Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

It's a GIRL!

We had our ultra sound yesterday and we are having a little baby GIRL! Kaden predicted this early on. He was calling the baby her and she for awhile. We had many talks about it could be a boy. And he was like "ok" but the look in his eyes was more like "yea right.". Hahaa! I guess siblings have crazy intuitions. Kaden had the biggest smile on his face when the tech told us it is a girl. She wasn't shy to show us she was a girl. She was moving around a lot so it they were able to get a good look at her. Everything looks good except she has one tube out of her kidney that is a little dilated. kaden showed the same thing in his ultra sounds. Pray that it heals so we don't have to have any surgeries when the baby is born. We are not worried. Now to figure out a girl name for this little one in my belly! I'm not a huge pink person but we had to go out and buy a "little sister" shirt to match kaden's "big brother" shirt. We are so blessed to have wonderful friends and family sooooo excited for baby Girl To! Thanks for your love and support.

Half Way!!!

The baby will be 20 weeks on Monday! Can't believe we are half way there! We find out if it's a baby boy or baby girl on December 9th. We have a lot more girl votes than boy votes... we will see! :) The baby is super active and kicking a ton. Kaden got to feel some of the big kicks last night and he's super excited! I feel great! Sleeping on my side has been a little challenging... but that's a minor complaint! Here's a picture of  me and the baby belly...and Joel's baby bump too... silly guy! :)

Oh Christmas Tree

You would think we had enough holiday festivities with Thanksgiving... but we wanted to bring in the Advent season! Sunday morning it was a fairly good weather...so, we packed up the warm clothes and mud boots and went Christmas Tree hunting... we found the perfect tree rather quickly. The Labrum's joined in the tree hunt along with Lori, Kyle and Kris. Kaden wore his beaver hat to chomp down his tree. haha! The minute we got the trees loaded up on the car the rain came pouring down! 

We took our time decorating the tree to have intermissions to race cars. Kaden is at such a fun age of participating and getting really excited about every ornament that came out of the box. I got to tell him about all the ornaments he's gotten in the past three years and the memories that are attached to them. 

We also had some time to play with some Christmas crafts... a felt Christmas tree to practice hanging ornaments...and decorating a gingerbread house. 

We hope to continue to point Kaden towards Jesus during this time of year and why He came to this earth, that it's not just about the lights, the sounds, smells, and activities... but it's about the birth of a Savior... 

"For to us a child is born,to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was super low key... we had 11 of us crashing in the To house the entire weekend... two more added to the mix the night after thanksgiving. Throw in a handful of friends that came by for dinner another night...and you have a party weekend! We decorated cupcakes, cooked an entire thanksgiving feast and several other meals thrown into the mix. The kitchen was grooving with dishes and yumminess! The kitchen aid mixer decided to die but was quickly resuscitated by the amazing husband. Food was consumed, laughs were had, shopping was abundant, cars and toys were everywhere, games were played and memories were made. We had a lot to be thankful for this  year... health, jobs, kids, family, friends, community and above all Jesus.

Fall Fotos

It's been a while since I set out to take pictures of Kaden to document his growth instead of candid shots of an activity or an event. So... we ventured out to capture a beautiful autumn day in Portland. Leaves were abundant, the sun was shinning...the park was bustling and Kaden was all smiles. He's such a little man now. He even says the most grown up sayings... "Hi Dad, what are you up to?" "Wow, did you see that amazing moon, Momma?" Kaden tells me not to scratch my belly because I will hurt the baby. Well... here is my big boy Kaden at 3 years and 7 months.

Goodbye Jen... A Long Overdue Post...

This post is long overdue... so, most of you know that I got a new job in July... and left my home at the Alliance Northwest District Office. It was a sad day... it was more sad to say goodbye to my friends that I have made there. Jen then turned in her two week notice shortly after I did to move to Idaho. The staff invited me to her goodbye party... Our boys are around the same age... and played together really well. Jen and Bryan were in our Life Group at Mosaic for a period of time and it was awesome to grow along side of them, becoming parents together, and working together. Going to miss these kiddos too... Much love to the Shoemaker family and your new adventures in Idaho.

Kaden the Puppy

For Halloween Kaden's preschool had a little fall party where the theme was the farm. So, we had to think of a costume that would be something on the farm. Kaden immediately wanted to be a puppy. He's in a dog phase right now, he pretends he's a dog... it's actually beneficial on our end... we pretend he's a dog and he will do anything... ANYTHING. "Kaden, please get your shoes on..." "No, momma"... "Puppy Kaden, come here. Stay. Sit. Put your shoes on." DONE!

Apparently this society doesn't think a three-year-old can be a puppy. That's reserved for babies under 18 months. We searched high and low for a puppy costume. Finally on Tuesday night (Thursday is his school party) we find a scooby doo costume in a 4T size. A dog is a dog, I guess. We talked about making his costume, but couldn't find a plain white hoodie sweatshirt. We tried the costume on on Wednesday night, and it was TOO SMALL! It was a whole size bigger than what he normally wears... so, what do we do... Joel and I put our heads together and made his costume out of my bathrobe. We turned the pockets into ears, the tie around the waist into the tail. It turned out a lot better than we could have hoped for for a two hour project starting at 11pm.

Kaden woke up and tried on his costume and it fit perfectly! He was a happy little puppy. He was the cutest little doggy in his class... I wish he would have let me paint his face, I would have given him a little black nose and a spot around his eye. My clean OCD child would have no part in that. LOL!

We hit up a harvest festival at my parent's church in Seattle... then on Halloween we went to Multnomah Village (where we hope to one day live) and went around the shops and trick or treated in the afternoon. It was really nice cause Kaden wasn't all scared in year's past with going from door to door. Some houses are too INTO Halloween. We felt a little lame being home by 6pm and chilled. But that's the life of a parent of a three year old. We even got a free Krispy Kreme doughnut for wearing his costume...

This picture is so fitting... Mei Mei and Uncle Zach just sent Kaden a book called, "If You Give a Dog a Doughnut".

One Third of the Way There!

Baby To is 12 weeks and growing... we got to hear the heart beat this week and it's such a fun thing to experience. It makes it really real. I am very thankful that I feel great... tired, but not as tired as the first few weeks. Those first few weeks I could barely sit down without dozing off. I think this tired is just that I am a little restless at night and working some funky hours. Baby is one third of the way cooked... only six more months before we are holding a little itty bitty bundle of joy. 

Six more months until Kaden is FOUR! I got a coupon in the mail to celebrate Kaden's half birthday with some free ice cream. (Well, free as in buy one get one free... tricky tricky. hahah!) I can't believe Kaden is three and half. It seriously seems like yesterday I was just pregnant with him. He's SO funny at this age... learning how to joke around, be silly and make us laugh! He's loving school. I think he would go every day if we let him. He enjoys playing with his new "best friends" and learning about everything in sight. I love watching his little mind process the world.... everything is still a race and has to involve his cars in some manner. He loves races... 

So, this last weekend we went into downtown to cheer on the Portland Marathon runners. We had some friends and family running the race. Last year Joel and some other friends ran it and so it's very near and dear to our hearts now. It's such a beautiful thing... it's not just a run. There's a lot of stories of hope and challenge and perseverance in the people running it. There's old, young, man, woman, and every race & ethnicity. I think the part that gets me every time is that every runner has a running bib with a number and their name printed on it. Strangers are calling out names, cheering for each individual. How important names are. It gives the runners a boost of energy... it gives them some sense of hope to be called by name. How awesome names are to us. And how much God calls us each by name. How we knows us inside and out, more than we know ourselves. When he calls our names we run a little harder, we go a little farther, we are stretched and grow. He knows we are capable of more. Even at the 26 mile marker when the end is in sight... we start to fade a little but that extra personal touch allows us runners to know that the end is near...to run the race to finish strong. We need help in running the race, the most trained runner still needs a community behind them cheering and loving them through the run. There was even a few people at mile 26 being held up by family and friends to finish the race. Sometimes we have nothing left to give, and God brings people alongside of us to carry us through the rough times... the hard parts of life. That this isn't meant to be done alone. Congrats to our friends and family that ran the marathon this last week... I saw that glimmer in Joel's eyes... I think he might attempt another marathon in his life. Maybe when we are done having kids we will run the next one together.

9 Weeks

The baby is my belly is 9 weeks along...I feel like I am 14 weeks along... hahaha! My belly definitely grew faster than with Kaden. I don't think I was showing until I was like 16 weeks with Kaden. I need to go shopping for bigger pants already. Has anyone used the belly band? Might be an option to keep my clothes until I HAVE to wear maternity clothes. :)

I feel pretty good, just really tired all the time. Sleep is hard to come by... when I do sleep I have FUNKY dreams all night! I wake up feeling like I just fell asleep and coffee hasn't sounded good to me... I know I can drink a cup a day but it just doesn't sound appealing. So... no coffee and no sleep... makes for a very zombie like Lisa.

Morning sickness hasn't really been a problem... I didn't have much with Kaden either. I get nauseous here and there but I remember I have to eat and then immediately feel better. That's so backwards to me, feeling nauseous makes me NOT want to eat, but I have to force myself to get something down, because I KNOW I will feel better...

My memory is SHOT! I try sooooo hard to remember things... but before I can even grab a piece of paper to write whatever that's important down to remember and reference... I have already forgotten what I was going to write down. :*( I left ice cream out last night and have the most grace-filled husband who just puts it away without making it a big deal. Hahha!

Other than that... I love this growing baby in my belly! Kaden kisses my belly and tells me it's a girl. Do kids have a sixth sense we don't know about??? Hhaha! Either that or he's going to be super disappointed if it's a boy. I am sure he will be excited regardless once he sees the baby. A few people I know had babies this last week and it makes me that much more excited to meet mine in 216ish days. It has a lot of growing to do before that day... and I will wait and I know that the time will aslo fly by sooooo fast.

Sorry no belly pictures... I forgot to upload them to my computer. Happy 9 weeks little grape sized baby inside me!

Missio Community

To be authentic community that makes Jesus fully known ...so others may fully know Him.

What a weekend... we have been gearing up for this day to come for the last year and some months... Missio Community LAUNCHED! What does that mean? It's our new church community that we have been in the planning stages for the last year and some.... we started out with a group of about 10-15 people gathering in one living room dreaming of this day when we start gathering in multiple living rooms and a Sunday gathering in Southwest Portland. This last year we were meeting on Sundays once a month and adding to twice a month...now that day has come that we are now meeting weekly... there was about 100 adults and 20 kids this last Sunday to kick off our weekly Expressions (gatherings). We know there was a lot of friends and family out to support our first gathering... and there was a lot of "core" that was out of town and traveling or working. Regardless of numbers... Jesus was made fully known on Sunday... he was made known through the love of the children workers, the guest care, the worship team, and the preaching. He was made known through the smiles, the handshakes, the hugs. It was a very exciting day and more exciting days to come... we are here weekly! Joel and I can't wait to get our house sold (or rented) and move to SW so we can be closer to the people we want to reach. It's been a really exciting season in our lives... we would love continued prayers for this community to continue to put Jesus in the center of all the things we do, that you would pray for Joel and support raising and his new role in ministry. If you want to get Joel's monthly ministry updates you can subscribe HERE. 

Since April?

Since April...the last blog post we have had a LOT of happenings in the To family!

Joel turned 35 in April...

We put our house on the market in May....

We went to a LOT of graduations in June...and also celebrated our 7th anniversary!

 In July, Lisa turned in her two-week-notice to the office and started a new job at the Portland Arts Museum as an Events Manager....

Joel was gone most of August to help his parents at the fair... and April came down to be our nanny.

September Joel started working on staff at Missio Community...where we have had the privilege to be a part of this church plant and use our gifts and talents that God has given us... Missio will be meeting weekly SEPTEMBER 18!

Kaden started preschool...which he LOVES!

And if that wasn't enough change and transitions... we are PREGNANT! Whoohooo! Baby To #2 will be arriving into our family April 23ish.

So...with all that said...we are definitely in a time that we are learning to lean on Jesus and trust in HIM every day in all aspects of our lives... please pray for us during these next few weeks and months... that our house sells, that Joel raises full support, that Kaden grows and learns more in school, not only academically but spiritually as well, and that Lisa is adjusting to the new job and the growing belly and the baby is growing and healthy. Thanks much! Here's to blogging more often! Cheers!

Need to Blog More...

I should blog more.

Need to make time.

I always try to and then realize I don't have the right computer that has the pictures on it.

Then, I just forget.

This is my attempt to start again.

:)

Kaden is THREE!!!

Kaden turned three! He had his three year check up this morning and he's weighing in at 32 lbs and he's 36 inches tall. He got super shy for the doctor and every time she would leave he would talk up a storm again. He's super into CARS (the pixar film) and any other kind of cars, trains, planes... loves Curious George... getting into Pocoyo and Caillou. He is a wonderful helper. Loves to race... he loves to win.... and be Lightning McQueen! Everything is related to the movie, Cars... ask him what colors things are and he will say it's McQueen color (red), Chick Hicks color (green) or King color (blue)... he even goes so far as random other cars in the movie are yellow, orange, etc. We are in the midst of potty training. He's showing some progress... is amazing through the night but when he's home is when we have issues... we just all forget and play and do our thing... he's pretty good out and about. Sometimes he won't go in a bathroom that's not very clean. Kaden loves life... he plays really well by himself or with others. He isn't the greatest sharing with smaller kids... he thinks they are going to eat his toys or mess them up somehow. I don't really blame him... but still teaching him nonetheless. He loves to do all things Dadda does, but is Momma's boy through and through. As long as he's fed and gets a nap... life is wonderful. If those two things don't happen... we have to watch out for our little "emo" guy. :) We can usually change the subject or race our way out of the tantrums. And if all else fails... a "starwars" or everyone else calls them Starbusts usually will help. He has an awesome imagination... the couch at any time could be a boat, a plane, a motorcycle, school, a swimming pool. He likes to make mountains in the middle of the room with all the couch cushions and climb the mountain for hours. He reads books to himself, almost verbatim sometimes. Three years has seriously gone by too fast. Treasuring each day.

March: Transition Month

Kaden and Momma washing dishes

March was a hard month... it was a busy month... it was the month where EVERYTHING hit us at once. We felt like we were swimming upstream. We set a goal of April 1st as the date we put the house on the market... but we forgot that our housemates are gone and there was a ton of stuff you don't realize until it's (they) are gone. Joel can't just "run out" and grab stuff for the house... there isn't another or two sets of hands to watch kaden, clean, cook, help. It was definitely a month of adjustments on how to live just the three of us. I (lisa) also had a big event happening at the beginning of April...and planning birthday parties, and the conference and trying to get our house on the market. WOW... I am tired just thinking of the month of March. The craziness isn't over... but I think we sort of figured out how to do life with just the three of us... just in time for our friend, Kris to move back in. (What can we say... we like living in community). Kaden especially gets bored of just the two of us... our house is getting there... should be up by mid-May. Praying for a miracle... that someone will fall in love with the house and not ask us to do anything to it and take the price as is. :) It was a miracle that we bought it and we are having faith that it will sell the same way. :) That was March.

The month of love...

The whirl wind we call the month of February... it seems to be when we think we are going to be able to slow down we get caught in a 99 mph storm that takes us to the next adventure and chapter in our lives. We have been getting more sabbath days in so we aren't going crazy. Some major happenings happened in February...

District Youth Conference (DYC) is my (Lisa's) biggest event of the year. All hands on deck in the office. I realized that this was my tenth DYC. I have been at the office for seven years now and volunteered to staff for three years before my hiring. I love this conference. I love high schooler's lives being changed and challenged. It was especially cool this year because my LYNNWOOD crew got to come down and experience the conference. My prayer for them (and the other students) is that they will be forever changed and learn to continually love God with all their hearts, soul, mind and love their neighbor as themselves.

I turned 31 in February. Thirty is such a milestone... thirty one just makes me feel old. I am IN my thirties. I remember when I turned fifteen and said I was half way to thirty, like it was the end of the world. I love being in my thirties... and celebrating it with 500 high schoolers at DYC is always fun! :) I felt very loved.

We kept pretty busy with DYC prep that it was hard to allow our minds and emotions grieve the loss of our beloved housemates to China. They accepted teaching positions in Beijing and left on Thursday, February 24. We spent some quality time the last few evenings they were in town... we took them to our favorite sushi place that we have raved about but never took them to. We had a family dinner with their closest friends the last night they were in town. I was surprised I held it together all night. But when the last person left, I LOST IT! I think I was holding it in that it had no where to go but sobbing tears and no words. Kaden knew there was something wrong... he was very cuddly that night. Thursday 4 AM came too soon... we packed up the CRV and headed to the airport in the SNOW! I am very thankful it was snowing... it made for a happy 2 1/2 year old, not a grumpy sleepless one at four am. :) It helped take the edge off... and I got the day off due to the snow or promise of snow. It was good to be at home without having to try to be someone productive on the day we lost our housemates.

It hasn't totally sunk in yet that they aren't coming home. The basement is cold and empty... the kiddo is a little bored with just the two of us to play with. The black hub (our dinning room table) is definitely lacking. I think the spring and summer will be especially hard.... no gardening buddies, no outdoor adventures, no impromptu BBQs, no late nights at the black hub doing nothing...

We miss you Uncle Zach and Mei Mei. Kaden keeps asking when you guys are coming home. May your adventures in China be full of love & grace for each other and for those around you...  may you remember your past and create beautiful new memories. Thank you for investing so much love into Kaden. He may not remember much of the last two years of his life... but we will forever see the influence of you guys in his character and personality.  And for Joel and I... we are grateful for you guys. We love you two much. Thank you. (Done writing... cause I am done crying.) :*(

The new year... rest, races, and reflections.

Starting off the year at the Oregon Coast is the way to do it... and I have been doing this for the last seven years! My office has our annual Renewal Retreat out at Cannon Beach, Oregon. It's a beautiful way to start the new year off refocused on God... time with Joel... and with 100 amazing pastors and their spouses from our district. I love hearing their stories... seeing them worship... learning from them and the speaker. It was good for the soul.

We also got a visitor at the end of January... Mr. Bob Banker... Zach's dad. Joel had to run to Medford while Bob was here... so, Kaden and I tagged along on one of their adventures: the horse race! Kaden loved the "Lightning McQueen"... or the Red ones. :) hahah!!! My kid associates everything to CARS the movie. It was a fun morning spent watching horses race, kaden cheer, Zach and his dad figure out which to bet on, and hanging with Mei Mei experiencing at all the excitement in the air.

This leads us to sadly announcing (which everyone already knows)... Uncle Zach and Mei Mei (Amanda) are packing up their basement and heading out to China to teach English for at least a year. The little things are treasured these last two months... nights spent at the black hub (our dinning room table)... our silly adventures... the food that flows out of our kitchen...impromptu soccer games, races and dances that happen in the living room. So many laughs, tears, discussions, hopes, dreams, challenges, laughs, did I say laughs?

Kaden not only will miss them greatly, but Joel and I will have a huge hole in our hearts as well. I think I shall stop writing now... this has been a hard day.

To the motherland...

How do we blog about our three week vacation without boring or taking up fifty pages of our blog?? This was my (Lisa) second time to Vietnam... we went five years ago: childless. So, this trip was extremely different from the previous time. This trip Joel, Kaden and I went with Joel's sister and their family: Thu, Thanh, Gabby, Nathan and Zachary. We were at the beach a whole lot more, ate at "cleaner" places, had a driver and stayed at people's houses. I loved having the driver... I think we spent a lot of time catching buses and taxis last time... and with a driver we can stop when we want... go farther quicker... and not have cigarette smoke blowing in our faces at all times. It was really good to be gone during the hustle and bustle of the holidays in the US. We weren't worrying about presents, parties, and all the stresses that come along with the holidays. But it was very weird to be in a warm (hot) place and not all bundled up with our coffee. It didn't feel like Christmas even though everywhere was decked out with Christmas trees and snowmen. Which felt soooo wrong. Hahha! It was great to be with Joel's parents and all the extended family in Vietnam. We celebrated Christmas Eve in Can Tho where my grandfather pastored. I never met my grandfather... he passed away the year I was born. But I felt like I knew him from the legacy of the churches that he pastored and planted all along Southern Vietnam. I loved hearing the stories of the simple stories of our parent's and aunties and uncle's childhood... what they liked to eat, where they went, what they did... very nostalgic. The weather was perfect. The food was okay. (we ate way better on the last trip.... cleaner restaurants usually doesn't mean better food). hahaha! Last trip we did more night life stuff... obviously this time with younger kiddos we were in the hotel fairly early. Overall this was an amazing trip to be with family and friends. I love my people. I love the motherland. I hope Kaden can feel like he knows where he comes from... the hardship, the perseverance, the love, the beauty, the pain, the uniqueness... the motherland...Vietnam. 

Thanksmas!

After a crazy beginning of November, I (Lisa) got back to work the week of Thanksgiving. Then only had ten whole work days before we headed off to Vietnam for three weeks. So, it was a crazy two weeks of getting work done, packing for Vietnam, and celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving all in one. (AND not feeling quite 100% yet!) It was a whirlwind end of November beginning of December.

Something fun the Tran family did was we celebrated Thanksmas! (Thanksgiving+Christmas=Thanksmas) Joel, Kaden and I packed up for an extended weekend in Seattle. We went up Wednesday evening had Thanksgiving on Thursday...picked names that night. Went shopping on Friday with all the big sales, and decorated for Christmas on Saturday. We had Christmas dinner on Saturday and opened presents that night! It was kinda fun to only have one day to shop for one person. We pre-bought the kids' presents. We also had a family photo shoot and helped my brother and sis in law pack up and move into my parent's house. It was fun to hang out with my cousins and family. Seattle weekends are always super busy but this one was extremely busy.

Merry Thanksmas!!! :)

November...

So we thought after the marathon life would get back to normal around the To-Banker house... and then I got sick. This might be a little repeat from my facebook notes but more reflective three months later. So for those who haven't heard I had an ectopic pregnancy... that is when my fertilized egg doesn't make it to the uterus but gets stuck in my fallopian tube. It caused my fallopian tube to rupture and I had internal bleeding. I thought I just had the stomach flu. My friend, GT, was prompted by God to come check up on me at about 9pm... and took me to urgent care. We had some tests done and a ultra sound.... they gave me some morphine to help with the pain. We went into surgery the next morning. Recovery was hard... it was hard to not be able to hold Kaden, to lift anything... it was even hard to move about and do normal things like showering.

It's so interesting all the stories shared once I shared mine. Lots of miscarriages, heartaches, babies passing away.... how there's such a difference in everyone's stories... yet most had a hope in a savior through it all. Faith that grace is enough. That through the hard times Jesus is sustaining each and every family. I wasn't heartbroken about losing the baby... I was about seven weeks along. We had no idea we were pregnant...actually we thought for sure we weren't. I took a pregnancy test about two weeks before this and it was negative. All that to say... in the same breath we found out we were pregnant we found out the baby wasn't going to make it. I think there was a sadness but more of relief to know that we know what was wrong with me and the pains I was feeling. Everyone tip toes around the question of "is she really okay?" some like Sister Mary at the hospital couldn't take my answer of yes, I was really okay about it... that my soul was okay.... she tried to tell me to name the baby and assign it a gender to be able to heal from this. I thought she was wacky cause for me at that time, I needed her to listen to me and hear that I had an amazing community of friends and family to care for us... and that I wasn't mourning the loss of the baby I knew of for seven whole seconds... who am I to assign it a gender... what if I get to heaven and my baby that I assigned to be a little girl was a boy? Or does gender then even matter? Anyways... I feel sadness because we can't have a baby for another year... I feel sadness because of the joy a baby brings. Not because I lost this baby. I wish I could be in my second trimester and nesting but why do that to myself... I find joy in the things I do have... a beautiful, funny, witty, smart, creative, gentle, kind, crazy, silly, gracious son, Kaden.

Being on sick-leave for three weeks was very hard for me... I am a workaholic. I need to be needed. My soul had to be reminded of where my identity needs to be. I was labeling myself as a wife, a mother, a good worker (I am asian after all). I had nothing to give when I was sick and recovering... yet, I was still loved.... by an amazing husband, by an adorable son, my co-workers, friends and family and best of all by my Jesus. I did nothing and yet was loved unconditionally. :)