Evan's First Year - Look at him grow!

I'm a little slow, but here is Evan's first year in pictures.

Keeping the Faith

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

-Philippians 4:6-7

While the majority of this blog is to update our family and friends on our lives and the lives of our (handsome, funny, smart, beautiful, etc.) children, it is also a place to think "outloud" about things we are dealing with in our lives.

We are so very excited about our adoption. We are getting ready for our upcoming home visit with our social worker on Janurary 9th. After that visit, we are hoping to have the homestudy completed and turned in within a month. Then, we will be officially waiting. We can't wait to be waiting! Sounds odd, huh? But, the sooner we offiically wait, the sooner we get a referral for our baby girl! Our agency's approximate wait time for a referral (name, picture, medical information, etc. of our daughter) is 14-17 months.

With that excitement, there is also some worry. While Korea has the longest standing international adoption program, it has set a timeline to end international adoptions by approximatly 2012. (See story here.) While we should be a completed and final family by that time, the unexpectedness of it all causes a bit of anxiety for nervous parents to be. International adoption changes quickly. Programs and laws have new regulations and requirements every year, it seems, and things can slow down or speed up without a moment's notice. So, in this time of waiting for our daughter's referral, we are looking to God for peace and comfort. Please keep our family, and the orphans in South Korea, in your prayers. There are millions of children in need of families, and we are praying that our daughter will be home with us before South Korea decides to shut down their international adoption program completely.

Let's end with a little math.

9 months of pregnany+5 months in S. Korea being available for domestic adoption = 14 months

Our agency's estimated wait time = 15 1/2 months

What does this mean? Our daughter is probably not even conceived yet. But, right now, there is a woman in South Korea who will one day have to make a very hard decision for herself and her child. We pray for her.

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas Day! We started out our day opening presents from each other and seeing what Santa had brought. After lunch, Grammy, Grandad, Great Grandmother, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Danielle came over and we opened more presents. Then, we had another yummy meal!

The tree with gifts, stockings, Santa presents.

Evan unwrapping.

Evan in his new car from Santa. He sat in it pretty much all day!

Luke unwrapping.

The boys in their new bouncy house.

Our yummy dinner.

Great Grandmother on the floor playing Hungry, Hungry Hippo!

Evan and Great Grandmother

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went to church and then over to Mom and Dad's for a very yummy dinner. After dinner, we headed home to complete all of the Christmas Eve traditions.

Hanging the Santa key on the door so Santa could get in the house.


Putting the reindeer food on the lawn.

Putting the cookies and milk out for Santa.

Reading the Christmas story.

Upstairs and into bed!

Christmas Cookies

On Christmas Eve, Uncle Mark and Aunt Danielle came over to help us make and decorate Christmas cookies. We had a great time and were hard at work baking, spreading icing, and putting decorations on all of our cookies.

Hard at work (well most of us...)

"Eating the profits." (right, Meilyn?)

The choosen Santa cookies.

All About Luke

With so many posts about Evan lately, I'm going to make one post all about Luke!

Christmas is so much fun with Luke. He is at the perfect age where he believes in all of the magic of the season, and loves looking at the lights, watching the pile of presents grow (and then read the tags and shake the ones that have his name on them!), and taking part in all of our Christmas traditions.

We made our yearly Gingerbread House this week and were sure to taste most of the treats while we were decorating.

We made cookies and treats for snacking. (Note the begging dog in the background!)

And, we visited McAddenville, aka Christmas Town, USA.

Luke also enjoyed jumping in our leaves before we tossed them into the woods. Can you find him????

Were Mary and Joseph stressed out?

A friend sent me this article. The whole article is worth the 4 minutes it will take you to read, but this part was especially noteworthy. Next time you are so busy with holiday preparations that your head is spinning, read this note about what Mary and Joseph may have been feeling on that very first Christmas.

Try to remember that the first Christmas was probably a disaster. I imagine Mary felt let down about where she had the baby, about her inadequacy as a mother. I imagine Joseph freaking out about not being able to provide a decent place for the birth of God's son - talk about a burden.

We're all fallible and messy and crabby and moody and yet, the Christmas magic of it all is that God chose to use a messy, whiny, cranky baby to show up in. A needy, totally dependent, poop-in-your-pants baby. God is present in us all the time, no matter what mood we're in.

Pictures of the big day

How big is Evan? Soooo big!


This cake stuff can be fun!


Ohhhh... fire!


Look at my new duck toy! It quacks!

Pizza dinner. Evan ate 1 1/2 pieces of pizza and lots of carrots!

Opening presents with some "help" from big brother, Luke.

The last of the monthly pictures. 12 months.

Some video of Evan eating and being "soooo big!"

Happy 1st Birthday, Evan!

Today is Evan's birthday! I can't believe my baby is already one. In some ways, it seems like he has been in our family forever, and in some ways, it seems like he was born just yesterday.

Here is a clip from his birth story that I wrote just after he was born...

I waited for a few moments while I heard them take him over to the station to get him all cleaned up. No sounds. I couldn’t see anything except the blue sheet and I heard nothing but the mumbles of nurses. I finally said, “Why isn’t he crying? Why isn’t he crying?” I kept saying it louder and louder and over and over. No one was telling me anything. Dan had turned and was looking, but saying nothing. He later told me that the nurses were obviously struggling to get him to breathe. The machine they were trying to use to suction him was not working and he wasn’t breathing. Dan finally looked back at me because he was too afraid to keep watching the nurses. Finally, a cry. It seemed like forever, but was probably more like 2 minutes from his birth before we heard him announce his arrival. His first apgar score was a 3. His second score (at 5 minutes) was an 8. He had rebounded well. Dan got to go take some pictures and he brought me the camera to show me pictures of my new little boy. I was so sad that I couldn’t hold him or see him for myself. Finally, Dan got to hold him and brought him over to me for me to look at. He was perfect. Tiny. Only 8 pounds and 1 ounce and 19 ½ inches long. My perfect little boy.

Evan surprised us and came into this world on his own terms. A week late, and upside down! In his first three months of life, he continued on this pattern of doing just as HE wanted...

You are your own little person, Evan. For the first two weeks of your life, you peed every time your diaper came off. And, you screamed. You hated having your diaper changed. We figured out that if you slowed down the screaming for a moment that you were about to pee, and we could sometimes get you covered back up before you sprayed us with urine. After your peeing episodes diminished, you began your colicky phase. You liked being held and if you weren’t held in the right position at the right time, you would cry, and cry, and cry. Daddy and I felt horrible that there was nothing we could do to calm you. Our evenings were spent with Daddy and me taking 10 minute shifts bouncing you, walking you, swaddling you, trying anything we could think of to calm you down. After a few hours of crying, you would finally give up for the night and fall asleep almost instantly.

Once his colicky stage ended, he became much more fun to be around! He learned how to smile, and that gave us hope that he would not cry his way into adulthood. He didn't nap well, and he spit up more than any baby I've ever met, but we worked through both of those issues and now he sleeps great and we don't have to change his clothes 4 times/day!

When Evan was around 6 months, the sleeping, napping, eating, and spitting up subsided. I wrote this about him in my journal.

You continue to be an adventure, Evan. We are learning more about you every day. On one hand, you are social, happy, and love to smile at the world. On the other hand, you like your routine, structure, and doing what YOU want to do. When we get frustrated with your emerging personality that can often demand a lot of attention, all you have to do is flash us one of those gummy smiles (still no teeth!) and we melt.

We love you, Evan Daniel Wagner. You are a beautiful boy and we are so thankful that God blessed us as your parents. Happy Birthday big boy!

Saved the Day!

It's been a crazy couple of days around here. Evan's nose has been very runny and today, Luke had to go home from school because he had a fever. By the time I got home, his fever was up over 103 degrees and he was quite sad. I gave him some Motrin, but that didn't seem to lift his spirits.

Just then, a big box arrived at our door! It was Christmas presents from Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Stephanie, and Meilyn! We opened the box to see a wrapped gift for Luke and one for Evan. When I shook Luke's gift, I had a pretty good guess that it was Legos. In a desperate attempt to make Luke happy and more perky, I let him open the gift (hope that's okay, Jer and Steph!). He spent the next hour smiling, laughing, and concentrating while he built a pirate ship, a treasure chest, a pirate, and a bird. THANK YOU Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Stephanie for saving the day!

Professional Pictures

Here are Evan's professional 12 month pictures.

A few more pictures

I got pictures of Evan's party from my Dad's camera and had to share a few more.

Also, Evan ate tacos for the first time last night. He loved them. This is a very important milestone in our house. Everyone must love tacos. Whew. We can keep him.

Evan's Party

We had Evan's first birthday party on Saturday. We had a few friends over to play and eat cake, and Evan had a good time.

Evan discovers balloons.

Evan discovers cake.

Evan discovers presents.

Evan playing in his new ball pit.

Elf on the Shelf

We have a visitor at our house! Santa sent us one of his elves! Our elf arrived on Tuesday, and we have named him Rudy (short for Rudolph). He came with a book (Elf on the Shelf) explaining why he is at our house.

What happens is that Rudy stays at our house during the day and watches to see how we are acting. He watches to see if Luke is listening to Mommy and Daddy, if Evan is eating his dinner and not spitting it out on us, and if Mommy and Daddy are being patient with Luke, Evan, and each other. Rudy even knows what we have done while we are at school and work! Every night, Rudy flies to the North Pole and tells Santa how we have acted that day. Then, he comes back to our house and hides somewhere. When we get up in the morning, we have to find him! He's always in a new spot!

Rudy has been a fun and welcome tradition in our house this holiday season. We'll get a picture of him this weekend to share with everyone. Happy Holidays, and remember, you'd better be good for goodness sake! Santa (and, his elves!) are watching!

Pictures

I haven't had time to add pictures from our trip to Indiana, so here's a quick photo synopsis of our trip.

Luke and Evan playing (or, being strangled) on the luggage cart at the hotel. One of the reasons Luke loves going to Indiana is because he knows we get to stay in a hotel. A travler at heart, Luke enjoys hotels and the very exciting continental breakfast.

While in Indiana, Uncle Jeremy, Uncle Andy, and Daddy taught Luke and Meilyn how to play a very popular Wagner game - Rundown. It involves lots of running, sliding, pillows, and balls being thrown. Good times.

After the game of Rundown, Luke and Meilyn took a break to play with the multitude of toys in Grandma and Grandpa's basement. Luke loved the giant container of Legos.

Daddy and Evan took a break, too.

We also got to visit our friends Missy and Jason and their kids, Sophie and Jake. Our friend Angie also came over for the visit.

Luke and Sophie watch a movie and play doctor with Chemo Duck.

The little kids played, too. Evan and Jake.

Jason and Dan.

Missy and Angie.