Kenzie's 16th Gotcha Day

Happy 16th Gotcha Day Kenzie!  16 years ago Kevin and I were anxiously awaiting her arrival at the LAX airport.  My mom and Kevin's parents flew in that morning to surprise us and were just as excited as we were to meet Sun Hwa Kim (Kenzie's Korean name).  We paced up and down the terminal just outside of customs.  I saw her being carried by someone that I didn't know and that concerned me a little bit but I could see Beverlee talking to him so I knew everything would be ok.  It turned out to be Mr. Chae, he had escorted Kenzie instead of the baby he was supposed to escort.  The other baby was having problems on the airplane and Kenzie was enjoying the flight by cooing at all the flight attendants so Bev and Mr. Chae switched babies.  The moment he placed her in my arms is seared in my memory forever.  My life changed in the blink of an eye, I was now a mommy to the most beautiful baby on the planet.  Kevin was crying so hard he didn't see Kenzie reach out her tiny, plump hands for him so I said, "She wants you".  He grabbed her and cried until her whole head was wet with his tears.  It was a surreal experience.  I can not believe this precious girl has been in our life for 16 years now.  We're so thankful and grateful to call her our daughter.  She brings laughter and smiles everywhere she goes and I can not wait to see what the future holds for her. 

November is National Adoption Month if you're interested in more info on International adoption feel free to message me at justwedeminute@gmail.com or contact the agency we used www.dillonadopt.com

Thanks for reading, 

Operation Christmas Child 2016

Operation Christmas Child

Our family belongs to this amazing homeschool co-op called Aspire and we stay busy with them.  They keep us hopping!  Anyway, our co-op and church partner together for many activities and we've been collecting donations for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child shoebox project.  This is a wonderful organization that sends a shoebox packed full of gifts and needed items to over 100 countries around the globe.  Children are shown that someone loves them and so does Jesus.  My mom the kids and I went to the packing party and we each packed around 7 shoe boxes.  We prayed that the children receiving these boxes would get what they are needing.  Each box contained many items but ours all had a toothbrush, toothpaste, washcloth, and soap along with a WOW item like a doll or truck and pencil, paper, pens, socks, etc.  The goal for our church was 250 shoe boxes and with the Lord's blessing of many helping hands and generous hearts we were able to pack 363!!!  Our family put trackers on our boxes so we can see where they went and hopefully we'll be able to contact some of the children that receive the boxes.  If you'd like more info on packing parties in your area or how you can get involved please click on the link below.

Operation Christmas Child

Kenzie and Hannah writing personal notes to add to the boxes.

#Ipackedashoebox

If you're a savvy shopper or a coupon queen you can really help children in need by stocking up throughout the year.  Here's a link to a monthly list of items that are needed!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.samaritanspurse.org/occ/pdfs/Year-Long-Calendar2.pdf

Thanks for reading,