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!

Day 4 Winding down...

Today was a chilly day day here in Seoul. One thing left on our agenda (and when I say our I really mean, Chad!) was to visit the Korea War Museum. Don't get me wrong, I believe history is important, but visiting a museum does not captivate me in the same way conversing with an actual veteran would. Once we left the museum we decided to head to Itaewon for a quick bite to eat when we actually came face to face with veterans that served in the Korean war on a street corner in an effort to avoid the rain.
These men were dressed in sport coats donning many war medals. Chad struck up a conversation with one gentleman from New Zealand that served in Korea in 1951. This was his first trip back along with a dozen or more veterans from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States. These men were in Seoul to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War. It was a blessing to be able to shake their hands and thank them for their service. To be in Korea and have this opportunity left us dumbstruck...so much so that we forgot to ask them for a picture! We feel so indebted to these men and women who sacrificed so much so that Korea could be free. This was our highlight this weekend. We want to encourage everyone to thank a vet this week...what would we do without these courageous men and women? Here are a few of our pictures!








This is a picture of a traditional wedding ceremony in Korea. They were setting up outside next to the Korean war museum.

You can't tell in this picture, but these ladies in their hanboks were GORGEOUS!



Here we are winding down at the Starbucks in our hotel lobby...BLISS!

Malia and her Appa....Malia took to calling us by our Korean names this week...we loved it!