November 5, 2010
November 1, 2010
November is Adoption Awareness Month
When we began our adoption journey, I came across this writing by Brenna Fay Rhodes. I think it's true for many to whom the path to parenthood has not been easy. It is even more poignant to me now that we're home with our 3 blessings. There are many children still in need of permanent families. The process isn't easy, but I am thankful we took that first step. I am thankful for our children. I am thankful that each of their birth mothers allowed them to be born, that she allowed for them to be adopted, and that she gave us the gift of a family. We know her decisions were not easy. Adoption is a blessing that starts with a birth mother's loss. We honor her, and we are so thankful for the choices she made.
We Are So Blessed
We are so blessed. We have the opportunity to pray and wait and plan and hope and dream and work for our child. Circumstances don't allow us to take our child for granted ~ ever. We do all these things for so long and at such great emotional cost, that when our child is finally in our arms, we truly cherish every minute. Every second.
We are blessed to be in our child's life. We are blessed that God planned for us to be a family, and that we were given the opportunities that brought us together. We get to see all the best parts of mankind in our wonderful children. All the goodness and potential and innocence and ambition and confidence and love. And what a beautiful sight that is.
We are blessed to have run this race. It is long, and very often it is practically impossible to complete. But we run anyway, and believe in ourselves and our child enough to the do the impossible. We run, knowing that at the end of this great race, a child is waiting for a chance at a wonderful life. And we get to be the ones to give him that life. Wow.
We are blessed that when our child laughs, we are the ones to hear it. And when our child cries, we are the ones she looks for. When our child feels pain or joy or accomplishment or excitement, he shares it with us. We are needed and wanted. And we are blessed.
We are so blessed to have had the chance to see life from a different angle. To see that things don't always go as you planned them out in 5th grade ~ because there are better things in store. To be part of the few who feel constantly misunderstood. To be the one always on guard against the rude or ignorant comment. To feel the frustration of not having the perfect comeback to that comment until three hours later. Our kids can use those experiences and lessons we have learned. We are deeper, stronger, more compassionate people because of this journey. And the world our children live in is better, because we grow in those ways.
Our child is blessed. He is patted and hugged and nestled and rocked and kissed and squeezed and taught and tickled and corrected and praised. He is told he is precious in God's eyes. She is certain of her value in our eyes. And she never wonders if she will be cared for tomorrow or the next day. She sleeps comfortably at night, safe in our care.
We should tell our children we are proud. We saved and scrimped, prayed and begged, planned and schemed, worked and worried. We hoped endlessly for them. We dedicated years of our lives to finding them, followed God's path to them, waited in His time for them, then brought them home to their forever family. We gave our whole hearts to our child, even before we ever saw his precious face. Now that is love.
We Are So Blessed
We are so blessed. We have the opportunity to pray and wait and plan and hope and dream and work for our child. Circumstances don't allow us to take our child for granted ~ ever. We do all these things for so long and at such great emotional cost, that when our child is finally in our arms, we truly cherish every minute. Every second.
We are blessed to be in our child's life. We are blessed that God planned for us to be a family, and that we were given the opportunities that brought us together. We get to see all the best parts of mankind in our wonderful children. All the goodness and potential and innocence and ambition and confidence and love. And what a beautiful sight that is.
We are blessed to have run this race. It is long, and very often it is practically impossible to complete. But we run anyway, and believe in ourselves and our child enough to the do the impossible. We run, knowing that at the end of this great race, a child is waiting for a chance at a wonderful life. And we get to be the ones to give him that life. Wow.
We are blessed that when our child laughs, we are the ones to hear it. And when our child cries, we are the ones she looks for. When our child feels pain or joy or accomplishment or excitement, he shares it with us. We are needed and wanted. And we are blessed.
We are so blessed to have had the chance to see life from a different angle. To see that things don't always go as you planned them out in 5th grade ~ because there are better things in store. To be part of the few who feel constantly misunderstood. To be the one always on guard against the rude or ignorant comment. To feel the frustration of not having the perfect comeback to that comment until three hours later. Our kids can use those experiences and lessons we have learned. We are deeper, stronger, more compassionate people because of this journey. And the world our children live in is better, because we grow in those ways.
Our child is blessed. He is patted and hugged and nestled and rocked and kissed and squeezed and taught and tickled and corrected and praised. He is told he is precious in God's eyes. She is certain of her value in our eyes. And she never wonders if she will be cared for tomorrow or the next day. She sleeps comfortably at night, safe in our care.
We should tell our children we are proud. We saved and scrimped, prayed and begged, planned and schemed, worked and worried. We hoped endlessly for them. We dedicated years of our lives to finding them, followed God's path to them, waited in His time for them, then brought them home to their forever family. We gave our whole hearts to our child, even before we ever saw his precious face. Now that is love.
October 31, 2010
Happy Halloween!
We had so much fun this Halloween with our little lion cubs and monkey! The twins made it to 3 houses before we brought them back in. Grandma and Grandpa held down the fort so we could take Quin around the neighborhood. Anyone need any candy?
October 30, 2010
Zoo Halloween!
On Saturday we visited the MN Zoo with Josh and Sam! It was fun to see all the cute little kids dressed in their Halloween costumes. Quin got really warm in his lion costume so he didn't end up wearing it for long. They all had so much fun!
October 28, 2010
Preschool Pumpkin Party
Quin made this adorable pumpkin costume in his preschool class! He is so excited about Halloween. And check out his fantastic pumpkin painting. He loves preschool!
October 27, 2010
Flashback!
I was looking through pics and here is one from Quin's finalization 2 years ago! Who knew 2 years later we'd be a family of 5!
October 21, 2010
Finalization!
Today we had our court date for finalizing our adoptions. Teagan and Caden are officially in our family! We love you guys!
October 20, 2010
SHINee(샤이니)_RingDingDong(링딩동)
Eat Your Kimchi often has a Kpop Music Monday, where they review a current Korean pop song / band. As English teachers in Korea, they comment on the band's proper use of English and just do a fun review. Today's was SHINee's new song, Hello. Which got us thinking about our favorite SHINee song from this spring when we were traveling, RingDingDong. Is it just me, or are these guys all cute!
October 19, 2010
Leaf Pile
We don't have enough leaves in our yard. (Really, we don't!) So Quin went next door and raked a few wagon fulls to make himself a nice little leaf pile. Thanks for sharing your leaves Pat and Peter!
October 12, 2010
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