My, My, My- Time does fly when one experiences so many changes! It is now August 2012 and since June 2011 we have experienced another adoption-yes, Kaitlyn has a sister!  Leila is a few months and until recently she thought Kaitlyn was her older sister, to which Kaitlyn willingly jumped to fulfill the roll. Today, both girls love to appear agitated when asked "are you twins" as they respond with "sure, one was born in Korea and one of us born in China!"  The best best responses come to questions like "are you real sisters?" to which the girls will poke each other and say "she feels real to me!".

 acting like "Halmonie" saying "Eyego!" lol

New sister for Kaitlyn, Meet Leila!

Kaitlyn and Leila checking out the sand crabs

Kaitlyn checking out the small clams

two 8 year olds enjoying the beach

That gorgeous child has a mean streak! lol

Itaewon "juicy girl" in the making???

A deeper side of the Princess...
Twirlin' and havin' fun!
Just plain pretty...
How about a little "tude" for ya?

Josh Oppa came home to visit- Kaitlyn still thinks he walks on water- muddy water sometimes but he still walks on water :)
She loves to make "big nostrils" even when out to dinner...
We celebrated Daddy's birthday at Texas Roadhouse- we have managed to find one in most states we have lived- good thing since we all seem to like to eat there~!

Whew, summer is bearing down on us like a wild woman! The temperature today was a "mild" 99 degrees F if you listen to the weatherman but Lordy- we made the mistake of looking at the thermometer outside :( and it said a whoppin' 100+ degrees!
Kaitlyn has been out of school for a tad over a week and is "bored to tears"- literally to tears! She has been working in the workbooks I got her to maintain her math and reading levels along with some science and social studies but she is missing her "friends" from school.
The last day of school I asked her "did you get the phone numbers of your friends so we can call them and set up play dates during summer break?" Her reply was "naaah, I don't think I will need to call them". Mind you, we live "out of the district but in the district" so her friends live 10 or more miles away- more like the "more miles away". Our school district is over crowded so "we" got bumped into the next county- yep, you read that correctly, the next county- and most of the children live 20 or more miles away; we just happen to be lucky enough that I only have to drive her 10 miles to school. Ok, so I don't HAVE to drive her, rather didn't have to drive her- I just refuse to place a child her age on a school bus at 0620 and then have them sit in the school gym or cafeteria for an hour awaiting school to start...nope, I chose to drive her an hour later and let her get an hour more of sleep each morning!
Anyway...now we are dealing with the "it's too hot outside", "I am bored", "what can I do", can we go to the store", "I don't want to be at THIS store", and other fun phrases...yep, love my girl to pieces :)
As I am contemplating going back to work- what is that? Yes, I did say "back to work"~! Miss Kaitlyn thinks I am abandoning her and daddy says "why on earth would you want to go back to work (uhhhm, how about to see if daddy remembers how to fold laundry, fix dinner, tuck kids into bed, stay awake past 7 PM, etc? lol)". As I was saying...I am contemplating returning to work, something I have not done in 5, almost 6 years in my "trained" field so we have been looking for child care- I give up, there is no reasonable child care to be had for the hours I will be required to work! I have resorted to looking for an Au Pair- similar to an "exchange student" only they have a college degree, will come from one of several countries and will be issued a visa through the State Dept and must be specific guidelines to be an Au Pair. I am looking for a Korean Au Pair - strictly for selfish reasons! Kaitlyn will be able to regain much of her native language (native? that sounds primitive doesn't it?!), we will be able to add more of her birth culture to our home than we already have and yes- the food!~ Someone who knows how to cook KOREAN food better than I!!! Oh wait, this is supposed to be about Kaitlyn...(sighs).
Well- off to bed for me while the Princess sleeps.

I won't let you down/Seussical

Tonight Kaitlyn had a "Seussical" at school. The entire _____ Grade was celebrating the life and books written by Dr. Seuss and the fact that children love to read what he wrote (ok, how many of us adults love his books?!).
Kaitlyn was a "narrator" and had a small part in which she was to speak for Horton as he stated "I won't let you down, no! I won't let you fall!" as he attempted to protect the tiny speck of dust on which the inhabitants of Whoville lived and it reminded me of God's words to us and the words so many adoptive parents tell their children-if only every adoptive family could stick by that.

Now-please understand the above is NOT said in judgment of all or necessarily any family/ families that find it necessary to dissolve the adoption union they have or had with the child they desired to parent! I have been privileged to assist several families with finding new homes (aka "re-homing") their adoptive children for whatever reason-and must admit that there ARE extenuating circumstances that cause a family to consider dissolution of an adoption. Most biological families do not "dissolve" their unions with the children but I do know some that wish they could! :)

The only problem I have with dissolution and most families who suffer through or choose to dissolve their adoption is that they initially called themselves a "forever family" and THEN upon re-homing the child (ren) again tell that child (ren) "so-and-so will now be your forever family". JUST WHEN DO THESE CHILDREN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND FOREVER?!?!? When or how do they learn to trust God, that HE is forever?! It must be noted that the new family needs to be stated just as that- "so-and-so will be your new parents and we pray that they are the correct and long-term family for you"; we pray that they are the ones who can say "I won't let you down, NO! I won't let you fall!"
WHY!? "...because a person is a person, no matter how small..." and "Oh the Places You Will Go" when you are placed in the correct family for you and you learn what it is like to be loved for who and what you are!

One of Kaitlyn's favorite places on the face of the earth is at the beach-it does not matter if the temperature is 20 degrees or 120 degrees-she will dig in the mud, hunt for shells, dig in the mud, look for "sea creatures", dig in the mud, chase birds, and have I mentioned- dig in the mud!? :)


































In December 2010 we visited a beach a few hours from home and we found some very cool looking purplish-blue jelly-fish! I am from Southern California and had NEVER seen jelly fish that looked like these-we even tried to "save" a few by helping them back into the tide but their tentacles were so tangled up they ended up washing back onto the shore and dying anyway.






Her first semester of school ended with "Rock Star students" and they had a day they were supposed to all come dressed as "Rock Stars" so of course Little Miss Kaitlyn HAD to be a Korean Pop star and she dug through her closet and chose an outfit that she felt made her look very cool and like a Korean Teen Pop-Star and we decided she looked Ready to R.O.K.!!! (how punny of us? get it? R.O.K.? Republic of Korea? lol, guess you had to live there to understand!? sometimes Korean sense of Humor rubs off on ya!).
Enjoy the updates and pics and hopefully I can keep this blog stuff a tad better updated?! :)

Breaking Hearts, anger, and where to go now

I have many reasons for not updating our blog-one of which is laziness and I am not proud of this "reason" but it is a fact of life. Moving, along with everything else going on, from the DC area back to Texas has taken its toll on my ability to be organized and I have just been plain lazy.
So, what would make a lazy woman decide to update a blog after so much time? Try anger, wondering where to go, what to do, and a broken heart!
While we lived in Korea our family aided several orphanages by providing medical care (I AM a nurse after all!), English lessons, tutoring for the children as needed/requested, and foster care for children and we tried to adopt a little boy we will call "Dennis" as that is the name he loved. Dennis is now 13 and was adopted at the age of 10 years old by a Korean Doctor and his wife; now mind you you must understand that in Korea, families can "return" a child -like a bad piece of equipment, an unwanted dress or pair of shoes, or any other unimportant item, for up to one year and that this DOCTOR was fully aware that Dennis had learning disabilities and that over the period of three years we maintained contact, and in 2008 when Kaitlyn and I were in Korean for 6 months Dennis stayed with us-anyway...back to the situation at hand.
During the first year Dennis was constantly under the threat of "being returned" and the "Good Doc" had promised that if they chose to return "the boy" his family would insure that our family would be allowed to adopt him (after all, we were the Americans who were "bumped" from the line due to a Korean family stepping up-never mind that they were given INCENTIVES to "take on the burden of a child not of the family blood" and essentially PAID to take him!). Fast forward now THREE YEARS and guess where THE SON OF MY HEART IS!?!?! YOU GUESSED IT- "Dennis" is sitting in an orphanage and it looks like the "GOOD DOCTOR" may have made it so that "Dennis" can NEVER again be adopted. SOOOO-
I am Broken hearted, angry, and not sure where to go, what to do now as the "Son" my husband and I had in our hearts is sitting in an orphanage in Korea...
on a happier note- please enjoy a few photos of the Princess!
The first picture is from 2009 with one of her favorite Dolls and the second is of her learning to bottle feed her youngest niece who was born April 2010.