First Halloween Home

We had a wonderful and low key halloween! Beau was a pumpkin which I think was totally sweet! I figure he will be a super hero or pirate or something else very boy-ish for the rest of his life, so I wanted to pick something cute while he is still a baby! Plus, I was a pumpkin for my first halloween, so I think it is neat that he got to be the same thing!

We stayed home and had a pizza picnic on the floor. Then Beau helped us pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters. He was happy with it for about 30 minutes. Then we opened the door to a teenager with a scary mask and it really scared Beau. He screamed in a scared voice and it was so sad. After that, we just let him play inside the house and Raleigh and I answered the door.

We were kind of party poopers because we turned our lights off at 8:00pm once Beau went to bed so that the doorbell wouldn't wake him up. Unfortunately, a dark house doesn't keep the trick-or-treaters away. They just kept coming! Oh well! He seemed to sleep through it!

It was a perfect first halloween at home!

Beau is really into finding rocks right now!

Three little pumpkins sitting in a row!

Yay! Dad is home from work!

Beau really likes to play under Raleigh's desk. He likes to stack his blocks on the speaker! Notice his sweaty head! The pumpkin hat got a little hot after a while! :)

I was 6 months old for my first halloween! My mom made my costume! I am not a seamstress at all, so I didn't make Beau's costume but it is still cute!

Pictures from Today

It was a little cool in our house when we woke up this morning, so we put one of Raleigh's toboggans on Beau, mostly just to be funny. But I think he is so adorable in a little hat!

This afternoon Raleigh worked for a long time in the yard to clean up the leaves that had fallen. Beau and I snuck into the leaf pile for a few quick pictures.

P.S. Hi sweet cousin Erica! I think you let me borrow this green vest the first time I went to meet Raleigh's parents in Colorado. Well, that was like 6+ years ago and I still have your vest and I'm obviously still wearing it! oops!! You can have it back now! I love you!

Beau's First Birthday

I posted here about the pictures we received of Beau's first birthday! Here are a few of them! We are so happy to have these pictures!!

I am sorry I have to cover some of Beau's foster mother's face. She is beautiful and we are so very thankful for how well she loved Beau for 10 months, but I cannot show her face for privacy reasons.

Isn't the tol table lovely?! The hydrangeas are so pretty!

Beau looks so handsome in his hanbok! We received this hanbok from his foster mom, so we will be sure to have him wear it again on his 2nd birthday!

Weekend Rewind

Two weekends ago we took a road trip to visit my parents in Nashville. The weather was so nice and we had a wonderful time. Beau even let Nana (my mom) give him his first haircut...he was developing a nice mullet, so we knew it was time for a little trim!

He wasn't so sure about the haircut at first! We eventually gave him a popsicle as a distraction!

My sweet mom and dad relaxing in the swing and watching Beau play!

Beau loves to hang out with dad!

After spending all of Saturday and part of Sunday in Nashville, we headed to Cleveland, TN to visit my grandmother Diddie. We are so thankful that she was able to meet Beau. Her mind was very alert, although her body was very weak. She said that she would hold Beau once she got her strength back. My grandmother went home to the Lord 3 days later on Wednesday evening. Even though she didn't get hold Beau here on Earth, we know they will get to know each other one day in Heaven!

Fall Pictures

I really wanted to take a few pictures of Beau near our pumpkins! Don't all kids need the obligatory pumpkin pictures in October??? Ha! Ha! Beau really just wanted to play with the rocks instead of smile for the camera, but I still think they are super cute!

A Well Spent $24.99

Yesterday Beau and I headed to Toys R Us to find him a walking toy. I'm not sure why we hadn't bought one earlier, but I never really thought of it. He is so close to walking and will take a few steps on his own, but is not walking independently yet. I thought that a walking toy might help Beau gain a little more balance and independence.

We found a great little tikes walker for $24.99. We haven't bought Beau any new toys since he has been home, so I didn't feel too bad spending the money on it. Much to my surprise, Toys R Us was having a sale. With the purchase of the walking toy, we got to choose an additional little tikes toy up to $24.99 for FREE!!! Yippee! I love buy 1 get 1 free sales!!! So, we chose a Christmas gift for a family member!

I think Beau has already gotten his money's worth out of the walker! He has been using it morning, noon, and night!!!!

Morning!

Noon!

Night!

A Wonderful and Unexpected Blessing

Today we received the most wonderful and unexpected blessing...pictures from Beau's first birthday in Korea. The first birthday celebration in Korea is known as a tol (or dol, depending on translation) and it is a very important day. Children wear a hanbok at the celebration and there is traditionally a well-decorated tol table.

As I was going through the mail today, I noticed an envelope from our adoption agency. I wasn't expecting anything, so I quickly opened it. Much to my surprise, there was a cd.

I ran inside and put the cd in the computer. When I opened the first file, I thought they had sent the cd to the wrong family, because it was a precious baby, but it wasn't Beau.

As I kept looking through the cd, I realized that each file was labeled with a baby's name. It was written in hangul, but I found Beau's name and opened it up! There were pictures of sweet Beau and his wonderful foster mom at his tol. What a blessing to have these photos!!

The adoption agency in Korea, Holt, plans a birthday party each month for all of the babies in their care that turn one that month. So Beau celebrated his first birthday at his tol with 14 other sweet babies that also turned one in June.

There was also a cd of pictures set to music, but unfortunately Beau was not in the video. There were also not any pictures of Beau's toljabee.

Obviously we don't know for sure, but we think that Beau and his foster mom may have had to get to the party early and leave early. You see, in one of the pictures, a lady is ironing the fabric backdrop. This leads me to believe that maybe they were there a little early. Also, all of the other babies seem to have pictures of their toljabee and blowing out candles on a cake. Maybe these events took place later during the party and Beau had already left.

We are so very thankful for the pictures and we know that Beau will treasure them!

As I continued looking into the envelope that I received from our adoption agency, there was also a single printed picture. It was of Beau and his foster mom on the day he left Korea to come home. I cried and cried when I saw this. So much love and sadness all at once. Beau's foster mom never intended to care for him permanently, but that doesn't mean she loved him any less. You can see how much she loves him in all of the pictures.

In the photo, Beau is in the same shorts and socks that he came home wearing. He is in a different shirt. I'm sure his shirt had to be changed at some point during the 18+ hours of traveling. You can tell that Beau's foster mom has been crying in the picture.

I am not sure if these pictures were sent from Holt Korea (the adoption agency) or if Beau's foster mother sent them. I may email our agency in the US and see if they can find out if the cd of pictures came from Beau's foster mom or the agency.

I have tried to upload a few pictures to share, but they really large files and won't upload. I will keep working with it to see if I can get a few pictures up soon!

Happy 16th Months!

Happy 16th months to my perfect son, Beau Tanner Si-won. We love you so much! God created you in His image for a very special purpose. We can't wait to celebrate lots of birthdays with you!

In a world with no sin, there would be no need for adoption because children would stay with their birth families. But we live in a fallen world full of sin and tragedy. But our God is so gracious to redeem tragic beginnings and create beauty for ashes! He restores joy to the lives of his children and makes all things beautiful!

Thank you Lord for our beautiful blessing of a son! Thank you for entrusting him to us.

Happy 16th Month Birthday Beau! You bring immeasurable joy to my life everyday!

An Apple A Day

Yesterday Beau and I went grocery shopping together. I looked away from him for a moment to get an item off the shelf. While doing so, Beau turned around and got an apple out of our shopping cart.

Before I knew it, he was eating the apple!! :)

We have tried to feed Beau apples in the past, but I've always peeled them and cut it up into very small bites. He never seemed to care for it. He likes a lot of other fruits, so I really hadn't tried any more apples in a while.

Raleigh does take an apple everyday to work, but obviously Beau doesn't see him eat it since Raleigh is at work.

Beau was so delighted with the apple. He was a happy camper just chomping away as we shopped. (I know the apple should have been washed, but I don't get uptight about the little things in life! Life is way too short to worry about one unwashed apple!)

Beau was so good at holding and eating the apple, that I think this may have been how he ate apples in Korea.

I'm glad to know that he actually does like apples, as long as he is allowed to hold the whole thing and take little bites at a time! I did supervise him carefully to make sure he didn't choke on the peeling or a big bite.

Enjoy the pictures of Beau eating the apple!