To End the Year

To all, I pray that you have had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful time with family and friends celebrating the birth of our Christ Jesus. We have had a wonderful, relaxing time at our home in the woods. It has been more than exciting to teach David about Christmas. He really got into saying Happy Birthday to Jesus and he had a good time setting up the manger scene. He seems very interested in all of it. He has had no idea why we had put a tree in our home, had special family nights and extra dinners with extended family. We didn't put the presents out until the night before. When he realized that he had presents and he got to open them it was quite exciting. He made this gutteral noise and tore right into them. I really think that it made him feel important that he received gifts also. Next year will be great also when we see him get excited with Sam because he knows something is coming. Praise Jesus to see him feel special and get to know he is a part of us. I haven't been able to post because our internet has been slower than molasses, but I did want to mention that yesterday on the 28th we recognized the 6 year anniversary of picking up Samuel in Nepal. What a blessing he has been for these six years. I can't believe how much he has grown and learned. It is quite exciting to see what he is and will become as he grows into an adult. I will always be so thankful for the blessing of being his parent. I can't link right now, but you can go to youtube.com and put in kjernald, adoption, nepal and see the video of us picking Samuel up. The music is not so good (you tube made us change it and we haven't been able to get some good stuff on there), but it is still worth a look (at least I think). We are celebrating New Years up at the ocean house again this year. Just a quite time with the family. I will try to get some pictures up before then, but I can't promise anything. Until then, I am praying for many of you, miss a ton of you and hope to see many this coming year. If I do not get to post until after the New Years, let me say... Happy New Year...may we take stock in all the God has done and taught us this past year and continue to be hidden in Him and only Him this coming year. Blessings, Laurie

This Day...6 years ago

Today I am flooded with one specific memory.  On December 21, 2005 we were living in Jackson, Mississippi, Andreas was in Seminary, and I was working for a church and working with amazing birthmothers for New Beginnings.  The day started like any other when I received a call from a social worker named Don.  He had 3 words for me...''you can go!''.  Yes, six years ago today we were given permission to go to Nepal and pick up our first son.  What a joyous day that was.  We went from assuming we would spend Christmas not hearing anything (and being incredibly sad about it), to having plane tickets to leave Lexington, KY on December 26th.  What a God given Christmas gift he was and continues to be.   I still get butterflies in my stomach thinking about that day and all the anticipation that it held.  However, I do praise Jesus that we are now 6 years on the other side of that adoption. What an incredible 6 years it has been.  

Blessings,

laurie

Love the food stuck in his teeth! This pic is from the small play that his English class put on for the parents.  Ironically, Sam was Father Christmas (ironic because we do not do Santa in this family).  Sam got a kick out of it.  

Sam,


We are so thankful for you.  You are strong in body and heart.  You are smart and caring.  You are charming and funny.  You ask profound questions about God and can give daddy the simplest answers to his theological questions and be right (the faith of a child).  You are learning to be a good big brother and you continue to teach us as we try to parent you as Jesus would want us to.  We love you and always will.  


love,
Mommy and Pappa

Backlog....again

In November, Samuel had Fall break.  We couldn't do much, but we did decide to take the boat down to Fredrikshavn, Denmark and drive across the country (only took 40 minutes) to the biggest aquarium in Scandinavia.  Now as impressive as that sounds, I have to admit, I was a little disappointed at the size of it.  It was a really good size for the time we had and the kids were done at the end, but when you make those ''biggest'' claims, the American in me comes out.  I expect really BIG.  I must remember where we live.  We had friends come along with us and a fun time was had by all (well, Kunal didn't feel so good, sorry).  One thing I love about aquariums is the cool shadow lighting I can get with the camera.  Yes, yes, I like the fish too.  

So enjoy the pictures below.  We had fun doing them and we appreciated that the kids cooperated (most of the time)!

This seal would follow our hand as we ran along the windows, it was really fun for Sam. 

There is a kid in the middle, but it didn't work so well.  I still think those water tubes are cool.  

My strong boys, love David's strong pose. 

That massive fish is called a Klump fisk in Swedish and a Sun fish in English (I think).  I don't think I had ever seen one before.  They had two of them here.  Apparently they are very gentle, but they are massive.  

Andreas captured this image.  Sam is looking at a screen that lit up his face.  I really love this pic.  

They aquarium also had a seal feeding that we saw and a wind tunnel that made hurricane strong winds.  It was pretty funny to watch the kids blow themselves away.  I couldn't capture any of it without blur because the wind was soooooooo strong.

We topped the night off with a great dinner at a place called Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant (how appropriate).  Then we took the boat back to Gothenburg.  The kids actually stayed up until midnight when we drove off the boat, but they were asleep in two seconds once we were on the road.  The next day all were exhausted, but glad to have gone.

Sometimes I wonder what David really thinks of all this being his first time to see any of it.  I wish he could express himself better, would love to hear his thoughts.  I do know that he really enjoyed it, so that will have to do.

Blessings,
Laurie

Backlog...

Hey there you all...

I am sorry for the silence.  My hormones have come up again to attack and frankly that makes me exhausted and cranky.  One of these days I will share all that has happened in that area (because I feel like the Lord is prompting me to), but for now I will leave it at the above.  

One of the things that I came home from Ch*na with (not including David) was a desire to learn to cook some of the things that David liked to eat... as well as the rest of us.  The first thing I tried was Kung Poa Chicken.  We ate this everyday in Ur*mqi at a Muslim restaurant down the street from our hotel.  It was really good.  I was happy to get that one in quite soon after we got home.  I make it at least two times a month now. 

The second one I have tried is Ch*nese dumplings or pot stickers. Not an easy undertaking, but I have to say well worth the effort. I found many recipes online and tried them a couple different ways, combining, doubling and trying different ways of preparing them.  The last time I made them (I have made them about 5 times now) I finally got them just right for our taste.  I don't have the exact recipe on me, but will share when I get it all combined and written down.  

I will admit that I am not so good that I actually made the wrappers to the dumplings.  I did buy them at one of the Asian stores in Gothenburg, but they work great.   I have been doing pretty good at actually folding them also.  I watched a few videos on youtube.com and off I went.  I served them with rice and a cabbage/carrot mix that I fried with a little soy sauce (really good as a side).  The kids and the husband really like them and we eat and eat and eat and eat.  The only thing that stops David is that the dumplings run out.  My husband took pictures the last time to prove that I was actually doing a good job.  I know it sounds silly, but I really enjoy doing this for David especially, just one of those little special things for him.  Of course he doesn't understand it, but maybe one day he will.  

  

Blessings,

Laurie

Part 4

Okay, I hope none of these are repeats, but they maybe.  I know I haven't been on here much, but life seems to be going a mile a minute.  Christmas is not that far away and I am simply not ready for things to be moving so quickly.  The boys are doing great.  They still fight, but I have noticed more times that they actually enjoy each other between the fighting (PRAISE JESUS).  

David has his first meeting with a speech therapist tomorrow, which I am incredibly thankful for.  He is really trying hard to talk and so we need them to start with the therapy.  Please pray that he likes the therapist and wants to work.  

Enjoy the signs that we got a kick out of.  

Our guide said that this is suppose to mean...Keep of the grass.  Not sure how you get that out of the sign, but hey I'm not judging!

It is hard to see, but the shirt was bought in Urumqi and it says...''It be game with you''.  Again, I am at a loss as to what it means but thought I would at least get some conversation from people when they read it.  

I was just wondering what was ''Patriotic'' about this?

I love that they called the low season, ''slack'' season.  So do you get to ''slack off''' from November 1 to March 31?

Okay, this one had me laughing out loud...So are the railings the relics?

Hmmmm...Obama in a Mao uniform...what are they saying?

Awww, those poor seals! (for all you animal rights activists...they are talking about stamps)

Blessings,

laurie