Random

junebug the dog and her posse

meet roys brother rob a.k.a. the dog whisperer

three is my favorite number

it's all about the accessories

My fellas.

happy father's day!

So sweet.

I can barely stand how excited I am for these two. Jolyne has been a friend of ours FOREVER, she actually knew my husband years before I did, and when I met her I fell in love with her. We met Dave when my husband was working with him in Minneapolis and became friends over baseball games and camping trips. The two of them met when Jolyne came to visit us July of 2003 to see if she wanted to relocate to the Twin Cities. I can't say if it was love at first sight or not, but I will tell you that we hosted a BBQ in honor of Jolyne's visit that July and the two of them never left one anothers sight! They have been through a lot with one another and as cliche as it sounds it has made them that much stronger of a couple. They are getting married this August in Bellingham and we are so thankful to be able to be a part of the celebration~ We love you both!

Summer has come early to Bellingham & we have been taking full advantage of it's arrival. We have been enjoying a lot of time in the yard both in the pool and on the swing set. We have also been able to spend a few mornings enjoying the surf & sand at the beach with our pals.

Hummer

Nothing says summer at my house (besides badminton parties) like the presence of the hummers. We only have two feeders, but I have to make their food EVERYDAY, but I don't mind they are such amazing lil' birds and we love to have them around. Did you know that they are the only bird able to fly backwards? And that they migrate all the way to Central America?

Amazing.

Last of the love letters.

Thanks for indulging me and allowing me the privilege of sharing these letters I wrote to Levi before he was born. These are the final two letters, but I do plan on writing him many more love letters over the years to come!

July 7th, 2007
Dear Bean,
We saw you for the first time the other day. What an amazing sight. You were even waving at us it looked like. 2 perfect arms, a body and a head w/a very good heartbeat. Seeing you for the first time made it so real that you will soon enter into our lives and make our family grow. We are so excited for that day and a little nervous too since we aren’t entirely sure what to do when to do it. We will figure it out together. I am sure we will make mistakes, but just know how much we love you and are anticipating your arrival. Your dad said he could have stared at the monitor all day...how is that for approval? You also received your 1st book the other day I can’t even imagine how many stories we will read together over the years. I hope you love reading as much as I do.
Xoxo-Mom


Sept. 3rd, 2007
Dear Bean,
Wow, so much time has passed since we first found out about your arrival. We are already in the 5th month. We have also found out that you are a boy:) So, I guess this means from now on I will drop the bean and call you by the name we have decided on for you: Levi.
So many people have been getting ready for January. We have had some generous people sending you packages for months...especially grandma sue. She is so excited she has sent you many outfits so far.
Your dad and I are so blessed to know that you are healthy and whole and so beautiful. We have started feeling you move about and sometimes it feels like you are training for gymnastics for all the moving you do. I am looking forward to having you as a son seeing how you take after your dad and grow into an amazing man.
XoXo~Mom

I had kind of a mentally exhausting day today so I thought the best way to combat that would be to get out & do some physical labor after Levi went to bed..I mowed, edged, weeded and then some. As I was mowing I was getting bitten by bugs, walking thru spider webs and getting attacked by tree limbs & I thought to myself how fortunate I am to have a yard to mow. Seriously~ so often I forget that people in many other countries have no home to call their own. They have no roof to leak, no weeds to pull and no shelf to dust. But, I have to imagine if given the opportunity they would love to have those "dilemmas" to sort out. I am not referring to the people whom have made a choice to live simply & prefer to rent vs. own...I am thinking more of the people who were born in a country different then mine. They may be in a land where there is little or no education available, no resources, no work, no skills, no clean water, no food, no family and it is not by any fault of their own that they are in the circumstances they are in just like it isn't any doing of my own that I was born in the USA land of free & plenty. I have never viewed myself as someone overly patriotic, but I do feel so blessed to have been fortunate enough to have been born in a country where freedom is not something just dreamed about, where as a woman I am able to do so much without ever having to hide my face or turn my eyes downward, where I can turn on any number of taps in my house and get instant clean cold or warm water, where people are able to decide if they would like to go to a community college, a four-year college or maybe go to a technical school to learn a valuable trade, where there are grocery stores on every street & the biggest food dilemma is to go to Costco or Trader Joes, where people can make a fresh start, new opportunities, health care, medicine, follow Jesus & read a Bible with out being beaten or jailed or murdered, and even vote for whom they think would serve the country best. I guess I am just kind of tired of it being "uncool" to be proud to be an American....we have it so easy, we take so much for granted, and we have so many people that came before us that made it all possible. Having all of this running through my mind tonight made it very difficult to find any reason to complain about the yard work I was doing & I am praying it stays as a fresh reminder so I will have patience on the road, in the stores, and with those I love.