our accomplishments

Our silence on this blog isn't because there's nothing to share. Actually, there has been a lot going on, and we've accomplished some great things in the last week or two. We've just been too lazy to post about them. So here, finally, is a list (in no particular order) of the big and small accomplishments in our little corner of the world.

Joshua and Patience will now play outside when we are inside. This may not seem like a big deal, but Joshua used to be absolutely terrified if we stepped inside for even a minute. Their confidence and comfort level are improving all the time.

Garty is now walking in earnest. He still prefers to crawl if he's in a hurry, but much of the time he can walk all the way across our living room, dining room, or kitchen without falling. To keep things exciting, this morning he climbed up next to me on the couch while I was reading to Joshua and Patience. After playing on the couch for 15 minutes or so, he decided to climb over the back of it. Climbing definitely adds an entirely new, and much more frightening, dimension to life at our house.

Joshua caught his first fish... a big, ugly catfish! Well, he may have had a little help from Grandpop... or maybe it was a 50/50 effort... or maybe Grandpop did all the work and Joshua just helped here and there... but the point is that it was his first fish! When he saw the big whiskers, he didn't want anything to do with it. This from a boy who ate Liberian soup with fish heads in it.

We had our second official date out thanks to Becky's parents who were great babysitters. We ate at Hart's Tavern, a favorite restaurant in Peddler's Village. The food isn't anything unusual, but it's cheap and the restaurant has lots of character. (We actually ate there on our wedding night.) Then we wandered the Village and stopped for ice cream on the way back. It's amazing how much cuter our kids are after a few hours away. We're trying to get out for a date one afternoon a month for now. It's frequently enough to keep us sane and connected to each other without being overwhelming for the kids.

We've had 2 opportunities to swim recently thanks to the Brandts and Becky's aunt and uncle. The kids are really starting to enjoy the pool and getting quite brave. They'll leap off the side of the pool at full speed, assuming that we'll actually catch them. Here they're demonstrating how they can put their whole face in the water. What a change from the kids who were petrified to get in the pool for the first time in Liberia. (In their defense, the green water did make it slightly less enticing.)

Peter has been training a new office manager at Worldlink who will take some of the day to day tasks like bookkeeping away from the rest of the staff. Previously everyone just pitched in as needed, but it was a tough way to run an office. Training someone takes a lot of time and makes it difficult to get anything else done, but he's seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and is looking forward to having freedom from some of the tasks that don't really utilize his gifts.

I'm mentally preparing for our 2nd annual Neighborhood Kids' Club and Neighborhood Cook Out. I was considering wimping out this year and taking a break, but the other day a kid from the neighborhood rode by and asked Peter when the club would be. That was enough of a motivator to convince me that we need to it. It's crucial to our ministry in this neighborhood, and we haven't done much to connect with anyone here since the kids came home. They're a convenient excuse for just about anything we don't want to make time to do. (When you tell people you just adopted 3 kids from Africa at one time, they'll forgive you for almost anything.) So the next few weeks will be very busy around here. We'll do our best to keep up with the blog for those of you that check every day and are terribly disappointed when there isn't any news.