Friend for Adoption {catching up}

It's been a while since I reported on what Julie and I exchanged for our little monthly gifts. That's becuase we have both gotten really far behind the past few months. But on Saturday, I got a big package delivered. Julie sent me a Thirty-One large insulated tote and this cool cup. I LOVE it all!! She made up for the 3 months she had missed!

In March, I sent Julie a set of Resurrection eggs for her son to have at Easter. These eggs are really cool and tell the story of Easter in a simple way (although not simple enough for a 2 yr old, but he can grow into them).

In April, I sent her an itunes gift card and a pack of nice running socks- all to enhance her workouts. I bought myself the socks and love them. ( I didn't take a picture of this gift). And her May gift, well, I've been slacking and haven't gotten there yet.

Happy Children's Day- take 2

This past weekend, the Korean-American Society of Greater KC held their annual Children's Day celebration at a local park. Several people from our adoption group were talking about this at our first Children's Day picnic, so we decided to go check it out. We had a great time. They fed us lunch and had so many things for the kids to do.

hot dogs on a chopstick- genius!!

Their first cotton candy tasting

the inflatables were a big hit with our adventurous little guys

Neylan and Grayson both had stars painted on their face

the bubble area was another huge hit!

another first- slushees!

and another first- kite flying

they each got a balloon from the clown and went home happy and worn out

We are so blessed to have groups like these in our area so that we can connect with other adoptive families and make some great Korean friends. Looking forward to the next event

Children's Day

Children's Day is a big holiday in South Korea. It is May 5th of each year and on this day children are honored by their parents. It is customary for parents to give little gifts, take the kids on excursions and spend time with them. I hear that everyone is off of work in order to spend more time with their kids and every restaurant lets kids eat free on this day. So, in honor of Children's Day, our local adoption group had a picnic last weekend with our bunch of kids from South Korea. 

It was held at a local park and the kids had a blast!

Their first freezer pops!

These two are just a month apart in age and L's mommy and I are trying our hardest to get these two to like each other!

Well this is a start

  

Happy Easter

I can't believe we have been home for 10 months now with this precious little one! We had a wonderful Easter weekend with family. Neylan was clueless about the egg hunting concept, but enjoyed opening them to find candy! He and Grayson are getting along well, for the most part, and he has worked his way into our family with ease.

Finally- the announcement!

Adam mentioned that we had a big announcement on facebook a couple weeks ago. It got several of you all riled up and when he told me he said that, I had to ask him what this big news was! So, here it is! Adam wrote it down to share with you all. I'm sure some of you have noticed that the blogs have been put on the back burner the past little bit. This is why. We have SOOO much going on and life is more chaotic than ever right now. Transition is hard and we have been in this transition process for nearly a year now. We are beginning to get a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel and are excited for what the future holds.

We are NOT expecting (sorry to disappoint) but have some exciting news to share. This may come to some as a complete surprise but to others not a huge shock. I, Adam, will not be returning to teaching next year as I am going into full time ministry. I am really excited about what God is doing and continuing to do in my life to confirm this calling. So, I have turned in my letter of resignation at my school and will begin FULL TIME MINISTRY on June 4^th. I will be coming on staff at Lenexa Baptist Church as the Director of Children’s ministry. I am so excited to have the opportunity to work at an amazing church that we have called our home for the last 5 years. This is something that we can’t explain except that God orchestrates everything in his timing. So, that is why we have put our house on the market and started to look for a house closer to our church. Once again, it is amazing to see God’s hand throughout this process. I will thank you in advance for the prayers and can’t wait to share updates as we move forward in this calling on our lives. So, maybe not the announcement you thought but we are STOKED!!!!

autographs coming soon

We're going to be movie stars!!!! Kinda! When Neylan and I went back to his ENT follow-up a couple of weeks ago, the doctor mentioned that she was wanting to do some kind of story about how diet affects children's health. Cool idea, I thought! Last week we got a phone call from the doctor and she wants us to be featured in a documentary she is filming about this topic. I don't feel like I am ready for this at all since we are reading labels and monitoring everything that we eat and are still making mistakes! But, we agreed and are going to do it. There will be a few other families being filmed as well. She said it will be an interview similar to 60 Minutes!! I didn't expect her to be running with this idea so soon, but she is and so are we. I might learn something from the other families. I have no idea what this documentary will be used for, but if you would love to see it, I'm sure I'll have a copy. And I'll make the popcorn- but it will have to be plain- any other kind has butter- and therefore dairy!!!!

{Feb} Friend for Adoption

Whew! I am so behind on being a good friend for adoption, but I really like our gifts for February.

I found a fun etsy shop on Pinterest recently and loved what I saw. Lots of fun adoption jewelry from a family who lives about an hour from us and are adopting. I was happy to support her and her venture.

So, I found this fun necklace for Julie

and I found this one for me!

Julie sent this CD to the boys so we could have some dance parties! All 3 of our boys are big Fresh Beat Band fans, so this was a really fun gift for them.

knock on wood

We are now ONE week drool, runny nose, and excema FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are making progress and it feels good. It definitely seems to be the dairy that did him in. So, we are eating completely dairy-free and are finding some substitutes for the things we crave! I bought my first package of dairy-free cheese last week. It contained less than 2 cups of cheese and was $3.50!! EEK!! This will only be a treat. I made homemade mac and cheese with this veggie cheese and rice milk. It tasted pretty good and both boys cleaned their plates.

Bee Bim Bop

I purchased this book for the boys before we traveled to Korea and it has now become a favorite. Bee Bim Bop is a popular Korean dish of marinated meat, vegetables, and egg over rice. The book has a catchy rhythm and a delicious recipe in the back. I highly recommend this book for any of our Korean friends.

Grayson was so excited to help cook this meal. He talked about it all day and could not wait for Daddy to come home so he could start cooking.

Rice is ready!

You serve each dish separately and then combine it all and mix it!

Grayson wanted to eat with chopsticks, so we all ate with chopsticks!

It turned out to be delicious! We will definitely be making this again

He's Cured!!

Well, that's what the doctor says anyway! Neylan had his ENT follow-up appt this morning and of course, he looked and performed great! He's been having good days, without much drooling, drainage, runny nose, and excema, since Monday. So, today he looked like a different person from the appearance he gave 5 weeks ago. The doctor walked in and took one look at him and said, "wow, you cured him"! So, she asked how things were going and if I had been open to the suggestions she gave last visit. I started by telling her that I felt she was under the impression that all of these problems had been created with the implementation of Neylan's "America" diet. So, cleared up that point and made sure that she knew that was not the case, but told her that the only link I could think of between the two countries was in fact the dairy. I gave her the run down of all that we have been doing, the diet changes we had made, and what we were seeing, (which really hasn't been much). She was very pleased that we had taken this challenge and run with it, actually taking it further than what she asked us to by going dairy-free. She said that he wasn't perfect by any means yet and that we are probably only beginning to see the progress she anticipates he will be making. So, the plan for now is to keep running with our dairy-free lifestyle and if in the next few weeks to months, nothing improves, we will call her back and start talking about removing his adenoids. When she scoped him last visit, she determined that his adenoids were enlarged about 70%. She said that was a fine size, but if they got much larger, we would remove them. Today when I asked her at what point and size she does adenoidectomies, she said 70% and beyond. So, if he can't start breathing through his nose and stop snoring, we will consider this.  Will keep you posted and see if we are on the right track to good health!

we have progress, folks!!

Progress is good. It's very exciting to see- especially after 8 months!! I have been wanting to post for a week or so, but was afraid to jinx it. Good thing I waited! Today was the BIG day! Neylan walked into daycare, whimpered some. I put him down on the step to take off his shoes with Grayson. He did, then got up and walked away. NO tears! Their babysitter and I just looked at each other in amazement at what just happened. This was the first day that has EVER happened. He usually just cries and cries and hangs onto me for dear life. But as soon as the door shuts, he turns off the drama! But today, no drama, no tears, just ready to start playing! YAY!!!! That's BIG! We've also been having a good time dropping off at church and at the gym. For the past 2 weeks he has just walked right in and not looked back. Woo Hoo!!!

On the other hand- the congestion, the drooling, the milk. Geez! Where do I start? I wish I had fabulous progress news to report on this front, but I don't. I mentioned in the last update post I that we had switched everything over to soy. But upon going back to my great team of co-workers, I found out that the proteins in dairy and soy are so similar that you have to avoid both because 25% of people who are intolerant to dairy are intolerant to soy as well. Grrr! All soy?? Not sure if I'm ready to go there. That will elimiate so many more things- all crackers, all cookies, cereal, on and on and on. Soy is in EVERYTHING! So, we have now switched to rice milk and are still monitoring everything he eats as closely as possible. We had a few good days last week with no congestion, no runny nose, and no drooling! Excited that we might be getting somewhere, but then bummed that it might be the dairy, which selfishly don't want to have to eliminate forever. But then over the weekend, everything came back in full force. Congestion so bad he couldn't breathe at all and drooling buckets. What in the world is going on?? I know it can take 6-8 weeks to rid the body of all dairy proteins and we are only on week 4, but come on. Let me see a little progress if this is the issue. We have one more week before going back to the ENT. We are still making it, but Adam and I are hungry all . the . time. Dairy provides some good protein which helps you fill up and stay full. I'm also starting to get some major cravings- bigger than any during my pregnancy! I just want some pizza or lasagna or something covered in cheese with a big bowl of ice cream for dessert! Adam and I are going to have to start sneaking off for some dairy-licious food!

Winter Jam

Adam and I attended our second Winter Jam concert on Friday night. We were once again volunteering for Holt, Int. to encourage people to sponsor kids from all over the world as they wait for their forever family. It was once again a sold out show. For some reason, the bands seemed louder and harder to me this year. I guess I'm getting older and could have really benefited from some ear plugs. We had a great night, got to meet another adoptive mom who lives down the street from us, and got to see kids being sponsored. Events that promote adoption are often too much for my heart and they make me want to do more and more. I can confidently say that we are not done in the world of adoption. I just can't say what it will look like for us in the future. Could just be a sponsorship, could be prayer for the orphans, or could be another kid. Don't know. But the passion continues to grow!

Kari Jobe

Newsong

Santcus Real

Skillet