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!!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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



Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Little vignettes

A bit of this and that to catch up (so I will have plenty of time to fall behind again!)




Nothing like a new baby in the family, Zinny agrees, she's wants to hold the baby so bad! And she likes to remind me exactly who is MY baby.




My boys love Calvin and Hobbes, who doesn't? Zinny was reading with them and pointed to this picture and loudly (because she is always loud) exclaimed "Omma!!" And darn if this picture of Calvin's mom looks VERY similar to Zinny's foster mother! So funny!




Mmm, I made kimbap. Tastes even better than it looks. I used pickled banana peppers instead of pickled radish. This and bibimbap are my only successful Korean dishes I make really well, and that soup I posted before, name escapes me....too early in morning, not enough tea yet...




Zinny's birthday cake, supposed to be Pingu, for those that are familiar.




This is result from eating Pingu.




Loves her some shades




This is about 18 hours into our drive to Cape Cod, this is the exit right outside Buffalo NY where you walk over the thruway to get to the rest stop.



Trying to get truckers to honk.

Thus I leave you with a cliffhanger, next post: vacation photos!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Busy summer, let's start the recap!

Our summer story starts with the day the van turning 100,000 miles.



This very day we had a massive storm:



We are right in the heart of this. (aside: this was the last time we saw rain, we have had a horrible droughty summer, and HOT!!!)

Naturally the van, true to cliche, broke down this very day, during this very storm. Van packed with children, night time, on our way to visit our new baby niece at the hospital, a hospital very far away.
We were stranded at the supermarket, waiting for dear Neil and Zinny to rescue us!
It took them awhile to reach us, so we kept ourselves entertained.




















This last one is the point when Neil arrived. Thank goodness!



We finally made it the next day.





I have been interrupted 14 times during this short entry, and Zinny is LITERALLY pulling on my leg and yelling NO as the dog is frantically trying to get out the door and I just answered the phone in between the words 'door' and 'and'..... Soooo I gotta go...



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

She is ours! We are hers!

This morning we went to court to finalize the adoption. Neil asked me yesterday if I was nervous, I said , "Heck yes!". So many things could go wrong, so many what ifs. I didn't realize how truly stressed I was until it was all over. All that paperwork, all the waiting and worrying something would go wrong or Holt would change their minds, or a million other silly, unrealistic fears, but fears nonetheless. All that was weighing us down was lifted with a simple signature. It was over in ten minutes. All of a sudden the fear that something in the system would take her away from us was Poof! Gone!
After things settled down and we were tackling the day as usual, Neil asked if it felt any different, and we both agreed it DOES feel different. It just feels 'right'. It is as it should be. There is comfort and peace in it. Even Z seems different, seeking me out tonight to kiss me (fairly rare). She knows, she too is at peace. God is truly wondrous. There are no words to express our live and deep gratitude for God for orchestrating all of this. To Him all glory.

On our way in


Waiting to go in to court



Finally final!



Celebratory ice cream



We also went putt putt golfing, this is how Z golfs



There was a lot of this too...




Truly and forever ours at long last! God be praised!!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Finalization Date

We have our court date! Zinnia will legally be ours July 2, it's so incredible. In our county we do not need a lawyer to finalize the adoption, but I couldn't find anyone who doesn't use a lawyer to mentor us, and you know me, I love a challenge. When someone says it can't be done, well I just have to prove I CAN. (See my posts about leaving for Korea 18 hours after our Travel Call, staying in Incheon 2 1/2 hour subway ride to Holt, and traveling by train to southern Korea to visit Zinny's birth city when Holt advised NOT to do this) Those county clerks did NOT want to be helpful, ugh. Instead of answering my questions, they just kept saying "yeah, that's what lawyers are for". Humph! I showed them, why shell out all that lawyer $ when you can use it to throw a fabulous Finalization Day Party!
When the county clerk man gave me out court date and time, I cried. I was surprised at how emotional I became. Almost 2 years ago this beautiful wonderful child was put adrift in a sea of uncertainty, parentless, and in just a few weeks she will certainly legally be ours, and we hers,forever and always. It is amazing and beautiful and huge. We are so excited. Party planning under way !








A RARE moment!



Playing dollhouse with the girls.



Ok, so the neighbors put in a swanky pool and didn't invite us over, so we provided our kids with the next best thing.....oh we are so lame, hahaha (uh, but they played in it for a loonnggg time!)



My birthday dinner (because you care :) ) oh that mojito was fantastic...and so was the second one ....


This was my cake, that's a pitcher of MELTED BUTTER that you pour over that cake....it also comes with a complimentary ride to the hospital...




Z and Grandpa



Thank you Jesus for your glorious love and blessings outpoured on our family. (especially our pool, haha)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone