Mother's Day

Two years ago, after 2 years of heartbreaking infertility and just starting our adoption process, I gave a message at our church on Mother's Day about experiencing God as my Mother. The response was overwhelming. I was able to share from a raw and personal place about the pain Mother's Day can bring, and the beauty of God in a new way.

That year my mom and grandmother surprised me by flying out for my Mother's Day message, the first time I spoke to our entire church. It was one of the few times I've been TOTALLY surprised by anyone. It was beyond meaningful to have these two mothers in my life present for this important message.

Two years later, he's turned my mourning into dancing again. What gratitude tonight kissing Judah and Addise as we put them to sleep. I am a deeply, deeply grateful mother of two Ethiopian beauties...

Mother's Day - May 10, 2009 from Newsong Church on Vimeo.

"God as Mother"

Speaker: April Diaz

Happy Mother's Day to me and all my fellow women who've had unexplicably painful Mother's Day. Here's to a new day...

3 months home!

Today marks 12 weeks since we've been home as a family of four. No small feat, if I say so myself. In celebration and commemoration of this special day, here are some facts about our first 3 months as a family...

• 1 birthday :: We celebrated Addise's first birthday 3 weeks after we got home. Celebrating her birthday was a true celebration of life and growth in every way!
  
• 26 lbs :: Both our kids weigh 26 lbs. Judah is 19 months older than Addise, yet they weigh the same. Yet Judah's moved from the 1% to the 10% in weight and Addise's grown from the 50% to the 95% in weight. Let's say the American diet is doing them good.
• 12+ doctor visits in the past 12 weeks :: While our kiddos have been remarkably healthy, the scarce medical history and a few health issues have required us to make our doctor our best friend.
• 6 teeth :: Addise graciously waited to cut her first 2 teeth until the week we got her. She's yet to reveal any more these past 2 months. Judah, even at 2 1/2 years old only had 10 teeth, but he's cut 4 more teeth! More seem to be emerging every week.
  
• "Take them a Meal" :: The first 8+ weeks we didn't cook for ourselves. Meals and groceries were delivered multiple times a week thanks to our Newsong community and my family.
• 3 weeks and 10 weeks :: The first 3 weeks we were home Brian graciously received time off of work. I cannot imagine that time without him!!! My job gifted me with 10 weeks off - 5 weeks totally off, 5 weeks slowly working my way back to full time. It was perfect...exactly what we needed!!
• Family :: My family flew thousands of miles to spend a total of 20 days with us. Their posture was 100% of service and what was best for our kids.
• 1 Getaway :: We took off on our first overnighter this weekend to San Diego and had a blast.
• 1 Photo Session :: This week we were gifted with a family photo session. Not only did we capture Addise's first birthday, our 10th wedding anniversary, a handful of head shots for my speaking gigs, and MOSTLY our first professional pictures of our God-given family! [You gotta visit: http://www.hanachung.com/ to see our photographer's skills!]
  
• Sign Language and Words :: Judah has acquired at least 50 words that he understands and a handful of sign language words [more, thank you, please, I love you]. Addise's learned the sign language too, and now says: more, daddy, Judah, I did that [so we think], hi, and occasionally - momma. :) Most encouragingly, Judah seems to understand most everything we say to him. Breathe...accomplishment!
• First tattoos and piercings :: Just kidding. We're holding off on those for our kids. :)
  

All that on top of hundreds of kisses, countless moments of frustration, hours of lost sleep, endless giggles, ah-ha moments, hundreds of diapers, regular prayers for grace and mercy, confessions for forgiveness and help, hours of rocking babies to sleep, nightly wake-up calls for cuddles, calming or more Tylenol, a house littered with toys, cabinets and cupboards reallocated for baby products, shocking amounts of laundry...

...and a few tears in those heavenly moments when I realize "I'm a mom" and "you are exactly who I prayed for". Our family is truly a miracle.

Road Trippin'

This weekend we made a rather spontaneous trip to our favorite local destination: San Diego! It was our first family overnight road trip since we came home 3 months ago. Let's call it a first trimester celebration...

We headed to SD with our good friends, Daniel, Cassidy, Cohen and Cami for the Padres baseball home opener. The game was set to start at 7pm, which was a bit crazy considering our kiddos have been on a consistent 6:30pm bedtime. But it was time to party! We hoped for the best, and though our kiddos did GREAT the standard gorgeous San Diego weather did NOT. The game was postponed 30 minute due to a rain delay [it wasn't even raining... SoCal wimps] and after the first inning the rain started coming. Pouring! After 30 minutes hovering under umbrellas, hoping for the skies to open up, we called it quits. Plus it was a chilly 50-something degrees, and as bundled as we all were, we started feeling damp and cold. Judah was fascinated with the rain, after all, he hasn't really seen rain that we know of in his young life. Addise laid contentedly Ergo'd to my chest and eventually fell asleep.

Though our first major league baseball game wasn't a raging success, our first overnight getaway was! We had a stupendous 24-hours away as a family with our friends. Here are a few pics to commemorate this event.

Can I just also say that I'm LOVING our "firsts" as a family!?!?! We love creating these memories together. In the words of my husband, "I LOVE what we're building together."

On the 75 minute drive down. Lovin' the drool.
This blanket and smaller companion were knitted [crocheted?] by one of my mentors, Diane.

I will not be exaggerating when I say she talked and screamed the ENTIRE way down.
Brian and I were hoping for a great conversation, but were drowned by a 1-year old's voice.

"Wassup?" Judah's latest phrase. And his first time in the Joovy Sit 'n Stand. I'm a fan!

Straws make great toys.

Daddy and son at their first baseball game. Judah's asking a poignant questions about baseball.
Daddy's explaining the rules of the game. I'm sure of it.
Dream come true.
*We didn't plan their matching outfits.

A family picture. Addise was fascinated with the jumbo-tron above our heads.

The best is yet to come...