Wordless Wednesday :: Shaving with Daddy

 

Mother’s Day

Sunday was a special day. After so many sad Mother’s Days, it still amazes me what a happy day it is now. Hearing my sweet boy say, “Happy Mother’s Day, I love you!” fills my heart with so much joy. I was treated to some very sweet cards, a gift card, and a very delicious meal at Outback. It was a beautiful day!

 

The Last Week

I definitely meant to update before now but things have been just a little crazy. Mitchell’s surgery went well last week. He had a rough couple of days but overall he’s done really well. His doctor was amazed that he didn’t have all kind of bruising. He even told Mitchell that he won the award for the biggest, ugliest wisdom teeth so far this year. They had to be cut out of bone and left pretty big holes. He’s had to go back for rechecks 3 times this week and will again after this weekend. We’re really thankful that they’re keeping such a good check on him so that everything heals the way it is supposed to. He’s still trying to eat soft things and has some soreness and tenderness. Hopefully it won’t be long before he can be back to eating normally.

Of course, Lukas couldn’t let Daddy get all of the attention so he decided to have an allergic reaction to something this week and break out in hives. Boy was that fun! We’re still not sure what it was so we’ve eliminated a couple of dietary things as a little test. The doctor said most of the time these things are just a mystery and you don’t know what caused the reaction. Things like that kind of scare me because I know that allergies can pop up at any time. I guess it’s good to always have some Benadryl on hand.

We’ve also been dealing with some bedtime/sleep issues with him once again. He’s been having a really hard time going to sleep at night and his bedtime has been getting later and later. I shudder to think he might be trying to give up his nap. I’m not quite ready to deal with that AT ALL! He also doesn’t want to go to sleep without me in his bedroom with him. We tried letting him leave the light on and look at books until he’s ready to go to sleep. He likes that and will quietly look at his books for up to 30 minutes but when he’s done he wants me to come back in and stay until he falls asleep. And he gets extremely upset if I don’t. I kind of feel like this is just a stage but who knows? He has been playing so well independently in the last week so maybe it’s just all a part of his growth and development. I’m really just grasping at straws and trying to figure out what might be going on with him. I remember last year he went through a season of separation anxiety right before he turned 2. So I guess that’s why I’m thinking this might all be just part of a stage before he turns 3. I do really hope the independent play continues because I cannot tell you enough how wonderful that has been!

In the midst of everything this last week I’ve been working on cleaning out and purging some stuff. It feels so good to get rid of some things that have been cluttering up our house for too long. Our church’s relay for life team is having a yard sale so that has been my incentive for getting thing packed up and out of here. We had thought about having our own yard sale to raise some adoption funds but last time we did that we only made about $100 and it was SO much work. Plus we had to haul all of the stuff away afterwards. This time we decided we’ll try something else.

I can’t remember if I’ve shared these pictures or not. I’ve been making homemade yogurt lately and Lukas really likes it for a snack with some honey on the side, of course!

 

Wordless Wednesday :: Life with a Boy

{Just to add a quick prayer request to this post, please pray for Mitchell tomorrow morning as he has surgery to have all 4 wisdom teeth removed. They are impacted and he has some bone loss on one side of his jaw. The next few days will not be any fun at all so please keep us both in your prayers!}

Mitchell’s First 10K

Last weekend Mitchell ran in his first 10K race! Lukas and I went as his personal cheerleaders and boy did we cheer! Lukas yelled, “Go, Daddy!” over and over until he heard me yell “Go, Mitchell!” Guess what he then started yelling? So there were two of us yelling “Go, Mitchell!” :)

He did an awesome job and finished first place in his age group! We were so proud of him!

Watch Lukas Grow :: April

I’m really late posting this month so I’m just going to post the pictures and do more of an update next month.

 

 

 

He looks so big in this picture!

The hands on his cheeks are what he did when I asked him for a silly face. Not sure what that’s about!

The Details on #2

Did I surprise you yesterday? I’ve been excited to make that announcement but kept holding off until we felt a little more confident about things.

Back in August, we began the process to adopt from Korea again!

We kept it a secret for a while for several reasons. We knew it would take several months to be officially waiting and, honestly, it’s a little hard to endure the questions of “have you heard anything” over and over, especially in the beginning stages when there really isn’t anything to hear.

Another reason is that things have changed in the world of Korean adoption so much since we went through the process with Lukas. It’s unbelievable how much it’s changed. The wait times have increased. The ages of the children coming home have increased. Even parts of the process have changed.

Things are very uncertain in Korea. Since the new adoption law took effect in August, there have been no international adoption cases processed under it. No babies have come home yet in 2013. That is a bit scary to us. Things are starting to move a little bit but we will be very glad to see some travel calls and some babies join their forever families. I think there will be a collective sigh amongst the Korean adoption community once that happens.

When we started back in August we knew all about the changes but after praying and talking to our agency we had peace about beginning the journey to our next child. They could not give us any kind of a timeframe for waiting and we were okay with that. And still are. Even though we eagerly desire another child, the reality of having two toddlers right now kind of terrifies us. :) Lukas keeps us more than a little busy and we know that him being a little older than he is now will probably be in the best interest of our family and our sanity.

We only had to do a homestudy update with our social worker, which saved us some time and money. We had our visit with him in December and our homestudy was sent to our agency in January. It was sent on to Korea on February 21 and we are now officially waiting for a referral. That call could come at any time but we really don’t expect one until 2014.

I know you must wonder why choose Korea once again with all of the uncertainty and changes. Well, I’ve asked myself that same question at least a couple of times a week in the last 2 months. We have felt strongly that Lukas should have a Korean sibling, if possible. Why we feel so strongly about that I’m not sure. It’s just something the Lord has laid on our hearts. We want them to have that bond and connection. Now that does not mean that we feel the nationality of our child is the most important thing. More important to us than that is adding to our family and giving a child a family. The race and nationality of that child does not matter to us. At this time, we just feel strongly about adding another Korean child to our family. That is where the Lord has led us. But we know that could change and we have prayed and are praying that He will make it clear to us if we are on the wrong path.

We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for our family! We were not able to request a gender so we really feel like it will be another little boy, which is more than okay with us! The thought of two little Korean boys playing together and growing up together just makes me smile. We began talking about "little brother” and praying for him with Lukas since the beginning of our process. We know he doesn’t fully understand what’s going on but we wanted him to see and experience the desire and excitement that was there when we were waiting on him. He talks about little brother pretty regularly and we pray for him every night.

Already this journey has been so different than our one to Lukas. The months since we started have flown by. With Lukas, each day seemed to drag by so slowly. I have been very relaxed about this process and haven’t stressed too much about it. That is SO different than the first time around. I know part of that is due to having Lukas and not feeling so desperate to be parents. He keeps us so busy and are minds preoccupied with our day-to-day living so we don’t dwell on the whole thing.

Another reason I think it’s been so different is the faith I have in God’s timing in bringing this child to our family. I look back on the journey to Lukas and see how every delay and hiccup was God’s way of putting us where we needed to be so he would be ours. I know without a doubt that God’s timing was absolutely perfect so that Lukas would be our son. It will not be any different this time. He has already chosen the child that is to be ours and I am choosing to believe that He will bring him (or her) into our family in His way and time.

I know I will have to remind myself of these truths over and over again throughout this wait. There will be some hard days and some frustrating times. It is part of the crazy but beautiful process of adoption.

A few things you can pray about? That things will begin moving in Korea this month. That God will lead us in the direction He wants us to go and will show us if we are not where we should be. And, most importantly, join us in praying for little brother.

Well, that’s the lowdown. Hope you’ll hop back on this crazy ride with me! It should be fun!!

Wordless Wednesday :: An Announcement

 

stay tuned for the details. :)

Family Day

Our Family Day fell on Easter Sunday so we had to combine our celebrations. It was hard to do too much since it was also Easter. We did celebrate this happy day, though, and two years together as a family!

 

As much as our guy loves cake I knew he had to have one for family day. (Please ignore the child-like writing on the cake….cake decorating is definitely not one of my gifts.) That evening we went out to eat to continue the celebration. Hopefully next year it will not fall on Easter and we can let him decide how he wants to celebrate his special day!

Easter Sunday

We began Easter Sunday by having some eggs hidden all over the living room for Lukas to find when he got up. With his sippy cup in hand, he was not interested in finding them at all. He grabbed a couple and shook them. Once he realized they were empty, he was ready to move on to his Easter basket.

His basket definitely had a train theme and he was very happy about that!

It was soon time to get ready for church and let me tell you this boy was a-stylin! He was able to wear my brother Brent’s suit from an Easter more than 27 years ago! It was a perfect fit and I think he knew he looked good.

I think I took a gazillion pictures of him because he was just so adorable in his little suit!

We took some at home before we left…

then at church…

and then after church…

And, of course, all of the family pictures. Mitchell says we’re the most picture-taking family he’s ever seen!

It’s hard to believe my very tall brother once fit into that little suit!

 

Another Easter basket from Gramma and Granddaddy. He was just a little hyped up after all of this excitement!

One of Lukas’ favorite songs to sing and listen to lately has been “O Happy Day.” It’s on one of the kids cds we have and he requests it over and over again. The sweetest thing is to hear him singing it, especially when he gets to the part “when Jesus washed my sins away.”

We spent some time last week and over the weekend reading the Easter story from his Bible story books and talking about why we celebrate Easter. He still requests the Baby Jesus story every day and is still playing with the manger scene. We tried to explain how baby Jesus grew up and was our Savior and died on the cross for us. He, of course, doesn’t fully understand it, but we didn’t want him to think Easter is about eggs and baskets and new suits. One day last week I told him that Jesus died on the cross for us so that one day we could go to ____ and I left out the blank to see what he would say. He immediately said “Heaven.” It kind of surprised me but I guess it shouldn’t have because he is such a little sponge and is soaking up even more than we realize.

I’m so thankful for this Easter Sunday, the opportunity to praise and worship the One who is my Savior, and the privilege to begin to teach my little one about this special day!