It's so Great...

...Andrew's UP to eight!!!
We can hardly believe that our first darling baby boy is EIGHT YEARS OLD, which leaves us feeling a tad older than we like!

This year, Andrew didn't have any specific theme in mind for his party...for which I was grateful. So I thought of the cake idea and surprised him, and he was delighted with his UP cake, though why I do these things to myself I'll never know.

Andrew and my neice Mykenna are just one year and two days apart, so some years we plan a family party together. Andrew wanted to go camping, so we chose a campsite closer to Soldotna, and had a party at Kimberly's Friday night. It was a fun time, and Andrew loved his gifts (including the Wii that Tricia and Jerry had already given him).
















It was also everyone's first chance to see pictures of Karis! We had just gotten her referral THAT DAY, so we were VERY late for the party (who can pack for a weekend of camping when you've just had a new baby?!?), and also had gone through baby clothes to send some things to Karis with Rebecca, who was leaving for Uganda and Ethiopia the very next day! A joyful day, all the way around! Happy Birthday Andrew...you have a baby sister!

Random Jacob-ness

We were hiking three days before Andrew's birthday.
We passed by this puddle.
Jacob says, "Look, mom...that's what Andrew will be!"
I hope he never loses his different way of looking at things!


























Jacob has come to love inch worms this summer. At times, he will have over 20 of them all over his arms and hands and shoulders. He calls them his friends. I say "that's nice, dear."

Manitoba Mountain Hike

The 2nd week of July, our tot time group headed up the Manitoba Mtn. Trail. Lots of littles!

















We hiked to a great overlook, where we stopped to have our lunch. The hillside was covered in fireweed and false hellebore, and all the kids just started running and throwing themselves into it! They had a huge circle of it trampled down, and the moms had fun imagining what other people would imagine went on there to make it all flat! UFO's landing or a herd of moose bedding down were the likely options! It was akin to a corn field in the midwest, I suppose!


















It was such a beautiful hike...I had no idea that Mills Creek was this gorgeous!

















The view from the top, overlooking Summit Lake!

Jacob the Builder

He has been so proud of his Lincoln Log buildings lately!

Crescent Creek

Early in July, Amy and I took all the kids hiking at the Crescent Creek trail. Every summer our Tot Time group has scheduled hikes...and this year, I would have been hiking alone quite a bit if it weren't for Amy and the boys!

Bye, Brookie...

One of the kids' favorite friends, Brookie, moved away this summer. They still ask about her all the time...but we made sure to have a really fun playdate before she left!




















The cupcakes spelled out "We will miss you!"

Construction Fun

What do you get when you have a responsible skidsteer operator, a skidsteer at the church construction site, and a bunch of people still hanging around after Bible study and fellowship on a Sunday night?

I'm back, maybe

I know it has been a long hiatus from this here blog for me. Certainly not on account of lack of things to blog about, as usual.

Since we got our referral for our baby girl on July 16th, our life has pretty much revolved around her, as much as is possible half a world away. The best way to stay in touch while in Ethiopia is via facebook (go figure!), so while Rebecca was there the last two weeks of July, and since then with other yahoo group friends from our agency who have been traveling, facebook is the place to be! I obviously don't have time to keep more than one web life going at at time!

We've gotten several great updates on Karis, and tons of pictures that I've been blogging on a private blog. All those pictures will be made available as soon as she is legally our daughter...which is regrettably not until at least early October.

Right now I'm out watching the kids and the goats playing in the yard, enjoying what is perhaps the 2nd sunny day we've had since I don't know when. I remember we had a hot sunny day for Andrew's birthday (7/17), but even that turned into a downpour by night...which was lovely for camping, I assure you.

At any rate, I'm trying to have pictures and "for the record" posts forthcoming for both here and the church project...to get them posted before school is here and I'm more overwhelmed than I am now, which is pretty hard to imagine.