More Party Pictures

Happy Birthday E-Man & Annie!

We held a birthday party for the "twins" Saturday and had a wonderful time! We played with water balloons, busted open two pinatas, rode around in the Cadillacs, had cake, and each of the kids got new bicycles!! Annie and E-man rode around and around w/ their training wheels...while Abegail, with a little help, was riding her bike WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS!!! I've never heard of that before.

Party Preps

It's a Princess/Car theme for tomorrow's birthday party for Annie (7/1) and E-man (7/8), who I will now refer to as "the twins." Everyone is very excited. We have the cakes done, in case you can't tell, Annie's is a butterfly. A year ago tomorrow we were leaving for Liberia, or trying to rather, we didn't actually get there until a year ago Tuesday.Quotes from Abegail:A: Mommy, did you get

E-Man's Goals

Perhaps it's my fatherly pride, but each week I simply feel the need to tell you all how many goals E-Man scored. He's just so proud of himself at the end of the game that it's hard not to be equally as proud.To help you all understand how these games go, we FINALLY got some video of his game. Unfortunately our video camera is broken - so we had to take these videos with our regular camera so

Abegail Goes To Camp

I have been talking to Abegail about going to camp since March. She at first wanted to know why anyone would go out into the woods to walk around or have fun. Finally I convinced her to go to the YMCA camp and as the day got closer she said, how about if I just don't go the first day. I said you are going. Monday I picked up a very excited girl, who HAD A FABULOUS TIME! Mommy, I want to go

Medals Day

Today was the medals day at E-man's soccer. Next week is the last week and we are all so sad. It's been so awesome to have an hour each week where E-man is proud of himself, he's cheered on, and he's not naughty. Today he scored five goals (Scott insisted I write that, they don't pass much at this level) and after each one he ran to Scott to get a high five with a huge grin on his face. You

Surgery Set

Emmanuel's eye surgery is set for August 15th. He will have the muscles tightened in the eye that has the ptosis, the droopy left eye lid. No word if he'll dress himself and wear his church tie, his winter boots, and his summer shorts on that day!

Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness

"I am Black," Jane Lazarre's son tells her. "I have a Jewish mother, but I am not 'biracial.' That term is meaningless to me." She understands, she says--but he tells her, gently, that he doesn't think so, that she can't understand this completely because she is white. "Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness" is Jane Lazarre's memoir of coming to terms with this painful truth, of learning to look into

More Updates: Jacob and Mardia

Remember Jacob and Mardia, two of our favorites from the AFAA house. They've been home since November with a wonderful family in NY. Here are some photos of them from the past few months.E-man had another great soccer game today. Abegail has recovered from leaving Mr. Suzuki although she cried all the way home from school. Today she and a friend played on the playground at their school

Bye Bye Mr. Suzuki

You can not even talk to Abegail about school ending or being a second grader. Her last day is tomorrow and she is so sad. She is having a sleep over with one of her friends to soften the blow tomorrow. We too are very sad about leaving Mr. Suzuki. We could not have asked for a better teacher for Abegail's first year in school. (Oh and he is not teaching kindergarten next year, staying with first