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.