Our New Normal!

Lilyana has been home just over 2 weeks now and wow has life changed. I am remembering what it is like to do most things with one hand and my left arm is getting really strong. Lily has changed so much since we first came home. We did not see a smile for the first few days and now I can get her to smile almost anytime I want, other people have to work a little harder. She is extremely attached to me, my new adorable accessory I say! She is starting to come around with other people but still does not like anybody else to hold her. She is getting much better with dad so that is good. Her personality is starting to come out a little more each day. It is fun to watch her explore and take everything in. She likes her big brothers, she seems to especially like Carter but he seems to like her more than Griffin does. She is an awesome sleeper, at lease 12 hours every night in her crib, praise God!! She is also quite the eater as well and she seems to like our food. She says mama a lot and I love it! She is such a blessing to our family and we thank God every day for picking us to be her forever family!!

Home with baby Lilyana!

Little miss cutie pie!!

This morning playing with her big brothers.

First night at the hotel with her.

Meeting her.

Meeting Lily for the first time

We are home with our new precious addition, Lilyana Wooyoun Ellis. I have waited for a long time to write this post, it is hard to believe the time has finally come. Our trip to Korea was full of adventure but everything went as planned so we could not have asked for better. As far as the adoption itself has gone we have no complaints, things went very smooth for us and our wait time was toward the shorter end of what we were told to expect. God's hand has been guiding (actually leading) this all the way, as always He is good! The hard part was taking a 9 month old baby from the only mother she as ever known, Lily's foster mom has a special place in my heart, what a loving women. It was quite an emotional moment, we were prepared but still it was hard. The first few hours were really difficult because she had no idea what was going on and we did not know how to sooth her. After a while she attached to me and that was very welcomed. We did manage to get her to sleep for 7 hours straight that night so that was positive. Lily did well on the long journey home (we were travelling for about 20 hours that day). People on the plane were so nice and helpful (I recommend flying Korean Air if you ever fly to Korea). Grandma and Grandpa did a wonderful time taking care of the boys while we were gone, even a homemade meal and fresh baked brownies when we got home. They truly are the best!! All three of us were beat when we got home, we were extremely surprised and pleased when Lily went to bed at 6:00 and did not get up until 6:30 in the morning and she slept in her crib, she had never been in a crib before. It was a much needed night of rest for all of us! We are so happy to have our adorable daughter home and her brothers love her tons!! Adoption is a beautiful thing.

All packed

All packed and ready to go!!
Next week at this time we will be home with our pink bundle of joy!

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

Today is a glorious day, we got our travel call today letting us know that our daughter is ready for us to pick her up. It feels a lot like the moment you go into labor and you think you are ready then you realize you have so much left to do and will Never really be ready!! Those of you that know the stories of the boys' births know that we were really not ready for Carter and Griffin we waited weeks for hoping he would not come too early! This is probably the child that has come most on schedule of all three of them. She will be 9 months old in few days, we are so excited to have her home before her first birthday. Her room is ready and waiting for her as are her older brothers and mom and dad cannot wait!! We will be leaving for Seoul on Sunday and getting back on Friday. We are in for some interesting days when we are there and a long flight home. I feel a lot like we are experiencing birth because we have no idea how the sleeping will go when we get home and we will all be exhausted from jet lag and her clock is opposite of ours, and the boys will have the grandma hangover, YIKES!! We are so blessed that we are both able to go and get her, thanks to the most wonderful grandparents and some dear friends who are all so willing to help. This entire process has shown me, maybe more than anything else in life, what true dependence on God looks like, and as always he never lets us down, he is so faithful and we are learning to be faithful as well.

All are welcome at the MPLS airport to welcome us home, e-mail me if you want more information!

The pictures above are of us celebrating Korean Independence Day yesterday. How cute are those guys? Next year we will have to set another set of chopsticks.