Q-ster Turns Two

Just a little over a year ago, Quinn Seong Wook joined our family as a cute little 9 month old.

Little did we know what this little ball of joy and energy would do to us all!

Quinn turns two today and his incredible personality and attitude still amazes everyone. An early start to life full of more turmoil than most every experience, our little boy is truly a shinning example of God's joy.

He keeps us on our toes every minute of the day too. He is "ALL BOY" as they say. One minute he is a one-man terrorist organization, the next he is cuddly and cuter than a bug.

Overall, now we know just how incomplete our family was before him. He is the caboose to our train....so we hope.

Happy 2nd birthday Quinny the Pooh!

Girls Complete Swimming Lessons

Two weeks ago the girls started swimming lessons. At the time, they were sort of warming up to the water at our pool at home.

Just 14 days and some major episodes of crying later, they don goggles and swim like Shamu!

They still have a ways to go before they are quite as good as their Sea World hero, but it won't be long. Their brother loves the water and nearly drowns himself trying to get in it, but considering where the girls were just a few weeks ago, we are more than thrilled.

We are finally getting our monies worth out of our own blue lagoon!

A $1 Billion Dollar Home

I love football season. Thank God the Rangers and Astros both are still in the baseball hunt or my sport world would be drier than a 100 degree day in Dallas, but still, nothing gets me more fired up than knowing football season is just around the corner.

And for those of us season ticket holders stupid enough to mortgage our great grandchildren's future, their new home in Arlington recently topped $1,000,000,000 to build.

My office sits on the 6th floor of a building just down the street so we have watched it go up daily now since 2007. I have been tracking this montser via photos for the last two years. Below are a few with a link to them all. Enjoy.

We take a tour next week - more photos of the incredible Jerry Jones world will be posted then.

For now let's hope it all pays off in the Boys actually winning a post season game...

http://www.thefamilypost.com/Speersfamily/album_view.php?album_id=800603

Girls Taking Swimming Lessons

Chloe and Sidney are learning to love the water.

The hard way.

They started taking official swimming lessons Monday and despite occurences of Julie having to chase them around the pool with them crying hysterically, they are getting better and better each day.

After the first lesson Chloe proclaimed, "We are not going back there." LOL.

Finally on day 4 they are both jumping off the side, swimming a little under water and getting more brave. Our little babies are growing up.

Their brother? Well, he might as well have been born in water with duck webbed feet. He LOVES the pool....

No More Bottles

My wife did it. She got Quinny off the bottle this week.

That ends a streak of nearly 4 years of dealing with and using bottles every on a daily basis for the two of us.

Well, we have paid our dues and we are finally beyond the bottle stage. Some say that is sad, but I say bring on potty training and learning how to buckle their own seat belts. Then we will finally be getting somewhere.

Meanwhile, out little boy is bottle free. He is truly a champion.

The King of Pop Is Dead

It was not a good day for entertainers.

Farrah Fawcet died earlier in the day of cancer. She was "the" supermodel many of us grew up with whose fame peaked with her role in Charlie's Angels.

Then, just hours later, Michael Jackson suddenly died of a massive heart attack. He was just 50. He was one crazy person, who had a tragic life yet brought us an entire new sound and style. there may never be another album ever produced as popular as Thriller was.

He was my geneation's "Elvis" and now he is gone.

The Q-ster Update

Quinny is one funny dude.

As he approaches turning 2, we have learned that he is far superior in abilities than his age!

He can repeat anything he hears - including "Oh Crap" which he said one day from the backseat with Daddy driving. He can say his ABCs perfectly. He says "Mommy" about 100 times a day and he says "No, no Daddy" while waving his hand and giggling when I come calling for him. He can climb anything and does so all the time. He eats with a fork or spoon while refusing a high chair our booster seat - he has to sit like an adult. He can sing most songs he hears - especially "Happy Birthday Dear Becky" (his aunt). He can open all doors, turn everything on or off that he wants and he can watch you do something one time and nearly figure out how to do it himself.

He is one smart little man.

It has been just over a year since we became a family of 5, but certainly he pulls his own weight equal or more than the girls do combined.

I have always thought there is something very special about this child. He has the brains, the personality and even the looks to set the world a blaze!

Father's Day was Rangers Game for Me

I still cannot believe I have been a "daddy" now for 4 years. On top of that, a "daddy" to three. Who would have thought....

This week was special as I took my girls together to a Rangers/Astros baseball game Thursday night. It was the twins night at the Ballpark in Arlington! It is something I do ever year now.

We made it through the 5th inning, even though we only sat down for about 3. The rest were spent playing in the kids areas out on homerun porch.

It was a big night including Pudge Rodriquez set the MLB record for games caught and President Bush was in attendance that night too which was special. Not often you get to be in the same building with a former President, especially one we now wish we had back in office!

It was a great time and next year my "daddy" date with Quinny at a Rangers game will be added to the mix!

For pictures click here:

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=af08d9dc5b0ba5762a944dfefaeb216b&sid=8QZtHLVy3bMO6

Annual Coastal Vacation - Corpus Christi

Usually the family heads down to the Galveston area each year, but this go around we decided Port Aransas would be our destination while Galveston continues to recover from Hurricane Ike.

Needless to say, we truly enjoyed the quick 5 day getaway while staying at a nice condo on Mustang Island. The beaches were incredible and the private pool sure made the ends of the days relaxing and clean. The Texas State Aquarium was also a hit with the kiddos.

Of course, nothing compares to the stop at Sea World on the way down. No one is bigger to them than Shamu....well, maybe Mickey.

Thanks for All to Those Who Died for Our Freedoms

Memorial Day weekend is always a great time to enjoy with family and friends, but neither should we forget to remember those that served and even died for freedoms of people all over the world.

I recall Julie and I visiting Washington, DC in 2004 and standing at the Korean War Memorial. What a powerful place that is. Had no idea at the time what that war would mean to both of us personally. Had our service men and women not helped our South Korean brethren they very well may be a communist state and our son would have never been our son.

Thanks to our brave military, they ARE free and we have our little Quinny.

Quinn Adoption @ Yahoo! Video

Quinn Fund Helps Child

After we got home with Quinn from South Korea, we felt led to set up a fund through Dillon International that would provide financial assistance to future families desiring to adopt a child. Not only did we personally contribute, but soon soon funds began pouring in from friends and family as well which resulted in the collection thousands of dollars in just 12 months.

We got a call from Dillon a few weeks ago that a child in Korea with special needs really needed a home. Apparently, this child had come close to being adopted before with it falling through. She had been on the waiting list since August but now a family was ready to make her their own.

The catch was they needed ALL of the money in Quinn's fund to be able to do so and Dillon wanted to know if we were ok with that since usually only part of the fund is given. This was a special case and this child really needed a home soon they told us.

We didn't even have to pray about that one and now thanks to all of you that have helped over the last 12 months a baby girl will have a forever family!

God is good.

Girls Are Bikers Now

Following in the footsteps of their Papa the girls finally jumped from their tricycles to their "big girl" bikes today! Chloe took the lead when she suddenly went nuts riding all over the place with Julie. Sidney soon followed. Of course, they had to show off to daddy when I got home, after all I bought these things for them in December!

Do they make a "growth slow down" hormone yet? This is just going way too fast!

Girls Bike Video

Best Commercial

I just love this guy!

The Flu is the Flu People

Not sure why the hysteria over this new "Swine Flu". More people die from the normal flu each year than this one. Check out this from FoxNews.com. Mainstream media is so worthless...hence the reason we have Obama as President.

Swine Flu vs. Seasonal Influenza
“The illness is consistent with seasonal influenza and has generally the same symptoms of seasonal influenza,” Fukuda said. “Our information to date shows that the infection can range from very mild, requiring no hospitalization and recovering after a few days, to fatal, which is also in keeping with seasonal influenza."

Fukuda said there is no evidence that the virus is spreading from pigs or that it is unsafe to eat pork.

Authorities sought to keep the crisis in context: Flu deaths are common around the world. In the U.S. alone, the CDC says about 36,000 people a year die of flu-related causes.
Children, especially those younger than age 5, are particularly vulnerable to flu and its complications, and every year children die from seasonal flu.

According to the CDC, more than 20,000 children younger than age 5 are hospitalized every year because of seasonal flu. In the 2007-08 flu season, the CDC received reports that 86 children nationwide died from flu complications.

As of April 11, CDC had received reports of 53 seasonal flu-related deaths in children during the current seasonal flu season.

Still, the CDC calls the new strain a combination of pig, bird and human viruses for which people may have limited natural immunity.

Hence the need for a vaccine. Using samples of the flu taken from people who fell ill in Mexico and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness. The hope is to get that ingredient — called a "reference strain" in vaccine jargon — to manufacturers around the second week of May, so they can begin their own laborious production work, said CDC's Dr. Ruben Donis, who is leading that effort.

The first doses of a swine-flu vaccine could be available about 15 weeks after the World Health Organization decides what kind of vaccine it wants companies to produce, Sanofi-Aventis SA's chief executive said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

You Might Live in Texas....

Great stuff from an email:


If someone in a Lowe's store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you may live in Texas ;

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Texas ;

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Texas ;

If 'Vacation' means going anywhere south of Dallas for the weekend, you may live in Texas ;

If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Texas ;

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Texas ;

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Texas ;

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Texas ;

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody's passing you, you may live in Texas ;

If you find 60 degrees 'a little chilly,' you may live in Texas ;

If you actually understand these jokes, and share them with all your Texas friends, you definitely live in Texas .

Six Years of Romance, Passionate Love, Bliss, Joy and Perfection

Six years ago, I talked an incredibly sexy, smart woman into saying "yes, I do" and marrying me. I cannot believe I have been so fortunate all of these years!

Ok, so maybe the headline of this entry is a tad stretched, but the truth is, the last 6 years have been truly incredible. God is giving us a great story and road to travel on. I can only pray that one day there will be a "0" behind the 6, even though I would be almost 99 years old it that happens!

Here are some great wedding day memories. More photos on facebook!

One Year with Quinn

Twelve months ago, we became a family of five. Read the story. God is good!

http://luvfromasia.blogspot.com/2009/03/one-year-with-quinn.html

Nothing Like the Bluebonnet Trail

Took the kiddos out for our annual bluebonnet photoshoot Saturday near Ennis where my grandparents had a neat farm. Love it out there and it is always the perfect backdrop for some kid pictures.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=3090032&alb=0