The Wright Family

Emma & Drew dancing in the kitchen

2011-07-15T12:57:00.001-04:00

Andrew's 1st day of preschool

2010-09-08T21:39:00.003-04:00

Preschool doesn't even start until 9am and at about 8am Andrew was ready to get in the car and go to his 1st day of preschool. Sooooo excited!

No I didn't make him wear the Florida Gators shirt and shorts. He's a smart boy and did that all on his own :-)

Emma's 1st Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-25T14:00:00.006-04:00

Emma did amazing. She was so excited! Think it's going to be more of an adjustment for Mama than it will be for Emma.

"My little girl is growing up. Can't believe this day is already here."

Talking to grandparents on the way to school.

Emma's teacher, Mrs. Williams

Mrs. Ladd - teacher assistant

The Smart Board is so cool.

Definitely a step up from the 'ole projector and transparencies I'm used to.

Emma is making her lunch choice.

She dragged her name over to "brought lunch" using her finger.

The other option on the board is chicken nuggets in the cafeteria.

"How are you getting home?"

Emma wrote her name on the car b/c Mommy is coming to pick her up after school

There are a total of 8 kids in Emma's class, Emma and Baileigh are the only two girls.

Easter 2010 Photos

2010-04-06T22:05:00.004-04:00

Easter Sunday Morning

Easter Egg Hunt - Saturday April 3rd

Zoo - Friday, April 2nd

Hanging out with Mason & Austin - Wednesday March 31st

November 2009 Family Photos

2009-11-28T17:03:00.008-05:00

Barbie would write something cute about each photo, but I'm just putting the photos out there for viewing. Hope you enjoy!

Brad, Andrew, Mamo K., Barbie, Paul, Papo K., and Emma

Andrew was a giggle monster.

Our beautiful girl!

Our family!

My beautiful girl

2009-11-15T14:25:00.000-05:00

Snowhite and Spiderman

2009-11-15T13:31:00.010-05:00

Halloween Preschool Parties

Emma's Class

Emma getting candy and a hug from Pastor Bill

Andrew's class

GVBC Fall Festival - Oct 31, 2009

Emma is saving Pastor Johnny's seat

Counting his loot

It's so difficult to get a good family picture these days :-)

Yeah, I know, real original. I dressed up as, ME. A Florida Gator nurse.
Thank you for the scrubs, Dad.
I may not be allowed to wear them at work, but I'm putting them to good use.

GO Gators!

Football fun in the backyard

2009-09-23T22:23:00.005-04:00

Andrew is all into football right now. He loves to tackle and thankfully Emma is a tough girl. Andrew will tackle her and she just giggles. We got the kids a football tee and they've been kicking footballs from it. (Go Gators!)

Meeting Opa, Oma, & Grandma - Sept 5, 2009

2009-09-23T22:17:00.002-04:00

Mmmm. Cracker Barrel

What do you think?

2009-09-23T22:12:00.003-04:00

Bored, Unsupervised, or Decorating?

1st day of Preschool - Sept 2, 2009

2009-09-23T21:49:00.004-04:00

They were both so excited to go to school again!

Emma is going M-F from 9-12 this year. Her teachers are Mrs. Tiffany (our pastor's wife) and Mrs. Angie D (a good friend of ours from church).

Andrew is going M, W, F, 9a-12p this year.
His teachers are Mrs. Angie B. and Mrs. Patti.

July 09 Vacation

2009-07-30T20:45:00.008-04:00

Here are some photos from our trip to Florida. This was a combination trip in that we went to our youth group reunion from First Baptist Church Orlando and a great time with Barbie's parents. Enjoy!

Daddy uses the "weetereater"

2009-05-26T00:17:00.004-04:00

Snuggle Monster and Tickle Monster - 5/21/09

2009-05-26T00:11:00.004-04:00

Snuggle Monster

Tickle Monster

Good Nap

Andrew's New Motorcycle Bike

2009-05-25T23:27:00.008-04:00

5/14/09

Putting together his motorcycle bike

Vroom. Vroom. I'm riding my new motorcycle bike. Vroom. Vroom.

Tucker Farm

2009-05-25T22:54:00.005-04:00

Emma went with her Preschool Class to a field trip to Tucker Farm to learn more about horses. Emma and Mommy had a good time.

Petting and Brushing the horse.

This is what hay feels like.

Mrs. Christy - one of Emma's preschool teachers

Video of Emma's horse carriage ride with Marly and Mrs. Livie

PDSSN Spring Event - May 2, 2009

2009-05-25T22:12:00.005-04:00

Sweet pix of Emma and Pastor Johnny

Video of Emma doing a somersault before she goes down the inflatable slide

Picking Strawberries

2009-05-25T20:52:00.010-04:00

I apologize it's been so long since we've blogged. I hate that it seems like we blog once per month, if that. You don't want to know how many pictures I have in my "to be sorted" folder. Well, atleast I'm taking the pictures, right?

We also recently went strawberry picking at Hedgecocks. Mmmm. So sweet. We actually may go a second time here in May or early June before the season ends. Unfortunately the kids aren't quite into it yet. They picked a couple and left the rest up to Barbie. Barbie never picked strawberries as fast as she did that day with it just being her and the kids. They were learning to only pick the red ones, not the green ones.

We came back to the house to wash and eat. Yes, the red shirt on Emma and dark shirt on Andrew were on purpose.

What we have been doing lately...

2009-04-27T23:08:00.007-04:00

We're singing in the rain...

It's a lot more fun for the kids when the gutters are more full of running water :-)

Emma decided during nap time the other day that she was going to undress, put on a new pair of underwear, and proceed to empty three drawers full of clothes into her chair.

Andrew likes that we write his name on his sippy cup. I was unaware that he got a hold of the black sharpie and decided to write his name all by himself.

Well, Andrew finally had the courage to sit on a motorcycle. He is all about motorcycles, but whenever he was given the chance to sit on one he got scared and wouldn't do it. Our neighbor across the street owns a couple motorcycles. Brian actually turned it on and Andrew still stayed on. He loves his new sunglasses too.

If you don't know already, Andrew has an extreme love for motorcycles right now. Should we thank Uncle Arthur or Uncle Travis? Our neighbor across the street owns some motorcycles and has been very welcoming.

April 10-12, 2009

2009-04-12T21:38:00.012-04:00

Papo and Mamo came to visit us for Easter Weekend!

It was a little windy, but we had a great time at the annual Easter Egg Hunt.

Our senior pastor, the Rev. DOCTOR! Bill ColemanPapo helped us plant some flowers on Saturday morning. Dahlia, Zinnia, and Gerber Daisies were some of Mommy's favorites.

Papo & Mamo took us to Olive Garden! Mmmmm, pasta!

Easter Sunday at church!

I am so proud of both Emma and Andrew. They are both enjoying music so much. I love how they both want to sing, play the guitar, and play their piano with Mommy. They also enjoy the drums. Andrew usually plays the bongo drums while Mommy is practicing with the praise team on Sunday mornings. We'll see what their love for music turns into.

Brad. Always so serious.

Fun at the park.

Annual Family Photos

2009-01-24T16:36:00.005-05:00

More on our Malawi, Africa Mission Trip - June 2008

2009-01-13T20:14:00.025-05:00

Some friends reminded us this week that we have not finished posting our blog about our Malawi Mission Trip that was now several months ago. In fact, we posted the "fun" parts of the trip, and so some people began wondering if we actually just took a really great vacation! For all the jet lag we endured, I promise you not every bit of London was fun! This trip was packed with so many stories and experiences as well as amazing pictures that it has just taken some time to get it all blogged out. It is important enough to us to share how God blessed us during this trip and how often he gave us the privilege to share His Gospel. Some whom we shared with were already Christians and we were able to encourage them, but some were hearing the Gospel for the very first time.

Anyway, once we finished our traveling and the game drive experience, which was incredible, we then proceeded to do what God had given us opportunity to do: present the Gospel in the village. The drive every day was a little over an hour if you count the 2 stops at road blocks each time. Sometimes people get a bit fearful when you mention there were armed guards at these gates, but it wasn't really a serious thing (unless you are taking pictures of them, Barbie!!!!).

So, along the way to the village we would stop and pick up our translators (see the photo below). These are mostly college-age interpreters we had all week with us. Then we would go to the village and meet Abusa (Pastor) Blackson to disperse into the village to walk and simply meet people and present the Gospel. Some houses would simply have 3 or 4 people, while some areas would gather as many as 50 to hear the "azungu" (white person) talk. The response to the simple message of Jesus was astounding.

Mat & Janet Lawrence - IMB Missionaries we worked with there
The first couple times we went to the village we went in pairs along with an interpreter. Daniel and Barbie were together the first day. One of the first families we shared with is in the picture below. When Daniel and I approached them, the man was laying down on the mat. He wasn't feeling well that day. So, we were directly speaking to his mother (the woman in the picture). Near the end of our sharing, he sits up and desires to accept Christ. After he did he said that he felt better. You never know who's listening.

Brad, Barbie, Pastor Blackson, and Brad's translator had the opportunity to share to a copule men making a mat in the middle of the woods.

Below are pictures of numerous other ministry opportunities God gave us:

The choir from Abusa (Pastor) Blackson's church randomly formed one day and started singing for us.

A group Brad and I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with

Every day while groups went out evangelizing through the villages two team members stayed behind to teach bible stories to the children.

More Pictures of things we saw while walking through the villages.

Games & Toys

Ask Brad. He tried to learn how to play it.

A boy made this out of leaves and a stick

Emily and Rebecca taught them how to play baseball. They used a piece of sugar cane as the bat and a balled up piece of paper out of one of our notebooks for the ball.

The game is to see how fast you can roll the bike rim using your hand or a stick.

It's just amazing to me what the kids could make using what they had on hand and their imagination.
Food
(View at your own risk :-)

This was one of the meals we had at the safari. Actually the food overall at the safari was very good. Although, as you can see, they don't take the eyes out of the fish. Our driver says, "Oh, that's the best part." Couldn't do it. I'm (Barbie) not one for picking out all the little bones in the fish either, but I tried it. The fish was good, but couldn't get past the bones. We all had to cover up the fish's eye with something so we could finish our meal.

The three days we were in the villages our lunch was a typical African village meal. We ate with Pastor Blackson and the translators. Sheema (the white stuff) is kinda like grits, but more of like a hardened mashed potatoes consistency. Everything else on the plate is the garnish for the Sheema.

Barbie helping to cook the Sheema. The smoke was so abundant it was hard to breathe. My eyes wouldn't stop watering.
Eating Sugar Cane. Mmmm, so sweet.
Where they stored the corn

Good thing we weren't walking

Making Cornmeal in order to make Sheema

Babies
Barbie was taught how to wrap a baby on her back. Very neat experience! "Barbie stand up straight." It's a great way to travel. Sure wish Emma and Andrew would have done this. Actually I tried to get Andrew to do it when I got back home. Wasn't happening. These babies are taught how to do this from day one. They learn to stay still and lay on their mothers backs without anyone holding them until their mother wraps them up.

Brad was also given the opportunity to give a testimony and introduce the team at 2 different schools of about 100 children each. Again, students and teachers listened, and many indicated they were ready to accept Jesus as Savior for the first time. The important part of this process for us was connecting these new believers with the church in the village and Abusa Blackson. The follow-up and discipleship is left entirely in their hands with assistance from Mat and Janet Lawrence (the IMB missionaries in Lilongwe), but it is a crucial element that many other mission groups miss.

Pastor Blackson was translating for Brad

Children raising their hands to accept Christ!

Brad is presenting the head master and teachers of the school with a gift of one soccer ball. The school doesn't even have one soccer ball. I can just imagine the reaction in the US if someone donated only one soccer ball as a gift.

A typical classroom

Girls playing net ball

A well near the school

One night, four of us (Daniel, Emily, Barbie, and Brad) stayed after dinner in order to show the "Jesus" film in Chewa (their language). Well, you should have seen the crowd form for this event (you can see the photo below, but it doesn't really tell the whole story!). Most of these people had never seen a video or anything like what we were showing, and it was fun for us to see British actors with Chewa language coming out of their mouths. We were treated to an amazing African sunset while we were waiting to start, and it was also entertaining to see Barbie, Emily, and Mat teach the people the "Chicken Dance" and do the conga line!

Toward the end of the movie, we paused it in order for Brad to present the Gospel with the translation assistance of Abusa Blackson. We were blessed again to see many indicate they wanted to receive Christ as Savior. There is really no way to determine how many people actually accepted Christ while we were in Malawi, but we know it to be well over 100.

Where's Barbie? Can you find her :-)

This little boy was deaf and possibly mute as well. Barbie had the opportunity to speak to him in sign language some.

Setting up the screen

Brad presenting the Gospel near the end of the "Jesus Film". Ooooo, it was a cold night.

Barbie was given the unique opportunity to meet a midwife in the village, and you know she wasn't going to pass that up! Barbie and Rebecca met the midwife and spent a considerable amount of time with her. The midwife mentioned that Barbie could have helped her with a delivery the day before if she had known they were coming which, of course, made Barbie sad she had to miss out on that. She asked how much longer we'd be in town, but we were unfortunately leaving the next day. Thankfully she had been to training and had gloves and such to help protect her from the AIDS virus. Each mother coming to deliver in her home were expected to bring a blanket for the baby, a blade to cut the cord, and

While waiting for the midwife to come back from tending the field, Rebecca and I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with numerous ladies in the village while we shucked corn. Some of them remembered me dancing the night before at the "Jesus Film" presentation in their village.

After working so hard and traveling really, really bad roads for the week, we packed up our stuff and headed toward the Lilongwe Airport to say our good-byes. Along the roadside we were treated to see vendors selling "6-pack on a stick" which is a local delicacy. Actually, it's 6 mice fried and skewered, and Brad really felt it a shame that we had a flight to catch so we would not be able to enjoy more of the local cuisine. Barbie was grateful!

Emily had started feeling sick in the middle of the night before we left and was still not feeling well at the airport. Emily started to feel really ill and vomited several times. This became a very tense situation as the officials in Africa are very hesitant to allow anyone to leave who is ill. At one point, Brad thought to himself that he and Emily would be staying behind for a few days in order for her to recover, but she recovered enough to pass through security and the airline people and get on the plane. We all walked around her and Barbie nonchalantly held the plastic bag.

We were very glad to see our families and friends waiting to receive us at the Greensboro Airport after a few delays and too many hands of Spades to count. It was an amazing opportunity, and God truly blessed our efforts. We would like to thank again those who prayerfully and financially supported our efforts, and we could not have gone at all if Barbie's parents (Papo and Mamo) had not volunteered to watch Emma and Andrew for the time we were gone. Thank you to everyone!!

Home Sweet Home!

God is an amazing healer

2008-12-22T14:26:00.000-05:00

Andrew got his 8 stitches out this morning. Our friend Dave took them out at the house. THANK YOU DAVE! Andrew did well, but of course still scary for a 2 year old, so there were crocodile tears involved. It looks like it's healing well. We're going to continue putting neosporin on it until it heals completely. It's funny, looking at it now all healed up, Andrew really did hit it right along the line of his eyebrow. Thank you for everyone's prayers.

Emma

2008-12-21T22:03:00.000-05:00

Emma's Preschool CHRISTmas Party

Emma taking marshmallows off her friend's plate.
Caught on camera.

Emma was reminded all she had to do was ask for more and that we don't take things from others without asking.

Hi Daddy! Love you Daddy!

Emma taking pictures of Mommy

Look at those gorgeous God-given curls!

Mommy and Emma. I love you Emma.
Mommy & Emma have fun with the camera.

Andrew is 2 years old!!!

2008-12-21T21:34:00.000-05:00

Andrew started his birthday with breakfast and balloons.

Video at Breakfast

Party at Preschool

Video of Andrew blowing out candle at Preschool Party

Who does this remind you of? Like Father, like son.

Dinner at CiCi's. Andrew loves him some pizza.

Time to open gifts. Some gifts he opened were a motorcycle from Mrs. Stella from preschool and a helicopter from Oma & Opa. We had to remind Daddy it was Andrew's birthday (and that he could play with the helicopter after Andrew went to bed).

CAKE!
First attempt at blowing out the candle.

Harder, but no air was coming out of his mouth.
Emma as the sister helped him out.
She came over beside him and blew out the candle with him.

Video of family singing Andrew "Happy Birthday" at home

A little taste. Yummmm.

Dig in!

Emma joined in.

Our Little AWANA Cubbie

2008-12-18T14:42:00.000-05:00

We are so proud of Emma. She's been doing so well memorizing her Bible verses at AWANA. She has so much fun during music and game time. Mommy helps lead game time for all three AWANA age groups. We think she looks too cute in her little vest.

Emma finger painting with color wonder! We love color wonder!

Our Little Bruiser

2008-12-15T21:36:00.001-05:00

View pictures at your own risk...

Sunday 12/14/08 we went to church as normal. The room Andrew is in for church is the same room he goes to for preschool, so he is very familiar with it. Remind you he does hit his head alot. Remind you he is a boy. And remind you, he has some of the Adams blood in him we think. I guess all these times he's hit his head we've just been lucky all that happened was a bruise, scratch, or goose egg. Not this time.

Andrew was playing and tripped over a mat which made him hit the stairs attached to the changing table with his right eyebrow. Brad and I were in our Sunday School class at the time. We are thankful that it didn't bleed like a typical head injury bleeds because by the time we got to him it really wasn't bleeding at all.

Andrew was a trooper and did such a good job considering. We of course left church and rushed him to the ER. I showed Brad the room we were in when he burnt his hand last year. Thankfully we're not on a first name basis there yet. At times he was still smiling, wanting to sing to music, and such. Emma did so well with the whole thing. She kept consoling him saying, "shhhh, it's Ok" while stoking his arm or face. She doesn't like him crying and was so sweet taking care of him.

Our friend "Mr. Mark", our children director's husband, came to see us in the ER. He's a police officer and was working near the hospital. He came and gave the kids a sticker. So thoughtful.

Well, 8 stitches later Andrew is all back together again.
After some Hardee's and a good nap to sleep off the Versed medicine they gave him he acts like nothing ever happened. Kids are amazing.

We have to clean it and re-bandage it twice a day and then go back in 5 days to get the stitches taken out.

Everyone has been so thoughtful and considerate. Thank you for all your concerns, prayers, hugs, and phone calls.

2008-12-15T21:26:00.000-05:00

12/10/08
Emma did a good job helping Mommy with the laundry today.
She thought it was fun putting Daddy's "shorts" on.

12/6/08
The kids really got into decorating the CHRISTmas tree this year. It made it so much more fun and it got done a whole lot faster. We could barely keep up with how fast the kids would hang an ornament and go back to get another one. This year all fragile and ornaments needing a hook are at the top of the tree and all the rest in their reach are fair game. Gator our cat is also very excited about it being CHRISTmas time again. He was up in the tree even before we could get the whole tree put together.

Our kids got excited about the video camcorder. We video taped us hanging ornaments on the tree. We thought these pictures of them with the camera were cute.

Snow Time

2008-12-15T21:09:00.000-05:00

First Snowfall of the Season

Pictures Taken 11/21/08

It's cooollllddd. (Why is Daddy in shorts?)
He has a pretty good internal heater.

Thanksgiving Time

2008-12-15T20:06:00.000-05:00

Pre -Thanksgiving Preparation!!!

The kids are "helping" Mommy with the apple pie.
My helpers thought there should be more sugar and brown sugar in the apple pie this year.

The Kreuters flew in the Wed before Thanksgiving.
Then we drove to Raleigh to pick up Paul on our way to Suffolk, VA for our large family gathering at the Wrights. I love the family being together!

Emma watching Macy's Parade

Class Photos

2008-12-09T21:31:00.000-05:00

Andrew and Emma had their preschool class photos taken this Fall, so here they are in all their cuteness!

2008-12-09T21:18:00.000-05:00

Andrew went to sit on Santa's lap today. He cried a little bit when Barbie put him on Santa's lap, but he got over it. The candy cane Santa gave him made all things better! We tried to get a photo of both kids with Santa, but it just wasn't happening today.

Hanging of the Greens

2008-12-06T14:15:00.000-05:00

Every year our church has a special service to decorate for CHRISTmas. This year the kids helped out. They did such a great job! Too cute! Of course we captured it on video.

Fall Festival Time

2008-10-29T22:09:00.000-04:00

As much as we don't like some of the things associated with Halloween, we very much like dressing our kids up for preschool and the Fall Festival. Since today was preschool day, we thought we'd share our little Superman and Princess with ya'll. Of course, we couldn't keep either one still enough to get great photos of them, but we did get them outside for a couple of shots while it was still below 40 degrees. Enjoy!

Forget Joe, we've got Emma with "plumber pants"!! Poor girl has no waistline, so keeping pants up is difficult these days (especially since Mommy won't let Daddy use the duct tape!).

Malawi, Africa Mission Trip - June 6-15th

2008-08-09T20:35:00.003-04:00

Sorry it has taken us so long to get our Africa Mission Trip Update on our blog.
There is so much to tell and we want to share many of the amazing things we got to do.

Our primary mission was to tell about the truth of Jesus Christ. Who He is and what He has done in each of our lives.

As always, God blessed us first of all by providing all we needed to be able to go on this trip. He provided every last penny for both Brad and I to go and Barbie's parents stayed in NC to take care of Emma & Andrew. The kids did so great for Papo and Mamo. They weren't too spoiled when we got back :-) God gave us safe travel there and back. We bonded as a team while we were there and made numerous lasting memories that will last us all for a lifetime. The seven of us who went from our church formed deeper friendships because of the trip.

THANK YOU again to so many of you who prayed for us. Each and every prayer made a difference. Thank you also to those of you who gave financially toward our trip. It was no small task for both Brad and I to go, but when God tells you to go, YOU GO. Each financial gift, no matter what size, helped us to follow in obedience to God's calling.

Ok, enough writing. Pictures, we want pictures. There are many pictures to share. This might be the longest post we have so far. So be it. We want to glorify God by telling you all that He did during our trip.

Picture at Glenn View Baptist Church.
Getting ready to leave for the airport.

Below: Great picture Daniel took on one of our flights.
Most of the flights were good. There was one section of a flight on the way there that was very bumpy and made Barbie quite nervous. This trip was technically Daniel's first plane flight. He had flown when he was 4 years old, but doesn't remember it. The traveling was one of the hardest parts of the trip because it takes so long to get over there. Two overnight flights. Thank goodness for a good neck pillow and sleeping aids. It was nice to have an all day layover in London, but it was sure hard to stay awake. Once we were at our final destination on the way there and on the way back, it was just good to be off a plane.

It was hard for me to leave the kids, but I stood on the fact that I knew I was supposed to be going on this trip. I was totally fine up until they got in the car and started driving away to go back home after dropping us off at the church. The tears came a' rollin'. I knew they were in good hands and God would take care of them all, but the longest I had been away from both kids was overnight once. There were two other Moms with two young kids of their own who went on this trip, so we were there to comfort each other and pray for each other during those down times. Thank goodness for the pictures and videos of the kids we brought with us.

Once we got there we were able to send and receive some quick emails every day. We didn't realize it until we got there, but we were actually able to talk to the kids over the phone for a decent price per minute, so we were able to call twice while we were gone and talk for a very brief period of time.

Ok, enough writing again. Here are some pictures of our lay over in London.
Brad and I were the only ones who had already been to London before, so we were kinda the tour guides (as best as we could remember).

"Horsie" pix for my kids (especially Andrew right now).
He is horse crazy! He says "ride horsie, Mommy."

It's now Sunday and after two overnight flights we are in Africa! We are all so happy to just be off a plane. Below is the mission house we stayed in while in Africa.

Mat & Janet Lawrence - the missionaries we worked with

After a quick orientation at the mission house, our first stop was to the market. Talk about haggling. It was helpful to have the missionaries with us to help us with prices so we didn't get ripped off. Some beautiful, all hand-made stuff. Later that evening we had the opportunity to do e-mail, which was so helpful to hear from my parents on how things were going with the kids. A shower that night was much needed and never felt so good after two days of traveling.

Monday, June 9th - Muvu Game Park
We had the opportunity to go on a game drive/safari and the way things worked out, it started our trip. Below was our bus for the week and John our driver.

The drive there was so interesting. I sat in the very front of the bus. Literally in the very front of the bus. Below are some of the things we saw along the way.

A funeral

In Africa you either walk or ride a bike for transportation. John, our driver, would just honk to tell them to get out of the way if they were too close to the road, but it's more of a polite, "hey, I don't want to hit you, but I'm coming," kinda honk. They don't use their horn there like we do in America.

So amazing what and how much these women carry on their heads. Some of them even carry these loads with a baby wrapped on their back.

It's also amazing what they can put on a simple bike, no mountain bikes here.
A Coke stand in Africa. Well, yes, but that's not why I'm posting this picture. There is a story behind this picture. I was taking so many pictures as we were driving. Rebecca, on our team, asked me to take a picture of the coke sign. So, I did. I didn't realize though, that there was a road block up ahead and one is not supposed to take pictures at a road block. This was going to get interesting. What was going to happen? Were they going to take my camera? Rebecca told me later she thinking, "great, I'm going to have to buy Barbie a new camera." The guard greeted me and I him. We had a discussion about road blocks, taking pictures, etc all the time my heart is pounding in my chest. I kept hoping that one of the missinaries would speak up and help me. I showed him the picture I took and explained the story. I told him I could delete the picture if he wanted me to, hoping that way I could keep my camera. He said, "no, it was fine since there weren't any guards or the road block in the picture." We drove away and I sat quiet and not taking any pictures for a while. Whew! The missionaries told me they didn't intervene because I was handling the situation well and staying calm. I'm glad it looked like that on the outside because that wasn't the case on the inside.

Making mud bricks. They are laying out to dry.

We stopped and ate lunch at a beautiful pottery place in Dedza. It was strange having such a nice place be in the middle of nowhere. Good food. Beautiful pottery.

We entered the Game Park and while we were checking in, we got our first experience with a chimbudze (the potty). They didn't all look like this, but this is the one I took a picture of.

The boat ride across the river to Muvu

This is where we dined. It was all outdoors. During one meal we had monkeys playing in the tree right by us. We heard of stories of elephants walking through while people were eating. Well, anything can just walk through any time, any place.

Speaking of anything can walk through any time, any place. As we were walking to our cabin there were three wart hogs having their dinner. At first, it caught me off guard, and thought, shouldn't I be afraid, shouldn't we walk a different path, but we just kept on walking and they didn't mind us a bit. I don't think that's the way an elephant or hippo would react. The entire time we stayed there we could intermittently hear the hippos "talking" to one another along the river. It sounded as if they were right there at the river bank on our side.

Where Brad and I stayed

Ready for our Safari!

See the blue bird. I loved seeing so many new birds!

We saw so many empala. We decided they weren't endangered any more.

We had this amazing encounter with the elephants. Actually, we kinda got stuck for a while because we had an elephant eating from a tree, so we couldn't move until it was done eating. You don't want to spook an elephant and you don't want it charging anything. At one point while the elephant was eating, he turned and looked right at us, flapped it's ears, and stomped it's foot, which apparently I found out are some signs an elephant shows right before it charges. Thankfully that's all it did and then went back to eating. The missionaries said that's the most fearful they've been on one of those safaris.

Sausage Fruit Tree

Lots of Hippos

He was sitting in a tree right next to where we were eating

We had smores by the campfire. Mmmmm.

Video of kids playing in the pool

2008-06-04T22:03:00.000-04:00

Emma singing "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord" at church

2008-06-04T21:56:00.000-04:00

June 1st

May 31st - Daddy's Birthday and then moving into June!

2008-06-04T21:01:00.000-04:00

1st Pool Time of the summer. Emma was using the inflated seat as a "diving board". She would jump off of it and land on her bum. Andrew enjoyed himself as well, but had quite an interest in the water hose.

Daddy's Birthday dinner @ Don Juan's

Barbie playing games at the end of the year children's party at church. The goal of this game was to see how many balls the kids could throw into the basket. Not sure if my team won or not.

Helping Daddy Mow the Lawn and more...

2008-05-28T21:58:00.000-04:00

Andrew did so amazing helping Brad mow the lawn. He probably did about 3/4 of the yard with him. Brad said, he just kept going. When we all went outside, we weren't planning on Andrew helping Brad mow, so because he was wearing open toed sandals, his toes were green :-) Our cute little man.

Emma helped mow from time to time, but wasn't as determined as Andrew was.

Video of Andrew helping Brad mow the lawn.

The kids enjoyed our Malawi Spaghetti Fundraiser Dinner.
Our team raised close to $1,000 toward our Africa Mission Trip!

The bear was a big hit. They snuggled with him. They wrestled with him.
They tackled each other with him. Pretty funny.

Butterfly Farm on 5/17

2008-05-23T23:22:00.001-04:00

Emma & Andrew both weren't too sure about the butterflies at first.
They liked looking at them, but didn't want to touch them or hold them.

After a while Emma warmed up and did end up touching a butterfly.

Andrew would rather just play with the rocks on the ground :-)

Lots to share in May

2008-05-23T22:08:00.000-04:00

Emma is helping Mommy make Bran Muffins.

One of Daddy's favorite muffins recipes.

The chalk drawing went a little far as you can see.
Apparently the easel is larger than I realized.
(Hint: look at the screen closely)

Andrew's 1st preschool artwork.
He's been going to the preschool only on Fridays this month.

Well, Andrew continues to live up to one of his nicknames, "Bruiser".
We were on our way to Cici's for dinner, and while he's getting into the van, he slipped somehow and hit (obviously) the left side of his face by his eyebrow on the metal bar that moves the side door. It immediately turned into a big blue knot, but he really didn't cry long after it happened. I ran inside to get some ice, but of course he wouldn't let us put it on his face. He'd rather eat ice. He loves ice!

Below is what it looked like today. Looks worse as far as color, but it is healing. The knot looked better even just after dinner the night it happened. Now he has one of every color of the rainbow on his eyelid and brow :-) He looks like he's been in a boxing match.

Video of the kids singing (and dancing) to the song,
"Praise Ye the Lord"

What we've been up to

2008-05-13T13:53:00.000-04:00

April 29-30th
Brad and I took a short getaway to Pilot Mountain. We stayed in a bed and breakfast, went hiking, visited Mt. Airy (the town the Andy Griffith show was based off of), and shared some nice meals together. It was a nice break from everyday life that both of us needed.

Below are some misc pictures:
Andrew shared some of Daddy's chocolate shake from Steak n Shake.

Barbie organized a Mother's Day slideshow presentation at church and this is the picture we used. Emma and Andrew, you are truly our gifts from God.

Emma loves spaghetti/pasta (or "sasta" as she calls it).
Need we say more. Yes, it was bath night that night.

PDSSN Spring Event

2008-05-13T13:10:00.000-04:00

May 3rd was the PDSSN (our local Down Syndrome Network) Spring Event.
Emma LOVES the inflatables. She must have gone down this slide 30 times or more. Every time it was time to get off it (for the magic show and to go home) she cried. I was so proud of her how she climbed up the ladder and went down the slide all by herself. The adults at the top of the slide helping out weren't quite sure at first she could go down by herself, but I just waved my hand and said, "she's fine to go by herself," and down she went over and over and over again.

Andrew and I went down once together. I asked him if he wanted to go again, and he said, "no". Maybe next year he'll enjoy them more.

Emma went down both on her belly and her bum.

This was the second inflatable. The kind where you jump around inside it. Emma thought the entrance/exit was a mini slide.

What a cutie! Andrew enjoyed watching his sister jump around.

One of these days when we have a fenced in yard we'll have to get our kids a swing/slide play set in our backyard. They would probably never want to come inside. Our neighbors across the common area got a playset and Andrew can see it from a distance. He sometimes runs half way across the common area saying, "swing" or "slide".

4/13 Preschool Sunday - Emma singing in church

2008-04-17T23:39:00.001-04:00

Emma sang so well and was a big "ham" on stage, as always.
She walked over and gave out hugs to our music pastor, Johnny, three times while her music teacher was singing a solo prior to the kids singing. So unexpected. You never know what will happen when children sing in church.
She sure knew her songs and still sings them at home with us.

They were singing "little monkeys sitting in a tree." Emma especially liked the chomp part in the song when the alligator chomps. No special training there.
(GO GATORS!, which she can say by the way)

Video of Emma singing, "I Will Sing of the Lord's Great Love Forever"

Video of Emma singing, "little monkeys sitting in a tree"

4/12 Family Fun Festival @ GVBC

2008-04-17T23:27:00.000-04:00

Daddy did such a good job organizing the Family Fun Festival at our church again this year.

Oma, I didn't make Emma kiss the sheep. I think she gave the sheep a kiss for you too.

Emma thought the entrance/exit to the inflatable was a mini slide just for her. She'd climb in, jump around some, slide out, and go back and do it all over again. Last year she didn't want anything to do with these rides. This year we couldn't get her out of them without many tears. Andrew wasn't ready for these rides this year, but I'm sure next year will be a different story. This year he just had a ball watching his sister. He went in one with Emma & Mommy, but immediately wanted out.

Both Emma and Andrew went down this slide with Brad and I, but you go so fast that it's hard to get a good picture. Both kids loved it and wanted to ride again (which I was surprised). Emma wanted to get right back on and didn't quite understand you had to wait in line.

Barbie had to do at least one of the rides :-)

The Kids weren't too sure about feeding the
animals at first, but as you can see in this
video below, they caught on pretty quickly.

Video of Andrew dancing. He sure has some rhythm.
Sorry if it's a little jumpy, Andrew was making me laugh.
He is so cute.

Thank you Opa & Oma

2008-04-17T23:15:00.001-04:00

I am loving my easel. Thank you so much!

Misc Andrew Pix having fun

2008-04-16T14:09:00.001-04:00

I love me some applesauce.
More like, I like to bathe in applesauce, or at least I needed a bath after I ate applesauce.

Easter - He is Risen!

2008-04-16T13:28:00.001-04:00

Easter Egg Hunt

Emma was more involved this year, although the grass was a little longer than usual and made our legs itch.

Andrew came to the Easter Egg Hunt last year, but he slept through it, so for this technically being his first hunt, he was quite interested. He was funny though. He would pick up two eggs, one in each hand, but didn't want to let go of either one to pick up another one.

Getting ready for Easter Sunday. Andrew's trying on his little man suit :-)

Easter Sunday 3-23-08

Helping Daddy at the computer

I love my Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Jo

Our New Basketball Set

2008-04-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

March 2008

We just got a new basketball set or (bah-ball) as Andrew calls it.

Both kids love it and have gotten pretty good at making baskets from the floor and the couch :-)

Video - Kids playing basketball

Video - Emma dribbling basketball

It's been too long

2008-03-21T13:48:00.001-04:00

I hate that it has been so long since we have posted a blog. Too much has happened since our last blog, so instead of trying to back track we are just going to start posting current pix.

Emma is getting so tall! We also praise God for her good health. She is telling so many good stories these days and continues to learn new words everyday, along with then teaching them to her brother. She has also gotten so good at jumping. Jumping on the ground. Jumping off the coffee table onto the couch. Jumping off her recliner in her room. Wherever. Her new favorite video is her "Boz" videos. Potty training is still hit or miss, but she is at least going on the potty 1-2x per day. Slowly, but surely. A favorite song for her to sing right now is "Happy Birthday", and currently she is fascinated with clouds. A couple things Emma is learning right now is her colors and the difference between big and little. It is so encouraging to see her and Andrew to have so much fun together, laugh together, and yes, sometimes actually share. Emma, you are a good big sister and Daddy and Mommy are so proud of you.

Andrew as well has really taken off with new words. It amazes us how many words he already knows and can say. Words he says regularly are outside, up, bah-ball (basketball), HI, throw, tat (cat), yes, etc. He's doing some signing, which has really helped decrease his tantrums. He is our flopper, meaning when he throws a tantrum a lot of times he will just flop wherever. Backwards on the kitchen floor. Doesn't matter where. We are learning even more the difference between a girl and a BOY. If he's going to run into something, he is going to hit it with his head. He has no fear and just jumps in with both feet. He has learned how to crawl down the stairs feet first on his belly. He is now running all over and learning to jump like Emma. He pretty much is learning to do whatever Emma does. He sure loves his sister. Basketball is his new favorite sport. He LOVES it.

All of a sudden we have completely gotten rid of Andrew's pacifier. For a good 6+ months we have only been using it in his bed for sleeping, but just about a week ago I had put it up on his dresser so he couldn't see it in his bed and want it during the day. A couple days had passed and we realized that we hadn't used it at all. We had just been putting him to sleep with his blanket. I wasn't even going to make an effort to get rid of it until 18 months, but he did it on his own at 15 months. I wonder if potty training will be this easy :-)

March 10-13 - Glenn View's Staff Retreat in Marion, VA.
Thank you to the Copelands who allowed us enjoy, relax, retreat in such a beautiful place. During this trip Barbie got to go 4 wheeling for the first time. It was kinda like jet skis on land.

Emma singing at church for the 1st time!

2007-12-12T15:03:00.000-05:00

Andrew having fun outside with his push toy

2007-12-12T14:59:00.001-05:00

Early CHRISTmas and Early Birthday Celebration in Suffolk

2007-12-12T11:05:00.000-05:00

The first weekend of December we traveled to Suffolk, VA to have an early CHRISTmas and an early 1 year birthday celebration for Andrew with Opa, Oma, and Great-Grandma Wright! Andrew LOVED his cupcake, as you can see :-)

Andrew (and Emma both) love Andrew's new plane from Opa & Oma. It plays music and the propeller spins and lights up. Below is a video of Emma pushing Andrew around our house. Really funny!

Andrew has been walking for almost a month now. He's really starting to pick up speed. In the past couple weeks, he's learned how to walk backwards and is in the process of learning how to throw a ball. So far Andrew has done very well starting to transition to whole milk. We haven't taken him off his Prevacid yet though. Taking him off his medicine will be the true test to see if the whole milk bothers his reflux.

Andrew has two new teeth. The teeth on either side of his front teeth have broken through. He is a drooly mess :-)

We also think he's in the beginnings of going to one afternoon nap and unfortunately for us, we think Emma in the beginning stages of dropping her afternoon nap all together. She has gotten quite good at opening the door to her room. Now we're trying to teach her to at least stay in her room for "quiet time" if she's not going to nap. Haven't had much success on this yet :-)

Emma LOVED this snowman at Opa & Oma's. Of course, it plays music!

New outfit from Opa & Oma. It is so soft and comfortable. What a good helper she is.

CHRISTmas Pix with the Kreuters

2007-12-12T10:31:00.000-05:00

Andrew kisses for Daddy

2007-12-12T10:28:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-12-12T09:29:00.000-05:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving at home in NC. Barbie's parents and brother traveled to spend it with us this year. We had our fill of fried turkey and fixin's. We watched the Macy's day parade and watched Emma dance to the people she saw in the parade, watched some football, and took naps :-) The day after Thanksgiving a group of guys from our church (and Barbie) played some football, which we are hoping will start to become a tradition as an alternative for those not wanting to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving.

New Pix

2007-11-19T19:46:00.000-05:00

I've been caught!

Mommy's Helper making dinner!

Andrew Is Walking!

2007-11-15T19:58:00.000-05:00

Well, we knew it was coming, and now is the time for Andrew to join his big sister in racing around the house! He is so exhausted for his naps and for night time because of his various travels during the day now. Emma has tried to "help" him several times, which doesn't usually turn out so well. Andrew's hand continues to heal as well as can be expected.

Emma had her follow-up ENT appointment this morning for the tubes in her ears, and Dr. Kirsch thinks everything looks great right now. She doesn't have to see him for another year! Now we just need to put those ears and tubes to good use by LISTENING to Mommy and Daddy!!

Emma's ready for church

2007-11-15T09:56:00.000-05:00

Thank you for your prayers

2007-11-14T22:09:00.000-05:00

Andrew is doing so much better. It’s amazing how much healing can occur in a weeks time. He is finally starting to use his right hand more and starting to enjoy his bath once again. He had been crying through his baths I guess because it bothered his hand. His hand is healing soooo well. Also, thankfully after just a couple days of antibiotics his double ear infections don’t seem to be bothering him anymore either. His fever is gone and he is acting himself again.

We had a F/U appt. with the plastic surgeon today. He felt that his hand was healing well. He still couldn’t say 100% for sure he wouldn’t have any scarring or contractures. Only time will tell. We go back to see him again in 4 weeks. Please continue to pray that as his hand continues to heal that Andrew will have full mobility of his hand and not need any intervention.

Andrew has also been taking soooo many steps on his own. It would be safe to say that he could very well be walking by Thanksgiving.

Brad got back safely from his mission trip to Moldova. He had a great time, but as always, it’s great to be home and sleep in your own bed. I think he’s back to normal as far as the time change goes.

New Pix

2007-11-09T11:04:00.000-05:00

Brad is doing great in Moldova

2007-11-06T22:26:00.000-05:00

Brad is doing great in Moldova. It has been a nice trip this year because we pretty much get to e-mail with him every day and I’ve already talked with him twice. Unlike last year when we had no e-mail and talking to him once was a surprise. He went with 7 others from our church to do mission work. He gets home on Nov 10^th.

Rocky

2007-11-06T22:07:00.000-05:00

Brad leaves to go on an international mission trip to Moldova and the excitement begins back home. We had an unfortunate event Monday morning with Andrew. He touched the glass to our gas logs and incurred 2^nd degree burns to his right hand. We turned it on briefly to get the chill out of the air downstairs. I kept telling him don’t touch it, it’s hot and moving him away from it. I was sitting about a foot away from him by the gas logs. I didn’t realize how hot the glass gets. I should have touched it myself first to know how hot it got, but I figured it would get warm, but never hot enough to burn him. I thought well, if he touches it, he’ll feel that it’s warm and know not to touch it again, never, ever, ever, did I think it would burn him.

The top half of his palm and each fingertip have blisters on them. His palm looks the worst. Thankfully so far they don’t think he’s going to need surgery. They believe it only burnt half way through the 2^nd layer. If it had gotten to the 3^rd layer he would definitely had needed surgery. Boy, I hate burns. He touched the glass for only about 5 sec if not less. He started crying, looked at me, and I had to remove his hand from the glass. He didn’t move it himself. In talking with the representative from the gas logs store, they informed us that the glass on our gas logs is intended to radiate the heat from the logs into the room, which would make sense why the glass gets so hot. He said it is almost like glue if something touches it, which would explain why Andrew didn’t move his hand, because he couldn’t. I know, awful to think about. I don’t even like explaining it, but many people have asked me why he didn’t move his hand and why I had to move it for him. I didn’t understand it myself until today when he talked to the representative. My poor boy.

Andrew did very well in the ER. He was a tough boy. The doctor was awfully impressed that he was doing as well as he was on just Motrin to deal with the pain.

We ordered a protective screen for our gas logs yesterday. It’s going to be installed free of charge on Nov 14^th due to Andrew’s injury. Something the builder of our home should have installed to begin with. Hopefully this screen will help prevent any other injuries to anyone else in the future. If anyone has gas logs without a protective screen, PLEASE find out the purpose of the glass. We didn’t realize the glass got as hot as it did and wasn’t tempered. The purpose of the glass on our gas logs is to radiate the heat from the flame into the room, which would explain why it gets so hot. Our gas logs had no protective screen or warning on the glass. We purchased a protective screen that will be installed next Wed for only $34. We plan to contact the builder of our home and the gas logs company to hopefully prevent something like this from happening to anyone else in the future.

Thankfully he’s still crawling on it, playing, smiling, laughing, and snuggling. Although, when he crawls, he's been using the outside of his right hand. He still uses his right hand to pull up to stand on things and drink out of his cup. He still uses it some, but not as much as usual. You can tell it causes his discomfort. Please pray that God would decrease or even remove the pain from his hand. Also, please pray that times of cleaning and redressing his hand would go well. Changing his dressing makes me so nervous. I don’t think I’ll ever get comfortable doing it. He is able. Nothing is impossible with Him.

Please pray for God’s healing of Andrew’s hand. Pray that he wouldn't get contractures and that it would heal in a way that he doesn't need surgery. Pray that God would decrease or remove any pain/discomfort it causes him. Pray that he would sleep well. Pray that God would also heal Andrew’s cold. On top of all this, Andrew has had a low grade fever, yellow nasal drainage, and a cough that is causing him to not sleep well. We just came back from the ped office and he's now on antibiotics for the beginnings of double ear infections.

We saw the plastic surgeon who specializes in burns on hands Wed. morning. Andrew's appt. with him I guess you could say went well. We have to go back for a F/U appt in one week. Since this was the first time Dr. Molnar saw him he has nothing to compare it to, so he can't really say if it looks better or how well it will heal. Although, the doctor said he would expect it to heal in about 3 weeks. He said he can't guarantee it won't scar. I'm more concerned that he won't have contractures (it's a way burns heal that would restrict his mobility). If contractures develop that would be something he would more than likely need surgery for. Please pray that he heals well without any infection and that he won’t need surgery. The doctor said it's definitely a 2nd degree burn. He said normally for you or I it wouldn't have gone that deep, but he doesn't have the calluses we have yet. One good thing out of the appt was that instead of wrapping his hand with gauze each dressing the nurses recommended putting the ointment on and then putting a sock on leaving room for his thumb. Works much better.

I am thankful that Emma is feeling better from her cold and I am thankful that my Mom is here in town with me while Brad is gone. God provides.

Thank you soooooo much for your prayers.

Fall Festival 2007

2007-11-03T12:37:00.000-04:00

B-B-B-B-Batman!

Little Ladybug and Daddy

Video of Andrew crawling up the stairs

2007-11-03T11:11:00.000-04:00

Starting to get cooler outside

2007-11-02T15:38:00.001-04:00

Getting ready for a ride in our red wagon

Just playing around

Emma makes us laugh so hard when she does this