Before.....

Before there was you there were tears and heartbreak.

Before there was you there were days filled with loneliness.

Before there was you there were worries and emptiness.Before there was me there was a brave woman who gave you life.

Before there was me there was a woman who made an ultimate sacrifice.

Before there was me there was a loving and caring woman who took good care of you.

Before there was me there was a family who kept you safe.

Today we celebrate Mother's Day.

A day to celebrate all of the mother's in your life.

A day to celebrate all of the "before's".

Before you came to our lives and became our son.

Happy Childrens Day!!

Today in Korea is a holiday, Children's Day, in which the country celebrates the children. Children are celebrated with gifts, parades, and festivities. So..today we will do something fun with our little man to celebrate. How proud we feel to be raising one of Korea's children!!!! It makes us happy to know that they are so valued and loved, just like this little guy.We still feel so proud to have been giving the opportunity to parent this amazing little one. We thank Korea and all its people every day and hope we are doing them proud!!!!

Explosions!!!!

We've been having 2 major Explosions at our house lately!!! First, spring is in full bloom and the flowers and trees are exploding in color. Jae-min has been enjoying spending time outdoors investigating all the flowers, bugs, and trees. Our second explosion has to do with Jae=min's vocabulary lately....its EXPLODING!!!! He is using so many new words and putting words together to make short phrases. Its so funny to actually be able to have a converstion with him and to have him answer questions with his words. He's so so smart (we're not biased or anything) Haha and loves to talk with anyone who will listen. When he sees the camera he now says "cheese" and hams it up. Jae-min knows how to use his language with so much expression too. With this exploding language and his sense of humor, it makes days spent with him a very big hoot. His sense of humor is still so funny.

So...add an explosion of trees to an explosion of words and what do you get? Beautiful days spent with a very special little boy!!!!

A Week Of Family Fun

Last week Joe had school vacation so we got to spend some family time together. We had a ball and a great week!!! We did lots of fun things....
Playing at the playgroundGoing to the zoo

Playing with playdough

Spending time outdoors
And visiting a Korean marketplace as well as a Korean supermarket. On Sunday we had planned to attend our agencies family day at the zoo, but due to the weather it was cancelled. We took advantage of the day anyway and went to a Children's museum where Jae-min had so much fun.

Great times with my two guys!!!! Yahoo for vacation weeks.

Oh My.....

what big shoes you have!!!!!!

Truth Be Told.....

Many of you are aware of the story of an adoption from Russia that ended horribly, with the mother sending the little boy back to his birth country alone. This story breaks our hearts as an adoptive family. We won't go into our feelings here, but we will share some heartbreaking news for families who planned to follow her and adopt their children from Russia. Today the Russian government decided to halt all adoptions to the US until further notice. This means that families with referrals will not be able to bring their children home, and all those waiting for referrals will be left in limbo. When we attended our waiting family group we had met many families in the Russia program. Today we think of them and hope that one family in particular were able to get their little boy home before this happened. International adoption is such a gamble, and this proves it.Our agency asked that today we talk of the success stories with adoption and show the Russian government just how successful this journey can be. Well, we have an amazing success story. We have a beautiful son and a happy family!!!! But truth be told, the beginning was really really rough. We received support from each other and others and our agency was also very supportive. We think that adoption can be wonderful and overwhelming at the same time. We are thankful with how our journey has unfolded and our hearts break for this boy and his adoptive mother.
Please think of them today and all those that wish to go after them. We would hate for this misfortune to ruin things for other families.
We feel that when you have a face like that peeking at you, anything is possible!!!!!!!

Lawnmower!!!! And 13 months home!!!!

For Easter my parents gave Jae-min a bubble mower. Now, we thought that he would like it, but we didn't know it would become a slight obsession. When he wakes in the morning he says "lawnmower", when he walks by the garage he says "lawnmower", and even if we're in the car he says "lawnmower" from the back seat!!! He LOVES the thing. He pushes it around the yard and was beyond excited the day that daddy took out the big lawnmower. They were out there mowing the grass together.Jae-min will share most of his toys, but not this one. His his, all his and he ain't sharin'.

Today marks 13 months home. 13 months!!!! Jae-min has begun talking so much this last month. He uses so many words and is beginning to put simple two words together. He's becoming a little stinker and testing the limits more often also. We're really sticking to our guns with this one and he is definately testing to see what he can get away with. You little stinker you!!!

This last month has also brought so many hugs with arms wrapped tightly around us initiated all the time by Jae-min. Nothing in the world compares to that.

Happy mowing and happy 13 months home!!