Operation: Christmas Child

A few weeks ago (bad blogger, I know) the kids and I participated in Operation Christmas Child sponsored by Samaritan's Purse. We picked out fun things for a girl Rinn's age and fun things for a boy Creed's age and sent it off to that organization. Samaritan's Purse, in turn, will send it overseas to a needy child as a Christmas gift. You get to pack a shoe box full of fun surprises for the children. We had tons of fun, Rinn (of course) filled hers with all sorts of princess stuff. Creed filled his with all sorts of little things...he figured out that if you take things out of the boxes, then more things fit in the shoe box. We also prayed for the little one who would receive that box and sent it off with a note. 

Tutu girls

Aunt "Ky" made tutus for the girls..how cute are they?

Seriously, Rinn's funny face is cracking me up. Cousins: Landry, Isabella, AnnaKate, and Campbell.



The following pictures are Rinn's ballet moves that she has learned lately. Ha.

Jazz hands.

All Wrapped Up

We just finished up our production at church of "All Wrapped Up." What a fabulous time we had (also a little busy)! It ended up so awesome, in my humble opinion. The star of the show was two out of the three boys in my life. Rinny kept saying that next year Jude can be baby Jesus. I think she has no concept that honestly, Jude is going to be about the same size as her little bitty self. Our productions for Christmas are not just any old Christmas production. There are about 300 people involved in the production, it is amazing how it comes together. One of my best buddies, Marcelle, did an incredibly fabulous job directing the drama. My hubby conducted and sang, Creed was the star of the show (in his own mind), and I made a cameo. Rinn cheered us on night after night and ultimately, I think she saw the show like 8 times....poor baby. 

Our buddies, "Madalie" and "Tamen" came to see the show. Here is Creed in his Alvin costume.

Nice funny face, Rinn. Tamen's parents came as well as her brother but they apparently didn't make the cut for the photos (sorry...I think Cross wasn't in the mood at this point).
Creed was very, very focused. This kid is serious when it comes to stage performances. 
Check out the intensity. These are his buddies, Jackson and Baxter. Side note: By the end of the week of production, let's just say Creed was no longer standing by his buds. Not sure exactly why :)
Props out to my friend, Kristi for her fabulous photography, don't you think? She sent me an email and titled it "Not photography BY Sunny but Photography OF Sunny." So nice to have good friends, isn't it? 
My hubby...he's cute.
And angelic...Hallelujah.

What it is all about. It was so touching to see these scenes and especially "Drummer Boy" and to think about what gifts we give to our Lord.

Hoping to take a trip soon....

We are hoping to be traveling to Korea in the next month so, we have started to plan! Here are the things we feel we really want to do when we are there (if possible)....

1. See Jude, Love on Jude, Kiss Jude's little neck, give Jude rasberries on his tummy, rock Jude, tell him how much we love him, etc. etc. (you get the point of the whole reason we are in Korea, right?)

2. Go see the area where Jude was born and where his birth family is probably from. This will take us about a 3 hour bus ride from Seoul so we will have to plan on an entire day, and may spend the night. While there, we want to enjoy some traditional Korean cuisine, which that area is known to have the best. We also want to visit the hospital where he was born and one other special place that we know of. 

3. Visit with Mr. and Mrs. Kim (Jude's foster parents) in their home. 

4. Visit the hospital where Jude was cared for during the 3 weeks he was hospitilized for his burn. 

5. Spend LOTS of time (talking like a whole day, if possible) rocking babies in the Eastern orphanage, where Jude was his first couple of weeks of life. 

6. Go to the Korean Folk Village.

7. Do a little shopping at several of the wonderful shopping areas in Seoul. While there, the most important things for us to purchase are: 1. a small Hanbok (tradtional Korean clothing) for Jude's first birthday, a bigger Hanbok for when Jude gets older, a Hanbok for Rinn and Creed, and a small gift for Jude to give him from Korea on each of his birthdays up until his 18th birthday. 

8. Visit the Korean War Memorial. My grandad (who was like my father...he gave me away at our wedding) fought in the Korean War. Because of people like my grandfather it is possible now for us to adopt our little guy. It also helped to make South Korea the wonderful country it is today. Full Circle, friends. 

and, we have tons of other things we would love to do, time permitting. 

Ready for Christmas...Whenever it may come

We are going to do our regular traditions on Christmas morning....big breakfast, reading the Christmas story, and opening gifts from Santa. We are, however, saving the gifts from us to our children until Jude gets home. Just doesn't seem right to have all of Jude's first Christmas without him being home. So, we are postponing some of Christmas until that day....We are going to do what we really are supposed to do anyway, celebrate Jesus' birth every day! We are still hoping upon God that His will is that we celebrate Jude's first Christmas in January sometime. 

Thought you might like to see his cute new labels and also how we have pretty much every detail ready for his arrival, down to the stockings. This obsession thing I have been doing for the last month or so sure has it's benefits (you should see how clean my closets are!). 

Happy 8 months, little guy!

Tomorrow is Jude's 8 month birthday mark. Honestly, I am praying that not another month goes by without him being in my arms. This will be a miracle, friends. 

Today brought good news. Jude received his Emmigration Permission from Korea as well as his Passport in Korea. We have everything that we need to get his Visa and Travel Clearance except for our US governments approval of our I 600. This great news from Korea brings sadness as well, friends. Barring an absolute miracle from God, it will be AT LEAST 3-4 weeks before Jude is home. I believe in miracles, however. If no miracle, though...God is still God, He is still on His throne, His plan cannot be thwarted, and He  is Sovereign. 

My favorite picture of the day.....ha.

Alright, I know it is a bit of a picture overload, but come on....they're cute! I can't help it. 

Okay, so I have to write about something else too. My friends have lied to me! My friends in the adoption community said "just when you think you can't handle it anymore, you will get the .....(fill in the blank of what you are waiting for.)" Apparently, they lied (non intentional, I am sure). But, I really do think I can't handle it anymore. We need our baby home. 

We got a video last week. We will get it to where we can post it soon (it takes a lot of conversion). Honestly, I loved getting the video and I TOTALLY would not want to not have it but it was hard. The last video was just so great, we enjoyed every moment of it. This video we enjoyed totally but also had a sense of sadness that Jude is growing up while we are 15,000 miles away from him. 

We've just GOT to get that piece of paperwork soon, please God.

Welcome to my rollercoaster, I am glad you are along for the ride, my friends.