Thursday, October 25, 2012
Pumpkin Decorating
The big boys had been asking
to decorate a pumpkin, so I finally decided that today was the day. After school, I asked them how they wanted to decorate it, and instead of paint, they wanted to decorate it with the Halloween stickers they got in their McDonald's happy meals! Easy enough! So, I plopped a pumpkin down in front of them, handed them their stickers, and they got to work!
You can tell by Beckett's faces in the next two pictures that he did not approve of Levi trying to help him.
I tried to distract Levi so that Brody and Beckett could work alone...
But he just wasn't having it. He wants to be a part of everything they do. We had to teach him that he couldn't remove the stickers they already had on, and they were all happy.
They worked and worked...
And were so proud of their "stickered" pumpkin!
This little guy is so busy these days...every picture I have of him is blurry!
Even after his other two brothers grew tired of stickering, Beckett man stayed and worked until he has his side of the pumpkin was just how he wanted it. Love his dedication! I think he is going to be a bit more of a perfectionist than his older brother. :)
I have to say, that was the easiest pumpkin project ever!
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Inching Closer
Anxiety is definitely starting to pick up as we inch our way closer to that 4-6 month mark. We will hit 3 months next month, and several families from our agency have gotten referrals in the last couple weeks, all right around the 4 month mark. That would be December for us!! Ahhh!!! Now, one thing our case workers have warned us about is how dangerous it can be to compare our journey to others. We are well aware that referrals could slow down as we near the end of the year, and they could also be slow to start back up again after the new year. We could be Spring (or later!) before we get that call. But as long as we keep that in our mind, it's so fun to hear of others' stories and know that we aren't all that far behind :)
Some sweet friends' that we met at our adoption seminar in May, The Harrison's (www.freshentity.com), just got their referral this week!!! It was so fun to rejoice with her about their wonderful news, and it also made it seem a little more real for us. Does that make sense? Sometimes in this process, part of you wonders if this will ever really happen. I try to imagine what it'll be like the day they call us with a file and send us that picture. And tell us that this is our child. That's just so amazing that I can't even begin to fathom it. In fact, it's so amazing and such a dream of ours, that sometimes I still don't feel like its real. But to see it really happen to someone who we've been walking this journey with. Someone just a couple months ahead of us in the process. Wow. It just made my heart so happy. They have a son! I just pray they can bring him home soon.
I just want to document these moments and feelings and little things that happen along the way. I may not remember months down the road how much it helped my heart to hear of our friends' great news, so I want it all written down.
On a fun note, we've been brainstorming names lately. Golly gee, it's hard to come up with a 4th boy name. We have a few ideas (And Brody has a few of his own!), and I really would like to have decided by the time we are matched. I would love for our friends and family to be able to pray for him by name!
One more thing, our sweet friends', Brooke and Billy Sneed, leave for China in a few days to pick up their sweet daughter, Carolina Grace! Please pray for safe travels for them and for their adjustment to be as smooth as possible. We can't wait to welcome this precious little girl home!
Some sweet friends' that we met at our adoption seminar in May, The Harrison's (www.freshentity.com), just got their referral this week!!! It was so fun to rejoice with her about their wonderful news, and it also made it seem a little more real for us. Does that make sense? Sometimes in this process, part of you wonders if this will ever really happen. I try to imagine what it'll be like the day they call us with a file and send us that picture. And tell us that this is our child. That's just so amazing that I can't even begin to fathom it. In fact, it's so amazing and such a dream of ours, that sometimes I still don't feel like its real. But to see it really happen to someone who we've been walking this journey with. Someone just a couple months ahead of us in the process. Wow. It just made my heart so happy. They have a son! I just pray they can bring him home soon.
I just want to document these moments and feelings and little things that happen along the way. I may not remember months down the road how much it helped my heart to hear of our friends' great news, so I want it all written down.
On a fun note, we've been brainstorming names lately. Golly gee, it's hard to come up with a 4th boy name. We have a few ideas (And Brody has a few of his own!), and I really would like to have decided by the time we are matched. I would love for our friends and family to be able to pray for him by name!
One more thing, our sweet friends', Brooke and Billy Sneed, leave for China in a few days to pick up their sweet daughter, Carolina Grace! Please pray for safe travels for them and for their adjustment to be as smooth as possible. We can't wait to welcome this precious little girl home!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Photo catch-up!
Without a working laptop, I feel like I just can't stay caught up on my blogging. But here are a few of my favorite iPhone pictures from the last couple weeks! 
Monday, October 22, 2012
7 years later...I Still Do
Today marks seven years since we said "I do". I love looking back on the memories of that day. It couldn't have been any more perfect. I am so thankful for you.
I am thankful for your leadership.
I am thankful for your patience.
I am thankful for your selflessness.
I am thankful for the three (soon-to-be four!) children you have given me.
I am thankful for the way you value your family.
I am thankful that you insist we have date nights!
I am thankful that you like to cook ;)
I am thankful that you are ok with the fact that I am not too good at it!
I am thankful you are forgiving.
I am so very thankful for these last seven years together.
There have been tears.
But there has been even more joy. Immeasurable joy.
I am thankful for you. Just you.
Happy Anniversary. I love you.
Friday, October 19, 2012
2 Month Photo
I'm so happy with how these monthly pictures are turning out. What a treasure they'll always be to our family! 
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Waiting {Two Months}
Dear Baby L,
Today we have been officially waiting for you for two months! We are praising God that we are two months closer to seeing your sweet face! We are praying for you, little one! Praying that you are healthy and loved and safe. If only you could know how truly loved you are by your family on the other side of the world. We can't wait for the day we find out who you are and can pray for you by name and put a face with that name. The face of our child. I can close my eyes and sometimes I can almost already see you. I see you toddling around the field at Brody's soccer games. I see you running around with the other kids at Sunday lunches at Mamaw and Papaw's. I see you holding Daddy's hand as we walk into church. I long for the day we get that phone call letting us know we've been matched with you. God already knows. I can't wait to watch His amazing plan unfold! You are SO special, sweet child. And you've got a whole lot of people praying for you and waiting for you!
Love, Mommy
So, here we are...celebrating 2 months on the wait list. Not a whole lot has changed since my last update. We did receive our 1-600A approval in the mail this week, so that's great news! Good to know we've got nice clean fingerprints! ;) Now, we just wait. There's really nothing more we can file with USCIS until we have our referral. And speaking of our referral, I want to take just a minute to clear up a few things that people have had questions about. Sometimes I use words like "referral" and just assume everyone knows what that is. But just because we've been studying adoption for months and months, that doesn't mean anyone else has. :) The word referral is actually referring to a child. When our agency (Dillon) receives the information on a child that is ready to be matched with their forever family, they go to their list of waiting families. There are lots of factors that determine which family gets matched with the child (how long they've been waiting, conditions they are open to, etc), but I know they put lots of prayer into it. I do want to mention how thankful I am for the hearts of these wonderful people who work tirelessly to help us bring our children home. They truly feel like family, and I can't imagine going through this without such a close knit, intimate agency and group of people. So, like I've said before, they've told us to expect to wait 4-6 months for our referral (hopefully only 2-4 more to go!). When this happens, our social worker will call us, letting us know we've been matched. Eek! I have pictured this moment over and over in my mind, and I just can't even begin to imagine how it will feel. How exciting it will be. She will give us our child's age (we expect baby to be 6-8 months old at this time), Korean name, will go over medical information and background information with us, and then will email us pictures!! We definitely want to do something fun to announce our referral and share his pictures with family and friends, but I just haven't figured out how or what yet. If you have any ideas, please share!! :)
We have been asked a lot if this means that our baby will be ready to come home. Oh, how I wish it did. Unfortunately, we've been told to expect to wait approximately another year before we can travel to pick baby up. We are so thankful that our child will be living with a foster family rather than in an orphanage while we wait for travel. That is so reassuring. To know how loved he will be. From what I understand, the main reason for this wait is that the government in Korea only allows a certain number of orphans to leave the country each year. Why? I think it has to do with them trying to promote more domestic (in-country) adoption there in Korea. So, due to this limited number of EP's, or Exit Permits, that the government allows each year, cases stay really backed up. They have also passed several new laws recently regarding adoption, which require additional steps to the Korean end of the process, holding the process up even more. So, it's usually close to a year before everything is in place for us to travel to bring our baby home.
Clear as mud?? Thought so. It's still hard for me to understand. But right now, I know we are two months closer, so praise God!!
Today we have been officially waiting for you for two months! We are praising God that we are two months closer to seeing your sweet face! We are praying for you, little one! Praying that you are healthy and loved and safe. If only you could know how truly loved you are by your family on the other side of the world. We can't wait for the day we find out who you are and can pray for you by name and put a face with that name. The face of our child. I can close my eyes and sometimes I can almost already see you. I see you toddling around the field at Brody's soccer games. I see you running around with the other kids at Sunday lunches at Mamaw and Papaw's. I see you holding Daddy's hand as we walk into church. I long for the day we get that phone call letting us know we've been matched with you. God already knows. I can't wait to watch His amazing plan unfold! You are SO special, sweet child. And you've got a whole lot of people praying for you and waiting for you!
Love, Mommy
So, here we are...celebrating 2 months on the wait list. Not a whole lot has changed since my last update. We did receive our 1-600A approval in the mail this week, so that's great news! Good to know we've got nice clean fingerprints! ;) Now, we just wait. There's really nothing more we can file with USCIS until we have our referral. And speaking of our referral, I want to take just a minute to clear up a few things that people have had questions about. Sometimes I use words like "referral" and just assume everyone knows what that is. But just because we've been studying adoption for months and months, that doesn't mean anyone else has. :) The word referral is actually referring to a child. When our agency (Dillon) receives the information on a child that is ready to be matched with their forever family, they go to their list of waiting families. There are lots of factors that determine which family gets matched with the child (how long they've been waiting, conditions they are open to, etc), but I know they put lots of prayer into it. I do want to mention how thankful I am for the hearts of these wonderful people who work tirelessly to help us bring our children home. They truly feel like family, and I can't imagine going through this without such a close knit, intimate agency and group of people. So, like I've said before, they've told us to expect to wait 4-6 months for our referral (hopefully only 2-4 more to go!). When this happens, our social worker will call us, letting us know we've been matched. Eek! I have pictured this moment over and over in my mind, and I just can't even begin to imagine how it will feel. How exciting it will be. She will give us our child's age (we expect baby to be 6-8 months old at this time), Korean name, will go over medical information and background information with us, and then will email us pictures!! We definitely want to do something fun to announce our referral and share his pictures with family and friends, but I just haven't figured out how or what yet. If you have any ideas, please share!! :)
We have been asked a lot if this means that our baby will be ready to come home. Oh, how I wish it did. Unfortunately, we've been told to expect to wait approximately another year before we can travel to pick baby up. We are so thankful that our child will be living with a foster family rather than in an orphanage while we wait for travel. That is so reassuring. To know how loved he will be. From what I understand, the main reason for this wait is that the government in Korea only allows a certain number of orphans to leave the country each year. Why? I think it has to do with them trying to promote more domestic (in-country) adoption there in Korea. So, due to this limited number of EP's, or Exit Permits, that the government allows each year, cases stay really backed up. They have also passed several new laws recently regarding adoption, which require additional steps to the Korean end of the process, holding the process up even more. So, it's usually close to a year before everything is in place for us to travel to bring our baby home.
Clear as mud?? Thought so. It's still hard for me to understand. But right now, I know we are two months closer, so praise God!!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Levi Hudson {Fifteen Months}
Fifteen precious months! Levi, we can't believe you turned fifteen months old a couple weeks ago! What have you been up to these days?
We've still been blessed enough to avoid the doctors office lately, so I'm not sure on your stats, but I'm guessing you weigh close to 25 pounds.
You are still an excellent sleeper. You go to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 and sleep until 6:30 or so. You take one long nap from about 11:30-2:30. You still love your milk in a bottle, and have a bottle at bedtime, naptime, and when you wake up. You love to sleep with a blankie, and always want to bring it out of the crib with you when you wake up.
You definitely enjoy taking baths, but you don't love to wash your hair. You and Beckett have started taking baths together, and you think it's the best!
You are walking EVERYWHERE now!!! You just really took off right at 14 months and never looked back. You loooove being outside now that you can follow your brothers around.
You like to play with cars and trucks, balls, and toy guns. And you love cooking in your kitchen and reading books.
You babble in your own little baby language all day long, but you have tons of real words, too! You've even started trying to repeat some Korean words that Daddy and I are trying to learn. It's so funny!
You still are a big mama's boy and freak out when you go to the church nursery. This is really the only place I leave you, so I know it's a hard adjustment on you. I'm hoping you'll learn to love the nursery soon, because your sweet nursery workers sure love you!
I left you overnight for the first time since you were four months old last week when we went to our USCIS appointment in Jackson. You stayed with Mimi and Pawpaw, and from what I hear, you did great! Yay!
Your favorite shows are the Fresh Beat Band and Mickey Mouse, and you are definitely enjoying our new DVD players in our van!
Happy 15 months, sweet boy! I love you so!!
We've still been blessed enough to avoid the doctors office lately, so I'm not sure on your stats, but I'm guessing you weigh close to 25 pounds.
You are still an excellent sleeper. You go to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 and sleep until 6:30 or so. You take one long nap from about 11:30-2:30. You still love your milk in a bottle, and have a bottle at bedtime, naptime, and when you wake up. You love to sleep with a blankie, and always want to bring it out of the crib with you when you wake up.
You definitely enjoy taking baths, but you don't love to wash your hair. You and Beckett have started taking baths together, and you think it's the best!
You are walking EVERYWHERE now!!! You just really took off right at 14 months and never looked back. You loooove being outside now that you can follow your brothers around.
You like to play with cars and trucks, balls, and toy guns. And you love cooking in your kitchen and reading books.
You babble in your own little baby language all day long, but you have tons of real words, too! You've even started trying to repeat some Korean words that Daddy and I are trying to learn. It's so funny!
You still are a big mama's boy and freak out when you go to the church nursery. This is really the only place I leave you, so I know it's a hard adjustment on you. I'm hoping you'll learn to love the nursery soon, because your sweet nursery workers sure love you!
I left you overnight for the first time since you were four months old last week when we went to our USCIS appointment in Jackson. You stayed with Mimi and Pawpaw, and from what I hear, you did great! Yay!
Your favorite shows are the Fresh Beat Band and Mickey Mouse, and you are definitely enjoying our new DVD players in our van!
Happy 15 months, sweet boy! I love you so!!
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