Yearly Update?

Well it's been almost three years since we adopted Andrew, 6 years for Kayla and 10 years since Ethan was born.  We know we are an adoptive family but we just feel like us. We absolutely are in love with our children and the life God has given us. Since we embrace adoption openly and talk with our kids often it doesn't seem to be an overriding theme in their lives. It is simply the process in which God brought our family together. I encourage every parent to consider if God wants to build their family through adoption. The process, transition and blessing has been truly miraculous.

The kids are all doing great. Andrew is finishing 8th grade, Ethan 5th and Kayla is almost done with 1st grade.  Time does fly! They are all healthy, happy and overly loved. Our church continues to be an amazing adventure and we are so blessed to pastor.

I published a book a couple months ago...Hawksblade, available at Amazon.com.  I continue to teach full time and pastor full time as well.  Believe it or not we still have a massive amount of time together as a family.

I hope everyone understands what a blessing it has been to be adoptive parents. We feel exactly the same amount of love, care and everything from each of our kids and for each of our kids.  My friend was praying for me the other day and he prayed "what a blessing it was to watch our family love Andrew and Kayla like our own."  When it was my turn to pray I corrected his prayer and said, "we love them because the ARE our own." And we agreed together in the blessing of that statement. I was then reflecting on this idea and thought "What a beautiful reminder that in Jesus, God loves us because we ARE his own!"

I pray each of you are blessed as you experience the love of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Zoo

That's where babies come from.

Don't forget to pick up your copy at amazon.com. All proceeds go to feeding my children. 

Syndactyly foot repaired

 

Once again our son is amazing. He went through his second surgery like a champ. This was his second foot as his first foot was operated on in May last year and is already fully healed. He has always been embarrassed of his feet for some reason and is not willing to show anyone. In China the doctors told him to show his feet and he refused, it wasn't until I his dad told him ok that he let them but was NOT happy at all. It turns out for whatever reason he hates people seeing his feet. So when I asked him if I could show pictures of his repaired feet so our family and friends could see them he said "no." We then got to talking about how last year before any surgeries we really wanted to see what a repaired foot would look like but couldn't find any pictures anywhere on the Internet. So after thinking about it for a bit he agreed to post pictures of his feet in case there are other kids who want to see what it will look like. If it would help them make a decision or feel better about their own surgery he is willing to overcome his personal embarrassment for the sake of others. Pretty amazing that he cares more for others than himself, how Christ-like. So we are really posting this for people searching the Internet but if you are family and friends I hope you are blessed also. If anyone ever has any questions about Syndactyly or Older Child Adoption please contact us because we could not be more blessed by our son and would love to share our story with everyone.

 

 

This is prior to surgery

 

 

                                         This is a photo of his foot 10 months after surgery

Syndactyly foot repair aka Lobster foot

Reconnecting through Blog

Funny how this blog has impacted other people in our lives. We just came back from dinner with some amazing people who I have known for almost 20 years and who have loved me all those years. They were mentioning how they read the blog and were following what our family is up to. It is such a blessing to connect to people who are like family even though they aren't related. We love and appreciate the Suh family so much (and now Suh/Kim Family). They have always been on our side and champions of love for us. We can't thank them enough for what they mean to my family and I. Thank you Mrs. Suh for always smiling and loving us! We would love for you to continue to pray for our family and children. I pray your children (now grown) will truly find God's path of purpose in life. They are amazing kids and you have done an amazing job raising them. Thank you for being a role model of God's consistent love in your children's lives and mine as well. We are counting on your prayers for our son's surgery this coming Tuesday. It was great to share life together this evening and reconnect. I pray each of you are blessed by God as you walk in him...by the way missed you David! hahahahh...It was awesome food!

 

 

 

On a seperate note...my sister Tisha just got engaged and we are supper blessed! Getting both sisters married off! Nice.

Syndactyly of the Hand Repair Photos

 

As many of you know our son was born with Syndactyly of the hands and feet, sometimes referred to as lobster hand or feet. When we first were trying to figure our if we should get surgery we searched the web for photos but couldn't find any that were what we were looking for. Our son volunteered to have his hands photographed so others could see the before, during and after.

 

 

This is actually his Right hand because we forgot to take a picture of his fused fingers before surgery. His Left had was exactly the same and you will see the results following.

 

 

 

3 weeks after surgery. He had a cast on for three weeks and it was removed to reveal his healing and separated fingers.

 

 

 

 

Five weeks after surgery.

Seven Weeks post surgery

 

 

 

 

The last two pictures were taken 6 months after surgery.  They are completely healed and have no problems. His ring finger is still stuck in position but both fingers are now as strong as they were prior to surgery. He really enjoys the extra mobility and ability to use two instead of one finger.  He was treated at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and had a very positive experience there. I hope this helps at least one family who is worried about this particular surgery.

 

He Shoots, He Scores!

Hello All

Life is great...just wanted to post a video of Andrew's first ever basket!

Crazy Hair

Just for fun the boys and I decided to do their hair in a "cool" way today.  I think it looks pretty amazing. We went to go swimming today but the pool was closed..wawa. So we came home and did slip n slide again.  Kids love it and dad and mom get to sit in lawn chairs watching.  Pretty good idea if I do say so myself. 

Last night Kayla had a preschool musical show.  Unfortunately she was feeling really sick before, during and after.  She did it though and fell asleep on the way home.  She is feeling much better today. 

Kayla is second from the left.  Sorry zoom is not so good on the iphone!

Rock Star or Crazy Man?

Crazy Man or Rock Star?

We are in trouble!

Ahhh that's better, Kayla calms things down...yea right!

Hey cutie, check out those teeth!!!  She didn't want her hair crazy, just blow dry and brush please Daddy.

Lookin good

too cool for school.

Life is pretty amazing here.  Kids are all doing great.  Strange to think the school year is almost over.  At this time last year we were chomping at the bit to get to China, now we are just chillin.  Haejin and I are super blessed to parent such great kids, belong to such an amazing church, have such a supportive family and have such an amazing God who richly provides for more than we can even ask for!

Slip n Slide

Just wanted you all to have a peek into our fine day today.  We were slip and sliding!  We had a lot of fun.  Kids have never done this before so it was a new adventure.

Things continue to go well with our family.  We are so blessed by God.  Our children all get along well and never fight or argue.  They all listen well and work hard and love other people.  It has been ten months and one day since we met Andrew and life continues to be amazing. We will be going to see some specialists about his hands and feet at the end of this month and the beginning of next.  We are not sure what if any options are available or helpful but we would really like to find some sort of helpful insert for his shoes because his feet hurt whenever he runs...we will see what they say.  If they can't do anything we will look into getting custom made shoes..I am sure those aren't too expensive, right? hahhaha.  Andrew went to outdoor science camp for five days recently.  We were really worried and went back and forth whether to send him or not but decided to let him because he wanted to go.  It turned out ok even though we missed him sorely. 

Ethan placed second in an advanced math class competition.  We was pretty excited to do well.  And he just finished the Harry Potter series.  He is now hunting around for something new. 

Kayla is as cute as ever and is loving her life.  I am sure it is nice to be spoiled by her mother (haha ok by Daddy too)  She is learning to write and practicing "reading" all the time. 

Last week Haejin and I got to spend a couple of days just the two of us.  My mom, thanks mom, watched the kids and we were able to stay in our own home alone.  Those with kids know what a treat this is. 

Church is going well and we are really blessed to pastor the church God has given us.  We really enjoy all the people and are excited about the things we think God is going to do in the lives of our church members. 

We hope all our friends are blessed and enjoying life.  God is good.  Much Love.

Go Ethan!!!

 Nice action shot Andrew!

 Cutest slider ever!!! Kayla!

 Kids at the park...hmmm why isn't my wife ever at these adventures?  I'm gonna have to talk to her about that!

 Andrew headed off to outdoor science camp..cry :(

Slip n Slide!