It's Offical!

Our first snowman this season.
Josie's first time in Ohio snow

Josie thought she was such a big helper as she attempted to push Daddy's Chair. She didn't speed things up, but it sure was cute!
Our Forever Family of Four

We finalized Josie's adoption on December 6, 2007 at the Summit County Courthouse. It was such a special for us. Josie came home to us on April 18, 2007 and is now officially ours forever. It has been a wonderful 8 months of waiting. I can't believe how fast the time went by. It seems like it took forever for her to come home to us and now it is already finalized. It was a long 3 1/2 hour drive both ways. The kids were wonderful in the car, and a stop at McDonald's seems to always do the trick for at least the kids! We had the pleasure of sharing our court date with the Cook Family. They adopted their baby girl Hannah the same day we adopted Josie. The girls are only a day apart in ago. It was so much fun to see how big the girls have gotten. Hannah is a little doll that had on the cutest dress ( I think I'm going to try to find that one for Josie for the Holidays :) We are so blessed to have the most wonderful children. This is a Wonderful Life.

November Already

The kids were busy dancing at Jeff's brothers wedding.
Trick or Treat


I just wanted to update our blog. It has been so long since I've had a chance. I have been so busy the last few months that my free time I have been spending with the kids. We had our last visit from our Social Worker last night. It was sad that she won't come visit, but we are so excited that we finalize next month. Josie is growing up so fast. Just this months she seems to have gone from infant to toddler. Riley is busy in Preschool, and boy does he love it. I will try to post more often in the next few months.

JOSIE 지현 1ST BIRTHDAY

지현

We can't believe she is already a year old. The past 3 months have gone by so fast. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go the the Korean restaurant or the Children's Museum today, but we are planning to do it next weekend. We celebrated Josie's Tol today. Here are a few pictures of Josie in her Hanbok. The top photo is Josie's Toljabee. We had all of the traditional items ( thread, scissors, sword, rice, money, etc.) and a couple of extra we added. I added a whale and Jeff added a history book for our own personal hopes. Josie picked the thread and then grabbed for the rice. I guess this will mean she will have a long life and be rich.

Riley helped me chose Josie's gifts. She seems to really like the car keys and cell phone that make noise. After all the excitement Jeff and I decided it was a good thing we didn't have a big party. We are pretty sure it would have been to overwhelming for her. I love that messy face. She didn't blow out the candle at all. Before we could stop her she pinched it between her two fingers to put out the flame. No mark on her fingers and no tears. It was kind of funny because that is the same thing I did when I turned one.

Today we had family stop by to wish Josie a happy birthday. My sister had an enormous bag of clothes from her youngest daughter Eva for Josie. Love those hammy downs. They look like new! I can't wait to try them on her. She got some very needed pj's, a few toys, and Josie's Godmother Theresa had taken the time to find out what is traditionally given in Korea for their Tol and gave her an extra special gift along with the many others they already gave her. We thought that was pretty special that she took the time to learn something else about Korea on her own. Josie is modeling one of her great new pairs of pj's.




If you haven't already noticed Josie stated walking! She took her first steps about two weeks ago and now it is nonstop.

The 4th of July

Okay I didn't have much to write I had to just post these pictures of our beautiful baby. I took these photos last night on our front porch. She is such our little princess!!

Summer Fun

Josie is growing up so fast. We are busy getting ready for her 1st birthday. Her Tol Birthday. I just finished her invitations and are ready to be mailed. We have her 1st birthday pictures scheduled and her Korean Hanbok is on its way here. I can't wait till it comes. I ordered it from EBay and I'm very excited that it is coming from Seoul, South Korea. I'm trying to figure out the list of Korean ingredients that we will need. We have a lot of cooking ahead. We are going to try to do all the Korean traditions for her big day. Since we don't live in a big city some of the food will have to be omitted. I wish we could have had Rice cakes, but I hear that they are very hard to make. Josie is getting so big. She started to take her first steps this week and is beginning to say Dada, which Jeff just loves. Riley has become her best friend. Riley can always get a smile out of her. She is a sassy little one that loves to play in the dirt. I will be sure to post her Tol party. Well on to the pictures!

A Wonderful Life

Brother and Sister already playing so well together. I can't believe that she is home. I say that I have " A Wonderful Life". We have been blessed with the two most precious children. Even with all of the ups and downs we have gone through with our adoptions I would not trade it for anything. All of those heartache were worth it for these two angels. God has really giving us a world of blessings.
Of course who is missing from the photo. One night both kids ended up in our bed and squeezed me out. I thought it was to cute so I had to take a quick photo.
Josie was all ready for our first post placement visit with our social worker.

After a couple of weeks Josie is now feeling comfortable to eat solid food. She hates baby food though. Her favorite so far is mashed up mac and cheese.
Look at her go! She always crawls around with something in her hand or is dragging it behind her.

I had to try on her new bows she got from our friend Alison. She ordered this adorable bows to help a little girl from China. That just makes them extra special! Too cute. Of course Riley was feeling a bit left out and had to try one on too. Jeff was not to happy with those photos, but I said that you need those kind of photos for his Graduation and Wedding.
I was so loving last night. Josie finally went to Jeff. Of course it helped that he let her hold the cell phone. I'm just loving these photos of the two of them.
It is amazing that she has been home for a 3 weeks now. We are all starting to get into a nice routine and just enjoy the last couple of weeks of my maternity leave. I have been looking on the Internet to buy her first hanbok (traditional Korean dress). There is too many to decide on. I can't wait to have her photos taken in it and some with Riley. Being a mom is just the greatest gift ever!

Josie's Home

She is finally home and in our arms. Her flight came in at about 1:40p.m. From that moment the rest of the time is a bit foggy to me. I think I was beside myself with excitement. We waiting for about an hour and 40 minutes for the 4 beautiful babies to clear Customs. A baby boy and girl came through the doors first to meet their new families. The frosted glass doors shut again, but it wasn't a minute longer and the doors opened up. Baby Hannah came through first to her family and then there was our beautiful baby girl! The escort came over and handed her to me. She is perfect!!!! Josie didn't cry at all when I took her. The escort said that she was surprised because Josie would not go to anyone else on the plane. Riley came over to give her a big kiss and hug right away. He loves his new baby sister. She would touch Jeff's face, but she cried when he held her. Now he is starting to make her giggle. It was a perfect day. My Parents, sister, and two of her boys came and Jeff's Parents came. The last couple of days have been wonderful. She is finally starting to feel more secure and explore a little more. Mommy does not have to hold her all day. Riley thanked us yesterday morning for bringing his baby sister home. We could not be happier as a family of 4. Sorry for the lack of photos my sister took 99% and I don't have them yet.

Travel Call!!!!!

We can't believe it! Yesterday after work we got the call. Josie is coming home on April 18th. The phone was ringing and I told Jeff let the machine get it. He said no go get it. The lady on the other end asked for me. I thought it was someone trying to sell something. I found out it was our Social Worker. She said that we are going to want to take this call!!!! She is flying home on NorthWest with 2 other girls and 1 boy. I can't believe it only 12 more days!! Her friend Hannah that is only one day older will be flying in with her. I am so excited about that. They spend most of their first 7 months together. We have so much to do and not much time. Did I say only 12 more days!!!!!!!

Almost the News!!

Well we didn't get the Travel Call, but we did hear good news from our social worker. We emailed her today to find out if we would need to redo our fingerprints with CIS. They expire on the 26th of April. She just emailed us to say that the agency is confident that we do not need to redo our fingerprints. She said that she did not have a date yet as to when, but that she will be home soon. She stated as soon as she know she would call us:) Of course we want to know when but we are happy to know it will be before the 26th of April. I can't wait to post with our travel call this coming month!!!!

CARE PACKAGE

Well we heard from our social worker this week and Josie won't be home this month. She said that they were hopeful that she would be home before our CIS fingerprints needed to be redone on the 26th of April, but they can't guarantee at this point. She is pretty sure she will not be home before Easter. We are heartbroken she won't be home by then. I did ask her if we could send one more care package. She let me know that if we got it out today then they would be able to get it to her this month yet. I went to Build-a-bear on Thursday with Riley and our friend Samantha. Riley helped build Josie this adorable lamb. We both sang "You are my sunshine" into a voice box they put in the lamb. We also are sending an outfit Jeff's Mom and Dad bought her for Christmas. She probably wouldn't be able to fit it if we wait. The other items are for the Foster family. The first care package had fine chocolate in it, but Hershey's is my favorite even if it not the gourmet kind. If you can imagine we fit everything into a 2 gallon Ziploc bag except the camera. We already sent 3 in the last package so we weren't to upset it wouldn't fit! We created a new countdown till May 1st. Only 58 more days!!! Hope to post good news in the next few weeks.

Bummer No Travel Call

Well our agency called all of their waiters that got their February travel calls today. Looks like 10 babies are coming home with February passports. I have to say I am totally bummed. I really could go for a cheesecake right now! Yes I meant to say a cheesecake! The babies are not coming home until Mid-March, so I worry now that Josie won't be home by Easter. From all the information that we know Josie is one of the very top spots for a Travel Call next month. Right now that is not very comforting though. We hope and pray that the Korean Government issues passports much faster in March, so that there may still be hope for a late March arrival.

Our Perfect Little Angel

We just received a new update of our beautiful baby! It came in the mail on February 20, 2006. It wasn't the travel call we are so desperately wanting, but it was a wonderful surprise. She is almost 7 months old in these photos. The pictures I posted don't show her pigtails, but yes she can already wear pigtails. I think I need to find a few more stores with cute bows. She is doing great and is now with her Foster Mother until she comes home. The next few weeks are going to start to get really rough! This "labor" is lasting way to long. I had wanted to set up this blog for months now, so that family and friends could keep up with where we are in the process. After getting her update I knew I had to set it up now. We have had a great past few months. Jeff's two younger brothers Joe and Ted both got engaged to two wonderful girls that will make perfect additions to the family. We are very excited about their upcoming weddings this year. We met some new friends that have adopted from Korea too. The gals have started to give me Korean cooking lessons. It is awesome! We also belong to an International group. The sharing of different cultures is just wonderful. I hope this is something that we will be able to continue with Riley and Josie throughout their lives. With all of the ups and downs on the journey we are so thankful that we have been blessed. The photo above with Josie crying made one of my friends start to cry( too sweet) . She said that Josie wants her mommy. Okay that is enough of that I don't want to start crying. If March passes and no Josie, I'm sure my waterworks will be on! Well I hope the next time I post I will have the exciting news to say she is coming home.

Excitment in October

We celebration Josie's 100 day celebration on October 15, 2006. This is a big celebration in South Korea where it is "good luck" for you to hand out rice cakes to your neighbors for your baby. I don't know how to make them, so we went to a Korean Restaurant. We had a wonderful time. The waitress even told us to bring her in and they will teach her Korean when she comes home. Our son Riley even loved the food. On the 28th we received our CIS approval. Now we wait for the Visa approval. For Halloween we decorated a pumpkin for Josie. Riley helped pick out the cat.

The Journey Begins!

It all began on 12-02-2005. My husband Jeff and I were celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. As our gift to one another we sent in our application to start our second adoption. Our hearts had lead us to South Korea for our daughter. The paperwork lasted forever with a few bumps in the road ( like with so many adoptions), but by July 18, 2006 we received our approved home study.