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

Children's Day

Children's Day is a big holiday in South Korea. It is May 5th of each year and on this day children are honored by their parents. It is customary for parents to give little gifts, take the kids on excursions and spend time with them. I hear that everyone is off of work in order to spend more time with their kids and every restaurant lets kids eat free on this day. So, in honor of Children's Day, our local adoption group had a picnic last weekend with our bunch of kids from South Korea. 

It was held at a local park and the kids had a blast!

Their first freezer pops!

These two are just a month apart in age and L's mommy and I are trying our hardest to get these two to like each other!

Well this is a start

  

Happy Easter

I can't believe we have been home for 10 months now with this precious little one! We had a wonderful Easter weekend with family. Neylan was clueless about the egg hunting concept, but enjoyed opening them to find candy! He and Grayson are getting along well, for the most part, and he has worked his way into our family with ease.

Finally- the announcement!

Adam mentioned that we had a big announcement on facebook a couple weeks ago. It got several of you all riled up and when he told me he said that, I had to ask him what this big news was! So, here it is! Adam wrote it down to share with you all. I'm sure some of you have noticed that the blogs have been put on the back burner the past little bit. This is why. We have SOOO much going on and life is more chaotic than ever right now. Transition is hard and we have been in this transition process for nearly a year now. We are beginning to get a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel and are excited for what the future holds.

We are NOT expecting (sorry to disappoint) but have some exciting news to share. This may come to some as a complete surprise but to others not a huge shock. I, Adam, will not be returning to teaching next year as I am going into full time ministry. I am really excited about what God is doing and continuing to do in my life to confirm this calling. So, I have turned in my letter of resignation at my school and will begin FULL TIME MINISTRY on June 4^th. I will be coming on staff at Lenexa Baptist Church as the Director of Children’s ministry. I am so excited to have the opportunity to work at an amazing church that we have called our home for the last 5 years. This is something that we can’t explain except that God orchestrates everything in his timing. So, that is why we have put our house on the market and started to look for a house closer to our church. Once again, it is amazing to see God’s hand throughout this process. I will thank you in advance for the prayers and can’t wait to share updates as we move forward in this calling on our lives. So, maybe not the announcement you thought but we are STOKED!!!!

autographs coming soon

We're going to be movie stars!!!! Kinda! When Neylan and I went back to his ENT follow-up a couple of weeks ago, the doctor mentioned that she was wanting to do some kind of story about how diet affects children's health. Cool idea, I thought! Last week we got a phone call from the doctor and she wants us to be featured in a documentary she is filming about this topic. I don't feel like I am ready for this at all since we are reading labels and monitoring everything that we eat and are still making mistakes! But, we agreed and are going to do it. There will be a few other families being filmed as well. She said it will be an interview similar to 60 Minutes!! I didn't expect her to be running with this idea so soon, but she is and so are we. I might learn something from the other families. I have no idea what this documentary will be used for, but if you would love to see it, I'm sure I'll have a copy. And I'll make the popcorn- but it will have to be plain- any other kind has butter- and therefore dairy!!!!

{Feb} Friend for Adoption

Whew! I am so behind on being a good friend for adoption, but I really like our gifts for February.

I found a fun etsy shop on Pinterest recently and loved what I saw. Lots of fun adoption jewelry from a family who lives about an hour from us and are adopting. I was happy to support her and her venture.

So, I found this fun necklace for Julie

and I found this one for me!

Julie sent this CD to the boys so we could have some dance parties! All 3 of our boys are big Fresh Beat Band fans, so this was a really fun gift for them.