waiting for us! I couldn't hold back the tears! I couldn't believe it! It was amazing! Jeff and I were both so choked up and overwhelmed at the support we have had to welcome this little one home. She is so loved by so many people! They even patiently waited an extra two hours because of our delay!

The boys came running up to us and Kolby was crying. They both missed us so much. They hugged us and looked at Adelyn and hugged her and said how cute she was. Then Adelyn started to wake up, but being so overtired, she was not her normal happy self... instead, she started crying... then SCREAMING. I have now learned that this is her tired cry and not a scared cry. Since she had just woke up, she was not happy! I felt bad that everyone was waiting to meet her and she was so upset, but we just held her and passed her back and forth between Daddy and me and pretty soon, the cries turned into little sniffles and snorts and then the smiles started! That was the little one I know! All smiles and laughs! She even gave her little cousin Aiden a kiss and tried to take away his pacifier! It was so funny! After a few more minutes, she was awake and happy again! She went to Amy and Uncle Jim to be held. She smiled at grandma and gave Carson a kiss. As we walked out to the parking lot, she was laughing and giggling at Carson and Uncle Art. It was so wonderful to have our family see what a sweetie she is! She is such a happy little girl and so outgoing!

Then it was time to say good-bye and we all headed in the van for her first car ride in a car seat. We weren't sure how it would go, but she just smiled, laughed a few times at the boys and then fell asleep! What a good girl!

It was so nice to be home! There were more balloons and posters decorating our house to welcome her home. There was even a huge plant on the table decorated with American and Korean flags. It was Korea's national flower! It was from our parents, brother/sister-in-law, aunt, uncle and cousins. How special and thoughtful! I can't wait to find a special place in the yard for it!

We were so blessed to have had such a safe journey and that she was so good on the plane. I know these were answers to everyone's prayers. Thank you! Now onto our next project.... Project Sleep Through the Night! LOL!

Home Sweet Home!

2011-06-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

Yes... we are HOME!!!

Adelyn is home with her brothers (who are head over heels in love with her) and to our forever family! She is such a doll! We love her so much! She is such an easy-going baby and so happy. She wakes up smiling and laughing! The only time she fusses is when she gets tired. She loves to swing and rock. She is even eating regular baby food- pears, banana yogurt, ravioli and rice cereal! She LOVES Cheerios and Gerber puffs too. We are going to try to make some jook (rice porridge) this week for her. That is what she ate when she was in Korea. She is such a wonderful baby. She plays well on the floor with toys and the boys make her laugh. She does like to keep Jeff or I in sight and doesn't go too far without making sure we are right there. But she is very content meeting other people as long as we are either holding her or standing next to her. I think she is realizing who Mommy and Daddy are and reaches for us whenever she is unsure of herself. We are so blessed that she has bonded so easily to all of us. She fits right in perfectly. We just love her to pieces!!

I know many of you have been waiting patiently... or perhaps impatiently LOL! for us to update on our plane ride home and how things went. Please forgive me for not updating sooner... to put it mildly, this jet-lag has really thrown off all of our schedules! It is 1:31 in the morning and I'm not even tired! ha ha ha ha.... Unfortunately, neither is Addi! I promise I will finish updating with all of the details soon! As soon as our little princess finally goes to sleep...

Time to go Home

2011-06-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

It is bittersweet leaving this beautiful country, but it is time for us to go home... home to our boys and the rest of our forever family. Adelyn just woke up after another all night, 9+ hour stretch. We are so lucky to have such an easy going little girl. We know that her schedule will be strange for some time (since she is like a tiny clock...no bed time before 10!!) but we hope and pray that she will make the adjustment. Please pray for us as we travel home and that she will sleep the whole way...LOL! Our next post will be when we arrive home in Michigan. We would like to thank all of you for following our journey, praying for our trip and all of the wonderful comments that have been posted. These mean the world to us, WE LOVE YOU ALL.

Day 5 In Seoul

2011-06-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

N Seoul Tower

Jeff here...

Well it started to drizzle late yesterday afternoon, and then progressed into heavy rain through the night (Wednesday day and night), and it lasted all day today. However, this being our last day we were not about to let some rain get in our way. So we pulled out our rain gear and umbrella and packed up everything for the day and set off...Seoul Tower here we come. As we exited our building the rain was coming down and as I followed Amber and Adelyn I decided to put my hood up so I could keep my head dry...not the best idea. As soon as Adelyn saw me she started to scream and cry...I took my hood off and she was able to calm down...there goes all the work I put into my hair this morning (LOL). By now we are experts at getting on and off the Korean subway system. However the entire train ride we had to stand since Adelyn hates to sit down. After the subway, we needed a bus, no problem, just pick a stranger out and ask them..it is amazing how the Korean people are so willing to help out perfect strangers. After some directions to the bus stop we managed to find the correct bus to take to the base of the Seoul tower (helped not by Koreans, but by a couple of young Japanese women...go figure). Adelyn was in a great mood as we traveled and she even provided entertainment for those on the bus squealing and laughing as people would play peek-a-boo with her.

Seoul tower is the tallest and most easily recognizable land mark in Seoul and I have read one of the most picturesque places to visit. Well... not so picturesque for us since from the observation tower we could see maybe four feet out since the summit was covered in a thick, dense blanket of fog, and rain. We still had a great time going up, mailing a card home to Adelyn from the highest post office in Seoul, and enjoying a bit of chocolate at a little cafe at the top.

After that it was back down to the base to do the most important thing of all...we went to put Adelyn's lock of love on the tower. It is a tradition that lovers come to the tower, place a lock there, then throw the key over the side to symbolize that they will be locked together in love forever. It has been popular with adoptive parents too as they symbolize their love lasting forever. We had decorated the lock at home. It had her name on one side, Forever Family on the other, GOTCHA DAY on the tiny side and we left it blank to fill in the date of her GOTCHA DAY on the opposite tiny side.

This wasn't our idea, people have been placing the locks on the tower for years. The story goes something like this...

"From old times, there was a story that if lovers make a wish at a shrine on Nam-San (Mt. South) it comes true. Since that, this place became a symbol of the place of promising and everlasting love for a couple with the hanging of a lock together. Hanging a lock of love is not just an expression of a couples' love by hanging locks, but meaning endless love..."

Here is an article that Lauren (How the Bush Grows) found and posted on her blog.

SEOUL TOWER LOCKED IN EVERLASTING LOVE

By Park Ji-yun

Korea Times Intern

Commanding a spectacular night view, N Seoul Tower on Mt. Namsan in central Seoul is emerging as a must-see for a growing number of couples, young and old. Along the ground terrace attached to the tower, hundreds of locks are hanging, showing off the eternal love of their owners.

The locks hanging on the fences with the keys thrown away are meant to ensure sweethearts’ vows to never separate are kept.

The idea of hanging locks originated from local tourists a few years ago who saw the same thing at Tokyo Tower. It is now enjoying a renewal after two TV stars, singer Alex and model Sinae, were seen dating there in the MBC reality program ``We’ve Got Married.’’ N Seoul Tower’s ``Locks of Love’’ event was chosen as a reunion venue for the celebrities on June 15 and since then has drawn great public attention.

``Lock sales have increased sharply after the scene was broadcast,’’ said Lee Jung-hoon, a member of the tower’s management.

A couple ― Do-hyeon and Yun-sang ― visited the place to celebrate the 3,000-day anniversary of their first meeting. The lock they hung reads, ``CYS, KDH since May 1, 2000. Let’s love happily forever.’’ The couple said they plan to visit the ``guardian’’ of their love again when they have a baby. ``It is a very special moment for us as we promised to love each other at this beautiful place with all the other locks,’’ Doh-yeon recalled.

The venue has also become quite international as foreign tourists, mainly from the U.S., Japan and China, do the same when they go to the top of Mt. Namsan by cable car or foot. A landmark of Seoul, the tower is 480 meters above sea level, standing atop 262-meter-high Mt. Namsan.

``We’ve never seen such an event elsewhere. I think it is a beautiful idea for lovers,’’ said Michelle and Michael, a U.S. couple who received a lock as their seventh wedding anniversary present from a Korean friend.

Most of the locks are decorated with drawings and stickers while some cannot even be called locks. Some used chain locks for bikes shaped as hearts, as well as pink and red heart-shaped ribbons on their locks.

Now that there are so many locks hanging, tower staff members are worried about maintaining them. ``From the weight of the locks, the fences are starting to bend. However, we currently have no plans to increase space,’’ Lee said.

As the number of locks increases, so does the number of problems they cause. As almost all the fences are filled with them, it is hardly possible for children to enjoy the surrounding view.

Since the event includes throwing away keys to prevent locks from being opened, there is a danger that other people under the terrace might be hit.

The tower operator put up a sign instructing lovers not to throw keys away and set up a ``key bin’’ for them. Some couples also hang their locks in inappropriate places, such as road barricades.

In some cases, the locks seem to have no binding power for couples. Lee said he saw a man who had come two months earlier return with a different woman. ``I was pretty shocked since I did the same with my girlfriend,’’ he said. “Sadly, this episode proves that some loves cannot be protected even by hanging strong, hard metal locks.’’

However, no matter how much locks save true love, N Seoul Tower’s Locks of Love will likely remain a memorable event for many couples who are willing to share and express their love, he said.

So it was our turn to leave a piece of us, a symbol of our love for Adelyn, Korea and our forever family. We decided to hang Adelyn's lock on one of the lock trees, more importantly the middle tree, third rung up left hand side. Then there was the key...well the tradition is to throw the key over the edge so the key went over the edge into the trees to be lost forever (I just hope I didn't hit anybody..LOL), forever locked on that tree, just like our forever family.

After that our day ended with one final visit to the Gyeongbokgung palace. By the time we got there, however, it was pouring down rain. But we did manage to sneak in a few shots of the three of us with the palace gates in the background. Even though the weather left much to be desired, it was another perfect day here in Seoul, our last day out to experience this magnificent city and culture. Tomorrow...the plane ride home.

First Night A Success!

2011-06-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

We woke up this morning to a smiling little princess! She slept ALL night!! When she first woke up, she whimpered a little and wanted to be held, but that was it! I couldn't believe it!! She ate her breakfast like a champ, then crawled on the bed with us and laughed and squealed and played. What did we do to deserve this? I keep waiting for the ball to drop and her to start grieving or crying uncontrollably, or not liking one of us... but so far, we have been amazed at how well she is adjusting! Not to say we won't have some setbacks when we return home, but for now, I will take this!!

After breakfast, she had her first bath. The foster mom said she has a bath everyday and I could tell... she LOVES water! She laughed and splashed and got both of us wet! Then we had to find just the right outfit for the day... with matching hair accessory of course! And then it was time for her first nap. She typically takes a nap at about 10:00 and about 2:00. Right on the mark, she started rubbing her ears (which we now know means she is tired), gave her a bottle and she went right to sleep. This little one is on an amazing schedule! Thank you foster Mom!! We are ready for our first day together as a forever family!

GOTCHA DAY!!

2011-06-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

The day that we have been waiting for is finally here! This is by far the longest delivery I have ever experienced! LOL! It was definitely harder than the boys, but its almost over and soon I will be holding my baby girl!

With hearts beating, we left our apartment and met our social worker who would show us the Baby Reception Center. This was where Adelyn spent her first months of her life. Since she was born in the southern part of Korea, she was placed with a foster family for one month until she was brought up to SWS in Seoul and placed in the Baby Reception Center. The reception center has two parts to it- the first part is for newborn babies until they are one month old. The second part is for babies one month until about four months old until they are placed with foster families. Addi would not have stayed in the newborn part, but we know she was in the other part until the beginning of December when she was placed with her current foster family. It was so special to see this place where she spent the beginning of her life. There were many babies there- itty bitty ones and little bit older ones. There were many nurses caring for the babies, holding and playing with them. It made me feel so good seeing how well Adelyn would have been cared for!

Nursery: Newborn

Nursery: Older babies (1-4 months old)

Then we walked over to the SWS offices next door where we would meet Daum and the foster family. They were there when we got there. The foster mother was there and also the foster father (who I think took off work to be there!). They gave us a HUGE bag of things for Adelyn. Bottles, diapers, formula, some clothes that were hers, the items we had sent her in our care package, and
even more gifts for us- rice cakes and candies and Korean tangerines. The foster mother had made some rice porridge for us for Addi's baby food and we also received care instructions from SWS. SWS also gave us a beautiful Korean flag for Adelyn. These gifts were so special! The foster mother took Adelyn downstairs to visit with the doctor for one last check-up and then we received the final visa and immigration papers for Adelyn. When the foster mother returned, she handed Adelyn to us who went right to us without any crying. She was starting to get tired and the foster mother made her up a bottle for us to feed her. While Addi ate, we talked a little to the family. The social worker would translate for us. She said the family was very happy that Daum was going to us and that they had prayed she would have an easy transition. They could see we were a good family and it made them very happy for her. That made us feel so good! Then it was time to go. We took some pictures together and then the foster mother asked to hold Daum one more time. That is when she started crying and also the foster father started crying as they all held onto Daum. It was heart-wrenching and of course Jeff and I started crying! I get teary-eyed just thinking about it and about how hard it must be for her to have to give Daum away. They both really loved Daum. We walked out to the elevators and the foster mother was crying pretty hard. She asked to hold her one more time and of course we let her. Then I just went up and hugged her. She clung to me with Daum in the middle. We promised to send pictures. Then we were hussled into the elevator as a forever family. It was so bittersweet and so surreal! Definitely both the hardest and happiest part of our journey. I have never experienced such opposite emotions and feelings at the same time! We walked back to our guesthouse holding Daum and couldn't believe this was really happening! We were a FOREVER FAMILY!!

June 22, 2011 will forever be our GOTCHA DAY!!

As soon as we walked back to our guestroom, we were expecting her to start crying, but she didn't!!! We gave her the rest of her bottle and she drank about half of it, laid her head on my shoulder and fell asleep! It was a moment I will remember forever! I laid her down in the crib and she went to sleep for about an hour!! Just like her foster mother had said! What a doll and what a brave little girl. Jeff and I are both in love. We had a wonderful GOTCHA day and are finally a forever family!

Adelyn slept for about an hour (just like her wonderful foster mother said she would!). When she woke up, she definitely was confused and crying, but she went to both Jeff and I for comfort. It is such an answer to prayer that she is not favoring one of us over the other. We have heard of so many times where a baby will take to the Mom and won't even look at the Dad or vice versa. That is so hard on new parents and although we tried to prepare ourselves for it, we were dreading it. She will go to each of us equally and reaches for both of us. It is precious and amazing that she is forming trust so quickly with us.

Since she liked to be held, we thought it would be a great idea to get out and go for a walk or do something where she could be in the carrier. We knew this would also help with bonding. So we strapped her in the front of my carrier and off we headed to a huge mall called the COEX mall. The weather has been beautiful all week, but was raining today so we headed out with umbrellas and rain jackets. About a block away from our guest house, she started crying. Not little whimpers, but all out screaming. We tried to move her to my back because we knew the foster mother carried her that way, but the crying continued. We just kept going, hoping that it was the rain bothering her and that once we got in the subway, her crying would stop. Did you know that subways echo? Did you know that a baby's cry can be heard throughout the ENTIRE subway? And on top of that, did you know that a Caucasian couple with a little Korean baby screaming makes people turn and look at you? This has been the first time in four days that we felt like we stood out. I felt so bad, as if they were judging us and thinking we weren't fit parents. I'm sure that's not what they were thinking, but that's where my mind was going. At one point, she started screaming on the subway and Daddy finally picked her up out of the carrier and guess what? She stopped crying! I think the people around us were pretty shocked to see that! Addi definitely got a lot of attention, even when she wasn't crying- especially from sweet ladies who would come up to her and talk to her and pat her cheeks. She is such a pretty little girl and a charmer too!

Once we got to the COEX Mall, she stopped crying. The subway has an entrance that leads right into the mall so it was perfect since it was still raining. We walked around and she would look all around and take in all the lights. We found her a little teddybear that she wouldn't let go of (I told you she LOVES anything she can snuggle with!) and we headed to the COEX Aquarium. Yes... you heard me right... an AQUARIUM in a mall! And I'm not talking a little aquarium with goldfish. I am talking a huge aquarium with crocodiles, monkeys, bats, manatees, seals, sting rays, pirannhas and sharks! BIG sharks... more sharks than SeaWorld! It was very cool. There were some very interesting exhibits and Addi really liked seeing the fish. She kept trying to touch them all in every aquarium! Once we were done with the aquarium, we found a little Italian restaurant in the mall and we both had a bowl of pasta (I know... I know... eating Italian food in Korea... but all the Korean restaurants we saw had WEIRD dishes that Jeff and I weren't brave enough to try!) While we ate our pasta, we fed Adelyn some of the rice porridge her foster mom had made, some pear baby food and Gerber puffs. This girl can eat! She is not picky and she ate great! She even drinks water out of a cup which is so funny! She can also drink through a straw! We grabbed some smoothies before heading into the aquarium and this little peanut drank half of our smoothies! She would grab the whole cup and hang on for dear life if we tried to pry it out of her hands! It was the funniest thing! On the way home, she was all smiles and not a single cry! She was even trying to imitate us when Daddy curled his tongue at her! She curled her tongue back! We laughed so hard- it was so funny! When we got back to the room, she was giggling and laughing and climbing and playing. This little one is a busy body! We might have our hands full! She gets into everything! She played with her books and toys and climbed on the couch and crawled on the floor and pulled up on anything she could reach. Her favorite game was playing the drums on the formula cans on the floor! She is just a joy! It has been such a blessing to see her personality blossom before our eyes! I can't wait for everyone to meet this little peanut when we get home! She is going to charm the socks off our families and friends! Well... time for bed... her foster mom says she sleeps all night... we will see how our first night goes!! What a perfect GOTCHA DAY!

One hour to forever!

2011-06-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

We are one hour to being a forever family! My stomach is in knots again! We just stopped and picked up a bouquet for the foster mother. I got all teary-eyed when they finished it and handed it to me! I also just finished wrapping the photo frame I made for her. Before we left for Korea, I altered a plain frame and turned it into a "Family" frame combining both Korean and American accents on it. We hopefully will continue to send her foster mother pictures throughout the next months and years. I am so very grateful to this woman. She was an amazing mother to Addi. I couldn't have asked for anyone better. As I look through the videos and pictures we received from them, I can see the love she has for our daughter. She has spent countless hours playing games and singing songs with her. I don't have words to thank her for being there when I wasn't. I'm all teary again. I'm so sorry that we have to say good-bye to her. I know it will be hard for her and Adelyn to part. But today is a day of new beginnings... today we will be a forever family!

Day 4 In Seoul

2011-06-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

After sleeping 14 hours, we figured we better actually do something this morning!! LOL!

So we headed downtown and took the Seoul City Bus Tour. This is a tour that takes you around to the major tourist spots in the city. You can get off the bus at any stop or you can stay on and learn about the different places by listening to headphones in English! It was great to get a feel of where things were and places we would still like to visit. We both commented how we wish we would have done this the first day! ha ha ha ha....

About 3/4 into the tour, we decided it was time to get off and head back for our BIG DAY! Today was GOTCHA Day! We headed back to our guesthouse and stopped at a coffee shop to get paninis and coffee for lunch. (My stomach was growling since we had missed dinner the night before!) Then we headed to a flower shop to get a bouquet of flowers for the foster Mom. Again, our hearts were beating and our tummy's were all nerves. Soon we would be holding our baby girl in our arms forever!!

Name Chop

2011-06-21T23:53:00.000-07:00

When we were in Insadong, one of the gifts we bought for Addi is her name chop (dojang 도장). In Korea everyone owns a name chop. Koreans use it on all documents alongside their signature.

The history of the name chop or seal was first introduced to Korea in approximately 2nd century BCE. The remaining oldest record of its usage in Korea is that Kings of Buyeo used royal seals (oksae: 옥새, 玉璽) which had the inscription of Seal of the King of Ye (濊王之印, 예왕지인).

Seals were also used by government officials in documents. These types of seals were called gwanin (관인, 官印) and it was supervised by specialist officials.

In traditional arts, like China and Japan, an artist of Chinese calligraphy and paintings would use their seals (generally leisure seals and studio seals) to identify his/her work. These types of seals were called Nakkwan (낙관, 落款). As seal-carving itself was considered a form of art, many artists carved their own seals.

In modern Korea, the use of seals is still common. Most Koreans have personal seals, every government agency and commercial corporation has its own seals to use in public documents. While signing is also accepted, many Koreans think it is more formal to use seals in public documents. In 2008 the Constitutional Court of South-Korea upheld a Supreme court judgement that a signed and handwritten will which lacked a registered seal was invalid.[3]

Korean seals are made of wood, stone, jade, or sometimes ivory for more value. State Seals were generally made of gold or high-quality jade. The seal that we bought for Adelyn is made of soap stone which is a softer stone easy to engrave.

The red ink is in a beautiful ceramic jar and is actually a silk-based ink. The red paste is made from finely pulverized cinnabar, mixed with castor oil and silk strands. The silk strands bind the mixture together to form a very thick substance. It has a very oily appearance and tends to be a bright red in color.

We had recommendations of a shop to go to in Insadong for Adelyn's seal. The shop is owned by two married artists who are both very well-known. They have even created name chops for the Queen of England and various cardinals and princes (which they have pictures of in their shop). We watched them carve and create Adelyn's beautiful name chop. It has her English name and Korean middle name(Daum). I just love it!

Second meeting with Adelyn

2011-06-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

After we returned to our rooms after spending the morning at Namdaemun Market, we got another opportunity to play with Adelyn at SWS. The social worker had suggested an extra meeting since Daum (Adelyn)had such a difficult day the first day meeting us. As soon as we walked in, she went right to Jeff for more Gerber puffs! She never cried once! It was such an answer to prayer! The foster mother and social worker snuck out of the room to leave us alone with her. We played for about an hour. She was happy and only fussed a couple times when she started getting tired. There was a stuffed teddy bear on the bed (same teddybear and same bed that she sat on for her first referral pictures!) and I reached for it for her. She grabbed it and immediately laughed and buried her head in the bear. I mean... this girl knows how to snuggle! It was the cutest thing ever! Her foster mother said she needs a snuggly animal to sleep with at night and you could see it in her reaction to the bear! She wanted to go to Daddy then and curled up on his lap with the bear and her pacifier. He rocked her in his arms and sang to her. Her little eyes started to get droopy and they rocked for about ten minutes. It was absolutely precious. The social worker peeked in the room and startled her and then she sat up and wanted to play more. It was so fun having this extra special time with her. It was getting close to her nap time and she saw her foster mother's purse laying by the wall and peeking out from it was her bottle. As soon as she saw that bottle, that is all she wanted. We tried to hide it in her purse, but smarty-pants knew exactly where it was and what she wanted. After a few minutes, it was time to pass her back to her foster Mom so she could take her home, feed her and put her down for a nap. What a special day again!

When we left, the social worker gave us two VERY special gifts. The first was a USB flashdrive containing 184 pictures and videos from her time with the foster family!!! This was priceless! The pictures are from when she was little (about four months old) until recently. We even have videos of her foster mother, foster father, and foster brother singing and playing with her. These will be treasured forever! It was amazing to have this glimpse into a past we missed out on. What an amazing gift. The second gift brought tears to my eyes... it was a gift from her birthmother. It was a handmade pillow and outfit that the birthmother had made for her. This will be so cherished by us and her. How special for Adelyn to have this connection to her birth mother.

When we got back, we were going to go back downtown to tour some of the other palaces. We got busy watching her videos and pictures from the foster family and Jeff laid down for a little while. I started getting tired too and since it was only 4:00 in the afternoon, I decided to take a little nap and then we could go downtown for dinner.... well... needless to say, I guess the jet lag had caught up to us a bit because we woke up at 10:30 at night! We both laughed, rolled over and went back to sleep until morning! We slept a total of 14 hours!!!! I couldn't believe it! Besides the fact that my stomach was growling in the morning because we had slept through dinner, we both felt good and well rested. Ready for a new day!

Day 3 in Seoul

2011-06-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

Namdaemun Market

Jeff here...
This morning we decided to check out more of Seoul by visiting a definite must see, the Namdaemun Market. The Namdaemun Market has a history that dates back some 500 years (during the Joseon era) when merchants would set up shop just outside the walls of the city (near the current location of the market). The current location dates to 1922 and is, along with the Dongdaemun market one of two of the largest markets in Seoul. This incredible market has over 10,000 shops and booths both large and small. And if you are looking for something (like say a comb for a reasonable price!!), Namdaemun Market is definately the place to get it. From clothing , foodstuff, everyday goods to agricultural goods and medical supplies, Namdaumun is a bustling part of the Korean landscape. Our visit to this market was by far the coolest adventures we have had here in Korea. As we walked the rows of shops, buying and selling and haggling were going on at a feverish pace. We took our time as we really wanted to absorb some of the local culture and enjoy this amazing market. We saw all kinds of items for sale, from clothing (tons of shops with clothes) to toys, to ginseng roots (they looked like strange organs that were preserved), to dried squid, fish and shrimp. There was also local cuisine being made and sold. Amber was especially excited to find a brand of clothes named... AMBER! There was even an Amber Outlet!! If there is one thing that is a must see, Namdaemun market is the place to see.

We didn't have much time to do anything else because we had another meeting (playtime) to meet Daum again at 1:30, so we raced back to the guesthouse. I'm so glad we had a chance to experience the markets this morning!

Hanbok

2011-06-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

One of the gifts that Adelyn received from her foster mother at our first meeting was a BEAUTIFUL hanbok. We were so excited to receive this. It is so pretty and so extra special that her foster mother bought it for her. The hanbok is the Korean traditional dress and we will have Adelyn wear it for her first birthday celebration- called a dol. The dress is actually two parts- the bottom skirt is actually a sleeveless wrap-around dress. Then the top is a shirt that goes over. We also received a good luck purse for her. It is customary to put a gold coin and gold ring in it for her which symbolizes richness and wealth for her future. We also received an adorable headband that matches (you will find out soon that I LOVE headbands and hair accessories)! We can't wait to try it on her. I think its the smallest size you can get, but it will probably be huge on her! Yesterday, we bought her a pair of the cutest hanbok shoes that match! She will be one beautiful little lady on her birthday!!

Heels...

2011-06-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Jeff here...
Ok so I am not much into shoes, in fact, give me the basics, dress shoes, boots, 1 pair of flip flops, and running shoes and I am good to go (but I did lose count of the number of shoes Amber has brought on the trip!!). However, we have been admiring the shoes that Korean women like to wear, most of all the high heel shoes (and by high, I mean high). Granted, not all of the Korean women wear high heels, but most do, and many wear heels that would make me dizzy from the height. Both Amber and I have been amazed at how agile these women are as they walk, negotiate stairs, escalators, and even run to catch the next train wearing these stilts...I mean heels. And since we had been admiring these shoes, I decided to (with Amber's encouragement) snap a few candid shots.

Day 2 in Seoul

2011-06-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't bring myself to make another post after that adorable picture of the three of us!!! LOL! I just loved having that be the first thing I saw everytime I opened the blog!! I love that little girl!!

But I know that you probably want to hear about some more of our trip, and we have lots of pictures to share, so here goes...

After meeting our sweet pea, we decided to go explore some more palaces. After a 20 minute subway ride and a nice hike, we discovered that pretty much everything is closed on Mondays! Figures! So we headed back to Insadong since we had had so much fun shopping and eating there. We decided to try some more Korean food and found a restaurant that looked good and had some menu items that we would like to try.

Eating in Insadong
Its a good thing that the menus have pictures and English translations! We ordered bibimbap which is one of our favorite dishes to eat at home and also beef and mushroom bulgogi. The waiter first brought out soup which was a cold soup. I wasn't too sure about cold soup, but it had slices of cucumber in it with I think seaweed garnish and it was actually pretty good! It tasted kind of like cucumber water. Very refreshing. Then the waiter brought out about six small plates of side dishes which is typical of Korean meals. We gave each a try! There was marinated lettuce in a vinagrette dressing- I liked this. There was kimchi which I gave a try once again. There was another salad that looked a little like coleslaw, but I didn't like the dressing on it at all... very fishy. Then there were two green pancakes! We each took a little taste, but didn't care for them. They didn't have much taste actually. But the weirdest side dish looked like little shiny strips. The strips were sweet and chewy, but again... had a fishy taste. We tried to ask what they were, but even after the waiter pulled out his IPhone to translate, the best we got was "honey" and "starch syrup". Maybe they were hard honey strips? No idea! Then our main food came. The bulgogi was very good- its thinly sliced strips of beef marinated in a kind of sweet marinade, then grilled. This one had mushrooms in it too. You ate it with rice. The bibimbap was really good- it was served in a hot stone bowl. The best part was the rice that is on the bottom cooks against the hot stone bowl and gets crunchy. It was really good! The only thing that surprised me was the octopus on top! There were chopped up grilled octopus on top! Complete with little legs and tentacles! Now if you know me, I love fried calamari, but NO LEGS. It just gives me the creeps. BUT... being brave, I gave it a try. And guess what? It was really good! The octopus was very tender and didn't really have a lot of flavor. Jeff and I shared both of our meals. We even ate with chopsticks (well... until my hand cramped up and I gave up and grabbed the spoon! ha ha ha...) It was a delicious Korean meal.

Korean dessert
After we left the restaurant, we started heading to the center of town where we had seen a river running through the middle of the city. On our way, we passed by a little cafe that advertised shaved ice. This is a popular dessert in Korea - we had seen signs for it in many places. Its basically shaved ice on the bottom, then topped with either fruit, ice cream, or sweet red beans. We again decided to be adventurous and try the red bean flake. It was a huge bowl that we shared. The shaved ice was on the bottom, then a scoop of red beans in a sweet sauce, then vanilla ice cream, then some weird brown powder, then I think some sweetened condensed milk that they pour over. It was good in a weird way! The flavor was great especially the sweet condensed milk and ice cream that would melt into the ice, but the red beans were... well... interesting. Not bad, just different. It was nice to try a traditional Korean dessert!

Cheonggyecheon Stream
Right through the center of downtown is a stream that has been turned into a recreational area. It was very pretty! There are stepping stones and waterfalls throughout the stream and many families eating picnics or just sitting along the stream with their feet in the water. At night, the stream has water fountain light shows that shoot up. It was fun to walk this area!

After picking up some coffee and tiramisu at a coffee shop (Koreans LOVE their coffee... there is a coffee shop on every corner!! Here is a picture of Starbucks!) we headed back home... tired, but very happy!

This had been a great day!

What We've Been Waiting For!!

2011-06-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

Here is what we (and YOU) have all been waiting for! Here is our sweet pea!!!!!

I can't even begin to tell you the relief I feel right now! Emotionally, I am drained... but I am soooo excited and on such a high right now! I remember looking at Jeff in the elevator this morning as it climbed to the floor where we were going to get off. I said to him "I am so nervous." He said "My heart is beating out of my chest right now." Yup... that about summed it up!

So we reach the SWS Offices with our bags of gifts for everyone and suddenly I realize I had forgot my questions for the foster Mom! (If I recall, some of you other adoptive parents have done the same thing!!). Luckily since we were staying at the SWS Guesthouse, I was able to race back to our room in about 5 minutes to retrieve it. As soon as I returned, our social worker said it was time to leave. Our hearts beating, palms sweaty, we got into the van on our way to meet Daum (Adelyn) for the first time.

The van ride was about 40 minutes from the SWS Offices and of course my stomach was butterflies all the way. If you know how talkative I am, both Jeff and I barely said a few words to our social worker or eachother the whole way there. We pulled into an apartment building complex and up the elevator we went again. Soon, we were following our social worker down a hallway and before I knew it, out stepped a woman with the cutest baby girl strapped to her back! There was our little girl!! I recognized her immediately, but I think she was cuter than any picture we'd ever seen! Both Jeff and I held back tears (well... I think I wiped away a few too) and sat down on the floor.

Adelyn was happy at first being on her foster Mom's back, but as soon as the foster mother put her on the floor, she gave us one look and started screaming... I mean... SCREAMING! She just clung to her foster Mom and buried her head in her shoulder. Her little hand held onto her foster Mom's shirt for dear life. She wouldn't even look at us. I saw the tears well up in Jeff's eyes. We were prepared for this... even our social worker said she would probably cry at first because she is very shy around strangers... but to see her sooooo upset and not even willing to look at us broke our hearts. It was so hard seeing her so scared. The foster Mom comforted her and got her settled down, but as soon as she would walk near us, the hysterics would start again. She would just cling and scream. This was a routine that went on for about 30 minutes. It didn't help that we were there during her normal nap time so she was tired too. The social worker suggested that we have another visit Tuesday for her to get to know us a little more before getting her on Wednesday. I agreed completely.

I was beginning to think this was not going to end well when suddenly Jeff pulled out the snackbag of Gerber puffs I suggested he stash in his pocket. Adelyn stopped crying, sniffled a few times and took a few puffs from Jeff! A peace offering! There was even a glimmer of a smile behind those teary eyes! Soon her crying episodes started getting shorter and shorter. She would cry and want her foster mother, then crawl over to Jeff to get more Gerber puffs, then quickly crawl back. She definitely liked him and within the next 30 minutes, she had him wrapped around her little finger! The funny thing was for awhile she would crawl to Jeff and grab the puffs with her fingers. Then she decided it would be easier to just mash her face into Jeff's hand to get the puffs! It was so funny! (See the videos below to see this in action!!) She started trusting us and her real personality started blossoming. She started smiling, clapping her hands each time we gave her some more puffs, and even making skin contact with us as she would reach for our fingers or my bracelets. The foster mom brought me some rice porridge with vegetables that she had made for Adelyn and I got to feed her! She let me feed her without any problem as long as the foster mom was holding her. Before long, the social worker and foster mom left the room and she didn't cry! She would play with her books and crawl to Jeff for more puffs. At one point, she was looking through the soft photo book we sent her with pictures of us and she turned to a page of Jeff and me and she brought the book to her mouth in a wet kiss!! It was precious! Soon she was throwing her hands up in the air and laughing and smiling. It took our breath away!

After a little while, the social worker and foster mom returned with a gift for Adelyn. They presented us with her hanbok (Korean traditional dress worn for her first birthday). It is absolutely beautiful! They even have a good luck purse for her and a precious matching headband! I was so touched. She also gave us an entire photo album of pictures they have taken with her from when she was little! This meant so much to me and is such a treasured gift! Then the foster mom gave us another gift- it was a set of Korean dolls- a bride and groom! We had seen similar dolls in Insandong! They are beautiful!!!

Suddenly, it was time to leave. Adelyn even let us hold her for a couple pictures without fussing! Then the foster mom stood up and handed Adelyn to Jeff and told him to walk outside with her. He held her and we walked all the way to the elevator. He was such a happy Daddy! A perfect Father's Day gift! In the elevator, she let me hold her and I walked down the rest of the sidewalk to the van holding my daughter in my arms!! I gave her a kiss on the head and she smelled so good! Reluctantly, I handed Adelyn to the foster mom and started to crawl into the van.... and then she did something I will never forget, something that melted my heart.... she reached for me! She reached out to us and wanted to come with us! This was such a gift.

Today was a perfect day. Absolutely perfect.

Here are some videos we took of her too!

Thirty Minutes Left to Go!

2011-06-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

OK... as I look at the clock, I only have 30 more minutes before I go down to meet the social worker at SWS who is going to take us to Adelyn and her foster Mom!!!!

Oh my goodness... I think I'm going to throw up!

I have played at many, many weddings, been in pageants, played recitals, and directed Christmas programs with almost 600 students... and yet... NOTHING compares to the nerves wreaking havoc on my stomach and the sound of my beating heart. Who would have thought that a tiny 10 month old baby girl could reduce me to this!!

Well... this is it. This is the moment we have been waiting for! We get to see our baby girl! I can't believe it is here! Please, please like us Addi... just a little bit! We love you with all of our hearts!

The Quest for a Comb.

2011-06-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

JEFF:
So Korea is by far one of the most beautiful places on Earth!! And we are so excited to be here experiencing this culture. But somethings just never seem to change... What I mean is this... On the night of our arrival, we quickly settled in, arranged our bags and laid down for some rest. After that I took a shower and then poor Amber tried too... however she discovered one minor detail in her plan. She forgot her comb!! Yes her comb. This may sound trivial, but with her long curly hair, her comb is an essential tool in washing, conditioning and styling her hair... and this began what we now call mission impossible! A comb, how hard could it be to find a comb? Heck you can find them in every corner store and mom and pop shop in the states. So we began to search the 7-11's and any other small corner shop to find Amber a comb....no luck. so we kept our eyes open as we walked the street at Insadong.....no luck. After we ate, our mission was to get our hands on a comb at all costs. So we started asking for a large store called an "E-mart" but there were none close by without taking a taxi. So we thought about a department store, and it was suggested to us by many strangers (who by the way were very eager to help us and very friendly) that we walk to what was called Lotte Department store. We we walked several blocks until we found Lotte. Looked simple from the outside, but little did we know what we were walking in to. First of all, this store was HUGE, only taking up about 8 stories of well everything you can imagine a department store would have. But there is more, what made Lotte incredible was the type of products...products such as Gucci, Prada, Kate Spade, and even Gucci for kids and any other high end product you could think of!! And prices to match! For example we stopped off at the kids section and came across a T-shirt for about $250.00. Crazy.
Well, we, or should I say Amber was still in need of a comb so we asked the information desk and several people who worked there where we could find a comb. I mean really, how expensive could a simple comb be?? Floor 8 is were we finally ended up, and in the tiniest corner display were about 6 combs/brushes. FINALLY.... but there was one problem... what appeared to be normal combs and brushes were actually $76 Italian made combs and brushs. CRAZY!!! No way was I paying that much for a comb... heck Amber could just go and use a fork at that price!! Amber did talk to a clerk and asked for a hair brush that was less expensive (afraid to say the word "cheaper") and the clerk returned with a perfect comb for Amber... yet the comb was still about $19! So we wandered back downstairs, feeling defeated and still wondering where in the world would we get a comb? And then it happened...a message came over the loud speaker. I could not understand what was being said, but I knew the implication. They were announcing that the store would be closing soon and requesting that shoppers make their final purchases. This is when Amber and I went into action! We decided the $19 price tag was worth it since we could have spent quite a bit more on a taxi and ended up without a comb anyways. So we raced back to the 8th floor and searched frantically for the clerk who we had talked with earlier. She only took cash (which I had) and we bought the comb. The comb is now Amber's most prized possession and I made her strap it to her body on our way home... ok not really, but we had one fantastic journey in search of a "simple" comb.