My Niece's Birthday!

It may not be my birthday, but I'm still cute!

My goodness! What is on my hand??

Wow! The birthday girl LOVES her cake!


Forget small bites! I'll just eat it all at once! You're only 2 once!

Random Musings

So I was thinking…(always a dangerous endeavor!) about our referral. We think we will get one in July or August if the current time frames hold. The babies are typically 5 months old when they are matched with an international family for adoption. (The Korean law states babies have to remain in country until they are 5 months old before they can be matched with an international couple waiting to adopt. This law was enacted in hopes of encouraging domestic adoption in Korea.)

So, if we are matched with a baby this summer, that means our daughter is already born, and she is one or two months old right now. I saw a two month old baby at Bible study last Monday, and my heart just melted because I realized someone else is loving my baby right now. That reality just hit me so hard. In fact, it was almost stunning. I just wish I could see her face, or know her birthday...anything. I know were getting closer, but right now it seems so far away.

O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. (Isaiah 25:1)

Nine months later....

We have now been waiting nine months for the referral of our baby girl.

Just for the record; I'm tired of waiting.

I don't have much more to say today. Well...except that my boys are pretty darn cute!

Easter Eggs

Our yearly Easter egg project.

Nick wasn't terribly intersted in Easter eggs this year.

What's in there?

Jack getting his egg!

Looky there!!

Homestudy in Korea!

Today I was informed that our homestudy was mailed to Korea! The homestudy is what the Korean social workers use to match a baby with your family. They look for things such as age, gender, and any other requests made in your file and then use that information to match your family with a child. We still expect to wait another 3-4 months to be matched, but hey!!!... it’s progress! YEAH!!

(This is a terribly over simplistic explanation of what goes on in the matching process, but its about all I know!)

Questions People Ask, Part 2

More questions people ask....

#7 Do you realize you're “starting over?”
Yes, and we’re really excited about it.

#8 How much does it cost?
How much did your kids cost?

#9 Do you realize girls are harder?
I’ve heard that.

#10 How’d you get your husband to agree to that?
I prayed and God changed his heart.

#11 Where are you going to put her?
Jack is moving to Nick’s room

(which is huge with its own bathroom)

She is getting his little room upstairs.

#12 Where’d you get the name Brooke?
That was always our girl name we never got to use.

I personally like the name Summer, but he hated it!

Any more questions?

If so, just send them to me by clicking the "comments" icon below the post.

Questions People Ask - Part #1

I am often asked interesting questions about adoption,

so I thought I’d address some of those today.

#1 Couldn’t you get pregnant again?
I most likely could have, although I didn’t try.

#2 Were your pregnancies too difficult?
Not really. They weren’t easy, but they weren’t unbearable.

#3 Why didn’t you adopt domestically?
I have no good answer here, except Mark and both felt led to go the international route.

#4 Did you consider domestic adoption?
I looked into it, although having 3 children already really limited our options domestically, and once again, we really wanted international.

#5 Did you consider foster care?
Yes, about seven years Mark and I both took all the foster care classes, and had a nine year old boy of whom we were trying to get custody. After almost a year of counseling and working with social workers, the state gave him back to his mother. We were heartbroken, and decided that was not something we (specifically I) could do again.

#6 Did you just have to have that girl?
No, I was perfectly content with my three boys.

More to questions answered next time!