We love Summer Time!

We love Summer Time! So happy to share it with our precious little baby Gracie!

Weekend Adventures

Part of Bay's birthday celebration was that daddy would take him camping. ...Tent camping! This was a total boyz get away. They had a blast as you will see in the photos below. It was cute to see the big check list of things and Bailey counting down the days to go camping! Sooo what would the girls do...do we stay home, or should we try our first travel trip and go surprise Nanna. Well..we decided to head on the road and go surprise Nanny and Papa! Grace does not like her car seat so I did not know what a 3 hour trip would be like. Well let me tell ya....not too great. Amanda was entertaining her the entire time....the 3 hour trip took us a little over 4 hours. Once we were there it was great to see family and show off Grace. Amanda was my super hero! ..and her little sisters!

The drive back home was about the same, and Im not looking forward to travel again for a while.

Home sweet home, really was home sweet home! It was great for the kids to do things with us each! Terry and I had not been away from eachother overnight in about 13 years...amazing huh...oh well, that is how we are!

This was the face Grace gave while we visited Nanna's house!
Amanda cute as ever!

Gracies Very First Rainbow!! It was beautiful!

anything big sissy does rocks the whole world!! They were splashing the water on the deck after the rain ......

Now the Boyz adventure went great. ...

They got camp set up, went on several hikes, fishing, and started a camp fire at night. They even got rained on and woke up wet and cold!!

Bailey worked on getting the fire wood ready!

Hiking......"watch out for the lions, tigers, and bears"!!

They truely roughed it by camping in a tent! Im very proud of them both!

13th Birthday Bash!

Happy Birthday Bailey!
He had plenty of help from his cousins to open gifts..

This gift was from his big bro B, who is back in Korea now, and missed terribly. It is special that he remembered Bailey's Birthday! It made his day! Thanks B!!!

Happy 13th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Bailey!!!! Today as I write, half of me is sad and half is really happy. Sad just because time has really seemed to go sooo very fast. But happy because I see the great little man you are becoming! 13 is really special! It is great to see your heart for Jesus. I love to see that. It is cute when you are little, but you've gotten older I can't even explain the feeling in words when you says things like "lets all pray about this". You know we will drop anything we are doing to come and gather to pray. I know you adore your sisters and how family is so important to you. You are like your daddy in that way. (the photo above is right after you were born)

Bailey was born 3 weeks early, 5Lbs, 12 oz at 11am, and was totally healthy. I was in bedrest for 3 months and in the hospitol with him twice to stop labor. It was a long and hard pregnancy...but alllll worth it!!! Our Miracle son!

Above...Bailey's First Birthday Celebration!

Yesterday Grace thought she would share her freezy with big Brother! Pretty Cute.

Happy Birthday Bailey!! 13 is going to be so fun!

We love you so very very much and are very proud of you! Remember family is forever!

Love you always,

Mom

Fathers day...more pics....

First Fathers Day with our little Gracie!

Soakin our feet was fun...

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day hunny...what a perfect day with our 3 kids!! The weather was great. We took daddy out to eat, then went to the park. Later in the afternoon we went to the water park to swim!

After 15 years. ...he still whispers sweet little secrets!

prayer for blog friends

http://olsovskyfamily.blogspot.com/ is requesting our prayers for a travel call to bring there son home from South Korea. Please see their blog for more information. This poor family has been waiting for wayyy too long for their travel call. Please pray sunday night, 6:55 Eastern Time. This will be the start of Monday morning in S. Korea.
Blessings !

Friends & Fun!

Tonight we had our friends Rick and Vicki over for a Korean Dinner. Terry was the chef...he did a great job! It was great to hear Ricks stories about his trip to Africa! Some how the kids all ended up piling onto me....:-) It was soo fun to catch up and just hang out. Grace loves their daughter Alyssa who was born in China. I think it is hilerious when Alyssa comes to our house, she said tonight she was going to Korean! teehee. These two friends have inspired us alot with adoption. They have two children from India, and also one biological daughter. It is amazing to me how God plants the seeds in our heart and then connects us with people that will surround us with love and support!

Rick and Vicki at our Spring Performance. I love this picture of them!

A Treasure from Korea

Yesterday afternoon we checked the mail and to our surprise a package from Holt! We were really excited to see what it was going to be. We knew it could not be more paper work...Thank God! A letter inside said, that you have recieved this gift from your foster family. The foster family had Grace's photo taken professionally, and also with the foster mommy! It brought tears to my eyes to see this reminder of how much they love her. This is one blessed little girl that is for sure. Her birth mother loved her enough to give her LIFE, Her foster mother loved her enough to give her the best possible start and welcomed her into their family for a time, and new she would have to say goodbye, and I ...her Forever mother, who will give her all the love, guidance, and reasurance she could ever have or need, and family that will be here for her always and forever!
I shared the photos and necklace with Grace right away, she held the photo's and smiled! It was so cute to see. To this family I will be forever grateful , and I pray for them daily, as I know their hearts are still missing this sweet little Grace.

This Necklace for Grace is from our adoption agency Holt. They sent a necklace that has the Korean flag on one side and Grace's Korean Name and birth date engraved on the back. I think of all the children they take time to do this for, and it sure makes me grateful for all the work and love that they really do put into each child and family!

So Stinkin Cute....

Yeah ..we have two more top teeth making their way in..and "Im in a great mood mama"

Im not ready for all these teeth to come in. After waiting two years for this sweet little baby of mine, I still want her to be my little baby...teeth make them look grown up too fast.

The time is going so fast now that she is home!

Many of my blogger friends emailed me and told me their little Korean babes make this same snorty face. I think that is so funny. Just think if we all could get together, our babies would snort at eachother! I can see it now. haha!


My great friend Stacey is always spoiling Grace with the cutest gifts of all time. This week she brought this cute little butterfly outfit over. Big Sis Amanda didn't waste a minute before getting it on Grace. She played in it for quite a long time. :-) Totally adorable.

Ok, this is also one of the newest faces. Amanda calls it the fish face....how funny!

From your town to Zambia Africa...You can make a difference!

The past couple weeks we have been praying for a few of our closest friends that just recently went to Africa to the village that our church has adopted. One day I hope that we can take our kids to experience something like this. But., Today in church they all presented stories that they went through while there. It has touched me in so many ways to hear so many of the ways that God worked through this group. The people of Africa were so excited when they came, not just excited for help, but for life long friendships. A good friend of ours, Rick, below said that this man connected with him right away, he had everyones names memorized, and desired so much to have a friendship. For so many it was terribly hard to say goodbye to the people they now call friends. I have such a heart for adoption , that I know this would be especially hard for me to not bring a child home with me. It is amazing to me how God calls certain people to certain things in life. Weather that is helping and volunteering in our church ministries, taking a mission trip to help the poor, helping local families, helping a friend, a neighbor, or even when families that have a heart to adopt a child that would be an orphan otherwise. God is watching us all......what will you do today to help someone in need? No matter how big or small it all matters in God's eyes! Glorify him today and give thanks for all the many blessings you have!

Just a blanket, some shoes, food, a roof over their head, and masquito nets

are all these people wanted!

We are very proud of our friends that made it their missiong to go and help this village to be the hands and feet of Jesus. It seems to me that not only did our friends help them, but the African people also helped our friends.....helped them see life much differently...with open eyes!

Are your eyes open today?

The best face in the world....

This is the face that lights up the world! Grace is constantly making us laugh with her very funny personality. She is always making us giggle.....and she loves it. This is a funny face she has been making for a while now , and will make funny snorting sounds. It is hilarious

6 Weeks Home

Wow, our sweet little Gracie has been home with us 6 weeks today. She is doing great and we are so thankful for so many things. She is such a happy little girl. Her brother and sissy are head over heals in love. ...just as she is with them. It is really neat to see the love between all the kids. What a blessing! I love the ages all my kids are at. Someone asked me today..how is it to have a little one in the house again. My response is always "absolutely wonderful". We all had two years to wait for this sweet little gift from God and we were ready! Amanda said to me this morning "mom it is soo fun having a baby in the house". It truly is great. Grace seems to change more every week. She loves to cuddle and give hugs to us all, she will just squeeze you tight. It is adorable. She gives us kisses, waves bye by, or hello. Her new thing is climbing. She will try to climb everything and anything. You can't take your eyes off her. She likes when I vacume and will crawl..chasing the vacume...it is so funny. She has only 2 teeth in. Her hair is starting to really grow. I try to get a bow in , but lately she is going through a stage of not letting me get any bow in her hair , she pulls them out. She loves when the camera comes out and will smile and put on a show. She is sleeping through the night and has a great nap schedule. She is starting to tolerate teh car seat...whewhoo. Lately she is trying her voice, and will scream really loud to be funny. After a while though it kinda hurts the ears. She say mama, dada, bay bay, pup pup, pretty is tttttt. Im still working on teaching her some signing...and she is catching on to that pretty quick. She is a complete joy to our whole family. Tonight I am feeling very grateful for my family. My husband is totally devoted to us all, Bailey is always being comical and funny, Amanda is always giving kisses and hugs, she will leave me special notes around the house telling me that I'm special to her. Grace's smile lights up the room. I could go on and on! Thank you Lord for my family, they truly are a gift I will treasure forever!

If this doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will....

How precious is this? I can't believe she is home with us! This week we got Grace's first Pictures taken by Legacy Photo and design. Amy did a great job. We have only been able to view a few for now as our "sneek peek". I can't wait to see them all in another week or so! Amy and her family have adopted a sweet little girl from S Korea. She is now 3 years old... and very precious. Amy gives families who have adopted a free sitting fee and great deals on photo packages. Check her site out at www.legacyphotoanddesign.com She was amazing to work with. What a fun night we had. It was worth the drive to get there.

13 yrs ago my dad went to be with the Lord!

This photo was 15 years ago when my dad walked me to my husband!

Today...13 years ago my dad went to be with the Lord. He was only 42 at the time. ..and I still feel it was way too early for him to go. We saw mom and dad the weekend before when they came out to visit us in the new town we had just moved to. Terry and I had been married for two year at that time. I will never forget the big hug my dad gave me before they left to go back home. He hugged me and said "I'm proud of you", "I love you". I was pregnant and in bed rest with our first child, but Dad got to see the ultrasound and knew we would have a boy. He was so excited about that. The next weekend we got the call he had a heart attack, by the time we drove home he had passed away at the hospital. He will never know how much those words meant to me. I'm proud of you". My son was born two weeks later, A miracle to our family. One life was taken, but another life was given!

My dad was very special to me...
My mother had me at a young age and was married before to(my biological father). They divorced when I was 4yrs old , and later she remarried the man I new as my dad when I was 5 years old. My dad adopted me which I have always thought was very special. He loved me as his very own. I know growing up and especially in my teen years I'm sure he was not too proud of me at times, I made some mistakes and went down the wrong road at times, but through it all he still loved me. After I grew up and finished HS, I wanted to make up for any of the times I may had disappointed him, I wanted to make him proud. My life was going in the right direction. Most importantly I had found GOD! I wanted to live for Him. Later I met the man of my dreams...Terry. My dad would walk me down the ailes at our wedding. I know he was a very proud daddy at that time and felt so happy that I had found such a great man that I would spend my life with. Probably relieved as well :-) I am so thankful for finding the Lord when I did, as it was from that moment on that I never looked back, but just kept looking forward. Wanting to be the best I could be, wanting to make my dad proud. Still to this day I know he is looking down at times and I hope with a big smile at what my life it like now. I know that life is such a gift, and we should work on making a difference! I know my dad did the same. He worked hard owning his own business, he loved his family more than anything, and he showed our family a wonderful example of a loving father and devoted husband to my mom. He taught us so many things about life, and today he is greatly missed! I love you dad!

This is a picture of my mom and dad on his last christmas with us here.

Remembering Foster Family....

This picture gives me many of emotions that come flooding in....First let me tell you that Grace's foster family in Korea was great, they were an answer to our prayers for Gracie! They loved her like their very own. One of the foster sisters made a photo album for Grace. ..we keep it on our shelf and share it with Grace and many of our family and friends. Grace seemed interested in playing with the photos the other day, so I opened the book for her to see. I was amazed by her reaction and you can see I captured the moment on camera. Her look tells it all. Do babies remember? Well some experts may say no, but I say yes they do for a time! This brings feelings of happiness and yet tears to my eyes to see her look or remember them. What does she think? What does she feel? All I could do is hug and kiss our sweet liittle girl and tell her how wonderful they were to her. ..and that mommy and daddy love you so much! She did not look at them long, before she continued about her business playing with all her toys. But this really was a neat and special moment that I was able to share with her. It really made me remember....

When Grace had her first night home, she called out for her Omma (mommy in Korea) I will never forget the helpless feelings I had at that moment. As happy as I was to finally hold our baby, at the same time I'd felt deeply like we had done something wrong. I hurt for my daughter, I felt like we took her from her family. They loved her so much her first 8 months of life, they gave her the best possible start. I know it was hard on the family also to say goodbye to her, especially the foster mother. Terry had to remind me over and over again that if they had wanted to keep her and adopt her themselves that they would have been able to. They would have definetly had first choice to do so, if they wanted to. He had to remind me that they knew it was only for a time that they would nurture our sweet little baby, and that this was an answer to our many many prayers. We prayed that our baby would be in the care of a foster family that would love her completly...God did answer our prayers in a big way. It helped me to realize how much God kept watch over Grace just like we asked him to do. ...God had a big plan, and that was for Grace to be with us forever! She is so precious to us all and we love her so very very much. Now she has been home 6 weeks and I am so thankful that we listened to that call from God to go and adopt! Now we have our Grace...Our Gift From God!

My First Korean Baby Doll!

Yeah , My First Baby Doll!!

I searched the world for a cute little Korean baby doll for Gracie to have. Finally found the perfect one. It was cuter than I thought it would be and by our surprise it showed up Saturday at our door. She was so excited and seems to really love this sweet little doll. First thing she did was poked it's eyes, hugged and kissed the baby. It now goes with us in the car. Is the car ride getting better.....? Well I can say it is a little bit...we put a DVD player in the car now too. That along with some crakers will get me from point A and back...."If Im lucky" :-)

If you would like to order this sweet doll for your little Korean girls you can find her at www.sleepysoft.com It is soft and adorable for a first baby doll! Let me know if you get one, or if you know of other sites you can order fun things like this from.