Almost one year later....
Showing posts with label Evelyn first year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evelyn first year. Show all posts
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Evelyn Grace Baby Dedication
In June 2013 we dedicated Evelyn Grace to the Lord at our Church, Songtan Central Baptist Church. I am posting the video of the dedication for those who were not able to attend. It brought back sweet memories to re-watch it tonight, just a few months short of one year later. We continue to praise God for Evelyn's life and don't take it for granted that she is here with us. Multiple times a day, we lift our prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord for this precious blessing who is here to enjoy life with us today. And enjoy it she most certainly does!
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
A little bit of recently....
Planking and drooling, that's some talent!
Figured out his name, by himself, without us prompting or showing
Some last days with two teeth...top ones are swollen and ready to drop any day.
Caleb's best bud Sadie and younger brother Tristan, BBQ on our roof
Starting some solids...so far, sweet potatoes and bananas are her favorite.
Enjoying Daddy time
Crawling everywhere, gaining speed.
Goofs.
We hosted and made pizza for 10 adults and 8 (young!) kids...It was a lot of fun and a lot of food. These were our 7 pizzas waiting for toppings and baking. And this is my kitchen and computer station, smile. Now you can picture me blogging! And cooking dinner....
P.S. Don't ever let me hear you say your home is too small to host people or large groups at...we live in an apartment and we regularly have large groups over....It isn't about having "a big house," people.
Steve reading to Littles.
First pair of jeans.
Baby jeans are just so cute!!
Sleeping beauty baby!
This is not a regular scene in our home these days, the past 6-8 weeks have been pretty miserable in the sleep and nap department...a great prayer request!
Babysitting for friends, no sleep over is complete without games we were told!
Or bedtime stories...and grumpy looks, apparently.
I have never met someone with a bigger imagination....And he's always got a plan and a story.
Check out that ladle!
He "reads" to her (aka recites the books he has memorized)!
My heart melts!
Books!
Sibling love.
Entertaining Sissy!
"Protecting" himself from Sissy...
She's thinking, "hmmm...how can I get past this one...!?"
His suit from Auntie Renee's wedding is his favorite thing to wear...so he "can be just like Daddy." Not sure what we'll do when he outgrows it....My handsome men of the house.
And our little lady.
Keeps me laughing!
Korean American Friendship Festival 2013
I got out for an all-day adventure in Seoul with some dear girl friends. It was great to "get away", go shopping, enjoy some nummy food (we tried Kimchi fries!! I'll take you if you come visit me!), go shopping and enjoy good company. It was a gorgeous fall day and a refreshing, fun time "away."
You only have 13 days left to buy one of these limited edition tshirts and help us fund our adoption!
We have sold 52 shirts and have 198 to go to reach our goal.
There are a few pictures from our recently...What have you been up to?
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
8 Months!
Dear Baby Evelyn Grace,
My how time flies! You are 8 months old this week. The Lord has blessed you with 8 months of life that have filled our hearts to overflowing and brought a new level of joy to our family.
You have an infectious smile that beams from ear to ear and scrunches up your precious cheeks and little nose. You are healthy and full of chunks that we love to squish with kisses. Your precious little hands and feet are reaching to touch everything these days. Your hair has started really growing. You are a very inquisitive little girl, observant and noticing everything. You take it all in, you notice the little things and see the changes - new earrings, a different necklace, a new crumb fallen to the floor, the ways the little balls are attached to the toy, when someone new walks into the room or if someone walks out, if there is a tag on something you will find it.....
Your favorite person in the whole entire world is your brother. Oh how your eyes light up when he comes bounding in. He can get smiles through your tears, he makes you giggle harder than anyone (except maybe your Daddy), and you watch him intently. Now that you are more and more mobile, you like to scoot over to him and play with whatever he is playing with....You just can't get enough of your "bra bra." We refer to him as "Brother" often and recently you have started very obviously calling him. He is overjoyed that, "She knows my name!!!!"
You have 2 little bottom teeth now and have started taking some bites of "real" food these past weeks - avocado, a little apple and sweet potatoes. You love your sweet potatoes, promptly reminding me to give you "more please." You love to drink out of real cups (and can do it fairly well on your own, surprisingly).
You love your bath time, your stacking cups, and splash splash splashing. Your favorite toy is our Little People barn and farm animals. You seem to enjoy "planking" and "doing push ups" or at least you find yourself doing them often....
Today I met someone who I didn't know and she introduced herself as having prayed for you back in January. It brought immediate tears to my eyes. I love that. So many people have prayed for you - and here you are! Enjoying your 8th month of life BECAUSE OF THOSE VERY PRAYERS and because God answered. Enjoy it sweet Baby Girl. Enjoy every moment. We sure are and we soak it up - soak you up - every last smooshy beautiful smiley second we can breathe in.
We love you.
Always and Forever, Mama, Dada and BraBra
My how time flies! You are 8 months old this week. The Lord has blessed you with 8 months of life that have filled our hearts to overflowing and brought a new level of joy to our family.
You have an infectious smile that beams from ear to ear and scrunches up your precious cheeks and little nose. You are healthy and full of chunks that we love to squish with kisses. Your precious little hands and feet are reaching to touch everything these days. Your hair has started really growing. You are a very inquisitive little girl, observant and noticing everything. You take it all in, you notice the little things and see the changes - new earrings, a different necklace, a new crumb fallen to the floor, the ways the little balls are attached to the toy, when someone new walks into the room or if someone walks out, if there is a tag on something you will find it.....
Your favorite person in the whole entire world is your brother. Oh how your eyes light up when he comes bounding in. He can get smiles through your tears, he makes you giggle harder than anyone (except maybe your Daddy), and you watch him intently. Now that you are more and more mobile, you like to scoot over to him and play with whatever he is playing with....You just can't get enough of your "bra bra." We refer to him as "Brother" often and recently you have started very obviously calling him. He is overjoyed that, "She knows my name!!!!"
You have 2 little bottom teeth now and have started taking some bites of "real" food these past weeks - avocado, a little apple and sweet potatoes. You love your sweet potatoes, promptly reminding me to give you "more please." You love to drink out of real cups (and can do it fairly well on your own, surprisingly).
You love your bath time, your stacking cups, and splash splash splashing. Your favorite toy is our Little People barn and farm animals. You seem to enjoy "planking" and "doing push ups" or at least you find yourself doing them often....
Today I met someone who I didn't know and she introduced herself as having prayed for you back in January. It brought immediate tears to my eyes. I love that. So many people have prayed for you - and here you are! Enjoying your 8th month of life BECAUSE OF THOSE VERY PRAYERS and because God answered. Enjoy it sweet Baby Girl. Enjoy every moment. We sure are and we soak it up - soak you up - every last smooshy beautiful smiley second we can breathe in.
We love you.
Always and Forever, Mama, Dada and BraBra
Monday, September 2, 2013
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
What's in a name?
One thing about me: I love names. I like to ask people's middle names, I love finding out what a new baby's name is and I find the process of naming children to be a hugely important, fun and a little bit stressful too! I have found most parents have some type of "guidelines" they go by when naming their babies....some like uncommon names, some like family names, some like to make up their own names, others like Biblical names and so forth. For us, we like traditional/"older" names, we really love the meaning behind names and we prefer names that are less common without being too "out there."
When we found out we were pregnant with our second, we immediately started talking names but waited until we found out she was a girl before really pursuing it. When we were pregnant with Caleb we had a long list of girl names we liked and struggled with finding boy names....but now that we were pregnant with a girl we decided we didn't like most of those names anymore! There were a few we still really liked but for some reason they just didn't feel "right" this time. They were names we might very well use again but neither of us felt like they were "it" for this baby. We had the distinct feeling that she needed a special name.
One day (I remember very clearly), I was riding the Nambu bus up to Mediflower Birthing Center (where we were planning to have a beautiful water birth) and I was thinking of what her name would be.....I realized that we hadn't prayed about it so I prayed and asked the Lord to help us figure out what the "right" name was supposed to be. Literally as soon as I finished praying, the name "Evelyn" came to my mind. At the time, I didn't connect it with the prayer, just thought - "hm. That's a really pretty name! I've never thought of that before. I wonder what it means?" Evelyn was not a name that either of us had ever talked about or thought about before that prayer.
When I got home, I looked it up and found it meant "Life" or "Life giving." I really liked that. It was a beautiful, very girly name, it had a meaning I really liked....now what would Steve think? I decided to wait and see if he would come across it on his own. I didn't want him to just go with it because I liked it. So I played cool. Several weeks later, I casually added it to the growing list of "maybe" names we had started. He didn't say anything or seem very "wow-ed." So I let it go. I waited and secretly kind of hoped he would decide he really liked it too. We kept adding to our list and talking about it.
Fast forward to end of November (I was "due" in February) and we were getting ready to head to the States for my sister-in-love's wedding. Still no name. We both hoped to table the discussion and maybe come to a conclusion later. While I was gone, Steve told me "I think I've decided on a name" I was curious because Evelyn was still my top choice. He wanted to wait to tell me until he got to the States. And I made him go first because I didn't want him to change his mind based on my answer.
His top name choice? Evelyn. :)
Now to find a middle name!
Fast forward again. We arrived back in Korea January 1, 2013 (almost one month before her guess date). Two days later I was in the hospital and we were facing one of the scariest times of our lives. We had learned a new vocab word: Hydrops. And our baby's life was in danger. Then my health began to also deteriorate from her condition.
And then she sat in the NICU, fighting for her LIFE. The whole experience was the hardest thing we have faced as a married couple, possibly the hardest thing we have ever faced, period.
It meant "life" and as we prayed and cried and sat in suspense, awaiting doctor reports and more testing, we clung to her name like a promise from the Lord. The story of how that name came about offered us some measure of hope. Months before, the Lord had known and I believe had answered that prayer: This child will have life.
We didn't know at the time if that meant eternal life with her Maker or if that included physical life here on Earth with us, but it gave us hope. And we clung to it in those frightening days and weeks. The Lord had named her Evelyn and He had a plan and held her in His Hands.
There were several middle names we had thought about but Steve decided in the hospital that Grace would be fitting - knowing that any outcome would be "God's Grace", and praying that He would grant her grace as she fought for her life.
And now that she is healthy and the Lord has graciously granted her 7 months of LIFE, we pray that she will grow to be a gracious woman, marked by His grace and that one day she will be given new life, as a new creation in the Lord. As my favorite blogger frequently reminds us, "All's Grace"
When we found out we were pregnant with our second, we immediately started talking names but waited until we found out she was a girl before really pursuing it. When we were pregnant with Caleb we had a long list of girl names we liked and struggled with finding boy names....but now that we were pregnant with a girl we decided we didn't like most of those names anymore! There were a few we still really liked but for some reason they just didn't feel "right" this time. They were names we might very well use again but neither of us felt like they were "it" for this baby. We had the distinct feeling that she needed a special name.
One day (I remember very clearly), I was riding the Nambu bus up to Mediflower Birthing Center (where we were planning to have a beautiful water birth) and I was thinking of what her name would be.....I realized that we hadn't prayed about it so I prayed and asked the Lord to help us figure out what the "right" name was supposed to be. Literally as soon as I finished praying, the name "Evelyn" came to my mind. At the time, I didn't connect it with the prayer, just thought - "hm. That's a really pretty name! I've never thought of that before. I wonder what it means?" Evelyn was not a name that either of us had ever talked about or thought about before that prayer.
When I got home, I looked it up and found it meant "Life" or "Life giving." I really liked that. It was a beautiful, very girly name, it had a meaning I really liked....now what would Steve think? I decided to wait and see if he would come across it on his own. I didn't want him to just go with it because I liked it. So I played cool. Several weeks later, I casually added it to the growing list of "maybe" names we had started. He didn't say anything or seem very "wow-ed." So I let it go. I waited and secretly kind of hoped he would decide he really liked it too. We kept adding to our list and talking about it.
Fast forward to end of November (I was "due" in February) and we were getting ready to head to the States for my sister-in-love's wedding. Still no name. We both hoped to table the discussion and maybe come to a conclusion later. While I was gone, Steve told me "I think I've decided on a name" I was curious because Evelyn was still my top choice. He wanted to wait to tell me until he got to the States. And I made him go first because I didn't want him to change his mind based on my answer.
His top name choice? Evelyn. :)
Now to find a middle name!
Fast forward again. We arrived back in Korea January 1, 2013 (almost one month before her guess date). Two days later I was in the hospital and we were facing one of the scariest times of our lives. We had learned a new vocab word: Hydrops. And our baby's life was in danger. Then my health began to also deteriorate from her condition.
And we had to get her out. Fast.
And Evelyn was the perfect name.
It meant "life" and as we prayed and cried and sat in suspense, awaiting doctor reports and more testing, we clung to her name like a promise from the Lord. The story of how that name came about offered us some measure of hope. Months before, the Lord had known and I believe had answered that prayer: This child will have life.
We didn't know at the time if that meant eternal life with her Maker or if that included physical life here on Earth with us, but it gave us hope. And we clung to it in those frightening days and weeks. The Lord had named her Evelyn and He had a plan and held her in His Hands.
There were several middle names we had thought about but Steve decided in the hospital that Grace would be fitting - knowing that any outcome would be "God's Grace", and praying that He would grant her grace as she fought for her life.
Evelyn Grace.
It was perfect. Fitting. Her name.
And now that she is healthy and the Lord has graciously granted her 7 months of LIFE, we pray that she will grow to be a gracious woman, marked by His grace and that one day she will be given new life, as a new creation in the Lord. As my favorite blogger frequently reminds us, "All's Grace"
*************
For those of you asking, yes, I do like calling her "Evelyn Grace." I love the tradition in the South to frequently use both first and middle names and I think it is a beautiful testimony to her story. Do I always refer to her as "Evelyn Grace"? No. Do you have to? Not if you don't want to! Do I love it and will we continue to use it and would we love for you to join us in that? Yes!
Family Pictures
We had a very talented student in our youth group who offered to take some family pictures for us this summer! Since getting nice pictures done is quite expensive, this was a generous and greatly appreciated gift of love. We were really happy with what a great job she did and thrilled to have some pictures of Caleb at 3.5 and Evelyn Grace at 6 months and Steve at 30 (ha ha!).
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