Wanna say thanks...

To my precious friend and her husband. They gave us a donation towards our adoption and I know it was definitely a sacrifice! They were excited to be a part of what God's doing. You know who you are, THANK YOU!! May God return your blessing ten-fold.

Happy 18months birthday

My dear Hudson, today is a huge milestone in your life. You turn 18months old. Officially, you are no longer a baby. I know we've only known about you for a few months, but it seems like forever. How much we've missed of your little life. Never will we see or take pictures of your first smile, first tooth, first taste of baby food, first crawl, first step, first word, first slobbery kiss, first throw your head back cackling laugh, first temper tantrum. We are very very aware of how hard your homecoming will be. With every day that passes, you become more like a little boy, attached to your sweet foster family, more Korean. We want you to know that we don't underestimate how much grieving you will need to go through. We will never minimize the losses you have and will experience. No child deserves to lose a parent at birth, then lose the only momma and dadda he's ever known for a year and a half, a country, a culture, a language. Your journey here is marked with loss! But, there is joy at the end of the journey! You have much to gain too: a daddy who loves to snuggle, to play Uno with his kids, who doesn't go off to do "man" activities because he loves his family too much, a daddy who loves Jesus and wants to model his Father in Heaven to his children. You have a momma waiting who adores little boys and loves to play games like tackle, play with Hot Wheels, play chase around the living room, and is longing to rock you to sleep in our "big blue chair." You have a big brother who is the sweetest and most thoughtful 13yr old teen around. He thinks his siblings are fun and he loves being a Korean-American family. You have a big sis who is so mature and capable of taking care of business. She draws pictures and prays for you every night to be safe and healthy. You have a big brother who is the funniest 6yr old boy in the world. He uses his eyes, hands, and charades to communicate the words his mouth can't make. He has bunk beds waiting for you to come share. You have grandparents who just love spending time with grandkids. You have many many aunts, uncles, cousins, great-grandparents, great aunts and uncles who will love on you and cheer you on. See, you will gain much. We love you.

Now, to the rest of the world out in cyberspace. I'm having a bit of a hard time today. A child turning 18months old is BIG deal! I'm acutely aware that we still don't have a fingerprint appointment with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The travel time I was once expecting to be late June/early July is now looking like late July is more realistic. I'm so sad that I'm missing a huge stage of development with my sweet boy. I'm also acutely aware of North Korea acting like a fool! I know I know, they have acted like this many times in the past. But, when your child is in a city about 1.5hours from the North Korean border, you can't help be anxious. I suppose the bright side of this international tension is that maybe,nobody else will want to travel to Seoul and then our plane tickets will be much cheaper :)) Yes, I'm also worried about how to pay for 3 plane tickets.

I leave you with a poem written by an adoptive mom in waiting

Song of the Waiting Mother
I'm pregnant, but my tummy isn't growing,
And no one ever calls me "little mom."
The public simply isn't overflowing
With questions that I'd handle with aplomb.

There are no special clothes to mark my waiting,
Nobody stops and smiles as I pass by.
The absence of a due-date is frustrating
And looking at the nursery makes me cry.

When I'm overdue no one will worry.
The phone won't ring and ring as friends check in.
I can't induce my labor in a hurry,
My new life as a parent to begin.

Adoption is a worrisome endeavor,
And waiting all alone is not much fun.
To be "with child" a year seems like forever.
Dear God, we're ready! Please send us our son!
by Christine Futia(taken from the book "Toddler Adoption")

Court Date

Well, it wasn't what they were hoping for, but not bad. The judge will give more time. We are thankful she is staying with my sis and her hubby, but UGH!! Come on already!

Recruiting lots of prayers

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just blabbing into cyberspace, but according to my visitors log, there are quite a few of you logging in. So, I have a HUGE prayer request. Tomorrow(Thursday) at 2pm my sister and her husband will go to court to find out what the social services department and judge feel is best for their foster baby. Please Please Please pray for favor for my sis and her hubby and that God's will is done for sweet baby J. We all want them to adopt he so badly, but most of all, we want what is the best for her.
Thanks!
Psalm 37:5-6 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

Sobering Statistics

I read a book several months ago that broke my heart. Children of Hope by Vernon Brewer is about AIDS orphans in Africa. Honestly, I knew there was a huge problem, but seriously folks, this is a huge crisis!! Why don't we care about orphans in Africa? Why does the richest country in the world turn aside and refuse to acknowledge the millions of suffering children? I'll let you ponder the answers, I have some theories of my own, but they would not be popular, I'm sure! So, tonight I challenge your brain and heart to learn some statistics.

Every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by AIDS in Africa
15 million children have been orphaned by AIDS, a number that is expected to increase to 40 million by 2010
According to UNICEF, in Zimbabwe, 100 babies become HIV positive every day; and a child dies every 15minutes from HIV/AIDS
South Africa has an estimated 2.5 million orphans

And, the most disturbing of all!!! Barna Research group conducted a study and found that less than 3 percent of evangelical Christians said they would help a Christian organization minister to an AIDS orphan.
In the words of Gomer Pyle, "For Shame For Shame"!! Our thoughts and ideas about HIV/AIDS are irregardless when talking about orphans. The children are innocent and suffering. If you don't think orphans are super duper important to God's heart, you need to do a study of the Bible. Over and over God talks about caring for the fatherless and downtrodden.
Here is a great quote by Larry Jones, co-founder of Feed the Children "You can throw up your hands in despair(about the sheer numbers of children suffering)... or you can roll up your sleeves and get to work."

When I get to the end of my life, I want my Lord to say "Well done good and faithful servant." I sure don't want to hear Him say "when I was hungry, you stuffed your own belly with food you didn't need, When I was naked, You spent 65.00 on a pair of cool jeans." Forgive me and my complacency Lord Jesus. Show me how to make a difference for Kingdom value!!!!!

Thankful Thursday

1. Good report from the doctor(yes, another little issue cropped up!)
2. We are totally done with our part of Hudson's adoption. It feels so good to have it all accomplished. Now, if USCIS(immigration) will move super fast to give us a fingerprint appt and process our papers, we will be doing well)
3. Carter did awesome as the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland
4. Abby was precious in her ribbon squad performance
5. Dillon is talking in longer sentences at school!

It Is Here!!

We got our big Fed Ex packet from Dillon International today. This has our son's legal papers, our official acceptance papers. So, we get things notarized, send copies to Dillon, and finally file with USCIS!! BIG step! After this, we wait for a fingerprinting appointment with immigration. This is our 3rd Korean adoption. With each one, we've been fingerprinted by local police and immigration before the adoption. Then, 6months after the child has come home, in order to finalize the adoption, we've been fingerprinted again. Let's see--that makes a total of 9 fingerprinting sessions for both Mike and I. Not to mention my fingerprinting for my nursing lisence. You'd sure think that there is a way to centralize all this madness huh???
Bring on the ink, I want my baby boy home! We set up the bunk beds in Dillon's room and are about to start decorating. We've decided to go with a kind of antique cowboy theme. Won't it be adorable? My 2 little Korean cowboys!!