"Noonah, I poop, down."

One of Jee's first sentences.....

Translation: "Noonah"= Sissy, The rest I think you can figure out for yourself. It was true by the way.

Church Musicale' in photo

My little rule follower always looking at the teacher and doing each song with such precision and accuracy. Not to mention bringing praise to the Lord.

Proud Dada.
Proud Bubba.
The epitomy of my eldest captred in a photo.
This was the "freestyle" portion of the worship experience. When looking through our photos of the evening he couldn't believe that the other boys in the choreography were just "playing their guitars" during the freestyle portion.

Woh boy, contrast this with my little rule follower. Hilarious how God designs kids who are in the same family oh so drastically different.Although the freestyle was all fun and games, he really is a worshipper. It makes my heart happy to see him worship unashamed. I pray that he keeps that passion as the years pass.

The whole fam.Proud Mim.

Something BIG happened today

Jee played today INDEPENDENTLY for like 30 minutes straight without severely bonking his head and getting a minor concussion, breaking something, eating something poisonous, or provoking his sister. This is a new day, my friends. My boy is growing up.

(Side note: Yes, my play room is always this cluttered)

Snapshot into my life

I have a really cute centerpiece but you will probably never see it if you come over to my house. This is what you will see....welcome to my world. (yep, that's a shoe...who knows where the other one is? ....Yes, those are easter eggs...we were a little late this year coloring eggs...so sue me :)

GUESS WHAT!?!?

Jee is a big cousin!!!!! Introducing the little Lizzie boo......I love her so. Through the miracle of open domestic adoption I'm an aunt again. Such a beautiful, beautiful story. I would love to share more with you about it if it is something that touches you on a personal level please feel free to email me or put your email address in the comments. I'm just thrilled for my bro and sis in law and niece and nephew. Reesers can hardly stand it, she talks about her baby cousin multiple times a day. She's obsessed. My other two kiddies love her too. Welcome to the world baby Lizzie!

side note: Oh my, that last photo is what she wanted to do the entire time I was trying to take her pic in that little dish...it was hilarious, finally I just let her do it. Mmmmm...I could eat her up.

13.1 miles

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!! Big day, my friends.

This is my bud, Rach. She rocks the house. I loved running the half marathon with her. It was truly an emotional experience; all the training, the race day, us pushing each other, her encouraging me....I joked (but it kinda wasn't a joke) that it's like a running marriage. I'm glad I'm running married to ya', Rach!

Today in particular it was just so fantastic to have a friend that is right there with you. Such a metaphor for life. When I thought I had nothing left to give, she was right there with me, pushing me to do more, knowing that we have full confidence in Christ.

This is something I could have never done in my own strength, so it truly was a worship experience.

After the race....we did it! (Picture us yelling WOOHOOO in our best Vicki voice----Real Houswives of Orange County shout out :)

My family is so amazing. My husband and three kiddos were right there to cheer me on. They had all made handmade signs and made me cry. I love them so.

Check my eldest's sign....so sweet and so humorous. The third sign over says "You need a bath!"
Seriously....she has FIVE girls people and she just did a half marathon and still looks that cute.
Our buddies that we met up with. Oh, I love them! (Missing several other buddies that we didn't have a camera to take pics with!)

The race experience is just so fantastic. People are lining the streets and cheering you on, even though they don't know you. All the racers are encouraging each other all along the way too. It's so great, people would pass by and so "You're doin great" or "I'm so proud of you." One of my favorite parts was people holding funny signs, some of which I can't write on here (they were hilarious though) and one of my favorites was a lady about my age, cute as could be standing along the side of the road ready to cheer us on (I think maybe her husband was running in the race) and her sign read "If this was easy, I would be doing it." Hehe. A poignant moment was when I ran by a lady and her back read "I'm running in memory of my husband." Another was a lady about my age and hers said "Running in memory of my mom." I ran by her and told her she was an inspiration.

I pictured that everyone there cheering was cheering for me, it was fabulous. I kept saying "Thank you, thank you" to everyone I passed. Yep, I was the one looking at people's names on their tags and yelling "Way to go (insert name)" Or, "Way to go, runners!" Or, "We can do this people!", "We conquered 8 miles so far." Yea, I'm a dork.

This was one fantastic day and I am sooooo glad it's over. I'm contemplating doing the full marathon next year......or, maybe not :)

I'm a CITIZEN of the U.S. :)

Wha? Oh, I forgot to tell you, Jee can read :) He is a genius, you know.


Our amazingly wonderful good friend and social worker, Kimberly (below). She has become quite a good friend. Through the process she was my shoulder cry person, my friend, our home study provider, the person who introduced us to our son, a friend who walked through very difficult times with us, a psychiatrist, and today a photographer!!! Woman of many talents. Our attorney (above) was awesome as well. Her own children are adopted from China through our same agency and Kimberly's babies are from Korea. It is so nice to be surrounded and supported by people who have walked through what we have been walking through.


Jee and his buddy.
It's official....what we've known in our hearts since before Jee was born....he is OURS forever, officially. He is a U.S. citizen and we are awaiting his new birth certificate. Wooohooooo...special day. Today we finalized Jee's adoption in court. We also went to get his new birth certificate. What a great day!