On Route to Seoul

On Route to Seoul

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Pay It Forward Fundraiser

Our Matching Grant Time is Expiring!  In the next 24 hours we need to raise $1,400.  So we are planning a 24 hour - Pay It Forward Fundraiser!

For every person that donates to us---we will perform one Random Act of Kindness for someone else....
 
Since it is the Christmas season - we thought we would thank you for your gift to us by passing on kindness to someone else! We cannot donate to our own account, so we are counting on the kindness of others to help us reach our goal. 
 
We will write you individually and let you know what we did  ---and we will Blog about the entire experience afterward.  Hopefully - we will be able to include some photos as well!
 
Please consider donating anything.  We know it is not as convenient to have to mail in a check - but this small KS Group has helped us before and it is so worth the effort!  You will be helping a little boy get closer to his forever family.
 
Please help us, and we will in turn help others. We only have 24 hours left to get donations!  
 
When you have mailed in your check ---PLEASE tell us!  We will then begin our acts of kindness as a family.

You can comment below, message me on facebook, comment to the post, or email me at:
nbuhler1@cox.net to let us know you have donated, and we will add another act of kindness onto our list!
The donations must be postmarked by Tuesday Dec. 17th to be matched by the grant. Please help us hold onto this gift set aside for us! 
 
Anything you give will be doubled by Hand in Hand --- and by helping us - you will help others!

you may send checks to :

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.
Attn:  Tim and Nicolle Buhler’s Adoption
18318 Mimosa Court                          
 Gardner, KS  66030   

For tax purposes please write “Tim and Nicolle Buhler’s adoption” on the outside of the envelope only…please do not put our name on the check itself.

We hope to finish our acts of kindness before the end of the year!

Thank you all for helping us with this Christmas Fundraiser!


(For more information about Hand in Hand Adoption, Inc., you may check out their website at:
http://www.handinhandadopt.org/
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Matching Grant from Hand in Hand Adotion!

We are soon to become the Buhler7.  I know it is crazy.  I have been busy with Nathaniel and homeschooling the other 3, and yet the Lord has lead us to adopt again.

Right now - as we prepare for Christmas we are also preparing for the arrival of our newest member.

We have been blessed with a matching grant from Hand in Hand Adoption, here in Kansas.  They graciously gave us a matching grant last time we adopted, and they are doing it again for this second baby.

We are currently praying that the funds come in, since we are not even 1/2 way to our goal.  The deadline is quickly approaching.

If you would like to give ---whatever you give --would be appreciated and a blessing.  Every dollar you give is doubled by Hand in Hand!!  We cannot contribute to this ourselves, but must rely on the gracious gifts of others.

Here is the information if you were wanting to help us bring our boy home:



Please make payable all donations to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption”.  Your donation should be postmarked by December 17, 2013 to be included in our grant, and be mailed to:
Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.    
Attn:  Tim and Nicolle Buhler’s Adoption
18318 Mimosa Court
Gardner, KS  66030   

For tax purposes please write “Tim and Nicolle Buhler’s adoption” on the outside of the envelope only…please do not put our name on the check itself.

Thank you for your prayerful consideration in helping us journey to our little boy and bring him home to his “forever” family.

We are hoping to get our new blog up and running soon with the updates on our adoption process.  It has been quite a year for us all!

If you would like the official letter sent to us by Hand in Hand, along with our written request letter with all the details --please email me and I will attach them both and send to you!  nbuhler1@cox.net

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Nathaniel's Homecoming Videos

This fourth kid thing is really putting me behind schedule in so many ways.

 It might be because I'm spending my days filling my memory cards with so many pictures and videos!

After 10 months home - I finally had time to make our videos about meeting Nathaniel and bringing him home. These begin where the "waiting" video I did a year ago - left off.

There is a shorter version, that is still 15 minutes long.  I cut out everything I could, but still ended up with that length of video. I did do this one second - and played around a bit more with the text and color - so I like the finished look of it.

The extended version is better if you want total story and content and---IF you have time for it.  It is over 30 minutes long, I believe. So - settle in with a cup of tea, or a bucket of popcorn and a soda before watching that one.  I am leaving it up for awhile, but will probably edit it eventually - making little changes here and there.

Here is the link to the short one:  "Nathaniel"


http://youtu.be/Ml5g8OZXJr0


Here is the link to the longer version with more detail and photos about us meeting Nate for the first time, and about our first few days together in Seoul.

 http://youtu.be/y7u493BMt58 

 
I'd recommend both if you have time - the music is a bit different and they are both fun!

Now that I've finished that project, I'm off to mail our Christmas letter.......  maybe.....

Saturday, January 19, 2013

May the Force be with You Friend!!




A short time ago
in a house not so far away...

Episode 1
JEDI BRUNCH

    Rebel friends planning from a secret 
facebook account, conspire to attack their 
unsuspecting friend. Convinced her teasing jests are 
fueled by not ever experiencing the true power of the force, and 
sensing the conflict within her, they continue with their plan to hijack her 
and turn her back to the good side. She is their only hope to create a united group,
so the Jedi rebels advance determined to instruct her in the ways of the force....          


                          
I decided to have a brunch for some special ladies. All of us freed our schedules to meet and fellowship together.  Five of us are very well acquainted with Star Wars, if not addicted or obsessed! Another friend of ours has never even seen the movies.  We all decided this brunch would be a great way to get her to sit down and enjoy the films with us. So, without telling her that we had changed our "fluffy lady brunch" to a new Star Wars theme, we prepared for the morning.  We all planned to dress up, bring lightsabers, or do our hair up!  One lady came dressed in her Yoda shirt, another lady did successfully do her hair in beautiful buns!  Stall another friend brought a Jedi cape to drape over our new padawan.  We introduced her to the original Star Wars ---or technically Episode IV ---A  New Hope.

She did not suspect a thing, and found out about the theme for our brunch upon her arrival. Bless her heart!  She did not bolt for the front door!  



 --our brave padawan--




 A true Jedi Master --- armed with 2 lightsabers and 1 Jedi friend.



 -perfection-




 Our padawan looks a little scared of us - ---




-----and with good reason



After a quick Jedi "knight"ing ceremony...........



we settled down for a yummy brunch and fun show!

-the table cloth for our brunch-




 sweet fellowship and friends

 Believe it or not...we talked and shared so much...we only watched 25 minutes of the movie.  Too bad...we'll have to get together again to finish the film.  (yay)   

One friend also brought us all a treat - beautiful necklaces in a variety of colors.  We all got to choose a favorite.


We completed our time together with a more serious moment of sharing and praying for each other.  It was lovely and special, and beautiful and reminded me again why I love these ladies so much.  They are all such amazing ladies, who love the Lord.  What a privilege to call them all my friends.

As one lady summed up our time together and our friendships....laughter, tears, and more laughter.  That about sums it up.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Merry Epiphany

My husband has a love for Epiphany.  I really don't know when it started, but he has loved the '12 days of Christmas' for years.  I know all of our marriage he has loved to celebrate this holiday. I have tried over the years to help him do this, and introduce ways to our family, to celebrate with him.

I am beginning to love it too, since it means we leave our Christmas tree up until Jan. 6th! No after holiday depression for me.  Leaving the tree up longer helps me ease back into the normal routine. 

I am thinking now, that I may not be the best one to write this post, since I'm not the true fanatic in the house.  I however, have blog access and took the pictures, so what information I have on the holiday will have to do.

Here is what I know about the history of Epiphany.  It is often called 3 kings day, and is the day that the "Church" celebrates the wise men bringing gifts to Jesus.  Some families even give gifts on this day, instead of Dec. 25th. The 12 days of Christmas song actually dates back to the days when Christians still had to guard their beliefs and were not allowed to truly celebrate in public. The 12 days of Christmas begin on our Christmas day - Dec. 25th and end on day "12" on our Jan. 6th.  It is believed that in the 1600's, Christians created this song to celebrate their beliefs with almost a secret "spy-like" code (my term, not Tim's) ...to remember their teachings, since they were persecuted so strongly for passing on their faith.

I thank God, that for my Christmas celebration today, I can sing to my hearts content any worship song I like, display Jesus on my front lawn, hang stockings and ornaments, bake sweets, fellowship with friends, exchange gifts, drink cider.....anything I want to celebrate Christmas. ANYTHING...I can do that is related to ANY part of the Christmas holiday celebration, is a gift.  The tiniest piece of Christmas candy, the warmest cup of cocoa, the rush of excitement on Christmas Eve, all remind me of my gift of freedom to display my joy about my faith.  I can celebrate my Lord and Savior's birth. I can truly Go Tell it on the Mountain...that Jesus Christ is Born!!!  This season is my favorite, and I rush into it, linger there, and slowly come out of it again.  Whether commercialized or not, I relish in the fact that I can publicly declare from the mountain top or from the middle of the toy aisle at Target that I am celebrating My Lord's Birthday.   Seriously, no one celebrates my Birthday on such a grand scale. No one celebrates any of my children's birthdays - but close family and friends.  Almost everyone in America....in some way or another...whether they acknowledge the truth behind the holiday or not.....celebrates God Almighty's Birth day----and the gift of his Son!!!  I  Love Christmas!

Epiphany not only draws out this favorite event that I celebrate every year...but also reminds me that there were times, and are places when/where others like me were/are not allowed to celebrate.   The 12 Days of Christmas may seem like a long and silly song, and although the origin of the daily representation of church teachings is not fully known, Christians for many centuries, have used this song to celebrate their own beliefs and explain their faith.

Here is a brief explanation of what each day of the song represents:

A partridge in a pear tree:  The Birth of Christ in the Manger...or some say...Christ on the Tree
2 turtle doves:  The Old and New Testaments
3 french hens:  Faith, Hope and Love
4 calling birds:  the four gospels ---Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
5 golden rings:  the Pentateuch ---the 5 first books of the Bible that Moses wrote
6 geese a laying: the 6 days of creation
7 swans a swimming:  7 spiritual gifts --Rom. 12:5-7
8 maids a milking:  8 beatitudes
9 ladies dancing:  the fruits of the spirit
10 lords a-leaping:  the 10 commandments
11 pipers piping:  the 11 faithful disciples (minus the betrayer)
12 drummers drumming:  the 12 points of the apostles creed

whew -

Growing up in my house, we had an advent tree that my Mom made for my sister and me, to hang up tiny wooden ornaments on each year.  The first Christmas after Tim and I were married, my Mom gave us an advent calendar for our own future family.  Our kids have enjoyed hanging up ornaments on it through the years.  This year was Nate's first time to join us, and he really liked looking in the pockets and hanging the tiny ornaments as much as his three siblings.

Our Advent Calendar



 Nate - on Dec. 1st, with an angel
 
 

 "oh, that's where it goes"
(it doesn't matter where most ornaments are hung, but the angel goes at the top,
Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in the 3 highest spots - under the angel)
 
 
finished with the calendar on Christmas Eve
 
 


Years ago, I made an Epiphany calendar for Tim at Christmas, based on the design of my Mom's advent calendar.  There are 12 pockets with ornaments. Each ornament symbolizes the correct faith teaching - remembered on that day.





Again....a great way to extend Christmas. The advent calendar comes down, and the Epiphany calendar goes up...and we keep on celebrating.

Tim prefers certain traditions for Epiphany.  In our front yard, we have a nativity set with Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  This is in the center of our yard at the front of our house.  We also have 3 wise men.  These 3 wise men stay far away....at the back corner of our yard until Christmas day.  Slowly...each day from Dec. 25th - Jan. 6th, the wise men move up toward the Christ Child.  The 5th of December they circle around him and are part of the original display for the 6th! Children in our neighborhood have commented that they love to see the wise men on the move!!!  Tim would really LOVE a toddler Jesus to replace the infant in the manger for this day, but I can't seem to find one of those.

Inside, I have a beautiful hand carved/painted nativity in my house, and the wise men (since I married Tim....((smiley face)).....)  have always been kept separate.  On epiphany, the kids each take a wise man and march him over to the manger.  We also have a camel that we display with the wise men.  Tim and I purchased the camel in Israel before our kids were born.  Nate proudly marched the camel this year.

 Nate - with the camel
 
 
                                                  
                                    Jordyn with her wise man                                                   Holly ready to march
 
 
  
Caleb chose the wise man with Gold
 
 
The Wise Men are ready to greet Jesus
 


For our Epiphany celebration, we also give one gift to someone in the family.  We draw names each year.  These are always little tiny gifts to fit in the shiny gold/silver/metallic bags (which I believe were made for wine bottles--shhh), but I loved them, since they looked regal to me!!

Caleb drew Jordyn's name-here she is opening his gift to her.
 

Holly received a Starbucks gift card for steamers and cider from Jordyn
 

Nate gave Caleb some Playmobile knights
 


This year, I found "crackers" on sale after Christmas.  They were decorated with the 12 days of Christmas, so I bought a package and surprised Tim with them after the presents were opened.





Crackers originated in England and hold paper crowns, jokes or sayings, and a tiny toy in each one.  They are meant to be pulled with a friend.  I had never heard of these until my sister married a man with English heritage and they are a part of their families' celebrations every year.  So now, when we celebrate with them ---we all enjoy crackers at our table.

We all picked numbers and Tim received the 9 ladies dancing and 12 drummers drumming.

Caleb - with his 5 golden rings
 

 Jordyn - with 6 geese a laying
 
 
 Holly - with A partridge in a pear tree
 
 
my little "lord - a - leaping" was too cute - I had to take his picture!



Nate had opened crackers with his cousins at Christmas - and he definitely remembered what to do!!


 he put on the crown right away - with Holly's help
 
His toy---was a pair of pretend lips to hold in his mouth -
 we were unsure if he'd figure out what to do with them......
 
but he did!!!!
we laughed so hard!!
 
 
 here is another one - minus the hat - hilarious!
 
 
 Jordyn posed with her toy...a pretend mustache!
 
 
                 Holly pulled her cracker with Caleb               Nate - ready to open his second

What a fun way to extend Christmas - have another party - enjoy the holiday season more - remind ourselves to be grateful that we can celebrate - to remember what we believe - and to honor church tradition.  Merry Epiphany everyone!!!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Adopted

We can hardly believe that the wait to make our little son ours, is over.  We had a longing to adopt for many years.  We heard a call to adopt in the fall of 2010.  We applied to adopt the day after Thanksgiving that year (not knowing ...that a little baby destined to be ours, was already 2 months old). 





Our Homestudies to adopt began in February of 2011.


(referral photo)
We received a referral in May of 2011.  We watched each month that year as our little boy grew, and grew in those photos.
 
 
 
 our first picture of Nathaniel, (June 2011) after accepting the referral
-here he is with our pictures we sent him-
 
 
 We missed our boy's first birthday...here he is at 1 yr. of age.
(Sept. 10, 2011)
 
 

 Here is the beautiful outfit his foster mom bought him to celebrate his 1 year birthday.
 
 
 
 We received this photo in November - while we were at Disneyworld.  How perfect for him to be wearing a Buzz Lightyear hat that we sent him!  We suspected then that he would fit in well with this Disney lovin' family.  (6 mo. after placement....he knew all the major characters from Mickey Mouse Playhouse...."Goofy" is his favorite...along with "Mickey")


We hung an empty stocking last Christmas, under a Star.  God reminded me that lonely Christmas of 2011, that in His perfect timing, the Wise Men had met the Christ child when he was a toddler.  He could have had them come earlier...or later.  It was also His perfect timing that we meet our child as a toddler.  No matter how much I wanted Nate with us last Christmas, it was comforting to know that I wanted even more...to meet him in God's timing.  That Star, and any star we saw that Christmas helped us remember God's gift to man in his Son, and his gift to us - our new son.




The beginning of 2012 was heartbreaking for us and many families as we sat and waited, and waited...and did not see any children come home for 4 months.  Everyday we opened our email expecting some good news....and it did not come.  Even our agency prayed hard for all the families for some movement from the country to get babies home.

I went on a scrap retreat with some friends in Jan., and received 3 photos before I left.  I had thought to be traveling soon, or had at least hoped for some movement.  Instead ---I clung to those photos that weekend and prayed and prayed that I would see my boy soon.  God reminded me once again - that his timing is perfect.

We thanked God that when movement did start again, and babies began to come home, that we were among some of the first families to be submitted and to travel. 
our last photo from Korea ---Nate with Easter Eggs (April 2012-19 mo. old)



We saw our precious boy for the first time on April 27th, 2012.  That first glimpse of him coming through that door, and watching him walk over to me, will be forever etched in my heart and mind.  Holding him in my arms, at last, was truly amazing and indescribable.  It was Perfect. 


holding Nathaniel for the first time at the Holt Office in Seoul, Korea



 Daddy interested Nate in a snack....they were good friends right away!
 
 
 
holding my boy in the taxi - on the way home to our hotel after leaving Holt



Months before we traveled, our oldest daughter asked why we needed to "adopt" Nathaniel.  She loved him already and that seemed enough.  Why was it necessary that we go to court and fill out papers and say publically that we chose him as our son?  What an amazing opportunity I had to explain to her and the other kids about the spiritual truth behind the entire process.  I told her that it did not change anything about our relationship with Nathaniel.  It didn't make us love him more, or even prove to others that he was ours.  It merely made it legal.  Without it, however, he would have no true legal connection to our family.  Adopting him meant......he was our "heir".  He received an "inheritance".  His birth certificate had our "name" on it.  His status was "equal" to that of a child that Tim and I had had ourselves.  He really "belonged" to us.   Yes ----bringing him home, loving him, calling him our child, caring for him, raising him.....is enough.  However, we wanted to do something more, we wanted to adopt him, to give him the status of a "son" and all that goes with it.

What an amazing comparison to us and God.  We are adopted by him.  We are his.  It never occurred to me until that conversation that being "saved" was enough.   God sending his son, Jesus, to die for our sins was enough.  Receiving forgiveness for my sins was enough. Going to Heaven and living there forever was enough.   However.....God.....did.....more.     He Adopted Us.   We are his "heirs".  We receive the same "Inheritance" as Christ.  We truly "belong" to him!   We are called his "sons and daughters".  We are forever a part of God's family.

Here are some photos of that beautiful day for us - when we adopted our Nathaniel into our family!

an ornament that Hallmark made for 2012--- "Forever Family"
 
 
"final" ---our Nathaniel with Mom and Dad and the judge
 
 

 Our whole family with the judge
 
 
 

 my parents with us all
(the judge offered to take photos for us!)
 
 
 
 our attorney
 
 
 
 sporting a Mickey Mouse tie for court
 
 
 
 "whoa"  - it was very windy
 
 
 
 America's newest citizen
 
 
 

 in front of the courthouse


 
we celebrated with something familiar from Korea-
Baskin Robbins
 
 

 just noticed the signs "celebrate" and "take home" in the background
-definitely "celebrating" and taking
our new son "home"-



yummy
 

We ate ice cream before dinner!! Adoption 2pm, ice cream 4pm.  We went to play awhile at Gma and Gpa's house, and then went out to eat at P.F. Changs.  Poor guy had missed his nap and so he fell asleep, in my arms, on the way into the restaurant.  He slept through his entire celebration meal.  We took his rice to go.  On the way back home we decided to treat him to another favorite thing - popcorn!
 
 a whole bucket  (which he later shared)




Nate is of the opinion that the only way to eat popcorn
is fistfuls at a time
 
 
 
 
 
Happy Adoption Day - Nathaniel
 
We thank God for bringing you to us - and giving us the gift of you.