Category Archives: Day in the Life I’ve had several questions about our little family “cocoon”…so I thought I would share the philosophy and OF COURSE a few recent pics of what is happening inside ours;)… When a baby enters the world–they are given the immediate gift of a mother’s arms–feeling their security and understanding quickly that it is this person who […]  One question I get most from friends and family is, “SO…how is Frank adjusting?” They of course ask about the others two–but it’s Frank whose birth order has changed the most. The older two became “big” sister and brother again…but Frank became “big brother” while also giving up his role as baby. SO…how is he […] Changes affect everyone…sounds like you are doing great though. We always ask our kids if they want to play with or have baby milk etc.- It is hilarious to see them want it for a few minutes and then change their mind. It is all a part of adjusting. Never read any books on that, but pretty sure we have seen most everything 🙂 he he he This post was so encouraging to me! We are about to have 4 kiddos 6 and under, and it is great to see what it will be like and things to think through, pray through, and trust God for now as we wait to bring our baby home! Thank you for being honest! Great suggestions! We just got approved by AGCI and are newly “paper pregnant” so I’m soaking in all the advice I can. My Ellie will be almost two when our babe comes home, so I’m sure it will be an adjustment for her. I found your blog a little while ago and love reading as you share your heart and all that God is doing in you and your family. I was wondering about the “cocoon” time that you are referring to. I understand that you are talking about bonding time as a family and intentionally staying home to let it happen. We are in the process of adopting our daughter from India. I was just wondering how long you are going to cocoon and how you made this decision. Did you get this idea from a book or other families? Just wondering… Thank you, Sally Frank and Isaac are absolutely the funniest duo in your photos. 🙂 Frank is full of personality, and Isaac’s eyes just make me melt. Your older two are precious too, but Frank just makes me laugh. What a sweet family. Adorable video:) So true about not really being able to prepare little ones for a sibling. Our Piper is a little over 2 and the only thing she really understands about us bringing home her baby sister is that she will probably be scared of fireworks;0). She always says, “Joleigh will be scared of fireworks, she’ll cry”. It’s so sweet. Constantly praying for you! and thanks for your comments on my blog. Great post! And I love the video–nothing wrong with kids having fun!:) We’re expecting our fourth in November, and anytime we’ve added a new little one, my “bigger” girls (6,3,1) all want to try out the baby equipment.:) I think you’re a wonderful mom and doing great with this whole cocooning stage! I go a little stir crazy when forced to stay at home all day, and I admire your determination to stick with it–while still bending the rules a bit, when needed! Love to your family! I definitely need to bookmark this one to remind me of the tips for keeping all our monkeys happy when we bring our new one home. Love the swing pictures…he melts me! And of course I love the monkey tee too!:)  [FIRST…I have to say THANK YOU sweet friends for REJOICING with us at the AMAZING MIRACULOUS news of Isaac Temesgen’s good doc report! I feel like we need to break out of the cocoon and GO CELEBRATE! Totally think a trip to an Ethiopian restaurant may be in our future!!! Just wanted to tell you […] oh andrea…he is just precious…and looking so good doing that tummy time:) OH how I love it all. Love the pics!! Looks like ya’ll are having lots of fun at the Young house these days! 🙂 Precious! yes andrea, he is scrumptious! I remember as a little girl bringing home sunflower packet or starter from school and planting it with my mom and having her take a picture of me by it when it grew really tall so seeing that pic of your daughter brought back good memories for me! :0) love your boys colorful hair! :0) yay for tummy time isaac! :0) Both of those boys are scrumptious!! Thanks for sharing the camera settings. Such a beutiful family!!! Look how quickly Isaac is catching up. It won’t be long and he will be crawling! Thanks for the camera settings… great pictures. Oh Andrea – I love the hair pictures! My boys would love it:). So excited for you guys – Praise God for His work in Isaac! Continuing to pray for you guys what great “mean” faces 🙂 and such a strong push up for Isaac!!! yay! Love that Ann Reid! 🙂 I was reading this with Asa laying next to me this morning and he saw Laney and said, “That Quinny?” I said, “No, thats Laney” then he saw a picture or Parker and said, “That Asa!!” I said, “No, thats Parker.” He replied (as if I was joking) “Nooooo, that ASA!” 🙂 Now what about ISO? lol People always ask our secret to having 8 children go shopping, or spend all day hiking, or at a theme park….I have to admit that a bag of gummy bears, twizzlers, or tootsie rolls can work wonders!!! What beautiful pictures. How is Franky doing lately??? I’ve just watched your beautiful dvd about Isaac’s homecoming- tears are still running. Thanks. It is great to watch how God is being glorified with the joy he is giving your family. What an amazing miracle at the Dr’s! He is just beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! 🙂 adorable!! I love it when Isaac “talks”. Cool hair and amazing flowers!!! Makes me wanna plant some next year;0) There is one thing I will NEVER, EVER get tired of watching…the moment a little one is united with their family for the FIRST time! A sweet blog friend of mine welcomed home her precious baby boy this summer too! They have been pretty close right alongside us timing wise–and it’s a joy to celebrate […] Even I smiled at your cute squeaky mommy voice!! Love it! =) Praying for your friend and a great doctor plan for Isaac tomorrow. Oh Andrea….thank you so much for the prayer request! So much power in prayer and I know these blog readers are some serious prayer warriors! Brought tears to my eyes. I remember that you said August back in Jan., cuz I thought, “Oh no, it can’t possibly take that long!” Glad I didn’t know that I would wait 1 year from the time I saw her beautiful face in Aug. ’09 and 2 from when we started. Some things are just better off not knowing and going by faith! 🙂 God is good! loved that new gotcha day video..can’t wait to post it too..but i’ve got to post yours first..going to do that now before i fall asleep 🙂 LOVE me some videos 🙂 kristi i am SO glad you posted JOnas video b/c I was wondering how I could make our gotcha day video since i am not video savy so I went to onetruemedia where they did his and that is how I did our Isaac’s! I just finished it tonight and it will be on our new blog post tomorrow morning! So excited to share it with everyone! Oh My Stars … Isaac’s peek a boo smiles melts my heart! Hehee! Love the video of Isaac! Makes me laugh b/c your “squeaky mommy voice” sounds so much like mine, lol! Ahhhh….Be stil my heart!! I just ran across this article from CNN on one of my favorite chefs. A couple of things that makes my heart smile about Chef Marcus Samuelsson… 1. He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 2. His mother died of tuberculosis and a nurse took he and his sister under her wing–and took them to […] Love this post!! So well said! Soooo thankful that God has called us on this journey! Just posted Isaac Temesgen’s video on my blog! I LOVE it!! What a precious baby and precious story! You made me cry all over again watching your video!! But I will do it again, and again. =) No words to match what you said regarding the stats. Here’s another statement that hit me today from a woman named Amy commenting on Sixtyfeet.org … God is watching His precious ones all.the.time. Can you imagine His heart breaking? He must ache knowing that we live in such filthy excess and watch and do nothing. Please do something. Everyone can do something. Hi late night friend! I realized you and I both seem to do most of our blog/online stuff at night…i’m guessing for the same reasons too…our Isaac’s! :0) LOVE the quote you mentioned at the end! I will check out your video! I am doing our gotcha video right now and hoping to be done with it in a day or two! :0) Already tonight my husband and I were watching what I had done and he was even crying! :0) Thank you. Really, thank you. We’re just on the brink of praying about adoption wondering where, when and how. We’re more than challenged by your precious story and just this morning I was convicted by your words. I even posted about it. So just to let you know your words are appreciated. Keep writing! Andrea– When I first told a good friend of mind about our Markos, the first thing she said was, “Do you know about Marcus Saumuellson? I love him!” I immediately looked him up and discovered the things you wrote. So cool. Thanks for sharing! Andrea, we have walked this journey together through each other blogs and to finally have our boys home is such a blessing. Your words have comforted me along the way! Thank you! I love all your videos! they brought tears to my eyes! As I still have family in Woodstock I hope some day our paths will cross! Praying for you and the transition home! Check out our video if you haven’t seen it yet on our blog .. feel to post if you want .. take care and thanks again for your words .. they always melt my heart! Wow. Remind myself frequently that sleep is overrated anyway!! The visual of driving and driving is too much to comprehend…….. Beautiful, beautiful. Wiping away tears as I am typing. Words do it no justice. Cried through the whole slide show. Isaac is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! What a treasure he will be to your family! I love your video. Thank you for sharing. I am going to link it to my blog. He is so adorable Andrea… loved seeing his journey. AMAZING that he gained 10 lbs that fast. Wow! I thought I’d introduce myself. I follow your blog and haven’t posted much. Your blogs are very encouraging. I appreciate your transparency. You are stepping on some toes with this post and I love it! Keep speaking the truth sister. Love the video and you have a beautiful family…you are right it is a perfect picture of the gospel! Blown away by your comment of driving and continuing to see orphan after orphan, my heart aches for them. Your gotcha video makes my longing desire to hold our new little girl even stronger. I especially broke down when I saw you holding him up to the computer and showing him to his the rest of the family. I know that not only is the adopted child being blessed by this but it makes the other children realize a whole new definition of family. I say that having a sister who my parent’s adopted. As a teenager I knew I would some day do the same. Praying for your dear family and for many more families to be made complete! Love the video Andrea! Thanks for sharing with us. I have been praying for you and Isaac and that each day the routine gets easier and more sleep comes–although I know you’d trade sleep for precious time with any of your kiddos. You’re right. It’s always worth it!! I never tire of watching Isaac’s “Gotcha Day” video. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy, busy day to create and share it with us. It’s amazing to watch him grow in the love that surrounds him. I wish so very much that I was younger and healthier, because I would certainly do my best to decrease the number of orphans. Praying for all the widows and orphans every day. Hugs, WOW! I really needed this today, Andrea! Have been feeling a bit discouraged as we begin this embark towards adoption, but you have confirmed for me that we are doing the right thing! God continues to use you to bless me! Love you!!! ps. sent your gotcha day out last night to my mom and a few friends, mom said I had her crying! Such a beautiful video and a beautiful baby boy!!! (: LOVE IT!!! Just posted about you on my blog today! 🙂 So glad your blog is keeping updated…I look forward to reading your posts! Praying in Abby’s passport this week!! Wow, that was a wonderful… thank you so much for sharing your journey with us! That was a good cry for me! 🙂 You did a great job with the video. I am so excited for your family on this great adventure God has for you. It has been an absolute joy to be a part of this journey with you via the blog world. I have learned so much from you Andrea and am so thankful for you and your family and for sharing in all that God lays on your heart. This video was just precious and perfect and just made my heart sing! …I wasn’t made for manicures, vacations or even the luxury of a good night’s sleep. I was made to store my treasures in heaven and to shine Jesus out of my heart. Yes, yes, yes!!! I just found your blog through others and I will continue to follow it. I just watched your video and I have tears coming down my face! We adopted our son from Vietnam last May, but we considered Ethiopia. We still look to adoption #2 and the possibilities. We would love to adopt from VN again, but we aren’t sure. I still feel a pull to Africa. I have read a few blogs tonight and you are rekindling that fire in me again. I will be saying some prayers. Your family is beautiful!! I’ve been following your blog for about a month now…I found it through Kristi’s blog. The Gotcha video is incredible and I just wanted to let you know that people’s lives are already being touched through it! We have been a waiting family 18 months now and hope to be bringing our baby boy home from Ethiopia within the next 7-10 months. It’s been such a long wait and videos, like yours, help with the wait! What a blessing little Isaac is! Your family is beautiful! God Bless You! |
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WOW! Your blog is such an inspiration, and your family ~ oh, so BEAUTIFUL!!!! My husband and I are nearing the end of our paper chase for Ethiopia adoption, and I find your blog so precious, yet so informative! THANK YOU for blessing so many via your blog!
BTW, we just launched our T-Shirt Giveaway, if you are at all interested in entering! Please feel welcome but certainly not obligated! Blessings ~
love this post andrea! Love all the explanations and for those who have not adopted..i am sure it will be beneficial to them and to help them understand! 🙂
wonderful post!!! I’m sure I’ll look back on it a few times before we bring Joleigh home. Love the pics of daddy and Isaac:) SO adorable and little Parker is such a cutie pie in them, too!
I have read your blog for so long but have never left a comment! Today I had my mom watch your “gotcha day” video and we both cried together! It’s so great to see other families that love and spread the word about adoption! Thanks for being an adoptive advocate!!
Cocooning was excellent for both our girls. They both needed it so much but for different reasons. It looks to me like Isaac is is getting stronger and feeling more secure every day!
oh, I love your new pictures! and what a great post on cocooning – something that we are still wondering how to tell our families about:) I will definitely be using Cris’ letter too!
Looks and sounds like everyone is benefiting from this special family time! What a blessing these two little ones will be to each other and the rest of the family, as well. My older two so enjoy just watching the younger play and interact…You have so many sweet times ahead. Thank you for sharing and keeping it real!!
That picture of Frank and Isaac melts my heart!!! Praying it continues to improve! Thanks for sharing all the wonderful insides of cacooning…just now in my researching phase and look forard to checking some of those books out!
Hi 🙂
My family and I are just starting the process for either Ethiopia or Rwanda and planning to use AGCI. I wanted to know how you felt about their ethics- I’ve heard some really concerning things about other agencies and ethics and I want to make sure we glorify God in all things and use an agency that is ethical.
We are in a unique situation as a family currently living in China (starting our 4th year here at an international Christian school). We are praying for His will in all of this to be done. You inspire us so much!
Blogs are funny. Some just stand out in our mind. Yesterday I was going on and on about Frank, the playground pic, Frank jumping in his baby “thingy” and the rest of your post to my mother on the phone who is 80 and has probably never turned on a computer. I was trying to describe Frank, and I said I can kind of see what he will look like when he is 80. 😉 Frank cracks me up with his love of food, and Isaac is just adorable. Even in the photo where everyone is looking at Frank, Isaac’s eyes just stand out. You have got such a cute family!
Too CUTE!!! Love the pics 🙂
I’ve been lurking here for a few weeks on Kelley B’s recommendation. I have 3 kids(ages 5, 3, and 14 mo) and I am gathering initial paperwork for our Ethiopian adoption. Just wanted to say thanks for your blog – it has been so helpful to me as I explore and research! Looking forward to following how life goes post-placement with 4 little ones!
Thanks SOOOO much for posting about your helpful resources! I can’t wait to read more helps about bonding with our adopted baby girl as parents and as a family! We still have around a year before she will arrive with us, but I’m SO ready to study up and prepare! I was going to ask for your 2 cents as your plan seemed very studied and purposed……I knew you had to have tapped into some awesome resources somewhere or that you were just walking awesomeness yourself (which I’m not doubting either) 🙂 Ummm…..and enjoy a cupcake for this encouraged reader!
I think this is something that I am most looking forward to. I really appreciate you sharing the details of your cocooning.