Happy Birthday, Marc!

Marc is ONE year old!.. I guess you would say he is "two" in Korean age (I don't fully understand how they count age) - but since we are Americans, I can confidently say he is one and (most) everyone knows what I'm talking about. But, I digress.
So, again... Marc is ONE!!! I can hardly believe it! It is so true how the moments (especially those middle of the night moments) were so slow, but the weeks passed quickly into months and now a full year. This past week I have been reminiscing on what life was like a year ago.. and boy am I glad we are not there right now. Instead, I spend my days with a smiling, giggling, always moving, in-to-everything boy that makes life so enjoyable and definitely keeps us on our toes.
And it is now official, we made it through one complete year that started with lots of prayer and a premature birth and led to 11 visitors post-Marc.. a trip to the United States and Mexico with a young baby... lots of sleepless nights and mosquito bites... even more prayer... rolling, sitting, crawling... baby-food making..., upclose and personal experiences with the Korean medical system... twice..., more prayer..., play-dates and pictures galore.

Speaking of pictures- I do have some to share:

He has changed a lot over the course of the year! Can you guess which month was repeated??

So, we live in Korea. And our family lives in the United States. Which means the easy, one big family/friend birthday party was definitely not an option... And after thinking, or agonizing really, for some time about how to formally recognize Marc's birthday... we decided to celebrate his little life as many times as our waistlines could handle.

To kick off Marc's birthday celebrations, we made cake #1 and brought it to our married couples small group on the Sunday before Marc's birthday. He got his bandages off is left hand two days prior, so we also celebrated the healing of his hand.

This is a special group of couples - most with kids around Marc's age - that we get together with several times a month after church (and yes, sit on the floor - we do live in Asia). As you can imagine, it can get crazy with all the little ones runny/crawling around!

This was Marc's first lick of icing and taste of cake... and he definitely wanted more! I guess he knows we've been holding out on him..

On Marc's actual birthday, Sunday the 27th, we had a Skype session with Jarrod's parents, grandmother, and sister's family before heading to church... it was so fun to see them and share in their joy of our sweet boy's birthday. (They also made a cake and ate it together in honor of Marc... do I get to count this in the total number of 1st birthday cakes??)
While we were skyping with them, we played a traditional Korean game where Marc chooses an object from a pile that represents his future... He could have chosen string to represent longevity, or rice for a life of plenty... a Bible (missionary/pastor), computer mouse (information technology), pencil (academic), fire truck (service), stethoscope (medical field), basketball (sports), wii remote (entertainment), and keys (?) were among the items to pick from...

Marc crawled to the pile and after some deliberation... he chose a basketball with his left hand and a stethoscope with his right. Atta boy. :) I'm not sure if you really get two choices, but we'll take it!

In Marc's Sunday School, called HopeZone, we brought baby birthday cupcakes to share with the kids and moms. Marc did a good job passing them out. :)Later that day, Marc opened presents and ate cake #2 with Mommy and Daddy.

It was a full day - we had so much fun playing with Marc.. he LOVES being the center of our attention!

He also loves him some cake!

And, finally- the next day - we had a birthday party with some Moms and kids in our neighborhood. It was a great excuse for a play date and so fun to have lots of little ones running around the house!

the girls were all about the cake (#3)...but the boys just wanted to play! :)

We are so thankful to have such supportive community around us here in Korea. After all of the thinking, planning, and rethinking what to do for Marc's birthday, we ended up having many fantastic celebrations - each one unique.
And I mean, really, it was a great excuse to have THREE cakes. and cupcakes.
Marc didn't complain.

Until next year then, Son... May this 2nd year of life be full of growth, discovery, love, and laughter... and a few less trips to the hospital, please.