Verses I Hold Onto

Update on Eli:
So our little munchkin remained in the church nursery last Sunday for a whole FIVE minutes by himself (wailing the entire time) before the nursery staff unanimously voted to bring him back to us. It should be noted that the newly implemented nursery rule is to keep a child for fifteen minutes before returning him/her to the parent. When they mentioned this at a meeting a few weeks ago, no joke, I turned to the nursery director and asked, "You promise?" Let's just say, I had a feeling. Leave it to Eli to impress everyone with his lungs & stamina. Tell me we don't have a winner on our hands. TELL ME. 

Photo taken by Jude:

Update on Jude:
Our missionary-in-the-making now knows three memory verses (Genesis 1:1, Matthew 16:24, and Proverbs 3:5) and has taught one of them to his L.A. grandma. I also came downstairs one day to find him and Eli sitting together with Jude making a cross with chopsticks and asking Eli, "Who died on the cwoss, Eli? Huh? Who died on the cwoss? JEEEEESUS." I don't know who was cuter-- brother Jude preaching the good news or adorable Eli being so attentive and confused. I realize Jude doesn't yet fully understand these things we teach him, but we continue to pray that one day he will.

"How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you."
Psalm 119:9, 11

Update on Baby #3:
I had my monthly doctor's appointment yesterday and, as with all my pregnancies, this is not one I can coast through. With Jude it was an enlarged kidney in utero. With Eli it was a torn placenta. And it turns out with this one, my Hemoglobinopathyexpialidocious (hemoglobin F) level is elevated and this baby may have a blood disorder. I kept asking the doctor to explain it to me in simple, understandable, Dr. Seuss-like terms, but apparently that is not possible. The most I got out of our discussion was that this disorder is lumped together with sickle cell disease. So now I am praying all the more for a healthy, healthy baby. Any prayers would be mucho appreciated!

"And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well;
the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven."
James 5:15

Jude's First "Nemory Verse"

 
(special thanks to JaneC for one of Jude's favorite PJs this summer)

With the start of the new school year came the start of a new Sunday School program for Jude. I am very excited for him. It's cute, he and Kwang practice his memory verse in their tent every night before bed. As a bonus, it's wonderful to receive compliments on my son's behavior and achievements in class by different people in the church hallway. I fully appreciate this, because I have a sneaky suspicion it will not be at all like this come Eli's turn. If Eli is able to stay in a classroom by himself for a minute without crying, I think my honest response will be, "OH NO HE DI'INT."

So for now I'll leave you with Eli at his cutest doing one of the things he loves most: playing ball. He happens to be wearing one of my favorite PJs of his. I love them because they make him look like a miniature Korean ahjuhshee.

 

Muffin Top

Me: (pointing to my belly) "Do you think this baby is a boy?"
Jude: "No."
Me: Then what do you think it is?"
Jude: "Girl."
Me: "Really?"
Jude: "How about a dog?!"

I've never been fond of pregnancy. I don't feel "the glow", I'm clumsy, and I don't get giddy about maternity clothes. So I am still wearing my normal clothes that are too small to be at all comfortable. That makes me a veritable walking muffin top these days. Lovely, eh? I'm actually a bit surprised and grateful I'm still pregnant. Having to take care of two boys three years old and under while in this condition is not ideal. Jude knows there's a baby inside, but that doesn't seem to stop him from jumping on or running full force into my gut several times a week for, oh, the fun of it. I'm beginning to think it's his way of showing me affection. Lucky me.

Maybe that's why I think my kids look so yummy and kissable when they are sleeping peacefully. Kwang thinks it's odd that I take pictures of them snoozing, but the positions I find them in crack me up. I know parents usually only post pictures where their kids look cute and gap-ad-like, but we must all remember, I am not one of those parents.

Singing to D(ELI)lah in his Plain White Tee

I promise, Jude knows a lot of age-appropriate songs like "Bluebird, Bluebird", "Jesus Loves the Little Children", and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". But for some reason, I seem to want to record the songs he catches from the radio... you know, juuuust in case there isn't enough evidence out there of my questionable parenting:

So I had my first doctor's appointment this week and found out I'm about 11 weeks now. During the ultrasound the midwife said, "The baby is moving quite a bit. It's kicking a lot!" My honest response was, "You mean it already has legs?" She must've wondered where I was the last two times I went through this. She also commented that she believes this is a boy which then made me think to ask, "Can I have a real doctor, please?" Just kidding. While it would be wonderful to have a girl, I fully believe the Lord knows what is best for our family and will provide in His wisdom. I also fully believe that if this is a boy, it is because the Lord does not think the world can handle a girl that looks like Kwang.

 
Helpful tip: Look for a baby shaped like this:

(I don't watch this cartoon, but the ultrasound reminded me of this unpleasant-looking character)

We had the opportunity to dogsit our friends' dog, Wrigley, over the long holiday weekend. We thought it was a great idea since the boys love Wrigley, but Jude doesn't want to return him now. Everytime we'd be out somewhere, Wrigley wouldn't be far from Jude's mind and out of nowhere he would say, "I don't know what's Wrigley doing?"  

Loving his dogsitting duties:

Jude started his 2nd year of pre-school this week. I, of course, dreaded the drop-off and was sad to leave him, but he was too busy playing with the new cars in the classroom to look up and say bye to me. Eli, on the other hand, is super clingy to me these days, even more clingy than his usual clinginess. And when you consider the benchmark he has already set for clinginess, this new level of clinginess is perhaps a level of clinginess the world has never before seen. Did I mention he is clingy?