Happy Lunar New Year!

Lunar New Year is a big holiday here in Korea. We get a long break for Lunar because Korean families have big get togethers over this holiday. Since we have been in Korea I have learned more and more about the Chinese zodiac and actually have learned what year each of us was born in.

Patrick- Rabbit

Jennifer- Horse

Zachary- Rooster

Shelby Grace- Rat

To read about the characteristics of each go to http://www.chinesezodiac.com/index.php

It's acutally quite interesting to read. Patrick and I got a a good laugh when reading about each one of us. We are in big trouble to as Rabbits and Horses are supposedly not compatible with Rats. We are looking forward to what Shelby Grace is going to bring our way! :)

This year brings in the year of the Ox. We rang in the Lunar New Year with a Ox shaped ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. It was quite delicious and tasted nothing like Ox but very chocolaty instead :). Can't wait to enjoy the Tiger next year!

Cuddly Duddly

Mommy's friend Mrs. Sarah made Zachary a hooded towel when he was a baby. Before we came to Korea, she made me one for our 'next baby' whenever he or she arrived. I don't know why it took me so long to remember that I had it with us. I love her towels so much better than those little baby towels. Shelby Grace loves the big cuddly towel. She just smiles and smiles when she is wrapped in it. She loves to lift it up over her face and then chews on it. Thanks Mrs. Sarah for the cuddly towel! We think of you every night at bath time!

3 months old

Double Special Music

I am way behind in my blogging and plan to skip a few things but I have to post about this. Before we left to return to Korea, Zachary and Mommy got to sing special music at church. What a special blessing to be able to sing praises to Jesus with my son. We didn't sing a 'kid' song but instead sang the workship song "You Never Let Go" by Matt Redman. It's Zachary's favorite worship song. My only regret of the day is that I didn't get it on video. :( Hopefully he will sing with me again soon.

Christmas 2008- part 4

Traditionally Christmas Day is spent at Uncle Rackley's house. Thankfully, we got to do that this year since we were home. On my mom's side of the family, we had four babies born this past year, 2 girls and 2 boys. Though we weren't able to get all the babies together yet, we did get the girls together. Riley and Shelby Grace got to meet for the first time on Christmas Day. I think we have a pretty cute family growing here! Riley is one month older than Shelby Grace. It's amazing how much difference one month makes when it comes to baby growth and development.

Zachary enjoyed getting to spend some time with cousin David. David let Zachary play with his iPhone and even found him Pororo to watch. Pororo is a Korean cartoon that Zachary really enjoys.

Of course we had to bring the Wii to play. Zachary showed off his Mario Cart skills.

Our family is big on 'tradition' and usually eat the same things every year. We did have the traditional foods for lunch; turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes. But for dinner, we decided to cook our family a Korean meal. I learned how to make bulgogi from scratch instead of just buying it premarinated at Costco. Bulgogi is Korean beef stir fry that you eat with rice wrapped in lettuce. My mom learned how to slice up the beef and I made a marinade from a variety of recipes combined. I even found an Asian pear in Food Lion! It actually turned out pretty yummy and our family actually ate it and ENJOYED it!

Christmas 2008- part 3

Thanks to jet lag, Christmas morning came extra early, 4:00 to be exact. We expected that would happen so we had decided the night before that one person would get up with Zachary, keep the presents covered, and have Christmas morning at a decent hour. Luckily, he's not old enough to really understand Santa and we didn't push it much this year at all so Christmas morning was just like a regular day to Zachary until we all woke up. Christmas finally started around 7:00 when we sent Zachary upstairs to get Grandma and Papa and we uncovered the presents Santa left. He had played around them all morning and never even looked under the blanket!!!

Wow look at all these toys! A blue Mater!!! Lightening with his tongue sticking out!!! He's silly mommy!
Watch my cars crash each other when they race in the Piston Cup!

Say cheese mommy!

Zachary got tons of great gifts as you can see from the piles around him. However his favorites were the rocket and Luigi figurine that came in his and Daddy's stocking. He wouldn't put them down and didn't care about any other present. Had I realized he would have loved them that much, I could have saved lots of money!

Zachary was so excited about the present he had picked out for me. It's a necklace with a 'ball' charm on it. He thinks it is so pretty and wants me to wear it all the time. Now that we have two kids, I wanted to start the matching pajama tradition. I had so much trouble choosing online. Next year we go with footsie pajamas. Mom and Patrick made so much fun of my Christmas Tree camoflouge pj's. Not to bad for Zachary but they are pretty silly on Shelby Grace. Oh well! They are still pretty cute!Shelby Grace didn't get up until way after everyone else so Zachary had to help her open her gifts. Like my new hat?Merry Christmas from the Pinho's- Korean Style!

Christmas 2008 part 2- Gingerbread houses

This was the year to make gingerbread houses. I'm so thankful for Wilton who puts everything you need in a kit. I remember when I was kid and mom actually made the gingerbread pieces from scratch. Wow what a chore! We didn't know how good we had it back then. Zachary, Shelby Grace, Grandma and I made one at Grandma's house. I had to learn to let a three year old decorate it and not let it be the 'perfectly' deocrated house that I would design. He did a pretty good job though and add his own special flair to the house.

Of course Zachary enjoyed eating the candy abotu as much as he did putting it on the house. What could be better than decorating a house with tiny colored balls?!

My ABC addicted son had to add letters to the house. Z for Zachary of course, S for Shelby Grace and Seth, N for Nikita and Nina. Where woudl Zachary be without letters or his friends? :)

Shelby Grace even got in on the decorating action.

MMMMMM....Licking the icing is the best part mom!

Zachary got to build another gingerbread house with great grandma Nonna on Christmas Eve. He became a gingerbread decorating pro!

Nonnna was a little more particular than Mommy and we tried to follow the pattern a little more than our free design before.

Where did that peppermint go? We kept loosing peppermints inside the house as the roof woudl slide apart.Look mom, I've got one eye like my gingerbread man!

We had lots of fun decorating houses this year. We even bought some kits after Christmas to take back with us to Korea next year. Run, run, run, As fast as you can...you can't catch me...I'm the gingerbread man!

Christmas 2008 part 1

We went to see The Living Christmas Tree at Tabernacle Baptist Church. My friend Sarah from college and her family were part of the living nativity. Grandma waited to decorate her tree until we all arrived in Raleigh. Zachary enjoyed helping Grandma. Of course Grandma had new things on her tree, ivory snow and icicles.

I think Grandma had more fun decorating Zachary!

It's so nice to be home with Grandma and Papa for Christmas!

Shelby Grace Meets the Ervins

Shelby Grace and I got to come home to NC a little earlier than Patrick and Zachary since I was on maternity leave. She got to meet my dad's family. Her smiles showed she had a good time. Great Uncle Craig
Great Aunt Peggy

Great Grandma Nonna

After a long flight and lots of jet lag, Papa makes a pretty good pillow.

The True Sign of a TCK

The term TCK (Third Culture Kid) refers to a kid who is brought up in a country different from their home country. Zachary is a TCK because his home country is the US but he is growing up in Korea. Tonight for dinner he exemplified being a TCK in its true form. When he was asked what he wanted for dinner he relpied, "Mandu....and grits!" What a great combination!

The Good Korean Samaritan

When Shelby Grace was born we put a sticky note on our doorbell to try and keep people from waking her and Zachary up. OK so really it is for Zachary because Shelby Grace can sleep through anything. This Korean doorbell is actually a video intercom system and the ring is so horribly loud. Because we didn't know how to write it in Korean, Patrick drew a picture of a sleeping baby with the ZZZZ's over its head and a big 'X' to try and communicate not to push the button. Today when we came home from lunch we found this note on our doorbell. We have no idea who wrote this. We can only assume it was our neighbors. Apparently it says "the baby is sleeping" in Korean. I love how they even put the ZZZZ's on the post it note too :).

아기가 자고 있어 요 pronounced Akikah chago eesae-yo

아기가 -akikah- baby

자고- chago-sleeps

Shelby Grace's Dedication

Today we had the special privilege to dedicate our little Shelby Grace to the Lord. We follow the model of Hannah in the Bible. She prayed for many years to have a child and promises to dedicate the child to God's service if He blessed her with a child. Shelby Grace was prayed for baby. It was this time last year when I was really struggling with why God had not blessed us with another child and watched while so many friends and family were getting pregnant. We had to trust God for his perfect plan and perfect timing. Even though I didn't really deserve this gift of another child he has blessed us in this way and we acknowledge that she is a gift of the Lord. Her name Shelby Grace Makana reflects that she is our "gracious gift." It was hard having this special occasion in another country and not with our home church and close family. But God has blessed us with a home here in Korea. We have a loving church family with a God-fearing pastor to lead us. We may not have a 'blood related' family here but we have a very large spiritual family that we are blessed with.

So today Patrick and I were asked the following:

Patrick and Jennifer, you are bringing Shelby Grace Makana into God’s presence to be dedicated to Him. By this statement of faith do you commit that together you will raise her/him in a way that pleases God by instructing her in God’s Word, by introducing her to Christ’s love and her need for His salvation, by modeling godliness in your home & marriage, by protecting her from evil influences, by teaching her to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and by regularly fellowshipping with other believers in a Christ-centered church family?

Wow what a vow to keep! The only way this will be possible is if we keep our eyes focused on God and His plan for our family.

Our church congregation was asked to make a vow as well.

Members of Christian International Church, today Patrick and Jennifer are bringing Shelby Grace into God’s presence to be dedicated to Him. Do you as a church family commit to surround them with the Love, Grace and Truth of the Body of Christ Jesus; will you stand with them in prayer, speak the truth in love into their lives, serve them in humility and encourage them in the Word of God; Do you receive Shelby Grace Makana as a blessing from the Lord to be instructed, protected and blessed in this fellowship of believers?

We are so blessed to have a family behind us who has vowed to do these things for our family. We are triple blessed because we know that we have a church family in Honolulu and Raleigh that are doing the same for us.

Pastor Tom Norton and our family

Zachary had to tell us during the dedication that he wanted to go home. :) Gotta love life with a three year old!

Our growing family

One special part of today is that Shelby Grace was wearing the dress that I was dedicated in as a baby. I am so thankful that 30 years ago, my parents made this same vow to guide me to a personal walk with Jesus and instill in me a love for God. I wouldn't be in Korea today if it wasn't for my parents raising me with strong Christian values, in a fellowship of believers who had a love and desire for world missions. Where will Shelby Grace be in 30 years? My prayers is that wherever she is whether the United States or another country, that she is fulfilling the plan God has for her and she is living to serve Him.

The blanket in the pictures also has significance. It was crocheted for my by my grandmother Dawson. My family couldn't physically be here with us today but they were here in spirit.

After church we went out to lunch with our Korea family to TGI Fridays. Our family includes Matt & Amy Evans, Ellen Sligh, Anna Stephenson, Lyndsey Gangel, Kirk & Lisa Hawkins with Hayley and Seth, and Darren & Laura Price with Kacy and Sara.