published

Our good friends Michael and Michelle recently came out with a text book titled "A Theology of Family Ministry" and they invited Kit to participate in a chapter on children and spiritual formation.

We just received a copy and it was such a proud moment for me. In the ministry world, there is probably nothing that excites Kit more than combining children, families and spiritual formation, so to be part of a project like this was such a gift for me because I got to watch Kit do something that he is so passionate about!

We love you Anthony's and congratulations!

Connecting with friends...

This last saturday was a very full one. Not in the sense that it felt really busy, but in the fact that it put us in the mindset to appreciate what a full life we have.

The day started with getting to see kit's children's pastor's Debbie and Mike. They have known Kit since he was 5 years old, and were influential in encouraging him to go into children's ministry. (They seriously have not aged one bit... They look the same as the pictures of when they first met Kit. We are so thankful to have people that saw something in Kit's heart and encouraged him and gave him opportunities to lead.

Their oldest will be going to college down by us and we are hoping to get to see them all a little more frequently...

We love you Laflin family!

Next we did yard work... A butt load of yard work... there is no other description. It was that much, and it involved taming our creeping fig. So two large trash cans and 4 large trash bags later, we were done with the yard.

Every couple of weeks when we work on our yard, we always have these moments through out the process where we realize how much we love our house and what a blessing it is for our family. I really love our home and I love all the memories that we have already made here.

Then we ended the night with having smores with our neighbors, Maria and Lisa. I could not be more grateful to have them in our lives. Ryder LOVES them (and their dog Bailey) and we have so much fun being together. They truly have taught us about the gift of hospitality. They have an open door policy with their home, where anyone can come and be and stay. They have us over when Kit is traveling and are always there if we need anything. They mean so much to us.

(We are still learning ho to take the best pictures at night.

It looks like their back yard is on fire!)

Mr sticky gooey man loved the smores. He had them on our last camping trip but you could tell that he was really excited about the treat of some sugar.

(Graham crackers were the favorite component.)

We hope that you had a wonderful weekend being with people you love!

Ryder's Mia went to Cupertino...

My mom and Dad went to Cupertino in Northern California, the mecca of all things Mac, and guess what Ryder got:

He's very excited about it! So excited that he thought he would try to do a flip, but got stuck half way...

Thanks you guys for always thinking of the little man...

Too bad he didn't like the shirt!

some family time...

Last night we had a family dinner to celebrate new chapters in our lives, with jobs, and moving to new places, there was a lot to celebrate, and why not celebrate with food...

The girls: (I always have the best of intentions to to get one of the guys, but it just never happens!)

The amazing home made vanilla pudding and banana layered dessert that was so tasty,( Andrew and Mal, you guys are phenomenal!)

We love you guys and we are so thankful that you you are our family!

Melissa Fay Greene

One of the most life changing books to date that I have ever read was by Melissa Fay Greene, entitled "There Is No Me Without You". It's about Ethiopia and adoption and I read it with my sister around the time that we received the referral for our niece.

This incredible author has recently come out with another book that shares more of her journey with adoption and I just wanted to pass the title along to you.

In our family we say that our family adopted a baby from ethiopia. She is not just my sister and brother-in-law's daughter, but she is my parent's granddaughter, our nephew's sister, she is our niece and Ryder's cousin. Kit and I are her god parents if anything were to ever happen to her parents. I just can't tell you how much adoption has changed our lives, that little girl is a phenomenal human being and we are different because we know her and have the privilege to live life with her.

Baby girl, you are wanted, waited for an loved!

Buddies

They can not get enough of each other...

They are definitely best buddies.

My put away helper...

I have been getting lots of "help" from the little man. I am not kidding, no matter how many sippy cups we have, I always feel like I can't find any (or at least I can't find any where they SHOULD be...)

The new concepts that Ryder is having fun with are:

Open~Close

In~Out

Up~Down

And apparently the kitchen is the favorite spot to practice each one.