Katrina + 2

Although we weren't here for Katrina, it has greatly affected our lives - in a way she brought us here. Our lives and ministry often revolve around the post-Katrina Gulf Coast either in disaster assistance or just hearing the stories of our friends who were here two years ago.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has put together great video highlighting the work they are doing on the Gulf Coast. It's nice to be reminded of all that IS being done and who is getting it done (church volunteer groups) when you hear so much in the media of what hasn't been done.

Oh yeah, and my handsome and brilliant husband is featured in it! Go Scott!

Tyler is a Brownie!

Tyler just signed up to be a Brownie (Girl Scout) and we had our first activity at Lowe's to build an herb planter. Here she is with her friend Grace.



I'm pretty excited to have something going on for the two of us to do. With her in school now I'm getting a lot of boy time but not nearly as much time with her. We have a camp day, a day at Stennis Space Center, a tour of the fire station, and lots more to look forward to this year! Oh, yeah, and cookies!!

Tate getting around

Still not walking but Tate is awfully fast at getting around. We recently watched him climb up the ladder to the top level of our playground - exciting but not all at once! Here's a clip of him getting around on the cement - when the ground is rough on his knees he resorts to hands and feet. Soon we should be showing some clips of a walking Tate - he's starting to take some experimental steps.

Eben on his bike

Not a lot of time to post but I at least wanted to put out this video of Eben on his bike. He's had it for one month now and is so confident on it (as you can tell). We've started going out in the mornings to a park and he makes four laps on the track with me.



Eben's bike is called a foot, run or balance bike. His is from Kinderbike. It is a regular kid's bike without the pedals. So they use their feet to move and to balance. It makes for an easy transition to a big bike without the training wheels. The idea is pretty popular in Europe and we were turned on to it by some of our European friends in Princeton.

First Grade!

Tyler is in the middle of her first week of first grade. She's loving her teacher and some of the new freedoms she's allowed as a first grader - choosing her own seat, trading food at lunch, microwaving her own food, etc. We're pretty excited about her teacher who is very friendly. So, here's the bigggest difference: last year at this time, we were having tearful goodbyes where I would hug and kiss Tyler five times as I dropped her off and she would look at me with eyes full of tears as I drove away doubting our decision to start kindergarten early. Now, even from the first day, she hops out, often without a hug and kiss and is off. We really miss her at home (especially Eben) but it's also been nice to have some time alone with Eben while Tate naps and more moments of quiet in the house. My favorite part is how excited Eben and Tyler are to see eachother after a day apart. The give big hugs and play so much better together now that they aren't with eachother all day. And so, another year begins!

Lightning Strikes

This afternoon we had a major storm and apparently lightning struck our house or, at least, near it. Our AC (my favorite of all utilities) shorted out, our computer's ethernet fried, our TV is done for and our new washing machine is at least partially fried.

I always figured the idea that lightning could fry your TV was part myth - it's not!

What would you do?

My wonderful daughter very lovingly made lunch for me today! She's really into cooking right now - she loves Food Network and likes to experiment with ingredients, etc. Sounds great but today it didn't go so well! She spent about 10 minutes making a sandwich for me and before taking a bite I asked her what she'd put in it. Her ingredients included: ham, bbq sauce, honey and gorgonzola cheese. Because she'd worked so hard to surprise me I was determined at least to try it. I took a bite and COULD NOT swallow it. It was just too much. So I chickened out and spit it out and tried to praise her for a good try!

White Tiger

Wanted to share this fun video of the white tiger at the Dallas Zoo. It was a really fun zoo with lots of neat "windows" into the animals' areas. We got really close to a family of chimps and this white tiger.

Everything's big in Texas!

We just got back from a great trip to Dallas, TX to meet up with our seminary friends. We had 18 people in the Walkers' 3-bedroom house - people sleeping everywhere, tons of food consumed, assembly line-type baths for the kids, late nights of Cranium and so many laughs! It was so great to see the big kids pick up right where they left off - Tyler, Michaela and Lorelei playing "beauty parlor" together, staying up late at night, wearing matching outfits - and the younger ones starting new memories and making new friends - Eben delighted in Arden!

Christina is four weeks away from her due date but opened her house to all of us. We had meals together again and when all of us adults sat down at the table together I started to cry (Literally! Yes, me!) It was just surreal that it had actually happened - we'd all ended up in the same place, sitting down together again! We celebrated Brandy's birthday, went swimming, the guys played golf (Scott retaining the "green jacket"), the girls went to dinner and out shopping, we made a big family trip to the zoo and a couple trips to the park. All said and done, it hurt to say goodbye again but I was so glad we were already talking about what to do next year!