Happy Birthday to Me

I was battling the stomach flu on my birthday, and I was feeling quite miserable when I woke up. 

All that changed when I found an unexpected surprise waiting for me downstairs.

Thank you Austin for your thoughtfulness and creativity, and for making me feel a hundred times better!

 

Happy 10th Birthday Austin!

We started the day off with myuk gook, a Korean soup traditionally served on birthdays (made with love by grandma who came over just to make it), and even let him watch a little television.

Then we headed off to a middle school tour (yet another reminder that my baby is growing up much too fast). After the tour, I dropped him off at school with cupcakes for his class, but not before I showed him the surprise waiting for him on his school marquee.

In keeping with family tradition, I packed his favorite lunch with a birthday note, surprised him with balloons after school, prepared one of his favorite meal for dinner, and ended the day with ice cream cake.

It's crazy to think how quickly time has flown by, and that the little baby we brought home from the hospital is now ten years old. What a tremendous blessing it has been to watch him grow and mature into who he is today!

Thank you Austin for your tender heart, sense of humor, integrity, and passion for life. Your constant joy and ability to see the good in everything and everyone is such an example to me. Thank you for bringing me so much joy as a mother. I thank God every day for the privilege of being your mom.

Happy birthday Austin!
I love you.

Best Vacation Ever!

August 2-13, 2012

What do you get when you have sixteen kids and twelve adults living in one house for nearly two weeks? No, not a new reality show, but a trip of a lifetime; and what Austin would describe as, "The best vacation ever!"☺

 We were the last family to leave for the east coast, so we were quite anxious to get there.

 Most of Bethany's time on the plane (on the way there and back) was spent doing this.

Big brother and Daddy busied themselves like this.

Once we arrived at Dulles International, we joined our friends in Virginia where the party had already begun. After a day of rest, catching up, and a mommies' night out, all twenty eight of us piled into four separate cars and made an early 4am departure to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Our caravan of cars made a few stops here and there, but considering how many little ones we had, the six plus hour drive wasn't bad at all. But then again, I can only speak for myself since it was just the four of us in our car.

Still, you can imagine our relief when we finally reached our destination.

Our home away from home.

Aside from a few touristy things, we pretty much stayed put the entire time. There really was no reason to venture out too often since we had a fully stocked kitchen, a swimming pool, and basically, the beach as our backyard. Needless to say, the kids were never at a loss for things to do. The moms and dads weren't complaining either since the dads squeezed in four rounds of golf, and the moms had some time to go out on our own.

This is basically what the kids did ALL DAY LONG. They had so much fun together, and it was beautiful to see how well they got along for the entire trip.

 

 

We ate well, played hard, and had an amazing time together. It was hard to say good bye, but by the time we left, plans for our next big trip were already in motion. :)

I love these people!

Sound of Music Sing-a -Long 2012

Every year in September you can find our family at the Hollywood Bowl's Sound of Music Sing a Long. What began as a date night, quickly became a yearly tradition for us, and since then has grown into a tradition we share every year with our family and friends. This was the eighth year for Sam and I, and we still enjoy every minute of it.

As usual, all 18,000 seats were sold out, and as usual, you could expect to bump into someone you know. We saw my college roommate, another friend from college, Austin's 5th grade teacher, our opthamologist, Sam's co-worker and another one of his doctors.

The show always begins with a pre-show costume contest, and we entered our kids again (this is our third time!). This year was extra special as we had even more friends join us for the costume contest. There were ten kids total that dressed up as....

all the items from the yellow goody bag.

If you're familiar with the event, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Every year the bowl hands out a yellow bag filled with props to each guest, and the host goes through the contents of the bag one by one explaining how we are to use them during the show. The yellow bag is part and parcel to the sing a long, and basically, you cannot have the sing a long without the yellow bag. 

And that my friends, is why having our kids dress up as the props was such a great idea (thanks eunice)!  Oh, and let's not forget the fact that the costumes were way less labor intensive this year, so no late nights and way less glue gun burns and needle pricks on my end. :)

After much anticipation, the winners were announced, and our kids got second place. It was a great win, and all the kids (and parents) were so happy. But guess what? I found out later on that we were supposed to win first, but the staffers recognized Austin as having won in previous years, so they wouldn't (or couldn't) give us first place again. With that said, I am officially retiring Austin from the costume contest (you hear that Sam?). I think three for three is enough, or maybe as one friend mentioned, we could just put Austin in a disguise next year. :)

Several people have asked me to post pictures from our previous costume contests, so here's a quick recap.

Our first year Sohpie and Austin won second place dressed as "sew, a needle pulling thread". They won a blue ray player and some movies which we still use to this day.

(here's my xanga entry from that night - http://mrssjlee.xanga.com/675347051/item/)

Our second year, Ella, Sophie and Austin won first place as "tea with jam and bread", and the prize was a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise.

(unfortunately no blog entry here as i stopped blogging after being introduced to the world of facebook)

Two more pictures just because I LOVE Austin's reaction when he found out they won first place. :)

Referral Day! Year 3

Three years ago, our family received a phone call that I had painstakingly waited years to receive. It was a call from our social worker notifying us that we had a referral for a baby girl. It's a day I will never forget, and I hope one day, I can accurately share this story and many others from her adoption journey with Bethany.

It was the day before Austin's first day of second grade, and I had planned to do a few last minute errands. Austin and I were dressed and ready to leave, but as I was printing out my final Michael's coupon, the phone rang. I was hesitant to answer because it said "private caller", but I decided to anyway.

I am so glad I did!

Within minutes of our phone call, my social worker sent me an email with these two pictures, and some documents with more detailed information about our little girl.

That one phone call set in motion what can only be described as God's great handiwork. He took a child with no mother or father to speak of, and set her on a path to our family of three. In turn, God gave our family one of the greatest gifts we could have ever received; a daughter for Sam and I to love and care for, and a little sister for big brother to dote on (which he totally does!). Of all the babies that were waiting for homes in Korea, God chose this particular baby for our family, and I can't express in words how meaningful that is to me.

It was five more months before she was placed in our arms, but all of that seems like a blur now that she's been home for two and a half years. Today that little girl is happy, healthy, and thriving.

She is my sweet and mischievous girl who would rather play with swords and balls, than tea sets and dolls. She fearlessly follows after her big brother, jumping from heights no three year old should be anywhere near, but she's deathly afraid of loud noises and people dressed in costume. She is a chatterbox who loves to sing and dance at home, but I can barely get her to say "hi" to someone out in public. She is a girl after my own heart, and it is a joy and privilege to be her mom. We love her dearly, and by the looks of it, she already has mom, dad and brother wrapped around her cute pudgy little finger.

As I give thanks to God today for choosing our family for Bethany, I can't help but think of all the other children who have been left behind. There are so many children in this world who do not have families, and my prayer is for each one of them to first of all, know and experience the precious love of God, and second, for them to know and experience the love of a family. Please take some time to consider what you can do to help a fatherless/motherless child. It may be through prayer, financial assistance, mentoring, donations or sponsorship. Who knows, you might be just the person a child has been waiting for.

Our family has been blessed by the beauty of adoption, and maybe, just maybe, your family could be next.

First Day of School!

On August 14th, both of my kiddos had their first day of school. Austin started the 5th grade, and my baby girl officially entered the public school system as a Preschooler.

It was an exciting morning, and an exhausting one, as we had just returned home from vacation the night before (that's another post for another day).

 

Since they both started school on the same day at two different schools, we decided that I should go with Bethany, and Sam would go with Austin. I realized then that this is what it's like for other moms with more than one school aged child.... you can't be in two places at once. :-(

I had never missed any of Austin's first days of school, so I'll admit I was disappointed. On the other hand, I was pretty excited (and nervous) to take Bethany to school. She recognized the teacher from last year's afterschool speech class, so she walked right in and turned to me, and said "bye." I didn't want to mess with a good thing, so I gave her a hug and kiss and went home.

She was only gone for two and a half hours, but I spent most of that morning looking at my watch. At pick up time, I was so relieved to find a happy preschooler waiting for me.

A few hours later, we went to pick up Austin. He was a bit sad about not being in the same class with most of his close friends (i was too), but much to his credit, he made good of what could have been a bad situation, and has been enjoying school (minus the homework). ☺

Happy first day of school to my precious babies!

Preschool Co-op Graduation 2012

This past year, Bethany and I have had the privilege of being part of an amazing little co-op made up of an equally amazing group of moms and little girls. We met with the simple goal of preparing our little ones for school by teaching them the basics of the classroom, like raising your hand, taking turns, and standing in line. We also went through the ABC's, practiced fine motor skills, and did a lot of arts and crafts.

Most importantly, our goal throughout the year was to teach our girls about the precious love of God, and how He is a part of their everyday lives. We taught them Bible songs and stories, along with character lessons which they had many opportunities to put into practice during our weekly meetings.

I am so thankful to each of the moms and little girls who made Bethany's first school experience one we will always remember.

 July 13, 2012

Each of the girls received an award certificate highlighting their area of strength and a very official looking diploma, all made by mommy Judy.