3 Months home, Noah's Tol, and added thoughts!

Wow, We have been home over three months now! I can't believe it has been that long and yet it's as Noah has always been with us. Words cannot express my love for that little boy who now looks at me and calls me Momma. He truly is the light of my life, my dream come true, my miracle and most importantly..He is my SON!

Carrying Madison inside of me, and feeling her grow, experiencing childbirth, THAT is a miracle in itself, (who by the way she is also the light of my life!) But the miracle that brought Noah into our lives is truly seeing a different side of God's heart and blessings.

I was feeding him his bottle tonight, and singing to him "Jesus loves me, this I know" which I have done every night since we've had him. And I was just looking into his eyes, and something hit me. Most of you know I have had a heart for adoption for YEARS! And more importantly I have always loved ASIAN children. Tonight as I was looking into his eyes, I realized they were the eyes I have ALWAYS seen when I thought about my "future children". I always "assumed" that my child would have dark brown hair, and brown almond shaped eyes. Where I went wrong was I also always assumed it would be a "girl". I think that is why I had a heart, and still do for China! I can even remember saying to someone that I was surprised Madison didn't look like what I thought she would look like. Now don't get me wrong, I think Madison is BEAUTIFUL, and couldn't imagine her looking any other way, BUT tonight as I looked into those beautiful brown almond shaped eyes of my son, I gave thanks to God for bringing him into our lives!

Noah celebrated his 1st birthday, or Tol as they say in Korean, a few weeks ago. That was a very bittersweet day for me. I can not imagine the pain and thoughts that his Birth Mother was feeling that very same day a half a world away, as I was celebrating him being in our lives. I prayed for her to have peace and to feel the love of my (and her) Heavenly Father. I am so thankful that she made an adoption plan for him, and that decision alone must have been excruciating. I could not even begin to imagine the pain that she went through, and yet have the strength not to end his life, like so many women in those situations do. It brings tears to my eyes to just think about it. If she would have, our son would not have been born. It's true some might say "Well, you would have another son" but still it would not have been Noah. And I just can not imagine not seeing his little face light up in the morning, or the arch of his back now when he doesn't get his way. Or hear the pitter patter of his feet as he is walking down the hall.

My love for him is unmeasurable. I am just overcome with emotion. Our bonding process, after a rough start, has started progressing smoothly. It took him about 6 weeks to finally start to trust me. And although the bonding process can take years, we are well on our way I think!

We celebrated Noah's birthday Korean style. We had a family party at our house and I made Korean food, had a Tol table as you can see from the post before this one, and we had a traditional Toljabee event. He wore his hanbok, which is his traditional Korean outfit that his loving foster family gave to him!

Toljabee Event from LifeinKorea.com

In this event, the birthday child goes around the table and picks up items that attract him or her. The child's future is predicted according to the what he or she grabs. After placing the child in front of the table, the child's father becomes the guide for the child to go around the table and grab whatever he or she wants. The first and second items the child grabs are considered the most important. Usually Korean parents place the items that they want the child to choose near to the edge of the table. The child's future is predicted according to the items:

-bow and arrow: the child will become a warrior
-needle and thread: the child will live long
-jujube: the child will have many descendants
-book, pencil, or related items: the child will become a successful scholar
-rice or rice cake: the child will become rich
-ruler, needle, scissors: the child will be talented with his/her hands
-knife: the child will be a good cook

We also threw in a bible: for him to become a preacher and a football: for him to become a professional player =)

Needless to say, he picked the rice cake and the needle and thread. So he will have a long, rich life. At least it sounds promising!

The Korean food was a hit which surprised me since it was family, although Jamie's Dad didn't eat it. We made Bulgogi, rice, a chicken dish, garlic broccoli, Jook, and Kimchi! My grandma even ate the Kimchi and liked it! We had a cake for Noah with a little monkey on it, and we had a big cake for everyone that had an American Flag and a Korean flag that said Happy Birthday Noah! He didn't know what to think of the cake at first but after a few bites he loved it!

His favorite toy was from his uncle Buster and it is a little green 4 wheeler that makes noises! He loves it!

OK well I think I am done for now, if I think of anything I will add it later.