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!!!!

Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!

The closing date on our new house is just over two weeks away. Our lives without our own things went from what we thought would be two weeks to four months. For four months I have been rotating through two weeks worth of clothes, which includes only two shorts. So for most of the summer, I've been wearing the same two pairs of shorts over and over, hoping people don't notice since I switch out the tops. For four months, I've been "just getting by" with family meals, which results in mostly prepared foods, Ramen Noodles or taco salads, because I refuse to buy any ingredients that I already have in storage. Even if I had the spices, etc, I still don't have measuring cups, baking pans or decent knives. For four months Gabriel has had a very limited selection of toys (we ended up buying a few more toys and books so he didn't go crazy with boredom) which resulted in many days at the indoor mall playground or long walks outside. I became pregnant, and went through my first trimester in those four months as well! I am now sporting a baby bump that desperately needs some maternity clothes. You guessed it. They're in storage.

Although I am excited to be in our new home with our own things, I think we've learned a valuable lesson in the last four months. We don't need all that stuff! Ok ok, I know I just ranted about my poor poor life for the last four month. Very sad and tear jerking, I know. But in reality, the things I miss are only a few of the items we have in storage. So, why do we have all that other stuff, and do we really need it? I'm not saying I'm going to give it all away. No no no. I will enjoy having a TV to watch movies on instead of my small laptop. What I'm trying to say is that our family has spent much more quality time together and also learned to get by with what we have. It has been a nice little reminder to us that material things are not what's important in life. And that's probably a reminder we can all use once in a while.

All that being said, I am still very excited to have my own things back. I feel like the seagulls from Finding Nemo. "Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!" In fact, I just might reenact this scene when I see my things being delivered into our new home.

Mini Van Mom

At the end of our third year of marriage, Richard and I are now on our 4th vehicle. A rate that we are determined to NOT continue. When we started out, we both brought a car to the marriage. Richard had a fast little BMW Roadster, which he lovingly named Mitsy.

The car I brought to the marriage was my little college car. A 2002 Kia Rio.

Shortly after getting married, Richard decided to trade in his beloved Mitsy for a family car. Just for the record, I offered to trade in my car so he could keep Mitsy! But Richard felt ready to part with his baby, so we traded her in for an Acura RDX. We figured this would be the perfect family car.

Fast-forward to today, and we have now moved on to our fourth vehicle... a mini van! The Kia finally broke down, and instead of putting money into a car that didn't fit our needs anymore, we donated it. Never did I ever think I would be driving a mini van! But we have changed our mind on what we think is the perfect family car. Being the planners we are, we are looking forward to having multiple kids in a vehicle that has sliding doors, which also open/close automatically by remote. On top of that, the people in the back actually have their own AC vents! Big plus. So please welcome to the family, our new Honda Odyssey.

We plan to take care of her, and drive her as long as possible. This mini van mom is happy with her new wheels!