William the Conqueror

Will is officially zippy... adding a new level of destruction to our home

Cousin Love

We had a great visit with all our nieces & nephews over Thanksgiving.

Worthy, Emily & Jack

Baby Charlotte & Will

Holden, Worthy, Sam, Will & Henry

Away in the Manger (and banished from our hard drive)

Well after MUCH delay, we have a working hard drive! Hurray! So I wanted to get this posted quick. Last week Worthy had his Christmas concert with his preschool. We're still singing some of the songs together.

Looking for an Agent

This weekend Jon & Sarah came to visit and they brought Rock Band! We all had a blast jamming and goofing off. Jon was a hit on the vocals. Worthy even gave singing a try too... Yes, Worthy was singing "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash. Aunt Bo would be so proud! Dan (of course) excelled on everything, but we were most impressed by his quick pick-up of the drums. Worthy's favorite instrument to play was Bass. All in all, a GREAT way to spend a Saturday morning!

Trick or Treat

We had a great evening of Trick or Treating. Appropriately, Will was a little pumpkin and Worthy was aforementioned Race car Driver. Worthy got some great candy!

Halloween Party

Last week we went to a Halloween Party at one of Worthy's friends house. Half an hour before we were going to leave Worthy passionately decided he wanted to be a Race Car Driver (instead of the Fireman & Soccer Player costumes we had ready...). So, because it was Halloween and suppose to be fun, I decided to scramble and put the creative juices into overdrive. And hence, Worthy was transformed into Jeff Gordon... or whoever :)

The party was a great time. The kids played games, jumped on the trampoline and just had fun. However the highlight of the afternoon for me was when my two sons had an un-coerced moment of quiet affection for each other. (hehe - I had to take a bunch of pics...)

Pumpkin Carving

We carved a pumpkin the other night. Worthy was not very excited about the pumpkin innards. We had a fun evening of apple cider and toasted pumpkin seeds - yummy!

Scarecrow Festival

Last Saturday we went to the Scarecrow Festival. It almost felt like fall. We met up with a bunch of our friends and had a great time hanging out.Worthy LOVED the funnel cake

Will just being Cute

Worthy got to go on a pony ride
Worthy & Gibson both won inflatable hammers and had a grand time knocking each other around with them.
All-in-all, a great afternoon!

Recent pics

Here are a couple of fairly recent pics of the boys. Worthy just got his cast off Friday and we're all thrilled. The smell was getting really bad :)

Currently Reading...

Dan recently picked up some books to read to Worthy. And this was one of them. It turns out Worthy is reading them to us :)

Irish Band + 1

Dan had the Irish Band over to rehearse this week and it looks like they've acquired a groupie... Worthy had a great time playing along.

World Harvest

We've been officially accepted by World Harvest to be part of the church planting team in Vienna. This past month, we spent a week in Philadelphia at World Harvest being "assessed". We'll be joining 2 other families there: the Hunters, currently residing there, and the McMullens, almost ready to leave. We're excited about God's leading in this way and thankful for His clear direction and assurance.

Sticks & Stones

So we've dealt with our first broken bone experience. More info to follow soon, but here's the pics of our little invalid.

School Carnival

Last week, there was a carnival at Worthy's preshool. He had so much fun in the jumpy-houses. But I think his favorite part was the food. He must have had 3 snowcones...

Still swimming

More swimming fun

PreSchool

Last week, Worthy had his first day of preschool. Hurricane Faye cut the week short, so today he went back for Day #2. He likes his teacher and some of his buddies from his class last year are there too. He's going 3 half days a week now. I can't believe how old he looks...

Sea World Visit

Last week we went to Sea World and had a busy day. We went to the Elmo show, played on the huge netted playground and ran around in the sprinklers. We thought that Worthy would like the Elmo show, what we didn't anticipate was how much Will would enjoy it too. He was glued to the large furry dancers.

Sprinkler Bliss


And afterwards... two sleepy boys :)

Watch out Michael Phelps

This past week Worthy took some swim lessons. He started out hating it and cried almost the whole first day, however, by the third day, he couldn't wait to go back. He was so excited to show-off what he'd learned. After the week was over, he was able to swim the width of the pool underwater, stopping in the middle to take a breath. I'm so proud of him... this was a big fear of his that he overcame with a lot of courage.


Be afraid Michael Phelps, be very afraid....

8/8/98-8/8/08

wow - 10 years ago today... it's crazy how quickly it goes. I never imagined I could adore and respect someone so deeply. What a delightful thing to be married to my very best friend! I'm so, so grateful. Even his jokes are funnier...

Sometimes kicking is good

Summer swimming fun...
We had a great time swimming yesterday. It was so relaxing that Will almost fell asleep in the floatie.

G & Grampy

G & Grampy came and watched Worthy while we were in Vienna. They also stayed for a couple days once we got back. The boys had a delightful time with them and so did we. We're so grateful to have wonderful family.

Worthy turns 4

So Worthy just turned four. We had a fun pool party with a couple of his friends. Worthy had picked out a Nemo cake (much to my surprise, I thought he would have chosen Cars...) Thankfully the rain let up and stayed away until the party was over.

Some of Worthy's friends after the pool party came indoors
Iain, Worthy, Dakota & Julia

Worthy got a bike!!! (Along with a helmet...)
He looks so old here, just can't believe what a big boy he is now.

Wien (aka Vienna)

So, our trip to Vienna was great. In retrospect, I'm not sure why I'm surprised by that.

It was a very productive time and we felt that God answered many of our requests affirmatively. The plane ride was endurable, although Will might beg to differ with that. Just a side note - it seems to be a universally held principal that if you wave fingers in front of a crying infant, they'll quiet down... not true and not helpful either :)

We had a delightful visit with the Hunters. They are the team leaders that are currently there. We were able to spend a lot of time with them and it still didn't feel like enough time... I think that's a good sign :) Their kiddos adored Will and I know the feeling was mutual. We had some amazing food and even better company. One afternoon we just had a delightful picnic at Schonbrunn Palace while Will had a much needed nap.

Not a bad backdrop for a picnic...

Another highlight was walking around and just roaming with no purpose through the city. We came across a beautiful church tucked away out of the tourist hubbub and then had a much needed Mineral Water break at an outdoor cafe.

And final highlight was an outdoor concert series for the public at the Rathaus (the City Council building). Every evening in the summer, they show a concert on a huge screen. The place was packed with young (and old too) listening the the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra play the music of Johann Strauss. Will was a trooper. And did I mention the food?!! Yeah, it was amazing.
It was a great trip and we encountered no "red flags". So, that means we're continuing with this process and plan on heading over to Vienna, unless God makes it clear otherwise. This felt like a big confirmation and we're grateful for that.... more to come soon :)

Rereading...

Yes, I'm rereading a fun book... Lost in Austen by Emma Campbell. It's a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, Jane Austen style. I must send out props to Bunny for this great recommendation. I find that this book has a way of revealing true character... I find myself cheating by peeking ahead to the next choice to see if I'll end up with Mr. Darcy. Fun, light read and a pure delight to anyone that adores Jane Austen novels. Thanks again Bunny!!!!

Our friend, Josh, recorded his first country album (4th total) in Nashville several months back. Several members of Leann Rimes' band play on the album. We're listening to it a whole lot--it's really good! It's on sale now; check him out on his myspace page.

Worth Reading

Worthy loves to read and we find him reading things that blow our minds away. We've never really sat down and "taught" him to read, he's just always had an affinity for words, letters and numbers. Some of his current favorites are The Little Fire Engine, Animalia and The Jesus Storybook Bible. This last book is such a fantastic children's book. I HIGHLY recommend it. Worthy will say to me regularly, "Can you read me the stories of Easter and Pentecost?". Pretty cool.

Yummy Redeemed

So, I really don't like to cook "fried chicken" - it's a lot of mess, not healthy and just makes me long for the Colonel's Original Recipe. However, I recently found a recipe that must be shared. It's uber-yummy and you'd NEVER know that it's not fried... did I mention it's easy, easy, easy?? So, if you like Fried Chicken, but not the mess or calories - give it a try!

Not so Yummy...

So, when I was in the 3rd grade, Mrs. Gentzler gave us an assignment to write down in sequential order how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The next day she handed back all of our papers to us and we had to actually make the PB&J according to our own written "instructions", following our directions to the letter. It was a mess to say the least. I was reminded of this vividly when I recently purchased a Frozen Pizza and looked at the back of the box for directions. This is what I found:
Can you imagine what your oven would look like if you actually followed these??!!!

Vienna Letter

So, we've finally let the cat-out-of-the-bag :) Yes, we're looking at going over to Vienna on a full-time basis and helping to plant a church over there. Attached is the letter that we've sent out with all of our plans.
We'll be heading over to Vienna in less than 2 weeks... wow - that is coming up quick. We're SO excited and also a bit scared. Excited about the implications of a great visit and scared about the same things. We know that God is gracious & loves us more that we can imagine and it's comforting to know we are loved that dearly as we embark on this adventure.

We must give props out to Sheri for her AMAZING help on the letter. We gave her a rough looking letter that she crafted it into what our imaginations couldn't conceive or verbalize. You ROCK!... and thanks!

4th of July

This year we celebrated the 4th of July with our Small Group. We all gathered at their parents' house and had a fantastic time. We had an amazing lunch with delicious crab claws, corn, burgers & chicken. And afterwards we were all able to relax, while the kids played hard.

Worthy was enthralled with the rideable Thomas.

And then there was the Slip & Slide and other assorted water games. They had a blast.

"I wanna be like Mike"

And the best part - we weren't even out of the driveway before Will & Worthy both fell asleep!

Will as Mini Me

No, we don't let Will watch Austin Powers...

Will - loves to get rid of his diaper