Ice Skating on Saturday

We had a special Saturday in Lynchburg. Karl and I and the girls met at Liberty University at the Ice Center with: Grandma, Grandpa, Joanie, Katie, Lexi, Beth and Beth's new baby Cailey, and Chloe, Katie's birth baby who is adopted by Craig and Marty, and Craig and Marty. Whew! Anyway, the ice skating event was sponsored by the adoption agency who Chloe got adopted through. It is amazing to see adoptees, moms and dads, birth mothers, siblings, and (in our case) uncle, aunt and cousins running around in one big space. It's crazy but worth it. The first picture is of Beth and Cailey, who's about 3 weeks old now! This was the first time we had a chance to meet her. (Cailey, not Beth).

Next is our sweet beloved Chloe with Amie, Ana and Lauren (they would be 2nd cousins). Chloe is precious. We all LOVE HER so much.

Next is Karl, Amie and Lauren looking a little concerned on their first foray onto the ice. (If only it weren't so slippery....) Fortunately, it got better.

You can also see Amie and Ana on the ice. Ana was doing great, largely because cousin Lexi worked with her and taught her everything she knew about ice skating (which was all learned about 5 minutes ago, when she first tried ice skating for the first time! She was amazing!

Next you can see Amie in her Purple Hat, enjoying some pizza, cupcakes and balloons. Next is the ice skating pro Lexi with Grandma and Ana. And next is Beth and Cailey, Katie and Chloe. AND at the very end, you can see EVERYONE- Karl and me and girls, Joanie, Katie, Beth and Lexi, Grandma and Grandpa, Craig and Marty, and the littlest and sweetest, Chloe and Cailey!

I wish I could figure out how to caption these pictures so that my words match the pictures.

Halloween 2009

Here we have our jack-o-lanterns,

and.....

Bat Girl,

Tinkerbell,

and Princess Ana. Also our neighbor Madison, who is also a princess, and our former neighbor Gabby with Ana.

Gabriella sat at the table with the jack-o-lanterns and Mom handing out the candy while the rest of them went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.

U2 has a rap session

Happy 9th Birthday Ana

It's hard to believe, but Ana turned 9 on October 17. We had the usual fall birthday party, which features warm cider and birthday cake, party poppers and playing outside and inside with friends. Here you can see Madison, Amie, Lizzy, Emily, Ana and Lauren.

Also, here is Lizzy's sister Rachel, and below Ana is with Gabriella and Jason Christian, our dear friends home from Guatemala! Welcome home!

And below that is Lindsey and Mary Kathryn who took time to come celebrate too!

U2

We went to see U2 in Charlottesville last Thursday night, at UVA.

U2. Is. The. Best. Band. Ever.

To get a glimpse of what we saw, click this link

http://www.u2.com/tour/date/id/4445#

and get a report on the Charlottesville show.

They are simply the coolest band. Ever.

About 60,000 of us danced, sang, and celebrated. We watched a stage show that you have to see to believe. We sang Amazing Grace with Bono. We listened to Desmond Tutu (on video). They played all of the songs I hoped to hear, songs from way back when. (OK, back to the 80s

anyway.)

I first remember hearing U2 when I was in about 8th grade. i think the first songs I remember are With or Without You and I Will Follow. They were "alternative" back then, different from everything else on the radio, and I liked them, but didn't follow them.

When they came out with Where The Streets Have No Name, I perked up. I love that song. I still do.

It wasn't until I saw a couple of live concert videos that I realized I had to get to know this band better, and that wasn't until I was in my 20s. So I got the CDs as they came out, All That you Can't Leave Behind, How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and No Line on the Horizon. I have loved and listened to them and made it a goal to get to a concert.

It took a lot of planning, time, money and babysitting by the grandparents, but we got there, it was worth it, and I will do it again when they come back if it's within driving distance!

Also, Karl's mom Kay gave me a book called The Gospel According to U2, which I'm reading right now. What an awesome book! I don't even know where to begin, except to say that U2 points their fans to Jesus. Listen to them. See what you think!

Ocean City, New Jersey

I spent the weekend in Ocean City, New Jersey with three incredible women, my sweet roomates from Wheaton. I am blessed to call these girls my friends, and blessed that they put up with me at Wheaton and still love me!

Cathy lives in New Jersey, and we stayed in a condo belonging to her friends... we talked and walked the boardwalk, ate, shared, gambled.... (we went to Atlantic City which is down the beach :)

Here's a picture of Cathy with her sweet family!

here you can see us in Atlantic City where we got a fun taste of the night life there, and I'm holding my winning ticket worth $13! (I stopped after that and bought ice cream with my winnings)

What a great weekend.

Kris and Rich

At last here are some pictures from my sister Kristin and Rich's wedding in Oregon! These pictures were taken by Andy, my sweet cousin Lynn's husband, and show (obviously) Kristin and Rich in the first picture, and also my sweet aunt Donna and sweet daughter Ana, who helped with the service. Aunt Donna married them and Ana held the rings. Next is lovely Lynn with Phineas. Then there's a few duplicated pictures, I don't know why, but I'm afraid I'll wreck this blog entry if I try to delete them. And some thumbnail pictures too... My mom also took many pictures especially of Ana exploring Portland, and I'll post those next.