Jae's Traditional Korean Birthday Party (Tol)

Best Rock Concert Ever!!

This is Cole and Jae's favorite thing to play together. Cole will run grab the guitars, hand one to Jae, and they will have a jam session in the living room for me. It is so funny and cute. Cole totally rocks out like a professional while Jae bounces up and down and "sings". I'm their biggest fan and considering making myself a t-shirt.

Happy Birthday Baby Jae!

My little baby turned 1 year old on Sunday! We are so happy to have him home to celebrate this precious milestone. It is such a special day to think of and be grateful to his birth mother and to give thanks for HaJoon's precious life. We had a fun weekend of going to the donut shop, "Touch a Truck" where the boys got to climb all around in police cars, ambulances, garbage trucks, etc., and the outdoor community music festival. Then on Sunday we had a few friends over for lunch and a small birthday party for Jae. Thursday we will be having his traditional Tol (Korean Birthday) party with his grandparents. We can't wait!

Jae is walking...well running, jabbering, eating everything in sight and never stops moving! He is so much fun and is just a perfect addition to our family. He watches big brother constantly and wants to do everything he is doing. One of my favorite things Jae does is sometimes he will lay on the floor, pull his shirt up and tickle his tummy until he starts laughing out loud! (How cute is that?) Here are just a few pictures - I will post more after his Tol party.

Cole and Jae got to share one more piece of watermelon before bed!

Happy Forever Family Day Thai Thanh!

We cannot believe it has been two years since the day we walked out of the orphanage in Can Tho holding you. What a perfect and beautiful son you are Cole Thai. We love you everything about you:
you are so funny and make us laugh all the time
you are so sensitive and love to snuggle
you are so kind
you tell mommy how much you love her all the time (you know she loves that)
you love to "rock" and dance for us
you are an incredible big brother
you are unbelievably smart
you want everyone to be happy
you made us a mommy and daddy
and on and on...

Cole, not a day goes by that we are not thankful to God for making us a family. We love you "THIS" much!!

Mom and Dad

WARNING: Seriously Cute Little Boys!

"What are you doing mom?"

"OH, You're taking my picture AGAIN!?!"

Big brother and I went to the zoo - it was a little chilly!

Best buddies Dylan, Cole and Zak (we attempt to take a picture here often)
Mommy making me laugh. Check out my chompers!
We like this stroller because we can see each other
Bye Bye!

Photo Update!

Jason and Juhee

This post is a tribute post to Jason and Juhee our friends that we got to visit while in Korea. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them - what great friends! They were so nice to pick us up from the airport, get us an international cell phone, check us into our hotel, show us around a bit, take us out to dinner and then out for coffee (all in the first night!). We had a great visit and it was so nice to have them there to help ease us into all that is Korea! We had a really great dinner and Juhee taught us how to say it (Jim-Dak, right?) and they helped us with a few manners like traditional greetings and how to properly serve a drink. Seriously, could they be any cuter??

We talked on the phone several times throughout our trip and got back together for dinner again on Wednesday night. We took a train out to their place. This was a hilarious journey in and of itself complete with Dusty's incredible pronunciations of the stops (cinnamon) and having my personal space invaded in a major way - ha ha! Juhee's mother came and they took us to an incredible place in an old train car and it was SO so good. We had duck that was cooked inside pumpkins and the ritual of how to eat it was half the fun! The soup was spicy and the dumplings were heaven, it was by far our favorite Korean food experience. Thank you to Juhee's mom for treating us! We had hoped to meet up again for more food and fun, but the week went so fast and our baby boy was finally ready to come home with us!



Jason and Juhee, we cannot thank you enough for your hospitality while we were in Korea. You helped make our trip so fun and we really feel like we were able to experience some of the amazing Korean culture so that we will be able to pass that on to Jae. Can't wait until you are here so we can try to repay you!
Dusty and Kathryn

P.S. Estelle and Joe Ted - thank you for all that you did to help us prepare, make calls, etc. You were a great help to us and we cannot wait for you to meet baby Jae!