Kasaan and Cousins

Virginia is for Lovers

Bird, Kasaan and I flew to Virginia last week to interview to serve at Commonground Christian Church in Fredricksburg, VA. The weekend was amazing. We knew we were in the right place with each new conversation. A couple days after flying home we were offered the job and with glad hearts we accepted. It is hard to believe that we will be leaving our dear friends and especially those we have made at Harbor of Hope. We will be moving the first week in January and will be starting down there soon after. The church is 50 minutes from Bird's family and for that we could not be more excited. Just to see Kasaan play with all his cousins last week, people who love him so much was the best thing for us.

Please pray for us as we transition. For those of you who know us well...this chance to serve God is what we have been preparing for for years. Pray that God will give us wisdom to be used radically for him. Commonground is a young church with tons of vision. Vision for mission, vision for the hurting. It could not be a better fit for all of us. Thank you God.

Bird took the pic of this church just minutes from our house here in Lawrence.

Happy Birthday Kasaan!

On November 17th Kasaan turned one year old. Don't let the smile fool you. He wouldn't go in the tunnel for anything.

I don't know why but anytime Veggie Tales is on the DVD the dude goes nuts. He loves Bob and Larry. So Margaret not only made an amazing cake she also put together an amazing menu filled with Asian noodles, Spinach dip, I made iced lattes, we had home made cookies, cupcakes, and an amazing fruit tart.

So many of Kasaan's friends came over but his best friend Emma who lives with us in the house had no problem showing him what to do with that cake. I could not believe it. Margaret spent so much time perfecting Bob and Larry and then when we put the thing in front of him he wouldn't touch it. Grandma Jennings would be proud. NO SUGAR!! He literally didn't know what to do with it. He hated the feel of it on his hands and the chocolate you see on his lips is from us trying to encourage him that it was the most delicious thing he had ever put in his mouth. Anyway the kid loves Italian he loves meat, he loves yogurt and this cake stuff is too much. Honestly he didn't eat one bite. So I gave him a doughnut so he could fit in with Emma. The chocolate that you see on him was mostly from Emma giving him some love pats.

So many of our friends came over the celebrate with us. We had a limbo contest, we had an apple bobbing contest and we had a cider doughnut eating contest. It was a great day. Kasaan would like to say thanks to all who helped make his day so special.
This kid is just happy to see all his friends. We had so much fun and he better not forget it. Ha!

Baby Steps

It has been a long time since I have written from my heart. Not that the posts over the last year have been mindless babble but more that I have been guarded and not allowed my words to be vulnerable. It has been a hard year for family and I truly believe I am learning to walk at the same time as Kasaan. As he moves away from the couch and into the center of the room I am moving away from the infancy of my own closed mind. There was once a man in me who knew how to drink deep of the morrow of life. The last couple years, I admittedly have forgotten how to walk. Maybe its the accusation to Paul in me, "too much study has made you mad." Maybe it's the cold of Boston or maybe, just maybe its a weak theology of joy. I have allowed things to be too serious too often. I am guilty of too much advocacy and have neglected the simple things. Baby steps I'm telling you. Back to the laughter, back to the jokes, back to the smiles. When I was 18 months old I was diagnosed with spinal meningitis and had to learn how to walk all over again as a toddler. The last 4 years have taken a different kind of toll on my body and here I find myself learning to walk all over again. Walking in laughter. Taking myself way less serious. Trusting God's work and taking my little ministry way less serious. And if my progress truly is in line with Kasaan's physical abilities; I'll be running by summer.

Drumlin Farm!

Thanks to some of our great friends we had a fabulous day at Drumlin Farm. A farm where injured wild animals are brought to get rehibilitated and then sent back into the wild. Brian and Andrea Cutler work there and made our visit so speical . They took us back stage to see a giant turtle, a rabbit, and a skunk. We had so much fun. Oh my the Owls. How beautiful. That was our favorite animal. Oh yeah, one more great shot from Halloween.

Walking? What!

This kid has been walking every day for the last two weeks and he is so proud of himself. He you see him carrying his little lamb (which we named David) back to mommy. A little game of fetch. I throw David on the bed, you walk to him get him and walk him back to me. He is loving it. It also helps with sleep at night. By 7 o'clock his is so tired.

In and around Halloween!

Bird turned 23 on September 17th and we decided to celebrate at our new favorite restaurant. Italian of course. We had such a great day. We hiked Mt. Monadnock, ate pancakes, and ate eggplant parm! So lately we have been figuring out what the heck are we going to do for money and so I started back up at Starbucks a couple of weeks ago. I'm enjoying the coffee shop but of course its not what the next 10 years hold for us. But for now its working. Bird started working in the ER at Lowell General and is doing that 3 days a week. I'm at the coffee shop the other three days and we are able to avoid childcare that way. It works for us. So one of Bird's best friends in the whole world flew in from Cali last week and they were able to spend a wonderful day together. Janelle Lemons was a part of Bird's Bible study at the seminary and they have something very special. Janelle celebrated Kasaan with us on Halloween as we took him to a local church to hang out.

Bird 100% made Kasaan's costume even down to sewing the name on the front and back of the jersey. If you've ever seen the Green Monster for the Boston Red Sox his name is Wally. Kasaan is our little green monster, born in Boston, and totally lovable. I'm was so amazed at Bird's skill--that girl can do anything with her hands. I wish I was half as artsy.

It was a wild day. By the grace of God we were saved from hitting a dear on the highway, we were 2 hours late to the Halloween party, we dropped Janelle off near Bunker Hill at a friends, so we just drove up to see the historic spot, I mean a jam packed day. And we loved it. Kasaan didn't love the party that much--the music was too loud and he didn't know any o the kids so he clung on to me for dear life. He's like that Monster from Monster's Inc. Totally spooked by stuff.

By the end of the night he was exhausted and fell asleep in the car. Good thing mom is not scared of little monsters she just scooped him up and put him to bed.