Christmas 2011

Charming Holly Wreath Christmas

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Errands

Yesterday I ran some errands with my boys and had to define "errands."

At the dry cleaners:

Now it's time for grocery shopping! There was a cuter sight of them sitting on the sidewalk waiting for me to get the reusable shopping bags from the car, but I failed to capture that memory. Judah was sucking his thumb, watching me walk back and Josiah and Jadon were goofing off next to him. Here they are walking from the parking lot into Albertson's:

Two Milestones

1. Josiah lost his first tooth!

Josiah: Mama, is the tooth fairy real?

Me: (hesitating) No.

Josiah: It's just for fun?

Me: Yeah, it's just for fun.

I'm so glad he was totally fine with that! He was telling me earlier about his friend Collin who received $5 from the tooth fairy last year. I said he would definitely not be getting $5!

Later on before bedtime...

Jadon: Is Goa-Goa going to put his tooth under his pillow?

Me: Probably
Josiah: Mama, can I have a reward for my tooth?

Me: We'll see. I have to talk with Baba about it first.

2. Judah poops in the toilet now! (Well, at least for the last couple of days...)

Judah: Poo-poo

Me: Ok, let's go to the chee-sau (bathroom in Chinese)

Judah: Tay! (ok)

I sat with him on the first day, left him alone for the second day, then sat with him today! Yay! He's 5 days shy of being 22-months old. I hope this continues so there will be no more diapers to buy!

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And here are all three of the boys on a walk around the block with Misty, then playing soccer in the front yard.

Poor Jadon

On Sunday after church, we brought lunch home from Jack in the Box. Jadon prayed and thanked God for dinner. :)

M: Jadon, you silly. You always get those mixed up. This is lunch. Later, we have dinner. What's the first meal you have in the morning?

Jadon and Jer: (in unison) Cereal.

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Just now Josiah walked down the hall towards the bathroom holding Judah in front of him. Jadon was sitting next to me on the floor playing with Mr. Potato Head.

Josiah: (passing by room) Judah always likes me to hold him.

Me: Judah likes everyone to hold him.

Jadon: (immediately) Except me.

Me: (hugging him) But I like to hold YOU, Jadon!

8 years

I love my JerBear! Well, I don't call him that anymore, but that was one of his first nicknames. :) 8 years and 4 kids later, we're celebrating our anniversary. Who knew we would have ONLY boys and a teenage foster daughter? I am thankful to the Lord for providing me my perfect match to encourage me to love Jesus more every day.

This post is a bit late, as our anniversary is July 5th. We had a nice outing on the 3rd and the 4th. The kids were all divvied up so we were kid-free, well most of the time.

First, we went to Newport Landing near Balboa Island. We won some gift certificates from an Olive Crest dinner last year and this was the best opportunity to use them!

Jer had the top sirloin.

I had the Hawaiian Nut Opakapaka. What a YUMMY fish dish!

Then we walked around the landing and browsed the souvenir shops. Came out of one with some personalized "Dream Rings" to add to our key chains. Jeremy wondered why I liked these things. The God Bless America sign was free, because I showed interest in it. I guess they weren't doing well, selling for $1.00 during Independence Day weekend! The cashier saw me looking at it and said it's FREE! LOL!

After leaving Newport, we went to The Hotel Hanford, just south of South Coast Plaza. Got a great deal from Screamin' Daily Deals for a night there, free breakfast, and some goodies for use at South Coast Plaza. Our favorite was a pass to hang out at the VIP lounge on the second floor of the mall!

We picked up Judah from Tiff and Randy's house the next morning so he got some time with us all by himself. The older boys were with their grandparents and our girl was at a friend's house.

Jeremy and Judah hang out in one of the rooms in the lounge watching TV.

I couldn't pry the goldfish away from the little one!

Judah napped in yet another room in the lounge while I went shopping all by myself! Jer stayed in the lounge watching tv and using the wi-fi. What a relaxing couple of days!

10:03 a.m.

On a rare and relaxed Thursday morning, here's one son:

Here are the other two. These two were just fighting over the green thing in Jadon's hand. Judah just turned around to give me a cheese. :)

5 years ago

After dropping off Jackie at a friend's house earlier tonight, Josiah initiated a conversation during the drive home and brought back some memories.

J: When did Gung-Gung die?

M: (surprised) Um...today! It was today, June 22, 2006. He died 5 years ago. (I hadn't remembered that this was the anniversary of my Daddy's death until Josiah brought it up!)

J: 5 years ago?

M: Yep.

J: Will we see Gung-Gung in heaven?

M: Yes, we will.

J: Yay!

Wow, the simple joy of a child looking forward to heaven already. I wish I could have that kind of reaction every day! Yay, I get to see my Daddy in heaven someday! Or YAY, I finally get to see Jesus in the flesh! Instead, I am preoccupied with my daily duties instead of yearning for the Lord.

Maybe Josiah thought of my dad because he saw a photo on my screen saver this morning. It was of my dad playing with Josiah on the floor in his house. Josiah was around 12-months old. He asked why Gung-Gung didn't have any hair. I explained that the poison killed it and made it fall out. The poison was also killing the sickness that he had.

I miss my Daddy. Crying for him now... I'm happy for the time he had with Josiah, up to 14 months of age. I'm heartbroken that he never got to meet Jadon, Judah, and Jackie. He would have loved them all, spoiling them with his time and with toys. He was so giving, so quiet, and so loving. Now he gets to rejoice in heaven with the Lord.

It was so hard at the end of his life. He couldn't stay awake for very long due to his meds and body shutting down. He was never one to voice his thoughts very much so he didn't give very many last words. He knew he was dying, but never complained. On June 4, just weeks away from death, he finally received Jesus! Praise God! We were all praying for his salvation and God granted it. I wish I would have asked more questions so I could hear more last words from him.

Josiah's simple request

I was walking around picking up things around the house before I returned to the kitchen to find this:

I had to chuckle at how neatly everything was set up! This was Josiah's silent request for his lunch. He had it all set up for me and all I had to do was cook and assemble it. It's his favorite meal for lunch, a "dahn-cheese burrito." I guess he took a break from his schoolwork and ransacked the fridge for these items.

T-ball season is over

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My little...

...stripper! Poor Judah has a 5-year-old onesie that just doesn't stay on his shoulders! This is how he looked after his nap one day. Not sure if he stripped before or after his nap.

And here are the 3 of them at home yesterday with mini tootsie pops. We were meeting with Jackie's high school counselor discussing next year's classes and the counselor had lollipops on her desk. She offered them to even Judah and I said that he had never had a lollipop before. She said, "There's no time like the present." So I gave him one since he was whining away. He was quiet from that point on and all the way home! Poor third child. A sucker before his 2nd birthday!

Growing up

Here are my favorite t-ball Phillies! Can you tell them apart? :)

I absolutely LOVE that they are on the same team. Praise God for this unanticipated blessing! At first we tried to have Josiah on the same team as his friend, but that didn't work out so I requested to have both of my boys on the same team. Yay!!! We don't have to try to be at two places at once!

Little Judah is growing up, too, saying a few words here and there. He's learning sign so easily now, too! I gotta keep those synapses going and not fall behind on those signs! Poor Judah gets way less attention than the first two boys. He's now taken to running around the house instead of merely toddling. He loves playing with his big brothers as they make him laugh!

We're still trying to catch up with growing up into being parents of a teenage girl. God graciously gives us the words to say and the wisdom in when to say them whenever issues arise. We love our Jackie and are thankful she chooses to stay despite our hundreds of mistakes in parenting her! :)

Like father, like son

Check out the progression in technology, too!

Jeremy - 1980

Judah - 2011

sick

Ah yes, another round of coughs has landed in the Yang household. This time, it reached me. It's been a while since I've been inside the whole day, trying to rest and recover. I miss church. I think we've been out of town for 3 weekends, and now this is the 4th that we won't be there due to those darn germs that go around in winter and preschools!

My sweet husband and daughter served me by taking care of the boys and meals. Now, Jeremy is taking Jackie and Josiah to watch a play. Jackie wandered around a theater yesterday afternoon and met a director, who said he would give her two seats to tonight's show. She wanted to take both boys, but I told her that Jadon would not last 2 hours.

I reflect on how God has brought Jeremy and me into foster parenting. It's something we never thought we'd do, yet how funny that we are in this position! There's a need (a child needing a home and family) and God gave us means to meet that need, so there you go.

We originally wanted to adopt a little girl from China, but at the time we wanted to apply, Jeremy wasn't old enough. During one summer when we were church-hopping in 2007, Olive Crest and adoption stories swarmed around us from the pulpit from at least 3 different churches. God planted a seed in our hearts. I kept an Olive Crest flyer at home for several months. Why not look into Olive Crest to adopt?

We called to set up an initial interview. I wanted to start the certification classes right away, but the agency made us wait until Jadon was a year old. So we waited and began as soon as we could. 5 months later, we were certified and anxious for our first call. Josiah was 3 and Jadon was 17-months-old.

Since our profile stated that we wanted to fost-adopt an Asian baby girl between ages 0-2, chances were slim that there would be a match. We then became short-term and emergency shelter foster parents.

An 18-month-old Caucasian girl came first in July of 2008, staying for 5 months and returned home just shy of her 2nd birthday. Then two weeks later (January 2009), a 2-year-old Latina girl stayed for two weeks. A month after that, a BIG and happy 3-month-old Samoan/Latino baby boy came for two weeks. June of 2009 brought a 2.5-year-old Latino boy for a month. In August, Kristy called once again, knowing that I was getting closer to my due date, saying that there was a 10-month-old Caucasian girl needing a home for possibly only a month. The curly-headed blondie stayed with us until two weeks before Judah was born. She was then transferred to another foster home for another 8 months before going back to her mommy.

Whew! After Judah was born, we thought we would take a little break since I was so tired and didn't think I could handle another little one. So instead, God gave us a 15-year-old Chinese girl!

Through foster parenting, the Lord has brought us to places in our marriage and parenting that we NEVER thought we would experience. I mean, who would want to get rejected over and over again by a child you suddenly became a parent to? Who would want to keep persevering, knowing that the child doesn't even want to be a part of your family?

Well, Jesus did all that for us! He died for us and called us His own even though we were not Jews, the chosen children. Even though we shook our hands at Him, He loved us. That is why we continue. There are so many children right here needing homes and loving families. So many children who need the gospel! They need unconditional love, support, parents, siblings, etc.

It is most certainly NOT an easy road. Like parenting, foster and adoptive parenting will turn your lives upside-down and twisted around. Some issues are minor, some are glaringly major. We make a TON of mistakes, yet we continue to pray that God's work is done. Even though we started out with a different goal - international adoption, God placed us where we are now and we would have it no other way.

I guess I've been thinking a lot, lately! This is way longer than anticipated...

Some photos from January:

Lake Arrowhead weekend with the Shears. They have 3 little boys, just like us! Who would have thunk? :) Here are the Daddies and the boys.

Jadon's Dad n' Me Day at his preschool.

Our sweet neighbor Mary Jo, whose house sold in just 2 weeks one week ago! We'll miss her terribly! She's been a great help to me, always willing to sit at my house for 10-20 minutes while the kids nap if I have to run a quick errand.

Moms Night Out with my MOMS Club at The Melting Pot. YUM!!!

Yang Family Lake Arrowhead trip

Missing my Daddy...

This morning Josiah was asking me what things I remember. I told him I remember when he was a baby playing with Poa-Poa (my mom). He said he remembers playing with Gung-Gung (my dad). I highly doubt he remembers playing with my dad, though. He was only 14-months-old when my dad died.

J: I wish I could see Gung-Gung.

M: Me, too.

J: Can he call from heaven?

M: No, he can't... (tears streaming down immediately)

J: Where did he die?
M: At his house.

J: How?

M: He was sleeping and stopped breathing.

J: Why did he die?
M: He was sick and had cancer.

J: What's cancer?
M: A sickness that kills your body.

J: I've never had cancer because I didn't die. Does everyone with cancer die?
M: No, not everyone...

My dad would have enjoyed his grandchildren so much! How I wish he could play with them now...

Happy new year!

Happy new year, everyone! Praise God for precious family and friends.

Last night we hung out with the Shears, but didn't take any pictures. Today we had lunch with Jer's side of the family and then spent the rest of the afternoon with my old roomies and their clans.

Here is everyone minus the Morishitas. My, how we've grown! It started out with just 5 young women roommates at UCLA.