New Blog

In celebration of our upcoming arrival, we have started a new blog...

http://ourjoyfilledjourney.blogspot.com

Parent/Child

‎I saw this posted by an adoptive mom today on Facebook.

"Natural child: any child who is not artificial.
Real parent: any parent who is not imaginary.
Your own child: any child who is not someone else’s child.
Adopted child: a natural child, with a real parent, who is all my own.”
- Rita Laws

Korean New Year

Each year our Korean Adoption Group celebrates the New Year. The Lunar New Year was last week and our group had another amazing gathering filled with music, K Pop, delicious food, a magician crafts, and so much more. The kids LOVED going this year. They love the college students being there. Ben and Cami volunteered to be part of the Karate demonstration. The blur in the picture is the guy breaking a board after jumping over the 5 kids. All of the kids loved it! One of the other favorites was the magician. He took an empty semi smashed Dr. Pepp*r can and filled it with the "air" around him. As he waved it around, it filled up and sealed. He opened the can, poured it in a cup and handed it to Ben to try. WOW was Ben feeling like a million bucks! We ended the evening with some delicious Korean food before heading out and dropping Ben off at the Kohl center with Stacy, Brian, and Hank to watch the UW Hockey game. We are looking forward to Korean Culture Day coming up!

Cami's Subtraction Rhyme

Cami's teacher is so creative! She has so many wonderful, fun ways to help the kids learn. Last week Cami brought home this...

Subtraction Rhyme

More on Top

no need to Stop!

More on the floor,

go next door and get

10 more!

Numbers the same?

Zero's the game!

Happy New Year!

2011 is gone and we are happy to welcome 2012. I love the number 12, have since I was in high school. I am not exactly sure why, but I have always considered it my favorite number, a lucky number. Now that we are beginning 2012, I feel a sense of excitement, of hope. We have many things we are looking forward to doing this year including a week long cruise to the Bahamas with my mom and step dad and with Mike, Allison, and the kids. We also hope to sell our land and find the house that will be our "forever" house. Only God knows what is in store for our lives. We pray for His blessings in whatever we do and wherever we go!
Happy New Year and Welcome 2012!

Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!

This year we thought we'd put our Christmas letter online. We're still mailing out cards, but the letter is online. We hope you enjoy it. Click here to view it. It will open up in Google Docs, but we recommend you download the original version for the best quality.  Once it opens, click Download Original in the upper right corner of the page.  You'll need Adobe Acrobat to view the original version. If you don't have it, you can get it from Adobe for free. Or if you let us know, we'll mail you a copy.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Let's hear it for the Ears

This summer Cami and Kylie were set to get their ears pierced together when Aladodo and Papa and also Mike, Allison, and the kids were in town. When we got to the mall, Cami saw a little girl crying after getting her ears pierced and opted not to get them done. Kylie still got hers done as we all watched. So brave!

For the past few months, Cami has been asking to try again. She said she is now ready for her ears to be pierced. We waited a few months to make sure it is something she still wanted. This weekend, Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Neil were in town. We took a girls trip to the mall (although the boys were also in the mall) to get Cami's ears done. We didn't tell her until we got there. She was so excited!!!! She picked out several pairs of earrings before narrowing it down to the one she wanted...flowers in the color of her birthstone. She sat by herself in the chair then decided it might be less scary sitting on mom's lap. Grandma took pictures as Cami bravely sat and had her ears pierced. We are so proud of the big girl she is!

Cami said it hurt a little bit when they "poked" her ears, but she is so happy that she did it!

Korean Language Dinner

We spent the last few months attending the UW Korean Language class for beginners. Tonight we rewarded ourselves with a delicious dinner at K-Peppers.

We waited to tell the kids about our Korean dinner until right before we walked in the door. They had heard about my trips to K-Peppers in the past for dinner w/ friends or a Mom's Night out. Any place that serves good Korean food is a place the kids want to go! They were very excited to hear our surprise. We all enjoyed a delicious dinner and great company. Can't wait to go back!

Happy Gotcha Day Ian!

Ian with Foster Mother

4 years ago today our lives were changed forever as we met with Ian's foster mother one last time and did the "hand off". As a very experienced foster mother, she showed only happiness of handing the child she took care of for so long over to his forever family. Ian wasn't so sure of this as he only knew the love and care of his foster mother. It would be a long journey to bond and develop the trust he had with the woman who made him his favorite pumpkin porridge every day.

Ian in December 2007

Christmas Pictures

We headed to the State Capital to take our Christmas pictures. We were suppose to get them done a few weeks ago, but Ben had an accident and his face met the sidewalk which caused major scrapes on his face. We opted to cancel the pictures and give his face time to heal. Although it was damp and chilly, it made for a nice day to be inside (and a little outside) the capital to get our pictures done. A friend from ALCS who has a photography business, Melanie Guest Photography, did our photo shoot. We love how our pictures turned out and can't wait to use her as our photographer in the future!

Father/ Son bike ride

Ben, Alex, and Zach

Our FTKA group had a father/son bike ride last weekend. Due to the cold weather, only 3 dads and their kids went on the ride. Ben and Justin had a great time!

40K Blog

I have been following a blogger whose focus is teaching classes and also posting deals and coupons online on how to save money. She saved her family $40,000 by couponing. I love getting good deals and love any chance to help others save money too.

This week I received a card in the mail from the Wisconsin State Journal for 13 weeks of the newspaper for free. I signed up then shared it with the 40K blogger. Today she posted it on her site!!!

This is from an email from a reader -- so THANK YOU to Dana M for sharing this! If you do NOT subscribe, this offer should work for you.
:)

We just received a card in the mail from the Wisconsin State Journal. A good deal for those who do not subscribe to the paper. They are offering 13 weeks FREE of either the daily or Sunday only paper. The link is go.madison.com/13weekfree


Great way to get coupons when you are first starting out!
Thanks for all of your helpful tips!

Dana M.

As heard in Eastside Preschool...

Something pretty cool today...

Ian's teacher, Mrs. Novotny, stopped me today when I was dropping off Chloe. She stated that during preschool yesterday, she asked the kids to tell her some of the jobs their moms and dads do. Some kids stated that mom cleans the house, dad works in an office, etc. Ian raised his hand and told her that "My mom and dad give money to people that don't have any money"

Wow! While we don't give handouts to everyone, we do try to teach the kids to give to those who are less fortunate. I don't think they understand completely what that means or why, but someday they will.

What a blessing to have a teacher tell you something positive, especially on a day when my youngest child was a little challenging and this mom's frustration grew and patience lessened.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween

from a race car driver, pirate, and a princess witch

Mommy and Kids weekend

Daddy and our friend Brian flew to Las Vegas for the weekend to run the Hoover Dam marathon. The kids and I decided it would be fun to get out of the house and have some fun. Since we have not been bowling since summer, we thought it would be a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

My kids are great bowlers! They have such passion. They are encouraging to each other and celebrate each pin as they are knocked down. Mommy enjoyed watching since my back is no longer up for that type of activity.

We missed daddy, but know that he is having a great time in Las Vegas!

Ian's Alphabet

Today we got a special note in Ian's backpack...

Ian wrote the entire alphabet in his journal at Sandburg today!

We are so proud of Ian for working so hard in school!

A Day to Play

With Ian in 3 different schools, time with him seems to be limited. He has 6 weeks off from Phonology, so we are down to 2 schools. Today he went to Eastside and is suppose to go to 4K for the afternoon. It turned out to be a bright and sunny day after the forecast stated it was suppose to be a little chilly and rainy. I decided that we would stay home and hang out for the afternoon. We ate lunch then headed outside to enjoy the weather. Ian practiced riding his bike, took a spin on his big wheel, and practiced on the scooter. We played basketball together. Ian scored lots of "touchdowns"(I smiled as I reminded him that they were baskets). We came inside played legos for a while then looked at our newest photo album from Shutterfly. The afternoon is almost over and it is time to get Ben and Cami from school.

I love my job. As difficult as it is some days and as much driving that I do on a weekly basis, I wouldn't trade it for anything! I love my kids and am thankful that I get to be the one to take them to school, pick them up, and spend the mornings and the evenings with them. I may not be a perfect mom, but I try my best and pray that the kids know that they are loved and valued.

My Story Lifebooks

We ordered a template from My Story Lifebooks several weeks ago. I have been meaning to start the kids Lifebooks, but wasn't sure how to start or where to begin. A friend had posted something on Facebook about this template, so I checked out the Facebook page. WOW! This is exactly what I needed to get moving on making the kids Lifebooks. I started with Ian's book. I am almost done! I just need a few more pictures to be scanned in and put in the book. My next book will be Cami's and then Ben's.

Check out this site.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Story-Lifebooks/281869076331

Teaching our Daughters

I saw this posted on Facebook and I pray that we are able to teach Cami that she is worth so much in our eyes and in God's eyes. We pray that she is blessed with a godly husband who will always treasure her.

We also pray that we can teach this to our sons.

Happy Fall

The summer is over and school is in full swing. I crave my time at home since I spend most of my days driving around Madison. I get Ian into his van in the morning which takes him to Phonology on the west side. After the Badger van pulls away, my kids and my daycare kids, who are already in our van and we head to take them to school. After drop off, Chloe and little Ben and I head to do an errand or two before heading to the west side to get Ian. We usually arrive a little early at school which gives me time to read and the kids time to be silly and either read their books, watch a movie or just keep listening and singing along to the kids songs on the CD. We pick up Ian and head back to the east side to Chloe's school. With a picnic lunch already packed, we either eat on our way or we wait to get to her school and have a picnic and play on the playground equipment. We drop Chloe off for her school and head a few minutes away to Ian's 4K program. Little Ben and I head home for some craft time snack time and a walk around the block and head back in the car to get all the kids from their schools.

Yes, my days are crazy busy! Thankfully we go in 6 weeks on and off for Phonology, so we are looking forward to a much needed break from driving so much in just a few weeks. Even though we spend a lot of time driving and more on gas than normal, I wouldn't give up the blessing I have to take my kids to school and be there for them during the day. I am thankful that they don't have to rely on a school bus to take them everywhere they need to be. Instead, they have Mommy Bus!