Taking a break.

Obviously!!

I'm not sure why, but lately I have had little to no motivation for blogging. My life is full of blog worthy material, but I just can't seem to get it in paragraph form and get it posted. I am busy with my little guy and my two girls who are off school for the summer. Maybe I'll be back later, maybe not. I know I'm facebook friends with most of you. If not look me up on there if you want to. It's been fun.

The video.

The video failed to attach to the last post. Here I go again.
Forgive the quality. That's my dad who keeps asking questions, I guess he wanted to be informed. Enjoy the moment my family was completed.

Update: Long and Long Overdue.

It's so hard to know where to begin. I've been needing to post and update on us for a while. Our computer/Internet access was down until Sat. and since then I've only been on here a little at a time. Most of the time with a little guy wanting my attention. Our boy came home Tuesday May 12 at 8:03 or so. I had never been to KC airport and I found it very user friendly. I had been told to try to get a gate pass, but when we got there we realized no passes are needed, because the people getting off the planes go directly through a doorway and we waited on just the other side. We could see all the people coming off the plane. Our social worker warned us that the babies are usually last off. She was right. Person after person came through the gate until finally my MIL said, "Here she comes" An Asian woman carrying a baby and a large blue bag came into sight. We watched as she proceeded on through the doorway. She knew who we were immediately. I asked her if I could hold him. Then came one of the strangest moments in my life. I lifted my boy up out of her arms. He and I stared at each other. I can only describe it as surreal. Everything seemed to pause all around us. It was amazing. Later I remembered feeling the same way two other times in my life, the two moments I first saw my girls when they were born. My in-laws, parents and of course Josh and the girls were waiting. I turned around and felt like I was in a dream. This boy we had waited and hoped and prayed for, for so long was finally here. We let each grandparent take a turn holding him. He was such a sweet boy from the first moment. Now that I look back I think he was probably a little over whelmed. He kept leaning down toward the girls and reaching for them. We went on to the hotel where we spent the night. He didn't cry one time and he SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!! I didn't of course, because I kept staring at him and expecting him to wake up at any moment. The next day we travel home. The kid was so good in the car. He slept and played and pooped out of his clothes. Only then did he let out the faintest whimper, so we cleaned him up. Our next few days at home went well. He did eventually cry which actually made me feel a lot better. I wanted him to feel comfortable enough to let us know what he needed. On night two he cried for "Omma" his foster mother. But he would let us comfort him and would go back to sleep. He did that one other night. Sleeping has been pretty good except the past week and that is due to teething, but his adjustment is going really well. He has been napping in his crib and co-sleeping with us at night (we are trying to transition to the pack and play at night, it's going okay) From the first night he seemed to want me and he is already loving mommy and daddy. He actually said "Dada" yesterday. I also think the other day he said "ball", but who really knows. He likes his sisters but can get a little over-whelmed by all the love and attention they give. I have to say "put him down" quite a few times a day. But we are all adjusting and getting used to being a family of 5.
We used both his Korean and American names for about a week and then started using his American name exclusively since he seems to be answering to it now. I just can't believe how well he is doing. He is a sweet and easy-going baby, but very active. He already crawls like a pro and is pulling up (he was 10 months on the 19th). He has had a few tumbles so far, but nothing too major. When he had been home for about 10 days we went to the lake with my family. It's only about an hour away so Josh and I decided to give it a try and if it went horribly we would come home. Well that little guy did pretty great. I think he had a good time. We let my family hold him some, but we were usually close by and took him if he needed us. We went to church yesterday but kept him with us the whole time. No nursery for this guy, at least not for a while. He did really great and even slept through the service that can get kind of loud. I have to say, I was a little scared about adjustment due to some of the stories I've heard,but he is a dream baby so far. I'll post some pics and a video, if they'll work.

I'm still here.

Hello. I'm still here. I've been dying to update and post some pics of my new little guy. We've been having major computer malfunctions. Not to mention I have a new little guy wanting my attention. That and the fact that the girls are out of school. Oh, 3 kids at home all summer. Pray for me. Hopefully our computer woes are through and I will be posting again really soon. This time with a much longer, more informative update, and lots of pics of our boy. Stay tuned.

What we've been waiting for.

We got "THE CALL"!!! Our boy is coming home! I know, I can't believe it. My hands are shaky and I feel like my insides are going to explode. But, it's a good feeling. His flight comes in on May 12th at almost 8pm. We have to figure out the overnight plans. We could pack up and head home late into the night or get a hotel and head home Wed. It's a toss up. Any suggestions? I'd better go. I've got less than a week now to prepare for my guy to get home. Wah Hooo!!!!!!

Be patient with me.

I'm struggling to post these days. I'm waiting for my boy to get home and I feel like all of life should be on hold waiting for him too. Well, that's not how life works. Laundry needs to be done, lunches made, bills paid, yard mowed. I apoligize for the lack of posting.

We do have an adoption update, our boy has his visa. This is the last major thing that needed to be done. So now we just wait for "The Call" telling us he is headed home (day/time/flight) Pray that this call comes soon, I've expected it everyday this week so far, so maybe tomorrow. I'll let you know. I'm ready.

What's happening?

Things are moving along with our boy in Korea. It's hard to explain what it happening exactly. There are a couple of things that have to be done and then we will get "The Call" I'm was hoping he would be here already but now I'm thinking next week, maybe. Yesterday we did get news that a major hurdle has been jumped. He got his EP. It's tricky to explain to those not in the process so I took a paragraph out of our guidebook. It does a much better job of clearing it up than I would.
After Korea receives the acceptance papers from the adoptive parents and the child’s family registration is in order, the next step is to get government permission for the child to leave Korea for the purpose of being adopted by a family overseas. That's EP!! A big step towards home!

Sunday's a comin'

Check out this video. Just copy and paste it to your address line. Sorry I'm not savvy enough to do a link. I promise you WILL be blessed by it. Praise the Lord for His glorious gift of Jesus. Amen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naajYZSbWdw

A happy update.

Just a little while after my last post, we received an updated picture of our boy. It made for one happy mama. He was pictured with his foster mother and the package we sent him. I cropped the picture to protect the foster mother's privacy since this is a public website. The picture was taken on March 6th, he was about 7 1/2 months old at the time. As of today (Monday) we don't have any new news, but hopefully if not this week then next week. Here's that gorgeous boy.

An update on us.

Here we are at the end of spring break. I feel more exhausted than ever. I'm sure that part of my problem is mental. I spent a couple of days at my sister's house helping out with the new babies. The girls had a great time at their Mamaw's house. The got to do something fun each day and were spoiled.
Today we are back home and I have tons to catch up on. My sweet, sweet husband took the day off and is taking the girls to the gym while I pay bills. A task I can't complete with things going on around me. I think he's kind of worried about me today. I'm a little down, but mostly overwhelmed by life today.
For an adoption update, we are waiting on a couple of things to happen in Korea. The hard part is that this stage of the process could happen in a few days or a few weeks. So, it's hard to say just exactly when our boy will be home. God has been so faithful, in that everything up until this point has gone so quickly. I realize that this could be part of the issue (Korea trying to catch up to the quick process on the US side)
I also need to mention more that God has done for us. We did not receive one of the grants that we applied for. I know that sounds like bad news, but I believe there are other families out there who need it more than we do. Because, drum roll please.........we are about $500 short of our final goal. God is AWESOME. He has made this possible and we haven't even had to try that hard. Trusting is the key, He is worthy of all our trust. He is faithful. So just keep praying that our boy will come in His time and that I will not fall apart in the meantime.

A blogging slump.

I'm not exactly sure what's up with me lately. I am in a blogging slump. Maybe it's because my blogging friends (who orginally lured me into this world) have stopped the daily posting. Maybe it's the fact that I have very few readers. Maybe it's that fact that I'm feeling very unmotivated and might I say LAZY these days. I am considering rethinking this whole thing. Why am I blogging in the first place. I thought it would be a fun way to share my life and family with the world. I've enjoyed being able to document the things my girls do, or the ways God is blessing us. I'm just wondering if I should do this in a more private way. So, stay tuned, i'm considering going private. For now my blog will stay public,but if I decide to go private I will let you know. Thanks for reading. By the way, I'm late in posting these but here are a couple of pics of my sweet cheerleaders. Little Sis is in the center of the group in the bottom pic.

A package filled with love.

We were able to send a package to our boy in Korea. I took a few days to get it together and I shipped it on Tuesday. Hopefully, it will be there before his next Well Baby visit, when his foster mother brings him in to the agency.
I included just a few things in the package. Two small toys, an outfit with a bib, a treat of "Moose Munch" for the foster family, a blanket and a photo book. Josh and I slept with the blanket in our bed for a few nights. Hopefully it will have our scent on it to get him used to us. The photo book was fun to put together. I included pictures of all four of us and wrote our "names" in Korean. Well, not really Korea, but the English pronunciation of the Korean names. Korea uses a different alphabet than we do. It's exciting to me to think that our boy could be looking at our pictures in just a couple of weeks.

You can be praying that the package gets to him. Also that the rest of our paperwork goes through at a good speed. So far the process is going much faster than we thought it would. An application we filed on Feb.12, was supposed to take two weeks to two months to process, to 8 days!! God is Awesome!!

I'm adding a picture of the package contents and also a couple pics of my new neice and nephew, just for fun. Baby Girl has pink feet on her blanket, Baby Boy has purple. They are both doing fine.

2 new arrivals!

The twins were born!!

My sister had a Dr appt. on Friday. She'd been having a few contractions and the Dr wanted to monitor her. She was having contractions every 5 minutes. She wasn't dilating or even feeling them. Dr said she would stay in the hospital and he would take the babies (c-section) on Sat. morning as long as everything stayed the same.
My mom and dad threw things in the truck to head down south.

My parents were about 1/2 way there Friday night when my sister's husband called and said that her contractions were now 2 minutes apart and the Dr was prepping for surgery. The babies were born around 10:30 Friday night.

The boy was 1st. He weighed 7lbs and was 19 inches long. The little girl came 2nd and weighed 6lbs 14oz and was 20 inches long.

I hurried down to Texarkana on Saturday for a quick visit. I got in as much snuggle time as I could. They are both very cute but look NOTHING alike. Big brother is not really acknowledging them yet, but they go home today, so we shall see how that goes.

Two Big!!

Something exciting has been brewing in my family for the last few months. My younger sister is expecting twins, a boy and a girl. We are all so very excited.

At her last Dr visit,she is just 35 weeks, the babies were measured during an ultrasound. The girl is measuring at almost 7 lbs and her brother is measuring at just about 6lbs. Also, the doctor scheduled the C-section for March 5th. Those babies might just be two little chunks. My dad was a twin and he and his brother were 7+ and 8+ pounds at birth. My poor grandma. So we'll just have to wait and see if these two set a family record.

A Promise, Prayer and Praise!

A few of years ago I began praying about adopting. It's actually something Josh and I talked about before we got married. It seemed to come to the forefront of my mind. I knew it was a calling God had given me because the feeling was so strong. At one point, a couple of years ago,Josh and I decided we would NOT adopt (for financial reasons) but it didn't take long before the feelings came back stronger than ever. I truly believe this is something that God wants us to do. He has picked this boy out especially for our family.

Since I began praying I promised God that He would get the glory for everything that happens in this process. We have had worries ($) and concerns ($) that we feel we can't overcome. I've tried to have faith that God will provide. This is hard for my husband. I guess it's a guy thing, he sees the Wall ($25,00) and doesn't know how to get over it. God has already revealed Himself in so many ways I am going to keep my promise and give Him the glory, even if that means revealing a little more information than I might have otherwise. Here goes.

-The fee for Korea is typically 17,000+, when we got our paperwork our fee had been reduced to $13,000. PRAISE THE LORD!

-We received a grant from our agency for another $2,000 just for asking. PRAISE THE LORD!!

-Josh is in school and had been getting GI Bill checks. A few weeks ago he said he didn't think he had anymore coming, that he'd used it up. Okay, no big deal. Well Thursday we are going to KC to file some paper work with immigration. It comes along with a fee that totals about $800, well, one day last week I went out to the mail and found a GI Bill check for almost $600, tell me that's not God!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

We have applied for two more grants that we haven't heard from yet so be praying about that. We have about 1/3 of our fees taken care of and are still working on the rest. I KNOW that God will provide. I'm so excited to see God working in my life and the life of my little boy.

Psalm 105:2 "Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all this wonderful acts."

Update!!

Did I say it would take a month to get our "Legals" here???? Well, they came today. I am so excited and blessed. God is awesome! Now, Josh and I will plan a trip to Kansas City for the next step in the process. More paperwork and fingerprinting. After that point there's not much we do except wait. Most everything else happens on the Korea side of things.

I've gotta start preparing for a new baby. Ahhhhhhhh!!!!

New look.

I finally figured out how to get a cute background. This is my choice for Valentine's day. After the holiday passes I'll try to change it again. In the process I lost my Korea clock, but I'll work on that.

Adoption update: We sent in our official Acceptance paperwork and it got to the agency on Tuesday. The next step could take a month. We are waiting for a batch of paperwork called "Legals" Once we get them we move on to the next step. So right now there's nothing much we can do except pray and raise money. God is already showing Himself faithful in this area. He's so awesome. Thanks for praying for us, keep it up.

It got me thinking.

I was sitting here, in front of the computer not doing much of anything. I was curious about what time it might be in Seoul, South Korea. I found a website that shows times for cities all over the world. You can copy the code and add it to your website. I did that. I looked at my new addition to the blog layout and got to wondering, What's my baby doing right now? When I was looking it was 12:42 pm on Friday. I wondered if he'd had lunch yet. Was his foster mother putting him down for a nap? I wonder if he knows yet that his forever family is here waiting for him and loving him already. Someday I'll be cleaning up his little face and lifting him out of his highchair. I'll be the one snuggling him as he gets drowsy and tired. I will kiss his face. Someday, his two big sisters will be the ones to make him laugh and smile. Josh and I will be the ones to show him the love of a family. But, until then I hope his foster family knows what a treasure they have. I pray for them to take the best care of them they can. I can't help but pray because that's about all I can do right now. But, someday...

Our Boy

Finally here's a picture of our new baby boy. The first one is the original one we received with the referral, I'm not sure exactly how old he is in it, but pretty young, just a couple of weeks. The second one we received late last week, it was taken early this month, he's just about 5 1/2 months old in it. I was so thankful to get an updated picture. Some families never get one and just have to imagine how their baby has changed. I think our boy has changed a lot. I looked over the new picture for quite a while trying to find similarities. He's become quite a chunk, this is a good thing. When he was born he weighed just over 5lbs, now he's up to 16 or so. The new picture made me laugh because someone has pulled that baby's pants up way to high. Josh said "We'll put a stop to that!" No Erkel babies in this family:) I'm so glad to be able to share him with you. Now we have to think of a blog name for him. How about "Bub" or "Brother"?

Okay, here goes...

WE HAVE A SON!!!

I can't believe it. This happened so fast. We got the call on Dec. 19th that we had been matched with a little boy from South Korea. We took a month to research, pray,talk about it, oh and did I mention PRAY!!! Monday we decided to go forward and I called Tuesday to let our agency know. I was shaking with excitment and nerves. I must admit, I'm a little scared, too. But, I am convinced this baby is our boy. His birthday is July 19th, 2008. He turned 6 months old on Monday. Big Sis is excited because her birthday is the 18th of July. I will wait to post a picture until we fill out the acceptance paperwork, but we are officially matched. Yay!!!

We will hopefully have him home by his first birthday. Pray that all the paperwork goes quickly and smoothly.

Somthin's brewin'

Not a lot going on around here lately. We've had a refreshingly lazy weekend, including today. Girls and Josh were home and we did some organizing this morning but not much else. Tonight we are headed to Cheerleading practice. Our season is almost over. I promise that I will post some pictures of that later. Maybe even a video. Big Sis's coach is working on a dance for them to perform. I'm hoping it turns out okay. Other than that we are pretty normal. Well, almost...

We are hoping to have some news soon. I can't go in to detail right now. You'll just have to stay tuned to see what it is.

Picture Tag

This is my first born, silly girl. This picture was taken in May of 2006. Big Sis was four years old, almost 5. She had obviously just eaten something chocolatey and was making a silly face. I am tagging Teresa, Alana, Kara and Janelle. But, if you are reading this consider yourself tagged.

The object of the picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer


2) Select the 4th picture in the folder


3) Explain the picture


4) Tag 4 people to do the same. NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)