One Little Monkey Jumpin' on the Bed.

Don't worry
she did NOT fall off
and break her head!

The dress, the hat, the flower, the hair, the garden...

It all just makes

for some beautiful pictures

of my beautiful little girl!



Can you tell my new camera arrived

and I have been

LOVE, LOVE, LOVING it??!?!?

The Many Faces of My Adorable Boy.

Last Swim?

We're thinking today might well have been our last dip in the pool this season! (Not including our polar bear swims at Thanksgiving and Christmas of course!)

Yes, down here in the south, you can still swim in September!

So I thought I'd take some "last swim for the summer" pictures!

I also thought it was a good chance to mess around with Lightroom, the photo editing software, that I'll need when my brand new camera arrives next week!! VERY excited about that! :0)

And these photos just prove how crazy Texas weather can be! As I'm typing this, the temperature outside has dropped a good 15 degrees and it is now pouring down rain! Good thing we jumped in when we did!

Giving Back

A while back I wrote a book review on a book that made a huge impact on me. I soon read the follow up book to that one, that once again, became so impactful.

For a while now, I have been thinking about what more I could be doing to help.

I Wish for You A Beautiful Life and Dreaming A World are two books that I highly recommend to every adoptive parent and adoptee from South Korea. We should read about what some of these birth mothers go through. For me, it changed the way I thought about their decisions. Additionally, the proceeds from the sale of these books, is donated directly to Ae Ran Won.

From what little I know about my own history, it is possible that a home like this could have helped my own birth mother in her situation.

I feel in many ways as though it is my calling, my duty, my honor, to help facilities like that of Ae Ran Won, an unwed mother's home in Seoul that provides services to woman who either choose adoption for their child, or to keep them and raise them as single mothers, something that is a long way away from being accepted in the Korean culture.

Not too long ago, I recieved this response from the director of Ae Ran Won after inquiring about what I could do to help.

Dear Kimberly, My Kyung:

Thank you for reading 2 books, I wish for you a beautiful life and Dreaming a world.

Aeranwon has supported the mothers to get their self-reliance for keeping their chidren. According to last year's statistics, 82% of the mothers chose raising babies instead of giving babies up for adoption. So Aeranwon needs funding.

Fund raising for the unwed mothers and their children in Korean society is very difficult because of a lot of prejudice and discrimination toward them.
If you help raise funds for them it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Sang Soon Han
Director of Ae Ran Won

Because I am not independently weathly, nor have unlimited funds to give, I have decided to do anything I can to help raise funds to give to Ae Ran Won.

To put into perspective what the money is used for:
• $300–500 can support one mother’s schooling or vocational training for a month.
• $100 (less than $3 a day) can feed a baby for a month.
• $50 (less than $1.67 a day) can buy baby supplies for a month.
• $30 (less than $1 a day) can buy a textbook for a mother’s education.

A portion of the proceeds from every sale in my Etsy Store goes directly to Ae Ran Won to use however they choose. But now through the end of October, for every hat sale in my store, I will personally make an additional hat that will be donated to Ae Ran Won.

Many of the birth mothers who come to Ae Ran Won for help, leave everything behind, including their families and jobs and possesions. My hope is for these birth mothers to have something to be able to put on their babies at birth. And whether they ultimately decide to go on and raise their own child, or choose adoption, it will hopefully be a keepsake to remember their time at Ae Ran Won.

The hat style that I will be making is currently out being photographed, but I will post a picture of these adorable newborn hats as soon as I have one! I appreciate you taking the time to read this post, and hope that you will help me spread the word. I would love to send at least 30 hats and hope to have them completed to send by the end of the year.

I wish there was more that I could do personally, but for now, this is my way of giving back.

Who are these lookers?!?!

I have been working like a dog lately getting my Etsy store back up and running, which, by the way, re-opens tomorrow, so go check it out!!

But I've also been putting my poor cousin and his family to work too...but for good reason! Because he takes incredible photos like the ones below!

Here my kids are modeling a few of the items for the store taken by Brennon Hall. Aren't they just incredible?!?!

And they seem to capture my kid's personalities too...I think you'll be able to tell which ones. :0)

A huge, huge, huge public thank you to Brennon, K and Baby F, who are the epitomy of loving family! You guys rock!

Coloring Is Hard Work

Especially for this little two year old...

who even had to stop and take a little break...

but it puts this smile on her face, so she keeps carrying right along!

Wordless Wednesday {Happiness}

"Reunited and it feels so good..."

This is how Zoey's day ended...
so how did it begin?

Well, it began at the Snake Farm right up the highway from us, where we were able to meet up with MaryAnn and Rai! You may remember that we became acquaintences on the Holt Adoption Forums, then received our travel calls near each other and even though we live in the same state, met in real life in Korea while picking up our babies! We haven't seen them since so it was so nice to have this visit and reunite the kids, who, as you can see above, hit if off nicely! :0)

Braedan checked out the baby crocs...

while Zoey strutted her stuff in her new shirt!
(Isn't that tiny button up adorable?)

Then she checked out the mini horse...

and then hopped over to show her daddy something.

All three kids found something back there of interest...

while Braedan stared intensely at the long horn...

and showed Rai the huge crocodile!

Then we pet and fed some sheep, or goats, or whatever these are!

while also saying hi to the pot belly pig and chicken!

This goat loved all the attention...

but we didn't discriminate while saying hi to the wallaby too!

Rai liked hanging with his new buddy Braedan...

and then somehow all stood perfectly in this line to get this picture!

Rai and Zoey took a little rest and chatted...

and Braedan was a great big brother to both of them!

The toddlers investigated something under this trailer...

before Rai decided to give Zoey a little hug!
(Which she looks a little unsure about!)

She went for the high five instead!
(Or low five in this case!)

The three of them became quick friends...

before saying one last goodbye!

I am so happy to have wonderful connections like this in the adoption community and hope that one day Rai and Zoey, as well as the other kids she has had the opportunity to meet, who were also adopted from Korea, can keep lasting friendships! I never knew any other Korean adoptees growing up outside my family, so this is so special for me to have these friendships in our lives! MaryAnn, Aaron, Rai, Zoey and I shared some wonderful times in Korea that I will never forget! We are so happy they are our friends!!

And watch out Henry, Rai may be trying to move in on your girlfriend!