So pretty

Look at my pretty bow!
Now I want the bow off!

I received this headband as a gift from a relative and I had to see how it looked. She looks pretty cute! Although she takes it off as soon as I put it on. :)

Nate is feeling much better. He had the final stuff taken out of his nose today. I haven't noticed any snoring yet! I think the Dr. said it takes about a month before the swelling goes down and we'll know for sure if the snoring is gone. Thanks for all of the prayers!

A post with no pictures- sorry!

I'm not sure where our camera is at the moment, so no pictures this time! This past weekend we went to my parent's house. Cardale's family came over for an evening of fun. I love seeing the boys play together. Cardale is getting tall and talking so well! We also celebrated my birthday with my family. Lots of fun!

Caleb had a funny story today. He told me that when he is older and has kids he is going to make a box on the back of their chairs. He will then make alot of PB&J and meat and cheese sandwiches and put them in the box so that he wouldn't have to keep making sandwiches for them. That made me laugh, he's combining his engineer Dad with his cooking Mom- too funny! Caleb also said a very sweet prayer tonight at supper. He prayed for all of the orphans around the world and that they would have families soon and that the people of Haiti would have enough food. I love hearing his prayers.

Isaac has grown alot over the past few months, my kids always seem to grow in the winter. Isaac loves to copy phrases that Caleb says, "Oh man," "What in the world?", and "Oh drat!". He is firmly in the 2 year old stage of testing his independence. My biggest challenge with him is he is still too rough with Julia. He also has moments of sweetness though and he still makes us laugh alot.

Julia has fit in so well with our family. She lights up when Nate comes home and loves it when we all sit on the couch together. She'll roll around between us and crawl all over everyone. She is also laughing now when he flies her in the air. Julia always responds to her name now and she waves "hello and goodbye." I think she is one smart little girl. She also thinks it is funny when we make animal noises. I should pull out my Baby Signs book again. We've used family members to babysit Julia for short amounts of time. In the next couple of weeks we'll start using the nursery and other babysitters.

Tomorrow afternoon Nate is having surgery. His snoring has gotten much worse. They are going to trim his uvula, fix his deviated septum and clear out his nasal passages. Please pray that the surgery goes smoothly and that the recovery isn't too painful- and that this stops his snoring!

Family Life

Julia bonded with Grandpa D
Julia's baptism- Our extended family
Such a happy day!
Spending time with Grandpa J
The Winebrenner's came too!
Hello, beautiful
Isaac was "helping Jew-ya" with her sippy cup- so cute
No, she's not really walking yet
Isaac insisted on trying the chopsticks- and he loved the dry seaweed
Caleb wanted to try as well

Nate's parents arrived at our house on New Year's Eve. I was thankful they arrived! Nate was working, Isaac had an ear infection and Julia had her first cold. I hadn't slept much the night before so on New Year's Eve I was in bed by 10 pm. I am a party animal. Julia warmed up to Dad D. very quickly. Nate had to work most of their visit, but we still enjoyed spending time with them! Julia was baptized this past Sunday. My family and some of our friends came out as well. The service was memorable. Our pastor focused the whole service on adoption and the orphan crisis. We put together a slideshow of families in our church who have adopted and it was very touching. Our pastor also talked about the orphan crisis and how the Bible calls all Christians to care for orphans in some way. I was emotional thru the whole service. There are so many children in need of help and families. I know we can't adopt them all, but I pray God can use us to help others catch the vision!

Today I cooked Korean food for the first time! I made bulgogi (Korean BBQ) in the crockpot. It was good, but I'll use reduced sodium soy sauce next time- it was a little salty. The boys wanted to use the chopsticks and it was fun to watch them. I'll have to buy some training chopsticks online. Isaac also likes the dry seaweed wraps. That is not too surprising because he likes anything salty.

Caleb is back in school now. He had a snow day on Monday and a late start on Tuesday. We have so much snow here, maybe 3 feet on the ground? It's crazy.

Julia is doing well. She sleeps great at night now. We're working on the afternoon nap. She is teething so that makes her a little irritable. She is exploring the house more and entering the curious stage. She has that baby ability of finding little specks on the floor and putting them in her mouth. I guess that is motivation to keep my kitchen floor swept! She raises her arms in the air for "So Big," and shakes her head "no" when we do. She kind of makes a "mum, mum" sound when eating. We've been teaching her "more" and maybe that is her trying to mimic us? She likes to imitate our facial expressions as well. Such a cute, little girl!