#foreigncreatures

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4 Women Jess Met Up With In 2019

Jess recently posted on her blog about making and reconnecting with friends. It matches up perfectly with my feature article this week, Dear God Grant Me Friends. You can read her entire piece on her website.

I am a huge introvert and I like to stick with what I know and the people I am comfortable with. It’s hard for me to be social but when I do, I always feel blessed after the conversations I have. The beginning of this year I happened to meet up with 4 different women. It wasn’t forced and I am so happy that I did.

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Linus’ Birthstory

Jess writes on her blog about the birthstory of our son, Linus.

Here is an extended excerpt:

On Friday April 26, Aaron and I had a weekend staycation planned where we would go to Disneyland and go out to work (we love to just go to a boba/coffee shop and do work or get creative). That morning I dropped off Aaron at work then I went to a coffee shop to do some work before our staycation in Anaheim. We haven’t heard from our agency since the meetup so I texted our social worker to see if there’s any updates before we head into the weekend. Our agency doesn’t really work on the weekend so I wanted to get clarity before heading into our staycation.

An hour later she texts us that the birthmother is either going into labor or experiencing braxton hicks. We assumed braxton hicks since baby still had a week left. In the case he was going to be born, I went to Target to see if I can buy a baby carseat infant insert. While at Target we got the word that baby boy has been born! I quickly got snacks and a card for the birthmom from Target. I was in the card aisle for 5 minutes trying to figure out the right card to get someone in a situation like this. This was also the 3rd day I had a cold. I was so worried that baby would get sick. Also, I was still thinking “is this real?” “maybe she will change her mind”.

I picked Aaron up, then we headed to the hospital. We waited in the lobby for about an hour before we went to the labor and delivery floor. We gave them our driver’s ID then was escorted to the birthmom’s room along with baby boy. We didn’t get a chance to hold the baby since we went in the birthmom’s room with the baby right away. We made conversation with her and about 30 minutes later we got a separate room to bond with our baby boy.

You can read the whole story on her website.

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Happy Birthday, Jess!

Today is my wife’s birthday!

Five Fun Facts about Jess

I ask her to sing the song “Glorious” on Sundays as we drive to church. You should try it.

Jess loves popcorn, noodles, and hot pot. She never gets tired of them.

She does not like to listen to our own podcast. She just trusts that I will make her sound okay in the editing.

We recently watched Captain Marvel and she fell asleep. This is not uncommon.

Her new favorite passions are party planning and woodworking. Contact her if you need her services!

I have nothing to say that has not already been said. Jess is celebrating by going on a work retreat. And tonight we will celebrate together by eating hot pot and watching Netflix!

Find Jess Online

foreigncreatures.com

instagram.com/foreigncreatures

SVRGN

svrgnla.com

instagram.com/svrgnla

Musicgoon

In Our Waiting: A Poem for my Wife on Valentine’s Day

An Ugly Waiting Mom

Three Thanksgivings

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A New Perspective On Our Adoption Journey

Jess wrote an article about a change in mindset as we wait to adopt our first child. We’re going to edit it for publishing on our church blog - but you can be the first to read it, open and honest, on her website now.

I use to see us doing things as an in between before we have a child - "while we wait, let's own a poke and boba shop", "before we have a kid, let's host more parties and invite people over". There was this time to "kill" while we waited to be parents. My mentality was that we needed to stay busy to help us with the waiting period - we just need to ride it out. BUT now there's a new perspective - we get to do all these things BECAUSE we are adopting. It took me over 2 years to figure out all these blessings in life is because we want to adopt.

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Diamond Bar Center Wedding

Photo by Ivan Chen Photography.

Jess recently recapped the graphics she designed for the wedding of our friends James and Rachel. Check it out on her blog.

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Snociety: Theme

Jess wrote about Snociety’s design inspiration. Check it out here.