Visiting West Virginia

We had a fantastic long weekend visit to West Virginia over Labor Day weekend this year.  The weather was perfect, the company fantastic, and overall we had a super time away.  The drive was l-o-n-g, but Sebastian and pregnant mommy both did surprisingly well.  We were welcomed into the home of Cristy and her parents.  Our dear friend Cristy is living in Malawi, serving as the medical director at a large Seventh Day Adventist hospital, and she typically makes it home every summer for about 5-6 weeks of visiting.  She usually makes the trek to Lancaster to see us, but this year she asked if we would visit her parents’ home in WV, and we were thrilled to head south and west.  It was a blessing to get away, to be in a home full of lovin’, en joy the beautiful outdoors, and eat fabulous food! 

Here are some of my favorite shots from the weekend…

All of the gang (minus me, the photographer), hiking at a nearby park. 

The happy family of three plus a little extra JM growing inside…

We spent a whole day on the nearby lake, soaking up the Indian Summer sun, water-skiing (except for pregnant mamas and little toddlers)… Timmy picked up fast, after having not skied in probably 20 years. 

Cristy skied with glamour, grace and confidence, just as she completes most tasks:

And Steve was a sportster pro, doing all sorts of fancy tricks!

Sebastian was not so convinced about being in the water…

but he loved driving the big boat, and he took his job very seriously!

Donna and Sebbie bonded well, and she did a great job of shading his pale skin from the sun. 

We had a great time, all smiles!

Many, many thanks to Cristy, Donna and Steve for a lovely weekend in WV!  We’ll be back again… maybe with another little munchkin in tow next time!

Cristy, we love you bunches, miss you and hope you’re well!  One of these days we’ll share adventures in Malawi. 

Oh, they taste good!

Our little boy sure likes things sweet. You know those generic Cheerios called ‘Ohs’. He seemed so fine with those until he got a taste of animal crackers. Not sure why they call them crackers since they are really a cookie. But, if Seb is the authority on whether they are a cracker or cookie, we’ll have to go with cracker---he gives the cracker sign every time he wants some. It was the fastest he learned any of the signs—check out this video to see the ASL version… Seb’s is a bit more animated, but still need to catch it on video.

Back to the ‘Ohs’. I found a way to reintroduce them today. Being a stay at home dad this week it is time for some more experimentation. I decided to let him dunk his ‘Ohs’ in his yogurt after he initiated. Maybe he saw daddy dunk some tasty treats in his coffee [That’s right…I am a dunker!]. Sure it was messy and more to clean up. But, he did eat them and look at how much he was enjoying himself.

This self-feeding thing is messy. Of course, I had to think how anything I do the first few times is equally messy. As an adult I often don’t want to admit that. Though, seeing life through the eyes of a child helps me to offer an extra measure of grace to myself and others. Some extra grace, now we’re talkin’ sweet.

 

Pumpkin Patch

Fall seems to be upon us!  It was a perfect day in West Virginia for pumpkin patch pictures last Sunday.  The Shanks graciously shared their pumpkins with us and Seb went to town exploring all of the pumpkins – big and small – around.  There were some ginormous pumpkins around!  And Sebbie even got to bring one home = one happy camper!

 

 

 

Sebastian has an announcement!

Our little tyke is getting not-so-little anymore.  In fact, he’s running around all over the place keeping us on our toes.  He has had a special announcement that he has wanted to share for awhile now, so I finally told him it was OK to spread the news!  Check out his t-shirt, which tells all…

That’s right… Sebastian is going to be a big brother!!!  He expects a special delivery around the end of February or beginning of March. 

We’re very excited to share this news!  I’ve been feeling great (except for being tired), and I’m incredibly thankful for that, because work has been absolutely, overwhelmingly crazy… and I wouldn’t have been able to do “work” had I been sick.  Hallelujah! 

We covet your prayers as I continue to grow this new life inside of me.  Thanks for continuing to walk the journey with us.  Love to all!

And… a poem from Tim, definitely worthy of sharing:

late in the month of Feb
we'll see another Seb
our family will grow this much I know
be it a boy or girl
we'll take either for a whirl
the ride is sure amazin'
even if sometimes hair raisin'
we certainly are not pros
yet our wisdom each day grows
resting on each other and God
our heads bow, wobble and nod

Oregon, here we came!

Our dear friends, Jennifer Gwen & Seth James, got hitched in Portland.  We were honored to attend their lovely ceremony in a beautiful setting – a gorgeous estate turned into gardens, endless fields of blackberries, a golf course, and a gazillion different places to eat and lodge.  

Our little guy looked quite dapper in his guayabera, and was a big hit with all the girls, but he was a bit too interested in all the things to see and do on the grounds to catch much of the ceremony.  Daddy Tim was the self-designated entertainer, so he missed a bunch of the ceremony, but was totally there in spirit, nonetheless.

Their flowers were just lovely (as you can see above, Sebastian thought so too!)…

And of course the bride was as stunning as ever. 

The happy couple was glowing with beams of light after they were officially pronounced (and maybe I was shooting directly into the sunlight, which may have contributed to the glow :)…).   Regardless, they looked so happy, at peace and in love!

The next day we went on a group hike in a nearby park/arboretum.  The weather was gorgeous – hot for Portland, but just right for us, with no humidity, which was such a treat, compared to what we had left at home.

Here’s the newlyweds with Jennifer’s parents.   And Jennifer with her papa!

Of course Sebastian was a happy camper, like usual, in the Ergo enjoying nature and chillin’ with his parents. 

The tales of our trip would not be complete without showing you all what Sebastian found most entertaining about our hotel room in Portland:

The day before we travelled home, we took a drive to the Oregon coast, which was beautiful.  It was about 20 degrees cooler than Portland, so a bit of a shocker, but it felt great to hear the waves crashing against gigantic rocks and cliffs and feel the cold, wet sand in between our toes. 

Here are my two favorite boys:

All three of us…

And my beach glamour shot, thanks to Tim!

It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but we had a great time, were thankful for a little getaway, and enjoyed ourselves.  Sebastian even survived the non-stop, almost six hour plane ride across the country.  He did amazingly well adjusting to the time change, while his parents struggled a bit to stay up late at night and not get up so early in the morning.  If only a 4 day trip could have been a week or 10 days!  Maybe next time… :)

Congrats to Jennifer & Seth!  We love you guys!  Mua!

Visits with cousins and animals

Isaac & Lauryn came to visit Grandma Judy & Papa Roy for a whole week this summer.  This was the first time that Lauryn came along – Isaac was kind enough to share his grandparents with his sister.  They had a week full of activities with their grandparents, and they patiently waited for a chance to see their favorite cousin, Sebastian!  They got to go to a petting zoo, which they enjoyed, and Sebastian (of course) was totally fascinated by the animals.  He couldn’t get close enough! 

Despite my mixed feelings about petting zoos in general, it was great fun to watch the kids be so joy-filled as the animals took food right from their hands.  The one thing that nearly drove me bonkers, though, was that a family showed up with a huge bag of cereal that they were feeding to the animals… instead of the animal feed that was available for 25 cents at the farm.  Ugh!  I guess they had some difficulty reading and understanding the signage.  I feel sorry for them, but more so for the animals (even though the animals didn’t seem to mind the different flavors).

Here’s some shots of the kiddos enjoying their day:

 

The best part of it all is that Sebastian pretty much thinks every animal makes a doggy sound, so he barks at almost all the animals he sees… ruff! ruff!  Every now and then we get a moo out of him, too.  Sweet, sweet boy.  :)

Nicaragua 1: The Intro

We were approached by a friend of mine, MMS, who invited us to serve as the “Program Coordinators” for an experiential learning service trip to Nicaragua for students from Allegheny College.  It seemed like a no-brainer when she asked.  I heart Nicaragua in a huge way, and I’m pretty sure that Tim’s love for the country is growing with more and more experience there… and of course Sebastian was eager to see the place where his parents “found” his name.  So, we packed up our bags and all the baby gear we thought we’d need for 11 days and headed to Nicaragua.

We made our way to Houston, where we met up with a group of 20 students from Allegheny College – 17 women and 3 men, most of whom are pre-health students.  They were an outstanding group of young adults – interested, committed, concerned and full of energy and enthusiasm (I had forgotten what kind of energy you have when you’re 20 years old!). 

Our purpose in Nicaragua was to work with Project Chacocente, a non-profit organization founded by a gringa who had visited the dump of Managua – La Chureca – and decided that she needed to do something to help out.  She purchased a plot of land with the idea that her organization would assist families living and working in La Chureca to relocate and build sustainable housing, a school, income-generating businesses, and healthy lifestyles.  Several families were selected to move to Project Chacocente, about an hour’s drive from the dump, and they committed to working in the community for a minimum of 5 years, after which time their houses and plots of land would become theirs.  In 2010, the community has grown to 8 families.

We worked on three main projects while were at Chacocente…

The first project was building a computer lab for their local school.  We did it all by hand from carrying the cement blocks to mixing the cement to laying the blocks and cutting rebar and wire reinforcements. 

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The second project was digging a septic tank for the toilets at the school.  Currently they are using latrines, but they needed something deeper, with larger capacity.  So we partnered in digging 20 feet down.  It sure gets tough to breath when you’re down that deep underground!  And yes, we did this all by hand…

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And the third project was splitting and digging up plantain trees and transplanting them into new holes that we dug – again, by hand – in order to space them out better with the hopes that it would produce a better crop. 

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Lots of sweat and sore muscles were poured into these projects.  Our students worked side by side with the folks from the community and didn’t complain about the scorching heat or their tired, achy bodies.  They made us all very proud, and we were honored to share in this experience with them. 

More to come on our adventures in the Motherland… poco a poco!

Seb’s 1st Birthday Party!

After a wonderful two weeks in Nicaragua we returned home with a day to finish planning and preparing for Seb’s big 1st birthday party.  We are so grateful for super family and friends that pulled together to help us pull it off…especially since I was still in the midst of Monteczuma’s Revenge! 

We gathered at the Pavilion at my parents’ church; it was a gorgeous day and we had lots of activities for everyone to enjoy and no one went hungry. 

Although the birthday boy was a bit uncertain about birthday cake in Nicaragua, by the time he had his second chance, he was convinced it was a good thing.  This is what he started with (mommy snuck in a blueberry muffin and decorated it with frosting and sprinkles):

which turned into this…

which turned into this…

and then this….

and finally this…

Our little tyke is getting to be such a big boy!  Thanks to all for sharing in our special day for Sebastian.  We were so glad to celebrate with our dear family and friends! 

I hope to post a slide show or photo album soon to give you a glimpse of many of the happy faces at the party. 

"nothing but net"

Check out this link for an awesome project that my cousin-in-law is doing. Please, please, please consider helping out! I'm the proud owner of a beautiful CJJ quilt. She's raffling off a gorgeous quilt to help fund mosquito nets for families in Africa. Having spent many a night under a mosquito net in Africa and other places around the world, AND having seen and treated many a case of malaria, I wholeheartedly appreciate and support her efforts!

Read all about the project on her blog, and click away to enter the raffle!

Oh yeah, and if you'd like to know what WE have been doing over the past two months, check back soon. I hope to post some updates in the very near future. Stay tuned! :)