From strangers, with love...

Tomorrow will begin our very first fundraiser for Emersyn's adoption!

As some of you know, I have a little Etsy store that I began on my own in January, making newborn props for photographers and new moms. It has really been a lot of fun, to say the least, and I feel very blessed it allows me to stay home with my kiddos and 'work from home'.

But I've also had the opportunity to network with some amazingly talented woman who have the same craft and I have to say that their support is priceless.

We'll be running an auction on plunderhere.com and many, many super generous business owners have donated items to auction, and many of my fans have been conditioning their bidding fingers!

I just cannot get over the love and support from these people I have never met, and probably never will meet, in real life.

They have done more than just donate an item...they have shared their feelings about adoption, filled me in on their own adoption stories, sent prayers our way, and given us an outpooring of support on our journey ahead...

It totally amazes me and I see God's hand in it for sure.

Several of the shop owners who donated were adopted themselves, and one even has a sister who was adopted from Korea!

Most of these shop owners are complete strangers. They heard about this upcoming auction, and didn't hesitate to contact me to give of their time and talent, for Emersyn...a complete stranger to them.

I've had a hard time finding the perfect words to express how very grateful we are to all of them, hoping that they know what it means to our family to be a part of this.

From strangers, with love, to our family of five.

To all of them, thanks for having a 'hand' in our adoption...(since I can't share pics of her face yet!)

Field Day!

It was a fun filled day for my little kindergartner on his Field Day!! This kind of stuff is right up his alley and he had a total blast! His class ended up getting first place for the kinder classes and they set a record for the most events won on a Field Day!!

Zoey totally thought she was part of the class and enjoyed bossing everyone around and "supervising" activities! What a little stinker, that girl!

I enjoyed chatting with a fellow adoptive mom who has THE cutest little girl in Braedan's class from China. So fun to make connections like this, and of course, a new friend!

Here's some fun pics from our day spent together!

And so it begins!

Paperwork, paperwork, and MORE paperwork! My hand is going to fall off!

But the important thing is we've completed everything we need to thus far!

Official application and service agreement with Holt...our homestudy packet, which includes references, tax statements, pictures, medical exams, criminal checks, the list goes on, but we're finally done and mailing it out tomorrow!

Our homestudy visit is scheduled for June 1st and though it is a different social worker, it's the same agency we used the first time and they have a pretty quick turnaround time to get it all completed and put it in Holt's hands!

Which is what we now need to complete Emersyn's acceptance packet to send on to Korea!

We are expecting at least a six month wait once our acceptance is in till travel, maybe longer.

We're getting a care package ready to send with friends from Austin who are going to Korea in about a week and it's been fun picking out some clothes and toys for her and putting together a photo album of our family!

She was transferred to a Seoul foster home last month, and will be in the Holt offices for her very first WBC (Well Baby Checkup) early next week and they've promised to take updated pictures! We cannot wait to see how much she's changed as the only pictures we have are from when she was very young.

It's still a little strange to say we now have THREE kids! But boy are we excited to have her here in our arms!

Braedan includes her in every prayer he says, and Zoey is now asking where her baby sister is!

We cannot wait to show off her cutie patootie face and we are praying that her transition to her new foster home is going smoothly...

And did I mention that shopping for TWO girls is so much better than one?!?!? (sorry about the bad photo, I took it on my phone!)

And then there were five...

My head is still spinning from this past week and a half and I am quite certain I have missed several deadlines and lots of other important stuff because of it!

But, we are pleased as punch to announce that we have happily accepted the referral of another beautiful baby girl!

Emersyn Hui-a was born July 15, 2010 in South Korea! Just two years and two weeks apart from our Zoey Seon-Mi!

(And let's hope Emersyn sticks...there's been quite a bit of name discussion at our house!)

Yes, we will have our hands (and hearts!) full with our 'girls' and their super stellar big brother, who is already bragging (though slightly disappointed it's not a boy!) about the addition!

You might be thinking, what? They weren't even in process again? Did they say they were adopting again? What is going on right now?!?!

And you would be thinking the exact same way our family was!

Bottom line, sometimes they find you.

And in this case, Hui-a found her way into the very place she belonged...our family!

We have discussed adopting again for a while but had yet to put the plan in motion.

In fact, we had been seriously discussing an adoption from Ethiopia!

We had requested the file of a photolisted child from Korea, but never really felt he was ours, and after hearing that there were so many families interested, we politely bowed out a few weeks later, as a family was ready to move forward on his adoption.

Within the hour, we received an email from Holt with a file to review!

Stunned does not even begin to describe our emotion!

The minute I saw her face though, I knew she was our girl! (I also showed my dad and when he started to cry, knew she was ours as well! Just to be sure, I even showed him a picture of another Korean baby and he didn't cry, so I knew we were good!)

We had talked about another boy, but God had other plans! And what a wonderful plan it is!

We are starting from nothing paperwork wise and have been scurrying to get the proper things in motion for us to complete our homestudy and acceptance!

So unfortunately, we will not be able to share her sweet face till then, but know that she is UH-DORABLE!!

As most of you know, adoption is very expensive and the timing so unpredictable, but we know that God had planned for Hui-a to join our family and we are trusting in Him fully to bring her home. We know that things will just be what they'll be and we will follow His lead. (And of course, we'll do the leg work!)

And so begins our next adoption journey...and then there were five!

'Children of God'

When I came across this video this morning, I was literally a blubbering ball of tears by the end!!

I just adore the beautiful message and perfect lyrics this song has...

Gotcha!!

This past Saturday, our family had the pleasure of celebrating our second 'Gotcha Day' with our very own Zoey Seon-Mi!

I cannot believe it has been two years since she's been home!

And can hardly believe she will be turning three this summer!

What an absolute blessing and priviledge she is in our lives and I am truly grateful each and every day (even the days like today with multiple public tantrums!) that she found her way into our family.

She is the most beautiful little girl and we are very much in love with her!!

Of course, we had to celebrate with some Korean food, because there's always a good reason to eat Korean food!

Zoey loves Korean food, especially the kim bap and yakimandu!


And she insisted on wearing nana's glasses to read her fortune from her cookie! How cute does she look in glasses?!?!


And to the cake...

Well you might be wondering why Mickey and Pluto are riding in a Mousekaplane between the Korean and the American flag?!?!


Well, I wonder the same thing myself!

It just so happened that when we were picking up Braedan's birthday cake, they walked out with a custom Mickey Mouse cake that included this airplane! Zoey knew Gotcha Day was approaching (well, I think she actually thought it was her birthday along with big brother!) and totally thought that cake was hers and was so disppointed when I told her it was not!

I wanted the cake to have an airplane with the Korean and American flags, so of course, after a few tears from Zoey and a very helpful cake maker, we decided that Zoey and I would be represented on our cake as Mickey and Pluto and evidentally Korean Air was now the Mousekaplane.

Hey, it works!! It still makes me giggle every time I see it and Zoey was incredibly proud to show it off to everyone!


It is hard to believe our sweet little girl has gone from this...the day we left Korea...

to this!

We are so grateful that Zoey made it into the very spot our family was holding for her in our hearts and are so happy to be celebrating two years home!