Registering!

So, when you are expecting a baby, whether by adoption or not, you just look forward to the day you get to do the nursery and the day you get to register! And when you have been waiting as long as Bryan and I have, you definitely look forward to it! It's not that we want to get all these gifts, it's more about that you finally reached a point where you realize that This Is Going To Happen!!! I would go by the baby aisle for years, just wishing and wondering when that special day will be and what kind of things I would want to get for my baby. Also, after many years of being a nanny, I felt like I knew exactly what things were good to have and what things weren't necessary. So, I have been "busting at the seams" to do this, and when some friends of mine offered to throw me a shower (almost right after we got our referral!), Bryan and I finally decided to do it last week! So, we made a plan to go up to Target one day during the week (yeah, we couldn't wait until the weekend). ;) Before we left I starting making a list of stuff we needed. Because Jack is older, we don't necessarily need a lot of that "baby" stuff you typically register for, but I was surprised how much stuff we still needed. So, with my list in hand, we were off to Target. We got there and with a big smile on our face, we said we were there to register! Of course, after a little while of being there, I thought I had to explain that we were adopting, so they didn't think we were making it up.  I definitely felt there were questions running through their heads since I was lacking a "baby-bump!" ;)  So, we signed up and with my list in hand, I handed Bryan his "gun" and we were off! Well, within 20 minutes we were already done! I was so disappointed!  I don't know if it was just our Target, but they didn't have ANYTHING! And then once I got home, I pulled up our registry and there were no pictures or prices of the things we put on it! Then I just decided that I was going to just delete it and put everything on a Amazon.com Baby Registry. I liked them better anyway, because I can put anything from any site (places like Etsy or even Walmart) on it and I'm not just stuck with whatever one store has to offer. Plus you can also look up an item and find which store has it cheapest and put it on there!  I know I sound like I'm advertising for them or something, but I'm not. I just really like them and I don't think a lot of people know about it! ;)  It took me a few days, but I think we finally have it done! You can see it here:  http://www.amazon.com/registry/baby/2U5BWJRLJC7KA. You can also see a little peek of my color theme for the nursery too! ;) Also, let me know if I'm forgetting something that is a must-have for an 18-month-old! :) Some things I left off on purpose because I think I will be able to buy it off of craigslist.  So anyway, registering wasn't the experience I imagined it being, but we are ultimately just glad we got to do it!  I can't believe the day has come that we are finally expecting Jack to be home VERY SOON!!!  I'm just so excited!

Surprise Birthday Party!

Have I mentioned that we have some of the BESTEST friends ever?!  Well, we truly do, and here is just one of the reasons why..

Bryan and I planned on having a little celebration for Jack on his birthday. I considered inviting people over, but our sunday school class was supposed to be having a girl's night that night, so I figured we better just keep it between Bryan and I.  So that was the plan until we were approached by our friend, Marie, and she offered for Bryan and I to come over to their house and we can just celebrate it there with her hubby, Will and son, Walt (Jack's future best buddy). I really didn't think anything of it and just thought it was so nice of her to offer that, just to make it a little more special.  So, we made plans and decided we would just come over, have some cake, and try to cook some Korean food.  Well, turns out, our sweet friends had other plans. When we showed up at the house, we walked in to see this...

Our friends decided to throw a surprise birthday party for our Jack!  The whole girl's night get together was to throw us off!  And they had been planning this since we got our referral!!!  I was blown away!  They sang Happy Birthday to Jack and of course I had to cry...

There was cake and decorations...

Some Korean food...

Some American food...

Helping blow out Jack's candle...

Pinata for the kids...

Jack even got gifts!

Jack, your mommy and daddy, and all of these wonderful people have prayed for you for such a long time and even though you aren't home yet, they already love you so much!

       

 

 

 

It never ceases to amaze me how great our friends are and how we couldn't have made it through this process without them! We are beyond blessed! Thank you all who made this special day possible!  It will be a memory we will never forget!

Happy Birthday Jack Dohyun!

Well, it's January 20th here, but it's already January 21st in Korea, so that makes it officially Jack's birthday! We are planning to have a celebration tomorrow, but I wanted to do something special for the little guy tonight. I decided to make him a cake. I have always had an interest in making cakes, but never had the initiative to make them. I just always thought I would wait until I had kids. Well, now I do! And even though he isn't here, I wanted to try to do something special for him. So, I made him a little cake and Bryan and I prayed a special birthday prayer for him.  I am sad we couldn't be together to celebrate his first birthday, but I'm sure he is being loved on greatly by his foster family!

Characters say Jack in Korean.

We also sent "Jack-Jack" our care package last week for his birthday. We sent him his first Yankees hat (a must have) :), a little red fleece jacket, a star wars onesie (yes, he will be a nerd like daddy) ;) , an Alabama football (from Grandpa), and a lovie that Bryan and I have been sleeping with for a month so it will have our scent. We also found this really cool picture album that you can put pictures in and record a message for each one. So we had a couple photos of us, one of each of us, one of each set of grandparents, and of course, one of Sam and Rosie. We also sent the foster mother a bag, coffee, Almond Rocca (heard it was really expensive in Korea), and a thank you card. Hope to get a picture of him receiving it, but I will try not to get my hopes up.  Love you Jack Dohyun! Happy Birthday Little Man!

I'm a Busy Bee!

I'm so sorry I haven't posted much since our referral! I honestly still can't believe we are PARENTS! We were so blessed to get our call during the Christmas break so we could really enjoy the news with our family and friends, and not be too distracted with things. Well, now that we are back to work, we are definitely busy!  And I suspect this will continue for the next few months! :)  It has been difficult to get things done, but we are doing it, one thing at a time. We went to go apply for our passports recently, but that wasn't as easy as I hoped (but really, what is during this process?) ;)  Bryan was fine, but they didn't accept my birth certificate, so I had to wait, order another one, and then come back and apply once I got my new one in the mail. I finally got that done last Friday. I'm praying I get our passport before we get our travel call! We've also been working on a care package for the little guy.  We are allowed to send over one care package, so I'm really trying to make it count. I'm almost done getting that together, just have to write the foster mother a thank you and have someone translate it for me. Hopefully that will be ready to go in the next day or two. Of course, I'll post pictures when I'm done with that. We are also working on our next fundraiser and getting an account opened with the help of Lifesong for Orphans, to accept tax deductible donations for the remainder of our adoption funds! More information will be coming on this as well. Our acceptance paperwork took up the most time, but it has recently been sent and was in Korea by January 9th! We are just waiting for our legal documents to be sent back to our agency, and then the next step is to apply for I-600.  I know it doesn't make much sense, but just know we are busy with paperwork and getting ready for our little Jack! ;)  I can't wait to share more about the little man, and his picture with you, but we are waiting just a little longer until we have our legals in.  Hopefully that will be VERY soon! Pray those legals come in FAST too so we don't have to do a homestudy update! By the way, I updated the post, Referral Day, to include more about the day we got the referral call. I was so over the moon, I didn't know what to say at first. :) Thank you all for being so happy for us! We have been overwhelmed and so so thankful for all your kind words!