Created for Care

I'm not even sure how to begin this post and describe this conference except to say, wow!! This was the most amazing retreat I have ever been to. Two weeks ago 450 adoptive moms (without kids or hubbies) gathered in Atlanta for a weekend to celebrate adoption, connect with each other, gather information, be encouraged, pray, and eat our way through three amazing days that were geared towards our roles as mothers to some beautiful children from around the world.  

 

 

Our first big group session was kicked off Friday night with this amazing video. It only took a few seconds before the tears formed in my eyes. There were over 1,000 children represented this weekend and over 500 of those were brought home through adoption. That's amazing!!!

 

 

 

We had some amazing worship times each day

 



 

And just a little bit of time in between our breakout sessions to meet people and relax. These are my two roomies for the weekend. Alicia (the blonde) travelled with me. We've been friends for years and adopted together. She has a little girl from Ukraine. Amanda (the red head) is a new friend who we met this weekend and is in the process with India. She and I went to school together, but don't remember each other (it's been a few years back!). She was given a spot to the retreat by my best friend Kristi, who decided that she wasn't quite ready to adopt now that she's pregnant!! We had a blast together

 

Our amazing accomodations for the weekend. The Lodge on Lake Lanier. This place was gorgeous and would be breathtaking in the fall. A great anniversary destination!

 

I really hated that I didn't get any pictures with any of my fellow Korean mamas. I got to meet so many virtual friends who I've known throughout the past few years online. So fun! Next year, I'll have to get pictures with them.

 

And on our way out of town we stopped to meet this amazing family. Rylan was Neylan's roomie in Korea. These two had an amazing foster mom and have adjusted so well to their forever families. Can you tell our FM really likes to feed her babies?? It was so fun to meet them after being in contact for two years. I'm sure we'll cross paths again.

 

It was an amazing weekend and I can't wait to do it again next year. My passion for adoption was stirred and I have some great information on how to be a better mom in the meantime to the two blessings God has entrusted me with.

Christmas Lights- Gangnam Style!

There is a house in a neighborhood close to ours that has really gone all out this year and synchronized their lights to music. When you pull up, you tune your car radio to a certain station and watch and listen. Adam and the boys found this house last week and the boys wanted to take me back to see it. I had my camera out as we were watching and then this song came on! Of course we had to stay to hear it and see the show!! As soon as it came on, you hear Grayson in the back seat saying "we learned this at school, Mom"!! Hilarious. While most kids are learning their ABC's and the Wheels on the Bus, mine are learning Korean rap songs! Only in the care of a Korean do you get cultured like this!!  She told me that she has taught them the dance, but not shown them the video (thank goodness!) This was a great way to end our family night last week.

 

Long lost roommates

I just love meeting other families, especially moms, that have adopted. I am now part of a large group on FB just for adoptive moms to connect and encourage each other. One mom that I found some time ago and I share something very big in common. Our little ones were raised by the same foster mom! Not only were they raised by the same foster mom, they lived together for 8 months. Jude is a few months older than Neylan so he was already in her home when Neylan was born and came along. And then Jude left his foster home when Neylan was 8 months old. Needless to say, I've been wanting to meet her and her little guy for a long time and it finally happened. Since we drove to TN for Thanksgiving, I decided to give this mom a shout to see if we could meet for a short time. We were able to coordinate a quick lunch at Chick-fil-a.

 

 

Adorable Jude

 

It was intersting to watch these two together. There was NO recognition whatsoever!! Oh well.

 

Or, maybe there was some recognition and this reunion was not what they had longed for!

 

Don't they look excited to see each other after 2 years apart? (insert sarcasm!)

 

Jude's fabulous mommy, Grace, and I

 

After many tries to get these two boys together for a decent picture, we gave up and decided it would be best if we just held them!

Let's Celebrate

November is National Adoption Month and November 17th is National Adoption Day. So, in honor of orphans around the world still waiting for their forever families and orphans who have already joined their forever families, I wanted to share this video. An adoptive mom made this and it just so happens to feature my favorite little former orphan! It also features many kiddos from Korea that we have gotten to know virtually throughout our journey.

 

 

Chuseok festival

Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving and harvest celebration, was two weeks ago. Our local Korean American society always puts on a BIG celebration and this one was no different. The festival was held at a local park and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. There were dancing, drumming, and tae kwon do demonstrations, lots of games for the kids, and of course, an authentic feast.

 

 

This group always has great kites to fly at their events

 

One of the activities was a see saw that you stand on instead of sitting on. It seemed pretty dangerous because you are supposed to jump on the ends to make the other person go up in the air. We didn't last long on here

 

By the time we got through the line they were all out of bulgogi :( but the other stuff was pretty good

We had a great day seeing lots of adoption friends and meeting new families with kiddos from Korea. It is such a blessing to be in a community that strives to keep traditions alive

check it out

I think it's safe to say that I am fizzling out on this blog. We've been home 1 year now and the adoption events and news is getting fewer and farther between. So, if you really want to keep up with our daily, crazy lives, check out our Project 365 blog called Foster Family Frenzy. I would love some more followers there! I will continue to update this blog as things happen, but you should really check out our family blog.

Happy Birthday!!

Two little boys celebrated birthdays in June!

Having two so close in age usually means that there are some common interests. And boy, the interest right now is definitely Toy Story. So, they agreed that they wanted a "Buzz and Woody" party.

The boys dressed up as their favorite character (there is never any arguing about who is going to be who. They've had that figured out since the beginning of this phase)

We had a few yard games out and a Buzz slip n' slide for the kids to play on

Some presents had to be opened together!

Mommy and Daddy got the boys new bikes

Happy 2nd Birthday Neylan and Happy 3rd Birthday Grayson!!

Happy Gotcha Day!

June 13th was our first Gotcha Day at home. It was a very busy day for us, but we managed to squeeze in a quick Chinese dinner to celebrate! (There weren't any Korean restaurants around where we needed to be) We had lots of questions from the employees about where he was from, why we adopted, and why we adopted a boy since we already had a boy! It's hard to believe he's been home 1 year already.

Holt picnic

In early June, we went to the annual Holt picnic. Thank goodness it wasn't as hot as last year! I did a horrible job of getting many pictures, so I'll just have to share the few I do have. We had lunch, played on the playground, met a few new friends, and got to catch up with old friends. It was a great afternoon.

Friend for Adoption {catching up}

It's been a while since I reported on what Julie and I exchanged for our little monthly gifts. That's becuase we have both gotten really far behind the past few months. But on Saturday, I got a big package delivered. Julie sent me a Thirty-One large insulated tote and this cool cup. I LOVE it all!! She made up for the 3 months she had missed!

In March, I sent Julie a set of Resurrection eggs for her son to have at Easter. These eggs are really cool and tell the story of Easter in a simple way (although not simple enough for a 2 yr old, but he can grow into them).

In April, I sent her an itunes gift card and a pack of nice running socks- all to enhance her workouts. I bought myself the socks and love them. ( I didn't take a picture of this gift). And her May gift, well, I've been slacking and haven't gotten there yet.

Happy Children's Day- take 2

This past weekend, the Korean-American Society of Greater KC held their annual Children's Day celebration at a local park. Several people from our adoption group were talking about this at our first Children's Day picnic, so we decided to go check it out. We had a great time. They fed us lunch and had so many things for the kids to do.

hot dogs on a chopstick- genius!!

Their first cotton candy tasting

the inflatables were a big hit with our adventurous little guys

Neylan and Grayson both had stars painted on their face

the bubble area was another huge hit!

another first- slushees!

and another first- kite flying

they each got a balloon from the clown and went home happy and worn out

We are so blessed to have groups like these in our area so that we can connect with other adoptive families and make some great Korean friends. Looking forward to the next event