A name for our little guy

Why is coming up for a name for our new little guy so hard?  Girl names are easy for us.  We could probably come up with about 5 we could agree almost instantly but boys names are so hard.

We both like the name John and planned that we would name this new addition just that.  Then we got a John our Korean international student who by the time goes off to college will have been with us for 3 years and IS part of our family so in a way I feel like naming the new little guy John is like naming two of your kiddos the same name.  Is it weird to name the baby John since we already have a John here? 

We have been tossing around other names to keep it open my favorite of course is Nolan which J HATES and J likes Franks (AH can you picture an Korean kid named Frank?  DIDN'T THINK SO)

I think we have narrowed it down to - Michael, John, and maybe Peter.  I looked up the meanings of the name prefer the meaning of John as well.

Michael - Who is like God

John - Yahweh is gracious

Peter - A rock

Please feel free to share your thoughts on having two Johns or any other names you might like to through out there for suggestion.

A little carmel apple fun

 Carrot girl pressed for the carmel apple kit when we grocery shopping last Thursday and I hate to say but I cave for anything sweet so Friday night was the night (plus it is one of the only nights we are home together)

 Getting all set with our apples from the orchard

All ready for the oven

in the oven

Ready to eat

JonJon digging in

Carrot didn't waste any time either

Ooney made some comment about carmel apples must be some kind of fattning American food then didn't hesitate to eat the whole thing in probably less than 5 minutes

Good idea Carrot momma loves them too

Banana eating his very dramatically

More of Ooney eating out fatty foods :)

The whole gang minus dad since he had to take the picture but he got his fair share don't worry

Here is to all the fun that fall brings.

Next up.....we "sail off" (LOL) on an adventure to sail our sailboat home.  10 hour sailboat voyage should make for a fun blog post and hopefully an adventure out kiddo's never forget.

Random Friday Thankfulness

One... 

My coffee with cream and sugar AND lowfat whipped cream with chocolate drizzle on top !

 I have decided to give up cream and sugar in my coffee and only use lowfat milk (yuck) Mon-Friday a.m.  and then use cream and sugar only on the weekends.  I have also given up my after lunch cup of coffee so Friday afternoon is my treat!

Two...
My crummy cold that I got from one of my daycare kids is getting better :)  I am even going to      venture to bed without the NyQuil tonight.

Three...
I am feeling at peace with our plan to adopt.  I was having some doubts for a while and have been praying about them and I feel that Gods has told me to leave the what ifs to HIM.

Four...
I get to mow the lawn tonight....I know that seems ridiculous but I love to mow so much I blogged about it already my mowing post

Five...
My meatloaf is already made and in the fridge waiting to be cook while I mow.

 Six...
All soccer games do not start until 11:15 tomorrow and my grocery shopping is done for the weekend so I can sleep in and wake up to my son making a stellar breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and drink my coffee with cream and sugar on my front porch.

Seven...
After soccer this weekend we need to take Carrot school clothes shopping and shopping is fun even if it is not for me.

I'm sure I have more but I need to drink that cup of coffee before it gets cold and all the whipped cream melts.

Boat shopping, Annapolis, and Korean Festival

This past weekend we took at trip to look at a sail boat in Annapolis so we took full advantage of the nice weather and strolled around the town and went to the Naval Academy.   I had also seen that there was a Korean festival that same day so we took another drive and landed there around dinner time.

Touring the Naval Academy

 The kiddos found some nuts from a tree and yes we kept them and planed them in the back yard.  We will see what happens come spring :)

Caught the beginning of a wedding at the Navel Academy

Checking out one of the tall ships that was docked 

I can not remember the name of this street but it was pretty awesome with lots of old row homes.  I didn't take a picture but there was this one house with a cute little fence coved with a beautiful green vine with purple flowers and purple pods.  I searched every nursery this spring looking for this plant to grow and have not been able to find it so I snatched a couple of pods and hope to dry them and plant them next year LOL

I took a picture of the pods if anyone knows the name of the plant please please share.

Carrot enjoying the ducks

She is such a sweet thing and always up for posing

Back to the Korean festival.  So heard about this on the adoption Fb group I am part of and I figured since we were not too far off looking at the boat we could try it out.  It was about an hour still to get there and we started question this decision on the drive.  What if it was small?  What if it was dumb?  Well we pulled into the parking lot and this picture does not due justice to how many people were there.

 There was more Korean food than you could imagine.  Thank goodness JonJon came with us and helped us decide what to get because almost everything was written in Hangul.  Some signs would say pork or beek and some just had a pig or cow face drawn next to it :)

So that is where we ended our day sitting in a field surrounded by Korean's eating bulgogi and rice and watching traditional Korean signing and dancing along with watching people practice their Gangnam style and then have J refer to himself as Oppa the rest of  the night :)

Played hooky to go sailing

That is one handsome sailor

more pictures here

2 Months

Month 2 of waiting has passed me by.  We have been so busy I completely forgot we are already down two months of waiting for our referral.  

Lunch break

How lucky am I that this is me on my lunch break....and almost always that my lunch break is 2 hours.

I know I have totally blogged about this before but it is just one of those things that I am thankful for.  Having a daycare is hard at times....but it sure beats going to the office.

There are things about my old job I miss lets see:  getting put on more than jeans and a tee shirt, wearing high heels, having people to talk to during the day....but I think that is it.  What I hated most about my old job was being there on days like today.

The daycare isn't always easy.  Tantrums, poop, long lonely mornings, poop........

...... but then you get to one o'clock p.m.  that beautiful time of the day when I can lay down these well training children who I simply need to carry to their pack and play and lay down and they take a nap without a fuss and I can slip down stairs and out to my deck and drink in this beautiful September day.

I am very bless and very thankful I have been able to make this change in my life.  I wish I could bottle some of this day and save it for you when you get home.

Hopefully not the last

I am hoping to get to the beach one more time this year.  I just love the beach in September but with September also comes soccer games, Christmas Program play practice, the start of me teaching Jr. Church and a buffet of other activities that keep up busy on the weekends.  More pictures here

God sends us what we need

I saw this post on the adoption facebook page I am a member of and I hope these two women don't mind me posting here.  

I have not blogged for over a week because we have been going through some really tough times this week.  I have so many planned blog post that are all fun and happy but you can't blog those when you are not happy and going through a valley so I have simply not been blogging at all, but I guess this blog is not intended for just the happy moments if is intended for the moments we are discouraged and doubtful about if what you are doing is right.

I have had some doubts lately and for good reason and have been praying that God show me the way.  Even just this morning before I got out of bed I ask God to show me if we were doing the right thing and surprisingly these encouraging words were posted this morning on a fb pages that is normally just filled with question on procedure and pictures of adoptions moments....it was so helpful to me.  


(written by Jen H from Laura P's blog) This is great encouragement - We are not alone!

Is adoption easy? No it is not. Is this simple? Nope. Complicated and long-term. Will bonding be immediate and seamless? Maybe, but probably not. Will you struggle with guilt and fear that first year? Yes, but you shouldn’t. You’ve agreed to partner with God in some difficult, heart-wrenching work, and it’s no kum-by-yah party. Give grace to yourself; God already has.

Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting through, and adoption is one of them. I can hardly think of something closer to God’s character, who is the “Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy.” Cert

ainly, we are his difficult children who spaz out and pull away and manipulate and struggle. We distrust His good love and sabotage our blessings, imagining our shame disqualifies us or that God couldn’t possibly be faithful to such orphans.

But He is. We are loved with an everlasting love, and it is enough to overwhelm our own fear and shame and humanity. In adoption, God is enough for us all. He can overcome our children’s grief. He can overshadow our own inadequacies. He can sweep up our families in a beautiful story of redemption and hope and healing. If you are afraid of adoption, trying to stiff-arm the call, God is the courage you don’t have. If you are waiting, suffering with longing for your child, God is the determination you need. If you are in the early days of chaos, God is the peace you and your child hunger for. If your family feels lost, He is the stability everyone is looking for. If you are working hard on healing, digging deep with your child, God is every ounce of the hope and restoration and safety and grace.

In Him, you can do this.

He is enough for us all.

The heart of a Foster Mother- Part II

Adoption is a beautiful thing.  I get to parent a third child, a child I have prayed for God to send me for almost a decade....but the process begins with so much loss.

By the time our baby is placed with us, his forever family, he will have already had to loose two mothers.  His first mother who carried him within and chose to give him life, but could not parent him.

His second mother, his foster mother, who he could have been with only a few short month or in many cases between 1-2 years.   When we pick up our baby this will be his Mother....this is ALL he knows.

This woman will have cared for him day and night, she will have picked him up from the reception center and started to give him the care of a mother.  This care is so important and so much of what he needed during these crucial developmental stages when babies need the touch and love of a personal care giver.  He is part of her life day in and out.  He is often with her all day and night, napping on her back, sleeping in her bed...he calls her Umma.

Then one day probably with tears in her eyes she dresses him one last time, she feeds him one last breakfast and she prepares to say goodbye.  She takes him to the adoption office and watches the happiness in the faces of his new family....and she feels loss.

How can she communicate to this baby's new mother all she needs to about this baby - it is impossible.  She tries to shares the most important with the help of the interpreter and then she says goodbye.

These pictures express exactly the loss these babies feel....they just lost what they know as Umma.....

.....and Umma just lost the baby she loved and cared for. 

There will be so much loss and grief that accompanies my joy of becoming a parent again.  It is heartbreaking.  Preparing for this new baby is an emotional process like I have never experienced.

"There is an instinct in a woman to love most her own child - and an instinct to make any child who needs her love, 

HER OWN."

~Robert Brault~

Thank you to Romin Lee who allowed me to share his images. Click here for Romin's website

Hopefully we will meet one day when we finally make it to Seoul in the mean time my I will keep adding to my "kimchi jar for photos" ;)