Mom Tip: Chatbooks

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A very tech savvy friend of mine told me about Chatbooks a couple years ago and I am so thankful for her because it has been such a fun way to capture moments as a family. I have quite a few now and we love looking through them.

Chatbooks is an app that takes your Instagram photos and puts them into mini books of 60 photos for $8 (soft cover). You can create a series like I have done, and once you hit 60 photos, Chatbooks will notify you that a book is complete and ship it to you automatically (don't worry you have a couple days to make edits). You can also use different hashtags to create different series. For instance, I use the hashtags #sammycreates and #jjcreates to make separate books of their artwork. It is super easy to set up -- trust me, if I can do it, you can too. Technology and I do not get along. You can have multiple contributors as well, if you want other friends/family contributing to a book or a series.

Another helpful tip (also from said tech savvy friend) is to create a private Instagram account that is linked to your primary account, and use the private account to generate your books. This way your friends are not inundated by photos of your kid's art projects that you think are amazing, but in reality is just a bunch of scribbles that your kid says is a giraffe. If you link the two accounts you can easily toggle between the two.

The Chatbooks website has loads of information and tutorials. If you are interested let me know! I can send you an invitation and you will get your first book of a series for free.




a busy year

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hello friends and family,

we are so sorry, but we haven't posted here in almost a year! clearly it's been a busy year. well, we won't overwhelm you with info, but here are a few quick hits:

1. baby JJ!

obviously, the first reason it's been such a busy year is because of the birth of our wonderful second son, JJ. his full name is joshua jihoon han, but we affectionately call him, "JJ".

since it's almost been a year, here's a collection of his monthly photos. as you can see, he's a pretty active kid.

    





 this was the peak of his "fatness"







he's been a super-fun addition to our family. he eats well, sleeps well and loves to smile. he constantly drools and is always on the move. we love our little JJ!

2. church planting

a year ago we were just starting our church planting journey. after a summer of discernment, we had decided this was indeed what God was calling us into. we began a conversation with the evangelical covenant church and now a year later, we are official! we were tasked with gathering 30 committed adults, raising $20,000 and partnering with a local church and thanks to your prayers and generosity, we did it!

here's a picture taken during our training day this past weekend where mike got to sign the official "church planter's covenant agreement", ensuring 3 years of support from the ECC as we try to become a healthy, missional church.


along with this, mike is pretty far along in his ordination process, and if all goes well at the final interview in Chicago in January, he should be ordained at our denomination's annual meeting in June. this is a long-time coming! prayers would be appreciated!

if you want to learn more about our little church plant and our journey, check out our website: www.tablecovchurch.org

though we've raised our first year's budget, we still need help with our second and third year's budget. if you would like to contribute financially, you can do so at:  give.tablecovchurch.org

3. sammy starts preschool

after a pretty successful stint at a local mother's-day-out program, this year we took the plunge and enrolled sammy in a four-day pre-school. and he LOVES IT! we drop him off and he happily sits down and gets to work. he's genuinely happy to be there and seems to be making lots of new friends. we are so thankful! besides school, he went through a pretty hard-core construction site phase, loves to read and draw and really took swimming this past summer. we can't believe how fast this kid is growing up.


the above mentioned construction-site obsession


a sample of his art work (from left to right: mommy, sammy, daddy, JJ and penny)


sammy and his best-buddy lucas yukking it up at his 3rd birthday party


dedicating our boys at community covenant church

we are so grateful for all of you. though we have not done a very good job of keeping in touch, we hope this short little update gives you a glimpse of what's been happening this past year. it's been a full, good year and though it's been super-busy, we are really excited for the coming year.

love,

mike, min, sammy and JJ




Han Family Update - November 2014

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Hello Friends!

It's been an eventful summer and we are off to a very exciting start to the fall. The theme of this season is BIRTH!

First, Baby Han is coming any day now. Min is in her 37th week and all signs point to an early arrival. Looks like both Mommy and Baby are ready to get on with the show! We are not positive about a name yet but we have a few front-runners. :)

A lot of the logistical stuff is done, but from what we've heard, the jump from one kid to two is a pretty big one. We're bracing ourselves, but we're very aware of the reality that we have many, many people supporting us and are ready to provide help and relief. We are so grateful for our communities both near and far.


Secondly, after a summer of discernment, we have committed to planting a church here in Fairfax, VA. We have been meeting with a dedicated launch team and are growing more and more excited at the prospect of seeing this dream become a reality. Here are a few details:

1. VISION:  though it is still very early and we we don't even have a name yet there is a strong sense of why we are going forward with this church plant. Though there are many fine and healthy churches in the area, we know that many people, particularly Asian-Americans are falling through the cracks and church plants have the unique opportunity to reach both the un-churched and de-churched. Also, no name yet. :)

2. EVANGELICAL COVENANT CHURCH:  the denomination we are planting with is the ECC. I still have to go through the Church Planter's Assessment Center in March, but should we be approved then, we will be well on our way to seeing this church plant happen. If you are curious about who the ECC is, you can check out their web page here.

2.. RECRUITMENT:  Our primary goal is to take our launch team of 12 members to 30 by March 2015.

If you are local to Northern Virginia and are intrigued at being a part of this launch team, please don't hesitate to contact us. We'd love to let you know how you can get involved.

3. FUNDRAISING:  We also have to raise a certain amount of money to have a fair shot at getting this launch off the ground. If you're interested in contributing, there is an easy method available online. Just go to www.eastcoastconf.org/give and make sure to designate your giving to "DC/Virginia Church Planting"

We're excited but nervous. We realize that planting a church is no easy feat and neither is having two young children in our lives. We are totally stepping into this in faith. We have thought hard about this and looked at all the angles and consulted many people, but at the end of the day, it is still very much a leap of faith. Would you pray with and for us?

We are grateful for all of you who following along with us and pray for us!!

And now, what you've all been waiting for -- pictures of Sammy! Here are a few from this past fall:


Sammy's first day at Pre-School - it was rough at first but now he loves it!


A painfully cute and awkward school picture


At Cox Farms feeding the goats


A last minute emergency led to Sammy dressing up as a little lamb for Halloween


Sammy had the privilege of walking the flower girl down the aisle at a friend's wedding - he did surprisingly great!


we were thrilled to host sammy's cousin Lucas and his parents over the weekend. these two got along so well!

Han Family Update - June 2014

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hi friends.

it's been a really long time. part of the reason for that is because so many things were up in the air. well, many things remain up in the air, but we feel like now would be a good time to bring people up to speed.

first of all, Sammy's going to be a big brother! min has a bun in the oven and we should be expecting a little one around December 1st!



second, Sammy just turned 2! we got to celebrate his birthday in Edmonton with his grandparents, aunts and uncles. he's really turning into a super fun little boy and as anyone who's been around him knows, right now it's all about the ABCs. 


third, we are starting a little experiment this summer where we're going to gather some friends and discern together if God is inviting us to potentially church plant here in Northern Virginia. anyone who's church planted knows it is not an easy road, so we want to take our time discerning with our community and interested individuals. 

you can follow along at our blog: thirteensundays.tumblr.com

min continues to enjoy her work and though thrilled to be pregnant is not particularly enjoying the symptoms. first trimester was rough so hopefully second one is better. 

I'm still taking courses for the evangelical covenant church's orientation. next week takes me back to Chicago for a week long course. I'm loving being a stay-at-home dad and am grateful for friends and family who allow me to do my dad thing but also get away to study and meet up with people. 

well, that's a short little update covering a pretty long span of time. we'll try to be more consistent with the updated, especially now that things are a little more settled. thanks for reading, friends!


sammy on his second lollipop after getting his hair cut and styled 


sammy and cousin lucas


chillin' on his motorcycle

Han Family Update - October 2013

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it's been while since our last update but since we are entering into a new season (both literally and figuratively), we thought it was a good time to post. 

 as you know, this summer has been one of transition and discernment for us. though we enjoyed spending a lot of time together as a family and with friends, we were also very actively trying to figure out what we were going to do. would we stay or go? what would we do? how would we make ends meet? though we didn't have a strong sense of the exact details, we did have a pretty strong sense that we could trust God with this process and that He would be faithful to lead us. 

 well, we have some good news. because my wife has a pretty rocking resume and some awesome connections, she just signed the papers to start working at a new job starting this week. the amazing thing about it is that it will be part-time work but enough to meet our immediate financial needs, extremely close to where we live and will provide us with some pretty great benefits. the timing is perfect as well, seeing that my KCPC health insurance ran out at the end of September. all this to say, it's a God-send and we are extremely grateful. 

 as for me, I will be watching Sammy on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays while continuing to pursue ordination with the Evangelical Covenant Church denomination. I will also be participating in various local ministries and investing in existing relationships. like min, I am also thankful for the many wonderful connections I've made and recommendations that have been made on my behalf.

 what this basically means is that we are choosing to stay where we are for at least the next year. we feel peace about this and believe that it is the right decision for our family right now. 

 thank you to all who aided us in this discernment process and prayed for us. we have felt very loved and cared for this past summer. 

 a couple of highlights from the past few months:  

 fishing with the family at piney point, md. we caught a lot of really small spot fish and i injured my legs while trying to land a tiny blue crab.



for our fifth anniversary, we had a great dinner at a local restaurant in vienna and treated ourselves to a showing of the book of mormon. highly irreverent and hilarious.



some friends lent us bikes and trailers and we enjoyed the last few days of summer biking around burke lake. our friends, the kwons joined us and took us to a great place to feed the geese some gluten-free bread (they did enjoy the bread).





the greatest gift this summer was definitely the time we got to spend together as a family. though this season was emotionally difficult for us, the absolute treasure of having a lot of time together with sammy was not lost on us. we remain, as always, deeply grateful people.

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.