overwhelmed.

okay, i'm going to very honest here and say that adoption is expensive. it costs a LOT of money. like, a lot, a lot, a lot of money. more money than a lot of people make in an entire year. and often times, that's what deters people from adopting because they just can't afford it.

we were so, so blessed to have quite a bit of help from our family and we were also able to save a lot on our own because hubs is quite the savvy financial planner and was able to work saving lots and lots into our monthly budget.

and still, we felt every penny leave us with every check we had to write.

up until this point, all our costs were paid for except the travel costs and post-adoption costs, which would obviously need to be paid when we travel and after choi boy comes home. we were a little worried about all these costs coming up because we didn't want to totally deplete our savings since we want to begin the adoption process again for a little choi girl shortly after choi boy comes home.

all of this was on the back of our minds, but we never mentioned it to anyone. we thought about doing fundraisers to help raise some of the costs, but again hadn't mentioned it to anyone.

well, last week, peter came home with a mysterious box, given to him by one of our friends. the only directions given to peter were to open it together with me.

as soon as we opened it and saw all the cards, i knew what was in them.

and that's when the tears started. for both of us. although, i will say, peter was able to read the cards out loud -- i couldn't even see the words at this point.

we opened card after card and each was filled with amazing and such loving and caring words and a check for very generous amounts that we know came sacrificially from our dear friends. we were so overwhelmed.

and they kept coming! the next day, peter got another card and just today, i opened our mailbox to see another one from yet another dear friend.

when we sat and totalled the amounts from all of these incredible gifts, it came out to almost enough for two plane tickets to korea!

God is so good and clearly, very clearly, provided so lovingly and generously through our ridiculously loving and generous friends.

it's been a week and i am still in awe and shock. and i think i will continue to be. and as we bring our little boy home, we will be overwhelmed again to think that our friends really had a monumental part in bringing our little one home. it takes a whole new meaning to "it takes a village," doesn't it?

although a thank you card doesn't even begin to show the gratitude we have, it was a start, and i thought, who better to put on the thank you card than the little one they are helping to bring home?





i can't wait to see our friends with little choi boy!