Who's on the nice list?

Malia, Cole, and Drew went to see Santa today to plead their case on the whole naughty/nice issue. We've all got our fingers crossed that the big guys will make a stop at our house next week. I've got a good feeling about it...mostly :-)!

This will be my last post until after christmas...I pray you all have a VERY merry Christmas! God Bless!!

Fun on the ice...

Once I got Drew down for his nap I was able to spend some quality time sledding down our driveway with Malia and Cole....how fun! Here are some pictures of them...I couldn't get them to take one of me on the sled!



This is one of Malia ice skating with her boots on....you gotta use your imagination, people!

Thank the Lord for Drew's 3 hour nap today....we got to squeeze in a lot of fun with ice sledding and homeschooling! What a sugar!

Brrrr.....

Not much to do today but stay inside, eat, and do homeschool...here's what we were up to today

Malia and Cole at the homeschool table...also known as the breakfast, lunch, and dinner table....

Couldn't resist one or two of lil' man at his cutest!

What a honey!

Is it December already?!!

I have to apologize for the time between posts! Wow! I've been one busy mama!! I got sick like a week after my last post which put me so far behind on everything (but, the bittersweet part about getting sick was that Chad and Drew are now best buds!), then there was Thanksgiving and now we are full steam ahead for Christmas...C....R...A...Z...Y!

Drew is adjusting beautifully (thank you, Jesus!), and is nothing short of pure delight each and every day!!! Malia and Cole love their little brother but are not loving the sharing mommy aspect of another sibling! We knew this might be an issue so we are working out our schedule to give them special time. It's a juggling act and if any wise mommy's out there have any sage advice on how to do this well...please leave me a comment!

I'll close with some newer pics of the kiddos! I hope everyone is enjoying the preparations of Christmas, I know we are!

Bonding at 1 a.m.

Can I just say...Drew is one super way cute boy who has stolen our hearts with no hopes of ever returning them?! Gush, gush!! Sorry to totally mommy brag here....I truly can't help myself! He continues to amaze and charm our whole family. My kids think he is too fun and I am thinking the feelings are mutual ;-)! I wish I had more pictures to share, but since Mr. Precious is attached to my hip about every waking moment I have no hands for a camera. He is slowly warming up to daddy. In the picture above he actually squeezed out a smile when Chad held him. He is sleeping anywhere from 8 to 10 hours (in his crib!) each night and his one nap a day is around 2 plus hours. He realllly is a dream baby. I don't know if it's because I'm an older mom now or what but having 3 kids is a total blast and it really is going well. If I seemed shocked, it's because I AM. I REALLY thought that my life was going to be one constant answer to the word "Momma", and well, I guess it is, but I am so enjoying it, and the older two are growing patience I didn't know was possible! Praise God!

Homecoming continued...

Here are a few from our homecoming:

Drew's Gotcha Day and homecoming

What can I say, but......WE'RE HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We received Drew on Tuesday morning at Eastern. It was crazy! Cole's lovely foster parents came over to see us off and to bring us more gifts (ok, how amazing are they?!) and then Drew walked in on his fm's back looking like he had just had a fantastic nap. He looked a bit perplexed by all of the hubbub, but he seemed to be taking it all in stride. The elder Dr. Kim came in to pray over Drew which was a HUGE honor, this man is in his 90's and still dresses in a coat and tie and tries to see every baby at their departure. Then our social worker came over to me and said "you need to get into the van, that is when Drew's fm will give him to you" So, we piled in the van as everyone, including Cole's fp's came to see us off. Drew's fm handed him over to me, gave my hand a firm squeeze and then the van door closed and we were off. Little sweetie, barely knew what hit him, poor lil guy! He really handled everything well until we were about 20 minutes from the airport, and then came the tears. He finely decided his best move would be to close his peepers and take an emotional nap. He slept the rest of the way to the airport and then I loaded him on my back (with my ergo...people adopting from Korea....you HAVE to get one of these...trust me!) and he was good to go! As far as our flights go, Drew did AMAZINGLY well. We flew from Seoul to Tokyo, then from Tokyo to DFW, then to Tulsa. There really was only about 2-3 hours he was upset. The rest we were either playing or sleeping. He is such a little love...words cannot describe.

Our homecoming was heavenly. So many of our family and friends turned out for our celebration. I could hardly take it all in. There was a loud applause and clapping, and shouts of joy coming from the baggage claim area! I want to thank each and every one of you who came out to see us home. You will never know what that meant to us! I was a great reminder of what it will be like as we cross the threshold in heaven, celebrating in the Lord for HE IS GOOD!!!!!!

Now that we are home, things could not be better! Drew is sleeping all night (knock on wood). He goes down about midnight and sleeps until around 10a.m. We all feel human again! PTL! Drew is very attached to his mommy (which I am LOVING) he is a little velcro baby. He isn't quite into Daddy yet, the FM did not have a husband in the home, so I think the idea of a daddy is a new one to him. He is warming up to him though! He does not like to change his clothes or his diaper and sure lets us know about it! Oh, but he is a doll. I cannot tell you how incomplete our family would be without him in it.

WARNING! A ton of pictures below...










more homecoming pics to follow...

Day 5 - An Amazing Day

How on earth does one even begin to blog about the life experiences we have had in the last 12 hours? Only God could have orchestrated such a day. Our meeting with Drew felt more like a meeting in the clouds. I was able to feed him a bottle and God gave us precious time to connect with one another. He giggled and giggled at his crazy new parents. We are so in love!

After our meeting with Drew, we met with Cole's foster mother. She immediately ran over to hug our little precious, but as most of you who really know Cole...can you guess how he felt about it all?! I think the pictures speak volumes. Even though Cole was not thrilled about all the attention he received, we had a wonderful visit and she has promised to come tomorrow (with her husband) to see us off. They are precious people, who have touched our lives profoundly. We truly see our children's foster parents as an extension of our family.

Lastly, we went to visit Malia's foster mother. Her husband was in a terrible accident a few years ago and it left him with some brain damage. She now lives with him in a rehab center north west of the heart of Seoul. Round trip it was a 3 hour journey, but after seeing the delight on my daughter's face as she received hug after hug from a woman who loves her deeply...we wouldn't have missed this journey for the world. I can't express into words how this visit has touched our hearts. I just know I will never forget it as long as I live. We found a treasure today...a treasure that cannot be bought or sold. It is a bond that ties our children to their birthland, and it's here where we will leave a piece of our hearts as well.

We wanted to thank everyone for their encouraging words throughout our travels and for all of the prayers, each one of them has been felt and appreciated deeply. This has been a trip of a lifetime to have our whole family here to experience this together. We look forward to see those of you who can make it at our home coming. See you on the other side of the world when we get there!