New Hat!!

Riley always loved Troy's hat, but he discovered this one in this bedroom the other day. He just loved wearing it and can even put in on himself.

Bath time at Nana's!!

Four Wheeling!!

This is Riley and Dada's new toy!!!

Swimming!!

These are pictures of Riley swimming at Aunt Rachel's and Uncle Shawn's house. He was a little scared of the water at first, but then loved it!! He would just kick those little legs!!

ICE CREAM!!

Hey everybody!! I finally have some new pictures. These are of Riley at Baskin Robbins. He absolutely loves ice cream. He like to eat it from a cone, and probably likes the cone even more than the ice cream. He even knows what the napkins from there look like. The other day, he saw a napkin in the car and started crying for it, thinking it was going to be ice cream.

Fun at Aunt Rachel's and Uncle Shawn's!!

My Birthday Party!! (May 2009)

Riding Grandpa's Tractor!!

Easter pictures!!

These are some picutres of Riley's easter egg hunt at my parents. He actually didn't hung anything. He just found an egg and wanted to eat it!!

I'm back!!!

Wow,
I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted!!! I guess I am a little busier than I used to be!! Riley has continued to be just a little sweetie, and has grown so much. Since I have last posted, he has really become such a big boy!! He had his first birthday, which was such a blast. I will post pictures of his party. He says so many words!! His favorites right now are baby, cycle, meow, and (still) dog. I think he understands absolutely everything we say. He has also learned to whine for everything. If you consider "eehh" a word, I guess that would be his favorite word!!!
I will try and post some pictures now!!!
Angie

Here are the pictures!!

Isn't he the cutest thing!! I couldn't get them to scan without showing the white part around the edges. Oh well!!

Family Pictures!!! Sorry!

Sorry,
I coudn't get them to upload, I will have to try again later!!! Riley is needing some attention!!
Angie

Family Pictures!!!

Hey everybody,
Boy, I sure don't blog like I used to. Obviously, things are much busier (and better) now. Riley is still doing great. I could never imagined that he would have done this well!! Our only problem is that he has been sick some. Nothing major, it just took a while for him to get over things. First, he had a fever, then he had diarrhea and vomiting and now a runny nose. However, he has still played and acted like he felt OK through it all--just a little fussy.

In the next post, I will put up our family pictures. I thought they all turned out great. The quality is not as good on here because I have scanned them. They were taken by Angela Vaught Photography. We thought she did a fabulous job and we highly recommend her.

Riley has also started daycare and I have went back to work. He has done fine and really seems to like it. He must work up an appetite during the day because he has been eating more!! I also think they it is good they give him a good variety of food at daycare, things I probably didn't fix much at home.

Well, more later. I will try and post the pictures now.
Angie

My first haircut!!

My funny face!!!

I love Nana's Chicken and Dumplings!!!

Life as a Family!!

Hey everyone!!!

Riley continues to do fantastic!! He acts right at home!! He seems to be bonding well, he sleeps extremely good, and is eating table food like crazy!! We have been so blessed with how great he has done.

Troy had to go back to work on Thursday, and wasn't too excited about it. However, Riley loves it when he comes home and likes to "wrestle" with him, which basically is crawling over his belly time and time again!! It is so cute.

Riley is also enjoying meeting all the new people. He doesn't stare at everyone quite as long as he use to. He could've definitely won a staring contest. Now, he only stares for a few minutes and is ready to play.

Also, he had his first haircut today, he looks like such a little man. He pretty much had a
comb-over before the trim, which was also quite cute. I will try to post some pictures I took on my phone. I will hopefully post more pictures next week. I have over 700 on my digital camera and I am going to have to wait till my mom has a day off next week so I can go to Wal-mart to develop them. Obviously, I won't be developing them all, but it will take a while to go through them.

Well, that's all for now. I will try and post a few pics.

Angie

HOME SWEET HOME!!!

Hey everybody,

Sorry it has taken so long for me to post again. As you can imagine, things have been a little hectic. However, life couldn't be any better. Riley has been great!!! As you read in Troy's last post, he did great with the transition. He fell right off the sleep. He woke up a played a while and then basically slept the rest of the night. He also did great on the plane ride home. He took a few naps and otherwise just played. NO CRYING!! I cannot say that Troy and I did that well. The entire flight was quite miserable for us. How we can be so happy and so miserable at the same time is hard to imagine. I was sick basically the entire flight (with terrible nausea). I finally had to take some medicince which made me so sleepy I could barely talk but had no effect on the nausea. Troy basically took care of Riley by himself the whole way, God bless him. Anyway, after ariving at the airport with my parents, a cousin and her husband, and Troy's brother and his wife (Shawn and Rachel), we headed home at last!! Riley slept almost the whole way from Cincinnati and only cried about 5 minutes when we were almost home. The rest of the Welcome crew was here at our house waiting on us!!! My wonderful friends Carol and Angie were here along with Troy's parents and two nephews, Kelby and Addison. What a wonderful occasion it was!!!

After a lot of visiting and picture taking, Riley was getting tired. We all went to bed about 9:30 and he slept till about 2 am. We got up and played for awhile and then back to sleep he went. He only woke up for a few minutes a couple of other times and then slept till about 8 am. I could harldy believe how good he slept. I thank God for that because fortunatly Daddy and me got to sleep to.

Today, our first day home, has been great!! We had some breakfast and then just played and played. He also had a bath (and how cute that was!!). He then went down for a nap around 1130 and slept for almost FOUR hours!!! Once again, me and Daddy slept some during that to. He wakes up such a happy baby. The rest of the day included more play time and some company. My Mamaw, aunt and unlce came from Clay County. My parents came by again too!!! Riley loves to stare at everyone, but eventually will play with them too!!

After some supper, about 1 hour ago, he seemed to get fussy. He hadn't eaten much and I thought he was probably just hungry, but I coundn't get him to eat anything else. He cried just a little and laid his head on my shoulder. In about 30 seconds he was sound asleep and has been asleep since!!!! Hopefully he will sleep good again tonight!!!!!

I know that I haven't posted any pictures yet but I hope to do so soon. I want to show off my handsome little man. We have gotten so many good pictures.

Well, life as parents is already wonderful. It's amazing how you feel!!! God has blessed us so profoundly that I cannot praise him enough!! I want to thank all of you that have been praying for us through this entire journey---those prayers have been answered!! Riley is home and with his forever family!!!

Angie

GOTCHA!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everybody, this is Troy! Just got back to the room about an hour ago, Riley playing and happy!! No crying yet, we gave him a bottle and some applesauce and he is now asleep in Angie's arms sucking his thumb! Tried a pacifier but he did not want that. It was very hard on the foster mom when we left- she was crying but it was time to go- this was her seventh baby so they assured us she would be okay. It is 1:oo p.m. here and about 60 degrees- Riley is sleeping like a baby- oh he is a baby- anyway Angie asked me to blog while she is holding him-- everthing going well. Angie will give much details later.
Daddy Troy

Today is the day!!!

Hey everybody,
Well, it is just about 1 1/2 hours till we meet Riley again!!! I can hardly believe the time has come!!!! Troy and I just went out for breakfast and have come back to the room to wait. We only have to walk next door for the meeting. I am starting to get a little nervous, but honestly not as nervous as I thought I would be. Not yet anyway! It is hard to believe that we will bring him with us when this meeting is over. I'm sure it will be emotional for everyone. The other day at our first meeting, when our social worker was asking us what time we wanted to meet, Riley's foster mom almost started crying. I feel so sad for her, yet so happy for myself. It is a weird situation. You can tell she loves him. It makes me feel better knowing that she has done this before, although that doesn't meet it gets easier for her. Just pray that God will comfort her today!! Also pray that Riley will have an easy transition and not be too upset. I know it will be much for difficult for them than for Troy and I.

I will try and post again sometime today, but I am sure I will be busy with my new son!!!!

Keep us in your prayers,
Angie

He is so PRECIOUS!!!!

Hey everybody,

First of all, our son is so-ooooooo handsome!!! Now let me give you a run down of the days events.

Last night was not exactly a good nights sleep. Our internal clocks are still a bit confused. We woke up again around midnight and like to never went back to sleep. I wake up starving. Back home the time is around lunch time and my stomach wants to know where the food is. Finally we got back to sleep and woke up between 5 and 6. We both were starting to get a little nervous!! After getting ready we made a quick trip to Dunkin Donuts for some breakfast. We then got our gifts ready for the foster family and a little after nine we went to the lobby. The doorman took us to the building next door and told us to go to the seventh floor. When we got on the elevator, I could barely breathe. Troy felt like his heart was racing!!! I don't know why we were so nervous at the particular time because we were only meeting the social worker, Ms Parks. Anyway, after meeting Ms. Parks we went back outside and loaded up in a van. We then drove about 30 minutes (which seemed like 3 hours) to an apartment complex. We followed her to the particular apartment and rang the doorbell. I then heard a baby cry!!! That was weird moment!! The door opened, and there he was!!!! No more pictures, updates or anything like that. He was real right there in front of me. Believe it or not, I didn't even cry. I was too excited to cry. His foster mother had just woken him from a nap. He was just adorable. You could tell he was sleepy and his hair was a mess. He just looked at us with those big eyes, just like in the pictures! After a few minutes I got to hold him. He was so cuddly and didn't cry a bit (although I think he was still half asleep). Troy then got to hold him. He made a little frowny face but then perked up. For the next hour we basically just played. He wasn't scared of us at all!!!!!

Here are some things I learned about him today....
He can walk!!!! (and is so cute doing it)
He has 5 teeth, 2 on bottom and 3 on top
He likes to look at himself in the mirror
He doesn't like bath time
He likes yogurt, sweet potatoes, strawberries, rice and formula

That is just a few things, I just can't remember it all right now.

Anyway, after we played we then had to leave. You know, it didn't bother that we had to leave because I know I will get him again soon--forever. When we got back in the van, Troy said his stress level was decreased by 90 percent. We were both just relieved that things went so well.

We don't get to see him tomorrow but meet Wednesday morning at 11 (thats Tuesday night at ten pm at home) to get him for good. HOW EXCITING!!!!

Thats all for now,
Angie

Almost Time!!!

Well, it is almost time for us to meet Riley. We are waiting in our room , just counting the minutes. It's only about 50 minutes till we are supposed to meet the agency director. I think they will then take us to Riley's home. Wow!!! I can't hardly believe we are about to meet him.

As for Korea, it is a really nice city. It reminds me a lot of New York, but overall cleaner and maybe not quite as crowded. Everyone here dresses very nice!! You don't see a lot of people in blue jeans. I have also laughed at Troy because you also don't see a lot of light colored pants. He kindof stands out. Actually we both do!!! I almost got tickeled on an elevator the other day. We had gotten on and several other locals crammed in. I looked at our reflection in the door and there was Troy and I with our big blond heads about a foot taller than everyone else. It was quite a funny site. I'm sure they thought we looked funny to!!!

The weather here is quite cold. We thought we would freeze yesterday, probably because the wind was blowing. Today we have already walked to Dunkin Donuts and I felt very nice out, just a little cool.

As for the food, thank goodness for McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts because that is all we have had so far. I know, shame on us. We need to branch out. Today, we are going to a Korean restaurant around the corner. I would hate for us to come all this way and only eat American food. However, we are going to try a Mexican restaurant that one of my adoption friends told us about.

Well, I guess I'll go for now. We are going to try and go down earlier to meet the director. I don't think we will be able to wait much longer--the suspense is crazy!!!

I'll post later and hopefully will be able to tell you all about Riley!!!!

Keep us in your prayers,
Angie and Troy

Just an update

Hey everybody!!!

Well, what a difference a little sleep makes. I can actually think straight now. We slept really good last night. Our bodies are still a little confused. We both woke up about midnight. I think my appetite was still on Kentucky time becuase I was starving. We ate some Pringles and went back to sleep. This morning, we checked out of our hotel and came to the SWS guesthouse where we are staying the rest of our trip. That is where I am writing from now. We went out and walked around in Korea a little. We really didn't go anywhere in particular. It is really hard to plan much when you can't read any of the street or store signs. We were basically lost!!! It was Ok because we decided to come back to our room and get some rest. Tomorrow, the staff, who can speak English, will be able to help us more.

Hopefully, next time I post, I will be telling you more about Riley!!! We are supposed to meet him at 9:30 Monday morning, which is 8:30 Sunday night back home.

Keep us in your prayers,
Angie

We are in Korea!!!!

Hey everybody, we FINALLY made it to Korea. We hardly slept any on the plane and we are so tired. It is about 7 pm here in Korea and we are going to bed. Later, when I can think, I will update some more. Just wanted to let everybody know that we were here!!! Keep us in your prayers!!!

Troy and Angie

On Our Way!!!!!!

Hey everybody!

Wow!!!!!!! The past 48 hours have been a whirlwind. Since we received our travel call, I don't think we have hardly sat down. We have been so busy that I have barely gotten to talk to anyone about our plans. Actually, we are already in Chicago, awaiting our flight to Korea. I am typing this while I sit in the airport terminal. We will board in about 1 hour and our flight is 14 hours long. When we arrive it will be Saturday afternoon in Korea. We will then have all day Sunday to sightsee (or rest). We are then supposed to meet the SWS (Social Welfore Society) director at the guesthouse (where we will be staying) on Monday morning at 930 (that is Sunday night at 730 at home). It is my understanding that we will then be taken to Riley's home to meet him!!!!! I have no idea what the rest of the itiniary is. They should let us know when we first get to Korea.

As for how I feel right now, I'm not sure. Obviously, I am excited!! At times I feel very nervous and other times not. I think that I am so nervous about the flight that other things are sinking in right now.

Troy and I both have been talking about every baby that we have seen in the airport, trying to figure out how old they are and comparing what they are doing to things we think Riley will be able to do. It's kinda weird to think that when we come home, we will be the ones with the baby!!!

I will try and keep the blog updated but will probably not be able to post pictures or anything. We packed to quickly and when it was time to leave, I could not find the adapter from my camara to my computer. And, I accidently left the adapter for the camcorder at home. I'm sure I will post plenty when I get home.

Some other good news, two of my friends that I have in my adoption journey are both in Detroit today picking up their new sons from Korea. Another friend got her referral for a 7 month old baby boy yesterday!!! Praise God!!!

Well, I guess I better go for now. Please pray for our safe arrival in Korea (and for me that I won't be so scared!!). Please pray for Riley and his foster family that the transition that they are about the face will be smooth. I know it will so hard on all of them. Please pray that Troy and I will be able to comfort Riley and be able to bond quickly. I know that many of you have already been praying and we appreciate you guys so much!!!!!

Hopefully I will post again soon!!!

Angie

TRAVEL CALL!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everybody!!!!! GREAT NEWS!!!!!!
We got our travel call today!!!!!!!!

Hopefully we will leave either Friday or Saturday and get to meet Riley on Monday!!!! I don't know alot of other specifics. We should be able to leave Korea on Wednesday and be back home by the end of the week. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

More news later!!!!

Praise God!!!!!!!!!


Angie

New Pictures!!!!

Hey Everybody!!!!! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It just seems like I keep getting busier and busier. I am sure that I will really figure out the meaning of "busy" when we get Riley home.

We were excited to find new pictures of Riley in the mail last Friday. Isn't he such a handsome boy!!!!

New Pictures!!!!!!

Our Anniversary!!!!

Well, today is our 10th wedding anniversary!!!! What a milestone!! We have been so very blessed over the past 10 years. God has been so wonderful to us. Troy is the greatest husband ever!!!! Of course, we feel as if we had an early celebration with our referral of Riley. That is mostly what we talked about over dinner. We just can't wait to have him home so we can celebrate the rest of life's milestones with him!!!!

Angie

Happy New Year!!!!!

Hello everyone!!! Happy New Year!!!!

Just thought I would say hello!! As for the adoption, we received an email from our agency in Detroit that our acceptance paperwork had been forwarded to Korea on December 22. That was very fast because they had only gotten it from us a few days before that. We had to mail them some extra stuff and it was sent out on the 30th. Everything is hopefully there by now!!!

I have started trying to get everything ready here at home. Those of you that know me, knows what that means. For those of you that don't, it means that I start organizing like CRAZY!!!! When I organize, I first have to make a complete disaster out of everything before I can clean things up. For example, all I really needed to do was clean out the closet in what will be Riley's bedroom. What has happened is that I have had to clean out every other storage area in the entire house including the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry cabinets. Troy thinks I am crazy for doing this, but I just can't help it. It is a stress reliever for me. Fortunately, things are coming along good and I have almost everything straightened back up (notice I said "almost" everything).

Well, I guess that's all for now. I hope that everyone has a Happy New Year's Day!!!!

Angie