February

Hanboks for the Lunar New Year celebration

Sweetness

He loved this baby

He thought she was cute too

Isaac didn't ask to hold her until right before she left

Julia wanted to keep her

My lovely Grandma

Julia and Sophia

Look at what Dad and I made!

Potty training

Shen-Yun performance at DeVos Hall

When potty training, pants are optional

So during the first weekend of February, Nate went on a men's retreat and enjoyed some snow-skiing.  While he was gone, Bethany called and asked if we would take a short term placement of a newborn.  Like directly from the hospital newborn.  I couldn't get ahold of Nate, so I said yes!  The joke at the men's retreat was Nate leaves for a weekend and he comes home to a new baby.  Baby Kirah was a sweetheart.  She slept all the time- during the day.  She only stayed with us for 5 days, but I was exhausted.  I was surprised at how quickly Julia and Stephen latched on to the baby.  Julia really wanted us to keep her.  When the baby left, Stephen kept asking for baby Kirah.

We also saw the movie The Dropbox with some church friends.  The movie is about a pastor in Korea who put a baby box on his house so babies wouldn't be abandoned in the streets.  The movie brought about good discussion on how do we care for unwed mothers, what pressures does society put on them, how is God calling Christians to care for unwanted children or those with special needs?
I drove into Wheaton to attend a baby shower for my cousin, Megan.  It was nice to go by myself and enjoy time with my female relatives.

Stephen decided to potty train.  I was not ready.  I planned on doing it this summer when it was warm and kids were out of school.  Honestly, he was our easiest child to potty train.  We can't claim any credit, he just took to it quickly. I really wanted to take a picture of the faces Stephen makes when pooping, but decided he wouldn't appreciate that in a few years.  When Nate and I were discussing the possibility of a 4th child, I told God I really wanted another pregnancy- but I didn't want to potty train another kid.  Ha.  Some other funny Stephen memories.  A couple months ago it was quiet so I went searching for him.  He had found lotion and rubbed it all over himself- he was quite proud.  And then a couple weeks later he found the vaseline and rubbed it all over his dresser.

A cute Julia story- Nate mentioned the athlete Julius Pepper.  Julia heard him and said, "Julia's peppers?" And the joke stuck.  To celebrate the Lunar New Year, Julia and I saw Shen-Yun, a Chinese dance troupe.  The costumes, songs and stories were fabulous.

Nate and Caleb went on the cadet winter campout.  They sleep in a cabin, not outside. For a little while, Caleb was writing stories in his free time at home.  He's not doing it anymore, but I remember doing that as a kid too.  I am impressed with the writing exercises at Holland Christian, way beyond what Nate and I did as kids.  While Nate and Caleb were on the campout,  I took the rest of the kids to Hastings.  Isaac and Cardale enjoyed playing together and we always like seeing "moo-ma" and grandpa.

Our family has connected with a Korean-American pastor and his family in Grand Rapids.  They invited us over for dinner and we've enjoyed getting to know them.  We attended his church, Living Water CRC.  The service is in English and the majority of the congregation is Asian.  We all enjoyed the service and Julia loved looking around at all the other Asian families.  After church we went with some of the families to a Korean restaurant.  We then went to the Korean school Julia and I attend.  The school was hosting a Lunar New Year celebration.   They had Korean food samples, games, crafts, and family pictures in hanboks.  The older boys were not excited about putting on hanboks.  But I sweetly told them, they would put them on, we were a family and we do this together.  We are thankful for the new opportunities and friendships God gives us!

January 2015

Winnie the Pooh slippers!

Making ninja stress balls for Caleb's school project

The final product and the final mess

Snowy night

Isaac learned this in school. 

We were in MI while...

they were in FL

Birthday cards

Birthday breakfast in bed

Celebrating Rebecca's 40th birthday

Hibachi restaurant for my birthday dinner- the Packers lost. Can you tell from Caleb's expression?

Reading together or arguing, hard to tell

Eating cereal and milk for the first time, I'm so proud

Selling his product at Market Day

In January, we had more snow days.  Ugh.  Caleb made good use of Christmas break and made his product for market day.  I was impressed with what his class learned about economics, how much it costs to make a product and how much to charge so you have a profit.  He happily sold out of his ninja stress balls and made a nice profit.  Julia took Saturday gymnastic classes during January and the older boys played basketball.

Julia and I started Korean language classes.  She mentioned wanting to learn Korean, so I looked into it.  We found a Korean church in Grand Rapids that has a Korean language school.  The school meets every Sunday from 1-3 pm.  The first time we went, they had us try the preschool class.  It was okay, but Julia wouldn't really learn the language.  We tried the 1st grade class, which was taught in English, but the other kids were beyond Julia's level.  The school worked to help us out and got a teacher for just Julia and I.  Julia likes and dislikes Korean language school.  She has an ear for language, so in the long run I think she will appreciate this.  But, it is challenging to sit for 2 hours and practice reading/writing Korean.  It has been hard to give up Sunday afternoons, but it is worth it.
Nate had a conference in Florida, so he flew down with Julia and dropped her off with the grandparents for a couple days.  Julia enjoyed her one on one time with Grandma.  She swam in the pool, helped Grandma babysit and delivered Meals on Wheels. Julia loves spending time with her grandparents!

I turned 36 this month.  We had a busy day on my birthday, so we celebrated the day after.  The kids had sports in the morning and I taught the foster parent class in the afternoon.  That evening we celebrated Rebecca Peterson's 40th Birthday.  It's kind of fun that my good friend and I have birthdays a day apart.  The next day, Nate helped the kids make me breakfast in bed before church.  They woke me out of a dead sleep and I had to rally quickly to look surprised and happy that they made me breakfast. Ha ha.  That night we had plans to leave Stephen with Tim/Jenny and we would go to a hibachi restaurant with the older kids.  Well, the Packers were playing so we kept delaying our departure.  We finally just had to leave for the restaurant, only to discover the restaurant had the game playing.  Unfortunately, the Packers lost their play off game.  It was hard for Caleb to recover during dinner.  But, we all enjoyed the hibachi experience and I'm thankful for another year!

December

Christmas Eve 

All the DeMaster grandkids

The happy grandparents

We're so cute

Roller skating pros

Queen Elsa dress

Family game of Twister

Washing dishes in the hotel bathtub- hotel living DeMaster style

Waterpark fun

DeMaster family watching the Packers game

Go Packers

Dallas really liked Stephen's present

Queen Elsa making appearances around Holland

Jongsma cousins

Isaac wrote- his gift to give is teaching people math so they can count more.  Julia wrote- she can read to her little brother.

Olliebollen for New Year's Day

In December, Stephanie was still in town for a couple weeks because of Mom's surgery.  Dad, Steph and I saw The Messiah performed at Calvin College.  Always a good Christmas season tradition.  

We finally finished our adoption paperwork and the dossier was sent to China!  It took about a year to get all the paperwork in order.  Now we wait to find out who our daughter is!

During Christmas break, Rebecca Peterson and I took our kids roller skating.  We left Kai and Stephen home with Nate.  The boys all ready knew how to skate.  Julia held my hand for a little bit, but then she did it by herself.  She had a great time.  

On Christmas Eve, our family opened gifts and pretended it was Christmas Day.  We had a relaxing morning and opened gifts.  We gave each child a toy, clothes and a book.  Caleb's toy was a new basketball.  Isaac's was a pogo stick and Julia got a makeup kit.  I can not remember the toy we gave Stephen!  The boys got Packers pajamas.  Julia received a Queen Elsa dress.  She was very excited!  That evening we went to Christmas Memorial church with the Jongsma family.  We went to Tim/Jenny's house for appetizers and opening gifts.  Nate worked Christmas Day, so I went to church with the kids and then went to Hastings for a couple days.  

On Dec 28th, we packed up the truck and drove to Ohio.  We stayed at a hotel/waterpark with Nate's family.  Everyone was there except for Pete.  The kids (and adults) loved the waterpark.  Meals were interesting.  Family units kind of did breakfast and lunch on their own.  Then we did supper all together.  The hotel rooms had a tiny "kitchen."  It was a counter with a microwave and mini fridge.  We brought a big roaster pan and electric griddle along with kitchen utensils.  We cooked soup and spaghetti before we left home and kept it in a cooler.  We then warmed the food up in the roaster.  And washed dishes in the bathtub.  I call it hotel camping, DeMaster style.  The stuff of memories. We opened gifts and just enjoyed spending time together.  We drove home on New Year's Eve day.  We were all exhausted and didn't even try to stay awake til midnight.  On New Year's Day I made olliebollen!  We kind of like keeping this Dutch New Year's tradition.  Besides, who doesn't like fried donuts?