Closing this Blog!

I have realized after a few months of hardly keeping up on this blog that it isn't really useful anymore.  Anyone who is interested in our adoption journey is already a friend on Facebook, and that's really where I'm putting all our family pics.  Feel free to keep up with what's going on with our family by reading our family blog:  http://www.closetohomeam.blogspot.com or my work blog:  http://www.knitsandknots.net

If you want to contact me directly with any questions about adoption and our experience you can always email me at amoberly (at) gmail (dot) com.  Blessings to you all :)

Lots of Catching Up!

Ok, so I recognize that I have been terrible at keeping this blog up to date!   I could offer excuses, but suffice it to say the holiday season kept me busy, along with have 3 kids.   The transition from 2-3 kids has been harder than I expected.  Not bad, but just not leaving me with a ton of free time after all of the house work, homework, and cooking are done.  When I do have a few free moments I've been spending them working on my business that I hope to continue to grow in 2011.  This is going to be a catch-up post of sorts - a few snapshots into the last few months :)

Also enjoy this little video of Alex playing in his Thomas tent. He played in this for a good 30 min this weekend and pretty much never ran out of laughs :)

The most important thing that happened in the last few months is that we made Alex officially a part of the family!  On Dec 16th we finalized Alex's adoption at the Marion County Courthouse.  It was a huge celebration there as the judge and courts were all dressed up for Christmas and thoroughly enjoyed making families whole all that day!

Baby Bear

A super short video of Alex being super cute!

 We've had a lot of fun in the last month: trips to the park, fall festival at church, Halloween, playing at home, celebrating birthdays, and learning to walk!  Here's a video of the cuteness that is a toddling baby :)

Alex is 1!

Last weekend Alex celebrated his first birthday :) In Korea, the first birthday is a big deal so we wanted to do the same here! We followed as many of the traditions as we could and had the party at our church so that we could invite whomever wanted to attend. We had a pretty good turnout and had a great time celebrating the newest addition to our family!

Enjoy some photos of the party and a short video with some of the highlights!

The party table

items for the fortune telling game (he picked the stethescope)

all dressed up

the sweet birthday boy :)

yummy cake!

opening gifts

Settling In

Alex is continuing to settle in to a routine and getting to know his new family.  Not every day has been simple, but we are loving being 5 instead of 4 :)  I know I haven't updated much, but we've been so busy its hard to find the time!  Enjoy this quick video of Alex being cute.  He loves his big sis and bro a ton and they can always make him laugh!

Adjusting

We are doing our best to adjust to the time difference between here and Korea!  Last night Alex finally slept through the night (or at least we didn't let him get up and play).  Matt and I both feel significantly more rested today, but I think we still have some adjusting to do! 

Today I will take Alex to the doctor to have a quick check up and be sure he's 100% healthy like we think he is :)  The kids also had their first day back at school since we've returned.  Its nice to have life seem a little more routine!

I've got a ton to do around the house, so I'll post more later, but in the mean time, enjoy some pictures of our homecoming taken by my sweet friend Jill from Raindancer Studios.

Coming Home Photos

He's with us!

Alex is finally with us!  we left the agency with him today around 2:30 pm Seoul, Korea time.  There are a few more pics on the facebook album, and this sweet video of our cab ride back to the hotel... stay tuned to around the 3 min mark to see Alex fall asleep on me!  Too tired to post much else!

Video Link 

Photos

We've been so busy so far that I haven't had any time to post on here!  We are settled into our hotel, we made it safely on Monday afternoon.  Today we are going to get Alex!!!  You can see some of the photos we've taken and some explanations of what we've been doing on an album on facebook, just click the Photo below :)

WE GOT THE CALL!

Ji-wan is ready for us.  He's got all his paperwork and its time to get him!  We're still working out details, but we could be traveling as soon as Sunday to meet our precious son!  Please join us in prayer during this time!