Catie's first trip to the pool...

It was a hot day in Kansas!!  My friend Michelle and her kids Maddy & Easton invited us to the pool and we took them up on the offer.  Catie really likes to swim!!  She splashed and got splashed and didn't seem to mind one bit!!  The boys had a blast and mommy.....well mommy got sun burned.  Thanks for the warning Michelle.  I should have used the sun block.  

Do you think I have enough kids!!  LOL!!  I must be a sight will all the kiddo's in tow.  :o)  

Falling deeper in Love!!

Steve and I were just having the most wonderful conversation about Catie.  Everyday that she is here with us we fall deeper in love with her.  It is hard to describe this wonderful feeling. 

We fell in love with a picture of a child and with the hopes of a wonderful future for our daughter and our family.  We didn't really know this child....We didn't know her likes and dislikes......We really didn't know anything about her other than a few health reports that we were given along the way.  We walked into this love relationship blindly with the faith that God had placed the right child with our family.  Oh and he absolutely has!!! :o)  Don't get me wrong we absolutely loved her from the moment we knew she was meant to be ours.  But this love is growing beyond our wildest imagination.  With every day that passes and with each new bit of her personality that she shares with us we beam with love for her.  At times it feels like our hearts will just burst with all the love God has given us for this amazing child.  We feel so privileged to be her parents.  She is one of the greatest gifts that God has ever given to our care while here on earth.  Just look at her sweet face.......What's not to love!!!!!   

Catie is 11 months old today...

Today held some special milestones....Catie has been home for four weeks.  Today she is 11 months old....and we met her one month ago yesterday.  She is a wonderful little girl and she has brought so much joy to our lives.  Although the road we had to take to get her here was not an easy road, I am so glad that God brought us to this place.  I can't imagine having any other child.  Catie was perfectly placed with us by God's own hand.  Adoption is a beautiful miracle......I am so glad that we stepped out on faith and trusted God to bring us our daughter. 

Steve went back to work...

This is Steve's first week back to work and I am doing the Mommy job all by myself.  I am excited to finally get into a daily routine.  It has proven to be a challenge for me.  I had forgotten how hard it is to get things done with a baby on your hip.  Plain and simple my house is a mess and it is driving me crazy!!  Catie is taking a nap and I should be cleaning and for whatever reason I am on the computer.  So I guess I will sign off and try to get a few things done.  I will try to post some new pictures soon.  

Home for three weeks....

Catie has now been home for three weeks.  She is starting to make very good progress with us.  She is no longer scared of Steve.  She still definitely prefers Mommy but she is now reaching for Steve occasionally and has started to smile again.  She is still having some angry moments but we feel she is starting to make some progress with attachment.  Our social worker seemed to think she is doing pretty well and seems very content with me as her mom.  She said that we will see a HUGE change when we hit the three month mark.  I am so happy to have some pictures with a smiling Catie so here she is.......

Say Kim chi......(while in Korea we were told many times to say "kim chi" in place of "cheese" when having our picture taken.  LOL!!)
Chasing the camera

Saying Momma....:)
Already taking her brothers toys......

First post placement visit. DONE!!!

Well our first meeting with our social worker went pretty well with the exception of Mr CJ asking her.........."What happens if my room isn't clean?  Are you going to take my baby sister away?  Because my Mom said if my room wasn't clean you might take my baby sister away!!"  Okay we laughed it off but I really wanted to crawl under the couch.  Boys.......ARGGG!!!!  

First Post placement visit.

Hey guys I know I have been slacking on the posting  but I have a very good reason.  Her name is CATIE BETH and she is a handful!!  

We have our first Post Placement visit with our social worker tomorrow.  I am excited to get the post placement process under way.  We had to fill out a new packet of info about our sweet girl and how we feel things are going.  We also found out after we got home that we have to have our home study updated.  So off to the police station we went today to have our finger prints done.  We have to have our prints run and an SRS check done all over again. It is a bit of a pain and of course all these things are done for a fee.  One good thing is that our agency has agreed to speed up the post placement part of the process since everything took so much longer than we had anticipated.  It is supposed to take 6 months and then you are eligible to finalize through the courts in Butler county.  We are scheduled to have our post placement done in 4 months and then we will have to wait 6 weeks before a court date can be set.  So hopefully everything will be done by the end of this year.  

It is important for us to get everything done quickly b/c Steve is up for a new assignment in the winter of 2009.  I fear our time left in Kansas is going to go by quickly.  I am a bit nervous for a new assignment as it is always hard to uproot our family.  On the other hand it is always exciting to go on a new adventure.  I wonder what God has in store for us next.  

Could she be any cuter??

These pictures were taken on Catie's sad days but even sadness can't mess with her cuteness.  She had a pretty good day today.  I am hoping in the next few days to get some good pictures of Catie smiling.  She started playing with Caleb today.  Caleb got her to belly laugh for the first time.  It was a happy moment for all of us!!    

A new level of grief for Catie....

I knew Catie would grieve when we took her away from everyone and everything that she knew. She was in a loving home, was very well cared for and was very attached to her foster mother.

As bad as this might sound we are glad that she is grieving. This means that she will eventually let go of her loss and have a healthy attachment to us. I looked up the steps of grief and she is following them to a "T". When we first became her parents she cried a bit but then decided to be very funny and loving. We believe this was the denial part of her grieving. Then she started getting very angry with us. She hit and scratched and really didn't want much to do with us. This is step two......anger.

Today after she woke up from her afternoon nap she was crying a sad cry of desperation and almost seemed depressed. It is not an angry cry or hungry cry or uncomfortable cry it is a very sad cry. Step 3 is bargaining...I am not sure how much of that she will go through as she is so very young. But step 4 is depression and I think she has hit that step today.

One thing we know for sure is that she will eventually accept us and be very attached to us and we are looking forward to that day!! Please keep her in your prayers!!

Settling Down..

We have been home for almost two weeks (on Thursday) and things have finally started settling down around our house.  The boys have started giving Catie some space and she is starting to show us a little more of her sweet personality.  She is very loving and likes to snuggle for a little bit several times a day.  She likes to Ham it Up and be silly.  She does not like me (Christa) to leave the room without her.  She was pretty angry with us for a few days after we got home and showed that anger by hitting us and tried to scratch our faces but all that seems to be not as frequent as it was.  For the most part she seems to be happy and is starting to show a good attachment to me.  

Thanks for all the prayer and support over the last few weeks and over the last year.  We are so blessed and are excited to share our sweet girl with everyone.  We are still taking things slow and are really letting her take the lead on what she is comfortable with.  

Steve and I have been working on a slide show of our journey to Catie.  So be looking for that.  We only shared a small portion of the pics and video that we took while in Korea.  As soon as we get the rest of the pictures and video of our return we will post it here on the blog.