Meet Hadassah Marie Golackson!

Welcome to our family Hadassah!

Daddy's Introduction:



This video was taken a few hours after Hadassah was born. We are so thankful for our little healthy girl. Hadassah is the Hebrew name of Esther (Esther 2:7) who changed her name to conceal her identity in order to save the Jewish people from extinction. The life verse that we have picked for her is Proverbs 28:1, "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion." Our prayer is that she will have the boldness of Queen Esther to follow the Lord and in doing so many people will be saved.

Since we are thousands of miles away, we thought you might appreciate this little slide show. As you can see, Lily and Caedmon are absolutely thrilled to have a baby sister. Lily would hold her all day long if we let her. It took Caedmon a full day before he realized that there is not a baby in mommy's belly anymore, but now he understands and loves his little sister!

Here's a few family pictures that I couldn't get to work with the slide show.


Our Surprise Guest:

Since Brett Favre retired this year and Hadassah will never get to see him play, he stopped by to celebrate with us. He was pretty excited that another Packer fan entered the world! :)

Ok, so Lily was born 7 days early, Caedmon 9 days late. Since tomorrow is my due date with number 3, and I'm sitting here comfortably uploading pictures, my guess for the delivery is either Monday, right in the middle, or in 25 days to keep the continuum. Ha ha. That's what it feels like. But praise is on my lips and in my heart for whatever circumstance is pleasing.

In the mean time, here are some pics from June.

One Sunday after noon we decided to have a picnic at a nearby park. Within minutes, a Chinese college student was excited to ask us if we celebrated the same holiday. UH?? What holiday? It was National Kids Day! The explains the balloons and popsicles and hundreds of people.


It was a gorgeous day and our family had a yummy picnic, a nice rest, and then a little boat ride.

Caedmon checking out the ants under his shoes

water painting... too bad this doesn't work as well indoors

Josh picked out a verse from Proverbs for our second little girl (hopefully coming soon :)
"The righteous are as bold as a lion."

My really good friend is graduating this summer! Congrats sister!

A few loaves out of the oven and a bun still in.

A trip to the Aquarium

the kids weren't super up for pictures this time

A picture of our weekly trip to the grocery store. It's about a fifteen minute walk when there's no construction. This time I let the kids bring their doll/ Tigger strollers which worked really well for about twenty minutes and then really bad for the remainder of the trip.

Once one kid started a 'bike' wash outside, all joined in!

This kid is really good at riding his unicycle.

This one's good at melting a heart ;)

Caedmon and his cars

Cade's favorite spot after a nap

Bus rides are more fun with friends!

Summer Time is Here!

Three years already since Lily's baby dedication to God

(3 years old)
(2 years old)

(1 year old)

We had a great day of celebrating! We played at the sports field with lots of friends and had a nice family dinner together. The whole day Lily was so excited and felt so special that God made her and protects her and takes care of her. After explaining this to a professor the kids know on campus , she asked Caedmon what he thought. He replied, "Jesus died on the cross for our sins!"

"Uh, just giving hugs mom!"

Who's going to win?

This time Lily did as Caedmon ran away crying...

A fun visit with friends Jeanie & Daren

Lily's Latest Piece

"boys n boys" Lily loves to say

Cade took this one

silly lil

one of Caedmon's favorite pass-times

One day at 10a.m. the sky went BLACK and it began to pour. Not typical city weather.

"cheese"

Our good friend Richard who we haven't seen in 4 or 5 years stopped by for a nice visit.
(lil just loves making faces all day long)

My first french braid on Lily's hair; I was surprised how still she sat. She did mine next.

Lily got a big scratch on her face from landing nose first after tripping over big rock squares right outside our apartment.

Outside Fun

Inside Fun

Minnie Mouse visited our neighborhood one afternoon. Caedmon went bonkers, he just loved it!!

What a month! Here are Lily and Abby working on their preschool books. They both love this time together.
They are also going through a "Hooked on Phonics" computer program and learning lots.

This is Caedmon's favorite doll Roger. The first one's head finally fell of so we bought him a new Roger (for about $5). Since having the new Roger for only a month, his head is falling off too! Do we replace him again??

Two American mom's came over to host an Inner/ Outer Beauty party. We had lots of fun!

A Package from GG & Gampy!

Lily excited about counting sets, then eating them.

So far the tradition with a new baby has been that Josh sets up the crib and picks out an outfit (this time from the closet :). I was so surprised to come home to this! We bought the crib/ toddler bed from our friends who returned to the States.

Excited Big Brother

Where's the baby?

Lily trying on the baby shoes

I was glad to see both kids were willing and eager to share their toys!

breakfast mustache

7 months pregnant
(I'll be 8 months this Sunday, April 27th)

Taxi Ride

With no hesitation, this man quickly climbed up the tree (about 2 inches thick) (with his "dress shoes" on) (with a pole in one hand) (on a windy day) to get the kite down.

"Caedmon!"

Big Sister Lil

trying out the jump rope

best buds

another bus ride with whole family before dad left for Georgia

A new airport in town, who knew?

Josh had a great time reuniting with Tom in Georgia and supporting him on his special day!!!

Tom's belated Senior Picture

Woodrow Wilson's former house

where Tom & Lauren went to school

What a cute couple!

happy to see each other again

The Big Day

The groom & bride; so beautiful

A picture from the plane on the way home; Josh flew over the North Pole!

The kids and I had a great time while Josh was gone, but are so grateful for his return!