Merry Christmas from the Zarzana boys!

 

Harvest Festival

We got to take Nicholas,Conor & Layla our little nephews & adopted niece to the church Harvest Festival at Powell Valley Covenant Church. We battled Darth Vader, visited some princess in a pavilion and loaded up on candy and prizes. Alex and Christian especially loved giving Darth Vader a beat down with their light sabers :) It was a great family event and we are looking forward to the holiday season fun kicking off.

Great Wold Lodge

Nothing like going on a vacation at the start of the rainy season. What better place to go than Great Wolf Lodge when the sun fails to shine. Christian had a great time going down some water slides. It was a new first for him. Alex also had a great time in the wave pool and the kid areas. We ate a lot of pizza and chicken strips since groupon hooked us up with about $150 worth of food at the vendors. The boys especially loved going on the Magiquest and battling the red dragon. We tried to defeat the silver dragon, but failed on that quest. If you see the silver dragon lurking anywhere around your area, let us know. We are wanting a rematch!!! It was a great time with the family and we can't wait to go again.

Christians 1st belt testing!!!

Christian did AWESOME on his first belt testing! He is now a low yellow belt! Here is a couple of things he has picked up in taekwondo over the last couple of months. He now knows how to count to 1-10 in Korean 1. Hana 2. doul 3. Set 4. Net 5. Docet 6. Yocet 7. Ilga 8. You-dul 9. uhup 10. Youl. He can also do a KILLER front kick, roundhouse kick, break a rebreakable board with any hand technique & he is developing self discipline with self control. He is doing such a great job! We are very proud parents and incredibly thankful for Grandma Karen willing to pay for Christian's lessons. This is a great area for Christian to develop and would recommend it highly for other parents to consider for their own kids. 

 

Depoe bay vacation

Nothing like a little family vacation before Summer's end. Date nights, bike rides, beach front Clam Chowder and good family fellowship. Some pics of the fam.

Bach with the boy

After the Men's Retreat, I got to come home to a great family God has blessed me with. Christian and I were able to line up a night and go listen to some Bach at the St. Lutheran church in Portland. Took a ride on the max, enjoyed the concert, and then had some pizza at Pizza Hut. Things truly are good these days. Some pics of Christans choice of attire for the event.

Our lovley family photo ;) from Christmas eve eve

Zarzana Family Update

We thought it good to give an update on the many busy things we have going on in our lives as the busy and Zany Zarzana Four.

Alex - Our youngest is growing up more and more each and everyday. Within the last month, the boy has probably grown about a good 3 inches. We can almost say officially that he is fully potty trained apart from working on the number 'two' a little bit more. As Alex has developed, we have most of all enjoyed his unique sense of humor. Almost everyday he surprises us with his wit and wacky personality. He definitely looks more and more like Josh even in his character. Alex has also almost mastered his ABC's and 123's. His favorite past times as of late have been eating, running around in circles and jamming out to music (He's get a pretty good head bob going) Alex is most looking forward to being able to go to school next year like his big brother.

Christian - How blessed we are to see the development in Christian's life. So many of the challenges that Christian faced in the past have seemed to just vanish over time. We attribute such development to the grace of God. We are truly seeing little miracles manifesting in the life of Christian, and rejoice over the goodness of our Savior. Christian loves attending Crossroads Christian with 4 other students his age. Mrs. Sloan has been an excellent teacher for him through and through. Christian just began Taekwondo classes a week ago and has an official uniform. Sometimes he yells "Discipline, form!" as he has been trained. Christian is very much into art these days and is becoming quite an expert in drawing stick figures.

Joanne - Joanne continues to be busy at work at the Adult Foster Care. She truly has an amazing heart as this is her 14th year in a challenging business of caring for others. She is also in charge of the activities at our Youth Group. She is awesome at putting together ice breakers and other fun games that the kids love. Photography has still been a hobby of hers as she just made some awesome Valentine's through her expert photography and skills in photoshop. Her skills with the boys in helping develop and discipline are out of this world. It is hard to believe just how much she is able to accomplish each day. She truly is a virtuous woman.

Josh - Josh is taking on 17 credits this semester after completing 22 credits last semester. Let's just say that he is pretty busy with that portion alone. Bing his last semester, Joshua will be graduating in May if he is able to pass 2 CLEP (College Level Examination Placement) examinations, so keep him in prayer. He is currently enrolled in Music Appreciation which I'm sure Grandpa would be most thrilled over :) He has also done an amazing job leading the youth group and taking care of the boys while Joanne works.

One final praise report - 17 of our 18 kids at Youth Group last night gave their lives or rededicated their lives to Jesus Christ last night. We are truly blessed to see the Lord's work being accomplished.

JJ Jump

The fam & I headed to JJ Jump for presidents day, the kidos had such a great time! As for me, it took me out of my little comfy control freak world! There was about 100 plus kids @ JJ Jump & three diffrent rooms the kids could play in. I personally am a parent that likes to know were my kids are 100% of the time, but yeah, not happening @ JJ jump ahhhhhhh. In the end all, that matters is that the boys were safe & had a great time even though mama was headed into having a heart attack ;)Christian is a brave boy he went on the extreme swing & he went all the way up to the top this time!!!(video taken from my android)

Christian 1st taekwondo class

Christian had his 1st Taekwondo class today... He did such a GRET job!!! Check out how adorable he is in these videos. (Videos taken from my android)

Valentines day

This year I decided to do a small photo shoot with my handsome little men & put together some very special valentines for their loved ones. (Photos taken with my android) As for Josh & I, we enjoyed an evening on the town & went to see Beauty & The Beast at the Keller auditorium, what an AMAZING & funny show! I was blessed, spoiled & romanced I would have to say I'm a pretty lucky girl! Happy Valentines!