Thinking of Foster Family

Please know you are in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.







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God bless!



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She's growing up!

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For lovely Foster Family

Thank you for loving our daughter so much! She is a beautiful treasure!




Z with stick of butter-her favorite.





Z as a bunny.




Playing with Uncle Adam





Zinny and brothers




Suck in tv cabinet, but obviously loving it.





Hard to see, stuck in her kitchen sink.




Climbing shelves (of course)





Found with the jam jar.













Silly sisters








"mmmm I LOVE lollies!"






We hope you are well Foster Family! Happy New Year!



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Family Day!

Today is Family Day! One year ago today Zinny (physically) joined our family! It's cliche to say I can't believe it has been an entire year and I can't believe she hasn't always been in our family, but it's all so true.
I have been reflecting on my memories of the day I went to Holt and met dear Z, and the days following. I didn't know her at all, but when I remember all the funny little things she did, they are totally her! I recognize her expressions in those first photos, and the photos we got from her foster family.




She has hair to make a
shampoo model envious!


Zinny is 27 months old tomorrow, she knows her colors, can almost sing her ABCs, can just about count to ten, likes to skip breakfast (and many times supper), she no longer takes a nap , except on rare occasions. Her imagination is exploding! She is not interested in anything that resembles a toy, but plays make believe with our gourds, or a hanger, or a yardstick, 2 flashcards, or her favorite: 2 flower petals.or just her hands, she carries on long conversations between her gourd and the gourd she forces you to talk. (She is very bossy! It's still endearing....for now...).



Poppy riding on Zs back.

Zinny gets up every morning when it is still pitch black out, must to Mommys chagrin. And it would be ok (almost) if she wasn't super crabby for hours about being up so darn early!




By bedtime she is wiped out! She goes and goes all day nonstop, until this.




Cooking with Aunt C.













Feeding the goats









We are so blessed God thought us worthy to be Zinny's parents, it just amazes me that she is here, so so home!!


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Aaannd....I'm back!

(note: if you are viewing this on a mobile device and it is extremely hard to read, scroll to bottom and go to 'web version'. I am too lazy to fix this problem, I rely on you, dear reader, to fix it yourself. Thank you)


Oh September, where hath thou gone and why no posts???
I'm sure no one is still here reading this. That's what I tell myself some days that I have a nagging feeling that I should post. Other reasons I avoid bogging include but are not limited to: fatigue, uninspired, busy busy busy, and total amnesia that I HAVE a blog. But honestly, the last 6weeks I have been having an internal debate about the future of this blog. The time when this blog started was a crazy exciting time, I loved reading other blogs about the wait and travel parts of adoption. The stories of families in similar stages and struggles with the adoption process, and then the fun travel stories and 'Gotcha Days'. Thrilling! I started my own primarily to keep my family and friends up to the minute when I travelled to Seoul. And then the exciting chapter of being home and getting to know our new child was the second chapter, still exciting for us, but I started to feel like I had to sell everyone in blog-land on how great and exciting life still was to keep you all coming back. And that is where this blog started to get easy to neglect. I felt as if I was pushing 'don't we have the cutest/funniest cat ever' photos and stories, trying to convince you of how charming our life is. And so I just got too busy and ignored this thing, because I am all about genuineness. I can't stand the 'magazine perfect' culture that pervades so many blogs that I read/used to read. I crave realness, hearing of others' struggles edifies my own. I'm not the only one 'failing'. There are some amazing blogs I read, candid, personal, real. I am so inspired by these women, and I long to be free about journaling like them. Ahhh, alas, the conflict: I am an intensely private person, and knowing some people who read this blog (and imagining some others) its tough to expose such vulnerability to them. Also, I feel pretty confidant that Z's foster family is reading this for updates on Z. Do they need to read my soul searching? Hear about the triumphs and tragedies involved in parenting a teen in college, a son in braces, and a toddler in diapers, and the other one? I call my reality show "Toddlers and Teens". It's a dramedy.
So as I ponder the future of this blog, please: enjoy some photos from our charming life!




Oh vacation, I miss you, I will be back soon...don't forget me.













Here Z, on her 2nd birthday, writing messages to her birth mother on a paper lantern we released.







Z LOVES the new baby (cousin)!




With Emo Maria. We miss you!!!




Braces off, finally! Haha just kidding! Novelty teeth from the fun center.





Till next time...
Whenever THAT will be!

God Bless



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