Happy New Year!!

Wow.  It is hard to believe that New Year's Eve is here.  It seems as if this year has flown by, especially these past 4 months.  Four months ago today, Joe Sung Min and I came home.  While it seems to have flown by, so much has happened during this time.  Each day we realize what an answer to prayers Joe was, what an incredible blessing he is and what joy he brings not only to us, but to whoever crosses his path.  We have definitely learned to trust fully in God - and his plan for us - and that even in the darkest of times he has incredibly great plans for us.  Better than we ever could have imagined.  Joseph Sung Min Switalski is proof of this.


Enough deep stuff -- now on to the fun things that happened today. :-)  I ran some errands this morning (x-ray on my hand, stopped at Trader Joes for some essentials family favorites and to the Apple store to pick up a new iphone since I shattered the screen on my old one earlier this week.  Oopsie!


By the time I got back, Joe was napping, Brian was tending to the animals in the yard so Liv and I decided to make some chocolate mint brownies in her easy bake oven for tonight's New Year's Eve party at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  The batter tasted great. And that is where it ends.  The recipe was unclear and we didn't divide the batter as we should have.  Not only did it not cook in the allotted time, it sort of exploded in said oven.  Did we give up?  No, we were listening to the Imagination Movers sing about not giving up and trying again, so we switched gears and tried using the batter to make some mini brownie cupcakes.  We were sure we were onto something groundbreaking, we had discovered a new treat.  Liv was all set to tell Mover Dave when we see them in Akron that we had invented something new and we didn't give up after things didn't work right the next time. We got closer the second time, but it was another gooey mess.  We got a good laugh over it and figured we'll try again another day.  I'm impressed she didn't get upset that it didn't work - definitely a lesson to learn early on!  Here is our second attempt - I'm honestly not even sure how to describe the consistency of this concoction.  This is perhaps my biggest fail in the kitchen.  At least we had fun making them!

After lunch, I took Liv and Joe to Grandma and Grandpa's house for some good naps and to get ready for our rockin' New Year's Eve Party.  First up was to try on the party hats ... tonight is going to be epic!!

 
Liv and I took an awesome nap, Joe had fun hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa before taking a nap himself.  By the time he woke up, it was party time!!  We started with pizza and a movie (Despicable Me), Papa's awesome cinnamon sugar popcorn, balloons, watching the ball drop online and then partying with hats and noisemakers.  Joe Sung Min did a great job with all the noise and commotion, a huge difference from when he first got home.  He has an incredible personality and is so much fun.

We would like to thank each of you for being part of our journey - and for sharing our joy with us.  We look forward to continuing the journey in 2012.  We just got our paperwork that will officially start the finalization process.  It looks like this will take place by the end of March.  So incredibly exciting!!
As always, please feel free to contact us or leave us comments on anything you'd like to hear about.  We wish you and your families a wonderful new year.