Can you say 171?

Yahoo! We just received our 171 in the mail today! This is our pre approval to bring an orphan child in to the US and it is a big deal! That means the ball is rolling!!

Today we are sending Stephen some goodies in the mail. Hopefully he will love his M&Ms/ gummy lifesavers, bear animal blankie, Disney Cars blanket,small dumptruck and a cute shirt that says "My mommy loves me"..I just had to slip that in there. (Thanks Dana for buying him this...it was his first present from friends). The bear animal blankie was the first purchase we ever made for him over three years ago..I just prayed one day we would be able to give it to him. Oh yes, we are also sending a disposable camera to record his reaction when he opens the goodies!! Priceless moments.

Hang on, sweet little man, mommy,daddy, big sisters and big brother are counting down the days!

Remember Jung Woo?

Have you ever wondered what happened to Jung Woo? He is Stephen's best bud at AMSA and he was the babe I was very concerened about leaving behind when we brought Stephen home. Well, you may already know that a wonderful family in Iowa has chosen him for their sixth child! He will have three brothers and two sisters. His youngest sister also lived at AMSA and he may even remember her. His mom is a member of the AMSA yahoo group with me and his dad is a pastor.

As you may know, adoption can be expensive, and they are trying to raise the funds needed to bring Micah Jung Woo home. You can still support adoption in times like these even when you don't feel that God has called your family to adopt personally. I always say "if we all gave a little"....

Feel free to check out his story on Heart and Seoul

and help Fly Micah Home!!

http://www.heartandseoul.com/flyhome.htm

Praise Band Movie Trailer

Funny guy

Those of you from the Charlotte area remember the Car Guy from Saturday mornings news and that crazy face on the front of the Buffalo Tire advertisements. Well, that is Jon's good friend and old boss. He is one hysterical personality, sometimes in the goofy sense, and he has landed himself a spot in a Christian Movie called Praise Band. It was really neat to see the trailer. I posted them backwards as you can see..I never claimed to be computer savvy.

Oh yes, he is the drummer and I think the old man in the beginning.

Progress report

Today we got a new progress report for Stephen. Every so often the social worker in Korea does an evaluation for the children to mark their progress in each area of development. I arrived home today to a new one, which made my day, because I had not gotten any updates in what feels like forever. Jon had opened it and read it and forgot to tell me. What? I get so excited over the tiniest bit of information on him...it is all we have of him to feel like he is close. So, if you don't mind, I will be HAPPY to share.

Here are a few highlights about our sweet boy:
-he is sick today, threw up earlier (that was hard to know)
-goes to preschool from 9-1 daily
-language therapy 2x a week/language is improving
-makes sentences, 2-3 words-they think he is catching up :-) -leader with younger children/helps care take younger children
-has one special friend (Jung Woo)/love each other,then fight -puts train together
-cuts with scissors, does well
-tries to cut on lines
careful boy, sits and follows directions

It also states that his fine motor and gross motor skills are right on target. We are thrilled that he is doing so well.


Everyone is asking for a time frame on when he could possibly come home to us, and I have to admit, we truly do not know. It could be somewhere in the next few weeks or as long as into the beginning of 2008. I am praying he will make it in time to be a Lucas for the holidays. What a blessing that would be. You feel free to pray for him by name (Stephen-Hebrew for crown, Isaiah-means salvation of the Lord and my personal favorite book of the bible, Jae Ho-Korean for Big prime minister) and pray that his mommy and daddy can hug him soon.
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, for when he has passed the test, he will receive the crown of life for which God has promised " James 1:12

Vacation, part II

The Peabody, Orlando, Florida

Our first thoughts upon arrival in Orlando were "Oh no, we should have never left Sanibel". What a world of difference! Fortunately, we were staying at the Peabody Hotel and the kids got a huge kick out of the ducks swimming in the lobby. That is what this hotel is known for..the ducks are paraded in and out of the fountain in the lobby by way of a red carpet leading to the elevator. It is a huge deal, complete with honorary duck guests.

Over the past few days we have worn ourselves out on Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Wet-n-Wild and Sea World, oh yes, and any kind of amusement park food or paraphernalia. No, we did not do any Mouse House activities..we were just here in February for a long weekend and decided not to visit Walt and his magical kingdom.

We did, however, meet our oldest daughter's request to take her to Downtown Disney so she could check out Planet Hollywood. She had never been and had a blast. Yep, we are her favorite parents for right now, tomorrow we will resume the meanest parents role. Right where we usually are...

Taking a break outside the Bubba Gump Shrimp store.

Definition of precious: When your seven year old son thinks that the dinosaur sounds in Jurassic Park are really coming from some plant eaters in the laboratory behind the high fences and foliage.

Knee boarding! Landon was our adventurer at Wet N Wild. She is shown here kneeling just before her zip cord came jerking her off this platform. She was so brave, she just sat there and rode that puppy clear around to the buoys. She was the youngest one attempting this for sure and the smallest..the guide let her go even though she was just shy of the height requirement. My camera battery died just as she pulled away..of course!

Here is Austyn smiling as she catches a mean wave!

OKAY. You have to grasp this whole concept. We are in a kiddie play area in Camp Jurassic. My husband and the kiddos are missing on the lower level and here is where I found them. Jon and Wilson are SOAKING wet and firing water out of these guns down below on Austyn and Landon and some other innocent children. It got to be such a war that the boys from down below would come up and kick more water on Jon just to get him back. They had water guns as well, but just could not compete with the sharpshooting ex-Marine! I had to stand on a wall just to snap the photo and not drench my camera. I was ducking in and out watching for angry parents and just waiting for some kid to start screaming and crying in protest!

Did someone say Parrot head? Here is the ending to the last post's title. Once I managed to get this crew out of the water war..we headed for some dry ground at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. We figured it only fitting since we had just been to Paradise. It was a great way to end our perfectly exhausting day and besides, we were sure it was 5 o'clock somewhere.

This photo was taken especially for our neighbor. Remember Dickie? Well, when we first moved to Jacksonville, he would show up at our door wearing any number of costumes, and most of the time he was Captain America. It got to be a joke at our house. When the doorbell would ring, we would say "Wilson, its Captain America, he would like to play with you". Precious memories. It is only fitting that we honor him in this way. We love you, Richard (Dickie :-))!

Anyway, we had a wonderful time and we are exhausted to say the least. Can't wait to be home and see our furry family again.

"I blew out my flip flop.."

It's official. The Lucas family is on vacation.

First stop: Sanibel Island, Florida!

This has become a favorite fishing spot for Jon over the past few years and he has tried to get us to experience this together as a family since the first time he went. Good call poppa!

We took one look at the Gulf of Mexico and blazed a trail to the ocean. The whole island is breathtaking.
This is a shot of a coconut palm tree that I leaned back and took from the trail we were walking on. Beautiful!

I was overwhelmed at the number of different species of palm plants and trees. I ended up buying a guide to tell them apart. Don't be surprised to see whatever variety will live on the coast of NC showing up in our yard..Jon has already been warned. I asked him what he thought it must be like to plant the "tropical" plants in Home Depot in your yard and have them not only live, but thrive. Goodness, you can tell I don't get out much. I was amazed. I wanted one in every size and shape.

The kiddos were all smiles on their first morning waking up in Florida!!

Sunset in front of our resort on Sanibel.

All smiles!

Fishing at the pier was a blast. Here is a shot of Jon, the kids, and his old boss and fishing buddy, Dave catching all the minnows as they fall out of the casting net. Nothing like live bait that's free..you just have to be quick.

Notice the Egrets in the background catching what might have gotten away! Reminds me of that scene in Finding Nemo where the pelicans are saying "Mine!Mine!Mine!"

The Mangrove Snapper (spelling?) were biting like mad. This is Austyn's first catch, and she was having NOTHING to do with holding it for a photo!

Here is LuLu's first catch. She was a little more eager to take it off the line. She had the most fun catching the bait out of the bucket and jabbing the hook through its eyes...should we be worried?

What is that saying about a picture being worth a thousand words? The last night in Sanibel we went shark fishing (enough said) with the Yelverton's. Once they chummed the water, Wilson got into the leftover bait. It was the strangest thing. I looked over and he was building them a house in the sand. I guess that means they are getting married in this photo? Boys...

Next stop: Orland(oh no)!

OVER THE MOON!!!

Yipppppeeeee! I am doing the happy dance!!!

We just got an email from the director of adoptions at our home study agency (Lutheran Family Services) stating that we were on GO!! That means our study and all of its contents should be on their way to Korea and our son is one step closer to being home.

In short, this was a modern day miracle. Both of the agencies involved had rules regulating the insurance coverage that a family had to have, and we were having trouble obtaining a policy while in the process of adopting. It is much like trying to get coverage while pregnant. They just kept saying it was too risky. It was frustrating for us and we didn't see a way around this. I just kept praying Isaiah 45:2 over our son and the circumstances. It reads, "I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through THEIR iron bars".

Boy, did He ever. All we have to do now is sign a statement saying we will cover our family as soon as he arrives. This decision was made by all of the Executive Directors and the USCIS (Customs and Immigration)..talk about your iron bars!!

Thank you to all who prayed, even when I didn't think I was going to make it. Thank you to Peg from Children's Home Society and Alice from Lutheran for going to bat for Jae Ho and the Lucas family. I can't begin to express what a relief this is.....

But, most of all I want to give glory to the Maker of Heaven and Earth and the one who called Stephen by name three and a half years ago!!! You are Hashem (the renown), El Roi (the God who sees me)

Jehovah Jireh ( the God who provides), The Father to the fatherless and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Fear not, for I am with you. I will bring thy seed from the East, and gather you from the West.

Stephen Isaiah (43:5) Jae Ho Lucas