We're back...

It's been quite a while since we did a blog post and we are long overdue.  To catch everyone up on our lives, we have good news to share and sad news to share.  Our sad news first;  in May 2012 we were matched with our sweet Ian who is in Korea.  We were in the process waiting to bring him home and after 18 months of waiting, found out that Ian was very ill.  We learned it wouldn't be in his best interest to come to the US to be a part of our family.  So in October, we made the painful decision to allow Ian to stay in Korea and get the help he needs.  Needless to say, we were pretty devastated.  We plan to sponsor him and will continue to send him gifts and lots of love.  As Matthew, his 5 year old brother, says "even though Ian can't live with us, he will always be my brother".  Ian will hold a special place in all of our hearts forever!

Now our good news!  A few weeks ago we got matched with a new baby boy!!  He is 13 months old and a cutie pie!!  Our agency is working tirelessly to help us bring him home asap.  Hopefully we will have good news on the travel process soon.  We will keep you posted.

While we wait to bring home our new son we have decided to do a little fundraising to help us with the extraordinary costs of going to Korea two times (once for court and a few weeks later to bring home our son).  Check out the awesome t-shirts Chris and I helped design with the terrific people at Bonfire Funds.  We really love them!  We need to sell at least 50 shirts by January 28th for anyone to get a shirt.  We are almost half way there!

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/bringing-home-little-brother

Bringing home little brother | Bonfire Funds

www.bonfirefunds.com

Raising money for our travel expenses to bring home Matthew's little brother from S. Korea. As some of you may know, we were waiting 18 months to bring...

2

The New Swing Set

Thanks to everyone who gave/sent presents to Matthew - he has been having a great birthday!

We managed to pull off getting this swing set put up and we spring it on him this morning.  Here is the video.

New big boy bed

Tonight is Matthew's first night in his big boy bed.  He was so excited to get comfy and go to sleep.  In case you can't tell from the pictures, the bed frame has baseball bats and baseballs.  The sheets and blanket are Spiderman.  Matthew picked everything out himself.

Matthew Live!

Volcanoes

So about a few days before Christmas, Matthew saw the new Alvin and Chipmunks movie which apparently had a volcano in it. Well, Matthew has basically been completely obsessed with volcanoes ever since. He talks about volcanoes constantly, is afraid of ever getting into close proximity of one and is aware of major volcano hotspots around the world.

He asks to watch volcano videos on youtube everyday and has sat through 45 minute national geographic documentaries including one one the Icelandic volcano last year and another about a theoretical "super volcano" lying dormant underneath yellowstone. He calls these documentaries "serious".

Anyway, as luck would have it, Aunt Rachel, for christmas sent Matthew a little make your own eruption kit which is basically a plastic spout you attach to a bottle of diet coke - you then drop Mentos candies into the coke creating a giant eruption. Here is a video.

Merry Christmas!

Great Christmas this year - Matthew thanks everyone for all the presents!!!

Welcome to Disney World!!

We had a really nice time in Disney World. When we got into town on Christmas day we went to a Christmas party where Matthew got a chance to meet the A-List characters, including Mickey Mouse. Next day was Magic Kingdom, then Epcot yesterday and Animal Kingdom today. Despite serious crowds, we got to do everything we wanted and the weather was pretty nice as well.