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!