Blomgren's Blog

tidbits of life.

2012-01-22T19:17:00.000+01:00

Norah is truly a hoot these days :) Here are few of the funniest things she's done...
Boogers. Yep, she picks her nose. Probably no big surprise to anyone really but... she really is such a polite kid and likes to be clean-or rather I think we've made it clear that being clean is important. So, when she picks her nose she always holds her boogers out and says, "Booger Mommy/Daddy " (meaning please take this slimy or sometimes crusty thing from me please). A few weeks ago in the car she says, "Mommy look, booger!" I say, "thanks Babe" which is my usual response and then proceed to take the booger (with a kleenex most times:)... she in-turn tries to keep the booger for some odd reason! So I make sure to get it from her and then she starts to SCREAM "Booger! No Mommy, booger please booger please..." TOO funny! We were in the front seat laughing so hard, what kid screams because they want their booger back? Gross - and so not what we taught her!

Moddy. David. Kelly. For quite some time now Norah has been calling David "Moddy" when I'm around - not always but maybe 1/3 of the time. I think she says Mommy more than Daddy and realizes halfway through and ends up calling him Moddy. It's really cute because at the same time she's realizing she's saying the wrong name she looks at me and smiles and then hugs David like she's sorry.

When David's parents came to visit Norah heard me being called Kelly instead of Babe, which is what David usually calls me. She started randomly saying, "Hi Kelly!" and I am shocked every time and just laugh. She knows it gets a laugh so it probably encourages it more :) So this morning she was calling me Kelly over and over again and so I tell her that Daddy's name is David! So she said, "Oh, hi Moddy David!" and we laugh and laugh! Basically all day she's been calling us Kelly & David and it's so stinkin' weird. Okay one more thing on this - during her "nap" where she didn't sleep she was talking to herself but said a few times "I love you Daddy David. I love you Mommy Kelly." I LOVE when she makes us laugh, it's the best.

Is it a big one? Last silly thing, for now. I have an idea where this came from (my big mouth) but not quite sure... lately if we change Norah's dirty diaper (poo) or when she gives us a booger she says, "Is it a big one?!" Like she's proud if it is indeed a big one. Oh how I love the innocence. Love it to death.

What else... well, you know my girls are the best but they both seem to be a little hormonal lately (*read* emotional and dramatic). I'm not sure that will likely change, in the near (if ever) future. I do however love the expressiveness on the other side of things when it's screaming with delight or fake laughing so loud it's ugly!

The drama is almost palpable. It's a fake cry by the way.

We've been trying to be very social lately and meeting more and more people, adults and kids. Every time we leave a place with kiddos Norah says over and over, "Bye friends! Bye friends!" It actually has made me cry a few times because she used to say "Bye (insert friends name)" but since she doesn't really know the kiddos yet and is seeing so many new ones all the time it's just "friends".

They are so happy to have each other, God is good.

For my birthday (almost two weeks ago) I went out to the city ALONE! Yes, I cried when David told me I had to go because honestly, I like my people (which at the moment is our little family). But, I did go and had a few HOURS to walk around Kaiserslatern and try to shop (I'm not very good at it), sit and read at a coffee shop and then after arriving home David tells me a massage is booked for me. Sweet husband right?! I'm blessed. In Germany it seems a lot of businesses are run out of people's home - maybe because gas prices are so high (around $8)? My massage was in the next village over at a lady's house and it was very tastefully done. I mean, it was no spa but it was clean and relaxing - thanks again David for the adventure!

This is the face Evelyn makes when she likes what she's eating and she's ready for more. So funny!

Happier by the day is our little 18 month old :)

There isn't much else to report here. It's been gloomy weather with a few days of unexpected sunshine but pretty continuous rain. David had the privilege to travel to Portugal for his job this last week and me and the girls did our at home thang.

All the girls in our aprons!

Oh in other very very exciting news... I am sew (haha) excited to announce I'm signed up for a sewing class! 10 weeks for me to learn and sew---every week!! I cannot wait till it starts in February! Here's a few fun little projects I've done lately - nothing too complicated. I recovered our couch pillows, so much cuter and cleaner! And, I made a few dolly diapers which Norah loves.

good food, company & roman baths.

2012-01-07T10:26:00.000+01:00

After our great weekend in Munich, we came home for some relaxing and more eating! Monday we did just that - relaxed around the house, slept great, went for a walk and went to Kaiserslautern, the nearest city to us, and had a great German dinner.

One cultural thing here is no tap water at restaurants. Beer and wine are cheaper than bottled water and Coke but I still usually order some water to accompany my meal. It's fun because most of the time you get your water served in a fun little wine glass... Norah does well with these glasses and drinks a LOT of water if we let her :)

On Tuesday Chuck & Karen took a night away to Baden-Baden, a spa village about 2 hours from here. While they were off enjoying the good life, the girls enjoyed some creative time playing with their tea set and dolls! Norah lined up all her babies and set the tea up and was telling them to be quiet and other jabberings we couldn't understand:) It was awesome!

David went into work a bit while his parents were gone and we got another Christmas package :) The girls got these adorable hats and Norah sure thought they were great.

Thursday came and it was our turn to leave for a night in Baden-Baden :) We were excited to get away without kids but also a little sad to leave them. It was our first night (mine) leaving Evelyn and only the second time leaving Norah. But, the girls did awesome and were heavily doted on by the grandparents!

Where we had soup, pretzel & beer on Thursday night.

The highlight of our time in Baded-Baden was the Roman-Irish bath. When we arrived on Thursday we checked into our modern fancy hotel and then headed straight to the bath! We enjoyed three hours of this historic bathing experience. The bath house was built about 130 years ago and the 17 stages of warm and hot dry air baths, brush massage, steam baths and thermal pools were awesome!

Here are the stages: shower, warm air, hot air, shower, massage, shower, steam (with peppermint!), hot steam, full bath, whirlpool bath, exercise bath, shower, cold bath (yuck), towel down, cream application (lotion), relaxation (sleeping room), and reading.

This is the Roman-Irish bath house.

The brochure says you can "slip into another world and savour the unique culture" and we so did! Since the baths are in the nude (yikes!) we were a bit nervous but decided to just embrace the culture of it all and kept reminding ourselves that no one knows us and we'll never see them again! We opted to visit on the day where men and women were separate and could meet during stages 10 & 11 but we somehow totally missed each other with the timing so... we enjoyed the experience alone in separate sections of the building.

*Baden-Baden is the setting for Anna Karenina but has a different name

The next day we decided to try the other bath house since we enjoyed the first one so much. The second one was more modern and even had tanning beds to use. It was half in suits and half out of them - lots of kids and more of a pool type experience with larger thermal baths and jets. A great relaxing 24 hours away from home and away from feeding, lifting and disciplining our kids! Thanks Chuck & Karen!

Enjoying a great lunch before heading home.

The road that leads to our village - the sun came out for us!

Back in Nanzdietschweiler we filled the grandparents in on our experiences and they filled us in on the girls and we headed out to dinner! We got a few cute pictures of the girls in their matching outfits (thanks Sootie!).... oh, and the first time I've seen Evelyn ham it up for the camera... hilarious!

Bedtime dance... so fun!

This morning Grandma & Grandpa had to back home :( We are so thankful they came to visit us and that we had the chance to show them our new life here.

Now, we have to jump back into the realities of life. I think it just hit us last night, oh yeah, we have to continue to transition into our new lives here... keep moving forward to meet more people and make friends... it's exhausting but at some point it'll be worth it, when we feel less lonely here and more in community!

christmas & new years 2011.

2012-01-03T21:06:00.000+01:00

We have been truly blessed this Christmas season with a lot of quiet family time here at home. It's been tough to be away from our family this but we are so overly blessed to have BOTH our girls home this year!! I'll give you a little recap of our time during these past two weeks.

Christmas Eve was a beautiful mix of chilling in our pj's and sippin' on some kaffee... and, getting out and about in Strasbourg, France!

We drove the 2 hours to visit the Christmas market in Strasbourg and loved the whole experience. We ate crepes, candy, pretzels and pizza on a baguette :)

Norah and me in front of the beautiful cathedral in the main square of the market.

Just an interesting tree that we saw every where in the city and these cute little stoplights for the pedestrians :)

Christmas day was another beautiful hit! We spent much of our day relaxing and eating. David prepared a mini feast for breakfast and then we had butternut squash soup for lunch and buffalo chicken sandwiches and cous cous salad for dinner. What day of feasting! We gave the girls Happy Feet for Christmas and watched it midday for a break from our good food :)

After breakfast we had a few presents - really only two from us to the girls, a movie and a flashlight and I made Norah this apron since she loves helping in the kitchen these days!

We even caught some sisterly love on camera :)

The day after Christmas we were busy baking and cleaning! David's parents arrived on the 28th and it has been so much fun to have them here. We have been very much looking forward to having guests and showing our place to someone special. They've definitely been spoiling the girls, as all grandparents should now and again, and making us feel just as special in the meantime!

Directly after arriving and getting reacquainted with the girls, present and cookies were on the docket!

The girls are enthralled by the little finger puppets Grandma brought them.

The girl loves her chocolate - so unlike me!

Two of the days and nights Karen & Chuck have been here we ventured to Munich. It was a wet cold city this week but still beautiful and fun to experience.

Norah & Grandma enjoying the worlds largest cuckoo clock in downtown Munich

Just beyond me is the cuckoo clock in the tall tower - the figures dance and move around

Lovin' on Grandpa

On the way home home from Munich we took a few hours to explore Dachua concentration camp. They have a very thorough museum of the camp and even a 20 minute video to help understand the history. It was the first concentration camp in Germany and was in use 51 days after Hitler took power. This camp is not as large as some of the other camps but it is estimated that 200,000 prisoners lived there during the time it was open. Having had crematoriums and one gas chamber (but never was used) they camp saw 31,351 deaths recorded (more that are unknown).

It was so moving to be there and to learn more about the war and the camps. It is hard to process it all when you are there, standing on the ground that holds so many awful memories -- and we didn't have nearly enough time to take in all the information the large museum had to offer.

This beautifully disturbing art is a center piece in the roll call area depicting many of the bodies of prisoners piled on top of each other awaiting cremation.

she walks and she talks.

2011-12-29T22:39:00.000+01:00

tis the season.

2011-12-21T11:14:00.000+01:00

Two weekends ago we went to our second Christmas market. It was in a village about 25 minutes from ours in Sankt Wendel. There are Christmas markets all over in Germany and it's kinda the talk of the people these days. When we were in Garmisch we ran into a small one there and it was nice but nothing big. Let me tell you, we were not disappointed with Sankt Wendel's!

Although it was very busy and turned pretty cold for the girls we stayed as long as we could. We ventured there on Saturday evening and saw a live juggling fire show - we likened it to mini cirque du soleil. They were all decked out in extravagant costumes, lots of music and fire and my favorite was the animal guy on stilts who even did a back flip! We tried to get a picture (taking about 20) but none turned out very well... here's the best I have...

The show started with them pulling in this beautiful carriage while making a lot of creepy bird noises!

Also at the market was loads of hand made items, a traditional wooden pyramid (see picture) but larger than life size, dozens of handmade nativities in cases for viewing and a whole section of elf cases where they were like dolls but moving - everything was done in such detail. They also had a live nativity (which was walking around when we were there and we couldn't find the darn camels!), reindeer and donkey's!

We are planning to get to at least one more Christmas market before the end of the season and if I get a good picture I'll share.

During that same weekend we had three Christmas parties and later in the week David ventured to two more without the ladies. The girls even met (and did great with) Santa.

Evelyn meeting Saint Nick and something was really funny to me!

Since it's been raining for three weeks I've been trying to get creative with indoor activities - I got this one from my childhood, thanks mom!

And, finally the last two days... oh they've been exhausting! I've been trying to potty train Norah and today, we quit! She's in total control of her bladder and decided to not once go on the toilet but instead go in-between those times (I had the timer set for 5 min in-between visits)! I was literally by her side ALL day and the second day she had about half as many accidents but still, didn't go on the pot and didn't poo in over 36 hours, ouch! So, since she's decided against it for now we're going to try again in a month. I'm sad too cause we had a bunch of totally cute signs and stickers and m&m's but... those things can wait. I wanted to document how adorable she was in her undies so here's a CUTE pic of that :)

Norah picked out the shoes and put them on sister - love it!

seoul - take three.

2011-12-05T14:09:00.001+01:00

August 27th - Myeongdong, Nanta, Dr. Fish
28th - DMZ tour
29th - Pick up Evelyn!

27th
Like I mentioned in the last few Seoul posts, I just didn't feel well during the trip. David and I both think it's a horrible combination of nerves and excitement. It's not like we were on a romantic trip - we were changing our family forever and changing Evelyn's life as she knew it. It's was so exciting--but again, so scary and we just didn't know what the future weeks held... more separation for an unknown period, etc. So, I enjoyed things we did but I felt very sick much of the time, too.

We headed to the Myeongdong area where there was really neat window shopping (trendy) and lots of locals where we could people watch! While we wandered around a bit, there was one of those flash mobs, and David took about 10 pictures and the whole time I was thinking... it's not that good! Cynical much? :) Anyway, it was nice entertainment for a few minutes to some Michael Jackson songs.

After eating lunch we went to a Korean show somewhat similar to Blue Man Group. It was called Nanta! It's a show about about the beat... and cooking. It was a comical rendition of four Korean chefs making traditional Korean food for a wedding. Lots of beats while chopping cabbage for kimchi etc. I couldn't help but laugh and think, my dad would love this cheesy humor (love you dad)! It was good entertainment.

Once the show was over, we met up with our friend Kayleigh. Kayleigh and I grew up going to the same church but didn't know each other well until this day. It was awesome to get to know her and learn a lot more about the Korean culture from her experience. She was starting her third year of teaching in Korea so she has a really great perspective on life and culture from a day-to-day experience. She showed us around Myeongdon and Hongik later that night. The first thing we did (after catch up at Smoothie King) was to hit up a dog cafe. A what? Duh, it's a coffee shop where there are a lot of dogs that you can play with and hold because in the city who wants to own a dog you have to take care of? It was kinda gross but we just wanted a peek at it (they also have cat cafes).

Across the street we stopped in to get a pedicure of sorts. We ordered up a "Dr. Fish"--one where the fish literally eat your dead skin. I was like a 5 year old. I could not stop laughing. It tickled so bad and it was such a weird experience. One of the odd things, too, was that we were sitting in the middle of this nice salon where you would get a massage and were expected to be quiet! I couldn't stop giggling, did I mention that? Hi.lar.ious! David and Kayleigh were, I'm sure, quite irritated with me... actually yeah, David kept shaking his head at me :) Too funny!

Once our dead skin was gone, we took the subway to Hongik University again. We strolled awhile and took in all the crazy young college students and even came across the university band doing some traditional music in the park. It was really neat. Kayleigh took us down a back alley to a unique restaurant that she's frequented. It was a nice, quiet break from the city. After dinner, we had to say goodbye. Kayleigh, you were amazing to be with and thank you so much for taking time away from your life to show us around!

28th
The following day we got up early to pack up and move back to the Dragon Hill Lodge on Yongsan Army base in downtown. Since they had rooms and it was nice, we decided to go back there before picking up Evelyn. After dropping off our bags we caught a ride to our DMZ tour. The whole day was very interesting and we were so glad we took the chance to learn more about N.Korea, the demilitarized zone, and the relationship between the north and south.

The tour started at a lookout across part of the DMZ and the freedom bridge. The bridge hosts a formerly used railroad that crosses the Imjingak River into the northern territory. It was used to get POW's back to safety, among other things, before the DMZ was in place. From there, we took the bus to tunnel 3 (of 4 but, there are believed to be up to 10 more). This is one of the tunnels the south side has found that the north side dug in assumed attacks on Seoul. The tunnels were all being dug after the truce was made and an agreement to stay on each side of the demilitarized zone. We were able to walk down part way into the tunnel and see how the tunnel was made (blown out with small bombs). The tunnel is 240 feet deep and just over 1 mile long. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the turnaround area, which is where the DMZ starts. The North Koreans tried to cover up the fact that they were building the tunnel to attack the South and even said they were looking for coal -- they went as far as painting the walls of the tunnel black (which we saw).

After the long, hot walk down and up we headed to a lookout where we could see North Korea. We were only allowed pictures from beyond a line about 20 feet from the lookout. Unfortunately we were not able to visit or view the joint security area (JSA). The JSA, the only point where the North and South Korean military soldiers are near each other. There are a few conference rooms where they can meet and discuss rules and truces, etc. Our last stop on the tour was a train station and airport the South Koreans have built in hopes of unity someday soon. They want this train station/airport to unite the north and south and be a bustling hub for the Koreans. It's a beautiful and large hub.

After the tour we were dropped at Itaewon market and had some Thai food with two fellow travelers we met on the tour. They were both very interesting and had traveled a lot throughout the world. Both of the guys were from Toronto, Canada but had never met before. The rest of the night we washed laundry and had dinner at the hotel because we were beat!

29th - The BIG day!
We got up in the morning and tried to relax. It was weird. I was actually calm and ready for Evelyn to finally be with us - forever! David hit up the gym and hot tub and I started to get ready. I happen to catch my mom and Norah on skype and it was awesome! So fun to talk with them and John & Kathy (whose basement we were currently living in) before our big afternoon. Norah hadn't really been talking much at this time and she had been saying a new word (zipper) and zipping her pajamas up herself... way to make a mama cry :) We grabbed Subway and were off to Holt!

We walked a few blocks to the subway (and with the humidity we were sweating up a storm) and tried to stay calm. I made David take this picture of me waiting for our stop on the subway -- so funny!

Right when we walked into the front door of Holt we saw Evelyn and her foster mom at the elevator. You could tell the FM was like, "Oh no! Not yet!" We said hi and then kept walking to the second level and waited for our meeting.

After a few minutes Evelyn came in! She played around and hung on us as the FM answered some follow up questions for us. As we talked (with the social worker) she snuggled Evelyn a few times - it was very emotional and I can't think of that hour without getting all teared up. We all took Evelyn down to her doctor (on the first level of Holt) and she was signed off to fly. She was NOT fond of the doctor and we got a glimpse of her throwing a mini tantrum (at that time I definitely thought she had a bad experience with that doctor, which she may have, but it got me all worked up and I cried, too).

After that we gave the foster mom (and family) a few gifts and a letter where we tried to express how extremely grateful we are for their love for Evelyn and giving so much for us and her. The FM even brought us a gift for the girls. Some clothes for BOTH girls, a disk of about 100 pictures of Evelyn (from 3 months-14 months old, the time she lived with them) and a hanbok for Evelyn to remember her first birthday. Quickly after the gift exchange the FM hugged us, we (her and I) cried and she kissed Evelyn and snuck out. Thankfully the social worker was holding Evelyn at this point because I needed David to hold me as I bawled. This exchange of Evelyn and the passing on of the stage for Evelyn into our family was such a deeply meaningful and tearful time. Wow, still so emotional about it!

After the FM left we had a few other items to attend to... like getting the visa! The visa was still on it's way from the Embassy (a little scary) and we weren't sure how soon it would arrive. We went over the paperwork for the airport and immigration and then the visa arrived! We cannot thank Holt enough for helping us and getting Evelyn's visa a little extra early because of our situation. They obviously take care of each family as best they can and want to also take care of those foster families. Evelyn's foster family already had another baby staying at their home the previous two months and the FM was visibly overwhelmed with two little ones and her own two kids to take care of.

Once we had the visa, the social worker walked us out and hailed us a cab... and we left, just like that... with our baby girl! It was so surreal.

When we got back to the hotel Evelyn was asleep in the ergo and we gently put her on the bed. She stayed asleep for about 30 min and then woke up very afraid. She was crying (of course) and would look at one of us and cry even harder and swing her head back around trying to figure out where the heck she was. I felt so bad for her.

After about 3 hours in the room she was calm and content (she only cried for about 30 min) and decided to go ahead with our plan to go out. We had connected via email and phone with another family waiting for their travel call at the same time as us. They got their call while we were in Seoul and we had one evening in Seoul at the same time. It was such an encouragement (to all of us, I think) to meet out for coffee and talk about all our emotions at this point and to give them a glimpse at what our previous week had looked like. They were going to meet their son the following day! Exciting times!

Back in our hotel room we all headed to bed. Evelyn really slept very well and didn't move around too much - she was probably emotionally drained and needed to escape the changes. It gave us hope that co-sleeping might not be that bad with her (haha, it was awful in the days and weeks after this though).

One more Seoul/homecoming post to come!

Need to catch up on Seoul take one or two... have fun.

thankful in bavaria.

2011-11-28T20:00:00.001+01:00

Bavarian Alps anyone? Yes, please--I'll take a long weekend in the alps.

We had a marvelous weekend in Garmisch-Partenkirchen at an Army lodge called Edelweiss! It was honestly so wonderful - the whole thing. We drove down (about 5 hours) on Thursday morning and walked straight into the lodge for our Thanksgiving feast! We had all the delicious Thanksgiving food without any work. We were very much missing family that day and may have mentioned it a few times - love you Moselles & Blomgrens!

Evelyn & David enjoying some turkey.

We were mostly nervous about the hotel stay at night with the littles in the same room as us. We weren't sure what people do - leave them there (we brought a monitor), go to bed (no way!), or do what we did and try to watch a movie while they went to bed! It fortunately worked pretty darn good. We just had the tv on and turned all the lights out and then once they were quiet we popped our movie in and enjoyed a little down time. In the mornings we drank coffee, ate pastries and played around the room...

At night, we took it easy...

On Friday we decided to start exploring! We drove down this beautiful quaint road (below) and right in front of us was the ski jump from the Olympics held in Garmisch in 1936 - what a scary looking jump!

Once we parked we took about 3.5 hours exploring the Partnach Gorge. The girls both took naps in the Ergos while we walked and we were in awe of the beautiful waterfalls, aqua water and lots of icicles. It was very loud and windy and we had to walk through these super creepy long tunnels where there were no lights - quite the adventure! We're sorry we didn't get a great picture but you get the idea...

Once we were through the gorge we took these stairs about 25 minutes up to a high mountain village where we ate a little German white sausage (Norah loved it), a pretzel, and German beer. It was a stunning view.

That evening we took it easy and ate at the lodge again and then watched a friend's kids for a bit so they could get out and talk! It was so easy having 7 kids (they had a movie on so really, it was easy!)!

The following day we drove to another nearby village to check out a beautiful catholic monastery. It's still being used daily and has monks living in the quarters connected to the worship center. This is one of the interior of the worship center. One more interesting thing - the monastery has a brewery. This makes me laugh. They make beer and liqueur and sell it.

This is Norah's "smile". Whenever we ask her to smile for the camera, this is what we get - it's kinda fugly (funny and ugly all at once). I keep telling David - at least she looks and posses instead of running away or turning her head!

Eating in bed and cartoons - gasp! - what parents allow that?!

On the final day, on the way home, we stopped at Neuschwanstein Castle. This is the castle that Disney modeled their Sleeping Beauty castle after. We took a bus up to this lookout area and got some good pictures and continued the walk to the castle for a tour. The castle is unfinished because Ludwig II died before it was finished being painted etc (although the 1/3 of it that is complete took 17 years!). Ludwig had another castle within walking distance (see below) but this castle was much more magnificent. We were not allowed to take pictures of the interior but it was stunning and detailed and very well preserved with wood carving, painting, mosaics and chandeliers.

The front door to the castle and view from the opposite side.

You can see one of his other castles there on the hill.

We took a carriage ride down pulled by horses and Norah was elated. She just kept talking about horsies this and that (we couldn't understand what she was saying), it was so fun to see her that excited.

Evelyn, getting more expressive as the weeks pass!

norah dances & sings.

2011-11-17T22:22:00.000+01:00

changes.

2011-11-14T14:37:00.001+01:00

One of our walks in the woods.

David. He's mostly good. As the leader of our family I know he's feeling the weight of all the changes we're experiencing and feeling somewhat responsible for some of the hard stuff. Of course, he's not responsible--he's the strong one sorta holding this gang of girls together! Work is going well. He's figuring out the rhythm of things in his office and the new medical lingo. He had his first speaking engagement almost two weeks ago and did a great job. He'll speak to medical providers at bases around Europe, filling them in on new medical legal things to be aware of as health care professionals. He's also been hard at work on our crazy yard. We have a lot of bamboo and each year we will have to chop it all down, shred it and ditch it somewhere! There are a lot of other yard things to tend to and David's made a great effort to keep up with the German standards. Oh, one more thing... David's also been the driving force behind getting settled. I think it has something to do with the fact that he's been here for over four months! He's encouraged us to put our clothes in the dressers (haha, you think this is simple?!), to paint our living room (exciting photos to come), to hang pictures (that hasn't actually happened yet) and still take advantage of the outdoors while it's still warm enough to explore! I'm more than thankful for David and his amazing role in our family. He's an amazing partner and Daddy to my girls.

Another walk in the woods!

Kelly. Me. I'm, well... struggling/stuck/sad/fine. It's such a weird blur of life we've had. Literally months of transition and, I know, I have a ton of stuff to catch y'all up on. I'm not sure how but we'll get there. Anyway, I guess through all the months pre-Germany I knew I wasn't processing what was happening, but instead was coping and had emotions about it all but not exactly able to deal with things while holding things together during the move/adoption/single-parenting thing. Now that life as we knew it has totally ceased, it's all catching up with me and it's hard stuff. I feel all over the place emotionally - not like crying one second and laughing the next...ummm, okay that has happened a few times (thank God for kids!)! Anyway, suffice to say I'm not even sure where to start with me. I think I've done an okay job with staying verbally positive and moving forward by physically putting myself out there (MOPS, Bible study, coffee with the neighbors) but emotionally I feel stunted. I do have a sense that I'm in this new place in the last few days even... sort of accepting this change and wanting, no needing, more from my new life and (non) community. Does that catch you up on me? Again, David has held me crying or sat across the room or on the other end of the phone many times as I process and grieve (him too) what's been changing in our lives. The move has been hard - the adoption has been hard and both combined REALLY hard to handle all at once. I keep thinking... Lord, do you know what's you're doing here?! Okay, I hope I'm not too much of a debbie downer just trying to keep it real here. Thanks for hanging in there with us and please keep praying if you think of us!

Norah. Even though I think these changes have been hard I look at Norah and feel refreshed or sometimes I look at her and feel worried. She's really been enduring some hard times, too. We aren't sure if her changes are due to her age, bringing Evelyn home, or the loss of life as she knew it in Spokane (all three?). I know kids are very versatile and she'll bounce back but she has been grieving some too. She's never been too picky of an eater but the last few weeks she's been not eating much. We've tried to bribe her (is that wrong?!), make it fun or silly, sing, threaten, anything we can think of to get her to eat more but it just hasn't worked. Evelyn eats at least twice as much as Norah and she's not quite as big as Norah so it does concern us some. Also, Norah's been a fairly good sleeper in the last year but since the move she's been "sleeping" 14 hours a night and about a 3-4 hour nap! Now, I say "sleeping" because during the night she wakes up screaming and crying and we can't tell if she's having nightmares or afraid of where she is - it's all such a guessing game as parents. We've been trying to keep things as routine as possible but things haven't gotten a lot better. On a positive note, when she's awake (sans meal-time) she's very happy and herself. She's talking a lot, loves calling family on the phone, bossing Wrigley (and sister) around, plays very well with her sister and continues to read books all the time. One more funny thing - she keeps taking her diaper off! I am almost "afraid" to put her down for her nap without a onsie on because I've found her booty in the open more than once. She'll go to the bathroom and then promptly remove the diaper - I know this is a sign of her getting ready to potty train but I'm almost positive she's not actually ready (but I did buy a toilet seat cover for her!). Exciting times as a two year old!

Our little princess for the halloween office party!

Evelyn. The littlest, by only a little! Our "baby" is seriously coming into her own skin. It's beautiful to see her really coming out of her shell and feeling at home with us. It's not that we haven't seen her happy before now but it's been a slow thing for Evelyn. Like I mentioned earlier, she eats a lot and still takes a bottle before bed (mostly for bonding). I do remember Norah at this age seeming to eat snacks and meals through the whole day, Evelyn is no different. One thing though, Evelyn is stubborn. She likes to be in control and likes to feed herself. She's can't quite do a spoon yet so when it's a spoon meal she's pretty resistant to letting us be in control of the intake. She loves playing around with (or without) Norah and seems fascinated by simple things. She too looks at books a lot and continues to find Wrigley and Norah hilarious. She is 16 months today and definitely not interested in walking at all but we keep trying to encourage her a bit (although we don't mind that they aren't both running away from us yet!). She's definitely talking a bit - not sure what she's saying but a lot of things sound like phrases Norah says like "hi sister!" She'll use the same inflection but not actually pronounce it. It's cute but scary if she starts to talk :)

In other news...
...we are uncle, aunt and cousins for the second time!!!! We are so excited to help announce Kristin & Keith's little guy. Micah was born Sunday November 13th weighing 8lbs 10oz. What a joy! We cannot wait to meet him next summer. Stay a baby Micah!!
...we were supposed to go to Paris this past weekend but we decided to get sick - really really sick. First David got it and we ended up in the ER to get him some fluids (that was Monday) and then Thursday night we were packed and ready to hit the road Friday morning (Wrigley was already at the sitters) and I got it. So, we went back to the ER on Friday instead of Paris. It's took the whole weekend, plus some, to get back to functioning motherhood. I'm thankful we didn't get this virus while we were away and more thankful that the girls haven't gotten it. I would be heartbroken!

falling into place.

2011-10-28T13:28:00.000+02:00

The past two weeks have brought on many new things for us! Here's a bit of what we've been doing...

Letting Norah be creative and pick out her clothes - some of the time :)

Having coffee & tea with our american neighbors!
Visiting churches in the area. There aren't many english speaking options so I'm sure we'll know which one will be our home church soon!
Taking as many walks as we can before it's way too cold

Nanzdietschweiler behind us, our house is right above my head. I love that we can sometimes hear the cows mooing from our living room!

Started attending a women's study of the book Fearless by Max Lucado
Went to an adoption support group. It was nice to just be with other people who get some of the hard parts of adoption - this part, post placement, has by far been the hardest part for us and I've been craving a friend to relate with on it all. I met a new friend at the meeting - hi friend, if you're reading! - and we even met at the park yesterday! Feeling blessed by that connection.
Went to MOPS here on base. I am currently on the wait list as they don't have enough room for everyone that is interested so... when ladies are out of town etc those on the wait list get an invite and I did this time around. I'm still hoping some room opens up for us to go but if not, at least I've met a few ladies through the group already.
We took the girls to the pool on base and they both seemed to love swimming with Dad & Mom!
Taking our neighbors cookies in hopes of connecting with some of them. We found out there is another JAG on our block - a family that has already lived here 2 years so that should be great!

Evelyn had a pediatric appointment and she's doing great. It was nice to meet the girls doctor even though we don't know if he'll move soon and the girls will get another doc.

She was tired, can you tell? Such a great picture of them though :)

We went to Ikea (about 45 min away) and got a load of stuff for the house. Mostly storage type things since the Germans don't have closets (WHAT?!). We're still figuring out where to put everything and how to keep it organized!
I've been cooking a ton still. Finding a load of fun recipes from pinterest and really having a great time doing it! The only downside to me cooking most nights is LOTS of leftovers for lunches. Oh well, at least most of the recipes have been good.

Quinao burgers - really good!

Took the girls to a German musik class (kind of like Kindermusik which was created here). The class was held in this lady's home and was all in German but it was so fun, even if we were a little lost with the language barrier!
Evelyn has been doing really well. She's usually content these days - bits of laughter (usually at Norah or Wrigley) and independent play. She's been signing "more" and "all done" which makes mealtime a bit easier (mealtime with two toddlers is not really my favorite thing).

seoul - take two.

2011-10-24T20:33:00.000+02:00

August 25th - walking tour of Seoul
26th - Gyeongbokgung palace, Insadong and... met Evelyn!!!

25th
After visiting Holt and hearing the awesome news about the visa interview we went back to our guest room. We were already tired and it was only lunch time! Oh jet lag, we tire of you (hahaha!). We decided to try and nap but we were way to excited to see Seoul and couldn't get our minds off of meeting Evelyn the next day! We stopped by a traditional Korean restaurant where you grill the meat at your table. It's called Korean BBQ :) Since we were the only one's in the restaurant we were nervous, we couldn't watch anyone else to see if we were eating our food the right way. We also were searching and searching our Lonely Planet and couldn't find the answers we needed for etiquette - after the fact, we found them and yes we did eat our food wrong but at least we ate!

After lunch we started a walking tour that the Lonely Planet suggested. It took us about 2.5 hours to complete as we stopped and looked at the city along the way. It was a great thing to do as we saw many things but it wore us out!

The Cheonggyecheon stream. This stream starts in the city and flows into the Han River eventually.

Along the way we stopped at Itaewon Market and got a scroll made for us. It's made of water color and says "Blomgren" in Hangul (the official Korean symbols) as well as all of our first names. It's beautiful.

We also walked through Namdaemun market - a street market where many of the city folk buy clothing, shoes and food.

Near our guest house & Holt

A food stand at the market - we decided to pass :)

The walking tour ended by bringing us to Seoul Tower. It was beautiful and unfortunately we didn't start up to the tower early enough to see the sunset but the view was still spectacular! At the top (the highest point in Seoul) you can see most of the city - both directions. To get to the top you can go up hundreds and hundreds of stairs, or take a cable car. We opted for the cable car because of the heat and being so tired!

We were SO tired in this picture but having a great time anyway!

On top of Seoul tower is thousands of locks. It's really neat to see these fences of locks and "tree's" of locks in all directions. Putting a lock up on the fence is meant to symbolize a promise for endless love.

There's our lock of love!

Can you see ours? It's the Master lock that says "Love" on the side - it has our names and "forever family" on it as well.

We were back to our room at 10:15pm and crashed! Our goal was to stay up all day to try and get our bodies adjusted and to be able to sleep through the night - goal accomplished :)

26th
On Friday we met up with a tour guide from our agency. She was a very sweet Korean student getting her MBA at a university in Seoul. We took the subway to Gyeongbokgung Palace. The palace grounds are HUGE and we only saw a portion of it but what we saw was really beautiful. And, it's really neat that the palace is right off of the downtown area. It was nice to have the tour guide to tell us more about the history of the buildings and what things symbolizes, how the old life style is or isn't incorporated into Korean culture now. We ended that part of the day with a walkthrough of the folk museum--again, well put together with beautiful instruments and clothing on display.

One of the buildings that has been restored to show how beautiful and intricate the painting on the wood was.

The guards at the entrance.

In the "back yard" of the palace where they did some of the worshiping.

After the palace we walked through the Insadong market. It was a very nice "market" with a lot of shops - almost like an artsy strip mall but with upper class stores. Very classy. The prices were high and we liked a lot of stuff we saw but didn't buy anything. I think through the whole trip we struggled with what to buy. We were interested in what we were seeing and learning but also so very distracted by the reason we were there and had a hard time focusing on "touring" when our minds were with both our girls and the massive life change ahead of us. Back to the day... we ate another traditional Korean meal with our guide and talked about her life in graduate school.

Neat architecture in downtown.

After lunch we stopped by a massive underground bookstore called Kyobo. It was so fun to walk around and it just is so neat to thousands of books in another language - a lot of the books we recognized but couldn't read! We bought a few books for the girls that were traditional Korean children stories (in english) but have CD's that teach how to say some of the Korean words in them. We also bough a DVD of Pororo but it hasn't worked in any player we've tried (something about the DVD being made for another type of player since it's from another country?). Oh well.

Mei (tour guide) & myself at the end of our tour.

We headed back on a bus to our guesthouse. We got ready... TO MEET OUR DAUGHTER!!!! :) I cannot describe the pure nervous excitement we were feeling - aaaahhh, it was insane.

We were like little kids. We felt so dumb but we were asking the social worker, "okay, so will she just walk in or will she knock or will you have us walk in to the room, etc." It was awesome because you could tell the social worker knew it was a big moment for us all and loved how excited and nervous we were - I'm sure this is what she looks forward to, uniting families! Back to the main event. We wanted to get the meeting on video but we were left in the room to wait and then all the sudden they walked in!

We quickly stood up and could tell Evelyn was asleep in the baby carrier on the foster mother. Mouth open, head back, drooling asleep - adorable. The foster mother didn't speak any english so the social worker interpreted everything for us. The FM wanted to take Evelyn out of the carrier so we could hold her and we were quick to stop her! We thought she should sleep and we could start in with our long list of questions!

Right away we just started asking all about Evelyn - what she ate, when she ate, how she slept and for how long, does she like it dark or light, cold or hot and what scares her or makes her happy or soothes her, etc. We were anxious to here about her from the woman who knows and loves Evelyn so well. We thankfully got everything on the video so we can reference it later. We also asked the FM if she would sing any special songs that she sings to Evelyn, but she was too shy and wouldn't do it. It was such a special time to have with the FM and have it not be the same day we were going to take Evelyn from her -- there are so many emotions for us all.

Totally in love with her Daddy!

Evelyn woke up, finally, and the FM tried to hand her right to me and Evelyn just started to cry. I gave her right back - I didn't want to scare her. After a few minutes they set her on the ground to play and she went right over to David and was very happy to have him pick her up! It was such a sweet daddy-daughter moment(s). When I actually held her, she didn't cry but I sure did and so did the FM!

Evelyn had a long day as she had already seen the doctor (she threw up that day), went the embassy for her visa interview (takes a few hours) and back to Holt to meet us and see the doctor again to see if her temperature was okay. Poor girl was so tired. We felt so blessed to spend that hour with her and the FM - truly, something I will never ever forget.

After all that excitement and bliss - we went back to the guesthouse and just talked about it all and tried to grasp the fact that we just met Evelyn! Such a fun fun day!! So, the only downer of the time at Holt was when they told us the visa wouldn't be picked up until the middle-to-end of the following week. We knew, from the embassy, that they visa would be processed within 24 hours but Holt has to pick it up. They are not in close proximity to the embassy and said they only pick the visas up in groups so they wait until the whole group's visas are processed. We were discouraged but praying things might change.

While we were processing in our room (after meeting Evelyn) our social worker called to say they would make an exception for Evelyn! You see, the foster mother already had another foster baby in the home and was feeling very overwhelmed and since we were already there and ready, they were able to make an exception for us. God was ironing it all out! We are more than grateful to the amazing Holt workers who went the extra mile during this process to make sure we could bring Evelyn home as soon as possible. We never even got to thank the person who made this extra trip for us - if you're out there - thank you, from the bottom of our hearts!

In Hongik area looking for some wifi and a place to eat.

After all this excitement we were tired but oh so hungry! We headed out to Hongik University, near Holt, and had some coffee and dinner. Hongik area is very fun at night and later in the week we revisited the area when we had more time and energy!

I'll keep working on the update. Thanks for hanging in here with us and supporting us. We have been struggling to keep up with life so please - know I'm trying my hardest to keep you in the know! Bless you all :)

norah turned two (sept 20th).

2011-10-20T23:59:00.000+02:00

Norah.Nors.The Great Norooney. Our Baby Girl.

You're two years old!

You started life by surprising us all, arriving a bit early and eager to meet your Mama :) We hung in there the first 10 weeks without Dad but made it through with lots of help from friends and family who wanted to visit you in Colorado! Once Daddy came home you really started to shine showing us your beautiful smile, rolling over and progressing as a healthy baby girl from then on.

This last year of your life has certainly been awesome! Your personality shines and I think EVERYONE loves you :) You've always been the "baby" that goes to anyone, even strangers, and I have to say - it warms my heart that you are so trusting and truly loving of others. Your time in Spokane, building your first of many friendships, was so beautiful to watch. We love that every time we got in the car you said "Clara! Amy!" (your best friend) wondering if we were about to see Clara & Amy :)

This last year we watched you try your hand at some art projects, LOVE your music class, start to "talk" and whine, request reading books with us at any down time, ask for kisses (even in the middle of a meal or conversation), sing and dance. Your tender heart really has been a true blessing to this mama. The many many times you've seen me cry through the last few months you stopped dead in your tracks, walked over to me and said "it's okay mommy?!" and offer a kiss and a hug and look in my eyes again and repeat "it's okay mommy?" Your love for others is so Christ-like and has been such an encouragement to me.

This year you've also welcomed Evelyn into your life. Each time you wake up the first thing you say is "sister doin?" It's awesome. If we give you a snack or something to eat (before Evelyn) you promptly say "sister some?" or you walk over and give her what you have and then ask for more. You're very generous. And, even though evelyn cries a lot - you seem to always want to make sure we know (like we don't hear it?) she's sad - "sister's cryin.'" Anyway, it's great to know you care so much about Evelyn and truly love having her around. She sure does thinks you're hilarious (even though you don't realize she's laughing at you).

Things our two year old does:

says please and thank you for almost everything.
says "sorry mommy/daddy/sister" when she didn't even do anything wrong!
if we're listening to music, in between songs she says "more please" - she loves her music
has started to talking in short sentences
LOVES to talk on the phone - she walks around like she owns the place with the phone to her ear and mostly repeating what the other person is saying - example: her grandma says "how's your sister today?" norah responds "sister doin'?"
struggles with meal time - acts like we need to feed her and baby her (probably due to Evelyn needing help with food)
for a while there we thought you wanted to potty train - always asking about going potty etc. but for the last month you've said nothing... until this week, you said "Clara goin' potty" as if Clara is the only one that uses the toilet. So, we're waiting until you're ready and things are more routine before we introduce that challenge.
absolutely loves shoes. she puts on all shoes and mostly big people shoes and walks around the house... rather well too!
sleeps in, most days, past 8 (or 9 if i let her)!
LOVES purses and putting things in them and gets very upset when she can't bring her purse to meal time
Explores. She is a very curious little girl and isn't afraid to make your home hers... you might find her in your tub or in pulling open your dresser drawers. What? She's just exploring! :)

Norah's favorites at the moment.

Music - party like a preschooler - a truly FUN CD that i love too :)

Toy - well, her purse and babies... she's always having her babies go to sleep and eat

Food - pretzels

Drink - juice from mommy's juicer

Book - Tumble Bumble

Person - daddy! or clara, parker, griffin, hollyn or either amy :)

Video - any Word World show (we had dvd's)

2 weeks old.

First time you met Daddy! 10 weeks.

Always such a happy bundle of joy. 6 months.

12 months old and just moved to Spokane, WA

Trying out some new activities at co-op. 18 months old.

More fun at co-op. 18 months.

Monday play-dates with Rachelle, Soso, Amy, Clara, Iah & Mommy.

Hanging with Clara after a bike ride. 20 months.

You loved the bows Amy made for your sister before she came home! 21 months.

Having fun with Daddy! 23 months.

Celebrating your LIFE with Kathy. 24 months - birthday!

Opening presents at your impromptu party a few days before leaving Spokane. 23 months.

Saying "yeah!" you loved yoru slippers Nana made! 24 months + a few days.

At your first German fall festival with mommy. 24 months + a few days.

a good week.

2011-10-13T16:46:00.000+02:00

this week has been successful.

this week, actually today, i got my international drivers license. i have to say, the test was hard!

david made me drive home. i was scared. everything is different here and our car seems so large and in charge.

these boxes

are finally gone. happy dance.

also, the temporary furniture that we were using before our household goods arrived also left. another dance :)

now we are left with a lot of organizing! not my favorite thing and not my gift. i miss my mom and sister immensely when i move and they can't be around to help me get situated. they're pro's at it. why am i the one that's moved so much and still bad at it? hmmm... i am not a quick learner.

i'm so thankful...

third day people, we are on the third day without any of this

praise the good Lord. *trust me, she still knows how to whine*

honestly, every single day we've known evelyn she's thrown fits and had some sad sad times. we knew a lot of it was due to the changes in her life and not feeling secure with us but... she seems truly secure and happy now. it's so wonderful, for all of us.

no mommy breakdowns either, first days in months - literally. hope feels good. but sadness is not gone. okay, update on this one - about an hour after posting i had a minor meltdown. oh well, gotta get it out right?

norah's been the one testing the waters. she's definitely wearing in her two-year-oldness.

she's also been missing friends back in spokane - that doesn't make it easy for me. she asks for them by name (and the mom's too) and i just have to say - maybe later baby.

the vines in our yard are very fruitful. there is much more where this came from.

i've been cooking - a lot. it's been so wonderful. i have my own kitchen and i can finally venture out and try things i've been holding onto for a while.

some of my firsts in my german kitchen were awesome recipes from a new cookbook.

this cookbook came from my home group ladies - they all put together recipes and had them printed professionally in a book! it's so awesome and i love them so much. cooking from their recipes gives me a strange comfort. i think i've cooked literally 10 things from the book. one of the most heart warming gifts i've ever received.

love it.

i got myself a mobile - how cool is that? it's been active for a few days... no one's called YET.

norah loves to talk on the phone, and walk around wherever she pleases. here she's talking to her grandma and loving it.

ahhh, there's so much more to tell you and say but there's this huge gap missing on the blog - so much has happened that i want to fill you in on. i'm torn about whether to move forward or try to catch up.

i'm hoping to do both! yikes.

my house is still a total disaster and i want to blog? my get away sometimes.

seoul - take one.

2011-10-11T21:05:00.000+02:00

It feels wrong to rewind so far and go back to all the emotions and events from mid-august but, I don't want to forget it and i'm sure you want to know about it too - right?

After my post about our decision to move forward with traveling to Seoul, even though we didn't get the travel call, things got so nuts and honestly haven't stopped! I find myself having random thoughts and details I want to share with you all while I'm laying in bed or getting ready for my day - it's so silly but I've been too overwhelmed to actually sit down and get started. Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest :)

Here's how it went and what I'll cover in this post...

August 19th - David leaves Germany
21st - Diane arrives in Spokane
22nd - Kelly flies to Seattle
23rd - D&K fly to S.Korea
24th - we skip this day since Seoul is ahead of us, so weird.
25th - visit Holt (the rest of the day will be in another post)

David got on the standby flight from Germany to Seattle. This was not easy but God came through (AGAIN). David was told twice that he didn't make it on the flight and then they reconfigured some of the cargo and were all the sudden able to fit more bodies on. The people on the list in-front of him (he was 32nd on the list and there were only 5 seats available) left too soon - he got on! It was a miracle. While he was on his way to Seattle, my mom few from MN on two standby flights to Spokane - she arrived very late on Sunday night. I left on Monday before Norah's nap to meet up with David in Seattle!

Leaving Norah (and my mom) was so hard. I don't know why, it's not like I hadn't been waiting and eager to get this Seoul trip going but... I had never spent a night away from Norah (or 8) and I rarely see my mom. So, it was sad but - we knew the next reunion would be a joyful one!

I arrived in Seattle and reunited with my husband, after 6 and a half weeks apart it was sooooo wonderful to be able to cry and not be alone! I know, that sounds so sad but life has just been emotional for us. David was very jet lagged and we ate dinner and he went to sleep around 8pm!

The following day we got up around 4am and proceeded to another standby line! This flight was looking promising but we just didn't know how it would all turn out. We found out about 30 min after waiting that we made it on the flight! Praise the Lord. Our tickets to Korea cost us $16.50 a piece - not bad!

Waiting to see if we made on standby - way too early to be awake!

Since it was a military contracted flight we stopped in Japan and had a layover for a bit at Yokota AFB.

We landed at Osan AFB, about an hour outside of Seoul it was around 5pm. We bought bus tickets and got to downtown Seoul (to an Yongsan Army post) around 7pm. We were so tired! We checked into the hotel on post, showered, ate and then went to sleep.

Our drive from Osan to Yongsan gave us a totally different view of S. Korea than when we were in the city. We saw hundreds of apartments and quite a bit of poverty along the drive.

We woke up around 2am, anxious and wondering if our agency had heard any news about Evelyn's progress to get her visa. The news we got was the opposite of what we had hoped... they said that the visa medical report hadn't been turned back into our agency from the doctor. The appointment was over two weeks ago. That's when I had a minor breakdown. I cried and we talked about whether we chose the right thing - to come to Korea before things were solid. We landed on the answer that we were trusting in God to iron out the details, as he has through this whole process, and prayed - took tylenol PM and went back to sleep.

The following morning we grabbed a bit to eat, took our luggage and headed to Holt in a taxi. It was neat to see some of the city in the daylight. Our taxi driver had a hard time finding the Holt guesthouse but after asking about 5 pedestrians we found it! The taxi's in Seoul are very reasonably priced, not what you think you'd spend in a large city - so that was a nice surprise. Once we checked into our room at the guesthouse (more on that later) we walked a few blocks to the Holt offices. We were so excited to see where all the action takes place and meet Evelyn's social worker!

We waited outside her office in the hallway and said a prayer for whatever news we might receive - we took a short video (hopefully we can load that later) and met the social worker. She came out of the office and said hi and then went right into telling us that the medical report was turned in and Evelyn was scheduled for her visa interview the following morning! What?! Shocked and so so excited - we hugged and I shed a tear and tried to act casual :)

She showed us around the offices - where she and the other social worker have their desks, where they coordinate all the foster families, where the doctor's offices are and assessment area and finally - the room where we would meet our daughter!! I liked that one the best!

This is part of the medical area where they can asses babies - behind me is where the doctor's offices are located. I wish I took more pictures already! It's hard to know what's appropriate at the time.

This is the famous spot where all the Holt children get their updated pictures taken. I had to grab a picture myself :)

This is the room! I don't have one of it without anyone in the picture. I blurred out this person's face to keep her privacy.

There is a lot more to this first day but this is a good breaking point. Thanks for hanging in there with this long post! I am loving reliving these exciting days back in Seoul with you.

it's official.

2011-10-03T14:57:00.000+02:00

The official adoption day in court was on Friday September 16th. Since we finalized the adoption we were able to book tickets to Germany and left the following Wednesday morning to head home. It's been a whirlwind but I know you all would want to see what a wonderful time we had in court!

Before court we had to file the paperwork for the adoption with the judge and like our family journey lately... there has to be drama, right? Along with the lawyer, I went to file the paperwork; come to find out, you need to pay in cash! So, we head to the nearest ATM - it's broken. We do a half jog to the next one (in a dress with Evelyn in the Ergo and a large diaper bag in tow) and withdrawal a couple hundred dollars and race back to get the paperwork in just about 30 before court. Phew! So glad we got it into the judge in time (and that I actually had the ATM card with me).

Finally it was go time.

David calls in from Germany to join us, conference call style! It was so wonderful to have him "there" and for him to know the wonderful friends who came to support us. We had over 20 wonderful friends come and cheer us on. Thank you to everyone who came, took off work, got babysitters, cried and cheered with me that day - it wouldn't have been quite as special without you there. The day was a bit tearful but we made it through and ended it with an applause! Here are a few pictures to document the day.

left to right and front to back:

Amy, Clara, Kathy, Carly, Bekah, Evie, Russ, Shannon, Mia & Karis

Dan, Tara, Amy, Hollyn, Sue, Griffin, Kari, Taylor, Olivia, Mel & Jeff

*not pictured, Jono

Three of the four Blomgrens & our wonderful lawyer!

After court my dear friend Amy made cake and had everyone over to celebrate our newest addition!

Amy (and 26 week old baby), me & Carly

Me & Hollyn Joy!

Joel, Dan & Jono

Norah enjoying the delicious cake!

Welcome to the family, officially, Evelyn J. Blomgren - we love you dearly.

overwhelmed and understaffed.

2011-09-18T03:37:00.000+02:00

Trust in the LORD with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him for He will set your paths straight.

We've been MIA lately on the blog - dealing with way too many things at once. I'll try to give you a recap and maybe process more later. I'm not as good at the processing later part.

I am sort of at a loss as where to start. Do I go back in time and try to relay what's been happening both physically and emotionally or do I just start to process with where we're at? I think I can do a little of both, er I'll try.

Expectations. They are hard. We've read a lot of adoption material and known families that have walked through adoptions - hearing about them and living them are two extermely different things. I think we had the expectation that things would be challenging and we are up for the challenge but it's not really too much fun. We want to reap what we sow but, man in the midst of the past 2.5 weeks... there have been so many sleepless hours and countless tears and we wondered about what the heck we're doing! We haven't once questioned the adoption or Evelyn's place in our family. It's more just the timing of the move and having it be over seas and then the adoption and family separation on top of it all. It's been a tough ride so far - and we are expecting it to be that way for at least a few more months.

After coming home from Seoul David was in Spokane with us; but only for a week. During that week we tried to grasp what we could with our time together as we didn't know how long the gap would be until we saw him next.

We've learned a lot about Evelyn and it's been very challenging. She has been honestly a pretty content little gal during times when she's rested and fed. She allows us to comfort her and even wants us to which makes it seem like some type of attachment is happening. She smiles throughout the day and talks to herself (like all babies) and one of my favorite things is when she does peek-a-boo! If I ever grab the laptop to check my email she crawls right over to sneak behind the screen and then boop over the the side with a huge smile. It's fun to see more of her silly side. We continue to pray and hope more progress comes with time and trust from all of us to her and her to all of us.

We celebrated Evelyn's baby dedication with our church family her in Spokane. We seriously love our community here!

We've had a lot of sleeping challenges. Evelyn's been sleeping almost solely in a pack'n'play. We've had very mixed feelings about this but at this point it's all about survival and keeping sane. But, the bonus is, I have been able to get her to bed a bit earlier than me and have a little time to myself - thank you Lord!

We met up with adoption lawyer while David was still here and the finalization roller coaster started. We signed all the documents for court and found out about the possibility of waiting for the court date to take 2 days or 4 weeks. In countless ways the Lord has shown Himself in our adoption journey and this is one huge way. Even though the paperwork took longer than we thought it would (there were multiple things that had to happen between the lawyer, the adoption agency and social worker); one day the paperwork was turned in, the next it was approved and then the next we got our court date and finalized the following day! Was the confusing enough?

Needless to say, yesterday Evelyn became a Blomgren! She's now an official US Citizen and a forever part of our family. We are so grateful that she is ours and we are hers and that the journey to bring her into our family is over. The real journey has just begun.

Since the adoption is final we booked our tickets to Germany! We leave in less than 4 days. Honesly, there isn't much desire at all to leave (except to see David of course!). The loneliness we know is ahead and organization of our home and readjusting two kiddos to another timezone just doesn't sound fun. I know there is a lot to look forward to but right infront of me are some REALLY hard goodbye's and an overseas flight with two crazy chicks, at least four bags and a car seat. Need I say more?!

Norah's been an amazing big sister. So loving so tender hearted toward Evelyn. When E is just throwing a tantrum Norah keeps saying "dis okay seester" it's truly adorable and warms my heart. Also, when Mommy's been crying - yes, this has been frequent - Norah stops whatever she's doing and slowly comes at me with her kissable lips and just stares at my eyes and then hugs me. It's too sweet.

More on how I've been feeling about adoption...

Evelyn has two less teeth than Norah. She weighs as much as Norah does now. When Norah was 13 months she had one tooth and weighed in around 15 lbs. I know this may seem silly but all of Evelyn's teeth and weight make her seem older and I think makes me expect too much of her. I feel like she should know how to chew and eat table food better (this may be a cultrual change though). It seems like she should throw less fits - this could be due to the fact that everything she's ever known has changed, but still... it's hard to know when to sooth, walk away or just let her get it out of her system or even just give her what she wants (which is usually my contant attention and touch). And, is it age, history, personality or circumstances that make her such a spicy little one?

I want to be gracious and patient, especially with my kids. I'm definitely falling short. I know there's been a lot going on - not having a home, adding a new little to family, David being in Germany, visitors in and out and the anticipation of leaving Spokane and entering into a new stage but even so - I've been trying hard to estabish some schedule they girls can expect and be as consistant as I can during such chaos in our lives.

On the German side... David is ready for his girls to arrive! He's been doing what he can around the house to make it clean and welcoming for us. He's been lonely and truly ready for some compainionship. I can't wait to reunite with him! Our house hold goods have still not arrived so he's been living with the barest of essentials and I hope it's more relaxing than uncomfortable when we get there with no toys or dressers. It's not like we haven't been living out of bags already for more than two months! One thing I'm most excited about is to cook and have my own kitchen again!

all about evelyn.

2011-09-03T22:22:00.000+02:00

We've been "home" three days now--it's been such a beautiful and hard whirlwind of events. I hope we can remember and recall enough for you guys to get an idea of our entire time in Seoul (watch for a separate post on our trip) and all the emotions and ups and downs we've been on and are still going through. Thank you for your supportive comments and prayers...we've really been so encouraged through this time and feel so much support from all over.

Evelyn is doing really really well. Man, I don't even know where to begin and don't want to repeat myself when we go back and recall our time in Seoul but really want you to get an idea of where we're at as a family of FOUR :)

When we picked Evelyn up on Monday afternoon she seemed to easily warm up to us and even fell asleep in our arms before leaving the agency to our hotel. Once we were at the hotel she took a nice long deep nap but... when she woke up she was very afraid and very confused. Our poor Sweet Pea was looking all around and crying and then would look up at our faces and cry harder as if to say, who the heck are you and why did you bring me here? We were feeling a bit broken knowing there was nothing we could really do to console her because this was the beginning of her world changing. Such a hard thing to think about as a parents, breaking your baby's heart and bringing so much confusion and chaos to bring them home. Shortly after her nap we went outside and got out on the town a bit. She was instantly content to be in the baby carrier and was happy the whole time we sat and chatted at the coffee shop. Through the night she slept soundly and really just acted like a champ - we were thoroughly impressed.

The following day was the LONG travel day. Let's just say, by the time we arrived in Spokane we had been up and traveling for over 40 hours. It was slightly brutal. I think the Lord had extra tender mercy for us during those long hours and gave Evelyn some extra melatonin to sleep well! She slept on and off the whole travel "day" and ate pretty good and seemed to be semi content to play with us on the airplanes.

When we first met Evelyn she seemed more drawn to David but sometime during those 40 hours she shifted her favor over to her Mama. I would use the restroom and come back to find my daughter in tears and my husband eager to hand her back over to help appease her and stop the screaming and crying. It was surprising that she seemed so partial and still is today. It's a lot of pressure for me to be her favorite and I'm feeling such a loss because I'm holding Evelyn most of the time and I'm really really missing Norah but... on the other hand, David feels sad that she doesn't favor him and just gets frustrated that she sees me and wants out of his arms right away!

Since being back in Spokane we've had to hit the ground running a bit - we got both girls into the doctor, had our first post-placement visit and tried to get some rest in between. Both the doctor and post-placement visit went well. At the doctor we learned that Evelyn weighs in at 22 lbs and Norah at 23 lbs! Even though they are close in weight Norah fits into 2T clothes and Evelyn fits into 12 month, she's a bit shorter than Norah. Evelyn also has 14 teeth but doesn't yet seem to know how to use them. We're slowly working on her learning to chew solid foods. We've also been working on see a few friends so David can say his final good-bye's but trying to lay low as much as possible.

In Korea it is the norm for most families to co-sleep with their children. So, when you adopt from Korea most, if not all, children have been co-sleeping with their foster parents. We aren't against co-sleeping but, it's very hard to come into that role during a major transition for a child and be totally exhausted ourselves. This has been the biggest challenge so far. The first two nights Evelyn slept like a champ and we did too. The last few nights have been less than stellar. Evelyn has been tossing and turning and grunting and laying all over us. We know it could be the jet lag for her and we're glad she's not wide awake at 3am ready to play but the movement is keeping us up. We are really craving a very good night's sleep. Also, she has a sweet habit of rubbing something to put herself to sleep - it's mostly been our arms or face and so while we're trying to sleep in bed she's next to us rubbing our arms or back and keeping us up. Again, co-sleeping is a great thing for attachment and comfort and we're going to try and stick it out until we get settled in Germany (since there are so many changes ahead still) but, I'm praying for great rest for us all. One more thing on this topic - we even have to hold her or lay with her for naps so it just seems like we can't get a break to be together (David and I) or just have some alone time. I hope this section doesn't sound complainant, this is just part of the major adjustment we're challenged with right now.

When we arrived back in Spokane and Norah met Evelyn it was very sweet. Norah looked over at Evelyn (more like she stared) and just said "sister." She totally connected the pictures of Evelyn to reality and it was so wonderful. She has been mostly avoiding Evelyn and sometimes trying to get in-between Evelyn and whichever parent has her just to remind Evelyn that she was here first. But, today she gave Evelyn a few toys and sat nicely with her to watch a cartoon :) Norah has giving Evelyn a few hugs and many kisses so she definitely knows how to give some love. Also, if Evelyn isn't in the room Norah is saying "sister?" and wondering where she is - we love that awareness and hope it grows into more and more affection and friendship.

The last three nights I've cried while we're laying bed (don't worry Evelyn slept though that part!). Everything just keeps on coming at us, there seems to be no break but... that's not totally true! We'll all be together in Germany soon but... then again, we'll be gone from Spokane and all the love and support surrounding us here- yes, this is part of the turmoil and heartache that is causing the tears. We're grieving and celebrating so many changes for our family; it's a bit confusing to process all the conflicting emotions. David needs to get back to work this coming week so please keep him in your prayers as he leave us and tries to get on another military flight home to Germany. We are grateful the Air Force has given him 21 days of adoption leave but it's been a bit of a bummer that 10 of those days will have been for travel - poor David.

gotcha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-08-29T15:25:00.000+02:00

As our sweet girl takes a nap - we wanted to let y'all know she is finally in our arms, FOREVER!!!

We have this amazing joy and peace coming from our hearts. And, so much gratitude - such an amazing day.

She's so smitten with her Daddy

She has a great, loving personality and we can tell she is going to fit in just perfectly with our fam! And she still has her baby cheeks!

meeting our girl!

2011-08-26T12:47:00.000+02:00

Minutes before we left our guest house - SO nervous and excited!

We are so in love!

Praise the Lord - we got to kiss and hug and love on Evelyn today!!!!

annyeong haseyo from Seoul!

2011-08-25T06:52:00.000+02:00

After a few long days of travel, we made it safely to South Korea! We are quasi-rested and ready to explore! We are meeting Evelyn tomorrow afternoon and hope to gain custody of her on Monday! We are thrilled to meet her and to begin life with her. Thanks for all your prayers and support!

better 2gether.

2011-08-23T03:03:00.000+02:00

We're together - and we love it!
Thanks for your continued prayers surrounding our flights and Evelyn's visa.

David & Kelly.

he made it here.

2011-08-22T17:14:00.000+02:00

After over 24 hours of grueling travel David made it to the west coast!! Praise God for his provision in getting David here safely. I talked to him briefly in the middle of his two flights just to tell him about the hotel in Seattle and the transportation to and from the hotel. You see, his German cell phone doesn't work that well here :)

My mom also made it to her destination! After her first standby flight at 6:30am, a 14 hour layover (yuck) and another flight she arrived in Spokane around 11pm (1am her time).

I'm leaving in about 4 hours and I get to see my husband!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippy!!!!!!!!! Can't wait!!!!

Please pray for all the details of our flight tomorrow, that we would get on to that standby flight. The flight leaves at 8:30am pacific time if you like to pray while things unfold (we'll be at the airport at least three hours ahead).

Thanks for your support and journeying with us. I'll try to keep you updated as things unfold.

not the travel call.

2011-08-21T18:09:00.000+02:00

We haven't received "the call" but... we're still on our way to Seoul :)

David started his adoption leave on Friday so he could be put on a standby list for a flight this morning (in Germany) with the AF. There were only 6 seats available and lots of people waiting. At this point all I know is he got on the flight very last minute and he emailed me saying "I got on the Mchcord flight!!!!!! Totally a God thing." It gets me all choked up and I cannot wait to hear how his day unfolded before that email (there were about ten emails all saying he wasn't getting on and talking about which tickets he should purchase).

It's like God wants to make sure we have to give Him credit, like we wouldn't, by making everything so insanely fall into place like only He can do. It's kinda takin' a toll my human body since I'm a fat ball of nerves - still obviously learning about put my full trust in Him alone.

This morning my mom is also flying standby to get to Spokane to help watch Norah while we're gone. She got through the first leg of the trip and now has a grueling 14 hour layover to get through before finding out if she will make it through the second leg!

Tomorrow I will fly to Seattle to see my man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm excited.

Tuesday we are on the standby list, yet again, to get to Korea. The odds are truly in our favor as the flight has over 50 seats still available.

Some of the details: we knew the call should be coming any day and also knew that it would take David two days or more to get to the states to go to Korea together. So, we checked in with our agency about getting to Korea before the call and they gave us the go ahead. If Evelyn's visa has still not been issued by the time we arrive in Seoul we hope to get her packet from the agency and bring it to the embassy to be processed (yes, that's all we've been waiting for since August 10th). After that we can finally meet our babe :)

Once we have Evelyn we'll get her enrolled in our insurance on the AF base there and hopefully be able to fly standby back to the states (please pray)!

So, if all works out as planned we'll have gotten David literally flown around the world; I'll have flown Seattle to Korea and back and Evelyn from Korea to the states all at the mere cost of the stress of the unknown. Okay, not sure if that sentence makes sense or is a suuuuuper long run-on but whatever, you get what I'm saying.

The emotional side: It's hard. What we're about to embark on with Evelyn entering into our family is all we've prayed and wanted this last year. The reality is still scary, and exciting. We know the Lord's called us to this adoption and have so much love for Evelyn but it's the whole thing about becoming parents again - being responsible for another human/two of them - becoming a biracial family - moving over seas and all any move entails (new community, new church, new job). There are so many overwhelming positives but with any situation there are some concerns of the unknown and leaving the safety of what you have. I think that mostly sums up what we're feeling right now.

Like always, we covet your prayers. Please pray for all the flights and details we have that are still unknown; for timing of the visa and the standby list. Pray for all the anxieties, that we can truly sleep when time allows and trust in the Lord for all the things ahead. Pray for Evelyn's heart to be craving what only our family can give her and that she is receptive to us when we meet her. Pray for her foster family as they will surely grieve losing her . Pray too for Norah that the Lord prepares her to welcome "Sissy" home with lots of love and grace; and that Norah isn't too jealous or needy when we're figuring out where to put all our love for our two girls!

Thank you for all your words of encouragement and prayers. We need them all to stay afloat. Don't be shy, go ahead and send some more words of encouragement and prayers - I'm not afraid to ask!

emotional roller coaster, no thanks.

2011-08-16T23:23:00.000+02:00

I can't even decide where to start my sentences, how to start an email or keep my mind on one thought - I'm being so serious! Things are scary, exciting, nerve-racking and emotional. Not the emotional you would think, like crying all the time or anything, just sensitive to each days events and anything that Norah does or changes we are about to embark on... it's a different kind of emotional.

I've considered Evelyn's next few weeks... and her foster parents... and ours as Blomgren's and how we finally get to meet our second daughter, who is currently a stranger to us. I've been grieving for Evelyn's departure from her country, the foster family she loves and the language and smells she only knows. She'll be introduced to new people and faces, foods, smells, language and a massive time change to help with it all! It's just going to be a very dramatic and hard change for her - no matter how we ease into the changes from our side. We're praying for God's help and grace to love both girls during the changes and transitions about to happen.

Yesterday I repacked Evelyn's bag for our Korea trip for about the fourth time (I've had it packed since May I think)! It was fun, and really nice to buys my hands with something that has to do with the actual trip to Korea.Everything else right now just seems hypothetical, like we might get the travel call on this day and if we do we'll leave at this point etc.

Today, as I start to pack my bag and choose which outfits to brings and what toiletries I can live without for a few days... I'm praying for anything my mind jumps from - this to that and back to this and over there again :) Praying out the details and wrestling with getting some sleep and trying to relax before becoming a mom of two girls under two!!! Oh the level of anticipation is almost palpable. I love it!

a stroll in nanzdietschweiler.

2011-08-15T17:57:00.000+02:00

Well, Wrigley and I have called Germany our home for over a month now; though, it really isn't home yet. It has been a wild ride so far and I am very excited for the things to come. When we first arrived, our #1 priority was to find a house. You see, the house hunting here is crazy and quite stressful, especially in July during the peak PCS season (Permanent Change of Station). Most "good" places are taken within a day or two of being listed. In fact, we tried to rent a couple of places before we even arrived and were beat to the punch by hours each time. That prepared me to be ready to sign a contract the minute I found a place I liked. Within a week of arrival, I saw 7 places and found our new home---and I am stoked about it! Out of all the houses we saw, this one was by far had everything we were looking for--and the name of the village is fun to say: Nanzdietschweiler!

After living in a hotel for a month waiting for the old tenants to leave, Wrigley and I moved in to our empty house this weekend (our household goods won't arrive for another month and a half, unfortunatley, so we have some loaner furniture from the Air Force). My first impressions of Germany have been very good. Here are some of the reasons I think we'll enjoy it here:

1) Rules: The Germans love their rules. While some people despise rules, I actual love rules (well, I only love rules that make sense and that people follow). Here, their rules make sense and everyone does follow them (or incur a hefty fine). One of the rules I love the most is their quiet hours. Everyday, from 1-3 pm and 10 pm-6am; and all day Sunday, it's quiet hours. No mowing the lawn, no washing cars, no loud music, etc. If you are caught mowing your yard, for instance, I heard the fine was like 200 Euros. Instead of doing these things, the Germans get out and go for a walk, or ride a bike. Sundays are truly days of rest, relaxation, and family time. I love that! Also, no trucks on the road on Sundays..also great!

::this is the street we live on::

2) Cars: I'm not a huge car guy, but I do enjoy them. Here, every other car is either a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes...and well taken care of. I found myself an old 1996 BMW with low miles on it for a great price, so I'm in the club.

::my ride and a sneak peak at our house::

3) The Villages: In the States, I have no desire whatsoever to live in a small town. But here, living in a small village is the cool thing to do. Within 30 miles of base, there are over 300 villages...some small, some quite large. Almost every village has a bakery, pub, bank, restaurants, church, school, playground, soccer field, etc. And they all take pride in their village. While I am extremely bummed that our village's bakery shut down a few years, there is still a bakery truck that comes by the house everyday and sells fresh bread and pastries!

::just one of the many beautiful views around our village::

4) Beer: The beer here is cheap, plentiful, and really good! When you go out to a restaurant and order water, it will literally be more expensive than beer (they don't provide tap water--something I don't like---and the bottled water is typically a little more than the beer). And they mix their beer with a lot of different beverages, like Coke and lemonade, which is fun and actually tasty! They also love their pizza and ice cream, which is great!

::a park near our home for the girls!::

visa medical, done!

2011-08-13T16:21:00.000+02:00

Yes, it's true - Evelyn's visa medical appointment already took place! We are ecstatic, to say the least!

Now we now have to wait for the class B waiver. The class B waiver is an extra form some families have to sign because of any special medical condition. Evelyn has a nevis of ota on one side of her face.

Shortly after we overnight the waiver to Korea her visa interview will take place at the US Embassy. Post interview we should get our travel call within 24 hours.

We'll keep you up to date! Thanks for the continued prayers as our life is truly about to change for the better!!!!

EP approved and praising God!

2011-08-11T00:15:00.000+02:00

For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
-Habakkuk 2:5

After almost 12 weeks of waiting for our Evelyn's EP to be approved we are praising God for this completed step! Even though we've felt like this process is flawed and delayed, God had it under control and surely to Him all along this was the plan and it was not delayed. For His glory we've waited and in it I have grown, and I know David completely agrees!|

After hearing on Monday that the ministry had started taking more EP applications we thought for sure yesterday we would hear of ours being approved. Nothing happened yesterday and I was totally discouraged. Still we were somewhat hopeful that at least there was some type of movement and progress, even if it didn't have to do with Evelyn.

After over a week without talking to David on the phone or computer we finally connected today. It was such a blessing to get the call about the EP approval while I was on Skype with him!! We are both so relieved and feeling such a surge of energy and excitement over bringing our Evelyn home.

Next step - visa medical appointment. We are praying for a quick turn around on Evelyn's appointment with a specialized doctor to fill out her visa forms for travel and emigration to the US. Because Evelyn was a waiting child there is a special waiver the doctor will fill out and we have to sign, get notarized, overnight to our agency, they will overnight it to our agency in Korea who in-turn gets it to the US Embassy - phew!

Once the embassy has it in their hands the visa interview can be scheduled (usually this is able to be scheduled quickly) and once the "interview" happens they process her travel documents within 24hours and we can go to Seoul!!!!
So, as you can see there are still a few major details on this end of things before the MANY details once she's in the states.We are praying for anything and everything to happen fast - which would mean we could maybe travel in August but that is still a stretch. Please keep praying for a miracle and that we would be patient and trusting in the Lord. He is good and His timing is the best, we know that full well and we're resting in that truth.

july chaos in Korea.

2011-08-02T06:33:00.000+02:00

In short, nothing much has happened for our adoption. It's been a tough few weeks for many families in the process of waiting to bring home their precious children from Korea.

On the Korean side, things have been paused since the end of May and no families have been issued the permit we are waiting to get Evelyn home. From the little information that has been officially announced the Ministry of Health and Welfare (the ones who issue the permits) decided to make a strong point to the adoption agencies who have not been completing their paperwork after the children have gone to be with their families (post placement paperwork). The ministry has been requesting the missing paperwork before they will continue issuing new permits.

During this time the ministry has also announced that they are changing some of the upcoming adoption laws and those changes will go into effect in 2012 (they don't affect us). They are trying to move toward closing intercountry adoption so that children can be adopted domestically only. This would be a wonderful thing but the number of children without homes far exceeds the number of families able and willing to adopt. The issue behind all of these things is much deeper but there's no need to dive into that here.

The latest update we've received is that our agencies have all their paperwork into the ministry and now all we can do is continue to pray and wait. Our agency has been led to believe permits will start being issued again sometime in August. We're back to hoping each day bring that's awaited phone call that Evelyn's EP was approved, please join us! We are officially the next family from our agency who will travel to bring their child home, yippy!

If you're interested in reading a little more about this pause in permits, check this post out.

Since Evelyn's been adoptable and waiting for over a year she has had her second full physical. Each month she sees the same doctor and they send us an assessment of her health and motor skills along with her weight and teeth count. This week we received her full physical exam results. Nothing surprising or alarming. She is still healthy and developing well. She is "cute and fine", has 10 teeth and weighs 20 lbs, 7 oz and drinks from a cup :) I love any and all details we can get.

Of course we are all longing to be together again, ASAP. I miss David so much and the stress of the last three+ weeks since he's been gone have been pretty darn intense so that makes me miss him all the more. Pray that Evelyn has a deep longing for us, even though she knows nothing about us - just that there's some type of need that only we as a family can fill. We long for her to be with us but continue to trust God in his timing and know that this process is for His glory and that we would be refined as we wait. I'm thankful again and again for David's positive attitude even though he's alone and in a new country.

july chaos in germany.

2011-08-01T07:00:00.000+02:00

David is hoping to post soon about his first impressions of home and what he's been learning. It's been fun getting reports about the new culture we're entering into, all the things we can explore and tidbits about his new job. He's been doing well and has been at his job now about two weeks already. There's a steep learning curve for the position so it'll take him a bit to really be into his rhythm as a Medical Law Consultant.

The first week he was in the area he looked at several German homes and was quite overwhelmed at the idea he might have to choose one on the spot. You see, there are so many people that want to rent and so if you like a house, a lot of times you need to sign a contract on the spot so no one the next hour takes it out from under you! Once again, the Lord faithfully provided a home for us in the village of Nanzdietschweiler (try saying that 5 times)! We'll share pictures and more on our awesome village later. But, to whet your appetite I'll say it's got a fenced in yard for the girls and Wrigley, a beautiful drive into town (from the pictures I saw) and it's surrounded by many a German folk which is what we were hoping for.

Prayer requests for David: please pray that he finds a quick community as he waits, that he is able to ease into his new job and start to love what he's now going to do for next three years. Pray for him and Wrigs as they transition into our new home next week, that they would feel at ease there even without anything in it :)

Update on Korea coming tomorrow, stay tuned!

july, and all it's chaos.

2011-07-31T01:27:00.000+02:00

We are still alive and kickin'! We've been a little overwhelmed with life and have had to put the blog on the back burner for a few weeks. I'm sure you all knew we were totally overwhelmed and hopefully understand.

First off, congratulations to us (oh and Steve & Colleen) as we became first time aunt and uncle and cousins this week! We cannot wait to meet our niece, Liv--9lbs 5oz--born on Tuesday the 27th!

Let me give you a glimpse into what's been happening stateside for Norah and me, in Germany for Wrigley and David, and in Korea for Evelyn. I've decided to break this post up since it got a little long.

Stateside: The week of the July 18-22, Norah and I had some pretty drastic transitions and I know it's just the beginning of all the exciting and trying changes around the corner (I'm grateful that Norah is clueless)!

On the 18th the first moving company came to pack up most of important/expensive items that would fly over to Germany via airplane. The items we sent were mostly essentials and high value items since they would be arriving before our actual SHIPment of house hold goods. After that day of the movers, we packed the Jeep and headed to our new temporary home with some wonderful friends!

Tuesday-Thursday the second moving company came and packed up everything else that we are bringing to Germany. These items were wrapped in brown paper or packed in boxes and fit together like puzzle pieces onto these very large wood cases and sealed before they left the house. At some point the cases will get loaded onto a ship and make their way to Germany and our new home! The companies moving our goods have to deliver them by September 26th so... we might be in an empty house for a while!

Finally, on Friday a third moving company came to take the few items we were not allowed to bring with us overseas, like our washer & dryer, elliptical and random kitchen appliances. These items will be stored until we return to the states. By Friday I had spent so much time at the house without much to do so I was ready to hand the keys over to the landlord and be free of that responsibility! Norah did well during this trying week but it was obvious that she just wasn't getting the parental attention she needed. She spent most of the days with different friends and that's just not something she's used to.

During that same week I showed the Jeep to two different interested parties. God has been so faithful in taking care of us and last week one of those people decided they wanted our Jeep. I, of course, cried because I LOVE that Jeep and also, it's just another step toward leaving Spokane. It's bitter-sweet really.

Prayer requests for Norah and me: please pray for Norah during this strange time that she's loved more than enough and that I am able to spend extra special time with her as we wait. Pray also for my heart, that God would continue to keep me tender and leaning into Him. Also pray that I can sort through my many conflicting emotions... I might have to cry it out a little to get all these changes processed :) Thank you for your encouragement and prayers.

I'll post the Germany update very soon!

proud mama.

2011-07-24T22:54:00.000+02:00

I know this picture is flipped and backwards but I took it from the computer since I'm sans a camera but...

happy birthday Evelyn

This was the DELISH cheesecake I made back on the 14th to semi-celebrate Evelyn's birthday!

I thought you'd like to see.

a heavenly place.

2011-07-18T05:41:00.000+02:00

We were honored to spend the 4th up at Priest Lake, ID with our dear friends the Hooks! We had a blast reading, hiking, eating, talking and taking a quick dip or too in the mountain ice water :)

Norah and her bestie Clara kicking in the water. I love how these girls find such simple things SO joyful and they just giggle and laugh together!

Amy and me soaking in the sun and trying to get into our book-club book for the month, Jane Eyre... it's only around 600 pages!

Just a mini hike near the water on Priest, it was perfect!

Norah kept ocupied by eating the whole time :)

The boys got up around 4:30am or something insane like that and summited this beautiful mountain. I think they were trying to make up for the fact that they planned to hike Rainier together this summer and because of Germany it's not going to happen :(

Just across the water and past the island is where the cabin is!

8 weeks down.

2011-07-16T19:40:00.000+02:00

whenever we go through something hard in our lives or something i just want to get through i like to celebrate how far we've come!

1 week apart from my spouse and that's another week i'll never have to do without him again!
8 weeks waiting for evelyn's EP - praise the Lord we're not just starting that 8 week wait and hopefully we're nearing the end.
11 months ago (almost) to the day that we first applied to adopt (God is faithful and fast... when He wants to be)!
1 year & 3 days ago we first stepped foot in Spokane... at this point last year we hadn't even found or moved into the house we are moving out of this week!

that's about it :) i just wanted to celebrate with you some of the hard stuff that's passing by! happy weekend y'all!

a very special BIRTHday.

2011-07-14T15:00:00.000+02:00

dear evelyn,

we are so excited to wish you a happy birthday baby girl! we are longing to be with you and celebrate your precious life. instead, today you get to be with your loving foster family, hopefully having a joyous tol (korean first birthday) to celebrate being alive!

this week i've been thinking a lot about your birthmother and her sacrifice for you. i hope we can always honor her and remember that she choose life for you when things must have been tough in her situation.

even though we can't celebrate with you today we will soon! it's crazy how you've wrapped us around your chubby little fingers in the 4 months since we first saw pictures of you. we praise God daily for the opportunity to be your dad and mom and celebrate the gift of adoption. we cannot wait to meet you and brag to everyone about how amazing you are.

happy birthday my beloved, you are cherished today from afar and we love you.

beef & bulgar burgers.

2011-07-13T00:49:00.000+02:00

We made these beef & bulgar burgers (with slightly less bulgar than the recipe calls for) a few weeks back and we all loved them! Each of us had two - Norah probably only ate one and a half but obviously they were delish! Such great flavor.

Since our propane on our grill is used up for the move we cooked them on the stove top and they were still just so great! I hope you can try them and love them too :)

2011-07-11T08:32:00.000+02:00

i wait for you you LORD, my soul does wait.
i wait for you LORD, my sould does wait.
and in your Word, i hope, my soul does wait.
more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning
my sould waits... for your LORD.
Psalm 130

and, though our family is spread so far apart we know the truth of this song and verse...

where can i go from your presence?
where can i flee from your spirit?
if i go up to heaven you're there,
if i make my bed in the depths you are there!

if i rise on the wings of the dawn,
if i settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me your right hand will hold me fast.
Psalm 139:7-10

AMEN!

God is teaching me so much. So much about hope, which spurs on patience, and peace that is only found in focusing on Him and that all things be for His glory. And, through this process I am being pruned and though that might be painful and sometimes ugly - in the end, I pray to bear more fruit and bring Him all the glory!

Today I stood up in church in much need of prayer and some friends came around me and I shook and cried out to the Lord to continue his pruning and help me to be stripped of all that is not of Him and not for Him. I am so thankful to know that I don't stand here alone, though at times it feels that way. Praise God!

let's press on.

2011-07-09T21:14:00.000+02:00

Today was harder than I thought. I guess David's departure from Spokane just hit me hard.

On the way to the airport we were reminded of our agony when David left for Iraq and were thanking God that he's not on his way to another deployment. His deployment was really really hard - this is hard in a similarly heart hurting way but for different reasons. It's always sad to be apart, God meant married people to be together!, it's hard to be alone for David and it's hard to be a single parent for me. There are many emotions on top of him leaving that make me emotional - not having Evelyn home yet, have Wrigley leave too (he's always been my constant companion even when David is gone), and this was just a step toward our official move away from Spokane.

Tonight, our family of four will be spread out over three countries - crazy.

When we were getting David and Wrigley checked in I started to cry pretty hard. The agent that was checking David in told us in a very casual voice, "That kennel you have for your dog doesn't meet our airline standards". Ummm, what? We got it especially for this flight... but wait, we checked to see if this kennel met the regulations of the airline David was originally flying on, not this one. Since last week his date of travel and therefore changed airlines and we didn't think of checking to see what the pet standards were. We asked what we should do and the agent says, "well, you can hop on over to Wal-mart and buy one or we can see if we have one here you can buy." That's when I started to cry and then I think the agent didn't know what to do so she stopped making eye contact. In the end, they had a better kennel for Wrigley there and it was only $60 so hopefully we can figure out a way to return or sell the other new one we bought. Phew!

Our last week here together was wonderful. We went on a really great date, saw most of our small group, ran errands, celebrated the 4th with the Hooks and chilled at home. We are so thankful for all we've been given. Now, we just need to press on... I need to get organized and packed and moved and David needs to find us a wonderful home in Germany!

And because I love me some pictures... here's a few from this week :)

Our date ended beautifully with some amazing ice cream!

And this, this is where we get to have our small group in the summers :) David and Joel were about to jump from the "high dive"

a last chance of sorts

2011-07-09T00:03:00.000+02:00

In less than 24 hrs David and Wrigley will be long gone! It's so exciting and honestly so sad too. David is such a stellar hubs, he's even mowing once more before he relaxes so I won't have to - thanks Babe!

Since David's leavin' on a jet plane and I'm closing up the shop here at our house I'm making this the last call for our adoption shirts! I mean, if later on we're back and we have some left I'll let you know but... shipping from Germany to the states might get too pricey. If you've been wavering about getting a shirt, or wanted to help bring Evelyn home, or just want to look cute - please buy a shirt (or some coffee)! See this post for directions on how to place your order and what sizes are still available! Thanks y'all.

Here is some shirtspiration for you :)

*If you have a picture in your adoption shirt, please send it our way! We LOVE our support team!!

Amy, Amy & Kathleen

Trying so hard to get a good family picture at Christmas

My friend Mellisa and her cutie Alice in CO

My friend Becca, isn't she beautiful!?

Joy & Disko - they bought the first shirts!

Nathan, Kim, Dad, Mom & Aaron

Thank you everyone for your strong support and for loving Evelyn before you even know about her!

life goes on.

2011-07-05T23:54:00.000+02:00

It's been hard to blog lately. We feel like we're in limbo between so many emotional and physical changes that it's hard to display how and what we are doing. We've been talking and dreaming a lot about our upcoming year and all the wonderful changes that are about to take place. Also, we talk a lot about how many times God keeps changing our plans and is pushing us to trust him amidst these changes and frustrating times.

Evelyn: Basically, there's nothing yet to update you on. We've now been waiting close to 7 weeks for the EP to be approved. The wait has been killing us. It's really heart wrenching too not just because of the actual waiting but because each day that goes by means more separation for our family (David & Wrigley in one country and me and the girls in another). Our assumption was that Evelyn would be home by her one year birthday and that's rapidly approaching. She almost certainly isn't going to be home by then but, God's been known to change our assumptions a few times. Her birthday is July 14th. Please keep praying that she stays healthy and that we do too and that we can bring her home very very soon. There is some talk online about the Korean ministry not approving EP's until the end of July (this type of delay has never happened before and it really doesn't make sense) so pray hard against anymore delay.

The Move: Since the adoption has been delayed our timeline has changed. David is leaving for Germany this week. It's going to be a good thing for all of us long term but it makes our more immediate life changes harder. He and Wrigley will be able to get to Germany and hopefully find us a home. David will also be able to cross paths with the attorney he is taking over for. With our old departure date he was going to miss seeing the other attorney at all since he and his family are moving back to the states.

Because of David's departure, this puts a little extra work on my shoulders - not too much but it's still more than I want to do alone. I will juggle single parenthood again while we have 5 days of 3 different moving companies come to our place and in the middle of that Norah and I will be moving in with some family friends so we can still sleep in beds :) So, in the next week I'll have to get me, Norah & Evelyn's bags packed for our potentially two month hiatus from a dresser and home. Phew, it sounds unrestful but I'm thinking FREEDOM! Freedom from cleaning bathrooms, yard work and some dishes! I will certainly miss my sewing machine, the comfort and quiet of our home, and our wonderful yard but... I'll have my girl(s)!

Two homes that we've thought would be ours in Germany have fallen through. With the opportunity for David to be able to be in Germany instead of relying solely on internet and Skype calls we might be better in tune with what's available and right for our family.

In the midst of this wait we've had some wonderful times with friends here in Spokane. We're thankful for the extra days to savour here and explore the beautiful surrounding areas. We experienced our first Hoopfest - the city of Spokane shuts down blocks and blocks of streets so that people can play basketball! There were almost 500 courts and 27,876 players!! Can you see all the courts down this street? It was fun to walk around and see all the different ages participating in this once a year tradition!

A few weeks ago some very dear friends of mine threw me a baby shower! It was a true blessing to have my girlfriends celebrate Evelyn's life and bless us with a few essential diapers, adoption books and some other special gifts just for Evelyn! Here's a few of the ladies that attended:

Andi & Bekah

Carly, Jes, Amy & Amy

Steph & Me

And, one more thing I wish I could show you... we got new pictures AGAIN for Evelyn. She's growing up so fast and she's more beautiful each time we see her beautiful face. Her chubby cheeks are lessening just a bit and her thick black hair continues to grow! We can't wait to show her beautiful face to you all.

Here's a cute one of Norah and her best friend Clara. Each time we get in the car Norah says "Clara?" wondering if we're heading somewhere we might run into Clara. It's a good thing Clara's mama and I like each other too :)

he's 30

2011-06-29T21:00:00.000+02:00

In celebration of David entering a new decade we had a party! It was an awesome turn out with about 35 people! It was so wonderful to once again fill our yard and home with friends who have been like family to us this past year. What a blessed evening! We had a great spread of food and some fun yard games too :)

Amy, Mia & Karis, Asher, Amy, David & Carly

LOTS of fun people!

Jono's slack-line was of course a hit!

The Mahmood chicks and Jed

Car & me

And, here's David and Norah on our Father's day hike. It was a perfect day to celebrate David as a Dad and do something he loves. David, you are a really wonderful man and I love you with my whole heart. I'm so thankful that I met you 10 years ago this week! I am so privileged to be your partner in this journey of life. I love watching you interact with family and friends and especially they way you are with Norah. Thanks for changing my life! Happy birthday!

this is the life.

2011-06-27T22:17:00.000+02:00

We successfully completed our second summer at Kolnes Kove with both families! Remember how much fun was had last year?! So much has changed in our lives since then but it's nice to go back to a place that already holds so many special memories and will continue to hold memories for years to come.

The first long weekend we were with the Blomgrens!

L to R: Chuck, Karen, Norah, David, Kelly, Steve, Colleen (and baby), Kristin (and baby) and Keith

You can literally watch our family grow in the next 5 months as three babies will be added the Blomgren's - so fun!!

Colleen, Guiness, Steve and Norah - they are practicing for parenthood. Their baby is due at the end of July and are going to find out the day of delivery if it's a boy or girl! We cannot wait to meet our first niece or nephew :)

Keith and Kristin - also practicing for parenthood! They are having a BOY and due with baby boy in November. So fun to see both Colleen & Kristin's growing baby bellies.

Norah LOVED to honk the boat horn, thanks Uncle Steve :)

Sibs

In between the Blomgren's and Moselle's the Beckers drove to KK to visit! It was so fun to have a few precious days with our dear friends to chat, play games and boat!

A great view of the cabin: Joy reading on the couch, David video taping and Disko and Norah dancing!

The second long weekend with the Moselle side!

L to R: David, Norah, Kelly, Aaron, Diane, Randy, Kim & Nathan

Norah loved all the fun attention and food - lots of good food. In this picture my mom so wonderfully gave Norah some coffee (not the only Grandma thing she did... pop, gum and ice cream may have also been given)

Good cooks make for some great food!

David & Norah reading up on some Korean travel tips!

Game night!

Norah and I had one extra day in Minneapolis with my family. It was really fast but still great. We did a little shopping, baking bread with my aunt Dawn (above) and doing a little hand made jewelry time! My mom and I made jewelry for Evelyn's foster parents and a few other special adoption friends. Who doesn't love a hand-made gift!?

love them.

2011-06-23T16:29:00.000+02:00

It's so fun to get on the computer and find these up on the screen! Love it and love them.

My favorite.

will you pray?

2011-06-17T23:25:00.000+02:00

I don't want to make everything about us but... well, it's our blog so I guess it's to be expected! If you come to visit our blog you probably want to know what's going on and how we're doing, right?!

Today marks 4 weeks since Evelyn's EP (Emigrant Permit) was submitted. This is good news in someways... knowing approval should be any day, and bad news in other ways... since it's not been approved yet! We were praying for our travel call to come by Monday but that is now impossible since she still doesn't have her EP or visa.

Please pray with us on the timing of all the things ahead. We are getting down to the wire and praying and praying God grants us the desire to stay together as a family during this time. If things take too long David will head to Germany with Wrigley and me and the girls will follow behind once we get things set for Evelyn to leave the states. Timing is so essential and each and everyday that passes is really important to our process right now.

Another prayer request is our future housing situation. Since it's moving season for military and by the time we will arrive in Germany most people will have already moved and our housing options will be slim. We got an email today from a contact in Germany about a potential house. Please pray for wisdom in this decision about where to live and when to make the call (whether we should decide to take the house without seeing it in person or wait until we get there and take the chance at the house being taken).

Also, today our car left to be brought to the Seattle area to be shipped to Europe! We're really seriously moving there and some of our stuff is already on the way!

So many things on our minds. Lord help us to take it one thing at a time!

sis

2011-06-15T23:26:00.000+02:00

Every time Norah sees a picture of our Sweet Pea, she says "Sis!" or "issy" and it just makes us so happy that she knows Sweet Pea's face too!!

And now, after much deliberation, we've finally landed on a new first name for our Sweet Pea. This last week we were able to announce the name to both of our families and feel you all might want to know what we're call her, right?! Well, you can now call her Evelyn! And, crazy enough, it has a German origin!

We are having a really hard being patient right now as the four week mark approaches since Evelyn's EP was submitted! Why oh why do we have to wait for permits and visas?! I know there are reasons but they don't make any sense to a mother without her baby girl.

This past week we were enjoying time with both of our families in the middle of the north woods (more to come on that) and got a call from our Korea case manager. The agency in Korea sent new pictures and two videos of Evelyn!!! They are so awesome. I can't tell you how wonderful, and heart breaking it is to see the pictures and video. It's like having the pictures and video reminded us what we're missing out on all over again. We are truly truly thankful for these pictures and videos, they are sweet reminders of the interactions and love she is getting in Korea. God is good!

Will you please please pray for the EP to be approved TODAY and then pray that the visa (medical and interview) are schedule and happen at a record pace?! There are so many details we need to take care of and time is running so short - we really want David to be in the U.S. when we get the travel call, when we go to Korea and when we leave for Germany!

New stats on our girl:
11 months old
19 freakin' pounds!
8 teeth
She's pulling herself up on furniture and standing, but in the video you can tell she's not too strong --- hmmm, could it be because of the amount of weight!? :)

6.11.05 remembered.

2011-06-11T16:10:00.000+02:00

Six years of wedded love and so many fun adventures. What's life without love and adventure!?
Thank you David for choosing me. Being married to you reminds me again and again of Christ's love for me and how he too chose me to be his bride. I'm so blessed!

David is a loving, patient, funny, attentive husband. He is also a goofy, tender, protective father and that makes him an even better spouse. Thanks Babe for treating our relationship as something to treasure and putting effort into our continued time together. I'm so very in love with you and hope to keep on fallin'!

Happy anniversary my Love.

embrace the girly

2011-06-08T17:00:00.000+02:00

I've been trying to spruce up a few things for the girls room. We're not sure what the arrangements will be in Germany so I'm just planning on them sharing a room at this point. A few weeks ago I sold Norah's crib and dresser on Craig's list (for more than I bought it for!), and bought a slightly cheaper crib and toddler bed (hasn't arrived yet). I'm still working on getting a dresser and little girl clothes are everywhere at this point! Today I did a little research on making some custom bedspreads by yours truly (sew fun) and I'm sewing up some sheets (sew easy).

Last weekend at a garage-sale I got this itty bitty rocking chair for $4...

bought some pink spray
paint to match the bean bag (with a coupon) for about $2, and ended up with this...

Love it!!

I love creating things but I only have so much in me here and there so for now... I can handle a little spray paint and sewing. Check back with me in a few months when I have both my girls home and I'm in a foreign land :)

Wrigley hung out in the yard with me. This picture is funny cause he's trying to kiss me. I like him!

memorial day bike ride

2011-06-06T06:00:00.000+02:00

I biked over 14 miles, David biked over 20. I never bike. I'm ~~a little~~ a lot sore in the legs. But, I feel proud!

Memorial day we followed our wonderful friends, the Hooks, to the trail of Coeur d'Alenes. The morning started off very cold but warmed up during the second half of the bike trip. Now, the Jonathan this "trip" was like a warm up - I think he's known to do something like 50 miles of biking in any given day. He's just good like that. But for us, this was a trip but a really fun one at that.

After biking and chatting (Amy & I) we had a nice picnic lunch by the lake. Great memories and celebration on this Memorial day as we thank and remember those that sacrifice for our freedom.

Norah got a kick out of her ride and she pretty much ate and slept the whole time.

Norah and Clara just taking in the scenery in Idaho. These little girlies are adorable together, such a sweet little friendship at a young age. Love seeing them "talking" and laughing together.

grill it up!

2011-06-03T15:42:00.000+02:00

We had a great Saturday night with our friends the Pickerings & Hooks. God has blessed us abundantly with like minded families that love us and want to live life together. Here's a few pictures of our night grilling, slack-lining, talking, having s'mores and a bonfire.

Snugglin' with our girls: Norah & Kel - Clara & Amy

Dishing up some grub: Jono, Amy, David, Neal & Kelly

A little t-ball perhaps? Andrew, Clara & Levi

Great friends since college: Carly & Amy

The men: David, Jono & Neal

david's back!

2011-06-01T22:03:00.000+02:00

This is long overdue but I wanted to welcome David home! He was gone for 5 weeks for training for his new job as the Medical Law Consultant for the AF in Europe. He learned a lot and got a peak into what his job will be about when we move. So great for him to have the opportunity to get this training now since it's not offered very frequently. We missed him and wanted to welcome him home with some home made cinnamon rolls, thank you very much :)

Some quality time with Norah...

And Mommy too... date night! We hit up a greek restaruant and went down town for a brief shopping trip and a parade! It's been soooo wonderful to have our man home - for more reasons than getting the lawn mowed and his good looks :)

tick-tock, tick-tock

2011-05-30T21:25:00.000+02:00

I know it's only been a few days for you readers but for us as we wait for adoption news... it's felt like much more!

It seems as though nothing has really happened in our adoption case for about a month (according to our timeline) but each day we wait we hopefully move up in line. The whole Korean end of the process is a little beyond our understanding so we ask questions but mostly trust our expert case manager at WACAP.

The step we are on currently is getting Sweet Pea's Emigrant Permit. The way the agency in Korea gets children's EP's is they submit them in batches (along with other children who's families are ready to adopt). Since the EP's are submitted in batches the next batch is not able to be submitted until all the permits from the previous batch are returned. Each batches processing time differs (of course) but usually ranges between 2-5 weeks for approval. We've been hanging tight for almost 4 weeks just to have Sweet Pea's permit submitted, then we will have to wait for approval. I know, it's all a little confusing and we feel somewhat helpless as our days pass and we anxiously wait for news.

Once approved she will have a visa medical where she will see a special doctor (only certain doc's are certified to clear children for medical visas, and all children being adopted internationally from Korea need a visa medical). Whatever language that doctor uses to describe Sweet Pea goes onto a form that we have to sign and say we know all her medical history (again) - once signed this will be overnighted to the agency in Korea. THEN, she will be scheduled for her visa interview. This is basically an appearance where they officially clear her to travel and usually the day following the visa interview is when families get the call to come get their babies!

Sometime during all the aforementioned the agency in Korea also has applied for and probably received Sweet Pea's Korean passport.

In short, once the EP is approved bringing our baby girl home is very near! Phew!

Since we have so many pending life changes we've just continued to roll through our many check lists to get ready to travel to Asia again (5th time for Kel, 4th time for David) and get ready to move to Europe (1st time to Europe for Kel, 3rd time for David). We've been selling items online and buying things online and meeting up with beloved friends, starting many little piles for our trips ahead :)

I'm also excited to say that we have the gifts in order that we want to bring with us for the foster parents and Sweet Pea's social worker. We are excited to bless these people who have loved on and supported our daughter when we weren't able to. How do you thank someone for such an amazing gift?! It's nearly impossible.

*Update: We just found out (today is June 1st) that the EP was submitted on May 20th!!! We're so excited!

our friend, vinegar

2011-05-28T18:39:00.000+02:00

I've come to appreciate all the great uses around my home for vinegar! I know it sounds silly, but it's true. It's cheap, a gallon is about $2, and it's has many uses. Here are some of the ones I've found recently.

Fill your hot pot or coffee pot with 1 part vinegar 2 parts water and boil or run a cycle, this gets rid of all the mineral build up in the pots. Make sure you boil or run a full pot of water through after you do this so you don't have any vinegar taste the next time you use your hot pot or coffee pot.
Run a quick dish load in your dishwasher with only a bowl of vinegar, right side up, on the bottom rack. Again, this cleans your dishwasher from mineral build up.
Use vinegar as a rinsing agent in your dish washer instead of something like Jet Dry.
Make your own dishwashing detergent!
Put about a cup of vinegar in the bleach dispenser the washing machine if your towels or clothes smell musty (after 5+ years of marriage our towels are old and we almost bought new ones cause I thought they were getting old and stinky - this did the trick and helped save us some money!). Make sure you do an extra rinse cycle here too!
Pour vinegar in your toilet to help eat up the water line, let it sit while you sleep or are at work for the day

This is about all I've tried so far but there are apparently 1001 uses! I found this fun website with many more ideas about whitening your teeth, getting your pet to have shiny hair and many more. Check it out!

One more fun fact, in Germany they make vinegar from beer! That's hilarious since it seems like the Germans LOVE their beer. At least they've found other uses for it, besides just drinking!

submission to His timing

2011-05-24T23:06:00.000+02:00

Oh Lord, your ways are better than mine. Help me to embrace this truth not just in my mind, but in my heart too. We have seen you move and work through this adoption in only ways you could, but still I doubt your timing and discernment over our situation. Please change my heart oh Lord and help me to trust you and find peace through the wait. It's so hard to know that our little girl is without us (although, she doesn't know the difference) and growing and developing (hopefully!) in beautiful ways. We are thankful for those things, yet yearn for more instant gratification. Continue to teach me to let go and let you lead us and this process. I give this to you - but I promise, giving it to you doesn't mean I'm not still longing for the minute Sweet Pea is in my arms... thank you Lord for a mother's love and longing for her child to be home.

From another adoptive mom's blog: When it comes to adoption, (at least in our experiences so far) every time God moves he does it in a way that puts his glory on display, at least to me. God moves in me to pray, and then he listens. He cares about the state of my heart. He wants me to depend on him and watch him work. And then he comes through. Every single time.

I am longing to share a picture of our girl with you bug again, we aren't able to so... I'll leave you with what I can :) Remember this package we gathered for Sweet Pea? The most recent picture we received was her and her foster mom (so fun to see her too) and the items we fit in our one gallon bag - here's your sneak peak!

a breath of fresh air

2011-05-22T03:23:00.000+02:00

My wonderful parents drove over 20 hours to visit Norah and me! How awesome is that? It was a last minute decision as far as them coming--they just felt the need to visit Spokane in all it's glory in the spring and see us as much as possible before we live on the other side of the pond. Their visit really couldn't have been timed better. I needed my lawn mowed, basement organized, to make a Costco run, I was missing my man and overwhelmed with the thought of the move and I needed another woman to help me get the baby area ready for my Sweet Pea! Besides all the great stuff they helped me accomplish, we also did some walks and explored a a park or two for Norah's sake. It was fun showing off my city and showing off my parents to some of my friends. So proud of them both!

Aren't they cute?

Norah's really into walking and not being pushed, this particular day she wanted to push the stroller!

Cuties in hats.

reunited.

2011-05-19T16:01:00.000+02:00

Pictured above:

Jen, Me, Joy, Marybeth

Karen, Ashley, Laura

My wonderful Taylor girls have all played such unique roles in my life and walk with the Lord. I've only been able to attend two reunions and missed maybe five but the times we've reunited have been super sweet!

Reconnecting with friends who have walked through daily life with you, through getting married and having babies... it's a sweet sweet thing. I'm so thankful for these wonderful women who love the Lord and me!

Some highlights of the trip: talking until 4am (yikes!), eating lots of good food (what's a girls weekend without it!?), adding 4 more flights to Norah's list (it's quite exhausting, to say the least!), surprising the girls with David being in town (I'll explain) and surprising them with our move to Germany (they found out the same day you did) throwing Ashley a bridal shower, seeing David and Disko (otherwise known as Stephen) together giggling like little girls.

Here's how it all went down:

David was training in AL the week we got the call, he came home for a long weekend and quickly left for a month long training - in OH of all places!
Norah and I left the following day for the reunion.
Since we were only an hour from David, Disko picked him up late on Friday night and they arrived to suprise the girls! Then David spilled the beans about Germany to them. It was a fun way to announce the news.
I was so thankful to have a babysitter/David so I could hang with my girls :)
We had to say bye to David again.
We are almost done with the month long training (!!!!!) - then we can actually process the move and the impending changes!
Crazy.

a bean bag!

2011-05-18T04:17:00.000+02:00

I finished a super cute bean bag for my girls!

I mentioned that I was working on something with the cute fabric back in this post and here's the finished project. I love it and Norah seems to think it's pretty fun too :)

After I finished sewing, literally a few weeks ago, I was procrastinating on putting the bean bag pellets in the bag - it was a pain, but the end result is great so whatev.

The free pattern and fabric idea came from this blog, one of the creators of Michael Miller fabric!

On a total side note, I've had to use this website a few times recently, it's saved me from my 20 month old hiding me phone. Maybe it will come in handy for you too!

a bit overwhelmed.

2011-05-13T23:08:00.000+02:00

I cannot believe it's been literally a month since we found out we were moving, and two months since we first laid eyes on our Sweet Pea. I've cried everyday of this last month. I cry on the way to church, small group, and at both of those places too, while I'm driving, on the phone with dear friends, as I write emails, when I'm laying in bed at night processing, in the shower and during other daily things like cooking and vacuuming - sheesh, you'd think I was pregnant (I'm not)!

All the impending changes have been a really hard concept to wrap my brain around. I honestly feel completely overwhelmed. At the same time, I know that I can only do one thing at a time! In the past week I've been to the medical building on base 6 times, been to a doctor downtown and been to the dentist! There are a lot of clearances that need to take place in order to move overseas. The AF wants to make sure our family is in good health and that if we are not that the base in Germany can provide for our needs. So far we are all in good health so it shouldn't be a problem. You can certainly pray that our Sweet Pea doesn't have any needs that can't be met in Germany. If that's the case, we'll tackle that when the time comes.

We are planning on selling one, if not both of our cars, I'm trying to get the house ready for a new baby, we are organizing all the adoption stuff so that everything (that we can control) transitions smoothly once Sweet Pea is home (getting a lawyer in place to finalize, setting our social worker up so she can come visit us ASAP when we arrive back in the states, know which documents we need to get Sweet Pea a US passport immediately following her finalization). All the stuff I feel like our family shouldn't have to be worrying about during the transition of bringing a baby home. I'm not trying to complain, I'm just hoping I can let you in on some of the stresses we are feeling. It's hard to handle sometimes.

David gets more and more excited everyday about the move. I think I'm more of an ebb and flow kinda girl. I get excited one hour and the next I'm feeling total heart break as I think of leaving this amazing place. I would never want to fast forward my life and miss out on anything but, much like what I was feeling when David was deployed, I just want the hard parts to really short and soak in the good stuff. But, again... I want to savor. Savor my time with Norah. Savor this wonderful town and the nearness (although not that near) of family and savor my dear friends here in Spokane. Ah, so much to be thankful for.

Thanks for letting me vent. Sometimes I just need to let it out so it's off my chest!

Two highlights from my past week:

Mother's Day with my girl!

*Please note my SuperMom shirt!*

So blessed to have been with my amazing mom on Mother's day! What a gift from the Lord to have a strong, God-fearing, fun mom!!

toddler tip

2011-05-07T07:04:00.000+02:00

Randomly think of things I wish someone would give me tips on for parenting or mothering - nothing too serious, more practical stuff so, I thought I would share some of my 1.5 years of parenting knowledge with you once and a while. Fun right?

Q: How do I get my toddler's nails clipped without drawing blood or without a screaming tantrum?

Tip: Strap or ummm, put them in their high chair or booster seat and give them something good to eat. And usually for an extra distraction I turn on Word World :) This is how I get Norah's toe nails clipped and for the fingers... I wait until they start to tear off (kids nails are usually too soft to actually break).

Happy clipping!

In other amazing news... we got a new picture of our baby girl!!!!!!!!! She has a full head of beautiful hair - it's so much longer than the last pictures we have! WE LOVE IT! I wish I could post a picture for you to drool over :)

children's day

2011-05-05T05:22:00.000+02:00

Today, May 5th, Korea celebrates Children's Day , which celebrates children of all ages. It was founded by the Korean children's writer Pang Chong-hwan in 1923 as a way to instill in the children a sense of independence and national pride and became a public holiday in 1975. Children's Day highlights the dignity of children and their need for love, care and respect. It is also a day to honor adults that have contributed to improving the lives of children. Many cities have parades and public activities and museums, zoos, amusement parks, and movie theaters offer free admission to children. Traditional games, such as yut are played. Gifts are given to children from their parents and from stores that the children visit during Children's Day. - WACAP

The board for the game Yut

*Image from Wikipedia

In other happenings we have an official I600 approval (!!!!!) from USCIS Homeland Security and are completely cleared to bring Sweet Pea home. Things are just falling into place and we should be able to travel, Lord willing, in 6-12 weeks. Obviously we are praying hard to travel in 6 weeks which would fall around June 13th :)

With all the life changes coming up we are just overwhelmed with knowing how to process everything! I have moved on from crying throughout each day to just being a little numb and overwhelmed. David and I were just talking about how we aren't sure where to focus our energy. There is so much to be done in order to prepare for the move and so many emotions surrounding it all but yet, there is so much surrounding the joyful arrival of our baby girl's homecoming! I don't want to miss out on any opportunity to love and welcome Sweet Pea home, this is the one and only chance we get but... at the same time I don't want to miss the opportunity to gracefully leave Spokane and enter into living over seas. Maybe these anxieties are just a distraction from what I'm really supposed to be putting my energy into. It's all very confusing and coming on so fast! Am I making any sense!?

I feel good that we've gotten these things done for the move:

*Scheduled physicals for Norah and myself

*Sheduled our International Drivers Permit test (eek!, autobahn here we come!)

*Applied for our military passports

*Booked our tentative flights for July 25th
*Dental appointments

he is risen!

2011-05-02T15:50:00.000+02:00

He is risen indeed!

Sorry for the delay in our beautiful Easter celebration pictures!

We went to church, sat on the porch in the sun and played in the yard then headed over to our wonderful friend's house for desert, and easter egg hunt and time together. What blessed day to celebrate our Jesus being alive and active in our lives!

Kathleen & Amelia, Amy & Clara (this is the only pic I have and her eyes are closed), Kelly & Norah

And this was after Easter but still, so cute!

change of plans.

2011-04-30T00:26:00.000+02:00

Good ol' Uncle Sam has surprised us again.
David got a call from the Pentagon with a job offer we couldn't pass up.
With a lot of heartache, tears and excitement, we're trying to wrap our minds around the fact that we're moving to Germany in July!
It's been a whirlwind week. The morning David got the call he was asked to accept the offer or turn it down within the work day - emotions have been running high since that call.

We are feeling deeply saddened to leave Spokane and the amazing friends we have here. God has richly blessed us during the last 9 months in WA and worked miracles with the speed of us getting so deeply connected to friends, church and home group. We are still processing and grieving this loss but we know that wonderful things are in store for our little family over in Europe!

The time remaining in WA will be short since we have a trip planned back to the midwest and David now has new job training he is already attending in OH. Like I said, whirlwind!

The most important thing any of you can do is to pray for our adoption process. Please pray hard with us. With the move happening so close to bringing our Sweet Pea home it could become a logistical nightmare. Thankfully, God is in control! Pray that the timing of our travel call and all the craziness that has to happen before Sweet Pea can leave the country can happen smoothly and swiftly and well before David would have to go to Germany sans his family.

don't forget...

2011-04-27T05:45:00.000+02:00

This week is your last chance to buy something from this shop and proceeds to go toward bringing Sweet Pea home! If you can't buy, at least take a looksie :) Hope you are having a great week!

These cutie birds are for sale along with these birds too, I adore them.

to fly, or not to fly...

2011-04-25T23:15:00.000+02:00

Not to fly is NOT an option for most military families. since we live hours and hours from our beloved family we have given the "lap child" (children under two fly free) a run for their money.

Norah has been on 24 flights to date! She's quite the expert flyer.

This time around was a little more complicated due to really early flights and her being a toddler wanting to walk around and play with everything in sight.

So, purely for your entertainment these are the things that make me feel like super mom...

1. Norah eats food off of the airplane floor - more than once

2. Norah lays in the isle face down because she's so tired

3. Norah has a complete and utter melt down due to exhaustion - clawing mom and screaming/crying

4. Mom has to pee once norah finally sleeps

5. Mom gets up, pee's in the airplane bathroom and washes her hands all while norah stays asleep in her arms! This is the best accomplishment!!! Although, on a previous trip I changed a poopie diaper on my lap because there was no changing table in the bathroom (ummm, how absurd is that?)!

Once we arrived in IL we had wonderfully blessed time visiting family and just being loved on. Thank you Blomgren's for hosting us and making us feel oh so loved.

Norah playing peek-a-boo with David's cousin Erin!

One of many crazy pictures I have of Chuck chasing Norah around the house :)

It's hard to capture a posed picture with anyone these days.

One of the days we visited IL my mom drove in from MN to visit with us! I love the memory and vision of my Mom and MIL sitting on the couch knitting together.

Norah in a Swedish hat from her Grandma's childhood. Does she look tired or what?!

Bird watching with the old folks :)

So many cuddles for Uncle Steve

I was so happy we could spend an evening in Chicago visiting Steve and Colleen - and seeing my first niece or nephew popping out of Colleen's belly :) Can't wait to meet "Baby B"

Cousin Sarah also stopped by to visit a little!

Although traveling alone with a toddler isn't much fun - it was so worth the trip, hence the wonderful pictures. We missed David and wished he could have come too but he was busy working hard for our family taking some legal class in Alabama!

third day, children of god

2011-04-20T18:03:00.000+02:00

We love Third Day - what a beautiful song and music video! Enjoy.

not a taco pizza

2011-04-17T23:59:00.000+02:00

A few weeks ago my friend posted a recipe for Black Bean Pizza! I asked her if I could share her family recipe for Taco Pizza on the blog since it was so good and she said -yes, as long as you don't call it "taco pizza" - oops!

Here's my fancy picture and her yummy recipe!

Crust:

Dissolve 2 teaspoons yeast in 1 c. warm water (let soften a few minutes)

Add:

*1 teaspoon sugar

*1 teaspoon salt

*2 Tablespoons oil

*2 cups white flour

*1/2 c. whole wheat flour

Knead a few minutes, then rest a short time (15 minutes)

Roll out and bake @ 425 degrees for five minutes before adding the sauce & toppings

Sauce:

In food processor or blender combine:

*one can black beans, rinsed and drained

*3 Tablespoons olive oil

*2 Tablespoons chopped, fresh cilantro (or more!)

*1 teaspoon cumin

*1 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce

*1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

Spread bean mixture on pre-baked pizza crust. Add the following toppings:

*small can sliced olives, drained

*1/2 c. or more diced red bell pepper

*1/4 c. sliced green onions

*8 oz. jack/cheddar blend cheese

Bake at 425 degrees for 7-12 more minutes. Serve with sour cream and salsa!

a gift for sweet pea.

2011-04-13T23:20:00.000+02:00

You know we were excited to send Sweet Pea a package!

We had to fit this all into a 1 gallon ziplock! We did it.

Handmade sweater by Sweet Pea's Nana, a lovie (blanket), two disposable camera's, a toy, robeez, a cute outfit to match and a photo-book (not pictured).

We bought the shirt, pants and socks new but she's already getting hand-me-downs since the sweater, shoes and lion toy were all Norah's... oh the life of a younger sibling!

I've had a list of ideas for a package to send our baby once we got a referral - I guess I've been excited for our referral for a while since we thought, we wouldn't be sending our baby a package for another year!!

one.

2011-04-11T23:56:00.000+02:00

it's been one month.

one month since we talked to the doctor about Sweet Pea's needs.

one month since we felt total unity about moving forward with adopting Sweet Pea.

one month since we called our agency to tell them the awesome news.

ONE MONTH since we truly started the agonizing wait.

one month down, the Lord only knows how many more until we have her in our arms.

good start!

things that make my heart beat faster

2011-04-07T22:13:00.000+02:00

*Disclaimer* pardon the mess that is a home with an 18 month old.

Norah exploring... without even a diaper on... that's how we roll :)

REALLY loving shoes these days - these ones came in the mail from Grandma!

Smiles for the camera during her morning smoothie!

Reading Norah's favorite book, and always the lady with her sweet ankles crossed!

And, my handsome husband :)

And, last but NOT least my Sweet Pea.

who we have almost certainly picked a name for

who is waiting for us without a clue that we exist

who has the most pouty full lips - soooo kissable

who is going to explore with norah, love shoes (all girls do right?), and read books with her daddy

who is loved beyond measure by her heavenly father

and who we anxiously wait for...

she. makes. my. heart. beat. faster.

jitters

2011-04-06T20:50:00.000+02:00

I just got off the phone with our agency. Every time I talk to someone there about our Sweet Pea I get all nervous and jittery! It's like excitement and emotions are just over flowing. I swear, I'm always trying not to cry when I'm talking to them about Sweet Pea. I love that I feel so excited and emotional about her - just confirms in my mama heart how dear she already is to me.

There are so many legal, visa, passport and immigration things to get through before we can travel. None of it is in our hands... we wait... and we'll wait some more as we pray for everything to happen swiftly. So many hoops to jump through and rules to follow. But, as our case manager reminded me today - it's all in the interest of the child and for her protection as they release her into our care. I love that they protect her and care about her well being. Thank you Lord.

The next two pictures are from the week we moved to Washington. The exact age Norah is in these pictures (8.5 months) is the age Sweet Pea is right now! Still such a baby girl :)

sewing and loving it!

2011-04-04T17:00:00.000+02:00

I'm still having a blast sewing so I thought I would share some of my recent creations! I hope that my new passion inspires you to create something too!

I got the rest of my projects from my One Yard Wonders book - I've basically been sewing my way through it since one yard isn't too intimidating for a new seamstress!

A small dog bed for Radar, my parents dog. He apparently loves it!

I made this smock of all ages for Norah and a twin one for a friend of hers but... it's going to be too big for them both so maybe I'll save it and have my two baby girls to match!? YES, I think I will!

And the flouncy bag for a very dear friend - it's in the mail as I type! I hope she likes it because I LOVE the fabric!

AND, my favorite thing I've made so far! I finished this bag today and it's awesome! I feel very proud. I've been eyeing the pattern in the book since I got it for Christmas but... just hadn't found the right fabric. I found fabric that I like but don't love. Now that I've made the bag and love the shape, I may have to make another one (if I can find fabric I love). It fits a lot but it's not a huge purse - I fit a 100 count wipe container, a disposable diaper, a magazine, gum, keys, pen, hand sanitizer and there was still room for more! You can see that there is a magnetic closer for the top which I really like, it somehow makes it seem more professional! Okay, I'll stop talking about the folklore bag now!

Now I'm working on something REALLY fun for my girls with the below fabric! Stick around and I'll show you what comes of it! Yippy!!

So, what are you working on? Anything new?! Share!!

sweet!

2011-03-31T23:00:00.000+02:00

A few weeks ago I got an email from a new blog friend! She wrote about her love for adoption and orphan care and how she wanted to bless our little family and help us bring home Sweet Pea - What!? What? She was a total stranger until I got this email and just introduced herself and offered to give us some of the proceeds from her etsy shop!

We thought - sweet! Literally, her store is named Dulcitas: Little Sweets for the Home

Anything purchased during the month of April will directly help bring Sweet Pea home. Nicole has offered to donate 25% of her profit for the whole month to our adoption! Please go shopping! I thought it would be fun if you got to know her a little and see a few of her little sweets, just to whet your appetite.

Nicole, tell us what a typical day for you looks like.

Coffee. Reading in Bed (right now I'm reading through the gospels). Then, I go to work. I work at a Writing Center at a community college and spend my day working with students on their writing projects. After work, I zip around and pick up my hubby from school, entertain the dog, cook food, and catch up on blog reading. On some days, I scrounge around at thrift stores, pick up little goodies, and revamp them. At the end of the day, we like to spend some time chatting and catching up!

What would a perfect day look like in your book?

I would love to start my day enjoying a fresh cup of joe with my husband. Then, I'd probably go take the pup to the dog park (which is a good idea for all of us) and grab some ice cream cones on the way home. I like to be a little productive each day, so I would also probably dabble in a little project and then take a snooze in a hammock. I'd love to end the day with an outing with our friends at our favorite little tex-mex place or coffee shop. Is summer here yet?

What's your inspiration for your work?

Well, there's a little thrill for me to see old (maybe even ugly) things become cute and stylish. Also, this process is a picture for me of how Christ renews us and restores us. I'm constantly reminded of this as I'm working on a piece. It has gone from old to new! Also, since beginning the adopting family of the month, I'm inspired and driven by the desire to promote lovely things and help lovely families!

Where do you see your shop in a year from now?

I hope that the shop continues to grow with both vision and purpose. I hope that more people enjoy my products and that this, in turn, helps more families! I also hope that I will keep up the creative process and only do as much as I enjoy doing. I don't want Dulcitas to become a "have-to" job, but continues to be an outlet for creativity and also a fun way to connect with and bless others!

I think that's it!

For more of Nicole's cute stuff, shop here!

adoption banned because of christian beliefs

2011-03-30T15:32:00.000+02:00

We discovered a sad, but true, ruling by the UK High Court in February. The court ruled that a couple that have been foster parents to 15 children can no longer be foster parents. Why? Because their Christian belief that homosexuality is a sin is a threat to children! Not only is this ruling ridiculous (why on earth would a government not want a child to go to a loving home?), it is a sign of how we have placed political correctness on such a high pedestal that we've lost sight of rational thinking. As Jim Daly said on the subject, "Surely the news out of the UK startles, but doesn't shock. The Bible tells us that godly wisdom will be regarded as foolishness and that what is good will be called evil." We hope and pray that this type of backwards thinking does not make its way across the pond.

*To find out more about this, go here (Focus on the Family blog), or here (BBC article).

the lean in.

2011-03-29T00:25:00.000+02:00

I LOVE how she leans into me!

how far? how fast? how long?

2011-03-25T19:13:00.000+01:00

Isn't it ironic that there's a sign that points to Korea from downtown Spokane?! It's fun to see little reminders of how "close" we are to our Sweet Pea.

Surely in the next few months we'll be asking how far? how fast? how long? like the song from Switchfoot - oh the memories! Feeling so thrilled to travel to Asia again, cannot wait to set foot in that part of the world as we love it SO much - but also, knowing we get to touch and see and smell our little girl, aaahhh! Makes us giddy.

And, even though we are greatly anticipating the day we get to bring our baby home, we are now cherishing our time with only one daughter to dote and love on. We want to soak in this two-on-one parenting we get for only a little longer!

paperland!

2011-03-23T20:50:00.000+01:00

Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement, they have all meant so much to us during this whirlwind of wonderful news and change on the horizon! We've been busy little bee's since we last wrote. We officially received Sweet Pea's referral package in the mail and had A LOT of paperwork to read over, contracts to sign, pictures to hold on to and more background and medical information!

On Sunday we planned to work hard on applying for another grant and another loan, in case we aren't rewarded any more money. Instead, we poured ourselves into finishing the referral paperwork and then on Monday we had the 14 documents notarized and sent off the referral package. Phew! It feels good to have that done. Once our agency received it, they finished up the package and sent it off to Seoul! From my understanding, once S.Korea receives this package our 3-6 month wait (for the call to bring our baby girl home) officially begins.

{Our second t-shirt order arrived and I got the packages out - David's passport expires this month, oops we filed for a new one and in the pile of papers are 8 pictures of our Sweet Pea! I'm dying to share them with you. Can't wait.}

Through the last few days we've finished up the grant and loan applications - they have a lot of deep questions that we have to answer in length so it just takes a bit of time. Praying God paves the way to finish our payments to the agency soon! Since we received our referral so quickly we were caught off guard by the payments. The agency sent us our final bill stating we needed to pay the rest of the money for the adoption, including finalization fee's and everything (even though that could be a year from now). We feel so much peace about all this and know that God will provide.

Last Monday, the day we heard officially from S.Korea that our match for set - we received WONDERFUL news! We were awarded a grant from Show Hope - can it be any more clear that we are on the right path here? It was such a confirmation that He will provide a way to bring our Sweet Pea home. Hip hip hooray!

It’s a girl… AGAIN!!

2011-03-17T16:00:00.000+01:00

We have big news, HUGE news, exciting, thrilling and down right crazy awesome news… OKAY OKAY I'll tell you --- our baby GIRL is waiting in Seoul for us!!!!!!

As you know, we were planning on waiting 10-14 more months for a referral but, God obviously had other plans for our family! Yippy!

Here’s a quick look into what’s been going on behind the scenes:

Thursday evening March 3rd: We received our weekly email from our agency updating us on any changes for the Korea program usually just filling us in on any families that traveled to S.Korea or if any families were matched with a child ("referral") and sometimes a little shout out for a child who hasn’t been matched with a family yet. In this particular email there was a little bit of information on our Sweet Pea. After we got the email we wrote an email back to the agency asking for more details about her.

Tuesday midday March 8: We are thrilled to finally hear back from the agency with the file of information and pictures – 8 pictures!!! During Tuesday and Wednesday our minds were wheeling and our emotions were a little up and down but we prayed… talked… sought wisdom and direction and continued to feel the peace of the Lord through the situation and decision.

Thursday morning March 10: We decided to move forward with the next step! We scheduled a pre-adoption consult with a pediatric adoption specialist at the University of Washington – usually the appointments aren’t available for 2-4 business days but they just “happen” to have one for Friday morning!
At this point, we felt very confident that this little girl had been hand picked for our family because many of our thoughts and feelings were in line with each other and we didn’t feel fearful over anything about HER (we were told there was a 98% chance we were getting a boy - talk about a change of mindset, but you know we love girls!)!

Friday morning March 11: We spoke with the pediatrician and have a very encouraging conversation about Sweet Pea’s medical history and all the other information we have on her. Following the call, we decide that yes (!!!!!!!!) we will tell the agency she belongs in our family.

Saturday and Sunday we fill our family in on the exciting news!

Monday afternoon March 14: We officially hear from Korea that they are thrilled to have a match and informed our daughter’s foster family and that they too were thrilled!

Basically, since this all happened so fast and so much sooner than we expected we have just needed a few days to let it all soak in. It’s been a whirlwind and we have been so excited this whole time, but also a little overwhelmed with the thought of so many changes happening in our NEAR future.

Like I said, we really feel God’s hand in the timing of this and want to lean farther into that peace He offers when we feel anxious or afraid.

Hopefully I can answer a few questions you might have:

How old is she?

She's eight months old, only 10 months younger than Norah! It's going to be a beautiful relationship between them - that might mean some interesting teen years for mom and dad though :)

What's her name?

The social worker gave her a Korean name and we are considering a few English names and trying to decide on a simple but unique new first name. For now, we'll call her our Sweet Pea.

What are you waiting for, go get her!

We're waiting for Korean immigration mostly. We know that the agency in Seoul has already filed for the next step in the process but nothing can proceed until our fingerprints are processed - we don't know the average time but we got fingerprinted about two weeks ago. We are also waiting for the official referral package in the mail along with paperwork that we need to complete (yeah, more paperwork!).

So, when will she be home?

Lord willing soon but, typically between 3 and 6 months from referral time - that puts us between June and September.

Tell us her stats!

Birth date: July 14, 2010

Weight at birth: 6.5 lbs.

Weight recently: 16.5 lbs.

She's got lot of beautiful black hair, and stunning almond shaped eyes - oh and how could I forget, those chubby cheeks!!

Where's her picture?!

Since things are not final we are not allowed to post pictures, so sorry! Now you get to have a lesson on patience :)

wonderful weekend!

2011-03-14T23:47:00.000+01:00

We had an awesome weekend - praise the Lord! Let's see... Friday a friend offered to babysit Norah for us so we went to a local museum and then a cute little Italian place. We loved our time away from life and just time to chat!

Saturday we all slept in (which means sleeping until around 8:30 these days) and I picked up our bountiful basket and we took time to sit and read. We decided to get outside and enjoy the 45 degree weather - we visited a dog park and a walking trail near our place then grabbed some local coffee on the way home! We skyped family, had pizza and watched The Social Network.

Sunday was equally as great - a wonderful service at church, crock pot bbq lunch, more skype dates, worked on adoption grant applications and just spent time being together. We are so blessed!

Hope your weekend was relaxing and filled with moments to relax!

a 2am feeding

2011-03-12T00:11:00.000+01:00

Sometimes between 2am and 4am Norah wakes up hungry (now, if you know me more intimately you also know that I wake up starving, like every day and sometimes in the middle of the night - I literally get up to eat and then go back to sleep). Last night was one of those nights. This silly girl was wide away with hunger pains - we know which cries mean what!

I went in to get her/to fill her tummy up and she whispers "hi" then I said it back and she says "hi mama" all SO CUTE even for 2am :)

We headed to the kitchen in the dark, made some toast and she chowed down a whole banana and poof, problem solved. When we tip toed back up to her room I said "night night" and she leaned into her crib and went tummy down right away without a peep. I love her oh so much.

fundraising update

2011-03-09T22:22:00.000+01:00

Two Sunday's ago we were blessed to share a little about our adoption and sell some coffee and t-shirts at church! It was so fun to meet new people and to get others involved in bringing home our little one.

Even if we didn't sell much it would have been a success, but we did sell much :)
We sold 8 bags of coffee and, we sold 17 t-shirts!
PLUS a few BLESSED people just felt in their heart to donate a little extra. We are so humbled and honored to be a part of this journey. Thank you to everyone who has donated, bought something and prayed for us along the way already! Don't stop, we still need your help - please pray that we would be blessed with a grant or no interest loan to nudge us a little closer toward our ending goal - also pray for wisdom and direction through the rest of our waiting period on the referral list. We are anxious to see what God brings our way!

We've sold around 150 bags of coffee!
We've sold 109 t-shirts and have about 40 more sitting here ready to ship so shoot me an email!

Thank you for all your support, we are feeling the cyberspace hug!