Surprises

Our wonderful friends, Christy and Eli, sent Sabrina this adorable dress for her birthday!

To make it extra fun it arrived on my birthday! Christy traveled to Ethiopia with

us. It is a crazy kind of bond that forms. Christy and Eli will always be very special to

our family. Thanks for the package!

I finally got a video of her walking to post. So, here she is walking!

Only Scott

Yes, we have 100 baby quail in our garage. Apparently we will raise them here, then at our cabin, and then release them at our cabin. (About 75 miles from our home.)

Sand Lake, MN

Along time ago, when I was just a little girl, my family went to Sand Lake for vacation with the Gerdes family. Some thirty or so years later Matt Gerdes and I brought our families back to Sand Lake with our newly adopted little girls.

Our weather wasn't great this year, but we had a nice time just chillin'. The last night we went on a great boat ride. Thank you, mom and dad for the boat. It felt like home. (And it felt amazing to slalom one week shy of my 43rd birthday!)

Sabrina driving the boat with Daddy.

Not bad, huh?

The whole gang. Unfortunately, Jake was unable to come due

to his work schedule.

Back row: Scott, Diane, Matt, Elke, Anna

Front row: Conner, Noelle, Sabrina, Tyler

They had a great stash of miscellaneous bikes available.

This was Noelle's ride for the week. Awesome.

Two bathing beauties!

We got to meet up with some friends from our Madison days.

We figure it had been about 14 years since we had seen each other.

Great fun! P.S. They have 10 kids! And brought them all

to meet us. Louisa and Noelle had a great time. Thanks

Jeremy for coming even though you didn't want to!

Bowling in Deer River. With the great weather, we also went to a

movie and consignment shopping.

This is in Grand Rapids at the logging museum.

Noelle needed a break from all of us, and spent her

time building this great fort out of Lincoln logs.

Wow, nice picture of me. Ouch! Anyway, this is in the logger

potty. I would have fallen in for sure!

This beach stuff is hard work. Though she is just imitating

Noelle, not sleeping.

I love this picture. It was taken the first night. It was too

cold for swimsuits, but Sabrina loves the water.

Thanks Gerdes for a great week and lots of memories!

Sabrina is 2!!

November 24, 2008

Sabrina is finally in our arms!

June 24, 2009

Sabrina turns two!!

She loves music and singing. We went kayaking in Minnesota and I think I sang "I caught myself a baby bumble bee" a couple hundred times. She kept saying "more".

She is walking pretty well now. I am trying to get a video to post. She is still very bowlegged and fairly tentative. She still will scoot or crawl if she thinks that is easier or more expedient.

Sabrina and Anna (adopted from Korea, Sept. 08)

She couldn't stop talking long enough for a picture. She loves to talk and has an incredible vocabulary. We really wanted a Barney cake but couldn't find one. And momma was not sure about making one. She has a Barney DVD that she loves to watch.

Sabrina has enriched our lives in amazing ways. I cannot imagine having missed out on knowing and loving this little girl. God's plans are so much better than ours. She is a ray of light all the time.

Sabrina,

I love you more than you will ever know.

Zeituna, thank you so much for this incredible

sacrifice and gift of allowing me to raise

this amazing little girl.

We will do everything in our power to raise her

to love Jesus and to keep her safe.

My heart is so full, words escape me.

much love,

mommy

Brunette?!

Yes, this is the same little girl with the strawberry blonde hair. For her birthday she decided she wanted to be a brunette. So with some birthday money, and help from mom, that is what happened. It truly looks great. It brings out her beautiful blue eyes and somehow balances her amazing freckles that she loves so much!

My baby!

Happy Birthday, Jake!! I am so late doing this post. Jake turned 17 on the 17th!! Jacob Boone Larson was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He was born 3-5 weeks early depending on which original date you use. We were so not ready...no car seat, unpainted nursery, etc. Besides being jaundice, no preemie problems. He was 7#, 9 ounces! He would have been one big baby. (I have a sister that was 11#, 1 ounce, so it was possible!) Jake was the only grandchild on both sides for four years until his sister was born. Spoiled? Something about that first baby, he will always be my baby!! Even if he is 6'3"!

I cannot figure out how to flip this picture. But it was an amazing day. We lived in Madison and we went to the farmer's market. I think Scott's sister, Rachel took this picture.

At mom and dad's cabin. May, 1999, just before he turned 7.

Rock climbing at REI in Denver. I don't know if you can see his amazing hair cut. He saw this picture and questioned my sanity, but it was definitely his idea! 2003

Another picture I couldn't flip. Birthday mini golf, 11th birthday.

Family vacation out west. It was so fun. This is in the Badlands, South Dakota. Note the broken arm. 2006

It was so fun watching Jake pitch!

Entering 9th grade, so handsome!

Some of my favorite memories of Jake are on missions trips. This trip was with Scott. They went to Thailand to help rebuild after the tsunami. Keep that heart for others, Jake!

Sorry for you non-hunters. Scott and Jake love to hunt together.

This is the famous Jake pose!

He wasn't so sure he wanted a little sister from Africa, but he sure loves her now!! He barely fits on that slide, but they sure have fun.

I love you, buddy!!

More projects

This may not look like much. This is the view from our deck. Until Saturday it was dirt and weeds. It was so shady under those bushes that not even grass could grow. We cut down the two end bushes, to the left in the photo. We weeded, put in a brick edging, planted hostas and ginger, and mulched it all! The exciting part was that we didn't even have to buy any plants. One of Scott's buddies brought some over and we divided many of our own hostas. Our back door neighbors were so happy that we were cleaning up their view that they brought us homemade cookies while we worked!