Dr. Kim

Dr. Kim, Duk Whang is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Eastern Social Welfare Society/ESWS. In this video he is shown demonstrating his fatherly devotion and dedication to each child in Eastern's care. He is to praying a special blessing over this child as he does for each child prior to his/her departure to their new adoptive family.

I am always moved when I see this and other videos like it. I am so happy to know that someone cares enough about our baby to lift him/her up to our Heavenly Father. I know many of you pray for our baby. Thank you! We feel your prayers! To my adoptive blogging friends, I am praying for your babies too and praying they all come home safe and soon.

Ring Phone Ring

Can you will a phone to ring? Is chanting Biblical? Both are questions I asked my dear friend Tasha, in an email today. She thinks perhaps if we put the chant to music, we can call it a praise song and then it would all be o.k..

It is quite comical to see me these days with my cell phone always within ear shot if not in my hand! Waiting for "the phone" call has become a daily ritual. Should the phone be out of my reach and start to ring, you should see me as I begin to scramble, flip flop and whatever else it takes to get the phone before it stops ringing. The other day I noticed that I was taking it with me to the bath room! Come on - what would I do if it rang while I was in there? I gave myself a really good lecture "You know, this is what they have caller ID and voice mail for! Do you really think that they would give your baby to someone else if you couldn't get to the phone?"

My mind does wander frequently to our baby who is in the care of a very capable foster mother half way around the world. This yet to be identified baby captures my attention often. What is he (or possibly she) doing right now? Is he happy, hungry, tired or dirty? Please let him be happy, content and loved in the care of his foster family. I want to know all about him and be the one giving him all good things. I love him so much and I don't even know him! Even though he is not growing in my tummy, he grows in my heart every day.

We will hang in there, we will remain strong, we will keep up the fight. That baby is so worth it. I am inspired by my Heavenly Father who thought I was worth it to. If He hadn't fought for me, I would be destined to remain an orphan.

Ephesians 1:5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Time to Learn!

One of the reasons we choose our adoption agency, Dillon International, is because they have an office within about a 2.5 hour drive from where we live. This allows us to take advantage of the education opportunities they provide. So far, they have provided us with a wealth of information about raising an adoptive family. Their belief is that adoption education starts when a family who is exploring the possibility of international adoption asks the first question and continues even after the child comes home. Adoptive children have unique needs and challenges. Dillon attempts to equip us for those needs and challenges. We look forward to a lifetime of learning about parenting and adoption. They also offers a wide array of post-adoption services. Their calender is full of opportunities for parents and children understand and appreciate the child's birth heritage.

Admittedly, when it comes to parenting we are "rookies." We have a lot to learn! Here are some of the books that we have picked up along our journey. Some of the book suggestions are from friends, some are suggestions from our agency and others are books we have picked up on our own.

My questions to you are:
"What is your favorite adoption or parenting book?"
"What piece of adoption education have you benefited from the most?"

Blog Award

Thank you Abby for bestowing this "Brillante Weblog " Award to me for sharing my adoption story.

I would like to pass this award on to a few of my "adoption blog" friends:

Meredith - I am giving you this award for being so open and honest with your blogging and for sharing such beautiful pictures as well.

Sunny - I am giving you this blog award because I love your enthusiasm for following the Lord at every turn and for being willing to give Him the glory and just like Meredith, I love to see your pictures.

Yvonne - I am giving you this award because I don't miss a day reading your blog because it makes me excited to think that one day, we will be in your shoes...so close to picking up our baby. Thanks also for always encouraging me on my blog too.

Pass it on girls...

This Picture Says A Thousand Words!

Make sure all loose articles are secure, buckle yourself in your seat and hold on! You are about to take a thrilling ride. At least that is the warning I feel like I should have heard for the last few weeks. I have no idea how it is that I seem to have pregnancy emotions with no pregnancy hormones! I can feel ecstatic one day and ready to cry at the drop of the hat the next. Any other waiting Mom's feel like this, or am I just nuts?

We have no adoption news. We have to be getting closer to receiving that "call." The call that will change our lives. We are ready - mentally that is. We have made no progress on the baby's room, in case you are wondering. We think we will leave that task until after we have a referral. As my Mom says, that is when the hard wait begins. I think for a few days we will live on the "high" of having a referral and then it will be hard to know our baby is out there and that it is not home with us. I sure am ready to give that wait a shot.

A couple of quick things I wanted to let you know about. Tonight on Larry King Live, Stephen Curtis Chapman is going to talk about the recent loss of his daughter, Maria and the miracle that came from that. I know you won't want to miss it.

Also, I put a few of my favorite adoption and parenting books in my sidebar. You might be interested in checking them out for your self. I will take some time in a future post to review for you the two I have not already reviewed on this blog.

Thank you so much to my blog friends and my friends in "real" life for all the support, love and encouragement you have shown us over the course or our journey. You keep us going.

Have a great week!