New Year's Eve Baby

Jackson is an NYE baby....oh, how I love that. So, he is now a one year old! We had a small family celebration with a cake and candles. Gracie blew them out for him and we all closed our eyes and sent over birthday thoughts to him. We are sad we've missed a year of his life but, know things all happen for a reason and he is being well taken care of until the day he can come home.


It just so happened to work out that the last care package we sent over was delivered to ESWS last week (with another family that got to pick up their beautiful little girl). I am hoping it will get to Jackson's foster family when they go in for his 12month well baby check up.... a nice little bday surprise for him.

We obviously can't be sure how Jackson celebrated his day but, we do know he is with a very loving foster family and I'm sure they made it special.





Some Korean Bday Celebration customs....

Korean first birthdays celebrations are called a Tol. They are usually large celebrations. The traditional Tol has four major parts....



*Making and wearing the birthday clothes or tol-bok



*Prayers, blessing and giving thanks



* Toljabee--where the child predicts his future by choosing amongst various objects placed in front of him. Some of the common items include a needle and thread [symbolizes a long life], a book [symbolizes a scholar], some sort of currency [symbolizing prosperity], a rice cake [he will never go hungry]



*Sharing of food


We received some great books about Korean Culture and Travel for Christmas. We are both really enjoying reading them.... so much fun and so very interesting. Can't wait to see it all in person in 2011!
Happy New Year!

Our Princess is 6!

I feel like I was just posting this not that long ago. Wow, a year has flown by with so many wonderful things happening.

Grace had a very fun, "magical" birthday party with her friends and family to celebrate turning 6 years old......or, as her and Neena put it....joining the "great big 6 year old club". The party ended up being quite large but, I think we pulled it off well. We had a magician come to the house, played games, and enjoyed cake.

In these 6 years, my sweet Gracie has grown into an amazing little person. She is smart, very strong-willed :), inquisitive and sensitive. She has a wonderful, bubbly personality that radiates through her laugh and smile. She gets her quick wit and goofiness from her Daddy and I like to think her sensitivity and curiosity from me. ....5 and 6 year olds have MANY questions about everything. I think they are really started to understand how things and other people "work". I love talking to her, watching her, and still holding her (when she lets me). Some of our favorite times together are when we just chat in the car before or after school.

Happy Happy Birthday Sweet Princess!!! We love you! XOXOXO

I-600 Approval

We received our I-600 (petition to classify orphan as an immediate relative) Approval in the mail today. Wahoo!
It took 14 weeks for approval.....seemed like a very long time. I think this was because we had heard that the process was so much faster than it used to be. I guess hearing that, we were expecting a quicker turn around time.
But, that's neither here nor there...........we have approval now :)

For those of you who are still unsure of the process.... no, that does not mean we can travel or bring Jackson home any sooner. But, it does mean that all the necessary approvals on this side of the ocean are complete. Yeah!

Thankful in 2010

This past week has been so wonderful.....lots of time with family and good friends. Tuesday night I went out with some of my besties. We chatted for hours about what we call "grown up" things ( I guess we have to admit we are those grown ups now) like marriage, raising kids and how important it is to surround ourselves with good people. I used to be a person who didn't sweat the small stuff. But, I think I've gotten away from that a bit lately. That talk really opened my eyes to some things I'd like to change.


I am so thankful this year for the referral of our SON, my FAMILY (immediate, extended, and inlaws), my good FRIENDS, our HEALTH, and our HAPPINESS. I've seen many more smiles this year than I have sadness. For that, I am so incredibly thankful.


Tonight will be the first night in almost a week that our guest room is not occupied. I'm a little sad about that. It was fun having a slightly fuller house for a few days. I'm really looking forward to all the fun that comes with the month of December including my princess's 6th Bday and of course, Christmas and New Years.


I was so busy on Thanksgiving that I forgot to pull out the camera. We took some video but, no photos. I may have to steal from my uncle Gregg.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Siesta Key Florida

Our annual trip with KJs family is always a good time. This year the weather was perfect and we spent many hours playing and relaxing on the beach or at the pool. Grace swam in the pool without her floaties this year, a big milestone for her. She was so proud and couldn't get enough of the water after that. We really enjoyed the family time together and were so lucky to come home to new pictures of sweet Jackson.... a perfect ending to a wonderful week (last post).



playing on the beach at sunset







manning the grill...don't you love the twinkie pose?






the amazing sunset...




dinner one night..

I also caught this photo of Gracie in her Dai*y Tunic when I was uploading the Florida pictures. I wanted to throw it in this post so we remember this was the year we started Dais*es. I signed on as leader for her group. There are 15 girls in the troop. There were times in the beginning when I was asking myself...."what was I thinking?". There was much work involved to get the troop up and running than I expected. But now that the initial stuff is taken care of, I know for sure why I did it. It is so incredibly rewarding to see how excited the girls get and to get to spend that time with Gracie. Their faces light up when we teach them a new ceremony, a new craft or game, and especially when we hand out those badges. It doesn't hurt that I work with a great co-leader either.

10 Month Progress Report and New pictures!!

We just got home from a wonderful week long vacation in Florida. It was so much more perfect than I could have asked for (a post on that soon) . I walked into the house all smiles, not thinking the week could get any better. But, oh was I wrong. I found waiting for us the most amazing surprise ending to this week....a 10 month progress report on Jackson that includes pictures!!

He is doing really well and measuring right on track for his age. His fav foods are rice, fruit, cheese and yogurt...so cute :) He is already walking 1 to 2 steps and says "umma" (mamma).

In these pictures are the photo album, rob*ez and singing star we sent over in our first care package. I'm guessing all the clothes were still a little too big.

Isn't he just the cutest?!? I love his little lips and how soft his skin looks. I so can't wait until the day I get to hold this sweet little man.

Halloween and Fall

Well Halloween has come and gone. For those of you that know Gracie, you know this is not her favorite time of year. Last year's post. I've always kind of pushed the fun parts about it on her....the candy, the celebrations with friends, the fun of seeing everyone dressed up, getting dressed up in pretty outfits (give the kid something sparkly and pretty and she's all over it), the pumpkin patches, cider donuts, delicious apples, etc. I mostly push because I want her to enjoy the fun of it and not miss out. We also like to encourage her to face what she's afraid or cautious of. Usually we talk her into giving it a try....she's sees it's okay...and is glad she gave it a try when it's all over.

But, this year I felt like every time I got her excited about it we'd see something that made her turn and give me that "see, that's gross or there's another scary mask, why am I supposed to like this holiday?" look. For some reason, more so than other year's, it seemed like everywhere I turned there was some "dead type thing" staring at me. .... the large headless man with blood dripping out of his neck at the craft store, or the countless vampires, mummies and body parts strewn through out the stores, or the skeleton holding a large hatchet in one hand and the head of another skeleton in the other. I guess if you really think about it...why would I ever want her saying ..."that is so cool, I love it". But, I don't think we're really meant to think that deep into Halloween. You're just supposed to get what you can out of it and think of it as the fun fall, dress up holiday where you get candy.


Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the gory stuff shouldn't be around and we shouldn't get the enjoyment out of it (that would be pretty hypocritical considering I love an excellent get your adrenaline pumping scary movie or a good screamfest at a Haunted House) but, I'm pretty okay with Gracie not liking masks and Halloween. I'm proud of her for trying to enjoy it, as her fear is real, and hope each year she gets better with it and realizes more and more that it's just silly fake stuff that some people really enjoy.


Here are some fun fall pictures.....

After much coaxing, we got her out to Trick or Treat. I'm so glad we did. As you can see she loved it once she was out there!



Grace and her auntie Rach.