Idea for a Family Discussion About Gratitude During this Christmas Season

I had a random thought this morning (I know... shocker coming from me).

You're probably all familiar with the rubber wristbands that Lance Armstrong made popular a few years ago. The non-profit organization that supports our children's orphanage recently ordered a bunch of these. They say "Hope4LittleAngelsofHaiti" which is the name of our orphanage.

At this Christmas season, the list of what we think we need just grows and grows, right? I was thinking that it might make an interesting family discussion to tell your kids/family about Haiti and the kids there. You all have a connection to Haiti (like it or not) though me and my kids, so you can honestly tell them about your friends who live in a 3 room house with 68 other children and sleep on a tile floor because they don't have a bed. You can tell them that they only get to eat twice a day and that every meal is rice and beans.

You're welcome to use any pictures or stories on my blog for this discussion.

Another family who is adopting from our orphanage took their teenaged old son down with them on this trip and he made this video for a school project. It explains the problems in Haiti and I think he did a good job. You might find that your families would be interested in it. I don't think K will mind that I'm sharing it with you all. (Great job, again, K. You astound me with your talents at your age.)



ANYWAY, if you think your children would listen to this type of discussion, you could order those rubber wristbands for them to use to remember what they have. They come in lime green and light blue and you can order them for $1 by emailing your address and how many you want to hopeforlittleangelsofhaiti@gmail.com. They'll get them shipped to you.

If what our kids are going through can help your kids see how awesome their families are then maybe we all win, right?

Merry Christmas!

Sale Yards, Walls, Money, Support

It's been an interesting weekend so far! Yesterday we had the yard sale (or "Sale Yard", as my friend's son calls it) at the Event Center in Taylorsville and the neighborhood had a yard sale for the orphanage as well.

The one at the Event Center was a ton of work - we had a U-haul and trailers and had to get everything from Eagle Mountain and Heber and Lehi up to the Convention Center. I think the crowd was significantly less than the 4K they projected. After the first date was cancelled for rain, they scheduled it for Memorial Day weekend and I think that really hurt the crowds. There were always a few people going through, but it wasn't "packed" like it was supposed to be. We ended up with mostly "small ticket items" - clothes and books and VHS tapes.


People were so fascinating to watch. And it was amazing to watch what people were interested in which items and when they would haggle over a $.25.


The funniest thing that happened to me was probably the couple that bought one of the "Hope for Little Angels of Haiti" T-shirts. The husband wanted one, so I got his size and put it in a bag and handed it to him. His wife gave me the money and then she said to me, "Now, can I wear this to work?"

I looked at her like, "How on earth would I know that?" and she still wanted an answer from me, so I said, "Sure! Why not!"

She said, "Yes! Oh, good!"

Her husband said, "Why are you asking that lady if you can wear this to work?"

And she said (wait for it), "Well, I wanted to know because we're not allowed to wear T-shirts to my work. But it's OK. She said it would be fine."

Her husband said, 'Honey.... this IS a T-shirt." and they walked away as he was trying to explain the finer points of what makes a T-shirt to his lovely, oblivious bride.

Awesome.

My neighborhood also had a yard sale for the orphanage. And I KNOW it was a ton of work, even if they didn't haul things to other counties. I am sad that we weren't able to be there because we'd already committed to be at the E-Center sale, but Jessica pulled things off with flying colors. I haven't spoken to her yet, but I can see from the comments from my neighbors on Facebook that it was "huge", "amazing" and that Jessica raised $1200 for the orphanage! (That, by the way, is the exact same amount we raised at the E-Center sale. Pretty impressive! My neighborhood is awesome!!)

I'm so touched by the outpouring of support! Jessica does so much for everyone else. I've mentioned before that her husband is away "playing soldier" (as my dad would say) and she's got her own busy family and home to run in his absence and she still finds time to take care of her neighbors and friends. She's a wonderful, caring, dynamic woman and we're very lucky to have her for a neighbor! Thank you, Jessica!

Speaking of soldiers, the Vietnam Traveling Memorial was in Ogden yesterday. It's a smaller-scale replica of the memorial in Washington, D.C. My father is a Vietnam Veteran and my mom's brother was killed in Vietnam. That memorial has a special place for me and my family.

When I was 19 I was able to travel to Maryland to meet up with my dad, who was out there on business, and we spent a week together seeing the area of the country where I was born (military brat born on Ft. George G. Meade in Maryland). We were able to go to The Wall on one of our days in D.C. and I was able to touch Uncle Niel's name and make a rubbing on it for myself. I know I'll never really understand what it was like for Niel, for my dad, for any of the thousands and thousands of veterans who gave or risked their lives in this and other conflicts, but I'm so grateful that they are willing to serve.

The way I see it, the United States of America is the "cool big brother" that all the other nations wish they could be. We have so much. We've been given so much. I believe that we have a global and eternal responsibility to our brothers and sisters. We're supposed to watch out for everyone smaller than us. I believe that God will hold us accountable for the things we could have prevented and didn't, for the burdens we could have lifted but ignored, for the wrongs we could have tried to right and allowed to occur. That doesn't mean that I agree with everything that has happened in these wars. Of course I don't. It would be fabulous if people could be reasoned with over a table and the evil dictators of the world would recognize the wrongs of their ways and play nicely with each other.

Unfortunately, that's not how people work. "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." Card Carrying Members of the Evil Dictators' Club will always be Card Carrying Members of the Evil Dictators' Club. Sometimes people are evil and sometimes it does take force to try to purge evil or prevent that evil from spreading.

But enough of my soap box...

The point is, my brother and his wife took their kids to Ogden with my parents yesterday. My mom was able to show them Niel's name. My dad was able to point out the names of men he knew in Vietnam. They showed them Niel's medals. They explained why he was there and why he was killed. They told them that Niel was a medic and that he was on the front lines and had gone to try to recover another wounded soldier when he, himself, was shot and killed. They showed them Bobby Shelton's name - the soldier Niel was trying to save. They made the names real. They gave them flesh and soul.

A reporter from the Ogden paper was there and snapped this picture of my niece, Romy, touching Uncle Niel's name with the roses they'd brought to leave for him.

I look at this picture and I see her face trying to puzzle out all the things she's been told and trying to reconcile the tears on her grandma's face with the small, stiff letters spelling out "Niel B. Riggs". She may not "get it". But it touched her and she's trying to make it a part of who she'll be. I see the reflection of my mother, behind Ro, supporting her, guiding her, holding the box of Niel's medals. And I think, "THAT is what it's all about. Those who travel this life are to do their best to make things better for those that follow. Whether they teach, or nurture, or build, or defend, or sacrifice. That is what we've been asked to do."

That is what God expects from us as nations and families and individuals - that we watch out for each other. Even when we've passed, there is still an influence of our works as we are reflected in the lives of our children and our grandnieces and our neighbors and the orphans in Haiti that we may never meet, but whose lives we have made better. Our presence, our legacy... is in that support. It's in what Niel means to me. It's in what the Wall represents. It's in my mother teaching my family. It's in the image of my father in his uniform. It's in Jessica having a yard sale for babies that she won't see for many, many months but whose mouths she is feeding now.

This? This is good. This is right. Thank God for America and for the freedom to be and do and support to the best of our abilities.

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.

Touching

There have been a lot of tears today, but not for the reasons you might think.

My brother, Brian and his wife called us last night to tell us that they're expecting in December! Very exciting news - they're such a cute couple together and I think they've been good for each other. I know they've both wanted this a long time and I'm thrilled for them. They'll be awesome parents.

My baby sister is getting closer to her due date. Baby Rocco is due while we're in Haiti and I'm sad that we might not be right there for the birth, but we'll be swooping in to shower him in hugs and kisses as soon as we're back home. Interestingly, Rocco is the first biological nephew on either side of the family for us. Maybe Brian and Paige will have a little boy as well.

The big tears came this evening as I was getting some Etsy orders ready to ship. A very sweet woman from Brent's work crocheted two beautiful baby afghans for us to sell on the store. I was packaging the sweet pink one today to ship it off to the buyer in WV, when I noticed that she'd sent me a note on the order. Tears came to my eyes as I read these words:

This blanket is a gift for a baby, due in September, who is not likely to live long after birth due to a terminal congenital condition. Although her parents have baby clothes and blankets that belonged to their two older children, they want this baby to have clothes and a blanket of her very own. I offered to buy any Etsy baby blanket they wanted for $30 or less, and the mother chose this one.

Thank you for making and selling this blanket, which will help the family during this difficult time. They're still trying to decide on names. In the meantime the baby is known as "Angel".

It's amazing how we touch each other. We never know when we're going to be just what someone - even a total stranger across the country - might need to hear.

Tomorrow we're having the big yard sale at the sports arena in SLC and then my sweet neighbor has put together one in my very own neighborhood - all to support these babies in Haiti.

21 days until we're there again. 21 days until I kiss their sweet cheeks.

But I can be grateful they're alive, well and healthy today. Thank you to sweet Angel for reminding me that I have been richly blessed.

Angels Among Us

I am surrounded by angels. Angels who bring shoes and formula for our babies. Angels who buy things from our Etsy store. Angels who create the items on our Etsy store.

Today I need to talk about two angels in particular: Bulletin Board Angels and Water Angels.

First, to my Bulletin Board Angel - who single-handledly created all the advertising posters for the women's conference that I'm chairing. She's done amazing things with these. The design is amazing, the letters are perfect, and she even has 3-D effects. Thank you, Rai. You'll never know the weight that took from my shoulders even though we didn't expect you to do that ALL by yourself.

Second, my Water Angels. Last month my friend at work mentioned that his father-in-law does research and development with water filtration and that he works on projects to get state-of-the art water filters into the hands of missionaries going to third world countries. He told me that they've made a water bottle that would allow the missionary to scoop up water from a muddy ditch and it filters it to pure water so they can drink wherever they end up. They've taken water from Utah Lake and put it in these bottles and it's immediately clean enough to drink. You can't eat the fish in Utah Lake, but with these filters you can drink from it. And the price for these wonders is amazingly reasonable.

He gave me Dave's number and I called him to see what his professional opinion was for the type of water filter we would need for our Haitian orphanage. It was obvious from the initial minutes of our discussion that a) Dave knows his water and b) Dave is very passionate about making sure those who need clean water most can have it.

We spoke for about 20 minutes and at the end of the conversation he said that he'd talk to his manufacturer and see "what they could come up with" that would work well for our orphanage. "I'll see that we get you the right thing," he assured me.

I spent a lot of time wondering what the unit would look like, what type of tools we'd have to take with us to get it hooked up at the orphanage, how easy it would be to train the orphanage manager how to maintain it, etc, etc. Would it fit in our suitcases? Would we need to pack it special and use the box as our 4th piece of check-in luggage?

Long story getting shorter, the water filters arrived last night. We drove down to Dave's to pick them up.

My first shock was the size of the boxes. It looked like it would fit a large pillar candle - it's that compact. This filter kills 99.999% of viruses, bacteria, "cysty stuff", heavy metals, pharmaceutical residue, you name it - it catches it. All of that in a tiny little space.

My second shock was the way they've hooked this up so that we don't have to worry about how to connect it to the orphanage's water supply. The unit has "quick connect" technology so that we can just swap out the end of the faucet in the kitchen and attach this unit it to it. It snaps right on! That means they CAN'T mistake whether they're getting water from the clean source or not. Everything from the faucet will be clean!

My third shock was that since they were making one unit for us, they figured it was just as easy to make TWO for us. Two filtration systems!

And by my fourth shock, I was in tears - Dave and his associates donated these state-of-the-art filters to our orphanage. They wouldn't let us pay for them. He said, "People are aware of what you're trying to do and the cost is all covered." Whoever Dave's "people" are; Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!

Turns out that Dave and his partner had just completed another new design for a home filtration system and their manufacturer was working on the prototypes when I called him initially. You can't even buy these yet. And Hope for Little Angels in Haiti is getting some of the first units.

With clean water, the illness at the orphanage will decrease. With clean water, other children will be spared the fate of Ellie and Gracie. With clean water, the orphanage's limited funds can be redirected to other items because they don't have to deal with the complications of unclean water and they don't have to buy water for the children to drink.

Our thanks and gratitude to Dave, the people at Seychelle Environmental Technologies and our unknown angels that paid for all of this. Thank you for helping us save and change lives.

We Don't Realize How Blessed We Are...

Shot in the Arm

The day before the surgery was kind of a rough one for me. We didn't know until the doctor arrived Thursday morning that he was doing the "big" surgery and cutting me open, so a lot of my stress was the unknown about what was actually going to happen on Thursday and what they were going to find.

I told Brent I was stressed and he said, 'Then you need to go out to the blog and watch the videos of Nathan. That will brighten any day!"

He's right. It does.

I have one last video of Nathan and thought I'd post it today - for mostly selfish reasons. I kinda overdid it yesterday and I'm suffering for it today.

This video was taken within 30 minutes of meeting Nathan. We're still at the orphanage, and we stepped outside to where it was more quiet so we could get some time with him.

I LOVE HIS EYEBROWS at the beginning of this. It's a sliver of insight into the personality in this little man. He's such a happy, content, dynamic little spirit.

In the Haitian culture, they don't cut a child's hair until they're a year old. Nathan has some random braids that the Aunties at the O have put in to try to control his mane. That's what you can see sticking out in places.

Enjoy! And I recommend a big dose of "Nathan" if you're ever having a bad day.

Brent's Fortune Tellers

Brent's getting quite a little collection of fortune cookie fortunes that seem appropriate. He's been taping them inside his wallet so he can be reminded.

From just before we got the referral for Lexi and Nathan:

"Children's laughter, so beautiful to hear, soon will be a chance to have them
very near."

From just days after we found out we were accepted to get Lexi and Nathan:

"A new chapter in your life is being written."

and then from Tuesday of this week....

"Your ability to love will help a child in need."

Singing By Myself

Nathan sings and coos and babbles all the time. Of course, as soon as we started filming him, he stops, but you get a glimpse of the happy, content little baby he is.

This is Nathan sitting on Daddy's lap while we're in the hotel room (you can see the American TV show in the background! We enjoy "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe and the Discovery Channel in general.)

He has a little crooked smile toward the end (after Brent blows on him) that just turns me to a pile of goo every time I see it!

I'm also in love with his lips. :)




That's our boy!!

Ties That Bind

I took all sorts of toys to Haiti, hoping to be able to play with Lexi. I had no idea she was sick until we got there. She didn't want to LOOK at the toys, let alone play with them. I can't blame her. With everything her little body was going through (parasites, worms, ringworm, scabies....) she was exhausted and just wanted to rest.


I had purchased a little necklace and bracelet made out of brightly colored wooden beads. I had envisioned that she'd like to wear them and "dress up". She cried the day I tried to put them on her. And the next day when I tried again. It broke my heart that we couldn't play at all. I wanted her to have some pleasant memory of Mommy and Daddy.


The next to last day, I was holding her and rocking her when an idea struck me. I reached over and picked up the necklace and looped it twice around my own wrist. Then I set my wrist back down where she could see it and waited for a minute or two. Then I reached over for the bracelet and held it out to her. She lifted up her little arm and held it out for me to put the bracelet on. It was OK to wear it if Mommy was doing it as well. At least, that's how I chose to view it.



So, I still wear this bracelet. It reminds me of my daughter and I hope she's still wearing hers, 2800 miles away in Haiti.


I love you, Lexi. I hope we'll soon have happy memories together.

Why Mommy and Daddy Must Return to Haiti... SOON!!

I don't know that I need to say more....

My kids are my happy thought!

Hang in there, Lexi.

My Little Man

My little boy babbles, coos, dimples, sings, yodels, drools, grins, giggles and is generally just plain happy.

Given how sick Lexi has been it was a total blessing to have such a happy, cheerful, content little man. He and Daddy are deeply tied to each other now. He likes to touch Daddy's goatee when Daddy gives him a bottle. He loves Daddy to tickle him, play with him, or just plain hold him.

I hope I can hold onto how his soft, baby-fine ringlets feel when you stroke his head.

I want to remember the depths of the softness of his cheeks,

the squishy little rolls of nourished babyhood on his little thighs,

the crooked, blinking, lazy little smile he gives when he first wakes up or is almost asleep,

the way he starts to panic when Best Friend Thumb gets stuck in his blanket,

the strength he already has in his back and legs,

the perfectly stacked little corkscrews of his beautiful, black hair,

his dimples that he flashes most often for his Daddy,

his sparkling, bright, black almond eyes.

The first two nights we were home, Mommy would hear a noise and find herself jumping awake and feeling around on the bed for the child that needed comforting. I was actually disoriented when neither of you were there.

Our last night in Haiti, as he was putting Nathan to bed, Daddy broke down and said, "Daddy's going to miss you something terrible, Little Man. You are definitely someone special."

Mommy loves you, too, Little Man.

Come home soon.

All Because of You...

We're the first group of American families to adopt from this orphanage. Nadia (the woman that runs the orphanage) has had a lot of children adopted to French families, but she was just recently approved to do American adoptions.

Apparently, the French families don't bring donations to the orphanage when they come. They just come get their children.

She was completely floored with all the donations we sent. There was over 650 lbs total in clothes, diapers, formula, books, crayons, etc. She could not believe that we would do that for her.

The women from our agency (Wasatch International Adoptions) had taken their teenage daughters down to help with some of the things that needed to be done. The first thing the girls did was dress all the little boys in boy clothes. You can't be picky about the 'sex of clothing' when you don't have much to choose from. They also pinned outfits together so they'd know which items were a set. :)

We also had a good amount of cash to give her - donated by you all. Wasatch's coordinators gave it to her on our last day and just told her it was from people and companies that wanted to show their support for what she was doing. When she opened the envelope and saw how much was there, she started to scream, "Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!"

You all are the reason that we were able to do anything. All your support and contributions have made a permanent impact on those children. All those items make one less thing that Nadia has to worry about and one more opportunity for her to spend resources on other needed items.

There's still so much they need. We need to try to figure out a way to get a generator for her. The orphanage doesn't have power all the time and they're in a blackout every other night (literally). Can you imagine 45 kids and no power?? We also need a laptop to assist with getting pictures and paperwork on their end for adoptions.

The agency is going back down in April (they try to go down about every 3 months) so we'll continue gathering items to send down with them at that time.

Thank you again for loving our kids!

The Path Will Be Made Clear

We've had a great day at the Rosenlof's. We've had more wonderful things dropped off from good friends and neighbors. Cris and Bri, you spoil us. Miss Brinn, Lexi will LOVE the bunny you picked out for her. Thank you so much, sweetheart!

I spent the bulk of the evening repacking and prioritizing what we have been given. I smell a Gospel principle coming...There's something to be said for taking stock of what you have and recognizing in the process what you've been given. And then being grateful for it.

With some rearranging and not too much repriorizing, we were able to get more items in fewer suitcases. It was literally a blessing (thanks Nate and Rob). The peace you brought to our home and the promise of my stress being lifted was immediately manifest. It's amazing how much space you can save by rearranging how you squish the kid's diapers into the suitcases. I fit all 50 teddy bears that Mom R's ward made for the kids in a smaller suitcase WITH a bunch of other toys. It's like an entire suitcase of joy! (and a couple of sheets, thanks Teri.) :) Things just really came together.

We got our last minute papers notarized. While in Haiti we hope to be able meet with the US Immigration (called USCIS now - they're under the Department of Homeland Security these days). If our paper work is right and if that meeting goes well then we can be granted permission for USCIS to do the search for Lexi and Nathan's birthparents simultaneously to the Haitian ISBER process. (the normal process is that the US Government waits until Haiti has spent their year going through things and THEN they go out and attempt to locate the birth parents in a country where people don't have phones, emails or homes in many cases. They'll spend a lot of time trying to track them down and then bring them into PAP for an interview with USCIS. Our government wants to know that the parents know their children are gone forever when they're adopted. The birth parents can change their mind at that point and we really don't want that to happen.) Anyway, if this is approved for us then we don't have to have an additional US wait at the end of this already long process - we can do "concurrent enrollment", as it were, and have both governments working simultaneously. Novel idea, eh?

My whole world is going to change in 36 hours. Leavin'.... on a jet plane.... Brent admitted that he's nervous that Lexi won't like him. I can't imagine how any child couldn't love having Daddy Brent. I think one snuggle and they'll be stuck on each other. I've seen many a baby snuggle into him and just be content in his arms.

I was reminded tonight that there's a purpose to everything that happens. There are reasons that we've been married for 10 years and haven't been able to have children. There are reasons that we've been working on adoption in one form or another for 6-8 years and nothing's happened yet. I was reminded that God is aware of us and that we're doing the right thing. The big reason nothing's happened yet is that my little Nathan is only 4 months old. We wouldn't have him if anything had worked previously. I can only begin to catch a glimpse of how much our lives are going to change; begin to fathom how much our lives, as a family, are about to start.
Melissa tells me that her Haitian children just kept patting her hair and her face - so many different textures that are unfamiliar. Just a few more hours until I can officially feel like a mom, and a "Mama Blanc" at that.

We're coming, Lexi and Nathan. We're coming.

And the Beat Goes On...

Thanks to my friend who pointed out that you couldn't leave comments with the previous settings. That's now been fixed. Feel free to comment away!!

I started my new job today. It's a very calm environment and I'm really looking forward to it. So far I'm just going to be learning how they do things, but I think it's a really good fit.

There's a woman that I work with now who is also a "dog person". I was talking to her about her dogs and she showed me a picture. One of her pooches is named "Lexi" and I was able to say, "Oh, that's my daughter's name." Unless you've been trying for 10 years to have children, you may not ever know exactly how awesomely cool it was to say that.

The Brown cousins brought down a bunch of cloth diapers today. These girls have saved the money as a family and decided to give it to our orphanage. We're so grateful and we know it will be put to good use.

My aunt, who is on a retirement income, sent us a nice check today for our orphanage. Grandma R's ward has made dozens of little fleece teddy bears. We picked up a bunch of those today and she also gave us money for the kids. We're overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for our kids. Can't wait to post pictures when we get back. We hope you'll be as in love with all their beautiful faces as we are.

We found out today we have one more available suitcase to fill from one of our group members. Our luggage runneth over! We were starting to think we'd have to put some of this aside until the next trip in April. Yeah for empty suitcases!

I recently had one of those "you never know who is watching you" experiences. My friend told me that she overheard her 7 yr old daughter playing with her little friend. They were making decorations out of beads. The other girl said, "What do you do with these when you're done?" And Sara said, "Give them to someone special." and the friend said, 'Like who?" and Sara said, 'Like Lori".

I share that because it reminds me that you never know who you're impacting. Even all our friends and family that are donating to our kids. It's not just the kids that are impacted by their love and generosity - they don't know these children and their future parents and siblings, etc, etc. But they're reaching out to Make these children's lives more comfortable, safe, secure and healthy. That isn't something you can put a price on and, unfortunately, it's not an opportunity that comes along every day. It's been a beautiful opportunity to see the genuine goodness of our neighbors, friends and family. We are so privileged to be able to participate in this.

Thank you, Lexi and Nathan, for needing us as much as we need you.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Haiti!!

The MD released Brent to travel today! He said with antibiotics, sufficient pain meds, etc. he should be able to travel. I wish you could have seen the big grin on his face when the doctor said it was OK. I'm so thrilled! It's made my whole day! We'll have to be careful because he still can't lift too much and he can't stand or walk for very long. But we'll be together as a family.

It's been an amazing day for another reason. If you haven't read the blog post from November 27th called "KohlBabySweetStars" you'll want to read that before you finish this. I received the following email today from Kohl's mommy, Clarissa:

"I just thought you would like to know that I was having a conversation with Kohl this morning about this little black boy that he says, "lives really far away".
"Him is 4 yrs. old like me", and "him has no hair". He also apparently eats lots of "ice cream".
"Him has a baby sister", and she has no hair, and she is "really little".
"He was a great boy." said Kohl.
Well, I had your blog pulled up because I was reading it, and I pulled Kohl up on my lap to show him the picture of Lexi and Nathan. He said with real, sincere excitement, "Hey, that's the girl I saw with no hair!" (meaning Nathan)
I thought that was really cool. And Kohl has been known for getting boys and girls confused based on their hair. (for example, the little boy from Jungle Book......Kohl thinks he is a girl because he has long hair)
I honestly think Kohl knew Lexi from Heaven. I thought you would enjoy that.
Cliss"

I do believe that children are closer to God than the rest of us (thus "out of the mouths of babes"). I also believe these are OUR kids. We just knew when we saw their pictures. They were the first referral we received and we really didn't ned to go any further. We've moved pretty confidently forward since we found them, with the feeling that this was right and it would all work out in the end.

Thank you again, KohlBabySweetStars, for reminding me to LISTEN and for being sure about what you know. I'm so excited for you, BabyPrincessPaige and Lexi and Nathan to play together.

Let's hope that it's not in 2 years ('cause that's when she'll be "4 years old like you")!






(Kohl in 2005 wearing some PJs I brought back for him from Singapore. He's such a cute little bug!)