Our Adoption Journey

Visit to Nana & Pop's

2008-10-07T22:55:00.009-05:00

Pumpkin Patch 2008 - Hall Family Farm Grapevine, Tx.

2008-10-07T22:37:00.014-05:00

Cheeeeze GaGa!

hmmm, decisons, decisions.

Mama Bear...always near by waiting and watching.

I heart my International tractor!

C-ya!

What do you call this scatchy stuff anyway???

yep, them there... is corn.

MWAAAWH!

Wheels go round n round...

let me have it...I can drive GaGa.

Ahh, just my size...

Found it, minor help.

Pappy's Birthday / Cowboy's Game Party

2008-10-07T22:27:00.009-05:00

Baby Khloe & Nana!

Zach & Pop!

Uh oh, competition !?!

Mama, I'm not a big-boy just yet!

Misc. Zach pics.

2008-07-09T20:32:00.018-05:00

Let's Roll!

Daddy couldn't wait to give him his Radio Flyer.

Restrained & Restricted on his new hog!

Storytime & resting it with Grandma P!

Tissues!!!

Uhhh, not sure what happened here... Merman woke up this way.

What's the story morning glory...

& Cheering for Sing-a-long DVDs!

Playing with Annie kitty...

Coloring on daddy's maps.

Cause I just have to BOUNCE!

Look Mom & Dad - No Stitches!!!

2008-07-09T20:29:00.002-05:00

Cleft Lip Surgery 101

2008-07-03T23:02:00.010-05:00

Hey everyone!! Thanks for the prayers! Zach did really well through his surgery! Phil and I did pretty well too. We spent wednesday night in the hospital and came home yesterday morning. The staff at Cooks was wonderful and Zach got really good care. He was in quite a bit of pain wednesday and thursday morning but now seems alright. I'm giving him Tylenol every 4 hours and that is keeping him comfortable. Feeding him is a little tricky because he can't suck on anything and nothing can bump his lip. We have a syringe from the hospital that sort of works and he is doing well taking formula from his sippy cup. I just finished feeding him some yogurt (his first "solid" food since surgery) and the spoon didn't work well but I found that if I suck the yogurt up into a straw from Sonic and then blow it into his mouth he can get it swallowed (necessity is the mother of invention, right)!

Our only real struggle right now is that we have to really restrict Zach's activity for the next three weeks while his lip heals. This is hard for all of us and really frustrating for our little guy who really like to crawl and pull up on everything independently as well as put everything in his mouth. For the next three weeks we have to be really careful that nothing bumps or rubs on his lip. That means that he has to constantly wear elbow splints (no-nos) that hold his arms out straight so that he can't reach his mouth or nose. He is able to crawl and pull of with these on but we can't let him do that without actually having our hands on him because if he were to slip and hit his face on the floor or furniture, he could damage the repair that Dr Schuster has done. We also can't feed him anything thicker or with more texture than stage 1 baby food for the next three weeks (which means no puffs, bananas, peas, canteloupe, or thickened fruit purees). Since he can't rub his lip on anything, Zach can not sleep on his tummy or side and must be wedged into the pack and play with pillows so that he won't turn over. He is actually doing better with this than I thought he would. His biggest struggle is not being able to be held facing us with his face against us... it is a bit awkward figuring out how to hold our little robot arm baby!

We are so thankful that God brought Zach safely through surgery and we are confident that he will recover and heal well. I know that the next three weeks will seem like nothing when we look back on it in ten years but I would love it if you would continue to pray for us that all three of us would have patience and that our sweet boy wouldn't be to upset about all of his limitations right now.

Also pray for us next wednesday when Zach goes back under anesthesia for about 30 minutes to have his sutures removed.

Surgery Day - July 2, 2008

2008-07-03T22:10:00.018-05:00

Our Big Boy!

Pre-Opt. Zack's loving the new socks and gown.

Uh-Oh! The local is wearing off. - Ouch Baby.

Ahh, morphine.

Still a little swollen and woozey with mama in his room at Cook's sporting his new "No-No's". Goodtimes for M&D!

Here's our Bubba!

At home feeding with a syringe for the next 3 weeks so we don't mess with the stitches through sucking. And look...more "No-No's"

Parking It!

2008-07-03T21:37:00.012-05:00

We took some pics at the park this past Sunday before Zach's cleft lip surgery on Wednesday July 2nd.

Son, I will always love the smile God gave you. - Dad.

The end.

Big Truck Daddy!

2008-07-03T21:32:00.002-05:00

Zach driving daddy's big truck!

Zach had a blast at the stearing wheel bouncing up and down laughing. These were taken in early June when Grandma & Grandpa Palmer came to visit.

Baby Back Pack

2008-07-03T20:59:00.002-05:00

Marni's summertime baby carrier...called a "Chunei"- thanks CherylnSoCal!

GONE FISHIN'!!!!

2008-06-25T17:27:00.011-05:00

We got to spend a great day out at Barney and Wanda's house finshing and having fun!!!

Playing with Amy and Elizabeth!

Riding the 4-wheeler with Daddy! WOOOHOOOO!!!!

Just the three of us!

Fun with Daddy!!

Daddy kisses!!!

Laughing with Daddy!!!

This was the smallest catch of the day and Zachary REALLY wanted it!!

Mama giggles!!

Playing with Rick in front of Barney and Wanda's gorgeous pond!

Ergo baby!!!

First Visit With Grandma and Grandpa!!!

2008-06-25T17:10:00.012-05:00

Giggling With Grandpa!!

Cheesy grin for the camera

Lookin' around outside with Grandma!

Reading My Books!!!!

Grandma is determined to teach me to walk!!!! Look how big I am!!

Sleeping in the swing that Grandma and Grandpa bought for me!!!

Grandpa Loves Me!!!

Grandma Loves Me!!!

Playing with my books while Grandma drinks tea!!

Lifegroup Baby Shower!!! (more to come when Phil gets home)

2008-06-25T16:41:00.008-05:00

Thanks to all of our lifegroup family for a beautiful shower. All three of us are so blessed to have you in our lives!!

Sporting Grandpa Palmer's (Jerry) Former Hair-do!

2008-05-27T23:03:00.010-05:00

:: My afterbath smile!

:: Love those long eye-lashes!

Memorial Day Fun

2008-05-27T22:47:00.015-05:00

:: Nana & Pop getting ready.

:: Kristin showing off her new little one Khole to Granny & Pappy.

:: It was Granny's Birthday too, I gave her a "Messpot B-day Card".

::Zachary in Nana & Pop's Jeep Wrangler!

:: Play time with Pappy after dinner.

:: more Zach Attack going on...

Life is Good!

2008-05-27T22:32:00.006-05:00

:: Thank You Miss Dottie for my new Welcome to America Hat!

Messpot

2008-05-22T22:14:00.005-05:00

Just Chillin

2008-05-22T22:12:00.001-05:00

Zach's Toy Wagon

2008-05-22T22:03:00.006-05:00

Bon Appetit!

2008-05-20T15:05:00.012-05:00

::Pancake Breakfast

:: Carlie waiting for pancake shrapnel

:: Asleep at the wheel...

Future NASCAR Fan!

2008-05-15T10:23:00.010-05:00

:: Daddy got me a new car! One word - HEMI!

:: a little something we got Zach when we were invited to the Quicksilver Suite at the Samsung 500. Nice!

Nanna & Pop's Zach Attack!

2008-05-15T10:11:00.013-05:00

:: C'mon Grandma & Grandpa from Oregon! I can't wait to see you!

More Parenting 101

2008-05-14T21:55:00.010-05:00

:: Bath Time

:: I'm a Proud Man

:: Butt Paste & Cheerios

:: Jet-Lag Diaper Change

:: Grouchy Clothing Change

Just being Cute!

2008-05-14T06:40:00.001-05:00

Sorry guys, I know it's been a few days but we are pretty zonked from the jet lag. We have been so tired Marni nearly filled Zach's feeding bottles with Diet Dr. Pepper. But I think today we will be feeling much better plus Zach has almost completed a full night of sleep....baby's are a lot of hard work! :o)

Onward with learning to be a parent...

more to come.

Welcome Home Little One!

2008-05-12T10:39:00.000-05:00

See-ya State-side

2008-05-10T15:26:00.000-05:00

:: AHN-NYUNG-HEE GA-SEH-YO KOREA! This will be our last post fom Seoul, we had an AWESOME trip. Thanks to everyone who has supported us with your thoughts & prayers, we will see ya Sunday.

:: AHN-NYUNG-HEE GA-SEH-YO! Google & Yahoo Korea we will miss you! :o)

PM&Z

:: current time in Seoul: 5:35 am

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2008-05-10T10:17:00.000-05:00

::One for the mother's...Grandma, Nana & Granny.

::Cheerio Kisses

Love PM&Z

current time in Seoul: 12:25am

Some thoughts from Mama

2008-05-09T21:33:00.000-05:00

Hi everybody!! My post isn't going to have all of the cool pics and video like Phil's posts do but I wanted to share a little. Our son is absolutely amazing and I am so honored that God has chosen me to be his mother! He is a busy little boy who loves to crawl, pull up on furniture, play with toys and books, and EAT (you can tell by looking at him that he hasn't missed any meals)!! He is very easy to feed which is a huge answer to prayer because that is something that I was worried about. His favorite thing to eat are cheerios (Thanks L&D friends for the travel cups of cheerios)! He is a very sound sleeper which is great. He took a 2 1/2 hour nap yesterday afternoon then slept from 11pm until 7:30am with a bottle at 2am (I on the other hand woke up every 10 minutes to make sure that he was breathing and I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I have to count his heartrate and respirations every so often... I guess I've been a baby nurse too long)! He fell asleep this morning at 10 am and is still sleeping (at 11:48am)!! I am definitely counting my blessings.

Yesterday was the most wonderful and horrible day of our lives. For those of you who have taken you child from the arms of the people who have loved him for his whole life, you understand completely. For those of you who haven't, there just isn't any way to adequately describe it. I read at one point in our waiting process that the miracle of adoption is born from loss and that is so true. I don't want to minimize our joy and excitement but that isn't all there is to the reality of adoption. I can't imagine the grief and loss that Zach birthmother experienced when she left the hospital without the son she had carried for 38 weeks and I can only hope and pray that she has found peace with her decision. I hope that one day our son will be able to meet the woman who chose to give him life and than chose to give him a life that she couldn't.

Yesterday, our little Ji-Hyeok arrived at Holt with his Halmoni and Omma. His foster mom's husband (Zach's Haraboji) also came a little later which was a huge honor. Koreans take work very seriously and that fact that Zach's Foster Father chose to take the afternoon off is a really big deal and definitely testifies to the fact that the whole family loves him so much. Everybody held it together until it was time for them to hand him to us. Zach had fallen asleep in this Omma's arms and they didn't want to wake him up. We had already exchanged gifts and received Zachary's legal documents and supplies. His Halmoni reached to hug us and this dear woman just dissolved into tears sobbing into Phil's shoulder. She has cared for Zachary since he was 6 days old. Under her care he has grown to greater than 50th percentile for weight, developed his motor skills to the point that he is ahead for his age and learned to love her family. The entire family has cared for Ji-Hyeok, from his 63 year old Haraboji to his 7 year old Nuna and I can't imagine how many tears they all cried last night as they went to bed without him. The love that would compel a family to take in, raise, and love an newborn for over 8 months with full knowledge of the pain that would come when it was time for him to go with his family is just unfathomable to me and I know that they will forever be a part of our family. Whether we ever adopt another Korean child or not, we know that we will come back to this amazing country and visit our son's foster family.

So after saying goodbye to Ji-Hyeok's foster family and Mrs Lee, the social worker, we climbed into a taxi headed for the hotel with our sleeping baby. Drivers in Seoul seem to feel like traffic lights are suggestions rather than rules so it was weird enough to be in a car without the baby in a carseat but we were definitely praying for protection as we sped through red lights with the horn honking! Zach didn't wake up until we got to the hotel and when he did he was absolutely terrified. If you have a baby or you can remember when you did have a baby, imagine how they would have reacted to going to sleep and waking up with strangers in a strange place. Our precious boy SCREAMED for about 1 1/2 hours and then fell asleep on me. As he slept for the next 2 1/2 hours he would sigh with a shudder from crying so hard for so long. When he woke up, he let me change him, feed him and then he was willing to play and smile for us. Going to be was about 30 min of screaming but not with quite the intensity of earlier. He went down for his morning nap today with just some fussing but is awake right now (it is now 1:10 PM... it definitely takes longer to write a post than before we had a baby!). Zach is anxiously attached to me right now so while he will play with Phil, he only wants me to feed and comfort him. We are so grateful that we had the opportunity to attend over 40 hours of education related to adoption and attachment so that we understand and can work together to support our son right now as he grieves the loss of the only family he has ever known and learns to trust us to meet his needs.

We are enjoying every second of learning to be parents! I think that we knew we would enjoy feeding him and playing with him but I didn't know how much fulfillment I would find in holding and singing to my son as he cries himself to sleep or hurrying to get my hair dried so that I could get back to loving on him. We are so grateful to have our sweet Ji-Hyeok-y for our son and I'm so glad to be able to share our joy with all of you.

We will be getting on a plane in about 18 hours to come home so keep us ( and the other passengers) in your prayers. We love you guys!!

M

AHN-NYUNG HA-SEH-YO!

2008-05-09T19:23:00.000-05:00

Zach part 2.

:: Ka-Ku - Peek-a-boo

:: Vroom-Vroom!

:: Get It!

:: High Five

More sa- rang from Korea!

Enjoy.

:: current time in Seoul: 10:30 am

presenting...Zachary Philip JiHyeok Petty

2008-05-09T10:57:00.000-05:00

:: Zach's not having it...still processing things.

::Okay, maybe this time!

::Oh yeah, that's the stuff.

::mama & baby resting

::Marni & Zach showing off thier new organic Ergo-Baby Carrier, which Marni says is the best-thing-EVER!

::Our little "JiHyeokie or G-hookie" for short...

::We just want to eat him up! Much love from Seoul!

Love ya,

P&M

::curent time in Seoul: 8:30 am

Family Day May 9th 2008 Seoul, Korea

2008-05-09T10:20:00.001-05:00

Wow, what an amazing day Lord!

- I lift them up to you Lord in there time of transition, please give comfort to thier hearts. Amen.

Thank you to those who have emailed and commented on the blog with your prayers. It has kept us in good spirits. We'd like to thank Zach's foster family for what a tremdious blessing they are to him. Zach's foster family is very special to us. We hope we can stay in touch with them as he grows. We just fell in love with them as wanted to bring them home with us too. They love Zach so much...emotions were very high today for both families....it was one of the toughest things we've had to do in our lives so far.

::current time in Seoul: 12:50am

Our "Offical" City Tour

2008-05-09T08:41:00.000-05:00

:: looking for a Texas -Korean Bar? City hall above.

::below - some more friends adopting from New Jersey.

:: Our sweet volunteer city guide

:: the temple

Enjoy.

::current time in Seoul: 11:15 pm

Visit to Holt-Ilsan for the Disabled

2008-05-09T07:57:00.000-05:00

Another adoptive parent with her boys.
::below - The Harry & Bertha Holt Memorial

:: current time in Seoul: 10:20pm

Zach's pre-flight check up

2008-05-08T03:18:00.001-05:00

big boy is weighing in at 20 pounds!!! - more to come...

- current time in Seoul:5:26pm

Shopping all day in Insa-dong

2008-05-07T10:13:00.000-05:00

Finally Starbucks!!! It didn't quite meet code in Insa-dong with thier regular sign so they made the only Starbucks in the world with Hangul writing.

The monks were walking up the street into shops blessing & chanting prayers into each one. I missed them by 30 minutes blessing this Starbucks. Good thing they all got the evil ghosts out of my coffee but they could've chanted harder I paid 3000 won for a TALL! ~$3 US

Down the Insa-dong strip. very nice.

A Korean dish -"Bulgogi "Burger from McDonalds. A very sweet Big Mac with mayo. I think I'll keep to my old standard there. :o) - It was raining hard, it was lunch time...everywhere else had dried squid. one of those days, whatya gonna do.

Marni trying to find the right deal........again.

I love my Moo. Rough day shopping & getting ready for Zach!!!

more to come...

P

- current time in Seoul:12:40am (i'm going to bed.)

GIS Tech in Training

2008-05-07T09:53:00.001-05:00

Here are a couple of pics of Zach that his foster mom gave
us and i couldn't wait to get them scanned.

Apparently he hearts the computer.

Okay, today we went to find this toy laptop and went to

Seoul's super mall "Lotte" (pronounced low-tae...i think).

Well, we found it AND it was 78,000 won! ~ $80 US.

So...we are hunting to find the local Seoul Wal-mart.

Otherwise well just bite the bullet for the ride home. :o)

-I have more video but in respect of the foster family, it will

be edited for the web. It's in process...

love ya,

-current time in Seoul: 12:07am

Night Out on the Town with Sam & Soo-Ae

2008-05-07T09:05:00.001-05:00

Could someone help me find a Starbucks?

Getting Adventurous... Korean BBQ is Hot!
-mmmm, Love that Kimchi...not really. :o)

Festival at City Hall...
(camera doesn't take good snaps in the dark. It's not the user I swear!)

The Seoul Tower - much like the Seattle Space Needle
& Downtown Seoul very much alive with 12 million people...all the time.

Korean couple that were on a date. A custom to show thier love for one another is to dress alike, usually something like the same shirt...but this guy took it to the next level with those pants. They were cute though and we asked if we could share a photo opt.

Marni thought she'd be funny...Brutal Day, me and Fimbo(Zach's new stuffed character) were sacked out!

more to come...

P

-current time in Seoul: 11:48pm

video from meeting Zach JiHyeok on 5/6/08

2008-05-06T21:50:00.000-05:00

current time in Seoul:12:20 pm

Prayer Requests

2008-05-06T19:52:00.000-05:00

If you would like to know how to pray more specifically for us here are some of the things that we are asking God for.

Zachary's Birthfamily: That God would protect them and bring comfort and healing into their lives.

Zachary's Foster Family: That God would bless them abundantly for the love they have given to our son and so many other children over the last 20 years. That God would comfort them (particularly Zach's Nuna who loves him so much but is so young) as they grieve his departure from their home.

Zachary: That God would prepare his heart to receive us as his parents. That he will eat well for us and will be comfortable on the plane ride home.

Us: That God will give us the knowledge that we need to care for Zachary. That we will tolerate sleep deprivation well! That we will find such joy in the first days of parenthood.

We love you guys,
M

Meeting our son (long post)

2008-05-06T18:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we met our son for the first time. After more than five months of staring at pictures, analyzing well baby check updates and praying our hearts out we finally got to see him in person. There is no way to accurately describe what it was like to see him as his Halmoni (she's his foster mom but in the home she is called by the Korean word for Grandmother) brought him through the door, that feeling that you get when you are changing the radio station in the car and look up to see that you have almost rear ended the car in front of you! It is impossible to tell you what the little dimples on the back of his hands look like, or how he smiles with his entire body, or what it feels like to kiss his gorgeous black hair so I'll just tell you about our day.

We got up early (like 5am) because we were nervous and waited for the breakfast room at our hotel to open. After eating breakfast, we got ready to leave. I was thinking as I was drying my hair how weird it seemed to be doing things that I do everyday when today was the day we would meet our son. Before leaving the hotel, we got Starbucks and went up to the roof to spend some time praying together. Then we hit the subways!! Sam and Soo-Ae had taught us how to navigate on Monday so we weren't to worried. As we were exiting the Hapjeong station where Holt is located, we saw an older Korean woman carrying a baby on her back. It wasn't Zach, but we discretely followed her because we knew she was heading to Holt. When we arrived at the Holt building, we saw Mr Kim who had been our driver from the airport and he told us to go to the second floor. When we got there, we met Mrs Lee who is the Holt Korea social worker. She gave us some information about our schedule for the rest of the week and told us that our baby would arrive soon. It was probably ten minutes later that the office door opened and there he was. All of the women from his foster family had come to introduce him to us. They came into the meeting room with Mrs. Lee and we all introduced ourselves. If Zachary could talk, he call his foster mother Halmoni, his foster mom's daughter would be Omma, and his foster mom's granddaughter would be Nuna so that is how we will refer to these wonderful people. Zach's Halmoni handed him to me and he would look into my eyes for a minute and reach for my hair and earrings! He loves to put everything in his mouth and he has three teeth! He likes to sit up, crawl, and pull himself up on furniture... what a big boy! After a few minutes of me holding him, Zach reached for his Halmoni so I handed him back to her for awhile. His Omma presented us with an amazing scrapbook she had made with over 100 pictures of him in their home. The precious gift brought me to tears. I'm so thankful that Zachary will have this physical connection to his life before us and I can't imagine the love and pain that his Omma felt as she prepared it. We learned the Korean words for peek-a-boo and patty-cake, both games that Zach loves! His Halmoni and I tried to feed him, but with all of the excitement, he wasn't interested. I asked about his eating and sleep habits and his Halmoni said that he eats every 3-4 hours (yikes) and sleeps (in bed with his Halmoni) from 11pm-9am with two 2 hour naps! Phil held Zach for a little bit too but he was getting tired because it was almost time for his 11am nap. He didn't stay unhappy for very long though because Phil handed him off to his Nuna! This precious seven year old girl is Zach's favorite person. She gets the biggest smiles out of him and is in many of the scrapbook pictures because she loves to play with him.

We have prayed for Zachary's foster family since before we even knew about him and we are so thankful and God has given us more than we had even known to ask for. Our son has been lovingly nurtured beyond our wildest dreams. He is healthy (he's never even had a cold and the only medical interventions in this chart are vaccinations), big, developmentaly on track (and ahead in some areas) and he feels secure with his foster family. While it absolutely breaks our hearts to know that when we receive him on friday it will cause him to feel afraid and sad, we are so thankful that he has received this foundation of love in his little heart. We are also very thankful for Holt. We know that Holt works toward what is best for the children, not the parents, and they use a system to figure out what is best so we are confident that our agency with more than 50 years of experience has prayfully determined that we are the best family for Zach.

We will get to see our son again on Thursday before we take a bus to Ilsan to tour the facility that Holt runs for children and adults who are unlikely to be adopted or live independantly. One of the other adoptive families from Holt is here now to bring their son home from Ilsan so it will be neat to be there with them tomorrow. We met them yesterday at the Holt reception center (where we went to play with and help with some of the babies who aren't in foster care right now) and it was so neat to see someone in real life who I've "known" online! Last night we ate Kalbi (Korean BBQ) with Sam and Soo-Ae, which was delicious, and then saw some more sites around Seoul. It has been great to have an "insider's view" and we are so grateful that they have taken so much of their own time to make this a wonderful trip for us.

Phil is going to post some pics and video here in a minute and I'm going to share some prayer requests in another post since this one is so long. Thanks for reading!!

M

Teaser

2008-05-06T03:38:00.000-05:00

We met Zach and his foster family today and it was amazing. Zachary's foster family is just incredible! They love him so much and he is very attached to them. His foster mom has cared for more than 40 Holt babies, many with cleft lip and palate, and she is so knowledgable.

We're about to leave for dinner with Sam and Su-ei, but here are a few pics of Zach!

- more pics & video to come...

love ya ,

P&M

-time in Seoul: 5:50pm

Good Times @ Korean Folk Village

2008-05-06T02:32:00.000-05:00

We had a great time at the folk village yesterday with Sam and his girlfriend Su-ei. Just wanted to share some pics.

- time in Seoul is 5:30pm

1 1/2 hours to go...

2008-05-05T18:57:00.000-05:00

... until we meet ZACH!!! We're about to leave our hotel to take the subway to Holt. We had a great day with our friends yesterday and got some good pics of the Traditional Folk Village that we'll post later. We'll also post pics of what I know you really want to see... Baby Zachary!!!!

M

Flight to Korea

2008-05-04T16:03:00.000-05:00

- Departure DFW @ 10:50am

- And were off only 14.5 hours to go!!

Business Class Bim Bim Bap!

...time to play 'Guess What's Pickeled?"

man, what a long flight!

Finally! Only 27 more hours till we meet Zach!

We are truly blessed! thanks again for your help and your prayers!

We're Here

2008-05-04T04:07:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a short post because I'm really sleepy!!! We made it to Seoul at about 3:30pm Korean time which was 1:30am in Texas and 11:30pm on 5/3 on the west coast! The flight was long but so nice. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow of the ridiculously good food they served and our great seats! We made through immigration, baggage claim, customs, and currency exchange in 20 minutes, Inchon Airport is the most efficient airport I've ever been in!! The Holt driver was waiting for us when we came out of the customs area and it was about a 1 hour drive to the hotel. Our room is very nice. We're trying to make ourselves stay awake for a few more hours. Thank you all for praying for our safety while traveling. I'll post more tomorrow when I can for a coherent thought!

M

Leavin' on a jet plane

2008-05-03T00:52:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Well, we're leaving the house in less than seven hours and we're still up! I think that we're both to excited and nervous to sleep which isn't so bad because we'll be spending over 14 hours on the plane tomorrow!!! Thanks for thinking about us, praying for us, and being excited with us. Our next post will be from Korea!!!

M

Getting Ready on May Day

2008-05-01T08:35:00.000-05:00

Less than 48 hours from now we'll be at the airport waiting to head off to Korea!! It seems like everytime I get something done, two more things pop into my head that I need to do. I'm getting an oil change this morning so that we don't have to worry about it for a while after coming home, then I need to finish cleaning the house so that we can pack tonight. Our goal is to be pretty much done tonight so that Phil can take a half-day tomorrow, we can take the dogs to Nana and Pop's, then have one last romantic dinner date before we become parents! Yesterday, my proud accomplishment is that I won (I think) my battle with the carseat! Having never installed one before, it was a two hour process that involved laying the carseat and car manuals out in the driveway, looking up videos online, sweating, having to get a bandaid and calling my friend Sheila for help. I'm getting it checked by the wonderful Southlake Fire Dept today, just to be sure. It was definitely a first time Mama moment!!! We have part of our schedule for our time in Korea, the most important part anyway. We meet Zach on Tuesday May 6 at 10:30 AM (8:30 PM on May 5 in Texas) and he will be ours forever on Friday May 9 at 3 PM (1:00 AM May 9 in Texas). I'll post more specific prayer requests later but if you would keep these times in mind I would appreciate it!

M

INTRODUCTION

2008-04-29T11:09:00.000-05:00

Well, we probably should have started this blog months ago but we didn't so I'm writing our first post today. Better late than never! You can see the details of our timeline on the left side of this web page so I'll just cover the highlights. On November 28, 2007, we received the referral of our son! Zachary will be our first child he is currently living in South Korea with his foster family. Our baby boy is current eight months old and, as you can see from the pic, has a cleft lip and palate. We have an excellent craniofacial surgeon who will perfom all of the surgeries that Zachary will require. Yesterday was the best day ever because at 9:28 AM we received a phone call saying that we could fly to Korea to bring our sweet son home! Anyone who has ever adopted can tell you that there is a lot of waiting involved in the process and all of it is hard. For me, I think the hardest part was the last week when I knew that we could get THE CALL any minute. We know that God's timing is perfect, though, because as much as I wanted to travel last week (heck, last month!), our itinerary is better than I would have ever thought. We will leave on Saturday May 3 and arrive in Seoul May 4. Because Monday is a holiday, we will have a little time to spend seeing the city and hopefully spending some time with Sam, an American living in Seoul who my mom has connected us with. On Tuesday morning, we will meet our baby boy and his foster mom. Wednesday and Thursday we will have time for learning more about Korea, getting some great pictures to share with Zach as he grows, and doing some shopping. Friday afternoon, Zachary will be ours forever! We will have two nights and all of Saturday with him before we leave Sunday morning May 11 to come home. This is a huge answer to prayer because I was really concerned about having enough practice feeding him (cleft affected kiddos can be challenging and messy to feed) before jumping on a plane for thirteen hours! When we get home it will still be Mother's Day (it will actually be an hour earlier than when we left Seoul...how wierd is that). I can't imagine a better gift for my first Mother's Day than to walk into my home with my husband and our son for the first time.

M