They're here...

The Greenes are here! We had so much fun at the airport welcoming them home. To read more about that party, and hear about their first night home, check out Kristen's blog: To Africa With Love.

Almost home...

I have been meaning to post this for a week now... I apologize for my tardiness. My friends, Jeff and Kristen Greene, are in Ethiopia picking up their two babies this week! They are having the time of their lives, and God has been answering so many prayers while they have been there. Before they left, Kristen started a blog to track their journey. If you are interested, you can click here to read about the amazing experience they are having.

We can't wait to meet them at the airport on Friday morning. I'm sure we will have many stories and hundreds of pictures to share! In the mean time, I know the Greenes would very much appreciate prayers for their upcoming journey. Twenty-seven hours of travel with a 1 year old and 3 1/2 year old awaits them... They will be leaving Ethiopia at 10:45 on Thursday night (that is 8:45 Thursday morning here in Portland). They have one stop in Amsterdam before landing in Portland at 11:50 on Friday morning.

A crib...

Does anyone out there have, or know someone who might have a crib that isn't being used? Jeff and Kristen Greene will be bringing their kiddos home from Ethiopia on Friday, and little Mihiretu is younger and smaller than they originally thought. We are hoping to find a suitable crib for him before they get home so they won't have to worry about it after their very long trip. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Thanks!

Bye-bye papa...

My grandpa (the one in Texas) decided a few weeks ago to come up for a visit. He couldn't do the easy thing and hop on a plane - he had to take the train. I believe his two week journey took him through 15 states, but we were happy to get a few days with him. Gracie and I had just been to Texas a few months ago, but she is changing so fast these days I'm sure she seemed like a different baby... walking, talking, laughing, hugging. I'm glad grandpa got to experience this stage of her life. Being a little older, however, did make the saying goodbye a lot harder. We spent a good portion of Saturday with grandpa before taking him to the train station. They had fun playing together at my parent's house, laughing together, eating lunch together - we even spent an hour searching the book shelves at the downtown Powell's together. Once at the train station grandpa took Gracie out onto the platform to see the freight trains rumbling by. She came back to our seats smiling and choo-chooing.

Since parking was scarce, we ended up in a one-hour parking spot and had to leave about 20 minutes before grandpa got on his train. It isn't easy to say good bye because I never know when I will see him again. Gracie and I both got great big grandpa hugs and kisses before we walked away. I (of course) was crying, and Gracie was looking over my shoulder, and with a little confusion in her tiny voice was saying "bye-bye papa" and waving as we walked out of the station. I want so badly for her to remember him. He has been a very important person in my life, and I am so thankful that he has been able to spend some time with my daughter. I know I will never forget the sweetness of Saturday, but I also know that little Gracie isn't quite old enough to remember. For now she looks at the pictures and excitedly says "Papa!" She definitely knows who he is, and we will make sure that she remembers how much he loves her and that he took a train through 15 states to come see her.

Bye-bye papa... hopefully we'll see you again real soon.

14 months...

Today Gracie is 14 months old. I don't have any new stats to share because we won't go back to see her doctor until next month. Here is an update on our last month.

• Gracie is a pro at walking. It is funny to see her crawl every once in a while. Because of her new found mobility, it is getting harder to take her some places - she just doesn't want to sit still right now.
• She loves being outside! We try to go for a walk after dinner to get fresh air and stretch her legs. She stops to pick up "treasures" that she finds along the way (leaves, pine cones, rocks) and usually will carry them all the way home where they then get left outside the front door. She loves to see puppies and kitties on our walks - and if she spots one she will meow or pant. She points at every plane that flies over head, and if the sky is clear, she makes sure we know where the moon is at all times.
  
• She now knows what no means, and that there are things that are off limits. Unfortunately this doesn't stop her. Instead she now will grab something, like the remote control, look at me and say "nah-nah" and then get a big smile on her face before running away with the contraband object.
  
• Around bed time we can ask if she is tired, and she will say "nigh-nigh," walk to the stairs and wait for us to put her to bed. This sure makes naps and bed time easy.
• Every morning we stand outside and wave goodbye to Merrick as he leaves for work. I think she is pretty sure that he just hangs out in the garage all day because now she will stand by that door calling for him. Yesterday we were in the garage loading up the car, and she was looking around all the corners and behind boxes saying "da-DA?... da-DA?"
• She is starting to put words together in simple sentences. The two that come to mind are Hi daddy (eye da-DA!) and Up please (bup pea!).
• She is learning more animal noises and will now usually perform a cow, kitty, puppy, bear, lion, dolphin, sheep, goat, monkey, duck, piggy.
• She is following directions and seems to really understand things that we tell her. She has a stubborn streak ( I know, shocking!) and she doesn't come to us every time we ask her to - usually because she is doing something naughty and knows she is in trouble.
  

Words she is saying now:

• day-dee = Gracie
• da-DA = dada, daddy
• ma-mi = mommy
• mama = grandma
• bapa, papa, or papi = grandpa
• hahahaha (panting) = puppy
• du, du = duck
• bay-bee = baby (actually, any small person, baby or not)
  
• n'ga n'ga = water
• bea = bear
• bea-i = berry
• beeeee = bee
  
• bup or puh = up
• nigh-nigh = night, night
• pabi = patti (for the garden patties we feed her)
• boppa = diaper
  
• doxs = socks
• moe = more
• bay-bay = banana
• b-bi or byeee = bye-bye
• i = hi
• bo = book
• ha-tttt = hot
• hah = hat
• pah-ba = pasta
• cack-a = cracker
• paw-bee = potty
• bee-bee = binky
• bah = ball
• baaaa = balloon
• (sniffing) = flower
• beben = open
• n'da = down
• buba = bubble
• (fishy face) = fish
  

I forgot to mention that she is really in to climbing EVERYTHING! Here are a few pictures of places I have found her recently. Just a note - I did nothing to help her with these efforts - I just ran for the camera and prayed she wouldn't fall...

Sitting on top of the dance and learn table.

Helping with chores.

Her new tunnel - she loves it even when it is all folded up. She gathers treasures to put in it, then crawls in herself.

On top of her drum... why wouldn't she want to be up there?

This was the scariest - I was mopping the floor so I had these chairs close together. She used the foot rest of one to climb onto the other. The chair was a little wobbly on the carpet, so I really debated whether or not to snap the picture... now I'm glad I did.

Amos Lee...

We had such a blast at the Amos Lee concert at the zoo on Wednesday! We woke up to torrential down pours in the Portland area and laid in bed thinking "what are the chances?" We have been looking forward to this concert all summer. Now it is pouring down rain, everything is soaked, and the concert is outside on the lawn at the Oregon Zoo. Great.

Well, as the day went on, the rain let up a bit. The lawn was soaked, but we had camping chairs so we were able to keep our buns dry. Gracie did great - she seemed to love being outside and she would dance and clap as the music was played. It would have been nice if she could have run around a bit more, but it worked out just fine. It was chilly - we bundled Gracie up a bit, and brought extra blankets. I was shivering in my sweatshirt and down vest, but I was so thankful that it wasn't 105 degrees. I think that would have been worse.


If you have never heard Amos Lee - he has a few demo songs on his website, or you can hear more songs on his myspace page.

It has been a while...

Our apologies:
With being sick, having family in town, and enjoying our summer, we've let the blog get away from us (again). I know that there are some of you who check my blog every day in hopes of seeing what we're doing. To you, I apologize. Here is a look at what has been happening for the past three weeks...

Stayin' cool...
We really are enjoying the summer sun, but since it has been so hot, we have been forced to stay inside for parts of the days. in the comfort of our air conditioned home.
The fair, day one...
Back when I had my throat infection, the Washington County fair was happening. On a last minute whim, Merrick and I decided to take Gracie before bed. It was late, so we didn't stay long, but she loved every minute of it.
She now has many animal noises down, so she liked "talking" to this goat.Free mini-golf was fun for all of us, but it was especially cute watching Gracie trying hard to be a big girl.
She didn't quite understand that she needed to leave her ball on the ground. She just wanted to carry it with us.

The fair, day two...
Since admission into the fair is free, Shannon and I had made plans to take the girls. It didn't work to go on opening day, but we were able to go for a bit on Friday (July 25). The kids had a great time, and I always have fun spending time with Shannon. The one disappointment was that by this time I was really getting sick and we had to cut our visit short. When we got home, Gracie and I took a three hour nap.
The horses, Grace and Ellie. My cousin's daughter is Eleanor (Ellie for short) so I thought it was funny to see the two horses side-by-side. There is also a "Hannah," but I didn't see the need to take yet another picture of me next to the horse.
Gracie got to pet the horse named Grace. The sweet owner was going to put Gracie up on the horse, but she was a little scared. Hmmm, I wonder why...?
Sophia and Gracie got tired of riding in the strollers, so we let them out to push. It was loads of fun until Sophia stepped in some sort of animal droppings. Yuck!
Big truck, little girls. We were so proud of them for (mostly) standing still and posing while we snapped 50 pictures of this.

The fountain...
Our Bible study group managed to find a day to get together at the fountain in Beaverton City Park. We had a great time playing in the water and visiting with friends. The other kids in the group are much older and I don't have any pictures of them playing together.
This shows Baylie looking lost (pink suit), Gracie heading into the water (blue suit) and Sophia heading out of the water (red suit).
My poor white baby found the one spot of shade in the whole park - and she lounged there watching the other kids (whose dad's have pigment in their skin) playing in the hot sun.

Chores...
This is silly, but since I took a picture, I thought I'd share. I recently bought a one dollar clothes line and have been hanging my laundry in the back yard to dry. I don't know how much money this will save, but it sure helps with keeping the upstairs of the house cool and saves a little energy in the process.
The goose pond...
There is a very nice pond area in a local business park, so we took Gracie down there to see the geese. We didn't have any food (which is fine because there are signs all over saying not to feed them), but they ran up to us begging none-the-less.
Gracie loved chasing them around and squealing at them.
She also enjoyed the walking paths and bridges over the pond.

Cousins...
My nieces, Mariah and Maleah, spent a few weeks in Eugene with their grandparents. They decided it would be fun to come up for a quick visit - and I do mean quick. We were able to take a short walk to our neighborhood park, but didn't stay long. It was really hot and right in the middle of Gracie's nap time. Mariah carried her all the way home, and by about half way Gracie was sound asleep in her arms.

The drawers...
Gracie has these two drawers that we have been letting her play in. One has her bibs and baby silverware, and another is my kitchen towels. We have been finding spoons, bibs and towels all around the house - and other treasures have been put in the drawers. I'm curious to know what she thinks she is accomplishing, but she goes at it very seriously as if it is her job.
This drawer has a wee people, a ball, a pedometer and one of her shoes in it... all logical, right?

Wallis...
Forrest and Amy are back in Hawaii, so we got to have Wallis for a few days. It was fun to see Forrest, Amy and Ephraim on their way through.
He is getting so big and chubby - and he LOVES to smile.
Gracie loved having Wallis in the house, and for a few days after he left, she was going around panting (her "word" for dog) looking for him.

Little cousins...
My cousin, Carrie, needed a sitter for a few hours, so she brought her boys here to hang out. They are fun kids, and pretty easy to entertain. Aiden is almost three, and had fun looking at all of Gracie's stuff and finding new ways to play with baby toys. Nathan, who is 7 months, is very advanced (lots of teeth, crawling around, and in general a big boy). Gracie didn't quite understand that he couldn't play with her the way she wanted. They are almost exactly the same size, so Gracie wanted him to act more her age. It was cute to watch.

Big bonk...
Gracie got her first big owie the other day. I didn't see what happened, but I think she fell against the column in our living room and slid her face down it... wall burn I guess. She was pretty sad at first, but bounced back quickly.
A new Bethany...
My cousin, Anthony, is getting married. His fiance's name is Bethany. His sister (my cousin) is also Bethany. To make things even more strange... my grandpa is Roger, Anthony's dad is Roger, and Bethany's dad is Roger. So, Anthony is going to have a grandpa Roger, a dad Roger and a father-in-law Roger.

So, Anthony and the new Bethany are getting married in a few weeks. We had a small wedding shower for them here on Sunday. It was fun to have family over to celebrate and just spend some time chatting and getting to know Bethany a little better.
The best part, in my opinion, was that Mandy made the cake for me. It was so pretty. The shower colors were brown and sage green, and I'd say she nailed it! It was absolutely delicious too - although I've now been sick for two days because I ate a piece. I still think it was well worth it. So, if you have a party coming up, and need a great cake - I know just the person for you!

Word processing...
Gracie loves typing and playing with the computer mouse, but I don't think she understands that you don't have to sit on the keyboard to make it work.
Other news...

• We have been watching a lot of Olympics - and not sleeping much because of it.
• I got my allergy test results back and have been avoiding pretty much every food known to man (cane sugar, wheat, yeast, dairy, cranberries, processed soy, garlic, sesame, etc...) which is probably why the cake Mandy made didn't sit well in my system. =)
• Merrick is still very busy at work, and anticipating an upcoming deadline (beginning of October).
  
• Gracie is growing, developing and changing every day. Her vocabulary is exploding, and she is a pro at walking. So much more to catch up on in this category, but we'll get to that a little later.
  

My birthday...

Saturday was my 28th birthday. We didn't have anything big planned, so we packed up and headed to the beach. I'd been searching for a cute bed and breakfast or an open camp site, but everything in the area was booked, so it was just a day trip. The weather wasn't great at first, but after the clouds burned off and the sun came out, the afternoon was warm and pleasant. Gracie seemed to have a great time playing in the sand, wading in the ocean, walking through the town and watching all the puppies.

After a few hours in Cannon Beach, we headed south toward Oswald West park. I have such great memories from that park - most dating back to being a camper at Twin Rocks. Every year we had a beach day where we all loaded onto buses and headed to Short Sands to play for the day. We parked and hiked down to the ocean. The beach was really busy, and there were tons of people surfing. Since last week was "shark week" on the Discovery channel, I didn't have much interest in getting in the water, but it was fun to watch other people. We hadn't been on the beach long when I look up to see Jeff and Emily's dog go running by after a ball. Walking up the beach behind him were my aunt and uncle, Louise and Roger, and Jeff and Emily. It was a fun treat to see them and get to visit for a while.

We packed up and headed home around 5, and stopped by my favorite Japanese restaurant on our way back into town for sushi (something that does work in this crazy allergy diet I'm on). We had a great dinner - and Gracie loved her avocado rolls!

It was a really good day, and fun to spend time with my little family.

I have a lot more pictures from our day, I'll try to post a few more soon.

You're it...

I have been tagged by Hannah!

On August 2:

20 Years Ago I was....
turning 8. I was probably enjoying the summer and spending a lot of hours outside in our cul-de-sac with friends. I might have been on some road trip/business trip with my family. I had recently gotten home from my first year of girl's camp at Twin Rocks. I was probably feeling very excited to start the third grade - I had the same teacher for second grade, and really liked her. Oh, and I still had my own two front teeth...

10 Years Ago I was....
turning 18. I had graduated from high school and was just getting home from almost 5 weeks in Europe with my family. Because of our travels, I didn't have a job, so I spent the rest of my summer hanging out with friends before we all packed up and headed to college. I had no idea that in three short weeks I would meet my future husband!

5 Years Ago I was....
turning 23. I was in the middle of my second event season working for Providence Health System and getting ready for Bridge Pedal. I was also planning our wedding, and looking for apartments in Corvallis.

3 Years ago I was....
turning 25. Merrick and I were living in Beaverton for the summer because he had a job at Intel. For some crazy reason I went back to Providence and was getting ready for yet another Providence Bridge Pedal. We were having fun living in the Portland area (a first since we had gotten married) and spending a lot of time with friends and family.

So Far this year I...
turned 28. Have made new friends, reconnected with old friends, spent time with many family members, and thoroughly enjoyed my immediate family. I have loved being a mom to Gracie, have watched her transform from a stationary infant to a fully mobile toddler, expand her little vocabulary daily, and never cease to amaze me with the little person she is becoming. I am looking forward to my 5 year anniversary this fall and celebrating in style!

Yesterday I...
sat at home and waited for the cable man to show up. Shannon and Sophia came to play.

Tomorrow I will...
go to church and see my parents. Probably we'll go for a run in the evening.

Next year I will...
turn 29 and who knows... perhaps run a marathon, perhaps travel the world, perhaps have another baby. We'll see what God has in store for us. I do know that I will spend time with friends and family, that I will cherish every minute I get with my daughter and husband, I will work hard and play hard and will do my best not to take life for granted.

I tag:
Amy, Annie, Bethany, Emily, Marisa, and Sarri