Adoption Sunday, Dedication, & Tol Celebration... whew!

Last Sunday was a big day for our family! We had our sweet Elliana dedicated to the Lord!
This was a day that I have been excited about for a very long time... since before Elliana was even born!
Our church celebrated adoption Sunday and it was the perfect Sunday for her to be dedicated. I made a little slide show of all of the adoptive families in our church and I'll post that soon too.



She did so well. Our pastor did a wonderful job of introducing her and then he asked Randy and I almost the same questions he asked Randy when he was baptized. It is more of a declaration of the parent's faith and desire to raise and disciple her as unto the Lord. I got a little emotional for a moment as we were up there, just thinking about all that God had done in our lives to bring us to that very moment.


Pastor Chuck was loving on Elliana too!


Then our pastor prayed for us... and Elliana of course started to make a little noise right then!
(Look at the way she is looking at him! And if you look closely everyone has a little smirk on their face because she was talking during the prayer!)


Ok this was funny to look at- notice how I am the only one paying attention to what the pastor is saying! The boys' expressions crack me up- they are trying really hard NOT to smile!


And a quick family picture by the cross outside- complete with the sun in our eyes!


Then after her dedication, we headed back home and had a Tol party! It is a traditional Korean 1st Birthday celebration and I was so excited to finally be able to do this as well! Koreans make a huge deal of a child's 1st birthday and this was no exception!

We chose to celebrate Elliana's 1st birthday a few months late because of several reasons, the main two being that at the time of her actual birthday she had only been home 2 weeks, and the fact that she was more like a 7 month old than a 1 year old. I am SO glad we waited! I would have never been able to pull off a big party like we did if we had only been home a few weeks and she would have been MAJORLY overwhelmed and she really is so much more like a one year old now than she was! We had a great time with lots of family and friends!


First we put Elliana in her Hanbok- which is the traditional Korean dress. Elliana's foster mother gave her this beautiful hanbok and I think it will fit her until she's 5 years old!


Blessing and prayer for the child are a part of the Tol celebration and Randy had the neat idea to have the multiple generations of men in her life surround her to pray a blessing over her.

It was my grandpa, Randy and his dad and of course the 3 big brothers. It was very special to see them surrounding her like that.


Next was the Toljabee. According to Korean custom, in this event, the birthday child goes around the table and picks up items that attract him or her. The child's future is predicted according to the what he or she grabs. I know it is silly, and of course we do not really believe in superstitions like this, but we thought it was a fun tradition that was worth doing. Here is a tray of the items that we put in front of her and their significance for her future. Some were traditional...
Needle & Thread- long life
Wooden spoon- good cook
Korean won (money) - wealthy
Pencil- scholar/ excels in academics

And then we added a few of our own:
Bible- ministry
Soccer ball- athletic like daddy
Financial calculator- (Randy uses it for his job as an appraiser.)
Camera- creative/ good at photography :)
Ballet slipper- dancer like mommy
Oh and it isn't in the picture, but the boys added their own item: a video game controller- hoping that she'll grown up to like and play lots of video games-lol!


Crawling up to the table


And what did she choose first?


The pencil!

And secondly the calculator




So I guess she is going to be a scholarly appraiser??!! :)


Here is a picture of the Tol table. It is customary to have stacks of fruit and many different kinds of rice cakes on the table to signify long life snd other things. Our rice cakes ended up being rice- krispy treats!

Tried to get a picture with her in it.

Not really too successful


Then we ate lots of yummy food! I am sad to say that I didn't get a single picture of any of the food. I made a few traditional Korean dishes like Bulgolgi, Japchae, Mandu, and pork lettuce wraps and friends and family brought other yummy dishes as well. Elliana even liked it!


Elliana opened a few presents


(this is our pastor's sweet wife holding the princess)

And then after everyone left- we let her have a little bite of cake.


She liked it!



Thanks so much to all of our family and friends who were able to come and celebrate with us. And a big THANKS to my friend Tamera who took just about every picture! I don't think I'd have a single picture from that day if it wasn't for her!

And the Gotcha Video is finally finished and I will post it soon! (for those who haven't seen it yet!)