HOME!

We met Timmy at his foster Mom's home on April 4th. We visited for about 2 hours. Timmy is very animated, funny, tiny (17 pounds), babied (by his foster mom), bright, engaged, well adjusted for what he has been through, curious, silly, smart, practically a genius like Molly ;), interested in his surroundings, all boy, likes anything that has a motor noise, and at the moment experiencing some major jet lag! Poor little guy! HAPPY to be home and I'll post more about the trip and Gotcha Day soon.

Can't Believe It

My heart was opened to adopting internationally years ago. Around that time my sister bought me the book I Love You Like Crazy Cakes. It's the story of a single woman adopting a baby girl from China. Katy also wrote a message inside the cover. At the time I didn't ever think this would be possible. My heart is full!

Baby Nicholas

Here's a picture of my cousin JP, Regina, and baby Nicholas. How adorable is he? My Aunt and I were talking about Nicholas and Timmy becoming friends. She was excited that Nicholas would have another Asian friend in the family (he is 1/4 Vietnamese). I laughed and said, well my baby is way more Asian than yours. A funny little realization for both of us. Plus gorgeous little Nicholas already weighs more than Timmy and has bright blue eyes. Can't take all the Cook out of him ;)

The Name

Official Name--Timothy Doyoung Cook Meeker
I'm sure there is some confusion about our new baby's name. Timmy comes from my Dad's name which was Charles Timothy Cook. My Dad never went by Charles and was called Timmy as a child. He was called Tim Cook, Timmy Boy, Timtastic, or T.C. as an adult. My Dad would be honored and somewhat amused with us naming Doyoung after him. That's a whole other post though or maybe not because you would really have to know my Dad to understand the humor in it. Anyway...with Doyoung's Korean heritage and everything else in consideration he will be Timothy Doyoung Cook Meeker. Why not leave out the Cook part???? Well, the Cook/Murphy side of the family is very close and after my Dad's death I had a lot of trouble leaving the Cook behind, obviously Amy Christine Cook Meeker. There is something very special about being part of this clan and I know how much they already love Timmy. Thankfully Bob understands how much this means to me and isn't one of those guys who's pride would be affected by this. He knows I'm a Meeker too :)

Max
Since the day Molly saw Doyoung's picture she has called him Max. After she saw Tangled she called him Maximus (the horse in the picture below is Maximus). OH MY! Therefor lots of people have known Doyoung (talk about confusing) as Timmy Max Meeker. After 3 months we finally talked her into calling him Timmy. So that's the long version of the name story.

Meeker-Obviously!

I'm also including a photo from the Schulze family (life long friend Julie Knighton) in Beijing. BabyJuliette is excited to meet her new friend, Timmy Max. People all over the world are excited about Timmy! WOW!!!!!

Travel Call!

Well........if this post sounds like a lot of rambling it probably is. At 10:00 am today I received an email from Tammy that I "should" have heard from my social worker by now. I hadn't so I assumed (but didn't want to get too excited, yet) that this was the travel call. You know, the one that says come to Korea in 2 weeks to pick up your son! I emailed her with a bunch of these--??????? Shortly after she responded that yes the travel call came in. I'll post her exact email later. In the past two hours I've had every emotion possible. Excitement, fear, happiness, joy, exhaustion, panic (don't have diapers or clothes yet).......etc............AND to top it off I'm at school and had not finished my report cards, which were due at 12:00, noon! Way to wait until the last minute. I hope the report cards turned out OK :) My best friend Amanda's sister Cassie works in the room next to mine. Thank goodness I had someone to celebrate with. However, wearing a dress and nice flip flops is not conducive to jumping around and acting like a spazzz! We celebrated by eating corner bakery for lunch. Now I've gotta go book a flight. I'll update soon.


Love to all who prayed for Timmy and this whole deal. It's awesome to think about how much love this little boy is coming home to. God is good.

Disney 2011

Molly is 3 and this was her third trip to Disney World. Let's be honest, it's just as much for the adults who take her. We so love Disney! This trip was planned last minute so we drove. Molly's favorite thing to do this time was see the characters. She was so excited and wasn't even afraid to meet the Beast. Epcot was having their flower festival and the topiaries were amazing! Next trip.....South Korea!!!!! SOON!

HUGS

SICK

Molly is sick! She woke up with a 101.8 fever and she was crying. Thankfully Bob is off so he can watch her. Here is a picture of her at the Dr. office.

H-Dawg

Our good friend Heather got married last night. She was a beautiful bride for sure. Heather is one of the most loyal people I know. She's the kind of friend that is with you through the good and bad times. Katy was friends with Heather first at Texas A&M. Then when Katy left for the Peace Corps Heather kind of took me under her wing, during a very difficult time in my life. We ended up working together at In the Wind for several years. Heather cried tears of joy with us when Molly was born and tears of sadness when my Dad passed. I have some neat memories of Heather and my Dad together. Of course most of you know that my Dad was a serious guy around 99% of all people. When he would let his wall down he was so hilarious and quirky. Heather is someone who made it into his inner circle. I'm not exactly sure how it happened but they had a special bond. Thinking about them together is....I don't have the words. Katy somehow came up with the nickname H-Dawg for Heather. We basically never call her Heather. My Dad could never get it right and called her Heather Dawg. Lots of laughing and Heather Dawg was his nickname for her. I haven't meant to turn this post into something about my Dad. It's just so special to me that someone (other than the immediate and I mean immediate) family members "knew him" and understood his death and at the same time got what kind of a great guy he was. We love you H-Dawg! You were absolutely gorgeous last night. Thanks for letting us be part of your special day. On a side note, Molly thought Heather was a princess and wanted to know her prince's name. Then she thought everyone in the wedding party got married to each other. Molly says that she wants to marry me :)

March Tutu Night

Precious!

Major Mess

While I was home yesterday cleaning the skunk smell off of everything, I decided to take some new construction pics. It basically looks like a huge mess but I'm sure it will be nice eventually. Can you believe my cute little sun room looks like this and my backyard is now a junkyard?

Sunday Night

Katy has been coming over every Sunday night for at least the past year. Somehow our Sundays always end in a dance party. Could possibly be the highlight of the week :)

Going Away

Cousin Colleen is moving to Minnesota with her boyfriend Matt. We like Matt a lot but are sad that one of our cousins leaving Big D! Last Friday the family had a big going away party for Coco (as Molly calls her). MY COUSINS ARE AWESOME!!!!!