Sunday, June 29, 2008

Our Wedding Photos!

We have the 'official' wedding photos (thanks, Jeremy!) and are thrilled to be able to share them with you! The groom hasn't seen them himself so hopefully he can find a fast internet connection in Fiji soon.

Steve and the girls are doing very well in Fiji, by the way!

Just click on "Our Wedding Photos!" above to view the pictures and the easiest way to see them is to choose the 'slideshow' option......

Friday, June 27, 2008

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Earlier this week Steve had our family play a game of Monopoly together. Half-way through the game he paused and had the kids think through financial planning by using examples from the game and we talked about ways that we could improve on our family budget together. The older three kids listened well and actively participated in the conversation, but Adam got the wiggles and spent more time playing with game pieces than he appeared to be listening.

When we resumed the game after the discussion, however, Adam dramatically passed his hands over the property cards that he had collected and solemnly said, "THIS is my future!"

Guess he was listening after all!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Off to Fiji!

Steve, Hannah, and Rachel left this evening for Fiji. Steve will be leading a couple of teams there from New Zealand for the organization that he worked for until our wedding since they have not been able to replace him yet. The girls will be visiting old friends for the first week and then will join the 2nd team for the two weeks following. They will all return home on July 20th.

Aaron, Adam and myself will be home trying not to miss them too much! It seems a bit soon to break up our new family (there have been a number of tears shed tonight!) but we knew that this is something that Steve needed to do beforehand and we are very grateful for the time that we have had together already. The organization will also send him to Fiji in September for a few weeks.

We think that this is a really important trip for Hannah and Rachel to reconnect with and 'get closure' to their former lives there as well. Plus they will get the experience of an outreach since they were too young when we lived there. They will join in with Steve on outreaches to schools, prisons, etc, in Suva as well as travel to villages in the interior where they will continue to minister. They will even get to spend a couple of nights in our house in Suva with the 'M' ladies currently living there.

Please remember their time there!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Steve's American Project!

We've had an exciting day around here as Steve finally brought home the 1942 Harley Davidson that he's been thinking about and researching for quite some time now. He first saw it when he was here in January.

Since he can't work while he's in the States he's been aware that he needs something to occupy his time. He will be doing volunteer work but he's been feeling the need to do something productive otherwise around the house. Well, his MAIN goal is to bond with the family during this time, but being the active guy that he is, he needs something to DO, too!

Before the market fell, he was thinking of totally restoring the Harley since he saw them selling online for a pretty sum. But since then the serious collectors seem to be watching their pocketbooks, so he's decided to just get it up and running instead of doing a full restoration process to save on parts and ensure the likelihood of selling it later.

Aaron and Adam are extremely excited about the whole thing, too! This afternoon Steve had them in the garage as well as their friend from across the street carefully taking nuts and screws off to begin the 'disassembling before reconstruction' process. Right now they're in the next room with him talking non-stop with questions about it. Cute.

I've also learned a few things about engines that I never understood before today as well!

Here are a couple of 'before' photos for you:

Notice the 'period' helmet that Aaron's got on! For some reason Steve doesn't think he'll use it when he gets to eventually take it out for a drive!



Palm Springs, CA

Our family drove to Palm Springs, CA, recently for a meeting. The next day we had a blast riding the tram there (goes from 2500 ft. to 8000 in 11 minutes!) and hiking at the top for the day. Here is a picture of the family at the top as well as the tram which is the 2nd tallest one in the world.



Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Photos from our past

Here are a few pictures from before we became a family:


S.E. Asia Jan. 2008

Grand Canyon Oct. 2007

Fiji Aug. 2007