It's Official!

Bethany's adoption is finalized!

Prior to finalization, Bethany was under the legal guardianship of our adoption agency, and we were essentially her foster parents for the past 8 months 2 weeks and 3 days. As of this afternoon, all that changed within mere minutes inside the judge's chambers.

Being sworn in.

 

As soon as Judge Henning signed the adoption order for Bethany, we were not only granted permanent and legal custody of her, but she also became a citizen of the United States, gained an American name and took on our family name. Talk about the power of the pen!

 We also left bearing two gifts from the courthouse. No pun intended. :)

It was definitely a day to celebrate, so we had a mini-celebration back at home.

We've been really conservative about giving her sweets, but I figured I'd let her go to town on this very special day.

Surprisingly, she just daintily picked at the frosting and decorations, so big brother had to step in and show her how it was done.

It would be an understatement to say that she enjoyed it.

Happy finalization day Bethany!

You have been my daughter from the very moment I saw your referral picture, and now it feels good to know the courts acknowledge it too. :)

November is National Adoption Month

A fellow adoptive Mom put this video together in celebration of National Adoption Month, and our family is priviledged to have been included. Please take a few moments to see some of the families that have been brought together by adoption.

You are welcome to pass this video along and visit http://nationaladoptionmonth.blogspot.com/ for a daily feature on an adoptive family all through the month of November.

Friends - Old and New

Meet Lisa.

Meet Judy.

I first met Lisa and Judy at church when I was in college. After they moved on to different churches, I only saw them occasionally at various social events.

Recently, we were reunited once again thanks to a very special event in our lives. All three of us brought our little girls home from Korea within the past year! We decided to meet up for a playdate, but it essentially turned into a photo shoot with our three precious girls.

"Hi. What's your name?"

 New Friends
Naomi, Bethany and Ella

The Fruit Bowl

Earlier this month we went over to Esther and Eugene's beautiful home for a surprise party. One of the first things I noticed when I walked in was their fruit bowl. It looked so yummy and luscious that I asked Eugene if they were real. Fortunately for Bethany, they were.

 Love at first sight!

 After she devoured quite a number of grapes, I thought it was best to stop so we could leave some for the other guests who had not yet arrived.

Since Mommy said "all done", this is what baby girl resorted to.

"I might as well go for the candy dish too."

After witnessing her attempts to eat the bowl, I gave in.
Wouldn't you? :)

Happy 18 months Bethany!
We love you.

Back to School

My little man finally went back to school today. 

He started the day with one of his favorites - chocolate pancakes.
(he was so tired from waking up at 6:30am)

Ready to go off and conquer the 3rd grade.

I can't believe how quickly the years have passed. It made me think back to his other first days of school so I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane and share them with you.

Pre-K

Kindergarten

 1st grade

2nd grade 

 

We hope you have a wonderful year Austin!

We love you so much.

One Year Ago...

I saw my daughter's face for the first time.

This is the call that forever changed our family.

I was more than happy to give up my #1 spot on the Holt web forum. :)

So excited to be a big brother.

Here's the blog post I wrote on my old site:

September 8, 2009
After nearly a year absence from Xanga, I am back and for good reason.
At 10:40am I got a call from what my caller id said "Private Caller". It turned out to be our social worker telling us the wonderful news that we had received a referral for a baby girl.

I had planned out our last day before school with a lot of errands. I expected us to be out most of the day and was upstairs on the computer printing out some coupons for a store we were going to (Michael's). Austin and I were dressed and ready to leave and I was printing out my last coupon when the phone rang. The caller id read "PRIVATE CALLER" and I hesitated before I picked up. Thank goodness I answered because it was our social worker calling to tell us that we received a referral for a baby girl! One can only imagine my utter shock and disbelief. I had fully expected to wait quite a bit longer for a referral. She gave me some initial information about her including her name and birth date and told me to check my email for pictures and more information. She also said the agency would be sending me paperwork to complete through email so I was to check for it within the next few minutes. As soon as we hung up I asked Austin to come upstairs and called Sam. My heart was literally pounding with excitement and nervousness as I told both Sam and Austin at the same time. I quickly checked my email but didn't open it. I first forwarded it to Sam because I wanted all three of us to see her for the first time together and for us to read about her together. Sam was on the speaker phone and together we read about our little girl and saw her face for the first time. I could barely contain myself - I was laughing, giggling, repeating every other minute, "Isn't she so cute. I think she's so cute!"  Austin kept repeating "Oh my... oh my... she's so cute." and Sam was mostly silent, quietly processing the entire situation, still in disbelief.

After finally getting off of the phone with Sam, my head was spinning. I quickly determined that my errands could be done some other day and basically spent the better part of the day staring at her picture, reading about her over and over again, and looking over all the paperwork that now needed to be done.

We have waited so long for this day to come (4 years, 5 months, 1 week and 2 days to be exact) and so many times I wondered if it would ever come. Through the ups and downs of our entire adoption process, God has been good and faithful. 

God was good and faithful

• when we made the decision to adopt back in 2004.
• when Korea denied our application due to my health condition.
• when He opened the doors for us to adopt through China.
• when I developed kidney disease and we decided to put our adoption on hold.
• when my kidneys improved over a year later and we were able to return to the China program.
• when we completed all our paperwork and were officially on the China wait list.
• when the wait times for China were doubling and tripling in length and it felt like my heart could take it no longer.
• when we made the difficult decision to exit the China program and reapply to Korea.
• when Korea accepted our application the second time around. 

And now one year later, God continues to show us that He is and always will be a good and faithful God.

Bethany at 17 months

Bethany is now 17 months and has been with us for almost 7 months. She is such a joy and even though adding one more to our family was and continues to be a big transition, we are all so thankful to have Bethany in our lives. I can't imagine our family without her!

My last update was when she was 14 months old and although much remains the same, she's also changed in so many ways. Unfortunately, her adorable happy dance is a thing of the past as I can't even remember the last time she's done it. About a month ago, her well known "ho ho...." stopped altogether and I regret not taking video of it. I knew she wouldn't do these things forever but it's just another reminder of how quickly our children change and grow right before our eyes.

She still loves food and has never refused or disliked anything we've given her. She continues to be a great sleeper and will dole out open mouthed kisses to whomever asks. She's a climber, a laundry messer upper, a singer and a pianist. She's got the juiciest thighs and the softest, plumpest tummy you'll ever see. She loves her baths but isn't quite fond of the pool. She's my litle cuddle bug who likes to flip through books, tear magazines and suck on big brother's nerf darts even though she knows she's not supposed to. She tests her boundaries one minute and is an absolute angel the next.

Much to my delight, Bethany has been making more of an effort to learn to walk. Before when I would try to hold her up to stand, she would immediately plop down and go about crawling. Just within the last two weeks or so, she has let me hold her hands as she wobbles to and fro. Bethany has also become more communicative. Although she's not yet using words, she has a lot to say and communicates with us through her many expressions, sounds, and motions.

When I remember to, I try to speak Korean to Bethany. So far she seems to understand the Korean words for mom, dad, brother, grandmother, kiss, please give it to me, please don't touch, I love you and milk. We're also working on body parts in Korean but nose is the only one she gets consistently right. Since I'm most comfortable speaking English, I naturally end up speaking English most of the time. So far, I know Bethany understands words like night-night, please, gentle, stop, no thank you and all done.

At home Bethany is playful and all smiles but she tends to be more reserved and serious when we are out. Friends have jokingly asked if she makes any noise at all (hence the video below). She is still very easy going and sweet natured, but like any other child, she's not without her challenges. As I shared with my flock group girls this past Wednesday, my sweet Bethany definitely has another side to her. Her other side is the willful and stubborn Bethany who wants what she wants exactly when and how she wants it. If she doesn't get her way, she'll burst into tears and will want nothing more to do with you or whatever else she was asking for in the first place. This other side of Bethany makes me laugh and cringe all at the same time. Oh how I love her! :)

As I sit here typing, I can see Bethany on our video monitor sound asleep in her crib. She's been home for 7 months now and sometimes I still can't believe she's actually mine. I love her so much and I am so thankful to God for such a dear and precious gift. I truly feel so blessed to be her mother.