Reunion with Sophia's foster mom

We had the rare opportunity to have a short reunion with Sophia's foster mom today (Thursday). Overall it went well. I'll share some details. We received a letter a couple weeks ago from our adoption agency letting us know that Sophia's foster mom was planning to visit Minnesota and would like to see Sophia. She traveled here with another foster mom from Korea and one social worker from Korea. They a few other families whose children had been in the homes of these foster moms to an informal open house. Chris and Jacob were going to come, too, but Jacob came down with a fever so Chris had to stay home with him. When Sophia and I entered the room at the agency for the meeting, Mrs. Park wasn't there yet. They brought her in a few minutes later. Sophia really didn't seem to recognize her. I was kind of wishing some kind of memories would surface for her, but that's not to say there wasn't a "heart level" feeling of connection. Mrs. Park greeted me with a slight bow and then bent down to hug Sophia. She whined for me, so I held her on my lap as we sat down together with an interpreter. Sophia was a bit shy and clingy to me, but she warmed up after a while. We looked through a small photo album I brought as a gift for Mrs. Park. She really appreciated it. She told us a couple stories I'd like to share. Mrs. Park said that the day after she gave Sophia to us, she came back to the agency early in the morning before we left for the airport. The social workers convinced her that it wouldn't be a good idea to say good-bye again...that it would just upset Sophia more, but as a compromise, they had here go in a building across the street so she could watch us depart. She said she saw us come out of the building and as we were getting in the van, Sophia put her head on my shoulder and that made Mrs. Park feel better. I was so touched by that story! Also, we sent some pictures about a month after we came home. Mrs. Park said they missed Sophia so much that they taped the pictures by all their light switches so they could see her when they came and left a room. So sweet! She has had 20 foster children and Sophia seemed extra special to them! They've since had another foster baby who will be adopted soon as well. After we looked through the photo album, Mrs. Park gave us some presents. She gave me a beautiful Korean jewelry box. For Sophia, she picked out a Minnie Mouse purse with a couple of pretty headbands for her hair. The cool thing is that we had already decided that Sophia will be Minnie Mouse for Halloween because our day care provider, Peggy, gave us an adorable dress that her Rachel had grown out of. Check out the pics below to see what a perfect match the purse is!
We visited for about 40 minutes with the help of an interpreter. I was able to tell Mrs. Park that we believe her love and care for Sophia enabled her to easily trust and love us. It was a nice moment. As we were getting ready to leave, Mrs. Park bent down to hug Sophia and this time she hugged back and even tilted up her neck to give her a kiss. As we walked down the hall, Sophia turned around 3 times to wave "bye-bye." How sweet!

Happy Adoption Day, Sophia!

August 21st marks the one year anniversary of when Sophia was placed in our care. Since that day, we have spent a wonderful year bonding as a family. As you already know, Sophia has been thriving and growing and learning! We are so thankful for her. Here is a link for a short "slide show" of pictures from throughout the year. Copy and paste it.

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=95ce70867447fe208f8ddc&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Finally Spring?

It was really nice to finally have an Easter Day that was not freezing and snowy! The kids actually got to look for eggs OUTSIDE at Auntie Sue's house. I was feeling really good about our weather, until I read my friend, Deb's, blog about their Easter in Kentucky where the grass is green! I think we just need one more good rain and a few sunny days before we start seeing some new spring growth around here.

Does any one else have a child that consistently wakes up one hour after falling asleep for the night? Sophia just started crying, and it's so weird to me that she does this almost every night. I thought kids were supposed to be heavy sleepers. Sophia is a LIGHT sleeper! Ugh.

Here's some pics from the last couple months:

Seasonal Celebrating!

December is always a busy month, but with both Chris and I home right now, we've been able to spend a lot of time together as a family. Chris's former work place, Metro Mold, has been down-sizing a bit as a result of a slow economy, so he's been on the job hunt. I am still at home on a child-care leave, but I'll be tutoring a few hours a week now. I'm also hoping to be able to do some substitute teaching in the Osseo district until Chris can find a job. In the meantime, we've been trying to organize and clean at home, as well as going out to holiday celebrations and spending time with friends and family.

In November, we went to Rochester for Thanksgiving. Pete and Paula made a wonderful meal and the cousins had fun playing together. Later that weekend, we drove to Brainerd to meet Chris's family at a hotel, so the kids got to enjoy a big water park.

Sophia enjoyed her first visit to the Children's Museum. We met Amie and her kids, Eva and Zack there. Sophia loved the plastic frogs in the pond.

Daddy and Jacob went to the cabin with Uncle Pete and Michael in November. They had fun being outdoors and riding on the four-wheeler.

Sophia is not very enthralled with the snow. When we got our first snowfall in November, I bundled her up and took her outside. She mostly cried. It's the bundling up part that seems to make most toddlers crabby. Of course, Jacob immediately taught her that snow is eatable, so then she liked it.

Jacob was in a Christmas concert at church with the preschool class. He had fun learning three songs, but I had to bribe him with a gumball to put the angel costume on.

We were a little later than usual in setting up our tree this year, but it turned out okay because we got to have Jenny and Jackie over last Saturday and they were very helpful. One of our traditions is that each year we think of something we are very thankful to God for and we buy a special ornament to represent that person or thing. Then I make a page in a little scrapbook about it. Each year we look through the album and hang up the ornaments. Sophia and Jacob had fun with that!

I loved Jacob's innovative idea for snowman arms!

Sophia is starting to learn new words. I think the English language is starting to take root in her brain. She loves to meow like a cat and she tries to copy what we are saying. She loves to "sing" and dance.

The Splendor that is Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year, but just like a YUMMY dessert or a roller-coaster ride or the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy, or nap time, or certain romantic recreational activities, it's all over too quickly. I very intentionally try to soak in all the fall fun while it's here. That explains why I've been to 3 orchard/farms in the last month!

Back in September, we brought Sophia on her first camping trip (I don't think camping was a common activity with her foster parents in Seoul, but you never know). She is slowly starting to explore things out of her comfort zone, but she was still pretty clingy that weekend. Besides the fact that we forgot our tent poles, we had a great time.

I've been so excited this week because Sophia is getting obviously more comfortable with Daddy. She gives him kisses and sits on his lap for stories and plays in the garage or outside with him while I'm taking a break. She doesn't cry as much when I leave her home with Daddy. Little by little, she'll start opening up to others. We just have to give her time to build up her trust and comfort level. I'm amazed at how many words she understands. She doesn't try to repeat words after I say them, but she makes plenty of baby babble sounds, so I'm sure soon I won't be able to get a word in edgewise.

Jacob had a great time at the Oreck store the other day! It was like a dream come true...a whole store with only vacuums in it! The sales lady got a kick out of him.

Here are some of the photos from camping, the apple orchard and hanging out in our backyard.