Let Us Pray...

Or think positive thoughts for;

or hope for;

or do anything to send good vibes to the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW).

Normally, the MOHW invites exit permission (EP) submissions the first working day of the new year.  As the name suggests, this EP needs to be granted in order for a child to come home.  And after submission, it usually takes another 2-6 weeks for a family to receive their travel call.

This year, the MOHW has yet to invite EP submissions.

At first, it was supposed to be January 2, then the beginning of February, then mid-February, then the beginning of March.

Now I've just heard the news that they may push it back to mid-March.

Meaning no one has been allowed to travel to pick up their children yet.

Why do I care, you say?  Your child is home.

Well, we will always be a part of the adoption community and, even though we are no longer in the adoption process, there are plenty of others who are.

Friends, good friends, who have been in this waiting game too long a time.

And there are many, many children in Korea who are waiting to meet their forever families.

Even though they don't know they're waiting.

But we do.

And their forever families know...and know...and know.

Because they've been waiting...and waiting...and waiting.

Some have been waiting since December of 2010.

Yes, I said 2010.

That makes some of these children at least 21 months old now.

These children need to come home.

So please join in with the adoption community every evening at 7pm eastern time (9am Korea time) to pray for these children, these families, and the MOHW, that things will start to progress to unite forever families sooner rather than later.

Thank you.

From all of us.

Movie Monday - Boo's gym

After hearing about an open gym for toddlers at a local gymnastics studio from a friend (thanks, Grace!), I have been taking Boo there to encourage him to try new things and increase some of his gross motor skills. He loves it!  Here are a few of the things he likes to do:

trying out the regular sized balance beam

he had better luck with the wider one.

I love his arms up at the end, like he's finishing his routine!

jumping in the foam pit; he spends about half our time in this, but when he's stuck in the foam blocks, it takes him forever to move!

a small climbing wall.

he got all the way to the top with help the first time.

he just seems to be hanging out in this video.  haha!

running on the tumbling track.

this is his new favorite and what he makes a beeline for when we first go in...as long as there aren't many other kids on it at the time.

I enjoy seeing him develop and grow and experience new things.

My baby's growing up.

Godmother

Last weekend, I had the honor of standing up to be Godmother for my older sister's youngest son.  He is a bundle of cuteness, although was not happy during the ceremony, to be sure!  But we made it through and Chris was able to get a few good shots of the Baptism and then some during the party afterwards.  It was a fun weekend to get together with family to celebrate, as well as show off our boy to those who haven't seen him for a while.  Here are some pictures:

My cousin rode over with us.  On the 5-hour drive, they both caught some zzz's in order to party late after the Baptism!

The man of the hour, little Z.

My BIL, his brother, me (with Z), and my sister.

Afterwards with the Deacon.

Godparents and Z

Me and my big boy!

He was great during Mass prior to the Baptism.

I couldn't decide which of these family pictures I liked better, so I put them both in!!

My dad, younger sister, mom, me, and older sister.

The five grandsons.

I don't know what the two on either end were looking at, but they did NOT want to sit still for a picture!

Z with his great-grandpa!!

Me and my nephew J.

Me and my godson Z.

Fireman Fred

A couple weeks ago, Chris and I took Boo to a nearby fire station where a new friend of ours works.  (He and his wife are waiting for the referral of their first child and are number 2 right now!!  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers that they get some great news soon.)  We had ourselves a private tour of the station and the two fire trucks there.  Needless to say, Boo was enthralled...and so was his daddy.

Boys + big machines = heaven!

Boo got to sit in the driver's seat with the lights on and even got to push the button that started the fire truck's engine, which was so loud I think it actually scared him a little (I definitely jumped!).  But when I started laughing, he then thought the big noise he had just helped make was awesome!  We got a tour of the entire fire truck (way more stuff on it than I ever knew) and the firemen's sleeping area.  The central dispatch area even tested the station's alarm system for us.

Boo got a fireman's hat and some fire safety coloring books from Fireman Fred and has loved wearing the hat around the house.  What a cutie!

All smiles in the driver's seat!

Rockin' his new hat.

The fire truck's wheel was bigger than Boo!

Trying out some new boots.

With Fireman Fred in back of truck 2-3, Boo's favorite.

Still the fireman, days later!

Thank you so much, Sarah and Fred, for giving my boys and me a fun new experience!

We'll have to do it again sometime.

"Three-word" Wednesday

You said it...you are "hot stuff"!!

From the mouth of babes...

Heard through the monitor:

6:50 am:  "Mama, HEY Mama!"
               "Dada, are you SLEE-ping?!  Are you SLEE-ping, Dada??"
               Uh, no, not anymore.

"Mama, are you com-ing?"

"Mama, where are you??"

"I waked up!"  (Mind you, sometimes he says this after a non-nap...buddy, you never went to sleep!!)

We'll read a book to him and then he'll say "My turn!" and read the book to us (with a bit of prompting); I love listening to him read to me!  This is mostly for the Llama llama books and Goodnight Moon...or, really, any rhyming book in general.

He pluralizes his plurals...cars'es, trains'es, cups'es...you get the picture.

"You buy the tickets, Mama?! You buy tickets?!" (The entire week prior to our 3-hour Amtrak ride to meet Daddy.  He was, obviously, very concerned that I hadn't bought them.)

"Here comes me!!"...yelled over and over to his Dada as he comes down the stairs in the morning with Mama.

"Mama, you have purple diaper on?!" (when he saw my purple underwear)  My husband thinks this is hilarious!  (And, yes, I can laugh at myself.) Boo now knows that they are underwear, yet does not want to start wearing his own.

"Hey, you be quiet now. I make phone call!
Hi! This is [his name]."  (with his toy phone up to his ear)

"Mama, you sprinkled!"  I was wearing a shirt with some sequins on it...I was "sparkling."

when looking into a sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mints at the last cookie..."I may be eating that one!"...as he reached for it.

"I bought you tickets to Riverdance" said randomly at lunch one day recently.  which he had, with Daddy's help, for my birthday two months ago!

Me: Okay, let's try to go potty!
Boo: No, I don't want to!!
Me: When will you want to?
Boo: Um, it will be Saturday.
(We'll see...)

When I can get him to say the months of the year, his birthday is always included...January, February, March, April 14th (said with much enthusiasm!)...and then he usually stops.

Speaking of birthdays:
Me: What do you want for your birthday?
Boo: A penguin!!
Um, what?!?!

Birthday Binkies

Yesterday was Chris' birthday and Boo had a wonderful gift for him; after his (non)naptime, we gathered up all his binkies and put them in a birthday bag for Daddy, who is then going to "give" them to other little babies who need them.  This was actually Daddy's idea a few days ago and we all talked about it at bedtime the past two days.  Boo was a bit hesitant, but seemed to be okay with the idea.  Last night was great!!  I  only heard him cry a couple of times, but they didn't last long enough for me to even get out of bed and to his door before he quit.  What a trooper.  Nap time today has been a little more eventful: even though I knew he was tired, he fought going to sleep for almost an hour.  How did I know?  The kid was kicking his crib rails repeatedly and it. was. driving. me. nuts!  I finally went back up and rocked him a little more, put him back in his crib, told him it was time to go to sleep, and I haven't heard a peep for an hour and a half so far...yeah!!  So I guess we're going cold turkey.

We are so so proud of our boy!!!

Boo also helped me make and frost Daddy's birthday cake yesterday.  We finished just before he got home from work and surprised him by singing "Happy Birthday!"  Well, okay, Mama sang most of it and Boo did the last line, but he did a great job with that line.  He helped Daddy blow out the candles and then we all had a (small) piece of cake before dinner because it was a special day.  By the way, chocolate cake makes our sweet little boy a spaz!!!  By the time we left for dinner, he was running around in circles and laughing hysterically.

Boo placed the candles on the cake.

He didn't make it easy for Daddy to blow them out!

Happy birthday, Dad!!

Eating the cake he helped make.

On the "phone" with Daddy during the day.

So ready to eat some cake:

Happy birthday, honey!
You're an amazing husband and father and we are so blessed to have you in our lives.
We love you, forever and ever and always.