Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a great family get-together and are enjoying a productive weekend afterwards. It was a beautiful 70 degrees out here today, so we took the kids for a walk, cleaned out the van, cleaned up the yard, and then decorated for Christmas!

Here are some pictures from Cindy's first Thanksgiving with us and her first Christmas decorating experience. Kaden is a seasoned pro! ;)

Bummer Weekend

Well, we had big plans for this weekend that all had to get cancelled. Earlier this week, Cindy and I both got sick. Luckily, the boys seem to have escaped it. I had hoped we would all be better in time for our picture appointment and the birthday party we had hoped to attend. But, at bedtime last night, Cindy and I both felt icky and had fevers. So, we cancelled our picture appointment and had to stay home from the party.

As disappointing as it was to miss out on the fun, it was good to stay at home and recouperate today. By 5:00 tonight, Cindy's fever had broken and she was looking and acting better. My fever is still in place but I feel much, much better and am able to do more than lay on the couch like a lump! So, to make up for the missed fun, we bundled the kids up and drove them through Lemon Park to see the lights. I think they enjoyed it. It certainly got me in the Christmas spirit! You can watch a video clip of the experience at DropShots.

The other bummer of the weekend was that I was unable to see New Moon, the newest movie in the Twilight series. I had planned to attend with a friend at the midnight showing. It got cancelled, and I got sick. So, I still haven't seen it. I'm trying to talk Ryan into taking me tomorrow. We'll see how that goes!

I think we are going to try an experiment tomorrow night. We are planning to put up the Christmas tree. But, we are putting up ONLY the tree. We won't put the ornaments on or decorate the rest of the house until next weekend. The idea is to get Cindy used to having the tree in the living room. I'm hoping that it will be so boring and uninteresting that she will not be too interested in it. Hopefully after a full week, she will have exhausted all curiosity so that once we put on the ornaments, she won't be tempted to climb the tree or tip it over. I'm not concerned about her touching the ornaments since they are all safe, but I want all ideas of climbing the tree or tipping it over to be out of her mind. Do you think this plan will work? LOL!

We Have a Court Date!

Cindy's finalization will be held on December 17! We are on the docket for 10:00 a.m. There are several other cases also on the docket at the same time, so please pray that the judge picks up our case early on. We don't want a super cranky new U.S. citizen on our hands as we near the lunch hour, and I honestly don't know how we'll keep her entertained at the courthouse for very long. I think you all know by now that this girl is a mover and a shaker!

I am so thankful that we were able to get a court date in 2009. Thank you God! This will be very helpful for taxes and it's just nice to know everything is "official" before the close of the year. Cindy has been our daughter to us since the moment we saw her picture, but now she will legally be our daughter and nothing can change that.

We are planning to have a finalization party that evening. I need to work out some details, so I'll post more on that closer to the time. Wohoo!

Consent to Adopt

We received our Consent to Adopt form from Holt today! Tomorrow morning we will sign and notarize our Petition to Adopt and send it and the consent form to our lawyer so he can submit the petition to the court. Hopefully this means we can still get a court date in 2009. Please pray hard that we can!

Well, that was the exciting news I wanted to share, but I also have a picture to show you. Cindy woke up from her nap before Kaden and we were playing in the living room. She was contently playing by herself, so I decided to check my e-mail. After awhile I noticed it was very quiet and knew that could not mean anything good!

I walked into the kitchen and found this:



Yep, this girl keeps me on my toes. I guess I forgot to put the baby gate back up to the kitchen. She has figured out the door lock on the dishwasher and can also turn it on, enjoys opening all the cabinets and emptying them, can turn on the stove, open the fridge, and likes to play in the trash. So I guess I should be glad that this was the extent of her mischief!

Half a Year!

Cindy has been home for 6 months, 1/2 a year, TODAY! I can hardly believe it. Yet, at the same time, it seems like she's always been here. It's amazing how that works.

Today was a beautiful day in the upper 70s and we enjoyed every minute of it. We took the kids to the zoo and did a little shopping. Then we got home in time for the kids to eat dinner, take a bath, and go to bed. Everyone had a lot of fun and I got some great deals at Burlington Coat Factory. I found a winter coat, a leather jacket (pleather actually!), a really nice coat for Ryan, and a Christmas suit for Kaden. All of this was purchased for only $80. What a deal!

I also got a surprise today. A friend of mine told me that we are the featured Korea family on the Show Hope website. I had no idea we were even on there! It's our adoption testimony that was printed in the 2007 Year of Miracles book regarding our adoption journey to Kaden. You can check it out HERE. I had no idea it was "out there" for all to see!

It's November!

I can't believe I only posted 2 times during the entire month of October. That's just crazy. Oh well, I'll make up for it now with a nice big, long post!

The kids really enjoyed Halloween. Kaden, of course, knew exactly what to do and when, so he was prepared. But, this was Cindy's first experience. She wasn't sure what to think of being made to dress up in a costume, but she sure enjoyed the candy part. After just a few houses, she was walking right up to the door, grabbing a handful of candy, and then trying to weasle her way into people's homes! (She only managed to do that at Grandma & Grandpa's!)

Here's a picture of my Sheriff Woody and little spider:


And here I am joining them in my role as Little Miss Muffet:




Here's Cindy showing off her bag of candy:




And my sweet Kaden with his bag of sweets:


We decided to get creative with our pumpkin carving this year. Poor Ryan got the brunt of the work, but it was worth it. Mickey and Minnie Mouse turned out great! Here is our pumpkin duo in all their glory:








November is National Adoption Awareness month. We think it would be really, really cool if we could finalize Cindy's adoption during November. But, so far we haven't heard any word on a court date. Keep your fingers crossed and your prayers lifted for us!