Tae is 2!

Our little boy is becoming a big boy! On August 31, Tae turned 2, and we celebrated with a "bubbles and balloons" birthday party:

He was so happy to have a birthday cupcake that while I was lighting his birthday candles, he took another cupcake and had a bite!

Tae began "school" (a Montessori toddler's program) the day after his birthday and they made him a "birthday crown" which his teachers said he wore all day and they had to pry off him for naptime:

They put him in the "special birthday chair" and sang a special birthday song:

We were blessed that both sets of our parents were here for Tae's birthday (and Mike's parents were here for almost 2 weeks helping finish our backyard deck bench and do "Tae watch" - bless them!). We took advantage of our families being here to get some professional photos taken at the beach:

Tae's "word explosion" continues, with recent favorite phrases being:

"boom boom truck" (for any big truck)

"ready, set, go!"

"mama dada work (or home or wherever we are at the time)"

"wake up mama" (said this morning when I was a little slow getting to his crib!)

and my personal favorite: "church - fun!"

And since Tae loves to eat and sleep, here he tries to do both at the same time on a recent hot San Luis Obispo day:

We simply adore our little 2 year old! How blessed we are!

One year Forever Family Day!

It's hard to believe that a year ago today in Seoul we were handed the greatest gift of our lives - our son. We will forever remember the emotional intensity of that day for all of us - the joy we were experiencing, the loss Tae was enduring. One year ago today when we received him in our arms he probably wasn't sure what to think:

However, we're quite confident that he knows us as his mama and dada now. Here's a quick video I took last night:

Tae - mama/dada from Jana Schofield on Vimeo.

And, we're quite confident that he also knows the word no.... Here's a video my dad shot the other day (my parents were here for a few weeks - bless them!- while mama and dada went houseboating and mama recuperated from a laparoscopy).

Untitled from Jana Schofield on Vimeo.

Tae continues to bring unceasing joy to our lives - you can imagine that we laugh a lot! We delight in his recent explosion of words and are amazed at the things he understands - today he said four colors, and he can pick out several letters and even spell his name.

This summer we've been enjoying lots of fruit from our trees and berry plants - here's Tae this afternoon picking strawberries and stuffing them in his mouth (I, of course, loved the shirt he was wearing today!)

Tae has also recently been enjoying reading lots of books...

helping clean up...

beach combing...

and being the sweet silly boy we just love!

Happy First Forever Family Day, sweet Tae! We love you!!!!!

Tae is an American citizen!

Yea! On Friday, April 16, Tae's adoption was finalized at our county courthouse and Tae became an American citizen. It was a fun "red, white, and blue day" to celebrate both his Korean heritage and American citizenship. and Tae loved waving his Korean and American flags all around:

During the short court appearnce the judge asked us if we approved one another adopting Tae, and then we signed some paperwork to make him forever our son!

We loved our judge -- she gave Tae a quilt made by courthouse clerks "to celebrate the warmth of family" and shook Tae's hand to welcome him into our family forever.

When we asked if we could get a photo with her, she said it was a rule in her courtroom that she got to hold the baby:

We were thankful for family and friends who joined us at the courthouse - they even got to sit in the jury box!

We are officially a family forever and ever!

And Tae is officially a "cool" American - especially walking with Grandpa Rod.

We celebrated with a "red, white, and blue" party!

Mama and Uncle Mark were especially in the spirit:

And Tae happily continued his day with a yummy cup of milk. What a celebration for our red, white, and blue beautiful star!

Finally...a new post!!

Well, it's official - going back to work is detrimental for regular blogging!  Life has been a bit crazy adjusting to both of us working since early November, but we think we have the hang of it now, and we feel very blessed that we only need 2 days/week of child care for Tae.

The past few months have been full of joy -- Thanksgiving in L.A. with friends (we went out for excellent Korean food on Thanksgiving in Korea Town!) and a trip to the L.A. zoo; my parents visiting all of December and a delightful first Christmas with a baby; time at the beach; and Mike's parents visiting last week. 

Tae's big milestones the past few months have included learning to walk like a pro, becoming an artist (with a crayon on the back of our front door), and going from 2 naps to 1 - big changes!  Rather than bore you with more words, here's our life with Tae the past few months:

Tae is baptized!

All Saint's Day will forever have new meaning for our family.  Tae's baptism that Sunday was a beautiful, big, fun, and festive celebration of his identity as a beloved child of God.  Tae's "Grandmary Jane" (Mike's mom) made a beautiful baptismal banner for Tae that hung behind the font:

As a pastor, I have a new appreciation of the promises that parents and sponsors make when a child is baptized.  Here we are making our promises to raise Tae in faith and love:

We feel blessed that Tae has such fabulous sponsors -- our siblings -- to help us keep those promises.  Here are Mike's brother and sister Pete and Julie, and my brother Mark (being "held" by friend Leslie via Skype from La Paz, Bolivia where he and Michelle are travelling in South America for 4 months -- see their great blog Wanderings about their adventures!):

The water being poured - Tae becomes God's child forever:

I got to mark Tae with the sign of the cross on his forehead with oil from the Holy Land: "Tae, beloved child of God, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever."

Prayers for Tae from Pastor Marj: "Sustain Tae with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever. Amen."

Our baby is baptized! May he live forever wet!

Our families -- our greatest teachers in the faith -- surrounded us on this day:

Tae loved playing in the baptismal water (we mixed some Jordan River water which my parents brought back from Israel into "holy" San Luis Obispo tap water).  We pray that Tae will daily plunge into his baptismal waters to remember he is a beloved, forgiven, claimed, named, beautiful child of God!

Two other special things about Tae's baptism...

A few weeks ago we attended a Korean-speaking church in SLO and watched 4 baptisms which helped us talked with Tae about baptism - about the "great bath" he was about to have.  Since then he used the sign language sign for "bath" whenever we talked about his baptism -- he gets it! :-)

Plus, in the middle of his baptism, Pastor Marj said "Hallelujah" and Tae lifted up his hands, Hallelujah!  Here we are celebrating it again.  Hallelujah, indeed!