Rachel's Ballet Recital

Enjoy Grandma's! : )

The Berg Sans Nipple

Jesse's brother, Shane is in a band called "The Berg Sans Nipple". They were in town on Memorial Day touring. Jesse & his other brother, Matt were able to go to the concert. (I unfortunately missed out...wish I could've gone, but had to stay home with Rachel) Shane is an INCREDIBLE drummer! Jesse & I saw him about a year ago, when he was playing drums for 'Bright Eyes' on their tour. He is amazing :)

Anyway thought I would let you hear a little for yourselves.



If you want more go to their myspace page.

or buy their album here.

Here's a picture of the 3 brothers... It's amazing how much they look alike, isn't it! : )

Our 7th Anniversary

Jesse & I celebrated our 7th anniversary on Saturday. I can't tell you enough of how lucky I am to be married to such a great man. Here are 7 things that I love about him.... (in no particular order)

1. He's the most honest man I've ever met
2. He gives the world's best back massages!
3. He loves God
4. He's a great dad! (Just ask Rachel!)
5. He's Thoughtful...for example he always puts the toilet seat down! (since we have been married he has not once left it up!)
6. He's a hard worker (at whatever he is doing)
7. He is always thinking of how he can show others God's love

I could go on and on, but most of you know how great Jesse is anyway! (told you I was lucky)

Last night he surprised me by taking me away for the night. He had his brother, Matt (who by the way is living with us for the summer) watch Rachel, and then we went to downtown D.C.


He had booked a room at the Grand Hyatt...really nice! He had planned to go to dinner at a restaurant along the Potomac River, but right around 7pm it started to pour, so we decided to go to an indoor restaurant instead. : ) We went to a great Irish Pub, The Dubliner. It was so nice to be able to have a nice, LONG dinner! We sat there just talking for at least 2 hours. (the little things you enjoy after having kids)


Then we headed down to the Mall to look at some of the monuments at night. They are beautiful!





Needless to say we had a wonderful time. Thank you God for giving me such a perfect other half! : )

Embarrassing Song At McDonald's

See how good we are at discipling the youth in our church!?

Homestudy Woes

One of the first things to get done in the adoption process is your homestudy. We set up our first of three homestudy meetings back in the middle of March. We were told at that time that it would be 3 meetings, 1 per week, and then 3 weeks to write up the homestudy. Well here we are 10 weeks later since the first meeting and still no homestudy.

We expected things not to go completely smoothly, but it has been frustrating the last couple of weeks. The main reason we are in a hurry about this is that the Ethiopian courts close for the months of August and September, and we wanted to try to get things done before the closure. We really needed to have our homestudy in by May 1st in order for this to happen. I had talked with our social worker about it, and she said that should be no problem. So after not getting it a week after May 1st, I gave her a call, and asked where she was in the process, and she told me that she was just starting to write it and would have it done by Friday, May 11th.

I was out of town that week, so I was annoyed to find that once I got back she still hadn't sent it. I called her on Friday at 5:45pm, and she got really annoyed with me that I was calling her then, and all she said was that she would talk to me Monday. So today when I talked with her she said she had it done! I'm still waiting to get the email with it, but I am so glad that this part is basically done.

Now our agency and us look it over, and make any changes if needs be. Then we get finalized, notarized copies from her, and send them to the US government to get their approval, which can take up to 9 weeks.... aghhh a lot of waiting! The other copy eventually goes to the Ethiopian government. More on that later. : )

Pictures From Our Trip

We are back. Our trip went fairly good, but of course after any trip, I'm exhausted. : ) Here are some pics for your enjoyment.

Rachel & I in Minnesota:



Uncle Bob & Aunt Liz with Rachel at the sculpture garden:



Rachel's favorite sculpture:



Rachel with her 2nd cousins, Megan & Micheal:



Grandma Frey and Rachel riding the carousel...pure joy!

We Are Off....

Rachel & I are leaving tomorrow for a week long trip to visit my grandmothers. First we fly to St. Paul, Minnesota. We'll be staying with my Aunt & Uncle, and be visiting with my Grandma Zilen. Then I head down to Iowa to meet up with my Grandma Frey. We then head straight to Missouri. My cousin's wife is graduating from college, so we are going down for that. We'll be there for a couple of days and then drive back up to Iowa where I'll spend a couple of days before my flight leaves on Wednesday. I am looking forward to spending some time with my grandma's. They both are getting older, and I treasure all the time I can get with them!

***Adoption update: I talked with our social worker today, and she said she was writing our homestudy now, and should have it done by the end of the week! We are getting anxious!

Eating Ethiopian

We tried Ethiopian food for the first time the other night with Tamara & Brian. It's pretty spicy, so luckily since we are used to Sri Lankan food, it wasn't too bad for us. Unfortunately Rachel didn't like it, but we'll have to try some other things next time we go.


For those who have never gone, I'll try to explain what it's like. There is a big plate brought out with injera covering the plate. Injera is kind of like a big crepe. It's their type of bread, but Jesse thinks it's some kind of potato product as well. It's really spongy.... it's interesting. Not bad, but not that great either. On top of the Injera they put different garnishes on it, and then you order different types of meat or veggies. We tried a chicken dish, beef dish, and a lamb dish. We all liked the lamb dish the best, with the beef dish coming in a close second. The chicken dish was okay, but not as flavourful as the other two. You use the injera to pick up the meat and garnishes...no silverware. Again that wasn't a too big deal for us, b/c of our experience in Sri Lanka. It was fun to get a little taste of the culture, and we are both happy that we like the food! : )