Oh, Happy Wedding Day!

This Saturday, my mom, Gayla married her sweetheart, Charlie in a lovely little ceremony that took place in Parkville, Missouri. It was such a perfect day, a fantastic party and Mom has never looked as stunning as she was that day! We are happy to welcome Charlie to the family, although he's felt like a part of the fam for awhile now. Here's to Gayla and Charlie and to finding their best and last love!

Homestudy Visit #2 Recap

Well folks, last night was our final homestudy visit and I don't think it could've gone any better. Our social worker is becoming an old family friend if you add up all of the times she's been out to our house and that makes it a lot easier to talk to her and answer her questions. This visit consisted of our individual interviews and a tour of our home. The interview questions were mostly surrounding what challenges we have had to face since adding Sophie to our family and what challenges we anticipate in adding a second baby into the mix. She also inquired as to how our personal lives and marriage have been affected by having children. (How about COMPLETELY?!?!) The visit then ended with a quick tour of our house...do you know just how difficult it is to clean the house with a 2 year-old under your feet all day?!

It's amusing to us just how differently we are approaching this adoption. Last time, we were so nervous about every little step and this time, we were able to really relax and realize that our social worker is working for us to make sure we have the supports we need to make our family the best it can be! We seem at peace as this process continues to roll along at this pace...no real anxieties this time. Plus, our social worker is a KU grad, so that automatically makes her part of our family!

Speaking of KU, I've finally posted some pics from watching our Jayhawks win the National Championship at Brian and Casey's and the day after, greeting the team in Lawrence at the football stadium. Thanks to Casey and my cheapo disposable camera for the images.

Next step in this journey of adoption is getting the word that our homestudy has been approved and that we are officially on that wait list. Hopefully, we can post that good news sooner rather than later...

Homestudy visit #2 is set!

In all of the excitement of KU winning the National Championship and Sophie entering into her "terrible twos," we almost forgot that we are also in the process of adopting again! Whoops.

Anyway, we are thrilled that we have our last homestudy visit scheduled for next Wednesday, the 16th, at 6 p.m. This is our last step before getting on that all-important wait list!

Off to clean the house...

The celebration continues...

Yesterday, Steve took off work and we made our way to Lawrence to welcome our championship team home. It was a cold, gloomy day but nothing could have stopped us from being there to share in history. As I've posted, our digital camera is still being repaired so I've had to revert to the ol' disposable camera with film that hasn't been developed yet. To tide everyone over, this photo was taken by a photographer with the Lawrence Journal World...we were there along with 25,000 of our closest friends! Rock Chalk!

The Year of the Jayhawk

We really have no words to express the feelings going through our Jayhawk hearts this morning!

Sophie is a little trooper and stayed up for the entire game, OT and all! Steve and I didn't get to sleep until well after 1:30 a.m. and this afternoon we are off to welcome our Jayhawks home as the 2008 National Champions! There's a celebration at the football stadium as the team arrives back to Lawrence and you know we'll be there...rain or shine!

Wow. Again, we have no words as we are so happily stunned on this fine Tuesday - the morning after greatness!

All the world's her stage!

Our little Sophie girl stole the show at the adoption workshop we attended this weekend. We were there to answer questions and to tell our adoption story to other couples in the process and we thought it went really well. Sophie was friendly to everyone...touching one of the adoptive father's leg to say hi, handing her cup to one of the adoptive moms when she was 'all done,' and even wanting the lady who brought in food to pick her 'up, up!' She did always keep a watchful eye on us and every so often, she'd come over and give us hugs as her way of checking in before she was off and running once more! In addition to just being outgoing, she quickly learned that she could make everyone laugh by touching the jayhawk on her shirt and saying, "Jayhawks, KU!" and fake bumping her head on the table and very dramatically clutching her head and bending over like she was in extreme pain (all the while giggling hysterically!). We don't know where she gets this outgoing nature, but one thing is for sure - Sophie is ALL personality! We were so proud of her and hope she never loses her outgoing confidence or her dramatic presence!

I wish I had pictures, but our digital camera is in the process of getting a newly repaired lens...I dropped it right before Easter. My bad.

Also, we have to note that we are extremely happy here in Jayhawk Nation!! Saturday's game was so much fun. We watched it at our friends, Brian and Casey's house and we will be returning there tonight for the Championship game...we don't want to jinx anything. Can I get a "Rock Chalk?!"

Putting our family on display...

Just thought I'd share that we've been asked by our agency to be a "show and share" family at an adoption workshop this coming Saturday. It's a workshop for families considering adoption and they want us to provide our story and answer questions that others in the process might have. We are super-excited about this opportunity! I distinctly remember the family we met at our pre-adoption workshop...it made our decision to adopt a solid one once we met an actual family formed by international adoption. I still remember how peaceful I felt seeing the kids running around like happy, well-adjusted children...right then and there I knew that adoption was the way to go!

AND just because we are taking a trip down memory lane...I've posted one of the very first family photos we had taken in Korea on our second visit with our little Sophie! Seems like such a long time ago, yet we remember it like it was yesterday.