Happy National Adoption Day!:)

Adoption has blessed our lives in ways I didn't expect..

From seeing Mia Grace the very first time...while getting Mia knowing out other little girl was awaiting.... While getting Avah.... Cade falls into our laps.

Please pray for our family as we anxiously await news that we can travel for our littlest one.

{Love Others}

{Love Others}

seems to be a saying...that keeps popping into my mind as we wait for our sweet boy. Our son was born with biliary atresia and has had the Kasai surgery. He is doing extremely well. But we are not living in denial that he may most likely need a liver transplant someday. However...

HE NEEDS HIS FAMILY FIRST!!

We are fundraising like crazy and have received the Brittanys Hope grant but we must raise $2500 to receive the full $5,000.

My awesome friend Shari, from Personalized Prints donated 100 shirts for free. She is an awesome friends who I virtually met online while in process to bring Mia home. We just missed meeting each other in Korea to get our daughters and twice now we have just missed each other in Nashville.

 She created this fabulous tshirt for us to raise funds for Cade's adoption fees.

 Sizes available are:

 Youth XS-S-M-L and Adult XS-S-M-L-XL-2 XL-3XL-4 XL-5 XL 6XL

 FOR ONLY $10!!!!!!!!!!

 Shipping is $3

Yes you read that right!!! $10!!!!!! We were given 100 free shirts!! Which means if we sell them all we raise $1,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Praise the Lord!!!!

Please comment here what size you would like and how many!!! Please gift to wendimelinda@gmail.com. Or message me on facebook!

Or email me at wendimelinda at gmail dot com

 

~Happy Birthday My Precious Little Girl~

Words can't describe the longing in my heart, to have you home on your special day, your very special and ONLY 4th birthday. I promise you I have great plans for your 5th birthday.

I hung an ornament yesterday in your honor. I know you aren't here with us in person, but you have no idea how deep you are in my heart. I said yes to you on July 18th. I wasn't kidding. I wish they would see the seriousness in my longing to hold you in my arms.

I don't have the words to tell you how sorry I am I have not come sooner, or why am I coming when it's almost too late? All I know is Jesus doesn't push us, he wants us to choose and I took a long time. I knew he was pushing me and I was wrong. He was pushing me so hard to come for you and Mia. I wasn't listening. I was actually running the wrong way, in fact, I am sure Satan was pulling the other way. But then one day the Good Lord gave me the extra SHOVE I needed. I thank him every single day. I pray I will never ignore a nudge, push or shove again.

Here is my prayer for you today: "Dear Jesus, I ask that your arms would be wrapped tightly around the one you picked for me and please guard her in Korea untill I make my way, and then in my arms forever she’ll stay.”

I will forever be asking my girls to forgive me that I didn't come for their perfectness any sooner. I am so thankful for the love and care that they are recieving in South Korea. Thank you Lord.

~Mia Grace Heimee FINALLY~

Oh yes I did...I pushed and pushed for a December court date and I got it! I dont like having to behave like my paper pregnant hormonal self...but I am who I am.

Oh and yes I did dress us all in stripes...note to self..stop buying stripes.;)

Our first family photo, after Mia became an 'offical'  family member!!

Judge Emery was so friendly and kind. She asked each of the kids to come up and bang her gavel. You know who was up first....he was all over that!

Next up Camye Renee....looking cute as ever!!


Oh yes and 12 years old is not to old...but 15 years old was...Kennith Blake had to give it a bang.

Little, sweet Mia Grace Heimee....all nervous and fingers in mouth...she even gave it a bang.

Some friends of ours were there to take some family photos afterwards...our courthouse is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Then out for ice cream.....:) Kimchi!!

And almost the entire family...we just need our little Avah home!!

What a journey this has been...such a great and blessed journey we are on our way back for another little 'Seoul Sister'. This morning we given wonderful news that our homestudy was approved and we should have our notarized copies by Christmas. I highly recommend our homestudy agency in Greensburg, PA, Lutheran Service Society. They are wonderful!!

Chosen..

Aunt Kimberly, Uncle Tom, and cousins Alycia, Elizabeth, Austin and Amelia got Mia a cute tshirt that says CHOSEN for her birthday. Mia turned to the back to show me that it says, Deutronomy 14:2-2 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. This adorable tshirt came from www.wildolives.com. Great adoption website! And the shirt is so correct, she was chosen for our family by God.

Why are there over 147 or 250 million or however many orphans waiting? Why can't Christians just take home 1... It is such a blessing. Not just the child blessing you get but oh how you see God. I know maybe some people arent meant to have children, but why not support a child..support an adoption fundraiser...encourage a friend to adopt....advocate for waiting children. There are so many different ways to get involved.

When practicing pure and undefiled religion...I feel the prescence of the Lord in a way I have never felt before..he rocks me to my core.

Someone asked me the other day to tell them about this leap of faith I Took with Mia. I replied, " give me a minute." I didn't know what to say...my leap of faith is nothing compared to others.

Two hours later I answered her...(changed slightly to protect the innocent)

Okay it's been 2 hours. This question makes me cry. I am just going to bare my soul right here to you. When I saw Mia's face....I knew... I knew..she was beautiful. My SW kept saying you don't want a child like this. I kept saying yes I do! When I am given a file to review....I am looking at another human being..one that deserves to be loved and have a family. A child that would sit at the foot of Jesus and be loved by Jesus. A child who may not be perfect in others eyes but perfect in mine. When My SW asked me if I would review 'our next little ones' file...I jumped at the chance. I got the file. And wowsers!! Some scary stuff.... But all I could hear in my head as I looked at her smiling face was...is that a reason not to adopt me? She can't help these problems. God made her just like she was and then her birth mother had to say no. So she has sat and waited and waited...how many
people have said no? She sits and waits...and it kills me, I can't say no. I didnt want to say no!!!! God pushed me to say yes. Will we have trials? Yes. But at the end of the day when she curls up in my arms..tired of doctors poking at her. She will snuggle in her mamas arms and know its forever.

How can my Jesus love and adopt me as his child? I am a special needs daughter..I Assure you...Jesus knows that. He will never turn his back on me. OR any orphan..he loves them all!

How many orphans are sitting and waiting?? There bright eyes looking at you saying ...pick me..pick me!! Why?? We are on this earth for such a short time and as Christians we have one goal..ONE..to reach the lost. Why not start with the children? God knew. Jesus knew. We should know.

My friend that asked me this question about my leap of faith when choosing a waiting child, is deciding on a waiting child. A beautiful one....and guess what....she has the same name as my little girl.

Yes... That was a God wink...




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~Happy Birthday Sweet Mia Grace~

Today was a very special day. Mia Grace Heimee has turned 3 years old. My first thoughts this morning went to her birthmom who I know was thinking of her and wondering how she was doing. I only hope she goes in and checks her file and see how wonderful she is doing now in her forever family. Then my thought went to her foster mom, who gave her so much love in her first 31 months of life. It has made Mia the loving little girl she is today.

My mom came up for the occasion. Mia loves my mom. Mia's favorite book is Pinkaliscious. She absolutley loves that book. Everytime we read that book to her she always says Mia's Happy Day. So what does every little girl want....a Pinkaliscious birthday party!With Pink cupcakes...

Then onto the birthday party...:)

She waited until we sang the Happy Birthday song and she immediatly blew out her candles. She knew what she was doing. Then we all sang Happy Birthday in Korean, which just makes her eyes light right up when she hears Korean spoken.

Lesson learned...dont let your 3 year old princess open her high heels first! She then had to walk around the house for about 10 minutes showing off her fabulous heels. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Mia is so funny...she opened up an outfit from my mom and dad and said, "Ohhhh...snuggly" and rubbed it up to her face.

She loved her little Asian doll. She is so snuggly with her baby dolls.

Butterfly wings!!! From Grandma and Grandpa!!

Kenny and I decided to get her some bilingual books and computer. She was so surprised to open up new Hangul books and Pororo books.

This is the computer we almost purchased in Korea for her but decided to wait. I ordered this and the books from http://www.littleseouls.com/. Very cute website!

Nice looking family.

Odd ..very odd.;)

Mia's 3 year old Check-up

Yesterday we went to Mia's 3 year well check up. We went in a few days early because we needed to get a copy to our lawyer for finalization (yes...its almost time)!!!

She is doing great and had reached every milestone for a 3 typical year old. She has grown almost 2 inches taller since coming home. She hasnt gained any weight however. She is still as tiny as ever.

Thought this was a cute picture. Her oldest sister, Chloe, is practicing her photography skills on Mia....just wish the hat wasnt so low.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Mia's Pinkaliscious Birthday Party Pictures!!!

~Fun Times~

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.

~Figuring out Mia~

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~

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~

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!!!