The Garvey Family

Wrapping up the summer!

2009-08-31T08:28:00.005-04:00

It's so hard to believe that it is the last day of August! Although I think we are all ready to get back to school.
Here are some highlights from the rest of our summer.

At the end of July we spent a week at Taylorsville Lake in Kentucky. We rented a house there for the week and had a great time! We really enjoyed the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory Tour. We took our bikes and rode along the river in Louisville. We visited Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace and took a train ride. We rented a pontoon boat and toured Taylorsville Lake. It was our first vacation with just the 5 of us and we all had a good time!

We found a very cool extreme park in downtown Louisville. The first day we went the boys tooled around with their rollerblades. The second day we had the bikes with us, so they tried out the bikes as well. Steven didn't quite make it all the way up on the hills and rolled backward. He broke his fall with his wrist and unfortunately we found out the next day (when we got back to Mi) that is was fractured! Here is our trooper Steven - yes - this is his third fractured wrist!

The day after we got back from Kentucky we were able to celebrate Gabriela's first birthday. The three of them were visiting here for a few weeks from Germany.

Grandpa Mike & Grandma Sheila visited in mid-August. We had some fun times in the pool and celebrated Susan's birthday - we also spent a day at the zoo! It was great to have some time with them!

Summer so far!

2009-07-15T12:02:00.007-04:00

Summer has been good to us so far! We have already had so much fun! Here are some highlights!

We started the summer cheering on Chris in his first triathlon! It was on Belle Isle! Chris did awesome and even went faster than his goal time!

We picked up some used rollerblades for the boys and they have been rolling ever since! They have improved greatly and enjoy playing with the neighbor boys

We began our Family Day festivities by going to Turtle Cove in the evening!

Then we went our for Mexican! Yummy! After that we took the kids to the Canton fireworks - they were pretty excited they were able to stay up so late!

Our next exciting event was a visit from Pop & Gramma Jane

The Cubs (Pop's favorite team) came to town to play the Tigers - it was a great game and happened to be the same night as the Detroit fireworks - so we enjoyed both!

Later in their visit we had an open house to celebrate Pop's 70th birthday!

Next we celebrated Claire's 2nd Birthday! It was a Winnie-the-Pooh party and included a Heffalump Hunt!

On July 5th we took Steven & Becca to Grammy's house for 3 days of Grammy Camp. Then we dropped David off at Bair Lake Bible Camp for his first time! He attended a 3-night Rookie Camp and really loved it!

Chris and I took a 3-day trip to Saugatuck to celebrate our 12th anniversary. It was our first visit there and we really enjoyed it!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-18T09:06:00.003-04:00

It's a special week around our house! Yesterday was our Family Day - celebrating 3 years ago when we were first together as a family of five. We will do a special family outing this weekend to celebrate! I just learned that June 17th is also the set date for Father's Day in Guatemala - pretty cool!

We will celebrate Father's Day as well this weekend! I have a very special relationship with my dad and I love to see Chris and Becca develop their special daddy/daughter relationship! Chris is just a WONDERFUL father to all 3 of our children! I can't imagine doing this life with anyone else beside me!

I follow Steven Curtis Chapman's manager's blog and he put out a request for father/daughter pictures for making a special Cinderella Father's Day video! Today I found out the video was up on You Tube!
So here it is - make sure to pay close attention at the one minute mark!
SCC Cinderella Father's Day Video

Spring Time!

2009-06-08T15:01:00.004-04:00

I am already a few months behind again! I would love to think I keep up with everything in my life - but as you can see that just isn't the case - but I figure better late than never!

Here are some pictures from our trip to the zoo! School was cancelled for 2 days in early May because of Swine Flu - we took the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful spring day!

We opened the pool in mid-May. We had some good swimming weather, but the past week has been cooler so we are excited to get back in!

We've made 2 fun trips to the beach at Kensington with the Bakers!

We hosted the Moreno family for Memorial Day and tried a new take on our traditional watermelon picture!

Just last week I chaperoned Steven's field trip to the farm. It was a beautiful day and the Kindergarteners had a great time!

Pics from Steven's Bday

2009-04-12T16:39:00.003-04:00

Thankfully Steven got over his virus in time to enjoy his birthday week!

Here are the Rice Krispy Easter Eggs we brought to school on his birthday!

After school we went to Chuck E. Cheese with his friend Ashley!

Here he is with his Cars cake that Grammy made!

Here he is on his new skateboard! Look out world!

Happy Easter from the Garveys

2009-04-12T16:27:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday Steven!

2009-04-08T09:00:00.002-04:00

Having fun!

2009-03-24T19:56:00.004-04:00

March always seems to be our slowest time for pictures!
We are all doing well and are all thankful to be seeing some signs of spring!
In fact it was so nice out on St. Patrick's Day that we had our "green" dinner outside!

Here are the 3 kids on a Saturday morning watching TV!

And here are Becca & Steven being silly in the bath!

David's First Swim Meet

2009-02-19T13:54:00.003-05:00

Hopefully I can get this video to post! Thankfully David is better at swimming that I am at videographing! Sorry for the quality! Still working on it!

David's Birthday

2009-02-10T17:07:00.008-05:00

Today my oldest child turned 8! It is so hard to imagine that 8 years have gone by already! David is an amazing child! He is so fun to be with! He started feeling crummy yesterday and had a fever and bad cough by the time he got home from school. He was supposed to have his first swim meet last night, but we decided he was too sick to participate. He also missed school today and has not felt well all day. The bonus was that he got to spend some time with Nana today and he got to play Life with mom while Steven was at school and Becca was sleeping! Last Saturday we had his family party. It was a Mystery Party. Everyone had to enter the house with a special knock. They were then given their Secret Agent Name for the day. We served a Mystery Lunch. There were 3 courses of 5 items each, including beverages and utencils. Each person had to order 5 items for each course, without knowing what they were ordering. Then we had a treasure hunt to find David's presents hidden around the house and he also had to solve clues to figure out who they were from. Our wonderful friend's the Ruarks let us borrow the Wii for the weekend, so we had some fun with that too! Here are some pictures and some videos.

Singing to David

Seeing what everyone "ordered"

The pirates who don't do anything!

2009-02-04T16:08:00.003-05:00

Here is Becca singing a Veggie Tale favorite!

Testing video

2009-01-23T15:38:00.003-05:00

We bought ourselves a new camera with our Christmas money. It has a video feature as well - so I am testing to see how easily I can put video on the blog!

New Year and Aidan's Birthday

2009-01-14T21:08:00.006-05:00

After hosting Chris and Becca's birthday on New Year's Eve day - we had our small group over for a New Year's Eve Party - I use the term party loosely as I was not a grand hostess! We still had a good time. Our friends brought over their Wii and that kept the kids (and a few adults) busy for most of the evening! David and Steven both got to stay up til midnight for the first time and they were very excited!

Here's the gang having fun!

Here is Becca with her "special friend" Hunter - they had a pre-midnight kiss!

We spent New Year's day at Anna's house. Theo, Jess & Gabriela left the next week to live in Germany for a few years!

This is "little" Gabriela - she is such a sweetie! We are going to miss her terribly!

Last weekend we celebrated Aidan's birthday!

Here he is enjoying his Thomas cake

Opening presents is ALWAYS fun!

Grandma Sheila made matching outfits for Becca and Claire - here they are!

Here's the best "posed" picture we got for the evening!

Two of the best gifts ever!

Chris and Becca's Birthday

2009-01-01T20:41:00.001-05:00

Christmas 2008 slideshow

2008-12-30T15:48:00.001-05:00

Christmas pics

2008-12-30T14:53:00.007-05:00

Here is our formal picture the kids!

Thanksgiving trip to Florida!

2008-12-06T15:02:00.005-05:00

We packed up the van buckled in the kids and headed south! We made it down there in 17 hours - we left at 4pm and pulled in the driveway at 9am. Then we unleashed the kids on the grandparents and took a nap!
We stayed with my dad (Pop) and his wife (Grammy Jane) for a full week! We had a great time and throughly exhausted the grandparents in the process!
Here are some pics from the week!

Yes, they are on the roof of Pop's house. Chris was helping hang the Christmas lights and they wanted to see what it was like up there!

The kids helped decorate Pop and Grammy Jane's Christmas tree

Here is all of us at our Thanksgiving meal. It was SOO yummy! We had a special day!

Yes, we actually played shuffleboard - the boys really got into it!

We opened Christmas presents with Pop and Grammy Jane on Thanksgiving Day.

The boys playing games - they really got into Uno and Yahtzee

The traditional picture of the kids with Pop and Grammy Jane - does Jane look a little tired? She was!
We were not really looking forward to driving home - it's always more exciting on the way! There was supposed to be bad weather possible all the way through, but fortunately we had smooth sailing (except for the traffic around Atlanta!). We left at 2:30pm - the kids got out of the van twice to go to the bathroom - Chris and I had one extra bathroom stop - they all slept about nine hours and we were home at 9:00am! I highly recommend this mode of travel - the more they are asleep the easier it is!
It was a great vacation! Thanks Dad & Jane for everything!

Life Church Groundbreaking Ceremony

2008-12-06T14:53:00.003-05:00

I know, I know - I am way behind! We had vacation and then some computer issues, and before you know it a month has gone by!
Here are some pics from the Life Church Groundbreaking Ceremony. Our church has purchased a building! We closed in September and the parking lot work is almost done and the interior renovations are underway! We are hoping to be in the building by March! Chris has done a TON of work with both the purchase and with organizing the construction - we are so excited to see it all begin to become a reality. You can see more about it HERE - including a 3-D tour of the initial plans!

The Leadership Team and Pastors

Chris with the ceremonial shovel

Chris and the kids

Fall Highlights - Part 2

2008-11-01T12:04:00.003-04:00

Whew! We survived what has now become the "Halloween Season". Chris and I figured out that we put the boys in their costumes for 6 events in the past few weeks!
Here we are a few nights ago, carving pumpkins. This was the first year David put his hands in the "goo" - of course Becca had no hesitation whatsoever!

Yesterday was a BIG day. The boys had a 1/2 day of school which included Halloween parties and a costume parade. Luckily it was unseasonably warm and the boys were able to play outside for the afternoon. By 5:00 they were completely wired and thought the fun would never start. We get A LOT of kids at our house, in fact, people drive into our sub to trick-or-treat. I wouldn't be surprised to see buses start pulling in here in the next few years. We started a tradition last year of giving out pizza slices and cider along with our candy. It's fun because people hang out and chat and it's a chance to connect with our neighbors (and the rest of the town that comes to our sub). The kids LOVE it and they have just as much fun passing out candy as they do going around to collect it!

October Highlights

2008-10-29T14:22:00.005-04:00

As usual it seems we have packed a lot of activities into the past month. Although it has been cold the past few days we had some BEAUTIFUL fall days. I think I appreciate our Michigan fall more each year. Every year I am blown away at the beauty of the colors!
In mid-October we FINALLY got to meet our precious new niece, Gabriella Pilar. She is adorable!

A few moms from our church went together to the Orchard with our little ones - here are some pictures from that!

I think we did a few more things, but Becca is waking up from her nap - so I may have to do October Part 2!

Playing in the rain, grapes & kissing cousins

2008-10-04T15:36:00.003-04:00

I guess it's already been a month since my last update! I don't know where the time goes! It's amazing that a day can go so slowly, yet the months seem to just fly by!
The second weekend in September it rained ALL weekend! The kids were getting major cabin fever. On Sunday evening I suggested we go to McDonalds for dinner to get some energy out (of the kids that is). Although it was raining it was really warm out. Chris suggested that the kids get in their swimsuits and go out and play in the rain. He threw in making pancakes and they voted for the rain over McDonalds!
Here they are - they stomped in puddles, rode their bikes in the rain (David needed goggles) and Chris put out a tarp to make our own slip and slide!

Last Saturday the kids and I went to Grammy's for the afternoon for day one of making grape jelly. We picked the grapes, washed them and sorted them. Then we crushed and cooked them and strained out the juice. Grammy canned the juice and the boys will make the jelly later this winter!

Aidan & Claire were there as well and we got some kissin' cousins pictures.

Steve-O no mo!

2008-09-09T15:25:00.003-04:00

For months now Becca has called Steven, Steve-O. I think she thought she was saying Steven, but it just came out differently. I sometimes call him Steve-O and he always corrects me. It's okay for Becca but not for anyone else.
Today, Becca said Steven - clear as day. I had noticed it a couple times and then Steven noticed it too. He was so excited that he doesn't have to be Steve-O anymore. Papa calls him Stev-a-rino -which again - he only likes it if Papa calls him that. Considering Steven wants to be a "Sportman" when he grows up, his dad and I keep telling him he better pick a nickname!

First Day of School 2008!

2008-09-02T14:22:00.009-04:00

Today was a 1/2 day, but it was a start!
Chris walked David to school at the start of the day.
Here is David, the second grader, this morning -

Here he is the first day of first grade

And Kindergarten

Steven had a 1/2 of a half day. It is more of an orientation and the parent stays for the whole time (just over an hour).
Here is our proud Kindergarten boy!

Here he is last year for 4 year old pre-school

And two years ago for 3 year old pre-school

Here they are together - their first time at the same school!

Park Pictures

2008-08-28T21:28:00.002-04:00

We went to the park this morning and I got some really cute pictures of Becca!
Just had to share!

Grandpa Mike was right next to her in the last one!

My 3 fish!

2008-08-05T16:27:00.002-04:00

Here are the antics of my 3 in the pool last night!

Here is Becca - this is the most she has done the diving board this summer - she also started without the arm floaties last night!

Look at that natural form!

He's been back-diving for 3 summers now!

Steven mid-flip!

David -early on in the flip!

Big Girl Bed!

2008-08-03T09:09:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was a bittersweet day as we took down Becca's crib and put together her big-girl bed! She was very excited, but then cried a bit at naptime. She slept through the night last night so I think she is okay with it now! We picked out this blanket on our recent trip to Guatemala - she calls it "her Guatemala".
Here she is cheesing for the camera!

And here are the kids wearing their gifts from Guatemala.

Wrapping it all up

2008-07-28T15:23:00.000-04:00

We've been back from Guatemala for a week now. Frankly the past week was awful! The kids were all having a tough week, and I was SICK! It's hard to keep up with our life when I am well, and having me sick all week was hard on everyone! I ended up at Urgent Care on Friday evening. As I figured, all they could tell me was that it was viral and to wait it out. Today I am finally feeling human again. As I eluded to in an earlier post I had times this past week where I wondered if it was all worth it! Well I can say with confidence that IT WAS WORTH IT! I can't imagine not having had the experience that we did!
What I most hoped for from this trip was to truly experience the culture and people of Guatemala. The wonderful thing about a mission/work trip vs. a vacation is that you have the opportunity to interact with the people in their real lives. I LOVED being with the people. What I learn from them is that "things" don't bring happiness. Did I know this before? YES! But it's one of those lessons we learn over and over and at different levels. I was very struck by the sense of community at the elementary school. The place seemed to be always filled with music and laughing. The kids were so willing to work right along side of us and they worked HARD and were enjoying themselves! They don't have a lot compared to what we have, as far as possessions go, but they are CONTENT! How I long to live in a place of being consistently CONTENT!
Space in general seems so different there - personal space, home space, etc. It's all smaller - hmmm...maybe that's why their relationships seem deeper, more cherished, more prioritized. I am still processing this aspect too!
Some things that have come out of our time there -
Chris and I both feel that we'd like to try to go to Guatemala at least every other year. We see this as a long-term relationship - an on-going partnership between our family and this beautiful country. We still don't know what that will look like - at what point can we start taking the kids? Will we always do missions? Will we partner with one organization? We are still sorting through that part of it.
I am inspired and motivated to improve my Spanish skills and to have the kids learn Spanish. I was able to speak enough to communicate, but not enough to converse. I feel that I missed out on some great relational time with the students & teachers at the school and with the "mamas" at the orphanage. I am working on getting Becca started on some Spanish classes for this fall.
My heart and mind were full as the plane lifted off in Guatemala. I asked the man sitting next to me if he was from "here" or "there" - his response was "both". I have tears even now when I realize how strongly God has bound my heart to that place and how I want that to be the answer I would give as well.

Below is a 3-minute video I put together of our time there. If you have read all the posts, you pretty much have it all. I did this mainly for our church famiy, so they could see the impact of their gifts and donations!

Guatemala trip - Day 3 - Saturday, July 19th

2008-07-24T16:32:00.006-04:00

So when I left you at the end of the last day...we had gone to bed at the apartment at Eagle's Nest in Solola. When I got up in the morning I couldn't wait to go out in the living room and check out the view of the lake! When I looked out the window I could see NOTHING! That's right - we were completely fogged in! Well, it was only 6:30am - so I figured it would burn off - more about that later. We walked over to the orphanage at 7:00am and the place was already hopping! They have about 50 kids there - most are under a year and then there are just a few older kids. I believe that about 40 of these kids are matched with adoptive parents and just waiting for the process to be completed. New adoptions are closed for now in Guatemala, but those cases that began before the end of the year are grandfathered in, although the process has been quite SLOW! Most of the babies had been fed already, but I was able to give one baby her bottle "pacha". The local women that work with the children are called "mamas". The mamas were busy one-by-one taking the children back to be bathed and changed. As the kids came out, we and the other helpers (from the church group) were interacting with the kids. Reading stories, walking around with those learning to walk, etc. Chris and I looked at the clock at 9:00 and couldn't believe it had only been 2 hours. As much as we loved it, it was tiring work! The children are very well cared for, but you can tell they just crave that individual attention. Before we left, I emailed an adoptive mom that I met at the Orphan Summit, whose son was at EN and she got me in touch with several parents still waiting for their babies to come home. We were able to hug these precious babies and take some pictures to send to their waiting parents. I remember that during the waiting every picture was like GOLD!

Around 10:00 we went over the conference center. A church plant started at Eagle's Nest last December. They currently have a pastor, 6-8 women and 20 some children. The youth group from Illinois ran a VBS from 10-12 that they advertised through the church plant into the village. Several youth had gotten sick, so they were thankful that Chris and I were there to fill in some gaps! Around 80 children came and we followed one group of 23 kids from station to station. At the first station we sang songs - I was so excited when we sang "Yo tengo un amigo que me ama". My kids know this song from the Fiesta VBS CD we love to listen to. We also taught this song to the kids at Life Church. At the next station we helped them make a craft on a Meijer reusuable bag (felt just like home). The third station they did a story/skit and explained how to ask Jesus into your life. At the last station we (we meaning Chris) played soccer (futbol). It was great interaction with the kids! Once that ended we had lunch with the Illinios group.

It had been misting during the whole VBS time, but it cleared up a bit after lunch. We at least got a few glimpses of the incredible view from the "point".

Then it was back to the orphanage. By that time, it had quieted down a bit, as many of the babies were napping. We stayed there until our shuttle came to take us back to Antigua.
It was a long way to go for a 1/2 day, but the time was full and we really enjoyed learning about the ministry there!
We got back to Antigua just in time to meet the group for our final dinner. They all cheered when we arrived at the restuarant and were anxious to hear about our time at Eagle's Nest. Then we got to hear about their volcano hike and the tour of the coffee plantation. After dinner we went back to the hotel and debriefed about the trip. It was hard to say goodbye to such a wonderful group as it felt we had connected so quickly. Everyone had to catch early shuttles to fly out the next morning.
I'll do one more post tomorrow about all my final thoughts as I have still been processing it all!

Guatemala - Day 2 - Friday the 18th

2008-07-22T08:48:00.008-04:00

Before getting into the events of the day - I want to talk about a bit about Healing Waters and what they do. First of all, our experience traveling with them was top-notch! They did a fantastic job of arranging the schedule, the hotels, the meals and the transportation. Liz, from their Colorado office, Daniela, the in-country respresentative and Laura, an intern from Colorado, were all GREAT and we loved getting to know them. There were so gracious to help us work out getting to the orphanage and back. They had pre-paid cell phones we could use to call home and even insisted we take one as we traveled to Solola.
We learned that 95% of the water supply in Guatemala is contaminated. Even if the municipal water may be clean, by the time it travels through the infrastructure, it is contaminated coming into the homes. The solution is to buy bottled water from the stores (which is safe), or to buy water off of delivery trucks (not always safe). A 5-gallon jug in the stores costs $2 or about 15 quetzales. HW sells the same amount for about 50 cents or 4 quetzales. The systems which are built into the churches are donated by individuals, churches or businesses in the US. Of the 4 quetzales - 2 are used to cover the cost of maintaining the systems - 1 quetzal goes to cover the cost of HW adminitration and 1 quetzal is given back to the church. The churches are encouraged to use these funds to serve their communities. The pastor we talked with has used their funds to give scholarships to the Christian school that is housed in their church. They have also bought computers for local schools. HW currently has 19 systems in Guatemala. Normally they bring down teams for the inaguration of a system. We were the first team to come when they weren't doing a grand-opening, which is why they set up the service project at the elementary school.

Back to the day. Friday morning we had breakfast at the truly authentic Guatemalan restaurant named Bagel Barn! (note sarcasm here) I think it was the first time I have ever had black beans on a bagel though! Then we headed out to the school. We were able to jump right in where we had left off and knew a lot more what we needed to do this time!
I was able to help with a special project that took up most of my time there that day. HW bought a photo printer, and we took a digital picture of each of the students and teachers individually. Frames were purchased for each person and the kids each decorated their own. For many of the children, this was the first picture they had of themselves. (HW has also done this in the churches and provided free famiy pictures for the members!) It was SO much fun to work with the children on this project.

Chris was able to hang some basketball nets, and also helped with painting the lines on the basketball court and he helped paint the soccer (futbol) goals. Others finished the mural, the Mayan calendar and some more planting.

The school day starts at 7:30 and ends at 12:30. Right before the children left they did a ceremony to close out the week (they also do one on Monday morning to start the school-week). School in Guatemala runs from January to October. There are public schools but they are in VERY poor shape. Almost all the kids go to private schools, they are run by the communities and the tuition range varies greatly.
Here are pictures from the ceremony.

After that, we pumped up all the balls that our team had brought down. We were also able to present the teachers with our suitcase packed with supplies that were donated by Life Church. They were very excited about the supplies - just before we left the director of school came and when he saw all that was in the suitcase - he was also very excited! You can see the repainted basketball courts and the bright yellow soccer goals. Chris really enjoyed playing with the kids!

We had some lunch and then the rest of the team was heading to visit some ruins in Iximche. Chris and I took a taxi back to Antigua - did an hour of power-shopping in Antigua and then caught the shuttle to go to Lake Atitlan. What an amazing drive it was. I don't know if I can even describe it. For the first hour or so we drove through some smaller towns. The towns are so different from America. The streets are narrow and there are cars, vans, chicken buses, motorcycles, people on bikes, stray dogs and people walking seemingly all in the same space. It is fascinating to witness, and it doens't phase any of them to be sharing the same small place. The last hour or so was true mountain driving - hilly, curvy, bumpy - no houses or towns. The scenary is beautiful, lush and green. As we get close to Lake Atitlan it is starting to get dark. We see a few glimpses of the lake (surrounded by volcanos) as the sun is setting. By the time everyone else gets off the shuttle in the town of Panajachel it is dark and the night-life is hopping! Now it's just us and the Spanish-speaking driver and some written directions (not even an address) to Eagle's Nest in Solola. It's about a 15 minute drive and we do manage to find the place! It's about 8:00 when we get there - the orphanage is quiet and we meet the American couple that help there and get settled into our apartment. The orpahanage was built in 2004 - the other part of the property, which includes condos, a dining hall/conference center and cabanas that have been made into dormitories is a defunct time-share. It is up on a point, cliff, over-looking the lake. Our apartment has large windows that look over the lake and I can't wait to get up in the morning to see the view. There is a team of 26 people there from a church in Illinois. We meet a few of them and find out that breakfast is at 7:00am.
It was another amazing and fulfulling day!

Day one - It´s ALL good! (now with pics)

2008-07-17T23:02:00.006-04:00

We are here in Guatemala! Everything went great yesterday with our flights and the staff from Healing Waters, Aguas de Unidad, met us at the airport. We had the chance to talk with them and another couple on the ride to the hotel in Antigua. We settled in, rested a bit and met more of the group for dinner.

Chris & I in the center of Antigua

The view from the hotel balcony

We started out early this morning for breakfast. It was the same restaurant where we had lunch 2 years ago when we visited Antigua with Rebecca. I got weepy at breakfast, just being so thankful to be here. After breakfast, Daniela, who is on staff here with HW gave us an orientation about the culture and history of Guatemala and then about HW. Then we drove to Chimaltenango to the elementary school. The school has about 50 students K to 6th grade. When we arrived they had a presentation for us. Several of them played songs on the marimbas, maracas, etc. One girl recited a poem and then the children performed a Mayan dance. I can´t describe how enjoyable it was!

Then we got to work. Chris worked with a few others on recementing the entryway. A few others helped repaint the lines on the basketball court. A few others began painting a mural on the courtyard wall. I was in the group that did flower planting, ok mom, you can stop laughing. The kids all helped us, they dug the holes and we put in the flowers and plants.

I brought some little bottles of nail polish and was able to paint some of the girls fingernails and even the nails of some of the teachers. It was great one to one time to connect. A lot of Spanish has come back as I hear it.
From there we had lunch with a family that uses the water from the water systems. Their home is connected to a small restaurant and we all ate in their backyard. The pastor and his wife and 2 daughters were there and there was a lot of conversation with them about the water system and how it has impacted their church and the community. More about that later. Then we went back into Guatemala City to see a water system and how it operates. One couple from our group has personally co sponsored that system it was special for them to see it in person.

ETA: I want to talk more about the water systems and how it all works, so I will start with that on the Day 2 post!
We made a few stops for supplies for more work at the school tomorrow and then came back to Antigua for dinner.
I don´t know if I can fully put into words how wonderful today was. It was the feeling of being in EXACTLY in the place where I was meant to be. Being completely in the moment, soaking in every interaction, being at the point of tears because I am so amazed to be here and to have this experience.
We can´t post pictures until we are home, but we have many from the day!
Tomorrow we will work for a few hours at the school and then Daniela will bring us back to Antigua and we will take a bus to the orphanage which is near Lake Atitlan. We will spend the night at an apartment at the orphanage and help a group that is already there with a Bible school for the kids on Saturday.
Time to go, I can honestly say this was one of the best days of my life! I am grateful!

Catching up on Summer Fun!

2008-07-15T07:31:00.002-04:00

Here are my 3 cuties at the Fourth of July parade in Ann Arbor!

Here are David & Becca sharing a popsicle at their cousin's house - we were there with many family and friends for their annual pig roast.

Becca with her Papa.

Here are the kids at the spraypark last night. We were there for Steven's end of the season T-ball party.

Here is Steven getting his trophy! He is SO proud of it - he won't let anyone else touch it!

Claire is ONE!

2008-07-01T17:12:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday we were able to celebrate Claire's first birthday. Her parents went all out with a "Claire in Wonderland" theme! Her mom was the Queen of Hearts and her dad was the Mad Hatter. We played croquet and had a tea party! Here are some pictures from the day!

My son - the romantic!

2008-06-27T09:40:00.004-04:00

I just had to pop on and tell about this! Steven is having a playdate this afternoon (3 hours from now) with his friend Ashley. This is just no ordinary friend this is his "special friend"! When we were in Florida in February he counted down the days until he would see her again. On the night we got home he said "I need to go to bed right away, because when I wake up it will be the day that I get to see Ashley".
This morning, he has already picked out his own clothes and he wanted to be sure to wear a "fancy" shirt. He has been in the bathroom for awhile and I just checked on him and he is standing in front of the mirror brushing his hair! I love his tender heart and I already see in him a loyalty to frienships!
Here he is looking daper as ever!

Good thing he spent 15 minutes brushing his hair - it's so unruly!

Fathers and Fireworks

2008-06-16T07:48:00.005-04:00

I am a day late - but I want to say Happy Father's Day to my wonderful hubby! I love you and I love our family! Thanks for being an amazing daddy to our children. If you have been around Chris at all, you know that he ADORES his kids. Thank you for the security and stability that you provide our family. We also love that you are silly and fun and that you are so good at fixing things (the boys mention this a lot)! It's been so fun to watch you be a boy dad all these years and now to see you have a little girl - my heart melts when I see the two of you together!
Here he is with all 3 kids yesterday!

To prove how wonderful he is - case in point - Saturday evening I got the crazy idea to keep the kids up and drive over to see the fireworks. For some reason I was thinking they would start around 9:00, but they actually started at 10:10. We brought the DVD player and let them watch movies in the van until the show started. They all really enjoyed it and it was Becca's first time seeing fireworks. Hopefully we created a fun family memory - here's to a lifetime full!

The end of Ist grade!

2008-06-13T16:24:00.003-04:00

I can't believe my first born has already finished 2 years of elementary school! How does it go so fast?
Here is David today with his teachers! He had a GREAT year - he loved school and they seemed to really enjoy him!

And here is David with Becca - she keeps giving him hugs and saying "I love my brudder" - SO CUTE!

Steven = Jan

2008-06-13T16:19:00.004-04:00

David = Marcia
The other morning David and Steven were doing their usual bickering/pestering thing.
Steven was upset and I asked him what was wrong. Now you have to imagine his answer in a Jan Brady voice as he replied "David, David, David - it's always David". It was all I could do to not fall over laughing! Maybe he should meet with Jan and find out how to survive being the middle child!
Here he is in all his cuteness at his end of pre-school picnic!

Gotta love grandparents!

2008-06-11T15:28:00.003-04:00

We just had a week-long visit from Pop & Grandma Jane from Florida. They arrived last Tuesday afternoon and left today. We all had a great week. With David still in school (last day is Friday) my dad & I were able to volunteer for Field Day last Thursday and Jane & I went to class on Tuesday morning to help with "First Grade Camp". Aunt Pat & Uncle Ang came over for a day and we were also able to have a pool party with Darcy's family and Aunt Dee. Steven had 2 t-ball games while they were here and the boys went with Dad & Pop to see the Tigers play on Saturday afternoon.

Here they are at the Tiger's game.

Here is Grandma Jane making her famous banana pudding with Steven & Becca.

They brought me a book on making cupcakes - here's the fun one we created!

It's so wonderful when they come, but so hard to say goodbye each time!

Re: The Watermelon Gang

2008-05-29T11:57:00.004-04:00

Here is a picture we took at my mom's house last Sunday. David & Steven spent the weekend at Grammy's house so they weren't there. The three of us were only there for a brief time (as it was potty-training weekend). Some of these kids are Moreno-side first cousins and the rest are my cousin's kids (I can never remember if that is second cousins or 1st cousins once removed)

Two years ago we had a picture of just the first cousins - quite by accident. They had lined up to eat their watermelon and it turned into a great photo op. This time we staged it, but it's a great way to get them all to sit and face forward!

Training Day!

2008-05-24T12:20:00.003-04:00

We are in full throttle potty training around here! The boys are spending the holiday weekend at Grammy's house. Chris is opening our pool and helping with our friend's pool. And I am potty-training Becca! Yesterday started out pretty rough, but we had 3 successes in the evening - including #2! It's lunchtime and we are still in the same undies - YAHOO!
Here is my little miss in her Minnie undies -

And on the potty!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

ETA - Becca is in bed and she was accident-free ALL DAY! AMAZING!

Enjoying spring

2008-05-08T09:42:00.004-04:00

After a brutal March we had a lovely April around here! We have all been enjoying being outside as much as possible.
Here are a few highlights of our past few weeks.
On April 25th we had the opportunity as a family to go to downtown Detroit for a Compassion Day - it was part of the annual meeting for the Great Lakes District of the Evangelical Covenant Church. Rather than a day of seminars all the participants had the option of serving in 6 different locations around the city. Chris did some painting/handyman work at the Covenant Clinic - which provides free medical care for the uninsured. The kids & I went to Hope Community Church. Steven & Becca were cared for in the nursery while David and I joined the others in inviting people in the neighborhood to a free lunch and clothing giveaway! David and I were even able to deliver lunch to a woman that was home-bound. It was great to serve with David and good for both of us to be reminded that we have more than we need, when so many live with so little. We all met up in the afternoon and visited friends that live in the city - then we to a dinner and worship service for the annual meeting delegates. It was a long day, but great to be together as a family.
This is David and I in front of the church

The next day we celebrated spring birthdays with the Morenos.

We learned that Theo and Jessica are expecting a baby girl (mid-Sept)!

Last weekend I went with my friend Aimee to the 4th Annual Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit in Ft. Lauderdale. We are hoping to start an adoption/orphan care ministry at our church and this was a great resource and inspiration.
Our niece, Claire (10 months) had surgery on Monday for an enlarged kidney. She was released on Tuesday and seems to be recovering well. Thanks for all of you that prayed for her and her family!

T-ball

2008-04-19T12:53:00.005-04:00

Look out Steve Garvey here comes Steven Garvey! Steven had his first T-ball practice this week! He is on the Padres - which is the team that the other Steve Garvey played for at the end of his career (most of it was with the Dodgers). He had his team pictures this morning and Chris took some of him here before they left!

He is SO cute - I almost can't stand it (not that I am biased or anything)!

Steven is FIVE!

2008-04-09T08:57:00.005-04:00

That's right - our "little" Steven is now 5 years old! For our family 5 is the magic year when you get to have a "friend" party. All the festivities started on Friday evening with a bowling party. I asked Steven to pick a charity that his friends could donate to for his birthday. He picked the Humane Society. So his friends brought dog treats and used stuffed animals to donate to our local shelter.

Then on Saturday we had the Garvey side over + Nana. The theme was dogs and cats. We had a hot dog bar and tuna sandwiches, along with scooby snacks and puppy chow. Grammy made a great cake with dogs on it! We had the warmest day of the year so far and it was great to be outside! Steven got an automatic baseball pitcher, so it was great that he could be outside trying it out!

The three littlest cousins playing in the backyard!

Here is Steven playing baseball

Yesterday was Steven's "acutal" birthday. We went out to dinner at Big Boy's as they were having a fundraiser for David's school. Steven devoured a strawberry belgian waffle and we even got to see Scooby Doo! After dinner the 5 of us went to Glo-Golf!

St. Patrick's Day & Skating with "Rabbit"

2008-03-20T15:41:00.002-04:00

In honor of St. Patrick's Day on Monday we had green beans and green macaroni! The boys thought it was great - Becca preferred the traditional macaroni!

Steven showing off his St. Patrick's Day dinner - check out those blue eyes!

This morning we went to a local rollerskating rink to skate with the Easter Bunny. It was so much fun. It was geared to pre-schoolers and they can skate - Steven brought his skates from home - or you can push toys or ride on scooters, tricycles, etc. It was great for my little two who have a bit of cabin fever!

Steven and the Easter Bunny (who Becca called "rabbit") give a thumbs up!

Catching up!

2008-03-10T12:51:00.010-04:00

Nothing really major to report - but a lot of this and that!

We'll start with David! He received another award from school last week. This one was for writing - as Chris says "there'll be no livin' with him"! He was also the "Student of the Week" and we made this poster that hung in the lobby of his school.

David and Dad had a busy day together on Saturday - they built this train track (the BEST one ever!) and this Lego convertible!

Steven has had a busy social calendar with 2 birthday parties to attend last week. He also sang with his class in a musical at the church where he attends preschool.

The one above is at the gymnastics party - on the trampoline!

This one is at the same place with his "special friend" Ashley!

Becca just keeps herself busy trying to do everything that her brothers are doing. She is starting to say two words together a lot more and loves to sing - especially Barney songs!

Our great FLORIDA adventure!

2008-02-21T18:58:00.006-05:00

WOW! What a trip! Three kids - one van - 1200 miles (each way) - 12 days! Need I say more! Well, I will anyway!
We left on Friday afternoon the 8th and arrived in Orlando 18 hours later on Saturday morning. We spent the first part of our vacation with Grandpa Mike & Grandma Sheila at the condo! We did some swimming, some golfing, some playing and a little bit of relaxing!

We spent the afternoon and evening on Sunday at Downtown Disney to celebrate David's 7th birthday. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and then David picked out a present at Legoland!

On Thursday we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. Pop, Grandpa Mike & Grandma Sheila joined us and the boys, while Grandma Jane entertained Becca for the day back at the Villages.

It was David, Steven & Chris' first time at the Magic Kingdom. It was a REALLY fun day! We are glad that we waited until this year to take the boys, as they were just ready to appreciate it
and make it through the day!

Here we are on Dumbo. The boys two favorite rides were the Indy Cars and the Buzz Lightyear ride/game.

Steven & Grandpa Mike at the Philharmagic Show - the boys didn't look through the 3-D glasses for most of it, but the adults really liked it!

Here is the whole gang on the ferry headed back to the parking lot! It really was a beautiful and magical day!

We spent the last 1/2 of our trip with Pop and Grandma Jane at the Villages. We spent a day at Silver Springs, did some more swimming and golfing and went for rides in the golf cart!
A BIG thanks to both sets of grandparents for hosting our loud and rowdy crew!

We stopped in Atlanta on the way back to visit cousins and had lunch with friends in Lexington! It was a LONG drive home, but we made it and are getting back into our normal routines.

David's birthday - Part 1 & 2

2008-02-04T20:48:00.000-05:00

Not sure why, but we always seem to be able to stretch everyone's birthday out and have multiple parties!

Friday night we had birthday dinner at Gup and Gams!

David still loves his Thomas trains (although I think it's a bit more about collecting at this point)

He also received the game Battleship! We've already played several times and he loves it!

Here are Becca and Claire (7 months)

Saturday night the Moreno clan came to our house - we celebrated Maximo's 10th, David's 7th and Che's 6th. Maximo brought over his new Wii and we all got to play!

The 3 birthday boys!

David got a Razor Scooter!

Mom & John are celebrating their 25th anniversary this month!

And here is what happened on Friday night right before we left for Gup and Gams house! Becca decided she needed to freshen up for the party! She's crying because I scolded her, but of course I had to get some pictures!

Field Trip

2008-01-25T16:24:00.001-05:00

Today Steven & I went on a pre-school field trip to the Gymnastics Academy. This is my favorite field trip - I went twice with David and this was my second trip with Steven. Here are some pictures of my gymnast in action!

Our toothless star!

2008-01-14T12:06:00.000-05:00

David was almost able to sing "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth". He lost one on the top a few weeks before Christmas and the other one 2 days after. Here he is - I love that big gap- my heart melts every time he smiles!

Last Friday David received the Shining Star Award at school. Two kids from each of the 1st and 2nd grade classes received this award. After the ceremony he handed me the certificate and asked "Are you going to frame it?" Only one answer to that question! It is being proudly displayed on his dresser at this very moment!

David is in the front row - second from the left.

Drastic weather change!

2008-01-07T20:18:00.001-05:00

It's amazing what a difference 48 hours can make!

Here is a picture of the boys with the snowman that they made with Dad on Saturday morning.

And here is what is left of it today (Monday)! We went over 60 today - amazing for January! We even WALKED to school and back!

Rebecca & "Dada's" birthday parties!

2008-01-03T19:17:00.000-05:00

Hard as we try, it just gets hectic this time of the year. First there is Christmas, the next day Chris' birthday and then two days later it is Rebecca's birthday! Lots of celebrations around here! There was a party on Rebecca's birthday and then another one on New Year's Day at Grammy's. Here are some pics!

The birthday boy & girl

The kids enjoying some cupcakes after dinner out!

Becca's snow-angel cake

It takes a girl to be this excited about clothes!

Christmas in Pictures

2007-12-27T22:35:00.001-05:00

We have had a great week celebrating Christ's birth with our family - here are some of the pictures!

Here is Becca on Christmas Eve Day!

All the kids with fun Uncle Troy

The boys on Christmas morning with their Webkinz

Becca on Christmas Day with her new doll and stroller

Jesus is the center

2007-12-16T12:18:00.000-05:00

I was busy cleaning the house on Friday. Becca was playing with her Little People Navity set - when I came back into the kitchen this is what I found! I said, "You are right Becca, Jesus is the center of Christmas!

Our Christmas Letter - play along at home!

2007-12-06T22:34:00.000-05:00

As always, we hope this letter finds you joyful and healthy this Christmas season. In order to keep things fresh, we have decided to make this year’s letter interactive! For those that want to play along, the “numerical answers” to each paragraph are listed on the bottom and you can match them to the corresponding letter!

a) The # of teachers David has had since our last letter. Last February, David’s class received a new kindergarten teacher as his first teacher moved out of state to welcome her first child. This fall, David started 1st grade. He has 2 part-time teachers. So far it is working out well and David loves school. It has been an adjustment for us all to have him away from home all day. He is a great reader and loves to write books.

b) The # of holes Steven played during his first outing on a “real” golf course. Chris was able to take Steven out on a short par-3 course and he LOVED it. He continues to enjoy all thing sports-related. Steven also learned to read this summer and is improving every week. He started his second year of pre-school this fall and he attends 3 afternoons per week.

c) The # of words Rebecca can say. It’s astounding how much Rebecca has changed in the past year. She is a healthy, hungry, active toddler on the go! Her day consists mainly of trying to keep up with her brothers, sleeping and eating. Although she has some tomboy characteristics, she still loves to play with her dolls and stuffed animals.

d) The # of miles Chris drives each day to work. Overall the job is going well and the company is continuing to grow. He joined the local rec. center and has shed a few pounds and is feeling healthier. He is also part of the leadership team & is the treasurer at our church.

e) The # of questions Laura answers in the average day. After a year, Laura realized that the adjustment to 3 children was really about adjusting her expectations of herself. She has scaled back a bit this year with less involvement in activities outside the home. The days are full and sometimes exhausting, but she wouldn’t trade her job for anything.

f) The # of days of summer vacation. It was a bit daunting to have all 3 kids home all day, but it was a good summer. Of course, there was a lot of swimming in our pool. All 3 of the children amaze us with their abilities and comfort level in the water. We took a 2-day trip to Ohio and visited Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate our first Family Day (Rebecca’s homecoming). The boys did a week of VBS and a week of ½ day science camp. They also took some group tennis lessons.

g) The # of hours Chris and Laura were away (without children) for their 10-year anniversary trip. In late July, Chris surprised Laura with a fantastic 5-day & 4-night trip to the Canadian Rockies. They visited both Lake Louise and Banff and experienced some of the most amazing scenery on the planet.

h) The # of months that separate Rebecca and her newest cousin. Claire Elizabeth Baker arrived on June 28th, weighing 8 lbs. 6 oz. She is just precious and we are all enjoying having another girl in the family.

i) The # of grandparents that bless our family. We are continually grateful for the special part that each one plays in our lives and in the lives of the children. For those close, we are thankful for the time we are able to spend together celebrating the big and little milestones. And for those that are far, we are thankful for phone conversations and airplanes (or long car rides) that allow us time together for special memories.

j) The % of rural Guatemalan children that finish 6th grade. As a family, we desire to stay connected to Rebecca’s birth country. We are striving as a family to find more practical ways to serve the underprivileged both overseas and in our own backyard. The boys have written letters to a young girl that we sponsor in Guatemala. They also participate in making sandwiches for the homeless at Kids Church, and have helped provide Christmas presents, food and warm clothing for those in need. This is just a start and we hope in the coming year to find more and more ways to live out Christ’s love on this earth.

k) The # of posts on our blog this year. Laura has been trying to post weekly with pictures and updates about our family.
In the next post you can find out the answers to our "Christmas Quiz" and see how you faired on our grading scale!

Here are the possible # answers - 4, 9, 14, 18, 20, 30, 45, 70, 80, 103, 300

We hope you had fun while catching up with our family news. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas letter - the answers!!!!!!!

2007-11-29T18:12:00.000-05:00

Here are the answers to the "Garvey Family Christmas Quiz". If you haven't taken the quiz yet, please read the prior post before reading the answers in this post!

a. 4 - We started you out with an easy one, hopefully everyone got this right as the answer was in the letter!

b. 14 - they had to skip a few to go around some slower players in front of them. The second time they went they played all 18 holes - look out Tiger!

c. 70 - this was is a bit subjective as she has probably learned 20 more since we sent this out!

d. 30 - each way that is!

e. 300 - I actually kept track for a day! For the record, the eldest probably asked 2/3 of these! I realized that when he talks he produces more questions that he does statements!

f. 80 - I guess we could travel around the world in that time!

g. 103 - Special thanks to the grandparents that took care of our kids to make the whole trip possible! There are some pictures of our trip in the July archives! If you ever have the chance to visit this part of the world - we highly recommend it!

h. 18 - exactly! Big brother Aidan will be 3 in January - all the Baker clan is doing well!

i. 9 - this is a bit of a trick question as 2 of them are technically great aunt and great uncle - but they definetly qualify for grandparent status!

j. 20 - We may not be able to change a whole country, but we believe we can make a difference, one child or one family at a time - check out http://www.worldvision.org/ , www.heifer.org, www.compassion.com & www.kiva.org

k. 47 - this may have changed by the time you received the letter - so give yourself some grace on this one!

Grading Scale:

9-11 correct: Garvey Family Expert

If this is your score - you spend way too much time with us or way too much time on our blog!

5-8 correct: Garvey Family Groupie

If this is your score - you have probably had to endure a few too many episodes of listening to us tell you all our funny kid stories - see now it has actually paid off!

1-4 correct: Garvey Family Novice

If this is your score - we need to get to know you more!
Stick around and next year you too can be a Garvey Family Expert!

Becca-Boo

2007-11-27T20:15:00.000-05:00

We were out to eat tonight and some teenage girls were commenting on how cute Becca was. They said she looks like "Boo" from Monsters Inc. We told them that we call her Becca-Boo, but that is not why! So what do you think?

Thanksgiving pictures!

2007-11-26T10:06:00.000-05:00

Well I think we survived the Thanksgiving weekend! It is still vacation around here as David doesn't go back to school until tomorrow (Tuesday).

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Nana and Papa's house and the kids all had a great time - so did Chris as you can see in the pictures! We also celebrated Clay's 10th birthday.

On Friday we went to Grammy's house for another yummy turkey dinner. Then we all bundled up and went to the Fantasy of Lights Parade - the kids all really enjoyed this fun event!

On Saturday and Sunday we all kept busy putting up the tree and decorating the house!

Even though it can be busy and stressful, I am really excited that the Christmas season is here!

Rebecca's first "official" haircut

2007-11-16T12:18:00.000-05:00

I took Becca to my hair-stylist this morning to get her first real haircut. I have been letting her bangs grow out, but finally decided that I couldn't stand them hanging in her face anymore. And keeping a barette in is just about impossible. So here is the before shot at home (kind of dark, I know, but you get the idea with the bangs).

She sat so well for Susanne! And of course she charmed everyone in the salon. I had her take a bit off of the back as well - just to get it evened up!

And here is the after shot!

And I just had to throw this one in too - I took this the other day!

David's first "crash"

2007-11-08T17:24:00.000-05:00

When I picked David up from school yesterday he was so excited to tell me about a new girl that just joined his class! He said he played with her so much yesterday it seemed like she had been there all school year. Today he came home and told me that she has a "crash" on him and he has one on her. I asked him if he meant a "crush" and he said "yes, that's the word". Whew... I don't know if I am ready for this next part of the ride!

Halloween!

2007-11-01T16:56:00.000-04:00

Wow - what a day we had! Chris actually went into work a little late, just to be able to help David get all set in his robot costume. Chris put A LOT of time and effort into this costume and it was just AWESOME!

David's school had a costume parade in the morning, so I got Steven & Becca in their costumes and Gup and Gams joined us to watch.

David only had a 1/2 day and right when he got home we left to take Steven to pre-school for his harvest party. Then we had trick-or-treating in the evening! We have a high-traffic sub, so it is quite an event around here! All the kids had a great time and were up well past their bedtimes!

Unfortunately, David woke up with an upset tummy and had to stay home from school today - he seems better now though and should be back at it tomorrow!

Pumpkins, Papa and a Praying Mantis

2007-10-30T21:43:00.000-04:00

The boys spent the night last weekend with Nana and Papa and when they brought them home we carved pumpkins (we meaning Chris and David, mostly).
Here is David with his masterpiece -

Here is Papa enjoying his little pumpkin (with some interesting post-nap "bed head")

And here is the praying mantis that Steven discovered on our front porch. I have to admit, I was pretty amazed by it and I am NOT a bug person. With the help of the neighbor boy we captured it for a 24-hour period and David got to take it to school for show-and-tell!

She Speaks

2007-10-25T09:03:00.001-04:00

We officially have a "talker" (or should I say another talker)! The switch flipped for Rebecca this week and she is adding several words each day! Her main words are - baby, apple, cheese, bye-bye, Elmo, Nana, duck and of course - Mama, Dada, "Dadad" & "Steeee"! Taking the good with the bad, she has also learned "NO" and says it quite clearly and often.

Here is a picture of all of us at our church's Harvest Festival last week. The photographer took a bunch of just Rebecca that I have in print form, I am working on having him send me the digital file as they turned out so well! David is going to be a robot for Halloween Day, but we didn't think it would survive the bounce-house so we used his costume from last year for this event!

It's a Girl & "Look Ma, No Cast"

2007-10-19T13:44:00.000-04:00

Our good friends Todd & Kinza had a baby girl on Wednesday! They have 2 boys so we were all hoping for a girl! It was so fun to get that phone call! It was a long labor (especially for #3), but everyone is doing well now! Her name is Eva Sharon and she was 9 lbs. 5 oz. I got to see her today for the first time! Can you believe all that beautiful HAIR!!!

In other news, Steven got his cast off yesterday! He has a brace that velcros off and on that he will wear when he's not sleeping or eating for the next few weeks! He was such a trooper!

The mystery of the pinkie toe!

2007-10-12T13:30:00.001-04:00

Rebecca's pinkie toe has been bothering her for over a week now. When she bumps it or when we are putting her shoes on she will hold up her foot and say "Ow"! Last weekend, Chris noticed that it was quite swollen. I took her to the ped. on Monday and she thought it was probably broken. We went and had X-rays done and they did not show a fracture. So then I took her in later for some bloodwork (she did not make a peep!) to test for infection. So far the bloodwork has come back normal. I am going to call the ped. back on Monday to let her know if it seems to be getting better. We are thinking maybe a sprain???

Becca is starting to show a lot more interest in talking in the past week. Although she still doesn't initiate a lot of words, she has been repeating words a lot this week! It will be very interesting to see what it is like to have 3 kids talking to me at once!
Here she is reading her favorite book!

And here she is wearing her biggest brothers shoes (or "canoes" as Dad calls them).

Lessons from Steven

2007-10-04T13:09:00.000-04:00

It's amazing what you can learn from a 4 year old!
Steven has done so well with having this cast. I really can think of only one time when he has complained at all in 2 weeks (and that was because it was getting itchy because it was hot out). Not only hasn't he complained, he does almost everything he could before and just works it out! It challenges me, because I think if the tables were turned, I would find quite a bit to complain about. He is reminding me that we can't control our circumstances, but we can control our attitude!
Then the other day, Steven and I were playing Candyland. He said to me "I want you to go first, because I love you more than me". Little did he know that he was living out one of the greatest commandments of God's Word, to "love your neighbor as yourself".

He did go for a recheck of his arm this morning. The Dr. said it is healing very well, but that he thought it should be re-cast for 2 more weeks for protection as it completes healing. Chris was able to talk him into a short-arm cast this time, so at least now he has more arm mobility!

What's a girl gotta do....

2007-10-01T17:39:00.001-04:00

...to get her diaper changed around here? I was involved in a heated game of Crazy 8's with the boys and Becca was trying to let me know that she wanted a fresh diaper.
Now here she is cheezing for the camera! She's happy because Mom finally changed her!

A trip to the ZOO

2007-09-27T14:22:00.000-04:00

Steven didn't have preschool on Monday - so Gams, Steven, Rebecca & I decided to go to the zoo. Gams had never been to our zoo, and come to think of it neither had Rebecca. It was a great time to go as the weather was nice, but it was not crowded at all. Steven favorites were the butterflies (they have a butterfly house), the turtles and the anteater. It's been neat to see Steven be "top dog" during the day while David is at school. I am glad we have this year together to let him be the main guy!
Here are some pictures from our visit:

The kids with Gams at the butterfly house

Steven visiting the prarie dogs

Hey Steven, there's a polar bear behind you!

Blogging has it's advantages

2007-09-20T11:17:00.000-04:00

Here is the text of the blog that I started writing earlier today - it set in motion a day long chain of events...it was orginially titled "oops - he did it again"!

We are still waiting on the official X-ray results, but it appears that Steven has fractured his wrist. He was standing on the sit-and-spin (believe me, he's gotten "the lecture") and slipped and fell. It is the same wrist he fractured right before his 2nd birthday. Once again he has been a real trooper. There is a chance that what they saw in the X-ray could be the old break, so they are comparing the results today. They went ahead and put a splint on his arm to be on the safe side!

Here he is this morning -

So then as I went to post this picture of him in the splint when he was almost 2 - I look at the picture and realize that it is NOT the same wrist that he fractured before!

I called Chris freaking out about it. When I calmed down, I decided to call the pediatrician's office. At this point we realize that it is definetly not the old break they were seeing as it was the other wrist. So they told me I needed to come into their office to have it looked at. But before I came I needed to go to Urgent Care and pick up the X-rays (isn't there technology now to make this happen more easily). So I took Steven and Rebecca to the Urgent Care to get the films. Then Gams came over because I had a dentist appointment for me (that I had already rescheduled once). I got back just in time to pick up Steven and head over to the peds office to have them look at the X-rays and say "Yes, it's fractured" and give me a referral for the orthopedics. They said they would call the ortho office to make an appointment and call me back. As I am almost home, they call on my cell and say that they need me to come there within the next 1/2 hour, otherwise I have to wait until Monday. So I run in and ask Gams if she can stay until Chris gets home (a friend had already agreed to pick up David from school). It's about a 25 minute drive to where the ortho office is. We made it and they put the cast on quicker than I could fill out the 5 pages of paperwork. My poor Steven is not real happy about the cast. Last time they were able to do it below his elbow, but at this age they had to do it above, so that he doesn't try to pull it off! We go back in 2 weeks to check it - hopefully it will be healed enough to not have to do 2 more weeks!

So now here is Steven with his cast tonight and then in his cast 2 1/2 years ago!

A smile for today

2007-09-11T14:25:00.001-04:00

First of all, I have been meaning to post this picture of my 3 sweeties!
I couldn't decide which one I like best, so I guess I'll post them both.

Now I have two funny stories.
Steven: the other day he told me that one of his grandmas told him that animals don't have thumbs. I told him that was right. He thought for a moment and then said, "Well then I guess they can only count to 8"!
David: In his class, each student along with their name has a number - it is posted on their mailbox, etc. David brought home a little book he had made about school. It had fill-in-the blank statements for them to complete. One page said, "A new friend I have made is..." and David filled in "Travis #20". I don't know why, but that totally cracked me up!

David the First Grader

2007-09-05T13:44:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was David's first day of 1st grade. They only had a 1/2 day, so today will be the real thing - being there all day. David has 2 teachers. One teaches on Monday &Tuesdays, the other teaches on Thursday and Friday and then they alternate Wednesdays! We'll see how it all works out.

Here is my handsome boy yesterday morning!

Giving Back!

2007-09-01T11:18:00.001-04:00

I ran across an amazing article/video last week about a girl that was adopted from Peru!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/21/dodson.heroes/index.html (If you go to the link, along with reading, watch the 2 video clips as well!)
It has stayed with me and affected me profoundly. I am just in awe of what this girl has accomplished at such a young age. It has challenged me to make all 5 of us more aware of the plight of orphans and to find ways as a family to give back. Stay tuned...

Steven's first day of school!

2007-08-27T18:11:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe it's that time already! My big 4-year old boy had his first day of preschool today! Not sure if I mentioned it in another post - but Steven is READING!!!!!!! About a month ago it just clicked for him and he really LOVES to read.
Here he is just before school today!

A visit from Pop and Grandma Jane

2007-08-22T21:23:00.001-04:00

We dropped Pop and Grandma Jane off at the airport this morning after a wonderful week-long visit! They were really troopers as the 2 days of rain earlier this week left some puddles in our basement (also their bedroom for the week)!

The boys enjoyed playing games with them -

and Becca spent the whole week making her Pop smile and laugh!
We are so glad there are able to come and stay with us! We always have so many special memories of our time with them!

The 1/2 matters!

2007-08-11T19:19:00.000-04:00

David is officially 6 1/2! We went out to visit Grammy yesterday as she is recovering from foot surgery and we had a little cake and sang "Happy 1/2 Birthday to You"!
David has had a good summer. He has started playing with the neighbors kids much more this year and loves to be around friends. David continues to amaze us in the pool. He is such a good swimmer. He logged 12 hours of reading this summer (in 15 minute increments) for the library summer reading program. Only a few more weeks until 1st grade!

We finally got our patio furniture! This is a "so far" after picture, we still need to get an umbrella (this is the old one) and next summer we will add some big pots of flowers!

If you scroll down a few entries or so you can see the "before" pictures! We are looking forward to having lots of family meals on our patio for the rest of the summer.

Who could resist....

2007-08-05T17:12:00.000-04:00

this smile?????

It seems like everyone lately has been commenting on how big Rebecca is getting. She has suddenly become a toddler and is changing so much! We realized about a month ago that she has stopped growling (which was most of her communication). She still isn't talking a lot, but she is getting much more verbal (and loud). She says "Ma" for both Chris and I. She says "num,num,num,num" if she sees something she wants to eat (she put away 2 hot dogs at dinner last night!). She also does a few animal sounds.

She loves to give this HUGE grin to anyone who will greet her and she loves to blow kisses - which could melt the hardest heart!

It has been interesting to see how little girls are different than little boys. Becca likes to imitate what I am doing - getting the towel to clean up a little spill, etc. She is also much more interested in babies than the boys ever were. If she sees a stroller or a baby carrier, she gets excited and points and wants to see the baby. She also likes to carry her baby dolls around the house.

Have I mentioned how wonderful...

2007-07-29T14:58:00.000-04:00

my husband is recently???? Well let me tell you! Earlier this month we celebrated our 10-year anniversary. Just last night we got back from our anniversary trip. I have known for about 3-4 months that we were going on a 4 night-5 day trip just the two of us! Chris planned the whole trip. He started giving me hints about the trip last week and by Sunday I had it figured out. On Tuesday, we flew into Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We then drove about 2 hours to Lake Louise where we stayed two night and then we spent two nights in Banff! It was absolutely beautiful and we had a wonderful time! A HUGE thanks to the grandparents that loved on and took care

of our kids while we were away!

We took a TON of pictures, but I will try to just post the best! The pictures can only give you a glimpse of the beauty of God's creation!

In front of Lake Louise - the highest settlement in Canada (@5000ft.) and one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.

Deer Lodge - where we stayed in Lake Louise

One of the highlights for me - Takakkaw Falls

This is Johnston Canyon - between Lake Louise and Banff - we walked 1 1/2 miles each way to see the waterfalls. The walk up along the river canyon was amazing - notice the catwalk along the edge.

This is the Sulphur Mountain Gondola in Banff - and I actually went on it! I was a little freaked out, but I knew the view from the top would be worth it!

This is a picture from the internet - here is where the gondola brings you and then there is a walkway to go even higher on another observation deck!

Here is the view from the top looking down on Banff.

This is the Banff Springs Hotel. We walked around inside on our last day there and then enjoyed a leisurely lunch on the terrace. There was a wedding taking place just a few feet away from us - so that was our lunch entertainment!

This is the view from the hotel!
What a special trip! Thank you Chris and thanks to the grandparents!

This and that

2007-07-23T19:07:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures from our past week!

The boys went to a 1/2 day Science Camp/Discovery Days at a local charter school. They both really enjoyed it. One of the mornings they were there, Gams and I went out for breakfast with Rebecca at a special restaurant we've been wanting to take her to.

On Saturday the boys, our friend Todd, and some of the neighborhood boys worked hard all morning, taking loads of mulch to the backyard to fill in the play area. We still haven't taken our "after" picture as we haven't quite gotten it all put back together and are shopping for patio furniture!

Here is a sweet picture of Claire! She and her family are doing quite well!

I'll call this one "Three Garveys on a Tricycle"!

Interesting conversation - deep thoughts

2007-07-19T21:11:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know us in "real life" - my David is quite the conversationalist! Not only does he talk A LOT - but you he can hold his own with adults when it comes to his reasoning skills and thought processes.

The other day he was saying that God could have made us any way he wanted, but he made us people (as opposed to robots, dogs, etc). I said, "Yes, and God chose to give you dark hair and dark eyes, why do you suppose he made you that way?". He didn't have an answer and so I suggested maybe it was so that he would look like Rebecca. So of course he replied "but what about Steven?". And then I explained that he and Steven were both born from my belly, but because Rebecca wasn't, it may be harder for her later in life, and that looking like her brother may make that all a bit easier. Which turned into quite a discussion about me not being her "real" mom and what is a "real" mom and what role does Rebecca's birthmother play in our lives! This is something that I think about from time to time. In a way right now, I feel that we are sort of living in a bubble. Rebecca's transition to our family was so seamless and right now she has no questions or thoughts about who she is and where she can from. That's what I mean about the "bubble". In the meantime, I try to educate myself about adoption issues. I have connected to other adoptive families and for those with kids that are old enough to hold conversations and ask questions about these issues - I hang on their every word to hear how they answer the questions, etc. The bottom line is that every child is different and responds differently to the realities of adoption. I pray for Rebecca that she will have not struggle with any of this, but am also aware that struggle is a part of life.

On a lighter note - this is what happens when the boys are getting restless in the summertime and haven't been able to swim all week because of the backyard project - ("after" pictures soon!) They were afraid to show me because they thought they would be in trouble! I thought it was hysterical!

Sarah Joy and our backyard project (unrelated!)

2007-07-17T13:55:00.000-04:00

I have some updated pictures of Sarah Joy! On Saturday night we had a small shower for Carol - of course when it was originally planned we didn't know that Sarah would be joining us! She is still so tiny - everyone at the shower said she looks like a baby doll!

You can really tell how tiny is in the picture with the kids - this was last week - the first time they saw her.

We are having our backyard redone. They came on Monday and took out all the old concrete and mulch! Hopefully they are pooring the new concrete tomorrow! The major work is in the back, but they are also widening our driveway and replacing our front steps!

Here is a before picture.

And this is what is looks like right now - with all the concrete out!

Notice the climber set up in next to the diving board? The kids have been having fun sliding into the pool!

My water baby!

2007-07-11T20:23:00.001-04:00

Just had to show off our newest little swimmer! Each of the kids has gotten more comfortable with the water at an earlier age! Having a pool in our backyard means they get a lot of exposure to swimming. Becca seems to be the most fearless of the bunch and wants to do everything her big brothers are doing! She gets all around the pool just like this with her arm floaties and swim vest. She can climb up the ladder and down the ladder. She likes to jump in, but she can't really jump yet, so she kind of just steps in.

Here she is on the diving board!

More water fun! We spent a hot Monday at the Sprayscape! And of course she loved that too! She was moving so much I could only get a picture of her from behind!

And one more - I had to throw in a picture of her with her PIG TAILS! They make her look like a big girl!

Pictures from our past week!

2007-07-07T15:33:00.001-04:00

I have some new pictures of Claire to post! She and her family came over for lunch today and the boys (+ Rebecca) all enjoyed the pool. Susan seems to be doing better!

We had a fun 4th of July - some friends from church came over - we had 12 kids and 11 adults - we swam, ate (and then ate some more!) - played Wii and then watched the fireworks from our front yard!

Chris and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on the 5th. We went to the Tigers game and they beat Cleveland 12-3! We also had a very nice dinner out! Thanks to Grammy and Gup and Gams, we had the whole day and night to ourselves!

And last but not least here is a picture of Sarah Joy! Carol is hopefully coming home today and Sarah hopefully Sunday or Monday! I think she looks just like her big sister Katie!

Baby Update

2007-07-06T09:43:00.001-04:00

This is for those of you who are keeping up with Baby Claire. I have no new pictures - I will try to work on that today. Susan was admitted into the hospital on Tuesday afternoon with postpartum hypertension - the same thing happened after Aidan's birth. She returned home yesterday and is doing better. Hopefully her blood pressure will stay down and she will have relief from headaches. Claire is doing great and from what I hear she is a hearty eater.

In other news, our good friends Keith and Carol had their baby girl on Tuesday the 3rd. She was born by C-section 4 weeks early as Carol went into the hospital on Sunday night with high blood pressure - it was preeclampsia and they had to deliver the baby to protect Carol's health. Sarah Joy is 4 lbs and is doing quite well. They are both still needing time at the hospital - Carol for recovering and Sarah to learn to eat. I guess she is breathing on her own and will eat, but can't seem to do both at the same time yet!

Move over Tiger!

2007-07-02T07:54:00.001-04:00

A week ago Saturday - Chris took Steven golfing at a "real" golf course! They went to a little par-3 course at the MetroPark near us. They did 14 of the 18 holes and Steven did great for his first time out. When they were done Chris asked him if he enjoyed it and he said "yes". Then Chris asked him if he would like to do it again and Steven replied "How about tomorrow?" He came home and had to call Grandpa Mike and Pop and tell them all about it!

Here is the big golfer and the little golfer.

She's FINALLY here!

2007-06-28T21:41:00.000-04:00

Our new niece and cousin that is! Susan (Chris' sister) was due on June 24th - but because Aidan was born 2 weeks early, we have been expecting this baby anyday since June 10th! Poor Susan went to the hospital on both Saturday and Monday and was sent home! The third times the charm and she made it with little time to spare - they arrived at the hospital at 11:25 this morning and Claire Elizabeth was born at 11:49. She weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz. (which is 2 more lbs. than Aidan!) I was able to take Gup and Gams and Aidan to the hospital this afternoon and Chris and David visited this evening. Everyone seems to be doing well and we are so thankful that she is here! Today Rebecca is 18 months old - so the two girl cousins are exactly a year and a half apart!

Here she is less than 2 hours old.

And here are the youngest and oldest of the Garvey grandchidren!

Family Day celebration!

2007-06-21T08:56:00.000-04:00

To celebrate Family Day (the day Rebecca arrived home) we took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky! Upon walking into the hotel and looking through the window into the waterpark David said "This is the best place I have ever seen!". All 3 kids (and Dad) had a great time - the boys (and Dad) especially liked the big slides where you go down on intertubes! Becca liked the toddler area with the fountains and the little slide.

Here are some pictures -

And here is the after shot! We could barely wake him up to go have dinner!

One year ago today...

2007-06-13T14:30:00.000-04:00

I held my beautiful daughter for the first time! I can remember it like it was moments ago. I am just in awe of how amazing she is and how it seems she has always been here! We will celebrate Family Day on Sunday as that is the day we were all together. Here is picture of her within the first hour of her being brought to us.

And here she is this past weekend at 17 1/2 months. (Yes, she can climb the ladder of the playset and go down the slide all on her own!)

David was the "star of the day" at school today. For show-and-tell he decided to bring in Rebecca (and Steven too). So we briefly explained the concept of adoption and showed the kids Guatemala on the map. Rebecca was distracting the kids like crazy and was having so much fun exploring the room and even sat down for circle time for awhile - I got some great video!

Field Trip!

2007-06-07T18:59:00.000-04:00

Today David's class had a field trip to a local farm. Thanks to Gams, I was able to go with David. It meant a lot to me, as I have not been able to be very involved with his class this year, with two others at home!

It was a great day - but let me just say - 90 degrees, 100 kindergarteners, a bus ride and 4 hours at the farm! I've been home for 5 hours and I'm still exhausted!

I got to witness several firsts for David! He rode a horse, fed a goat and pig from a bottle and milked a cow! We even went on a short hayride!

Here are some pictures!

A couple other fun things this week!

Here are Rebecca and David enjoying the pool!

This is Rebecca at the Moms 4 Community picnic! It rained the whole time, but we decided to just make an adventure of it! I think my little princess may have some tom-boy in her!

Steven had his last day of pre-school this week! Here he is with his teachers at their celebration picnic yesterday! He had so much fun with school this year and I am amazed at how far he has come!

All Aboard the Garvey Express!

2007-06-01T14:19:00.000-04:00

With a little string help from Mom the boys made their very own train! Even Rebecca got to join in on the action!

In other news, the pool is OPEN and warm (thanks to the heater!). We've been in almost every day so far. Rebecca loves the pool too, and throws an all-out temper tantrum when it's time to get out. It looks like we have 3 fish in this family!

I'll try to get some pictures of them in the water soon!

Look ma - no training wheels!

2007-05-18T14:22:00.000-04:00

That's right - just last evening Steven decided he didn't want his training wheels anymore! He needed a bit of help starting, but after a few tries he was doing great! Now maybe he can almost keep up with David!

Here is a picture from Mother's Day! The boys are holding the flowers they arranged for me with help from Grammy! I had a wonderful day and they all treated mommy like a queen!

Stopping to smell the roses

2007-05-05T07:58:00.000-04:00

Okay so they are really tulips!

We are really enjoying the spring this year. We've had lots of nice days and all three of the kids have been loving playing outside. Rebecca will bring us her shoes and jacket to let us know that she wants to go out. She also throws a tantrum almost everytime we bring her back inside.

The boys have been having a lot of fun too. Last night was the "fun fair" at David's school. They both had a lot of fun playing all the games.

Mom and Dad are looking forward to getting the pool opened up sometime soon. First we are getting some patio work done!

Steven's birthday, Easter and a visit from Pop and Grandma Jane!

2007-04-10T19:01:00.000-04:00

Wow! What a week it was around here!

It all started on Sunday the 1st. We celebrated spring birthdays at Nana and Papa's house. Here is a rare shot of all seven grandchildren.

Steven received a pair of roller skates from his cousins as an early birthday present. We went home that afternoon to try them out! He didn't know what to do at all at first, but after a bit he started to get the hang of it.

Later that evening Pop and Grandma Jane arrived for the week. It was nice and warm on Monday and Tuesday and then the cold snap settled in on us for the rest of their visit. Grandma Jane was excited about the snow - but the rest of us were not "dreaming of white Easter"!

We had a fun week with them - here we are decorating Easter eggs.

We had a big family dinner on Saturday night at Gup and Gams to celebrate Easter and Steven's birthday. We can hardly believe he is already 4! Steven tends to be our "quiet" one when we are out - but he can chat up a storm at home. He loves to laugh and be silly, he loves to write words and to color, he loves anything that involves a ball, and he has a smile that can just melt your heart!

Here is Steven with his sports cake made by Grammy.

Here is a picture of the Garvey grandchildren the evening of the party.

On Sunday we did an Easter egg hunt in the house, Easter baskets, church and went out to dinner for Steven's birthday. Pop and Grandma Jane left on Monday. It was a great week!

ONE DOWN....59 to go!

2007-03-25T21:24:00.000-04:00

A milestone was reached at the Garvey home tonight! Our first "lost" tooth! It's been loose for almost 2 months and with a little help from Dad it finally came out tonight! David was beyond excited! I hope he can fall asleep so the tooth fairy can come!

Here he is - you can see the permanent tooth was already coming in!

Our Hilton Head Vacation

2007-03-19T13:33:00.000-04:00

We spent last week visiting Chris' dad and his wife at their home on Hilton Head Island. It had been 3 1/2 years since we had been there as we have met them in Orlando the past few winters. We drove through the night on the way down, which worked out pretty well and got us there on Saturday morning!
It was wonderful to enjoy being outside. We went swimming at the club, and took some bike rides. On the ride below we saw lots of alligators and stopped to see the baby horses at the stables.

A major highlight for all of us was the beach! The temps were unseasonably high (high 70's and low 80's) - so we had several opportunities to enjoy the beach. The boys loved playing at the edge of the water (it was still pretty cold) and digging in the sand. They built a big trench with Grandpa. Rebecca LOVED the beach - both the water and the sand. She was covered head to toe (and some in her mouth) and she wasn't bothered one bit. She cried when we took her home every time!

Chris and Rebecca and I took an overnight trip to Charleston during our stay. The agency that we used to bring Rebecca home is in Charleston. We were able to visit there and meet all the staff they we only knew from phone calls and emails. They were all very happy to meet Rebecca in person. On the way back from Charleston we had lunch in Beaufort - another beautiful South Carolina coastal town.

One of the highlights for me was seeing all the azaleas in bloom! I couldn't resist taking a picture of Rebecca in front of the flowers.

Here is David enjoying a ride in Grandpa's convertible thunderbird!

Here is the best family shot we were able to get.

It was truly a great vacation and we are so thankful to Mike & Sheila for their wonderful southern hospitality!

We arrived home yesterday afternoon and it snowed this morning! Thankfully spring is on the way!

Making new friends

2007-02-24T15:27:00.000-05:00

The kids and I met up with a group of moms with children from Guatemala yesterday. Many of them I have met online and a few at other events. It was a really fun outing and both the boys made some new friends and got some exercise! Here are some pictures from our day.
Steven told me he missed his new friend as soon as we got in the van!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T16:41:00.000-05:00

Here is one of my sweethearts to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day. She is wearing her special Valentine attire from Tio and Tia Jessica.

David is 6

2007-02-12T14:24:00.000-05:00

I can hardly believe my" little" David is 6 years old. I know everyone says it, but each year seems to go by faster. David is such a great son! He is clever, funny and loves to snuggle. He is a great conversationalist and has a heart for learning new things.

We celebrated a week ago with the Moreno cousins at a "paint your own pottery" place in Royal Oak. Here are a few pictures from that event.

Then this past weekend we had the family over on David's birthday for a "rocket ship" party! Grammy made him an awesome rocket cake.

David received quite a few more Thomas items for his track. He has become quite the track designer.

David's week!

2007-01-26T21:35:00.000-05:00

David had some fun happenings this week. He was the kindergarten "Person of the Week" - he and I made a posterboard about him that was displayed at the "big school" all week long. Here is a picture of David in front of his poster.

David's class had a surprise baby shower for his teacher. Unfortunately (for us) she is moving to Minnesota to be near family and next week will be her last week as David's teacher. She has been fabulous and we will really miss her!

More milestones for Rebecca!

2007-01-22T09:33:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a week around here for Rebecca! On Friday she officially became a US citizen! We had less than 3 days notice to report to the immigration office in Detroit, but we pulled it off! Here is Rebecca with her Certificate of Citizenship.

Then to top it off she took her first steps yesterday! Here is the link to see the video!
http://s87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/calgarvey/?action=view&current=Beccasfirststeps.flv

More of the rest of the family soon!

A Year Ago Today...

2007-01-18T14:19:00.000-05:00

We were at my dad's house in Florida. Right about this time I was about to go out of my skin - I was getting so anxious waiting for this phone call to come and let us know who our daughter would be. Our case worker had told me the week before that we should hear from them "early next week". Which to me meant, Monday or Tuesday - and now it was getting into the afternoon on Wednesday and that phone was not ringing. My wonderful husband sensing that I could not take anymore, called our home phone to check the messages. Even though we had left explicit instructions that we would not be home, but in Florida, lo and behold, there was a message for us from the agency. I called them immediately and got voicemail (AUGH!!). They called back about 10 mintues later and we were told we had been matched with our daughter! A few minutes later, at the computer, the email came through with her pictures. It was love at first sight! How could we not fall in love with these bright eyes.

We stared at her for a bit and then my dad and Jane came back from a walk with the boys. Steven had fallen asleep, so he wasn't quite in the spirit of things. David "oohed and ahhed" and said she was cute. My dad and Jane immediately printed out all the pictures and we continued to stare. I made several phone calls and we sent her pictures out to our friends and family who were waiting so long with us. We went out to dinner that night to celebrate and we told the waiter what we were celebrating. He said that he was adopted and thought it was great that we were adopting.

So much has happened in this past year. We are so thankful that we were able to bring Rebecca home at such a young age. Every day we all fall more in love with her. Here she is today, smiling and dancing and filling our home with sunshine!

Just keeping on

2007-01-12T14:19:00.000-05:00

Not to much to tell about, but I don't want to disappoint those coming to see what we are up to!

We've actually had a fairly busy January so far - as Januarys go. We've had some company and extra things on the schedule. I haven't had the camera out much as we seem to need to recover from all the photos we take during the holidays.

These pictures are compliments of Gams (Aunt Susan). The first one was taken when Rebecca spent the night there for New Years Eve. (The boys stayed at Grammy's so Chris and I actually went out for New Years!) I think this is just the funniest picture!

The following 2 pictures and David & Steven decorating gingerbread houses last week- also at Gup and Gams house.

The PARTY!

2006-12-30T21:17:00.000-05:00

We had a special birthday party for Chris and Rebecca at Grammy's house today!
Here is Rebecca in her party dress.

We were joined by Aunt Susan, Uncle Troy and Aidan, Gup and Gams and Nana and Papa. Everyone joined in the present opening.

I think we now officially own every toy that plays music and talks! Rebecca loves them - she spent the whole evening going from one toy to the other and pushing all the buttons.
And of course, here is the cake picture!