This is what I get.
I've had kind of a crappy day today. Nothing specific just not such a great day at work and rough evening at home. I was finally sitting down after all the kids went to bed and was just reading when Jaemin woke up. Just a couple of small whimpers. I crawled in his toddler bed with him and just laid beside him. He always strokes my arms when I lay in his bed or he lays in mine. He rubbed my back this morning. I love that I can just lay with him and make him feel better.
It was in no way his birth mother's purpose in life or reason for her pain to make me a mother to a 5th child. It just happened out of free will. But, of this I am thankful to have him in my life forever. He is so amazing and I love him more and more each day if that's possible. I love everything about him and I love just laying there with him breathing on my face.
He is always going to be my unexpected gift.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
TEENAGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have one as of tomorrow morning! Oh my he's 13. Though his grades stink from time-to-time without A LOT of encouragement he's still a pretty good kid...uh, I mean guy?
Happy Birthday Cole!!!!!!!! (Coke Coke as J calls him)
Happy Birthday Cole!!!!!!!! (Coke Coke as J calls him)
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Our Story
Until I get the chance to put our story back on this blog, the way it was on our old blog, here's a copy of the first page. I'll eventually move it to it's own page here as an intro. There's more info on us if you search our 'Post Tags' whether it's regarding living with spinal cord injury, Korean adoptions, a surprise adoption, open-heart surgery etc.
Lisa
All 7 of us!
We have 5 kids, 2 came to us biologically and 3 to us via airplanes. We've been married for 15 years and are now parents to a 12, 9, 7, 4 and 1 year old. We've known since we were engaged I carried a translocation of chromosomes 10 and 14. We lost our very first daughter. After the older boys were born we decided adoption may be a better route for us to have one more child. This epiphany came 7 years and 3 kids ago.
Cole had open heart surgery at 8 1/2 months old for tetralogy of fallot. He was also born with situs inverus and dextro cardia. He is fine now, but will have to be seen by a cardiologist for the rest of his life. He is smart, very active and independent. He gives us a run for our money and things are never dull. His favorite thing to do at home is to play with the babies. He loves babies!
Chase was born with an unrelated birth defect and had two minor corrective surgeries. He is smart, funny and sweet. He likes to play sports and is a ham most of the time.
Kaelin is our, always meant to be, August baby. She is sweet and crazy silly. Her great heart has earned her many friends.
Chelsi was born 10 weeks early at 3 1/2 pounds. She may be small, but mighty....including her voice. :) She is vibrant and smart. A girl full of attitude and life.
Jaemin was our surprise "gift" (as big sister K calls him). He was a sibling call from Korea. We were not expecting any more children and we got him within 3 months of finding out about him. Shocking surprise and the fastest roller coaster ride ever. What a joy my boy is. He is VERY active and a beautiful little boy. Smiles that light up the room.
In 2008, Brian fell, playing basketball, in 2008, and became a walking quadraplegic (replaced C5 after completely crushing it and fractured C6; fused from C4 to C6). It was life changing to go through that experience for our entire family.
Through God's grace we went from the two of us, to the 7 of us. We had no plans for more than 2 or 3 children and really had no idea adoption would be part of the plan. But, God led and we followed. We learned with each adoption that God was there and we stepped in faith more and more believing in Him more and more as each year passed and each child came into our lives.
We are thankful everyday for our unexpected blessings.
I know people don't like labels to describe them, but I will say it. The first two were "born" to us. The last 3 were "adopted" and my husband is a "walking quad" from a spinal cord injury. But these aren't labels to me. Labels determine something. These adjectives are just words that describe who we are/were or how we came to be. They affect us, but they don't determine who we are or what we will be.
Lisa
All 7 of us!
We have 5 kids, 2 came to us biologically and 3 to us via airplanes. We've been married for 15 years and are now parents to a 12, 9, 7, 4 and 1 year old. We've known since we were engaged I carried a translocation of chromosomes 10 and 14. We lost our very first daughter. After the older boys were born we decided adoption may be a better route for us to have one more child. This epiphany came 7 years and 3 kids ago.
Cole had open heart surgery at 8 1/2 months old for tetralogy of fallot. He was also born with situs inverus and dextro cardia. He is fine now, but will have to be seen by a cardiologist for the rest of his life. He is smart, very active and independent. He gives us a run for our money and things are never dull. His favorite thing to do at home is to play with the babies. He loves babies!
Chase was born with an unrelated birth defect and had two minor corrective surgeries. He is smart, funny and sweet. He likes to play sports and is a ham most of the time.
Kaelin is our, always meant to be, August baby. She is sweet and crazy silly. Her great heart has earned her many friends.
Chelsi was born 10 weeks early at 3 1/2 pounds. She may be small, but mighty....including her voice. :) She is vibrant and smart. A girl full of attitude and life.
Jaemin was our surprise "gift" (as big sister K calls him). He was a sibling call from Korea. We were not expecting any more children and we got him within 3 months of finding out about him. Shocking surprise and the fastest roller coaster ride ever. What a joy my boy is. He is VERY active and a beautiful little boy. Smiles that light up the room.
In 2008, Brian fell, playing basketball, in 2008, and became a walking quadraplegic (replaced C5 after completely crushing it and fractured C6; fused from C4 to C6). It was life changing to go through that experience for our entire family.
Through God's grace we went from the two of us, to the 7 of us. We had no plans for more than 2 or 3 children and really had no idea adoption would be part of the plan. But, God led and we followed. We learned with each adoption that God was there and we stepped in faith more and more believing in Him more and more as each year passed and each child came into our lives.
We are thankful everyday for our unexpected blessings.
I know people don't like labels to describe them, but I will say it. The first two were "born" to us. The last 3 were "adopted" and my husband is a "walking quad" from a spinal cord injury. But these aren't labels to me. Labels determine something. These adjectives are just words that describe who we are/were or how we came to be. They affect us, but they don't determine who we are or what we will be.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Yeehaw!
Jae was sick today with a minor fever, so we spent the day watching CMT videos....what's new. Chelsi made a new video. Today's chosen song is Hillbilly Bone so we could get little brother involved.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
My budding gymnast
Okay, maybe maybe not, but she's trying. Chelsi wasn't a huge fan of soccer, so she's trying out gymnastics. She has ambitions of being a cheerleader one day anyways, so good stepping stone, right? She thought it was a little boring, but you gotta start with the basics. You can't flip in the air until you do some other training first, but she doesn't quite buy that. She did have fun nonetheless.
I'm not sure if this is fear or determination. :)
Monday, March 1, 2010
my last dollar
This is how I spend our money. My mom is well....tight. Yes, mom you have gotten better, but you're still pretty much a tightwad. Love you, but you know you are.
From this, though, I have learned to question every penny I spend. Literally, I analyze every penny by looking at bills, receipts, you name it. I think I 'need' a soda some days and realize I just 'want' one. Then, I think about the kidney infection I may get from it and can usually talk myself out of it. I can talk myself out of just about any purchase when I want to. I don't, very often, hear myself say "oh, it's just .35 cents" or "oh that's just a $1 more". That's not in my vocabulary. It's more like "if I don't spend that .50 cents then I'll for sure and easily have the $3 to pay for my water club every month". Yeah, our water at work tastes horrible and hauling in everyday would be heavy since we walk over 3 blocks carrying all of my other items with me daily. A funny story from the other day. I bought some things at Wal-Mart, on clearance for $3, regular priced at $4. They rang up for $4 and I told the cashier they were on sale for $3. She credited them through and put in $3.50. I told her they weren't $3.50, they were $3 and there were two more. She actually asked if it was okay if I just paid $3.50. :) I told her no...she needed to reduce the price of the other two to make up for the one. Of course, I care about .50 cents.
When I go to meetings at work and there are lunch breaks I get my leftovers out and heat them up while others go out. I don't want to eat another $8. That's how I feel. This has kept me well in-check on our budget. I can't even fathom credit card debt. All I envision is buying groceries and years later, after I've eaten all that food, still paying for it. How crazy is that?
Sometimes it's just a psychological game. You gotta play if you want to win.
Obviously all this 'work', kind of lightly used since I'm so used to it now it's second nature, has paid for 3 adoptions and everything else we've needed in our lives. Three adoptions paid off and in the clear. It works...just try it.
Psych yourself out and save!
Lisa
From this, though, I have learned to question every penny I spend. Literally, I analyze every penny by looking at bills, receipts, you name it. I think I 'need' a soda some days and realize I just 'want' one. Then, I think about the kidney infection I may get from it and can usually talk myself out of it. I can talk myself out of just about any purchase when I want to. I don't, very often, hear myself say "oh, it's just .35 cents" or "oh that's just a $1 more". That's not in my vocabulary. It's more like "if I don't spend that .50 cents then I'll for sure and easily have the $3 to pay for my water club every month". Yeah, our water at work tastes horrible and hauling in everyday would be heavy since we walk over 3 blocks carrying all of my other items with me daily. A funny story from the other day. I bought some things at Wal-Mart, on clearance for $3, regular priced at $4. They rang up for $4 and I told the cashier they were on sale for $3. She credited them through and put in $3.50. I told her they weren't $3.50, they were $3 and there were two more. She actually asked if it was okay if I just paid $3.50. :) I told her no...she needed to reduce the price of the other two to make up for the one. Of course, I care about .50 cents.
When I go to meetings at work and there are lunch breaks I get my leftovers out and heat them up while others go out. I don't want to eat another $8. That's how I feel. This has kept me well in-check on our budget. I can't even fathom credit card debt. All I envision is buying groceries and years later, after I've eaten all that food, still paying for it. How crazy is that?
Sometimes it's just a psychological game. You gotta play if you want to win.
Obviously all this 'work', kind of lightly used since I'm so used to it now it's second nature, has paid for 3 adoptions and everything else we've needed in our lives. Three adoptions paid off and in the clear. It works...just try it.
Psych yourself out and save!
Lisa
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