"Gotcha Day" August 11, 2006

"Gotcha Day" is the day that we received Hannah into our lives and our family forever! Our appointment time was set for 3:00pm on Friday August 11th, 2006. We had the morning to keep ourselves busy as we greatly anticipated the afternoon events. We spent the morning visiting the Royal Palace and had a great Korean lunch with the aid of a wonderful guide and interpreter! As we were going back to the guesthouse at about 2:15 that afternoon we had to pass the Holt offices and we saw that Hannah and her foster mother had already arrived for our 3:00 appointment. We poked our head in and had to give Hannah a squeeze and a kiss but they told us they weren't ready for us which was o.k. because we had to go back to the guesthouse and get our video camera and batteries in our digital camera changed (just in case - we have had them die at inopportune times too often). We also wanted to pick up some flowers for Hannah's foster mother so she wouldn't have to leave empty handed, as we knew this would be a very difficult time for her as she deeply cared for our daughter!

We went and prepared what we needed and made our way back to the Holt offices along with another couple from the guesthouse who were very kindly going to capture our experience on video. We entered to find Hannah drinking a bottle (holding her own bottle!). Almost the whole foster family had come to see Hannah off. Things went pretty quickly. Hannah's foster mother had some gifts for us including some pictures of Hannah while she was in their care and a Hanbok for Hannah to wear when she celebrates her first birthday (1st birthdays are a big celebration in Korea and they wear their traditional dress). We had the flowers that we gave to Hannah's foster mother. While the foster family said their last good-byes, Ms. Lee went had us sign some last paperwork, gave us some final directions and gave us a bag of baby supplies. It was then time for some last pictures all together and the prayer circle. We all gathered together as Ms. Lee offered up a prayer for Hannah, her future, our travels, and all those who have been involved and will be involved in Hannah's life. Then we were told we could go - that was it. They watched us as we walked out of the building and down to the guesthouse. It truly was an amazing experience and I often times held back the tears of both sadness for the foster family and for Korea losing such a beautiful girl and tears of joy for our wonderful new daughter that the Lord has blessed us with.

Hmmmm..........Waiting!

Waiting.....waiting....waiting.....that is what summarizes these days of ours. We try to live each day to the fullest and not worry about the future but when your waiting on word from the air force to determine your next "move", waiting for your house to sell (in a rotten market!), waiting for a hand to recover/heal but still looking at two surgeries in the months ahead - it gets hard.

Yes, we believe our future is in the Lord's hands and everything will happen in perfect timing according to His will! However, between Satan's lies and our own sinful flesh, it is easy to get frustrated, impatient and sometimes feel like your just sitting without purpose. It's giving up that control. When you have everything planned out and then all of a sudden everything you thought was going to happen in a certain neat little time frame gets turned upside down. For those who don't know...Jon got an infection in his hand and it ruined the repaired tendon. They had to remove the tendon and will now have to graft one from his wrist into his thumb. He has gone through two surgeries and is looking at two more with 8-9 months of total recovery. We still don't know exactly what the AF is going to do, but we are expecting to be put on hold here until they know how much function he will have. He has passed his boards and is now licensed as a nurse but is working in the ROTC office at the U of M. This has added many complications and obstacles to our life that we did not foresee. Nothing life threatening, praise God for that, and nothing that patience, discipline and humility along with time won't take care of. I'm sure we will look back at this time somewhere in the future and be grateful for the lessons we will learn through this time and see how the Lord used it for good, as He promises to do! That doesn't make it always easy......that great refining fire!

I know our life is full of so many blessings, more than I could ever count! I know the purpose for our life is not only in "what" we do but "how we do it". The Lord has purpose for us everyday in every action we do and every word we say. So even though we feel our "plan" is on hold, our life is not. We just have to give up our control to the Lord and trust, walk in faith. Once again our marriage verse is tested: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on our own understanding in all of your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight."

I don't know if my ramblings mean much to you but as I've written it out, the Lord has given me encouragement for today .... thank you Lord!

It's been Awhile!! Update!

Pictured above: 1.Hannah on her first Birthday showing how big she is
2. All four kids in their Easter best!
Pictured below: 1. All of us, with the Judge, on the day of Hannah's finalization 2. Hannah on the day of her Baptism


Well, It's been a while since I have updated things here on our blog. We have had a very full life since Hannah has come home! Let's see our last post was in October when our dog George had gotten killed the night before Hannah's baptism. Quick summary (o.k. pretty long) - Hannah did have a beautiful baptism -full immersion -wonderful big sacrament!! Josiah had his sixth birthday in early December and celebrated with a party with his friends here at home and a catapiller cake! We then celebrated Christmas - Hannah's first Christmas! One of the highlights of Christmas was Gabriel figuring out how to play "We Three Kings" on the piano all by himself (by ear).

January brought on Hannah's first birthday and we celebrated with a "Tol party" (traditional Korean party thrown for one's first birthday). It was a day full of memories we will treasure as Hannah was dressed in the traditional hanbok, Lea-Ann made a complete Korean meal, and set up a Tol table display. We marched Hannah around the table and she grabbed a spool of thread and a pen which signifies she will live a long life and be a scholar! We then had the traditional American first birthday cake and ice-cream!

Before we knew it Hannah was toddling around the house saying Ma-ma, Da-dy, and ba-ba as well as signing (sign language) please and more/want. All the kids enjoy watching her learn new things and get so excited when she reaches a new milestone. However, all of our ears quiver at her high pitch screeeeeam, when she is frustrated! She is "fiery", as they said in Korea!

After Christmas we ferociously began working on finishing up the renovations on our house to try to get it on the market by March. Framing, drywalling, sanding, painting, etc., filled our "free" hours. In the process we got back into our schooling, preparing Gabriel for his first communion, trying to stay warm in the cold fridged winter of Minnesota, and keep the kids from undoing everything we were trying to accomplish on the house.

In late January we got the honor of greeting our newest niece at the airport as Lea-Ann's sister and brother-in-law brought her home from Vietnam. That was a very exciting and long awaited day, as they had fought an uphill battle against many obstacles to bring her home.

Skip to March, Marie Elizabeth turned four! She is a delight one minute and quite the handful the next - full of sugar and spice!!!! She has been working hard on getting control of her emotions and her frustrations. As well as "using her words" instead of her hands, if you get what I mean. Nothing beats her big hugs and kisses though - she is our snuggle bug! In March we also welcomed little Cameron to the family - Lea-Ann's sister's first baby. It is so amazing watching a little newborn only a couple days old - what a little miracle! Mari-Pat told Marie Elizabeth the baby finally popped (Marie Elizabeth would always ask when the baby was going to pop out?)!

We continue to work, work, work on the house.......March comes and goes and April is upon us! Surely we will have the house ready soon!!!! Jon turns 33......wow, and still in college...hmmmm! He worked very hard fulfilling all his requirements of his last semester in nursing school - his immersion experience brought him to the cardiac ICU at Abbott Northwestern hospital. He thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of working there and absorbed all that he could! On April 26th we went down to the Dakota County Courthouse and finalized Hannah's adoption and she became a US citizen - yeah! In late April Gabriel made his first reconciliation and first communion. Jon and I both had to fight back the tears, realizing how fast he was growing and how proud we were of him! He has really turned a corner this year and it is a delight to watch him take on new responsibilities .

May arrives.....we have to get this house on the market!!!!!! Jon graduates with high distinction carrying a 3.91 GPA. We are all so very proud of him - he has worked so hard! We also found out that we are going to be stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX after Jon spends three months in CA for some additional military training. We worked around the clock for almost two weeks after Jon graduated, with the aid of many of our friends and family...thank you, to finally get our house on the market! However at the tale end, the day before pictures were suppose to be taken on the house, Jon sliced his hand on the table saw and cut through the tendon and nerves on his left thumb. He spent an afternoon in the emergency room and then a morning in surgery reconnecting his tendon and as much of the nerves as they could. They expect him to recover most of the range of motion of his thumb but will have impaired sensation. This has put a monkey wrench in things as they now won't commission him until he is recovered...three months!

After a little bit of trying to figure out how this was going to affect things, we found out that the Air Force would reassign him to his training in Sept. at Lackland where we will be stationed. So the silver lining in all this......is that Jon won't have to be away for three months and we will be able to move all together down to Texas in September (as long as our house sells - we are trusting the Lord for this)! His commission will be held off till August when we hope he will get a doctor's note saying he can be back on full military duty without restrictions! For now, he's working in the ROTC office pushing papers. Our house is finally on the market, and we spend our days trying to keep it picked up in case we get that call saying someone wants to see it! That's the melodrama of our life!

We will miss you George!

On Saturday night our dog George decided to wander and got hit by a car and was killed. He was a super cute (when cleaned and not too shaggy) poodle mix. He was awesome with kids and they adored him too. It has been a rough few days as we remember and realize what a special place he had woven into our lives and hearts. The kids were very sad but are doing o.k. now. They colored a box today that we will bury George in tomorrow. It's been a lesson to us on how quickly things can change and a good time to reflect on Heaven. You were a great dog George and we miss you!

Highlights of the Past Month

It is hard to believe that October is almost past us! Where does the time go? These have been some of our highlights (that I can remember - that darn memory):

*Hannah getting two more teeth
*Hannah saying "Da, Da" and "Ma, Ma"
*More smiles and giggles from all
*Josiah interpreting Hannah's babbling - she said "Praise God"
*Josiah completing his Math book (which was originally for the whole year)
*Gabriel beating his speed drills in Math and getting 100% on two of his tests
*MarieElizabeth enjoying preschool
*MarieElizabeth going full time into panties, even at night!! Yeah!!
*Gabriel lementing "Why did Adam and Eve have to sin?" because he had to empty the dishwasher
*Doing tongue tricks at the dinner table (Yes I can flip my tongue upside down and MarieElizabeth can touch her nose with hers)...the whole incident was instigated by Hannah learning to stick out her tongue.
*Completing our retaining wall in the front...now for the side!
*A wonderful surprise 30th Birthday party - that was truly a surprise - I had no idea - good job Jon!
*A new massage pad
*Having Hannah lay her head on my shoulder and cuddle into my chest for the first time
*Watching Grandmas hold Hannah for the first time
*Hannah standing so proudly without holding onto anything
*Gabriel and Josiah both completing another level of their phonics program
*MarieElizabeth showing me a picture she scribbled and asking me "is this a proper noun Mom or a common noun?" A lesson I had just been giving to Gabriel
*Watching Josiah deeply engrossed in reading his Bible - to the point we had to tell him to put it away while he walked
*Great brisk walks in the fall air
*Racing through the playset at the park (we all timed in under 10 sec. - amazing isn't it)!
*watching all four kids play together, swinging and laughing
*MarieElizabeth insisting that the picture of grapes she painted would turn into real grapes on Saturday if we put it in the fridge
*listening in on the kids while they play "House"
*Dinner with friends and family
*No cavities for anyone at the Dentist!!
*Dentist telling Gabriel that his two front teeth are a tiny bit wiggly (miniscule - but it gave him hope!)
*Hearing the boys recite their verse from the week from memory
*Josiah saying "Baby's are a lot of work Mom, but I'm still glad we got Hannah"
*Hannah reaching out her arms to me
*watching Daddy arm wrestle Gabriel
*MarieElizabeth taking care of her babies
*lots of hugs and kisses, and "I love you's" - even "I love you VIVA!" (Marie Elizabeth's favorite)
*Soccer games
*Gabriel teaching Josiah how to play chess
*watching the boys pray their rosary at church on their own initiative
*Making it to daily Mass on time (we try once or twice a week)!
*Hannah learning to click her toungue and her and MarieElizabeth doing it back and forth to each other
*planting 25 plants and 200 bulbs
*Rocking Hannah while giving her a bottle and having her stare into my eyes.
*Lord's Day celebrations
*Taking my neice /goddaughter shopping for the day (even if she didn't wear the shirt - ha,ha Emily)
*Finding out we are going to have another nephew
*Hannah's baptism - pics coming soon!

Motto to Live By (which I got on a plaque for my Birthday):
"Life shoud NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well perserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, choclate in one hand, latte in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "Woo Hoo, what a ride!"

It has been one month!

Hannah has been with us for one whole month! One month ago in Seoul, Korea she was given to us by her dear foster family who all came to see her off. With smiles and tears we excitedly welcomed this adorable little girl into our lives! It is so hard to believe that it has already been a whole month but at the same time it's hard to imagine life with out her already!

Today we actually had our first post placement visit with our social worker. We will have three total before we are able to finalize Hannah's adoption and citizenship. It was wonderful to be able to share how well things have been going and how much we are enjoying her! As you can see from the pictures here she is so full of joy and has such a precious smile! Our social worker told us that he was very impressed with how well she seems to be adjusting and that he could tell by looking at her that she is very happy!

Her sleeping is definitely improving which has been our biggest obstacle. She is sleeping from about 8:30pm till 5:30am waking 2-4 times for comfort and then a bottle at 5:30/6:00. We have taken one side of her crib off and put it next to our bed (strapped to our bed for safety), this has been working very well as she is learning to sleep in her crib but is still close for comfort sake! although at night recently she seems to be really fighting something as she thrashes around as she is drifting off to sleep. She loves the kids especially when they make funny faces at her. Josiah loves to call her name in a very sweet (but often loud) sing songy voice to draw her attention. Gabriel is trying to convince us that he is big enough to carry her around (at almost 20 lbs. we don't think it's a great idea). Marie Elizabeth loves to try to share all her food with her and often tells us "it's ok Mama, she not choke". Yikes - we keep a close eye on her, it's great she wants to share though!
This picture is Hannah's first bath in the sink. The other kids thought it was hilarious to give her a bath in the sink. I'll tell you, having that great big (deep)sink is awesome for baths - as long as it is clear of dishes (which is rare)! She loves the bath , especially spalshing and sucking on the bath toys and the washcloth! She is not quite as sure of the shower though - she gives her very serious concerned stare at all that water coming down.


We ventured out one August afternoon to the Minneota State Fair along with Grandma Bev and Papa Jack - Hannah was quite the trooper. You can see her here getting a ride on daddy's back - what a great place to be! All the kids had a great time! Josiah was amazed at all the "treats" (junk food) we let him have. They enjoyed riding on some rides, seeing a comedian juggler show, and going through the Butterfly house where butterfly's landed right on their arms, backs, and heads. Grandpa Jack even had a couple land on his beard. Speaking of beards - Hannah is not quite sure what to think of all that facial hair that Grandpa has. She stares at it so intently and very hesitantly will reach out and touch it. However, when Grandpa rubbed it on her cheek she didn't think it was very funny! It was a great day had by all!

Here are our four little blessings! It is still so amazing to me all that the Lord has blessed us with! We just passed our 8th wedding anniversary on September 4th (while Jon was sick in bed with the flu - nothing like in sickness and in health right!), and it has been eight years filled to the brim with life!!! There are many moments in my day where I sit back and am in awe of all that the Lord has given to me and to us - I wouldn't change a single moment - I treasure them all! There are days when having a house full of screaming maniacs may wear us down but the hugs, laughter, moments of wonder and moments of raw love will always make the struggle so worth it!

Pictures of Our first meeting with Hannah!

Hannah being handed to mommmy for the first time!

Our first picture with the three of us - we can't wait to get her forever!!!
Us with Hannah and her foster mother (and foster mother's dughter-in-law)
My first time holding Hannah - the toy was a big hit!
Hannah's first look at Daddy - that's all it took to have him wrapped around her finger!











These pictures were taken on August 9th, 2006 at Holt Korea. This was our first meeting with Hannah. We were able to talk with Hannah's foster mother with Ms. Lee (socialworker) translating for us. The meeting was about an hour long and Hannah's foster mother told us stories about Hannah as well as about her personality and schedule! This was follwed by Hannah's last check-up in Korea which we got to be part of - she is healthy - yeah! Isn't she beautiful! It was so amazing to meet Hannah for the first time, but so hard to leave her behind as we left. We were so excited to bring her into our family as she had been in our hearts for months!