"Sang il Chook ha Hamneeda"

or, "Happy Birthday to you."

We had a wonderful TOL for Jude's first birthday. We mixed some Korean traditions with American traditions and although it was a little overwhelming for Jee Jee (he didn't sleep much that night :( he, of course, did great during the party and had a fun time. 

Hanbok photos. The hanbok is the Korean traditional dress. How cute are these kiddos? (I'm totally not biased)

With cuz's KK and Will 

Givin a little love to mim

The other cuz's, minus two (boo hoo). This is Landry, Jones, Rinny, Jude, and Creed.....we hope to get a full out cousin pic with all the cousins from that side in their hanboks soon.



Toljabee table. This is something that they traditionally do on a child's first birthday in Korea. This is where a child is placed at a table and they choose from several things that are placed out on the table for them. What they choose helps "predict" what they will choose as their profession in their future. We did change it up a little bit and added a verse with each item that we will be praying over Jude's life. 

For Jude's choices we had: arrows-warrior, harmonica-musician,rice cake-wealth, ruler-good with his hands, Bible-man of God, Flash Light- Light of the world. 

Jude chose (totally on his own, even though Creed was really pushing the Bible) the flashlight first: 

Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden."

and second he chose the rice cake (wealth). Matthew 6:19-20 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and dust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal."

The infamous cake pictures...how cute is this that Jude was feeding his bub bub?!?!?

Yes, he insisted on using a fork.....it was his birthday for heaven's sake so I gave the boy a fork, of course. 
The true reality of what eating the cake looked like..how could this be?!?!?! What?!?!?!?! How could you not be fully enthralled (like mommy is) while eating an entire cake by yourself?!??!?!? 
Okay, maybe this isn't so bad....
Straight to the bathtub after the cake attack...
Jude in his birthday suit all clean and hangin' with dada....

Aunt BekahGrammy and Grandaddy

One year ago today....

Lives were changed forever. 

While I was home thinking (and blogging) about baby names for our unknown baby and praying that God would soon reveal him/her to us on the other side of the world our child was being born. 

On that day, many, many people already loved him and were sacrificing for him. 

Today, I am thinking of Jee Han's birth mother. What an unbelievable sacrifice she made one year ago today. I think about how she must have felt. We know a few things about her and the most impactful thing we know is that she really, deeply loved her child, our child.

I pray that today God brings her comfort. As we are celebrating here with cinnamon rolls and candles, presents and songs, she is without her child, our child. 

Thank you, Dear Lord, for the wonderful woman that gave us our baby boy. I pray that when she thinks about Jee Han that you would give her an overwhelming sense of peace that he is doing incredibly well. Give her the kind of comfort that can only come from you. Bless her today by allowing her to have a sweet day. Please put people along her path that will show her your love. 

Amen. 

Interview with my oldest two:

Q: What is something mommy always says to you? 

Rinn: "To eat my food"

Creed: "Two things....obey and eat your dinner"

Q: What makes mommy happy?

Rinn: "I clean your room and make your bed when you didn't tell me to, I just sneak in there and do it but I never do that"

Creed: "When I act really good and do really nice things."

Q: What makes mommy sad?

R: "That I get in trouble sometimes."

C: "When I don't obey."

Q: How does mommy make you laugh?

R: "That I do funny things like talk weird, or scream like Jude does."

C: "Say funny things, I guess."

Q:What was mommy like when I was a child?

R: "That's a hard question."

C: "You got in trouble alot and you cried."

Q: How old is your mom?

R: 10

C: 31

Q: How tall is your mommy?

R: "This big." (She holds her hands about 14 inches apart)..."You're kinda litttle, aren't you?"

C: "49 hands"

Q: What is mommy's favorite thing to do?

R: "to play princesses"

C: "Take me on dates and cuddle."

Q: What does your mom do when you aren't around?

R: "I don't know"

C: "Picking up the house, feeding Jude."

Q:If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

R: " a bee."

C: "a photographer."

Q: What is your mom really good at?

R: "Your willy good at talking to me."

C: Taking pictures

Q: What is your mom never good at?

R: "That you be in twuble sometimes, that you do some fings that aren't nice...like, member that time you didn't let me eat my hot chocoloate?"

C: "hmmm..that's hard....I don't know."

Q: What does your mom do for her job?

R: "I fink that you help me wib some sings (things)"

C: "take pictures."

Q: What's your moms favorite food?

R: Chocolate

C: Smores

Q: What makes you proud of your mommy?

R: That you cuddle wib me....let's cuddle.

C: That you are a great mommy.

Egg-stra Special

We had our second annual Easter Egg Hunt at our friends home with our small group. It was so unbelievably fun, despite the terribly cold/windy weather. 

Look at all the wonderfully beautiful babies in our small group....I love them all!
All of the children sitting listening to Jen (way to go, Jen!) as she made up stories to keep their attention while the eggs were being "hidden." 
Jen's daughter was the single one out of the bunch that wasn't thoroughly enthralled by the shinanigans of her mother.
Yep, most mommies and daddies (the good ones) sent their kids with coats. 
This mom, however opted for the cute spring outfits.....it's worth it for the "cute" factor, right? (I wonder why Rinn's nose is running like a faucet today).

We opted for an indoor photo versus the cute little front porch photo that I really wanted to get.
What it takes to get a good photo of these kids!!

"QUACK QUACK!!!!!"

It was awesome weather today, so we went to feed the ducks. 

Yes, of course, I made them pose for a picture (why is it that every picture I have them pose for is always this same setup? and Why, on a day like today do my children look miserable in this photo? They really were happy, I promise). 
Jude loved seeing the ducks and fish and kept YELLING (I mean YELLING) at them his own little version of "quack quack". 

Creed imitating a duck. (Have I mentioned that this kid is hilarious?)
Of course, Rinny wanted to hug the duckies. 

Side note: We are starting over on the sleep thing. It has really been an up and down for the little guy in the sleep department. Maybe our out of town trip is just now catching up with us? Pray for patience for mommy and night night for Ju-ju. He is really fighting naps and waking LOTS of times in the night. Man, that kid is cute and he knows it. He's a toot too, and he is well aware of that also. 

Havin' a ball...

Okay, we are being nice (mostly)....It's about to get ugly....
It's hard for Rinny to keep the mean look
Keep your eye on the prize, sis!
The reason I don't have very many pictures of Creed...he is constantly on the move. 
It was nap time for Jee Jee and so he slept at grammy's house with grammy while we were bowling.
After about 3 times up to bowl Rinny decided that all she really wanted to do at the bowling ally was eat.
She enjoyed her ice cream sandwich while we bowled. She seriously savored every bite for like 20 minutes while we bowled for her. 
The boys ended up winning :( However, I should tell you that it was not fair. When Rinny and I went to the snack bar (numerous times) Micah and Creed bowled for us and they put us in the gutter every time. So, the next time you see Rinny ask her about who won and she has her answer down pat "Sabotage" she says.