Our Oldest Son

You're saying "Huh? They only have one son, right?!" But you are wrong! We have an "adopted" son named Amiyaw. He lives in Ghana and we "adopted" him about three years ago before Gabriel was born. I bet you're still confused. So, in a nutshell, we donate to World Vision, and our money goes directly to the support of Amiyaw and the projects to help improve his neighborhood. Our regular contributions go to things like clothing, shelter and his local schools, but we occasionally also send Amiyaw little gifts and letters. If you would like to learn more about adopting a child from World Vision, please visit their website at www.worldvision.org

We recently got a letter and picture from Amiyaw that told us more about what he's up to these days. He's still in school, and doing well, although he's not a fan of math and science. He enjoys football (soccer) and is currently learning to weave mats. When he's older, he would like to become a teacher, but for now he helps his father in the farm. In his spare time, he likes to read.

I don't know where I've stored our last picture of Amiyaw, but he has definitely grown since then! Here he is playing Mancala. This is a game against two people, where each person tries to get their rocks all the way across the board before their opponent.

Maybe I can use Photoshop to put Amiyaw into our family picture, then send it to him :)

A visit from GeeGee

She was once known as Grammy, but Gabriel apparently had another name in mind. I'm not sure how to spell it though. Pronounced with a hard "g" sound, Gabriel now calls her GeeGee. So GeeGee she is. I suppose that's the benefit of being the first grandchild (on my side), you get to pick out your own nicknames for your grandparents.

GeeGee was able to come visit for a week, and we tried to fit in a lot of fun stuff while she was here. First on the list was apple picking. This was a first for everyone. The scenery was beautiful in the northern Virginia country side. Here are Gabriel and GeeGee playing on an old... ummm... tractor type thing?

Gabriel and I with our bags of apples. One bag of granny smith for an apple pie, and another bag of various kinds to munch on.

We also went to the Museum of Natural History in DC. Gabriel loved the dinosaurs and kept growling like a dinosaur. Because all dinosaurs growl, right? At least to a toddler they do.

The Washington Monument.

The World War 2 Memorial.

You can see Gabriel was enjoying the day as well.

The reflecting pond. I can almost see Forrest Gump on the other side!

GeeGee, we hope you had as much fun as we did!

New York City Baby!

Who says you can't have fun after you have kids? All you have to do is leave your toddler at home with your husband, and spend the weekend in the big apple with your girl friend! Actually I just have an amazing husband who let me have a girl's weekend to celebrate my friend Lauren's birthday. Happy birthday Lauren!

We went to Hoboken, New Jersey, where I got to visit Carlo's Bakery! For those of you non-cake enthusiasts that is the bakery owned by "The Cake Boss" who has a show on TV.

The Cake Boss himself wasn't there, but I did take a picture with his life size poster :)

The fancy cakes on TV are hundreds to thousands of dollars, but if you want something basic and small, you can walk in and buy one of these pretties.

We also spent a day in New York City. I got to wave down a taxi for the first time, see a show on Broadway and eat a New York pizza. Something I thought was interesting was how they park your car. Their parking lot fits four cars on top of each other! It's all done with an elevator system. Cool, huh?

 Here I am in Times Square.

Although I had a blast, I could never live in NYC. The kitchen's in a typical apartment would only hold a few dishes, and most people order food or go out all the time. You also have to spend a bazillion dollars just to get around town (taxis etc), not to mention the cost of an apartment. Nope. Not for me, thank you! Although I'll go visit again anytime :)

Gender Reveal Party

And the gender is... [drum roll please]

A GIRL!

We have decided to name her Hope Lynn. The middle name, Lynn, is in honor Richard's late mother, Linda. The first name, Hope, represents our Hope in God.

We love you already Hope!

We Are Still Alive!

Wow. It's been almost 2 months since I last posted on our blog. Guess time flies fast when you're working your butt off to make the house look a little less like ground zero having fun! I do have lots of fun things to share. For now, I'll just share tonight's big news.

Gabriel pooped in the bath tub!!

I really thought it would never happen, and I was so happy I didn't have to deal with it. Guess I was wrong. The clean up was... interesting. Let's just say it involved the kitchen strainer.

I also now have a picture on my phone which can someday be used for blackmail. [begin evil sinister laugh] mwaa ha ha ha!!!!