New Look

In case you didn't notice, I've been experimenting with the look of our blog. I just couldn't get it right. Some people would say I'm too picky, but I prefer to think of myself as detail oriented. So what do you think? Do the header and the background match well enough? (Oh, the things I obsess over!)

Two Months Down...

It's so exciting to mark off one more month of waiting! If only we knew how much time was left...It seems as if we've been waiting a lot longer, but I suppose it's because we began our home study in May, which would actually make it ten months since we started the process. And, if you count the time since we started trying to have a family, that would be three years and five months. But who is counting? Certainly not us. :)


Waiting is good in many ways--as I mentioned in one of my very first posts, we've definitely learned and grown a lot during this time. We recently learned that the referral period has lengthened by a few months, which means that we get to learn and grow for even longer! We will also have more time to save money, learn Korean, educate ourselves on adoption, and complete all those other things we want to. Our logical minds are telling us these facts. But our hearts are telling us that we love this baby so much, and that this baby has been growing in our hearts for a long, long, time, even before we realized it. And because we love our baby so much, we want to know our baby! We want to find out if we have a Joel or a Naomi, see what he or she looks like, what makes he or she laugh and giggle, and most of all, we want to bring him or her home!


In the past few weeks, our infertility and miscarriages have really been on my heart. The wounds that I thought were healing well have been reopened. After some soul searching, I believe it's because exactly one year ago, we were going through our IVF and our most difficult miscarriage. In fact, it was February 29 when we found out very definitely that our baby was not going to make it. On March 5 I had a D&C. This time of year is bringing it all back, and I'm trying my best to look forward to our future and our adoption. At the same time, I don't want to push away my feelings, because they are important. I decided I needed to do something while we're waiting, something to keep our baby real. Getting our referral and bringing our child home sometimes seem so far away, almost unreal. I decided to write a series of letters to our child while we are waiting. It was a very powerful experience as I thought about our child someday reading what I was thinking and feeling while we were waiting. Here's an excerpt from the first letter...


"It is getting harder and harder to wait for you, baby. When we first finished our homestudy and sent all of our paperwork, it was such a huge milestone! We were so excited to be that much closer to having you home with us. And once our paperwork was sent to Korea, we wanted to throw a party! That was the final step in our process that we had any control over. It was just time to wait. Now, baby, as you’ll find out when you get a little older, your mama has very little patience. I didn’t think it would be easy to wait to know who you are, but I didn’t think it would be so difficult. Every day that goes by is an eternity in our wait for you..."


Both of us hope to write more letters and put them into a "Waiting" scrapbook for our child to look at when he or she gets older. As for now, we continue to pray for God to watch over our child and to give us the patience to wait gracefully.

What's in a Name? Part Two

Here's the post you've all been waiting for! We know you've been filled with curiosity since you read the first one. :)

Our two chosen names are...

Joel Allen

Naomi Faith

Why did we choose these names? After a lot of thought and consideration, we decided that Joel is a very strong sounding name, and we love the meaning--the Lord is God. Since Christ is the center of our family, we want to raise our son to love the Lord with all of his heart, soul, and mind. The name Allen is special for two reasons. First of all, it is Travis's middle name. Secondly, it was also the middle name of our child's grandfather. Travis's father passed away about twenty years ago, and we would love to honor him by giving our son the same middle name.

Naomi is a name that I have always loved. After rereading the story of Naomi and Ruth in the Bible, I loved it even more. Naomi loses her husband and her two sons and is heartbroken, but through it all she is obedient to the Lord and acts very selflessly towards her daughter-in-laws. Our goal is to raise our child to be obedient to the Lord and to put others first. The name Faith is my mother's first name and my middle name. My mother has waited so patiently for her first grandchild, and we can think of nothing better than to honor her (and our child) with the name Faith. We also, of course, love the meaning of the name!

We do realize the possibility that we will change our minds before the baby comes home. (Okay, if I'm honest, according to Travis it's just me that will have a change of mind. Apparently I do that a lot!) We may also decide to use some variation of our child's Korean name. But for right now, these are the names we've chosen for our beloved baby!

What's in a Name?

One of the very most important things we've had to consider is what name our child will carry. Travis and I discussed what we would name our children not too long after we started dating, but those names changed over time. They have even changed in the past year, as we moved from naming a biological child to a Korean child. There are many names we like, but not for a child of Korean heritage. So with much disagreement discussion, we again started brainstorming names. We'd like a name that is special to us in some way and that has an important meaning.

The other aspect we had to consider is his* given Korean name. We would like to preserve that for the sake of our child, as a vital part of who he is. We are taking him away from his homeland and don't want to completely take away his name as well. That being said, we decided not to keep his given name as a first name. We feel that it may be hard for him as a minority, and a Korean name may make it even more difficult. So we will give him an American first and middle name and keep his Korean name as a second middle name. This makes the most sense to us and feels right for our child.

So, are we actually going to tell you the names we have picked out? Yes, just not in this post! You'll have to keep checking for another update (we like to keep you in suspense).

*The use of the male pronoun doesn't mean we're getting a boy-- it's just easier to write choosing one or the other!

Our First Baby Gift!

One of our very good friends surprised us last week with a gift for baby Kinley! It was so touching to us in many ways. It's exciting to think that within a year, our baby will be home with us, using these gifts. It showed that our baby is already loved by so many (we can't imagine all the love he or she will experience once home). It was also so special because it validated our adoption experience. When a woman is pregnant, there's an outward sign to all that they are expecting. Questions about ultrasounds, due dates, and the health of the mother are asked. With adoption, so many of those questions are unknown. We don't know when to expect our baby, we have no idea whether the birth mother has even had an ultrasound, and as for the health of the mother, that's a big unknown as well. Adoption is a journey of unknowns, and people often don't understand the process or the feelings behind it. We felt as if our friend was telling us that she knows how hard it is to wait, and that she understands our feelings of excitement, anticipation, and sadness that our baby is in Korea instead of home with us. So thank you, dear friend! Here are some pictures of the adorable gifts that she found on mamabargains.com. (Is it bad that I want to buy almost everything I see on there?)

Small Blanket

Large Blanket

Burp Cloth

Diaper Holder

We love the pattern, and the cream part is a very soft silky fabric. The products are also formaldehyde free, which we love. We're planning on going all natural and organic for our precious baby. :) We're so grateful to have people in our lives that are as excited to welcome our baby as we are!