America has a new citizen

What an exciting end to a long adventure as we finalized Neylan's adoption on Monday. Kids from South Korea remain in the custody of their adoption agency for six months after they return home and when the social worker signs off, you can go through the local court system to finalize. We really wanted to get this process done by the end of this year for tax purposes.

On Sunday night, Adam got sick with the stomach bug and on Monday morning, I woke up feeling queezy. We sent the boys to daycare and spent the day in bed and on the couch. But we were not about the miss our court appointment. We were determined to make it (and I was willing to take the puke bucket if necessary). Thankfully our appointment was at 4:30 and we were able to muster enough energy to get dressed up and appear before the judge. The appointment went well. I was questioned the most, but had been prepared so knew the answers to all of my questions. The judge was very patient with the boys making noise throughout the whole process. And before we knew it, we were done. The hearing only lasted about 15 minutes.

So, with this, Neylan is an American citizen, receives a new birth certificate, can get a social security card, and is officially now "Neylan" and a permanent Foster child!

Our attorney, judge, and us!



one year ago {yesterday}

On December 16th, 2010, we received a phone call and four pictures that would change our family forever. The first glimpses of our youngest, Neylan. I will never forget that day as I got an urgent text message to call Adam as soon as possible. I had no idea what he wanted, but called him back shortly. We had a healthy little boy waiting for us in South Korea, if we were willing to accept him. We took a few days to stare at the pictures and pray about it and decided that he was the one for us.

So much has happened in the year since. Neylan has changed tremendously from the little baby in these photos. He has quite the personality and is learning how to deal with his older brother in the best way he knows how. We are tremendously blessed to have him with us and look forward to the years ahead as he grows and continues to weave his way into our family.

Playdate!

The boys and I had a playdate/catch-up session with some great adoption friends this morning. All of our kiddos are close in age and the three youngest came home from Korea within the last 6 months.

Grayson took a liking to this Elmo music toy and attracted many dancers to join him on "stage". They were so cute.

These are the newest additions to our families. Neylan and L already have an arranged marriage! They are only 3 weeks apart in age

Our project for the day was decorating Christmas cookies. The kids did a great job and were so well behaved during this venture.

Our attempt at a group photo. This is the only one I got with everyone in it (just not the front of everyone!)

New Friends

We have loved meeting and connecting with other adoptive families throughout and after our process. You can meet complete strangers who have adopted and instantly feel connected because you share something big in common. You have both walked the long, hard, amazingly rewarding road of adoption. Today was one of those experiences.

We met two adoptive families in September at the Chuseok festival (Korean Thanksgiving) who brought home little girls from Korea. One of those families traveled the week after we did. That mom has organized a group of Korean adoptive families from around our area that get together every so often. So, today was the Christmas gathering. It was held at an Asian buffet. We didn't really know any of the families who would be there, but decided to go anyway. Becuase it's fun to meet new families. We had a great time. There were only 5-7 families there and of those, I had actually met three of them before today! We had a yummy lunch and enjoyed watching the kids interact with each other.

Neylan was quite the extrovert today as he gave lots of strangers hugs and waved to everyone. But, this little girl was by far his favorite. He repeatedly went up to her and gave her hugs. She didn't know quite what to think. Neither did we! He just loved her. We wonder if there is someone in Korea that she reminds him of.

It's so fun seeing a group of kids from all over the world come together with their forever families. These kids are no longer orphans and are so blessed to be with the families they are with.

Delivery made!

We are so excited for our new friends who picked up their daughter today from Neylan's foster mom. Rylan and Neylan lived together for several months before we picked up Neylan this summer. Rylan's parents also were gracious enough to hand deliver a photo book to Neylan's foster mom. They also captured some pictures of her looking at it so I could see. Maggie said she started crying and was so excited to see Neylan again. DJ, the social worker likely helped translate the book.

We are so grateful they were willing to do this for us. To see pictures of Neylan's little buddy, check out their blog. She's a cutie and you will see, their foster mom made sure both of them were well fed and insulated!