Thankful

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving. A day to give thanks for all the blessings in our life. We are thankful for our families and friends as well as our health. But...... as we sat around the tables today with both of our families we think we were all thankful for the same thing...Jae-min. He has brought so much joy into our lives and we still pinch ourselves that he is really here!!!He looked pretty suave on his first Thanksgiving. Gosh, he looks so grown up!!!

The happy family. The way it was always meant to be!!

We also gave thanks today to Jae-min's birth parents and his foster mom (omma). There isn't a day that goes by that we don't think of these selfless people, but today we are thankful for the sacrafices they made. They brought us the most beautiful gift. So, thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

The Three Amigos!!!!

Yesterday we met up at the Children's Museum in the city with our friends we met through our adoption agency. It was so fun to see Allie, Ryan and Jae-min play together. After going through the tough times of the wait and the tough times of the first few months home with these families, it was fun to just have a day of FUN, and oh what fun we had!!!!! The kids loved the different rooms to play in and they played hard. The parents played, chatted, laughed, and played some more. It was so nice to really not have a care in the world and just all truly enjoy ourselves. The kids were so cute together and we all talked about how we think its so important for them to grow up together. So they'll know of other families that look like them and they can talk about stuff as they grow. It's also great for us parents to have others to talk to too. The kids have all gotten so big since coming home. It was an awesome day. We can't wait to see what the future holds for these three amigos!!!!!!

Me, Jae-min, and Joe outside the museumJae-min enjoyed the jack hammer and daddy was very happy!!!

The three amigos. Jae-min, Ryan, and Allie. We think there might be some trouble in the future. Just look at those faces!!!

On Saturday we had gone to the Thanksgiving day parade in town. Jae-min was mesmerized by the bands and floats and had fun clapping to all the music. This little guy loves everything and is always up for a good time!!!

8 Months Home!!!!

Today is our 8 month anniversary as a family of 3. What was life like without Jae-min? It's hard now to even imagine. Our days are so full (as are sometimes our nights) with this little guy. We thought to celebrate this 8 month milestone we would share a snippet into our day. So, if you spent the entire day with this little family we have 8 things that you would most likely hear:
!. If you stop at a stop light for too long you will hear this from the little man in the back seat..."GO, GO, GO" until the car begins to move again!
2. To distract Jae-min from mischief, I often say "Lets go find Martin" to which his response is "brabra(brother)" and he takes off on the hunt to torment him!
3. If you're ever at our house and Joe asks you if you want "death role" just say no. Trust me on this one. We have mommy death roll, doggy death roll, and Asian death roll. You can use your own imagination on this one. Just say no thanks.
4. If Jae-min is near Martin's food and he has a silly grin on his face with his lips pursed together you would often hear "Are you eating Martin's food?" followed by a finger sweep and extraction of the goody.
5. Did you seriously poop again? How many times can these little creatures poop in one day?
6. At the end of a meal you may hear "CRACKER" shouted numerous times until you open the cabinet and retrieve one for the little guy whose got his pointing finger poised toward the cabinet.
7. You may also hear "No touch" often to which Jae-min will point his finger and wave it, and then of course touch it just the same.
8. But the best sound of all that you would hear would be laughter, squeals, "lets snuggle" to which Jae-min would rest his head on you, "good morning" to which you'd hear a delighted sound, and an "I love you"!!!!Our days were once filled with quiet, where now there filled with noise, laughter, and fun.

Our focus has changed as has the joy we find in each day. This little face is the reason!!!

If you had told us 8 months ago Jae-min would be this well adjusted, happy, secure, and loving we may have been doubtful as we walked off that plane. We attribute this to the ways in which we've parented him these past 8 months and we honestly wouldn't change a thing!!!
Happy 8 months home Jae-min!!!!

1,2,3,4!!!!!!!!!

That's the number of steps Jae-min has taken on his own this week. That's right, you read that right!!! At the beginning of the week Jae-min was taking 2 steps to walk between Joe and I. As of today he has taken 4, count them 4, steps between us as well as to get to something he wants in the room. Its kind of funny to watch him plot out his move in his head and then go for it. He's becoming more confident that those little feet can take him somewhere. I had taken him to visit my work today and he was "walking" all over the place,4 steps at a time. So............. it's just a matter of time until he walks all the way across the room!!!Go Jae-min. You can do it!!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

For those that added children to their family easily, this holiday may be just another day of annoying doorbell ringing and way to much candy. But for those that waited in the adoption line for 2 plus years (and years before that) this holiday was magical!!!!! I had always sat on the porch with Joe handing out candy and looking longingly across the street, wishing that we had our very own cutie to walk up the walkway to the neighbor's front door, ring the bell, and say trick or treat holding our pumpkin head bucket. Well, tonight that dream became a reality. We had so much fun wheeling Jae-min around the neighborhood in his wagon and walking him up to those doors while he held his very own pumpkin head bucket. We felt like we truly belonged in this holiday this year and it was amazing!!!
Jae-min had a great time visiting family this morning and afternoon and everyone was so generous to him...thanks so much!! We wish we could bottle up that love you all have for him and send it to Korea so they could feel how much he is loved.
Here's our little cutie in his pumpkin shirt having fun.

And here's the cutest little Tigger around (we're not biased or anything Haha)Happy Halloween Jae-min!!!

Hats For Korea

Our "little" project has taken on a life of its own!!! When we sent out the emails requesting hand knitted or crocheted baby hats to donate to Holt about a month ago, we never imagined how big this project would get. We continue to hear from you saying how many hats you already have done and we are so thankful and grateful. The generousity is truly amazing!!! We have a feeling that the babies waiting for their forever families will be very warm this winter. It means alot to us that you understand how we feel about giving something back to this amazing agency which cared for and helped bring Jae-min home!! We mentioned it to Father John at our church and he had us write about our story. This Sunday at church our story was in the bulletin with a request for hats. Wow, is all I can say. We never want to forget those in Korea or those babies still there. This is just our little (well, big) part to say thanks. Keep those hats going. We'll let you know around the holidays how many we receive.
This weekend we had a little fashion show with all the handmade sweaters Jae-min received as gifts. He looks pretty dapper in all of them!!! A special thanks again to all those that took the time to knit these special sweaters (and blankets, we'll be taking those out again soon). We just love them and we think our little guy loves them too.

7 Months Home!!!!

Today marks 7 months home. Boy, when we were waiting 7 months was an eternity and now it has gone by in the blink of an eye. We had a fun weekend doing all sorts of fun fall activities. We had a great time spending time with family at the apple orchard. Last year my heart broke the entire time we were there. If you had told me that day that next year we would join our families with our very own son I wouldn't have believed you!! What a difference a year makes.
We spent today as a family of 3 at a farm picking pumpkins, going on a hayride, seeing the TRACTORS and DIGGERS (which are two of Jae-min's favorite words), sipping cider, and digging in a big pile of dirt. We had the best time. A great way to celebrate 7 months home!!!Jae-min was soooo excited when he saw the tractor, so he decided to take the people for a ride!!

I think this pumpkin looks perfect!! So does the little cub picking it!!!

Apple anyone? What a way to ride, attached in your carrier on daddy's back.

7 sweet months with our little sweety. How did we get so lucky?