Where does time go?!

Where does time go? How do we get so "busy" that we forget the day of the week, the date, or even what we did yesterday? I don't know, but I see I must have been in a time-warped fog for a while now as I have not updated this page in ages!
20 April brought Daddy to Korea to check on jobs as well as to celebrate Kaitlyn's 5th birhday in the Country she is learning to love. We celebrated her birthday a few days late in order to allow the majority of her friends to attend; the children still residing in the Orphanage were not able to attend-much to our dismay- as they had other plans in place per the Seoul Welfare Society.
The characters and decorations were made by "Miss Rosita" a wonderful friend and totally awesome mommy to one of the little girls adopted from the same orphanage as Kaitlyn-she must have spent hours on them (as Kaitlyn says "too many to count, mama!").
Daddy brought the "wrong" hanbok for her birthday celebration so we purchased another one and per daddy "Nothing is too good for our princess, after all- she will only be 5 once!" And of course next year it will be "she will only be 6 once", etc!! Her daddy sure does love her-sometimes "too much"!
We had fun with friends and friends who are more like family than some of our own family-but that is the life of "nomadic" peoples.
Please enjoy the photos from April, 2008.

Pics that would not add...

Three of Kaitlyn's friends from the "baby home"
The "famous" Mini Me...future husband?
Three of our former KATUSA friends
Do you think I ate enough Kimchi???

"Uncle Dan" playing cards with the girls
What we had hoped our "family" would be by now- but God had/has other plans. Dennis has a Korean family, Theresa is in limbo, and of course Kaitlyn is stuck with me!
Too much Easter! Sleeping beauties.
Kaitlyn in her "Exercise uniform" for school-they will do ballet, taekwondo, and other fun things on the days they are required to wear this uniform.

Well, seems I will have to do another post to add more photos- but time is out and I must pick up two soon to be 5 year olds!!
Bye!

Trying to catch up!

Together again!! Kaitlyn and Caden Kaitlyn trying to Hugs Caden into saying "I will marry you!"
Uh oh! We have a slight problem- Kaitlyn is taking up RIGHT WHERE SHE LEFT OFF in Oct 06!!
Baek Oppa (say the "AE" with a short "E" sound) He no longer has a "boyish" look but an "Ajushi"!
Theresa and Kaitlyn enjoying one of their favorite "Chores"!

Today is the 11th of April here in Korea. Yes, I said Korea. Kaitlyn and I have been here since late evening on the 4th of March and we have not sat still for a moment!
I am supposed to be working on a powerpoint presentation, but will take a moment to do a quick update. Since arriving in The Land of the Morning Calm we have spent several days at Hwasong, stayed 3 weeks with "Lilbit Imo", spent 3 weeks with Caden's mom (you will hear more about "Caden" shortly), and not eaten NEARLY the amount of Korean food we would like!

Our first morning here we showed up at the HS SP ED class to let Lilbit Imo know we had arrived-all the while thinking Dan had told her we were coming and when we would arrive. Kaitlyn walked into the room a few minutes before class began and Lilbit stood there looking like "who brought a child into my room?" which quickly turned to "OMG! What are you doing here?"
We were amazed to find that Dan had kept his "promise" and Lilbit had NOT known we were coming and we were successful in suprising her.

Once we left the HS we went to visit a few friends who work for Starbucks Korea and walked into the Starbucks on post to the screams of ___________ (Kaitlyn's Korean name) and "Tammy Ajumma"!!! We had about 15 amazed people starring us down wondering what all the fuss was over and why they were now having to wait to have their coffees made :-). Several of the former and current employees of Starbucks-Korea were instramental in helping Kaitlyn transition from a Korean Children's House (Orphanage) to an American family-nothing says "I love you" better than a "James Frapaccino"! (a specialty at Yongsan Starbucks! It is a Caramel Frapaccino with LAYERS of heavy caramel! You can only get it from one of the girls who knows my husband).
In order to allow us an easy transition back to Korea, we stayed several nights at the hotel and enjoyed all the "hooopla" of the staff at Greenstreet making a fuss over our return and how big Kaitlyn has gotten. We have had several Korean friends state "wish you had adopted me, then I could be speaking Korean as well as Kaitlyn!".

We enjoyed a wonderful Traditional Korean dinner our first weekend here with several of the "Katusa Oppas", or former ROK soldiers assigned to work with my husband. It is amazing that we are able to stay in touch with KATUSA soldiers from as far back as the year 2000! (see pics)

We are still hoping and praying that Theresa's bio-father keeps his promise of showing up at the Family Court and signing the final adoption papers (she turned 9 in Jan), but it is looking less promising each day. We had the luxury of meeting Geon Ha's (He still insists we call him Dennis and find a way to adopt him and take him to America!) new family and had a wonderful weekend with he, Theresa, and Kaitlyn spending time together; Dennis' family insists I have "visitation" and I am NOT going to complain. Kaitlyn is trying to figure out why he now has a Korean family when we initially were the first people in 8 years to want to adopt him and I have explained that we were able to initiate the desire for a family and that God works in ways we don't understand-but now Geon ha has a family who will hopefully love him forever and help him "be the best he can be" (lol, play on the OLD Army logo!!). (See pics).

Kaitlyn was initially taken to Hwasong babies home in June of 2003 with a little boy who was only 10 days older and they were "virtual twins" and seemed inseparable. We thought of adopting both children together, but it was not possible; we left Korea with a sad heart and prayed we would find a way to adopt him or that God would open the doors and hearts in Korea to allow him a family. God always comes through! This little boys name is now Caden, his final adoption decree is days away, and his parents are U.S. Marines (can't complain there- we sure love our Marine!)!!. Kaitlyn and Caden are again nearly inseparable unless his older brother is feeling a little jealous...lol. We think it is funny that thier Korean names have the same first initial and that their American names have the same initial sounds. Kaitlyn of course took right up where she left off in Oct of 2006...(see pics) and the "Omma's" at the orphanage are thrilled to see them getting along so well and in knowing they will always stay "connected".

Kaitlyn is planning her marriage to Caden, "Mini Me", and "Baek Oppa"- see pics of each of the "Men" in her life...

Kaitlyn is enjoying her time at the Korean "Kindergarten" Yuchi wan- or as we would call it "pre-school". I am however having to adjust and an trying really hard to NOT PINCH THE HEAD OFF OF ONE LITTLE GIRL! This little girl is "Korean-American" and goes by "SoPee" (guess her American name! lol it is very closely pronounced like the Korean version). "SoPee" has decided that she HATES Kaitlyn's pretty face and yesterday commenced to scratch and pinch in order to again be "the prettiest face in school" (oh yes! her words exactly!!!). Kaitlyn asked me why some people are so mean and I told her I just could not explain it. "Mama, I hate, hate, hate mean people!" I told her at the moment I was "hating a few mean people" also but that God would rather we prayed for them and in the mean time stay way. I also had to explain that Yuchi wan was NOT an orphanage and she must tell the Songsang Nim (Teacher) when "SOPee" or any other child was mean or attempting to hurt her- she says she will try but first today when "SoPee" says in English (she says mean things to Caden and Kaitlyn in English so the teachers don't understand!) "I don't like you and I hate your pretty face" she will respond with "that is ok 'cuz I hate mean people and won't have people like you for a friend!" I hope it has at least enough effect that "SoPee" leaves her alone! One nice thing? I know my daughter is beautiful, but for another child to be jealous only proves it! I am still teaching Kaitlyn that pretty is only pretty if we ACT pretty and are pretty from the inside out!

Well, it has taken me longer than expected- so I hope you enjoy the pics! I tried to add them below, but they "jumped" to the top. It looks like I will have to do another "post" in order to add more pics!

An yong he cas ae yo! (bye!)

Kaitlyn's silliness

My, my, my- how time does fly!

Living in Louisiana you would begin to think I am used to the rain, but I am NOT. Today was cloudy until after lunch, then the rain, lightening, and LOTS of LOUD thunder. Kaitlyn wanted to sit outside in the rain to watch the lightening, but there was no place to sit and stay even remotely dry, so she had to sit inside and watch thru the windows. The dog was another story! Poor old Prince-he ran around the house trying to jump into a bed (any bed but his of course! lol) or jump into our arms/laps, etc.

We are trying to gather items to pack for a trip to Korea-only Kaitlyn and I will be going this trip-in hopes of either completing an adoption that was begun 3 years ago, or to help find Jin Ha a family in Korea...please keep this in your prayers. In the meantime, Kaitlyn is busy memorizing the days of the week and the months so she can figure out when we will be leaving; she can sing the months (a song she learned from "Pooh Bear") but cannot recite them unless she sings. She can also sing the days of the week, but don't distract her and ask which day comes after Tuesday or before Wednesday...lol. She knows PWOC is on Tuesday and Ballet on Wednesday and Church on Sunday, so she gages every other day according to her "known schedule".

We managed to strip all the beds today, only to have Kaitlyn walking around the house and explaining to Prince why he could not climb up onto the "squishies" (fake feather bed toppers) and why "the sheets need to be changed honey". Sometimes she talks to the dog as if she, Kaitlyn, is 80 years old-guess it is a "southern" thing :-)

Miss Katie climbed up into my lap a few nights ago-only to snuggle. She is very affectionate, but lately says she is too old to snuggle, so this surprised me. During her snuggles, she mentioned the "little sister God told her we were going to get"-she insists she and God talk, after all she is a former angel! She has said multiple times that "God told me I was getting a little sister". She has tried this on daddy, only to have his respond with "well, I want a boy, so no sister for you!" Smart little booger pipes up with "Well, God told me a little sister and you want a boy, so guess we are getting TWO little babies!!! You didn't know that did you!?!" Just too funny. Anyway, while snuggling she suddenly decided she could not have a sibling, either older or younger. With aligator tears streaming down her face she commented "mama, I don't want you to stop hugging me, so I told God not to give us any babies or any other children". I could not believe this nor can I figure out where it comes from; she says she does not remember being in the Orphanage, and yet this is exactly what used to happen- if a "cuter", or younger child came in- the others were shoved to the side and no longer were the "cuddle bunnies".

She may claim to not remember, but she was 2 years old and we continued to visit the orphanage for 2 more years post placement- so if nothing else she continued to see this happening and often asks about children from the Orphanage. There was one little boy, 10 days older than Katie that the orphanage "Ommas" called her "yobo" or boyfriend- they were also known as "virtual twins". We wanted to adopt Joon also, but he was deemed "unadoptable" until recently, when a friend of mine was able to begin the long, drawn out process to adopt him! We are praying this legal fight with Eastern Adoption agency ends soon and they send the paperwork to the Family Courts (the paperwork was ready nearly a year ago, but Eastern keeps dragging their feet).

Well, I guess I will end here- just a note as to the Green color-Kaitlyn says "the rain brings green grass mama" so here is to green grass! I will leave you with a few pictures of what I found when I went to get her out of the tub...Well looks as if the pictures decided to add at the beginning, so I leave you with: prayers for sweet dreams, a desire to learn more about the Awesome God that blessed me with such a sweet little girl-knowing I did not deserve it-Thank You God for loving me SO much!

Joun Pome day say yo- good nite...

Singing His Praises!

Today we are singing the praises of our wonderful Lord~Kaitlyn's passport has arrived! Under "Nationality" it states"United States of America!! We have been working to see this for nearly 3 years and have been told on more than one occasion that there was a large possibility it would not happen, but as we know- God is Bigger!
Needless to say, Daddy and I cried a few tears. Kaitlyn says "mama, it makes my heart hurt to see you cry". I had to explain that they were tears of happiness and of course she wanted to know if they were "like the tears you cried when God and Jesus said you could be my mama?!" I had to admit, not quite the same-but these were pretty close! ;-)
To celebrate, we went out to eat-not many choices around here, but it was Katie's call-so we ended up at Pizza Hut. We could have gone to the rinky-dink PH here in town (about 6 miles away), but the food is nasty and Katie cannot stop talking about the lady with the rotten teeth that were worn down to nubs- felt bad when Katie asked her "what happened to your teeth, you didn't brush them before going to bed?" lol Anyway, we drove 20 miles to the next town and ate at PH/WingStop...actually was pretty tastey! Before going to Korea I hated PH, but in Korea Peejah Haut-lol- is awesome and we learned to like it. Well, we had some great pizza tonight that was not greasy, some good hot wings and salad. We ran the poor waitress ragged I think- and she is due to have a baby next month! Kaitlyn ate more food than she weighs I think~having consumed 6 wings (large ones), a large scoop of pineapple chunks, 2 thick slices of "Larry" (cukes-Larry is the name on Veggie Tales), 4 large cherry tomatoes, and 2 rather large slices of pizza with cheese stuffed crust; it is no wonder she says "I think I ate too much and will squish food out my nose!" lol
We stopped at Wal Mart and bought 8 sets of the kiddy valentine's day necklace and bracelet sets for only 50 cents each! These will be shipped to some of the little girls at Kaitlyn's orphanage-she is excited to share a few items with them. We also found a few Premie outfits on sale for a definite "bargain" price to send ot my niece Tina for her newest additions-Caedyn (boy at 4lb 9oz) and cyla (girl, 3lb 6 oz) who are doing really well for having been born about 7 weeks too early!
The rain and thunderstorms we were to have today have held off until only a few moments ago- so we had many things to be thankful for today. Kaitlyn said her "Thank Yous" during her night time prayers and here are a few of the things she mentioned: "My US cizens, my family, for playing in my room and watching "Word World", for my dog that barks too much, and for you kept me in your heart and loved me so much-God you bless me too much and love me so much and I say Thank YOU!" I think I will have to agree with her- He loves me too much, but I am going to accept it and Thank Him!!!
Hope everyone else sleeps as well as we will tonight- there is something to say about the Peace one feels knowing their children are now protected by the US Consitution and a citizen of one of the greatest if not THE greatest Nation in the World-for all the problems our Country has- it is still BLESSED!
Hugs and good nite~

a very Pink day

Whew! What a day!

We started out with an appointment for Kaitlyn to have a physical as the one from Oct 07 has "myteriously fallen out of the computer system". Hmmm, and we are to trust this computer system that is DoDDs wide??!! OOOOOK~!

Well, Kaitlyn was NONE to happy to overhear one of the nurses and I discussing "immunizations" and she immediately piped up with "Mama, I AM NOT going to get shots! am I???"" Well due to some up coming plans, I let her get off without the immunizations- felt kinda bad as she tried SOOO hard to not let the alligator tears overflow her little eyes, but overflow they did and left huge wet spots on her red sweater...then we walked into the Dr.'s office and she screamed..."Mama, a BONEY is in here!" There, against the far wall was a life-size skeleton..."Mr Boney". I laughed, the doctor looked at me like I had 4 heads and wondered if he should call CPS...I had to explain that when she first came home we placed a small skeleton in her brother's bed when he came in drunk on SOJU one nite...he woke up screaming, thinking he was sleeping in the subway with a dead man...we laughed until we peed our pants but for some reason Jeongah is afraid of "Mr Boney" now.

We spent 20 minutes, yes, 20 minutes, explaining that it was not REAL bones, and that it showed where all of our bones are - so it was a GOOD "Mr. Boney"...she was NOT buying it...she said he had ugly bones and as she was an angel from Heaven, her bones HAD to look better, so she still did not like him.

Iam happy to announce that our "little" Kaitlyn is now 42 inches (she was 24 at age 2) and 38.6lbs (18 at age 2). Ok, so she has been bouncing between 36 and 38 lbs for nearly a year- but she is cute as can be and the Doctor was pleased with her weight- she is still in the 50th percentile, compared to the "does not show on the graph" when placed with us at age 2...

Many of you have noted that I use a color to show what we are celebrating that day....yes, PINK has a symbol for today! Kaitlyn had her first Ballet/Tap dance class today and thinks she is going to dance like the angels and float like a "Nabi" (Korean for butterfly)...Daddy and I were SO proud of her. I happened to be dropping off her Physical at the day care registation office when I heard they had a Ballet class open up-of course they were supposed to have called several of us, but-we got in today after missing only one class last week. Lucky for us Wal Mart carries Ballet apparel! Kaitlyn HAD to have Pink with black slippers. We already had a pair of "footless tights" that she loved, and in pink, so we added the "velveteen" leotard, a mandatory pink skirt (only mandatory as Kaitlyn says "ballerinas can't dance unless they have a skirt mom! I know this already") and the "oooooh so comfy" black ballet slippers.

We arrived at the children's gym for class and the ballet instructor asks 2 of us (parents of new students) "Do you have Tap shoes"

"Uh, no. We were told Ballet and we jumped to get them for class today, why do we need Tap Shoes for Ballet?"

"Oh, we do a 50/50 here"

"ok, but where are we to get Tap Shoes in this town of "no shopping"?

"You order them from me, I get them at a discount for ordering in bulk"

"OK, if we have to get them from you, and we are new to the class, why ask if we have Tap Shoes?"

"Well, do you".

"Did I order then already?"

"NNNNNO"

"Oh, I guess we don't have any then" (by the way..."Heeere's your sign...")

"Do you want a pair"

"Don't we need them?"

"yes"

"I guess we want a pair then" (and I am trusting my daughter with this woman, to teach her Ballet, with the door shut where I cannot watch??!! Does this blonde stuff "rub off"!!??)

"Miss Katie" had tons of fun, has been practicing her "butterfly run" all over the house and is happy as can be that she will "learn to dance like the angels"

Yes, today was a very PINK day!

Bubbles, Korean church, and Piano lessons

These first pictures show how the weather has been these last few days- warm enough to wear t-shirts and capris while blowing bubbles, some days ya just gotta appreciate what Louisiana has to offer! We have not had rain for about a week now- and as tomorrow is PWOC (protestant women of the chapel), a weekday get-together for women where we have fun, do a little bit of Bible study, and the kids get to spend time doing "kid things" (per little Miss Katie!) while the Mama's play- it will probably rain-lol. Seems like it rains every Tuesday around here.
Yesterday we finally attended a very small local Korean church- supposed to be "Full Gospel" which I thought meant a little on the contemporary side, but it was far from contempary, and very much on the "small" side. Including Kaitlyn and I, the American associate pastor and his family (wife and 2 children) there were about 15 people in attendance- with the youngest being Kaitlyn. There was no special service for her, so she had to sit with the adults-she kept the two elderly Korean "Halmonies" behind us entertained-they kept reaching up to stroke her hair and pat her head. I kept her mouth full of candy so she would not talk so loud, and she had fun standing up to "read" the hymnal and look over the Ajumma's shoulder in front of us. The music was "dry" and the associate pastor must be used to teaching foreign children- but all in all we survived. Near the end of the service I noticed a few more attendees- about 15, come in and have a seat; I soon found out why! A Korean lunch is served immediately following the service. Kaitlyn was in heaven and soon forgot she was the youngest at the table as she began "chowing down" (her words, not mine! lol- but she did!!) on a totally awesome soup of Kimchi-daenjong Chigae, some fresh make kimchi (yes! no MSG), some fresh sauteed spinach, and authentic (it is made by Koreans it must be authentic!) Galbi. This little one ate more than the grown man sitting next to and in front of her! While I was washing her kimchi (rinsing in water to remove some of the "gochu" or red pepper to remove some of the spiciness) in an attempt to keep up with how fast she can stuff it in her mouth- either she dropped a piece of kimch or I did. All I know is we all heard a pitiful "OH MAMA! I dropped a piece of kimchi!" Jokingly I stated, "Kaitlyn, we must not waste kimchi" (it is very expensive here in the wonderful state of Louisiana so we have pretty much "rationed it" since moving here)- next thing we know the pastor's wife is standing over us with a container of kimchi and a HUGE plate of kimchi- "would you like some kimchi to eat, and would you like to take some home?". Kaitlyn was all too quick to chime "Mama, can we PLEEEEEASE take some home?!" How can I refuse perfectly wonderful, healthy kimchi??? (remember, NO MSG). We ended coming home with about 12 dollars worth of kimchi, enough of the wonderful soup for 2 meals, galbi, spinach, and enough fun to make us want to go back. The only 16 year old in attendance, a Korean/American whispered "come at 12 O'clock and you only have to eat!" I nearly choked on my kimchi...lol.
Kaitlyn was so happy to help dry spoons and chopsticks after lunch that she danced and had all the ajummas laughing and singing in the kitchen. We were ready to go home when we were suddenly escorted to the "free music lessons". Below you will see Kaitlyn patiently waiting for her 15 minute piano lesson. I have been trying to tell her that the Violin is NOT the only instrument in the world, and until she had this lesson she did not agree with me.(oh darn, the one with her waiting her turn seems to have disappeared!).



She came away having learned that her thumb is "one" or "Eel" (phonetically speaking) and that each finger has a placement that does not change. As we got into the car to come home she sang "mama, the Violin makes beautiful music and makes me happy, but I think the piano can do it to". She spent much of Sunday afternoon and today practicing her 5 finger postions on her little keyboard (ok, so it is only a Disney princess one she got a year ago for Christmas, it does the job!). I think next Sunday we may try to find the Korean church that has "maaaahnee" children- otherwise this church will probably be a one a month visit for the wonderful fellowship we were able to partake of.