Holiday Shopping

Rai and I kicked off our holiday shopping the day after Thanksgiving with a puppet show, a picture with his favorite musical characters (Elfaba and Mary Poppins), a few stores for gifts, and two stores for Rai to spend his birthday money.

Decorating the Tree

Birthday Pictures - Part 2

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Birthday Pictures - Part 2

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Birthday Pictures - Part 1

Happy Birthday, Rai!

5 years ago today, a young woman in her mid-twenties gave birth to a baby boy who weighed just over 2 pounds and suffered a significant bleed in the brain, possibly during the ambulence ride to the hospital.  5 years ago today, this brave woman made a heart-wrenching decision to made an adoption plan for her son, so he could receive the medical care she couldn't afford to save his life and to give him a chance at a better life.  I admire this woman more than words can express for her sacrifice and her trust in Holt International's promise to give Jeong Yun-Taek a family and new life with opporunities she never had.

 

Rai and I took a few moments this morning to talk about his birthmother or "Birthmommy" as he calls her.  This is a day of mixed emotions.  It's a day of celebration that a new year has passed, and a day of sadness as he remembers there is a woman half-way across the world who cannot celebrate with him.  A woman who hopefully sees pictures of him on this website to watch him grow from afar.  Rai may never get to meet his birthmother, but if I have anything to say about it, he will always know she loves him and the sacrifices she made so he could be happy.

 

Happy 5th birthday, Rai Yun-Taek.  May you make your birthmother proud and remember every day.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

College Shirt Day

Home Sick (but having fun)

Rai had to stay home sick from school a few weeks ago, but he felt great most of the time. He watched the presidential election, played video games, and built a rocket and space station in his playroom. I wish I could have that much energy when I'm sick. :-)

Birthday Trip to NASA - Part 3

What was Rai's favorite part of the weekend? Seeing the real Saturn V rocket! I don't think he believed Tony when he explained that the rocket is as big as the building ... until we got inside. This rocket uses 5 massive engines to get it off the ground until the bottom stage comes off, and the middle section's 3 massive engines continue this boost into space. Then, the middle section comes off and exposes the final section's one massive engine. Finally, we saw the capsule which houses the astronauts.

Birthday Trip to NASA - Part 2

Space playground

Birthday Trip to NASA - Part 1

Rai decided to have a birthday vacation instead of a birthday party this year, so we decided to spend a day at the NASA space center in Houston. Rai bought a space toy collection earlier this year and had fun learning about each toy version of real space-related items: the Moon Rover, the Gemini Space Capsule, the Saturn V Rocket, etc. So, you can imagine his reaction when he saw the REAL Saturn V rocket and several other things he had only seen in toy-form or on a YouTube video.