han family update - summer 2013

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wow. what a summer.

after a pretty dramatic 2012, we are having what looks like a pretty dramatic 2013 as well. without going into all the details (if you're curious, please ask us personally), we are transitioning out of our role at KCPC. though we are saddened by this loss and still processing all that happened, we are moving forward with a steadfast faith in the God who brought us through the past few years of our lives.

well, here are a few pictures to bring you up to speed on what's been happening the past few months:

trip to ocean city, MD
our wonderful S&L family sent us on a vacation after hearing the news of our departure from KCPC. this trip was full of many "firsts" for sammy. first time in a pool, first bike ride, first time on the beach. it was pretty spectacular.




thanks S&L friends!!

edmonton, AB
our next trip took us to edmonton where my parents live. one of our favorite activities was going to the local swimming pool and discovering that sammy has absolutely no fear when it comes to water. a good thing?


we also timed our trip so that we could be together with my brother and his family as well. having all four generations together, we decided to go get some family photos done. as you can tell in the photo with his cousin lucas, sammy is quite the ham.




we also caught up with some childhood friends in edmonton

being close to calgary, we took a quick trip down to see some other friends as well


vancouver, bc
after a week of time with friends and family, we took a quick flight over to vancouver. seeing as min and I both had lots of community there, we definitely had a packed schedule catching up with friends.

 justin, jacqueline and lily

 our fantastic hosts, the colby's (right before they left for their own trip to california after having just returned from their sabbatical in france - amazing!)

 brian and shannon


 david, lydia and ben (their two girls not pictured) 

abe, soo and miles

living hope fellowship ladies

 our fantastic hosts, the kowalenko's (right before their own epic camping trip)

 the owners of our former home, the lee's

 the chen's (parents not pictured)


 the park's (with their own little one, ryan)

another set of lee's (again, parents not pictured, but this moment captured a hilarious conversation between brianna and sammy)

the koh's

 the robinson's

the last set of lee's (in their fantastic new home)

some random events
 sammy making friends with the "wild" bunnies at jericho beach

 what trip to edmonton would be complete without a visit to "the mall"?

grandma insisted on getting a professional salon cut for sammy - turned out pretty well but there's no way we can afford keeping up with this expensive luxury!

the star of our trip was definitely sammy. he was such a trooper through many flights, car rides and endless meetings with people he's never seen before. all in all, he did really well. we were thrilled to introduce him to our many close friends and family.

while driving around vancouver, we got the strange feeling that we were living in a parallel universe. thanks to the generosity of our friends, the kowalenko's, we were driving around in our old corolla, we visited our old condo where the lee's currently live, we worshipped with living hope fellowship in the old building, we visited regent college, all while dragging little sammy around with us. it was almost like wondering what life would have been like had we stayed in vancouver.

we'll never know and our task right now is figuring out how to be faithful where we are currently.

praying friends, please join us as we discern our next steps. we'd love to stay in the northern virginia area but obviously we need to stay open to whatever options arise. 

happy birthday, sammy!

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this post is a month late, but our lil boy is one! i know every parent says this, but seriously, these lil ones grow up way too fast.




we had two parties for our special boy. the first one was with our s&l friends at church. sammy's aunties helped decorate and we had a great time celebrating. these photos were taken by our talented friend, angela.



the second one was in our home with a few friends and family. these amazing photos were taken by our good friend, justin. 


my amazing sister, and my dear friends, sofa, annie, eunice, and a lovely group from s&l helped make all my pinterest dreams come true. thank you guys!



sammy woke up just in time for his party which worked out perfectly because he was so dazed for the first 30 minutes we were able to get a few decent pictures of him in his hanbok. 



our lil prince


"what is going on here?!"


sammy with his favorite aunt.




after a quick outfit change, sammy was ready to party. aren't these two photos the best. cracks me up everytime.



sammy picked a bowl of rice during his dohl jabi. dohl jabi is a korean tradition where a few items are placed in front of the child, and the item he chooses is believed to foretell the child's future (ball = athlete, pencil = scholar, string = long life, rice = abundant life, money = wealth, mic = entertainer). obviously we don't believe that his future rests on this simple act (especially since sammy was very hungry), but it was fun anyway.


of course we had to give sammy a taste of his birthday cake. as you can tell he (and penny) loved it. the adorable bib was made by none other than my bff, eunice. isn't she amazing?


i had to post these because they are so cute. poor anna, she just wanted to give sammy a birthday hug and sammy was not having any of it. 

thanks for reading! till next time.

10 months

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as you can tell by his 10 month photo, this guy hardly ever sits still. sammy is FULL of energy and gets into everything. raising a boy is going to be very interesting (and messy). i would consider myself a girly girl, and always pictured myself with a daughter dolled up in cute dresses...but man, can little boys steal your heart or what? sammy has totally captured mine.



as i mentioned last month, we did quite of bit of traveling. here are some pictures from our trips visiting family and friends. beware, there are tons of photos.

first we took our very first plane ride as a family to toronto to visit family and friends. sammy did surprisingly well on the flight...well, it was only 1.5 hours.


here is mike's good friend, joe, his lovely wife, nancy, and baby luke. 





here is a picture of our hosts: mike's brother tony, auntie julie, and baby lucas celebrating lucas' 100th day. too cute huh?


this is not a very good picture, but sammy's face in this photo captures his personality so well I had to post it. what a ham.


lucas, sammy and their cousin aileen.


and of course...sammy spent a lot of quality time with his grandparents. boy, do we miss everyone.



next we flew to atlanta because mike was attending a pastors' conference. while mike was away learning, sammy and i got to spend time with some of my favorite people in the whole wide world, the chou family.

sammy rode on a swing for the first time. i think he liked it. 



we spent lots of time with this cutie, anna, and her older sister mia.



the kiddos played dressed up. this is dr. sammy and princess anna.


we never got a chance to take a picture with the adults. what a shame. :( traveling with a lil one is......different. i don't know if vacationing will ever feel like a vacation again, but we definitely had a great time traveling as a family. till next time, friends!