~Latest Going On’s~

Chloe, Mia Grace 4 Comments

So that others don’t say I am playing favorites, I will show you my Chloe’s toenails. They look so awesome! She has been babysitting and saved her money to get a manicure. Mia Grace has learned to wink!!! And it is incredibly adorable!!!

She loves the puppies!!! Actually she loves to drag them by one paw around the room, but it’s a start! She loves squealing and pretending they are chasing her!!


Oh yes and she loves pushing Penny in her shopping cart!!

I love this picture! She loves to sit in this chair and not be bothered. She sits here and listens to her Korean Kids music. It was a gift from her foster parents. She loves it!! Anyone traveling to get their babies from Korea, I strongly recommend getting some for your little ones!!

~Mia’s First Tea Party~

Camye, Chloe, friends, Korea Adoption, Mia Grace, Tea party 3 Comments

Okay so I have the MOST awesome friends!! My friend Tina and Jennifer came up to my house and gave the most fabulous TEA PARTY!!! EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! The food was very tea party-ish. The menu included: Cucumber sandwhiches, salad, potatoe soup, chicken salad on croissants, deviled eggs, fruit kabobs, sugar cookies and cupcakes. Drinks included all sorts of teas, lemonade and punch!

When I said the food was fabulous..I didn’t lie…..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

Tina made these adorable little butterfly cupcakes for the little girls!!

Mia had a blast!! She loves being the center of attention!!! Danielle, Myla, Mia and I…hoping the girls are as close of friends as Danielle and I are!

Logan being adorable as ever!!!

Katie and I…she is such a sweet sweet girl!


This picture brings back such great memories of my childhood. This picture could very easily be Staci, me and Jennifer. But it is Bailey, Camye and Madison…the next generation..new and improved!!;)


Mia LOVES new clothes and toys!! She is a typlical girly girl!


Great friends, The Zotolla’s got her a flashlight with her name on it!! She loves it and was trying to take pictures with it!

One of her favorite gifts…Ritz Crackers!! Thanks Miss Lori!!!

Mia and Myla jumping in circles!! They are so cute together!!

Chloe and Chloe….2 beautiful, godly girls!!

~Vacation Bible School Fun~

Blake, Camye, Chloe, Family, fun, Mia Grace, Paul, VBS 3 Comments

We have such a busy week this week!! My friend Lori and I committed to planning VBS, and then we decided to adopt! Who would have thought the process would have taken 7 weeks from HSTK to get her!! Well it did…so directing VBS with Mia has added a little challenge…but with a challenge this cute, it doesnt matter!!:)

This morning Mia had her foster parents album out and was looking at it. She looks at it everyday! She always kisses her Omma and Appa. She loves looking at her album and showing us how cute she is!

We are so thankful for the fabulous job Mia’s foster family did with her. They have showed her such love that has helped so much with her transition and her outgoing personality!

She is so funny with her albums! My friend thinks she did such a great job with Mia, they want to adopt a baby from the same Korean foster family. If only it worked that way..:)

Above is Mia riding on Caleb’s scooter. She loves Caleb..as all the toddlers do. Last night he ran by her and she yelled Caleb come here!!!

Daddy and Camye girl!!! Having fun at VBS!!

Mia is so precious…she just runs around and plays!! She is a little chatterbox!!!

Paul has been having a blast all week at VBS!!

Mia and Daddy-Appa!!

Me and Mia Grace!!! She was loving her snack last night! She had a Lucky Charm marshmellow in her mouth!

~Summer Fun~

Blake, Camye, Chloe, Family, fun, Kids, Mia Grace, Paul 3 Comments

What a great week!! Mia is still doing fabulous. She is bonding with the boys alot more! We had a picnic to invite friends over to meet little Mia. It was great fun! More mommy-omma!!

Mia and her new friend Ellianna!!

Mia loves jumping in mud puddles!!!

Paul loves this chair…he pretends it is turtle shell.

Paul and Mia love piggy back rides…

Mia loves giving kisses…

~Mia’s First Trip to West Virginia~

Blake, Camye, Chloe, Family, Mia Grace, Wes 6 Comments

Today, we took a quick trip down to West Virginia for Mia to meet my parents, brothers, 2 grandmothers and grandfather. It was a very quick trip!! We were wanting to keep Mia’s world small for awhile, but with her doing so well we felt we could squeeze it in. Mia loves to run and play outside. She even went to the creek and came back after sitting in the muddy water!! Paul being as cute as ever!!

Mia went a little crazy with my camera and took about a thousand pictures..I like this one of my mom and Camye. My mom is simply crazy about Mia and even had was able to hold Mia for a few moments. Of course, I didnt have my camera handy for that moment!

My mamaw will not like this picture being on here, but she LOVED Mia. She couldnt get over how pretty and smart she is!! Mia even kissed her goodbye!!

My two babies, looking at a book together..they are so sweet.

Mia was a little shy at first, but brightened right up with all her attention! My dad thought she was so pretty and smart. Uncle Wes was real nervous to meet Mia. Uncle Rob even closed his store for an hour to come and meet her. And of course, Papaw Buck thought she was sooo adorable!!! He loves his great-grand daughters!!

Miss Personality!!

~Fun Times~

Chloe, International Adoption, Korea Adoption, Mia Grace, Paul 3 Comments

10 days ago today we were blessed to become the parents to this beautiful little girl. Today was a great bonding day with Daddy! They played outside, watered the trees, played with the ‘Kimchee’, what she says when she wants her picture taken and rode bikes. Today was also Mia’s first day to attend church, she did so well. We didnt even have to go out to the nursery. But Mommy sitting in one place for over an hour is probably a dream come true for Mia.

Okay, I think we may have found Mia’s favortie food! She loves corn on the cob!! She devoured hers and then took the rest of her daddy’s!!! Some of you know that I have been concerned she hasnt been drinking alot, well last night she must have decided she was thirsty. She grabbed her daddy’s big cup and started gulping and hasnt stopped since!!!!

She is bonding really well with her oldest sister Chloe, who is very mothering and will make a fantastic mother someday! I Love to hear how many she wants and where she wants to adopt from!

It has been extremely HOT and HUMID here! That doesnt stop Paul from breaking out the fleece sleepers!! He loves his footed sleepers! I hope he always wants to wear them!!


Mia is definetly a part of the family! She fell and skinned her nose after being home 3 days, which as most of you know we are a house full of accidents!! It looked terrible for a few days but was completely healed for church today and our first post placement visit with the social worker, which went extremely well.

Overall, she has adjusted FANTASTICALLY with our family. I have been warned this may not last or this is our honeymoon stage. But I am willing to roll with it, she has been such a blessing and I have never thought God wanted me to something as much as I felt he wanted us to adopt Mia. He will not leave us now. If she decides in a month, she isnt Miss Personality and decides to be shy…that’s fine! How many 2 year olds do that? If sleeping habits get worse, we will make it. She already throws fits, like any other 2 year old. She already makes messes as any other 2 year old. She is a blessing…no matter what happens….as any child is.

Thanksgiving Thursday!!

Mia Grace, thankful, Thanksgiving Thursday 4 Comments

WOW!! How 7 days can make a difference in my life!!??

7 days ago….we recieved a precious blessing straight from God. I dont feel that I deserve to be this blessed.

I am so thankful for God giving us the oppurtunity, debt free to adopt the most adorable little girl. She is such a joy! Never in my life could I have expected things to go as smoothly as they have. She is so loving. She is always kissing or tickling someone. Her sibilings adore her!! We adore her.

I am thankful for:
~Her kisses
~Her hugs
~Her laughter
~Her sleeping;)
~that she is Miss Personality
~her teeny tinyness
~how she loves toys
~her attachment
~how wonderfully she has bonded with everyone

I am so thankful for this exceptional blessing. Thanks for everyone for following and praying for our journey! I really have felt the prayers, there is no way this would have gone so smoothly without them.

~Figuring out Mia~

International Adoption, Mia Grace, Older Child Adoption 8 Comments

Words can not describe for how blessed we truly are. Throughout this process, people will say to us, that is such a great thing you are doing. I never knew what to say back to this. I feel the reason we were doing this wasn’t because we wanted to be great people or do this great thing…you might even say we are selfish. We wanted to be blessed again with another blessing. Most of you know I am no longer able to have children and what heartbreak that has been for us. God put this on our hearts to allow to us to have another blessing. And a blessing she is!!!

Anyone who has ever contemplated older child adoption, I want to highly recommend it. She is such an awesome and happy child.

We have been trying to figure out bedtime. While we were visiting with the foster parents, I asked how she sleeps and where does she sleep? They said with us on a mattress on the floor. Oh great..as most of you may know, I love my sleep. I mean LOVE to sleep!!! So we decided to let her sleep with us while we were bonding..OH MY. Thats what I have to say to that! She would put her cheek to mine..chest to my shoulder…legs wrapped around my ribcage…both arms spread and one rubbing my cheek and the other rubbing my arm…the ENTIRE night.
CAN I SAY BONDING?? OH yes we are bonded…we called that the Mia CLAMP and a CLAMP it was!!! As snuggly as this was….she wasnt sleeping that great like that and I wasnt sleeping at ALL. So I would put her beside me and snuggle like a newborn..she would sleep like this but fitfully. I decided I had to get some sleep…so her and I moved to the guest room and stretched out and oh yes….we both slept the night away!! And for 3 hours she slept alone!! Below is her all stretched out enjoying her space!!!! Chloe and Camye decided to show her how to eat ice cream..Daddy style..right out of the bucket!! She loved it. Excuse my messy kitchen…I have 5 kids now…it’s allowed to be messier!!

~Home With Mia~

Home, International Adoption, Mia Grace 5 Comments

What a fun first day home!!! My older 4 kids are smitten, they just LOVE to play their new little sister. I think one of the best gifts you can ever give your children is a sibiling. She loves the puppies!! She loves to squeal and pretend they are chasing her. She puts her foot or hand out so they will lick her and then runs off so they will chase her. They arent paying that much attention to her, surprisingly, but thats a good thing!

She loves to get dressed up..she always wants to wear her Pororo backpack and slippers around the house. She think the slippers are hilarious.

When she looks at the camera, she says “Kim-chee”. She even had to wear her slippers outside to play!! She is having a blast!!

Paul is big enough for his big boy bike from last year! Grandma and Grandpa bought him an awesome scooter of his own (he has always used his sibilings) and I think it has given him the confidence to try his big boy bike again. He is riding it everywhere!!

We also went to Camye’s dance recital, but we were so rushed getting out the door and getting there, we forgot the camera. So pictures of the recital are coming, my friend with an even awesomer camera than mine took pictures for me.

Another blog…coming soon…~Sleeping With Mia~ or maybe it should be ~The Adventures of Sleeping with Mia~.:)

~Finally…Home~

2009-2010 homeschool plan, International Adoption, Korea Adoption, Mia Grace 4 Comments

We traveled about 30 hours to get home. Mia did great! She slept all the way from Korea to San Francisco and slept some from San Fran to Pittsburgh. She loved running around the airport!!! So we let her burn some of that typical 2 year old energy off. I love all the playgrounds at the airports. This was one that was in Seoul, she loves playing with other kids.


I wasnt sure she would know how to play with other kids or all these balls. She jumped right in!!!

We were nervous with her and the stairs because all of her updates said she couldnt go up or down steps. She flies up and down steps.

She loves to have her hair brushed and fixed. She just sits there and lets you do it! Her hair reminds me of Chloe’s , the front half is curly and the back is straighter, so I am a pro at it.:)


The kids were waiting for her to come home!! They were so excited!! We didnt get home until 3am and we didnt get to bed until 5am.

She just loved them!!!:)

She is doing absolutley wonderful. We learn so much about her every day. Like she loves oragami, she sings the ABC song, she loves to sing EIEIO and she is incredibly smart!!! She is tinier than I could have ever imagined. She wore a 12 month bottoms yesterday with a 18 month shirt. Today she has on a 12-18month and the bottoms are a little loose. We love her so much already!!!