Sangil chukhahae, Nathaniel

Nathaniel is one year old today.

Kendra writes in Nathaniel's blog: "A year ago this Thursday, Jay and I were working on the nursery for a baby we didn't know yet. In central Korea, heavy snow was falling, and our son was being born.... We're having a traditional Korean Tol for him next weekend, so all manner of aunts, uncles, and grandparents are arriving over the next few days.We'll eat rice cakes, take hanbok pictures, and watch Nathaniel predict his future. The grandmothers will pray for him, and of course we'll give him his first taste of cake! It's a day of joy, but a day tinged with sorrow too, since every adoption story, no matter how joyful the ending, begins with a loss. I am sure that Nathaniel's birth mother will shed some tears this week, as will I, for that snowy day last February that made us all a family, half a planet apart."