Saturday, January 8, 2011

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...

Saturday, January 1, 2011

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.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Heartache

2 weeks of heartache...

A friend's 13-month-old daughter passed away in her sleep last week. I have no words, just tears...

My teenage foster daughter longs for her family during Christmas, but is not allowed to see them. My heart hurts because she is hurting so much...

Oh Lord, there are so many tears on this earth. Please come soon.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Dates with my boys

Date #1
Jadon to Disneyland

I took Jadon to Disneyland at the end of the day on his 4th birthday. It's the only time I could go alone! :) We rushed over there, took the Monorail into Disneyland, rode on the Nemo submarine, then the park closed. Although it was such a short time, Jadon still loved it!

At the end of Nemo, he looked at me and smiled, "Mama, that was fun." Of course he wanted to go again, but alas the park was closed. We headed down Main Street and walked into a store, where Jadon saw a wallet he wanted. I wanted to use my Disney Reward Dollars, but unfortunately I had to request it online first. I explained to Jadon what had to happen, that we had to wait for a card to come in the mail before purchasing the wallet. He agreed to wait without a pout! Praise God for his great attitude!
We walked out to Downtown Disney where he had his first funnel cake. Then we headed over to the Lego store to play there a little. Having a date with my little guy was so fun! It's rare that I get alone time with him and it was such a blessing to have just him! He was definitely on his best behavior without any warnings or threats.


Date #2
Josiah to Disneyland

I wanted to take Josiah alone before my pass expired on my birthday so we went on Tuesday night. He was pretty good about not saying anything to Jadon all day, but he had to tell the Seo kids during their piano lesson. :)
We left after dinner and Jadon was pretty understanding that it was Josiah's turn. I left promising him a wallet when I got back home. He had a good time with Baba anyway, watching Harry Potter at home!
Josiah said his favorite ride is Toy Story Mania so we headed to California Adventure after getting Jadon's wallet. (My Reward Dollars had since arrived in the mail.) While in Disneyland, we experienced snow on Main Street! How cool is that!

He wanted to go on two more rides, but it was almost closing so I explained that we might only have time for one ride. He chose his favorite one. This coming weekend Disneyland starts closing after 8pm.

We had a great time in line playing Rock, Scissors, Paper and chatting. Josiah has developed quite a fearful fascination with coyotes. He remembered that there were a couple of coyotes one night in our backyard last year. About 2 months ago, he's been asking very specific questions and making comments:

When do coyotes come to our house?
What do they eat?
Why do they eat children?
I hate coyotes.
Do coyotes come out at night? (as he's watching the garage door close before he heads into the house)
After Toy Story Mania, California Adventure was closed but we stayed until 8:25 watching Disney's World of Color from the back side. World of Color is pretty cool, like Bellagio on steroids. Josiah was ready for Downtown Disney after about 10 minutes. As we left the park Josiah said, "Thank you for letting me stay up late!

We hung out at the World of Disney store picking out gifts for Jackie, Jadon, and Jer. Josiah had to decide how to allocate the $20 we had left on the Disney Rewards card.

We also swung by the Lego store to look at the cool creations. We left just before 10pm. Josiah realized that he was suddenly very tired. We waited for the tram to take us back to the parking lot. As we walked to the car, he said, "I wish someone could pick us up and drive us home because we're so tired. My stomach hurts and my feet hurt."

M: "Why do you want someone else to take us home? I'm driving."
J: "I don't want you to do so much work."

So sweet! I love our little discussions and Josiah's growing knowledge of the Lord.


Date #3
Jer to Octopus

My birthday dinner! We left the house after putting the boys down. Josiah had a MAJOR meltdown! He has never cried about us leaving the house before. He was sobbing uncontrollably, almost throwing up! He said he didn't want me to go out on my birthday, that he wanted me to eat at home. After about 15 minutes of this crazy meltdown, he was armed with his stuffed tiger (who would scare the coyotes) and my cell phone. :) Jer had his bluetooth in for about 30 minutes before we decided that Josiah had fallen asleep.

First we picked up a new beach cruiser for Jackie from a friend a couple of streets away. My mom wanted to get Jackie a bike for Christmas. Time Warner's internet service was out so we also had to get our coupon printed for dinner from Tina's house. She came by to pick up her daughter from piano and I was telling her about waiting for our internet service to come back on. She volunteered to let us use her printer. Thanks!!!!
Yummy dinner at Octopus Restaurant! I had panko salmon and shared a Black Dragon (avocado & eel) roll. Jer had Beef Yakiniku. We are so tired when we go out on dates that we just eat, talk, and go home once the food is gone. There was one young couple, obviously on their 1st or 2nd date, who was there before and after we arrived. Too sweet!

I love my boys! Judah gets me all the time so we don't have date nights yet. Jackie and I get to bond when we go shopping every once in a while.

Praise God for a plethora of blessings in my family! I never thought that after 33 years, I'd be in SoCal with a wonderful husband and four kids!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Valentine Card 2010

Simple Heart Valentine's Day 5x7 folded card
Unique party invitations and greeting cards by Shutterfly.
View the entire collection of cards.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

We have a 4-year-old now!

Happy birthday to my dear 2nd boy Jadon! He challenges me to no end, but has the greatest smile to make up for it! Hehe.

Check out his class photo. Makes us scold him and laugh at the same time! What a memory...

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Something is making me tired...

We spent most of the day at California Adventure yesterday having fun before Jadon's pass expires tomorrow on his birthday. We were driving home after 4pm and I was trying to talk to Jadon to keep him awake so he could attend his sports class. I could tell he was drifting in and out.

Me: Jadon, tell me about your favorite part of today.
J: The train and monorail. (eyes start to shut)
M: Jadon, try to stay awake so you can go play ball.
J: (eyes open quickly) I'm trying, but something is making me tired.
M: (chuckling) Something is making you tired? What is it?
J: I don't know.

Well he didn't make it home awake so he didn't get to go to his class. :(

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Jer and I went to Olive Crest's annual adoption dinner tonight. It was at the Spaghetti Factory, a first for Olive Crest! Usually it's at their office building. It was so nice to eat and chat with other foster and adoptive families about their experiences. One couple sitting with us has 6 children - 4 biological and 2 adopted. The other couple has one child and just got certified to be foster adoptive parents yesterday! We're right in between them, certified 2 and a half years ago and 4 kids later. It's only by God's grace that we are where we are, blessed with all the children we have.

Over 500,000 children in America are in foster care. Over 100,000 of them are available for adoption. Please think about opening up your hearts and homes to a child in need of a family. There are so many right here in our own backyard. We don't all have to adopt internationally. God has brought us through much heartache from being foster parents, but we know this is where He wants us to be and this is what He wants us to do.

There are never enough foster families to take in foster children.