Happy Halloween

We began our Happy Halloween with morning church. The kids were SO excited to go to church then head home to get dressed up and go back to church for Trunk and Treat. It is a great time where 25 cars line up and are filled with different candy, snacks, and drinks. Kids register then head from car to car picking up the goodies. It is a fun and safe way for kids to celebrate. Justin passed out candy while I took the kids around from trunk to trunk. After the kids made their rounds, they were excited to stand at our van and hand out candy to other kids.

After Trunk and Treat, we headed home and all rested from the early afternoon activities. We had an early lunch then headed out to trick or treat in the neighborhood. We hit a few blocks then headed back home where the kids passed out some of the excess goodies from the day (mom and dad are happy that we get rid of some of the treats). The kids went to bed exhausted from the fun day!

starting their goodie pickup

Cami and Chloe

Trunk and Treat at St. Paul with our friends, Sean and Chloe

The perfect way for a train to Trick or Treat is with a ride from Ben and in the Chariot

walking through a scary inflatable castle in front of someone's house

A picture with Mimi the bride and Ben Ben the frog (Big Ben and Ian both wore the frog when they were 2)

Robin and Batman

Front Teeth

Yesterday Ben was so excited to come home and share some special news. During math class he was pulling on his front tooth. All of a sudden it came out! He said it hurt a little bit, but he didn't mind too much. His first question to me was "When are you going to take a picture of me mom?"

Ben's picture of himself

Some mornings are like this...

Blog

December 2007 (shortly after Ian came home)

January 2008

3 years ago (yesterday) we began our blog as we were in the process of bringing our 3rd child into our family. We couldn't wait to travel to meet our son. Thankfully God brought us through the VERY long wait and to our son. We are so thankful for his foster parents who loved him and cared for him as he grew. He is now a busy and smart 3 year old. We can't imagine our life without him in it.

Ian Hank age 3 1/2

Funny Boy

So my sweet and funny 3 year old loves Vitamin C drops. With cold season coming, I bought a package and let him have one. This morning he asks to put a few in his pocket. I told him that I will hold on to them and he may have one in church. He responds with "Mommy, put dem in me pocket, dey be very safe there." I laughed and told him I know that he would love to keep them "safe" by having them go from his pocket to his mouth and into his tummy. He smiles and says " They will be very safe in there"

Funny boy!

He is too much!!!

UW vs. Ohio State

photo by Jeff Miller

After a day of the Indian Trail Run and celebrating Chusok, Justin and I dropped the kids off at Brian and Sarah's and headed to watch the UW vs. Ohio State game from the AT&T suite. Ohio State was slotted #1 and expected to beat #18 UW. What a game!!!

Chusok celebration

Chusok, the Harvest Moon Festival, is one of the three biggest holidays in Korea. It is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, which usually falls in September or October. Chusok is a time for families to give thanks for the year's harvest.

We celebrated Chusok with our Korean Adoption Group. The event was held at the Korean Presbyterian church on the west side. We look forward to our events with the group and the delicious Korean food prepared fresh by the Women's group at the Korean church. We enjoyed food such as Sweet Pumpkin soup, Chop Chae, Mandu (Korean dumplings), Sweet and hot salad with pinenuts, and two different kinds of rice cakes.

The buffet of Korean food

When families arrived, the children were able to make Korean flat fans or learn how to write Chusok in Korean.

Korean fan making

We all enjoyed the special entertainment by the Ulssu Korean drumming group. The kids were dancing and clapping to the music.

Ulssu Korean drumming group

Indian Trail Run

We headed out early for a beautiful morning at Justin's Indian Trail 12K race. The race started with kids races of a 100m dash and 1000m race. Ian chose to do the 100m dash and Ben and Cami opted for the 1000m race. All of them finished their races and were awarded medals. The kids were VERY proud of their medals, which was a piece of hardened clay with a leaf stamped on it. They were most excited about being able to paint their medals while we waited for daddy to finish his race.

Justin finished 7th overall in the 12K. He finished 2nd in his age group and was awarded an Ice Age Trail coffee mug. We stayed around for the raffle, where he won a 1 year membership to the Ice Age Trail Alliance. We had a fun morning being outside at this beautiful sunshine filled park. We were sad that Justin's mom and dad were unable to join us due to his dad being sick. We are praying for a quick return to health for him and hopefully an opportunity to visit them soon.

This was the start of our busy Saturday morning. We are heading off to our Korean Adoption Group's Chusok celebration then off to the UW vs. Ohio State football game. The kids will be spending the evening with the Hackmans while Justin and I enjoy an evening out watching the game from the AT&T suite.

Jerry's Apple Orchard

Ian is proud of his caterpillar

Ian posing with the pumpkins and gourds

Today I headed out with Chloe, Ben H, Mimi, and Ian to go to the Pumpkin farm. I decided to try somewhere new. We headed out and followed the signs 10 miles from our house down Hwy TT. The pumpkin farm was just that...a farm with pumpkins. I had thought with all the great signs they had up everywhere that they would offer a little more than just pumpkins. We walked around and looked at the pumpkins, took a few pictures then headed back to the van. We headed to a place off of TT and Hwy N called Jerry's Apple Orchard. We went there late in the season last year and enjoyed looking at the animals. The kids enjoyed playing in the wagon, looking at the animals, and checking out the apples. We enjoyed our morning out and picked up a few treats for the afternoon, including caramel apples!

Mommy check out the donkey. Her name is Suzy.

Look at the bunnies

Ian loved playing with the wagons.

Ian is proud to show off his caterpillar

James 1:2-4

What a great reminder of the parent that we should all strive to be, not one who shields their child from pain, but one that helps them with it.

I received an email from MOPS today with this message...

Tough Love

By Jen Hatmaker, author of MOPS devotional "Out of the Spin Cycle"

Caleb, my eight-year-old, came home from a tackle football scrimmage last week and reported his grievances right away:“Mom! The boys on the other team kept hurting me, but it was all in secret so they never got a foul! I told Dad, but he said football was for getting hurt, then sucking it up.”

"More than anything,
I want my children
to become mature in Christ"

Sounds harsh right? But maybe not so much if you know where we’re coming from on this. I don’t know if this is inspired parenting or not, but the hubs and I decided early on not to raise – ¿cómo se dice – whiners. After ten years in student ministry, we’ve seen plenty of overindulged kids who believe the world should revolve around their agendas and bend over backwards to protect their happiness. Likewise, we’ve counseled kids whose parents cushioned every blow, fought every battle, and paid for every mistake their kids made, so when they encountered trials as college students or young adults, they were incapable of handling stress or conflict in a remotely healthy way.

Instead, we’re seeking to raise our children under the instruction of James 1: 2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” More than anything, I want my children to become mature in Christ, but rescuing and coddling them through every small struggle ensures that they’ll never develop perseverance for the big ones that will come later. And I know that isn’t inspired parenting.