1st Grade

Sydney left on the bus as a first grader today. Scoring a nice teacher, Mrs Melert and having best friend Kate in her class seemed to ease any fears she had. She said the best part was riding the bus, 2 recesses and the french fries at lunch. However, I packed her lunch. I peeked in her wallet and sure enough the emergency lunch money I gave her with explicit instructions was gone, along side it, the lunch box with her now warm smooshed up lunch still inside. She says she forgot she packed!

Surgery Day

Pre Surgery

We arrived at Akron Children's Hospital at 8:30 AM this morning. Dr. Milo was running ahead of schedule so we buzzed right through the check in process. A child life specialist then came by to talk with us. She showed Andrew the hair nets, masks and oxygen masks he would see in surgery. She asked him to come along with her to pick out a smell for his anesthesia mask. He happily took her hand and headed down the hall. They returned with some strawberry scented chap stick. This simple task reinforced to Andrew that the staff would bring him back to us. She rubbed the chapstick on the inside of his anesthesia mask giving a sweet smell, then attached a balloon to one valve asked him to take a deep breath in then out to inflate the balloon, which he did. She told us they will ask him to repeat this task back in the OR and add a little anesthetic gas to the mix. Genius!

Andrew in recovery

About 30 minutes later we were called back to recovery. Andrew did great! He was crabby and very floppy when we arrived but we immediately got to hold him. Just like his sleep test he was obsessed with the red pulse ox light and begged to have it off. Once it was removed he moved the focus to his IV. But, he would have to tolerate it for another four hours till we were discharged. Overall he did very well and had three Popsicles and some juice before we left.

So far day one went better than expected. He slept for a couple hours, had noodles and applesauce for dinner and a Popsicle and jello for dessert. Hopefully, he will sleep comfortably through the night.


A big thank you to everyone at Children's for making everything stress free. And to everyone who has called with well wishes. And Grandma Franny & the Napholz's for the gifts.

Right before discharge

Cindy's Wedding

Cindy Sekula, a dear old friend got married today. Congrats Cindy & Corey. Thank you so much for inviting our family. This was the first time we have taken both kids to a wedding and we had a blast. They must get their dancing legs from Matt because they were ripping up the dance floor.

Noah's Lost Ark

As most of you may know I am a sucker for animals, especially those of the African plain. Thanks to my friend Angel, we learned about an animal sanctuary not far from our home; Noah's Lost Ark. This non breeding facility is dedicated to providing a permanent safe haven for unwanted and abused exotic animals. I was suspicious at first that a back yard facility could provide a safe, caring environment for these magnificent animals but was very pleased to see their animals looked well cared for, healthy & happy. My mom & I talked sweetly to a resting bison named Elroy, who then took an interest in us. He made his way over to a feed bucket and began head butting it. Following his direction we tossed in a handful of feed and sure enough he gobbled it up and head butted the bucket again. What a charmer! He suckered us right in and over and over we tossed in the feed until the next victim came along.


Noah's Lost Ark has a large population of big cats, leopards, tigers and lots of lions each with their own sad story. A big male lion named Hawk make our entire trip. Unprompted, Hawk emerged from his shade cover and for 2 minutes serenaded us all with his roar. What a remarkable experience, I have heard lions roar in Africa but only from some distance, never within 10 feet. Wow, no wonder a male lion's roar can be heard up to 5 miles away. It was a sound that penetrated your rib cage and make everyone in the area stop and take notice.



Anyone looking for an educational animal experience I would highly recommend, Noah's Lost Ark.

Andrew's ENT Visit

We had our appointment with Ear Nose & Throat Specialist, Dr Milo today. He was very personable. Andrew opened right up when Dr Milo said he needed to look for Mater in his ears and Lighting McQueen in his nose. He knew exactly what three year old boys like. When Andrew opened up his mouth Dr Milo exclaimed "Holy tonsils Batman". Those need to come out. On the same 1-4 scale the pulmonologist used Andrew's are now a four. The doctor compared their size & consistency to meatballs. No wonder he is having trouble breathing & swallowing food.

We also lucked out and Andrew had one of his many nose bleeds while we were there. So while Andrew is under anesthesia Dr Milo will also cauterize some of the blood vessels in his nose to help prevent those.

Andrew is booked for surgery at Akron Children's Hospital on August 22nd.

Andrew Update

Lots of you have been asking about the results of Andrew's sleep test. We met with the pulmonologist and the test result show he does indeed stop breathing while he is sleeping but not long enough to be classified as sleep apnea. Since his symptoms are still disrupting his sleep we opted to follow up with an ear, nose and throat specialist. We have an appointment with Dr Milo of Akron ENT next week.

Makin' Jam

My mom and I took the kids out to Walnut Drive Gardens in Suffield to pick raspberries. In all we picked about 10 pounds of red, black and purple raspberries. Yummo! The kids really enjoyed themselves and even followed directions not to eat the berries before weigh in; mommy didnt. :)


We froze a couple pounds and made the rest into jam. Ummmmmm!

Vacation Wrap Up

After departing the Bradenton Beach area we headed north. Stopping off at Downtown Disney for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Then hit the Goofy Candy Shop where Sydney was selected as "Chef of the Day". Dressed in an apron & hat she got to select and decorate specialty treat. Disney staff really goes out of their way to make kids feel special. Syd chose the chocolate covered rice krispie. They announced her name and where she was from then brought over a tray of toppings for her to chose from.




Soon we were back on the road headed north of Atlanta to meet up with my cousin Natalie. She also has a daughter named Sydnee who is only a couple weeks older than our Sydney. We get together a couple times a year and the girls have a great time. This time we rented a cabin together in the mountains of Helen, GA a German village along the Chatahoochie River. The highlight was "Tubin the Hooch". For $3.00 you get a hot pink inter tube and a bus ride up the mountain. Then you take a 3 hour float back to town down the Chatahoochie River. I wish I had pictures but I didnt want to risk waterlogging my camera. Our four tubes were tethered together which caused us to get hung up on rocks & beaver dams, but we had a great time and workout. Sydney was very tentative as usual. Andrew was so comfortable he slept for about 45 minutes.


Wow! boy has Andrew's swimming skills improved during our vacation. He was a fish before and now he's a dolphin. He went from swimming assisted to swimming alone across the pool. He was so excited to show off for his swim teacher today.

Sea Turtles

During our vacation had the opportunity to join the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch Association for a nesting tour. In July, Loggerhead & Green Sea Turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. We drug the kids down to Manatee Beach early one morning to meet our guide. A Loggerhead did come ashore but had already returned to the sea by the time we arrived.



However, she dug her nest too close to the shore line and would be washed out in the next storm. The Turtle Watch team needed to relocate the nest within the next hour; before the embryos attach to the eggs.



A little less than 2 feet under the sand we found 84 ping pong ball sized eggs. They were carefully placed in a bucket with some sand for the move up the beach. A new hole was dug and the eggs were gently covered back up and marked off. The nest is due to hatch on Sept. 1st. Wish we could be there for the birth.

Sarasota Jungle Gardens

We stopped off at Sarasota Jungle Gardens yesterday. This little jem was a big hit and quenched Andrew's need to see an alligator. For weeks leading up to our trip he has been telling me how alligators live in Florida. And, yesterday he got to see one up close. He opted not to hold it but was more than happy to give it a little belly rub.



There are not a lot of zoos left who let you interact with the wildlife. Sydney is afraid of birds especially ones bigger than her. So, she was not happy to see the free roaming flamingos.



Nor was she trilled about the over 2 dozen parrots & macaws they have in their rehab center. Andrew chose to be photographed with Fortune, who won our hearts by mimicking just about any tune you could whistle.

Independence Day 2008

Happy July 4th everyone! We spent the majority of the day driving to Florida. But, we did arrive at Pam's house in time for the neighborhood picnic & fireworks.



Andrew's enjoyed his first sparkler while Sydney hid inside.

Sleep Study - Part 2

Andrew checked into Akron Children's Hospital last night for his sleep study. He looked so cute waddling down the hall in his pajamas, bear hugging his pillow. Nurse Mona took us to his private room and started setting up all the equipment. Andrew sat very quietly watching his Winnie the Pooh movie. It took about 45 minutes to get all the wire, monitors and sensors attached. In all I counted about 30. As always, Andrew was a perfect patient.





Once Mona was finished she turned out the light and we finished watching the movie. Afterwards, I kept with our bedtime rituals and read 2 stories, gave him a small drink of water and kissed him goodnight. Unlike home, I was not able to leave the room so I laid down over on the sleeper chair they provided. About 20 minutes went by, I thought for sure he fell asleep and we were home free. But, no. In the darkness a little voice called out, Mommy? "Yes" I replied. His voice crackled, "I want to go home". Poor thing was terrified. I reassured him I would be right here the whole time. Nevertheless, he was uncomfortable with all the wires, in a strange place and his toe sensor glowed red like E.T. so he was totally obsessed with it. For hours he fought sleep. I tried holding him, sleeping with him, leaving him alone, back rubs, everything! Finally close to midnight he gave in.

Around 5:30 AM Mona woke us up, they were all done. Unfortunately, Andrew didn't give them much to work with. After all that hard work, Andrew didn't do much snoring or other sleep apnea signals. AHHHHH!!!! If only they could come home with us or ride along while Andrew sleeps in the car seat. They could gather a ton of data. Ugh!

So now we wait. The doctors will review the info they gathered and call us sometime in the next week.

FAC Picnic

Every year I look forward to the summer picnic Family Adoption Consultants puts on for their adoptive families. Seeing all those smiling faces from around the world is a beautiful sight.

Andrew & Sydney both relished the opportunity to break boards during the Tae Kwon Do demonstration. I have two naturals on my hands!



Coming up on Saturday, October 4th is our annual Evening at the Races fundraiser. All the proceeds are donated towards various orphanages, including Andrew's. I hope you will join us for this fun filled night! Tickets are $25.00 and include a buffet dinner, dessert, wine, beer, and soft drinks. More friends makes for more fun while shouting & betting on the horse races. This is also my first year serving as president of the event so I hope you will come out for support.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day everyone! The kids presented Matt with their gifts. Sydney painted & decorated a small box for him, she says its an eye glass case. Andrew with a little help got daddy some new baseball pants. We spent most of the day at the Dogwood Pool then had dinner at ElRincon.

Unfortunately, neither Matt or I got to spend the day with our dads. My dad, like most years, is on his GOBA bike trip through Ohio. Matt's dad was busy with church meetings. We love you both and hope you enjoyed your day!

Summer Fun

School's out and the summer has begun!!

9th Wedding Anniversary

Matt & I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary yesterday. And no, it doesn't feel like just yesterday. :) That was the question everyone posed. To me, it feels like forever ago. Between work, kids, moving four times and all the other things we are involved in, it feels like ancient history. At the same time it was a day that changed the course of our lives and guided us to where we are today.

To celebrate my parents watched the munchkins while we enjoyed a lovely dinner at a posh little restaurant called Fedeli's in downtown Canton. Thanks again to the Browning's & McCarthy's for treating us. Afterwards, we collected the kids & headed home to watch the 2 hour season finale of our favorite show, LOST.

Happy Anniversary Matt!

Sleep Study

At Andrew's yearly check up I expressed some concern about his sleeping habits. He snores, has nose bleeds, doesn't regularly sleep through the night and most concerning it sounds like he stops breathing. Our doctor referred us to a pulmonologist at Akron Children's Hospital. Today was our appointment and Andrew was very excited. The kid likes going to the doctor. I think that is because they always give toys & stickers at the end.

Dr Omlor believes he has allergies & obstructive sleep apnea but ordered a sleep study to be sure. This involves one of us staying overnight with him at the hospital while he sleeps and they run various tests. They measure brain waves, eye,leg and chin movement, oxygen & carbon dioxide levels and EKG.

If not treated obstructive sleep apnea can lead to developmental problems due to lack of quality sleep, high blood pressure & heart problems because his heart is working extra hard to properly move blood through the lungs.

Thankfully, the treatment is fairly simple; surgery to remove the tonsils and or adenoids takes care of the problem in most cases.

Andrew's sleep study is scheduled for June 24th. I will let you know more then.

New Videos

I posted two new videos to our website. You can view them using the links on the right side of this webpage.

The first is a montage of pictures from Sydney's first cheerleading season. The second is a pictures & video of our trip to Korea. Make sure you turn up the volume on your computer first.


Hope you enjoy!

Gotcha Day

At this moment exactly two years ago today we were on our way to Detroit and my stomach was in knots. At 3:05 PM Andrew would come into our lives. It feels like just yesterday, but at the same time it feels like he has been with us forever. How could a little boy born round the world make it into our arms and be such a perfect match for our family.

He amazed us how quickly he adapted and blossomed into an all American boy. But, on the same note, we strive to keep the honor, strong work ethic and culture of the Korean people incorporated into his life.

People tell us how lucky Andrew is. But, we are the lucky ones; Andrew has given us so much more.

Happy Birthday Sydney

Having two April birthdays makes for a lot of stress. This year we decided to for go the big birthday parties and opted for simple & small. Andrew had the family over for dinner & cake.

Sydney decided to leave Andrew home with grandma & grandpa and take 2 friends to the Cleveland Zoo. It turned out a beautiful 75 degree day and the girls were delightful. We moved though the zoo quicker than I thought and everyone got to see their favorite animals. Except for Matt. He pouted when there were no unicorns; the girls got good laugh.

Here is a link with all the pictures:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2BbNW7Vo5ZOJg