Blogging from Seoul!

First leg down!  Man oh, man that's a long time on a plane!  Our little rock star did AMAZING!  Max has been nervous about flying ever since we started talking about bringing Ellie home.  The only other time he's been on a plane was when we brought him home, and it wasn't such a pleasant experience for the guy :(  But, this time was totally different!  He was SO brave during take off (the part he was most nervous about) and had a blast watching movies and playing games!

Now, we're killing two hours in Seoul and then its on to BKK!!  Can't wait to go to sleep tonight...or this morning...what ever time it is!!!

And we're off!

Next time I post it will be from Seoul!!  Baby girl, we're coming!!

First stop....Chicago!

Well the adventure has in fact begun!  We ended up bringing four suitcases instead of the three of was hoping for :(  But, we've made it onto the train, back off the train and through crowded Union Station with them and we did ok, so I think we will survive!  It will however be a brand new challenge when we add a potentially squirmy two year old to that mix!!

The train ride did not disappoint for Max!  For the first fifteen minutes he kept saying "this is just so cool!  We're actually on a train!"  Then the rest of the three hour trip was spent doing this....

 

For me, the train ride began like this...

  But eventually became...."babe, we packed the ___ right?"  or "can you just check your bag one more time and quadruple check all our important papers are in there?"  My mind was racing!!  When it wasn't racing though, I was blinking back tears as the realization that we are FINALLY on our way to our girl hit me in a new wave!  Oh I'm a hot mess....but I love it!

We're going to attempt to stay up as late as we can tonight and get only a couple hours of sleep that way we'll be plenty tired when we board the plane in the morning.  As if he wasn't excited enough about this huge trip....this is Max's view from our hotel room

A perfect view of the O Hare run way!  He's been watching planes take off and land all afternoon and he just keeps saying...."oh, maybe that ones ours guys....no, I think its that one!"

Thanks for all the prayers and support!  We love you guys!

Holding our breath

I can't believe it's the night before we head out!  All these months of waiting and here we are!!!  Our big dilemma at the moment is the suitcase situation :)  I'm not a light packer, I'll be the first to admit that...but I'm genuinely trying!  No one, including me wants to lug a ton of super heavy suitcases around the airport!  But on the other hand, we're going to be in country for almost three weeks, and well a girl needs a certain amount of stuff :)  But my sweet hubby reminds me often of the need to be practical so I'll keep the extras to a minimum.  My least favorite time at the airport is when we go to the counter and they weigh the luggage, I literally hold my breath....praying we didn't go over and have to pay the fee :)  well, here's what we have so far

Heading to Chicago on the train in the morning ( Max's favorite part of the whole trip!) and then fly out Friday morning!  We're so close to our girl!!

A week of "lasts"

The blog title sounds kinda sad when I read it back....but I'm so darn emotional this week, it pretty well fits!  I'm figuring this is all pretty normal, I remember both my SIL and tons of my friends telling me about feeling so sentimental about everything with their "firstborn" right before their second joined the family.  I have no fears of "will I be able to love Ellie the way I love Max?"  I'm already crazy in love with my girl, but more of "will my little man struggle with feeling less important once he's no longer the only kiddo we're giving our attention to?"  Seriously....I'm so emotional these days, everything I do
with Max turns into an "ohhhh, this is the last time it will be just you and me...." some of them are bigger deals than others, but most of the time I find myself thinking "am I really crying about this?!"  

Today Max and I had our last lunch date before E comes home.  I fully realize that Max and I will continue to have lunch dates after she's home, but I seriously felt this urgency to go out with him "one more time."  I said to him as we sat across from each other "you know buddy, even when Ellie is home, and I'm sharing my attention with the two of you, nothing will ever change how much I love you or how special you are to me, you know that right?"  He paused just long enough so I knew he was actually thinking about his answer :)  "Mom, I know you always love me, but Ellie's going to be new in our family so she's probably going to need more attention right, like to learn stuff from you and dad, so it's ok."  Melt my heart, this boy is amazing! 

I don't doubt that we will have our share of struggles, jealousy and fighting as we grow and journey as a family of four.....but man oh man do I have one incredible little boy!

The best surprise EVER!!

We've been down in Texas for the past week tagging along with Stephen on his work trip.  Our last seven days have been jammed packed and there's been very little family time.  Lots of Max and I hanging out at the pool during the day, but not a lot of time for the three of us :(  Stephen was able to last minute move some things around and we made our way to College Station, home of Texas A&M, Stephen's alma mater.  Max is obsessed with a handful of things....baseball, musical instruments, and Texas A&M.  In all fairness, his obsession has largely been influenced by Stephen's love for the school, but he's obsessed none the less!  Max was completely surprised and kept asking "are we at Texas A&M?!?!" as we drove up to campus.  Stephen (being in development himself) has a lot of friends at the foundation on campus so Max got the VIP treatment!!

Our ride for the day!  

 Sooo excited!!!

Its such a beautiful campus!

 

Private access ON the football field!  I was even pretty excited about this!

Next stop, Blue Bell Park, home of A&M baseball!  Max was beside himself excited!

Max explained to me "I hope that when I come here, the A&M catcher is ready to be tired (he means to say "retire" but its so stinking cute, sometimes I don't correct him!) because that's what I'm going to do!  I'll just be an A&M football fan, but I'm going to be ON the baseball team!"

 This was such a special day for Stephen to get to share with Max!

Max "posing" next to Stephen's signature on the alumni wall for the Singing Cadets.  

 Max just couldn't contain his silliness he was too excited!!

We ended the visit with some awesome Texas barbeque and Max couldn't stop talking about all he'd just saw!  I'm not sure what plans God has in store for our boy's future, but I sure wouldn't be surprised if they include Texas A&M!  Feeling very blessed to have this special time with Max before we bring our sweet girl home!!

Officially a kindergartener!

Well, he did it!  Max went and graduated from preschool!  Amazingly, I didn't cry....but it sure was an emotional day!  He's growing into such an incredible young man and Stephen and I are unbelievably proud of him!  Max is SO excited about kindergarten, and that excitement is contagious!  Though its sad at times to realize how quickly time is passing and how fast he's growing up....we are looking forward to all the adventure he has coming up and seeing all the amazing ways God will work through our boys life!  Here's the graduate!!

 

Heading into his last day of class!

 

 Receiving his "diploma".

 

 

 Party in the park with his friends!

 

The kids drew "when I grow up I want to be...." pictures.  Max's answer....a baseball catcher of course!!

SO proud of this cutie!  What an AMAZING summer we have ahead of us!!!