W is NEVER happy when he has to wear "nice" clothes so the shot in the button down is rare. K on the other hand is always ready for a photo shoot.

That crazy elf...what will he be up to next?

Visit with Santa

The last time W sat on Santa's lap he was 5 months old. K has NEVER wanted anything to do with him! That all changed a couple of weeks ago....

Karis is turning 5 this week.....

Camping Trip

Our trip to Arizona

The kid's first plane ride.

Scenery on the way to the reservation

Nursing home where we went everyday

The famous JUMPING CACTUS

A friend that W made

Our family picture on top of Baboquivari Peak
Another shot from the top of the mountain

First Papago Baptist Church

K's new friend

Updates...

http://www.1wayministries.org/arizona.html

We are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Sells at the end of this week. This is from the 1wayministries website and describes some of what we may be doing:
In the Sonoran desert of Arizona lies the Tohono O’odham reservation (the 2nd largest in the United States), home to a forgotten people group. Working with one of the poorest people groups in America will change your perspective on poverty and daily life in the US. You can get involved in sharing the glory of Christ by playing basketball with a local teenager, leading a Bible study, helping an elder with a craft at the nursing home, repairing a roof in a village, or just listening to the heart of a weary church member. Your gifts are vital to displaying the love of God in the life of a T.O. today!
Location
In the heart of the Tohono O’odham Indian reservation, the ministry base for trips to Arizona is the city of Sells. Trips are based out of First Papago Baptist Church in Sells and extend to many surrounding villages including San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Chui-Chui, and Vamori.

You can read about our upcoming mission trip at the link above. All 4 of us will be flying out to Arizona on Saturday. This will be the first time the kids have flown on an airplane and the first time mom has flown since before W was born. It should be a great experience for us all to share of time of serving others who are not as materially blessed as we are here. We have been learning much lately about God's perspective regarding the poor and we hope to be transformed by His perspective into a family that sees the poor as He sees them and acts to help wherever we are called. We ask for the prayers of anyone reading this for our safe travel and for our effectiveness in accomplishing what we have been called here to do. (K would like to specifically be protected from the "jumping cactus" and W is really worried about what kind of food he might have to eat).

W finally lost that dangling front tooth. K has learned to read and is working on her readers to earn a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. W made straight A's on his first second grade report card. His reward was a trip to Best Buy with Dad to buy that longed for Madden '09 for the Wii with his allowance money that he has saved. Oh, and we met Jon & Kate last week from Jon & Kate plus 8. The kids love the show and when they were in town we had a chance to go and see them in person and get an autograph.

The new addition to the fam

The old black Passat almost left me stranded on a business trip, so she's going to be fixed and put up for sale. Let me know if you have any prospects. Will probably ask around $3,800.

Here's some of our latest pictures

Nannie A's

Nan and Pop's

All Stars

All Stars was a blast.

Unfortunately and fortunately it only lasted 5 games (0-5).

Yankees

Disney

K - Ballet and Before/After Haircut

Catching Up...Again!

It has been a while since we did an update on the events of our family. There is so much to update! We have been busy with the potential sale of our home and the packing that goes along with it. Throw in baseball games and lots of practices and a trip to Disney World and it is non-stop around here!

W's baseball team - the Yankees- celebrated an undefeated season this past weekend. They were awarded their Championship 5-6 year old trophies on Saturday. That is undefeated - for now. The mighty Yankees will face off against their own moms on Tuesday. The world will know where W did NOT get his baseball instinct! Lest you think that baseball season is over and we are settling in for a relaxing summer - All Star practice starts tomorrow...

K wrapped up her first year of ballet at the end of April with a small recital at the church where she takes lessons. She has acquired much grace over the past year and I am very happy with all she learned. The recital was beautifully themed "A Child's Garden of Verses". She keeps asking to play soccer.

We started the month of May with a week long trip to Disney World with Nan & Pop and Janny, all crammed into our van for 12 hours of driving each way. Nan & Pop treated us to a great resort outside of the parks. We had a great time visiting the parks for 6 days in a row. Surprisingly, the kids really loved EPCOT - even more than Magic Kingdom this time. W rode many more rides this time that when we went 2 years ago, but K wasn't quite as fearless as she was last time. We accomplished 51 rides and shows for the week and obtain autographs of many key characters. Another highlight of the trip was the "World's Most Unique McDonald's" near Universal Studios.

We are still in limbo regarding our move to the new house- still waiting on the purchaser of our current house to get in all of his paperwork even though the closing was scheduled for a week ago today. Hopefully our next update will be a resolution one way or another.

New York City

Westside from the Hudson River Midtown.

A recent business trip took me to the Big Apple. I got to ride the ferry over to the City and got a quick tour through Times Square. That night our hotel was in Queens right across from Shea Stadium.

(It's tough to take a good picture with a camera phone at night.)

K's big day

K had a lot of fun at her ballet recital, but she had even more fun eating the cupcakes that she helped make for the reception.

Look what Pooky found in the backyard

Easter picture