I'm having a hard time being patient today. I was expecting to get our video and new photos of Little D either yesterday or today. But, they have not come. I know they'll arrive either tomorrow or on Monday, but I want them now. I've waited so long already. I don't like today.

Half a year

Today marks exactly 6 month and 1 week of waiting for the Asian Invasion to happen. I've been thinking about our next steps a lot lately. When will his Emigration Permission (EP) be submitted? Our agency said a month ago they thought it would happen late May. Once that's approved, we're looking at travel in 6-8 weeks. We're in the home stretch! (Or, at least it feels that way to us)

519 inches

It's April 26 and it's STILL SNOWING! I am questioning whether or not I'll ever see grass this summer. We've received at least 3 inches of snow every single night since Saturday. I'm so over it.

I know I choose to live in Breckenridge. I love the snow, I really do. However, once the mountain resorts close, I want it to magically all go away. This has been a long and hard winter. The mountain claimed 519 inches during the operating season. Yes, you read that correctly, 519 inches. I don't think it's ever going to melt!

On a different note, my blog gets hits from you readers every day. I can check the stats and see how many people viewed my ramblings each day, what part of the county you are from and how long you stay on my site. It's pretty cool information.

I know I have a few "followers" but I don't know anything about you. So, how about you take a second to introduce yourself. Tell me in the comments section who you are, where you are from (if your comfortable) and how you found my blog. Come out of the closet and let me know who you are! I want to get to know you!

While you're doing that, I'll be outside shoveling.

Turning One

Last Saturday was Daniel's first birthday. We had a wonderful day celebrating with friends and family. We went over to some friends house for dinner. There was a yummy Taco Bar set up. Combine that with good friends and we're guaranteed to have a fantastic time.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a single photo of the get together! Sorry, you'll just have to use your imagination.

Our little man was spoiled by our friends and family. (That seems to be the case lately!) Aunt Yvonne and Uncle Danny bought him his high chair seat. The Hubbard family bought him some fridge farm animals and a book for the bathtub. Cards came from friends all over the country. Thank you so much!

The Dostert family from Texas bought Daniel his first Bible! I've heard from many parents that this is such a great children's Bible. I cannot wait to start reading it to Daniel at bedtime.

Jack and Hannah, our friends children, drew Daniel this birthday card. We'll hold onto it until he gets home with us. Jack and Daniel are going to be great friends!

We are so thankful for the wonderful family and friends in our live. Thank you for thinking of us, for praying for us and for waiting with us. You mean the world to Dave and I.

To read or not to read?

Yesterday the cleaners at one of my rental units found this in the closet.

It has a lock on it so I cannot get into it.

If I peer in between the covers, I can see writing. It looks like it's written by a girl.

(There were no girls living in this rental condo the past year)

It seems to be full of secrets, juicy details of someones life and full of thoughts, rants and conversations.

Would you want to read it? Would you test out your lock-picking skills and take a look inside someones life? Or, would you just throw it away?

What would you do?

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Our Babymoon Vacation

This post is long overdue. My apologies! Vacation seems like it was forever ago, when in actuality, we got home only 2 weeks ago.

We had a wonderful time in Costa Rica. We initally set off from San Jose, the Costa Rican capital city, on Monday for Dominical, a small beach town on the Pacific Coast.

It's next to the rainforest. We went for a walk in a protected forest reserve and explored. I was on a hunt for monkeys but we didn't see any.

 We traveled with our friends Dave and Hannah. It POURED towards the end of our hike. Hannah and I went back first and the two Daves stayed out and explored a bit. Hannah and I sat under this restaurant aning while we waited for the boys to finish up.

We went on this Tropical Safari excurion. It looks cheesy, but we had a fantastic time. It was sort of a last minute trip that we didn't book. It ended up being just Dave and I along with our "safari guide". He drove us through  the rainforest and Dave and I got to sit back and soak it all in. We saw two Toucan birds singing to each other across the tree tops. It was so neat!

 Isn't he so handsome!

 During the trip, we stopped at a trailhead and hiked a short while to this waterfall. We were the only ones there and knew to bring our swimsuits. We jumped in and played around for a while.

 At the top of a ridgeline, we were able to get out and take a few photos. On the west side of the ridge was an amazing view of the coast. On the eastern side was the rainforest.

 After we left our guide and headed back home, we randomly saw this huge airplane sitting on the side of the road. Is there a runway or an airport nearby? Nope, just a rainforest. We wondered the entire trip how it ended up there.

 In the beach town of Domical, we saw some beautiful sunsets. I could watch the sun go down every single day.

 We ate great food!

 We left Dominical and headed north of San Jose. We ended up in Poasito, a tiny town at the base of the Poas Volcano. It last erupted in the 1950's. However, it is still bubbling and producing steam and sulfer smells.

 There was an extinct crater a few hundred yards from the main crater. This is the only group shot of us from the entire trip. We were not too good about taking photos. Sorry!

Poasito experienced a 6.2 earthquake in 2009. The lodge we stayed at was almost completely demolished and was just completed being rebuilt. The area around the volcano and town reminded me of Scotland. Rolling hills, farms and lots of clouds. It did not feel like Central America at all!

 Once again, isn't he handsome?

 We went to a coffee plantation, learned about how they grow the beans and the processes they go through to make the finished product we are all so familiar with. (And addicted to)

 Each day in Poas looked like this-super foggy. The mornings were clear and we were able to see the volcano from our room. But, by ten, the clouds had rolled in.

 We had a wonderful trip. It was an amazing Babymoon trip. I have a wonderfu husband, thanks for everything Dave!

My new job title: General Contractor. You can call me "GC" for short

I know I'm a little late on the Costa Rica post. Since we got back from vacation, I have been INSANELY busy. I'll get to the vacation post soon.

Before Dave and I got married, I briefly lived in Denver. I purchased my first home a few months after I moved here. My house was old and not in the greatest shape, but it was cute and perfect for me.

I ended up moving into Dave's house and we rented out my house. We've had tenants in it for the last three years or so. Some were good tenants, others were not so good. We recently had one of the bad tenants move out and we decided to take this time of vacancy to fix up the house and sell it. I've been in Denver for the majority of the last 6 days working around the clock. I've been organizing a crew of construction workers. I have had drywall repair, a new bathroom floor laid, the entire interior house painted, trees cut down, the yard landscaped and so much more. I've been spending my nights scrubbing cabinets, fighting mice, hanging doors and installing light plate switches. I've been "camping" at the house as it's too far from Breckenridge to drive back and forth each day. I'm getting really comfortable on my aero bed. I went one night without working bathroom in the house. I made several runs to the 24 hour grocery store to use their restroom. :) It was not a fun experience.

Three clean tiles vs. three dirty tiles. This is what your floor will look like if you don't mop once in 18 months.

The work has slowed down a bit in the last day. I still have to get a concrete walkway installed, the washing machine and furnace fixed, sod laid in the front yard, some annuals planted and the carpet installed. However, it's all coming together. Hopefully, we can get the house on the market next weekend and sold shortly thereafter.

Bathroom with bad flooring

New bathroom tile

One year ago today

One year ago today, Dave and I formally submitted our application to adopt. One year ago today, we began the long process of learning patience and learning to wait. One year ago today, we began to think and pray about our little boy.

One year later, we got a huge surprise! New photos of Daniel! He has grown so much, I'm so in love with him and cannot wait to have him in our arms.

My little boy is getting so big. He must love to eat and I'm going to need to start lifting weights if I have to carry him around all day long.

Here is all of his stats at his 11 month Well Baby Check up.

Weight: 27.5 pounds

Height: 30 inches

Head size: 18.8 inches

He has 3 top teeth and 4 bottom teeth.

Finally!

Several weeks ago, I called USCIS regarding our I-600 approval. We were approved on March 6, but never received the documentation. Turns out they had our physical address on file, not our mailing address. It finally arrived by mail while we were on vacation last week. I called the National Visa Center this morning and we're logged out as of March 16! Even better news! That basically means the Embassy in Seoul has all of our information. We are just simply waiting for the Korean Government to issue Daniel's Emigration Permission (EP). We are anticipating our EP in late May to early June. That feels right around the corner, doesn't it? If, everything goes as planned (cross your fingers!), our little boy will be home with us in late July to mid August! Holy crap! I cannot believe we are FINALLY done with everything on the US side.
It's all up to Korea now.

Almost Home

We've had an amazing vacation thus far. We've been all over Costa Rica and are back in the capital city of San Jose. We have an early morning flight tomorrow so we came into the city for the night. I'll post details of the trip later this week, once I unpack, do laundry, shovel all the snow we got while we are gone and catch up on work. In the meantime, here are a few teasers...Enjoy!

Tropical Safari to several beautiful waterfalls

 Wonderful sunsets on the beach

Volcano!