Barbie and Ken's wedding take 2

One of my first pins from Pinterest this a.m. was a crack up funny Barbie and Ken Wedding photo album.  I pinned it thinking Carrot would LOVE IT!!!  Oh I was so right.  She spent all day recreating   this for fun.  This is a must see. 

The above photo was the pin on pinterest and the link below is to the original Barbie and Ken album.  It is worth looking at.
http://www.glamour.com/weddings/blogs/save-the-date/2011/08/real-wedding-album-barbie-ken.html



And now Carrot's version.....................

and they lived happily ever after............

Getting to know Carrot.....

Carrot facts.........

• Starting off with the nicknames Carrot and Banana.  I don't really recall what made her pick a fruit and vegetable as nicknames. When she was small I introduced her to someone and she said yes that is my name but I wish they would call me Carrot.
• Carrot is 6 years old....born the week before Christmas.
• Loves junk food and hates her salad....quite opposite her brother
• Loves to make crafts and put on shows for our family

What I love most about Carrot....she is my sidekick.  Is always with me and wants to be with me at this point. Curious about everything and eager to learn.

What is your happiest memory?
Sitting on yourt lap (sniff, sniff - she is getting so tall she almost doesn't fit)

What is your favorite room in the house?
                           her bedroom

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A teacher or an Artist

What advice would you give mom and dad?
give me everything I want (yeah right)

What is your favorite outside spot?
Front porch.  She loves to play chalk and babies there

Who is your favorite Disney princess?
All BUT Sleeping Beauty and Pocahontas (sorry girls)  
                       

What do you like most about your brother?

He plays with me

What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now?

Driving a car (watch out)

What is your favorite move?

Mulan

What are you most looking forward in having a new brother? 
Taking care of him (AKA - bossing him around)

What are you looking forward to most about visiting Korea?
Getting to see Ooney
(so sad Ooney may not be able to return to the US this year)

Who is your favorite person in the world other than mom and dad?
Cousin Sarah - who happens to also be one of my favorite people in the world.  Sarah spreads joy wherever she goes.  If only there were more people in this world like her.

  She is about to head off on an adventure working on the Disney cruise....follow her exciting journey here...http://inthegreatwidesomewhere.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/hello-world/

An interview with Banana

I thought it would be fun to interview the family and post on the blog for future giggles.  I decided to post here instead of our family blog because I wanted to incorporate some questions about their future new sibling.


Should be interesting.

  Let's start with Banana......

Banana facts....

• Blog name is Banana because his sister went through a stage where she gave them both nicknames.  He was Banana and she was Carrot.  She was pretty insistent about us calling them that.
• Banana is 10 years old....born on the 4th of July
• Always eats his salad without complaining. 
• Loves, Loves, Loves to read
• Loves his cats and they love him.  It is weird but I think he is going to be one of those weird cat people. Our cats will walk across all our laps on the couch to get to his.
• Interest:  Soccer, reading, playing with his friends.  He is a jack-of-all-trades master of none.

What I love most about him?  PERSONALITY.  He is fun loving and has been super easy to raise.  We are so thankful that God gave us such a great boy.

Now a little interview with Banana.........

What is your fondest memory?

Playing the wii while you were making peach pie and it was springtime (love it)

What do you want to be when you grow up?

 A Veterinarian. 

Funny side story - we were just at the vet and when I went to pay my bill the lady said $302 and Banana said, "Oh yeah I am definitely being a vet".

What do you love most about your sister?

 This one had him stumped for the longest time.  We actually had to go to other questions but he finally said, "I guess I like that she comes up with fun stuff you know she is creative.

What is your favorite TV show? 

Phineas and Ferb

What is your favorite book?

What is your favorite room in the house?

Family room.  Currently in that room doing his favorite thing...playing games LOL

What is your favorite spot outside?

Under the tree in the hammock

Banana and JonJon(JonJon is our Korean international student)

What would you do if you had a million dollars?

Invest to make more 

What are you most looking forward about having a new brother?

I will have a sibling that is a boy like me.

What are you most excited about if you get to go to Korea?

Bringing my baby brother home.

Up for some reading?????

New tab at the top of blog!!!!!

First off Blogger has made it so much easier to add pages to your blog.  Before if I wanted to switch from my family blog to the adoption blog you needed to create a button to link the two but now you just needed to create a new page and it gives you the option to go to the web address of the other blog SO EASY!

I have added a tab at the top of the blog to list the books we have read.  I wanted to keep track so we could remember what we have read for when our social worker ask us and for our future reference.

It also appears that the majority of my blog readers I do not know LOL.  My guess is they are also embarking upon this AWESOME journey of adoption so a list of good adoption reads could be a valuable resource to those reading.

If I get a chance I will try to add some comments on what I thought of the books.

I have also been compiling some info on Korea - travel tips, places to visit, recommended hotel, packing list,  etc.  If anyone would be interested in my posting that document let me know.

Reminders!!!

Our willingness to wait reveals the value we place on the object we're waiting for." - Charles Stanley

USCIS fingerprinting DONE!!!!

Fingerprinting done!!!!!  Things could not have gone better today with fingerprinting.  This was the one step that had me the most anxious because it was going to require me to leave the daycare for few hours due to the lengthy drive.

 I was so blessed to be given an appointment on a week that two of my daycare kids were on vacation (one of which was the toddler who would not have liked me being gone AT ALL).  I also a nother at the doctors today so that only left one kid other thank my own two.

We received the first appointment of the day and had to leave the house at 6:45 so we were already at the USCIS office by the time my first daycare charge arrived.  We were in and out in 20 minutes (thank you Nancy for suggesting the Dover office) and home by 9:30.

It is also such a blessing that my niece Sarah is here for the summer who is already and approved substitute for my daycare and was able to come today.  With it being summer most of my substitutes have their own children home so I am so thankful Sarah could come spend the night to be here first thing.

HSTK!!!!!!!!! So Happy

July 13th, 2012

 Homestudy has gone to Korea!!!!!!!  That means we are officially waiting for our baby.  It will be a long wait for referral we are being told approximately 20 months but I'm sure totally worth it in the end.

 I am just now posting becuase we were on vacation last week when we got the news.  

It has been 6 months since our application went to our agency.  The wait to this point could have even been longer maybe not until August or September but we have been blessed that the agency in Korea has allowed us to be put in their que before our USCIS application has been approved due to our unique situation with our international students.

The boys were fingerprinted already in Korea on their summer break and Jeff and I have our appointment at the end of July.  After we are fingerprinted it could be a few more weeks of waiting for all that to be approved so we are truly blessed.  We were told that our situation is looked upon favorably since we have allowed these two Korean International students into our home so they are allowing us to send HSTK at this point while we wait for the boys fingerprints to arrive.

We found Pepper

I am beyond excited today that our little dog Pepper was found!!!!

Last night was really tough and I was starting to give up hope.  I knew with the upcoming 110 degree day that there was little chance Pepper would survive if he was out wandering.  We all had heavy hearts and went to bed all saying a prayer that Pepper was ok and someone nice had found him.

Carrot and I spent hours outside calling for him.  Walked in the 97 degree heat through the corn field and putting up lost dog signs and handing out flyers.

This morning I needed to take Banana to the express care for an ear infection and while in the waiting room I received a call and a nice woman on the other end said, "I think I found your dog"!!!!!  I was so excited and probably expressed my joy a little too loud in the waiting room.

I called my husband straight away and he went and picked Pepper up.  The nice woman found Pepper a few days ago and wasn't sure how to find his owner and when she went into the vet's office today with her own dog she saw the flyer and gave us a call.

We feel so thankful and blessed to have our little guy back.  Pepper is the proud owner a nice new shiny I.D. tag.

The other day Carrot had made at least 10 signs and hung them around the house that said "Lost dog and we luv hem" and today when I came home from the doctor I was greeted with this below instead :)

A sad end to our 4th of July

My fourth of July started off at the crack of dawn.  Why is it that on work days I could just sleep forever and on my days off I am naturally awake at 4:45....so frustrating.  I take an exercise class at 5:30a.m. three days per week and I was really looking forward to sleeping late but I was up, so i put my early rising to good use and made a festive cherry pie for our 4th of July cookout/Banana's birthday dinner.

It was a fun night visiting with our family and celebrating Banana's birthday but very hot.  We ended the night with sparklers and some firecrackers which is what brings us to the sad ending.  Our little Pepper boy was scared by the firecrackers and ran off and we have still not found him.  I looked and looked before bed.  I put a cushion on the deck in hope that he would come home during the night and just sleep there.  I have put flyers in all the mailboxes in our neighborhood, called the SPCA, notice in the newspaper and flyers in the local pizza shop....nothing.  We are starting to loose hope. 

WE MISS YOU PEPPER BOY! 

My 4th of July baby

http://memoriesfromourlife.blogspot.com/

USCIS fingerprint appointments

USCIS fingerprint appointments came in the mail today!!!!!!!   They are really good times for the daycare schedule too.  We have the first appointment of the day so they said we will be in and out in 15-20 minutes.  I will not need to have a substitute here for that long.  Moving right along.

New Playroom

Playroom before

Playroom after

New shelf for all the toys and books

 Book nook with carrot not allowing a picture :(

Painted the built-in bookshelf white instead of cream...oh my too much work

Fell in love with these ABC cards

Another delay

8:00 a.m.
I received an e-mail yesterday that our agency would like 3 more pictures of our whole family unit before we can send HSTK.  I was all about to rush and print them and overnight them because I was really expecting our - CONGRATULATIONS HSTK e-mail this week but in the e-mail our director referenced her vacation next week and that she will look for them upon her return and then we can get it out the following week.  I will be on vacation the following week so I really hope there is nothing else missing.

I just don't understand why when I sent all this back in March they didn't decide then then needed more pictures so there was not a delay now.

I know it is only a week but I just feel so disappointed.  Now we will not be HSTK until July.  I know I'm new to adoption but I just never expected this beginning process to take 6 months.

I know, I know,  all about my title....don't remind me.  I need to feel a little disappointed for a bit then will perk up :)

1:30 p.m.
Maybe good news.  I was hesitant to e-mail and ask if the assistant director could mail our dossier while the director was out but decided to go for it anyway.  One must be their own advocate :)  I received an e-mail saying if I got the new pictures there by Wednesday there is a chance our dossier could go to Korea with another package they were sending out.  If not she promised that it would go out immediately when she returned from vacation.  So I have the new pictures out the door and hoping for the best.  We will be on vacation upon her return with very little access to e-mail.  I am praying they do not need anything else while we are away.

Fun at Hershey Park

Home Study here and sent of to USCIS

To my surprise my home study arrived the day after Barker sent it....YEAH!  I of course rushed off to get it in the mail on Friday a.m.

It is interesting to open an envelope and know that 16 page document that is a summary of your life.   It makes you realize you want that document to be filled with more of what you do for others and your church than what you have acquired.   It is nice to hear the social works say that you house is spacious and warmly decorated, and happy atmosphere with plenty room for a new addition but it is so much more important to have it reflect a life God wants us to live to hear her mention the service we do at church and for our community.  It certainly made me think that if this document had to be written in another 10 years from now I would want it to show growth in our spiritual life not just our material possessions.....good food for thought.

I decided to go with FedEx this round :) not that I don't trust USPS :)   I wanted to overnight it so it would be there on Monday but that would have been a whopping $65 so I decided to go 2 day at $25 (better use of money LOL)

Please pray that this document arrives in Missouri and is matched up with my I600A application (which was sent prior) and also that the boys fingerprints that were taken at the US Embassy in Seoul last week arrive and are match with no problems.....YEAH almost there!!!!

I tried to write this post yesterday and due to internet failure it did not save and I had to rewrite this a.m.  I certainly had my wording better yesterday but the benefit of today is it is Saturday morning and I am sitting on my front porch drinking coffee with my husband and looking at my beautiful flowers.....just wanted to share a picture.

Home study APPROVED!!!

Yeah!!!! Received an e-mail today saying congratulations your homestudy was approved and we will receive it in a few days.

I will be anxiously awaiting for our mail lady for the next few days.....oh hoping it comes by Friday.

One blog or two?

I am always so back and forth on if I should have one blog or two.  I want to journal the adoption and the memories of our life and it would be way easier if I just had one blog but then I do really want to have a blog dedicated to the adoption journey to print for my little boy to read one day so here is what I decided to do.  

I have my family blog where I have posted more pictures and descriptions but I think I will occasionally add a picture or two here as well to sort of show us living our lives during the wait.  I am extremely blessed to have this great family and a wonderful life as I am waiting for my new addition.

Home Study here and reviewed

We received our home study over the weekend - YEAH.  There were several things that needed to edited so I had to send back changes and now we are waiting for those to be accepted and then sent back to us.    Most errors were with name spellings and some simple facts but the most important change was the medical conditions we were willing to be open to for referral were not accurate.

I really struggled with filling out that form originally and it was almost as hard to edit the home study and delete some of the conditions that we decided not to be open to that she had listed.  I do believe that God will send us the right child with only the medical conditions that we will be able to handle but I did know up front that some would require more time from our family than we had.

Hopefully we will get the final back soon.......

In God's time not my own......

I often wonder how many times I will come back to the title of this blog during this journey.   I am sure that God lead me to name this blog as a reminder and a lesson in patience.

Today I was again wondering WHEN WILL THAT HOME STUDY GET DONE.  It has been well over one month since our final home visit.  At the beginning of last week the director the Korea program called me and said she would have it to us to review by the end of last week.

Friday came and went and Monday I thought about e-mailing but no sooner did I really begin to serious craft an e-mail I got an e-mail from the director telling me that on Thursday when she started to review the home study two travel approvals for babies came in and that needed her immediate attention and she has not forgotten us and thanked me for my patience.

I understand, really I do.  If my baby's travel approval arrived I would want them to jump right on that, but here it is Wednesday and I was getting impatient.  So I opened my blog and was ready to type/complain away about how I really just want it to be my turn.  How I want to get that homestudy to Korea so we can begin our official wait and......I saw my blog title.

It is going to be a constant reminder during this journey....a good reminder.  I know there are times that getting things out help but REALLY.  Look how blessed I am.  I am going through this process that for years I assumed was only a dream.  I have two beautiful healthy children that keep me busy, and we are at a place in our lives where we are able to start doing fun things like vacations - other than just camping ;)

I know God has HIS plan and the timing of HSTK is part of it.  I know that potentially if we submit HSTK this month and our referral comes at the approximate time the agency estimates that we could potentially travel in the summer months.  What  a blessing that would be for my daycare.  I will need to close the daycare for a month and a half and to be closed in the summer when summer camps and college students are available would be wonderful for my families and also maybe keep me from loosing some of my kids.

So once again I am thankful I was able to open the blog in a grumpy mood and see the title and take a few minutes to remember this is all -  IN GOD'S TIME NOT  MY OWN!!!!!