Sharing Pics!

I know none of you came to hear me ramble so I will get right to it!:)

Samuel is eating a bit better and finally drinking.  We are seeing some self-soothing behaviors and sometimes he is most comfortable in his crib (thank goodness the hotel had one), which quite honestly is really hard for me.  It is a harsh reminder of where he has spent many many days.  Let me just be frank, I don't care how "okay" a baby house or orphange looks, IT IS NO PLACE FOR A CHILD!!! 

The last few days have been incredibly busy.  It looks like we are getting out of the country really fast, which is amazing.  That is whay we are so exhausted and a bit weary.  We think there is a very real chance that we could be leaving on Sat.!!!!  We should find out for sure by tom. and if so, we will go to the airport and change our flights.  I might have to sell a kidney for the airfare but it's all good...We want to get Samuel home!  He has an appt. with the DS clinic at Vandy next week and we are so thankful it is so soon!

We will let you know if our arrival is going to be on Sat.!  Pray hard!

Leaving court...finally the parents of Samuel James Kramer!

Picking Samuel up at the Baby House and saying goodbye.

Final walk through these doors!

In the car....not sure what he thought about that.

Back at the hotel in Smolensk.

Trying out his new spoon.

He has the sweetest little feet.

The sippy cup...that he won't drink out of:)

Flexible little guy....he has very little muscle tone in his legs.

He self-soothed for a long time to get himself to sleep:(

Asleep in Moscow...was pretty worn our after the last 24 hours.

Sweet dream buddy...you will be home soon!



Gotcha Day!!!!!

Guess who I am currently watching snooze away?

Ivan officially became Samuel James Kramer today!  We have the passport and birth certificate to prove it...that's right.  All.In.One.Day!

We can officially shout from the rooftops the miracle that took place.  Our 10 day waiting period was waived!!!  That means that today we picked our son up from his baby house...more on that later...and we will be leaving on a train back to Moscow tonight!!!  You read that right....TONIGHT!  Samuel will  have his medical exam in the morning if all goes well. 

The next days will be long especially with Samuel in tow.  Everything that has ever been "normal" for him is now very different.  From food, to sleep, the way we smell and sound, our touch, his routine, the children he grew up with...all very different.  In the long run, it is a change that will bring life and love to this precious child...our son!  But in the interim, we know things will be difficult.  We can already say that he did not enjoy the shower (couldn't do a bath, and don't know if he has ever had a full one) and he really doesn't like what we tried to feed him:( 

Please pray that we can find something he likes to eat and that we can keep him well hydrated!

We cannot believe he is with us!  And we are in awe of everything that the Lord has done!

We will share more on court and our day later.  We have to pack to get on the train and are hoping that Samuel will drift easily back to sleep:)

More tomorrow!

A Truly Incredible Day!

Woke up early today...4am.  A bit difficult to stay in bed.:)

Had breakfast with a really handsome guy.  Took a really long walk around an entire city with the same handsome guy.

Then we waited...and waited...and waited.  All totally worth it!

Around 3 pm we headed to the only home that our son has ever known.  I was actually breaking a sweat in the car driving down the bumpy road. 

We joyfully delivered a plethora of donations.  WOW!!! is all I can say!

Pretty sure the director's face conveyed the same thoughts.  We had the honor of telling her that it all came from many many people!

After a brief chat with the director, we walked to our son's room.  Words can't describe the joy, the relief, the sheer emotions of the moment.  We didn't think to take a picture at that moment, but his smile was enormous!  And then he was in his sweet Daddy's arms...guaranteed the strongest, most gentle loving arms that have ever held him!

He has grown a bit and developed.  He is sitting up with more strength.  He is more animated.  He still loved his mommy's hair...don't think I will EVER cut it now! 



And then Mommy got some sweet time with this precious little miracle.

And if all of this wasn't good enough, we got to play with this little pumpkin that made us laugh so hard!  And I got the privellege of whispering in her ear, "your mommy and daddy are on their way."

Then more time watching our son explore on the FLOOR!!!  I was so excited about that!  And as if God had not given us enough today...our favorite caregiver was there.  A precious precious woman I tell you!  She is full of joy and laughter.  She works so hard with these little ones!  For over 20 years she has served children that could never say "thank you"!  She is a gift to us...a gift to our son!

And then there was this sweet and gentle but very REAL reminder, when we leave with our son whom God chose for us, we leave behind these sweet faces...

and the thing is, there are more just like these two.  They are desperately waiting for a mommy and daddy, for a forever family...waiting to not be outcasts.  I stroked the faces of these children today.  The touch of my hand calmed a sweet little soul today. That was all he wanted.  Cerebral Palsy left him unwanted and now he and others lay in cribs for hours on end waiting. 

While we enjoy all that God has given us, I ask you boldy, has He called you?  Has he nudged your heart and you think the calling is too great?  It just takes a tiny seed of faith.  You know that Bible stuff is actually real.  He just wants a little bit of faith...He will do the rest. 

Our house can't hold 6 people...by most people's standards.  Our calendar is really busy.  Life is really full.  My children our really young.  My husband only makes this much money.  We don't have THAT kind of money.  Our 401K needs to grow.  I will lose my "ME" time.  We might not have an empty nest.  Getting out of our house is going to be A LOT of work.  Vacations may have to wait and may never come.  I will never get my laundry done.  People may look at me funny in public.  My "other" children will be affected.  He might need serious medical care and therapy.  My relationships with others might change.



Ashamed to say...I have thought it all.

There is nothing unusual about me or Derek, nothing exceptional.  One of my dearest friends just released her newest album and there is a song called "White Page." You can listen to the actual song here: http://www.tanyagodsey.com/lyrics.html

"You and I we write our lines with seven days a week And in the twenty-four that each day stores we hold possibility

But when we pull the shades our page is blank We chalk it up to progress a better story waits another day lost to the T.V. set

We're just a white page We're just a white page The story of our days Is like a white page

Do our lives leave much space for the the hand of a writing God To create to sign His name on us when the work is done

Because the ink we hold is not our own time takes the ending And so the sun has set on my discontent Cause I don't want to leave

Another white page Another white page No the story of my days Won't be a white page

In hope, in faith, in suffering we are the truth this world will read Love strikes the page, we're reckless marks we're lines that write redemption's song

When we part with life there's one long page tucked into yesterday And the lines that keep once we've fallen asleep are etched in eternity

On a white page On a white page The story of our names They're on a white page

No won't leave a white page No the story of my days Won't be a white page"

I love the line that we are the truth this world will read...we're reckless marks...we're lines that write redemption's songs!!!  Christ tells us very plainly in His word, "And the King will answer them (speaking to those on His right...the righteous vs.34) 'Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' (Matthew 25:40)  As I watched with my own eyes what the touch of my hand brought to these tiny little bodies so in need of love and care and affection, I thought of how I will stand before an almighty King one day and I pray that He will be pleased with me.  I prayed over a child of His and wept begging God to either bring him a family or take him home.

My heart and my soul are forever changed.  This journey has not been easy and it hasn't been without great cost and sacrifice on many levels...and believe me when I say that the enemy has been lurking at every turn.  Greater is He that is in me (and you) than is in this world.  I pray that I will live my days, not perfectly, but with eternity ever present and etched deeply in my soul.  

Obedience is a funny thing...as we walk more and more closely with the Father, He reveals just how much this life is not about us.  I pray that as we all lay our heads down tonight and tuck our children in, we will all beg God to reveal what He might be boldly asking of us and that we won't be afraid to take that first step of obedience!

Tonight while you sleep, we will be in court with our God going before us as He has done for many months now, asking for favor...asking for there to be one less little boy without a family.  So thankful we said yes to this journey...Not one single regret! 

Gotcha Day tomorrow friends...Samuel's last night in the Baby House!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

We Are Here!!!...Round 2!

After more than 25 hours, we are here at the hotel!  It felt very surreal driving back into the city and actually recognizing things and knowing where we were going.  Being back in Samuel's city is really wonderful!

So here we go again.  One difference this time is that there will be no goodbyes!  We get to see Samuel around 3pm tomorrow, which is around 7am TN time on Monday.  We will be taking the clothes and shoes that were donated.  Also, we will take the unbelievable amount of medicine (can't wait to post those pics tomorrow)!  After speaking with the director tomorrow, we will purchase multiple boxes of diapers and deliver them on Wednesday.  Please pray with us that somehow they will see the hand of God in this generousity from His people and that it will stir their hearts.  We pray that they will question why people would do this for these precious children and that we will be able to boldly proclaim Christ and the work of His hands!!!

We miss our sweet babies at home and of course it was so hard to leave them.  We know they are in good hands and that from the beginning of time, God had this road intricately planned, down to every detail, for our family!  We have peace in that.  Our hearts our humbled at the work of His hands and His absolute sovereignty!  His name is truly mighty to be praised and I so pray that while we are here His praise will continually be on our lips!!!  Thank you to each one of you for all of the ways you have involved yourself in this journey, which much sacrifice.  The beautiful part is that we get to speak of what God did and is doing and that He is actually using us....that blows my mind!

I have had this song on my mind for weeks and a sweet friend spoke words of encouragement to me the other day.  The words she spoke were almost word for word the verses of this song that have permeated my heart and mind.

"You are God alone from before time began, You are on Your throne, You are God alone"

You all know the rest I am sure and if you don't look it up on YouTube!:)  The words of this song speak so strongly of who God is!  "You are not a God created by human hands....You are not a God in need of anything I can give.  You are God, that's just the way it is!"

Please pray that paperwork is speedy.  Also, we will be in court while most of you sleep.  Our court appointment is Tuesday at 10am here....1am in TN!

Thank you friends for loving us and walking steadfastly with us!  We love each and every one of you!  More tomorrow!:)

Fun Little Giveaway!

A sweet friend gave us a fun thing last week to give away on our blog hoping to raise the last little bit to bring our munchkin home.  I can't believe that this time next week we will be in route to see him, hold him, and bring him home!

We have an Insignia Digital Picture Frame.  It is black with a wide format and the screen is 7".  It retails for $79.99.  The resolution is 480x234 and has 128 MB of internal memory.

If you would like to get in on this giveaway, you can enter by donating $5.  For every $5, we will enter your name once into a random drawing.  Be sure to email me!  And you can give on the chip in on our blog OR by clicking on Ivan's pic on the right hand sideabar (scroll down) thru RR.

Since we are leaving in less than a week, the drawing will be on Thurs. night so that I am able to mail it on Fri. before we leave.

Here is a pic:

Thanks for considering!  And btw...thank you to whomever gave today thru RR!  That was a very sweet surprise tonight!

Travel News!!!!

I can still remember receiving the email last December from our soon to be adoption agency outlining all of the many documents that were needed to adopt from Ivan's country and region, not to mention the hours of online courses and books to read.  Only hours before I had gotten another similar email from our homestudy agency.  The feeling was completely overwhelming.  I remember thinking (and probably saying out loud), "how will we ever do this? I don't know how we will get all this done!"  I wasn't even considering the money in that moment.

Little by little we chipped away at it.  We hung our only picture of Ivan in the kitchen with check off lists and celebrated everytime something else was completed.  Step by step, we did it!  And now here we are, 9 months later.

Yesterday morning, I laid in bed debating whether or not to check my email.  Finally, at 6:45am, I logged on and the tears came.  I read aloud to Derek that we had a date, an official court date and time. 

We will stand before a judge in less than 2 weeks on Sep. 6 at 10am (1am here) asking permission for Ivan to be our son forever! 

Because of time change and needing to be there to see him before court the day before, we will leave here on Sep. 3!  That is 1 week from this Sat.!!!!  Can we say that complete freaking out is totally called for?!?  We have so many things to do.  My head is swimming with the details...childcare, meals, last minute purchases (pack n play, sling, etc.), gathering donations for his baby house, apostilling extra documents, confirming airfare, details of travel, and on and on.  Only by the grace of God!!!!

Thank you all for praying with us and rejoicing with us during this time!  Ivan Samuel coming into our family is happening because many many people stepped in and made it happen...a beautiful picture of sacrifice and obedience.  Thank you just doesn't do it!  Just.So.Grateful.

We can't wait for you all to meet him!  Right now, we are estimating that we will return on Sep. 14th.  We would love to see as many of you at the airport as possible.  I can't even believe we are at this part of our journey!  We will keep everyone updated on our return information.

And because many of you have asked, our adoption t shirts are getting picked up tomorrow!  I am so excited to see them.  Also, we think that we are about $2000 away from being fully funded (we sold our car and that really helped, YAY!)...talk about a big God that we serve.  It may seem like a lot to come up with in 2 weeks, but last Dec. I had no clue how we were going to come up with $30k plus!  I can't even believe that we are almost there...so close!  Our chip in is still open and this is important, if you want to give tax-deductible, our family page through Reece's Rainbow will only allow donations until he is home.  Once home, we move to a different page and donating to our grant is not possible.

Finally, some of you have asked to help with donations for the baby house.  Leaving many children behind will probably be one of the hardest parts of this final trip.  What a beautiful thing it would be to leave them with many requested items!

Here is the list:

***Tyenol (generic is fine....need children's and infants)

***Ibuprofen (again generic is fine...children's and infants)

***Diaper Creme

***Hydrocortisone 1%

***Teething Medicine

***Pedialyte (they make a powder now that is mixed with water, obviously the bottles are too heavy)

***Cothing and Shoes

***Monetary donations for diapers (a large box that we would buy here between $25-30 is $50 + there)

Anything that you can donate will be such a blessing and I will be glad to pick it up.  If you go to church with us, this will be our last Sunday before we leave.  We are trying to figure out a good spot to drop off.

Thank you all for being on this journey with us.  It has been a wild ride and God has shown himself to be so true and so faithful!  May He continue to be glorified over and over and over again in all of the details!

Guess we'll have to wait...

no news today and considering it is after 1 am there, I can safely assume that our facilitator has put her sweet little head to rest.

Oh well!  I keep thinking that maybe the person that is coming to look at our car tomorrow will buy it and we will have a car sold AND a travel date all in one day!!!

My mind has truly been a battlefield today!  The enemy has really tried pressing in, but God is good and I have focused on other things and had to choose to trust Him. 

Here is looking forward to the possibility of tomorrow!

This little pumpkin sure is worth the wait!  Father, please keep him well!

Please Pray With Us Tonight!

Absolutely longing to hold this child again!

Friends!

We need you prayers!  Our son and other children in his baby house need your prayers!

Our son's country is ahead of us by 9 hours...clock is on the right hand sidebar.  So tonight as we are sleeping, our facilitator (incredible woman) will meet with the judge that we will soon stand before and ask permission for a court date so that we may ask permission to bring Ivan Samuel into his forever family!

Will you please pray that we have favor with this judge?  Specifically:

 ***Pray that we will not have to submit any more paperwork!  We have spent a little over $600 in document prep. and mailing in the last month or so. 

***Pray that our court date will be soon!!  From the very beginning, we have begged that God would allow him to be home for his 2nd birthday which is Sep. 28th!

***This is a BIG one!!!  Please please please pray that Ivan's region will waive our 10 day waiting period, drastically reducing the time we are in country.  That means so much if we don't have the 10 day waiting period...expenses, logistics with children at home, travel with Ivan Samuel, me being in country by myself, paying for childcare while I am away for 3 weeks, and on and on... Plus, I won't lie, I am a little scared to be there by myself for that long.

***Pray that our adoption swings the door WIDE open to more adoptions of children with special needs and of course with Down Syndrome in his region.  Pray that God is glorified and magnified in our decision to adopt Ivan Samuel and that people will see HIS hands all over us and this story of redemption. 

***And please pray the judges heart will be soft towards us and families coming behind us in the same journey.

I can't tell you what your prayers mean and we will post as soon as we get word....oh Lord, please let that be tomorrow.  Until we hear, we will attempt to rest in His perfect timing!

A Name For Our Son!!...and T-Shirts Unveiled!

For many many months you have all known our son as Ivan.  We have grown to love him as Ivan.  Our hope and prayer was that there was some special reason that he was named Ivan.  Oh how I had hoped that we would find out his birthmother had chosen his name before giving him up.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  Ivan was born on Sep. 28, 2009 and his parents signed away their parental rights on Sep. 30, 2009 when he was just 2 days old.  Our sweet son was given a very common name for an orphaned boy by the hospital.  He actually is not even referred to at his baby house as Ivan.  They call him Vanya, which would be like calling someone named John by Johnny instead.

After returning home, Derek and I quickly agreed that it never felt right calling him Ivan or Vanya while we were there with him.  After lots of thought and prayer we decided that his name would change, that we would CHOOSE a name for our son who has been CHOSEN!  We had always strongly considered Samuel as a middle name hoping we would keep Ivan.  Instead, Samuel will be his new name...the name that his mommy and daddy have chosen for him, the name that we believe God put on our hearts just for him! 

His middle name will be James.  That name was chosen because of 2 things.  We have been walking through and studying the book of Proverbs and James at our church and it has so changed my heart in so many ways.  I still can't believe how perfect the timing was to walk through James!  A dear family friend that is a faithful follower and lover of God is the other reason.  His name is James, Jim to Derek's family.  He even has a son adopted from Ivan's country.  I have never even met him, but from all the letters we receive from him and the way he has prayed and cared for my husband, I know him to be a man that loves the Lord and follows after Him and we respect him very much!

So there you have it.....our son's new name will be Samuel James Kramer!!!  So excited to see that in print!  It will be a transition for everyone to start calling him Samuel....that is the hard part.  And we know it will take awhile!  We plan on calling him Ivan Samuel for a while and then eventually dropping Ivan. 

So to celebrate the announcement of our son's new name, we have a little something to share.  I have been sooooo excited to share this.  We had been thinking and thinking about a t-shirt design and then one night Derek shared this image that he had in his mind.  It was an image of a little person drawn as Ivan in his country and then lots and lots of people in the U.S. pulling him home to us.  The main idea being that there have been so so many hands, so many people from all over that have helped to rescue our son.  There is NO way that we could have done this alone!  No way!  If you have prayed, helped, given in any way, you are a part of this beautiful redemption story and we are grateful!  So here it is:

FRONT

BACK

The shirts will be light blue with dark blue writing.  On one of the sleeves, it will have Samuel James and Ivan in parenthesis. 

Each shirt, regardless of size, will be $15.  We will have youth sizes small through large and Adult sizes small through X-large!  They are a "Modern Fit" meaning they fit a little more snug than a regular more boxy fitting t-shirt (keep that in mind when ordering). 

We tried to keep the cost low so that the shirts would be more accessible to more people hoping and praying that Ivan Samuel's story would be heard all over and people will be moved to ACT on behalf of all orphans, especially those that are born with special needs. 

You can send a check or order through the chip-in on our blog.  If you would like to got through RR (tax deductible) route, you can do that too.  This is the important part.  Please leave a comment or let me know that you have paid, how you paid and what sizes you need.  Obviously if you are not in my area, I will need a shipping address.  My email is karenpkramer@gmail.com.  With the start of homeschooling for the first time and a final court date and travel on the horizon, I could easily miss a payment if there isn't an email or comment that follows, so please don't forget that step.

I hope you all love the shirts.  The people that did the art have been awesome to work with.  Let me know if you want their name!  I have just loved seeing Derek's ideas in print....so much fun.  And I sure hope to see lots of people all over sharing how big God is and how He has used His people in the life of ONE CHILD!!  He continally blows me away!

I sure hope our next post is about me freaking out completely because we have travel dates and have to watch God provide, yet again, at JUST the perfect time!  Happy Friday....and weekend!!!

We Are Getting So Close!

Well, some fun news to share.  Unfortunately it isn't a court date...yet:)

First of all, Derek and I want to say that we are humbled beyond words.  I feel like we have said that so many times that it could become trite, but there is no other way that we can think to express our gratitude for the selflessness that we have been drenched in!

The other day I just happened to check our Reece's Rainbow family page and when I saw the amount, I had to do a double-take.  I immediately emailed Michelle (thanks Michelle:) and she sent me a list of new donors in July.  We had some dear friends give us $600 at the beginning of July, so that large amount we knew about.  (They were going to buy a new camera and God told them otherwise.  I still can't wrap my mind around that one.)  I had not expected to see the amount rise much after that because many of our friends have already given (and really sacrificed) and I have exhausted many of my pleas for help by way of FB and our blog. 

Honestly, the asking for money part is just plain hard and I feel like we have tapped people out. We have had neighbors give us money and donated items for our yard sale and friends hold yard sales in different states (including Ivan's warrior), and a friend donate time, money, and energy to do photography sessions and then donated ALL proceeds.  Immediately before our first trip to meet Ivan, we had donations coming from people all over and some checks were $300 or more, including a ridiculous donation from some friends that were in the midst of writing their own crazy ginormous checks for their own adoption.  We had a yard sale, sold gold (haha), a big event on FB, giveaways through our blog, and a HUGE music benefit and unbelievable silent auction that so many of YOU helped with.  I have contacted Chick Fil A about a spirit night and I have a couple of things that I am working on pertaining to grants.  We are trying to sell cars...yes that is plural:)  And I am sure that there are other things that we could be doing as well.  And forgive me if I have forgotten anything that you personally may have done for our son....my brain is a bit fuzzy!:) 

Unfortunately we are still not fully funded to travel once we get our court date, which should be very soon.  So at this point the "asking" feels even harder.  And because we are not "actively fundraising" I SURE did not expect our grant amount to go up!  But I should have trusted and known that God is working even when we are not.  He has been working on people's hearts and I have had NOTHING to do with that!!! 

Derek and I were shocked, completely shocked to find out that we have a list of donors from July, whom we HAVE NEVER MET, giving amounts ranging from $10 to $715!!!  Yes you read that right.  And while I have no way of knowing who you are, I want to say thank you!!  And if that wasn't enough, just days after finding that out, our friends donated another large amount.  We are just blown away.  God is spoiling us, beyond our wildest dreams, He is showing up in ways that I could not have ever imagined.  We are so undeserving of all the support that you have shown us and we feel so blessed and loved! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So if that wasn't enough fun for you to hear all that God is doing, I will share a couple of other things.  

We have a name for our son!!!  There are some wonderful things surrounding his name and we can't wait to share.  But that will be a separate post.  And I am so excited to say that I met with the nicest guy yesterday and he is designing shirts for us to sell for the adoption.  They are going to be AMAZING!  My awesome husband (he is so creative) came up with a REALLY REALLY cool idea that illustrates how many hands and hearts have sacrificed and given to change the life of the cutest little boy whom you have never met...thousands of miles away!  Ivan's reality, without a family, would have been transfer to a really dark place with very little chance of survival.  We have seen the truth of this and know it to be true.  He is being rescued because of the obedience of many and ultimately because we serve a really HUGE God!!!  The art (the people doing the art are awesome...be glad to share info) on these shirts will hopefully be a way to share about the mission of God and His love for orphans in a really tangible way!

I will post about Ivan's new name later this week...YAY!  And I will be taking preorders for our adoption shirts...more to come on that later too.

We have started a new chip-in on our blog (not tax deductible...RR IS!!!) because the other one ended at the end of July.  I had hoped we would be fully funded by then.  We are about $10K away from what we need and that may be on the conservative side.  We owe our agency another $5,500 and then we have all of our travel fees including flights, visas, Ivan's passport, birth certificate, medicals, lodging, travel in country, etc...  We hope to use donated and personal miles for part of our flights next time so that could change how much we need.  Also, we could be in R***** for about 7 days together OR Derek could be with me for a few days and then I would be there for close to 3 weeks.  It all depends on if we get our 10 day wait waived...pray hard!!  That is why we aren't sure about how much we still need.  Like I said we are on the conservative side and the Chip-In is set for $8K.  We will update as we get closer to our goal!

Again...thank you for giving and for your time and energy and mostly your obedience!  Our family would not have been able to answer this call to rescue our son without you!!!

Stella Grace is 1!

I am so thankful, so very thankful for technology.  Tonight Derek was able to recover our pictures of Stella's Birthday party!!!  I had not realized that the pictures that I took on her actual birthday were on the card as well.  Had Derek not been able to recover them, we would have nothing!  I realize it may seem trivial to be so emotional over pictures when there are such bigger things going on around us, but for this seemingly small thing, I am so glad!

Now on to our baby girl's celebration!  We had such an absolutely wonderful time celebrating the first year of Stella Grace's life!!  Stella is such a fun little girl.  She has so much personality and is the happiest little munchkin.  To hear her cry could just rip your heart out because it just doesn't happen very often.  Although, she definitely lets herself be heard!  She rarely cries but has a very loud little voice. 

Stella loves to explore.  She is taking about 5 steps at a time right now and is all over the place, even conquering the stiars...yikes!  She is also really tiny, much smaller than her brother and sister were at that age, still wearing 9-12 month clothing.  But she is very strong....I guess all of our children are like their daddy in that gene department!  I was shocked about 2 weeks ago when she climbed up on Timothy's bed all by herself and she can climb up to the 2nd step on Emily's bunkbed ladder, though I try to discourage that!:) 

Currently she is trying to talk a lot.  Her favorite words right now are "dada" and "ni-night."  She also says a Korean baby word for food "MaMa", "all done", "Bear Bear" (our dog), "puppy", and "baby".  She is also signing the words please, more, all done, eat, diaper, water, and she blows kisses and loves to wave.  Recently everytime she wants her drink she does the cutest thing where she moves her tongue back and forth between her lips...oh my word, it is so cute! 

Most of all, Stella LOVES to laugh!!!  She is so playful and giggles all of the time.  I can just look at her with a silly face and she cracks up!  She is just such a joy and source of light in our family! Her brother and sister adore her and Derek and I are completely smitten.  Stella Grace has brought so much love and laughter and sweetness into our home!  I think about her first name a lot, which came from my great grandma Stella.  The first thing that comes to mind when I think about her is how sweet she was and it makes our Stella's name even more fitting!  Her great great grandma Stella would have just eaten her up! 

Stella's actual birthday was July 12 and I took the kids to the pool that day, which ended up being not very fun due to weather.  But we ended the day with dinner and SG's first ice cream cone...and she ate the WHOLE thing!  Did I mention that to be so petite, she LOVES to eat!?!  Stella's birthday party was the following weekend and we had so much fun.  We have wanted to do Korean BBQ for each of our children's first birthday parties, which always tend to be a bit bigger, and this time we finally did it.  Derek's mom worked so hard that afternoon and they were only here for 2 days.  Everyone loved it and it was a really fun time. 

Although we didn't have an official "Dohl" for Stella, which is the traditional birthday celebration for Korean children on their first birthday, we did the fun little part where we put different items out on a blanket and waited for Stella to crawl to something.  She chose the microphone (which is obviously a modern addition to a traditional ceremony) and it could not have been more fitting!  Emily chose a computer mouse and Timothy chose a ball....all very appropriate:)   And in case you are wondering or new to our blog, my handsome hubby is half Korean. 

We of course ended Stella's party with cake!  She loved that part, of course.  We were so thankful for all of the friend's that joined us to celebrate the first year of Stella Grace's life.  It was truly a fun day filled with lots and lots memories.  One of the funniest was when the balloons on Stella's highchair accidentally floated peacefully away and Timothy totally LOST it!!!  I had told him that he could have one when the party was over and his sleep deprivation mixed with the balloon escape put him over the edge (funny pic below:). 

With the soon addition of another big brother for SG, my heart is very very full!  Life with multiple young children is challenging, no doubt (and I sure hear this a lot..."wow you have your hands full!").  But I will say that this season of life is filled with truly seeing the goodness and grace of God Daily!  I am so flawed and have so much to learn about being a mom that chooses to seek the Lord and His wisdom and patience every day.  One of the reasons that I am so grateful for the gift of my children is that God uses their little lives to constantly put my sin and selfishness before me.  Without them, I would really be a mess.  The Lord uses them to change me and humble me on a daily basis. 

What a blessing to celebrate a whole year of health and blessings with Stella Grace!!!  We are thankful for her life and all she has brought to our family.  We love you Stella...you are one sweet little pumpkin!!

Now for the pictures...probably went overboard, but figured Stella doesn't get enough blogtime anyway so here goes:) 

Waiting on the thunder to stop so we can swim

First ice cream cone...she ate it ALL!

He is such a goofball!

This was so yummy!

SG's cake table (we tried to sneak one in there for her daddy too who had a bday just 4 days after hers)

Stella LOVES LOVES LOVES her daddy!!!

Could eat her up!

Emily sweetly holding our youngest guest, Gabe.

No words for this one....thank you Rebekah!  Her photography is simply amazing and she snapped this one (and others) for us!

Precious little girl!

Choosing the microphone.

Poor distraught little guy.

First cake...yummy!!!

My mom made these beautiful cake pops...so delicious!

What a mess she made!

Opening a few presents.  Her dress was a gift from Uncle Sean last Christmas.  I am still amazed that he picked it out.  She was so cute in it!

Happy Birthday Stella Bella!!!  You are SO loved!!!

Our Baby Girl Had a Fun 1st Birthday!...

too bad I can't show pictures to prove it.

As I loaded the SD card in the computer last night to post on sweet little Stella Grace's first birthday party, my heart sunk!  The computer kept saying that the card needed to be formatted.  What?  So I put it back in the camera to see what would happen....said the same thing.  I had just used the camera with that card the day before so I was baffled.  All to say that we think there is a good chance that the pictures from Stella's very first birthday are lost.  I honestly am trying to keep perspective about that but I really feel like I could throw up.

If anyone has ever had something similar happen and you have an idea of how to save or retrieve the pics, please le me know.  I am just sick about it and want so badly to have those memories of our baby girl's fun day!  Thanks in advance if anyone has any idea of how to help.

Missing This Sweet Face Today...

Looking forward to more of this...

and this...

and definitely this...

I really miss our boy today!  Derek was really missing him last night and watched video after video of him.  Good news is that our secondary dossier for court is hopefully getting sent to his country today!!!  Pray for a quick date to get scheduled and for the 10 days to be waived! 

And to my very thoughtful hubby...thanks for taking these precious pictures that I will always cherish!  They are such a gift!  I love you!!!

Stella Grace...Our Growing Girl!

It is hard to describe just how much love we have for this little girl!  And today our baby girl turned 1!!!

All day long, I kept thinking at different times what I was doing this time last year.  Since Stella's birth was a planned homebirth, it was a really special day.  It was an incredible day for our our family as a whole and it was filled with moments that I will always treasure. 

On July 12 last year, I found out that God made me really strong.  He made my body able to perform some really amazing things.  Things that I honestly never thought I could get through.  I also gained a new level of admiration for my husband as he literally had to be daddy, husband, nurse, everything!  I could not have made it through Stella's labor without him.  He is always my encourager.  I wasn't in a hospital with nurses and we were at home with all of our children and he was told sternly that I was not to get up unassisted for at least 24 hours.  He was wonderful!  He did everything he could have and more to make it an incredible experience. 

God gave us the sweetest gift in Stella Grace that day 1 year ago!  She is just an absolute pure joy.  My cuddly sweet Stella.  Her laugh is the cutest thing ever and she laughs all the time.  She is so smart and amazes us everyday with how she tries to talk and communicate.  She loves Emily and Timothy so much and boy is she ever a Daddy's Girl!  Just today she cried her eyes out when Derek left for work and handed her to me...the cutest thing!  I can't say enough how about what she has brought to our family.  I love thinking about who she will become and what her personality will be like later.  We are seeing little glimpses now and I feel like I just can't get enough of her.  She is a doll!

We have so many hopes for our baby girl!  We pray that her heart would turn to her Heavenly

Father at a very early age!  And that all of the ways that God has gifted her, Stella would turn back to Him for His purposes and glory.  I pray that she would be confident in who God has made her, yet extremely humble!  I pray that she would serve others joyfully and be absolutely reckless in her obedience to the Lord's plans for her.

Happy 1st Birthday to our precious little girl! Stella Grace you are such a sweet sister and daughter!  We love you immensely!

This is what we get to cherish with this munchkin on a daily basis! 

I can't even begin to imagine what the years to come with this little one will bring!:)