Jackson News!

Hi everyone!
We want to share the exciting news that on or around August 16, we are expecting the arrival of Jackson Baby #2!! I am 14 weeks pregnant and so far, all is well & good. I just had an ultrasound and saw the wonderful acrobatics of this beautiful baby.

We thank you for any and all prayers and well wishes you may say on our behalf. We trust all is well is your various parts of the world!

Here is a 13-week photo of Baby J!

K+M+L+S+M

Merry Christmas!!

As I sit down to write this letter, my heart is overwhelmed with the memories of this last year, both of our own experiences & those of our friends & family. This year has been what seems a constant reminder of the fragility of life. We have walked with friends & family through death, illness, and life-changing accidents as well as births, marriages, new jobs, big birthday celebrations, and even bigger wedding anniversaries. All in all it has been a good year, a blessed year. But my heart remains heavy for those who cannot say the same.

So today we give thanks for the abundant blessings in our lives, for our health, for our family & friends, and for the wonderful opportunities God continues to present to us. We celebrated L’s first birthday & K’s 40th, both in July! And we spent a week in the Pacific Northwest with K’s entire family to celebrate his mom & dad’s 50th wedding anniversary! How fantastic is that?!

Our travels took the three of us around the world to places like Sanibel FL, Phoenix, Madison WI, Vancouver BC, and most recently Cape Town (South Africa…with L!). We spent many fun days of summer up in Michigan at my folks’ lake house and had a fun family reunion in Pennsylvania.

L is an awesome little boy. He is such a joy to have in our family. He has the sweetest temperament, smiles & laughs so easily, has a long attention span for playing & looking at books, enjoys our family meals together (most days), and LOVES the freedom walking has brought to him! Come Christmas, he will be almost 18 months old! It’s hard to believe that much time has passed since he was born. It has been a blink.

The Wonderdogs continue to be, well, wonderful. Max is 5 this year & Syd will turn 13 in February 2011. They both continue to play well with each other & increasingly with L. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that L has been known to sit down with a (almost-empty) jar of treats and proceed to feed them one by one to each of the dogs until the jar is empty… That will make any baby your best friend!

We continue to host house concerts with such wonderful musicians as Danny Flanigan, Tad Armstrong & Stasia Demos, and Jeff Black and will be rounding out the year with poet Kelsea Habecker & musician Liz Janes performing a joint winter celebration. And Stone Soup – the weekly soup dinner in our home – is still going strong.

K & I both have ramped up our work with our non-profits, Ball Project (www.ballproject.com) & The Viewfinder Project (www.theviewfinderproject.org). For me, this meant resigning from the board of directors of the Harrison Center of the Arts as well as closing my darkroom, two big changes this year.

And how can I not mention that our beloved Butler University Bulldogs went up against Duke in the NCAA basketball finals! And only lost by 2 measly points!! We were there in the stands cheering on Butler! It was awesome.

That’s our year in a nutshell. We’d love to hear what the last year has brought to you when you get a chance. In the meantime, you are always welcome in Indianapolis! Many blessings to each of you this Christmas season & always.

All our love,
K, M, L and Syd & Max the Wonderdogs

(This photo was taken this summer by our friend Stacy Wasmuth, Blue Candy Photography.)

Photos from SA

Here are a few photos from our recent trip to South Africa:

L's Walking!!

Just wanted you to know!!

Back home again...again!

We have successfully returned from South Africa! L did awesome on the way home. He slept great, was in good spirits, and even ate a decent amount of real food. I continue to be amazed at his good nature. Thank the Lord. We had a good trip with some great visits with friends. As always, we come back renewed in our love of that place and those friends. L made lots of new friends but has a particular "best" friend there, Elih. Below is a photo of the two of them. Elih is 20 months old & L wanted to be everywhere Elih was. So cute.

You might be curious as to the latest L developments: He is up to 11 teeth in that mouth of his. He's not walking but is OH SO CLOSE. If he'd just let go... He says Mama, Dada, Daw (dog), Ma (Max), and as of today Baba (bottle). His fine motor skills seem to be incredibly developed though I don't really have a point of comparison. He will pick up the tiniest crumb off of the floor & hand it to me. He makes sure he puts his bottles/cups standing upright. He can put small objects in even smaller openings successfully. And he has discovered the joy of putting keys in keyholes! (We have a skeleton key/keyhole in South Africa where he perfected this task.) He helps me put the wet laundry in the dryer: He will stand in front of the dryer waiting for me to hand him the wet clothes which he promptly places into the dryer. He loves giving the dogs treats. He puts the shredded cheese in the pan while I'm cooking eggs for breakfast. He sits & looks at his books, turning the pages & studying them. He LOVES looking at airplanes that fly overhead. And he's learning very quickly what to do with a fork & a spoon! And he has discovered the joy of climbing! (I have some great photos of him actually "bouldering" on top of Table Mountain. He was actually feeling for finger holds!)

It is so fun watching all of these changes & more, sometimes on a daily basis. If you're ever in the area, stop by & say hi!

** I'm having trouble posting photos here for some reason. So stay tuned for those!

South Africa Update

Greetings from South Africa! We have now been here almost 2 weeks and all is well.

The trip didn't start off great as L got very sick on the flight over...literally sick. (It seems he got some sort of stomach virus before we left home. He threw up twice on the plane, somewhere over the ocean; once I caught it in a bag, the other time I wasn't so lucky.) Thankfully we both had a change of clothes. I think we went through about 6 outfit changes for L in the first 9 hours of our 24-hour travel day! Fortunately L slept for four hours in the second half of our big 17-hour flight to South Africa. When he was awake, he was in relatively good spirits considering he didn't feel good & was incredibly tired.

But now, two weeks in, he is recovered and we are all adjusted to the six-hour time difference. The weather is beautiful & moderately warm during the days. We haven't ventured too far from home yet as K has been teaching at the sports school & having various meetings during L's awake times. We did make our way into Cape Town one beautiful Saturday in attempts to take the cable car up Table Mountain. But apparently everyone else had the same idea. I've never seen the line that long!! So we turned back down the mountain & had lunch at our favorite pizza place, Bacini's (for the Sheridans & anyone else we may have brought there).

We are going away for an overnight with our friends the Hougaards this week, which will be fun. K's running a 10K this weekend & a half marathon next weekend. This is such a beautiful place to run. We are looking forward to seeing more of our friends here in the next couple of weeks before making our way back home. My parents will actually be here for a conference mid-October. It will be great to spend a weekend with them in Cape Town!

There is a model of The Viewfinder Project happening here in Stellenbosch in partnership with Kuyasa Empowerment in the township of Kayamandi. They have used TVP as the basis for their photography class, making wonderful modifications to fit their purposes & needs. The photography class is part of a greater fine arts initiative that includes film and other mediums. We went to visit last week; the age range is probably 15-28 and was mostly young men. This was surprising for me. They are sharing 3-4 very nice SLR cameras. TVP will sponsor more cameras for them. If you are interested in sponsoring a camera for this project, please email me & let me know!!

We are enjoying lots of reading while we are here!! With no Internet connection or DVD players to distract us, we are enjoying the evenings with good books, nice wine, lots of Denison Witmer (among the other fine musicians on K's iPod), and our little space heater.

K bought me a book by Susan Linn called The Case for Make Believe, which is phenomenal. It makes me want to put away anything with an on/off switch & get outside & explore, pull out my puppets, and draw, color & cut my way back into my childhood, more than I already want to do that! It's fantastic. I also just finished rereading Madeleine L'Engle's Walking on Water. Such a refreshing work for me. I'm now on to either Little Heathens (who recommended this book to me??), a Terry Pratchett book called Unseen Academicals, or my first ever Malcolm Gladwell book called What the Dog Saw.

Thanks for all of your prayers & well wishes. We are grateful for them. Please feel free to text or call us on our phones! It doesn't cost you any more than it would if we were stateside! We can also receive email on our phones. So please drop us a line & tell us how you're doing!

All our love,
M+K+L

First Haircut

As you may have noticed in some of the latest photos of L, his hair is often hanging in his eyes or swooped over to one side. One night, when K was out, I found myself grabbing a bobby pin & pinning his hair out of his eyes. That's when I realized it was time for a haircut. So behold, here is a before & after photo of L's new hairdo.

L's First Birthday

Hi all!

Here are some photos from L's first birthday weekend, which we celebrated up in Michigan with my family & K's parents. It was a beautiful weekend! I've also included a few random photos from the last few weeks.

L is getting closer to walking but still doesn't have the confidence to try it on his own! He has this hysterical new smile where he closes his eyes & flashes a huge toothy grin. His fine motor skills seem to be quite developed; he's very good using his "pincher" fingers at placing things exactly where he wants them. He had his first experience with spaghetti (see below), which was a big hit. He loves other kids! The other night at Stone Soup, the kids were having a dance party upstairs & L was right in the middle of it bouncing & laughing & throwing himself at the other kids. SO cute to watch. (It was one of those moments where I wish it had occurred to me to get my video camera.)

L's One-Year Photos!!

L is one!! We had a fun celebration on July 4 with our extended families at my parents' lake house. I will post some photos soon...I'm VERY behind!

In the meantime, you must check out the professional photos we had taken of L the week before his birthday. Our friend Stacy from Blue Candy Photography took them. (She is also who took L's newborn photos when he was 10 days old.)

THE PHOTOS WILL EXPIRE THIS FRIDAY, JULY 23! So take a look sooner than later!

Go to www.bluecandyphotography.com. Click the photo to enter the site. Click on "Clients" then enter "____" in the password field (all lower case). Enjoy!!

10 Months Old!

Wow. L is 10 months old already! He now has SIX teeth (four on top, two on bottom), is crawling absolutely everywhere, can go up & down stairs (up is easier!), babbles all the time, and is getting more adventurous with solid food (as am I in giving it to him). He is so much fun, such a happy little boy. We are enjoying him thoroughly!! I can't believe his first birthday is just around the corner! Enjoy the photos from the last month!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Pics of L's First Tooth

Okay, after a bit of effort, I think was finally able to catch a few shots of L's elusive first tooth. For those of you having trouble finding the tooth, I've marked it with an arrow. It is his lower right incisor.

L has a tooth!

L's very first tooth broke through his gum sometime in the last 24 hours. I noticed it this morning when I was changing his diaper & he was giving me sweet gummy smiles. Yippee! I'll try to photograph it. It's hard to get him to hold his lips back from his gums enough to get a good look!

L is 6 Months Old!

Today is L's half birthday! He's six months old already!! He is sitting up all by himself, getting stronger & more stable literally every day. He's busy trying to crawl. He can now get up on all fours and rock. (But then he collapses and wiggles to get whatever he's trying to get.)

We continue to try solid foods but still have not hit a stride with it...some days he likes cereal or pears, some days not. He laughs & smiles constantly. He kicks like crazy. He LOVES watching the dogs. He likes it when I read to him and sing to him. His two favorite songs right now are "Do-Re-Mi" from the Sound of Music and the A-B-C song (the traditional song we all sung to learn our a-b-c's). And he's been caught wrestling gators in the pool (see below).

He sat in a swing all by himself for the first time. He likes to drink water out of my glass. He constantly grabs for toys and immediately puts them in his mouth. Every day we notice something new that he's doing or trying!

L's First Christmas

We had a lot of fun celebrating L's first Christmas with my parents and my brother, my sister-in-law, and my niece (who is 2 months older than L)! In the photos below, you will see our sad Charlie Brown Christmas tree...it didn't even make it until Christmas. (Since we are here in FL, we opted to not get a tree but two native plants that we could plant later. One made it, one clearly did not.) We made little ornaments with the kids to remember how small their hands were on their first Christmas! L was all smiles for my dad! It was a great celebration all in all. Enjoy the photos!

2009 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

As we reflect back over the year, we have much to be grateful for. We are most grateful for the safe arrival of our little boy, L, born on July 4. He is such a sweet gift. At 5-1/2 months already, he is incredibly busy. He LOVES the dogs. We are bracing ourselves for when he is mobile & can actually get to them on his own! It is amazing how one little person can utterly change your life. As I recently read, “I kind of resemble me, and sometimes I sound like me, but this new person has lost all sense of fashion and vocabulary.” As a new mom, I am overwhelmed by the love I have for this little boy…my heart walking around on the outside as my mom says. We are enjoying Levi immensely. You can read more about him & the fun things he is continually learning throughout this blog.

We had a lot of fun visiting lots of friends & family early in the year, before my belly got too big to comfortably fly or drive anywhere! L has definitely slowed us down, which is a good thing. We are enjoying the comfort of our home and our friends and family for whom we are so grateful. We continue to be overwhelmed with the kindness & generosity expressed towards us both before & after L arrived.

Everyone asks us, “How are Syd & Max responding to Levi?” The answer is that they don’t pay him much attention yet. They definitely notice him, especially when he’s eating his cereal. But as soon as L figures out he can give the dogs food, they will be his new best friends.

In other news (IS there other news??), The Viewfinder Project is going strong. We continue to conduct models throughout the city and are working to run a model in South Africa in 2010, which is really exciting. The website is www.theviewfinderproject.org.

The Ball Project (www.ballproject.com) is going well. K continues to get balls to communities around the world thanks to the support of many of you!

We look forward to 2010 and the adventures the year holds. (K turns 40 and L turns one within a week of each other!) We are excited to introduce L to you in person in the months & years to come.

All our love,

K, M, and L (and of course Syd & Max the Wonderdogs)

Santa Claus?

As we anticipate the arrival of Christmas in less than a week, a question has been raised that I would love to hear your thoughts on: Will we let Levi believe in Santa Claus and to what extent?

So my question to you: Would you promote the presence of Santa Claus in your families? Why or why not? Whether you speak from your own experience as a kid or if you speak as a parent, it doesn't matter to me. I just want to hear what you think.

We have our own ideas on this and know where we're leading but I'm curious how other families have handled this. Let us know!

mb

Updates from Sanibel

We have now been in Sanibel for over a week and are loving it! Our place is coming together...we even hosted K's parents over Thanksgiving and two friends from Idaho this last week. We're enjoying the warm weather and spending some time just the three of us.

mb + k

5 Months Old (almost)

L is quickly approaching his 5-month birthday which is crazy to me. He is so darn cute. Recent developments include: eating rice cereal (first attempt was on Oct 31 but over the last month he can legitimately EAT it, swallowing and everything), holding himself up while on his belly (see photo), starting to sit up (can lean on his arms while sitting up for short periods until he folds forward or falls sideways), holding his bottle while eating, continuing to improve his grasping skills, and laughing like a little boy. I love it. We'll sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and he closes his eyes and opens his mouth anticipating a tickle or the "rain" coming down (our fingers running from his head down his face). So cute. Enjoy the photos!