Pictures of Madelyn

Because I am missing her so much today and most of you have never gotten the chance to see her, I am going to share some pictures of my first born baby girl, Madelyn.

She had pretty bad facial deformities that I'm not sure everyone would be comfortable seeing so I will save some pictures for another time (maybe).

Here she is:

My first time holding her:

Daddy's first time holding her:

It's been a long time!

I bet you were all wondering where I went. The past couple of months have just flown by and so much has been going on. I don't think I have blogged about this yet but, we are expecting baby #2 in March! Yes, Brandon is going to be a big brother at the tender age of just 19 months. This newest addition to our family was a very big surprise, but very welcomed! I always joke that God must have a big sense of humor!

Brandon is doing so well! He has really bonded with both Patrick and me; we are just so in love with him! I mean, come on, wouldn't you be?



He brings joy to each day, we just love spending time with him. He started walking about a month ago and has just really perfected the skill! Everyone said that we would question why we were so anxious for him to walk but actually I love it! I don't have to carry him everywhere and, he was into everything when he wasn't walking, so it's pretty much the same.

Another new development is that we have moved to the new house! Yes, it finally went through and as of Sept 11th we are the proud owners of a bigger, better house! I love the new house, all the bedrooms (3) are on the same floor and I have a formal living and dining room. PLUS I have a huge eat-in kitchen! Yay! The family room downstairs is where you can find us most of the time. We have the TV there plus the office and a play area for Brandon. It's great!

Today we went to the perinatal specialist to make sure everything looked good with the baby. It went great! I am 18 weeks, 5 days and the baby is measuring perfectly!



Oh, by the way, it's a BOY!!!! Yes, that's right...I am going to be the mom to 2 boys under the age of 2! Yikes, I will be busy! I am over the moon that everything looks good with our little baby boy and just love the doctor we went to. We are going back when I am almost 27 weeks along to check in with the little guy and make sure everything is still looking good. We have such great doctors who totally understand our worry and fear and are doing everything in their power to help us through this pregnancy.

I am feeling pretty good, the first trimester was a little difficult with morning sickness. Actually mine was at night but I guess it's still call morning sickness! :)

The final update is the blog itself. Did you notice I have a new look? I was lucky enough to WIN a blog redesign and we just finished all the changes last week! What do you think?

Ok, that's all for now!

Happy 1st Birthday Brandon!

Happy 1st birthday Brandon!

We started off the day with a new tradition, the birthday donut! Brandon and I walked down to the bakery in town and got him a donut (his first)!

Here he is enjoying his donut!


Later that day Mimi, Brandon and I headed into Omaha to pick up some last minute things for his birthday party. We had a Korean birthday cake made for him at this Korean/Japanese store in Omaha.

Here is the cake

The raisins on top say "Happy 1st Birthday" and it looked great! I have to admit that it didn't taste like anything, not good or bad, just NOTHING! It was crazy but it was an interesting thing to have as part of his first birthday party! Don't worry we also had a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for the party guests and Brandon had his own little cake.

On the menu, besides non-tasting cake, was seaweed soup, 2 different kinds of Korean dumplings, fruit trays, chips, punch, and Korean cookies/treats!

Here are pictures of the table.

One of the first things we did at the party was to conduct the Toljabee event. We set up a table with different items on it and Brandon picked the items that he was attracted to. It is believed that the child's future is predicted according to the what he grabs. The first and second items the he grabs are considered the most important.

Here is a list of the items:

bow and arrow: the child will become a warrior

jujube: the child will have many descendants

book, pencil, or related items: the child will become a successful scholar

rice or rice cake: the child will become rich

ruler, needle, scissors: the child will be talented with his/her hands

knife: the child will be a good cook

For the record Brandon picked the jujube first and the rice cake second. So he will have many descendants and will become rich! (Or, as Patrick and I figure...he was hungry!)

Another tradition we honored was having Brandon wear his Tol Bok (Tol is the name of the 1st birthday party).

Look how handsome he is


After eating all the yummy food we sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake.

Let's just say that Brandon enjoyed his cake

After that we opened presents and then said good bye to all our very generous friends! It was a great day and we were so glad he was with us to celebrate this 1st of many!

1 month and 3 years

I feel like I should blog tonight but I don't have a lot of energy so this will be short. Today is a very sad day for me. My precious baby girl died in my arms 3 years ago. My heart just hurts when I think of all the things we have missed over the past 3 years; her first tooth, her first steps/words, seeing her become a toddler and not a baby anymore. I wonder what her personality would be like, would she be a calm child or a little monkey like her brother? No mater how many more children we have she will always be my first and today will always be a hard day.

I have to admit that the day was easier with Brandon to distract me, although he wasn't exactly in a great mood all day. Speaking of Brandon today is also a big day for him; he has been home with us for 1 month! Time has just flown by and, although we still have a ways to go, he has just made such tremendous progress adjusting to a whole new world.

Ok, that's all I can do tonight. Today is just too emotional and I don't have the energy to write all my feelings down (nor do I have enough tissues in the house).

Good night!

Computer is up and running!

I know I have been quiet for the past couple of weeks but, only a few days after Brandon came home, our computer died. After many calls to tech support and 2 on-site visits I finally have my computer back!

Brandon is doing so well, everyday just gets better! Here's what has been happening since my last blog post:

* Turned 11 months old

* Gotten 2 new teeth (total of 6 now)

* Decided he LOVES his baths now

* Doing so much better during diaper changes

* Eats just about everything (except baby food peas)

* Just tonight he let me brush his teeth and didn't want me to stop

* He is sleeping well (in our bed, not his crib yet)

[Goes to bed between 9 & 10; up for a bottle about 5 then back to sleep until 9 or 10]

* He doesn't have much patience and gets frustrated easily

* Still loves his yellow blanket but I had to wash it yesterday and he was ok with that

* Loves going for walks in his stroller

* Had his first haircut and HATED it

* Went to his first parade and liked it

* Met the governor of Nebraska (see pic below)

His Nonna (my mom) has been here since last Friday and we are loving her being here. Such a huge help, we will all be sad to see her go on Wednesday.

Here they are meeting for the first time:

Enjoying lunch time:

Meeting the governor of Nebraska:

Computers and catch up

I bet you all thought I had forgotten about you! Our computer died and, after many hours on the phone with tech support it has finally been determined the our computer is beyond phone help and a computer tech will need to come out to our house to fix it! Frustrating because it is only 8 months old!

Brandon is doing well and it becoming more comfortable day by day! Last night he shocked us by sleeping from 10:30pm until 10:30am only waking once for a bottle and diaper change! We were very happy but don't want to assume the same will happen tonight! We can hope though.

He eats anything we give him but will only sit in his high chair occasionally (and only if we do not buckle him). Don't worry, we don't walk away while he is in it. He loves to take walks in his stroller (we took 3 today-good exercise for me too!). He still hates his baths and diaper changes but will sort of hold still while screaming like we are hurting him. I feel so bad but it is a necessity so I just try to talk to him through it.

We have had some visitors and Brandon has done so well, mostly staying close to me or Patrick. Our good friends Megan and Sean came over last night we their daughter Hannah (who is 3 months older than B). The kids did pretty well playing but I think Brandon scared Hannah at the end by grabbing at her.

I would post pics but I need to get our old computer up and running while we wait for the new one to get fixed. Our old one is on its last leg but at least it has a leg (more than I can say for the new computer)! Hopefully I can find some time to get that going tomorrow but, happily, my time has been spent doing much more fun things lately!

More later!

Monday

I am still here...sorry for being quiet yesterday! It is so hard to get down to the computer (hmmm I wonder why)?!?! :)

Last night was a lot better then the first two but I'm not sure it will continue tonight. Little man slept from 11:30 until 2:00 and then again from 4:00 until 11:00. He slept in bed with us and that seemed to work for all of us.

He is outside doing yard work with Daddy and Mommy is skyping with Nonna and trying to get a blog post up.

Ok, I'm out of words for now...here are some pictures (that's what you care about anyway right)?

Papa holding Brandon for the first time

Us with our escorts (Lisa and Jenna)

Brandon with Papa

And one more video from our first night:

Our little man

Well, we are home and (sort of) rested. Brandon had a rough night but is now sleeping (and has been since 8:30am). It was really hard for us to see him so scared and sad. To know that there was nothing that we could do to take away his pain, all we could do was just be with him. This morning when we got up he was playing peek-a-boo and smiling so that made me happy.

What I know so far...

**He HATES getting his diaper changed (I cannot stress enough how much he hates it)

**He will pretty much eat anything we give him. So far he's had rice, a french fry from Chick-fil-a, cereal, cheerios and sweet potato puffs (Gerber).

**He will not let us put him down when he is sleeping. I held him from 8:30 to 12:30 and Patrick relieved me and still has him.

**His foster mother and family LOVED him a lot; tons of pictures and an awesome diary that she kept for him. It's in Korean so we will have to get it translated some day!

**He is just the most amazing baby I have ever seen in my entire life. I still can't believe I get to be his momma, I am the luckiest woman in the world!

Here is a video from last night:

Gotcha Day

8:30am -- Woke up after a not so great night of sleep. Checked flytecomm and saw that Brandon's plane is directly over Nebraska! Should land in Chicago in about an hour!

10:06am -- Korean Air flight 37 has landed at Chicago O'Hare Airport!

12:00pm -- Just left the house! On our way to Des Moines. I am excited and scared, still doesn't seem 100% real. We packed too much but that's ok, we are prepared.

12:49pm -- Entering Iowa

3:00pm -- At the airport. Waiting... 1.5 hours until his flight is scheduled to arrive. Still doesn't seem real but I'm excited.

3:33pm -- Brandon's plane takes off from Chicago!

3:45pm -- Greeter (Trish) arrives with son, sign some papers and wait!

4:32pm -- Flight 7161 from Chicago arrives!

Gotcha Video

Adoption Timeline

2008
9/29 - Submitted app to Holt
10/17 - Fingerprinted by State
10/21 - Sent 1st set of HS paperwork
11/10 - Sent 2nd set of HS paperwork
12/1 - 1st call from our SW Bonnie
12/9 - 1st home visit
12/11 - 2nd home visit
12/22 - HS approved; sent to HQ

2009
1/6 - HS rcvd by HQ; officially waiting
1/9 - PIP I & II classes
1/10 - PIP III & IV classes
1/12 - I-600A sent to USCIS
2/26 - I-600A re-sent to USCIS
3/5 - Referral through WC!!!!
3/9 - Official match date
3/17 - Mailed acceptance paperwork
3/31 - Legals received
4/1 - I-600 sent to USCIS
4/13 - EP submitted in Korea
4/18 - PIP V
4/24 - EP granted
5/4 - Fingerprinted by USCIS
5/14 - I-600 approval
5/18 - NVC In
5/20 - NVC Out
5/22 - P3 sent to Holt-Korea
6/19 - Visa Physical [date listed in paperwork, not known at the time]
6/26 - Visa Interview
7/7 - Received travel call
7/10 - Gotcha day!
8/12 - 1st Post-placement visit
10/14 - 2nd Post-placement visit

2010
1/13 - 3rd Post-placement visit
2/17 - Recieved Consent to Adopt paperwork
3/4 - Lawyer filed paperwork with Saunders Co Court
3/5 - Recieved court date - April 12th
4/12 - Court appearance [Brandon is legally our son and a US citizen!]

Brandon is coming home!

We got our Travel Call today (9:32am to be exact)!!!

Brandon will arrive in the US at 10:35am on Friday (7/10) in Chicago. Then he will catch a flight to Des Moines, IA at 3:35pm and arrive at 4:39pm!!!

He will not be flying into Omaha like we had hoped but Des Moines is only 2.5 hours away so it won't be too bad (I hope)!

We are both so excited and still in a state of disbelief that this is actually happening! We cannot wait to meet him!

Praying for safe travels for our little man!

Brandon's Room **updated video**

I thought it would just be easier to make a video of Brandon's room so, here you go!

Enjoy!



Video courtesy of Anna Gottschalk

ps - since I know you want to know, no travel call yet...

Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog! After 2 unsuccessful tries at starting a blog, it appears I have finally succeeded! This blogs started as a way to document my life as a pastors wife (failed), then to document my life as an expectant mom (failed - details to come) and finally a way to document all the steps we had to go through to adopt our son from South Korea!

I am married to a Presbyterian pastor and we live in a small town in Nebraska. When we got married, we both knew it was part of our family plan to adopt but we tried to start our family the good old fashion way first. In 2006 we lost our daughter due to complications from a rare disorder 14 hours after her birth. We had no idea she was sick and were just devastated. After another unsuccessful pregnancy (different problem this time) we decided to stop trying for a while and sought to adopt from South Korea.

God is good! He not only cleared the way for us to adopt but he brought us our son just 2 months after our home study was completed. We are just days away from the long awaited call with news of our sons arrival in the US!

Thanks for checking out my blog, I hope you will stay awhile and get to know us!

Jen

We finally have VI!

After almost 5 weeks of calling and hearing "no, P3 hasn't been returned yet" I finally heard the news we have been waiting for. Brandon's visa interview is scheduled for 1:00pm tomorrow (June 26th). The best part is that is almost right now, as it is already tomorrow in Korea! This is the final step before making the travel arrangements and I couldn't be happier!

To answer a couple of questions I have been getting:

1. No, he doesn't actually have to go to an interview. I believe that some people in charge of the visas sit down with all his paperwork and make sure that it is all in order. At the end of it, he should be issued his visa!

2. It could still be another week or two before we get the much awaited travel call. Our agency needs to find an escort and arrange travel for him so it may take them a while to get all of that complete. I hope and pray that it doesn't take them long, next Tuesday would be nice! ha ha...if only I could request when!

More news as I hear it!

Jen

News, Laptops, Prayers and Help

Just wanted to pop in to say that we have no visa news yet...boo! :-(

On a similar and scary note, 3 families on the Holt BB just had their travel calls put on hold because their little babies are sick. Please pray for their little ones to get better soon. I also ask for prayers that my little boy will stay well and get his visa soon!

Another adoptive mommy is hosting an amazing giveaway/adoption fund raiser. If you would like to be entered for a chance to win an Apple MACBook Laptop, please head over to Sunnymama's blog! Good luck!

My baby is 10 months old!

Today Brandon is 10 months old! It is really hard that he is still not here with us. No news on the Visa front yet but I am praying it will be soon!

I am borrowing this from a fellow blogger and adoptive mommy because it is just so perfect for how I am feeling right now (thanks Rach)!

May you be safe while you are waiting

May you be safe and sleep soundly
through the night
May you be safe as you wake
in morning light
May you feel our love
from so far away
May it comfort and protect you
throughout the day

We will pray for you, our little one
Until our time of waiting is done
We will pray that the Lord
will keep you safe from harm
Until the child of our hearts
becomes the child in our arms

- Anonymous

This is my prayer for you tonight, little man. I cannot wait until you are here in my arms. I really hope you will be home with your Papa and I soon!

Love,
Mama

Baby shower (March 21st 2009)

I just realized that I never blogged about the baby shower my family and friends gave us when we were in Pennsylvania back in March.

It was an impromptu shower as we had received Brandon's referral less then 2 weeks before our trip but it was so AWESOME! Lots of family and friends came to help us celebrate! Special thanks to my Mom, sister Janice, BFFs Laura and Sharon and everyone else who helped plan such a special day! Sharon made these cute gift bags with lots of Korean goodies in them (we didn't get picture of the finished product but they were so thoughtful and cute)!

Here is the cake my mom had made (yummy Costco cake!):


And the "spread":


This bib was so cute (and true too)! It was part of the enormous gift given to us from my cousin Steph and her husband Dan and her daughter Kate. To say that Steph and Kate went crazy in Gymboree and Target is an extreme understatement! My family is just the BEST (and not just because they spoil my son!)


Me with my God-daughter Isaballa (left) and her sister Arianna.


Brandon's first Phillies shirt from his Aunt Missy!


OK, I won't bore you with the extremely long list of loot that Brandon scored! :) Ha ha! All I can say is a big THANK YOU to everyone, you guys are truly the BEST!

You may have noticed that there are NO pictures of Patrick! Poor Papa was sick in bed with what eventually became pneumonia so he didn't get to enjoy any of our shower! :-(

Up next...picture of Brandon's room!

No news, but a new picture

So I have nothing new to report but we did get an updated picture of Brandon!

Here he is at 9 months old!

May WBC

We received Brandon's 9 month well baby check today! He is just over 18lbs and is 27 inches long! He is in the 10-25th percentile for weight and the 25-50th percentile for length.

In addition to the 2 bottom teeth he had last month, he now has 1 tooth on top! He is standing but not walking yet...we are sort of hoping that he can wait to take his first steps when until he gets here!

No more news on WHEN he will come home. If you could, please pray that it is soon!!!!

Moving?

Sorry I have been so quiet lately, we were on vacation in Florida and just got back on Wed night!

On Thursday we put our house up for sale and already have a showing today and tomorrow! It is such a crazy time right now waiting for Brandon to come home that we thought it would be fun to sell our house and move! Ha!

Seriously, there is a house in our town that Patrick just fell in love with when we moved here 4 years ago. It recently went up for sale so we are trying to sell ours so we can buy this other one. The thought of leaving this great house we live in now does make me sad but I am ok with trying to sell ours and just see what happens.

We have been going crazy packing up the clutter and organizing the house! I will be glad to sit down and rest tonight!

On the Brandon front we are nearing the end. Travel call could come in days, weeks or months (hopefully NOT months). In the time we were gone on vacation his I-600 made its way in and out of the National Visa Center and to the embassy in Seoul! The embassy has sent his P3 to Holt-Korea which is a list of things they need them to return to get his Visa issued. We are not sure how long it will take them but are praying they send them back quickly!

Ok, need to get back to cleaning!