Just Us

It's been a long time since I've updated everyone on our adoption journey, so I believe it's time. In April of this year we applied for a second time with an agency to adopt from Korea, and for a second time we were denied. It is hard even now for me to let you in on this part of our life, to be vulnerable with our journey; my heart aches. There was nothing wrong with our application on paper, the agency just told us that there were other families currently in the process who were in even better financial situations than us that were facing some difficulties in their adoption process pointed at finances and they felt it best that we did not pursue adoption to Korea through them at this time. I'm pretty sure my heart skipped a beat, or two or three when I read those words in the email. Being denied the first time was difficult, but not exactly surprising. Being denied this second time literally felt like I'd had a miscarriage (and believe me, I know what that feels l...

One of Nathan's last pictures in his homeland This is a post from my husband that he first put on Facebook, and I feel that it's such an integral and amazing part of our life journey that I should share it here, and so beautifully written. We began a journey towards adoption a couple years ago that hit a few roadblocks. Though still patiently waiting, God has been doing some incredible things to help us prepare for whatever He has in store for us. We have built great relationships with people that have the same heart as us. My wife has began to plant the seeds of an organization/business devoted to helping with adoptive families and with orphan/adoption related issues. We have also been blessed with a host of learning opportunities, and several open doors that have helped advance our understanding of both orphan/adoption care. With all of this personal involvement in the orphan/adoption process, I have had some very personal experiences, both good and bad, because o...

...Almost. The season to begin/continue pursuing our adoption is here. If you missed my last post (forever ago in May) you can catch up here . Within the next month, Nathan and I will begin reapplication with our agency looking towards a Korean adoption. Over the past year and a half since we first were denied on our application, God has blessed us in so many ways, and I believe, made us closer as a couple and as a family. Our financial status, according to the government's standards for international adoption, should be in better standing this time around (one of those blessings from God), which was the major reason we were initially denied. We feel that we have a good amount of money saved back to get the process started (with much help from many of you), and now is the time! If you are wondering what you can possibly do to help or be involved in our journey, here are some ideas. 1. PRAY - We of course will need prayer all throughout this journey, but especially here at the b...

This is not our best family photo I have to admit, but it's the most recent one we have, and it's the one we submitted with our adoption application. This may not be terribly exciting to anyone else, but it is to me. We have officially completed and submitted our adoption application! This is the application to the agency. Just to give you a little time line for what we're looking at over the next few months, according to the agency information, it could take 2-3 months for our initial application to be reviewed and accepted by the agency, then another 2-3 months to complete the home study process, and then we could receive a referral for a child 3-6 months following that, so it is very possible that we could receive a referral for a child within a year! This does not mean we will receive a child into our home within the year. The way it works with Korea is that we are matched with a child relatively shortly after our home study is approved and we're approved from...

I love birthdays. I love celebrating people and their lives, I love getting together with family, I love giving presents (especially to my kids), and I love getting presents. I have a friend who really loves birthdays & every morning on each of her children's birthdays she sets out birthday decorations and makes pancakes for her children; one pancake for each year. How fund would that be seeing the stack grow each year? I don't do that, but I'm thinking about stealing the idea. Last week I celebrated my birthday, and I loved it just as much as I always do. I went out on a date with my husband the evening of my birthday, and even though we had to do grocery shopping while we were out, I thoroughly enjoyed our time together. The next evening we got together with my family for a birthday dinner. It was a simple affair, but I had a wonderful time. Here's one of the gifts I received. The star in Korea marks Mokpo where my husband was born. Today my thoughts turn ...

If you couldn't already tell from the picture, Nathan and I have decided to pursue adoption through South Korea! Of course this is not a 100% guarantee as we have not completed a home study, or even applied to an agency at this point. So, why Korea? Of course it would seem obvious since my husband is a Korean adoptee, but we have actually looked into many countries. We have spent the last 2-3 months looking online at all the regulations for adopting from each country (including the US), what ages are usually adopted from each country, and talked to a few friends who have adopted or are currently in the process. We ultimately chose Korea because yes, this is the homeland of my husband, and that did seem important to us, but we chose it for many other reasons as well. Our family seems to fit the criteria for adopting from the country, most children that are adopted are babies or toddlers and we want this child to be younger than our youngest (who is currently 14 months ...