Broken Camera

So our camera is "broken" - not sure if it's more permanently broken or just we just need to mess with it a little. So I don't have any new pictures to post. For example, pictures of the mohawk Aaron had this week. He uses clippers and cuts his own hair and decided to be creative :). Our social worker came on Friday; so I made him shave it off. But our social worker did come, and we're nearly done with all the paperwork! We'll be turning in some papers to the court here and will make our adoption official after our court date! Surprisingly, this part is much easier than I thought it would be.

We're getting ready to gear up for the fall. I'm planning to work part time. I'm not sure what my schedule will be working with both college student's schedules and a 1-year-old's schedule :). We'll see how it all balances out. But I'm excited to see my students again.

I continue to be amazed at how Liv is growing and developing. She pointing more and learning what pointing means. She loves to play with her giant legos and can both pull them apart and put a few together (She LOVES things she can take apart/open and put back together). She bee-lines for the dishwasher when it's open and pulls out the silverware. She can somehow discern what a vegetable is and won't put it in her mouth, but I put a new fruit in front of her and in it goes! How do they know!!! So we're still eating baby food vegetables... Her teeth seem to just be exploding in her mouth - she's getting a couple molars even!

So all in all, we're doing good at the Jones home. I'm just enjoying this slower schedule before the craziness of the fall begins. I'll try to fiddle with the camera and get some new pics up soon. Much love from the Joneses!

Vacation

These are a bit old, but on our way home from North Myrtle Beach we stopped in Charleston, SC and Ashville, NC to see the sights a little. In Charleston there were many of these iron gates in between the homes that had neat little paths or gardens behind them. I got a few pictures of different gates.
This is a row of really nice homes along the bay in Charleston.
This is the Builtmore Mansion in Ashville - ginormous!!! This is a picture from the side - so it's even bigger. Now don't quote me on these numbers (hopefully I'm remembering them correctly) but it sits on 80,000 acres and is 125,000 squar feet with 43 bathrooms, a bowling alley, an indoor pool... quite a lot of "modern" conveniences for being finished in 1895! It really was just beatiful and fun to see.
Livie and I on the edge of a garden - you can see the beautiful mountains behind me. The views were just beautiful.
So there's a few snapshots from our trip home!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

Yesterday my mom hosted a party for my Grandpa's 90th birthday! Isn't that awesome! It's incredible to think that he's been alive since 1918 and all the history he's seen. I love to hear him talk about his life. He has an amazing memory, and it's fascinating to hear about all his experiences. I asked him about his most memorable birthday, and he said his 21st because his mom threw a surprise party for him. He was just returning from the World's fair which was in New York. He said he took $30 cash plus some traveler's checks but didn't need the checks. The $30 was enough for travel, meals, hotels, transportation. Incredible.

Growing

So I took this a week or 2 ago - it was some of the best bed-head we've had in awhile! She woke up in the morning looking like this. It was awesome :).



We also saw the pediatrician last week for her 1 year physical (a month late because we were gone). She gained a couple pounds and a couple inches: 18 1/2 pounds (still haven't broken the 20 pound mark...) and 26.3 inches. She's still 10th percentile for weight but moved up to around the 20th percentile for height. We're still using her bucket car seat and haven't graduated yet to the toddler one because she's still in the height/weight requirements for the smaller one. We're getting there...

She got 2 vaccinations that morning and had a blue bandaid on each let. I called them her blue badges of courage (flashback to freshman English and reading the Red Badge of Courage). She actually pulled both off. Here she is carrying the second one. She did great for her shots though. Of course there's some tears, but I was proud of her.

She's adjust really well to her full-size crib. She had been sleeping in our room in her pack-n-play, but when we came home we just put her in her crib instead. It's been good for all of us for her to be in her own room.

She just keeps growing! She's learning new things everyday, and it's just amazing to watch. I talked to her doctor about how she's not wanting much to do with a sippy cup. He said to maybe try a cup and see how she did. So I did, and now she'll drink from a cup (with me holding it of course). So that's good. Her babble sounds more and more like comments and sentences - we just don't know what she's saying. She keeps saying "jabba, jabba, jabba" - it's pretty cute. She's say mamma and hi every once and awhile. I have a feeling when she starts getting her words, it'll come fast! She's walking better and better. She's figuring out how to take things apart and put them back together. She loves the dishwasher and pulls out silverware and even figured out how to climb on the door when it's down. She's just been a fun baby. It's been such a blessing to watch her learn and grow!

Such a pretty dress...

Right before all the staff left the summer project we had a banquet with the students. We put such a pretty dress on Liv, and I tried to get a picture of her... here's what I got :).

Thanks Auntie Jill for the dress!

NMB 08

So I feel like there's so much to post about, that if I don't do something I'll get more and more behind and just give up :).

Here's what I WILL miss about North Myrtle Beach (NMB): We had 3 apartments that all connected by our living areas. Our door connected to the guys apartment which connected to Casey and Tim's apartment. At times both doors would be open and all 3 apartments would be connected. We called it the commune :). Liv would frequently crawl to the boys apartment, and when the door was closed she's bang on it with her hands. She got used to seeing everyone. Here's our "family" picture below: Tim and Casey, Dan and Paul (Diddy, guy #3 wasn't there), and then Aaron and I and the baby. We had a great time living (practically) together (since we lived in such small spaces).
Here's what I WILL NOT miss about NMB - I called it our "easy bake" kitchen: small fridge, bar sink, no counter space... it was fun... I did very little cooking :). Our kitchen here at home is as big as our whole living area.
Here's the guys that Aaron worked with this summer - a great group! From left to right, Cole, Aaron, Zach, and Peter. They really enjoyed each other.
Here's all the students from our campus that were at NMB (excuse the fuzzy picture). In the back, Liv, Aaron, Dan, Dan, Johnna, and J.D. In the front, Me, Lauren, Alana, Casey, Kayla, Kaitlin. It's a fun group!

So behind!

Hello! We're back home, and I'm so behind on posting pics and our adventures. So, it's late and I'm going to bed with a promise to get some stuff up soon. We got home a week ago - last Sunday afternoon. WOW it is SO good to be home! So good! So when you leave for 8 weeks, you have 8 weeks of stuff to put away/organize/toss/look at for a few days as you figure out what to do with it... We're getting there. Anyway, more coming soon! With love, the Joneses :)

Things to remember

Liv has continued to grow, and it seems like she keeps adding new things to what she does. So I just want to post a few things so I can remember them for the future.

• If she wakes up on her own, she's super happy. She babbles a lot in her pack-n-play when she wakes up in them morning and just keeps going until we get her up.



• After her naps we have a "post-nap" cuddle. She's really content to hold her bunny blanket and suck her finger and just cuddle with us for a few minutes until she wakes up a bit more.



• When we get her undressed for her bath at night and pick her up naked, she gets really happy and kicks her legs as we get her. She's learning to like water and her baths.



• She's becoming SUPER social. She looks at people and waves at them and cranes her neck in the check-out line at Wal-mart to see if anyone is looking at her. It's pretty funny.



• She's starting to shake her head back and forth but doesn't seem to know what it means yet. (I'm sure the understanding that it means "no" will come soon enough :).



• She's continuing to take more and more steps, and it's like you can see the wheels turning when she's standing - "Hey, I can move from this position!"



• She's getting more and more affectionate. It's so sweet. She'll hug me and pat me with her little hands. She'll give spontaneous kisses too.

And now for some pictures!

A few weeks ago I got Liv up from her nap, and apparently it wasn't long enough cause she just konked out on the floor which she never does.

So I guess my child can be bribed and/or kidnapped. We live in close quarters here and have a connecting door to the guys apartment next door. Sometimes we have the door open, and Paul bribed the baby over with Cheerios. He was pretty proud of himself :).

Aaron and I went to this outdoor shopping area with stores and restaurants in Myrtle Beach. We were given the recommendation to get the frozen hot chocolate from this place... I had to get a picture cause if you know me, you know I'm not at all a metal/rocker chick. I'm not sure I even know a Kiss song. But the frozen hot chocolate was good :).

One of the fun things about being here this summer is that one of my best friends is here as well and lived just on the other side of the guys that live next door. So she came over a lot and was SO good with Liv. Liv would crawl over to her and reach to get picked up. She just loved Casey. Casey just left a week early cause she's due in 4 weeks with their first child. We can't wait to meet their little boy!

Happy 30th Birthday Aaron! On June 28th, Aaron celebrated his 30th! Liv is trying to figure out what in the world is on his head!

Last Friday, our staff team went to a water park together. Liv grew in her love of wather. Here we are having fun with daddy...

And wiped out on the ride home!

So there's a few things I've been wanting to post. Talk to you soon!

Birthday Cont...

I have not posted in awhile and have so many things to post! Sorry about the delay. I had a big work thing last night that I spent most/all nap times working on this week; so it just didn't leave me a lot of time to do much else.

First a little about Liv's first birthday. We wanted to try to infuse some Korean tradition in there. It was hard for me to not be at home because I felt limited in what I could do, but we did our best for living in our tiny place and having the party at a park shelter. And thanks Erin, I copied all this from your blog and used your info as a source for what we did :). So here's some info about the First Birthday, Korean style :).

Celebrating the Dol
In the past in Korea the death rate for children was very high. Many babies died before their birthday for a multitude of reasons (namely illness and lack of medical information or care), so it became a custom to have a celebration for the child's 100-Day birthday (baek-il) and an even bigger, even more celebratory party for the child's 1st birthday (chut-dol).

Traditional Dol Celebration
There are four major components to the traditional dol celebration:
1) Praying and giving thanks
2) Making/wearing the birthday clothes
3) Preparing the table and performing the Doljabee
4) Sharing the food with guests and neighbors

In the modern dol celebration: the child's parents greet the guests, light candles on the birthday cake, the child performs the Doljabee, parents share a toast with guests, and take many pictures (!). After the table (dol-sang) was prepared, the child's mother or grandmother would pray. She would ask for the child's longevity, wish luck, and give thanks for the child's life.

---So out of these 4 things, I was able to pray for the meal and a blessing for Liv. We did leave her birthday clothes at home. I don't know that it would've worked where we were at for her to wear her lovely, silk hongbak (long, colorful, traditional Korean dress). We didn't have a traditional Korean table set, but we did have a lot of food :). We did perform the Doljabee - see below. And we did share food with our guests.

Doljabee Event
The birthday child goes around the doljabee table and picks up items that attract her. The child's future is predicted by the first two items that she grabs. After placing the child in front of the table, the child's father becomes the guide for the child to go around the table and pick her items. Parents may try placing their favorite items in front of the baby in hopes that the baby will grab them first.
Key to doljabee item meanings (different sources list different meanings):

Needle: longevity/good at sewing
Pencil: successful scholar/writer
Money: wealth
Knife: good chef
Calligraphy pen: writer/scholar
Paintbrush: artist
Date/jujube: many descendants/long life
Skein of thread: long life
Book: scholar

We did have all these items laid out on the picnic table (except for the date - couldn't find them at Wal-Mart...). I was surprised at how every one got into Liv picking her items.

And what did she pick??? First the thread, which surprised me cause it wasn't the most colorful or flashy item. And next she picked the calligraphy pen. So we'll see who she turns out to be :).

So that's a little more about Liv's birthday that I had wanted to post.

She has continued to blossom since we've been here. She's just become so social. She's getting more confident on her feet - scooting around furniture REALLY well. And a couple days ago I stuck my hands out, and she stood up, put her hands on mine, and started walking toward me. She's done that numerous times and hardly puts any pressure on us to balance. And tonight as we were in a meeting, she actually took 4 to 5 steps in a row. So, slowly she's getting her confidence. She'll give us a kiss "on demand." If I ask her for a kiss she'll open her mouth an lean toward you :). And I was playing with her the other day and we started passing a toy back and forth. I'd ask her for it, and she'd give it to me. I'd sign and say thank you and give it back and put her hand in the motion to say thank you. So she's really catching on to some things.

So this is a start, more posts that need to come so I can "catch up." Our love to you all!

So what exactly do we do...

As we've said, we've been living here at North Myrtle Beach, SC for the last 4 weeks with a few more to go. I thought I'd try to illustrate just a little of what we're doing here and what ministry is like during this time that we call a summer project.

We have 26 staff (a few staff kids :) and over 60 students living here. We do a variety of things with the students, but one of the primary things we do is coach students in how to have a ministry of their own. Throughout the week, the staff lead a small group of students in a Bible study, have a 1 on 1 mentoring time, we have an outreach night, a weekly meeting with music and a speaker, and a planning night for the staff and students that lead different administrative teams that help keep this project running. So everyone stays really busy.

We believe that making a decision to ask Jesus to forgive your sins and be the Lord of your life is the most important decision a person can make. This past week was our big week of talking to as many people as we can (on the beach, main street, for the students - at their day jobs) and trying to talk to them and tell them about who Jesus is, that he died for their sins, and that they can have a personal relationship with him. So on Monday night we we hosted a large block party for all the just-graduated high schoolers that are living around us (call Senior Week - these students rent out the beach houses around us in big groups and basically lay on the beach during the day and drink/party late into the night). It was fun to see how many people came - we offered some free food and had music going (provided by our mini-van :). So I got a few shots of what was going on - the students pictured are a mixture of our students and those living around us.

Here's where we had the food and music going.

The food line, people waiting for food, and conversations happening...

You can sortof see a little of what surrounds us, there's some condos across the street there, but pretty much all the housing around us is a dive. I heard one girl that had just arrived who was living in the house across from us ask her friend if her living situation was as gross and hers was... Really, the students come and just destroy these places for the week. We sometimes wake up to beer cans and plastic cups littering the street. And also, you can see our rockin' van in the picture :).

I'm so proud of our students. They've been really bold to just initiate conversations with people - not easy to do. They shared stories tonight of how the Lord had been working this week. It's always amazing to me to see how people are searching for God and ready to respond to Him when someone tells them how. It's also interesting to me to see how many people in this part of the country are well aware that Jesus existed and that He died on the cross, but they have no idea why He had to die. Why couldn't Jesus just say, "Hey, no problem, I forgive you..." Why did He have to die... We're all aware that we do wrong things, but don't always realize that all those wrong things earn us a spiritual death - not just a physical death because we all die, but a spiritual death = total separation from God or hell. But God loved us and didn't want us separated from Him; so instead of us taking the punishment for those wrong things, he made a way that He could take our punishment for us. Because Jesus came and was both God and Man, He could take not only the punishment for one person but for everyone. That's why He had to die - the debt we owed God for our wrong had to be paid - either by us or by Him. So He holds out that gift of our sin totally paid that we can take to be applied to our debt. So you can take that gift and surrender to Jesus with gratitude and as God knowing, then, that all the wrong you've done is forgiven, or you can choose to not take that gift (God won't force you - you exercise your will in chosing to accept or reject that gift) and therefore choose to pay the penalty for your own wrong and be separated from God when you die. This is why we feel this is such a crucial message to communicate to others - literally, heaven and hell hang in the balance. If you want a more full explanation of this go to www.Godlovestheworld.com . It explains this awesome message much better than I can. So that's a large part of what we're doing this summer.

Happy Birthday Livie!

Big day today! Liv turned 1!!! It's very surreal that she's one already - I probably wasn't as emotional about that milestone as other parents are... I think because she's only been home a little over 2 months, and it just doesn't feel real :). I think when we celebrate her "Gotcha Day" (the day we brought her home - April 8th) - that'll feel a little more like a big milestone. Anyway, we had a birthday party for Liv with our staff team here. We had a great time. I'll post a few pictures now just to satisfy the curiousity cause I really need to go to bed :). But there's quite a bit I want to post on and will need to catch up soon!

So here's the initial "dip" into her little cake. Then she didn't like having the mess on her hands and kept trying to get rid of that.

Then she reach a moment of dispair about the mess. I think we maybe got her to taste the frosting once or twice. I tried to feed her a little, but she didn't want any.

So here's the extent of the mess before Aaron and I descended on her with paper towels and wipes to ease her "misery." :) So not so much a fan of the cake... :)

I did sortof a butterfly theme because there were so many in Korea. I'm not sure what they mean to the culture, but I thought I'd try to do what I could to celebrate her culture. We did a few more Korean traditions which I'll post about later. So here's her cake with butterflies on it.

Happy 1st Birthday, Liv! We love you so much!

So now the big Birthday day and the birthday party are over, and momma is really tired :). Much love and good night! :)

Happy Father's Day Sweetheart!

I continue to be amazed and grateful at the encouragement and kindness you show me as a mother and the gentleness, patience, and tenderness you show to Liv. I'm so blessed to live life alongside my best friend.

We love you!!!
Heather and Livie :)

Little Feet

We have little feet that took a few steps yesterday! And by a few steps I mean single steps but at a few different times. We keep encouraging her, but it's still easier to just drop to all fours and come to us that way :). I, of course, missed the first time. It was totally uncoached - she just came to Aaron with one step and another to catch herself before stumbling onto the floor. But I did see her do it again right after. So that was good.

We also have little feet that still don't like the sand and ocean. We went down to the beach again early this morning for a couple minutes - still holds both legs up or just stand on one foot in the "flamingo" position. I'll take our camera down next time to show you. So while she's gotten an "A" for adaptable, we're still working on the "A" for adventurous :).

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Tomorrow is the 8th, and we'll have had Liv home for 2 months! Wow did that go fast! We've been in SC for 2 weeks now and there's been some ups and downs, but we're doing okay.

The Good:

• Liv can now give high-5's. It's pretty cute :).
• If you ask her for a kiss, she knows what that means and will move toward you with her mouth open ready to lay one on you.
• She's had yogurt a few times and now seems to love it.
• We took her to a restaurant (not fast food, but actually a nice restaurant when we went for a staff dinner last week), and she did great! We brought her supper with; so she ate there which kept her occupied for a bit. But we were there for 2 hours and she did okay! Amazing! I mean, she was definitely ready to go by the end, but still... And then we went to TGI Fridays on Thursday night and were there for an hour and a half, and again, she did great! So that's a blessing that we can bring her there, and she can last for so long.
• She's becoming a lot more social. She'll watch people, and I swear she'll watch for them to look at her - then she'll smile at them. It's one thing I prayed for was for a baby that enjoys people because we're with large groups frequently. So it's fun to watch her personality blossom as she's adjusting to our family.
• We live really close to Walmart and have made frequent trips there. A container of parmesian cheese kept her entertained for a good 20 minutes while I shopped. So she's doing good sitting in the shopping cart :).
• I've gotten to eat Chick-fil-A a few times - so good :).

The Bad:

• The stomach bug she had gave her a break from eating baby food: a.k.a. food we have to feed her with a spoon. So we went through a lot of drama getting her to eat last week. It seems to be getting better, and she's eating more spoon-fed things... though there can still be drama occasionally. I had tried to feed her more finger foods, but she'd spit that out and only eat cooked apple bits, bread, and cheerios.
• Sleep was also challenging. I think in part from all the adjustment and new places she was in the past few weeks. She was waking up at 5 a lot, but this week has been a bit better.
• New "surfaces" have been interesting - those being the sand, grass, or the astro-turf surface on our deck. She'll either hold both legs up when you try to set her down or do what I call the flamingo - just have one foot down and hold the other up to have as little touching as possible :). We went out to the beach for a few minutes in the early morning last week to just get her feet in the water and on the sand - not a fan yet, but I want to keep trying.

The Ugly:

• It's really hot! We're having unseasonably hot weather down here for June. It's been in the mid-90's and the problem with that is that by early to mid afternoon, our little wall unit air conditioner can't keep up. So it's pretty toasty in our little apartment for about half the day. I know it's been unseasonably cool back home, and believe me, I'd love to give you a little of our excess heat and take some of your cool...

So there's a few snippits from our time so far. Aaron is really enjoying the small group of student men that he has in Bible study and in ministry mentoring. They're good guys. We getting to know some staff in our region that we haven't spent a lot of time with, and that's been really fun. And we also have some very dear friends down here as well; so it's always good to have time with them. Hope you're all doing well! Love the Joneses :)

Pictures from SC

A challenge to give an 11 month old pigtails? Yes! Worth it? Most definitely! :)

Her first time on the beach - a little unsure and figured out how to pull off the hat... We'll get there :).

Took about as long to get her ready to go to the beach as we were there - here's the family shot :).

Hanging out with Dad as we wait for the students to arrive.

I'll post some more pictures we take them!