Ben in action!

I'm trying something new...posting a small video clip. Here's Ben in action on the ice rink!

Our Angel has a name!

Our beautiful little girl now has a name! She will be Claire Se Jin Pullen! After negotiating with Ben to not name her Lucy, he's now telling everyone, "I want to name her Claire. Ben and Claire Pullen! My sister's name is Claire Se Jin Pullen!"


Not much new to report on our progress...we've completed everything we need to complete and now we just wait a while for "The Travel Call"! Once we get that call, we are expected to be in Korea within 1 week to pick up our daughter! Stay tuned!

Keeping busy during the cold winter!

Just like Ben, Dave can't sit still and since it's the dead of winter we're finding all kinds of things to do to keep busy (and warm)!

Dave and Ben like to go to Home Depot on Saturday mornings to build something. They have great kid projects that they can make for free! Check out the tongue action!

He's so proud of his finished castle!

Hitting the lanes with Uncle Chuck, Sam and Pepper! Ben scored an 81 (which is better than what his Mom generally bowls. Can I use those bumper things when I bowl?)!

A warm Sunday afternoon was great for making a snowman at Granny's!

Ben and Dave went skating with the Univ. of MN. Golden Gopher Hockey Team! Ben loves to skate and is actually pretty good--still walking most of the time, but does it on his own! When he falls down, he just yells, "I'm okay" and hops right back up! The highlight of this day was when Goldy Gopher (the mascot) skated past him and stopped, turned around and encouraged Ben to skate to him. Once Ben reached Goldy, he got a pat on the head and a high 5! Ben was star struck and couldn't stop talking about it and Mom is thrilled that she caught it all on video!

We got to go to the MN Wild Hockey game with our friends, the Thomsons! We all had a great time! Thanks for the invitation, Anna, Joel and Jack!

A new year and a new swimming class. Ben's become a fish in the water-not afraid to stick his head under the water or jump to his teacher from a distance!

The most unexpected phone call

It's about 10 a.m. on December 26th. Dave has gone back to work after the holiday and I'm home hanging out with Ben. We're still in our pj's sifting through the aftermath of Christmas when the phone rings. I see the caller ID and my heart skips a beat. The conversation went something like this....

Me: "Hello?"

Caller: "Hi Christa, it's Hannah (our social worker)."

Me: "Hi Hannah, how are you?"

Hannah: "Great, thanks. Is Dave home?"

Me: "No, he's at work."

Hannah: "Can we conference him in?"

Me: "Is this phone call what I think it is?"

Hannah: "Yes, it is! We've got your referral. Let's get Dave on the line and I'll tell you all about her!"

After less than a minute (but it felt like an hour), Dave is on the line and Hannah proceeds to tell us all about a beautiful little girl in Korea, who will soon be our daughter! The phone call was so unexpected because we had been told by the agency in November that we still had "a few month" wait for our referral, so we weren't expecting to receive that phone call until some time in February or March. Our agency received an unexpected large number of referrals in December, so there were many surprised, happy families that receive similar phone calls.

Here's what we know about our daughter.....She was born on June 14, 2007 in Seoul, South Korea. Her birthmother named her, "Se Jin," which means, "World Jewel." We plan on keeping her given name as her middle name. We're still working on what we're going to name her. All indications are that she is healthy and thriving in her foster home in Seoul. We are now back in the waiting mode, as we have to wait for both the Korean and the US governments to finalize all the documents. We're hoping to travel to Korea to get her sometime in March. We will definitley keep you posted on our progress!!

In the meantime, take a peek at our little doll!

This pictures appears to be close to a newborn picture.

This is a more recent pictures. Check out those chubby cheeks! We've met a couple of other families who have recently received their referrals and they also got a picture of their child in this little throne!

This is a photo of Se Jin with her foster parents. The woman who manages the Korean program at our agency told us that it is very rare for foster fathers to be in these photographs! She said that was a great indication of how well she is being taken care of by her foster family. She will remain with them until we are able to travel and bring her home.

We've got to get busy getting ready! Here, Dave and Ben are painting her room!

The Holidays at Pullen Central!

Happy New Year to One and All!

One of my (Christa's) resolutions for 2008 was to setup and maintain a blog to keep friends and family up to date on the happenings here at Pullen Central. Instead of sending out large batches of photos 2-3 times a year, I'm going to try to post some photos and give updates at least 2 times a month. This will also be a great way of keeping you all informed on the progress on the adoption of our daugther. We can even post updates while we're in Korea! So , here we go. I thought I'd send you a tidbit of what our holiday season was like...very fun and festive!

So Silly!

Ben and his buddy Jack, hanging out with the Big Guy before the Hollidazzle Parade!

We enjoyed our supper with Santa. This was the first year that Ben really "got" Santa and was so excited to hang out with him (instead of run away from him!)

Ben and Jack made cookies with Mrs. Clause!

We spent the weekend before Christmas in Indiana with Christa's family. Here's Grandma with our niece, Vivian, who is 18 months old. Such a cutie! Notice the resemblence to Cindy Lou Who?!

Ben and his cousins, Vivian and Mia, had a great time playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Santa Mia!

We finally got a great shot of Grandma, Grandpa and the grandkids!

Such a tired boy after all that excitement and fun! Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house was so much fun!!

Back at home, we're all set for Santa and his reindeer!

Christmas morning Ben woke up and said, "I didn't even hear him come, but he came!!"

Is that Bono?

Someone must have been a very good boy, because Santa brought him the hockey skates and helmet that he wanted!

And he also brought the Batman Costume!!

Family shot at Granny's house!

Thanks, Uncle Chuck, Aunt Teri, Sam and Joey for the cool hockey jersey and hockey gloves!!

Ben and his cousins Sam (left) and Joey at Granny's house. A great time was had by all!