Update

Last week I was away on a last minute Disney vacation. When we learned that James would not make it home this year we decided that we would make the best of it and bring a little happiness and sunshine to our saddened hearts.

So, we flew on down to the sunshine state and while there we met up with another family who is adopting another one of the cutest little Koreans in the whole wide world. At the risk of sounding like I am twelve again, Nicki is my greatest bestest friend in the whole wide adoption world. (she rates pretty high up there in the everyday world too) She has been simply the best and I am super thankful to have met her on this journey.

Even though we felt like the Disney trip was the consolation prize *** Your not going to Korea to get your boys BUT your going to the Port Orleans where you will enjoy amusement parks and a visit with the mouse himself*** it was a prize to meet Nicki and her wonderful family. Now if only Kansas was a little closer so we could visit together more often.

After Nicki and her family went home we went and met up for some more fun in the sun with the siblinngs.  We had a great week with more great company and while we were there we got an update on  our sweet baby James.

He is now 23 lbs

He has 6 teeth on the bottom and 4 on the top

He opens doors and drawers, plays ball, waves bye bye

He is walking!!!!!  After months and months of cruising and just taking a few steps he is walking all over.

and he has a new word - MaMa :)   Now if only he was calling me - MaMa is Korean for eat - lol

Oh, how I can't wait to hold this sweet boy in my arms. Sometimes I think about how much love I have for this little boy all the way around the world and wonder when he is going to finally be in my arms. I get so sad thinking that he has no idea about the family he has waiting and how he hasn't any idea that one day soon he will be joined with us - forever. I think of that day and how bitter sweet it will be. I think of all that he will lose and all the hearts that will hurt when they have to say goodbye. I pray that when the day comes I have an abundance of strength to comfort my new son as he grieves the loss of the only life he has known. I pray that his foster family finds peace knowing that we will do all that we can to give James a wonderful life.

43 days until the start of 2012.   

Holiday Care Package

Now that James is 1 he only goes into the Holt office every other month for his check-ups. So, this MaMa has to plan ahead.  If my timing is right James should be heading to Holt in about 2 weeks and then he wont be back until January. After collecting everything I wanted to send over the last few weeks I packaged it all up last week and mailed it off.

James loves him some Puffs....  In every single photo I have gotten he is clinging to them. How could we not send lots of puffs. I am happy to report that I have been using my coupons and buying lots of puffs the past month. So, when I was all done packing up his care packages I was able to fit two more from the small stockpile I made in the pantry- woo hoo!!!

Next is a gift from James Godparents, Kim and Steve.  How cute is James going to look in his new Christmas Jammies?  I am really hoping for a picture of him wearing them one day - so that I can show them just how cute the jammies they picked for him were while he wore them half way around the world.   Thanks Kim, Steve, and Sophia for thinking of James during this very long wait.

Next we picked this outfit with the cutest wagging tail in the back. I put several of these one piece outfits in for several reasons. 1 - I really have no idea what size my baby is. He looks so big in some of his photos and so small in others. According to his medical reports each month he is small - just at the 25th percentile for heigh and weight. When I look the same height and weight stats up on an American chart he is pretty much average fitting right in a little under the 50th percentile. 2- The cold weather is coming and it is cold in Seoul during the winter. I noticed in his pictures from last winter he often had thermal looking pants on under his clothes. Well, thinking ahead, I figure his foster Omma (mama in Korean) can fit those warm thermal under these baggy rompers. 3- I just cant resist how cute they are... can you?!?! 

I also can never ever resist a cute hat. I am hoping that sometime in the future I get an email from Holt with that little symbol that I love to see that reads "download". You know the one where the 18 seconds that it takes seems like a lifetime.  The emails where your heart beats fast and you don't know if you should laugh or cry. Then all of a sudden your baby is there - on the screen - and for a split second it feels like they are in the same room with you - like for real. Then reality sinks in and your staring at your computer monitor and suddenly your baby seems further away then before. Yeah, I am hoping for one of THOSE pictures. And while I am wishing, maybe his Omma could put this moose hat on for his MaMa, just like she did when she got that cute little beaver hat. 

Another hat and mittens for the cold winter.

Some overalls, since little boys look so cute in overalls.

A book - this is the same book Zoey loved when she was one. We have a copy here too so next year we can read it together as we celebrate our first Christmas together.

Some gifts for James' foster family. A little bag for his foster sister. Hats for his foster brother and father. A little necklace for his college aged foster sister.

 And for his Omma, the woman who has cared for him on the other side of the world while we wait for him here, a necklace. I noticed that she always wears a cross in her pictures - so as a symbol of her faith I chose a cross. I then chose James' birthstone and  a heart. I wanted to pick charms that would be universally symbolic- charms that wouldn't be lost in translation. She will always have a place in my heart. I will forever be thankful to the person who took care of my sweet boy day in and day out until I could take care of him.

Finally it was all ready to go..... I couldn't take pictures EVERYTHING! :) LOL

But I did get all of that...

....in these 2 boxes.

They should arrive in Korea any day.

And maybe - just maybe- I will get a picture of my sweet boy with his goodies.

Maybe he will be holding his Puffs again.... or maybe he will have his moose hat on.

Guess we have to wait (isn't that 95% of this adoption process) and see.

November is ...