Odds & Ends

4/26/08
I posted before about going out for the first time since coming home. We did it! Hope had a fabulous time with her Aunt and Uncle that night. From what I understand she was an angel...but then again, we expected that of course. :) Sounds like she played 'just a little bit' (insert sarcastic tone) of "Ring Around the Rosie," charmingly convinced her aunt and uncle to play "horsie," did some puzzles, read some books, ate like a champ, and went to bed exhausted. Perfect! Well, Hope's mama and daddy had a great night as well. Casting Crowns offered up an awesome night of worship and performance. I'm pretty sure that I only suggested calling home to check on things two times or so. OK...maybe three. :) I wasn't worried at all. It just didn't feel natural to be without our daughter. But really, we had an awesome time with dinner and the concert. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Casting Crowns is awesome. Their lyrics speak directly to the heart and as Mark Hall said that night, the listeners never have to wonder what they mean. On a side note, one of the other nice moments of the evening was when the person ahead of us paid for our parking in the ramp. God was at work in St. Paul that night.
Here we are ready to go.


Here are a couple of shots from the concert. We had great seats! We were a little further away than we were last time we saw Casting Crowns, but I'm pretty sure there isn't a bad seat in the Xcel Energy Center. It is a great place for a show.



This painting was done on stage during two songs. Notice "The Voice Of Truth" at the top. It was painted only with parts of the artist's hands, without brushes or use of other tools. It was so cool to watch. We tried to borrow the artwork after the concert so we could use it at church the next morning since we were going to be performing that song, but somebody had already purchased it. Worth a shot right? :)

4/27/08
Here are a couple of shots from Sunday morning. Hope always gets so excited to sing with the microphone and play Grandpa's "dums."




5/3/08
Saturday night we had the privilege of meeting our friends Angie, Garry, & family for dinner. We have loved getting to know these friends of ours since we all prepared for our China travel. They met their daughter Sarah about a month before we traveled to meet Hope. We share some special connections and always have a great time when we're together. You should have seen the two girls! I'm pretty sure that Hope recognized Sarah. It was so sweet to watch them side by side during dinner. Hope also has a bit of a sparkle for Angie and Garry's son Sam. He can crack her up with a glance and it is super entertaining to watch them play. It was entertaining for us anyway. Apparently the lady behind us didn't enjoy the loud laughter so much judging by the looks we received, but hey...you don't go out to the local pizza place for a quiet atmosphere right? Anyway, we are so happy that you sent the email about being in town Angie. We miss you since your move. We hope you had a safe, uneventful trip home and that we can see you again soon.
~ Friends ~


~ All three of the young ones actually facing the same direction ~ It was pretty cute to see them want to share that chair.

~ Saying Goodbye ~


5/4/08
Can you believe it has been 11 months since we first held Hope in our arms? Gotcha day was 11 months ago on this day, a day that seems like yesterday and forever ago at the same time. Is that possible? Hope in our lives is a miracle. She brings us joy beyond measure and we are blessed every moment we are her parents.

We had a fun day. After church we met our friends Mark, Melody, and Hope Brue for lunch and a trip out to the UWRF campus farm. The two Hopes ran around the buildings, giggled at the animals, oinked with the pushy piglets, baa'd with the skittish lambs, got kisses from the affectionate calves, and had a great afternoon together.







~ Mom's Favorite Picture of the Day ~

We left the farm about 3:00 and It took less than 10 minutes for Hope to zonk out in her carseat. We decided to take advantage of the time and the beautiful weather so Ron and I stopped for a couple of geocaches on our way out of town. We let Hope sleep until we got up to Grandma and Grandpa's house to see Great-Great Aunt Vi, and Great Aunt and Uncle Terry and Jim. It was so fun to visit with them and watch them play with Hope. She turned on the charm and got acquainted with Vi over a shared bunch of grapes and bowl of goldfish crackers. It wasn't long before the toys were out and she was preparing/sharing her plates of plastic food with everyone.





5/6/08
And now for Tuesday - Not much to report here other than Hope had her first sliver today. I noticed a red spot on the top of her left hand ring finger. At first, I thought maybe I could blame the teething and recent increase in chewing on those fingers, but it was pretty red. So, after further inspection, we found the sliver. Hope handled herself very well. She let me try with a tweezer, then another tweezer, and finally a clippers. I was able to just clip around it and she hardly flinched. YEA! First summer crisis survived. Hopefully they'll all be that easy.

So - Hopefully I'm all caught up now with news. Thanks for checking in. G'nite all! We're exhausted! :)