School's In!

Joshua went back to school last Thursday. He was a little bummed because he thought summer went to quickly.

It was rather quick plus the weather was strange. It rained the first part of the summer and then now it is super hot. Today, it was 102 degrees here.

Delaney started school today. I walked her to the bus stop so I could get a "going to school" picture. She didn't even look back when she got on the bus. Ms. Independent! She reminds me of me. My first day of school, I came home and told my mom that I didn't even think about her unless the teacher said "mom". Ouch! Sorry about that mom! It should have been a clue of my personality to come :)

Delaney had a great time today! What a big girl! Where has the time gone?

Darn! Surgery Postponed....

I had myself all psyched up for my surgery on August 15th. I have endured pain for at least 8 months and I am so ready to have my surgery.

Well, I received the call last week that the surgeon was going to be out of office that week so I needed to have it on the 22nd instead.

Please keep me in your prayers that:

The surgery resolves the back pain and that recovery is quick and easy.

End of Summer Fun

As the summer days dwindled down for the kids, we spent a lot of time playing with friends and going to the swimming pool.

We went to the new pool in Broken Arrow. It was wonderful. The kids had a good time. That night we had friends over to play. The next day we had another set of friends over to play before school started for Joshua last Thursday.

We met the teachers on Wednesday. Joshua is happy with his teacher and the friends that are in his class this year.

Delaney didn't get in the same class with her friends. She will be able to meet some new ones.

Birth Mothers

Wow, we are so blessed to have found both of our children's birth mothers. I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about these two women and the selfless sacrifice they made that became the best gifts of my life.

I have been in contact with Delaney's biological grandmother. As I have said before, she seems like such a compassionate and loving person. She deeply cares and loves her daughter. I cherish the letters and picture that she has sent of the birth mother. I pray in the future after more time of healing passes that I will get to communicate with Delaney's birth mother as well. I can't imagine the pain that one must go through to place a child for adoption. The grief must be so profound and heart-wrenching. I pray for her comfort and healing.

We received a letter and multiple pictures from Joshua's birth mother last weekend. She is a very beautiful lady. Her compassion and kindness shines through in the letter that she wrote to us. She very much wants to be in contact with us. She has requested to know everything about us and Joshua. She seems very sincere in her request.

We will be receiving a video she made to give to Joshua. What a treasure to not only see but hear her as well!

We have her address and even her cell phone number. I hope in the future that with the help of a translator that we can give her a call. I think it will not only help her but Joshua as well. He has always been so inquisitive in regards to his birth mother. You should have seen him when he saw her pictures for the first time. He was full of grins. The fact that she sent a picture of her standing in front of an Egyptian mural was awesome and he loved it.

I have had both of these women on my mind a lot this week. How can you thank someone adequately for giving you the gift of motherhood? I am so grateful to them. I hope that I am raising the children they gave life to in a way that would make them proud.

I have such a deep love for these women. It feels me with emotion. It amazes me so much how I can feel love for two people that I have never met and that are so far away, but I do.

Photo For Friday- a little late

Happy 15th Sweetheart!!

Wow, we have been married 15 years! We have grown so much in those years! Our love has grown even deeper.

We decided that since we really didn't need anything for our anniversary, we would bite the bullet and be a little wild. We decided to get our first tattoos. Call it mid-life crisis, call us crazy but what the heck!

You can see my present in the profile. Paul has yet to decide what he wants. He is more methodical and wants to make sure that he will love having it the rest of his life :)

I LOVE YOU SWEETIE!

Korea Camp

Last week was Korea camp! I taught the older 5 year old group. There were 11 precious kids in all. We had a lot of fun but I have a new respect for teachers. Keeping up with the energy of 11 5-year olds requires a lot of energy!

I think the kids had a blast and hope they learned at least a few things about their heritage.

We had four awesome counselors! They were such a great help and sincerely wanted to be with the kids.

We were laughing when we found out that one was fluent in Korean and we were up there teaching Korean language with our Okie accents. After we found out about her being fluent then the kids were taught a little more phonetically correct :)