Names Changed to Protect the Innocent

As our blog is readable by the world at large, I have decided to change the names of our children to nicknames.  The internet is such a wonderful tool to share life - which I desire to do - but also desire to protect my children at the same time.  Along the side of the blog you will find the kids pictures with their new nicknames so you know who I am talking about!! :)  Jon and I still have our names as regular - we are not so innocent I suppose!  Ha, Ha!!

Holy Thursday

We will be celebrating Holy Thursday today in our home.  As we walk through the Tridium of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday we will remember the path that Jesus took to the cross.  Today we remember the Last Supper and Jesus' washing of his disciples feet.  We remember that we are to come and be fed by the Lord and that we need to serve others as He has done.  Runner and Jammer will be altar servers at tonight's Mass.  They are very excited to assist in the washing of the feet!

At home today we will be reading reading about the Last Supper and doing this craft:

Directions for the craft can be found at:  Catholic Icing
Maybe we will post a picture of our completed craft when it is done!  What are your plans to celebrate Holy Thursday?  Have a blessed day!

"Family Day" August 11, 2006

I was importing posts from our old blog during our adoption of Twinkletoes and I found this post that I had typed but never posted.  I thought I would share it now.  You can also view our past posts from Twinkletoes adoption in the archive on the side!

"Family Day", also known as "Gotcha Day" by some, is the day that we received Twinkletoes into our lives and our family forever! Our appointment time was set for 3:00pm on Friday August 11th, 2006. We had the morning to keep ourselves busy as we greatly anticipated the afternoon events. We spent the morning visiting the Royal Palace and had a great Korean lunch with the aid of a wonderful guide and interpreter! As we were going back to the guesthouse at about 2:15 that afternoon we had to pass the Holt offices and we saw that Twinkletoes and her foster mother had already arrived for our 3:00 appointment. We poked our head in and had to give Twinletoes a squeeze and a kiss but they told us they weren't ready for us which was o.k. because we had to go back to the guesthouse and get our video camera and batteries in our digital camera changed (just in case - we have had them die at inopportune times too often). We also wanted to pick up some flowers for s Twinletoes' foster mother so she wouldn't have to leave empty handed, as we knew this would be a very difficult time for her as she deeply cared for our daughter!

We went and prepared what we needed and made our way back to the Holt offices along with another couple from the guesthouse who very kindly offered to capture our experience on video. We entered to find Twinletoes drinking a bottle (holding her own bottle!). Almost the whole foster family had come to see Twinletoes off. Things went pretty quickly. Twinletoes foster mother had some gifts for us, including some pictures of Twinletoes while she was in their care and a Hanbok for Twinletoes to wear when she celebrates her first birthday (1st birthdays are a big celebration in Korea and they wear their traditional dress). We had the flowers that we gave to Twinletoes' foster mother. While the foster family said their last good-byes, Ms. Lee went had us sign some last paperwork, gave us some final directions and gave us a bag of baby supplies. It was then time for some last pictures all together and the prayer circle. We all gathered together as Ms. Lee offered up a prayer for Twinletoes, her future, our travels, and all those who have been involved and will be involved in Twinletoes' life. Then we were told we could go - that was it. They watched us as we walked out of the building and down to the guesthouse. It truly was an amazing experience and I often times held back the tears of both sadness for the foster family and for Korea losing such a beautiful girl and tears of joy for our wonderful new daughter that the Lord has blessed us with!

Visa Physical

We were notified yesterday that Bumble's Visa physical is scheduled for next Wednesday, April 20th.  That is really fast following EP approval - usually it's at least a couple weeks out.  What this means is that travel will follow aprox. 2-3 weeks after.  The average for most people has been aprox. two weeks - so that is what we are preparing for.  That will have us leaving during the first week of May.  The timing should work out perfectly for my Mom (and maybe Dad too) to come down and watch the kids for us.  That will be such a blessing and a weight off our shoulders!!  Of course, there can always be hiccups so we can't officially book travel until we receive the treasured Travel Call (TC)!!  Please continue to pray for smooth travel and for Bumble's heart to be prepared to make the transition to our family!!

EP Approval!!

We were notified yesterday that Bumble's EP (emigration permit) was approved this past Monday, April 11th.  Now that we have received this approval, things move pretty fast.  The average time between EP approval and travel call is 3-4 weeks!  Wow!  Yikes! Awesome! Oh no!  As you can see I have mixed emotions.  I am of course super excited to bring Bumble home.   However, we also know how difficult the transition can be and have a fair amount - OK, a lot - to get in order before we leave!  Not the least of which is figuring out what is happening with our 5 other children!!!  We are anticipating traveling within the first two weeks of May.  Bumble needs to receive his Visa Physical, Embassy Appearance and Visa Interview before he is ready for travel.  These typically happen in quick succession unless the doctor at the Visa Physical decides we need to sign a class B waiver - which basically is a waiver saying we fully understand any medical anomalies Bumble has.  This is a possibility and could delay things by a few days to a week or so.  We'll see!?!  He should have his Visa Physical in the next 1-2 weeks.  Our little guy will be home soon!

What a Blessed Day!

This past Saturday, April 9th, Pixie made her First Communion along with three other children in our homeschool community.  We were able to have a beautiful private Mass.  The children's choir sang and Runner actually cantered the Psalm and Jon was the lector.  Fr. Jan did a wonderful job speaking to- and quizzing :) - the children during the homily about the power they will receive from the Eucharist!  A cake reception in the hall followed Mass with all the families and friends of the communicants.  Then a few friends were able to come over to our home for continued celebration throughout the evening.  One extra gift that we received was being able to have my parents here for the celebration!  They usually only make it out once a year so we were so blessed to be able to have the timing work out perfectly!!  Grandma even made the stunning veil that Pixie wore.  It has a little tiara on the top, which is hard to see in the pictures.  It's what she wanted and I explained to her that it was appropriate because she is the princess of the King - her Heavenly Father!  What a blessed day!

A New Blog!

Well, why and how do you start a new blog???  We have decided to start a new blog for a few reasons.  Life in a household of seven - going on eight - can get pretty crazy on a day to day basis and sometimes it can be difficult to communicate as regularly as we desire with loved ones afar.  We hope this blog will allow us to share more of our day to day life with those who desire to follow.  It also provides a space to chronicle our blessings and treasures - sometimes those come through joyous times and sometimes through struggles - either way, we can look back and see how God has been working in our life.  This is why we have started our blog - the how - well, you have to research that on your own!