Family

Gotta love being together!

Wherever that takes you :)

More Sweet Baby Pics!

Two pictures from when our sweet little boy was born:

I absolutely love this picture! When we went to sign our acceptance paperwork, our social worker had an 8 x 10 of this printed out, and she casually got it out of the folder and said, "And you got this picture, right?" But we hadn't! I think I ripped it out of her hands, and then I proceeded to stare at it for the rest of the time we were signing paperwork! It was quite distracting, and I actually wrote my address down incorrectly at one point. He is just too cute for words!

Check Out My Baby!!!

I am so happy to finally be able to show you pictures of our beautiful little boy, Matthew!

Yep, I'm in love!

We think this picture was taken when he was about 5 months old. I have a couple of pictures that were taken when he was born...but those will wait for another post :) I love his cheeks, and every time I look at this picture (which is often!) I dream of the day when I will be able to kiss them any time I want. Hopefully it will not be long!!!!

We are having a great vacation! We heard from our social worker yesterday that all of our paperwork had been received (yay!) and our I-600 has been filed! Apparently the next step is to wait for this to be approved. Come on, progress...we want our baby home!!!!!!!!

Ready to Relax

The paperwork is complete! Praise the Lord for my very motivated husband who took control yesterday when I was so stressed out that napping on the couch was all I could handle, and who got together all the documents we needed and filled out all the forms! He is superman!

The laundry is (sort of) done, the house is (mostly) clean, and the bags are (almost) packed! Tomorrow Brad and I head on a lovely and much-needed vacation! I look forward to many hours of reading, floating in a pool, and enjoying this view:

It is a long drive to Tennessee (and that is a very tricky state to spell!) but it will be worth it in the end :) We look forward to a week of relaxing and spending time with my parents, my younger sister Sarah, my sister Joanna and her husband Ryan. From there, Brad and I are heading to South Carolina to spend some time with an old college friend of mine (wow, when did I get old enough to be able to say that phrase??). I cannot wait to spend some time catching up with her!

And the day after we get back, our social worker is coming to update our homestudy! Hence the (almost) clean house. I must admit, this week has been a bit on the crazy side, but every time I pass Matthew's picture, I smile and remember that it is all worth it! We are very excited to be getting closer and closer to bringing him home!

Ok, I really must finish that packing...

Someone's Turning 30!

My dear hubby, Brad, is turning the big 3-0 tomorrow! I keep telling him that I can't believe I am almost married to someone who is in his THIRTIES! It's strange, it's such a huge birthday, but he is so unfazed by it. I feel like maybe I need to have a little meltdown for him or something :)

I have so many sappy things I could say about this man - he is the sweetest, most kindhearted, bravest, strongest man I know and I am so proud to call him my husband (oh dear now I've got myself all teary-eyed!). Every day I love him more and more, even though I keep thinking to myself, "I could not possibly love him more than I do right now!". He keeps me laughing, keeps me sane, and life is so much better with him around.

Happy Birthday, babe!

That Special Day

First of all, let me say that I am so sorry but I totally forgot to ask our social worker today if it is okay for me to put Matthew's picture on the blog...I emailed her when I got home and I hope that tomorrow will be the day!

Let me also share some amazing news about something that God has done (because really there is no other explanation for it!). The first step in the process after we officially accept the referral is called "Legals". I don't know much about this, but I know that it is something we need to wait for from Korea. Or at least, that is usually how it works. Today when we met with our social worker, she informed us that she had good news - they already have our legals!!!!! The first step is complete! When I asked "How?" and "Why?" she responded that she really didn't know, and that in her 13 years of working with the adoption agency she had never seen this happen. Wow, okay then!

So what is next? Well, mad paperwork is next! We have a whole stack of forms and things to complete by Friday because on Saturday we are heading on vacation for a week! The day after we get back from vacation we are updating our homestudy...which stresses me out a bit (I'm not sure about you, but my house is not that clean when I just get back from vacation!!!). Thankfully, one look at Matthew's picture and the stresses just melt away and I realize I CAN DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET MY BABY HOME!!!!!

I thought since I couldn't yet share pictures of my beautiful little man, I would share a few pictures from that amazing day. First a little background info. Brad and I knew that being matched last Friday was a possibility, as there were three babies waiting to be matched with families who were considered "waiting children" having been born a little early. We already had their pictures...and we had to wait a whole week to find out if we'd been matched. Let's just say it was the longest week of my entire life and if you are looking for a good weight loss plan, this one works well.

Friday rolled around, and we knew they'd be meeting, and calling us at some point to let us know...then in a cruel twist of fate, time decided to STAND STILL!!! Okay maybe I am exaggerating but seriously it felt like it!

My dear sister-in-law Karen came to wait it out with me, since Brad had been called away for work.

Around 4:30pm the call came in. I will never forget those words: "We have a baby!"

As soon as she told me his Korean name, I knew which baby was ours...and I knew it was exactly right. Matthew was meant to be ours.

I think the pictures say the rest.

It has been four long years. Many tears, many prayers, lots of questions, wondering when it would end. And now we know...or at least we know the beginning of the end :) What a beautiful story God is writing for us! How thankful we are for Matthew, and how we long for the day when we will hold him in our arms!

And can I just add that it was wonderful to see my dear husband become a father just in time for Father's Day? That was a gift in itself! He will be the best daddy ever!