Pumpkin Time

This year a fellow teacher organized for 'real' orange pumpkins to be sold at school. I say 'real' because Korean pumpkins are small and green. Though they were not pumpkins as we know in America, they were softer and a lighter orange, they still worked for carving. This was Zachary's first time 'carving' pumpkins and I say that lightly because it wasn't his favorite activity. Here is how the day went.


Here are our pumpkins. One for Zachary, one for Shelby Grace and one for Mommy and Daddy.

This one is my pumpkin says Zachary.

Mommy cut open the pumpkin. What's inside? Really orange gooey stuff.

Ewww gross mommy- You want me to do what?

Put my hand in where? You can't be serious mommy.

I'll let you do it Mommy. I'll just watch.

Mommy is left to clean out the pumpkins on her own.

If you just pretend to stick your hand in the pumpkin Zachary, I'll give you a piece of candy. You don't have to touch anything. Candy?!! OK!

**While Mommy cleaned out the pumpkins, Daddy and Zachary looked at pictures of jack-o-lanterns on the computer because Zachary had no idea what one was. :) **

Here is my pumpkin. I picked oval eyes, a triangle nose and a silly mouth.

I love my pumpkin!

Thanks mommy for doing ALL the dirty work!

Chats with Zach- Episode #6

One of my "southern" phrases that I say sometimes is "well, I'll be jiggers" when I'm surprised about something. The last time I said it Zachary replied, "Mommy, you be jiggers?"

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For Zachary the word 'cold' is often code for being tired. When we came home last night, we got out of the car and Zachary said "I'm very cold so I need to go straight to bed."

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We were at a friend's birthday party last night and they have a little dog named Yoda. Zachary had been playing with the all the kids in the back room and came out to tell me "Mommy, Yoda's woofing in the house."

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Yesterday Zachary wanted to play the Wii but I was feeding Shelby Grace and daddy was gone. I told him that he could play if he could switch the DVD chords and Wii chords. Again he replied as he did the other day, "I can't do it because I don't know my colors. I only know red, blue and brown."

I replied, "Well I guess you don't get to play the Wii right now. "

Zachary responded quickly with "Oh I do know my colors now!"

God is in Control!

On Monday, Patrick, Shelby Grace, and I traveled to Seoul to apply for Shelby Grace's US passport. We've got to have that passport so we can bring her home with us to meet everyone at Christmas :). Shelby Grace got to ride the KTX train for the first time and visit Seoul at only two weeks old. I was hoping to photograph our process at the embassy but they made us turn in our camera and cell phone before heading inside.

(Shelby Grace on her first KTX train ride)

The process of filing her birth with the United States is so much easier here in Korea than in America. We took the paperwork we needed to the embassy, waited for our number to be called, turned in our paperwork, paid, had an interview with an agent and left. Her passport will be available in 2-3 weeks! It takes months is feels like in the states! I think we will be renewing our passports over here from now on!

We were finished by 11:00 and didn't have to be back in Taejon until 5:00 to pick up Zachary so we decided to explore Seoul a little bit and check out Itaewon- major shopping area with lots of US stores and products. We were really hoping to connect with some friends of ours from Toccoa who had come to Seoul to adopt a baby girl. We had connected by email but stupid me gave them my old cell phone number instead of my new one. A lot of good that does! It's wonderful that God can look past my stupidity and make things happen anyway. As we walked around Itaewon we passed by many a store and then decided to walk inside a shopping area with lots of stores and ran into our friends, Kris and Jen Howell! How awesome it was to see them after almost 10 years and get to hang out with them for a couple hours while that anxiously awaited meeting their precious Molly. We had such a wonderful time with them are so thankful that God is in control of all things even through our own stupidity.


To see pics of Jen and Kris' precious little girl and follow their story, check out their blog http://thenighthowells.blogspot.com/

Shelby Grace's room

It's finally done! I have finished decorating Shelby Grace's room, at least for now anyways. Having a girl is so much fun!

A friend here helped me paint canvases to hang over her crib. I did the background and she painted the letters.
The crib includes free bedding a very kind friend of a friend of mine. The purple gingham was perfect for what I wanted to do in the room.
A wall hanging from Hong Kong
The finished view from the doorway
Zachary helped me rub on some the flower stickers. What a great big brother!

Life with Zachary (aka Chats with Zach with pictures)

Life with Zachary is an adventure. He is always on the go these. He is all boy who always has his hands into everything. Zachary speaks pretty fluently these days which adds to all the fun. He has a mind of his own. You never know what he is going to do or what he is going to say. Thought we would share a bit of his silliness from the past week. These even include pictures :).

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Zachary had too go to the bathroom during dinner the other night. We took his pants off in the kitchen so he could run to the bathroom. However he enjoys kicking off his pants and underwear sometimes. As you can see, he is pointing to where his underwear landed.

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Zachary has had a fascination with necklaces since he was little. He used to wear them all the time, even three or four different ones at a time. We still have some of the necklaces even thought he doesn't wear them as often. The other day he got them out and was wearing them. He gave one to daddy and asked him to put the necklace on his ears just like him. "Why?" we asked. Zachary replied, "So we can be grandma!"

Of course! It's the chain on grandma's glasses- doesn't everyone know that?!

This one was just too funny not to add :).

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This last story is not behavior that we condone for safety reasons but just thought it was funny once we figured out what he was doing. During dinner tonight, Zachary wouldn't sit still or eat at all. We eventually let him up from the table with him knowing this was dinner and he wouldn't get anything else to eat. So for awhile, he played 'quietly' in Shelby Grace's room while we ate. He kept coming out to show us some things he found, little yellow tassels. We couldn't figure out where he got them from and then we realized they were from a Chinese lantern Patrick had brought back from Hong Kong for Shelby Grace's room.

We went in the room to stop him from pulling the tassels off. It was then we realized that he had gotten the scissors that mommy had been using to decorate Shelby Grace's room with out of the crib and wasn't pulling the tassels off but cutting them! Why was he cutting the tassels off? Not to play with the tassels but to get the little green 'ball' (aka the bead) that was attached to the yellow tassel. We asked him to show us how to get the green balls off and he showed us exactly what he had done with the scissors. Then proceeded to to proudly count the five green balls he had cut off the lantern.

Lessons learned-
1. Don't leave scissors out where a 3 year old can get them.
2. If Zachary is quiet in a room by himself- that is not always a good thing!

Zachary is a good little monkey but always very curious :).

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A couple more silly phrases he has said lately that I just have to add.

1. "I'm cold so I have to go poo poo."
2. When asked to change the DVD chords to the Wii chords on the TV, he gave because he said he couldn't do it even though he has done it many times before. Why? "I can't do it because I don't know my colors now because I'm not tall like Kacy."
3. He told a teacher at school whom he has called his "green friend" since last year because she had on a green shirt one day, "I don't think I can call you my green friend anymore, you are wearing black."
4. While driving home from TGIFridays last night (seriously this was one sentences :) )- "This is the way to grandma's house and we will drive there and we will go to the gas station and get tires because we need gas and then we will drive home and go on an airplane at the airport in our blue car."

Mommy, that's Shelby Grace's song!

Zachary has grown up to be such a musical little boy. I am so excited that he loves to sing and play instruments. For a three year old, he has pretty good rhythm and is able to carry a tune. He has amazed us with his ability. Ever since he was born, I would sing him to sleep at night. Many times when he was an infant, I would be up in the middle of the night singing hymns to him to try and get him to go back to sleep. Over time he seemed to pick one song that he would fall asleep to and to this day asks for at night. I can't sing anything else but "My Jesus I Love Thee" and I wouldn't have it any other way. To know that my son falls asleep to with the thoughts of Jesus dying to save him does my heart good.

Now that Shelby Grace is here, I've been trying to figure out what her song was going to be. I have been doing a Bible study on the Psalms so two songs have been on my heart and mind lately. I have been singing "I Lift My Eyes Up"taken from Psalm 121 and "He Knows My Name" based on Psalm 139 along with Jeremiah 1:5. As Zachary has heard me singing to Shelby Grace during the first 2 weeks of her life, he has decided that "He Knows My Name", or "I have a Maker" as he calls it, is Shelby Grace's song. I couldn't pick a better message to sing to her and have her be reminded that God has created her exactly as he wanted her to be.

When my parents were here, my mom was laying down with Zachary at bedtime one night and he asked to listen to some music at bedtime. He wanted to listen to "daddy's" music. There was a Six Steps worship CD in the CD player. They laid there for awhile listening to the music and my mom thought Zachary had fallen asleep. Next thing she knew, he pops up because "I have a Maker" came on. "That's baby sister's song, that's baby sister's song!!!" I am so thankful that at 3 years old, Zachary enjoys listening to songs about God, can sing most of the words of songs on his worship CD's and can recognize them when played. What a special blessing! My prayer is that the words of these songs are embedded deep in his heart and he will be able to use the words of the songs as encouragement, guidance, or comfort throughout his life. May the same love of music be instilled in Shelby Grace as well.

May we all be reminded today that there is God up above who loves us, created us just as we are and knows our name. He cares about every part of our lives and is with us wherever we go. May the words of Shelby Grace's song be an encouragement to you today.

He Knows My Name
Words and Music by Tommy Walker
© 1996 Doulos Publishing

Jeremiah 1:5"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee."

I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands

Chorus
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
and He hears me when I call

I have a Father
He calls me His own
He’ll never leave me
No matter where I go

Chorus
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
and He hears me when I call

Zachary's 3rd Birthday (well almost)

We have been telling Zachary for so long now that after baby sister came out of mommy's tummy he would turn three. So naturally one of the first questions he asked after Shelby Grace was born was "Am I 3 now?" We told him his birthday was close but not yet. So just to confuse him more, we had his birthday party a week early while Grandma and Papa were still here visiting. How do you tell a three year old that he is still not three yet after all of that? So for now Zachary is three years old even though his birthday is still 5 days away.

We celebrated Zachary's birthday at school on Monday with a 'ball party.' Zachary has grown up a lot over the last three years but one thing that has never changed is his obsession for balls. Of course, this makes a party theme really easy when you have a large grassy field and a good friend in the PE department who lets you use anything out of the equipment closet. I never thought that 9 days out of major surgery that resulted in a newborn baby, would I be throwing a 3-year old birthday party. Of course it would never have made it if it were not for mom being in Korea and doing most of the prep work. The party was a success. The kids had fun and we weren't too exhausted at the end of the party. I now have a happy 3 year old who has great friends and is so proud to be three.

Happy Birthday Zachary! We love you!

Shelby Grace sleeps through the party Zachary's friends- It's party time!

Searching for ball pictures hidden around the room

Playing outside with all kinds of balls

Ready for some relays

Zachary's ball cake

Make a wish!

opening presents
What's a party without balloons?

Big Brother

Now that Shelby Grace is here, Zachary has turned out to be the best big brother ever. Did you ever think he would be anything but the best big brother? He is so sweet to her and loves to give her hugs and kisses. The first time Zachary got to hold her he was pretty proud but at the same time not so sure. For some reason, Koreans do not give babies a bath right away. So for most of her first day of life, Shelby Grace was pretty dirty and still covered in new baby gunk. Zachary liked holding her but when we asked him to give her a kiss, his comment was, "No, she's dirty." Once she had a bath and kisses and hugs have overflowed from this great big brother.

Before Shelby Grace was born, Zachary had been sleeping with a blanket that was bought for her. We had been telling him that when she arrived, he had to give the blanket back. He is such a thoughtful boy that when Grandpa brought Zachary to the hospital the day after she was born, he brought the blanket to her on his own. No one prompted him or asked him to do it. Since then, he is making sure she always has the purple blanket with him. I think Shelby Grace is going to be well looked after. :)

Here are some pictures of the wonderful big brother in action.

Mommy and her two wonderful children

The Sassy Big Brother

( I just had to add this picture. It's just too funny to me :) )

I think I have the handsomest little boy and the prettiest little girl. What do you think?
Zachary wanted to be swaddled just like baby sister. His blanket was a little bit bigger than hers but I think he is pretty cozy.
Carrying a present home that someone brought baby sister. It his "backpack."
Welcome Home Shelby Grace!
Let me open the door for you, baby sister.

This is your crib and your room, baby sister.

I love my baby sister!